nor Calvinifts; that they think they follow the doctrine of • the primitive church; that they are far from canonizing the paffions of Luther and Calvin; and that the disagreeable cha⚫racter of those men, is no more reafon for prejudicing the • Reformed against their opinions, than the manners of Alexander VI, and Leo X, and the perfecutions for religion, are ⚫ an objection against the church of Rome with a fenfible Ca⚫tholic.

This is a wife anfwer; and indeed the fpirit of moderation '. feems to have fucceeded the inveterate animofity of both parties. If the fame fanguinary difpofition had continued to pre<fide over religion, Europe would have been by this time one great church-yard. At length the spirit of philofophy has blunted the edge of their fwords. But what neceffity was ⚫ there for a madness of two hundred years, to arrive at a few days happiness?

Thefe difputes being decided by the fword, put the Laity in poffeffion of great part of the Church lands, but did not • enrich the Theologians, who promoted the wars. They had the fate of those who found a charge, without sharing the fpoils. The Paftors of the Proteftant Churches had declaimed fo vehemently againft the riches of the Clergy, that it would have been very unbecoming of them to take up with what they condemned; therefore moft States laid hold of this ⚫ circumstance to prevent their being opulent. The Calviniftical and Lutheran Clergy have had fuch incomes allowed them, as are inconfiftent with luxury. The abbey lands in moft countries have been feized on by the Government, and applied to the fupport of hofpitals. Lubec and Ofnabrug are the only rich Proteftant Bishoprics in Germany, whofe revenues have • not been fecularized. When we come to enquire further into the confequences of this revolution, we shall fee the whimfical but pacific agreement, whereby the treaty of Weftphalia has rendered this bishopric of Ofnabrug alternately Catholic and Lutheran. In England the Reformation was more favourable to the Clergy than it has been in Germany, in Swifferland, and in the Low Countries to the Lutherans and Calvinifts. The English Bifhoprics are all confiderable; and the benefices are fuch as a man may genteelly live upon. The country Clergy are more at their eafe than in France; the • Government and the Laity have profited by the diffolution of the abbies only. There are entire parifhes in London, heretofore occupied by a fingle Convent, and now filled with a multitude of families. In general every nation that has converted the religious houfes to the public ufe, hath gained thereby, humanly fpeaking, and no body has been injured. For, indeed, nothing is taken from a Society which no long

6

er

<er exifts. No body was hurt but the tranfient poffeffors who were ejected; and these have left no defcendants that can com plain. It is but the injuftice of a day, which has been productive of the bleffings of many ages.

Yet in the midft of this confufion, and before any fort of order could be established, the two parties, the Catholics and Lutherans, were throwing Germany into a combustion. The Religion called Evangelical, had been established already in 1555, in twenty-four Imperial cities, and in eighteen fmall provinces of the Empire. The Lutherans would fain reduce the power of Charles V, and he wanted to deftroy them. • Leagues were formed; and battles were fought: but we must < proceed with the revolutions in matters of Religion, and fee in what manner the Church of England was established, and how the Church of France was rent and divided.'

In the course of his confiderations on Religion, he occafionally introduces foftening expreffions with refpect to the Papifts, as well as flighting ones of the Reformers. The Scots, he fays, would have done much better had they applied themfelves to the improvement of their barren country, or endeavoured to establish a fifhery on their coafts, for their neceffary fubfiftence; than to imbrue that wretched kingdom in blood for the fake of foreign opinions. But Mr. Voltaire should confider how neceffary it was for the Scots to free themselves from their ecclefiaftical bondage, and to secure their property in the fish before they attempted catching it; their country, barren as it was to them, flowed with Milk and Honey fufficient for their Clergy; and it would have been ftupid in them to trouble themselves about improvements in trade, which, as the church in those days fwallowed up every thing, would but have advanced the luxury of their Spiritual Lords.

A fhort view of the Portuguese and Spanish discoveries in America; and the amazing barbarities that followed, upon the unjustifiable ufurpation of the Indian territories, conclude the whole; the Author quotes an affertion from one of their own Clergy, who, ftrange as it may feem, appears to have poffeffed fome feelings of humanity! I have been prefent," says he, "in the ifle of S. Domingo, and in Jamaica, when they have "covered the country with gibbets, and hanged thofe unhappy "wretches thirteen in a row, in honour, as they faid, of the "thirteen Apostles; I have seen them give the infants to be "devoured by their dogs."

By fuch means have extenfive countries been depopulated: we shudder at it, and well we may; but now the natural inhabitants are chiefly deftroyed, let us reflect what the unnatural inhabitants are at prefent doing there? This the concluding words of

our

our Author will fuggeft to us. 'One unhappy effect has fol.lowed from all thefe difcoveries and tranfplantations; our trading nations endeavour to deftroy each other in America, and in Afia, so often as a war breaks out between them in Europe. They have alternately ruined their infant colonies. The defign of the first voyages was to unite all nations; of those un· dertaken lately, to exterminate one another at the furtheft extremity of the earth.

It is a very great problem, whether Europe has benefitted ⚫ by the discovery of America. There is no doubt but the Spaniards at first drew immenfe riches from thence; but their ⚫ country has been depopulated; and this treasure being shared at length among other nations, the ancient equality is again reftored. The price of provifions has every where increased. So that in reality no body has been a gainer. The question therefore is, whether Cochineal and the Bark are of such confiderable value, as to compenfate the lofs of fo many thousands of men,'

The Hiftory of the Royal Society of London, tural Knowlege, from its first Rife, &c. D. D. Secretary to the Royal Society. 4th. l. 10s. Millar.

TH

for improving of naBy Thomas Birch, Vols. III. and IV.

HE two firft volumes of this laborious undertaking, were duly noticed in our Review, vol. XIV. page 417. where we faw the birth and infancy of this grand affociation for the culture of Science, and the advancement of useful Arts. The detail is continued in these volumes, in a very minute manner, of every private occurrence relating to the Society; few of which will afford entertainment to common Readers: let us juft mention the fubjects of fome papers that appear to be of importance; without intending, however, by that expreffion, to caft any reflection upon the others.

In vol. III. page 6, an account is given of fome attempts towards the recovery of drowned animals; a fubject, furely worthy the attention of mankind; the Finlanders are quoted as recovering perfons who have been drowned two or three days: their method is defcribed to be, fubjecting the body to irritating motions in a warm ftove; with other fomentations; till the water is ejected, and the loft circulation of the animal juices

restored :

restored but they remark, concerning the perfons thus recovered, that they almost always lofe their vivacity, and that their memory is much impaired.

Page 247, are fome manuscripts of Mr. Newton,(afterwards the great Sir Ifaac) relating to his theory of Light and Colours. Page 394, Debates concerning a propofed method for founding depths at fea.

Page 401, Mention is made of an experiment of shooting a bullet perpendicularly upward, which is afferted always to have fallen weftward of the place whence it was fhot.

Page 441, The method is related by which the coal-miners free their pits from the Vapours and Damps fo deftructive to them; which is, by throwing down every morning burning coals, to fire and confume the faid damps: after which the people venture into the pits.

Vol. IV. page 120, Notice is taken of the great regard the Chinese Phyficians have to the motion of the Pulfe in divers parts of the body; as likewife Galen's attention to the fame.

Page 122, Part of a letter from Mr. Cafwel to Mr. Flamftead was read, giving an account of his having taken the Fall of the river Severn, which was found to be three yards, three inches, in five miles. The river is, indeed, fwift, yet Mr. Cafwel was of opinion the measure of the Fall was too great, tho' it was taken with a quadrant, and, he thought, very carefully.

Pages 514 and 519, are two Letters from Dr. Wallis, endeavouring to affign the caufes of Monfoons or Trade-Winds.

These volumes bring the proceedings of the Royal Society, no farther down than to the year 1687, and, befides giving an account of their affairs in a chronological feries, the deaths of the Members are registered as they occur, with a fhort account of their lives fubjoined. But if in the remaining volumes, every trivial thing is to be fo exactly recorded as they are in thefe, the Doctor may not only be faid to have cut, but to have minced himself out a great quantity of employment; and will put his Readers likewife to the trouble of making that felection in the perufal, which most of them will think ought to be made for them, in the compofition.

REV. Sept. 1757.

P

Con

Conclufion of the Ecclefiaftical Hiftory of England. By Ferdinando Warner, L. L. D. Vol. II. See Review, vol. XV, p. 564, and vol. XVI, p. 5—209-577.

I

NSTEAD of accompanying our Hiftorian through the feveral reigns and revolutions which intervene betwixt the demife of Henry the VIIIth, and that happy fettlement of all affairs in Church and State, upon the folid bafis of Liberty, which William the IIId had the glory of eftablishing, we shall at prefent confine ourfelves to the reigns of Edward the VIth, and of Elizabeth.

Of the times of Edward the VIth, fo much revered, and by fome fo much extolled beyond our own, the following account is given. The majority of the Bishops were weak and ignorant men, who underflood little of region, and valued it lefs: but tho' they liked the old fuperftition beft, because it most encouraged ignorance, and fecured their wealth and power, yet they intended to swim with the fream.-The Clergy of that time, were, for the most part, fuch as had been bred in monafteries and religious houfes, and were put into benefices by the King, and the purchafers of their lands, in order to eafe themfelves of the penfions which were referved for the Monks and Friars till they were otherwife provided for.-The greatest part of the benefices being fo very fmall, that three or four could fcarce afford a maintenance for a fingle Clergyman, they chiefly fubfifted upon Maffes, Trentals (a), and other devices of fuperftition.-If therefore thefe perquifites were taken from them, they would be deprived of the best part of their livelihood, and fo were really engaged in interest against a Reform"ation: but as they were generally very ignorant, and could not oppofe it with much argument or learning, fo the fame intereft obliged them to comply with any thing that was establifhed, that they might not forfeit their whole fubfiftence.— And, as to the Laity, the greatest part of the meaner fort confidered their Priefts as a fort of Conjurers or Magicians, who could fave their fouls by a trick or charm, as Quacks or Mountebanks pretend to cure difeafes; and the people had nothing to do, but to refign themselves wholly to them, and the bufinefs was done.-The reft of the populace feems to have been compofed of weak and corrupt Enthufiafts, who 6 thought if they magnified Chrift much, and relied on his me

(a) The Trental, as our Author elsewhere explains it, was a method of delivering fouls out of Purgatory, by faying thirty Malles a year.'

• rits