Fou kien, Kouei tcheou, Pe tche fi; but, for political reafons they work but few of them. I believe the principal is, left the greediness of gain fhould excite popular infurrections. They open them fometimes in one place, fometimes in another; but upon the leaft appearance of a rifing, they immediately fhut them up again. We cannot give any account of what is defired, concerning the manner of working the ⚫ feveral mines. We are not in a way of informing ouríelves. • I have endeavoured for feveral years to procure fpecimens of the different mines, but could not yet obtain them.. If, hereafter, I can discover any thing worth while in this matter, I • fhall not fail to communicate it. As to what regards petrifactions, I have only feen a few crabs, pieces of wood, and • fome bones, which I take to be thofe of buffaloes. I have fent into France fpecimens of all the fimple drugs fold by the druggifts at Peking; among which are fome bits of minerals, " petrified bones, &c. to which I expect an anfwer next year, and fhall be better able to chufe what to fend of fuch things, as fhall be defired. This collection is one of the affairs that coft me most trouble.

The article that regards the deluge, makes me imagine, that the lift of thefe things comes from the celebrated Sir Hans Sloane. I fhould be glad to have an opportunity of doing him pleasure, and I will do it most readily. All I "know of it is this; the Chinese have but a very confused idea ⚫ of an univerfal deluge. They only conclude from things ❝ feen upon the furface of the earth, that there must formerly have been some terrible hurricane, and that the fea had covered the face of the earth. A great Mandarin, who had a "better understanding than the Chinese commonly have, being fent into Ho nan, to vifit feveral places, obferved, upon the

of a very high mountain, a kind of bafin, the circumference of which, formed by the mountain, was filled with ⚫ different figures of fifhes, fhells, and marine plants, impreff⚫ed upon ftones: he faid to another Mandarin, who accompanied him, "Certainly the fea must have been here: "thefe fifhes, fhells, and plants, are found only in the fea," F. Gaubil fays, the Chinese books pretend, that fuch im-" preffions are found upon the highest mountains of Thibet, and See tchouen. I had an opportunity myself to go into the ⚫ mountains about Peking, and even went up to the highest ; • but faw nothing of this kind, and was informed upon the fpot, that they never found any thing like them.

The greateft part of the cinnabar of China comes from the province of Yun nan: and it is faid, there is fome alfo

in Kiang fi, Hou kouang, and Koui tcheou. Kang hi, the greatgrandfather of the prefent emperor, ordered a general search to be made through the whole empire for antimony, but 'found none in any of the mines.

.

I have the honour to be, with much refpect and efteem,
SIR, Your most humble and obedient fervant,
D'Incarville.

[The remainder of our account of this volume of Transactions to be given in our next.]

P.

ART. XXV. Sixteen Sermons on the following fubjects :-A call to repentance.-A warning to young people.-Of faith without works.-How chriftians live by faith.-How we are faved by grace. The condemnation of men is their love of darkness.Chriftians must for fake all that they have.-Efau, or the cunning bunters. Of the fin of covetousness.—The chriftian's pattern, or the neceffity of meekness and humility. Of the care of the foul.-The benefit of an early exercife.-Óf eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Chrift.-The practical knowledge of, God. The practical confideration of God's providence.-The. character of those who are fcoffers at religion; their folly and danger. By William Sutton, M. A. rector of St. Michael Carhaies, in Cornwall. 8vo. 5s. Hitch.

THO

HO' there is nothing ftriking or animated in these fermons, yet they are very plain, ufeful, and fenfible dif-. courses, and written in the fpirit of candour and moderation.The author appears to be a hearty friend to freedom of enquiry, and an enemy to every fpecies of ecclefiaftical tyranny. He takes occafion more than once to declare his fentiments in regard to creeds and creed-makers, with fuch a becoming freedom and boldness of fpirit, as must recommend him to the esteem and favourable regard of every friend to liberty. Of this we shall give a fhort fpecimen or two, and then take our leave of him,

In his preface, wherein he makes fome observations on a book, entitled, The new whole duty of man, we find the following honeft declaration. It is certain," fays he, that ecclefiaftical, or an

tichriftian tyranny, which, under the fpecious name of ortho'doxy, has done more mischief than all the mischievous things in the world, could not have been fet up, and supported as it is, unless fome fhackles had been put upon the truth.'

In another place, fpeaking of those who tell us, that there are fome things which we must believe, or affent to the truth of, tho' our reafon and understanding cannot fathom them, because they are revealed by God, who cannot lie, and whose knowledge is infallible, he delivers his fentiments in the following

manner :

• Such

Such things as these,' fays he, may be contained in fcripture, as far as I know; but how they can be revealed I know. not, neither did St. Paul, as I fhall fhew by-and-by. For, if < we lay afide our reason, we are immediately in the state of brutes, altogether incapable of any revelation at all. And, if · God himself fhould vouchfafe to speak to us face to face, as he did to Mofes, he muft apply to our understanding and reafon, or impart to us fome other faculties, which, as yet, he has not done; or elfe we fhall have nothing to believe but his veracity in general, which no chriftian ever dares to deny. When the forementioned apoftle came from Paradife, he did not attempt to reveal what he had there heard, because he knew it was not to be done. It was something not possible to be uttered, or made known by any words, to our present understanding. If he had thought fit, he might have given us a fyftem of theological school-terms, unintelligible, tho' not unfpeakable, which might have ferved the purpose of some • Polemical divines, or fynodical creed-makers, and put us upon ⚫ difputing, and curfing, and railing at one another, and cutting one another's throats; which has always been, and ever will be, the natural product of unintelligible creeds.

6

But St. Paul was of a better mind; he knew that his bufiness was to inftruct us in things neceffary, and therefore easy to be understood; and not puzzle and divide us, and give occafion for thofe things which he himself reckons amongst the works of the flesh. And if all his pretended fucceffors had had as much wifdom and charity, and as little worldly ambition, the chriftian world might have escaped all that wrath, ftrife, perfecutions, and antichriftian cruelties, which it has laboured under, and which has been the bane of our holy profeffion: but to speak of these things at large, is more fit for a volume ⚫ than a preface.'

This may ferve as a fpecimen of our author's way of thinking, and of that honest and candid spirit he seems to be poffeffed of.

I.

R.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE for September, 1754.

THE

POETRY.

HE Profpect, a poem. Containing, 1. The fcene of a country life at the dawn of day. 2. The workmen bufy in the field at harveft. 3. Partridge-fhooting. 4. Fox-hunting. 5. The neceffity of the different seasons of the year. 6. Some ferious reflections on the myfteries of the creation. To which is added, a letter of the author's, addreffed to Mifs S, of D—~, in W—fhire. By George Roberts, gent. Folio, Is. Cooper.

Mr.

Mr. Roberts is fo remarkably excellent in high heroics, that we cannot refift the temptation of pilfering a few lines from his performance, for the entertainment of our readers. They are taken from his defcription of a fox-chace. The traditional cunning of this animal, in the dernier refort, is thus delicately expreffed,

Finding all his vulpine arts to fail,

His ftinking pifs he scatter'd on his tail;

And as the leading hounds, with dreadful cries,

Came near his breech, he fwitch'd it in their eyes :
But that indeed ne'er fignify'd a rush,

Thunder ne'er valu'd any fox's brush;

Bold he advanc'd, and feiz'd him by the throat,
And to a period foon old Reynard brought.

II. The Canniniad; or, Betty's foliloquy in Newgate, on the night destined for her departure to her American fettlement. A fong, to the tune of, A lafs that was laden with care. With a curious frontispiece. Folio, 6d. C. Sympfon.

Had this fong been fung and fold about the ftreets, at ballad price, it had probably met with a reception equal to its deferts; for doubtless more contemptible ballads are greedily bought up by the young men and maidens of this metropolis; who are not inferior in literature and tafte to their brethren and fifters in the country.

III. Recte vivendi ratio, feu moralis philofophiae compendium latino carmine reddidit Nathaniel Ball fcholæ Chelmsfordienfis ar ehididafculus. 12mo. 2s. Buckland.

This Latin verfion of the economy of human life is not inelegant in itself, nor unjust to the original, as well as à general recollection ferves us to remember it. It is printed from a neat type, on excellent paper, and was no improper amufement for a gentleman entrusted with the erudition of youth. The following lines, from the section on charity, include a pathetic and obvious reflection, juftly expreffed:

Corpora dum languent fœdo demiffa grabato
Pauperis infirmi, gemitus dum tollita cerbos ;
Dum vitam infauftam fqualenti carcere plorant
Tot miferi, dum pofcit opem te cana fenectus;
Nonne putas hoc grande nefas et morte piandum
Luxuriare novis femper, dapibufque fuperbis,

Ferrea corda gerens miferorum intacta querelis?

His cautions to a mature and attracting virgin, and to a batchelor in the choice of a wife, may be confidered as two beau tiful and felect paffages.

Cum teneræ vernas jucundo flore juventæ ;
Cum te turba virum fpectans miratur, et ipfa

Quid vellent oculi tecum natura fufurrat ;

Heu! cave, ne nimium verbis confide dolofis :
Sit bene munitum pectus, nec credula blandis
Aufcultes dictis; nam fallax lingua veneni.
Si tempus vario cultu, gemmifque fuperbis
Confumit, fi fe nimis admiratur, et optat
Laudibus extolli; fi vox tonat atque cachinnat :
Si pes fub tectis nefcit remanere paternis,
Sique virûm in vultus patrantes jactat ocellos:
Eniteat licet ore fuo ceu Phoebus Olympo,
Illecebris averte oculos, veftigia vita,

Nec lafcivus amor mentem fpe ludat inani.

MISCELLANEOUS.

K.

IV. The ragged uproar; or, the Oxford roratory: a new dramatic fatire; in many fcenes and one very long act. In which is introduced the a-la-mode fyftem of fortune-telling. originally planned by Joan Plotwell, and continued by feveral truly eminent hands, well verfed in the art of defigning: The whole concluding with an important fcene of witches, gypfies, and fortune-tellers; a long jumbling dance of politicians; and an epilogue fpoken by Mary Squires, &c. flying on broomfticks. 4to. Is. G. Pote.

From the title-page, as above, the reader will be apt to conclude, that this dramatic fatire, as it is ftiled by its author, relates to the disputes at Oxford, on occafion of the treasonable verfes faid to have been found there: but, from a painful perufal of the pamphlet throughout, we have difcovered nothing of that fort. Doubtlefs the writer has fome meaning in this mystical fatire, but he has industrioufly buried it too deep for our penetration.

N.B. The name of Pote, fubjoined as the publisher, is fictitious; and we are affured our worthy friend Mr. J. Pote of Eaton, bookfeller, has no hand in this plot upon the understandings and pockets of the public.

V. An alarm to the right hon. the Lord Mayor, for an open declaration of war with the devil. 8vo. 6d. Cooke.

A pious remonstrance and exhortation to the magiftrates of the city of London, to exert themfelves in order to check the progrefs of thofe moft egregious fins of profane curfing, fwearing, and whoredom, in this metropolis. The author feems particularly defirous, that the fword of juftice fhould be drawn against one particular houfe of whoredom in the city, notoriously,' fays he, known to be fuch, tho' cloaked under the fpecious pretence of doing business, viz. the WORKING MILLINER'S, within full view of the MANSION of JUSTICE; a houfe that has been more deftructive of virtue

and