The author of this work has saved us the trouble of reviewing it, by extracting a critique of his own from an imaginary journal, which he facetiously intitles the Autognostic,' and subjoining it to the present volume. His Letters,' (Cameleon's) will generally be found not only uninstructive but dull.' Cameleon does indeed know himself; and if he expects profit from this composition, we fear that he will feed his hopes on the unsubstantial food of the reptile from which he borrows his name. Though we cannot subscribe to the praise which he nevertheless has bestowed on himself, namely, that he can recommend this trifling performance to those who wish to kill time, we must beg leave to add to his self-inflicted censure, and to assert (notwithstanding his implication to the contrary) that he has dealt largely in personal scandal. He mentions several of our public schools, by name, with a sort of wanton disrespect, which only reflects on his own understanding.-The least exceptionable part of the book is a conversation between Cameleon and another character, in which the confused and indistinct use of the phrase, knowledge of men and things,' is tolerably well ridiculed:

but we must observe that, if Cameleon be really a school-master, we cannot give his pupils better advice than the Roman General gave to the young Falisci; or, to speak more plainly, than that which Lieut. Bowline gave to his nephew Roderick, and his merry schoolfellows.

Art. 29. A Letter to the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, D. D. in Reply to his Strictures on the British and Foreign Bible Society. By Lord Teignmouth, President of the British and Foreign Bible Society. 8vo. Is.

Hatchard.

Art. 30. A Letter on the Subject of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Addressed to the Rev. Dr. Gaskin. By an Old Friend of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. 8vo. 2s. Hatchard.

It is strange that any jealousy should subsist between two societies whose object appears to be so similar, if not identical, as the Society for promoting Christian Knowlege, and the British and Foreign BibleSociety! Some members of the former, however, are dissatisfied with the constitution and proceedings of the latter, and have reprobated them with a severity which challenged notice. Lord Teignmouth, in his reply to the strictures of Dr. Wordsworth, vindicates the BibleSociety from the charge of baneful operation with which the Doctor assails it, and does not hesitate to avow that the liberal and comprehensive basis on which it is constructed is one great recommend ation of it; observing that it is formed on a principle so simple and unexceptionable, that Christians of all sects and all denominations may conscientiously become members. Hence it has exhibited the singular phenomenon of an assemblage of Christians of various sects, cordially uniting in Christian charity to promote the glory of God, and the salvation of their fellow-creatures, by disseminating the Scriptures.' We could scarcely have supposed it possible that any person, sincerely desirous of advancing the kingdom of Christ, could raise his indignant quill against such an institution.

Το

To prove that the new society has not injured the funds nor diminished the usefulness of the old, an appeal is made to facts, in the letter to Dr. Gaskin. It is shewn that in 1803, (the year before the Bible-Society commenced) the subscriptions to the society for the promotion of Christian Knowlege amounted to 21191., and that in 1809 the subscriptions were increased to 34131. If we advert also to the distributions, it will be seen that the number of bibles, new testaments, and psalters, issued by the society for promoting Christian Knowlege in 1803, was 17,779, and in the year 1809 the number issued was 22,611. By contemplating, moreover, the joint operation of the two societies, we shall see how much the latter comes in aid of the former. Bibles, testaments, and psalters, circulated by the old society, in 1800, were 13,763: but the bibles, testaments, and psalters circulated by both societies in 1809 were 99,883 !! that is, 86,120 more were issued in 1809 than in 1800. Let these facts speak for themselves, and let the two societies proceed in amicable emulation.-In the letter to Dr. Gaskin, it is shewn to be very bad policy in the clergy of the Established church to speak in degrading terms of the Bible-Society. Both pamphlets are creditable to the writers, for the sound sense and liberality which they display.

Art. 31. Anecdotes Sentimentales, par Mad. de Montolieu, Auteur de Caroline de Litchfield, &c. 12mo. 5s. sewed. Deconchy. 1811. These tales are still more moral than sentimental: they have interest enough to procure attention for the lessons which they convey; and we can recommend them as pleasing and instructive compositions.

SINGLE SERMON S.

Art. 33. Occasioned by the Death of the Rev. Thomas Spencer, who was drowned at Liverpool, August 5, 1811, aged Twenty Years; preached at Union-Street Meeting, Brighton, August 18, By John Styles. 8vo. Is. 6d. Williams.

The young minister whose death prompted the present discourse, and who was drowned as he was bathing, is represented as one of the greatest ornaments of human nature, who had perhaps more friends than any man of his age.' He was to have officiated at Brighton on the very day in which Mr. Styles preached his funeral sermon. To improve the affecting circumstance of Mr. Spencer's premature and unexpected dismissal from this world, the preacher exerts all his eloquence; and under the sad catastrophe which de prived him of a brother and a friend, and the church of a promising luminary, he exhorts his hearers to submit to the Divine Being, as the mysterious, the efficient, the independent, the righteous, and the merciful governor of the world. Every part of this discourse is appropriate and impressive, inculcating reflections and sentiments which ought to operate more than they do on the heart and conduct of ignorant misjudging mortals.

Mr. Spencer having been a handsome man, as well as a popular preacher, his portrait is advertised, at the end of the sermon.

Art. 34. The Fall of David; preached at All-Saints' Chapel, Bath, March 4, 1810. By the Rev. Lucius Coghlan, D.D. upon Sam. ch, xi. ver. 1. 8vo. Is. 6d. Longman and Co.

The

The tendency of this sermon having been misrepresented, and the charge of indelicacy having been preferred against the preacher of it, Dr. C. considers himself as obliged on the principle of self-vindica tion to publish the discourse exactly as it was delivered," with all its imperfections on its head." He acknowleges that it is a hasty production: but it is no otherwise indelicate than as it adverts to the criminal intercourse of David with Bathsheba, in language descrip. tive of the fatal indulgence of passion; and as it tells us (what needs not to have been told) that the strictest Jews did not at that time feel many scruples about committing fornication.' The danger of idleness is the burden of the song; and David's fall is attributed to his tarrying in Jerusalem, when he ought to have been with the army in actual service. This discourse reminded us of the saying of an old divine," that the devil tempted other people, but that idle persons tempted the devil.”

Dr. C.'s prefatory address to Ladies and Gentlemen' is more in the style of the player than of the clergyman.

CORRESPONDENCE.

The pleasantry of Dr. Clarke's two letters is much to our taste, and we are glad to find that he takes our strictures in good part. The remarks in his second note, on the meaning of the word EAwoo, are essentially correct as far as they regard the sense of the root from which it is derived. It conveys the idea of stability in the first instance, and certainly meant to represent Jonathan as the stay of Israel. Though Ernλwo is not a classic Greek word, it seems to be used substantively in 2 Sam. i. 19.; and like Ernua, may be rendered Column, which has an inherent stability. Trommius, however, makes it signify decus, corresponding with the Inclyti of the Vulgate : but, as the LXX mistook the meaning of their original, it is not of much moment to ascertain the sense which they affixed to this Greek word. Parkhurst observes that means the Gazelle, or Antelope; and the words which follow, "pierced on thine own mountains," shew that Jonathan was compared to some wild animal. Dr. C. speaks contemptuously of the Antelope as a kind of goat, but he must know that in the East it is classed among the most elegant and stately animals.

Amicus (iterum, iterumque) induces us to observe on his last note that Faith, in the passage in question, does not mean a belief in the peculiar tenets of Christianity; since the very exemplification of the subject, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews, shews that Faith in this general acceptation signifies only a principle of piety corre sponding with pious conduct.

Vindex observes that the word moissonner, in the French language, is often used in that figurative sense, as applied to those who die in battle, on which we made a remark in p. 457. note, of our last Ap pendix. We believe that he is right: but he should perceive that we also stated this application of it generally, not as particularly cha racteristic of M. Millin, whom he so generously defends.

The APPENDIX to the last volume of the M.R. was published. on the 1st of October, with the Number for September.

ART. I. Select Letters of Tippoo Sultan to various public Func tionaries; including his principal Military Commanders; Governors of Forts and Provinces; Diplomatic and Commercial Agents, &c. &c. &c. Together with some addressed to the Tributary Chieftains of Shânoor, Kurnool, and Cannanore, and sundry other Persons. Arranged and translated by William Kirkpatrick, Colonel in the Service of the Honourable East India Company. With Notes and Observations, and an Appendix, containing several original Documents never before published. 4to. pp. 648. 21. 2s. Boards. Black and Parry. 1811.

A SOVEREIGN who plays so conspicuous a part

so conspicuous a part in any country as was acted by Tippoo in India is a most interesting object in the history of his empire; and in proportion as that history is important, it is of moment to possess the means of knowing and estimating the character and operations of such a king. It is rare, indeed, that any monarch affords equal opportunities with those which have been furnished by Tippoo Sultan, for seeing into his mind, for appreciating his conduct, and for enabling us, by the relation which his character bore to that of his age and country, to judge equally of the latter. As the interest, also, which the British people have in the knowlege of Indian affairs is not small, the connection between their concerns and the volume before us is both visible and powerful. The publication is in fact important on various accounts; and English readers are highly indebted to the labour and the learning which Colonel Kirkpatrick has exerted in transfusing these documents into our language.

It is only to those readers, however, who have minds, that the perusal of the work will be very agreeable: they must be capable of gleaning and storing up evidence; and of being entertained with the contemplation of matters which have few charms in themselves, but which may be made to lead to interesting conclusions. They will be obliged also to combat with a variety of terms and customs which are foreign to their understandings and their habits; and they must occasionally endure an abuse of their countrymen, at which their national feelings will unavoidably revolt.

VOL. LXVI.

Z

With

With respect to the materials which are here offered to the public, the translator affords us the following information in his modest advertisement, and in his preface:

It is already generally known, that upon the reduction of Seringapatam, in the year 1799, all the public records of the then existing Government of Mysore passed into the possession of the captors. It is also, however, but too certain, that many of these precious documents were accidentally burnt, or otherwise destroyed, in the confusion and disorder which unavoidably ensued upon the assault of the fort: nor is it improbable, that some portion of them has disappeared, in consequence of falling, on the same occasion, into the hands of private persons, ignorant of the value, and indifferent to the preservation of their prize. But whatever loss may have arisen from the last mentioned cause, it is, nevertheless, owing to the active care, and intelligent research, of an individual, that several of the most important of the Mysore papers, now remaining, have been rescued from oblivion; and, among the rest, the very Register of public Letters, from which the correspondence, contained in the present volume, has been extracted. The gentleman here alluded to is Lieutenant-Colonel Ogg, of the East-India Company's Madras Establishment, to whose kindness the Translator is indebted for the chief part of the interesting materials relative to Tippoo Sultan, of which he is in possession.

Of the state-papers discovered at Seringapatam, immediately after the capture of that place, many have been already communicated to the Public, through official and other channels. Those, in particular, which served to develope the more recent intrigues of Tippoo Sultan with the enemies of Great-Britain, were published, soon after his overthrow, by authority of the Supreme Government of India, and subsequently in this country. A report of the general nature of these documents was drawn up, at an early period, in pursuance of directions from Marquis Wellesley, by the present writer, who had been employed to examine them, and who suggested, at the time, the expediency of having the whole translated, preparatory to a proper selection being made from them, for the information of the public. The great pressure of business in the Persian Department prevented, however, the adoption of this recommendation, when first submitted to the Governor General; and the same cause has pro. bably continued to operate, to the disappointment of the expectation which may be presumed to have been excited on the occasion. By none can this disappointment be more severely felt or regretted, than by the compiler of these sheets, who is too well acquainted with the eminent talents of the gentleman then at the head of the Persian Office in Bengal, not to appreciate duly the heavy loss sustained by the literary world at large, but more especially by such as are fond of enquiries into the Modern History of India, in consequence of his having been precluded, by his official avocations, from undertaking the task alluded to.

But it may still, perhaps, be permitted us to hope, that this object has not been absolutely relinquished; and that some portion, at least, of the extensive and vable doc randy tacted in the

report