misbehaves or neglects his duty. XIV. That those who forbear to preach the word of God, to perform Divine service, or affist at it, on account of any excommunication or interdict, incur thereby the excommunication. XV. That the inftitution of the Mendicant order is repugnant to the Gospel; and lastly, that it is encouraging idleness, and therefore finful to relieve them. • As many had embraced the doctrine of Wickliff at Oxford, neither the chancellor nor the univerfity feemed inclined to comply with the pope's injunction. But the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London sent them a peremptory order to fummon Wickliff, a member of their university, to appear in the term of thirty days before them, or their delegates, in the church of St. Paul at London, and there anfwer for the doctrine which he had been accused at the tribunal of the apoftolic fee of holding and publickly maintaining. They fummoned him accordingly, and he appeared, purfuant to the fummons, at the time and place appointed. But being protected by the minifters of king Richard II. who had fucceeded Edward III. on the 22d of June of the present year 1377, being then in the eleventh year of his age, by the duke of Lancaster, and by the greater part of the nobility as well as by the citizens and people of London, no longer able to bear the daily encroachments and impofitions of the court of Rome, the bishops dared not arrest nor imprison him, but were obliged to content themfelves with only filencing him. Walfingham, who flourished in 1440, writes, that Wickliff on this occafion foftened, and, in fome degree, retracted fuch of his affertions as had given moft offence, and thus efcaped all punishment for the prefent. Of Wickliff we hear no more during the pontificate of Gregory.' We have here a fpecimen of our author's accuracy, as it is certain that Wickliff was fo far from being favoured by the Londoners when he appeared in St. Paul's church before their bishop, that the duke of Lancaster, Wickliff's patron, was in fome danger of his life on account of the duke's and lord Percy's treatment of their ordinary. The fame inaccuracies are discernible in every part of this author's history, but we should mifpend our reader's time in animadverting upon his faults in point of learning; let us therefore examine how he has acquitted himself towards his fubfcribers. His work is intitled, "The Hiftory of the Popes from the Foundation of the See of Rome to the prefent Time."-But does his book answer his fpecious title-page? He confumes feven volumes, to the 486th page of the last volume, in giving us a history of the popes down to the year 1676, where we fuppofe Tillemont and the other French authors he has tranflated fail him, and from that period to the present his history takes up almost fixteen entire pages, by which the most interesting paffages that can occur to a Proteftant reader in a papal history, are entirely omitted, and the most important part of the hiftory of the popes is reduced into less than an index. We remember that about three years ago a very intelligent writer, who figns himself Philalethes, made fome obfervations in the public news-papers upon Mr. B's con tracting his history into two volumes more, after having translated almost five volumes from Tillemont. What would he have: said, had he seen the principal occurrences of those two volumes reduced to eight leaves? This management is fimilar to Mr. B's conduct as a man as well as a writer, and perhaps no age can produce two such phanomena of imposture as the prefent can in the perfons of B. and Pfalmanazar. The former tympanised, as we may call it, for profit, the fhare he had in the Ancient Univerfal Hiftory, by which the Byzantine History was fhrivelled up into little better than a table of chronology.-Both came from the continent, with a tale which gave them merit in Proteftant eyes, as converts.— Pfalmanazar faid he was brought from Japan by father Rhodes, a Jefuit, and afterwards efcaped from him. Bower pretended to have escaped from the Jefuits alfo.-Pfalmanazar amufed Proteftants with the human facrifices offered to the idols of Formofa. Bower imitated him by laying the scene of a bloody inquifition ftory at Macerata.-Pfalmanazar foon after his arrival in England wrote against popery, though, in his life, he owns he was ftill a papift. Bower has no proofs of his proteftantifm to appeal to, but his having plundered from Tillemont, a papist, his materials for a proteftant hiftory of the popes.--Pfalmana-· zar's story was contradicted by authentic teftimonies, that proved the non-existence of father Rhodes Bower was detected by proving the non-existence of Vincenzo della Torre.-Pfalmanazar, though at firft fupported by a party, by degrees found his ftory disbelieved. Bower's Macerata romance has funk into equal contempt.-Pfalmanazar lived to be an honest man, and left behind him a fair confeffion of his impofture. Bower's age has not leffened his effrontery; and he still perfeveres in his impofture. The publication, however, of the volumes before us, we hope, will put a period to the contributions under which he has laid many well-meaning Proteftants. From a fair furvey of his paft labours, we cannot find out one province in literature, in which he is not next to contemptible; and would he atone for his many impofitions, let him employ the fhort remainder of his time in the only task for which he seems to be qualified, that of writing a differtation upon the alliance between human credulity and Christian charity. VII. Sailor's VII. Sailor's Letters. Written to his Select friends in England, during his Voyages and Travels in Europe, Afia, Africa, and America. From the Year 1754 to 1759. By Edward Thompson, Lieutenant of the Navy. In II Vols. 8vo. Pr. 5s. Becket. T HESE letters are very properly supposed to come from a failor, for they seem to be written under a perpetual hurricane of the brain-Una Erufque Notufq; ruunt. We are pelted at once with profe and verfe, metaphyfics and morality, politics and divinity, description and reflection, and every variety that the pruriency of writing is heir to. Our ingenious author, though à failor, has made feveral very important discoveries. We cannot fufficiently admire his very peremptory investigations of St. Thomas the Apoftle in the East Indies, and the very high improvement of eastern luxury in his defcription of the hubble-bubble. But our readers shall judge for themselves. • That Saint Thomas (fays our letter-writer) did preach in India, we have no reason to doubt, and that he was murdered there, feems very evident,-but whether really moved from Meliapour to Goa, I can't affirm; for they shew you the remains of his church at the former, and swear to his tomb at the latter but when we find fome thousands of Christian pilgrims, annually travelling through India to Edeffa in Mefopotamia, to pay homage to his remains, it prevents me fixing the place of his interment, which perhaps you may fettle in your more attentive fpeculations. I must own an accidental difcovery I made by being frequently with the younger Bramins, gives me ftrong reasons to think the New Teftament has been preached amongst them, and is ftill handed down in their devotions. Whenever they meet to fmoak the bubble-bubble*, they *Is certainly in these hot climates an improvement of the pipe, containing a pint of water, which makes the fmoak come cool to the mouth: the lower part is compofed of cocoa nut, upon which is erected a reed of half a foot in length,-on the top of which in an earthen bowl is depofited the fire :-they fmoak a variety of leaves and woods, but no tobacco.-From the veffel wherein the water is held projects a long tube,-fome made of cane, others of leather, covered with velvet, adorned with gold, many yards long, the part for the mouth being agate of great value. The elegance of the hubble-bubble, is a great piece of Indoftan foppery;-very often prefuming greatly on its value;—it has a pompous appearance, and is generally brought in after dinner-placed at a confiderable diftance from the mafter of the house, who has the agate pipe-on the tube handed A a 4 introduce a kind of religious finging with their converfation and often hearing the fubfequent words repeated, I begged a tranflation of them; Radie Viitnou gouvendai, O! Radie, O! which is literally, "God give us this day our daily bread." From this one would imagine they had more lights than pagan, and yet the rest of their idolatries confound all the reason, patience, and common fenfe of Your' Our author continues his letters from various part of the East Indies; but we are fo dull as to difcover nothing new, except the above curious article of the hubble-bubble, either in his defcriptions or reflections, till we come to St. Helena, which he tells us the Dutch call the Butter Island; he informs us, at the fame time, that the God of nature, as a guide to so finall a place, gave a peculiar pidgeon to inhabit it, and direct the voyager.' This bird (continues he) rambles an hundred miles to windward, and nearly on an eaft and weft line in the latitude of the island.' The reft of this letter, which is the fixteenth, is pregnant with raptures upon the beauties of St. Helena, and its female inhabitants, whom our author is modeft enough to compare with fo many Calypfos, as he does himself to a young Telemachus. His feventeenth letter may perhaps pleafe fome of our readers; and we fhall give it entire, as we believe it to be the utmost exertion of Mr. Thompson's abilities. If a man can be intoxicated without liquor, I certainly am ; and as much over head and ears in love, as ever fwimming Læander was with his fair Hero. I believe the philtrum operates fo ftrongly to even make a rhymer of me, to make me even attempt a fonnet to my mistress's eye-brow.-I have heard them fay, Poeta nafcitur non fit,—but I believe love makes more men poets than nature;-the feeds of poetry would never rife in fome bodies, were it not for the fire of love ;-which plainly proves, without further altercation, love makes and conquers all. I fhall not pretend, my friend, to give you examples of Dan Cupid's power from Hercules and Omphale, to this and St. Helena; but I fhall fwear you lofe the delights of Enna,-and handed him. We find it in many nations a mark of friendship to finoak out of one pipe ;-here it is greatly observed, but with more folemnity amongst the American favages, who abfolutely ratify a peace with a whiff of tobacco, the the charms of Proferpine, by not being here.-O was I Dis, to pluck the fairest flower that ever grew but he's a divinity, and will only be forced to what she likes.-Excufe me!—tea is ready;-she makes it, - you shall have the reft to-morrow. Would one imagine it in the power of evil to make fuch a revolution,-fuch a catastrophe in twenty-four hours! O my friend, I am expelled Paradife: the fea is all before me where to roam.-I'm cabin'd,-crib'd,-confin'd: alas, fhe's loftand all the world with her !-It is thus with all the tranfitory bleffings of this life; they're painted fair to leave a bitterer grief. The tale is thus :—a ball was given by the rival of Miss G. to which all were invited but us ;-a fufficient cause to raise the indignation of beauty, when raised for me to refent it.Love is blind. She propofed I fhould write a pafquinade, and place it on the door of her house, Scribere juffit amor.-Love bid me write, and folly made me do it ;-Two Urchins, as powerful here, (where one would not think it worth their while to ramble) as in England. In the morning it was read and copied by all the town, and the bantling laid to me:-a challenge from her hero was what I expected-and what I wished, -to convince my love, what lives I'd risk to only die with her. The glove came-we met, where fhe appeared more lovely than before;-but alas, her tenderness destroyed my happiness! She flew and acquainted my commander, (whofe goodness was only inferior to her own) who was as affiduous to fave me, as I to die for her. Thus, when ripe and ready to revenge her caufe, I was fecured,-borne on ship board, and confined.-So the preserving my life, has preferved my mifery. I now fit fighing to the rocks, and melancholy preying on my spirits.— I bid the gales speed my wishes to her ears!-but all, but grief avoid me. The subsequent lines I have fent her; they are my firft; and if they are poetry, remember love made them. -- had you To Mifs G** ths. let me fought, and death my fate! I had prefer'd it to this cruel state. tenderness could prove, I'll bear a thousand racks, a thousand pains; And my poor ghost had kiss'd the ground you trode. A joy |