Art. 28. State of the Gaols in London, Westminster, and Borough of Southwark. To which is added, an Account of the prefent State of the Convicts fentenced to hard Labour on board the Jufsitia upon the River Thames. By William Smith, M. D. I s. 6 d. 1776.

8v0.

We have hitherto found ourfelves under the difagreeable neceffity of animadverting on many of this Author's former publications; and therefore feel a fincere pleasure in being now able to speak in terms of approbation of the prefent performance, both with refpect to intention and execution. The diftreffes and abufes which it prefents to the view of the Public are of a nature which muft intereft every feeling mind, and excite an earnest defire to promote any scheme by which they may be removed. The occafion which gave rife to the prefent performance is this:

Sir Charles Whitworth, chairman of the Weftminster-charity, having propofed to the committee of that inftitution that the Author fhould vifit, and give medical affiftance to, the fick prifoners in the gaols in London, Weftminfter, and Southwark; the propofal was approved of, on March 25, 1776, and the Author immediately undertook the charge. From that time, to the 14th of September, he informs us that 380 perfons have been cured of various complaints, moftly of the putrid kind;' and adds that the Public will be convinced, from the experiment their charitable donation [that of the Weftminster-charity] has enabled him to make, what good will arife from a permanent etablishment for the relief of fick prifoners,'-at a comparatively fmall expence.

The Author's medical attendance on the imprisoned fick, gave him opportunities of being an intimate witnefs of their local diftreffes, and a competent judge of the circumitances by which thofe diftreffes are occafioned, or at least highly aggravated. Among these last may be reckoned, the want of fresh air, uncleanliness, and the almost total inefficacy of the provifions made by the legisla ture, from the days of Elizabeth to the prefent time, refpecting this particular object. It appears that even the recent act, 14 Geo. III. cap. 59, is already become a dead letter; the regulations prescribed by it being, in general, very little attended to, and in fome inftances totally neglected.

The detail which the Author gives of the various fpecies of mifery obferved by him, in the dreadful manfions which he has visited, in discharging the duties of his function, will, we hope, by means of his pamphlet, or the prefent account of it, come under the notice, and excite the attention, of thofe who may be in a capacity to remove or alleviate them. We hope too, that this detail may ftimulate them to inquire into and rectify thofe flagrant abufes, by which thefe diftreffes are, in part at least, occafioned.

Toward the clofe of this pamphlet, the Author gives a short account of the fituation, behaviour, &c. of the convicts on board the Juftitia; and though there are grounds to hope that the new mode of punish ment there inflicted may ultimately produce the good effects intended by it, fome further regulations appear to be wanting. Among the defects of this infant political inftitution, we may reckon the total

want

want of medical and ghoftly advice. No clergyman,' fays the Author, vilts the convicts, nor have they any medical affistance: twelve are now fick, and unable to move their heads from the boards on which they lye.-The dozen confined to the boards are ill of a low nervous fever, mostly accompanied with a purging. Some of them have been ill a month; and others, by repeated relapfes, are feeble and not able to walk;-yet they have received no medical affiftance.'-They want likewife room, and air: the Author nevertheless confiders the a& as excellent; and that it already begins to shew its good effects upon thofe under PUNISHMENT.'

POETICAL.

B...y.

Art. 29. A Monody facred to the Memory of Elizabeth Duchess of Northumberland. Addreffed to his Grace the Duke of Northumberland. 4to. I s. Dodiley.

By no means worthy of the subject. The firft line evinces a want of taste and delicacy:

"Hark! whence that loud funereal yell."

Had the Author alluded to the grief of the tiger, which her Grace
fometime kept, the ugly word yell might have had fome propriety.
"And chear the grave's dull herrors with a fong."
The poet must have been dull indeed, when he gave that epithet to
borrar.

"Beneath thy fmiles reviving Science rear'd

"With brighter verdure her immortal head."

The head of Science is here described as green; the Writer certainly took the image from his own. His poverty of imagination has been fo very diftreffing, that he has at laft been obliged to defcribe the funeral ceremony:

66

and lo! the mitred prelate ftands,

"The facred volume trembling in his hands,
"The last fad obfequies prepared to pay,"-

And the finging boys:

"As the deep chorus chaunt th' according lay Nay, the very accident that happened at the time in WeftminsterAbbey, the fall of a piece of building:

66

What meant that awful found

"That fhook the pillars of the trembling ifle,

"And dafh'd yon ancient portal to the ground?
"Well may thy pillars fhake"-

This Monody is inferior to the Author's Defcriptive Poem", mentioned in our laft Month's Review, and by no means anfwerable to the hopes' we had conceived of better things' from the fame Writer.

Art. 30. Additions to the Diaboliad. By the fame Author. 4to. 1 s. Kearfly.

Our opinion of the Diaboliad was given in the last Review. The Author has thought proper to introduce three or four new characters. He will, probably, add to his building, till he .overloads the foundation.

Hagley. See Review, Feb. p. 156.

མ.

RELIGIOUS

RELIGIOUS and CONTROVERSIAL!

Art. 31. An Argument for Natural and Revealed Religion: in
which the Principles of Free thinkers are examined. By the Rev.
James Williamfon. A. M. Fellow of Hertford College. 8vo. 15.
Oxford printed. Sold by Rivington in London.

We have carefully perufed this pamphlet, in hopes of being able
to lay before our Readers the fubftance of fome new argument in
favour of Natural and Revealed Religion: but, though we meet with
many juft ideas, they are ranged fo immethodically, and expreffed fo
obfcurely, that we acknowledge ourselves at a lofs to difcover the
drift of our Author's reafoning. If he wishes his argument to prove
an effectual antidote against the principles of Free-thinkers, we would
advife him to ftate it more logically, and to exprefs it with more
precifion. Before he gives himself that trouble, however, he will
do well to be certain, that his main argument is better than one
which he has introduced by the way; That the difficulties to be
found both in revelation and natural philofophy, are a proof that
they come from God; fince it is the prerogative of his works to be
unfearchable." This old doctrine of credo quia impoffibile has had
its day; it is now, furely, high time that it should be exploded-
at least from our feats of learning and fcience; unless we mean to
ftamp the fgnature of Divinity on whim and myfticism, and to make,
our philofophers Cartefians, and our divines Behmenites.
Art. 32. A Charge delivered at the Ordination of the Rev. Mr.
Tho. Twining. May 31, 1775, in Downton, Wilts, by John
Sturch; and a Sermon preached on the fame occafion, by Joshua
Toulmin, A. M. Together with an Introductory Difcourfe, by
John Mills, and a Confeffion of Faith, by Tho. Twining. 8vo.
Is. Buckland, &c. 1776.

The feveral pieces contained in this publication, are pious and rational; and muft, no doubt, prove peculiarly acceptable to the more liberal part of the Diffenters.

Art. 33. A Theological Survey of the Human Understanding. Intended as an Antidote against modern Deifm. 8vo. 5 s. Printed at Salisbury, and fold in London by Wallis and Co. 1776.

The Author's defign in this performance is to establish the doctrine of divine grace communicated to the mind of man, of the known principles of reafon independently of a written revelation: for this purpose he endeavours to fhew, that the mind of man is fupernaturally endowed with a divine principle, which counteracts the evil principle, natural to him in confequence of the lapfe of his firft parents, and which is the fource of his faith in God, and in the immortality of the foul. He fuppofes that this principle, which he denominates a distinct fenfation in the mind of man, and fometimes a fpiritual medium or organ, is the true foundation of theology. This feems, as far we have been able to difcover it, to be the general fcope of his reafoning; but he has collected together fuch a mafs of heterogeneous matter, that it is difficult to keep in fight the object at which he ultimately aims. And we much fear, however laudable his defign may be, that this theological Survey will anfwer

very

叫

1

very little purpose, either in the way of antidote against deifm, or of inftruction and edification to believers.

Rs.

SERMONS preached December 13, 1776, being the
Day appointed for a PUBLIC FAST; continued: See our laft
Month's Review, p. 160.

XXIII. Judgment begun in the House of God, to be finished on its Ene-
mies-Preached in Duke-Street Chapel, Westminster. By G. Mar-
riott, Rector of Alphamstone in Effex, Lecturer of St. Luke's, &c.
4to. 1 s. Flexney, &c.

Differs from moft" of the Faft Sermons, in this refpect,-that Popery is the chief object of the Author's fears and apprehenfions, and the main theme of his animated and not inelegant declamation. We approve his zeal against the Babylonish harlot, fo far as it is prudently and feasonably exerted; but we do not think the Fat-day was the proper time for giving the old Jezebel her dreffing. XXIV. Subjection to the higher Powers. A Sermon by S. John Chryfoftom, Patriarch of Conftantinople, near 1400 Years ago, explaining that celebrated Paffage upon Government, Rom. xiii. 1-11. Tranflated from the Greek, and preached to a Country Congregation. To which is added, a Letter from a late Judge, concerning the Right of Great Britain to tax her Colonies. With an Appendix. By Ed. Lewis, M. A. Rector of Waterstock and Emington, Oxon. 4to. Is. Oxford printed, and fold by Rivington in London.

What have the fubjects of a free government to do with the politi cal fentiments of this venerable flave? St. Chryfoftom's notions of paffive obedience might found well enough on the shores of Byzantium, but we are little obliged to his tranflator for naturalizing them in Britain.

The Letter from a Judge,' which is here ftitched to the good Father's antique mantle, like a patch of Spittalfields tabby on a piece of old tapestry, is faid to have been written, in 1753, by the late Sir Jofeph Yeates, and addreffed to Chriftopher Griffith, Efq; at that time member for the county of Berks; and contains fome arguments in fupport of the defign of taxing America, which have, fince, been irrefragably anfwered by the advocates on the other fide.

Of Mr. Lewis's amiable candor, moderation, and decency of deportment in the field of controverfy, take the following fpecimen, from his Appendix:

After an invective, in the hacknied train, against modern patriotim, he thus proceeds: Suppofe that in confequence of thele patriotic notions of a natural and inalienable right, &c.—I should hoot my worthy friend and neighbour, the collector of the window tax, who, backed by the authority of the whole legiflature, attempted to enter my houfe, in order to diftrain my goods, and to fell them,

Every man is a flave, who lives in fubjection to a defpotic go..

vernment.

to

to pay the faid tax. Does Reafon fay, I fhould merit applaufe as a
patriot and friend to Liberty, or that I ought to be hanged as a rebel
and a murderer. Think as you please, but I am fure my confcience
would fly in my face, and tell me that hanging was too gentle a
death for fuch a villain.' [fo far you fay well, Mr. Lewis-go on,
Sir! But at the fame time, does not there feem to be fome rea-
son that that factious leveller, Dr. Price, should meet with the fame
fate, with his liberty book, lying calculations, and city cup dangling
at his backlide [O fye, Mr. Lewis!] in readiness to receive [hold-
your nofe, Reader!] the latt difcharge of nature [out upon you,
Mr. Lewis!] in her laft efforts, and for a recompence to Jack Ketch,
for executing a deed of more merit, than that whereby its prefent
owner gained it.'-Enough of Mafter Lewis, Rector of Waterftock
and' Emington !

XXV. National Profperity and National Religion infeparably conne&ed.
By C. De Coetlogon, M. A. 8vo. 1 S. Oliver, &c.

We are feldom difpofed to controvert the doctrines ufually enforced at the Lock; and were we, at this time, inclined to animadvert on fome of the immoderately good things advanced in the prefent fermon, we fhould be effectually withheld by the benevolent words printed at the bottom of the title-page, viz. "For the benefit of the Lock Hofpital."

XXVI. The Scripture Precept of Subjection to Civil Government, flated and enforced-At Nottingham, by Thomas Prentice. 8vo. 6 d. Boofey, &c.

Another pious recommendation of the flavish doctrine of paffive obedience. According to this Gentleman's principles, if taken in their full extent (of which he is, perhaps, not aware) the Glorious Revolution was a most unchristian meafure. This Preacher may be a fincere, well-meaning divine, but he is a very indifferent politician. XXVII. The Nature of religious Abftinence, as a Means of deprecating national Calamities, and averting the beavy Judgments of God. By the Rev. George Kelly, jun. B. A. late of Baliol College, Oxford. 4to. 6d. Bew.

Having expended our whole ftock of praife on the Faft-Sermons of an Hurd, a Butler, a Radcliff, a Stebbing, a Leland, &c. we are forry to find that we have none left for the performance of poor Mr. Kelly who feems to be a mighty good fort of man,

Single SERMONS on various Occafions.

I. Preached at the Anniversary Meeting of the Clergy, in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, May 9, 1776. By Beilby Porteus, D. D. now Bishop of Chester. 4to. I s. Bathurst.

A pathetic and elegant recommendation of this excellent charity; including a juft and proper encomium on our clergy. To the fermon is added, A Lift of the annual account of the contributions to the charity, from 1721 to 1776 inclufive; in order to fhew the gradual increafe and decline thereof: and it is hoped that the benevolent intention of fo good an inftitution, by which fo many valuable members to fociety have been raised, will never be fuffered to languish, but, on the contrary, go hand in hand with the liberality of the times.'

II. Before

よ