defign.' The first part of this Effay propofes to confider the history of Chrift's death and fufferings, as related by the Evangelifts; the fecond, to explain their effects and confequences, with regard to our falvation. I wish,' fays Dr. M'Gill, 'to give offence to no man, far lefs to any fincere and numble follower of Jefus. The fubje&t itself forbids the indulgence of imagination, and demands a clofe regard to what is written in the Scriptures: befides, I fhould efteem it a far greater happiness, not to fay any thing wrong or ill-founded, than to fay what may appear new and furprising, though truc; being more folicitous to avoid error in a matter of fuch moment, than to procure attention; and to be useful, than to appear original. What I propofe is to collect together, with as much clearnefs and precifion as poffible, the most edifying views and inftructions held forth in Scripture concerning the death of Chrift, and the method of reconciliation through him.' Such is this writer's own account of his defign, with which the work itfelf feems very well to accord. He wifely avoids all party names; and knows no other diftinction than that of Chriftian. His book may be perufed with advantage by perfons of very different opinions; and feveral may poffibly read it with fatisfaction and improvement, without perceiving that the fentiments are more of the Socinian than of the Calviniftic cat. Truth and usefulness are the great objects with this Author. His performance may ferve to convince the reader that the practical, beneficial, alarming, and confolatory purposes of a divine revelation may be obtained on very different fchemes of interpretation. We have fometimes thought the writer, in this part of his work, which is good and afeful, rather too diffuse and declamatory, and employing phrafes that might appear not perfectly congruous to his plan, though an attentive reader will find them very confiftent. On the whole, we must express our approbation of the work. The ftyle is generally correct, excepting fome Scotticisms, fuch as proven; pled; prophecies which bore; feels it carried home with a knel!* to his heart, &c. &c. whether thefe may not be allowable and proper in a writer of that country we will not pretend to determine. SINGLE SERMON S. I. An Inquiry into the Moral and Religious Character of the Times 2 preached at Basingstoke, July 7, 1788. By John Duncan, D. D.. Rector of South Warmborough, Hants; at the Vifitation of the Hon. and Right Rev. Brownlow Lord Bishop of Winchester. Svo. 1 s. Cadell. This is a good, ferious, well-written difcourfe, from Romans, xii. 2.; and being rather fpeculative than practical, was better fuited to the affembly before whom it was delivered, than it would be to a common congregation: and yet a difcourfe may pafs off very well even before a superior audience, that may not ftand the teft of a cool, ftrict investigation in the clofet. But this is only by way of general obfervation. *Their jeering gaes aft to my heart wi' a knell.' Scottish Song-Thro' the wood laddie. The he complexion of the times is a fubject always open to pulpit an madverfion; but when a writer of abilities treats on an old topic, he naturally wishes to recommend his difcourfe by fetting it in a new light: thus Dr. Duncan fluctuates between difagreeable facts which he cannot deny, and a wifh to palliate them, in order to make us fatisfied with ourselves, and with the preacher who brings us comfort. After reflecting on the depravity that ruined the Roman empire, and drawing a parallel defeription of the prefent British nation in the flyle of a fretful moralift; he argues that fuch invectives refult from partial views, and that while the reigning manners of the multitude give a countenance to vice, the general fentiment of the public is in favour of virtue*. We confefs ourfelves unable to comprehend this paradoxical diftinction between the multitude and the public; but every one muft clearly fee the mockery of virtue, by an empty affent to its principles, if that affent is cancelled by our actions! The Doctor finds fome confolation in the liberal plans and fubfcriptions carried on for benevolent purpofest; but may not 'the querulous' conftrue public liberality into an indirect way of afferting a privilege from the feverity of private fcrutiny, in an age when money is fubftituted to purchase exemption from every troublesome obligation? The Doctor admits, that the vain, giddy, and unprincipled, intrude upon our notice, while modeft meiit is to be found in private and domeftic life 1. But the times are effentially condemned, when the multitude are given up, and the praise of virtue reftricted to private individuals. His apology for his brethren, in pleading the prevailing relaxation of morals, as an extenuation of their departure from the punctuality of decorum §;' appears to us in a very alarming point of view! What is the duty, what the ufe, of the fuperior orders in the church? What is the declared object of episcopal vifitations? If the fountain be corrupted, well may the ftreams flow foul. If the least temporizing comp fition with vice be indulged in that order, on whofe precepts, and especially on whofe EXAMPLE, we chiefly rely, to ftem the torrent of licentioufnefs, we refer it to the apologift to declare what is to become of us? Let us not confole ourselves, that falfe pretences to religion are falling into difcredit, and that the reli-' gion of the heart is gaining ftrength ||; for it may justly be questioned, whether it may not be better, to incur the risk of a little hypocrify, than to congratulate ourselves on a degree of effrontery that fecures us from it? II. Preached at Burnley, in Lancashire, 4th Nov. 1787, on the Inftitution of Sunday Schools there. By Thomas Collins, A. M. Rector of Compton Valence, Dorfetfhire, &c. 4to. Is. Robfon and Co. This author acknowleges the prefent Bishop of London, as the first promoter of the inftitution at Burnley, which this difcourfe recommends. The nature and neceffity of Sunday fchools, especially in manufacturing counties, is very well infifted on, and it is propofed not merely to give the children fome inftruction, but farther to enlighten their understandings, and endeavour to make good impreffions on their hearts. * P. 17. + P. 15. + P. 14. § P. 13. P. 27. COR CORRESPONDENCE. Τα tit By whatever accidents we are led into mistakes, we are al ways ready to acknowlege them, and think it our incumbent duty to correct them, when we are convinced of their existence ;-and we are at all times obliged to gentlemen who take the trouble of pointing out to us any flip either of the pen or the prefs. An important, and indeed to us unaccountable one occurs in the 38th line of page 268, in our Review for September laft. For with water read fixed air. The author of that article did not fee the proof. The writer of a letter figned Verbum Sapienti fat, has pointed out the above error; but we are forry that the merit of his favour was allayed by the addition of fome illiberal fneers, - fuch as we always treat with that filent regard which they justly deferve. We are obliged to Dr. Usher, of Dublin, for his polite letter, in which he fhews that we had mistaken his meaning on account of his having expreffed himself obfcurely. 57.9 is not a typographical error, as was mentioned in our Review for Sept. p. 206. The longitude, as determined by one of Arnold's time-keepers, was 6h 24 58.2 differing only fix tenths of a fecond from what I made it by obfervation.' We referred this to the obfervation of the lunar eclipfe, instead of an obfervation made on Mr. Arnold's arrival by equal altitudes; this not being mentioned in the Doctor's memoir, led us to suppose it to be the obfervation of the eclipfe. 1* We are obliged to Captain B. for correcting a mistake in our Review for July laft,-where, p. 62, a Tract entitled "Advice to Officers of the British Army," is afcribed to Captain Grofe. Our cor.refpondent informs us, that he knows, for certain, that a Mr. Williamfon, an half pay officer, is the author of that ingenious pamphlet:" and we heartily agree with our worthy friend, Capt. B. that never was fatire better aimed." " * The Letter figned Tacitus came too late to have answered the defign of the writer; but, before this time, he will have perceived that we had, unknowingly, fulfilled his wifh. We are rather fur prifed, however, that Tacitus fhould fuppofe that any regard would be paid to what may be deemed an anonymous letter, containing a requeft, without affigning a reafon for his making it, or, in any degree, intimating its propriety. "What's Hecuba to us?—” ** Mr. James Woodhoufe, whom we always regarded with benevolence, and whofe productions we bave occafionally commended, has honoured us (not himself) by a molt petulant and uncivil letter * ; to which a fufficient aniwer may be given, from JONAH, ch. iv. 4. "Doft thou well to be angry?" Occafioned by an article of Correfpondence, in our Review for September. Y. Z.'s letter must be again deferred, on account of the abfence of the gentleman under whofe confideration it mult come. +*+ B. D.'s letter fhall be attended to. THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For DECEMBER, 1788. ART. I. Letters and Papers on Agriculture, Planting, &c. felected from the Correfpondence-Book of the Society inftituted at Bath, for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, within the Counties of Somerfet, Wilts, Gloucester, and Dorfet, and the City and County of Bristol. Vol. IV. 8vo 6 s. Boards. Dilly. 1788. F ROM the great delay in the publication of the fourth volume of the Bath Society's papers, we were not without fome fears that it might have been in contemplation to difcontinue them; but we are glad to learn from the preface to the prefent volume, that there is no danger of this fort to be apprehended that the interruption was only occafioned by the death of their late fecretary, Mr. Edmund Rack; that the public have so far encouraged this performance as to make a fecond edition of the former volumes neceffary-and that the fociety intend to perfevere in continuing to publifh, from time to time, a felection of their papers, as formerly. That we may prefent our readers with a sketch of the moft important discoveries that occur in thefe publications, comprized within as fmall bounds as poffible, we fhall adhere to the plan we have adopted, of bringing under diftin&t heads, the notices that lie fcattered through the volume concerning each article of importance, rather than to dwell, feparately, on each of the memoirs; many of which contain only short hints and conjectures on a variety of subjects, which it would far exceed our limits to fpecify particularly. As we have ever been of opi nion that the interefts of Agriculture will be best promoted by an accumulation of useful facts accurately afcertained, our attention fhall be chiefly directed to this particular object, and therefore we fhall rather be difpofed to record experiments, than to display the ingenuity of hypothetical reasoning. The Culture of POTATOES, is the object that has obtained the greatest degree of attention in the prefent volume; and with a particular degree of VOL. LXXIX. I i pleasure pleasure we remark the circumftance. Europe was indebted to America for this valuable plant; and had the new world never conferred any other benefit on the old than that which is derived from the culture of this root, the latter could never be fufficiently grateful. If the man who (as Swift obferved) could make only two plants of corn grow where but one grew before, is more deferving of honour than the greateft conqueror or politician that ever exifted, what reward can be adequate to the merits of him, who has taught mankind how to draw from the bleakest mountains, where corn could never have attained maturity, or from the dreary wafte where heath and furze alone could obtain a fcanty nourishment, abundant crops of rich and wholesome food, fufficient to fuftain a more numerous population, than the richest fields, waving with harvests of luxuriant grain, could ever produce! That fuch are the confequences which refult from a skilful culture of the Potatoe, can only be difputed by those who have not paid fufficient attention to the fubject. And if the culture of this plant be not yet fufficiently understood in Great Britain, as is, with feeming probability, afferted by a diftinguished correfpondent in this volume, it is furely of much importance that the public attention fhould be directed to this point, as foon as poffible. On this fubject, a confiderable variety of information occurs in the prefent volume, from different correfpondents; but it seems to have engaged in a more eminent degree, the attention of Dr. James Anderfon, who here communicates a variety of experiments and obfervations on the culture of this plant, which contain fome new and interefting facts, that have not hitherto been ascertained. It has been long a difputed point whether it was more advantageous to plant whole potatoes, or cuttings of this roof, as feeds. Dr. A. proves, by feveral experiments, that this is in itself a matter of no fort of confequence, but that it may incidentally be the cause of a great diverfity in the amount of the crop; for, it appears from feveral other experiments, that feem to have been made with a fcrupulous attention to all particulars which could vary the refult, that the crop is in all cafes, other circumftances being alike, greatly varied by the fize of the fets planted. This appeared to us, as it did to the experimenter himself, a fingular and very important fact. To afcertain it the more fully, it was feveral times repeated, and the general result was, that in the fame foil, and with a culture in all particulars alike, the average produce, from feveral experiments, obtained from very large fets, when compared with that from very fmall fets of the fame kind of potatoes, was nearly as ten to one. This peculiarity, the Doctor juftly obferves, having never been hitherto fully adverted to, may have occafioned many ano malies |