belly-ach of pity for you! Give me a dram-do give me a drama dram of patience I mean, while I explain unto you what reformation and what abomination mean-which the worldly wicked have mixed together, like potatoes and butter-milk, and therewith made a finful ftirabout! Reformation is like the comely froth on the top of a tankard of porter; and abomination is like the dregs at the bottom of the tap tub. Have ye carried your confciences to the fcowerer's? Have ye bought any fuller's earth at my fhop, to take the ftains out? Ye fay, Yes, you have! you have! you have! But I fay, No: ye lie! ye lie! ye lie!I am no velvet-mouth'd preacher! I fcorn your lawn-fleeves.You are full of filth! ye muft be boiled down in our tabernacle, to make portable foup, for the faints to fup a ladle-full of; and then the fcum, and the fcaldings of your iniquities, will boil over; and that is the kitchen-ftuff of your confciences, that ferves to grease the cart-wheels that carry us over the devil's ditch.'- -There is more of it; but we have given enough for a fample. Thefe low allufions, and grofs images may feem too extravagant to fuch of our Readers as are not acquainted with the ftrange rants of fome of the methodistical tribe. Yet what are even thefe, compared with the filthy ftuff in Erfkine's Gofpel Sonnets, and other works? Art. 37. The Entertaining Fabulift: Containing a Variety of Diverting Tales and Novels, in Profe and Verfe. To which is prefixed a fhort Tractate on Story-telling. 12mo. 2s. 6d. fewed. Bladon. Calculated for the meridian of St. Giles's. Art. 38. Eliza: or, The History of Mifs Granville. By the Author of Indiana Danby. 12mo. 2 Vols. 6s. Noble. Some part of what we faid in commendation of the Hiftory of Mifs Danby, (fee Rev. Vol. XXXII. p. 480) may be juftly applied to the ftory of Eliza; which is written in a natural and eafy ftyle; and is not chargeable with any immoral tendency, as most of our novels are: but, at the fame time, we muft obferve, that here is a want of that invention, and of that happy talent at character-drawing, without which, no compofition of this kind can be ranked with the mafterly productions of genius. POETICA L. Art. 39. The Crucifixion, Another production of the Kiflinbury eftate, and by no means fuperior to the general produce of that unfortunate farm; where Pro molli Viola, pro purpureo Narciffo, Ifelix Lolium, et fteriles dominantur Avena. To fpeak without a metaphor, this is a fliff, inelegant performance, written in a very bad tafte, and affording nothing that can do credit either to the Author, or the fubje&: 4 St & mens. Art. 40. The Feftoon; a Collection of Epigrams, ancient and mo→ dern: Panegyrical, Satyrical, Amorous, Moral, Humorous, Monumental. With an Effay on that Species of Compofition. 12mo. 2s. 6d. Robinson and Roberts. This collection of epigrams is preceded by a fenfible preface; and a very ingenious effay on the nature of the epigram. In the former, it is obferved, that this is a fpecies of poetry, calculated for the amusement of every season of life; but, adds the Author, as the fprightliness and brevity effential to fuch compofitions, render them more peculiarly adapted to captivate the attention of youth, than the serious and folemn beauties of the fublimer branches of poetry; nothing ought to be admitted into a collection of this kind, that may endanger the morals, vitiate the tafte, or even debafe the language of young people. Accordingly, our Anthologist has been fo cautious, that his collection is certainly preferable, in this, as well as other refpects, to any that have preceded it. He does not pretend, with affuming air, to have executed his plan with unexceptionable accuracy and judgment; but he modeilly hopes, that he hath furnished an innocent, and he prefumes not an infi id entertainment for the younger clafs of readers.-We can, therefore, honeftly afford our faffrage to this publication, in the Editor's own words, as a collection of little poems, fuch as a faithful tutor may put into the hands of his pupil, or a virtuous matron recommend to her innocent daughter.' RELIGIOUS and CONTROVERSIAL. Art. 41. Chearful Thoughts on the Happiness of a Religious Life. By E. Harwood. 12mo. Is. 6d. fcw'd. Becket and De Hondt. There is scarce any thing that has contributed fo much to alienate the affections of young perfons from religion, and to fix almost infuperable prejudices in their minds against it, as the views that have been given of it by many warm but injudicious friends. Religion has been too fiequently dreffed in the gloomy and forbidding garb of fuperftition, with a complexion pale and livid as the countenance of death, her looks filled with terror and unrelenting feverity, and her hands armed with whips and fcorpions.' She has been reprefented as an irreconcilable enemy to pleafure, and all the innocent enjoyments of human life; as leading her votaries into cells and folitude, enjoining them the mortification of every G 2 fenie fenfe of pleasure, the conftant exercise of forrow, self-denial, and the whole monkifh train of auftere virtues. Mr. Harwood reprefents religion in her native form and comeliness, as the most amiable of all objects, as the offspring of TRUTH and Love, and the parent of BENEVOLENCE, HOPE, and JoY.-We shall give our Readers a fpecimen of his ftyle and manner. Intending, fays he, to reprefent Religion as most lovely and amiable in its nature, as introducing us into a path the most pleasant and delectable into which our feet can be directed, and as productive of peace, tranquillity, joy, and the nobleft mental fatisfaction, fuffer me to obferve, That Religion is congenial to the human mind, and to all our intellectual and moral powers. The leaft reflection will convince us, that we did not form ourselves, any more than a magnificent palace was formed by chance, any more than the fun, moon, and flars were fixed in their refpective orbits by fate, or the regular and beatiful system of the world combined by the fortuitoes jumble of atoms. We cannot think of our formation, the amazing ftructure of our bodies, and the more amazing fabric of our minds, without the idea of the fupreme Firft Cause and Univerfal Parent neceffarily obtruding itself upon our reflections. Whenever we seriously contemplate our frame, we naturally look to Ged, from whom our existence, and all the happiness of our exiftence is originally and ultimately derived. Abba, Father! is the natural dictate of the human heart is the natural invocation and addrefs, which an intelligent creature prefers to its wife and good Creator. Our dependence is fuggefted by every thing in us and around us. It is the conftant unremitting energy of the Deity, that maintains our animal powers in their regular functions, and our intellectual faculties in their continual operations. In the Deity we live, move, and enjoy natural and moral exiftence. His influence conferves thofe powers in their uniform exercife which he originally imparted; his benevolent agency perpetuates to us the fruition of our understanding, reafon, and affections; and there is no enjoyment, natural or moral, with which we are bleffed, of which he is not the primary and moft merciful Donor. All the ftreams of all our felicity fow from him as their original fountain. All our perfonal, domeftic, and focial happiness, all our improvements in knowledge and in holiness, are jufly and thankfully to be afcribed to him, who furnished us with perceptions for tafting the one, and with powers for attaining the other. In this view how reasonable a fervice doth Religion appear! How na. tural an expreflion is it of our gratitude for fuch immenfe obligations beflowed! How effential, how ingenuous a return is it to the greatest and beft of Beings, who endowed us with fuch capacities, enabled us to relish fuch exal ed enjoyinents, adorned our natures with fuch an apparatus of elegant fenfibilities, infpired us with fuch dignity and elevation of mind, and moft munificently poured around us fuch a liberal profution and moft immenfe variety of happiness! How infinitely are we indebted to our moft merciful Creator for furnishing us with fuch perceptions, for lavishing upon us fuch a multiplicity of intellectual bleflings, and making us capable of enjoving fuch fublime, refined, and exalted pleafures, as refult from the contemplation of himself, from the exercife of our beft af-" fections, from a devout confcious fenie of our dependence on fo good Being, and from a furvey of that aftonishing wifdom, contrivance, and goodness, goodness, which univerfal Nature, in all its parts, exhibits before us! The affiduous culture of fuch exalted faculties, and worthy difpofitions as these, is the most delightful exercise; an employment of them, which Nature generonfly dictates, which the heart fuggefts, as the incumbent duty of dependent beings, and which all our powers approve as the fole worthy return of beneficiaries for benefactions fo immenfe. The Being, who implanted in the human heart this illuftrious train of intellectual abilities, perceptions, and difpofitions, gave, at the fame time, a tendency to thefe affections.-But to what do these moral endowments and difpofitions naturally tend?-They naturally tend to God. They all ultimately concenter in him, from whom they were derived. They acknowledge their Parent, in all their generous efforts they indicate, they fix the contemplating mind upon him, afpire after him, acquiefce in him, as the fole object that can, from the infinite plenitude of his benignity, fatisfy their enlarged and boundless defires. The heart and all its powers approve his fervice, as perfect liberty, and perfect happiness, feel a kindred, a congenial fatisfaction in the delightful exercife of devout and grateful affections towards him, feel a facred and holy transport in the religious and virtuous cultivation of such principles and difpofitions as are pleafing to him, and taste the most exquifite pleasure, that can be tafted in this world, in maintaining a communion and intercourfe with the great Father of their immortal Spirits. What is Religion, but an affimilation to the bleffed God, in his purity, holiness, rectitude, and moral perfection. A ftudy, a virtuous ambition, to be as like the God we ferve as poffible in the temper and difpofition of our minds, conftitutes the very effence of religion. And O what a pleafing and delectable exercise is this! To be employed in the imitation of God, exercifing, like him, the difpofitions and affections he hah given us in the diffufion of happiness, and making those principles, which are the foundation of his immutable and confummate happinefs, the basis on which we are determined to erect all our happiness! How naturally does the human heart prompt fuch truths and practical principles as thefe! And what exalted felicity refults from carrying these into execution! They really reward themfelves in their performance. By our cherishing fuch difpofitions the intention of nature, and of the Author of nature, is anfwered, and the applause of our faithful confciences tells us it is anfwered.-Oar underflanding gives its fuffrage to Religion, as the great law of our Creator, and the fupreme happiness of our natures. It reprefents fuch a fervice as infinitely natural and infinitely reasonable, as the joft dictate of dependence, the equitable tribute of gratitude, and an indifpenfable obligation upon frail and indigent 'creatures for the various bleffings of their all-fufficient benefactor. Our will, judgment, moral tafte, and difcernment, unite in giving their fanction to religion, as what folely conftitutes the moral union and harmony of all the mental powers; they recommend it, choose it, and conjoin in approving it, as the fource of the most fubftantial and permanent happinets, and as perfective of the true dignity and glory of our rational and immortal natures. Our confcience feals and ftamps with its folemn fanction the intrinfic worth and native excellence of religion, trongly, painfully remonstrating against every wilful violation of its laws, and applauding every virtuous compliance with its great injunctions. So that you fenfe of pleasure, the conftant exercife of forrow, felf-denial, and the whole monkifh train of auftere virtues. Mr. Harwood reprefents religion in her native form and comeliness, as the most amiable of all objects, as the offspring of TRUTH and Love, and the parent of BENEVOLENCE, HOPE, and Joy. We shall give our Readers a fpecimen of his ftyle and manner. Intending, fays he, to reprefent Religion as moft lovely and amiable in its nature, as introducing us into a path the most pleasant and delectable into which our feet can be directed, and as productive of peace, tranquillity, joy, and the noblest mental fatisfaction, fuffer me to observe, That Religion is congenial to the human mind, and to all our intellectual and moral powers. The leaft reflection will convince us, that we did not form ourselves, any more than a magnificent palace was formed by chance, any more than the fun, moon, and stars were fixed in their refpeftive orbits by fate, or the regular and beatiful fyftem of the world combined by the fortuitoes jumble of atoms. We cannot think of our formation, the amazing ftructure of our bodies, and the more amazing fabric of our minds, without the idea of the fupreme Firft Cause and Univerfal Parent neceffarily obtruding itself upon our reflections. Whenever we seriously contemplate our frame, we naturally look to Ged, from whom our existence, and all the happiness of our existence is originally and ultimately derived. Abba, Father! is the natural dictate of the human heart is the natural invocation and addrefs, which an intelligent creature prefers to its wife and good Creator. Our dependence is fuggefted by every thing in us and around us. It is the conftant unremitting energy of the Deity, that maintains our animal powers in their regular functions, and our intellectual faculties in their continual operations. In the Deity we live, move, and enjoy natural and moral exiftence. His influence conferves thofe powers in their uniform exercife which he originally imparted; his benevolent agency perpetuates to us the fruition of our understanding, reafon, and affections; and there is no enjoyment, natural or moral, with which we are blessed, of which he is not the primary and moft merciful Donor. All the ftreams of all our felicity flow from him as their original fountain. All our perfonal, domeftic, and focial happiness, all our improvements in knowledge and in holiness, are jufly and thankfully to be afcribed to him, who furnished us with perceptions for tafting the one, and with powers for attaining the other. In this view how reasonable a fervice doth Religion appear! How na. tural an expreffion is it of our gratitude for fuch immenfe obligations be flowed! How effential, how ingenuous a return is it to the greatest and beft of Beings, who endowed us with fuch capacities, enabled us to relish fuch exal ed enjoyinents, adorned our natures with fuch an apparatus of elegant fenfibilities, infpired us with fuch dignity and elevation of mind, and most munificently poured around us fuch a liberal profution and moft immenfe variety of happiness! How infinitely are we indebted to our moft merciful Creator for furnishing us with fuch perceptions, for lavishing upon us fuch a multiplicity of intellectual bleflings, and making us capable of enjoving fuch fublime, refined, and exalted pleafures, as refult from the contemplation of himself, from the exercife of our beft af-" fections, from a devout confcious fenie of our dependence on fo good a Being, and from a furvey of that aftonishing wifdom, contrivance, and goodneis, |