• The arrangement of the biographical articles in this work -feems to have been formed upon no principle whatever. Thus, of the feveral perfonages of the name of AGRIPPA, *who have been deemed worthy of places in the biographical department, the firft that occurs is Henry Cornelius AGRIPPA, who flourished in the beginning of the fixteenth century. Then follows AGRIPPA, furnamed Caftor, who Bourished under the emperor Adrian, about the year 132. To him fucceeds Herod AGRIPPA 1. the contemporary and 'friend of Claudius Cæfar. We have next a fhort life of Herod AGRIPPA II. the fon of Agrippa I. which is fol"lowed by an account of Marcus Vipfanius AGRIPPA, the contemporary and favourite of Auguftus; after which comes a life of the Conful Menenius AGRIPPA, who flourished 503 years before the Chriflian æra! In the arranging of thefe lives, furely fome attention fhould have been paid to Chronology.

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Dr. Rees is hardly accurate, when, following the compilers of the Encyclopædia Britannica, he fays, under the title AGRIPPINIANS, that " Agrippinus, bifhop of Carthage, in the third century, introduced and defended the practice of rebaptization." Agrippinus indeed contended, as Cyprian, and a great majority of the African church did afterwards, that baptifm administered by heretics, was not the baptifin inftituted by Chrift; and that therefore heretics coming into the church for the first time, were to be admitted in the fame manner as converts from paganism were admitted, i. e. by baptifm; but none of thofe fathers of the church rebaptifed, or thought it lawful to rebaptife, thofe whom they believed to have been already baptifed, whether during infancy, or when of riper years." Hoc idem denuo fententia noftra firmavimus, ftatuentes, unum baptifma effe quod fit in Ecclefia Catholica conftitutum, ac per hoc non rebaptizari, fed baptizari a nobis," fays Cyprian; adding foon afterwards, that fuch was the opinion and practice of Agrippinus of happy memory *."

The article AIR is very defective, and might have been written twenty years ago, when the compofition of the atmosphere was much lefs underflood than at prefent. Among the older chemifts, whom the compiler has juftly praised, HOOKE is unaccountably forgotten, though he anticipated Lavoifier and his associates in fome of their most valuable

* Cypriani Opera, Ed. Penelii, p. 182.

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discoveries,

discoveries, and was, notwithstanding the peculiaries of his temper, an ornament to the English nation.

It is fingular that the editor of a work intended principally for the British nation, fhould have contented himfelf with giving the process by which ALCOHOL is produced from brandy. This, however, would be of little importance, were the procefs itfelf complete; but he has forgotten to ftatewhat is certainly true-that pure ALCOHOL will hardly be obtained by repeated diftillation, without previously faturating the fpirit with the carbonate of potash deprived of

moisture.

ALEMBERT, John Le Rond D', the celebrated mathematician, was lax, we are told, in his religious principles." Surely a man who adds D. D. to his name, might have chofen fome other epithet than this to characterize the principles of that philofophier, who "adopted the fyftem of deified nature, which bereaves the world of a defigning caufe, and prefiding intelligence!" Such a man could have no religious principles lax or ftrait. We cannot help thinking likewife that Dr. Rees, whilst he bestowed upon the Encyclopædia of D'Alembert, Voltaire, and Diderot, that praife which none have withheld from its literary and fcientific merit, might have warned his readers of the tendency of its religious and political doctrines, in terms fomewhat ftronger than those which are employed in the following fentence:

"Whilft many approved and commended both the defign and the execution of it, the freedom with which several articles were written, was condemned by others, and fubjected. M. D'Alembert, as well as others of his colleagues (was he himfelf one of his colleagues?) to confiderable obloquy!"

ALGEBRA is an article which contains a pretty copious detail of the rife and progrefs of the fcience, with fome account of the authors who have contributed moft to its improvement; but we cannot fay that the article is perfpicuQufly drawn up. It appears indeed as two, if not three articles, which ought certainly to have been combined into one, by which means fome repetitions might have been avoided, and the whole detail, if properly arranged, rendered more intelligible to the mathematical ftudent.

Though in almoft every one of the articles in this volume, which we have particularly noticed, we have met with fome-thing which calls for reprehenfion; the reader will be unjust to us, and still more unjuft to Dr. Rees and his affociates, if he fhall thence infer, that in our judgment the volume itfelf is a contemptible compilation. We entertain of it no fuch opinion. It contains much that is praife-worthy, as well as

fome

fome things reprehenfible; and we have dwelt more on its faults than on its excellencies, only because it is yet in the power of the editor, and we truft in his inclination, to correct the greateft of thofe faults under other articles which will occur in the progrefs of the work. Its plan cannot now indeed be improved; but, as we have already obferved, the plan is excellent, if the New Cyclopædia be intended only to ferve as an index to literature and fcience, in which the technical terms are explained, the nature and object of each fcience and art pointed out with perfpicuity, and the reader referred to works of approved inerit on every fubject of liberal ftudy. Confidered in this point of view, it must be admitted that the New Cyclopedia is by much too voluminous; but it might even yet be contracted in fize, and made in every refpect more interesting by excluding from it all ufelefs biography, as well as the name and fituation of fuch towns, villages, and even diftricts of country, as have never been remarkable in the annals of the world. Biogra phy is indeed a pleafing and improving ftudy; and, without a knowledge of geography, the greateft part of hiftory is hardly intelligible; but what inftruction or amusement can be de rived from fuch articles as the following?

"ACEBE, a ridge of mountains near Garri, in Abyffinia;" "ACEBIS, a small town in Cyrenaica, mentioned by Ptolemy;" "ACELA, a city of Lycia;"" AARON, or HA RUM, Al Rafchid, in general biography, a celebrated caliph of the Saracen empire;"" EDITUUS, MARTIN, in biogra phy, born at Amfterdam, was firft phyfician to Frederic IL King of Denmark. Adrien Jonghe, dedicated his treatife De Coma to him, published at Bafle in 1558, whence it appears that he was then in high repute!"

The compilers of the Encyclopædia Britannica fet perhaps the firft example of fwelling volumes devoted to fcience with fuch ufelels articles as thefe; but they had this at least to plead for their conduct, that their compilation was intended to be a complete body of arts, fciences, and miscellaneous literature, and to form a fmall library by itfelf. Dr. Rees, by the very plan of his compilation, declares, in the plaineft manner poflible, that he prefers no fuch claim as this for the New Cyclopædia. He therefore fhould not have introduced into that work a fingle article of fuch a nature as neither to communicate information directly itfelf nor indirectly, by reference to other publications on the fubject. No dictionary, indeed, of arts and fciences fhould comprehend within its plan the geographical description of infignificant towns and villages; for who would turn over twenty

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quarto volumes in queft of that, which, if it be not of abfo lutely no value, he may find in a good gazetteer? Nor fhould fuch works contain the life of any man, who has not either by his own efforts or by his patronage, contributed to the improvement of fcience, literature, or ufeful and liberal

árts.

(To be continued.).

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ART. II. Hints towards forming the Character of a Young Princefs. In two Volumes. 8vo. 12s. Cadell and Davies. 1805.

THE character of the, now avowed, writer of this work is too well known, and the importance of the subject the difcuffes is too obvious, to require any prefatory obfervations in praife of the one or in vindication of the other. The beft poffible anfwer to all the attacks of malice and obloquy is the production of such a book.

An introductory chapter impreffes upon the mind of the reader this indubitable pofition, that if the difcipline of education be important and falutary in ordinary cafes, it is proportionably more fo in the offspring and heir of royalty, Such a character is neceffarily expofed to peculiar dangers, which nothing can poffibly counteract but the foundest, and above all, the most religious education. Let nature, truth, and reafon be confulted, and the royal child educated by their fuggeftions; and let it not be forgotten, that the wellbeing and happinefs of millions may at this moment be fufpended on the leffons and habits which the diftinguished character in queftion may receive. The fecond chapter is on the importance of forming the mind, and of ftoring it with knowledge. The knowledge of Greek is reprefented as lefs necellary, but it is recommended that the royal pupil fhould learn Latin, French, and German. Italian appears to the writer fo far lefs important, as the authors more peculiarly neceffary to be confulted, fuch as Davila, Beccaria, &c. may be read in French or English tranflations. Attention to the practice of the fine arts is not to be defired, and the position as happily illuftrated by an anecdote of Farinelli, who used to complain that a penfion of 2000l. a-year from the King of Spain was compenfated little enough for being fometimes obliged to hear his Majefly play. The royal pupil. fhould however be competently acquainted with geography and chrono

logy:

logy--many excellent remarks occur on this fubject, and indeed the whole of this chapter demonftrates the writer to be admirably qualified for the talk he has undertaken.-The following obfervations on the love of Truth and Economy of Time, cannot be too highly praiied.

But above all, there fhould be à conftant, but imperceptible babit of turning the mind to a love of TRUTH in all its forms and afpects. Not only in matters of grave morality, but in matters of bufinefs, of common intercourse, and even of tafte; for there is a truth both in moral and mental tafte, little short of the exact. nefs of mathematical truth; and the mind fhould acquire an habit of fecking perfection in every thing. This habit thould be fo early and infenfibly formed, that when the pupil comes afterwards to meet with maxims, and inftances of truth and virtue, in hifto rical and moral writings, fhe may bring to the perufal taftes, tempers, and difpofitions fo laid in, as to have prepared the mind for their reception. This mode of preparatory and incidental in ftruction, as it will be gradual and inwoven, fo it will be deep and durable; but as it will be little obvious to ordinary judges, it will excite lefs wonder and admiration than the usual display and exhibition fo prevalent in modern education. Its effects will be lefs oftenfible, but they will be more certain.

"When it is confidered how fhort that period of life is, in which plain unvarnifhed truth will be likely to appear in all its naked fimplicity before princes, is there a moment of that happy, that aufpicious feafon to be loft, for prefenting it to them in all its lovely and engaging forms? It is not enough that they should poffefs truth as a principle, they fhould cherish it as an object of affection, delight in it as a matter of taste, and dread nothing fo much as falfe colouring and artifice,

"He who poffeffes a found principle, and ftrong relish of truth in his own mind, will poffefs a touchstone by which to try this quality in others, and which will enable him to detect falfe notions, to fee through falfe manners, and to defpife falfe attractions. This difcerning faculty is the more important, as the high breeding of very polifhed fociety prefents fo plaufible an imitation of goodnefs, as to impofe on the fuperficial obferver, who, fatisfied with the image and fuperfcription, never inquires whether the coin be counterfeit.

"The early habit of fifting questions, turning about a truth, and examining an argume... on all fides, will ftrengthen the intel. lectual powers of the royal pupil, prevent her thoughts from wandering, accuftom her to weigh fairly and refolve foundly; will conquer irrefolution in her mind; preferve her from being eafily deceived by falfe reafoning, ftartled by doubts, and confounded by objections. She will learn to digeft her thoughts in an exact method, to acquire a logical order in the arrangement of them, to poffefs precision in her ideas, and, its natural concomitant, perspi

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