of, by maffacres and perfecutions, that cannot be mentioned without horror! Liberty, learning, with every generous way of thinking have been fuppreffed. Every inlet to the knowledge of true religion has been shut up in prifons and inquifitions, that have been made the receptacles of the most faithful believers, as well as of infidels; of the moft peaceable, virtuous fubjects, along with the profligate and rebellious. You may fancy, perhaps, that I have drawn you a fad picture of human condu&t! But I am not at all confcious, that I have aggravated the cafe, or have faid any thing more than is neceffary to fhew you, in what fenfes, and in what examples it is certainly true, as Solomon here affirms, that "All things come alike to all." One farther extract we fhall lay before our Readers; it is from the fermons on the Supreme good of man :' confidering the quiet and well-being of fociety, as the peculiar refult of religious virtue, he thus proceeds: That obedience in inferiors, which arifes from a fense of duty, or from "confcience towards God," is as much more durable, as it is more valuable, than that which arifes from mere compulfion; from the fervile dread of corporal punishment: which latter cannot poffibly be conceived to laft any longer than till an opportunity offers for wicked men to conceal their crimes from their fuperiors; to evade the laws of their country, or to fet them at defiance.-So, on the other hand, what laws ever did, or what laws ever can, constantly reftrain the spirit of men in power, from degenerating into licentious tyranny; but the laws of right reafon, ftrengthened and fupported by a belief in the God of reafon, the Head of all principality, the Revenger of all iniquity?—In like manner: what always has been, what always muft be, fooner or later, the fate of every people at large, among whom juftice, temperance, and benevolence have loft their credit; who are funk into effeminate luxury, and a total disregard of public principle?-Arms and money are not more needful for carrying on war abroad, than virtue and fobriety for establishing tranquillity and fafety at home. And it is, I think, far lefs miferable to be crushed by a foreign enemy, than to be enervated, and at length overthrown, by our own internal debaucheries. In the former inftance a nation would lofe its liberties; but lofe them, perhaps, after fome glorious efforts to maintain them; while, in the latter, it would fall contemptible, unlamented, and felf-condemned. If the welfare of a people could at all, or for any continuance, be confiftent with its lewdness and depravity of manners, the world would undoubtedly have furnished us with fome one or more examples of fuch a fact. But where, or among whom, was an example of this kind ever once known? Invariably, and in all places, as vice has prevailed, national profperity has drooped and decayed. Wherever princes, or other governors, have been profligate and arbitrary, the fubjects have been wretched; wherever fubjects have grown libertine and abandoned, the crown has faded, the ruling powers have wanted fupport, and the whole has tended to diffolution. . If you carry the fame obfervation into cities, towns, or the lowest villages, you will find it equally evident. Take it into your feparate families, and it will prove itself, even there also, as dreadfully true. From a fenfe of this very truth, the the most arrant infidels have commended the policy of religious inftitutions for promoting a regular fubordination among mankind.' From these paffages fome judgment may be formed of the difcourfes before us. That they are fenfible and judicious; that their aim and tendency is of the inftructive, practical, and useful kind, the Reader will at once perceive from the fpecimens given. There is a greater freedom in the manner than is often found in fermons that are made public; but this, as it contributed to render them more beneficial in the delivery, may also promote their being read with advantage. There are a few expreffions, fuch as, confummate rogue, fcoundrel in principle, villain in heart, which fome may think not altogether confonant with the gravity or dignity of the pulpit: but thefe occur chiefly, or only, in one fermon. We must remember that thefe difcourfes are pofthumous. Had the author defigned them for the prefs, they would probably have undergone a revifal, from whence they poffibly would have derived a farther polifh; but by that means, perhaps, as is not wholly uncommon, their force and energy might have been weakened. They may be read with great pleasure and profit; and not improperly confidered as a model for preaching to different congregations; while, at the fame time, common fenfe and knowledge of mankind will point out in what inftances, fubjects, expression, and manner, should be varied, fo as beft to answer the purposes of edification and improvement. We may juft point out what appears a little mistake, that the editor will correct, fhould there be a farther edition. It is in the 13th fermon, p. 198, where the exhortation, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts," is afcribed to St. Paul, but they are the words of St. Peter, 1 Epift. chap. ii. ver. 15. ART. X. The Father's Revenge, a Tragedy. By the Earl of Carlifle. London. 1783. TH The HIS tragedy (which is not fold, but only circulated among the friends of the noble author) poffeffes a very confiderable fhare of poetical merit; and while it does credit to the writer, it reflects honour on the man. The plot is taken from Boccaccio, and may be found alfo in Dryden's mifcellaneous works, under the title of Guifcardo and Sigifmunda. ftory is by no means new to the ftage; Tancred and Gifmund, by Robert Wilmot, was acted in 1592. Mrs. Centlivre has alfo taken the fame story for the basis of her tragedy of the Cruel Gift, or the Father's Refentment: the only attempt the ever made in the tragic walk; and which he might have declined without any lofs to the drama, or any derogation from her literary fame. The tragedy which is the object of our prefent confideration is frequently nervous and animated in its language, bold in its Bb 3 ideas, ideas, and harmonious in its verfification, yet the thoughts are often too recherché, the metaphors are fometimes confufed, and the ornaments too ambitious; and if we knew that it was intended for reprefentation, we fhould add, that the speeches are in fome places too declamatory, and every where too long. The circumftance of Tancred's introducing to his daughter the heart of Guifcard in a vafe, has abundantly more horror than pathos; and the cool determinate malice of Tancred is not confiftent with his boisterous conduct, which is pourtrayed in the four preceding acts, and is not according to the admirable rule of Ho race, 66 -Servetur ad imum Qualis ab incepto procefferit, et fibi conftet." The fentiments breathe an elevated fpirit of liberty and independence, which we are peculiarly happy to receive from an author who holds fo distinguished a rank among his countrymen. The following is a fpeech of the minifter of the King when detected in a confpiracy: 'I poifon'd Tancred's nature, Dash'd the fair feale of juftice on the ground, Scourg'd Mercy from his throne, and plac'd about it, The weakest centinels a Prince can truft to, Hate, Fear, and Pride. I was that envious Shade Through which the funbeams never pierced; the Night That with the adder's venom d tooth crept forth, Though we do not perfectly understand the expreffion of the briny curtains of the deep, yet the following allufion is eminently forcible and correct: 6 Remember, Boy, that nature knows not pain Beyond a certain point. for the ftretch'd nerves After a form, though all be hush'd above.' The noble Author makes a copious ufe of his claffical learning, and in the following lines has almoft literally translated a paffage in Ovid's Epiftle from Sappho to Phaon: For let him fnatch the filver lyre and bow, O he is lovely as the god of day! If thou wouldst view the wondrous charms that caus'd The wife of Thefeus to forget her woe, Bid Guifcard round his ruddy temples twine The vine's curl'd tendril The two fubfequent paffages do honour to his Lordship's feelings: O that proud hearted man but once could know Or at the ill-articulated thanks Defcribing the afflictions of Haffan, he adds, There was a dignity In his grave forrows, that our roughest fea-boys The piece concludes with thefe lines, Juft punishment' is Heaven's prerogative, The first line is evidently borrowed from the concluding line of Southern's Fatal Marriage, "Leave punishment to Heav'n, 'tis Heaven's prerogative." How erring in this cafe can be applied to pity, or what force the antithetical repetition carries with it, we cannot divine. The quotations here given from this work will no doubt be acceptable to the Public, as this Tragedy is in very few hands; fo that, probably, not one in a thoufand of our readers, will have an opportunity of perufing the whole performance. We have been obliged to a Correfpondent for the foregoing" remarks. Could we have obtained a fight of the piece to which it relates, it would have been an auditional fatisfaction. Should it hereafter, by any accident, fall into our hands, fome farther obfervations upon it may, poffibly, be laid before our readers. ART. XI. A Grammar of the Bengal Language. By Nathaniel Braffey Halhed. Printed at Hoogly, in Bengal, in the Year 1778. 4to. l. is. Boards. Elmsley, London. I' Na former Volume of our Review, we first announced to our Readers the appearance of this valuable work; and having been lately favoured, by a very learned friend, with a more particular account of it, we now, with pleasure, lay the following additional obfervations before the Public. Those of our Readers who are converfant with Oriental literature, need not be told that they are already indebted to Mr. Halhed for a faithful and elegant verfion of a Code of Gentoo Laws, published in 1776*. The reputation which he juftly acquired by that work, is confirmed and increased by the prefent: of the leading features of which we will endeavour to give some defcription. In the Preface, wherein we find much good fenfe together with a ftriking, though unaffected difplay of Eaftern literature, the Author treats of the Shanferit, as the parent of almost every dialect, from the Perfian gulph to the China feas. He thinks it was * See Review, Vol. LVI. p. 368.; also Vol. LVIII. p. 312. Bb4 once once current over most of the Oriental world; and that traces of its original extent may be ftill discovered in almoft every diftrict in Afia. As the dialect of Bengal bears a particular affinity to this ancient Braminical language, Mr. Halhed has judiciously explained its genius and character, fo far as is neceffary to the illuftration of the Bengal idiom. In doing this, he takes occafion to combat the theory of Dupont, by maintaining that the primitive roots, which that jefuit calls the caput mortuum of the Shanferit language, as not being words themfelves, but certain founds bearing relation to certain ideas, are, in fact, fimply the roots of verbs; and are even fo denominated in the very title of the book from which Dupont must have borrowed his inaccurate examples. Their number, according to our Author, is about feven hundred; and he readily grants that to them, as to the verbs of most other languages, a very plentiful stock of verbal nouns owes its origin: but he by no means believes, that they exceed those of the Greek, either in quantity or variety. In explaining the principles of a language which has never before employed the pen of the Grammarian, much muft depend on the order in which a writer difpofes his materials. On this account, the arrangement of the Grammar before us merits peculiar commendation. The learner is led on by easy, because by regular, fteps. Every rule is followed by pertinent examples; nor does any thing appear to be omitted, which is requifite to pave the way for fubfequent improvement. We have alfo what feems to be an accurate fynopfis of the Bengal arithmetic, together with copious Tables of Weights and Measures; and, under the article of Verfification, fome account of the Bengalefe mufic. The work has this additional recommendation, that it is occafionally interfperfed with reflections on philofophical or univerfal grammar, which fhews the Author to be a man of deep thought and diftinguishing judgment. Of this fort are his obfervations on number and gender, as well as those on the pronoun. The following teft by which he proposes to judge of derivatives, though it cannot properly be faid to belong to this class, exhibits, neverthelefs, an inftance of his ingenuity and penetration. The doctrine of derivatives from one language to another, has been so much abused by fanciful and unwarranted instances drawn from the mere refemblance of founds, that every hint now started on the fubject is despised as frivolous, or suspected as fallacious. If I might venture to propofe a rule in fuch cafes, it fhould be this: Whenever in a compound word we find one or more of the component fyllables, which are entire words, having a precife and feparate meaning in fome other language, though not in that where the compound term is ufed, we need not |