Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

obvious. He fells the tree which overfhades him, and rolls it to the water's edge;-he mounts it, and regains his former ftation.'

The picture which our author draws of the progrefs of invention, refpecting fwords and canoes, feems entirely conformable to nature; but on what occafion, the use of the bow was firft fuggefted, he finds it difficult to conjecture; there being nothing among natural objects fimilar to the effect of the bow. This inftrument, however, was introduced at an early period; as appears from the Mofaic Hiftory, and the battles defcribed by Homer.

Mr. Mofeley afterwards describes the bow, and its feveral appendages, at different periods, with great accuracy. His attention is first employed on the figure of the bow, and the degree of power with which it appears, from the evidence of hiftory, to have acted; making likewife fome obfervations on the different ways of managing that inftrument; and pointing out the feveral attitudes which have been practifed by various nations for that purpose. He then treats, in distinct chapters, of the bow-ftring, arrows, the whiftling-arrow, and poifoned-arrows; and takes notice of fome other ufes to which the arrow has been applied, different from that of a warlike inftrument. The chief of thefe is divination by the arrow, of which he gives a general account. Quivers and targets are next the object of his enquiry; after which he treats largely of the English long-bow, and arbaleft; concluding with a hiftorical chapter of skilful archers.

It may well be imagined, that an author who has devoted fo much attention to the fubject of the prefent Effay, must be a particular admirer of archery. Of this, the following extract affords fufficient evidence :

That archery poffeffes many excellences as an amusement, will require little trouble to prove. It is an exercise adapted to every age and every degree of ftrength, and the blood may be driven with any required velocity, by increasing or diminishing the power of the bow made ufe of. It is not neceffarily laborious, as it may be difcontinued at the moment it becomes fatiguing; a pleasure not to be enjoyed by the hunter, who, having finished his chafe, perceives that he must crown his toils with an inanimate ride of forty miles to his bed. Archery is attended with no c.uelty. It fheds no innocent blood, nor does it torture harmless animals; charges which lie heavy against some other amufements.

It has been faid a reward was formerly offered to him who could invent a new pleasure. Had fuch a reward been held forth by the ladies of the prefent day, he who introduced archery as a

female

female exercise, would have defervedly gained the prize. It is unfortunate that there are few diverfions in the open air, in which women can join with fatisfaction; and as their fedentary life renders motion neceffary to health, it is to be lamented that fuch fuitable amusements have been wanting to invite them. Archery has, however, contributed admirably to fupply this defect, and in a manner the most defirable that could be wished.

But I do not intend to fing the praises of this elegant art in their full extent. Fashion now introduces it to the world, and with far greater fuccefs than that which may probably attend my reafoning and feeble panegyrics. I fubjoin a wifh, however, that this fashion may be univerfally cultivated and approved; and may we see the time when (with Statius) it can be faid,

"Pudor eft nefcire fagittas."

Whether archery be really a fuitable amusement for ladies we fhall not take upon us to determine; but it is fo far happy for the world, that this ancient military art has now become an innocent exercife. We have only to inform our readers, that the ingenious author has ornamented his Effay with fome elegant plates.

A Differtation on the Querulousness of Statesmen. 8vo. 25. 6d. Longman. 1792.

No

O obfervation has been more frequently made, than that, in this country particularly, there are always fome politicians who affect to complain of the ruinous ftate of the nation, even in times of its apparent profperity. To expose this common foible, or rather, perhaps, artifice, is the defign of the prefent author, who confiders the subject under a variety of different heads, of which the following quotation affords an abstract:

< The diminution of our territory in America; the infufficiency of the public revenue; the decay of manufactures, and commerce; together with the neglect of agriculture, and the depopulation of our villages; are circumftances which have often engaged the attention of politicians, and extorted from them many expreffions of regret. As if thefe evils, affumed in their greatest extent as real ones, were yet too fmall, the fame politicians have conceived luxury to fubfift among us, in as high a degree as it did among the Romans, at the moft vicious period of the reign of the most degenerate of the Cæfars. They have spoken of corruption, as if it threatened an immediate overthrow of the conftitution. They have afferted, that the national character is exting; and that the virtue of the people is no more. And, by

way

way of fully convincing the world that they have not defponded by halves, they have fometimes included in one description, the rain of every refource which our empire enjoys; and the annihilation of every quality through which her reputation has been exalted.topics.'

I am about to pay fome attention to each of thefe

We confider it as unneceffary to lay before our readers the proof adduced by the author, in confirmation of the queruloufnefs of which he treats. Suffice it to fay, that he produces, both from political writers, and fpeakers in parliament, fufficient inftances of the charge; and these he endeavours to refute by a copious investigation of each fubject.

The following extract, taken from the general conclusion, will give an idea of his fentiments:

In treating of the finances, we perceived, that neither the predictions of difcredit, and of bankruptcy, uttered during the American war; nor thofe uttered fince the clofe of that war; had been, in any fenfe, verified. On the contrary, we perceived, that the revenue, after a trial of almost nine years, bore, and was very likely to continue to bear, to the expenditure-an higher proportion than it had done at any past period.

We found, that the decline of trade was a malady of a very old ftanding; but, happily, one altogether ideal.We faw fome reasons for believing our commerce to have been benefited, and not injured, through the feceffion of our American provinces; and fome for flattering ourselves, that its range would foon be widened, and its value enhanced, in confequence of its being made to flow in channels from which it had unwifely been withdrawn. The topick of manufactures, I left unheeded. And I did fo, in hopes that it would not escape observation, that, as the increase of the exports of Great Britain, of which a small part only confifts in raw materials, has recently been great; so also must have been the growth of her manufactures.

[ocr errors]

The very short difcuffion bestowed on the topics of the neglect of agriculture (ly agriculture the bulk of writers feem to mean tillage); and the depopulation of our villages; gave us a refult fomewhat to this effect: that tillage is never omitted, in this country, unless for the purpose of securing ends more defirable than any likely to be gained by practifing it conftantly; and, that, if many villages have been pulled down, not a few, as well as fome towns, have been built up, and filled with inhabit

ants.

Luxury appeared to fubfift in our island, in a degree not greater than that in which it had often subsisted before ; ——ex- ́ actly in that degree in which, according to statesmen and philofophers, it ought, and muft fubfift.

[ocr errors]

The measure of our political corruption, feemed to be confi derably greater than any honeft man would wish it to be: yet, no greater, but rather fmaller, than it had been at most junctures fince the Revolution; and as fmall as it is likely to be at any fu ture juncture.

As to the national character, and the virtue of the people :the former appeared as diftinct as it had ever done; while the latter, however defective when confidered abstractly, appeated fuperior to that of their ancestors.

And, with regard to thofe complaints which had, most pa triotically, been made to embrace all our refources, and all our valuable qualities; they feemed fitted to produce hardly any thing but laughter.

In thus calling up paft perceptions, I have imperfectly recapitulated the refults of the arguments ufed in the preceding Dif

fertation.

But, in order to point out, in an adequate degree, the felicity of our fituation as a people, it would be necessary to do much more than recapitulate:It would be neceffary to take notice of the tranquillity of the nation; of the ftability, and the excellence of the English conflitution; of the advanced price of land; of the favourable state of exchange; of the flourishing condition of publick credit; and, of the increased, and increafing confi deration in which Great Britain is held by all the leading powers of the world. I fhall fay nothing upon any of thefe heads, the two last excepted: and even upon them I shall fay little.

When the public credit of a people is high, it may, in general, be taken for granted, that their affairs are profperous, The public credit of the British is now uncommonly high; and hence we may infer, that their affairs are uncommonly profperous.'

This author's fentiments are accompanied with one advantage, which is, that they feem to be confirmed by facts not easily controvertible.

A Sermon on Public Worship and Inftruction, preached on Sunday 4th September, 1791, at the Opening of St. Peter's Chapel, Edinburgh. By C. Webfler. 4to. Is. 6d. Rivingtons.

1791.

THIS difcourfe, the text of which is taken from Leviticus, xxvi. 2. has been published at the requeft of the congregation to whom it was delivered; and whether we confider

the

the elegant fimplicity of the style, or the juftness of the sentiments, it is well entitled to that distinction.

The preacher fets out with pertinent reflections on the proper obfervance of times and places of religious worship, which he fhews to be not only founded upon the command of God, but effentially connected with the interefts and happiness of mankind.

What, fays he, can be fo natural or necessary, what can make us fo good, or fo happy, as to adore that Being to whom we owe, all we are, all we have, and all we hope for; to pour out our forrows and our fins before him, and to offer up for ourselves and others, our defires of forgiveness and favour? Though our homage can add nothing to the happiness of the deity, yet his goodnefs has put on it a value, which it becomes not us presumptuously to fcan; and the same law which commands us to believe with the heart, obliges us to make confeffion with the mouth. The fentiment is thus rivetted and improved by the expreffion, as our gratitude by thanksgiving, our benevolence by interceffion, and our humility by prayer. Thus piety is not only itfelf a virtuous fentiment, but the best means, motive, and principle of virtue: it connects and includes all other virtues; it fanctifies, it furvives them it is the best bond of fociety and friendship: it brightens our brightest moments, and gilds our darkest days: it is that fire from above, which, while it confumes the impurities of our nature, can alone confecrate and kindle any facrifices which we make, and render them acceptable to heaven: it is the fecurity of youth, the dignity of age, the balm of life, the fupport of death, and that deathlefs wing, on which alone the foul, rising above this little orb, can foar through the blissful regions of eternity.'

After eftablishing, from reafon and fcripture, the propriety of ritual obfervances, and the reverence due to the places which are fet apart for those holy folemnities; the author proceeds to defcribe the religious and moral advantages refulting from the inftitution of the fabbath.

Of the former of these he presents us with a beautiful amplification in the following extract:

Public worship refts not folely on the footing of a pofitive law. It is recommended to us by the general confent of mankind, our own fenfe of decency, and the established rules of society, as a merciful appointment of reft and thought amidst the labours and diffipations of life, as a public teftimony of reverence due to the Almighty, as an evidence of our faith to our fellow worshippers, and as a connecting principle of our common relations, neceflities and bleffings. The principle of piety, like our other affections,

« AnteriorContinua »