and evangelical virtues, held in contempt -neglect of encouraging and promoting religion among fervants." The corrupt example of fuperiors, and its ill confequences, are thus ftrikingly exemplified: When a poor youth is tranfplanted from one of thofe excellent inftitutions which do honour to the present age, and give fome hope of reforming the next, into the family, perhaps, of his noble benefactor who has provided liberally for his inftruction; what must be his aftonishment at finding the manner of life towhich he is introduced, diametrically oppofite to that life, to which he has been taught falvation is alone annexed! He has been trained in a wholesome terror of gaming; but now his interefts and paffions are forcibly engaged on the fide of play, fince the very profits of his place are made fyftematically to depend on the cardtable. He has been taught that it was his bounden duty to be devoutly thankful for his own fcanty meal, perhaps of barleybread, yet he fees his noble Lord fit down every day, not to a dinner, but a hecatomb; to a repaft for which every element is plundered, and every climate impoverished; for which nature is ranfacked, and art is exhaufted; without even the formal ceremony of a flight acknowledgement. It will be lucky for the mafter, if his fervant does not happen to know that even the pagans never fat down to a repast without making a libation to their deities; and that the Jews did not eat a little fruit, or drink a cup of water, without an expreffion of thankfulness.-Next to the law of God, he has been taught to reverence the law of the land, and to refpect an Act of Parliament next to a text of fcripture: yet he fees his honourable protector publicly in his own houfe engaged in the evening in playing at a game exprefsly prohibited by the laws, and against which, perhaps, be himself had affifted in the day to país an A&.” * Chapter the Fifth proves that "the negligent conduct of Chriftians is no real objection against chriftianity."-Here while the author difproves effectually the pitiful cavils of the infidel on the one hand, on the other he warmly and very powerfully profies upon the chriftian profeffor the necility of a walk and converfation agreenble to that honourable profeffion. Against a careless conduct in the chriftian profe for he produces strong reafoning and pathetic remonftrances. "There is fomething terrible," fays he, " in the idea of this fort of indefinite evil, that the careless christian can never know the extent of the conta gion he fpreads, nor the multiplied infection which they may communicate in their turn, whom his diforders firft corrupted." Some weak perfons are fond of exclaiming against an excefs of piety, and an over-much righteousness, little thinking that by fo doing they encourage irreligion in young perfons, and do the worst mifchief to the caufe of chriftianity; but, as our author justly obferves, "There may be an imprudent, but there cannot be a fuperabundant goodness. An ardent inagination may milead a rightly-turned heart; and a weak intellect may incline the best-intentioned to afcribe too much value to things of comparatively small im. portance." In the Sixth Chapter fome readers may perhaps confider the author as too fevere; but we know that he is juft; and the cafe he defcribes is arrived at too melancholy a pitch to be treated lightly. He fhews that 66 a ftranger, from obferving the fashionable mode of life, would not take this to be a chriftian country." Of the various excellent remarks with which this chapter abounds, we were particularly well-pleafed with what the author fays upon the present fashionable mode of preaching. "It commonly abounds," fays the author, "with high encomiums on the dignity of human nature; the good effects of virtue on health, fortune, and reputa tion; the dangers of a blind zeal, the mifchiefs of enthufiafin, and the folly of being " righteous overmuch;" with va. rious other kindred fentiments, which, if they do not fall in of themselves with the corruptions of our nature, may, by a little warping, be eafily accommodated to them. Thefe are the too fuccessful prac tices of lukewarm and temporizing Divines, who have become popular by blunting the edge of that heavenly-tempered weapon, whofe falutary keennels, but for their "deceitful handling," would oftener "pierce to the dividing afunder of foul and fpirit." But thole feverer preachers of righteoufneis, who difguft by applying too clofely to the confcience; who probe the innoft heart, and lay open all ite latent peccancies; who treat of principles as the only certain fource of manners; * We use the mafculine pronoun when speaking of the author, though, if Fame fay true, and our conjecture be right, this valuable little work comes from the worthy and ingenious MISS HANNAH MORE. VOL. XX. F who who lay the axe to the root oftener than the pruning knife to the branch; who infift much and often on the great leading truths, that man is a fallen creature, who must be restored, if he be restored at all, by means very little flattering to human pride;-fuch as thefe will feldom find accefs to the houfes and hearts of the more modish Chriftians; unless they happen to owe their admiffion to fome fubordinate quality of ftyle; unless they can captivate, with the feducing graces of language, thofe well-bred readers, who are childishly amusing themfelves with the garnish, when they are perifhing for want of food; who are fearching for polished periods, when they fhould be in queft of alarming truths; who are looking for elegance of compofition, when they should be anxious for eternal life." Thefe obfervations are perfectly coincident with the learned Bishop Horley's in his late Charge to his Clergy, and we are happy in feeing fuch writers afferting the peculiar branches of Christianity, at a period when it is too fashionable for authors and preachers to be afraid of acknowledging, or at least flow in defending them. Now, however, we felicitate ourfelves with the hope, that thofe ineftimable truths which have been too long regarded as obfolete, will be more generally known, and confequently valued." The Laft Chapter is an important and an excellent one; it is entitled, "A View of those who acknowledge Christianity as a perfect System of Morals, but deny its divine Authority"-and proves that Moramy is not the whole of Religion.-That a pure Chriftian faith is the only fure foundation of an acceptable obedience, however an unfashionable doctrine, is here afferted and vindicated with a ftrength and perfpicuity that cannot but carry conviction to every ingenuous and feeling heart. Whoever reads the arguments muft tacitly believe them, whatever objec tions he may find it for his interest to alledge against them. "If God," fays our author, has thought fit to make the Gofpel an inftrument of falvation, we must own the neceffity of receiving it as a divine inftitution, before it is likely to operate very effectually on the conduct. The great Creator, if we may judge by analogy from natural things, is fo wife an economift, that he always adapts, with the most accurate precilion, the inftrument to the work; and never lavishes more means than are neceffary to accomplish the propofed end. If, therefore, Christianity had been intended for nothing more than a mere fyftem of ethics, such a system furely might have been produced at an infinitely lefs expence. The long chain of prophecy, the labours of Apoftles, the blood of Saints, to fay nothing of the great and coftly facrifice which the Gofpel records, might furely have been fpared. Leffens of mere human virtue might have been delivered by fome fuitable instrument of human wildom, strengthened by the visible authority of human power. A bare fys. tem of morals might have been commu nicated to mankind with a more reasonable profpect of advantage, by means not s repugnant to human pride. A mere fcheme of conduct might have been delivered, with far greater probability of fuccefs, by Antoninus the Emperor, or Plato the Philofopher, than by Paul the tent-maker, or Peter the fisherman." After what we have faid, and the copious extracts we have made, no further recommendation of this little volume is neceffary. All that we have left to say is, to exprefs our warmest wish that it may be effectual in making at least some change for the better in the appearance of the fashionable world. W. Review of the Conftitution of Great Britain; being the Subftance of a Speech delivered in a numerous Affembly on the following Question:-" Is the Petition of Horne Tooke a Libel on the House of Commons, or a juft Statement of public Grievances arifing from an unfair Representation of the People?" To which is added an Appendix, containing the Petition of Mr. Horne Tooke, together with his two Addreffes to the Electors of Westminster. By a Friend to the People. Second Edition. Price 2s. Ridgway. IN this pamphlet (faid to be the production of Horne Tooke) the Author attacks the Constitution of Great Britain with a hardihood hitherto unexampled. After examining the feveral branches of the Legiflative and Executive Authority, and arraigning with great feverity the vices of the British Government, he concludes thus: "To this Conftitution, therefore, what hinders us from faying in the words of the infpired Writer, "THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE, AND ART FOUN■ WANTING." We We are as far from agreeing to the printiples of this Writer, as we are from concurring in his conclufion; but we cannot deny him the praife of energy and eloquence. As a fpecimen of his ftyle, let the reader take the following apoftrophe to the manes of Dr. Price. "Thanks to the glorious Revolution of France! thanks to the enlightened labours of the National Affembly! we may now hope to fee the day when neither the intrigues of a Court Parafite, the electioneering interefts of a Minifter, nor the vile machinations of Contractors, Brokers, Jews, fhall prevail to arm brother againft brother, and to render man the greatest enemy of man. The interefts of the peo ple (which are every where the fame) fhall foon cease to be facrificed to the do mineering lufts of a few, and the LAW, which is the voice of the people, and all other authority is not law, but ufurpation and tyranny the LAW fhall establish peace and good-will among men. Such, O thou Soul of Benevolence! now united to the eternal fource of UNIVERSAL GOOD; fuch, O PRICE! was the pious end to which were devoted the labours of thy life; fuch were the heart-cheering hopes that fupported thy meek spirit under the cruel calumny of those who hated thee, because they feared the light, and were enemies to the truth !~ Obfervations on the Difeafes, Defects and Injuries in all Kinds of Fruit and Foreft Trees, with an Account of a particular Method of Cure invented and practifed by Mr. William Forfyth, Gardener to his Majefty at Kensington. 8vo. 2s. Nicol. TH HE health and fecurity of trees being an object of very great and extenfive importance, and the Author of this fenfible pamphlet being a perfon of confiderable knowledge and experience in gardening and planting, we shall notice it with more attention than we ufually beftow on thefe fmaller productions of the prefs, The Author in his Introduction, after paying a well-deferved compliment to the Society of Arts, &c. for their patriotic exertions in the advancement of Agriculture, &c. afferts, that the growth of timber, with the culture and management of plantations, has not received that improvement which it merits. He then proceeds to rehte how, from confidering the difeafes and injuries to which trees are fubjeft, he was led to find out a remedy, and at length to communicate that remedy to the public. His experiments, it seems, in the Royal Gardens at Kensington, attracted the notice of many perfons of high rank, as well as philofophical eminence. Among early inquirers were the Commiffioners appointed by Parliament to examine into the State of the Woods, Forefts, and Land Revenues of the Crown. Thefe Gentlemea examined Mr. Forfyth's procefs, and the effects of his remedy; and, being fatis. fied of its utility, made a reprefentation of it to the Lords of his Majesty's Treafury, under whose fanction it was fubmitted to the confideration of the Houfe of Commons. They prefented an Addrefs to his Majefty, in confequence of which a Committee of Members of both Houfes One bushel of fresh cow-dung; half a. bufhel of lime rubbish from old buildings (that from the ceilings of old rooms is preferable); half a bufhel of wood-afhes; and one fixteenth of a bufhel of pit or river fand: the three laft articles are to be fifted fine before they are mixed, then worked together well with a fpade, and afterwards with a wooden beater, until the ftuff is very smooth, like fine plaifter ufed for the ceiling of rooms. Directions for preparing the Trees, and laying on the Compofition. All the dead, decayed, and injured part of the tree must be cut away to the fresh, found wood, leaving the furface very fmooth, and rounding off the edges of the bark with a draw-knife. Lay on the plaifter about one-eighth of an inch thick, all over the part fo cut away; finishing off the edges as thin as poffible. Take a quantity of dry powder of wood-afhes, with one-fixth of the afhes of burnt bones; put it into a tin-box, with holes in the top, and shake the powder on the furface F 2 of of the plaifter, till the whole is covered with it, letting it remain for half an hour to abforb the moisture; then apply more powder, rubbing it on gently with the hand, and repeating the application of the powder, till the whole plaifter becomes a dry, fmooth furface. In all trees cut down near the ground, the dry powder thould have an equal quantity of powder of alabafter mixed with it, in order the better to refift the dripping of trees and heavy rains. Where old fime-rubbish cannot be got, fubftitute pounded chalk, or common Jime, after having been flacked a month at leaft. When the edges of the plaifter are raised up next the bark, care should be taken to rub it over with the finger, efpecially when moistened by rain, to prevent the air and wet from penetrating into the wound. By this process, fome old worn-out pear trees, that bore only a few fmall, hard fruit, of a kernelly texture, were made to produce pears of the best quality and finest flavour the fecond fummer after the operation; and in four or five years they bore fuch plenteous crops, as a young healthy tree would not have produced in four times that period. By this procefs too, fome large ancient elms, in a mott decayed frate, having all their upper parts broken, and a finail portion only of the bark remaining, fhot out ftems from their tops, above thirty feet in height, in fix or seven years from the first application of the compofition. Thus may valuable fruits be renovated; and foreft trees, which are ufeful or ornamental from their particular fituation, be preferved in a flourishing state. But what is far more interefting, a perfect cure has been made, and found tim er produced, in oak tices, which had received very confiderable damage from blows, bruifes, cutting of deep letters, the rubbing off the bark by the ends of rollers, or wheels of carts, or from the breaking of branches by ftorms. "Indeed, when I reflect," adds the author, "that the oak has been the boat of our early ancestors, and the means, under the bleffing of God, of affording protection and fafety, as well as accumulating honour and wealth upon the nation, what language can fufficiently exprefs the want of pubfic fpirit, and that ftrange inattention to the prefervation and increase of this staple tree, which fuffers fuch numbers of stately oaks to go to decay; and in that "difgraceful ftate to remain, as it were, to upbraid their poffeffors, as foes to the commerce and naval glory of the kingdom." When forest trees are felled, Mr. F. recommends that they fhould be cut near the ground, that the furface of the stump fhould be made quite fmooth, rounding it in a fmall degree, and then that his compolition fhould be laid over the whole. The fucceeding fpring, a confiderable number of branches will fhoot 'orth, which may be trained to many valuable pur. pofes, either ftraight or crooked. for kneetimber, poles, &c. &c. Thus will much time be faved; for if a young tree were to be planted on the fcite of the old stump, the fhoot growing from the latter will, in eight or ten years, attain to a fize, which the fingle plant will hardly acquire in twice that period. If many fhoots are trained from a ftump, attention should be paid to regulate their number, according to the fize and vigour of the ftump. too few are left, they will be liable to burkt, from the fuperabundant flow of juices; if too many, they will exhauft the root too much, and grow up fmall and weak: more, therefore, fhould be left at first than are intended to stand, and these should be cut away by degrees, always applying the plaifter as they are cat, and leaving the fineft fhoots : if one stem only be trained, it will in time cover the old ftump, and leave only a faint fear at the junction of the old and new part of the tree. If "I fhall efteem myfelf mot happy," adds Mr. F. "if in giving this tribute of information to the public, I should excite the proprietors of land to be actively folicitous in planting and preferving cak timber, that Great Britain may not be under the dangerous as well as difg, aceful ncceffity of trusting the fafety of her feamen to the inferior texture and lets durable quality of foreign growths; while the hardy oaks of England, which for ages paft have been confidered as affording the best timber in the world, and may be faid to have brought home commerce and yictory from every part of the globe, are no longer fuffered to diminish, as they have done, to the manifeft detriment and dif honour of our country." Tran Tranfactions during the Reign of Queen Anne, from the Union to the Death of the Princefs. By Charles Hamilton, Efq. 8vo. 6s. Cadell. (Concluded from Vol. XIX. p. 350. ) MR. HAMILTON, whofe profeffed his faction, fearing that this promotion object in publishing thefe fecret tran- might afford his enemy a power fatal to fections is to vindicate the char..cter of his his interefts, opposed the Duke's taking Bluftrious but unfortunate anccitor James his feat und the petent of creation, on a Duke of Hamilton, proceeds to defcribe pretence, that being one of the elected the unbounded influence of Marlborough, peers of Scotland, and having already a the thraldom in which he held his royal fat in the foule by virtue of his election, mithrets, and the nefarious conduct which agreeable to the terms of the Union, his he purfued to gratify his avarice and main- fitting under any other title would be an tain his power. The Duke of Hamilton infringement of the act, which exprefsly faw thefe proceedings with indignant grief, reftricted the peers of Scotland to the af and, to releafe the Queen from a captivity certained number of ixteen, and the quef which had now become intolerably irk- tion was decided by a majority of five fome, made a tender of his fervices peers out of one hundred and nine against through the medium of Lady Masham, and the Queen's prerogative. The narrative informed the Pretender of the favourable given by Mr. Hamilton of the motives opportunity which now offered to effect a which induced this oppofition, pourtrays change in the Cabinet, and of baffling the the spirit and temper in which thefe Tranmachinations of Marlborough And in factions are written; we shall therefore doing this, fays Mr. Hamilton, the object extract it, in order to afford our readers of the Duke was to prevent the men in an opportunity of judging, better than power who were about the Queen's perfon from any obfervations we could make, from facrificing to their felfish purpofes, whether the author has preferved the calm their miftrefs's honour, their country's dignity of an impartial biflorian, or fufwelfare, and the fubject's dearest intereíts." fered himself to be betrayed, perhaps by If thefe really were the motives which in- the honeft bias of unaffected regard for duced the Dake to act, his fate is certainly the memory of his ancestor, into the warra to be lamented; but when we read in the and violent prejudices of a partizan. letter which the Duke wrote to the Earl" The motives influencing Marlborough of Middleton 11 January 1712, "The poffeffion of the crown had never been the object of the Queen's withes; the looked upon it as a depoft placed in her hands for which the thinks herfelf accountable, and the Prince's misfortunes affect her fensibly. The English will never fuffer themselves to be governed by a Roman Catholic; I would rejoice to fee the Prince ore day reftored: to be plain, therefore, you fhould lofe no time in taking him away from France. Go with him to a proteftant country, and marry him as foon as poffible to a proteftant"-we fairly indulge a doubt whether the motive of interpofition in the conduct of public affairs was a tender concern for the fufferings of the Queen, an anxiety for the country's welfare, or a defign to procure the return of the exiled family; and, indeed, fome other motives naturally fuggett themselves to minds acquainted with the influence of ambition, when it is recollected that the Duke was the nearest kin which the Queen then had in the realm. Be this as it may, the Duke was, on the 10th September 1711, created a Britith peer by the title of Duke of Brandon; but the Duke of Marlborough and may on this occation were, deep refentment against the Duke, for his having fo largely contributed to his downfal, and an old rooted enmity between them which the Duke, far from ever difguifing, had aggrava ed by the most contemptuous carriage towards him, having ever disdained to hold with hin the flighteft intercourfe. The inveteracy of Marlborough had long lain brooding revenge, flily inwrapt within a veil of obfequioufhefs, which in this inftance enabled him (to ufe his own expreflions) to bring down the Duke of Hamilton s pride. Yet, as virulently to hate or defpife another perfon, is no commendable trait in an upright character, unleis inbred depravity and deep-rooted vices had been early difcovered to lie rankling in the composition of the abhorred object, upon the principle, that no alliance can fubfiit between virtue and vice; I am particularly called upon to account for the rife and progress of the Duke of Hamilton's averfion and contempt for Marlborough, The former had been early in life, when Earl of Arran, much careffed both by Charles II. and James his fucceffor. He was not unqualified for penetrating int● the characters of the principal figures com |