like a chapel. Of so extraordinary a structure, no distinct idea can be formed from verbal description. The engravings given with the present tract are very good, but a want of clearness is observable in the narrative. The view from the top of the great tower is of vast extent, comprehending on one side Lord Arundel's terrace adjoining Wardour-castle, and extending on the other as far as Glastonbury. The immediate neighbourhood of Fonthill Abbey consists of ground finely diversified; and a journey of many miles may be made along the winding paths of the inclosures, without retracing the same surface. As shooting is not permitted within the fences, the game is seen sporting undisturbed; and hares pass quietly within a few paces of the windows, or receive food at a horse's foot from the hands of a rider. A part of this singular building remains unfinished; and comparatively little progress has been made in a magnificent tower which has been begun at a distance, on very elevated ground. Art. 37. Tales of the Poor; or Infant Sufferings. 12mo. pp. 82. Boards. Longman and Co. 1813.

The chief claim to notice, which these tales possess, is founded on their appearance of truth, and on the expediency that such miseries as they describe should be known and redressed. They seem to have been written from the impulse of real feeling, and a work thus elicited will seldom be found tedious. The present volume is short and simple, and we beg leave to recommend it for perusal.

Art. 38. An Historical and Topographical Account of Fulham, including the Hamlet of Hammersmith. By T. Faulkner. Author of "The Historical Description of Chelsea." 4to. 21. 2s.; and 8vo. 11. Is. Boards. Egerton. 1813.

Mr. Faulkner, having made his debut in a volume on the history of Chelsea, (see M. R. Vol. lxiv. N.S. p. 330.) now ventures to come before the public by describing the adjacent town of Fulham, with its hamlet of Hammersmith, and the principal country-houses. In treating of these plain topics at so much length, the reader must be prepared for a notice of very humble matters; such, for example, as (p. 65.) the description of a church-porch, and (p. 358.) the donation of a pump and well, with the notable addition, in another part, (p. 161.) of an iron ladle. The book accordingly will interest only the worthy inhabitants of Fulham and Hammersmith; who, to judge from the subscription-list, have not been slow in patronizing it. To general readers the objects of attraction are very limited, being confined to a few records connected with public considerations; such as in (p.11. and 458.) the copies of antient assessments, or the biographical notices of individuals, of notoriety in the literary or political world, who have resided on the spots described. Among these, the reader will find Sir Nicholas Crispe, of the time of Charles I.; Sir Leoline Jenkins, who lived under Charles II.; Bubb Doddington, Lord Melcombe; Dr. Radcliffe, the benefactor to Oxford; Richardson, the author of "Sir Charles Grandison;" the late Mr. Johnson the bookseller, &c. &c. These sketches are extracted from magazines,

The author states that they are descriptive of actual occurrences.

or

or other sources from which the diligence of the compiler enabled him to derive a brief notice of a remarkable inhabitant. Mr. Faulkner has the merit of attentive arrangement, and in general escapes error; except when as in p. 345. he touches on historical ground, and represents Robespierre to have been at the head of the French government in 1795.

Several engravings decorate this publication.

Art. 39. Diurnal Readings; being Lessons for every Day in the Year; compiled from the most approved Authorities, and calculated to combine Entertainment with Instruction. 12mo. 6s. bound. Sherwood and Co.

1812.

This volume offers much variety, and contains some useful and many amusing extracts from recent publications. Those from the writings of Dr. Buchanan and Dr. Clarke will be found particularly interesting: but the details from Prud'homme (mis-spelt Proudhomme, at page 290.) of the atrocities committed during the French Revolution, and the account of an impalement, from Stockdale, in page 268., with some other passages in the same style, are so horrible that perhaps the eye of youth should not be unnecessarily shocked with them. The description of "The Burning of Hindoo Women," in page 321., is copied from Southey's "Curse of Kehama," and not from the "Asiatic Researches," as is erroneously stated; and the name of Nealling is in this transcript changed to Nealing.

Art. 40. Appendix to the Doctrine of Life Annuities and Assurancès, containing a Paper read before the Royal Society on a new Method of calculating the Value of Life Annuities. By Francis Baily. 8vo. pp. 78. 4s. Richardson. 1813.

It appears that this New Method of calculating Annuities' is the plan, not of Mr. Baily, but of Mr. George Barrett of Petworth in Sussex; who had, at a great sacrifice of time and labour, prepared in MS. a very comprehensive set of life-annuity tables. These he proposed to print in two large quartos, and to publish by subscription: but he failed in receiving adequate encouragement, either from the Life-Assurance-Companies or from other quarters. The hope of an extended publication being thus disappointed, Mr. Barrett drew up a short memoir, which was presented to the Royal Society, under the impression that they might deem it worthy of insertion in the Philosophical Transactions. Here, however, his friend was as unlucky as the original calculator; and they have, in consequence, both determined that the memoir in question should be brought before the bar of the public.

Mr. Baily begins by observing that such is the trouble attending the calculations of life-annuitics, particularly when two or more lives are concerned, that the only tables fit for practical use are those of Dr. Price and Baron Maseres. He proceeds to explain (p. 22.) a method of abridging the labour of such calculations, or rather of arranging, on a new plan, the tables for determining the value of life-annuities. Various exemplifications of this plan are added in the shape of tables of annuities on single lives, on two joint-lives, on three joint lives, and on M. de Moivre's hypothesis.

These

These examples and the clearness of the accompanying observations relieve the subject, to an attentive reader, from a great part of its complexity; yet an explanation of it would require an extent of space altogether disproportioned to our limits. We must accordingly refer the persons interested in these calculations, to the memoir itself. Our Assurance-Companies are in the habit of doing business on the conclusions drawn from the estimates of life made at Northampton; and in this plan they are induced, says Mr. Baily, to persevere, less from a conviction of the accuracy of these estimates as materials for comprehensive calculations, than from the convenience of referring to a variety of tables already computed from them. Mr. Barrett regrets much that these associations do not bring into practical use the observations subsequently made on the duration of human life in Sweden, and those of M. de Parcieux in France.

SINGLE SERMONS.

Art. 41. Uniformity, one great Criterion of " Keeping the Faith:" preached at the Visitation in Canterbury, 1812. By the Rev. Edward Arthur Bush, M. A., Rector of St. Andrew's, Canterbury, &c. 8vo. IS. Longman and Co.

Art. 42. A Vindication of Religious Liberty: preached at Bridport, June 17. 1812. Before the Western Unitarian Society. By Robert Aspland. 12mo. IS. Johnson and Co.

These two sermons came to us in the same parcel, and we put them together in the same article, not because they agree, but because they, toto calo, differ from each other. If the Churchman be right, the Dissenter is altogether in the wrong but then the Dissenter has one holy person at least to stand by him, while thé Churchman is deserted by that very apostle from whom he borrows his text. St. Paul, who speaks of having "kept the faith," (Mr. Bush's text, 2 Tim. iv. 7.) renounces the idea of uniformity of faith as chimerical; and in Romans xiv. 5., (Mr. Aspland's text) he affords the completest sanction to the fullest religious liberty, by laying down this general rule, "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Now with Mr. Bush's position this apostolic direction cannot be reconciled; and unluckily for him, as he belongs to a protesting church, which in reference to an older one has violated the principle of uniformity both in faith and forms, the very title of his sermon, as the vulgar say, hits him a slap on the face. The Church of England is too firmly established to be shaken by the efforts of sectaries: but, if she sincerely wished to unite dissentients to her communion, it must be done by a little accommodation, and not by a stiff and rigid adherence to every word and every custom that are sanctioned by the present system, which Mr. Bush recommends. That a connection subsists between keeping the faith and the reading of a precomposed sermon in preference to an address delivered without notes, it would be difficult for this preacher to shew: but abundant evidence exists to prove that an extempore preacher is more likely to fill our churches than the best possible reader of sermons. Yet preaching without notes, and any latitude in the short prayer introduced by the clergyman before the sermon, being contrary to custom,

though

though not to rule, are censured by Mr. Bush as if injurious to the faith but what a phantom must our faith be, if such shadows of shades could affect it? So very timid a believer does more harm to Christianity than the boldest infidel.

Mr. Aspland, convinced that the Gospel is founded on a rock, has no gloomy apprehensions from the most enlarged exercise of religious liberty. He wishes not for "unity of opinion in the bond of ignorance, nor unity of profession in the bond of hypocrisy, but merely for unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." With a mind fully satisfied, after patient inquiry, of the truth of Christianity, Mr. A. would allow to the infidel that liberty which he claims for himself. Speaking in the name of the sect to which he belongs, he says, 'We blame no one for blaming us.' As the apostle in the text has renounced both for himself and every one else authority to regulate the faith of another, he has afforded as decisive a proof as could be adduced of his admission of the inviolable right of the human mind to its own religious determinations.' Under the Gospel, the mind is certainly left free, and however desirable it may be to prevent dissention, we have no reason for supposing that the faith cannot be kept unless the Christian world be brought into one pale. Art. 43. On the Religious and Civil Education of Poor Children; preached at the Visitation of the Rev. Phineas Pett, D.D., Archdeacon of Oxford, held at Woodstock, June 1. 1812. By Vaughan Thomas, B.D. Vicar of Yarnton. 8vo. 18. 6d. Rivingtons. Reading (says Mr.T.) is a key to the treasures of Holy Writ, and therefore should be put in the hands of all. But writing and arithmetic, being qualifications for particular places, services, and sorts of business, should be reserved for specific purposes, and particular children.' We confess that Mr. Thomas has not, in our judgment, made out one atom of his position. He thinks that the agricultural poor need not be instructed in writing and arithmetic: but are not the agricultural poor liable to serve in the militia, and often sent into the navy; and shall he object to qualify the common soldier and sailor for writing to his wife and family, or for receiving that promotion which his good conduct deserves? As writing and accounts are now taught on the Lancasterian plan with great ease, we see no objection to the extension of these humble branches of learning to the poor; and no one who has enjoyed the advantages of an University-education should object to throwing this pittance of science into the lap of poverty,

CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr. Galt's polite letter is received, and shall have consideration.

B. G. C. is entirely wrong in his conjecture.

Various other letters have reached us, which we have not leisure to specify, but to which we shall attend as occasion requires.

The APPENDIX to our last Volume was published on the 1st of June, with the Number for May.

THE

MONTHLY

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For JULY, 1813.

ART. I. Exploratory Travels through the Western Territories of North America; comprising a Voyage from St. Louis, on the Mississippi, to the Source of that River; and a Journey through the Interior of Louisiana, and the North-eastern Provinces of New Spain. Performed in the Years 1805, 1806, 1807, by Order of the Government of the United States. By Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Major 6th Regt. United States Infantry. 4to. pp. 436. 11. 15s. Boards. Longman and Co.

A MONG the recent travels connected in point of subject with the present volume, are Michaux's journey to the westward of the Alleghany mountains, and the more extensive peregri nations of Captains Lewis and Clarke across the American continent t. The former undertaking, though valuable on the ground of information, was limited in its object to the dominions of the United States: but the latter opened an unknown country to the geographical investigator, and shewed the Ame rican government how far their newly acquired territory, Louisiana, was likely to be benefited by channels of communication with the western ocean. Major Pike performed two expeditions, from a similar motive of ascertaining the situation and properties of particular districts of Louisiana. His first journey was directed northward to the sources of the Missis sippi; and while it enabled him to make a report on the mode of navigating that river, it afforded also an opportunity of ap prizing the Indian tribes, along its banks, of the extended jurisdiction of the United States.-In his second journey, his steps were bent to the west; and after having ascended the Missouri for several hundred miles, and taken steps to attach the savages to the American government, he proceeded to examine the navigation of the great rivers to the south of the Missouri. These missions were altogether of a public nature; the author being an officer in the American army, and receiving his instructions from General Wilkinson, the commander of the troops in Louisiana: while the substance of these instructions, moreover, was

*M. R. Vol. li. P. 272. VOL. LXXI.

Q

+ M. R. Vol. lxiii. p. 328. communicated