7 conclude with an extract, which will in fome measure give our readers an idea of the Reverend Father's manner: The progeny of the mind is contrary to that of nature. Its conception is toilfome, but its birth pleafing. In every stroke of their pen, Authors admire a happy offspring of their understanding, which makes them difregard the pains they took in the creation of it. I must confefs, however, that there is great difference between voluntary ftedy and that which is forced upon us. One is always agreeable, but the other has fomething in it which fatigues; as when we are obliged to oppofe a thefis in the fchools, or write a fermon in a hurry,' &c. &c. R- m This article has been long miflaid; for which fome apology is due to the TRANSLATOR. RELIGIOUS. Art. 65. Difcourfes on feveral important Subjects of Chriflianity. The Author affigns two reafons for the publication of this Volume. 1. To give his cordial affent to as many of the leading doctrines of Christianity as have occurred in thefe pages; which are not more the product of his judgment than they are in unifon to the feelings of his breaft.' Nor, it is added, does he blufh to confefs, that his fecondary aim was, to try every means which had any profpect of affifting him in rearing the young and numerous pledges of conjugal love, who have only the very circumfcribed industry of their parents to depend on, and the goodness of that Providence who never forfakes thofe that uniformly purfue the paths of virtue, and firmly truft in God.' To this laft motive much attention is due; and we hope it will prevail to procure him fomewhat really beneficial; though, otherwife, no great matters are generally to be expected from a volume of Sermons. What thofe leading truths are to which the writer hereby declares his affent, is not particularly fpecified; but we prefume he would choofe to be understood of fuch as are, in popular language, deemed orthodox. Into fuch topics, however, he does not deeply enter; for his difcourfes are chiefly directed to practical purpofes. Their number is feventeen; and their fubjects are as follow: Contentment; Philip. Chriftian and Molaic Difpenfation contrafted; John, i. 17. Halting between two Opinions; 1 Kings xviii. 21. Friends of Chrift; John, xv. 14. Marks of fuch a Character; fame text. Chriftian Fortitude; Pf. lxxi. 16. Religious Meditation; civ. 34. Objects of it; cxi. 2. The Divine Exemplar; Pf. xvi. 8. Firft Commandment; Exod. xx. 1, 2, 3. Second Commandment; Exod. xx. 4, 5, 6. Third Commandment; Exod. xx. 7. Vows; Judges, xi. 39. Delineation of the virtuous Character; Ifa. iii. 10. Rewards of Virtue at Death and in a future State; two fermons from the fame text. Nature and Confequences of impious Principles; Job, xxi. 14. The Author profeffes, in feveral or most of thefe difcourfes, to attempt the form of an oration by a concealment of the method. He farther fpeaks of annexing a key or kind of fupplement to another volume, which is foon to follow this, putting it in the power of any one to adopt the plan, and profecute it with their own illuftrations. This does not feem very requifite, as fermons in fuch a form are become pretty pretty common; and the generality of readers, whatever hearers might do, will not be greatly at a lofs for the method. H. Art. 66. Virtue and Learning the great Supports of Religion: -Being two Difcourfes preached before the Univerfity of Oxford in the Morning and Afternoon of Sunday the 25th of July, 1784. By the Rev. Evan Rice, A. M. 4to. 1s. 6d. Rivington. 1785. 2 Pet. i. 5. Giving all diligence, &c. This text is illuftrated in a grave and judicious manner under the following general remarks,viz. That our Chriftian profeffion ought to be attended with fuitable practice that practice ftands in need of knowledge to guide and direct it—and that diligence is neceffary for the attainment of thofe excellent endowments. The Preacher is careful to avoid extremes. In his definition of faith, he guards it against the perverfions of fanaticifm; and in his delineation of the great advantages of knowledge, he fhows his zeal for orthodoxy; and recommends the cultivation of letters, from a perfuafion that the increase of found learning will further the interefts and fupport the credit of the Church of England. SERMONS. B-k. I. The Divine Teftimony to the Character and Milion of Jefus Chrift confidered-on the Death of the Rev. Mr. Samuel Ecking, late Minifter of the Gofpel in Chefter, who departed this Life Feb. 5, 1785, in the 27th Year of his Age. To which is added, the Oration delivered at his Interment in Wrexham. Publifhed at Requeft. By Jofeph Jenkins, A. M. 8vo. 6d. Buckland. 1785. Matt. iii. 17. This is my beloved Son, &c. Mr. Jenkins made choice of this text because it was frequently in the mouth of the deceased, and more efpecially appeared to afford him the higheft confolation in his laft fickness. Both the Sermon and Oration bear marks of a vigorous imagination, and of abilities which we wish to fee employed in fupporting a more rational fyftem of divinity. Mr. Jenkins feems to have borrowed his notions refpe&ting juftification, conviction of fin, and evidences of grace, from the Sermons of Dr. Crifp. These notions have a dangerous tendency; and few who adopt them have, like our Author, cither the fenfe or the piety to guard them against the fatal conclufions of the Antinomian. The Oration at the interment clofes in the following animated manner: With this exhortation we fhut up the grave, and for a fhort term quit thofe receptacles of death.- Farewell, ye mouldering remains of a much-loved brother.-'Tis the cold confolation of the hopeless to add "We shall shortly return and be laid befide you."— Hail! that triumphant morn, when death fhall be swallowed up in victory! when you, with ourselves, and the multitude of the blessed that furrounds us, fhall rife again; when corruption fhall put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality.' Be H, Obedience to Divine Rule the Means of preferving and promoting brotherly Love in a Chriftian Church. Delivered at Chelmsford, Sept. 7th, 1784, at a Meeting of the Proteftant Diffenting Minifters in Effex. Published by Requeft. By Samuel Andrews. 8vo. 6d. Dilly. 4 A plain, A plain, but fenfible and well-arranged difcourfe, on Matt. xviii. 15 18. The difcipline recommended and enforced in it is of the Arict Independent fort. Every fociety of Chriftians constitutes a church; and that church hath within itself the power of the keys. The members that compofe it have a right, independent of all other focieties, and of all human authority, to exercise that difcipline which they judge to be confiftent with the divine rule., : We really think Mr. Andrews hath as much right to the keys as the Pope but when both he and his Holiness talk of opening and shutting the gates of heaven, we fmile at their prefumption, and rejoice that thofe gates are committed to the care of better hands; for, let the Pope and Mr. Andrews fay what they will, heaven doth not lacquey" their decifions, nor wait their orders, either to "bind" or looje" the fouls which Almighty Goodnefs hath created. B-k こん II. Preached on the 21st of May, 1786, in the Parish-church of Hardingilone, in the County of Northampton, on the Establishment of a Sunday School at that Place, for the Benefit of the Children of the Poor. By the Rev. Robert Lucas. 4to. Is. Robfon. 1786. A plain and fenfible difcourfe, well recommending and supporting the inftitution above mentioned. The Author, who appears to engage with piety and wifdom in the execution of this benevolent defign, had the fatisfaction to fee ninety-four children brought by their parents to be entered as fcholars, and on the fucceeding Sunday attending divine fervice, in an orderly and becoming manner." expences attending the fchool in this parish are to be paid from the parish-levy. The IV. The Fall of Man: a Sermon, by J. Watfon, Efq. 8vo. 6d. Stockdale. 1786. 'Squire Watfon appears to be good-natured and well-meaning; and fo far we approve both him and his publication: but we cannot help fmiling, when, after telling us, that Adam's fin was a violation of every command of both the first and fecond Table,' he pro ceeds to, enumerate the laws of the Decalogue, and finds no one. broken but the firft and the eighth. On the latter he very much infifts, confidering the offence particularly as a robbery. While he laments the effects of this tranfgreffion, he rejoices in the greater happinefs which will in time enfue; a happiness fo univerfal, that he feems to think the brute creation will participate in it, and at last all evil be fwallowed up of good.' Amen! H. In anfwer to F. A the review of Dr. Reid's Effays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, which hath been unavoidably delayed, will appear next month. +++ The answer to H. B. was left at the Publisher's. 11 The Obferver next month. ttt B. G.'s favour will be duly attended to. after. The letter relative to the Rabies Canina will be noticed here MONTHLY REVIEW, For SEPTEMBER, 1786. ART. I. Reed's Edition of SHAKSPEARE concluded: See our laft, WH P. 94. HAT must those who talk of the dull duty of an Editor,' think of the task of an Editor's Reviewer? And. yet we can affure those towering geniuses, with whom every ex-> ertion of diligence paffes for dulnefs, that even our present labours are not wholly barren of entertainment: witness the following notes, which if they do not relax the rifible muscles of our Readers, we can only fay that they have more gravity than is to be found in any member of our folemn corps. Mrs. Quickly, in her admirable defcription of the last moments of Sir John Falstaff, fays: After I faw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and fmile upon his fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way; for his nofe was as fharp as a pen, and a table of green fields.' Henry V. A&t II. Sc. 3. Now hear our Critics: — for his nofe was as sharp as a pen, and a table of green fields.] Thefe words, and a table of green fields, are not to be found in the old editions of 1600 and 1608. This nonfenfe got into all the following editions by a pleasant mistake of the ftage editors, who printed from the common piece-meal written parts in the play-house. A table was here directed to be brought in (it being a scene in a tavern where they drink at parting), and this direction crept into the text from the margin. Greenfield was the name of the property-man in that time, who furnished implements, &c. for the actors. A table of Greenfield's. POPE. So reasonable an account of this blunder, Mr. Theobald would not acquiefce in. He thought a table of Greenfield's part of the text, only corrupted, and that it should be read, he babbled of green fields, because men do fo in the ravings of a calenture. But he did not confider how ill this agrees with the nature of the knight's illness, who was now in no babbling humour; and fo far from wanting cooling in green fields, that his feet were cold, and he just expiring. WARBURTON.' Dr. Johnson then tells us, that Pope in an Appendix to his own edition in 12mo feems to admit Theobald's emendation, which' (fays the Doctor) we would have allowed to be uncomVOL. LXXV. monly M monly happy, had we not been prejudiced against it by Mr. Pope's first note, with which, as it excites merriment, we are loath to part.' Next comes Mr. Smith: Had the former editors been apprized, that table, in our author, fignifies a pocket-book, I believe they would have retained it, with the following alteration; for his nose was as sharp as a pen upon a table of green fells.-On table books, filver or fteel pens, very sharp pointed, were formerly and are ftill fixed to the backs or covers. Mother Quickly compares Falstaff's nofe (which in dying perfons grows thin and fharp) to one of thofe pens, very properly, and fhe meant probably to have faid, on a table-book with a fagreen cover, of fhagreen table; but, in her usual blundering way, the calls it a table of green fells, or a table covered with green-fkin, which the blunder ing tranfcriber turned into green fields, and our editors have turned the prettiest blunder in Shakspeare quite out of doors. SMITH.' And Mr. Steevens brings up the rear with a quotation from the Countess of Pembroke's Tragedie of Antonie, to prove that ༤ green fells and green fields might anciently have had the fame meaning.' Now, after all this, would any one conceive that Dame Quickly meant to fay no more than that Sir John's nose was as Sharp as a pen, and as green as grafs? And yet this is all that the does fay. Table, in old language often means picture; from the French tableau. In an inventory of goods, pictures, &c. in the palace of Westminster, in the reign of Henry VIII. (an extract of which may be feen in Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting), the term repeatedly occurs, thus: Item. One table with the picture of the Duchefs of Milan. Item. One table with the hiftory of Filius prodigus,' &c. Strype alfo (as Mr. Walpole informs us) fays, that Guillim Stretes, painter to Edward VI. had paid him, in 1551, fifty marks, for recompence of three great tables made by the faid Guillim, whereof two were pictures of his Highness, and the third a picture of the Earl of Surrey." Among the ftage directions in old plays we meet with the mu fical terms, tucket, tucket fonance; levet; fennet, or, as it is fometimes written, cynet. In a note upon Henry VIII. A II. Sc. 4. we are informed that Dr. Burney has, in vain, attempted to difcover the etymology of this laft word, fennet. The only result of his inquiries is a conjecture that it may poffibly mean a flourish for the purpose of affembling Chiefs, or apprizing the people of their approach.' To give weight to this conjecture, the Doctor produces the two following quotations: Senné, or fennie de l'Allemand; fen, qui fignifie affemblée. Dict. de vieux langage. Senne, affemblée à fon de cloche. Menage. Mr. Steevens tells us, he has been informed that fennefte was the name of an antiquated French tune formerly used in the army; but that the dictionaries he has confulted exhibit no fuch word. Sennet may be' (he adds) a corruption from fonata. Shall we venture ourfelves on the flippery ground of etymology? Take care, bro ther' |