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outlawed, and the great body of the industrious and moral part of the community, instead of being permitted to lead " quiet and peaceable lives," are subjected to the horrors of civil war, viz. violence and rapine, for which there is no redress, while they are insultingly told, that "the law is open to them." Habituated thus to the daily spectacle of unredressed wrongs, (as in France, before the Revolution) men become callous to moral feeling, and prepared for deeds of horror. Their hearts are hardened, and their consciences seared, by a silent process of demoralisation, the symptoms of which (viz. the increase of crimes, &c.) pass unregarded, until it be too late. For when the moral corruption arrives at a certain pitch, there is no other remedy but the sword,

So long as the courts of law in any country remain open to the great body of the people, its government will always have the support of the better-disposed part of the community. But when the feelings of the patient Christian are tortured every day, by seeing his fellowcreatures robbed, maltreated, defrauded, and demoralized, under the operation of a system directly opposed to the Word of God; when he sees taxes imposed, and fees permitted, which are equivalent to a sentence of outlawry against the widow, the fatherless, and the unfortunate, how can he, in his conscience, approve of such things, or pray for their continuance? Ought he not rather to implore the " powers that be," to "hear the Word of the Lord," ere it be too late, and to consider the dreadful end to which such ill-gotten gains are rapidly conducive? To withhold justice from the poor, is to commit sacrilege. For the word says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Surely he is neither a patriol nor a Christian, who could wink at such things: "He is not Caesar's friend," who would advise him to disregard them.

During the progress of the moral gangrene, originating in the obstructed circulation of justice, the great majority of politicians, being destitute of true moral principle, cannot discern the extent of the danger. They will not "believe" the Word of God, that those small livid spots apparently so trifling, (which are all that appear on the qutside of the "beast") are the symptoms of approaching death. None of the state physicians will believe that any thing serious is the matter with him. For he is in general very quiet; and when he becomes feverish and restless, they endeavour to amuse him with gew-gaws, or frighten him with some foreign bugbear; while others, unaware of bis asthenic diathesis, prescribe low diet and copious bleeding. Others, who differ in opinion from the state physicians, are for humouring their patient, in all his most extravagant whims. Some think that his fever is entirely owing to the load on his back; others impute it to the wounds he received in battle; others to the swarms of vermin, which are fattening on every part of his body; and every one pro poses his remedies accordingly. Meanwhile, the "beast" is daily growing worse and worse; the voices of the few "men of understanding," who perceive the true cause of his distemper, are drowned in the clamour of the empirics, who are at loggerheads about the "mode of treatment ;" till at last their patient expires in strong convulsions, and his loathsome carcase is speedily decomposed. pp. 157-159.

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In a subsequent portion of the volume, this criterion is applied with great force, to the state of England under the Stuarts, Cromwell, and William, and the passage is replete with most awful warning. We earnestly wish that the Author, without encumbering himself with an unreadable theory, had employed himself in the investigation of such points as these; and even now, we hope that it may be in our power to persuade him to examine and to enforce this most important of political inquiries, separately and at large.

Art. VIII. Clavis Metrico-Virgiliana. A Metrical Guide to the right Intelligence of Virgil's Versification: containing a Solution of its principal Difficulties; the Lines distinctly scanned in each Case; and the Poetic Licences explained. To which is added, A Synopsis of the Poetic Licences, exhibiting at one View, the various Examples of each collectively classed together. By John Carey, LL.D. 12mo. pp. 52. London, 1818.

DR.

R. CAREY's reputation as an accomplished Latin Prosodian, is so well established, and his experience in teaching must have made him so familiar with the difficulties which the readers of Latin verse occasionally encounter, that in the discharge of our duty to the public, we may satisfy ourselves with merely announcing this little work. The Author has published it for the use (in the first instance) of gentlemen applying to him for assistance in acquiring a knowledge of prosody and versification; and with the further view of aiding others who may be desirous of correctly understanding the structure of • Virgil's lines, and pronouncing them with metrical propriety.. In the preface, some remarks are inserted on Greek Patronymics. Art. IX. Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. William Richards, LL.D., who died at Lynn, September 13, 1818, in the sixty-ninth Year of his Age. With some Account of the Rev. Roger Williams, Founder of the State of Rhode Island, as well as First Assertor of complete Religious Liberty in the United States of America. By John Evans, A. M. 12mo. pp. 396. [Portrait.] Price 8s. London, 1819.

IF

F the Rev. John Evans is not already sufficiently known to our readers in his capacity of Author, it is not for want of either industry or ambition on his part. On the present occasion, we shall take it for granted that they are fully aware of the nature and extent of his pretensions, the distinguishing singularities of his style, and the bias in his opinions. We will not be so ungrateful to him for the information which he has thrown together in the present volume, as to criticise either his authorship or his theology. He bas attained that period of life at which some indulgence ought to be given to the goodhumoured garrulousness of a biographer, when adverting to past

scenes, and he shall therefore be allowed in the present instance to tell his story in his own way.

The subject of the present Memoir, was a minister of the General Baptist denomination, best known to the public by means of bis History of Lynn. He was born in 1749, in the parish of Penrhydd, near Haverfordwest. His father was a respectable farmer, of the Particular Baptist persuasion, who died when his son William was about nineteen. Before his father's death, Mr. Richards had united himself to the Baptist church at Rhydwillim, Caermarthenshire, where he was first encouraged by the invitation of his friends, to engage in religious services. Being recommended to obtain some education for the ministerial office, he, in 1773, entered the Bristol Academy, at that time conducted by the Rev. Hugh Evans, and his son, Dr. Caleb Evans, where he remained for two years. Upon leaving Bristol, he became joint assistant to Dr. John Ash, of Lexicographical memory, as minister of the Baptist church at Pershore, in Worcestershire, and afterwards officiated for some time in the neighbourhood of Tewkesbury. In 1776, the congregation at Lynu applied to the president of the Bristol Academy for a minister to supply their vacant pulpit. Mr. Evans recommended Mr. Richards to them, and he accepted their invitation.

He continued to discharge the pastoral function at Lynn, till the year 1795, when an interruption of two years took place in his ministerial services, occasioned by indisposition, during which the church was supplied by a respectable assistant. On his return to Lynn, in 1798, his health not being established, he preached only occasionally. He had tendered his resignation, we are told, more than once, but the people refused to accept of it. He visited Wales again in the following year, and after his return, soon ceased preaching to his own flock, although he never received from them a regular discharge. It appears that a considerable change had gradually taken place in Mr. Richards's theological opinions, since his first settlement at Lynn, and this had given rise to the most injurious misrepresentations. A degree of coolness on the part of his former friends was the natural result. The share he had in promoting the secession which took place among the Welch Baptists during his

the principality in 1800, drew upon him, also, the warm displeasure of the whole body of Calvinistic Baptists. What were really Mr. Richards's opinions is no longer of any importance to the living; he has now passed into a world which excludes the existence of doubt. It is evident, however, that he was grossly calumniated; and he was not the only individual among the body to which he belonged, whom the misrepresentations, and unkindness, and intolerance occasioned by a practical assertion of the rights of conscience, had the unhappy effect

of driving into another connexion, and of impelling, perhaps, insensibly, into further speculative error.

In 1805, Mr. R. became a widower, after having been mar ried only two years, an event which so overwhelmed his spirits, that he withdrew himself from society. For seven years he scarcely appeared abroad even among his intimate friends; living the life of a hermit, without so much as a servant, latterly, to wait upon him. To this privation, he appears to have submitted from the most honourable motives. With

an income barely sufficient for the comforts of an individual,' we are told, he was very liberal to the indigent, especially to his relatives, in Wales. He expired Sept. 13, 1818, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.

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As a preacher Mr. R. was never popular in England, but when preaching in the Principality, in his beloved native language, he was followed by crowded auditories. He spoke with a strong Cambrian accent, and in his appearance, as well as in his character, was conspicuously of the race of ancient Britons. A work, entitled "Cambro-British Biography," which had employed him for some years, is announced for publication by his worthy executor, the Author of the present Memoir, to whom we cannot but tender our thanks in parting, for the interesting volume he has presented to us.

Art. X. Select Pieces in Verse and Prose. By the late John Bowdler, Jun. Esq. of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister at Law. Third Edition. 2 Vols. 8vo. pp. viii-730. London, 1818. ΤΟ To those who had the privilege of being personally acquainted with the accomplisited individual of whose talents and virtues these pieces form the memorial, no other record was necessary, and none could be more interesting, than the few remains here presented to the public. The slight biographical notice prefixed to them, would be sufficient to recall to their recollection the few incidents that diversified a career which promised to be so brilliant, but which terminated still more happily for the subject of those bright anticipations, than if he had lived to realize them in the highest worldly distinctions. We bring to these volumes, however, certainly not the cold, stern temper of professional critics, but still, the previous feelings of personal strangers; and as the appearance of a third edition brings the work fairly under our notice, as a publication which no longer addresses itself to the circle of Mr. Bowdler's private friends, we shall state without reserve what were the impressions made upon our minds by the perusal. Most readers will, we think, in common with ourselves, regret that so fair an opportunity was not improved, for adding to the records of biography one fair example inore, in a form adapted to convey the full force of that example to his contemporaries. Interesting as was the character of Henry Kirke

White in every point of view, and distinguishing as was his genius, yet none of his friends are insensible of the obligations which they are under to his Biographer, for placing that character in its full light, and for compelling the public to render to his memory the homage of a most powerful interest and aflectionate sympathy. Although we are aware that there was far less scope in the present instance for the talents of a Biographer, yet materials would not have been wanting for an interesting memoir. And the pieces selected for publication are not of a nature either to supply the deficiency, or to supersede such an introduction. They are of extremely unequal merit and interest; a circumstance which, applied to the works of an unknown Author claiming to be received on the ground of their intrinsic value, would need some explanation, as ostensibly lessening our estimate of the writer. In the present instance, the responsibility of giving publicity to the inferior specimens of the Author's powers of mind, entirely devolves upon the Editor; yet, as the establishment of the literary reputation of his deceased friend or relative, has, probably, formed no part of his object, or bas at least been a very subordinate motive in the publication, it is a responsibility from which he will not shrink, and it will not expose him to any very serious charges.

The Select Pieces consist of a Journal' of a voyage to Sicily and Malta, undertaken in 1810, for the recovery of his health; extracts from letters to his friends, from 1801 to 1811; pieces in verse, occupying between sixty and seventy pages; two or three short articles which appeared, we believe, in the Christian Observer; extracts from a review of the Tableau de la Littérature pendant la dix-huitième Siècle; a review of Stewart's Philosophical Essays; and some short Theological Tracts.' Viewed as the only remains of a man whose character communicated its interest to his productions, all of these may be read with interest. Except as containing illustrations of character, however, the greater part of the Journal might have been spared, and a stern estimate of its intrinsic merit would have led to the rejection also of the poetry. Mr. Bowdler's talent for versification was not of a higher order than what generally falls to the lot of persons of studious and contemplative habits; it is a talent which seems to be naturally developed, like the other faculties, in the process of cultivation, and it generally spends itself in the period which precedes the full maturity of the intellectual character. Mr. Bowdler would never have attained distinction by this species of composition, and we feel equally certain that he would not have continued to indulge in it, further than in the occasional ex"ercises of piety. Some pieces of this description are among the most pleasing specimens of his poetry. One of these, entitled, At Sea in a Storm,' is striking, from the circumstance of its