exaggeration. But, for ourselves, we would maintain that the late exposures of misconduct by no means justify what by implications may be construed into an almost universal condemnation of the conduct of keepers of mad-houses. We feel, however, no hesitation in a qualified reception of our Author's sentiments, when he speaks of insanity as a disease which is not to be remedied by stripes and strait waistcoats, by imprisonment or impoverishment, but by an unwearied tenderness, and by an unceasing and anxious superinten dence.' (p. 206.) There are several interesting topics touched upon by our ingenious Author, in the course of this small volume, of a more purely medical nature than any to which we have hitherto alluded: such as the use and abuses of pharmacy, the advantages and disadvantages of bleeding, the indiscriminate and fearless administration of mercury, the throwing in bark' to convalescents, &c. To some of his sentiments on these subjects, we unhesitatingly assent; while others we think are advanced and maintained with rather too much of a sweeping boldness and dogmatic decision. We cannot, however, engage in an argumentative consideration of these several points; it is our wish at present rather to excite than gratify the curiosity of the reader. There is one remark, however, which we shall not overlook, because in our minds it is most strictly and justly applicable to one of the prominent errors of modern medicine; namely, that of curing complaints at the expense of the constitution. There has, we allow, been too much invective thrown out by some authors against the mercurialism, if we may so express ourselves, of the present day. We nevertheless think that the indiscriminate lavishness with which mercury in its different forms is dealt out by many prescribers, calls loudly for the lash of censure; and the following reproach is elegantly expressed, as well as boldly conceived. In the treatment of any malady, our object ought to be not merely to remove it, but to do so at as little expense as possible to the stamina of the patient. In too rudely eradicating a disease, there is danger lest we tear up a part of the constitution along with it. One of the most important circumstances that distinguish the honorable and reasoning practitioner from the empiric, is, that the former, in his endeavour to rectify a temporary derangement, pays, at the same time due regard to the permanent interests and resources of the constitution.' The inebriate, who, from having hardened or mutilated his hepatic organs, or one who from having mangled his health by a different mode of indiscretion, has recourse to the remedial influence of mercury, ought to be aware that a poison may lurk under the medicine which apparently promotes his cure; that although it prove ultimately successful in expelling the enemy, it often, during the con flict, lays waste the ground upon which it exercises its victorious power.' p. 149-50. Our general opinions respecting the merits and demerits of Dr. Reid's work, will easily be gathered from the preceding remarks. If it be necessary to say any thing further respecting the language in which its sentiments are clothed, we would describe the style as abounding with beauties, but at the same time by no means free from faults. Dr. Reid's imagery is often finely conceived, and ably worked out; but then his good things are sometimes too much laboured. You see the machinery at work, when the effect produced is all that ought to arrest the attention. His metaphors too, if we may turn his own weapons against himself, we would say, are not seldom metamorphosed by extension beyond the limits, which a correct taste prescribes to the excursion of fancy; and one beautiful image is often presented to the reader, which, standing by itself, would be every thing that could be desired, but the effect of which is weakened by the introduction of another. Let the following example serve to substantiate this charge. ; 6 Under the influence of some intense emotion' (says Dr. R.) a man may be made to assume at once the inmobility of marble, but. he does not in that case become stone within. He stands fixed as a statue, but not insensible. There is often a spasmodic chillness of the surface, which only serves to aggravate that mental fever from which it originates.' Now, this exposition of the interior state of a melancholic, is as fine as language can make it; but when the writer goes on immediately to tell us that the supposed torpor of melancholy is like that of a child's top, which, after having been lashed into the most rapid agitation, is said from its apparent composure, to be asleep'; we are tempted to say that he spins ont his illustrations in a childish manner. Like some of the medical practitioners whose conduct he condemns, he nauseates and weakens by the very means employed to strengthen and. support. He throws in too much bark.' But we shall perhaps do more justice to our Author, by closing the present article with the concluding sentences of his treatise, and leaving the reader to his own unbiassed judgement. To be always considering "what we should eat, and what we should drink, and wherewithal we should be clothed," in order to avoid the approach of disease, is the most likely means of provoking its attack. A man who is continually feeling his pulse is never likely to have a good one. If he swallow his food from the same motive as he does his physic, it will be neither enjoyed nor digested so well as if he eat in obedience to the dictate of an unsophisticated and uncalculating appetite. The hypochondriac who is in the habit (practice) of weighing his meals, will generally find that they lie heavy on his stomach. If he take a walk or a ride with no other view than to pick up health, he will seldom meet with it on the road. If he enter into company, not from any social sympathy, or relish for interchange of thought, but merely because company is prescribed for his disease, he will only be more deeply depressed by that cheerfulness in which he cannot compel himself to participate, and will gladly relapse into his darling solitude, where he may indulge his melancholy without risk of interruption or disturbance. "The countenance of a friend doeth good like a medicine," but not if we merely look upon it with a view to its medicinal operation. The constitutional or inveterate hypochondriac is apt to view every thing only in the relation it may bear to his malady. In the rich and diversified store-house of nature he sees merely a vast laboratory of poisons and antidotes. He is almost daily employed either in the search after, or in the trial of remedies for a disease which is often to be cured only by striving to forget it. But even if such a plan of life were really calculated to lengthen the catalogue of our days, it would still be equally wretched and degrading to the dignity of our nature. Nothing surely can be more idle and absurd than to waste the whole of our being in endeavours to preserve it; to neglect the purposes in order to protract the period of our existence-propter vitam, vivendi perdere causas.' Art. VIII. Looking unto Jesus, as carrying on the great Work of Man's Salvation; or a View of the Everlasting Gospel. By Isaac Ambrose: Abridged by the Rev. Robert Cox, A.M. 8vo. pp. 284 Price 7s. 6d. Sherwood and Co. 1815. THE excellency of the writings of the Puritans who flourished during the seventeenth century, has long been acknowledged by the religious world. The fervent piety and deep spirituality for which they are so eminently conspicuous, cannot fail to recommend them to devout and contemplative Christians of every denomination. Of these truly valuable publications, none perhaps has been more deservedly admired, than Ambrose's "Looking unto "Jesus." This, however, as well as most of the other writings which appeared at the same time, may justly be charged with a tedious prolixity; an imperfection the more to be regretted, as it has a peculiar tendency to diminish its usefulness in an age when indolent habits and an indisposition to exert the faculties of the mind, have become so lamentably prevalent. We cannot therefore but rejoice, when any efforts are made to render such writings more palatable to the public taste; and we think Mr. Cox's endeavours promise in a great measure to answer that purpose, so far as it regards the work which he has abridged. He has compressed it into somewhat less than half its original size, and neither the bulk therefore nor the price will now prevent its being better known. We subjoin the following extract as a fair specimen of the work in its present appearance, and trust it will be an inducement to many of our readers to procure the book itself. What a variety of excellency is comprised in Jesus! A holy soul cannot tire itself in viewing him. He is all and in all-all belonging to being, and all belonging to well being. What variety is in him! Variety of time, He is Alpha and Omega-variety of beauty, He is white and ruddy;-variety of quality, He is a lion and a lamb, a servant and a son ;-variety of excellency, He is a man and God.Who shall declare his generation? All of the Evangelists exhibit unto us the Saviour, but every one of them in his particular method. Mark describes not at all his genealogy, but begins his history at his baptism. Matthew searcheth out his original from Abraham. Luke follows it backwards as far as Adam. John passeth further upwards, even to the eternal generation of this Word that "was made flesh." So they lead us to Jesus: in the one we see him only among the men of his own time; in the second, he is seen in the tent of Abraham; in the third, he is much higher, namely, in Adam; and finally having traversed all ages, through so many generations, we come to contemplate him in the beginning, in the bosom of the Father, in that eternity in which he was with God before all worlds.' Mr. C. intends to prefix a table of contents to his little publication; which will be a great improvement to it. Art. IX. The Panegyric of Samuel Whitbread, Esq. M. P. By the Rev. J. Whitehouse, formerly of St. John's College, Cambridge. Rector of Orlingbury, Northamptonshire. royal 8vo. pp. 38. price 2s. 6d. Northampton printed, Conder, London. 1816. MUCH good sense, unaffected warmth of feeling, and truly patriotic sentiments characterize this tribute to the memory of Whitbread. The loftier requisites of poetry, are not, it is true, exhibited in the composition; and the Author does not appear to have an ear sufficiently tutored, to enable him to work up his blank verse into metrical harmony. Still, he has produced what will be found more interesting than many pages of well-poised couplets, and it is only to be regretted that sentiments like the following should not have the advantage of the utmost power of language. 'There was a time When Englishmen were proud of being free, The welcome boon to others; they stood forth VOL. VI. N. S. 194 Whitehouse's Panegyric of Whitbread. Of England's glory; when her sun shone clear, Her steps in blood, the blood of Innocents! Mr. Whitehouse, it is evident, is zealously attached to the political sentiments of which the distinguished subject of his "Panegyric" was the steady, consistent, and overpowering champion. The spirit of party is not, however, chargeable on his production: on the contrary, the feeling which pervades it, is worthy of the sacred function which the Author exercises as a clergyman of the Church of England. After expatiating on Mr. Whitbread's political character and his senatorial exertions, his Panegyrist touches on that unremitting attention to the wants and interests of the lower classes, which constituted a striking feature of his private character. His intimacy in early life with Howard is alluded to; a circumstance, which it is not improbable, may have contributed to the formation of those habits of philanthropic exertion in Mr. Whitbread, which render his loss in his immediate sphere irreparable. The Infirmary, the Lunatic Asylum, and other public institutions at Bedford, employed his constant attention. The education of the poor was an object which deeply interested him; and his speeches at the anniversary meetings of the Bedford Auxiliary Bible Society, evinced that the subject was one which called out all the ardour of his feelings. An impetuosity of manner, a constitutional vehemence that ill brooked control, in some instances perhaps indulged from the consciousness of integrity of design, but in great measure attributable to a morbid sanguinous temperament,-gave to Mr. Whitbread's manners at times a repulsive and even an arrogant character: but his frankness in acknowledging himself to have been in the wrong, the unsuspected benevolence of his motives, and the usefulness of his whole life, more than counterbalanced those infelicities of manner in the estimation of all connected with him. In the despatch of business he was unrivalled alike for promptitude and for correctness: few men have ever sustained with so exemplary regularity the varieties of official function, and got through |