"It was a doubt," said Mrs. Pawlet, "with Aristotle, whether the bees assembled together, on hearing the sound of brass, through fear or joy. Plato and Pliny, I find, attributed it to the latter: Varro and Columella to the former. I am with the Attic Moses-I am with Plato."

"Well, well, my dear," said the parson, who did not in the present case care what was the cause so that the effect was good, “I see they are very quiet now, and if I could but catch the queen-bee all would soon be right."

"Why do you call it the queen?" cried Mrs. Pawlet. «Virgil expressly says, rex, the king. I know the moderns, who will always be pretending to discoveries, say that they suffer but one queen-bee; and that the business of preserving the species is entirely carried on by her and the drones.-But I am shocked at this, and prefer siding with the more modest Virgil:

e foliis natos et suavibus herbis

Ore legunt ipsæ regem, par

Here she was interrupted by the parson exclaiming,

"Bless me! there she goes again.-There-thère. She has fixed upon Mrs. Pawlet, as I live! Sit still, my dear, don't move for the world, and they won't hurt you."

Mrs. Pawlet had not time to inquire what he meant before her left shoulder and arm were entirely covered with bees. She was alarmed; but the parson entreating her not to touch them, and that then there was no danger, she sat still, perspiring through apprehension, until they were all settled. The parson now seised the queenbee and put her into a hive, whither the swarm soon followed, and relieved Mrs. Pawlet from her fright. I should have said, however, that previous to this event she had abused the parson for taking so much pains about recovering his bees; affirming that she could produce him any quantity he pleased, according to Virgil, from the trefied bowels of bulls. This the parson listened to with his usual temper, but still in his mind treated it with all the disrespect it deserved. However, Mrs. Pawlet declared that she would kill a bull at her own expense, to cure the scepticism she saw in her husband, notwithstanding his manner; but this late accident had given her such a surfeit of bees, that she resolved to have nothing more to do with them.

Being clear of the swarm, she shut her Virgil, and returned with Barclay to the library, conversing on the obstinacy of those presuming moderns who prefer themselves to the sagacious ancients.' Vol. ii. P. 150.

The style and manner is too pointedly an imitation of Sterne's Sentimental Journey, and not quite free from its pruriency. Of the less exceptionable parts we shall add one other specimen.

Now I'll give no money, for I've got none to spare :—but I'll give the reader (if she's pretty) as many kisses as will make her lips as red as roses; or supposing the reader to be an abominable

male animal, I'll give him,-I'll give him, this old, dry, stump of a pen, as a memento. All this, I say, will I bestow on them, if they will be so kind as to tell me how Keppel acted in the affair just related, and what he did with Gregory after he had shut the door, What say you? You can't guess. Well then, miss, I shall keep

my kisses and my pen to myself.

I hate systems. The division of time is one of the most unpardonable. Why must an eternal, never-ending thing be degraded by being divided into such paltry things as years, and months, and weeks? Why are we obliged, after every seven days we live, to have Monday again? How much better would it be to let Time run on his glorious course without mincing him in this base manner? And if we must have a name for each period between the rising and the setting of the sun, let us have a new one, one we have not lived before. In a word, let us not, for heaven's sake, be tacked to Mondays all the time of our existence! By this grand and noble living, so worthy of immortal beings, we shall entirely abolish quar ter-day. What can be more desirable?

way of

There is but one thing I will be bound to, and that is, to do nothing. Perhaps I shall not go on with my story in this volume, and perhaps I shall unravel the whole mystery in the next chapter. Come then, as we have got rid of the dull, heavy, labour of narration, at least for this chapter, let's have some fun! Ay, but I said not long ago that you should not smile for fifty pages. It was a lie. Read my preface-I promised to tell you nothing else. Let me be consistent and chaste in my conduct, madam, I beg, although you may please to be otherwise.' Vol. i. p. 59.

Much learning is scattered through these pages-and some of a recondite, or at least a less common kind, which will perhaps entertain more than the usual attendants on a circulating library. The author's reading appears to have been extensive, but desultory. We have not heard his name even conjectured, except that, in a foreign journal, these volumes are attributed to a Mr. Dubois.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE.

RELIGION.

ART. 20.-Village Sermons; or, Twelve plain and short Discourses on the principal Doctrines of the Gospel; intended for the Use of Families, Sunday-Schools, or Companies assembled for Religious Instruction in Country Villages. By George Burder. 4 Vols. 12mo. 45. 6d. sewed. Chapman.

A PRACTICE has lately commenced in various parts of this island, which in many places may be attended with very good effects; but, as it is liable to great abuse, it requires the watchful eye of all who are awakened to the truths of Christianity. It presents itself under the most favorable aspect-that of preaching the Gospel to the poor, -and is countenanced by those among the clergy of the established church who assume the name of evangelical preachers, and those among the dissenters who would be regarded as more serious than the body at large. A society of neighbouring ministers agree among themselves to preach alternately in the adjoining villages, on weekdays or Sunday evenings, hereby giving to their casual hearers the enticing charm of variety, and rendering their own employment easy by such division of labour. Far from discouraging such an attempt to preach the Gospel to the poor, we regard it in many cases as nighly praise-worthy; and contemplate the hour spent by associate villagers as just so much time frequently rescued from the ale-house, and in every instance employed in a manner truly useful and salutary. But it is our duty to mark the consequences of this mode of preaching, as it relates to the national church. The connexion between the evangelical clergy and the dissenting ministers of all persuasions, under the idea of their being united together by the great bond of the Gospel, becomes hereby so firmly established, that every one makes it his pride to be a ready attendant where another associates. The people also who are thus alternately edified, repair on Sundays to such neighbouring towns as afford them an opportunity of hearing the Gospel preached according to their ideas of it, and thus desert their parish-churches for foreign places of worship. Hence the attachment to the established church is daily weakened; and there is no way of restoring its vigour but by the assiduity of its ministers in their pulpits, and an augmented intercourse with their parishioners.

From these sermons the clergy may learn in what manner they ought to employ themselves; although the preacher's object-that, we mean, of conveying to the poor the great truths of the Gospel in the plainest language possible-is not always obtained. The terms selected are frequently too learned for common capacities. Their chief feature-and which is the common characteristic of

the evangelical mode of preaching-is an address to the passions: and the passion of fear is more frequently resorted to than that of love. This mode of instruction is certainly very easy and very popular; but there appears no small degree of impropriety in itfor the Gospel in its very meaning implies good tidings; and under the Gospel dispensation we are rather called upon to consider the Supreme Being in his character described by St. John"God is love.'

We were not surprised, in the course of the work, to find every subject of controversy introduced and defended with very little attention to any thing that had been advanced by its adversaries. In one place this inattention is so very gross, that we cannot let it pass without reprehension. The preacher assumes for his text, I John v. 7, There are three that bear record in heaven-the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one.' This passage, it is now well known, is altogether spurious, and was never written by St. John; yet, as if the proof had not been before the public, the orator, with unpardonable audacity, asserts

• Perhaps you will be told that this verse is not found in some ancient manuscripts of the New Testament, but has been added by the Trinitarians. But we are assured by men of the first learning and credibility, that it is found in the most ancient copies; and whoever examines, will find that the sense of the chapter is not complete without it.' Vol. iii. P. 3.

For the latter part of this asseveration we do not blame-we pity, the writer; since, if he really think as he asserts, the error exists in his intellects but the disingenuity contained in the former paragraph admits of no justification. Ought he not, in common ingenuousness, to have told his hearers that men also of the first learning and credibility deny that the verse is found in any ancient manuscript of the Greek Testament? And is he not reprehensible for making this controverted passage his text, and thus endeavouring to give it an additional stamp of authenticity?

We are too well acquainted with preachers of this description to expect them to pay much attention to the point which they will call earnal learning: but, whatever may be the doctrines which any party preaches, it is the great interest of the public that the book which we all defend should be preserved from error. The opinions of fallible men will die away: yet the world should be careful who take upon themselves the important task of communicating instruction to the poor; and when such persons think that they have a call to preach, let them remember that the popularity attending them is no proof of spirituality; for prophecy has long since declared that the time will come when men shall have itching ears.

ART. 21.-Internal and presumptive Evidences of Christianity, considered separately, and as uniting to form one Argument. By John Simpson. 8vo. 8s. Boards. Egerton. 1801.

This is an excellent compilation; and they who have not access to a great number of books will here find collected together the sentiments of the best writers of our nation on the most important sub

jects. The compiler himself also is entitled to great merit for his mode of arranging and connecting together his materials; and the argument is treated in such a manner, that, although it should fail to have an effect on a very prejudiced believer, the Christian reader will rise up with renewed satisfaction in the wisdom of God, as it appears in the life of our Saviour, and the acts recorded of him by the Apostles. The work is digested in a series of propositions; and, besides the author's quoting largely on every point, there are constant references to others who have written on the same subject. The result of the evidence produced is stated in the following terms.

We have shown, that there is no peculiar presumption against either a revelation in general, or Christianity in particular, previous to an examination into the evidences of them; but that there are several strong presumptions in favour of the divine authority of Jesus and his religion. We have also manifested, that the New Testament bears peculiarly forcible and very various internal marks of credibility. We have further evinced, that the accounts of the several arguments to which Christ appeals in his own favour, are attended with numerous and powerful internal and presumptive evidences, that such proofs were really exhibited as establish the divinity of his mission.

Let the reader maturely weigh each argument separately, and, also, as concurring with all the rest, to form one consistent body of proof. With the widest and most accurate view that his mind can take of so large and varied a field of evidence, let him calmly and impartially consider, whether it be probable, or even possible, that such numerous, various, and distinguishing characters of truth, coming from such different quarters, many of them having no previous connexion with each other, should all so exactly tally and coincide in favour of what is not true. If, upon such a survey, he thinks it is not probable that this should be the case, then he must think it is not probable that Jesus was either an enthusiast or an impostor; and, therefore, he must think it probable, that he was what he pretended to be. If he thinks there could not be such a concurrence to justify a falsity, then he must directly conclude that Jesus had a divine commission, and that his religion was from God.' P. 632.

ART. 22.-The Millennium; or, cheerful Prospects of the Reign of. Truth, Peace, and Righteousness; and serious Reflexions on the Com-mencement of the New Century: Two Discourses, preached—the First on November 5, 1800, and the Second on January 4, 1801-in the New Chapel, Bridport, with Notes. By Thomas Howe. 8vo. 15. 6d. Longman and Rees.

These discourses are printed at the request of the congregation be fore which they were delivered; and we beg leave to add our testimony to that of the congregation-that they appear well calculated to promote the important cause of Christian truth, liberty, and righteousness.' The preacher does not attempt, like a modern poet, to fix the time when the glories of the Millennium are to be displayed, but advances it as a truth established by prophesy, that the affictions of the church will cease, and the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of God and his Christ. On this happy period he