'He throws the laft fatal dye for eternity, and concludes the dreadful • scene by a piftol'. Art. 23. The Chriftian Minifter. By Charles Bulkley. 12mo. 2 s. Payne and Noon. In this performance we have two fermons ; one preached at PinnersHall, July 8, 1756, at the ordination of Mr. Jofeph Jeffries, on the nature and defign of the Christian miniftry; the other on the usefulnefs and honour of the Chriftian Ministry, preached at the Old Jewry, March 5, 1755, being the day of annual collection for the widow's fund. Befides thefe, there is an introductory difcourfe delivered at the ordination of Mr. Daniel Noble, Oct. 9, 1755, at Mill-yard, Goodman's Fields; with fupplemental thoughts, to illuftrate fome particular points of very confiderable importance, insisted upon in the preceding difcourses. We would recommend the whole to the perufal of all who are engaged in, or defigned for, the facred service of the miniftry. It is, indeed, in our opinion, an excellent little piece; full of good fenfe, of candid, pious, benevolent, and enlarged fentiments; and breathes a truly Chriftian spirit. R Art. 24. The Hardships and Dangers of Subscriptions, represented in a letter to the Rev. Dr. Powell; with remarks upon his fermon, preached before the University of Cambridge, on the Com mencement-Sunday, 1757. 8vo. 6d. Waugh. This little tract contains very fenfible and judicious remarks upon Dr. Powell's fermon *. The Author writes with candor and moderation; he makes no illiberal or ungenerous reflections upon any denomination of Chriftians; and feems to be mafter of himself, and of his fubject: in a word, his performance is as judicious, as the Doctor's fermon is trifling and injudicious. Vid. the Lift of Sermons in our laft Appendix. R Art. 25. Two Letters, adapted to the prefent critical Conjun&ture. The firft, to all Military Gentlemen, by fea and land; pointing out the true foldier, as animated by religion, and the love of his country. The fecond, to all Others interested in the fuccefs of our counfels and arms. Reprefenting the favour of God as neceffary hereunto; and the righteousness of individuals, as effential to our fecuring the Divine Protection. By H. Worthington, A. M. 8vo. Is. Griffiths. To mention the defign of this performance, would only be to repeat the foregoing words of the title-page. It will be fufficient therefore if we add, that the Author has executed his worthy intention in fuch a manner, as cannot fail of deriving credit to himself; but as to his degenerate countrymen, to whom it is addressed, we fear they are too far gone in felfishness and depravity, to receive much benefit from his pious and public fpirited admonitions: though like the the Ninevites, we have fafted and prayed; though we have humbled ourfelves, from the greatest even to the leaft, yet it is to be feared we have not thoroughly repented, and turned from the evil of our ways. For, in the words of our Author, Vice ftill feems to lift up her head with • all the impudence of an harlot; we fill fee the most daring prophanations of the Lord's day; and not only a negle, but an atrocious contempt of his facred ordinances; the word of life made a jeft of, and every refraint of confcience avowedly caft off, p. 39. Alafs! HOW FEW ARE IN GOOD EARNEST IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. Ibid. MEDICAL. Art. 26. An Enquiry into a late very extraordinary phyfical Tranf action at E-n. In a Letter to an Apothecary at W-r, in B-ks. By Ch--B-n, Surgeon, at Ch-y. 8vo. 6 d. Cooke and Coote. This is a fenfible and affecting performance, occafioned by a catal trophe very interefting to the Writer, as he fuppofes it nothing lefs than the premature death of his fon. After thoroughly perufing the narrative; the apothecary's letter; the furgeon's remarks upon it and the queries and expoftulation which conclude the pamphlet; we are at a loss to conceive (on a fuppofition of the truth of the facts as flated) what fufficient exculpatory aufwer can be made to the imputations of the parent in this melancholy affair. The only further inference we fhall offer from it is, that a man cannot have too good a head, nor too carefully furnished, to fuggeft the apt and timely exhibition, or omission, of powerful and active medicines. ERRATA in our laft Appendix.. K. In the CONTENTS, under B, infert, BIOGRAPHIA Britannica, Vol. IV. with a reference to the Review, p. 577.-Page 578, fine ult. dele lives.-P. 584. for Canticles ch. xi. read, ch. ii.-P. 592. notes, l. 1. after read, put it.-P. 594, notes, l. 3. for public, read pulpit.-P. 598, note (w) in the reference to remark [U].inflead of [U], read [W].-Note [X] 1. 9, after prefent, infert [late]. ERRATA in the Review for January, 1758. Page 74, line 23, for propriora, read propiora.-Page 96, Art. 44, for Elian, read Eneus. THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For MARCH, 1758. The Natural Hiftory of Iceland: Containing a particular and accurate Account of the different Soils, burning Mountains, Minerals, Vegetables, Metals, Stones, Beafts, Birds, and Fishes; together with the Difpofition, Cuftams, and Manner of Living of the Inhabitants. Interfperfed with an Account of the Ifland. By Mr. Anderfon, late Burgo-mafter of Hamburgh. To which is added, a Meteorological Table, with Remarks. Tranflated from the Danish Original of Mr. N. Horrebow. illuftrated with a general Map of the Ijland. Folio. Linde, &c. F And 12S. EW Islands in the known world, have been more talked of, and yet lefs known, than Iceland: notwithstanding its inhabitants were celebrated for their learning, among the ancient inhabitants of the North; and fome of their poems, then confidered as mafter-pieces, are ftill preferved in the library of the univerfity of Upfal. But Iceland is chiefly remarkable for its natural curiofities. That an ifland fituated on the borders of the Frozen Zone, and covered, the greatest part of the year, with ice and fnow, fhould abound in Volcanoes, perpetually vomiting fmoke and flame, has been looked upon as fomething very fingular. The fame thing is, however, obfervable in the fouthern extremity of America, namely, near Cape Horn; where the cold is nearly as intenfe as in Iceland, and where there is a very remarkable VulVOL. XVIII. cano; cano; whence the Spaniards gave the country the name of Ti- But whatever defire the public has fhewn for a genuine and Some years ago Mr. Anderfon, a Burgo-mafter of Hamburgh, publifhed a Defcription of Iceland, which was very well receivcd, and confidered as a genuine account of that country; but Mr. Horrebow has fhewn, that many of the particulars are abfolutely falfe; and confequently convey a very inadequate idea of this famous island. · Of a different nature,' fays Mr. Horrebow, (or rather his Tranflator) is this treatife which I here give to the public concerning Iceland. It is founded upon what I myself have feen and experienced, during the two years I lived in the ifland.-I made,' adds our Author, feveral obfervations with an excellent Paris Quadrant, and afcertained the Elevation of the Pole, by means of a lunar eclipfe, which happened December 1750. By a Telescope accurately furnished with a Micrometer, I took the exact Latitude of the island, and having determined it in a nicer manner than it ever was before, found that Iceland lies almoft four degrees more to the Eaft than it has hitherto been computed *.' The part of Iceland where our Author obferved the Latitude, was at Bellefted, the palace of his Danish Majesty, fituated near the fouth border of the island, and lying in the Latitude of 64 degrees 4 minutes North, and 25 degrees Weft of the Meridian of London. The length of the island from East to West may be computed at a hundred and twenty Danish, or seven hundred and twenty English miles; and the breadth in the narrowest parts at forty one Danish, or two hundred and forty fix English miles, tho', in moft parts, from North to South This is, we believe, the first time a lunar eclipse was made choice of for determining the Latitude; and are inclined to think, that our Tranflator has mistaken the word, and wrote Latitude for Longitude; for it is plain, from the following fentence, that the Author meant the latter. The whole paffage is, indeed, fo obfcurely rendered, that it is almoft impoffible to understand it; and we could with this was the only one of that kind in the book before us. 1 it is fixty Danish, or three hundred and fixty English. Thus the breadth may be fafely reckoned at fifty Danish, or three • hundred English miles.' Having thus determined the fituation and dimenfions of Iceland, our Author, in the fecond chapter, confiders its different foils; and is of opinion, that it exhibits undeniable marks of the universal deluge; being, like Norway, and a great part of Italy, an uneven country, covered with rocks and craggy mountains. The coaft is not, however, like that of the former, environed with small iflands and rocks, but, in general, wholly exposed to the ocean. Some few islands, indeed, lie off the western coast, and are very fertile, but not inhabited. · In the interior parts of the island are very extensive heaths and plains, together with vaft mountains, many of which are ' always covered with ice and fnow. The greater part of them are paffable, and have roads over them, where some hundreds ⚫ of horses and men país every year. Most of the northern peo⚫ple travel across the large chain of rocks that run along the 'country, and fetch their winter ftock of dried fish from the fouth and weft parts. The mountains in the common road are not fo difficult to pass as those on the Alps and Pyrenees. On the top of fome of these mountains are plains of twenty, or twenty-five English miles in extent. There are alfo in fe⚫veral places large tracts of land, with good grafs for pafturage, and great lakes abounding with variety of fine fifh, and in ⚫ fome places fandy ground. Some of the mountains, which at all times are covered with ice and fnow, are called Jokeler, · From the tops a dark, footy, thick, ftinking water continual⚫ly flows like a great river. These Jokeler are not the highest parts of the mountains, there being many near them much higher, yet without fnow continually on them. This may probably be owing to the nitrous quality of the earth. There appears a very extraordinary phænomenon in thefe places, ' which may rather belong to a metaphysical than historical de'fcription. However, it will not be amifs to give a brief ac'count of it in the ftrange property of thefe places called Jokells, which increase in bulk, and again diminish and change their appearance almoft every day. For instance, paths are seen in ⚫ the fand, made by travellers that paffed the day before. When 'followed, they lead to a place like a large pond or lake, frozen over, very dangerous to pafs, and not there the day before. This obliges travellers to go two or three English miles 'round. Then they come again to the very path oppofite to that they were obliged to leave. In a few days the interrupted path appears again, all the ice and water having, as it were, • vanished. Sometimes travellers are bold enough to venture O 2 6 over |