reflections on a vague and unauthenticated remark, which, founded on a faint conjecture, was more calculated to amuse and deceive, than to convince and inform. We have read the writings of fome of the earliest fathers of the Chriftian church, and have not perceived the faintest trace of any thing resembling a tefiimony to the lawfulness of polygamy. On the contrary, we have noted a variety of paffages, in which the practice of it is ftrongly and explicitly condemned. We will particularly refer the curious and learned Reader to Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. Vid. Greek edition, by Thyrlby, fol. p. 336. 423, and particularly p. 372, where are there very remarkable words-MONH τη γαμέτη γυ ναικι ΕΚΑΣΤΟΣ-exa&tly fimilar to the text we have before rescued from the oppreffion of our theological Procruftes (1 Cor. vii. 2.). We also appeal, for the antiquity of a commanded and practifed monogamy, to the Stromata of Clemens Alexandrinus, lib. iv. p. 312. 335, 336. Edit. Heinfii et Sylburg. Lug. Bat. Fol. 1616. n dεUTEρa περικοπη ΜΟΝΟΓΑΜΙΑΝ ιςησιν. Again: ПОATTAMIAN ἔτι συγχωρεί, viz. Jefus Chrift, called immediately before κυριος -who "reftored the ancient inftitution of marriage, and would not (as the venerable father fays) permit polygamy to be practifed now-a-day." Mr. Madan will indeed conteft the authority of these ancient fathers though, from his great eagerness to avail himself of every teftimony in his favour, we doubt not, but that he would have efteemed it a moft convincing proof of the lawfulness of polygamy, could he have produced fuch refpectable witneffes for it, as we have produced against it. On fubjects merely fpeculative, where the fancies of different men will strike out different conjectures, which it is the bufinefs of ingenuity to colour with the femblance of truth, we fhould not be biaffed by the weight of antiquity, or prejudiced in our decifions by the authority of names. On matters of opinion, argument would hold the first place, and we fhould only be determined by the evidence of reason. But in matters of fact, where fancy is not allowed to fport itfelf in hypothefis, we confider the Fathers in the light of credible hiftorians: and when they bear a uniform and difinterested teftimony to a known and common practice, it would discover an unpardonable degree of sceptical obftinacy and partiality, not to allow them the credit of veracity. Thefe obfervations are of weight in the queftion before us. Justin Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus, who lived very near the apoftolic age, pofitively condemn the practice of polygamy, and reprefent it as totally inconfiftent with the genius of Chriftianity, and the established rites and ufages of the evangelic church. Whether they reafoned well or ill on the subject, is REV. Nov. 1780. i Z not not the point in debate. Did they, or did they not, bear teftimony to a fimple and obvious fact?-and is their teftimony to be credited? * In a word-when we reflect, that the primitive inftitution of marriage limited it to one man and one woman; that this inftitution was adhered to by Noah and his fons, amidst the degeneracy of the age in which they lived, and in fpite of the examples of polygamy which the accurfed race of Cain had introduced; when we confider how very few (comparatively fpeaking) the examples of this practice were amongst the faithful; how much it brought its own punishment with it; and how dubious and equivocal these paffages are in which it appears to have the fanction of the divine approbation;-when to thefe reflections we add another, refpecting the limited views and temporary nature of the more ancient difpenfations and inftitutions of religion-how often the imperfections, and even vices of the patriarchs, and people of God, in old time, are recorded, without any exprefs notification of their criminality-how much is faid to be commanded, which our reverence for the holiness of God and his law, will only fuffer us to fuppofe, were, for wife ends, permitted how frequently the meffengers of God adapted themfelves to the genius of the people to whom they were fent, and the circumftances of the times in which they lived; ABOVE ALL, when we confider the purity, equity, and benevolence of the Chriftian law; the explicit declarations of our Lord, and his Apoftle St. Paul, refpecting the inftitution of marriage; its defign and limitation-when we reflect, too, on the teftimony of the most ancient Fathers, who could not poffibly be ignorant of the general and common practice of the Apoftolic church-and, finally, when, to thefe confiderations, we add thofe which are founded on juftice to the female fex, and all the regulations of domeftic economy and national policy, we muft wholly condemn the revival of polygamy; and thus bear our honeft teftimony against the leading defign of this dangerous and ill-advifed publication. As to the merit of this work, confidered as a compofition, we can only in general fay, that the language is aukward and inelegant; that the fubjects are not always happily arranged; and that the repetition of the fame arguments, inftead of rendering them more forcible, renders them infufferably tedious.-We leave it to our NOMINAL Critics to trace out the minuter errors of this treatife, Gen. iv. 19. LAMECH, the father of the polygamifts, is the great hero of Lyjerus; and though Mr. Madan doth not triumph with such loud acclamations in his praife, yet he appears to have a fecret veneration for his memory, and is much difpleafed with good Mr. Henry, for wounding polygamy through the fide of its founder. and and thofe verbal inaccuracies, which it is the glory of our modern "word-catchers" to detect and expofe in form. Here, indeed, the harvest is abundant; and our labourers may eat their bread without any fweat on their brows! We shall now take leave of Mr. Madan and his Work, with "recommending to his serious and reverend attention" two lines from a Heathen poet, which no Chriftian might have been ahamed to have written : Nam uxor contenta eft, quæ bona eft, uno viro, PLAUTUS, Mercat. ART. H. Galic Antiquities, confifting of a History of the Druids, particularly of thofe of Caledonia; a Differtation on the Authenticity of the Poems of Offian; and a Collection of ancient Poems, tranflated from the Galic of Ullin, Offian, Orran, &c. by John Smith, Minifier of Kilbrandon, Argylefhire. 4to. IOS. 6 d. Boards. Edinburgh printed; for Cadell in London. 1780. HE Author of this performance endeavours to illuftrate the account of the Druids, given by the Greek and Roman writers, by the remains of ancient customs and manners in the Highlands, and by fome expreffions and idioms still used in the Galic language. In his Differtation on the authenticity of Offian's poems, he attempts to confirm the arguments already offered on this fubject by Lord Kaims, Dr. Blair, and Mr. Macpherfon; and to answer the objections which have been started by Dr. Johnson and other critics, fince the publication of these performances, which were intended to affert the honour, and to vindicate the fame, of the ancient Celtic bard. We apprehend that this part of the work will not at prefent excite any high degree of curiofity. The learned are in general little difpofed to doubt, that the fineft paffages of the poems of Ossian exist in the Galic language. Whether the whole exifts in that language, nearly in the fame form in which we have it in English, is a matter which the prudent attention of the Editor to his own intereft (for we are unwilling to adopt the harsh language of Mr. Macpherfon's antagonift) feems to have left doubtful; but one thing is not doubtful, that to the difpute concerning their authenticity, the poems of Offian owe no fmall fhare of their celebrity. We pretend not to difpel, what the inimitable Writer of the Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire calls, the doubtful mift that hangs over the Highland antiquities; yet we cannot but admire the ingenuity of Mr. Macpherfon's contrivance, if fuch it be allowed, who has eftablifhed the fame of his English tranflation, by leaving us uncertain concerning the authenticity of the original, and that without detracting any Z2 thing thing from the glory of the fon of Fingal. The fineft paffages of the Galic poems, which are ftill repeated in the Highlands, will fecure the immortal renown of Offian, who can easily spare to Mr. Macpherson the merit of having difpofed, combined, and extended them to a proper form for a literary publication. There is no Reader of tafte, but muft admire the warmth and energy of many of Offian's defcriptions. Several paffages both in Fingal and Temora are exceedingly beautiful and affecting; but his works, confidered as a whole, are no more than a delightful piece of poetical patchwork. They may be compared, indeed, with the defultory productions of Oriental fancy, and they will not lofe much by the comparison; but to fet them in competition with the fublime models of Grecian genius, is an infult to the judgment and common sense of mankind. The Tranflator of the fragments now prefented to the Public, fpeaks familiarly of the Celtic Platos and Homers. But of the philofophy of the Celts we have not yet received any specimens; and that their wife men ever communicated any knowledge to the Greeks, refts on the feeble authority of Diogenes Laertius (Note Laert. in Proæm.). As to the phrase of Celtic or Highland Homers,' we could wish to fee it entirely laid afide. The facred name of the immortal father of verfe ought not to be prophaned by ignoble comparisons; and the prepofterous adulation offered to the fon of Fingal, inftead of exalting his character, expofes both himself and his admirers to ridicule and contempt. As a curious monument of antiquity, the poems of Offian deferve attention and respect. In this view, they have been tranflated from Mr. Macpherson's English verfion into feveral foreign languages, particularly the German and the Italian; and, in this view, they are confidered by the learned of Europe. But, if they are examined by the rules of Epic poetry, we fhall find, that whether we confider the invention and difpofition of the fable (ή των πραγματων συςασις), the representation of characters and manners (ra non), or the natural beauty and verifimilitude of the language and expreffion (To TS λέξεως πιθανον), they have not any title to be ranked in that moft fublime clafs of poetical compofition; at leaft, until the rules of Ariftotle be abolished; rules which have been adopted by all civilized nations, because they are founded on the practice of Homer, or, in other words, on the laws of nature; for Nature and Homer are acknowledged to be the fame by the general consent and imitation of critics and poets, as well as by the univerfal admiration of human kind. The prefent collection is given to the Public, without being dignified with the name of Tragedies, Elegies, Epopoeias, or any other specific appellation, by which the Greeks difcrimimated their works of literary genius. The Tranflator calls them, them, fimply, Poems; which fhows a very becoming modefty, as well as propriety; for, unless he had called them" Battlepieces," we know not by what fpecific name they could have been accurately diftinguifhed. The uniformity of subject, the sameness of imagery, and the monotony of ftyle, render it impoffible, without extreme fatigue, to give thefe Galic poems a continued perufal. Even the defcriptions, which form the leaft exceptionable part, are generally fo uncouth and abrupt, that, in order to relish, it is neceffary to study them; and poetry which requires ftudy, cannot be very pleasant. The odes of Pindar, the choral fongs of the Grecian tragedies, are not an exception to this rule. The glowing expreffions, the bold inverfions of ftyle, the innumerable allufions to ancient hiftory and fable, as well as to the multiplied forms and ceremonies of polished life, render many paffages difficult to us, which were eafy to the Greeks, and which, after a proper ftudy of the hiftory, the language, and the customs of antiquity, become eafy to the modern Reader. But the obfcurity of Offian arifes not from our ignorance of the manners, the amufements, or the employments of his age, which were few, fimple, and uniform; but from his unusual mode of expreffing the most common ideas and fentiments, his gigantic hyperboles, and his unceafing train of comparisons and metaphors, which, though continually borrowed from the fame objects, yet, as they are employed unneceffarily on almost every occafion, diftract the attention, perplex the understanding, bewilder and confound the imagination of the Reader. Having made thefe obfervations concerning the general merit and principal defects of Galic poetry, we fhould proceed to examine the present tranflations, and to compare them with thofe formerly published by Mr. Macpherfon. Upon this fubject the Author expreffes himself in a manner which is not likely to excite the partiality of the Public in his favour. • Whatever reception these pieces may meet with from the Public in their prefent form, the Tranflator fhall reckon himself much honoured by the approbation and encouragement which fome of the first judges of poetical compofition have been already pleased to beftow on them.' Whether this approbation has been justly beftowed, the Reader will be enabled to judge, from a fpecimen, which appears to us one of the least excep tionable in this collection. CATHLUINA: A POEM The Argument.] Annir, the daughter of Moran, having been loved by two intimate friends, Gaul and Garno, refolved to get rid of the In the district of Lorn in Argylefhire, there is a lake which is now called Lochavich, but anciently Loch-luina, or Lochluana, Near it was probably the scene of |