to be truth. (The cafe is poffible: he is far from certain that GOD will allow of fophiftry, whatever his earthly fuperiors may.) What is he to do in this dilemma? Is he to be filent then, or to be kept back, or to retire from the miniftry of God in his church, because he is of all men the most fit to ferve in it? (If he retires ever so peaceably; he is liable to excommunication, and all its haraffing confequences.) Or is he to force himself into compliance, as thinking he can that way be moft ufeful to the cause of religion; and then to be reprobated and fufpected of finifter views, and branded with opprobrious names, because he folicits humbly to be relieved from fo iniquitous a burthen? And are the DISSENTERS to have the rod held over them for ever, if they will not comply with what we know they cannot ? Or are they to be fufpected of defigns against Christianity, or against the state, because they defire to be releafed from fo fevere a law; fo contrary to all the dictates of humanity, so contrary to all true Christianity?'

This may ferve as a fpecimen of our Author's manner of writing, which is fenfible, liberal, and manly. How it is poffible for our ecclefiaftical governors to peruse, with serious attention, what many other able writers have advanced upon this fubject, and, at the fame time, fatisfy themselves with fitting ftill as unconcerned fpectators of the laudable efforts of other men, is to us utterly inconceivable. If matters are to remain upon the prefent footing, we cannot but think, with our Author, that the glory of our Church is extin&t.

Those who have opportunities of converfing much with perfons in high life, laugh at the Petitioning Clergy, and vindicate the conduct of our ecclefiaftical governors. They tell us, that the Petitioners, they believe, are worthy honeft creatures, good, fimple fouls, but that they know nothing of the world, and have very confined views ;-the Bishops, on the contrary, they say, are perfons of fuperior capacities, and enlarged views; that they have too much good fenfe not to look upon all religious fyftems as pretty much the fame; and that they would therefore act a very abfurd and impolitic part were they to risk the confequences of making any alterations. But is not this a ftrange apology for their Lordships? Some of them, we know, would not think themselves at all obliged to fuch vindicators; and we have charity enough to hope as much of the reft of the right reverend Bench.

ART. IV. The Hiftory of Lord Stanton. By a Gentleman of the Middle Temple, Author of The Trial. 12mo. 3 Vols. 9s. Vernor, TE remember to have read The Trial with greater pleafure than we in general receive from works of this naSee Review for January 1772, p. 79.

W

ture;

ture; and our fenfible Author has continued to amufe us agreeably, in the volumes now before us. The Hiftory of Lord Stanton, though not any way equal to the works of our firftrate writers, in this branch of literature, are much fuperior to the common run of those romances that are daily published under the titles of Navels; and we will venture to affure those of our Readers, who have a tafte for writings of this kind, that they will not find the time employed in perufing the prefent work wholly thrown away.

Many of the letters contained in this Hiftory are fenfible, fpirited, and affecting. Lord Stanton having been, by the care of his mother, educated in the country, and entirely fecluded from the great and gay world, till he was of age, now leaves his retirement, and, under the concealed name of Benson, arrives in London; where, having by a fortunate accident, been introduced to a genteel family, he proceeds to make his obfervations on men and manners, as they appear to him in that great theatre of pleasure and diffipation. The feducing scenes he meets with, have however a visible effect on his morals; and the severity of his virtue more than begins to relax when he gives his friend in the country the following account of a masquerade scene, in which he was peculiarly interested.-This, and his friend's anfwer to it, with fome abridgment, will be fufficient to fhew the style and manner in which this Hiftory is written.

Ignorant of the ways of the world. as I am, yet I have not been without my atchievements: a porter put a billet into my hand, and, whilft I was admiring the fuperfcription of it, got off unquestioned. It was addreffed in the monitory verse of Dryden: "Be difcreet-Love's fairy favours are loft when not concealed." This bespoke a mystery, and I haftily burst open the paper; it contained these words: "Titania, Queen of the Fairies, to the moft charming of the Sons of Men-Love fpares not immortality-and I have felt his fhafts, that mortals have been admitted to our embraces is authorized by many inftances: that heighth of honour is referved for you. I fhall be at the mafquerade to-morrow night in my proper drefs. If you dare encounter me I fhall meet you half way; but I know that fecrecy alone can enfure you a fairy's affection. Perhaps before we part I may condefcend to be a mortal."It is not to be fuppofed I failed to meet my fair antagonist: to encounter the Queen of the Fairies it was neceffary that I fhould put on proper apparel: I was drest like a forefter, green was the close habit which fitted my body; my fpear glitter'd in my hand, and my bugle horn hung from my fhoulders; but till her Majesty appeared, I concealed myself in a domino. She did not enter the room till late, and her appearance attracted the eyes of the whole motley company: her robe was of a light blue, em

broidered

broidered with filver ftars, and flowers; her hair was bound up fpirally, and a string of diamonds appeared to confine it, which terminated in a large crefcent, I cannot really describe the other parts of her drefs, which bespoke an elegant fancy, and great richness: I must not however forget her wand, nor to tell you that her fhape was faultlefs, and her air noble. I attended her fome time in my domino, and liftened to the answers fhe gave the crowd that thronged about her; for, coming into the room alone, fhe excited every body's attention, and was attacked on all fides; I call her alone, as fhe had only a perfon in the character of an attendant fairy with her. She repulfed every body that came near her, and her eye was in queft of fomething, fhe knew not what. It was time to relieve her from her anxiety; and, flipping out to the place where my fervant attended, I threw off my domino, and entered as the hunterI approached her, and whether the knew my perfon or not in that difguife, the started as I came near her. I have received a fore wound faid I, and the Queen of the Fairies can alone cure me." "Is it vifible?" "No; and that makes it the more dangerous." "When did you receive it ""Yesterday at noon." "Ha! Forefter, are you come ?" "Yes, and you must lay afide your pretenfions to fairy knowledge, for I have attended your perfon in disguise ever fince you appeared, while your eye was feeking me in vain. You muft drop your divinity, and break your wand, for I can be as fecret to a fair mortal, as to the Queen of the Fairies." "You rob: me of my divinity too foon: confider I fhall be lefs troublefome in this affumed character than when I fink into a meer woman." By this time we had got away from the company, and found ourfelves almoft alone. Here we entered into converfation, and I prevailed with her to fhew me her face, which would not have difgraced the reality of the character fhe affumed. It was really charming an explanation foon enfued, and we retired from the crowd which prevented our joy, and heightened expec

tation.

• Do not imagine I país my time in feducing innocence, or violating the nuptial bed-no fuch thing. This was the mistress of a nobleman, who kept her more for the vanity of having fo fine a woman in his power, than for any other gratification. She thought herself at liberty to please her fancy, and I happened to be the happy man. Well, Thompson, and where's the harm of all this? Your gravity will be difpleafed with it, and will make you look on me as a very bad fellow; but though I indulge and gratify the defires fo natural, and confequent to youth, I truft I do not forget the dictates of honour, or fail to pay a due refpect to virtue.

His friend who, though little older than Lord Stanton, had lived with him as his tutor and companion, thus fenfibly replies to the foregoing letter:

If I can prefume upon the right of a friend, which ever implies equality, your excufes for your filence cannot be admitted. Oh, my good friend, they are the worst that can be framed, and forry I am to tell you fo. Oh thou of little refolution, who canft fo foon relinquifh thy boafted attachment to virtue, whose heart yields to every flight and tranfient temptation. The honour of thy youth forfaken, and forgot; in what manner fhall I addrefs you? How shall the admonitions of thy friend reach thy ears, fill'd with flattery and falfehood, or how fhall my words gain a paffage to thy heart, when all the avenues are choaked with variety, and fill'd with licentious pleafure? I cannot fo far forget my former intereft in you, as not to warn you, with friendly voice, to avoid the edge of the precipice that yawns beneath you, and where, if you fall, ruin and deftruction await you. How many are the fubterfuges vice flies to, endeavouring to palliate her actions with the femblance of right! Thus you call the acquaintance of the lewd and abandoned, a knowledge of the world; and thus you ftile libertinifm and folly, vivacity and fpirit. Who are your companions? With whom do you affociate? Those whom honour has forfaken, whom virtue difowns, who are unacquainted with honefty, who are strangers to every thing good. Thou shalt not touch pitch, but thou fhalt be defiled; and a communication with the votaries of folly fhall contaminate the heart. The fentiments and the actions have a close connection with each other. If your heart is not totally abandoned, you must have shrunk back with horror on your first introduction to the paths of licentioufnefs. The man who hears without difapproving, tacitly commends; then where will this road lead us? Oh 'tis too difmal to think of it, or caft our eyes only where it begins to terminate; misfortune, difeafe, infamy, wait with open arms to receive you.But I queftion if your generous heart could fupport the difgrace which you will find awaits you. When your eyes come to be opened, when all your actions, however bad or difhoneft, are hung up in the fane of Time, and Memory, ever to be then fhunned, takes them down, and prefents them to your view, the colours heightened by reflection, and your paffions fled, what then will become of you? Can you fupport your own thoughts, or bear the idea, even at prefent, of what may happen hereafter? You know not the nature of the actions you commit every moment, how unjust, or bad, exclufive of the immorality of them, though cuftom has gilded them over with the appellation of gallantry and amour.

confider

confider that adventure, that to your fhame you boast of, which vanity and falfe pride makes you think glorious and honourable, you will find that you have violated another's right, which he purchased, and though difhonourable or criminal in him, was ftill more fo in you, who added injuftice to guilt. The mind that feels not a repugnance, an abhorrence at the commiffion of. a crime, foon grows callous to all the admonitions of virtue : but I will not think fo ill of you; for as yet you may have unwillingly fuffered yourself to be carried away by the strong tide of pleasure, and look back with forrow to the peaceful shore you have quitted.-Oh, my good friend, let not my zeal appear impertinent, nor my friendship officious; my regard, my affection for you infpires my pen and prompts my heart. The man who offends least has the greatest right to warn others from the ways of vice, but he who has felt the lash of remorse, has been pierced with the arrows of felf-conviction, can more truly defcribe the miferies attending a courfe of folly, and the gratification of the paffions. I, alas! am an example, a melancholy example of the latter.'

As the fourth volume is not published, and, confequently, the history remains unfinished, we fhall here conclude this article, which has already been extended longer perhaps than fome of our graver Readers may think was neceflary.

With refpect to the ftyle of this work, the language is more eafy than correct; and there are a multitude of little flips, which feem to intimate, that the Author wrote in hafte. The bookfeller, too, appears to have been as much in a hurry as the Writer.

*Since this article was put to the prefs, we have feen the 4th and 5th vols. of the History of Lord Stanton advertised.

ART. V. The Hiftory of Agathon. By C. M. Wieland. Tranflated from the German Original. 12mo. 4 Vols. 12 s. Cadell. 1773.

R. Wieland has already been introduced to the acquaintance of our Readers. His Socrates was tranflated in 1772, and we gave a brief character of it in the Review for June, in the fame Year. His Reafon triumphant over Fancy appeared foon after, in an English drefs; and our account of it will be found in our Number for February, 1773. In these articles we afferted the originality of this German genius, and +

+ We do not mean to intimate that Mr. W. is the first modern writer who hath pursued the idea of a PHILOSOPHICAL ROMANCE. We have not forgotten the celebrated Telemachus, nor the Travels of Cyrus, nor the Adventures of Neoptolemes, the Son of Achilles.

allowed