The fubject of this book is one of thofe, upon which, perhaps, if the cause of morality be confidered, the lefs is faid the better. The immediate moral, however, is good; for we find Vice for a long time triumphant, but finally and fatally punished. ART. 26. Gallery of Fafbion, No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 1794. Publifhed by Heideloff, Southampton-street, Covent Garden. 55. a Number. The object of this work is to record the more elegant varieties of the female drefs; aud, however trifling it may appear to the philofopher, or to the fterner critic, it certainly has its ufe. We may form fome idea of its value, by the curiofity we are all of us apt to feel in marking the peculiarities of the dreffes of our ancestors, however rudely reprefented, or inaccurately finished. The circumstances of drefs are often a guide to the better understanding of the manners of a people; and there are few countries in Europe, in which publications like the prefent have not at one time or other appeared. The Gallery of Fashion reprefents the dreffes of the English Ladies, and their changes from the month of April to the prefent. The figures are very beautifully executed, and the dreffes exhibited with extraordinary precifion. The letter-prefs which explains the plates, though written in terms above our comprehenfion, will doubtles be eafily intelligible, and highly fatisfactory to our female readers; and has all the advantages of Mr. Bulmer's elegant prefs. ART. 27. The Life of John Hunter, By Jeffe Foot, Surgeon. 8vo. 287 pp. 5s. 6d. Becket, 1794. This work is of a kind, which is, and ought to be, very fingular the life of an eminent perfon, written immediately after his death, for the purpose of reviling him: and though the author has laboured, in an introduction of more found than fenfe, to juftify the practice, we are not at all the more reconciled to it. "The charge, he fays," which I have taken upon myself, ftands exactly upon a fimilar bafis of a judge, who never acquits or condemns any one from the narrow motive of partiality, but every one is treated according to the nature of his cafe." P. 6. Now, what the author endeavours to fay, but does not fay, in this abfurd fentence, is nothing to the purpofe; for this work moft furely does appear to proceed from the narrow mative of partiality: or, were we to fay envy, we should perhaps be still nearer the truth. Such is the ftyle of the man who cenfures John Hunter for not being able to write grammatically. Having exemplified this, we' will fpecify his hiftorical accuracy alfo, and then difmifs a work which too well juftifies the remark of an eminent man, that any animal can kick at a dead lion. That we may not fufpect the author to err through mif-information, he afferts, as on his own knowledge, things that never happened. Thus he tells us, that Mr. Hunter's Cronian Lectures were printed and given privately to the Fellows of the Royal Society, and that he had feen one of them. The fact is, that they never were printed. On the other hand, Mr. F. denies what is notoriously true. true. He fays, there never was a ftomach digefted after death, whereas a preparation of one has been fhown in every exhibition of Mr. Hunter's Collection. He afferts, that the legs of Mr. Hunter's Camelopard were cut off at the knees. This, as well as the preceding affertion, proves that Mr. F. has not feen the Collection. He makes a room in Mr. Hunter's houfe, with galleries of his own, for the ufe of the Lyceum Medicum which met in Mr. Hunter's Lecture Room. Thefe, however, are trifles. The general drift of the book is to deny Mr. Hunter's merits, to put the worft conftruction on all his actions, to magnify unmercifully all his imperfections: and what will be the refult of all this? Only that John Hunter, whofe own works fpeak for him, will continue to be held a great man; while, of his adverfary, if any thing fhould be remembered, it will be his want of candour. Such a book does not deferve more particular criticifm. The folecisms in language and style are innumerable. ART. 28. The Discovery, Settlement, and prefent State of Kentucky; and an Introduction to the Topography and Natural Hiftory of that rich and important Country; aljo Colonel Daniel Boon's Narrative of the Wars of Kentucky: with an Account of the Indian Nations within the Limits of the United States; their Manners, Cuftoms, Religion, and their Origin; and the Stages and Distances between Philadelphia and the Falls of the Ohio, from Pittsburgh to Pensacola, and feveral other Places. By John Filson. Illuftrated with a large whole Sheet Map of Kentucky, from actual Surveys; and a Plan with a Description of the Rapids of the River Ohio. By Capt. Thomas Hutchins, Geographer to the Congrefs. 8vo. pp. 67. 25. Stockdale. 1793. From various motives, the defire of knowledge on the fubject of America is fo ftrong, that the author of a pamphlet, defcribing the manners of a people, the temperature of the climate, and the fertility of the foil, in any acceffible part of it, has a fair chance of obtaining attention from the public, and profit to himfelf. There is one great fault, however, generally attending fuch defcriptions, that they exaggerate the advantages, and glofs over the inconveniences of the country which they recommend for habitation. Kentucky, which is fpoken of with fuch flattery and fondness in the prefent work, is, in fact, by no means a place of fuch ftrong attraction as it has been described: the atmosphere is found to be moit, and the climate too hot; in many parts it is fubject to the inroads of the favages; and the navigation of the Miffifippi is only open on payment of Spanish duties. Speak. ing of the foil and produce of Kentucky, our author fays, "This country is richest on the higher lands, exceeding the fineft low grounds in the fettled part of the continent. When cultivated, it produces, in common, fifty or fixty bufhels per acre; and I have beard it affirmed by credible perfons, that above one hundred bufhels of good corn were produced from an acre in one feafon! The firstrate land is too rich for wheat till it has been reduced by four or five years cultivation. Col. Harrod, a gentleman of veracity in Kentucky, has lately experienced the production of fmall grain; and affirms, that he had thirty-five bufhels of wheat, and fifty bushels of tye, per acre. I think, in common, the land will produce about thirty bufhels of wheat and rye, upon a moderate computation, per acre; and this is the general opinion of the inhabitants. . . . Thefe accounts of fuch amazing fertility may to fome appear incredible, but are certainly true. Every hufbandman may have a good garden or meadow, without water or manure, where he pleafes. The foil, which is not of a thirsty nature, is commonly well fupplied with plentiful fhowers." The Appendix contains an account of the adventures of Col. Boon, and "my brother, 'Squire Boon;" where our readers may learn of "hair-breadth 'fcapes in th' imminent deadly breach," &c. foftened with an abundance of fentiment and fine flowery language. ART. 29. Dernier Tableau de Paris; ou recit Hiftorique de la Revolution du 10 Aout, des Caufes qui l'ont produit, des Evénemens qui l'ont précidé, et des Crimes qui l'ont fuivi. Par J. Peltier, de Paris, Auteur des Actes des Apôtres, de la Correfpondance Politiques, ou Tableau de Paris, et de divers Ouvrages publiés depuis trois ans. 8vo. Owen. 2 vols. pp. 464 and 589. 11. 1S. ART. 30. The late Picture of Paris; or, a faithful Narrative of the Revolution of the 10th of Auguft; of the Caufes which produced, the Events which preceded, and the Crimes which followed it. By J. Peltier. 8vo. 2 vols. 512 and 618 pp. 14s. Owen. This Picture of Paris, which began to be published in numbers the first week of October 1792, is now fo generally known in all its leading traits, that a minute account of it cannot be neceffary. A new picture is now wanting, were any artist hardy enough to go thither and draw it from the original. The affecting piece inferted in an early part of the work, entitled Mon Agonie de Trente-huit Heures, written by M. Journiac Saint Meard, happily gave confiderable celebrity to the whole, and made it the object of a very general attention. It certainly deferves well to be read, as containing a delineation of atrocities too horrid to be conceived without recital, and too revolting not to produce the falutary effect of ftrong abhorrence against the principles in which they originated. Mr. Peltier is no mean historian, his account of facts is clear, and his reflections are very often ftriking and important. He is profeffedly attached to the caufe of Royalty, and very grateful to the English for their humanity Lowards his expatriated countrymen. If we give no extract from this publication, it is becaufe we believe both the topics and the ftyle of it to be already very univerfally known; if there be any of our readers who are inclined to blame us for making this conclufion too haftily, we recommend to them to remove themselves as foon as poffible from the clafs of exceptions, by procuring the book for perusal. Hh BRIT. CRIT. VOL. IV. OCT. 1794. ART. ART. 31. The Age of Reafon; being an Investigation of true and fas Tom Paine is a perfect mirror for modern Philofophers, whofe obftinacy, vanity, and prefumption are ufually in direct proportion to their ignorance. As in the latter accomplishment he is gifted beyond them all, fo in the former qualities he has no lefs fuperiority. Hence he is juftly valued by the difciples of the Sans-Culotte fect, as the boldeft of all their teachers. If Voltaire and Rouffeau wrote upon Theology with very little knowledge of the fubject, he writes without any, and confequently with ftill more freedom. When we confider the perfect emptiness of this paltry pamphlet, we are furprifed and concerned that any men of education should have thought it neceffary to anfwer it. Tom is an original writer, certainly, and his objections to Chriftianity are fuch in general, as not many would have committed to writing, had they even floated in their brains; others, indeed, are trite, but they are all fuch as cannot weigh for a moment with any who have read or thought. The vulgar may, perhaps, be ftaggered at the impudence with which fome things are urged, and at the jocularity (for that is Tom's forte) with, which others are placed in a ridiculous light. But the vulgar will not read the answers, confequently they are ufelefs: and, as adding fomething to the fame of the tract, they are pernicious. The book confifts chiefly of a view of the Bible, in which the author wifely afcribes the invention of the hiftories of the Old Teftament to the Chriftians. He thinks all the subjects of prophecy completely overturned by attempting to prove that the Prophets were Poets. He miftakes the corruptions of various fects for genuine Chriflianity, and argues against them. He fays, that the tudy of the dead languages was invented by Chriftians, to impede the progrefs of fcience, not knowing, poor man! that Greek and Latin were living languages for many centuries after the establishment of Chriftianity. He inputes all the darkness of the middle ages to the efforts of Chriftians againft fcience: never having heard of Goths and Vandals, who were not Chriftians; nor knowing that the total extinction of fcience of every kind was prevented by the ef forts of Chriftians alone. He gives the hiftory of his own boyish thoughts, as a proof that Chriftianity is irrational; and the hiftory of his own knowledge of the univerfe, to prove that this world is too fmall a ftage for fuch a drama as that of Redemption. He has fomewhere picked up Hume's objections to miracles, and carries them to a ftill greater length of abfurdity. Such is the fair and unprejudiced account of a work, which is neither worth anfwering nor prohibiting; were it not that a mere jeft against religion, however empty, has a bad effect upon ignorant minds. What the title of the Age of Reafon has to do with the book we do not perceive. ART. ART. 32. A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Seamanship: containing general Rules for manenoring Veffels with a moveable Figure of a fhip, fo planned, that the Sails, Rudder, and Hull may be made to perform the Manoeuvres according to the Rule laid down. To the above is added, a Mifcellaneous Chapter on the various Contrivances against Accidents, and a Copper-plate of the Diagrams and Figures explained in the Work. The whole forming a ufeful Compendium to the Officer, to inftruct him when young, and to remind him when old. By an Officer in the Service of the East-India Company. 8vo. pp. 112. 45. Robinfons. 1793. The art of Navigation, from its commercial and political importance, has, of late years, attracted the attention of men of the higheft rank in Philofophy. During the fixteenth and feventeenth centuries, a variety of publications appeared on feparate branches of this art, with different degrees of merit, and in different languages, but until 1753, nothing of material confequence had been difclofed. In this year, M. P. Bouguer produced his elaborate performance, entitled Nouveau Traité de Navigation, in which he collected all the scattered information hitherto received, with many fuggeftions and inventions of his own; and which was afterwards abridged and improved in 1760, by M. de la Caille. In 1772, Dr. Robertfon's Elements of Navigation first appeared, with a moft excellent preface from the pen of Dr. James Wilfon; and fince that time, feveral useful and highlyefteemed works have been publifhed. But thefe elementary books are principally directed to the inftruction of young perfons in the ufe of the inftruments for celeftial obfervations, Mercator's chart, compafs, &c.: few of any material value have particularly treated of SeamanShip, a branch of Navigation which applies exprefsly to the manau vring of veffels at sea. The work now before us is confined folely to Seamanship, both in theory and practice, and is divided into twelve general heads or chapters. Each of thefe chapters is fubdivided into fmaller ones for the greater convenience of the reader, fo that in the immediate time of need, when an alteration is neceffary in the fetting of the fails, or any other maneuvre is required to be performed, reference may be made to the page where fuch maneuvre is treated of. At the beginning of the book is a moveable figure of a fhip, made of card, with her yards and ftay-fails complete, by which the effect of the wind upon her fails, and of the rudder upon the ship, may be learned by inspection only. This novel mode of demonftration feems to have a tendency to diffufe an inclination for the study of marine tactics; which, befides their importance in a commercial point of view, may have many political advantages, as they may increase the number of our mariners, and be the means of inftructing them in the principles of fcience. The chapter on Mooring we cannot but recommend to the confideration of feamen in general, for, by a perfect knowledge of these matters, numberless accidents may be avoided, which frequently occafion great national detriment, fuch as the lofs of a valuable cargo, and the obftructing and choaking up the beds of navigable rivers. Hh 2 ART, |