vert the foundations of good faith in civil commerce, and to reduce the word of God to an ignominious level with the futile and unstable systems of weak and presumptuous men.

The controverfy about Subfcriptions to explanatory articles of faith, has been fo often agitated, and the fubject, indeed, fo thoroughly difcuffed, that fcarce any thing new can be expected to be faid upon it; we have therefore thought it unneceflary to give a particular view of our Author's Remarks, however pertinent and judicious: and we fhall conclude this article with obferving, that it will be prudent in Dr. Powell rather to decline a controverfy with the Remarker, on the fubject of Subfcriptions, than expofe himself a fecond time to the laughter of the difcerning part of his Readers.

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Things as they Are. 8vo. 2s. Hooper and Morley, G.

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Woodfall, &c.

HIS Pamphlet fhould, in our judgment, be entitled, Things as the Author would have them to be; for, notwithftanding his affected moderation, and fpecious difplay of patriotim, it is very eafy to perceive, that he is actuated by the fpirit of party, and that he is no friend to the prefent adminiftration.

He tells us, that truth, or but the aim at truth, unadulterat⚫ed with felfifhnefs, partiality, or factious views, of which the public has too piercing a difcernment for mere pretence to ef cape, is fure to find not only approbation, but even protection from it.' Thus, by complimenting the penetration of the public, he hopes to dim the acutenefs of their fcrutiny; and when he flatters his Readers, by telling them that they are as quick-fighted as eagles, he imagines that they will be modeft enough to fhut their eyes. Indeed, they must be blindfold, not to discover that felfifhnefs, partiality, and factious views, are the dictators which prompt our Author. Candid truth does not deal in illiberal invective; and the Writer's invidious farcafis, falfe imputations, and perfonal reflections on the present Minitry, manifeftly contradict his profeffions of impartiality and veracity. But his difingenuous representation of the Pruffian cause, and his malicious comment on our late enterprizes, are fill ftronger proofs of the bafenefs of his motives, and fhew his difpofition to raif. the fpirit of difcontent, which no lover of his country would wish to promote,

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Nevertheless, fas eft & ab hofte doceri; it must be acknowleged, that he has thrown out fome juft obfervations, and that his manner is, in general, lively and fpirited, though his file is frequently affected, turgid, and unharmonious. We cannot but commend the following reflections. Few,' fays he, who

do juftice to the depth of penetration, and to the folid way of thinking of his PM, can fuppofe him the bubble of all the popular acclamations and enthufiafm of admiration for him here. He has reafon, indeed, to imagine they ferve his ⚫ own prefent point with us; but beyond that, he knows how to value them at no more than they are worth. He cannot but fee with contempt Englishmen pluming themselves upon • victories not won by Englishmen, and the Public attention lacqueying all his motions, as if the fate of Britain was to turn ' upon them.'

We likewife applaud the indignant spirit with which he exclaims, tho' we do not altogether concur in his reasoning, against fending our forces to ferve under the command of a foreign General. Having defcribed the fate of the nation in Queen Anne's time, he fays: At prefent behold her renouaced, or at least cooly regarded by all her antient allies, and glad to throw her alliance at the head of a prince, never over-favourable to her, and actually under the ban of the Empire, to whom he thinks herfelf obliged humbly to fue for his gracious acceptance of her fubfidies and troops, not without all the appearances of being content to act a fubaltern part. This dif pofition of things was referved for thefe honourable times. Nay, fome here have fo thoroughly forgot the dignity of their own nation, as to contend for its being no degradation for a British commander, not to be commander in chief, as if it was poffible to find one fo loft to all fenfe of his own honour, or that of the nation, as to ftoop to fub general it even to fo renowned and fo great an officer as the gallant Prince Ferdinand. Many nations have indeed employed foreign Generals; . with the Venetians it is even a standing state-maxim to employ none but them. But for a nation fo great, fo powerful as ours, a nation that may difpute rank with the firft in Europe, to pay such a deference to another, as to fuffer her Generals to receive plans of operation, or orders, from any but their own immediate Sovereign, would be, perhaps, without example. It is not therefore credible. Even the Prince who should avail himself of fo wretched a complaifance, could not but, in the courfe of things, and with his excellent fenfe, repay it with the most cool and determinate contempt. It cannot then be but fuppofed, that fome expedient, fome falvo, has been found out for the adjuftment of rank and precedence: but granting what it must be fo grating to grant, that Britain no longer

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< breeds Generals capable of fupporting the honour of her arms abroad, which the muft therefore give into keeping to a foreign 6 one, the question will but occur the ftronger, whether there is any abfolute neceffity for thus fhewing her nakedness, or for fending any forces at all to the continent? It may still be afked, if it is fo very eligible a measure, in forfeiture of the advantages of our infular fituation, to tranfport our country⚫ men in fo difgraceful a manner, and in fo incompetent a number, to encounter the French precifely where it is fo convenient for the French to encounter them? where their prefer⚫able wish must be, that we should fend and facrifice as many more to them as should be just not sufficient to do any thing < material for the honour or advantage of the nation. The moft fenfible alternative would perhaps be, either to fend a • royal army, fit to command fuccefs; or if that is neither convenient nor practicable, not to fend a single troop of horse, even though the Hanoverians, &c. fhould be deficient in cavalry, and require ours to fupply that deficiency; fince, humanly fpeaking, it would only ferve to fhew what has been already but too much fhewn, how wrong we can take our meafures. Nor will it hardly be otherwife, till all our Germanifm • is happily eradicated out of our politics, or at least suffered to retain no more share in them than it ought to have.'

But we cannot agree with him in acquitting the Court of Auftria of ingratitude. Our expeditions on the coaft of France are, by no means, idle and infignificant; and every honeft mind will deteft thofe low arts which he uses to ridicule and depreciate the active operations of the Ministry.

We cannot help thinking him crazy, or fomething worse, in fuppofing, that no advantages whatever can extricate the King of Prufia from his prefent difficulties. Let him,' fays he, take Olmutz, let him gain battle upon battle, let him plant, if he will, his victorious ftandards on the ramparts of Vienna; he is not a jot the more advanced, if Germany, and the reft of Europe are but the more provoked, and refolutely bent against his aggrandizement.' The Powers of Europe at enmity with him cannot be more inveterate against him than they seem to be at prefent; and fhould he be fo fuccefsful, as to plant his victorious standards on the ramparts of Vienna, we do not think that his fuccefs would provoke them the more; or fhould it, yet if he is able to triumph over them fo far, he may smile at their indignation. Befides, the Writer does not confider, that, in fuch cafe, fome of thofe who are now his enemies, would, probably court his friendship. It is the nature of mankind to forfake the unfortunate. A train of calamities generally attends

the

the vanquished, of which the desertion of their allies is none of the leaft. Une bataille perdue a une longue queue, fay the French.

There is one circumftance, however, which the Author has extracted from a pamphlet called, The Actual State of Affairs in Germany; and which, if true, places the King of Pruffia in no very favourable light with refpect to this nation. We mean the declaration which his Pruffian Majefty is there faid to have made to the French King, through his Minifter the Duke de Nivernois, juft after the fignature of our treaty with Pruffia, in Feb, 1756, viz. "That he flattered himself with having done him (the French King) a moft diftinguished fervice, in detaching, "as he had done, Auftria from the alliance of England; that "fo far from cramping his operations against the English, he "had procured him a greater facility to push them with vigor: "that he had stopped the Ruffians, their then common enemies, " and thereby extremely fortified the league of the Princes of "the Empire: that he (the French King) had now nothing to "do, but to alter his project of carrying the war into the elec❝torate of Hanover, a change in the plan of military operations "fo much the more eafy, for that the guarantee of the Low "Countries was not included in that of the electorate."

Upon the whole, this appears to be an artful attempt, to practice upon the wavering difpofition of the multitude, and to render them diffatisfied with the prefent measures; which, if not fo good as they might be, have at least the merit of being preferable to thofe pursued under fome late adminiftrations.

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Principia Medicina. Auctore Francifco Home, Collegii Medicorum Edinburgi Socio. 8vo. 5s. Edinburgh printed, Hamilton, &c.

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T always affords us the greatest fatisfaction, when the performances which fall under our notice, give us an opportunity of expreffing our approbation, and at the fame time of doing juffice to the public. This is happily the cafe in regard to the volume, now before us. The Author does not, indeed, pretend to any new discoveries, either as to the theory or cure of difeafes. He owns, that the greatest part of the work is compiled from the writings of others, and particularly mentions his obligations to Celfus, to that excellent Practitioner Hoffman, to Aftruc on the Venereal Diftemper, and to others. What therefore, in our opinion, conftitutes the principal merit of this

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work,

work, is, that in a ftile equally clear, elegant, and expreffive, he arranges Difeafes in general, in the most easy and natural order; defcribes them with accuracy; and lays down their various methods of cure, as pointed out by Reafon, and confirmed by Experience. As we cannot doubt, from the plan and ftyle of this work, that the ingenious Author had an eye to Dr. Boerhaave's Aphorifms de Cognofcendis et Curandis Morbis, fo we cannot at the fame time but agree, that it feems very well calculated to fupply their defects, and to be fubftituted in their place, as a School-book. For Boerhaave, befides other objections that might be mentioned, entirely omits taking notice of feveral diftempers, as the Slow Nervous, and Hectic Fevers; the Meafles, Diabetes, Fluor Albus, and indeed moft of the ailments of the Sex; while others, as the Lues Venerea, are but very flightly touched.

We would not, however, be underfood to infinuate, that thefe Principia, or indeed any Syftematic Writings whatever, are alone fufficient to convey all that can be known concerning the Caule, Symptoms, or Cure of Difeafes. General Syftems can no more form an able Physician, than a Review can make a good Soldier; unless aflifted by experience, and by obfervations related with candour and fidelity, they rather amufe than instruct Beginners in the art of Medicine.

After premising this neceffary caution, we shall obferve, that this performance may justly be confidered as one of the most clear and fuccinct fyftems of a rational Practice of Phyfic that we have as yet met with; and may be recommended either as a Text-book, (as we hinted before) for the inftruction of Students in Medicine, or to affift the recollection of the more learned and experienced.

This work is divided into three books, fubdivided into parts, and these again into fections. The first book confiders every thing relative to Health, or to Difeafe in general; the fecond, particularly treats of Acute Difeafes, thofe which are attended with a Fever; and the third treats of Chronic Ailments, or fuch as are not attended with a Fever.

In the first fection of the first book, our Author lays down. the knowlege previously neceflary to form a Phyfician; but as in this article his principles widely differ from the methods of modern education, we fhall give an extract of them, leaving it to the confciences of many dignified Gentlemen of the Faculty to determine, how far, according to thefe rules, themselves may be qualified to practife Phyfic.

• Medicina