cusses will furnish ample evidence of its truth. In the provinces of etymology, cabbalistical interpretation, and conjectural criticism, we often see erudition employed to little purpose, and are disgusted by ponderous demonstrations that prove nothing. In this sermon and in the notes subjoined, Dr. L. has well illustrated these points; and he has clearly proved that he is not one of those scholars who have weakened their intellect by overloading their memory.. Such a discourse was well adapted to an University audience, who were able to appre ciate the distinguished merit of the preacher. The conclusion from Dr L.'s premises is that in traversing the wide field of philological speculation and Biblical criticism, we cannot too accurately examine the solidity of the ground on which we tread.' We hope that this hint will receive attention from our theological book-worms. Art. 37. Preached July 1st, 2d, and 3d, at the Visitation of the Rev. Arthur Onslow, D.D., Dean of Worcester, and Archdeacon of Berkshire. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Rivingtons. The drift of this discourse reminds us of a phrase which has been. sometimes employed, that of moderate Calvinism. The author earnestly insists, amid his doctrinal remarks, on the necessity of practical piety, or that influence of religion on the heart and life which pro duces the fruits of righteousness, or universal virtue; and which he considers, according to his text, as the witness of the Spirit, that indicates the Children of God. In reply to the letter of Mr. Planquais, we must observe that we do not find in his grammar any investigation of those principles which distinctly determine the use and force of the different tenses of the Spanish verb. The rules of syntax given in the second part of his publication, particularly where he treats of the verbs, are too general to be attended with much practical benefit; and he appears not to have sufficiently considered that the object of the Madrid Academicians was to establish a standard of grammar and orthography for their countrymen, not to explain to foreigners the peculi arities of the Spanish idiom. The mention which we made of the incorrectness of his translation refers rather to occasional mistakes in rendering the meaning of the Spanish expression, than to any inaccuracies in English composition, on which latter point Mr. P. is clearly intitled to indulgence. We are always obliged to decline such applications as that of J. R. In the APPENDIX to Vol. LV. of the M. R., which was published with our last Number, on the 1st of June, p. 494. 1. 8. from bott. for minute but,' read minute though; and for 'but, though' read but, as..-P. 496. 1, 11. for larve,' read larva. In the Number for May, P 58. 1. 24 for fervorous, r. ferocious, P. 95. 1. 26. for difference, r, differences. P. 98. 1. 14. from bott. the comma after 'till' should be placed after designation.' THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For JULY, 1808. ART. I. Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, with a new Edition of her Poems, some of which have never appeared before; to which are added some Miscellaneous Essays in Prose, together with her Notes on the Bible; and Answers to Objections concerning the Christian Religion. By the Rev. Montagu Pennington, M. A., Vicar of Northbourn, in Kent, her Nephew and Executor. 4to. pp. 643. 21. 28. Boards. Rivingtons. the triumphs of female genius have usually been confined to the higher productions of fancy, and to the delineation of the finer shades of sentiment and character, examples have not been wanting among women, of a successful exertion of those faculties which appear to be most peculiarly appropriated to the stronger sex. In these troublesome times, we have more than once seen the pen of political and theological controversy wielded by the fairest hands; the abstruse doctrines of mathematical science have been rendered easy and captivating by female instruction; and it is now our duty to record the history of a lady who may be justly styled one of the severest students, and one of the profoundest scholars, of an age which has been distinguished both by industry and learning. Mrs. Carter has long been known and highly respected in the literary world, by the publication of original poems, a translation of Epictetus, and other works. The memoirs of her life, therefore, with farther specimens of her compositions, and selections from her correspondence with many eminent personages, will be received with much welcome, and will be found very interesting. We shall make an abstract of the biography, and subjoin such quotations as our limits will admit. Elizabeth Carter was born at Deal, in which town her father enjoyed a perpetual curacy, on the 16th of December, 1717, N. S.; and at the age of ten, she had the misfortune to lose her mother. It is very remarkable that, though her infancy and early youth afforded no promise of her future attainments,' and 'she gained the rudiments of knowlege with great VOL. LVI. labour labour and difficulty,' it was even then her most earnest desire to become learned. The slowness with which she conquered the impediments, that always oppose the beginning of the study of the dead languages, was such as wearied even the patience of her father, and he repeatedly entreated her to give up all thoughts of becoming a scholar." Besides this slowness of acquisition, she had a still more formidable adversary in the constitutional indolence of her habit; and, while she overcame the former by the hope of knowlege and of fame, she was under the necessity of combating the latter by a thousand minute and very singular contrivances. To preserve herself awake for study during a great part of the night, she contracted at an early age a habit of taking snuff; to insure a recurrence to her labours as soon as possible in the morning, she was furnished with alarums; and at a more advanced period of her life, (for, though always an early riser, she never awoke at the proper hour without effort and management,) she had a bell placed at the head of her bed, which the sexton pulled every morning between four and five, with as much heart and good will," according to her own expression, as if he was ringing my knell.' In the ardour of literary exertion, moreover, she would chew raw tea and coffee, and bind a wet cloth round her head and apply another to her stomach. We do not know whether many of our readers would be disposed to follow so desperate an example, in pursuit of learning: but, as the great age attained by Mrs. Carter may appear to contradict the received opinion that the health always suffers from the application of such stimulants, it may not be improper to state that they laid the foundation of constant and severe head-achs, which became habitual in her youth, and incurable during life; and which afterward in a great measure disqua lified her from pursuing those very studies, for the sake of which they were incurred. Such ardour and industry could not fail to be crowned with complete success. She made herself mistress of the following languages, which we enumerate in the order of their attainment by her :-Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, Spanish, German, (which she studied with a view to a place at Court,) Portuguese, and Arabic. The last mentioned language, indeed, she never professed to understand well,' yet she was able to make a dictionary, correcting various mistakes of translators and lexicographers. In mathematical knowlege, she made sufficient progress to become well acquainted with astronomy; and she was particularly delighted with tracing the geography of the antient historians. To her religious duties she was unremittingly attentive, and assiduously read the best sermons, sermons, and other books of divinity. In her short intervals of relaxation from more laborious study, she found time to keep up a poetical correspondence with Cave, the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine, under her own name of Eliza; and in 1738 she published a collection of her poems, written when she was under the age of twenty. In the same year was completed her translation of Crousaz's Examination of the Essay on Man; and in the next year she gave to the world both that work, and a translation in two volumes of Algarotti's "Newtonianismo per le Dame," or "Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy explained, for the use of the Ladies, in six dialogues on Light and Colours." The appearance of a young lady scarcely one-and-twenty years of age, possessed of such solid and various attainments, excited very general regard and admiration; which would doubtless have been heightened and increased, had it been known that she owed them to laudable ambition and neverceasing perseverance, not to the facility of learning, or a juvenile quickness of apprehension. Her acquaintance was geerally sought by men of letters and persons of rank; and her biographer has been by no means sparing of their compliments. We are treated with letters from Dr. Johnson, his unfortunate friend Savage, the Countess of Hertford, the Rev. Mr. Walter Harte, author of a life of Charles the 12th, and Mr. Theophilus Rowe, the brother-in-law and executor of Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe. All these are perfectly uninteresting, except that from Johnson, whose strict veracity gives great value to the manner in which he addresses Mrs. Carter. He professes for her a degree of "respect, which he neither owes nor pays to any other." A higher eulogy could not be conferred on a moral and intellectual character. Even at this period, the fame of Mrs. C. was not confined to her own country; and she received a complimentary epistle in French, and another in French and Latin, from that extraordinary youth Barratier, whose wonderful talents and early death are described by Johnson. These letters shew an unusual command of language in a boy of fifteen, but they are tedious and full of common places. In the second, he speaks of that malady which was consuming him, and soon afterward ended in his leath. His father presented a portrait of him, and a copy of his life, to Miss Carter: but we wish that the letter had been suppressed, in which he prefaces his regrets for the loss of his son with some formal compliments and cold apologies for answering a Latin letter in French. It does not appear to us at all necessary to have inserted the notes of a M. Lavalade, respecting the mode of commencing and carrying on the correspondence. Indeed we are somewhat dis posed posed to complain of the editor's great liberality of trifling details: but of his merits we must speak hereafter. Mrs. Carter's laborious application did not impair her temper which was kind and lively, nor prevent her from joining in the innocent amusements of her friends. Her person was not unpleasing; her admirers were numerous; and, though she appears at an early age to have devoted herself, like her royal namesake, to virginity, for the sake of paying a more constant attention to those which she considered as the most important objects of existence, one gentleman had certainly the good fortune to engage her affection. Her father had also listened, with some favour, to his proposals: but he forfeited her partiality by publishing a few verses which, though not absolutely indecent, yet seemed to shew too light and licentious a turn of mind.' From this time, she never entertained any serious thoughts of matrimony; though several of the most distinguished charac< ters were sometimes reported to be attached to her, as Archbishop Secker, Bishop Hayter, and the Earl of Bath. Among the poems which are now first published, we find some verses evidently relating to a rejected lover, who died abroad: TO THE MEMORY OF Овит. Ост. 13, 1742. Could modest sense with softest manners join'd Unhappy Florio! thy ungentle fate Had ne'er reproached the wealthy or the great. ; Tho' by the world abandon'd and forgot, In a second copy of verses, on the same subject, she says that many years had elapsed • Since |