before Mahon, as he had no land-forces on board, and could spare no feamen, what afliftance could he have given the garrifon? our author replies, He might have landed the fick and wounded which he complains of having on board his fleet, which would have been a ftrong reinforcement to Blakeney, and a vast easement to himfelf. This is the first time we ever heard that fick and wounded men could be of any service to a fort that is befieged.-We have been told that fick and wounded men are a grievous incumbrance to any place in that condition, beaufe they are unneceffary mouths to confume provifion, require great attendance, difhearten thofe that are well, and being coop'd up without the benefit of fresh air, generally produce the jail diftemper among the garrifon.-But, this author, has, it feems, found fome ufe for them, which we do not yet comprehend. Art. 15. The Conduct of the Ministry impartially examined. In a Letter to the Merchants of London. 8vo. Pr. 1 s. Bladon. Of all the pamphlets that have appeared fince the return of Admiral Byng, this is the moft fenible and fpirited. The style is elegant and manly, the arguments are well conceived and artfully arranged, and an air of moderation and candour is diffused through the whole performance. In a word, the author has exposed the weak fide of thofe writers who have entered the lifts against the miniftry, and faid every thing that imagination, ruled by good fenfe, could fay in behalf of an adminiftration, which, we are afraid, is not to be entirely juftified from the imputation of misconduct. He has refuted, from authentic documents, fome of the principal allegations of the party-fcribbler of the four letters to the people of England, and juflly and facetioufly obferves that fuch a writer merits no other reply than that of Beralde, in the Malade imaginaire, to an impertinent apothecary: Allez, morfieur; on voit bien que vous n'avez pas accoutumé de parler à des vifages. Go about your business friend; one may fee with half an eye that you are not used to fpeak to a man's face: your ftation is in the rear. We think the author of the performance is too fevere in his animadverfions on the letter which was published in vindication of Mr. Byng. The aim of that author was to remove fome part of the calumny and abufe under which the admiral laboured; and he fucceeded in his defign. Before the publication of that letter, no man would open his mouth in vindication, or even in extenuation, of the admiral's imputed crime; and now his caufe is openly efpoufed in every coffee-houfe.There are other ftrictures in this pamphlet which we cannot approve. The affertion, That if Byng had defeated the French fleet, Minorca would have been faved, and Richlieu brought prifoner into England, feems to be the effect of an overheated imagination; and we wish that in the very act of taxing Mr. Byng with having written falfe English, he had not committed a folecifm himself, in faying, "Did not fome other hand who has put his anger into tolerable English, &c." Hand who, will, we apprehend, be found falfe grammar, even in fpeaking of a failor. But this is no more than an oversight in an author, than whom no man writes purer English. 66 Art. Art. 16. A Letter to the DUKE. Concerning the ftanding Force neceffary to keep this Kingdom in a good Pofture of Defence. By a Country Gentleman. 4to. Pr. 6d. Baldwin. This feems to be the production of fome honeft Englishman zealous for the welfare of his country. We agree with him in thinking nothing can be more fafe and honourable than a national militia fafe for the people, and honourable for the king; and we wish his Royal Highness may become a profelyte to his opinion though we cannot allow his performance any other merit, but that of a laudable intention. Art. 17. Obfervations on the Embargo lately laid on the exports of Beef, Pork, and Butter, from Ireland. 8vo. Pr. 6d. Griffiths The defign of this pamphlet is to fhew, that an embargo laid up. on provifion, is a ftretch of prerogative not warranted by law; and that it diftreffes our own merchants much more than it hampers the enemy, for whose prejudice it is intended. The piece is well written, and contains, many fhrewd obfervations: but we must differ in opinion from the author, with regard to the unimportance of our fupplying the enemy with provifions -It is but too well known that in the late war, the island of Martinique must have been furrendered to the English, had not the fubjects of this kingdom fupplied it with provifion, by virtue of Dutch paffes obtained at Curracoa and St. Euftatia. Art. 18. Religion, and its Temporal Promifes confidered. In a Sermon preached before the Univerfity of Oxford, at St. Mary's Church, on Act-Sunday, July 11, 1756. By Edward Blake D. D. Fellow of Oriel College, Vicar of St. Mary's,' and Chaplain to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Sarum, Published at the Request of the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Houfes. Pr. 6d. Fletcher. We have obferved, not without fome Degree of concern for that learned body, that the University of Oxford is always moft earneftly foliciting fome one of its unfortunate members, to expofe himself in print, by requefting the publication of his fermon, which very feldom turns out to the honour of the author, or the great emolument of his readers; tho' we are at the fame time inclined to fufpect that this requeft of the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of boufes, is not unlike (to compare great things with fmall) what we so often meet with in a play-house bill, where the words, by particular defire, are generally interpreted as meaning no more than a defire (which is doubtlefs a very natural one) of the managers to get money, it being frequently applied to fuch performances as are not vehemently requented by any body elfe. Be that however as it may, certain it is that Dr. Blake's difcourfe has very little to recommend it to the approbation of the public, being (at least in our opinion) but an in. different performance, The Text is, feek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteouf nefs, and all these things fhall be added unto you. He harangues very learnedly on these words, and confutes interpretations which were ⚫ never never made, and arguments which were never produced; and then obferves, with fome degree of triumph, that if our future well-being is ftill that good to which every thing elfe is ultimately to be refer'd, there is no need of fuppofing that a christian has two 'world's to feek. It is a notion which thofe only contend for who ⚫ are devoted in heart to this. This world, they fay, must be cared for as well as the other-under which pretence, they care only for this world. And as to the degree of care-they have no fcruple about them any otherwife than as the rifing up early, and late taking reft, may affect the conftitution. Why then (fays be) should not piety be looked upon as one entire felf-confiftent behaviour that makes this world convenient for the other? that properly provides for the whole man under the bleffing promifed in the text? Is it poffible for a chriftian, when not engaged in the flated duties of devotion, to be fit for heaven? to be carrying on the general fcheme of falvation at the ploughtail? to fend an afpiration towards the upper world, whilft tilling the ground wherein the Lord God hath placed him? Can a man be religious when he contemplates the heavens, the work of God's fingers, the moon and the ftars which he has ordained? Can he fay at this time? Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him? Why then is not the future life ftill our fupreme, our only good? and what room is there for that reflection which fome men would fain throw on the wifdom and goodnefs of God, as if he had on the one hand commanded men to mind heaven as the one thing needful, and on the other hand placed them in a ftate the concerns of which are prejudicial to their fublimer interefts ¿' Dr. Blake then takes occafion to mention those who have enter'd into the School of the church, and have a genius for orders, talks of zumiraculous ways, laments the obfcurations of fophiftry, and informs us that a barely good man who is only a good textuary, will be infufficient for the bafinefs of teaching-What strange kind of English thefe great fcholars learn at the Univerfity! The Discourse concludes thus, Let me fhew you a more excellent way. Let me tell you of the pious vow of a worthy patriarch- If God will be with me, and will keep me in the way that I go, and will give me "bread to eat and raiment to put on, fo that I come again to my father's houfe in peace, then fhall the Lord be my God." I call this a pious vow. Or if it was driving a bargain, as fome fools have called it,-it was fuch a bargain as God approved of. It was bargaining for life, that he might be able to give a fignal of his choice, in having the Lord for his God. It was bargaining for breath, that he might praife the Lord. I will remind you how that holy refolution was rewarded foon after I mean not; with the kingdom of heaven: for that is out of the queftion; but with the accefiion of fome pleafing circumftance in life, of which he thus fpake, with an heart more joyful than that of thofe who divide the fpeil I am not worthy of "the leaft of all thy mercies, and of all the truth which thou haft. fhown unto thy fervant; for with my staff paffed I over this fordan, and now I am become two bands." We We fhall conclude this article with obferving, that if Dr. Blake, though he has the honour to boaft a great Name, can produce nothing better than this difcourfe, he may, whenever he dies, with a fafe confcience adopt the old epitaph, and without any fcruple infcribe on his tomb-tone, Of him nothing is memorial, But that he was a fellow of Oriel. Art. 19. The juvenile Adventures of David Ranger, Efq; from an original Manufcript found in the Collections of a late noble Lord, Hence, for the choiceft Spirits flow Champaign, Whose sparkling atoms shoot thro' ev'ry vein ; Hence, flow, for martial minds, potations ftrong, 2 vols. 12mo. Pr. 6s. Stevens. Garrick. The Title of this Piece, together with the Motto annexed, is a mean artifice apparently made ufe of to mislead the reader into an opinion, that these are the fecret memoirs of our modern Rofcius. The hero is therefore reprefented as an actor of extraordinary abilities, and becomes a manager; at the end of the novel he gets acquainted with a nobleman whom our author calls Vitruvius, and marries Mifs Tulip, a maft enchanting female in her ladyship's retinue. For any thing else that is recounted, the character hath not the least refemblance to the perfon fo artfully fquinted at in the firft page of it, being nothing but a heap of ridiculous adventures, and fome bad poetry by the author; with fcraps of plays, ballads, &c. quoted to eke out a trifling and miferable performance; food for idle templars, raw prentices, and green girls, that fupport the circulating libraries of this learned metropolis. Art. 20. Several Sermons preached in Newcastle upon Tyne, by Anthony Munton, M. A. 8vo. Pr. 3s. Bathurst. This Volume contains Twenty-two Sermons, printed by Subfcription, and dedicated (as we fuppofe) by the Author's Widow to the Subfcribers, which are very numerous. They are most of them on practical Subjects, and breathe a Spirit of Piety and Goodness; but feem to have been written rather for the Pulpit than the Prefs, with an Air of Familiarity that is very excufeable between old Acquaintance, (as we may fuppofe a Rector and his Parish to be) but which must be difagreeable to a Stranger; For a Specimen take the following fhort Extract from Sermon XVIII. on thefe Words, Strait is the Gate, and narrow is the Way that leadeth unto Life, and few there be that find it. Matt. vii. 14. For your Encouragement. (fays our Author) let me tell you, that though the gate be ftrait, and the way narrow, yet we may any of us enter in, if we please Others have done it before us, and why may not we follow them. The brightest faints in heaven were once men of like paffions, and and fubject to the fame infirmities with us: but they ftrove to enter in, and were not difappointed of their hopes. And fo may 'you and I too, if it be not our own fault; for God is as ready and willing to afflift us as he was them. He does not defpife or reject the meanest among us, but calls and invites us every one, faying, Come every one that thireth, come ye to the waters, even he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, buy wine and milk without money, • and without price. After fo gracious an invitation, it must be man's own fault if there are but few that enter in, fince the wicked may turn from his evil way if he pleafes; and he will find by degrees the difficulty of doing it will wear away, and the hardest duty become practicable and pleafant. Let me hope therefore, that we are now refolved with ourselves to be diligent in fearching the Scriptures, where we may learn the way to heaven so exacily, as to be in no danger of ever losing it. We furely cannot grudge to be at thefe pains, for if the way be narrow, yet it is not long; if the gate be ftrait, yet it leads to life; and as we know the way, let us fet about it. With this exhortation I must conclude what I had to fay, for we cannot force you into this way, whether you will or no. All that we can do is, to defire and prefs you to it, by fhewing you how miferable you will be if you neglect your duty, and how happy if you do it. And we hope God will give a blefling upon thefe our endeavours, through Jefus Chrift." - Upon the whole, Mr. Munton feems to have been an honeft well-meaning minifter of the gofpel; and we think his difcourfes may afford no unprofitable amulement in religious families (if any fuch there be) on a Sunday evening. Art. 21. A Sermon on the Decrease of the Chriftian Faith. By Jofeph Greenhill, A. M. Rector of Eaft Horfly and Eaft Clandon, in Surry. 4to. Pr. 1 s. Crowder and Wood- gate. If any of our readers are fond of the verborum ambages, or delight in a period of a mile, we would recommend this difcourfe of Mr. Greenhill's to their immediate perufal, and in the mean time, fhall prefent them with the followingfpecimen : This must render Chriftians difpofed to pay a due regard and 'confideration to any event, which is apprehended to be a more than ordinary difplay here on Earth of the divine and heavenly knowledge of our Lord, left otherwife uncautioned by his plain and clear warnings, and foretelling the figns attending his days, we fhould be appointed our portion with unbelievers. If we thro' patience and comfort of the fcriptures place our hope in God, the God of hope will fill us with all joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope thro' the power of the Holy Ghoft, and by no fad times or circumstances of this world be moved from the hope of the gospel, but at the worst of times be a mutual help and comfort to one another, and be filled |