far as it goes, is a happy circumftance, as it makes the real evil of national debt confiderably lefs than the apparent evil; and we do completely agree in this, that to the depreciation of money chiefly it is owing that the nation has efcaped ruin before this time. The charts by which the fubject of this pamphlet is illustrated are an invention of the author's. For an account of this see the English Review 1785. It is an invention the more ingenious and useful that it is fimple, and comprehended with the ease of intuition. ART. XVIII. Remarks upon the Conduct of the Perfons poffeffed of the Powers of Government in France; and upon the Official Note of M. Barthelemi, dated at, Bafle, March 26, 1796. pp. 58. 8vo. Is. 6d. Owen. London, 1796. M.BARTHELMI, in his official note, prefixed to these remarks, ftates, that the French government is forbidden, by the conftitutional charter, to furrender the conquefts, or even to exchange them againft the loffes of France. The author of this pamphlet fhews the injuftice, abfurdity, inconfiftency, novelty, and danger, of this pretence, in the cleareft light of reafon, and with the moft animated and impreffive eloquence. In conclufion he fays, all Europe will compare the haughty and prepofterous vanity of France with the generofity and forbearance of Great Britain upon this important and memorable occafion; it will not overlook nor mistake her magnanimity, nor be blinded by the vaunts and boafts of her fupercilious enemy. It will not attribute her overtures of peace to a fenfe of weakness, or a dread of inferiority; nor their contemptuous rejection to any consciousnefs of advantage, or perfuafion of greater ftrength and more lafting refources; but it will affign the effect diftinctly to the caufe, and discover the natural defire and principle of just and legal governments in peace and order, and the intereft and impunity of violence and ufurpation, in the prolongation of wars, and the perpetuity of confufions. It will fee the true obftacle to its peace and tranquillity, not in the victories < or refources of France, but in the fears and crimes of a handful of traitors, who can reign only amidft the defolation of their country, who have no fecurity but in common danger, no afylum but in the general diftrefs and calamity. Compelled to vindicate with arms the present interefts of all mankind, and dearest hope of pofterity, it will not be difmayed or • terrified terrified by the fury of the enemy which confumes his force, nor the rashness which cuts off its refources; nor can it de་ fpair, without fomething more than cowardice and folly in a caufe defended before the throne of heaven, not only by its ❝ own justice, and the love of heaven for justice and for man, but by the guilt and ftains of thofe who invade it; by their contempt for laws, and their hatred of peace; by horrors without name or number; by a mockery of virtue, and a pro• feffion of impiety.' This pamphlet has,, undoubtedly, a juft claim to the attention. of all the political ftates, yet independent, of Europe. We are forry, however, to fee a writer, on the whole fo accurate, meafured, and just in his reflections, giving way to fuch fanguine belief as has been so often and fo long falfified by matter of fact. Speaking of the French republic, he fays, it is evidently crushed and exhausted in the competition with England, page 17. The obftinacy of fuch falfe, though flattering prophets as Sir John Nivernois, has been repeatedly expofed. The French are not yet exhausted. Even if France were exhaufted, it could not be faid that the French are exhaufted, while they can command tribute from other nations. At the fame time it must be admitted, that the violent fyftem they purfue tends, ultimately, as we have at different times obferved, to exhauftion. ART. XIX. Sermons, by George Hill, D. D. F. R. S. Edinb.` Principal of St. Mary's College in the University of St. Andrew, one of the Minifters of that City, and one of his Majesty's Chaplains in ordinary for Scotland. pp. 453. 8vo. 6s. boards. Cadell and Davies. London, 1796. WE E have often taken occafion to remark, what always appeared very remarkable, that in an age of fo much indolence, foppery, levity, luxury, and diffipation, a taste should Not of St. Andrew, but St. Andrew's, a town, once the feat of the metropolitan archbishop of Scotland. It is always written, as well as pronounced, St. Andrew's. The Principal, in a research of propriety, falls into an error. We find St. Mary's College, St. Salvador's College, and St. Leonard's College, all of them forming an univerfity in the town of St. Andrew's, not in the univerfity of St. Andrew. There was a town and monaftery at St. Andrew's before. there was an univerfity. St. ANDREW's having become a noun fubftantive by ufe, is not to be analyfed into, of St. Andrew.-See LowTH's and PRIESTLEY'S English Grammars, E 2 prevail, prevail, approaching even to a paffion, for fermons; an effect which we are inclined to aferibe rather to improvement in compofition, and a relifh for compofitions, than to any increase of piety and religion. In compofitions of this kind there is certainly unbounded fcope for genius and eloquence. There is room for all the beauty of mathematical demonftration; while moral truths, deduced from principles and facts, with mathematical precifion, admit, at the fame time, of all the graces and embellishments of oratory, and, with the light of science, are capable of combining vital heat. We have, of late, been favoured with many excellent difcourfes from the pulpit; but not all, or even very many of those, of equal excellence with the volume of fermons now before us. Thefe are written on leading and important fubjects, if it be permitted to suppose that any, one of the Chriftian precepts and doctrines, all of them naturally and neceffarily combined, be of greater importance than another the matter is judicious, grave, and weighty; it is clearly arranged, and happily expreffed. The fermons display juft, correct, and delicate tafte. No ftraining after refined conceits, or ftrange and gigantic, though energetic phrafeology*. They are always perfpicuous, for the moft part convincing, and not unfrequently tender, pathetic, and affecting. Their influence and perfuafion is of a gentle kind. The Principal fpeaks not in thunder, but in a foft and friendly voice. His eloquence is not an overbearing torrent, but a calm and limpid ftream. He is acquainted with the hiftory of mankind, attentive to the present times, and inculcates loyalty and the love of peace and order. He reafons without bitternels; with the zeal of a Chriftian divine, and the liberality of a fcholar. Among these fermons, feventeen in number, and most of them preached on public occafions, we are much pleased with the fecond, preached at the opening of the provincial fynod of Fife, 1781, the text, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are honeft, whatsoever things are juft,' &c. Phil. iv. 8. A fyftem of morality,' he juftly obferves, would fwell to a fize which, to the greater < part of mankind, would render it ufelefs, if it attempted to furnish separate rules for every feparate cafe. The gofpel, therefore, hath laid down, in few and clear words, the general principles of piety, equity, and charity. Its particular precepts are only a specimen of the manner in which thefe A blemish extremely common in the most celebrated, and indeed the most juftly celebrated writers of the prefent day, from Samuel Johnfon to Edmund Burke, both inclufive. 8 general general principles may be applied.' Dr. Hill defcribes the character of the things on which we are commanded* to think, in a masterly manner. In fermon V, divided into two parts, the text, So this Daniel profpered in the reign of Darius,' &c. Daniel vi. 8, our author gives a fine difplay of the comprehenfive defigns of Providence, and the fitnefs and concatenation of the means by which they are carried into execution. But we are forry to find Dr. Hill, in the exordium to this discourse, speaking of the noble birth of Daniel,' a poor Jew flave boy, whofe nobility must have appeared juft as ridiculous at the court of Babylon, as that of a Scottish pedlar, or Welsh harper, would do at the court of Vienna. Who would ever think, in London, of inquiring into the pedigree of an old clothefman? Some, as among the firft Chriftians, are fond of giving dignity to the facred oracles by talking of the royal and noble lineage of fome of the principal characters, and of the accomplishments of others. But it is the glory of Providence, in the difpenfation of grace to man, to bring about great ends by means apparently weak, and even contemptible. The fourth fermon, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteoufnefs,' &c. Matt. vi. 33, fets the connexion between good conduct, implying a due regard to religious and moral duty, and the happy confequences that naturally flow from it, in a very clear and striking light. Sermon VIII, on the character of our Saviour, places, in a clear view, the manifold circumftances that difplay the divine virtues of the Son of God +; it points out alfo the bleffed effects of the Chriftian religion. Sermon XI, on the comforts of religion, is confolatory and foothing, in a very high degree, to all good men who believe in a future ftate, and animates powerfully to perfeverance in the Christian life and hope. A third fource from which the tears of good men flow, is, that kind affection which God, who is love, hath planted in the human breaft. Chriftians, even We do not entirely approve of this word command, often made ufe of by divines, but fparingly used by the Apoft'e. The word invited (though of French authority) would fometimes be more expreffive of the fpirit of the fcriptures, + Our author, in his tone and style, fuftains the mild dignity and elevation of his fubject. In one inftance he defcends below it to a moft miferable, unfortunate, and even a ludicrous pitch. By a few ftrokes he [JESUS] painted, with the pencil of a master, to every eye, the true excellence and happiness of man,' p. 197. although they have learned to maintain, under personal affliction, the compofure of their Mafter, yet, like him, groan in fpirit, and are troubled when they fee thofe around them weeping. The objects of our affection are not allowed to remain with us always, and there is no time when we hold them fe→ cure; in the engaging years of childhood, in the opening profpects of youth, in the maturity and activity of manhood, as well as amidst the experience of venerable, placid age, the filver cord is loofed, and thofe who furvive are left often folitary, friendlefs, and forlorn, to mourn their dead. The vir tues of the dead are remembered with a melancholy fatisfaction; but the living fometimes inflict the most cruel wounds upon an affectionate heart: they requite kind offices, more anxious and more continued than those which proceed from general good-will, or even from private friendship, with coldnefs and neglect; they fport with the tender folicitude which trembles for their fafety and their virtue; they difappoint the fond hopes which parental love had formed; and the excess of their wickednefs often harrows the fouls of thofe whofe lives had been bound up in their welfare. But the tears which flow from the diftreffes, the departure, or the improper behaviour, of others, fhall be wiped away from the eyes of those who are before the throne. In the city of the living God there is no • affliction that demands the tribute of fympathy from those who are unable to give any other relief; no depraved mind that proves unworthy of the affection of which it had once been the object; no painful feparation of kindred fpirits; the children of the refurrection, united by an indiffoluble bond, shall ever be with the Lord; the inexhaustible tre fure is enhanced to every individual by the multitude to whom it is imparted; the people are all righteous, and the pure fpiritual joy of righteoufnefs and benevolence gladdens the whole company of the redeemed.' We meet with many fine ftrokes of unaffected eloquence in fermon XIII, preached before the managers of the Orphan Hofpital, Edinburgh, 1788. Nor can we país by, without particular notice, the XIVth fermon, the text, Pfalm xxii. 27, All the ends of the world fhall remember and turn to the Lord;' for our reverend author has fhewn, with much conviction, that the religion of Chrift has all the internal characters of an univerfal religion:' although we do not approve of all that he has faid, directly or collaterally on that fubject. He does not, on the ground he affumes, clearly account for the flow and circumfcribed propagation of the gofpel. The rapidity of its progrefs at first is not at all analogous to the flowness of its advancement afterwards, and |