expect a calm difcuffion of what I have advanced; and that doctrine will, no doubt, be established which fhall appear to be most agreeable to reason, and the true fenfe of Scripture. May whatever will not ftand this teft, whether advanced by myfelf or others, foon fall to the ground; but let no fentiment, however alarming at the firft propofal, be condemned unheard, and unexamined.' In Mr. Parkhurft's work, Dr. Priestley finds nothing which requires any farther refutation than is already provided in his Hiftory of early Opinions; he therefore enters no farther into the examination of this Writer's arguments, than to expose the futility of his reafoning from the plural form of the word used to denote God in the Hebrew language, and to vindicate himself from the charge of deficiency in the knowledge of the learned Janguages. In the preface to this publication, Dr. P. expreffes a pretty confident expectation that the prefent difpute concerning the perfon of Chrift will terminate in a general uniformity of opinion upon this fubject. Perhaps a more vifionary expectation was never entertained. If Dr. Price continues an Arian, and Dr. Horne an Athanafian (as our Author fuggefts) from the influence of early prepoffeffions, and in confequence of their frequently recruiting their faith, by perufing their favourite writers, and not paying fufficient attention to arguments on the other fide, it is probable that others will continue to adhere to their respective fyftems from the fame caufes. The fame • hoftile difpofition towards every thing that is established,' and the fame rapidity of genius, which have led Dr. P. on from one opinion to another-always in the fame direction-and will not allow him to fay when his creed will be fixed,' may pufh others beyond the utmoft verge of Socinianifm, into a country -whence no traveller returns. If, in perufing the fcriptures, • particular texts never fail to be accompanied with their usual long approved interpretation,' and every one has some method of difpofing of thofe paffages which feem unfavourable to his opinions,' this kind of bias will, probably, always continue upon the minds of different perfons, according to their feveral modes of education and connections in life, and perpetuate different fyftems of theology. From thefe caufes, men of equal ability and integrity will always continue to think differently upon thefe fubjects; and if it be (as our Author pathetically laments) too much to be expected of man, that Dr. Price fhould abandon Arianifm altogether, neither is it to be expected that Dr. Horne fhould abandon Athanafianifm, or Dr. Prieftley Socinianifm. As long as the world lafts, the maxim will be true, Quot homines, tot fententia. MONTHLY MONTHLY CATALOG U E, For AUGUST, 1787. TRADE and COMMERCE. Art. 12. A brief Effay on the Advantages and Disadvantages which refpectively attend France and Great Britain with regard to Trade. By Jofiah Tucker, D. D. Dean of Gloucefter. 8vo. 2s. Stockdale. 1787. Tlined in 1755. It ftates the advantages and difadvantages HIS treatife is reprinted from the third edition, which was pubthat France enjoys with refpect to trade, and compares them with the advantages and difadvantages which England enjoys. Three effays are added, I. On the balance of trade. II. On the jealoufy of trade. III. On the balance of power. These were written by Mr. Hume, and first published in 1751, in a collection of Political Difcourfes, for which fee an account in the 6th volume of our Review, p. 19, and 81. The abilities of the Dean of Gloucester, in regard to fubjects of this kind, are universally allowed. POLITICA L. Art. 13. Caricature Anticipations and Enlargements; occafioned by a late pious Proclamation; alfo by two celebrated Speeches in Parliament relative to a Repeal of the Teft-Act; one by Lord North, the other by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 8vo. Is. Kearf ley. 1787. Ironical. Lord North and Mr. Pitt are here the objects of ridicule. Whatever fhare the Author poffeffes of wit and argument, is employed in defence of the Diffenters' caufe; or, in his own words, to affift in promoting the intereft of religion and virtue, of truth and liberty;-to raise in the minds of British fubjects an abhorrence of intolerance and priestly domination, flavery, and defpotifm.' His plan is formed on the fuppofition that the Diffenters have renewed their application to Parliament, for a removal of the teft-barrier, which feparates them from the establishment. Art. 14. Ar Inquiry into the Effects of Public Punishments upon Criminals, and upon Society. Read in the Society for promoting political Inquiries, convened at the Houfe of his Excellency Benjamin Franklin, Efq. in Philadelphia, March 9th, 1787. By Benjamin Rush, M. D. Profeffor of Chemistry in the University of Pennfylvania. 8vo. 1s. Dilly. Dr. Rush obferves, that the defign of punishment is faid to be,ift, To reform the perfon who fuffers it; -2dly, To prevent the perpetration of crimes, by exciting terror in the minds of the fpectators; and,-3dly, To remove thofe perfons from fociety, who have manifested, by their tempers and crimes, that they are unfit to live in it.' He argues very fenfibly on the inefficacy of public punishments in all thefe points of view; but has experience established the fact, that when the paffions of men, and their habits of thinking, are become fo depraved as to fubject them to the cenfure of the law, that REV. Aug. 1787. punishment M punishment in any mode will reclaim them to fobriety and integrity? Our Author, indeed, in the ardour of fpeculative refinement, is bold enough to declare- I have no more doubt of every crime having its cure in moral and phyfical influence, than I have of the efficacy of the Peruvian bark in curing the intermitting fever. The only difficulty is, to find out the proper remedy or remedies for particular vices.' So Archimedes thought it poffible to move the whole world, if he could but find a fulchrum for his lever; but even then, where was the lever? This confidence in our Author arifes from his profeffion; he first fuppofes an analogy between diforders of the mind and thofe of the body, and then loofely infers, that a pharmacopoeia might be adapted to the one, as well as to the other. But though the doctrine of fpecifics is nearly discarded from bodily medicine, we have the offer of one for the cure of malefactors, and here is the recipe: Let a large houfe, of a conftruction agreeable to its defign, be erected in a remote part of the ftate. Let the avenue to this house be rendered difficult and gloomy by mountains or moraffes. Let its doors be of iron; and let the grating, occafioned by opening and fhutting them, be encreafed by an echo from a neighbouring mountain, that fhall extend and continue a found that fhall deeply pierce the foul. Let a guard conftantly attend at a gate that shall lead to this place of punishment, to prevent ftrangers from entering it. Let all the officers of the house be strictly forbidden ever to discover any figns of mirth, or even levity, in the prefence of the criminals. To encrease the horror of this abode of discipline and misery, let it be called by fome name that fhall import its defign.' The plan of this prison appears to have been conceived from a defcription of the dungeon in fome inchanted caftle in romance! Nor is the application of this horrid place lefs romantic-' Let the various kinds of punishment that are to be inflicted on crimes, be defined and fixed by law. But let no notice be taken, in the law, of the punishment that awaits any particular crime.' That is, a number of tortures and severities are to be invented; they cannot be called punishments until they are applied to crimes, and this application is referred to the difcretion of fluctuating tranfitory courts! Is this the hoafted land of liberty, that is to give the old corrupted states of Europe models of pure government and fublime legiflation? But to fhew that we are totally got into fairy land, let us, with the aid of a conjunction, fee how the grating of iron hinges, echoes, and private difcretionary difcipline, are to operate. If crimes were expiated by private difcipline, and fucceeded by reformation, criminals would probably fuffer no more in character from them, than men fuffer in their reputation or usefulness from the punishments they have undergone when boys at school. I am fo perfectly fatisfied of the truth of this opinion, that methinks I already hear the inhabitants of our villages and townships counting the years that fhall complete the reformation of one of their citizens. I behold them running to meet him on the day of his deliverance. His friends and family bathe his cheeks with tears of joy; and the univerfal fhout of the neighbourhood is, "This our brother was loft, and is found-was dead and is alive." If Dr. Rush by any improvement of animal magnetism, or by fome other new discovery, can so purge the human constitution, as to purify his countrymen from those propenfities, that generate crimes in Europe; his plan may poffibly operate according to his ideas, which are, at prefent, far above our grofs conceptions. Art. 15. Debate on the Repeal of the Teft and Corporation Acts, in the House of Commons, March 28, 1787. 8vo. Is. 6d. Stockdale. Those who have attended to the important fubject of the abovementioned debate, and wish to preserve the memorials of the tranfaction, will be glad to find, in the prefent collection, the fpeeches of Mr. Beaufoy, Sir Harry Houghton, Lord North, Lord Beauchamp, Mr. Smith, Sir James Johnftone, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Mr. Young, Mr. Courtenay, and Sir W. Dolben. The principal fpeech (the opening of the bufinefs), by Mr. Beaufoy, hath already been noticed, with approbation, in our Review for April, p. 349•. NAVAL. Art. 16. An Addrefs to the Right Honourable the First Lord Commisfioner of the Admiralty, on the visible decreafing Spirit, Splendour, and Difcipline of the Navy. With a Propofition for reducing the Guard Ships to eight Sail of the Line, and employing Twelve additional Frigates upon the Home Service, to prevent Smuggling, &c. Also a Differtation upon the alarming Decrease and Confumption of Naval Timber in Great Britain. By an Officer. 8vo. Is. 6d. Stockdale. 1787. This officer thinks proper to abufe his correfpondent, as a man ungracious in his manner, unfeeling in his nature, of a myfterious, perverse difpofition, difpenfing his favours among boatswains, carpenters, gunners, and cooks, while in the fuperior line of naval fervice, he purfues indigefted pitiful plans of economy, totally repug'nant to the honeft generous feelings of veterans. What may be the reafon of his addreffing his Lordship in a style fo very ungracious, does not appear; but if any part of his performance merits attention, it may be what he obferves refpecting the growing scarcity of fhip timber for large veffels; and fo far as he may be well informed on this most serious object, the legislature ought to take it up. IMPEACHMENT of Mr. HASTINGS. Art. 17. Articles exhibited by the Knights, Citizens, &c. in Parliament, against Warren Haftings, Efq. 8vo. 2s. Debrett. 1787. To give the heads of these twenty articles of impeachment, would be in our opinion unneceffary, fince thofe to whom they relate, or who would wish for information on this subject, would not reft satisfied with fuch an abstract as that to which our narrow limits would confine us. POETRY. Art. 18. Ode on General Elliot's Return from Gibraltar. By Anna Seward. 4to. IS. Cadell. 1787. The services rendered by General Elliot [now Lord Heathfield] to his country, during the memorable fiege of Gibraltar, demand from the voice of gratitude the loudest and the livelieft strains. M 2 Mifs Mifs Seward, a lady whofe poetical talents are known to the world, has welcomed the faviour-hero to his native shore in numbers which will noway diminish her fame. The fituation of the French and Spaniards, when their floating batteries had taken fire, is described with confiderable grandeur• Mark the invading hoft, elate no more, Recoiling paufe between a choice fo dire! Alike they hear the British lion roar In the o'erwhelming flood and raging fire! Groaning, they plunge, in wild despair, With raiment fcorch'd and blazing hairThe billows clofing o'er their ftruggling frames, Are purpled by the gore, illumin'd by the flames!" The fair Author, however, fometimes ufes a language which we cannot thoroughly underftand. She fays Again, Thy honour'd chief, O refcued. Britain meet! But when was Britain conquered? When was Britain fubdued? By talking, in another place of the western flood-the provincial ftandard,' &c. the Author undoubtedly alludes to the war in America. But though the English, for fo long a time, were endeavouring to conquer and fubdue the Americans, it by no means follows that, failing in that attempt, themselves were conquered and subdued: nay, far, very far was Britannia from being even what the poet is pleafed to call creft-fallen. As her enemies increafed in ftrength, fhe redoubled her efforts; and actually rofe fuperior to the feveral powers which were leagued against her. Art. 19. Ode to the Right Honourable Lord Melton, Infant Son of Earl Fitzwilliam. 4to. IS. Debrett. 1787. This Ode is written in praife of Earl Fitzwilliam, and the patriot phalanx to which he belongs. The Poet addreffes the fon of that nobleman in the following lines: Heirs not the racer all his lineal speed? Burns not the war-horse with paternal fires? To boast th' inherent virtues of his fires: *This verb has fomething particularly harsh and difagreeable in it. But perhaps the Poet was driven to the ufe of it by neceffity. We do not remember to have met with it in any other writer than Dryden : "His fon in blooming youth was fnatch'd by fate, |