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fcepticism and ftupidity, licentioufnefs without taste or generosity, and the affectation of paffion with an heart capable of every thing base and cruel, we must defpife and deteft them: we cannot think that fuch characters are proper to be contemplated by young minds, or exhibited before them, even in fiction.

MEDICA L.

E. Art. 42. A Chemico-Medical Differtation on Mercury, &c. With Obfervations on the Ufe and Abufe thereof in Venereal Disorders, &c. By J. L. L. M. D. 8vo. z s. 6d. Williams. 1774. Convinced of the danger and uncertainty arifing from the ufe of mercurial frictions, and of the inconveniencies and disappointments frequently attending the exhibition of the greater part of the known internal preparations of mercury, the Author very early, and anxioufly, endeavoured to find out fome new preparation of that mineral, which might poffefs the defirable qualities of activity, incorrofivenefs, folubility, and certainty,' united, and be lefs apt to falivate.' His labours in this purfuit, we are told, have not been thrown away: but a chain of circumstances oblige him to fufpend his defigns, at leaft for a time,' of laying open his procefs to the public.

So potent, however, has been our Author's avowed philanthropy, that it has enabled him to break through the aforefaid chain, or at leaft to ftretch the links fo far, as to ftep forth, and make known fome of his thoughts on this fubject; in hopes, notwithstanding, in the midst of his reftraint, of affording other practitioners a few hints, and fome incitements to aim at procuring a preparation of fimilar and equal virtues.

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which have been treated at the
By J. Williams. M. D. 8vo.

Having thus advertised the Author's fecret, it is but just to add, that, notwithstanding the empirical complexion of this publication, he does not appear to be deficient in a knowledge of the fubject of which he treats. He inveftigates the chemical and medicinal qualities of many of the known mercurial preparations with fufficient judgment; propofing an hypothefis to account for the activity that mercury acquires in fome of them, which he attributes to its combination with pure elemental fire. Art. 43. Select Cafes in Phyfic, Waters of Aix la-Chapelle, &c. 2s. 6d. Becket. 1774. In our 4-th volume [Dec. 1772, page 464] we gave a pretty full account of Dr. Williams's inquiry into the chemical and medicinal qualities of the celebrated waters at Aix-la-Chapelle; and of his reflections on the mifconduct of the phyficians at that place in difpenfing them. In the prefent performance he confirms and illuftrates his former obfervations on thefe fubjects, by the recital of thirty-four cafes; from which he endeavours to fhew, that the falutary effects of the waters are frequently fruftrated through the inattention and obftinacy of many of the refident practitioners; and that, in other inftances, many dangerous, and often fatal symptoms, are produced by the improper, or ill-timed exhibition of them.

B-Y.

Art.

Art. 44. Remarks on Mr. Thomas Henry's improved Method of preparing Magnefia Alba, &c. By a Phyfician. 8vo.

Bell.

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I s. 6d.

What strange motives feem to determine fome men to publication! -The prefent remarks were, it seems, originally intended for the College of Phyficians; but my correfpondent near town,' fays the Author, being greatly out of health, they were never prefented, that I heard of. This accident almoft determined him to drop his defign of making them public; had not a tiresome controverfy,' he adds, ⚫ between the Oxford and Manchester preparers, and venders of this article, very difinterefting to the community in general, pestered us almost inceffantly from the prefs, i fhould fcarce have refumed the fubject.' And thus our Author, very confequentially, took heart, and haftened with his papers on Magnefia to the prefs; because truly the public were tired, and had been peftered with a controverly on the fubject, which was very difinterefting to the comUmunity.

After giving us with much unneceffary parade a teft, or proof of the fimplicity and goodness of Magnefia Alba, with which every chemift is acquainted; and as needlefsly informing us, that the fame vitriolic acid, combined with different kinds of earth, forms faline concretes of different, and even oppofite qualities, the Author proceeds, with great ftateliness, to propofe, and to refolve a chemical problem, hitherto unrefolved;'-" to decompofe Epfom falt, and collect the whole of its earthy bafis, free from admixture of the new faline concrete, tartarum vitriolatum."

Paffing over other inftances of the Author's parade and verbofity, we shall only add, that his refolution of the problem confifts principally-in adding to a dilute folution of Sal Catharticus boiling on the fire, a determinate proportion (to be afcertained by a preliminary experiment) of a faturated lixivium of pot-afhes ;-in keeping the liquors for fome time in a state of brifk ebullition, and then throwing them into a large quantity of boiling water;-and, finally, in ufing fubfequent ablutions of boiling water, in order to diveft the magnefia totally of the neutral falt, or vitriolated tartar; to the concreted and undiffolved molecules of which, he obferves, magnesia owes the grittinefs fo defervedly complained of,' and not to THE powder, as erroneously remarked by Mr. Henry'-' at the foot of his process,' B-y.

MILITARY.

Art. 45. Obfervations on the prevailing Abuses in the British Army,
arifing from the corruption of Civil Government. With a Pro-
pofal to the Officers toward obtaining an Addition to their Pay.
By the Honourable
an Officer. 8vo. I s. 6d. Davies.

1775

Some honeft and very fenfible officer has feelingly reprefented, in these Obfervations, the hardships fuffered by the fubalterns in the army, from the fcantinefs of their pay. It is to be feared, that his manly and fpirited remonftrance contains too many ferious truths, to afford him and his brave brethren any hope for relief, even by the measure he is fo fanguine to promote, viz. a general fubfcription of officers toward

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toward a memorial to be prefented to the house of commons, and a petition to his majefty. But when every growing farthing of revenue is fo greedily appropriated to purpofes of which he is not ignorant; and when the nation finds it fo difficult, notwithstanding the glaring opulence of individuals, to bear new impofitions, the profpect is melancholy enough to other ranks in the community, as well as to the military. For furely, the honeftly induftrious, who pay the accumulated and perverted fupplies to government, feel grievances as fevere as thofe who fuffer by the mifapplication of them. Some reformation, therefore, that may operate for general relief, may be faintly hoped, and must be patiently waited for; but an increase of expences to any great amount for particular purposes, we have already found, in a fimilar inftance, not confiftent with the prefent fyftem of management.

We could, with pleasure, produce many excellent obfervations from this well-written compofition, but it is fo uniformly fpirited and connected, that it is difficult to detach particular paffages.

N. RELIGIOUS and CONTROVERSIA L. Art. 46. A grofs Impofition upon the Public detected; or, Arch bishop Cranmer vindicated from the Charge of Pelagianifm. Being a brief Answer to a Pamphlet intituled " A Differtation on the Seventeenth Article of the Church of England: Wherein the Sentiments of the Compilers, and other contemporary Reformers, on the Subject of the divine Decrees, are fully deduced from their own Writings." In a Letter to the Differtator. By the Author of Pietas Oxonienfis, and of Goliath Slain. 8vo. 6d. Dilly, &c.

The Author of the Differtation on the Seventeenth Article of the Church of England, has endeavoured to prove, that the bishops Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer did not give their fanction to Bradford's book upon predeftination; and, at the time of reading the Dif fertation, this point appeared to us to be fupported by very proba ble arguments. On the contrary, the prefent writer has produced a paffage from Strype, to evince, that Bradford did obtain Cranmer's, Ridley's, and Latimer's approbation of his treatise. On this account, Mr. Hill greatly triumphs over the differtator, and represents him as having been guilty of a wilful impofition. But, furely, if Dr. Winchester has been mistaken, which may, perhaps, be doubted, a mere mistake is the whole that can be charged upon him.

For us, we think that all thefe controverfies, on both fides, about the fentiments of the first reformers, in matters of doctrine, are infignificant and needlefs. The inquiry ought to be, what are the dictates of truth and the declarations of fcripture, and not, what were the opinions of any fet of men, however venerable, in refpe& of abilities and character.

We have obferved, in this performance, an attempt to introduce a new distinction into ecclefiaftical language. The author would have the terms methodism and methodists applied only to Mr. Wesley's

* The Differtation was mentioned in Rev. vol. xlviii. p. 510.

principles

principles and followers; and to thofe, who, though they differ from him upon the head of finless perfection, agree with him on the points of free will, man's merit, conditional works, two fold juftification, univerfal redemption, and falling from grace.

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K.

Art. 47. A Blow at the Root of all Priestly Claims: Proving from
Scripture, that every Layman has a right, not only to Preach and
Pray in Public, but also to adminifter the Ordinances of Baptifin
and the Lord's Supper; and that thofe to whom thefe Offices are
now committed, derive all their authority from the People who
choose to attend upon them, and not from Ordination, either by a
Bishop or Prefbyters, &c. 8vo. 1 s. 6 d. Johnson. 1775.
Those who have been much read in the controverfies, concerning
epifcopal and lay ordination, and other ecclefiaftical claims, will not
find many new arguments in this performance; but there are fome
which it will not be eafy either for our eftablifhed or prefbyterian
clergy to answer.-The author pufhes his point, with great feriouf-
nefs, and in plain, but not vulgar language. His manner is
calculated to flrike and attract the attention of the laity of every
denomination and to them his pamphlet is particularly addreffed.
He appears, from the account here given of himself, to be a pref-
byterian minifter, regularly ordained; but rather of independent prin-
ciples, in the moft liberal fenfe of the word; and zealously attached
to primitive fcriptural Chriftianity,-according to his views of fcrip-
ture-meaning. We have before us a proof of the candour of his
difpofition, in a letter addreffed to the Reviewers. Our author, in
taking notice of the fuperftitious and uncharitable opinion main-
tained by fome of our high churchmen, of the invalidity of diffenters'
baptifm, among other facts relative to the conduct of the clergy, in
respect of this notion, relates a story of the prefent bishop of Bristol
having re-baptifed a lady of a diffenting family, on her marrying a
country curate in Dorfetfhire :-inferring, at the fame time, that
had the lady been a convert from Popery, his lordship would, doubt-
lefs, have thought this trouble unneceffary. In his private letter,
however, he allures us, that " he is truly forry, that he has related
an anecdote concerning the bishop of Bristol, of the truth of which he
thought himfelf well affured,-though he is now informed, that fo
far from his lordship's having performed the ceremony of re-baptifing
the lady, it is not certain that he knew any thing of the affair; and
if fo, had no opportunity of expreffing his approbation, or testifying
his diflike to it. Hence the Letter-writer juftly concludes, that the
bishop deferves to be cleared from the charge to which fuch an in-
ftance of bigotry would have expofed him :" and he adds, " as the
copies of this work (The Blow at the Root, &c.) were all printed
off before the miftake was difcovered, the author cannot think
of any more effectual way of expreffing his concern for it, than by de-
firing, as a particular favour, that you would mention it in your
Review; and thus the acknowledgment will be much more public
than the error itfelf; and you will greatly oblige him who is, &c.
Jan. 16, 1775.
The Author of THE BLOW, &c."
This retractation is undoubtedly right, and commendable; but it
will not, we apprehend, be deemed fufficient, unless the fale of the

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pamphlet

pamphlet be flopped, or the leaf cancelled. For copies of the charge may fall into the hands of those who may never fee the contradiction, conveyed to the public through another channel; and pofterity may thus be led to credit a falfehood most highly injurious to the memory of a prelate to whofe learning and abilities our author himfelf bears honourable teftimony.

Art. 48. Thoughts on Suicide and Duelling. Addreffed to all who believe a Divine Revelation. By a Clergyman of the Church of England. 8vo. I s. Deveulle.

Such arguments as well become the reverend author's clerical character, are here urged against the fashionable crimes mentioned in the title; but as they are chiefly borrowed from other writers, ancient and modern, we meet with nothing new on either fubject. Art. 49. A Lafh at Enthufiafm; in a Dialogue founded on real Facts, between Mrs. Clinker and Mifs Martha Steady. Dilly, &c.

8vo. 6 d.

So mifs Patty! you have made a fine piece of work on't; I hear our famous new preacher, Mr. Jewel, has perfuaded you to turn me. thodist Thus the dialogue begins; and Mifs Patty is much too hard for Madam Clinker. The piece, in fhort, is ably written, in defence of what is fometimes called the tabernacle fcheme; and it is probably one of Mr. Hill's productions: there is in it his fhrewdnefs of argument, and his dash of pleasantry.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 50. The fashionable Tell-Tale. Containing a great variety
of curious and interesting Anecdotes.-Interfperfed with occafional
Remarks, &c. 12mo. 2 Vols. 5 s.
Noble. 1775.

The ftories and jefts in this book, are fuch as have not been retailed in former English collections; though some of them may poffibly have figured in the Joe Millers of France, or other countries; indeed, the greatest part of them feem to be of foreign manufacture. The author's remarks and obfervations are feldom impertinent, or unjust; but we are forry to fee him adopting the vulgar and filly practice of those witlings, who think to feafon a jeft or ban mot with profaneness; as though there could be no wit or farcafm without an oath or execration. A GENTLEMAN would thus relate the following anecdote. The late witty Sir W. Y--, who had the misfortune to have a very offenfive breath, was complaining one day, in a coffee-houfe, that he had rode to town that morning, with a bitter cold North wind blowing all the way full in his face. Really! Sir,' faid Col, who had the misfortune, at that moment, to fit rather too near Sir W. Then, I am fure, the North wind had the worst of it!'

When the compiler of a jest book relates this little flory, it will end thus; Then, by G-d! Sir William,' faid Col. Cutwell, the North wind had the worst of it!'-See vol. i. p. 43.-Perhaps the author imagined, that a military officer could not be witty without fwearing.

Richard Hill, Efq; author of Pietas Oxonienfis, and of the tras written in oppofition to Mr. Fletcher. See alfo No. 46 of the prefent Catalogue.

Art.

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