our opinion of the candour of its author; who will be the first to allow that liberty of judgment to others, which himself so unreservedly exercises on the pages before us.

"

The jacobinical misrepresentation of the paffage, ch. xiii. ver, 4. I gave thee a king in mine anger, is admirably guarded against in the note, p. 45, to the word Petition.

In page 54 of the critical notes, we obferve an admirably juft diftinction refpecting the inftruments employed by the Almighty in his difpenfations towards mankind.

"It is true, that when the purposes of God are accomplished by the hand of man (which is the cafe indeed in fome degree in every humanaction), the very fame act may be juft and good, as it proceeds from God, and makes a part of the scheme of Providence; and criminal in the highest degree, as it is performed by the Man; who is the immediate agent. The Man may act from finfull motives of his own, without any confideration, or knowledge, of the end to which God directs the action. In many cases the Man may be incited by enmity to God and the true religion to the very act, in which he accomplishes God's fecret, or even his revealed, purpose. The Man, therefore, may juftly incur wrath and punishment, for those very deeds, in which, with much evil intention of his own, he is the inftrument of God's good providence.".

The note on chap. 3. ver. 4. which occupies four pages and a half, is very curious and very fatisfactory. In the words without Statue, without ·Ephod, without Teraphim, the Bishop confiders idolatry as "described by the three principal features in its external appearance: the Statue, the public object of popular adoration: the Teraphim, the images of the more fecret rites of incantation: and the Sorcerer, or Hierophant, conducting the ceremonies and propounding to the confulters of the oracle the answers he pretended to receive, reprefented by the Ephod, the most remarkable of his robes of office."

We recommend to the learned reader's particular attention the note on b, p. 157, 158. in which the difficult paffage in 1 Peter, iii. 19. is explained in a very fatisfactory manner, in our apprehenfion.

The of the Old Teftament, and the Hades of the New, is indeed the Hell to which our Lord Jefus Chrift, according to the Apoftle's Creed, defcended. It is the Paradife, to which he conveyed the foul of the repentant thief. It is the place whither his foul went and preached, to the fouls, not in prifon, as we read in our English Bible, but qua “in fate, keeping," (if that text of St. Peter 1. iii.,19. is to be understood literally, and I know not how it can be understood otherwise,) which one while bad been difobedient (roaci wol); but, as the expreflion "one while had been" implies, were at length recovered from that difobedience, probably by the preaching of Noah, and before their death had been brought to repentance and faith in the Redeemer to come. To thefe fouls our Lord Jefus Chrift went in his foul and preached. But what could he preach to them? Not repentance. They had repented of their difobedience, before they were feparated from the body by death, or they had not been found In the bundle of life. But, if he went and proclaimed to them (ixágue)

the

the great tidings that he had actually offered the facrifice of their redemp-r: tion, and was now about to enter into glory; this was a preaching, that would give new animation and affurance to their hope of the confummation, in due season, of their blifs. And this, by the way, I take to be the true fenfe of this text of St. Peter."

The Bishop expreffes himself in his own appropriate manner on the mode of correcting the Hebrew text, by the Syriac verfion of the Old Teftament.

"It would be much in the taste of modern criticism, to lay hold of this circumstance as an argument for the antiquity of the Syriac verfion of the Old Teftament. To hold up that verfion, as fanctioned in this paffage, by the Apostle's citation, as a true rendering of the original; and then to go to work with the Hebrew text, and, covering our own bold facrilege under an arraignment of the careleffnefs of fcribes in general, and the bad faith of fome (a heavy charge, even against our adversaries the Jews, to which the candid will liften with great caution), to alter the text, till it fhould become a mere tranflation of the Syriac, and give it out, in that altered state, as the text of the Holy Prophet restored !"

with much more to the fame purpose equally inftructive and entertaining.

The fame argument our Right Reverend commentator applies to the fanction falfely given to the Septuagint, &c. from the citation and particular paffages from them in the New.

"With respect to the Septuagint in particular, in behalf of which this fanction is most frequently pleaded; I obferve, that what is generally affumed upon this fubject is not true. Namely, that the citations of texts of the Old Teftament in the New are always from this verfion. This affumption, I fay, is not invariably true. The inftances, in which it fails, are. many. I have mentioned one very remarkable instance; and I could produce many more."

There is an excellent vindication of Forms of Prayer and Praife" in use in the earliest ages, upon all folemn occafions, is evident, with refpect to the Jews, from the Holy Writ; and with respect to the Heathen, from the poets. Miriam's Song of Thankfgiving is evidently a ftudied compofition, fet to mufic, and performed in parts, according to a pre-concerted plan, by her and the chorus of attending virgins. In the Book of Numbers, a form of words is prescribed, in which the priests were to bless the people.* In the Book of Deuteronomy, a form of prayer and confeflion is prefcribed, to be used by every Ifraelite that prefented his firft fruits, and at the end of his tithing. Part of the 105th Pfalm, with the 96th, is a form of thanksgiving, which "David delivered into the hands of Afaph and his brethren" upon the occafion of bringing up the ark from the houfe of Obed-Edom, and placing it in the tent that David had pitched for it. Solomon's prayer, at the dedication of the Temple, is moft evidently ftudied compofition, Jehoshaphat's, when he proclaimed a fast, under the terror of the powerfull confederacy of the Moabites and Ammo

* Num. vi. 23-26.

Chap. xxvi. 5-10, and 13-15. 1 Kings, viii. 22-53. 2 Chron. vi, 12—42, ||2 Chron. xx. B 3 nites.

nites. And the Priefts and Levites, which upon this occafion attended the army, praised Jehovah in a fet form of words. The fervice of the temple, reftored by Hezekiah,* was certainly according to the fettled form of an antient ritual; in particular, the Levites were commanded by the King 'to fing praise unto Jehovah with the words, of David the King, and of Afaph the Seer." Upon the return from the captivity, when the foundations of the Temple were laid, the Priests and Levites attended in their facred veftments, the Priefts with their trumpets, and the Levites with their cymbals, to praise Jehovah after the ordinance of David King of Ifrael.' And their praife was in David's fet form of words, "Give thanks unto Jehovah, because he is good; because his mercy toward 'frael endureth for ever.'t Such proof we find of the ufe of forms of worship among the Jews from the earliest times."

A fine farcafm against Free-thinkers meets the eye

"The Prophet Zephaniah, speaking of the final converfion of all the nations of the earth, fays, In that day I will turn to the peoples a pure lip (now), that they may all of them call upon the name of Jehovah ;+ where a pure lip evidently fignifies a form of worship purged of all corruptions. It is ufed very remarkably in this fense in Pfalm xii. 5.

Our lips are our own." The subject of that Pfalm is Free-thinkers; their learning, audacity, and final excifion. The Pfalmift, drawing these. gentlemen to the life, makes them fay, what they are heard to fay dailyour lips are our own;' i. e. we have a right to choose our own way of worship; to worship what we pleafe, as we please, or not to worship at all, if that thould best please us."

Such are the observations which we have ventured to make on this very confiderable work of an eminent critic on a very difficult Poem; the feveral parts of which are accurately defcribed, and the fubject of which is one of the most interesting that can be conceived, "the final Restoration of the Jews." To have followed his Lordship in any degree through his criticifm would have carried us far beyond the limits of our undertaking. To say we approve and adopt his Lordship's alterations and opinions in toto, wou'd be a fort of obfequious adulation, which he would be the first to difapprove: we think, on the contrary, feveral paffages altered, without being improved; and a few of the notes we had rather had not been inferted at all; but we do not hesitate to pronounce, upon the whole, that there are many strong and luminous paffages which cannot be read without improvement, or confidered without the most unequivocal. approbation.

* 2 Chron. xix. 30.

Ezra iii. 10, 11.

‡ Zeph. iii. 9.

An Hiftorical Tour in Monmouthfbire; illuftrated with Views by Sir R. C. Hoare, Bart. a new Map of the County, and other Engravings. By William Coxe, A. M. F. R. S. F. A. S. &c. In two Parts. Pr. 502. 41. 4s. Cadell and Davies. London. 1801. R. COXE, in his Preface, apprizes his readers, that in this work, "they must not expect to find a regular Hiftory of Monmouthfhire,

4to.

mouthshire, but a description of the principal places, intermixed with hiftorical relations and biographical anecdotes, and embellifhed with the most striking views." When an author thus lays his bill of fare before the public, they have no right to complain, if the dishes be not to their taste. What Mr. Coxe has promised he has performed, and that with his accustomed ability; but if any one were to look into thefe volumes for fuch materials as are generally ufed in the compofition of our modern Tours, for light reading, fentimental remarks, and amufing ftories, he would find himself egregiously disappointed. They exhibit nothing of the kind; but they contain much curious topographical information, hiftorical and biographical knowledge, and no fmall portion of antiquarian lore; difplaying great labour of investigation, depth of research, acuteness of difcrimination, and general correctnefs of judgment. The Map of the County is a valuable addition to the work; and the numerous plates, which are extremely well executed, give the reader a much better idea of the places which they reprefent than can poffibly be conveyed by verbal defcriptions however able and minute.

Mr. C. entered Monmouthfhire by the new paffage over the Severn, from Gloucestershire; refpecting which he records a curious Anecdote.

"This ferry over the new paffage, which is certainly not lefs ancient than that over the old paffage, has from time immemorial belonged to the respectable family of Lewis of St. Pierre. An interesting incident in the Life of Charles the Firft, occafioned its fuppreffion by Oliver Cromwell. The King being purfued by a strong party of the enemy, rode through Shire Newton, and crofsed the Severn to Chisell Pill, on the Glocefterfhire fide: the boat had fcarcely returned, before a corps of about fixty republicans followed him to the Black Rock, and inftantly compelled the boatmen, with drawn fwords, to ferry them acrofs. The boatmen, who were royalifts, left them on a reef, called the English Stones, which is feparated from the Glocefterfhire fhore by a lake fordable at low water; but as the tide, which had just turned, flowed in with great rapidity, they were all drowned in attempting to crofs. Cromwell, informed of this event, abolished the ferry; and it was not renewed till 1718. The renewal occafioned a law fuit between the family of St. Pierre and the Duke of Beaufort's guardians: in the course of the suit, feveral witneffes were called, and depofitions taken before a commiffion of the High Court of Chancery, held at the Elephant coffee-houfe, in Bristol, which stated the undoubted right of Mr. Lewis, and incidentally mentioned the interesting anecdote relating to the efcape of Charles the Firft.*

In

* Charles Lewis, Efq. obligingly communicated to me a copy of these depofitions, from which I fhall infert that of Giles Gilbert, of Shire Newton, which is the moît circumftantial: "And this deponent particularly re members, that in the reign of King Charles the First, it was reported, that his Majefty croffed the faid paffage from the faid Black Rock to Chifhull Pill; and this deponent believes the fame, for that this deponent faw him ride through Shire Newton, near the faid paffage, in order to cross over the fame,

B 4

and

In his account of Sudbrook encampment, our Tourist takes occafion to rectify an error of Harris, in his description of the antiquities of this country, and throughout his Tour, wherever he discovers, errors of a fimilar defcription, he is careful to notice and to correct them. ⚫ His obfervations on Sudbrook may, on this account, be interesting 'to our antiquarian readers; we fhall, therefore, extract it.

"To the weft of the new paffage inn, near the ruins of Sudbrook or Trinity Chapel, are remains of an entrenchment, which are ufually fuppofed to be Roman; they occupy a flat furface on the edge of a perpendicular cliff, and are nearly in the form of a ftretched bow,* whofe cord is the fea coaft. The entrenchment is formed by a triple rampart of earth, and two ditches; the two exterior ramparts are low, and in many places deftroyed; the interior is in greater preservation, and not less than twenty feet in height. On the two extreme parts of the elevated rampart towards the fea, I obferved heaps of ftones and rubbish, which feem to be the remains of ancient buildings; among thefe were two or three ranges of large ftones, placed on each other, without cement, and others of the fame kind which had fallen down, ftrewed the adjacent ground. A large opening in the rampart towards the north, ftill remaining, was formerly the great entrance; the diftance from the opening to the cliff measured about 77 yards; the chord 200. This encampment being formed on an eminence, rifing abruptly from Caldecot Level, I could easily trace, that the fide towards the Level, had been once the fhore; and that, therefore, the place occupied by the ramparts was a peninsula.

and about one hour after his Majefty paffed by, he was purfued by his enemies, or Oliver's foldiers, whom this deponent faw going haftily near Portf cuet, who, as this deponent heard, upon their coming up to the faid Black Rock paffage, and there finding the King to have juft paffed over, drew their fwords upon fome boatmen, belonging to the faid paffage, that were there, and forced them on board one of the paffage boats, and the faid boatmen carried them over, and landed or put them on fhore on the rocks, called the English Stones, on the Gloucestershire fide of the faid paffage, near Chefhull Pill, and left them there, when the tide coming on them, they were all loft or drowned, as this deponent verily believes, and was credibly informed, the very next day, by the boatmen who carried them over; when this deponent, upon the report of the accident, went down to the faid paffage to enquire into the truth thereof; and this deponent faith that he hath heard, and been informed, and be. lieves, that the faid paffage was afterwards put down by Oliver Cromwell on that occafion."

*Harris, in his account of this entrenchment, is extremely erroneous: . he defcribes it as fquare, with the church ftanding in the middle. The word Square has induced many authors who have never feen it, to confider it as Roman. Harris deferves applaufe for having firft turned the public attention to the antiquities of Monmouthfhire; but I am concerned to add, that I I found many of his defcriptions extremely inaccurate. He is fo much prepoffeffed with the idea of Roman antiquities, that he confiders the moft trifling and uncertain appearances as indications of Roman origin. I think it neceffary to make this obfervation, becaufe his accounts have been fervilely copied by fuperficial writers. See Harris's Account of the Antiquities in Monmouthshire, in the Archæologia, Vol. II."