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in addition to these dangers, we reflect also upon those with which our national happiness is menaced, by the present thinness of ladies' petticoats (p. 78.), temerity may hope our salvation, but how can reason promise it ?

One solitary gleam of comfort, indeed, beams upon us in reading the solemn devotion of this modern Curtius to the cause of his King and country

'My attachment to the British monarchy, and to the reigning family, is rooted in my "heart's core.". My anxiety for the British throne, pending the dangers to which, in common with every other throne, it has lately been exposed, has embittered my choicest comforts. And I most solemnly vow, before Almighty God, to devote myself, to the end of my days, to the maintenance of that throne.'

Whether this patriotism be original, or whether it be copied from the Upholsterer in Foote's Farces, who sits up whole nights watching over the British constitution, we shall not stop to inquire; because, when the practical effect of sentiments is good, we would not diminish their merits by investigating their origin. We seriously commend in Mr. Bowles this future dedication of his life to the service of his King and country; and consider it as a virtual promise that he will write no more in their defence. No wise or good man has ever thought of either, but with admiration and respect. That they should be exposed to that ridicule, by the forward imbecility of friendship, from which they appear to be protected by intrinsic worth, is so painful a consideration, that the very thought of it, we are persuaded, will induce Mr. Bowles to desist from writing on political subjects.

DR. LANGFORD. (E. REVIEW, 1802.)

Anniversary Sermon of the Royal Humane Society. By W. Langford, D.D. Printed for F. and C. Rivington.

AN accident, which happened to the gentleman engaged in reviewing this Sermon, proves, in the most striking manner, the importance of this charity for restoring to life persons in whom the vital power is suspended. He was discovered, with Dr. Langford's discourse lying open before him, in a state of the most profound sleep; from which he could not, by any means, be awakened for a great length of time. By attending, however, to the rules prescribed by the Humane Society, flinging in the smoke of tobacco, applying hot flannels, and carefully removing the discourse itself to a great distance, the critic was restored to his disconsolate brothers.

The only account he could give of himself was, that he remembers reading on, regularly, till he came to the following pathetic description of a drowned tradesman; beyond which, he recollects nothing.

But to the individual himself, as a man, let us add the interruption to all the temporal business in which his interest was engaged. To him indeed now apparently lost, the world is as nothing; but it seldom happens, that man can live for himself alone: society parcels out its concerns in various connections; and from one head issue waters which run down in many channels.-The spring being suddenly cut off, what confusion must follow in the streams which have flowed from its source? It may be, that all the expectations reasonably raised of approaching prosperity, to those who have embarked in the

* To this exceedingly foolish man, the first years of Etonian Education were intrusted. How is it possible to inflict a greater misfortune on a country, than to fill up such an office with such an officer?

same occupation, may at once disappear; and the important interchange of commercial faith be broken off, before it could be brought to any advantageous conclusion.'

This extract will suffice for the style of the sermon. The charity itself is above all praise.

ARCHDEACON NARES.* (E. REVIEW, 1802.)

A Thanksgiving for Plenty, and Warning against Avarice. A Sermon. By the Reverend Robert Nares, Archdeacon of Stafford, and Canon Residentiary of Lichfield. London: Printed for the Author, and sold by Rivingtons, St. Paul's Churchyard.

FOR the swarm of ephemeral sermons which issue from the press, we are principally indebted to the vanity of popular preachers, who are puffed up by female praises into a belief, that what may be delivered, with great propriety, in a chapel full of visiters and friends, is fit for the deliberate attention of the public, who cannot be influenced by the decency of a clergyman's private life, flattered by the sedulous politeness of his manners, or misled by the fallacious circumstances of voice and action. A clergyman cannot be always considered as reprehensible for preaching an indifferent sermon; because, to the active piety, and correct life, which the profession requires, many an excellent man may not unite talents for that species of composition: but every man who prints, imagines he gives to the world something which they had not before, either in matter or style; that he has brought forth new truths, or adorned old ones; and when, in lieu of novelty and ornament, we can discover nothing but trite imbecility, the law must take its course, and the delinquent suffer that mortification from which vanity can rarely be expected to escape, when it chooses dullness for the minister of its gratifications.

The learned author, after observing that a large army praying would be a much finer spectacle than a large army fighting, and after entertaining us with the old anecdote of Xerxes, and the flood of tears, proceeds to

*This was another gentleman of the alarmist tribe.

express his sentiments on the late scarcity, and the present abundance: then, stating the manner in which the Jews were governed by the immediate interference of God, and informing us, that other people expect not, nor are taught to look for, miraculous interference, to punish or reward them, he proceeds to talk of the visitation of Providence, for the purposes of trial, warning, and correction, as if it were a truth of which he had never doubted.

Still, however, he contends, though the Deity does interfere, it would be presumptuous and impious to pronounce the purposes for which he interferes; and then adds, that it has pleased God, within these few years, to give us a most awful lesson of the vanity of agriculture and importation without piety, and that he has proved this to the conviction of every thinking mind.

Though he interpose not (says Mr. Nares) by positive miracle, he influences bymeans unknown to all but himself, and directs the winds, the rain, and glorious beams of heaven to execute his judgment, or fulfil his merciful designs.'-Now, either the wind, the rain, and the beams, are here represented to act as they do in the ordinary course of nature, or they are not. If they are, how can their operations be considered as a judgment on sins; and if they are not, what are their extraordinary operations, but positive miracles? So that the Archdeacon, after denying that any body knows when, how, and why the Creator works a miracle, proceeds to specify the time, instrument, and object of a miraculous scarcity; and then, assuring us that the elements were employed to execute the judgments of Providence, denies that this is any proof of a positive miracle.

Having given us this specimen of his talents for theological metaphysics, Mr. Nares commences his attack upon the farmers; accuses them of cruelty and avarice; raises the old cry of monopoly; and expresses some doubts, in a note, whether the better way would not be, to subject their granaries to the control of an exciseman ; and to levy heavy penalties upon those, in whose possession corn, beyond a certain quantity to be fixed by

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