contribution towards chearing the heart of the unhappy, and relief to the diftreffed,

CONTROVERS I A L.

XVI. Remarks on fome conjectures, relative to an antient piece of money, endeavouring to prove it a coin of Richard, the first king of England of that name, &c. By George North, A. M. Fellow of the fociety of antiquaries; London. 4to. I s. 6d. Sandby.

In this performance our author confiders every argument advanced by mr. Clarke (fee our Reveiw for January laft) in fupport of his conjectures, and brings very strong reafons to prove that the piece in question is not a coin of king Richard I. nor a coin from the royal mints in any other reign. He fhews that the fun or ftar, and crefcent, as on the piece in question, appear only on the firft great feal of king Richard I.-That the form was changed on his latter feal, at a time when coinage of money might most reasonably be expected: That they appear likewife on the feal of Henry III. and, confequently, can have no particular reference, nor can be appropriated, to Richard I.-That all our English coins have the head and name of the king on them:

That the reproach is groundless of base money by royal authority:That the manner of the receipt in the exchequer was a check on the mints: That, ab initio, all the mints had affayers in them :-That fterling was the current money of England before king Richard I. viz. in king Henry II's reign: That, in the indenture of the 28th of Edward I. fterling is called the old ftandard: That the weight of the piece produced is seven grains less than the weight of our antient pennies, tho' it is not blurred nor exeded.

As to the piece in queftion, mr. North thinks he can afcertain what it is to the fatisfaction of the curious: he apprehends it is no other than one of those which were denominated Peny-yard pence, from their being made or ftamped at Penny-yard, a place near Rofs in Herefordshire.

Our author has been naturally led to confider the ftandard and purity of our antient coins, and the fate of the mint; a fubject with which he appears to be very well acquainted, and on which fuch of our readers as have a mind to peruse his work, will find feveral things new to them. To his remarks is fubjoined a fhort epiftolary dif fertation on fome fuppofed Saxon gold coins, read before the fociety of antiquaries.

XVII. Some

XVII. Some remarks on the letters of the late lord Bolingbroke, on the study and use of hiftory; fo far as they relate to facred hiftory; the genuineness of the gofpel, and its being a certain rule of faith and practice. 8vo. 6d. Cooper.

The zeal which this author has fhewn for chriftianity is, if we mistake not, his principal merit in this performance. This zeal, however, for chriftianity, has made him fay fome things which are not at all confiftent with the fpirit of it.

XVIII. An apologetical view of the moral and religious fentiments of the late right honourable lord viscount Bolingbroke. Taken from his letters on the ftudy and use of hiftory. 8vo. 6 d. Noon.

This fmall piece is written in a candid and genteel manner; and is proper for the perufal of fuch unbelievers in revelation (if fuch there be) as glory that lord Bolingbroke died without faith..

MEDICA L.

XIX. A compendium of anatomy. By Laurence Heifter, M. D. profeffor of phyfic and furgery in the university of Helmftadt, and fellow of the royal focieties of London and Paris. Tranflated from the last edition of the original Latin: greatly augmented and improved by the author. To which are added, Notes, by M. Henault, and the editor. Illuftrated with eight large copper plates. 8vo. 6s. Innys, Davis, Whifton, &c.

The works of the great Heifter are all fo well known, that it would be very fuperfluous in us to attempt the character of any part of them. All we fhall therefore fay of this tranflation of his treatife of anatomy is, that it is a new one; and that it has the great advantage over the other tranflation, published fome years ago, of having the many improvements which the author made, in the intermediate time between his several editions, of which it has gone through a confiderable number.

XX. The state of furgery, but more particularly, the difadvantages its profeffors lie under, confidered. 8vo. 6 d.

Baldwin.

The defign of this pamphlet is, to fhew the decay of the furgeon's bufinefs, occafioned by the late great encrease of the number of hofpitals; which the author does not apprehend to be of fuch real public utility, as is generally imagined. He thinks that undeferving patients, or those who

are

are not the proper objects of such charities, are chiefly those who are relieved by them; that fuch relief is a great encouragement to idle and debauched mechanicks, &c. who, otherwife, might be induced to be more induftrious, in order to lay up fomething towards their fupport, in cafes of fickness, or accidents: which formerly the common people were the more obliged to do, as they had not the expectations of being taken care of in hospitals, which those of the lower ranks have, in these publick-fpirited times. Hence, the author concludes, that the furgeons are in a fair way of being ruined, by having their business engroffed by the hofpitals; while no adequate advantage will thereby accrue to the community in general: but the reader will better judge of this matter, from our author's arguments at large, as he has laid them down in his pamphlet, which, as we imagine, merits the attention of the public.

In

XXI. An effay on the external use of water. a letter to dr. ****. With particular remarks upon the present method of using the mineral waters at Bath in Somersetfhire. By T. Smollet, M. D. 4to. Is. 6d. Cooper.

This ingenious writer has here thrown together feveral conjectures against the supposed virtues of the mineral principles in hot springs; which he thinks, have often, in the cure of patients by bathing, ufurped that praise and reputation which was really due to the fimple element. He prefers pure water, both for warm and cold bathing, in many cafes; though he allows, that, in vapour-bathing, the hot mineral fprings may be used to more advantage than fimple hot water. In brief, the learned author has given a fufficient proof of his reading and reflexion on this subject, which he has treated very circumftantially; though it does not seem the remoteft defign of his performance, to vindicate mr. Cleland, furgeon at Bath, with refpect to that gentleman's late plan and propofals for remedying certain confiderable inconveniencies relating to the baths at that place; in which defign mr. Cleland having met with great and effectual oppofition, much altercation had enfued: a pretty full account of which the reader will find in this pamphlet; in which dr. Smellet hath also published mr. Cleland's plan, accompanied with several fevere animadverfions of his own, upon the oppofers of the propofed regulations; whom he treats not only as enemies to the real interest of the city of Bath, but to the public in general, by their obftructing an attempt to render the Bath waters more extenfively efficacious, and convenient, than they now are, under their prefent regulations.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For JUNE, 1752.

SECOND EDITION.

ART. XLVI. Conclufion of the account of lord Bolingbroke's letters on the study and use of history

H

AVING, in our number for April, given an ac

count of the firft volume of these letters, we now proceed to the fecond, and fhall finifh our account of the whole, with fome extracts from his lordship's letter to lord Bathurst on the true ufe of retirement and study, and his reflections on exile; both which pieces, but efpecially the laft, every one who has a tafte for fine writing, cannot but perufe with pleasure. They are full of masterly ftrokes, of noble and elevated fentiments: and were we to fay, that with regard to elegance of compofition, and dignity of fentiment, they are not inferior to any thing of the kind antiquity can boast of, few of our readers, we are perfuaded, would think that we had commended them too much.

The greatest part of his lordships eighth letter, which takes up almost two thirds of this fecond volume, and contains a fketch of the hiftory and state of Europe, from the year 1688, confifts of reflections on the meafures that were purfued in conducting the war that was carried on at the beginning of the prefent century on account of the Spanish fucceffion; but as we have reafon, from feveral paffages of thefe letters, to expect a full and circumftantial account of the tranfactions of thofe times by his lordfhip, we shall VOL. VI.

Dd

not

not take up any of our reader's time with an account of what he has advanced concerning them in this letter.

6

His lordship introduces his letter on the true use of retirement and study, with feveral juft reflections on the general neglect of cultivating our reafon. He obferves, that this rightful mistress of human life and knowledge, whose proper office it is to prefide over both, and to direct us in the conduct of the one, and the purfuit of the other, is reduced to a mean and fervile ftate, to the vile drudgery of conniving at principles, defending opinions, and confirming habits, that are none of her's. They, fays he, who do her moft honour, who confult her ofteneft, and obey her too very often, are ftill guilty of limitting her authority according to maxims, and rules, and fchemes, that chance or ignorance, or interest first devised, and that custom fanctifies: cuftom, that refult of the paffions and prejudices of many, and of the defigns of a few: that ape of reafon, who ufurps her feat, exercises her power, and is obey'd by mankind in her ftead. Men find it eafy, and government makes it profitable, to concur in established fyftems of fpeculation, and practice and the whole turn of education prepares them to live upon credit all their lives. Much pains are taken, and time beftowed, to teach us what to think, but little or none of either, to inftruct us how to think. The magazine of the memory is ftored and ftuffed betimes; but the conduct of the understanding is all along neglected, and the free exercise of it is, in effect, forbid in all places, and in terms in fome.

There is a ftrange diftruft of human reafon in every human institution: this diftruft is fo apparent, that an habitual fubmiffion to fome authority, or other, is forming in us from our cradles; that principles of reafoning, and matters of fact, are inculcated in our tender minds, before we are able to exercise that reason; and that, when we are able to exercise it, we are either forbid, or frighten'd from doing it, even on things that are themselves the proper objects of reafon, or that are deliver'd to us upon an authority, whofe fufficiency or infufficiency is fo moft evidently.

Thus the far greatest part of mankind appears reduced to a lower state than other animals, in that very respect, on account of which we claim fo great fuperiority over them; because inftinct, that has its due effect, is preferable to reason that has not. I fuppofe in this place, with philofophers, and the vulgar, that which I am in no wife ready to affirm, that other animals have no fhare of human

reafon