that lead him into a train of reasoning, the purpose of which is to prove, that arthritic disorders rather proceed from debilitation of the nervous system, than any morbific matter received into the constitution. His arguments on this head are sensible enough, but fuch as are well known to every Edinburgh student, who has attended Dr. Cullen's lectures; the copious source whence so many new opinions in inedicine (often as unacknowleged as in the present instance) are derived. · One piece of information, however, we have gathered from the work before us, which is, that people of middling condition are people of no condition at all. This evidently appears, from comparing two passages within three pages of each other. The Writer first asserts, p. 10, that'most people of any condition make a daily moderate use of wines ;' and then, p. 13. that there is not an hundredth part even of those of middling condition, that can be said to make a common use of wine.' These middling people therefore are nobody; an idea that seems, indeed, ať present, very generally to prevail.

Po E TICA L. Art. 23. An Epistle from the Rector of St. Anne, to the Vicar of

Rochdale. Dedicated, without Permission, to the Lord Bishop of London. 46o. 2 s. Bew. 1779.

More * fruit from the tree of Discord planted some time ago, in the parish of St. Anne, Westminster. The produce of this tree, of which we have, more than once, given our Readers a taste, hath proved harsh and disagreeable to fome palates, though perhaps not altogether unpleasant to others. 6 It is bitter," quoth my Lord of London : " It is four,” faith Dr. Richardson + : " It is both bitter ard four," exclaimeth Dr. Hind I: “ It bath a fine flavour,” cry the friends of Mr. Martyn--[the Gentleman suppored to have been chiefly concerned in plucking and distributing this fruit] : “ It hath somewhat of the sub-acrid, to which we are not much áverfe," say the Monthly Reviewers.

In plain speech, the dedication to a Bishop, of this Epistle to a Vicar, is a long, laboured, biting satire, in prose , founded, if we rightly collect, from the dedication itself, on his Lordship’s having (officially) interfered in the quarrel between the late Rector of St. Anne's and his Curate, -contrary to what the latter had been led to expect from a declaration made by his Diocesan, that he would not interpose at all, personally, in the dispute.- How far the Bishop's afterward licensing a successor to Mr. Martyn, in the curacy, was a breach of this promise, we leave to the decision of thofe who are more deeply versed than we are in ecclesiastical casuistry.

The Epistle to the Vicar of Rochdale is a poetical flight to the tune of

“ Ye Commons and Peers

" Come lend me your ears.”And is equally severe upon the Doctor who is fuppofed to fend it, and the Doctor to whom it is fent; but we do not think it is quite

* See Review for November last, p. 392.
+ The present Rector of St. Anne's.
# The late Rector of St. Anne's : now Vicar of Rochdale. -

o pleasant a morceau as the ballad on Ecclefiaftical Gallantry ll, alhough, as we guess, it is written by the same Author :- who con. cludes his present performance with the following froke at the priestbood :

The times are no more
.: Like times heretofore,
When Priests were allow'd to dispose .

Of kingdoms the fate,

In Church and in State,
And e’en to lead kings by the nose.

While Ignorance reign'd,

They held and maintain'd,
That Laymen were bound to resign

Their fortunes and lives,

Their daughters and wives,
By force of commission divine.

That thus they alone

For fin could atone,
They only to heaven arrive;

If aught they prefer'd

To them, they aver'd
They here nor hereafter could thrive.
: The tale was believ'd,

And all b’ing deceiv’d,
The Priesthood was held in respect ;

No sceptic arose,

With strength to oppose,
Or courage, the cheat to detect.

But all things below,

Too surely we know,
Are subject to Time and to Chance:

PHILOSOPHY's birth

Enlighten'o the EARTH,
And REASON awoke from her TRANCE,

To Time's latest hour,

The CHURCH will deplore,
Th' effect of these facal events;

Their influence spread,

Struck BIGOTRY dead,
And ruin'd the Trade of the SAINTS.

We now from contempt, . '

Are scarcely exempt,
The rabble but scoff at, and fout us;

The better fort too,

Conceive they can do,
In spirit'al matters without us.

That If therefore we strive

}
To keep still alive,
A flame, which gives light to the blind;
I very much fear,

hác
It soon will appear,
That Priests are the Jest of Mankind.

hulle a Art. 24. An Elegy on the Death of David Garrick, Eją. By the Non

Author of the Ode to the Warlike Genius of Britain. 4to. 1S.
Becker, &c.

Shop The Muses have not strewed the flowers of Parnassus over Gara rick's bier in such profufion as might have been expected. The present is, perhaps, the fairelt tribute of the kind that hash yet

been offered ;

The Paffions' Mafter lowly lies,
Lo! Death's cold hand hash clos'd his eyes,

14.10.28
That shone with luftre bright;
Around his consecrated urn,
Let Anguish weep and Anger burn,

And Envy die with spite.
Ye Mufe-inspir’d, lament his end,
Who, living, was the Muses' friend,

The Drama's loss deplore !
Where is aspiring RICHARD fed?
In Roscius' grave, MACBETH lies dead;

And HAMLET is no inore !
Ye fons of mirth and gallantry,
No more your sprightly RANGER see!

Or Benedict admire;
Lost with the archness of his eye,
DRUGGER and Leon breathless lie,

And KITELY shall expire.
With SHAKESPEARE's fire his breast was fraught,
'Twas he embodied SHAKESPEARE's thought:

Where the Bard's fancy flew,
He caught the phrenzy in his eye,
(Rolling from earth onto the fky,)

And gave the portrait true. Whatever merit there may be in the several offerings brought 10 the thrine--we had almost said of our adored Roscius, may we not, after all, conclude, that none are so unfit to celebrate the merits of Jonit friends, as those who most fincerely lament them? Art. 25. Poems. By the Rev. W. Talker, A. B. 4to.

2 s. 6 d. Dodsley, &c. The pieces contained in this collection are, I. An Ode to the Warlike Genius of Great Britain; of which we have given some account, II. An Ode to Curiosity, a Bath-Easton Amusement. III. A Poetical Encomium on Trade, addressed to the Mercantile City of Bristol. IV. An Epitaph intended for the Rev. [and justly lamented] Mr. Eccles, late of Bath.--In the poem addrelied to the city of Bristol, are fome anecdotes relative to Chatterton, and Rowley's Poems; for the authenticity of which the Author is a strenuous advocate.

· For

For a specimen of Mr. Tasker's poetical abilities, beside the extract given, in our last Month's Review, from the Second Edition of his Ode to the Genius, &c. we may refer our Readers to the stanzas selected from his Elegy on the Death of Mr. Garrick, in the preceding Article. Art. 26. The Disconfolate Widow. A Christmas Tale; or, a

New Year's Gift to my Friends. 4to. 6 d. Stockton printed; and sold by Goldsmith in Paternoster-Row, London. 1778.

See below. Art. 27. The Provoked Steed, and the Broil. Two Tales. By

the Author of the Disconfolate Widow. 4to. 15. Stockton printed; and sold by Goldsmith in Paternoster-Row, London. 1778.

Trifles, bv a Writer from whom better things may be expected. Art. 28. A Bridal Ode on the Marriage of Catherine and Petru.

chio. 410. is. Bew. 1779. The celebrated Mrs. Macaulay (now Mrs. we know not her present name) is here made a lubject of ridicule, on account of her second entrance into the honourable state of matrimony. Satire, perhaps never wore a more impudent aspect, and never was her rod more Aagitiously applied.

Art. 29. Epiffle to Admiral Keppel. 4to. Is. Fielding.

A decent congratulation on the Admiral's late honourable acquito tal.-Decent, we mean, in regard to the numbers in which this poetic compliment is conveyed ; but the friends of certain gentlemen in administration will not, perhaps, allow that it is altogether decent with respect to the manner in which certain great persons are introduced : some of whom are attacked, en pafant, with all the vi. rulence of party satire. Sir H. P. in course, is not spared.

Misce LLANEOU . Art. 30. The Maritime Campaign of 1778. A Collection of all

the Papers relative to the Operations of the English and French Fleets. To which are added, Strictures on the Publication made in France, by order of the Ministry, concerning the Engagement on the 27th of July ; illustrated with Charts and Plans, on Six Copper-plates. By J. M. a Lieutenant in the Fleet. Folio. 6s. Sewed. Faden. 1779.

We have here a very curious and instructive review of the maritime transactions of the lat year, respecting the war between France and England; a campaign, which as the Editor of this work remarks, ' though not very decisive, is become one of the most interesting in the naval history of our country.' The plans are ample and fatisfactory; and from an attentive perusal of the whole publication, the English reader will probably see reason to conclude with the Author, that although certain late arrangements (here enumerated and explained) may for a while, give a kind of energy to the French fleets, and even procure them some transitory success, yet that it is not in the nature of things for them to acquire a superiority over the British navy.

1$. 6.

.

SCHOOL-BOOKS
Art. 31. Grammatical Institutions, or a Practical English Grass

mar: on a Plan entirely New. By James Wood. izmo.
Vesey and Whitfield. Newcastle.

In the preface to these Institucions, Mr. Wood tells his readers,
that notwithstanding the labours of many ingenious and learned mea
to diffuse a correct knowledge of the English

language, whoever will
take the trouble of examining into the fate of grammatical learning,
as it exists at present to use the Author's own words) in our Engliss
fcho ls, will find it to be fill in its infancy. This is to be impured,
he says, to the want of method in the several grammatical treatises
adopied in our schools; which makes the generality of masters look
upon it as a science too abstruse for the capacities of children, and
only fit for those of maturer years. His institutions are intended to
remove this inconvenience, and to render the attainment of English
grammar easy to the most ordinary capacity.

Mr. Wood's intentions do him honour; but we do not think his
Institutions suficiently clear and plain for persons of the moff ordinary
capacity.
Art. 32. An Introduction to English Grammar. By Joshua Story,

19. 6 d. Newcattle, printed and fold. 1778.
The Author tells us he proceeds on a different plan from any hi-
therto pursued. In the notes, rules, &c. brevity and perspicuity,
the utile dulci of every treatise for the use of schools have been con-
fulted with attention, and nothing, he adds, is omitted, which is
effential towards promoting a critical knowledge of the English lan.
guage. The examples of bad English are numerous, and of that
kind, says our grammarian, which will require all the skill a learner
can possess to rectify them, for they are collected from a variety of -
reading, and are most of them such mistakes as fome of our best Eng.
fish writers have fallen into, so that the judicious reader will easily
perceive they differ very much from fuch as are generally to be met
with in works of this kind, where the errors are fo glaring, that a
boy of sense, entirely ignorant of grammar, can rectify them.

On the whole this grammar seems very well calculated for the
purpose, under the direction of some proper inftructor.

SERM ON S.
I. Preached before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in the Abbey.

Church, Wetminster; January 30, 1779. By John Lord Bikop
of Exeter. 4to.

Payne. 1779.
There is nothing that we can say concerning the discourse before
as, which can so strongly display the excellent understanding and
heart of this good prelate (Dr. Rols), as the following extract :

" It was long, and almost universally thought, that pains and pe.
nalties were necessary to promote the glory of God, and the interest
of Religion ; and that those, who had the power, had the right to
forment and punith their fellow-creatures here for the good of their
fouls, and to secure their falvation hereafter. Hence arose irrecon-
cileable hatred and resentment; and the world was often filled with

confusion

7