quite as important for them to be informed who the Son of God was, and 66 sent forth made of a woman,' why he was "" as for them to know the reasons which commentators have assigned for his advent at one particular period rather than another. At any rate, something of this would have been quite as natural, as to discern in the selected passage any reference to public worship!

We are truly at a loss to account for what appears to us so egregiously incongruous. Are the subjects too scanty to afford materials, severally, for an entire discourse? We should not have thought it: but Mr. Evans's eagerness of quotation from Pope, (whom he calls with equal truth of chronology and criticism" the first poet in the English language,") and from Mrs. Barbauld, does really seem to indicate a consciousness of debility that would make it highly expedient for him to be "doubly armed."

The sermon is not particularly faulty, in regard to religious sentiment, except that it is barren; or in regard to style, except that it is cold; on these accounts it must have formed the most admirable contrast that can be imagined, with the glowing and genial season in which it was delivered.

Mr. Evans's motto, from Virgil, imputes to that illustrious poet a prosodial inaccuracy, which to any school-boy, in almost any school, would be worth a good flagellation ;

Magnus ab integro seculorum nascitur ordo !

Art. XVII. A Complete System of Astronomy; By the Rev. S. Vince, A. M. F. R. S. Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy in the University of Cambridge. Vol. III. 4to. pp. 130, 248. Price 11. 158. boards. Cambridge, at the University Press: Lunn, Wingrave, &c. 1808.

IF

we were required to shew the utility of the higher branches of mathematical knowledge, we should immediately point to Physical Astro my and its application to the practice of navigation. All the resources of the most sublime analysis, an analysis not comprehended by one in ten of those who pass for respectable mathematicians, have been employed by the greatest philosophers of the present age, in perfecting the theory of the motions of the moon and the satellites of Jupiter and the other planets. The theory, thus corrected and improved, has directed the computation of more accurate solar, lunar, and planetary tables and these have at once facilitated and rendered more complete and satisfactory the solution of the problem relative to the longitude;-a problem especially important in a commercial country like our own, and which, though the precepts regulating its solution are now levelled to the comprehension of a schoolboy, depends upon principles the most refined, extensive, and profound, and which have called into exercise the utmost powers of the greatest philosophers of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The two former volumes, of Mr. Vince's comprehensive system of Astronomy, have been before the public some years, and their merit is well known. They certainly constitute the most complete body of in formation on the science of astronomy, which has yet been published in Great Britain. The materials are excellent, though the arrangement is not always such as a correct logician might wish to see adopted. The publication of the third volume has been delayed, that the author might avail himself of the latest investigations of Mechain, Burg, Delambre, VOL. IV. 4 B

and Laplace and be has now laid before the public a far more correct, better arranged, and more useful collection of Astronomical tables, than has been hitherto published in any country. These Tables are, of the Sun, of the Moon, of Refraction, the Sun's Parallax, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Georgian, and of Jupiter's satellites. They are preceded by an introduction of 130 pages, pointing out the sources from whence they have been derived, and the precepts for regulating their use. They will in a great measure supersede the necessity of recurring to former tables, such as Halley's, Dunthorne's, Mayer's, Mason's, &c. and will be found extremely useful to the practical astronomer, and the navigator. Such of the tables as have been borrowed from the French, are exhibited in a more convenient shape than their original one and having been examined by the method of differences are rendered very correct.

The volume is not adapted to advance the author's high reputation for science and depth, nor, probably, to reward his labour by an extensive circulation; it is no small praise to him, that he has performed a considerable service to the public, without any prospect either of fame or emolument.

In point of typography, this third volume is far more respectable than the first and second; and really does honour to the Cambridge press, the reformation of which we have lately had repeated opportunities of observing.

Art. XVIII.A Summary View of the leading Doctrines of the Word of God. By Wm. Innes. 12mo. pp. 52. Price 1s. Williams, Ogle.

IT

T must have frequently happened to serious persons, desirous of leading others less informed to a suitable knowledge of the essential doctrines of the Gospel, to wish, with the author of this tract, which we ought to have noticed before, for some little publication to put into their hands, by the careful perusal of which they may get a tolerable acquaintance with them." We thank him, not only for his endeavours to supply a want which we have often felt, but for the excellent materials with which he has furnished us toward the exercise of the noblest species of Charity, in which any human being can indulge ;-that of conducting his fellow mor tals to a competent understanding of those truths, on which their eternal welfare depends.

Art, XIX. An Analysis of the Experiment in Education, made at Egmore,near Madras, comprising a System alike fitted to reduce the Expense of Tuition, abridge the Labour of the Master, and expedite the Progress of the Scholar, &c. &c. By the Rev. Dr. Andrew Bell, A.M. F.A.S. &c. Rector of Swanage, Dorset. Third Edition. 8vo. pp. 115. Price 3s. 6d. Cadell and Davies. 1807.

Art. XX. A Comparative View of the Plans of Education detailed in the Publications of Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster. By Joseph Fox. 8vo. pp. 41. Price 1s. 6d. Darton and Co. Maxwell and Co. 1808. THE former of these pamphlets contains the detail of Dr. Bell's pre sent system of education; and the latter is an able comparison of the claims of Dr. Bell and of Mr. Lancaster, to the praise of originality in their respective systems.

Such writers as Mr. Fox are in some sense to be included among the host of critics, and therefore among the most valuable servants of the public. They are a sort of irregular volunteer force, for whom we have a high esteem, when they are zealous and expert in carrying on the perpetually just and necessary war for the protection of truth and literature. We are much indebted to him for having taken this duty out of our hands; and we recommend the comparative statement he has given, of the respective merits of the two Inventors, to the attentive perusal of all who are interested in the subject from motives of curiosity, of humanity, or of justice to individual character.

The improvements in education which the author ascribes to Dr. Bell are, 1. a better mode of teaching to spell, i. e. requiring the learner, for a considerable time, to pronounce every syllable of a word separately, without pronouncing the word at once, and also, when he begins to read a word at once, to pronounce each word separately, pausing before he begins the next; 2. the adoption of the Malabar mode of teaching the letters, by instructing the child to make them in sand spread over a board, thus uniting learning to read ith learning to write. He also gives Dr. B. great credit for the arrangement of his school at Madras into classes, which were paired off into tutors, and pupils whom they were to assist to learn, and governed by assistants, under the care of four masters, all of whom received salaries, and a superintendant:-and likewise for requiring the boys to make their own pens, &c. In this part, Mr. F. might have been more explicit.

い

The improvements ascribed exclusively to Mr. Lancaster, are, 1. An arrangement of classes superintended by a monitor of their own number, and a system of rewards, by which one master may manage a school of a thousand children. 2. A method of reading in classes, the book being printed in large type and affixed to a pasteboard conspicuously placed, by which one book is sufficient for a whole school. 3. The introduction of writing on slates, by which five hundred boys may write and spell at once the word which one boy of the class spells aloud to them. 4. A mode of teaching arithmetic in classes, whereby any child, who can read, muy accurately teach arithmetic to any number, who can write on their slates after his dictation from a book. 5, A reduction of the annual expence of each child to seven shillings in a school of three hundred, and to half that sum in a large school, as is the case with Mr. Lancaster's in the Borough.

Another part of the pamphlet is occupied in comparing Dr. Bell's three editions together; as the result of which he is charged with having made considerable alterations in the latter, as if he had owed some improvements to Mr. Lancaster, in the article of monitors, the use of slates and spelling cards, and the mode of connecting a school of industry with a school of education, while at the same time he has scrupulously avoided even naming the improver and exemplifier of his system, notwithstanding Mr. L.'s handsome acknowledgements of obligations to him. self. He is also charged with suppressing, in the third edition, his account of the organization of the Madras Asylum, as it respects the four salaried masters over two hundred boys; with representing his present system as the same with that which he practised at Madras; and with omitting to state that he has received a pension of 2001. per annum. granted in 1792,

from the East India Company, in consideration of his generosity in declining the salary (of 1801.) to which he was intitled at Madras. For a more ample statement, and the proofs, we must refer to Mr. F.'s pam- / phlet.

Art. XXI. Ode to Iberia. By Eyles Irwin, Esq. M. R. I. A. 4to. pp 16. Price 2s. 6d. Asperne, 1808.

AS every important event, in this literary age, is sure to breed a

swarm of insectular poems, we prepare ourselves for the buzz with the most laudable resolutions of patience, that can be inspired by a perusal of Epictetus. and a recollection of Job: and that which is so lucky as to annoy us first, will usually find us so completely masters of our spleen, as that it may depend on being restored into the wide world with most Shandean forbearance and commiseration. We cannot promise the second so kind a reception, or so happy an escape. All that we have to say of Mr. Irwin is, that his politics were quite in fashion only a month ago, that his poetry will intitle him to aspire after the Laureatship, and that he is under vast obligations to his printer.

Art XXII. The Nature and Extent of Christian Liberty considered, in a Letter humbly addressed to the Members of Religious Societies. By John Fawcett, A. M. 12mo. pp. 27. Price 4d. Button. 1808. THIS brief, but comprehensive tract, may be very serviceably recom

mended to those, who, in theory at least, have learnt to consider the obligation of the law of God as annulled, or in some degree relaxed, by the gospel. The peculiarities of Christian liberty, as a freedom from Mosaic ceremonies, from the bondage of sin, and from the penalty due to transgressors of the law, which believers in Jesus Christ possess, are truly stated; and the gross perversions of the doctrine and the term are well exposed and refuted. The remarkably mild and friendly tone of this address, as well as the known character of its author, will tend we hope to augment its beneficent influence.

Art. XXIII. Excerpta ex variis Romanis Poetis, qui in scholis rariùs leguntur. Notulis illustrata, quas collegit in studiosæ juventutis usum, Johannes Rogers Pitman, A. B. 12mo. pp. 430. Price 6s. Riving tons, Hatchard, 1908.

IN many schools, these Elegant Extracts' will be very acceptable, to amuse the student by the change of subject, and instruct him by the diversity of style. The sele tions are made, in general with much propriety, from Lucretius, Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, Persius, Seneca, Lucan, Valerius Flaccus, Silius Italicus, Statius, Martial, Juvenal, Ausonius, and Claudian. There are 118 pages of useful notes, mostly selected from the best editions of the respective authors.

Art. XXIV. The Great Importance of Peace and Prosperity to Chris-. tian Societies: A Sermon, delivered at the setting apart of the Rev. W. Chapman over the Congregation at the Tabernacle, Greenwich, March 29, 1808. With an Appendix, &c. &c. By John Townsend, 8vo. pp. 54. Price 1s. 6d. Williams and Smith, 1808. MODESTLY disclaiming any extraordinary pretensions to public no

tice, on behalf of this Sermon, Mr. Townsend has secured a can

The

did reception for it among all those who value piety and good sense. words of his text, Ps. cxxii. 7. are referred to in his title, (to which, indeed, we should rather object, as apparently involving a truism,) and they suggest to Mr. T. to consider the peculiarities of the church of God; to explain the blessings solicited for it; and point out the means of attaining them. The solid judgement and experience of the preacher are strongly manifested in most parts of his discourse, which of course is peculiarly adapted to a dissenting audience. Among other sensible remarks on the true prosperity of a Christian community, we may distinguish these:

Then a Christian Society prospers, when all its members grow in sound and scriptural knowledge; not merely in an acquaintance with one or two leading points of doctrine, but of the whole truth as it is in the Lord Jesus. That society is not likely really and effectually to prosper, which is not as thoroughly enlightened into the knowledge of the experimental and practical part of religion as the doctrinal. Indeed, spiritual knowledge is nothing, unless it powerfully influences the heart, and induces a life of holiness.'Then there is prosperity, when all the members of the church consecrate their time, their wealth, their talents, and their influence, to the glory of God and the good of mankind.' pp. 19-21.

The Appendix contains some striking remarks on the conduct and character of certain conceited and antinomian hearers, and unhappily we are forced to add, preachers, who are too often found to disturb the peace of religious societies, and disgrace Christianity in the world.

ART. XXV. SELECT LITERARY INFORMATION.

A new and uniform edition, in seven quarto volumes, of Patrick, Lowth, Arnold, and Whitby's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, will appear in the course of this or the following month.

Dr. Forbes, of Edinburgh, is engaged in a translation of Pliny's Natural History, which is to be accompanied with notes and illustrations, a life of the author, and a preliminary dissertation on the origin and progress of natural history. The work will extend to six or seven volumes in octavo.

A new edition of Collins's Peerage of England, with very considerable alterations and improvements, and brought down to to the present time by Samuel Brydges, Esq. is in the press.

Speedily will be published, in quarto, embellished with thirteen views, Travels in the North of Europe; or, a Journal of a Voyage down the Elbe from Dresden to Hamburg, and Travels through Denmark and Sweden. By Louis de Boisgelin, Knight of Malta, and Author of the History of Malta.

A new edition of the first part of Dr, Hall's British Flora is in the press.

Mrs. Cappe is preparing for the press

a complete history of the Life of Christ, as related by the four Evangelists; interweaving into one continued narrative their several accounts of the miracles performed in proof of his mission, of his prophetic warnings, awful admonitions, moral precepts, and various controversies with the Jewish rulers, terminating in his cru-. cifixion, resurrection, &c. She has endeavoured to ascertain as nearly as possible the order of time in which these seve→ ral discourses, and the extraordinary events which gave rise to them, took place, in the hope of exciting an increasing interest in the perusal of the sacred records, by exhibiting a more comprehensive view of the whole ministry of Christ, and thereby throwing additional light on many exceedingly important and beautiful passages. The whole is ilustrated by a series of notes explanatory of eastern phraseology, of ancient customs, manners, opinions and prejudices: formerly transcribed by the editor from the short-hand papers of her late husband, the Rev. Newcome Cappe. The work is divided into sections, and at the close of each section such practical reflections are deduced as naturally arise out of the subject.