have obferved in the review of that work, experience alone can determine what advantages may be derived from it; it cannot, however, at all events deferve to be laughed at and contemned. Our author, notwithstanding, because he is invisible, thinks he has a right, like other mafques, to talk as he pleafes. • By this Difcourfe, fays he, I find you now aspire to more extenfive dominion: you æftuate in the narrow limits of England, Greece, and Rome; and intend to transfretate the Ganges in the fpirit of the great ideal conqueror, of whom it was predicted, -Super et Garamantas & Indos Proferet imperium. Æn. 6. I moft cordially with you the defired fuccefs in fo arduous an undertaking; I have no doubt but that the emperor will permit you, like the great leviathan, to take your paftime in the Indian ftream, and will speak of you to his prime minifter, in the words of Syrus to Dromo, Congrum iftum maximum in aqua finito ludere paulif per. When you shall emerge from the hallowed flood, and afcend the tempeft-beaten bark on your return to Albion, the priestess of the Eaft will confecrate your name to diftant ages, embalmed and enrolled with "Picus (not the Picus Equum Domitor, but) the prince of Mirandula, John Reuchlin, Pagninus, Galatinus, Arias Montanus, Felix Pratenfis, Elias Lev ta, Munfter & Avenarius, Erpenius & Golius," &c. whom perhaps my uninftructed reader 'may confider as a fresh collection of apron-bellied oriental Caffres, Orang-Outangs, &c. just imported by you; for your loxodromick fkill both in politics and in literature is really amazing.' And a little after: • Should your splendid bile, fays he, addreffing himself to Dr. Watfon, incite you to repell this unforeseen attack of mine, it would be wife not to combat in perfon, like Turnus against the illufive factitious fhadow of Æneas; but instead of hurling forth your own inania verba et fine mente fonos, to fend into Perfia for fome defcend. ant of the ingenious Lebid, who, as Mr. Richardson informs me, "was particularly useful to Mohammed in answering the lampoons of the prince of Amralkeis, one of the prophet's keenest and most formidable opponents." In what a strange, confufed, and affected ftyle is this aukward challenge delivered! The profeffor, we are convinced, will not accept it, or take up the glove against fuch an antagonist. In justice to our author, we think it incumbent on us here to fubjoin a fhort paffage from his long pamphlet, which we think has some humour in it; and if we can excufe the multiplicity of quotations, is laughable enough, without that acrimony and ill-nature which prevails in every other part of this performance. May our gracious fovereign In this enlighten'd day, May he no longer with his favourite fir William confider "a gar- The The web of Zoroafter's race; Give ample room and verge enough The characters of Ind to trace. The web is wove; the mighty work is compleated; methinks the aufpicious æra, the new bejra, is arrived! The glorious dawn already gilds the eastern clouds! The favouring winds already blow Sabæan odours from the fpicy fhore of Araby, and chear me with their grateful exhalations! Myriads of forms come riding on their downy wings!— But oh! what folemn fcenes on Carmel's height, All hail, ye genuine bards, Arabia's iffue, hail! Lift up your head in exultation, O profeffor; and thou, Richard Watfon, behold a fight marvellous in our eyes: lo! my doughty arguments are weighed in the balance and found wanting: the wifdom of an unfollicited parliament, and the fenatorial prudence of all-foftering grants concur to adopt the falutary institution! • Alter erit jam Typhis, & altera quæ vehet Argo Delectos Heroas, & ipfe videberis illis! Mark the Hebrew Palinurus, unweildy Kennicott, ftands nodding at the helm.-See the chofen troop land on the deftined fhores-the inhabitants press forward with alacrity to receive the harmless adventurers; for peaceful is their merchandize; no Cortez or Pizarro waves his bloody fteel o'er the gentle fons of Mithras: Lo, "The kings of Arabia and Saba bring prefents," at whofe bidding their Efcurials and Vaticans burft their bars, and reveal their hidden treafures; while the filky volumes fufpended in the hallowed mofques are unrolled before their eyes no human victims, no holocaufts flame to the fkies; but the blood of moths and parchment-piercing worm afcend as a grateful facrifice to the manes of Abulfèda and Abaffai!' In the notes, the characters of Dr. Warner, Dr. Hallifax, law profeffor, Dr. S. m ds, Mr. Hodfon, the ingenious author of Zoraida, and feveral others, are treated with a contempt and afperity which they by no means deferve. We would advise, therefore, this unknown critic to behave with more decency, moderation, and candour for the future, if he hopes to meet with that applaufe from an impartial public which he feems very folicitous to obtain: in the mean time, we fhall only obferve, that the best talents and abilities, extenfive learning, and a tenacious memory, may all fail in their defired purpose when obfcured by affectation, fullied by vanity and felf-conceit, unreftrained by temper and judgment, and exerted on improper fubjects. If we were inclined, therefore, to fpeak of the author of this epifle in the fame tyle and manner as he fpeaks of others, we might, perhaps, tell him, that with all his pretenfions to the vivida vis animi & curiofa felicitas, which he is fo fond of, he is but a king of fhreds and patches,' that when every writer from whom he has borrowed takes back his feather, he will remain a naked jay; and that movet Cornicula rifum Furtivis nudata coloribus that that his Epiftle is profe run mad,' a compound of as villain. ous fmells as ever offended noftrils; that as to his memory, pirow propora, &c. &c. &c. &c. if we had our Italian, Spanish, and French common-place book at hand, we would give him a few more appofite quotations-but-cætera defiderantur. The Picture Gallery. 4to. 3. Kearfly. This pamphlet, confifting nearly of 100 pages, has already if we are to credit the title-page, paffed through three editions. So rapid a fale for fuch a performance cannot be accounted for, but by attributing it to the corrupt and adulterated taste of the prefent age, which relifhes nothing fo much as fcandal and abufe, as there certainly is not, (at least which we have acumen enough to discover) any extraordinary wit and humour, or any remarkable elegance of ftyle, to recommend it. It contains, however, to which we fuppofe it is indebted for its high flavour, the private characters of almost every lady of rank and fafhion in the kingdom; alludes to various incidents and intrigues, which the women have picked up, and probably told of each other, forming all together a kind of scandalous chronicle. We fhall felect one or two for the entertainment of our readers, from which they may easily determine the merit of the whole. Dowager Lady A-r. The Widow Brady. In Wax. The Irish Widow, The introduction of this fecond fpecies of compofition is certainly an intrufion on the regulations of fo well-governed a fociety as that of which Lady A- has the honor to be a member. Every poffible indulgence will, however, be granted, when we confider the richness and very extraordinary elegance of coloring with which her ladyship has tinged the Widow's cheeks. Painting has undoubtedly been her fludied accomplishment, and though the gives preference to wax, to the no fmall disrepute of neglected canvas, the right honourable artist cannot by any mears be pronounced equally great in figure as in face. Whether my Lady's first materials were coarfe or defective in any other respect we are unable to ascertain. An unfathomable depth of rouge has been the confequence, and the Widow Brady's complexion partakes immoderately of the nature of fcarlet plumage. 'C-fs of Oy. State Policy. We shall acquaint our readers with the bare circumftances this picture contains, as it is impoflible to give any fatisfactory interpretation why the perfonages fhould be thus fituated. A tall, wellmade Brunette is engaged in very close converfation with a robust and fresh-looking Amorofo, whofe parley is of that interesting kind as of itself to apologize for our filence. A black little fellow, behind the screen, watches their motions very scrupulously; but with such complacency of afpect, that he can have but little concern in the event of their interview. His face fpeaks much political machination, and but little honefty. No farther comments will be deemed neceffary, where the main objects of criticism are enveloped in obfcurity.' From this fhort fpecimen it is eafy to form an idea of the magnum opus before us, which will probably be read with avidity for a few months, and then fink into that oblivion which it deferves. THE CRITICAL REVIEW. For the Month of August, 1780. Twelve Difcourfes on the Prophecies concerning the first Eftablishment and fubfequent Hiflory of Chriflianity. Preached at Lincoln's Inn Chapel, at the Lecture of the Right Rev. William Warburton, late Lord Bishop of Gloucefter. By Lewis Bagot, LL.D. Dean of Christ Church. 8vo. 55. Cadell. T HE prophecies of the Old Teftament, relating to the Meffiah, are numerous, and wonderfully circumftantial. But they have been inveftigated by fo many learned and indefatigable authors, that there is hardly one of any determinate fenfe, or importance to Chriftianity, which has not been minutely and critically examined. The first writers on the fubject naturally selected the most obvious and striking predictions; and their fucceffors were obliged either to go over the fame ground, or infift upon other prophecies lefs clear and. decifive. In the former cafe, the learned reader feldom found any thing new in their difquifitions; and in the latter, nothing more fatisfactory than what he had feen before. This difadvantage is still increafing upon us; and an author must greatly excel his predeceffors in fagacity, or the beauties of compofition, who expects, in writing on this trite subject, to gain attention in the present age. Within these few years, prophecy has been a favourite fubject of enquiry. The late bishop of Gloucester revived the ftudy of it, by founding a lecture for the purpose of proving the truth of revealed religion in general, and of Chriftianity in particular, from the completion of the prophecies in the Old and New Teftament, which relate to the Christian church, especially to the apoftacy of papal Rome.' The scheme which is here especially recommended, leads the Warburtonian lecturers into the myfteries of the seven seals, the VOL. L. August, 1780. 6 G feven feven trumpets, the feven vials, the whore of Babylon, and other paffages in the Apocalypfe, where they may find room to employ their penetration and their ingenious conjectures, for a century to come, though, perhaps, with little fatisfaction to the rational and judicious reader. In, the first of these difcourfes, the learned author makes fome general remarks on the moral government of God, fhewing, that Providence directs all events, and purfues the purposes of his will, through the various revolutions of human affairs. He then proceeds to obferve, with a more particular view to the Chriftian difpenfation, that the virtues and vices, the ftrength and weakness of the princes of the earth, were alike directed to farther the determined counfel of God; that Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander, Epiphanes, Emilius, and Cleopatra, all contributed, as if it had been by concert, to carry on one and the fame defign, though it was abfolutely foreign from their thoughts; that the prophets, who point out the several steps of this divine arrangement, are uniform in declaring, that all was but fubfervient to the introduction of a certain difpenfation, which would concern and comprehend the interefts of the whole race of men; and that they defcribe the nature of this new œconomy by decifive and infallible characters, and afcertain the time, circumftances, and particular mode of its rife and establishment in the world. In the fubfequent le&ures he therefore enquires, whether at a time, and in a manner agreeably to the predictions of the prophets, fuch a difpenfation as they defcribe was actually fet on foot upon earth. As there are prophecies, predetermining the feveral fates of this difpenfation in fubfequent times, the author confiders them likewife in their proper order. The confequence is this: if the events in all respects correfpond, and explain the foregoing prophecies, then fuch a difpenfation is of divine appointment; the doctrines it holds forth are indifputable truths; its laws and injunctions of neceffary and univerfal obligation; its fan&tions and promifes fuch as cannot fail. Before he enters on this extenfive fubject, he premises fome reflections on the proper evidence of a divine revelation; and on that particularly which arifes from the completion of prophecies. The two great vouchers of divine revelation are miracles and prophecy. When we see the laws of nature fufpended or controlled, it is at once evident, that no lefs power is exerted than that of the Author of nature himfelf. In like manner, when contingent events are found to have happened, in exact conformity to predi&ions delivered ages before, it cannot be doubted |