Practical and Familiar Sermons, designed for Parochial and Domestic Instruction. Volume the Fourth. By the Rev. Edward Cooper. 12mo. 5s. boards. A Letter respectfully addressed to the Rev. Thomas Gisborne, in reply to his Letter to the Lord Bishop of Gloucester, on the British and Foreign Bible Society. By the Rev. H. Marriott, Rector of Claverton, 8vo. 2s. Sermons by Thomas Snell Jones, D.D. Minister of Lady Gle. norchy's Chapel, Edinburgh; printed at the Desire of the Congregation. 8vo. 10s. 6d. boards. A Sermon preached at the Parish-Church of Wakefield, July 4, 1816, at the Annual Meeting of the Wakefield District Committee, to the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, By the Rev. C. Bird, M.A. Rector of High Hoyland. Price 1s. 6d. Unitarianism incapable of Vindication; a Reply to the Rev. James Yates's Vindication of Unitarianism. By Ralph Wardlaw, Author of the "Discourses on the Socinian Controversy," "which 'occasioned the "Vindication." 8vo. 10s. 6d. boards. A Paraphrase on the Four Evangelists; wherein, for the clearer Understanding of the Sacred History, the whole Text and Para. phrase are printed in separate Columns over against each other; with Critical Notes on the more difficult Passages. Very useful for Families. By Samuel Clarke, D.D. Rector of St. James's, Westminster. 2 vols. 8vo. 18s. boards. TRAVELS. Travels in Brasil, from Pernambuco to Serara; besides occa sional Excursions. Also, a Voyage to Maranam; the whole exhibiting a Picture of the State of Society, during a Residence of Six Years in that Country. Illustrated by Plates of Costumes. By Henry Koster. In One volume, 4to. Price 27. 10s. boards. CONTENTS OF NO. XIX. II. Annals of the Reign of King George III. By John IV. An Elementary Introduction to the Knowledge of Mi- neralogy: including some Account of Mineral Ele- ments and Constituents; Explanations of Terms in Common Use; brief Accounts of Minerals, and of the Places and Circumstances in which they are IX. The Monarchy, according to the Charter. By the Vis- count de Chateaubriand, Peer of France, &c. &c. XIII. A Letter to the Rev. C. V. Le Grice, on the Revivalism of the Methodists: to which are added, Anecdotes of Methodism, and a Sermon. By the Rev. R. Polwhele, Vicar of Man and of St. Anthony...... 520 XIV. Laura; or Sonnets and Elegiac Quatorzains. With a Monthly Register of Arts and Sciences.......... THE Augustan Review. No. XIX. FOR NOVEMBER, 1816. ALTHOUGH a dissolution of Parliament is an event which still appears to be at a considerable distance, yet so much has lately been said about it both here and in Ireland, that we cannot let slip this opportunity of taking some notice of it. A General Election always creates a very general interest. It produces scenes that excite feelings of a sort if not always and altogether strictly virtuous, at least, on most occasions, very animating; for it affords the elector an opportunity of exercising that franchise of which he is justly proud; it puts the candidate on the course which he is presently to run in the view of all his fellow subjects; it enables men of rank and family to give conspicuous proofs of their influence in their respective districts; and it causes those who, God knows, are at other times obscure and insignificant enough, to cheer, and shout, and exult, as if all the world were their own. There can, perhaps, be no state of the weather, no crisis in national affairs, during which, if the whole Nation were assembled, a dissolution of Parliament would not be carried by acclamation: not, however, by any means because long parliaments are judged unfavourable to the civil constitution of the realm, but because most people rejoice to be in the midst of the storm which every new election generates. The idleness, the immorality, and the turbulence attendant on a General Election, are often great. Yet, the act of a dissolution of Parliament is not what we principally object to, but the assumed motive for it; the desire imputed to Government of having a House of Commons less likely than' the present to press upon it a retrenchment of too severe a kind; and, at the same time, more likely to support it in effectuating the separation of an illustrious pair between No. XIX. - VOL. III, — Aug. Řev. 2 F whom, by the way, there has long been interposed - almost the whole continent of Europe. In regard to Retrenchment, ministers seem inclined to carry it to a length which most people consider quite sufficient. But supposing, as their opponents do, that their natural inclination is deficient in regard to both its direction and its force, still the Public cannot materially suffer through that circumstance;-the wants of the Public, and the wishes of opposition founded partly on those wants, though principally on what is requisite to the furtherance of their main object as a party, being such as to give a steady direction and impetus to the proceedings of Government. As to the Divorce-a noble topic to be sure for all true lovers of the scandalum magnatum-it really does not yet appear that there is at Court any serious intention of suing for one. The opinions of those who have written on the subject*, prove nothing more than that it is one on which a great many diverting curious things may easily be advanced; and that there are people who would be happy could they but manage to create and perpetuate dissention between the heir apparent and the presumptive heir to the crown. If a divorce is seriously contemplated, it probably is, so for these reasons: to insure for the throne a male heir in the direct line, and to prevent foreign nations from seeing among them a British Princess, against whom unworthy things can be insinuated without the British Government seeming to feel its honour affected. In the indirect line of descent, there are already male heirs enough, Nay, it is highly probable that there will, by and by, be no want of male heirs even in the direct line, though they may not have the recommendation of being immediate suc cessors to the throne; and it is not improbable that the prospect of this, together with the consideration of his age and occasional want of health, may induce the Prince Regent at once to pay a compliment to his daughter, and to avoid the risk of another ill-fated union. No man, it was said of old, ought to be pronounced happy till after death; neither ought lady to be set down for a delectable companion till a month, or some fraction of a month, after marriage. And if it be as impossible now, as it was in the days of Solomon, for a sovereign to say whether "his heir will be a wise man or a fool," it may reasonably be doubted and debated whether, at a certain, period of life, one would not do well either "to keep Two ingenious Pamphlets on the R. Divorce are sold by Ridgeway. |