It is not however in our power to offer so good an apology for some other parts of the work. The narration of Madoc's behaviour to Gunifred on the couch is certainly too libidinous: and the same epithet will almost equally apply itself to the different descriptions of Einma and Athena. We really wonder that the relatives, to whom the novel is dedicated, had not forbidden the young man from making such ideas public-they, assuredly, are not becoming in a stripling who has scarcely seen his twentieth year,' any more than are the loose thoughts on marriage scattered through the volumes. When we give also the following confusion of tenses, &c. as a sample of the language, the reader will be satisfied that Mr. Earle's fame would not have suffered if the romance of the Welshman had never been printed.

A victory over the English was not to be gained but with the loss of many lives; many widows that went wives to bed would rise with the next morning's sun, and many that had parents shall be orphaned; the flaming sword of war shall cut short the days of the brave, and the blood of Britons shall clot their parent earth.' Vol. i. P. 225.

ART. 48.-Mysterious Friendship; a Tale. 2 Vols. 12mo. 85. sewed. Earle and Hemet.

The virtuous and innocent actions of two rural families in Devonshire, whose respective masters are with their regiment in America, are the subject matter of this novel. It contains no one incident that has not been many times represented in other works of this nature; yet it may be perused with pleasure by persons fond of novelreading; for, generally speaking, there is nothing in it to find fault with, unless it be the folly of the catastrophe. William Bennet must, forsooth, turn out in the end to be a lord, by the hackneyed method of being changed at nurse; without the probability of becoming better by the practice of one additional virtue, or in any other wise, as far as we see, being an iota more respectable.

MISCELLANEOUS LIST.

ART. 49. Remarks on the Character of Richard the Third; as played by Cooke and Kemble. 8vo. is. 6d. Parsons. 1801.

The two winter theatres being announced to open with the tragedy of Richard the Third, naturally gave rise to an idea of competition. The writer of these pages being entirely unacquainted with any performer off the stage, must certainly be considered an impartial judge.' P. 3.

There are two positions laid down, which at least appear to us to be doubtful. Why must competition be the necessary consequence of two theatres playing the same piece? Or why must a man, because he is impartial, be a judge of what he pretends to write upon? In reply to the first, we should hope that two bodies of men of liberal sentiment would not envy one another when both are so bountifully protected, would not let their eye be evil because the public are good and to the second we must say, after reading this pamphlet

through, that we question much the author's judgement, and more his impartiality.

ART. 50.-Kemble and Cooke: or, a Critical Review of a Pamphlet published under the Title of Remarks on the Character of Richard the Third, as played by Cooke and Kemble. With other Critical Remarks on the Performances of these two Gentlemen. 8vo. Westley. 1801.

Is. 6d.

This pamphlet, in answer to the former article, is written with so much warmth and spirit, that we can hardly question its being the production of one of Mr. Kemble's intimate friends. The author must forgive us for distrusting him when he says he does not know that gentleman. So much earnestness would hardly be employed, we think, for a stranger. If it really be so, Mr. Kemble is much obliged to him. In the first part of his review the writer deserves considerable reprehension: his eagerness to vindicate his friend makes him forget that manners make the man, and he descends almost to scurrility; but, as he goes on, this abuse ceases, and his language becomes more moderate. At the conclusion are made a great many pertinent observations in reply to the author of Remarks,' which evince a great share of critical ability, and which we hope have convinced his adversary of the impropriety of his publication.

ART. 51.-An historical and practical Essay on the Culture and Commerce of Tobacco. By William Tatham. 8vo. 6s. Boards. Vernor and Hood.

1801.

Our author, who has long resided in Virginia, gives a particular account of the cultivation of the tobacco-plant, and its management, in a commercial view; and traces the various alterations in the demand which fashion or political interests have occasioned. It is by no means evident that this plant is indigenous in the new world; and, in every vestige which history has left, it appears to be cultivated in every part of America. If any portion of the new continent can claim it as its own, the Windward Islands or South America will be found to merit the distinction. To the history we have no important additions; culture, management, package, exportation, &c. of tobacco, are detailed with minuteness, and apparently with truth. The cultivation and the exportation are gradually declining. Those who are interested in the subject will find much useful information in this volume, detailed with accuracy and perspicuity.

ART. 52.-A Letter, humbly addressed to the most Rev. and Right Rev. the Archbishops and Lishops of the Church of England. 8vo. Cobbett and Morgan.

1801.

This letter is an offspring of the Porcupine press. It points out to the bishops a truth too well known, that some of the clergy are become most notorious schismatics;' for when a minister of the church officiates in any place of public worship, independent on episcopal jurisdiction, he officiates in schism. This is justly called a malum in se; and the bishops are requested to suspend the delinquents. To this we can have no objection; but when the writer would pre

clude the use of the church liturgy by any one who is not of the church, we cannot see any possible good purpose such intolerance would produce. By using the church liturgy, the sectaries not only give a testimony to its excellence, but prepare their hearers for a better union with the establishment. The abuse of the act of toleration is ridiculous: let the church be maintained if the legislature please; but let not those who differ from it, and follow their own ways of worship, be injured. If Gospel preaching by illiterate persons be become a grievance, it may easily be removed by the more earnest preaching of the bishops and their clergy. Let zeal be opposed by zeal; and the state will receive no injury if it prevent only religious polemics from acts of public outrage against each other. We applaud highly the attempt to afford the poor better accommodation in the body of the church; but the evident drift of the letter, to tighten the strings of the church instrument, and to infringe on the act of toleration, will, we trust, meet with no encouragement. ART. 53. The Life of ********* Esq. with the Circumstance of his Conversion, under the preaching of the Gospel at Providence Chapel, in London. Being a Testimonial of unmerited free Grace, and the Sovereignty of God in the Choice of his elect People. Written by himself. 8vo. Is. Priestly. 1801.

*********

esq. the son of an old-clothesman in Monmouth-street, was apprenticed to a chimney-sweeper, which occupation he left for that of a pick pocket. The methodist-meetings afforded him practice; but, in the pursuit of his profession, he was arrested by the energies. of the preacher, and instantaneously converted. It was difficult at first to reconcile his practice to his new faith; but a due consideration that he was now one of the Lord's elect got the better of his carnal and natural scruples, and he continued the devotee and the pickpocket till he had amassed a sufficient sum to take the business and house of a pawnbroker. His faith he here retained; the dangerous employment of a pickpocket gave way to one more lucrative, in which he assiduously exercised every knavish trick, covering them with the consoling thought, that however foully he might act he never could finally fall from grace. His business so prospered, that he soon acquired a sufficiency to purchase an estate, and to become a magistrate for the county, in which capacity, as in every other, whether of brother, father, husband, tradesman, he showed himself devoid equally of honesty, virtue, and Christian charity, but full of the appearance and cant of religion. That such a character might exist we cannot doubt; but it would be unjust to associate Calvinisin with such villany. The life here presented is a caricature of the principles of that sect, and in this point of view it may be usefully presented to those Calvinistic tradesmen who are in danger of palliating their vices by their religious professions to such as are tricking, over-reaching, morose, canting, intolerant, uncharitable. On the other hand, an equally strong caricature may be drawn of the meie moral man, with a better education, who is constant to his church, but as strongly attached to playhouses, masquerades, balls, routs, bathing-places, dinners, and the whole routine of idle amusements.

ART. 54.-The Detector of Quackery; or, Analyser of Medical, Phi losophical, Political, Dramatic, and Literary Imposture. By John Corry. 8vo. 8vo. 4s. Boards. Hurst. 1801.

To bring empiricism of any description under the lash of ridicule is one mode of establishing the credit of legitimate science; therefore he that laughs successfully at quackery deserves the thanks of society, We can by no means, however, allow Mr. Corry to deserve the title he has assumed to himself. A man must be profoundly read both in books and men before he can become an analyser of medical, philosophical, political, dramatic, and literary' merit; or know what is 'imposture' in these branches, and what is not. The work before

us is no more than a set of flippant animadversions, sometimes well and sometimes ill directed.

ART. 55.-The Force of Contrast, or Quotations, accompanied with Remarks, submitted to the Consideration of all who have interested themselves in what has been called the Blagdon Controversy. 8vo. 6d. Cadell and Davies. 1801.

The Blagdonian controversy is, we understand, and we are happy to hear it, at an end, by the reconciliation of the parties, and the restoration of the curate to his charge. The intent of this work is to injure the character of the curate, and to convict him guilty of various misrepresentations and false assertions. As to several of the charges here adduced, we can upon a very slight examination pronounce him innocent, and easily conceive that he may have brought forward some points without sufficient information: but we can by no means allow that a clergyman, defending himself from a very se vere attack urged against him by powerful antagonists, is to be held up to the world in the light which would be most agreeable to the wishes of this nameless pamphleteer. The question is now at rest: May the parties on both sides act up to their profession, and forgive!

CORRESPONDENCE.

For want of room, we are obliged to postpone our Reply to Dr. Montucci's Answer' to the conductors of the Critical Review, respecting Chinese Literature, until next month, when it will most certainly appear.

THE

CRITICAL REVIEW

FEBRUARY, 1802.

ART. I.-Outline of the Mineralogy of the Scottish Isles; with Mineralogical Observations made in different Parts of the Mainland of Scotland, and Dissertations upon Peat and Kelp. By Robert Jameson. 2 Vols. 4to. 17. 11s. 6d. Boards. White.

SINCE the celebrated Swedish chemist Bergman instituted, in 1782, the new and precise principles of mineralogy which have since been received in all European countries, the progress of this important science has been surprisingly rapid. Yet, in England, zoology and the fashionable study of botany continue to attract more attention, and the students of mineralogy are comparatively few. This science is here also rather theoretical than practical; rather derived from specimens in cabinets, than from laborious travels and acute observation of the substances in their native positions, and with their original affinities and gradations. This circumstance is truly surprising, when we consider the variety of practical volumes which have been published on the continent; while Great-Britain has been distinguished, from remote ages, by its mines of tin, and its whole manufactures and prosperity rest upon those of coal; not to mention that its monarch is possessed of celebrated mines in Germany. But as mineralogy is a far more difficult science than zoology or botany, it was to be expected that it should be the last in the progression of the three natural kingdoms; and, when the two former shall have been exhausted and dismissed, it will probably succeed them in the general estimation.

To point out the great importance of mineralogy in most other scientific pursuits, or as a great mean of national wealth and prosperity, would be a waste of time. The advantages which Russia, Austria, Saxony, and many other countries, derive from their native mines of the precious metals are universally acknowledged; and, far from tending to discourage agriculture or manufactures, the discovery of a mine has stimulated every species of industry. Superficial inquirers have however argued, from the example of Spain, that mines are destructive of national prosperity. This is a mere prejudice and CRIT. REV. Vol. 34. Feb. 1802.

K