taken the liberty of occasionally altering the language to suit the taste of the present day: for this and some other improvements, he deserves commendation; and had he taken farther liberties, the work would have been still more acceptable.

Art. 41. A Letter addressed to the Freemen of the Town and Port of Sandwich, respecting the Proceedings and Resolutions of the Rainsgate Committee, dated at their Town-Hall, Oct. 28, 1806, relative to an intended Application to Parliament for the Purpose of reducing the Tolls of Sandwich Bridge. 2d Edition, with considerable Additions. By William Pettman. 8vo. Is. 6d. Law, &c

The Ramsgate Committee having proposed that the tolls or duties paid at Sandwich Bridge should be suspended or abridged, for the purpose of making and maintaining an intended new turnpike road from that town to Ramsgate, Mr. Pettman takes. .up his pen to reprobate this measure. These tolls, after the deduction of a small annuity appropriated to a charitable foundation, belong to the Corporation of Sandwich; and Mr. P. loudly declaims against the attempt to take away any of this private proverty which belongs to a public body. The amount of the tolls of this bridge, which the rage for travelling, and the great resort to the shores of the Isle of Thanet, have probably much increased, is not here stated, though on this amount the reasonableness of the above mentioned proposition must depend. We are told that the Corporation of Sandwich offered to pay out of the bridge tolls zool. per annum towards the intended road; and by this proposition they admit that they now receive abundantly more from the tolls than is adequate to the sustentation of the bridge, and to answer all the original intentions of the Act. The Ramsgate Committee proposed an accommodation to the community, which (we can vouch) is certainly wanted, more especially in some parts of the road: but if their views were other than liberal and public spirited, they are open to Mr. P.'s animadversions. If the case comes before Parliament, its merits will no doubt be fairly discussed.

Art. 42. A Letter to Samuel Whitbread, Esq. M.P. containing Observations on the Distresses peculiar to the Poor of Spitalfields, arising from their Local Situation. By William Hale. IS. Williams and Smith.

8vo.

It is here stated that the parish of Christ Church, Middlesex, commonly known by the name of Spitalfields, (which, previously to the reign of James II. was only a desolate hamlet of St. Dunstan, Step ney,) became stocked with poor French protestants, who established there the silk manufactory, after they had been driven from their own country by the despotic tyranny of Louis XIV; that, from this period, it has been crouded with poor inhabitants, who have gained permanent settlements in the parish; that here the mechanics of every trade reside, who work for their employers in the city:here dwell the carters, porters, and labourers, with thousands who are engaged in the most servile employments, down to the mendicants, the lame, and the blind :-here, where extreme poverty is daily wit

nessed

nessed with all its awful concomitants, our chief resource to alleviate its direful distress, is to assess the poor, and squeeze out of their scanty pittance, a trifling sum which will but partly satisfy the cravings of the hungry indigent, while the rich inhabitants in the city, who devive a great part of their opulence from the labours of these very poor, (which are virtually their own,) contribute nothing to their

reliet.'

It is farther observed that, though various acts of Parliament have been passed to correct this grievance, no effectual remedy has yet been applied, but rather that the parochial misery has increased. Mr. Hale feelingly details the distress which prevailed in this district of poverty in 1800, when he was himself one of the overseers, and pays a merited tribute to the benevolent exertions of Mr. H. Thorn ton in behalf of the parish; who assisted in obtaining a temporary aid from Government, and obviated the effects of the tardiness of office by immediate advances from his own pocket.-The local hardships, under which this parish groans, are enumerated for the purpose of exciting parliamentary attention; and the author inclines to the opinion that its boundaries ought to be virtually extended, and that its richer neighbours should be forced to participate in the support of its numerous poor; who, though they perform the work of several parishes, unfortunately reside only in this one.

This subject certainly requires attention and remedy, and Mr. Hale as evidently deserves thanks for the exertion and the ability which he has devoted to it.

Art. 43. An Address to the Visitors of the Incorporated Society of Doctors in Civil and Canon Law. Parts I. and II. By Nathanael Highmore, LL. and M.D. 8vo. 45. Cadell and Davies.

1836.

It seems that this gentleman, who had entered into Deacon's or ders, and had graduated as a physician, was desirous of being admitted into a third profession, that of a Civilian. When holy orders are sought, it is never asked what has been the candidate's previous profession; nor will our own Universities of the North refuse the quali fying rank of M.D to any man because he may have exercised another calling.-The door is less open to admission into the learned society of Doctors in Civil and Canon Law: holy orders disqualify a person for this Corporation;-a rule which it is the object of the present work strenuously to oppose. It may be said of matters of this nature, that it imports society less what the rules are, than that they should be known and fixed; and we cannot regard the regula tions of so small a body, however exclusive, as of very general moment. On the subject of the right of the clergy to hold secular offices, we are not disposed to go far with Dr. Highmore; we admit it, however, to be a hardship that Deacons cannot descend, and reduce themselves to their original lay character.

This learned person gives the following account of himself:

I feel emboldened to avow to your Lordships, that I have indeed presumed to explore the hidden treasures of other sciences also: and am ready to admit, (premising, only, and with a view to obviate any doubts as to the completeness and validity of my qualification,

which the most fastidious scrutiny might incline to suggest, that in
the University, from whence I received my degree, my devotion to
the study of the civil and canon law has been as pure, as chaste, and
es immaculate as could be that of the learned Judges and Advocates
to whom his Majesty's Royal Charter was, in consideration of
such their professed devotion, at first granted,)-thus much premised
I am ready to admit that I have in other Universities addicted myself
to other studies and to other sciences; That I have studied theo,
logy and the sacred languages of the East, under Michaëlis, and
Walck, and Koppe, in the University of Gottingen; that, in the
same University, I have "tasted," though not " drunk deep," from
the profaner springs of Grecian and of Roman literature, under the
erudite classic, philologist, and antiquary, Heyne; and, in the course
of a residence of two years, I have there applied myself to other
branches of study connected with morals and with humanity. Nor,
My Lords, under the same sanction, and confiding in the same au-
thorities, do I hesitate to avow to your Lordships that I have also
studied medicine. That I have studied the same, both as an art and
as a science, in the Schools of London, and in the Universities of
Leyden and of Edinburgh. As a trade, My Lords, I have never, and
no where studied it; nor, as a trade, have I yet learned to practise it."

That Dr. H. is aliquid in omnibus will not be denied: but whether
he is nihil in toto we have not the means of judging. If he has been
refused admission into one profession, he is still master of two be-
tween which he chuse.
may

Art. 44.

Considerations on the Alliance between Christianity and Commerce, applied to the present State of this Country, 8yo. 28. Cadell and Davies.

An ingenious and elegant tract, which encourages the most cheering hopes. We recommend the perusal of it to the lovers of honourable dealing, and to the friends of religion and virtue. The alliance between pure religion and the interests of commerce, and the means which the latter furnishes for the propagation of the former, are ideas of which much good use may be made, and they are not ill pursued in these pages.

SINGLE SERMONS.

Art. 45. An Exemplar of Divine Worship, as exhibited to St. John in
the Apocalypse, stated in a Discourse on Rev. iv. 1. By the Rev.
R.B. Nickolls, LL.B., Rector of Stoney Stanton, and Dean of
Middleham, in Yorkshire, 8vo. 28. Hatchard.

In the several symbols contained in the Apocalyptic vision, this preacher discovers the nature of the Christian dispensation, the offices of the Holy Trinity, the conversion of nations to the Christian faith, and the worship of the Trinity as it should ever be maintained by the Orthodox Church to the end of the world.' We cannot say that Dean Nickolls has adduced any strong arguments in favour of the interpretation of St. John's vision in this passage. We are at a loss to conceive by what logic such inferences are obtained

from

from such premises; and if these conclusions be correctly drawn, we are sorry to own that some divines enjoy a road to truth from which we are altogether excluded.

Art. 46. Preached before the University of Cambridge, June 29, 1806, being Commencement Sunday. By Edward Maltby, D.D. 4to. IS. Cadell and Davies.

When we remark that this discourse reminded us of the nervous morality which distinguishes some of the papers of the Rambler, we mean not to intimate that the Divine has been indebted to the Essayist, but that he expostulates with equal dignity and energy. Both resist the dangerous notions that some individuals are born to be illustrious without labour; and both endeavour to impress on the rising generation, that it is essential to acquire early habits of industry and virtue, in order to ensure future success and honour. On John ix. 4. Dr. Maltby has constructed an address which is remarkably adapted to the occasion; and the lessons which he inculcates merit the peculiar attention of those who constituted, or are supposed to have constituted, the chief part of his audience.

It has been a general subject of lamentation, that young men are not sufficiently aware of the importance of duly improving the commencement of life, and of the intimate connection which subsists between the blossoms of youth and the fruits of maturer years. They require to be reminded that patience and perseverance are indispensably necessary to the attainment of eminence, and that uncultivated talents can be a blessing neither to the possessor nor to mankind.

In an early age (says Dr. M.) the foundations of knowlege must be laid; and in order to reconcile the young to the toil which such attainment imposes, he farther observes that so little is a life of occupation incompatible with pleasure, that pure and permanent enjoyment cannot be secured without it." If labour," remarks Jortin,"be the child of sin, it is the parent of virtue.”—The preacher thus energetically addresses his young hearers:

• Whether you are destined to fill the commanding station of Legislators, to assert the rights of your fellow-citizens by a just administration of the laws, to soften the pangs of disease by a skilful application of medicine, or whether it shall be your peculiar province to spread abroad the treasures of religious knowlege; who does not perceive what incalculable benefits may flow from a rational disposition of your time-from an honest and vigorous exercise of your faculties? Upon the wise, or indiscreet, employment of the precious hours now within your controul, it must depend whether society at large shall acknowlege with gratitude and triumph the advantages derived from your patriotism, your eloquence, your professional skill, your ardent, but well regulated zeal; or whether it shall deplore the mischief produced by your remissness, your incapacity, or your vices.'

Turning to the sons of the noble and the affluent, he bids them recollect that riches are not bestowed for the gratification of a groveling appetite, of fantastic caprice, or of enervating indolence, but

for

for the gracious and salutary purpose of making many among God's creatures happy.'

From these short specimens, it may be inferred that the preacher bas nobly discharged his duty; and on ingenuous minds, such forcible eloquence as that of Dr. Maltby will not be thrown away.

Art. 47. Future Punishments of endless Duration-Preached at the Rev. James Knight's Meeting House, Collyer's Rents, Southwark, at a Monthly Association of Ministers and Churches, December 11, 1806. By Robert Winter. 8vo. 18. Jordan aud Co.

the

Different persons make different conclusions from the same premises. We recollect to have read, some years ago, a sermon against · the eternity of Hell-torments, from the same text (2 Thess. i. 9.) on which this preacher has chosen to maintain them; and if we are to be guided by the strict meaning of the word destruction idea of torment is excluded. Before, however, we boast of the de cisive testimony of scripture,' founded on particular words, or rather the translation of them, are we not to consider the principles of rational and enlightened criticism? If the words "they shall go into everlasting punishment," without adverting to the nature of the Deity and the nature of man, must be understood to signify never ending or eternal misery in the fullest sense of the terms, then "this is my body" may signify, according to the Papists, the absolute transubstantiation of the sacramental elements into the body and blood of Christ; and they are equally justified with this preacher, in assuming with a high tone the absolutely decisive testimony of scripture.'

very

Mr. Winter, we have heard, is an amiable man: but when he speaks of the eternal misery of sinners reflecting an awful lustre on the unsullied justice of God,' we could almost persuade ourselves that we were perusing the speech of a Spanish Inquisitor at an auto da fé, instead of the discourse of a humane protestant divine. We are sorry that he could be induced to lend his respectable talents to the support of so horrible a tenet; in the defence of which, he has only repeated the most common place arguments, which every scholar knows to be fallacious. Punishment is a measure, not the ultimate end, of human government; and to represent the Almighty, "who willeth not that any should perish", as instituting eternal punishments as an end, is in fact to degrade his government below the imperfect institutions of men. Scripture, judiciously interpreted, gives no countenance, in our opinion, to such a doctrine which we must decidedly conceive to be at variance with every notion that a devout Christian can entertain of the moral perfections of God.

* Mr. Winter tells us that the word in the original is the same as that which is translated torment, 1 John iv. 18: but St. Paul's word is not κολασιν, but ολεθρον, which even Beza translates exitium.

CORRES-T