Mr. Hugh Murray will publish, in a few days, a work entitled Inquiries, historical and moral, respecting the character of nations and the progress of society. In this work it will be Mr. Murray's object to exhibit a view of the moral history of man; of the manners and characters of nations, and the circumstances on which they are dependant. After endeavouring to ascertain the general principles by which they are regulated, he proceeds to give a view of society, as it existed in the earliest stages of its progress. Mr. Murray has some intention of hereafter extending a similar survey to subsequent periods in the History of Man. Mr. Robert Walker, of Oxford, will shortly publish Experiments and Observations on the production of artificial Cold, a new edition with considerable additions. The Barrister, the first part of whose hints on Evangelical preaching has been so ably examined, by several opponents, has the second part in a very forward state. Mr Renney, author of the work intitled A Demonstration of the necessity of a free Trade to the East Indies, has now in the press another performance on the State of the East India Company, which will speedily be published. A translation of the Satires of Boileau, with some account of the life and writings of that poet, will shortly be ready for publi cation. The correspondence between Mrs. Elizabeth Carter and Miss Catherine Talbot, and a series of letters from Mrs. Carter to Mrs. Vesey, in two 4to volumes, will appear in the course of the present month. A new edition of Swift's works, in 19 volumes, 8vo, will speedily appear. Dr. Malthy is preparing a new edition of Morell's Thesaurus. The sixteenth edition of Dr. Vicesimus Knox's Essays, moral and literary, is in the press. In the press, The Comet, a mock newspaper, by the author of "All the Talents." In the press, and will be published in a few days, with a coloured satirical frontispiece, price five shillings in boards, Emancipation; or, Peter Martin and the Squire; a tale, in rhyme, with notes, satirical and explanatory, exhibiting sketches of distinguished public characters. To which is added a short account of the present state of the Irish Catholics. on a recent hypothesis respecting the origin of moral evil,' is transcribing for the press, Thoughts on the primary condition of intelligent accountable creatures, deduced from principles of right reason, compared with the testimony of inspiration and corroborated by references to approved calvinistic writers. The Rev. Mr. W. Newman of Old Ford; is preparing for the press, part the first, of a reply to two queries. 1st. What has the Gospel done for females? 20. What have christian females done for the Gospel? Mr. Bisset of the Museum, Birmingham, will shortly publish a magnificent guide, or grand copper-plate directory to the town of Birmingham; in which the addresses of the most eminent professional gentlemen, bankers, merchants, tradesmen, and manufacturers, will be elegantly engraved in superb and em blematic plates. Mr. Thomas M'Gill has in the press Travels in Turkey, Italy, and Russia, during the years 1804, 1805, and 1806, with an account of the new settlement of Odessa, in the Black Sea, and of the trade of Turkey. A translation of Richard of Cirencester, on the Ancient State of Britain, with notes; a Commentary on the Roman Itinerary, and Remarks on the British Roads and Antiquities; accompanied by the original treatise De Situ Britanniæ, from the scarce work published by Professor Bertram at Copenhagen, is in the press, and will speedily be published. The Life of Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Pauls, by Mr. Cheerton, is nearly ready for the press in one large volume 8vo. To be embellished with three portraits from originals never before engraved. Mr. T. E. Williams, Chemist, of Reading, is printing at his own private press, a Catalogue of British Plants, particularly pointing out their Medical and Economical Uses. Mr. William Savage proposes to publish by subscription, A View of the elegant Gothic remains of the East End of Howden Church, in the East Riding of the County of York, the drawing by Webster, from a sketch made in 1796. It will be engraved in aqua tinta, by Lewis, and coloured to imitate the drawing. The size will be 18 inches by 14. In the press and speedily will be published, in two elegant volumes duodecimo, Letters on Literature and Composition, addressed to The Rev. Johnson Grant, A. M. is prepar- his son, by G. Gregory, D.D. late Vicar ing for publication a summary of the History of Westham, Domestic Chaplain to the of the English Church, with an account of Bishop of Landaff, &c. This interesting the sects which have separated from it, and work had been sent to press before the lamentanswers to the tenets of each. To this worked death of the Author, and the manuscript the premium given by the society of St. David's, for promoting Christian knowledge and church union, was adjudged. The Rev. W. Bennet, author of Remarks had been completely finished in the week previous to the sudden illness which terminated his valuable life. In a letter addressed to his publisher, on its completion, he remarked, "That this work contained the result of the able editions of the Greek and Latin Classics. observations of his whole life, on every sub-I. The whole of Herbert will be reprinted ject of taste and literature, and whatever might be the ultimate opinion of its merits, his reputation in the republic of letters would in a great degree depend on it." Price 13s. boards. Nearly ready for publication by subscription, for the benefit of Mr. Cowper's arphan godson, in royal 4to. price two guineas, the Latin and Italian poems of Milton translated into English verse, with the originals and a fragment of a commentary on Paradise Lost, by the late William Cowper, Esq. with a preface and notes from various authors, by the editor, and three designs by John Flaxman, Esq. A new translation of the Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History is preparing for the press by the Rev. J. Evans, Author of two Tours through North and South Wales. It will be accompanied by numerous notes, calculated to elucidate and illustrate many interesting subjects of English History, Antiquity, and Topography; several obscure passages of which will be discussed, and it is presumed satisfactorily defined. This, an editor at the present time, is better enabled to perform than at any former period. from the laudable spirit, which has recently prevailed of promoting the study of antiquities, and encouraging topographical publications. The work will be preceded by an introductory chapter on the state of religion from the earliest period in Britain, anterior to the commencement of Bede's æra, and a continuation from authentic documents down to the Norman Conquest: so as to comprise a complete view of the Anglo-Saxon Church. and his "Corrections and Additions" inserted in their proper places. A great number of books will be mentioned which were unknown to him; and of those that he has briefly or imperfectly noticed, the description will in general be more ample and accurate.-II. The Notes, biographical and bibliographical, are intended to be copious. Anecdotes, relating to the authors of books, as well as to the books themselves, will be occasionally given; and as the History of Printing may be properly considered the History of Literature, in this country, it is hoped that this department of the work may be found useful and interesting.-Information on these subjects will be collected chiefly from the writings of Wood, Nicholson, Hearne, Tanner, Bagford, Warton, Ritson, Bishop Percy, Pinkerton, G. Ellis, Todd, and Bridges. Many interesting remarks will be also inserted from the communications of eminent modern Bibliographers. The public libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, will be carefully, consulted.-English bibles, chronicles, early poetry, Plays and Romances, will be particularly described, and specimens occasionally inserted of the compositions of our more popular ancient writers.-III. It is intended to omit the Prologues of Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, &c. in the first volume, and to throw them into the fifth, by way of Supplement. By this method, the account of the books will be less interrupted, and the object spe cified by Ames and Herbert equally attained; namely, that of supplying materials for filling up imperfect copies of our early printers.IV. Almost all the plates of Ames, which Herbert has indiscriminately admitted, are not only destitute of taste and skill, but are incorrect representations of the Original. Facsmiles of the Types and Devices of Printers are crowded together, in a minute and irregular manner, and Printers' Portraits are given with little fidelity, or elegance. In the present edition, it is proposed to remedy these defects; and to give accurate and well executed copies of the Originals. As a number of curious wood cuts, from rare books, are intended to be engraved, after the manner of Heinekin, it is presumed that this edition of British Typographical Antiquities will afford An Illustration of the Progress of Engraving, as well as of the History of Printing, in Great Britain and Ireland. Each volume will contain at least Thirty Fac-Simile EnProposals have been distributed for publish-gravings.-V. The fifth volume will contain: ing by subscription, (at £3. 3s. each volume,) a new edition of Ames's Typographical Antiquities, by Herbert; greatly enlarged, and corrected, in five volumes, quarto, by the Rev. T. F. Dibdin, F. S. A. author of an Introduction to the Knowledge of rare and valu It is matter of surprise and regret in the present enlightened state of literature, that an author of such celebrity as Bede, and who has been considered the only original source of information on the above interesting subjects, during that early period, should be confined to a few archives difficult of access, or known, and that very partially, through the medium of an inadequate translation.Many of our old and valuable historians and chroniclers have lately been reprinted, in a style adapted to their importance, and which does credit to the taste and spirit of the age. It is proposed to give the venerable Saxon historian a dress and appearance becoming the dignity of his subject, and the accuracy of the writer: so that the work may properly arrange with other valuable books in the historic library. 1. An Account of the private presses in England, including a complete Catalogue raisonnée of the works printed at Strawberry Hill, with the vignettes re-executed. 2. Á List of Books printed at the University Presses of Oxford and Cambridge. 3. A List of Books printed by Ruddiman, Bower, and Baskerville; with biographical memoranda of those printers, and engravings of their portarits. 4. The Prologues of our early English Printers. 5. A Printer's Grammar, upon a plan entirely new with plates by way of illustra tions. 6. Two Indexes; the one, an analytical Index, comprehending all the books enumerated in the body of the work, and arranged according to their respective classes of,Divinity, History, Biography, &c. &c. ; the other, a Complete general Index of Persons and Things. N. B. Each volume will contain, at the end, a list of the Printers noticed in it. -It is proposed to strike off, on a paper of a very superior quality, only sixty copies, on Imperial Quarto, at £6. 6s. the volume. Each of the volumes will contain, exclusively of proof impressions of the engravings common to all the copies, three extra plates, either from rare prints, or from pictures never before engraved. N. B. The large Paper copies are all engaged, and a great number of the small ones; of which latter, there will be only 500 printed. Those Gentlemen and Booksellers who are desirous of having copies of the latter, are requested to transmit letters (post paid) to eitherof the London publishers-Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, Paternoster Row, or Mr. Miller, Albemarle Street. CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE REVIEW DEPARTMENT. per To the Editor of the Literary Panorama. SIR,-If I had understood your correspondent E. R. as intending to affirm no more than what he expresses in the close of his last letter," that the character of magistrate degrades not that of clergyman, when they are united in one person "I should have " fectly agreed" with him; and have made my most respectful bow in testimony of acquiescence. I believe, that the character of magistrate, being in itself honourable, can dishonour no one: but the character of clergyman being also honourable, though the honour be of a different class, and as spiritual persons (witness the Archbishop of Canter bury in all public processions) take precedence of temporal, from the nature and importance of their profession, I still continue to doubt whether it be generally advisable to add temporal jurisdiction and the power of magistracy, to ecclesiastical jurisdiction and power, in the same person. I will however, so far advance to meet E. R. as to allow, that circumstances may be such as to point out a spiritual person as the fittest in the vicinage to exercise some of the offices of magistracy: yet, I think, this is not often the case, in this island I believe it never is so practiced in Scotland, yet the absence of justice in that country is not, that I know of, complained of, as arising from this cause. I believe too, that it is not adopted in Catholic countries: yet the priesthood of those countries have never been accused of relinquishing power too readily. I am not aware that in the Greek church, the priests are depositaries of civil power, though I know that the Archbishops of some of the sees (Athens, for instance) have courts in which causes concerning property are decided, when desired by the parties interested. But, it will be remembered, that the parties, if they decline this reference, must have recourse to their oppressors the Turks; they therefore chuse the lesser evil. I have no conception how a person who is to " give himself wholly" to a spiritual office; [the apostle expresses this with great spirit, 1. Tim. iv. 15. in these things BE] how a person who is to persist in reading, and study, of his bible, for example, to be "instant in season and out of season," in an ecclesiastical sense, and to whom the cure of souls is committed, can be competent at the same time to acquire that knowledge of the perplexed and greatly multiplied laws of this land, which is required in an officer who is to administer them. They exhaust the labour and the lives of a separate profession; surely then, whoever attempts to combine these arduous employments hazards the performance of one of them imperfectly. Such have been my reasonings, I hope I have acted not from false modesty, but from conviction. Others may be more happily gifted; and to such, including with great readiness, my very worthy antagonist, I must vield the palin. It was my desire here to have closed the present correspondence; I shall not resume it! but I am not convinced by the biblical arguments of E. R. and cannot dismiss them without further reinarks. It is clear that when a difficult case was brought to the Priest, AND to the Judge" that the priest and the judge were two persons: this then was no instance of the union of temporal and spiritual jurisdiction iu the SAME person. Yet it is clear, that it might with perfect propriety be said of the priest who sat in commission with the judge, that he judged Israel, as it may be said of the Archbishop of Canterbury, "he is commissioned to prorogue the parliament,” though certain lay lords are usually commissioners also. Eli then, judged Israel: so did Deborah, the prophetess: the argument drawn from this title, therefore, had better stop here, lest we should place the sex on the bench, as Quakers have placed them in the pulpit. But, I must confess myself to be somewhat surprised at the inattention which has led your correspondent to consider the death of Ananias and Sapphira as "a clear instance where the magistrate's sword has been wielded by the hand of a priest "because he had already adduced the case of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, as a clear instance of the exercise of civil jurisdiction by the Deity. Yet in what do these cases differ? Moses was accused of slaying these people: what is his apology?that it never was known, that a word of any man could kill a fellow man; it must be God's doing"-the same precisely is the case of Peter, not his word, but the divine dispensation of which his word was only the outward sensible sign, deprived Ananias and Sapphira of life. I speak not altogether without thought, when I say that the exercise of a civil power by Peter deciding on life and death, without commission from the civil authorities, legally constituted, would have approached to what Moses was accused of, i. e. slaying the people of the Lord." I see that the Panorama has adopted this view of the matter. 66 A clergyman who reflects that his Lord and Master's kingdom is not of this world,”— that his blessed Saviour when desired to interfere in what the party thought as clear a case as any in the world, being an order of inheritance, and when his arbitration would we must suppose have been effectual, or else this party would not have thus addressed him, yet declined the office of pacificator between two brothers, because it involved civil considerations--that no instance can be adduced from the N. T. of the exercise of civil magistracy by any christian minister; that obedience to others under the character of civil magistrates is repeatedly enjoined:-such a clergyman may be allowed to have a strong view of the nature of his office, though it may be a shortsighted one: as short-sighted persons are said to see most powerfully within the sphere of their vision. But, if to this we add, the injunctions laid on an apostolic clergyman to Occupy himself wholly with the duties of his station, the directions to the church to "set those who are least esteemed to judge" [a strange advice, surely, as it stands, in our version, yet little amended, if we read it interrogatively, as some propose; but this by the bye.]-If we add, the general conviction of clerical persons elsewhere; the difficulty of applying miraculous instances to ordinary events; with that of inferring from what was extant under the theocracy to that which is advisable under a dispensation that is not a theocracy, we shall, most certainly, discover reason to conclude that there are valid arguments which may restrain a clergyman from desiring to stand forward as a civil officer, and that very little blame, if any, attaches to those who may "perfectly agree" in the opinion that, generally speaking, the union of ecclesiastical power, with that of the magistrate, is not adviseable. I am, Sir, yours, &c. The Reviewer of Mr. Carpenter's Pamphlet. PROPOSITA PHILANTHROPICA. -Homo sum, Humanum nihil a me alienum puto. BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY. Extract from the fourth Report of the Com mitice, May, 4, 1808. At Berlin, notwithstanding the prevalence of general distress, and the pressure of extreme poverty, the 56th sheet of the Bohemian Bible is printed.-Nearly the whole edition of the Icelandic version of the New Testament, consisting of 5000 copies, of which 2000 were printed at the expense of this society, was dispatched to Iceland in the spring of last year. The state of Iceland must render this intelligence particularly interesting: the sacred scriptures are not only highly esteemed by the common people there, but are read by the heads of families, whenever a copy of them can be obtained, in their domestic worship, in preference to all other books, while on the other hand, copies had become so scarce, that they could not be purchased at any price.-Five hundred copies of the New Testament, intended for the Bishop of that island, remained at Copenhagen during the bombardment, but escaped the flames which destroyed the greatest part of the building in which they were deposited. By this time. they have probably been sent to Iceland. For procuring a set of Calmuc types, 600 rubles, or about £60 have been granted, to commence a translation of St. Matthew's Gospel.-Four hundred Bibles and 200 Testaments, sent to the German colonies on the Wolga, are safely arrived at St. Petersburgh; the emperor of Russia has graciously exempted them from the heavy duty on the importation of bound books.-Five hundred copies of the gospel of St. John in the Mohawk language have been received by the Mohawks, in general with grateful acknowledgments; 500 copies more are to be sent to captain Norton, with a recommendation to him to proceed in completing the translation of the New Testament in the Mohawk language.— In Bengal 500 Bibles and 1000 Testaments, are placed at the discretion and disposal of the corresponding committee in that country, for sale, or gratuitous distribution, to the army and navy, and other poor Europeans.-Two hundred and fifty German Bibles and five hundred Testaments are to be sent from Halle to the German missionaries in India for the like purpose.-Seven hundred copies of the New Testament in Spanish are sent to Gibraltar, for distribution among the Spaniards. Six hundred Spanish Testaments, transinitted to Monte Video, had been sought for with avidity by the inhabitants of that country; even priests had come for them," and had recommended them as "good and fair copies.", A large supply of English Bibles and New Testaments has also been sent to Gibraltar for the use of the Garrison. Three hundred Testaments to Sierra Leone and Goree, and a much larger number to Rev. Mr. Marsden, for the convicts in New South Wales.-The editions of the scriptures in Welsh and Gaelic have been completed; applications have been received for about 15,000 copies of the latter. -Five hundred Gaelic Bibles and 800 New Testaments have been voted to Nova Scotia and Canada, for sale, or gratuitous distribution, among the poor Highlanders in those parts. A further considerable supply of English Testaments and Bibles for 74 flourishing Sunday schools in Ireland, consisting of about 4,000 scholars, who were much in want of them, at half the cost prices. Also 1,000 New Testaments for Ireland; and a supply to a Roman Catholic school in that country.-Seven thousand copies of a French Testament have been voted to the French prisoners of War The German soldiers and poor natives of Germany, in different parts of England and Ireland, have been amply supplied. The institution continues to receive the same liberal support, which has enabled it to give so wide a scope to its operations. At this meeting Lord Teignmouth, the President, was supported by the Archbishop of Cashel, the Bishops of Durham and Salisbury, Messrs Wilberforce, Babington, &c. all of whom (the Archbishop excepted) took an active part in the business of the day. The meeting was numerous beyond all former example, and the greatest harmony and mutual satisfaction prevailed.、 Treasurer, Henry Thornton, Esq. No. 1, Bartholomew Lane; Collector, Mr. Thomas Smith, No. 19, Little Morefields. It is a circumstance not a little remarkable, that in Britain, where Christian charity hath opened a fountain of relief and comfort to almost every species of human misery, the melancholy situation of the deaf and dumb children of indigent parents, should not have obtained any public notice, till the establish ment of the present Institution in 1792. This could only have proceeded from the general prevalence of two opinions, which are still found to operate very powerfully That their case is so peculiarly unhappy, that no effectual relief can be afforded them ;and, that the number of these unfortunate objects is very small. The experience, however, of this Institution hath demonstrated both these opinions to be founded in error. That relief can be afforded, the benevolent may receive the incontrovertible evidence of their own senses, by visiting the Asylum; and the very great number of these mute supplicants to benevolence has been most undeniably and impressively established, by the half-yearly lists of candidates, which, owing to the limited means of the Society, and extent of the buildings, have exceeded at every election, in a tenfold proportion, the number admitted. The names of no less than fifty-eight of these unfortunate objects, are already received to stand the event of the next election; and more than an equal number, being under nine years of age, cannot yet be placed on the list of candidates. Forcibly impressed with these interesting considerations, the committee formed the humane determination of appealing to public generosity, to enable the Society, by raising, a building fund, to erect a larger and more commodious Asylum; and a plot of ground, conveniently and publicly situated on the Kent road, was taken in 1800, for a term of 999 years, upon terms so decidedly advanta geous, that, after reserving a sufficient extent for the purposes of the Society, the remainder has been re-let in so profitable a manner, that the new Asylum will stand entirely rent free. The building, the first stone of which was laid on the 11th of July last, is now roofed in, and will be completed in a plain and substantial manner, without incurring any expense for superfluous decoration: but although thus far proceeded in, it cannot be finished without a further subscription for this purpose of nearly four thousand pounds. The necessity of immediate completion becomes every day more urgent, and the last election must have carried home this conviction to the bosoin of every friend to the Insti tution. The embarrassment and distress arising to the committee and governors at largefrom the increasing numbers of superannuated candidates, can only be removed by active and generous exertions to procure, by new subscriptions and donations, the means of spec dily effecting this important object. One guinea per annum constitutes a gover nor; ten guineas a governor for life; and a donation of two hundred guineas entitles the donor to have one child always on the foundation.-Persons subscribing more than one guinea per annum, are enuiled, at all elec-. tions for children into the Asylum, to vote equal to the number of guineas they subscribe. Life governors likewise have votes according to the number of ten guineas they subscribe.-No child can be admitted but such as is deaf and dumb, which must be |