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In eftimating the merits of Dr. Priefley's opponents, he treats Mr. Seton, Mr. Berington, Dr. Shebbeare, and the Vindicator of the Church of England, with contempt; John Buncle, Mr. Williams, the author of the Letters to Dr. Hawkefworth, figned a Chriftian, and Mr. Whitehead, with little ceremony; Mr. Baxter, Dr. Kenrick, and Dr. Duncan, with fome deference; Dr. Price, Philalethes Rufticanus, and Dr. Horfley, with refpe&.

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In the latter part, he ftates the real queftion, and defends Dr. Priestley from the charge of infidelity. The true queftion, he obferves, is not, whether man is an accountable and immortal creature; but wherein confifts the accountablenefs and immortality of man, and where we are to feek for the proof and evidence of it.'-Dr. Priestley, he tells us, faw that a refurrection was by no means inconfiftent with the principles of philofophy; but he difdained to take hold of the reed, when the oak was within his reach. He profeffes, in the moft unequivocal language, his thorough belief of a future state, on Christian principles.'

At the conclufion he obferves, that the doctor is not the only modern divine who has fuppofed, that immortality is not an inherent property of our nature. He mentions the very respectable names of Sherlock, Dodwell, and Law, as well as thofe of Taylor and Hallet among the Diffenters; and congratulates himfelf, that his hopes are built on a more fecure foundation than metaphyfical speculation.

M E DI C A L.

A Treatise on the Natural Small Pox, with fome Remarks and Obfervations on Inoculation. By Charles Roe, Member of the Corporation of Surgeons. 8vo. 2s. Dixwell.

This Treatife begins with a defcription of the different species of the fmall-pox, which, in conformity to general practice, the author diftinguishes into the diftinct and confluent. Each of thofe, however, he afterwards fubdivides, according to their various appearances. He diftinguishes the diftinct kind into the benign, cryftalline, coherent, warty, and fanguineous; and the confluent into the mild, eryfipelatous, cryftalline, filiquofe, and the nervous.

He next gives a fhort account of the different periods of the fmall-pox; after which he proceeds to remarks and obfervations tending to illuftrate the nature of the difeafe, and to discover the proper method of treating it. In this part of the Treatife we meet with obfervations on the eruptive fever, an enquiry into the nature and quality of the variolous infection; obfervations on the fecondary fever; on the fwelling of the face, hands, and feet, piyalifm in adults, and diarrhoea in children; on the caufes producing the different fpecies of the fmall-pox; on the effects of the difeafe on the conftitution; with a detail of the prognoftics.

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The author afterwards confiders the manner of treating the fmallpox in its different ftages and fymptoms; fubjoining an account of inoculation, fhewing the age, feafon, temperament, and preparation for it; with the manner of collecting, preferving, and inferting the virus; and the method of treating the disease after the infection is received into the body.

From the concife minutenefs of this Treatife, and the methodical manner in which it is arranged, it cannot fail of proving exccedingly ufeful to practitioners; and we may add, that the author, Mr. Roe, has enriched it with many valuable remarks.

An Effay on the Gonorrhea, with fome Obfervations on the Ufe of Opium, in the Cure of that Difeafe. By William Thomas, Surgeon. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Donaldfon, Strand.

This Effay contains a number of judicious and ufeful obfervations on the feveral remedies generally adminiftered in the cure of a gonorrhea; and the author alfo prefents us with fome valuable remarks on the use of opium in the fame complaint. The whole greatly merits the perufal of those who practife in this difeafe.

Efays on Phyfiological Subjects. By J. Elliot, Apothecary. 8vo. 15. 6d. Johnfon.

Mr. Elliot has formerly afforded us more than one fpecimen of his ability for difquifitions on phyfiological fubjects; and we are glad to find that, in the prefent Ellay, he profecutes the fame kind of enquiries with a more particular regard to the illuftration of feveral parts of the animal oeconomy. His experiments are ingeniously devised, and his deductions appear to be well-founded.

MISCELLANEOUS.

An Account of the Life and Writings of the late Alexander Monro, Sen. M. D. F. R. S. 8vo. Is. Dilly.

This difcourfe was delivered by Dr. Duncan, as the Harveian Oration at Edinburgh for the prefent year. The author's fituation enabled him to give the most authentic biographical account of Dr. Monro; and his own judgement qualified him for awarding the praife that was due to the talents and writings of that eminent profeffor, whofe memory will long be revered in the fchools of phyfic.

Letters between Clara and Antonia: in which are interspersed the interefting Memoirs of Lord Des Lunettes, a Character in real Life. 2 Vols. 12mo. 5s. Jewed. Bew.

There is nothing in thefe Letters either very entertaining or inftructive. If fuch a character as lord des Lunettes does exift in real life, we are forry that real life has fuch a character to produce; and are of opinion that a delineation of it, however exact, can only, like one of Spagnolet's pictures, raife ideas of horror in the beholder.

A Prac

A Practical Grammar of the French Langnage. By N. Wanoftrocht. 12mo. 35. Johnfon.

A man of ingenuity, when he undertakes to teach the French language, generally fees, or thinks he fees, deficiencies and errors in all the French grammars that are extant. He therefore compofes one of his own, on a plan, which, in his opinion, is more eafy, regular, and commodious. Thus the number of French grammars is continually increafing; but we do not always find that the last publication is the best. It is perhaps only fuperior in fome points, and inferior in others. Mr. Wanoitrocht's performance has its advantages. The plan is regular and methodical; and the rules are exemplified by familiar exercifes. All the primitives of the irregular verbs are brought together on one large open fheet, and conjugated through their feveral modes, tenfes, numbers, and perfons. In this, however, the author has not ftudied the convenience of his reader; as nothing can be more troublesome than a large folding sheet in a fmall volume. All the irregular verbs might have been much more commodiously ranged in alphabetical order, in a few pages of his book.

Mr. Wanoftrocht has given us no rules for pronunciation, and in this he feems to be right because, as he obferves, from the attempts which have been hitherto made, it does not appear that any adequate idea of it can be conveyed in writing. The voice cannot be properly modulated, nor the ear directed, without the affiftance of a good fpeaker.

He has explained fome idiomatical expreffions, which moft frequently occur in the French language: but he has not been fo diffufe on this fubject as fome other grammarians; becaule thefe peculiar expreffions are now giving way to a regular construction, and are very little ufed by the belt writers. Here we beg leave to obferve, that what we call idioms are in general the most exceptionable phrafes in the English language. Mr. Dryden had certainly very good reasons for the following remark, which he makes in his Dedication of Troilus and Creffida, to the earl of Sunderland: I am often put to a stand in confidering, whether what I write is the idiom of the tongue, or falfe grammar and nonfenfe, couched under the fpecious name of Anglicifm.'

The new Art of Speaking. 12mo. 25. Hogg.

An explanation of the figures of rhetoric; rules for fpeaking in public; fcraps of elegant orations, in profe and verfe; examples of the plain and the fublime ftyle; an artificial method of improving converfation, by the help of fentimental cards, &c. calculated for city apprentices, or any fuch rifing geniufes as have an ambition to thine in tropes and figures, in the public difputations, which will probably be continued the enfuing winter, at Coachmakers Hall, the Queen's Arms, the Mitre Tavern, the Robin Hood, and other nurseries of eloquence in this metropolis.

THE

CRITICAL REVIEW.

For the Month of October, 1780.

Letters to a Philofophical Unbeliever. By Jofeph Priestley, LL.D. F. R. S. 8vo. 35. ferved. Johnfon.

W

E are forry to find, that there is fuch a creature in the world as a Philofophical Unbeliever;' or, that philofophy fhould ever be united with infidelity. But the very fuppofition feems to be a paradox, or rather a contradiction in terms. For an unbeliever, by which we fuppofe Dr. Priestley means an atheist, can be no philofopher; his notions can only be founded on fuperficial obfervations, and inconclufive reafoning. He must renounce the firft principles of natural religion, refufe to admit the confequences neceffarily refulting from the vifible appearance of a regular and beautiful fyftem, and have recourse to fuch explications of things as are falfe and impoffible. A writer who lived in the days of primitive fimplicity, and ingenuous freedom, calls the atheist à FOOL *; and Cicero thinks, that he does not deferve the name of a MAN †.

But however this may be, the arguments, which are calculated to remove the objections of infidelity, cannot but be acceptable to every ferious and confiderate reader. It is of uni verfal importance to know, whether the world we inhabit, and ourfelves who inhabit it, had an intelligent and benevolent Creator, or no Creator at all; whether our conduct is infpected, and we are under a righteous government, or under no government whatever; whether we have fomething to -hope and fear beyond the grave, or are at liberty to adopt the Epicurean 'maxim, 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.

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, nebulo, stultus, a knave, or a fool. Pfal. xiv. 1. + Quis hunc hominem dixerit, &c. De Nat. Deor. ii. 38. al. 97. VOL. L. 08. 1780.

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These points have been investigated by many eminent writers; but there is infinite fcope for farther researches. It is neceffary to bring the fubject into frequent review, that we may be convinced there is no latent error in our conclufions, and that our belief is grounded on irrefragable and fatisfactory evidence.

The author of this tract has been for fome time engaged in metaphyfical enquiries. His fpeculations on thefe topics have been profound and extenfive. We may therefore expect to find fomething in this performance which has either not been obferved, or not fo particularly examined, by his predeceffors.

His argument for the existence of a Deity is chiefly included in the following extract. The former part of it is indeed more fully stated in a foregoing letter: but the difficulty does not lie in the first step, but in the fecond, in the transition from finite caufes to the original and eternal caufe of all things.

Something muft have exifted from all eternity, for otherwise nothing could have existed at prefent. This is too evident to need illustration. But this original being, as we may call it, could not have been fuch a thing as a table, an animal, or a man, or any being incapable of comprehending itself, for fuch a one would require a prior, or fuperior author. The original being, therefore, muft have had this prerogative, as well as have been neceffarily uncaused.

It is not improper to call a being incapable of comprehending itself finite, and a being originally and neceffarily capable of it, infinite; for we can have no idea of any bounds to fuch knowledge or power; and, ufing the words in this fenfe, we may, perhaps, be authorised to fay; that, though a finite being muft have a cause, an infinite one does not require it. Though it is acknowledged, that thefe conclufions are above our comprehenfion, they are fuch as, by the plainest and the most cogent train of reafoning, we have been compelled into; and therefore, though, on account of the finiteness of our understanding, it may be faid to be above our reafon, to comprehend how this original being, and the caufe of all other beings, fhould be himself uncaused, it is a conclufion by no means properly contrary to reafon. Indeed, what the univerfally established mode of reafoning, founded on our own immediate experience, obliges us to conclude, can never be faid to be contrary to reafon, how incomprehenfible fo ever it may be by our reafon.

• That there actually is an uncaused intelligent being is a neceffary conclufion from what does actually exist; for a series of finite caufes cannot poffibly be carried back ad infinitum, each being fuppofed capable of comprehending it own effects, but not itfelf. Since, therefore, an univerfe, bearing innumerable marks. of most exquifite defign, does exift, and it would be abfurd to go back through an infinite fucceffion of finite causes, we muft

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