fected newspapers, for the use of his guests. We believe this obfer. vation is principally directed to the Cambridge newspaper, long known for its feditious language; and which is confidered, by the plebeian party, as one of their most useful vehicles of mifchief: it is known to have been fupplied gratis to many public-houses, by fome of thofe invifible purfe-hearers to fedition alluded to in the late Report of the Secret Committee. We earnestly with fome fpirited magiftrates would carry this opinion into execution, by refufing licences, and openly alledging this as the reafon; it might then be brought before the Court of King's-Bench, and folemnly determined, for the govern ment of magiftrates in future, whether a feditious, or difaffected newspaper, is not full as great a diforder as drunkennefs, or rioting, and equally cognizable by the magiftrate, whofe duty it is to keep an eye upon the conduct of publicans. If Mr. G. had done nothing more than move this point, we think he would have rendered a great fervice to the public by printing this excellent charge. THE REVIEWERS REVIEWED, ART. I. A Sermon preached in the Church of St. John Baptift, Wakefield, on Thurfday, November 29, 1798, being the Day appointed for a General Thanksgiving, &c. By the Rev. Richard Munkhoufe, D. D. of Queen's College, Oxford. With Annotations. 8vo. Pp. 58. Price 1s. 6d. Rivingtons, London, 1799. To the animated fpirit of piety and loyalty which marks the religious difcourfes of Dr. Munkhouse, we have formerly borne ample teftimony. The prefent fermon is publifhed at the requeft of the Royal Wakefield Volunteers, to whom is prefixed a fuitable dedication. Such an occafion as the Thanksgiving for the Victory of the Nile could not fail to bring forth, to advantage, the powers of a preacher, whose zeal in promoting the welfare and happiness of his country has been abundantly evinced on many occafions, From the words of the Pfalmift (Pfalm 1. 23) the preacher feeks to inculcate the duty of obedience to the commandments of God, and to enforce the neceflity of fubmiffion to the civil government which is derived from him. The admonitions of the fon of Sirach are most appofitely applied See Vol. I. Pp. 308, 431. to to those who seek to divert the attention of the labourer and the artifan from their honeft and ufeful occupations to the difcuffion of political questions, which they are unable to understand and unqualified to investigate. Some of the notes which are fubjoined to the fermon are valuable. A part of one of them we fhall extract, as being conducive to the purpofe which it is our object to accomplish : "If I am allowed, through this channel, to convey my fenti. ments more at large to my fellow-fubjects, and to enforce the lan.guage of advice and exhortation, I entreat them to discountenance, to the utmost of their ability, the levities- the licentiousness of the prefs; and to watch, with a jealous eye, over the interefts of literature, as the oftenfible medium through which religion, and all the :tender charities of life, muft either be fuftained or fubverted. It has, indeed, been fearcely pollible, of late years, to take up a publication, in any of the various walks of literature, in which the new-fangled, proud, regenerating philofophy has not difguftingly obtruded its impu dent and dogmatizing crudities upon the public mind, Even the higher departments of literature have not been free from its pollution; whilft it has widely diffufed itfelf through works of the imagination, occupying, in a variety of inftances, the pages of the dramatift, and the writer of romance, in which all the prominent characters are held up to the imitation of the admiring multitude, as nobly freeing themfelves from the facred reftraints of religion, and lightly efteeming the obligations of thofe pure fyftems of ethics and civil polity, to which the most enlightened and virtuous part of mankind have always attributed whatever is most amiable in moral conduct, and moft excellent in the conformation and arrangement of human fociety. The hero and the heroine of these narratives of wild and ridiculous adventures will too frequently be found anti-revelationists, converts to, and advocates for, an impure democracy-diffipated, depraved, and abandoned. And it unfortunately happens, that thefe worthlefs publications are feldom left to make their way merely of themselves, by the zeal of an author, or the artifice of an editor; but they are in fuch a manner announced, by those who profefs themselves the arbiters of tafte-the literary guardians of the national morals; they are fo introduced to public notice, fo recommended to public perufal, that they hardly mifs of a general circulation, and thus chiefly of effectuating the mifchief, for which they were originally compofed. It is here I moft emphatically call upon my countrymen, not to fuffer themfelves any longer to wander amid thefe mazes of fubtilty and error; to free themfelves from the tyranny and chains of this worfe than Egyptian bondage. Let them not any longer listen to thofe infolent impoftors, by whom their understandings have been infulted and enflaved.-Molt unaccountabie contradiction!--That a people, whofe horror and deteftation of whatever affumes an appearance the leaft hoftile to personal freedom and real liberty, fhould have fubmitted, even for a moment, to this oppreflion oppreffion and fubjugation of the mind!-To have their nobleft faculties, their inherent notions of right and wrong, and the dictates of their better judgement, all diverted from their proper courfes, and turned, at the pleasure of infidels and perfidious demagogues, to their own condemnation!-Britons for fhame!-Rouze, I conjure you, from this fatal lethargy.Boldly dare to oppofe yourselves to this torrent of iniquity and licentioufnefs, and narrow the circulation of thofe noxious publications, fo notoriously hoftile to the caule, which fuch numbers of you are ready to maintain, at the hazard of your lives. They have too long been the fuccefsful vehicles of fedition; and, with unmerited impunity, have infulted your attachment to the religion of your ancestors, (all heavenly as it is,) your patriotifm, and your loyalty, by their avowed contempt of whatever bears the name of truth, honour, honefty, and decorum. Whoever you are, (whatever be your condition or degree, I verily regard you as the truly "HONOURABLE OF THE EARTH,") that ftill rezin and cherish thofe pious difpofitions, which connect the creature with the Creator who have yet a character for loyalty and patriotif.n to lofe, families that you love, friends that are dear to you-be not inftrumental in giving them the leaft publicity, where it is in your power to confign them to everlafting oblivion." Pp. 49-51. In the concluding part of this note the author recommends the expulfion of all democratic publications from news-rooms and book-clubs; and we have the fatisfaction to know that, in that part of the country in which he refides, his recommendation has not proved ineffectual. For the zealous cooperation of fo able a co-adjutor we feel particularly grateful. The recommendation we have noticed tending materially to affect the productions of the Jacobin preffes, to which, Ireland and England have been fo peculiarly indebted, for the propagation of patriotic principles, the Critical and Analytical Reviewers--par nobile fratrum-could not fail to take the alarm. They have, accordingly, opened their Jacobinical war-whoop against Dr. Munkhoufe, who has two inconteftible claims to their hatred and abuse. Firft, he is a divine of the eftablished Church; and fecondly, he is a ftaunch friend to his King and Country. The Critical Reviewers fay:-" A torrent of declamation is poured out against our Gallic foes; against all the abettors of a mis-fhapen and monftrous democracy' (here the fhoe pinches ;)" against the restlefs demagogues' in Ireland;" (an unpardonable crime this, in the . opinion of men who panegyrize a Drennan, and trumpet forth the patriotic virtues of an O'Connor!)" and against all, of every rank, order, and defcription, who dare to entertain a different opinion, on any political fubject, from this reverend preacher, who fo loudly beats his pulpit drum ecclefiaftic." This is a flight of imagination for which, if the reader expect to to find any ground or reason in the fermon before us, he will be egregiously deceived; but the true motive of this ebullition of critical fpleen breaks out in the remark, that the Doctor has, in the fiercenefs of his indifcriminate attacks, newsrooms, coffee-houses, provincial and metropolitan book fellers," (harmless, inoffenfive creatures!) "circulating libraries, and periodical reviews, receive their fhare of abufe." That it is impoffible any man can, with justice, abuse, i. e. cenfure, thofe admirable vehicles of found principles, religious, moral, and political, the periodical reviews, our readers, we are perfuaded, will readily acknowledge. The divine, therefore, who can fo far forget himself, as to call the probity, virtue, and loyalty, of their conductors in queftion, undoubtedly deferves to have his fermon entitled A Political Rhapfody.' Critical Review for March, 1799. The New Analytical pack of course join in the Jacobinical cry, and, in perfect conformity with their principles, revile the Doctor, (in their number for March,) for "his invectives against the French, and his praise of all that is established in church and in ftate in this country." We congratulate the worthy preacher on the notice which he has extorted from thefe periodical reviewers, and have no doubt but that they will operate with him as an additional ftimulus to the continuance of his ufeful and meritorious labours, ART. II. Song of the Battle of the Nile, publifhed for the Benefit of the Widows and Children of the brave Men who fell on that memorable Day; and humbly infcribed to the Gentlemen of the Committee. By the Rev. W. L. Bowles, A. M. of Donhead, Wiltshire, and Rector of Dumbleton, Gloucefterfhire. 4to. Pp. 15. Price 1s. and Davies, London. 1799. Cadell HIS bard is entitled to more than critical commendation for the benevolence of his purpose, and the harmony of his ftrains. True piety is ever accompanied with humility and modesty; and this happy union is not lefs ftriking in the poet himfelf than in the hero whom he celebrates. Of the true poetic fpirit which marks this "Song," which ought to be claffed in a higher fpecies of poetry, The Ode, the two following stanzas afford a fair specimen : "Calm breath'd the airs along the evening bay Where, all in warlike pride, The Gallic fquadron ftretch'd its long array; With beauteous bend the ftreamers wav'd on high Of thoufands!-to the cannon's hollow roar, The cow'ring crocodile hath rais'd his head! Lightens the long tract of the gleamy brine? That tow'r'd the leader of the hoftile line! Then, with one dreadful paufe, earth, air, and feas are still? And many a tow'ring maft with dreadful crash Strew'd with the dead, and dark with blood! But Britain's floating bulwarks with ferene Their enfigns ftreaming to thy orient ray." Pp. 8, 9. We should have thought that fuch a work as this would have efcaped cenfure, except in France, had we not been fully acquainted with the nature of Jacobinifm, whofe advocates never can view any thing which tends to exalt the national character with a favourable eye. The Analytical Reviewers (in their number for January, 1799,) fagaciously obferve-" It gives us an unfavourable idea of the progress of poetry, to fee the mufe yet folicitous to deck herself in the dazzling steel and gaudy trappings of Bellona." So that if a British bard were to rival Homer or Virgil, in celebrating the heroic deeds of his countrymen, he would only prove, in the estimation of thefe critics, the degeneracy of the age in refpect of poetic talents!" Nor is her drefs rendered lefs difcordant to our taste, |