dious cenfures of his enemies; and of which he more than once complains. So firmly, fays he, is this bigotry established, that I have lately been aftured by unexceptionable evidence, that a certain faponaceous brewer perfifts to deny the practicability of making Ifinglafs in England, and reprefents the affair as an infidious trick to impofe upon thofe lefs happy in difcernment than himself; this circumftance reminds me of a story fathered upon a certain Welchman, who, on his arrival at London, miftaking British afparagus for lecks, began to devour the wrong ends; and, notwithstanding he was frequently admonifhed of his error, yet, rather than acknowledge it, continued to eat it fo all his life-time.'

Our Author fuppofes that the fining powers of Ifinglafs depend upon its fibrous texture. These fibres are easily rendered vifible to the naked eye; and are fitted for their operation by being feparated, macerated, or in part diffolved by a proper medium.Neither gum, fize, glue, jellies, which are a kind of half-finished glue, or Ifinglafs itself diffolved in hot water, poffels the fining properties of Ifinglafs when duly divided by a fubacid menftruum; and the beft menftruum for this purpofe is frong ftale beer.

That any perfon may have an opportunity of obferving the operation of fining, or be fatisfied as to the relative merits of British or foreign Ifinglafs, Mr. Jackfon directs the following experi

ments.

• Provide a cylindrical glafs, about five inches diameter, and two feet long, which may be eafily procured at the glass-houses; let it be made pretty ftrong, with a narrow rim, that it may be laid over with a cover occafionally, and likewife have a glass cover fitted to it, like what the confectioners ufe. Let a small whifk be prepared, by ftripping off as many flender twigs from a birch broom, or common whifk, as will give it the thickness of half an inch in the middle, where it is to be tied round with pack-thread; draw off as much beer out of the butt intended to be fined, as will fill the glafs within four inches of the top, then beat up about fix fpoonfuls of fining in a bafon, with the whisk, a few minutes by itfelf; after which add gradually a little of the beer in the glafs, and whifk it again till it appears very light and frothy: ftir the beer about brifkly in the glafs, and immediately pour in the fining, and commix them very well, put on the cover, and place the glafs in a good light; as foon as the mixture has loft its vertical motion given it by ftirring, innumerable little males, refembling brown-coloured curd, may be perceived to form and move in various directions throughout the whole liquor, which every moment increafe in magnitude, till at length they feparate at confiderable diftances, and fome parts fall down

Mr. Combrune defines wort to be a- fpecies of foap.

to

to the bottom, while others afcend to the top, on account of fome air bubbles, confined in the curdled matter, which, on breaking at the furface, fall directly to the bottom; but if the air is not discharged, the curd will be fufpended thereby, and form a kind of fcum; if the fining is good, and the beer in proper condition to receive it, that part in the middle of the glass will become of a blackish transparent hue in a fhort time, and if prudently drawn off by a fyphon, will be found very bright; in twenty-four hours the fining will fettle pretty close to the bottom, and very little remain at top, unless the beer be in a fretting ftate; in which cafe the fining will be carried tumultuously up to the surface, by means of the vaft number of air bubbles perpetually generating and afcending in all fermenting fluids; but as foon as that action is over, the fining will fall to the bottom, and produce its proper effect, especially if a finall addition be flightly ftirred in at the furface the next day, with caution not to disturb what is already fubfided; thus it is evident, that at the very inftant that fining is commixed with beer to be clarified, the ftale beer, in which the Ifinglafs was diffolved, or divided, quits the fibres, and unites with the body of the beer; while at the fame time the fibres, now fet loose, and every where interfperfed in the beer, attract and unite with the loose feculent particles, which, before this union, being of the fame specific gravity with the beer, could not poffibly fubfide alone, but by this reciprocal attraction having obtained an additional weight, are now rendered proportionably heavier, and precipitate together of course in form of the curdly magma juft mentioned.'

The above phenomena, we apprehend, are not to be explained from any mechanical confideration of the fibrous texture of Ifinglafs, but manifeftly point out what the chemifts call an ELEC

TIVE ATTRACTION.

Where the beer is fpecifically heavier than the fining, the fining rifes and floats at the furface, fays our Author: but where the beer and the fining are of the fame fpecific gravity, they remain united, the feculencies do not fubfide, and the beer is then faid to be ftubborn.—Stubbornness, however, we imagine, does not fo much depend upon a famenefs as to the specific gravities, as upon fome fault either in the beer or the fining, by which the elective attraction is prevented taking place.When beer is ftubborn, Mr. Jackfon recommends a particular attention to experiments made with his proof-glasses: thefe, he fays, are made of the best glafs, and contain about two quarts each, wih a mouth about one inch and half, and bottom three inches diameter; their form is pyramidal, the better to prevent the fing from adhering to the fides, and examine the colour of ter onder different denfities.

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Thus, if we want to know the condition of different guyles or butts of beer, a glafs must be appointed to every butt, which must be marked or numbered; each glass must be filled two thirds full, or more, with the refpective beers placed in a good light, and the tafte, colour, and fretting difpofition firft examined then having a little good fining ready whifked up in a bason, as before directed, put into each glafs a common fpoonful by meafure, with the ufual precautions; 'twift a little paper over each glafs, and let them ftand quiet; in a fhort time a perfon of tolerable difcernment will perceive what beer, according to the common phrafe, falls kindly, or turns out ftubborn, proves cloudy or fretting, high or low coloured, &c. he will likewife perceive what quantity of fining is neceffary for one fort more than another, the difference of time in becoming bright, and furnish himself with the moft eligible methods of redreffing general defects; and thus, by experiments in the fmall way, he will be enabled to form right prognoftics, and may fafely proceed to the large; for whatever phænomena occur in the glafs, will turn out exacly the fame in the butt, due regard being had to difference in proportion.'Our Author would have performed. a very acceptable fervice to the brewer, had he pointed out the particular means and management, neceffary to remedy cach particular fault.

Mr. Jack fon has precluded any obfervations on his language or manner of philofophifing. The preffing folicitations, fays he, of fome friends, and the urgent neceffity of publication at this juncture, I flatter myself, will apologize for fome inaccuracies, &c.'-We cannot enter into any detail of our Author's hints on malting, brewing, fermenting, &c. but recommend his effay to the perufal of thofe who are interested in thefe fubjects.

D.

Conclufion of the Account of Mofheim's Ecclefiaftical Hiflory. See our Review for October, p. 330.

H

AVING, in two preceeding articles, endeavoured to give fome idea of the firft volume of this excellent work, we shall now conclude our account of it, by laying before our Readers fome extracts from the fecond volume, which is introduced with a history of the Reformation. This hiftory is divided into four parts: the, first contains an account of the ftate of Chriftianity before the commencement of the Reformation; the fecond comprehends the hiftory of the Reformation from its firft beginnings until the date of the confeffion drawn up at Augsburg; the third exhibits.

a view

1

a view of the fame hiftory, from this latter period to the commencement of the war of Smalcald; and the fourth carries it down to the peace that was entered into with the abettors of the Reformation, in the year 1555.

The view which Dr. Mofheim gives of this glorious revolution in the ftate of Chriftianity, to which we are indebted for many ineftimable advantages, though fhort, is clear and diftinét, and contains many juft and pertinent obfervations. He introduces it in the following manner :

While the Roman pontif flumbered in fecurity at the head of the church, and faw nothing throughout the vaft extent of his dominion but tranquillity and fubmiffion, and while the worthy and pious profeffors of genuine Chriftianity almoft defpaired of feeing that reformation on which their moft ardent defires and expectations were bent, an obfcure and inconfiderable person arofe, on a fudden, in the year 1517, and laid the foundation of this long-expected change, by oppofing, with undaunted refolution, his fingle force to the torrent of papal ambition and def potifm. This extraordinary man was Martin Luther, a native of Aifleben in Saxony, a monk of the Auguftinian Eremites, who were one of the Mendicant orders, and, at the fame time, profeffor of divinity in the academy that had been erected at Wittemberg, a few years before this period, by Frederick the Wife. The papal chair was, at this time, filled by Leo X; Maximilian I, a prince of the house of Auftria, was king of the Romans, and emperor of Germany; and Frederick, already mentioned, elector of Saxony. The bold efforts of this new adverfary of the pontifs were honoured with the applauses of many, but few or none entertained hopes of their fuccefs. It feemed fcarcely poffible that this puny David could hurt a Goliah, whom fo many heroes had oppofed in vain.

None of the qualities or talents that diftinguifhed Luther were of a common or ordinary kind. His genius was truly great and unparalleled; his memory vaft and tenacious; his patience in fupporting trials, difficulties, and labour, incredible; his magnanimity invincible and independent on the viciffitudes of human affairs; and his learning moft extenfive, confidering the age in which he lived. All this will be acknowledged even by his enemies, at least by such of them as are not totally blinded by a fpirit of partiality and faction. He was deeply verfed in the theology and philofophy that were in vogue in the fchools during this century, and he taught them both with the greatest reputation and fuccefs in the academy of Wittemberg. As a philofopher, he embraced the doctrine of the Nominalifts, which was the fyftem adopted by his order; while, in divinity, he followed chiefly the fentiments of Auguftin; but in both he preferred the decifions of fcripture and the dictates of right reason

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before the authority and opinions of fallible men. It would be equally rafh and abfurd to reprefent this great man as exempt from error and free from infirmities and defects; yet, if we except the contagious effects of the age in which he lived, and of the religion in which he had been brought up, we fhall, perhaps, find but a few things in his character that render him liable to reproach [m].'

Dr. Mofheim has taken no notice of the calumnies invented and propagated by fome late authors, in order to make Luther's zealous oppofition to the publication of indulgences appear to be the effect of felfish and ignoble motives. His ingenious Translator, however, has, in a very judicious manner, fet this matter in true light; not that the cause of the Reformation, he says, (which muft ftand by its own intrinfic dignity, and is, in no way, affected by the views or characters of its inftruments) can derive any ftrength from this enquiry, but as it may tend to vindicate the perfonal character of a man, who has done eminent fervice to the caufe of religion.

Mr. Hume, fays Mr. Maclaine, in his Hiftory of the Reign of Henry VII. has thought proper to repeat what the enemies of the Reformation, and fome of its dubious or ill-informed friends, have advanced with refpect to the motives that engaged Luther to oppofe the doctrine of indulgences. This elegant and perfuafive historian tells us, that the Austin friars had ufually been employed in Saxony to preach indulgences, and from this truft had derived both profit and confideration; that Arcemboldi gave this accupation to the Dominicans; that Martin Luther, an Austin friar, profeffor in the university of Wittemberg, resenting the affront put upon his Order, began to preach against the abufes that were committed in the fale of indulgences, and, being provoked by oppofition, proceeded even to decry indulgences themselves +. It were to be wifhed, that Mr. Hume's candor had engaged him to examine this accufation better, before he had determined to repeat it, For, in the first place, it is not true, that the Austin friars had been ufually employed in Saxony to preach indulgences. It is well known, that that commiffion had been offered alternately, and fometimes jointly to all the Mendicants, whether Austin friars, Dominicans, Francifcans, or Carmelites. Nay, from the year 1229, that lucrative commiffion was principally intrufted with

[m] The writers, who have given any circumftantial account of Luther, and his tranfactions, are accurately enumerated by Jo. Alb. Fabricius, in his Centifolium Lutheranum, the first part of which was pub. lifhed at Hamburg in the year 1728, and the fecond in 1730, in 8vo.' < * Hume's History of England, under the Houfe of Tudor, vol. i. p. 119. + Id. Ib. p. 120,

the