for September laft) in which he is difpofed to be very witty and ludicrous. He tells his Readers, that Dr. Lowth fails in his firft point, which is, finding out civil magiftrates to do his hierarchical drudgery.

Your argument, fays our Author, is really a pleasant one; in proper form it stands thus: All Civil Magiftrates are Kings; but the Patriarchs were not Kings; therefore the Patriarchs were not Civil Magiftrates. The proof of the Major, I prefume, can be no other than this: All Kings are Civil Magiftrates; therefore all Civil Magiftrates are Kings: which, according to the Old Canons of Logick, is what, I think, we used to call a Falfe Converfion. But, my Lord, though one fhould grant, that real power neceffarily depended on nominal title, and was always exactly proportionable to it; will not the title itfelf of Patriarch be fufficient for my purpose? Though Job and Abraham were not Kings; yet might they not be really and effectually Rulers of Tribes? And though the celebrated Mr. Shinkin was not King, nor fo much as Prince of Wales; yet might he not be the Worshipful Davyth ap Shinkin, Efq; one of the Justices of the Quorum for the County of Montgomery?—

You think you are mighty witty upon me with King Melchifedec, and King Shinkin. On me your jeer glances aflope; but it lights full upon Mofes and St. Paul. Your Monarch, though dropt from the clouds, yet not of the true flamp, by hereditary right; your ludicrous interpretation, of the Tythes taken from Abraham into fines for Nonconformity, and the Bleffing into a Spiritual-Court Abfolution; your fneer upon the original Scriptures of the Old Teftament under the title of the HEBREW VERITY, "characteristic phrafe with an Ironical Emphasis, which is your conftant formula," when you fpeak of the Hebrew Scriptures; your infinuation, that even the fimple terms ufed in the Hebrew Verity are ambiguous and contradictory: all this has nothing to do with me, nor has it the leaft relation to the fubject. It is all far-fetched conceit, and forced pleafantry; void of wit, of meaning, of common decency, of common fenfe: it is low banter, and illiberal burlefque, upon the Prophet, the Apostle, and the Holy Scriptures. It is really to be lamented, when we fee a Gentleman and a Scholar join the small-dealers in fecondhand Ridicule, and with affected wit and real profanenefs, merely for the fake of exerting his little talent of drollery, treat the Holy Scripture as cavalierly, as ever did Collins or Tindal, Lords Shaftsbury or Bolingbroke.' But when we fee You, my Lord, a Clergyman, and but I forbear, in regard to

your rank and character: it were well, if You had a proper regard to them Yourself.'

* See Doctrine of Grace; p. 309.
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Rev. Nov. 1765.

From

From Buffoonery to Scurrility is an easy tranfition; which brings our Author to the fcurrilous part of his Lordship's Appendix.

You are pleased, fays he, to represent me as a Zealot and a Bigot, a Propagator of the doctrine of Restraint and Perfecution in Matters of Religion, and one that has not been bred up in the Principles of Toleration. Pray, my Lord, unde petitum Hoc in me jacis? You infer it as the confequence of an argument which I have occafionally ufed. Is this a candid, or a fair inference? If, even upon your own principle, that the grofleft act of Idolatrous Worship is no more than a mere fpeculative Opinion, I had held, that it was nevertheless the Duty of the Patriarchs, a Duty arifing from their peculiar engagements with God, and from their particular fituation and circumftances, which I exprefsly infifted on, to restrain Idolatry ;. would it fairly be inferred, that I am an enemy to Toleration in general, and by habit and principle of an inquifitorial and perfecuting fpirit? Even in this cafe, the inference would have been ungererous and invidious: but as it is, it arifes from your own Sophiftry, and not from my Argument; from which, however you might prefs and torture it for bad confequences, you might as well have concluded, that I was a Jew, or a Mahometan, as an Intolerant and a Perfecutor. Or have you any other reafons for fixing these principles upon me? Have you obferved any thing in my actions, or converfation, that warrants the imputation? As it happens, I have never omitted any opportunity, that fairly offered itfelf, of bearing my teftimony against these very principles; and of expreffing my abhorrence of them, both in private and in public. Tho' I cannot fuppofe, that your Lordship ever condefcended to look into what I have publifhed; except that once you dipped up and down in my Lectures for offenfive paflages, which you could neither find nor make: yet methinks you might have recollected, what I had written to yourself in private. Why then am I branded as an intolerant Zealot? And You, my Lord, is it You of all men living, that fland forth to accufe another of Intolerance of Opinions!

But the Abufe is not merely Perfonal: it goes further; it extends even to the Place of my Education. "But the learned Profejer, who has been hardily brought up in the keen Atmofphere of WHOLESOME SEVERITIES, and early taught to diftinguish between de facto and de jure" Pray, my Lord, what is it to the purpose, where I have been brought up? You charge me with Principles of Intolerance, adding a gentle infinuation alfo of Difaffection to the Prefent Royal Family and Government: you infer thefe Principles, it feems, froin the Place of my Education. Is this a neceffary confequence? Is it even a fair conclufion? May not one have had the good fenfe, or

the

the good fortune, to have avoided, or to have gotten the better of, the ordinary prejudices of Education? Why then fhould you think, that I muft ftill neceffarily labour under the bad influence of an Atmosphere, which I happened to breathe in my youth? If I am not actually chargeable with fuch Principles now; furely it is rather matter of commendation to have escaped, or to have fhaken off, a vice, to which you think I was unhappily expofed. To have made a proper ufe of the advantages of a good education, is a juft praife; but to have overcome the difadvantages of a bad one, is a much greater. In fhort, my Lord, I cannot but think, that this inquifition concerning my Education is quite befide the purpose. Had I not your Lordship's example to justify me, I fhould think it a piece of extreme impertinence to enquire, where You were bred; though one might justly plead, in excufe for it, a natural curiofity to know where and how fuch a Phenomenon was produced. It is commonly faid, that your Lordship's Education was of that particular kind, concerning which it is a remark of that great judge of men and manners, Lord CLARENDON, (on whom You have therefore with a wonderful happiness of allufion, juftnefs of application, and elegance of expreffion, conferred the unrivaled title of the Chancellor of Human Nature,') that it pecu liarly difpofes men to be Proud, Infolent, and Pragmatical *. Now, my Lord, as You have in your whole behaviour, and in all your writings, remarkably diftinguished yourself by your hu mility, lenity, meeknefs, forbearance, candour, humanity, civility, decency, good manners, good temper, moderation with regard to the opinions of others, and a modeft diffidence of your own; this unpromifing circumftance of your Education is fo far from being a difgrace to You, that it highly redounds to your praise.

But, I am wholly precluded from all claim to fuch merit: on the contrary, it is well for me, if I can acquit myfelf of a charge that lies hard upon me; the burthen of being refponfible for the great advantages, which I enjoyed. For, my Lord, I was educated in THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. I enjoyed all the advantages both public and private, which that famous Seat of Learning fo largely affords. 1 fpent many happy years in that Illuftrious Society, in a well-regulated courfe of ufeful difcipline

*Colonel Harrison was the fon of a butcher near Nantwich in Chefhire, and had been bred up in the place of Clerk under a Lawyer of good account in thofe parts; which kind of Education introduces men. into the language and practice of business; and, if it be not refifted by the great genuity of the perfon, inclines young men to more Pride,. than any other kind of breeding; and difpofes them to be Pragmatical and Infolent, Clarendon's Hiftory; Vol. iii, p. 246: 8vo.

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and studies, and in the agreeable and improving commerce of Gentlemen and of Scholars: in a Society, where emulation without envy, ambition without jealoufy, contention without animofity, incited industry, and awakened genius; where a liberal purfuit of knowledge, and a generous freedom of thought, was raifed, encouraged, and pushed forward, by example, by commendation, and by authority. I breathed the fame Atmosphere, that the HOOKERS, the CHILLINGWORTHS, and the LOCKES, had breathed before: whofe benevolence and humanity were as extenfive as their vaft genius and their comprehenfive knowledge; who always treated their adverfaries with civility and refpect; who made candour, moderation, and liberal judgment, as much the rule and law, as the fubject of their discourse; who did not amufe their Readers with empty declamations and finefpun theories of Toleration, while they were themselves agitated with a furious Inquifitorial fpirit, feizing every one they could lay hold on, for prefuming to diffent from them in matters the most indifferent, and dragging them through the fiery Ordeal of abufive Controverfy. And do you reproach me with my education in This Place, and with my relation to This most refpectable Body; which I will always efteem my greatest advantage, and my highest honour ?

This, my Lord, could not be your defign. The stroke was not principally aimed at me; your design was, by a far-fetched conceit, to ftrike through me at The Univerfity of OXFORD; and to reflect on that eminent Seat of Learning, as a Nursery of bigotry, intolerance, perfecution, and difloyalty. I fhall not trouble myself to enquire into the grounds and reasons, which you may pretend for this iniquitous and fcurrilous Reflection on fo illuftrious a Body:' the real motives of your Panegyric and Satire are not to be fought in the merits or demerits of the particular fubjects of them; but in times, circumstances, and private hiftory; by which, it is well known, they are conftantly regulated, and with which they always vary.'

The Doctor goes on to account for the different manner in which his Lordfhip has expreffed himself at different times, in regard to the Univerfity of Oxford. This part of the Letter will appear very curious, and interefting to the difcerning Reader: but we must not enlarge. The extracts we have given are fufficient fpecimens of the manly, fpirited, elegant, and judicious manner in which the Doctor treats his adverfary; and may ferve to fhew in fome measure, how far he is a match for his Lordship, either as a Writer, or a Scholar.

R.

MONTHLY

MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For NOVEMBER, 1765.

RELIGIOUS and CONTROVERSIAL..

Art. 8. A Treatise on Peace of Soul, and Content of Mind. Written originally in French, by Mr. Peter du Moulin, the Son *. A Work confifting of Devotion, Morality, Divinity, and Philofophy; adapted to every Capacity, and equally proper for all Chriftians in general. First corrected, improved, and republished with Notes, by Mr. Sartoris. And now tranflated into English, with additional Notes, by John Scrope, D. D. Rector of Caftlecombe, and Vicar of Kington St. Michaels, in the County of Wilts. 8vo. 2 Vols. 7s. few'd. Millar, &c.

F

EW of the religious writings of the laft age, are likely to meet with many admirers in the prefent, the tafte of the times being in this, as well as in other refpects, very different from what it was an hundred years ago. The theological writers who flourished in this country, from the days of James I. down to thofe of Queen Anne, had neither the happy turn of fentiment, nor of language, which, in thefe days of general improvement, concur, to render the writings of our later divines fo much more agreeable to the ear, as well as more improving to the mind. Witnefs the writings of Tillotfon, Clarke, Sherlock, Balguy, Abernethy, Fofter;-compared with: but peace to the manes of many a well-meaning fon of piety, whofe works, after all, were fuited to the times in which they appeared, and were not unprofitable in their generation.

Mr. du Moulin, the author of the above-mentioned treatife on peace of foul and content of mind, was one of thofe writers, who, although justly held in efteem a century ago, will not be fo very ac ceptable to fuch as have formed their notions, with regard to religious and moral fubjects, on the works of thofe excellent divines above

His father was the celebrated Profeffor Peter du Moulin. He was obliged to quit France on account of an intercepted letter which he wrote to our James I. exhorting him to alift his fon-in-law, Frederick V. Elector-palatine; adding that the French protestants would thereby judge what friendship they might, occafionally, expect from him. He obtained fome ecclefiaftical preferments in England; lived to be chaplain to Charles II. and a prebendary of Canterbury; where he died in 684; aged 94. Bayle makes honourable mention beth of our Author and of his father.-Befides the treatife now tranflated by Dr. Scrope, there are extant his Sermons, and other works, fome written in Latin, others in English. Among the reit, Clamor Regii Sanguinis ad Cælum, against Milton; and another entitled A Vindication of the Sincerity of the Proteftant Religion, again the Jefuits book, called Philanx Anglicus. For farther particulars of this Writer, and especially of his amiable private character, we refer to the preface by the Tranflator, and to the notes fubjoined to the Author's preface.

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