Whence madness with ten thousand varied cries + "Torva Mimalloneis implerunt cornua bombis. Effufions," The laft runnings of the Rev. H. Hodgfon's trickle through the fhades;' and either fink into Dialogues on the Stygian Banks,' or are squirted into Vifions.' Vifions! by which he could not fee' (as he informs us,---and for once we give him credit) many yards before him for the future part of his journey was hidden in thick, dark fogs and clouds; and therefore he knew not but a few steps might plunge him into one of the lakes, down a precipice, and bring him under a prominent rock, which falling, might crush him to pieces-into the lion's, the tyger's jaw !' "Oh! that men were wile! that they would confider their latter end!" But in fpite of the vifion, Mr. Hodgson would write-yea, and publifh too! We thought it high time to leave this Writer to his fate:because he rushed on it without fear or fhame; but for a moment, we will fnatch him out of the lion's-the tyger's jaw, for the fake of fhowing a little flice of crude wit, which, in the fulness of his Effufions,' had like to have been carried down unnoticed and loft for ever!-He ftrained very hard to bring it up! WHEREAS the Rev. Henry Hodgfon here offers to the public, a mifcellany volume in verfe and profe, entitled, Effufions of the Heart and Fancy, feveral parts of which are delivered under the fimilitude of a dream:"-He, the faid Henry Hodgson, declares, that he received from nature, not only the privilege of dreaming, but alfo of fleeping too, as well as his brother authors, and the critics, reviewers, and poets of the age; with whom, he partakes of no other of nature's gifts or privileges: for the three latter clafs of animals, how refpectable foever the two firft once were, have lately given, and are still giving proofs, that their tafte and genius is only a dream. He, the Deponent aforefaid, affirmeth, that critics, reviewers, and poets, will only prove his affertion by wretched criticisms on the words, fleep and dream, &c. &c.' Solomon hath inftructed us, to "anfwer a fool according to his folly, left he be wife in his own conceit:" and though a fool of a poet is the last of all poffible fools that we can form any hopes of "converting from the error of his way, that his name + Lines preferved by Perfius as a fpecimen of the bombaft. Mr. Hodgson appears to have had an intimate communication with the fpirit of this nameless bard of antiquity." Reparabilis adfonat ECHO." See Dr. Brewster's excellent tranflation of Perfius. may be faved, from contempt;" yet, taking fanctuary in the goodness of our intentions, we muft (as divines frequently obferve with respect to the converfion of other finners) “do our duty and leave the event." ADVERTISEMENT. WHEREAS MARTINUS SCRIBLERUS and his fons have, for upwards of thirty years, been encouraged in offering to the public a periodical work of mifcellaneous criticism, entitled, the Monthly Review, one department of which Review, being defigned to chaftife bad poets, and the whole tribe of coxcombfcribblers, commonly called fentimental writers,-HE, the faid MARTINUS SCRIBLERUs, by and with the advice of hisfons, thus publicly declareth, that he received it in ftrict and pofitive command from the ghoft of Addifon (just come from drinking nectar with Swift, Pope, and Arbuthnot), that how refpectable foever poets and authors of effays and allegories were in his days, yet, that the fervile herd of modern imitators, who write without learning, and frequently without thinking, are become a scandal to good letters, as well as to good manners: and that it would have been more for their own credit, and still ̧ more for the benefit of society, if these "unreal mockeries”thefe unsubstantial fhadows of taste and genius, had been asleep when they fat down to write, and dreaming when they took it into their heads to complete their folly, by expofing their Effufions' to the public eye.-HE, the aforefaid MARTINUS, by and with the advice of his fons aforefaid, further affirmeth, that though the name of one Henry Hodgson, of Peterhouse, Cambridge, Curate of Market- Rafen, was not expressly mentioned in the aforefaid charge; probably, because it had never been heard of beyond his college or his curacy; yet, as he verily believeth, that the faid Hodgson cometh literally within the defcription, and under the denomination of a fervile imitator of modern date an unreal mockery-an unsubstantial shadow of taste and genius, he thinketh it a duty indifpenfably owing to the high authority of the ghoft aforefaid, to expofe him to public ridicule; and in him, all other coxcomb fcribblers, whose Effufions', if permitted to flow on without restraint, would overwhelm the little fenfe which is left among us; and fettle in one dull and ftagnant pool of fentimental infipidity.THERE FORE, "He'll have the current in this place damm`d up †.”" i + Shakespeare's Henry VIth, 2d part. ART ART. VII. Observations on the Blood. By William Hey, F. R. S. Surgeon to the General Infirmary at Leeds, and Member of the Corporation of Surgeons in London. 8vo. Is 6d. Wallis. 1779. M R. Hey begins his pamphlet, by fome remarks on the great ignorance, or inattention, obfervable in writers, with refpect to fome of the plaineft facts relative to blood drawn from the body; and of this, he gives fome extraordinary inftances. He declares, however, that he fhall confine his prefent difcuffions to the fentiments of thofe eminent perfons, Dr. Heberden, and the late Mr. Hewfon, on this fubject. Phyficians have, in general, fuppofed, that the increased action of the blood-veffels in inflammatory difeafes, increases the tendency to concretion in the craffamentum. A contrary doctrine was, however, published, for the first time, as Mr. Hey fuppofes, by Dr. George Fordyce, in his Elements of the Practice of Phyfic. If, however, he had confulted the fecond edition of Mr. Hewfon's Experimental Inquiry, he would have found, that the author (note to p. 51.) afferts, that most of the facts contained in his book, were mentioned publicly at his anatomical lectures ever fince the year 1767, and fome of them before that time. The new doctrine, therefore, belongs of right to Mr. Hewson. This doctrine is, that inflammation, inftead of increafing, leffens the difpofition of blood to coagulate, and inftead of thickening, thins it, at leaft its coagulable part. And Mr. Hey, inftead of controverting this fundamental principle, admits as a fact, that the furface of blood which is about to form a cruft of fize, remains much longer fluid, than that of blood in different circumftances. So far, then, they agree; but Mr. Hewfon fuppofes, that what floats on the furface of fuch blood is coagulable lymph, attenuated by the increafed action of the blood-veffels: whereas Mr., Hey contends, that it is the coaguLable lymph diluted with ferum. We must own, that the fet of experiments which Mr. Hey produces here, to prove (what nobody would doubt) that the fizy cruft of blood really contains a watery or ferous part, does not feem to us at all conclufive against the opinion of Mr. Hewfon, who, by ufing the. term attenuated, certainly meant to convey the idea of its being of a dilute or aqueous confittence. The caufe here may be different; but the effect, as far as difcoverable by experiment, will certainly be the fame; dilution and attenuation being qualities not diftinguishable, as we imagine, by common fenfible tests. ..That Mr. Hey himself has not the clearest ideas on this fubject, we are apt to fufpect, by comparing two pallages at a finall diftance in his pamphlet. He fays, p. 13. "I allow, that the 23 blood blood upon which a fizy cruft is found, generally looks thinner, as it flows from the vein, than the blood of a healthy perfon, on which there is no fize; but this thinness, I apprehend, is chiefly owing to the increafed quantity of ferum, which fuch blood contains.' At p. 21. we find him faying, It seems ftrange to me, that Mr. Hewfon fhould have taken no notice of the increafed quantity of coagulable lymph, found in the blood of perfons labouring under inflammatory diforders, though this is one of the most striking circumftances attending the fubject.' How these two oppofite principles in the blood (one giving it denfity, and the other tenuity) can both be augmented at the fame time, and from the fame caufe, we own ourselves at a lofs to conceive. The most important and direct attack upon Mr. Hewfon's accuracy in experiment, is the relation of the phenomena obferved by Mr. Hey, in blood caught in different cups, during the dying ftate of flaughtered animals. Mr. Hey almoft conftantly found (and of the fidelity of his narration we cannot doubt) that the blood first received was more fluid as it flowed, and more florid than the reft; yet coagulated in the leaft time, had the most firm craffamentum, and threw off the greatest quantity of ferum. That which was laft received, flowed the moft flowly, appeared the most viscid and dark coloured during flowing, was the latest in coagulating completely, had the fofteft craffamentum, and threw off the least quantity of ferum.' Thefe refults are directly contrary to those related by Mr. Hewfon. In the fecond edition of the Experimental Inquiry, however, fome variation in the appearances on this experiment is acknowledged, though not enough to account for fo opposite a general refult. One caufe of fallacy, indeed, we difcern, in the different idea annexed to the term coagulation. Mr. Hey obferves, that the last blood was more vifcid as it flowed, though it was the longest in coagulating completely. Now vifcidity differs only in degree from coagulation, and therefore this might appear to Mr. Hewfon as a very fpeedy, though incomplete, coagulation. We have entered more particularly on the defence of Mr. Hewfon, than we ufually do of a party in a controversy, merely because he is no longer living to defend himself; and we will venture to affert, that experimental philofophy fuftained a lofs in him, which, amidst the number who purfue a fimilar path, will not foon be repaired. Mr. Hey goes on, to make fome obfervations on the changes in the appearance of blood drawn at different ftages of inflammatory difeafes-on the various appearances of blood drawn at one operation, and the circumftances which occafion this varietyon the effects of ligature; of pregnancy, &c. With respect to Dr. Heberden's query," Is the fizy covering which is often feen upon blood, of any ufe in directing the method of cure?" he answers; that though a mere appearance of size alone gives no certain direction, yet this, together with the thickness and denfity of the fizy covering, and the tenacity of the craffamentum, conjointly, affords ufeful information. On the whole, there are many detached obfervations in this fhort publication, which may be attended to with advantage by practitioners at the fame time, we are obliged to obferve, that a want of method and connexion in its feveral parts, and a degree of inaccuracy and confufion in fome of the leading ideas, render it much lefs fatisfactory, in a philofophical view, than we fhould have expected from the character of the writer, and the apparent perfpicuity of his narrations. ART. VIII. Dialogues concerning Natural Religion. By David Hume, Efq; 8vo. 4s. Sewed. Robinson. 1779. WE E have here a very elaborate performance. It treats on the most important and interefting fubject that can poffibly employ the thoughts of a reasonable being. It is written with great elegance; in the true spirit of ancient dialogue; and, in point of compofition, is equal, if not superior, to any of Mr. Hume's other writings. Nothing new, however, is advanced on the fubject. The Author, indeed, has attempted little more than to throw the most exceptionable parts of his philofophical works into a new form, and to prefent them in a different drefs. The converfation is fupported by CLEANTHES, DEMEA, and PHILO.-Cleanthes, to ule Mr. Hume's own words, is a perfon of an accurate philofophical turn; Philo, a careless fceptic; and Demea, a rigid, inflexible, orthodox divine. Cleanthes, however, defends a good caufe very feebly, and is by no means, entitled to the character of an accurate philofopher. Demea fupports the character of a four, croaking divine, very tolerably; but PHILO is the hero of the piece; and it must be acknowledged, that he urges his objections with no inconfiderable degree of acutenefs and fubtlety. We shall endeavour to give our Readers a concife, but clear view, of what is advanced by each of the speakers; and, not to weaken the force of their arguments, we fhall give their own words. No man; no man, at least,' fays Demea, of common fenfe, I am perfuaded, ever entertained a ferious doubt of the being of a God. The question is not concerning the BEING, but the NATURE of GOD. This I affirm, from the infirmities of human understanding, to be altogether incomprehenfible and unknown to us. The effence of that fupreme mind, his attributes, the manner of his 74 existence, |