1 Durant) down to the ci-devant coal-heaver, (Huntingdon), who with the fole advantages of confummate impudence and incorrigible ignorance has ranted himself into the receipt of nearly 1,400l. per annum. 1 The incalculably rapid increase of these locufts, fays the author of the Literary Cenfus, (and who but muft lament the juftice of his obfervation?) and the obloquy their frantic demeanor, ignorance, and vulgarity entail upon true religion and the refpectable part of the Clergy, render the interference of the legislature indifpenfably neceffary. For as the law ftands at prefent the hands of Magiftrates are tied, and they scarcely dare refuse a license to the most contemptible blockhead, who believes, or wishes to make others believe, that he has received a call. While his pious labours in the vineyard have procured for him the profits and direction of two chapels, and the mortified Methodist rolls at eafe in his carriage and contrives to vary the severities of self-denial with the comforts and appurtenances of an elegant manfion. But fuch inftances (which feem, indeed, to favour more strongly of the luft of filthy lucre than the frenzy of fanaticism) are confined to a few of these more fuccefsful adventurers to whom their "godliness has been great gain." There is, however, an evil attendant on these petty licenses which we fufpect to be of much greater extent and operation, though it has been ftrangely left out of the account, and we incline to believe must have escaped the notice and recollection of our rulers. We mean the facility and temptation which are thus afforded to thofe, whofe principles are not always proof against their interefts, to make thipwreck of their confcience, when, by a registered declaration of dif fert, and at the easy purchase of a fhilling, they can evade the annual payment of more than twenty times its value, decline the fervice of their King, defeat the claims of their country, prevent the expofure of their perfons and the lofs of their property, and be excused from public and parochial duties. + 1 -But "Meffrs. Thorne and Durant"-One of thefe civré PATRI OTS was, and the other we believe still is, an itinerant Methodist Preacher. The late conduct of these gentlemen in the Common Hall will be duly noticed in our Summary of Politics for the prefent month, where the confiftency of their practice with their profeffions will be clearly demonftrated. + Vide Burn's Justice, P. 454. "Every fuch teacher and preacher having taken the oaths and fubfcribed as aforefaid, (for regiftering of which he fhall pay fix-pence and fix-pence for a certificate), thall from thenceforth be exempted from ferving in the Militia of this country, N 2 and But it is time, perhaps, to return to Mr. Benfon, whom, we confefs, we had almoft overlooked in the relative importance and increafing magnitude of the cause for which he pleads, the progrefs and tendency of which we have long watched with axious apprehenfion. Had the author of the Vindication read with care and commented with candour on the account of the firft defcription of Methodists, given in the Report of the Lincolnshire Clergy, we are perfuaded he could not have brought against it fo unfounded a charge as that of intolerance. Indeed, if we might be allowed to differ in any particulars from a publication, which, as a whole, we highly approve of and admire, we fhould be tempted to fay, that in our opinion, its reverend compilers have, in this inftance, conceded too much to moderation, and have almoft fuffered liberality to outweigh conviction. For they have, it feems, "no complaint to make against the above defcription of Methodifts, who profefs to be members of the Church of England, and regularly attend its fervices, but have places fet apart for additional exercises of devotion, &c. Much lefs," they add, "do they confider them as contributing to the neglect or perverfion of religious worfhip." Now we have been taught, on very high authority, that a man's worst enemies are those of his own household. And, with all due deference, we cannot confider them as friends to the Eftablishment who are hoftile, or at least indifferent, to its difcipline, much lefs, as not contributing to the perverfion of its worship, when they fet up feparate places of devotion without the previous fanétion of its fpiritual governors. Nor can we fee any enfaring neceffity impofed upon the conscience to excufe an act of fchifm and difobedience by the added guilt of prevarication or apoftacy. We own ourfelves at a lofs to comprehend how a law which fimply obliges Proteftant Diffenters to declare themfelves fuch before they can claim the benefits of the Toleration-Act, can bear the most diftant conftructive reference to "well meaning and respectable members of the Church of England;" and still leis compel them to commit perjury through an excefs of misinformed devotion, Y (To be continued.) and from ferving on any jury, or of being appointed to bear the office of churchwarden, overfeer of the poor, or any other parochial or ward office, or other office in any hundred, city, town, parish, divifion, or wapentake." He is alfo relieved from the powder-tax, &c. ART, ART. IX. Kacauals. By (Fra Gli Arcadi) Aurifco Gerefteo. 8vo. PP. 109. 5s. boards. S. Low. London. 1800. one HIS is one of the strangest performances that ever came under our Review. It is defignedly incoherent and abford in its structure, and in fentiment and expreffion. But its general meaning, much less its various allufions, are not immediately discoverable. L He, who is unacquainted with Bryant's late publications on the fubject of Troy, would, after reading a page with "a foolish face of wonder," and turning over the leaves for a few minutes, difmifs the piece as no other than a heap of nonfenfeverfe and they, to whom Bryant and Morritt are familiar, muft perufe many paffages and many pages" without the understanding." They may be pleafed here and there with a ftroke of humour; but they must more frequently be puzzled by enigmas, and confounded by jargon. They must often ftare at the amphibious product of madness or ftupidity. We at first intended to quote largely from Bryant; to give an abftract of his conjectures concerning Homer, the fituation of Troy in Egypt, &c. &c. and then to oppofe Morritt's arguments to Bryant's hypothefis; but, on turning again to this anomalous thing, we began to think that Bryant had little to do in the affair; and, at this moment, the whole is to us a tangled fkain of thread, which we fhall not wafte our time in attempting to unravel. Even, whilst we open the book for an excerpt or two, all the children of the Dunciad feem to rife in array against us. " ARGUMENT. "Homer, attended by his valets de chambre, Daurat, Cefarotti, Pope, and an Eduhov. Daurat plucks the ftraggling hairs from the bard's chin, kisses them as divine, and lays them by carefully part on the history of Sampfon's Lock, in a family-bible, part among the leaves of Homer hebraizing. Cefarotti turns the bard's robe infide out, cuts out the spots and ftains with a Venetian stiletto, and patches it with the old remnants of Baiutes and dominoes, and the roba arlechiefca del teatro di Padoua. Pope and the Edo quarrel about the propriety of the drefs the bard is to wear for the day; the former offers him a light gay filken gown, approved of by twelve master taylors, and defcants confiderably in Alexandrine rhymes, upon the antique clumsiness of the Archipelagic robe. The Edo damns him for a fool, prefents the bard with his every day coat, and points to Milton and Offian." reclis fortafse δυσασθμαίνου * To them enter CASSANDRA, δυσασθμαίνων. "CASSANDRA. "Weep, bard divine! O weep thine honours loft; To Troy unborn fhall bow, and Egypt's better claim. One comfort only foothes the coming pain, Grecians and gods must feel their woes again." PP. 1, 2. "Chorus of Critics. "See ye not yon handle bright, Yon hairs wide waving to the ethereal blue; Across the main, Acrofs the Icarian deep, Thro' the canopic mouth of feven-fold Nile, To Egypt's torrid foil Troy's walls immortal, and her heroes too." "Come, then, all ye focial powers, Pour your gentle influence o'er us. To the dull Boeotian fhore; If ftill the handle of your brush be ftrong, Sweep old Cadmean Thebes away; Plunge it in the depth profound of the ifle befpangled fea.” Pr. 61, 62. Το To this extravagant production are fubjoined fome learned and ingenious annotations. At P. 105, the author remarks: "Had Mr. B., even in the days of Pififtratus, been imported from Egypt into Athens, and ventured to dictate his Trojan doubts to an amanuenfis, the latter might with reafon have alarmed the Amphictyonic Council, and the former would probably have undergone the fate of Zoilus or Daphidas. But in thefe days, when poetic fiction is not religion, why fhould Mr. B. be fo rudely handled by a critic for claffic doubts, harmless in their confequences; and, in their illuftration, entertaining and inftructive? It would, methinks, have been an unpardonable omiffion in Mr. B. if he had not, after fo unprovoked an attack, performed as Swift fays, the due difcourfe expoftulatory with my Lords the critics. I could have wished that the B. C. had reviewed the work of the two difputants with all the prudent calm→ nefs becoming his profeffion. The claffic controverfy might then have been attended with no worse effects than a Carmen Amabæum fung by Roman Improvifatori; we should have had some courtefies, fome complaifance, fome pleasant incidents, fome mutua convicia, the gradual reconcilement, and the parting good friends. Even yet, if Mr. Morritt replies to Mr. B. I trust that he will not lofe fight of the mildness of a true fcholar. I fhall be very forry to see him fo far influenced by any man, as to ftalk forth, at this ftage of the controverfy, with the boasts of a Salmafius; or to repeat the B. C.'s fears of the dreadful confequences of Mr. B.'s Egyptian hints, his fears for poor chronology, hiftory, and I had almoft faid, for revela tion." There are many points in the controverfy between Bryant and Morritt, which might be turned into ridicule with very good effect; but the anonymous writer before us has more learning than wit, more fancy than judgment. He poffeffes the ear of a poet; but we are forry to witnefs fuch a waste of fine fyllabic harmony. ART. X. Letters on the Irish Nation; written during a Vifit to that Kingdom, in the Autumn of the Year 1799. By George Cooper, Efq. Small 8vo. PP. 201. White. 1800. R. Cooper availed himself of the leifure afforded him. by the long vacation in 1799, to enjoy a little relaxation from legal itudies, and to make an excurfion to Ireland, with the intent to fatisfy himself refpecting fome objects of the utmost importance to that country, in a religious, moral, and political point of view. The time which he devoted to this purpofe, was certainly very inadequate to its accomplishment, particularly when we recollect the agitated ftate of the N4 country |