cavilling, it was fettled that they should meet in the open plain.

"When the moment of the interview arrived, the King of Poland, in a Polish bonnet, and a plume of feathers, ter minated by a large pearl hanging loofe, clad in the fame armour that he wore on the day of battle, with a Roman buckler, on which were engraved not the actions of his ancestors, but his own; and mounted upon a stately horfe, with magnificent furniture, approached the Emperor with that heroic. prefence which nature had given him, and that air which his victory gave him a right to put on. The Emperor, drest in a plain manner, as he ufually was in his own court, and mounted accordingly, talked of nothing but the fervices done the Poles in all ages, by the friendship and protection of the Emperors. At laft, however he let drop the word gratitude, for the prefervation of Vienna. At this word the King, turning his horfe, faid to him, Brother, I am glad that I have done you that fmall fervice. He was going to put an end to the difcourfe, which grew difagreeable; but he obferved his fon prince James alight from his horfe, to pay his refpects to the Emperor. This is a prince (faid he) whom I am educating for the fervice of Christendom. The Emperor, without faying a word, only nodded his head and yet this was the young prince whom he had promifed to make his fon-in-law. After this, what a reception could the Palatines, who attended the King, expect? One of them ftepped forward to kiss his Imperial Majefty's boot; but he drew upon himself this reprimand from his master: Palatine, no meanness! And then they separated."

Upon the occafion of this victory, John was complimented with a letter from Chriftina, Queen of Sweden, then at Rome; in which she told him, that "He had made her feel for the first time the paffion of envy, for that the really grudged him the glorious title of Deliverer of Europe." We could with that our Hiftorian had favoured us with a copy of this letter. The Author of Penfees ingenieufes mentions it as an ingenious piece, and has quoted the following fentence from it: Io che Regni più non hò, le devo la Confervatione della mia independen za e della quiete che io più ftimo che tutti li Regni del mondo. That is, I, who am no longer a Queen, am indebted to you for the prefervation of my quiet and independence, which I efteem above all the Kingdoms in the world.

Hitherto we have beheld our hero only victorious, but he was not invincible. John was a man, and, as fuch, liable to

human

human frailties. He was chagrined at the large claims which the Imperial army laid to the victory of Vienna, and was determined to convince them that he and his Poles could conquer without their aid. Accordingly, without making known his intentions, he marched with a body of his own troops to attack a part of the Turkish army at the fort of Barcan. Unhappily for John the Turks were many more in number than he expected, and being covered by a rideau, they fell upon the Poles, unaware that they were fo near, and without giving them time to form, pushed their attack with fuch violence, that not a man ftood before them. The King in vain endeavoured to rally his flying troops;-the moment they attempted to form, the Turks poured upon them like a torrent. John was involuntarily borne along with the tide of his flying foldiers, multitudes of whom were cut down by the fabres of the purfuers. He defended himself as long as he was able, and when through fatigue and corpulence he was almost breathlefs, he let the reins fall on the neck of his flying horfe, and, being fupported by two of his attendants, efcaped with much difficulty from the Turkish fabres.

When he came within fight of the army which he had too rafhly left, and the Turks defifted from their pursuit, he reposed: himfelf in a field upon a bed of hay, and with a greatness of mind which did him more honour than any victory he ever gained, he ingenuously made the following acknowlegement:

Gentlemen, (faid he to the German Generals who were about him) I confess I wanted to conquer without you for the honour of my own nation: I have fuffered feverely for it, being foundly beat but I will take my revenge with you, and for you. To effect this must be the chief employment of our thoughts.

This revenge it was not long before he obtained: with the indignant spirit of a wounded lion, at the head of the Imperial, and Polish armies, he immediately attacked his conquerors, who, after a violent conteft, were routed in their turn; and to the difhonour of the Chriftian annals, 18,000 poor Turks, who vainly fued for mercy, were all maffacred.

This was the laft battle in which John reaped the laurels of victory. All the campaigns he made afterward, in attempting to obtain Moldavia and Walachia, and to recover Kaminieck, were alike ineffectual. Nor was he more happy at home than fuccefsful abroad; the last years of his reign were imbittered. both by public and private disappointments, by the ingratitude of favourites, and the cabals of the difaffected. And the

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hero

hero who had defervedly acquired the glorious title of the Deliverer of Christendom, who had humbled the Ottoman power, and refcued his country from its yoke; in the decline of fpirits and life, had the mortification to hear continual murmurings against his government, and to fuffer the licentious. infults of Polish freedom, which he was not able to reprefs. He died in the year 1696, in the 66th year of his age, and the 23d of his reign. *

It were to be wished that our Historian had made us better acquainted with his private life, and had fhewn the Man as well as he has done the Hero and the King. Perhaps he thought it below the dignity of History to record the minute circumstances of domeftic conduct; but it is by those we are beft able to judge of characters. We are told, however, that John devoted the hours of peace to the elegant ftudies, and that he even once facrificed to the muses, in a Poen on his daughter's marriage, His foibles feem to have been, too great a love of money, and too partial a regard to the intereft of his own family,which he often preferred to that of his country.

Our Historian has not done his Hero all the juftice he might have done him; and his work, though fpirited and fenfible, is in fome points too diffufe, and in others too brief, The Tranflation, though not heavy or perplexed, is very inac

curate,

La.

Sermons on various Subjects and Occafions. By George Fothergill, D. D. late Principal of St. Edmund-Hall, Oxford. Published from the Author's original Manufcripts, by Thomas Fothergill, B. D. Fellow of Queen's College. 8vo. 5s. 6 d. bound. Rivington.

TH

HE Importance of a religious Principle to perfonal Virtue and Happiness-the Scripture Motives to Goodnefs vindicated-the moral Influence of temporal and eternal Motives confidered and compared the Profitableness of Godliness illuftrated the Pleasantnefs of a good Lifethe Honourablenefs of a good Life the Excellency of Chriftian Knowlege a Motive to Steadfastnefs - the Purpose for which the Son of God was manifefted-how the Manifeftation of the Son of God is fitted to anfwer this gracious Purpose-the Prudence of regulating the Defire of GREAT THINGS the Case of uncharitable Cenfure confidered

The Chevalier de St. George married a daughter of this prince.

the

the Nature of Heavenly-mindednefs, and the Danger of fome Habits repugnant to it-God the Giver of Rain and fruitful Seasons, and the Ufes we ought to make of that Confideration-the Influence of Piety on the Conduct of human Life-the Nature of Chriftian Watchfulness, and its Neceffity from the Uncertainty of Life Man's Ignorance of the Time of his own Death confidered and vindicated, are the subjects contained in the Volume here before us. Thefe fubjects the Author treats in a clear, rational, and inftructive manner, without any metaphyfical fubtilties or refinements. His turn of thought and expreffion is ingenious and sprightly; and though there is nothing pathetic in his difcourfes, yet they difplay a large fhare of manly sense, which cannot fail of rendering the perufal of them agreeable to every judicious and candid Řeader.

The following fpecimen, taken from his fecond fermon, wherein he vindicates the Scripture Motives to Goodness, will enable our Readers to form a juft idea of his style and manner. The words, from which he difcourfes, are, Godlinefs is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, &c.

He fets out with obferving, that no argument has more frequently, or hitherto more fuccefsfully, been made use of by the advocates for Chriftianity, in proof of its great excellence and usefulness to mankind, than the powerfulness and efficacy of its motives to goodness. The argument is indeed fuch as the enemies of Revealed Religion have generally thought it prudent to touch upon with caution and referve. They have argued with much feeming fubtilty against some of its doctrines, and declaimed plaufibly against fome of its precepts; but as to its promifes, they have no more been able to find any thing to object against them, than they have been able to produce any thing worthy to be compared with them.

We must not, however, boast the undisturbed poffeffion even of this argument. If we will believe fome late Writers, rewards are, in their nature, fo far from being calculated to promote the real interefts of moral virtue, that they do, in proportion to their influence, deftroy every thing that is valuable in it; the obvious confequence of which is, that the greatness of such their influence fhould rather be confidered as an argument against, than a proof of, the excellence of any scheme of morality which lays much ftrefs upon them. Lord Shaftesbury is well known to be every where full of re

finements

finements of this kind; and the Author of Chriftianity as old, &c. does more than infinuate, that to do a thing in hopes of being re \warded for it hereafter, is to act upon a fervile principle, and fuch an one as comes far fhort of his favourite one of regard to (what he calls) the original obligation of the moral fitness of things.

The question, therefore, concerning the propriety of tecommending virtue from the advantages annexed to it, becomes a queftion of fome importance, and fuch as the honour of revealed religion is very nearly concerned in. Accordingly our Author endeavours, by confiderations drawn from experience and the nature of things; firft, to fhew that virtue is capable of being promoted by rewards; fecondly, to prove, that virtue actually needs to be thus promoted, and that re wards are not only proper, but necessary incitements to the practice of it; thirdly, to examine and obviate some of the moft ufual exceptions against the forementioned inducements to virtue; and laftly, to draw fome useful inferences from the foregoing confiderations.

We fhall lay before our Readers what he advances upon his fecond head of difcourfe. "We are apt fometimes to talk of virtue, fays he, as of fome exalted perfonage, and, in our language, to bestow a kind of divinity upon it; and, when we have done this, 'tis no wonder we are led to afcribe to our imaginary deity fuch degrees of perfection and self-sufficiency, as experience will by no means justify us in. But if we would, to any good purpofe, enquire what is really neceffary for the maintenance and promotion of virtue, we must confider virtue not abftractedly and in idea, but as it fubfifts in fuch creatures as men. When therefore it is afferted, that virtue altually needs to be promoted by rewards, the meaning is plainly this, that men, before they will engage heartily in, and adhere fteadily to, the caufe of virtue, do really need to be fatisfied they fhall be rewarded for fo doing. The question thus ftated may be brought to a fhort iffue, by confidering the nature of man, and his circumftances with regard to things about him.

"As to man's nature, without attempting any minute and particular enumeration of the faculties of the foul, it may be fufficient to observe, (what, I fuppofe, will hardly be denied) that paffion or affection enters into our conftitution, as well as intelligence or reafon. And whatever pre-eminence may be allowed to reafon, (as, no doubt, much ought to be allowed) yet we find in particular cafes, without something of paffion REV. March, 1762. N

the