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with, thought herself equally obliged to Dr. Watts for his refidence with them, and the pains he had taken in the education of her daughters, as well as upon feveral other accounts; and if he vifited in the family during the Doctor's laft illness, he must have heard Lady Abney often exprefs herself in that manner.

'Dr.Watts was far from being in neceffitous circumftances; he was many years pallor of a very confiderable congregation among the Proteftant Diffenters; he also enjoyed a pretty confiderable income from his printed works, many of which paffed through feveral editions in his life-time and notwithstanding he difpofed of a large part of his income in charities, he left several thousand pounds behind him at his death.'

RELIGIOUS and CONTROVERSIAL.

Art. 13. An Anfwer to a fecond Letter infcribed to the Author of the Remarks upon the Serious Addrefs to the Chriftian World. 8vo. 6d. Field.

In our Review for November laft, p. 509-510, we made fome mention of the controversy between Mr. Stanton, the Author of the Serious Addrefs, and his anonymous antagonist; and we expressed fome hopes, that we should have heard no more of it: however, the Remarker, who has now figned his name, T. Bingham, has once more taken the field; but we shall not trouble our Readers with any further particulars of the difpute.

Art. 14. A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Free, by the Rev. Thomas Jones, A. M. Chaplain of St. Saviour's, Southwark. With proper affidavits. 8vo. 3 d. Dilly.

Dr. Free having charged the Chaplain of St. Saviour's, with forg. ing Mr. Hayward's noted Letter from the Dead, and then publishing it, Mr. Jones here refutes the charge, and proves that the faid letter was really written by the late Mr. Hayward, though not after he was dead. The flory is thus related in this pamphlet:

The late Rev. Mr. Hayward was a diffenting minifter, (well known in the city of London) with whom I had the happiness to be acquainted. Towards the clofe of his laft illness it was, (Oh! may you and I be as happy, when the time of our departure thall be at hand!) in this awful feafon it was, that he wrote the letter which has fince made much noife, and gave it to a friend, with an injunction to send it (but ⚫ not till after his departure) to Mr. Pearfon, a linnen-draper, in Cheapfide, with whom he had preserved a very intimate friendship. Accordingly, foon after Mr. Hayward's decease, Mr. Pearfon received the faid letter, and was not a little furprized by the kind artifice his departed' paftor had used, in order to convey fuch fpiritual advice and comfort to him. This letter I faw, and procured a copy of, (except what contained matter of private bufinefs) which copy agrees with that in your pamphlet, with this immaterial exception, that the word Fido is inTerted in yours and the other printed copies, iuftead of Mr. Pearson's Christian name, which was in the original. I own this letter affected

me

me when I read it, and I thought it would not be amifs to read it to my hearers from the pulpit, hoping it might animate them in the purfuit of that happinefs aud comfort, in a trying hour, Mr. Hayward feemed fo full of. I introduced it therefore in the following manner.

⚫ I took occafion to speak of the great fupports and folid comforts real religion infpires, more especially against the fears of death; and then told the congregation, I had an inftance of the truth of the above obfervation in my hand (meaning the aforefaid copy); I told them it was wrote by a minifter of my acquaintance in the near and certain profpect of death, and in short, I related every circumstance as I have mentioned above: as numbers, who heard me, can bear me witness. I never gave the leaft hint that I received it from a departed fpirit, (as I am accufed of doing); on the contrary, I told the people diftinctly and plainly, that the minifter wrote it before he died, and gave it to a friend to convey it to Mr. P. after his decease. This "God knoweth," is all I have been guilty of, as touching Mr. Hay. ward's letter. And when it is confidered how favourable a reception "Mrs. Rowe's Letters from the Dead to the Living have met with from perfons of all ranks, Dr. Free might, furely, have paffed it by, at leaft but flightly cenfured it as a pardonable crime.

You charge me too, with printing it. I folemnly declare, I knew nothing of its being printed, Had I entertained the leaft expectation of it, I fhould never have read the letter from the pulpit. I had no hand, directly or indirectly, in the printing; I was only concerned in reading it. This I own, and acknowlege was a very great, though well meant, indifcretion. Si id peccare eft, fateor id quoque. But does not the punishment exceed the offence? Allowing, that I was guilty of a folly and indifcretion in reading the letter, yet it does by no means amount to what you, Sir, have laid against me. Forgery, and Imposture, are the crimes you charge me with? and, taking my guilt for granted, you pass sentence upon me accordingly. How greatly muft Dr. Free be concerned, when he reflects, that all this is abfolutely falfe and groundless.'

To prove that he did not forge the Letter, Mr. Jones produces fe veral unexceptionable affidavits ? fo that we are in a little pain for our good friend the Doctor, not being able to divine how he will bring himself out of this fcrape: On the whole, however, this affair naturally reminds us of the difpute between Ifaac Bickerstaff, Efq; and Mr. Partridge the Almanack maker.

MEDICA L.

Art. 15. A plain Account of the Venereal Difeafe, with the Method of Cure in its feveral Stages; by which the Patient may be a judge of his own cafe, and may either cure himself, or if he employs another, may know whether he treats him properly. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Jackfon and Cooper.

As this appears to be one link of the long chain of medical pamphlets lately begun, and fedulously continued, by the ever induftrious Dr.Crine Uvedale Hill; and as we have fufficiently intimated our opinion of that learned Gentleman's late productions, we shall not trouble our Readers with any particulars concerning this venereal affair.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For MARCH, 1759.

The Conclufion of Robertson's History of Scotland, Vol. II.

F

ROM the fpecimens of this ingenious work given in the laft month's Review, we may fuppofe our readers already well acquainted with the nature and extent of the subject, and with the Author's talents and acquirements for hiftorical compofition.

Before we enter upon this fecond volume, it will not be improper to obferve, that it required all the ornaments of writing, to keep the reader's attention alive, in his way through the beaten tracks of hiftory. In the preceding volume, the hiftorian's genius had its full fcope; the contents were not deftitute of the recommendation of novelty and variety. The writer had an opportunity to fhew his extenfive reading, and to difplay his political fagacity, in tracing the first principles of the Scotch conftitution, to their origin, and explaining the nature of the feudal fyftem, which is utterly unknown to many, and perfectly understood by very few. Befides the originality of this preliminary matter, the periods of hiftory, likewife, comprized in the first volume, were by no means familiar to the English reader. The annals of Scotland, from the earliest times to Mary's fhort-lived reign in that kingdom, were but little known or regarded. With fuch materials, perhaps, a writer, with lefs power of execution, might have fucceeded in engaging the reader's attention,

VOL. XX.

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But in this fecond volume, the hiftorian had not these advantages to fupport him. The contents, including the transactions in Scotland, from Mary's captivity in England to the acceffion of her fon James VI. to the crown of Great Britain, are fo interwoven with the English hiftory, that they are generally known even to common readers: and it demanded peculiar fkill to render paffages, fo familiar to our recollection, agreeable and entertaining.

In this attempt the hiftorian, nevertheless, has happily fucceeded. He has embellifhed old materials with all the elegance of modern drefs. He has very judicioufly avoided too circumftantial a detail of trite facts. His narratives are fuccinct and fpirited. His reflections are copious, frequent, and pertinent.

To this volume is annexed an appendix, containing many curious and original papers, which ferve as vouchers for the particulars recorded by our hiftorian. It likewife comprises a critical differtation, concerning the murder of king Henry, and the genuineness of the queen's letters to Bothwell.

The first hiftorical circumftance, which feems worthy of obfervation, is an event which determined Elizabeth's conduct with regard to the affairs of Scotland. Pope Pius V. having iffued a bull, whereby he excommunicated Elizabeth, deprived her of her kingdom, and abfolved her fubjects from their oath of allegiance, Felton, an Englishman, had the boldness to fix it on the gates of the bishop of London's palace. Elizabeth imputed this ftep which the pope had taken, to a combination of the Roman Catholic princes against her, and fufpected that some plot was on foot in favour of the Scotch queen. In that event, the knew that the fafety of her own kingdom depended on preferving her influence in Scotland; and in order to ftrengthen this, the renewed her promifes of protecting the king's adherents, encouraged them to proceed to the election of a regent, and even ventured to point out the earl of Lenox as the person who had the best title; upon whom that honour was accordingly conferred.' Thank heaven! the thunder of the vatican is no longer terrible; it is now regarded as a meer brutum fulmen; and the pope's bull, like the ban of the empire, is more an object of ridicule than of dread.

The hiftorian then proceeds to give a detail of the civil commotions in Scotland, between the king's men and the queen's men, which became names of diftinétion, appropriated to the different parties. His relation of the taking Dunbarton castle, for the regent, must not be omitted; as it was attended with a circumftance of a very remarkable nature. This castle was thought impregnable; but a difgufted foldier, who had ferved in the

garrifon,

1

garrifon, proposed a scheme to the regent for taking it, which was accordingly attempted, under the direction of Capt. Crawford. At midnight, fcaling ladders were fixed to the walls, but, by the weight and eagerness of those who mounted them, were brought to the ground. Their ladders were made fast a second time; but in the middle of the afcent, they met with an unforefeen difficulty. One of their companions was feized with fome fudden fit, and clung, feemingly without life, to the ladder. All were at a ftand. It was impoffible to pafs him. To tumble him headlong was cruel; and might occafion a discovery. But Crawford's prefence of mind did not forfake him. He ordered the foldier to be bound faft to the ladder, that he might not fall when the fit was over; and turning the other fide of the ladder, they mounted with ease over his belly. By this ftratagem they at length got poffeffion of the caftle without the lofs of a fingle man. In it they found Hamilton, the unfortunate archbishop of St. Andrews; who, having been attainted, was executed without any formal trial.

The king's party however fuffered in their turn. • They were furprized at Stirling, where they were holding a parliament after the example of that held at Edinburgh, under the queen's authority. Four hundred men furrounded the town, and made prifoners of the regent, and feveral perfons of diftinction. The word among the queen's foldiers was, Think on the archbishop of St. Andrew's; and Lenox, the regent, fell a facrifice to his memory: the officer, to whom he furrendered, having loft his own life, in endeavouring to protect him.' One cannot reflect without horror on the ungoverned rage of civil difcord among a rude people, who are ftrangers to humanity, and who measure juftice by the length of their fwords.

About this time happened the maffacre of Paris, by which ten thousand proteftants, without diftinction of age, or fex, or condition, were murdered in Paris alone. The fame barbarous orders were fent to other parts of the kingdom, and the like carnage enfued. This deed, which, as our hiftorian observes, Do popifh writer, in the prefent age, mentions without deteftation, was, at that time, applauded in Spain; and at Rome, folemn thanksgivings were offered to God for its fuccefs. But among the proteftants it excited inconceivable horror; of which a firiking picture is drawn by the French embaffador at the court of England, in his account of his firft audience after the maffaA gloomy furrow, fays he, fat on every face; filence, as in the dead of night, reigned through all the chambers of the royal apartment; the ladies and courtiers were ranged on each fide, all clad in deep mourning, and as I paffed through them, not one bestowed on me a civil lock, or made the least return to

cre.

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