to be between 1000 and 1500 times the preffure of the atmof phere, on an equal furface, according to circumstances.

The volume concludes with an account of fome experi ments, made by the author, on the refiftance of the air to bodies in motion, of various thapes and fizes, manifefting many curious properties and conclufions.

The foregoing analysis may enable the reader to form some idea of the general merits of this performance. The principal object of the author feems to have been that of practical utility. The plan and execution of the work evince both judgement and experience. To young mathematicians, and, indeed, to schools in general, it will be found a valuable acquifition, being equally well calculated to mitigate the labour of the mafter, and to promote the improvement of the

fcholar.

ART. XII. Muftrations of Sterne, with other Effays and Verfes. By John Ferriar, M. D. 12mo. Pp. 314. Price 5s. Cadell and Davies, London. 1798.

HIS fmall volume confifts of a variety of mifcellaneous

page announces, "Illuftrations of Sterne." We much doubt whether the admirers of that celebrated writer will thank Dr. Ferriar for thus abridging his claim to originality. The authors from whom Sterne, probably, "took general ideas, or particular paffages, are Rabelais, Beroalde, D'Aubigné, Burton, Bouchet, Brufcambille, Scarron," &c. and the extracts given to prove this opinion are fuch as cannot be controverted. We must confefs ourselves not fufficiently interested in the honour of Sterne's literary character to feel any regret at this exposure of his plagiarifm; neither, we think, will the rational part of his readers be much offended, when they reflect, that his claim to the most beautiful of his compofitions remains unimpeached. On the immorality and inutility of Sterne's writings, in general, the world feems now to have made up its mind; it is not, therefore, neceffary, that we fhould add any thing farther on this fubject.

The next is an effay "on certain Varieties of Man," but principally on the fubject of the "Homines Caudati,” and inuch curious quotation is brought forward to prove it a general idea. But our readers will, perhaps, be fomewhat furprized to find, from undoubted authority, that men of this defcription have exifted in Ireland, and even in Kent.

* Bulwer

Bulwer was informed that there was a family in Kent, whofe defcendants were tailed, infomuch, fays he, that you may know any one to be rightly defcended of that family, by having a tail;" and "that the inhabitants of Stroud, near Rochester, incurred the qurfe of tails, by cutting off the tail of Archbishop Becket's horse.”

Perhaps the fecond childhood of Lord Monboddo might have been amused by these numerous confirmations of his favourite system.

The remainder of this volume confifts of a "Menippean Effay on English Hiftorians"-" The Puppet Shew, a Didactic Poem"-"An Effay on Genius"-"A Dialogue in the Shades," on the subject of the Godwinian Philofophy-which we give to our readers, to enable them to form their own opinion. To which is added, an irregular poem, entitled, "The Northern Profpect,"

In the whole of this publication are found traits of an elegant, claffic, and accomplished mind; and it would afford us infinite pleasure to find it employed on fubjects of higher importance. The following fpecimen will clearly evince its powers, when engaged in the cause of truth, and in counteracting the poisonous efforts of a blasphemous and unprincipled atheift:

"DIALOGUE IN THE SHADES.

LUCIAN. NEODIDACTUS.

Lucian. You appear very melancholy, for a philofopher of the new ftoical fect. Do you regret the glory, which you doubtless enjoyed in the other world? Or do you diflike the grim equality of the ftalking skeletons which furround you? We cannot boaft, indeed, of our gaiety, but we have tranquillity, which, to a philofopher, is much better. We enjoy our exemption from the perturbations of life, as the wearied mariner repofes in the ftill gloom, fucceeding a mighty tempeft.

Neodidactus. Enjoy yourselves as you will; I am tormented by anxiety and doubt. By profeffing the doctrines of the new and pure philofophy upon earth, my character was ruined, and I was abandoned by fociety. Here, I find no one difpofed to investigate my princi.. ples, excepting yourfelf, who, I fuppofe, intend to laugh at me, according to your custom. I had learned, indeed, from our mafter, that the wife man is fatisfied with nothing;' that he is not fatiffied with his own attainments, or even with his principles and opini ons ;'* but I feel that mine have produced the extremity of wretch. edness.

"Godwin's Enquiry concerning Political Juftice, vOL. I. P. 268. zd edition,"

Lucian. You must, then, be extremely wife, on your own princi ples. But be not dejected. The world, I perceive, preferves its old character; mankind have feldom troubled their benefactors with expreffions of gratitude.

Neodidactus. I beg that you may never again mention fo dif. agreeable a word to me. Gratitude, according to the new philofophy, is no part either of justice or virtue ;* nay, we hold it to be actually a vice,t when it refults merely from our sense of benefits conferred

on us.

Lucian. By the Graces! this is very ftrange philofophy. In teaching men to be ungrateful, do you not render them wicked?

Neodidactus. We do not embarrafs ourselves much with the diftinctions of virtue and vice; the motives and the tendencies of human actions are fo complex, and their refults fo uncertain, that we find it difficult to affign them places under thofe defignations. We even doubt whether there be any fuch thing as vice.

Lucian. You puzzle me; let me beg that you would explain yourfelf a little more clearly; unlefs your philofophy enjoins you to be

obfcure.

Neodidactus. I will explain myfelf moft gladly. Know then, that vice, as it is commonly understood, is, fo far as regards the motive, purely negative,' and that actions, in the highest degree. injurious to the public, have often proceeded from motives uncom monly confcientious. The moft determined political affaffins, Clement, Ravaillac, Damiens, and Gerard, feem to have been deeply penetrated with anxiety for the eternal welfare of mankind.'§ Our fublime contemplations lead us alfo to believe, that benevolence probably had its part in lighting the fires of Smithfield, and pointing the daggers of St. Bartholomew.'||

Lucian. If I rightly understand you, murder and perfecution are juftifiable on the principles of the new philofophy.

Neodidactus. Our only rule is the promotion of general good, by ftrict, impartial justice; whatever inconveniencies may arife to individuals from this fyftem, we difregard them, and as we allow no merit to actions which refpect the good of individuals only, so we perceive no demerit in thofe which benefit the public, though they may confiderably injure individuals. Juftice, eternal juftice, muft prevail.

Lucian. But how fhall this over-ruling juftice be ascertained or limited? If every man is to decide for himfelf and the world, confufion and univerfal ruin must enfue.

Neodidactus. You fpeak, O Lucian, of man in his present state; but we regard him in the ftate of perfection, to which he may attain by inftruction and experience. We hope the time will arrive, when neither government nor laws will be neceffary to the exiftence of

* C Enquiry concerning Political Juftice, VOL. I. P. 130. + Ibid. p. 266. Ibid. P. 153, 154. § Ibid.

Ibid."
Society;

fociety; for morality is nothing but the calculation of the probable advantages, or rather difadvantages, of our actions.

Lucian. By what means, then, fhall those be corrected, who may err in their calculations refpecting the public good, and eternal juftice? For, I fuppofe, you can hardly expect that all men will reason with equal acuteness, in the most enlightened periods.

Neodidacus. By perfuafion; the only allowable method of fuppreffing human errors. The establishment of pofitive laws is an infult to the dignity of man ; fo greatly do we deteft their influence, that we confider an honeft lawyer as a worse member of fociety than a dishonest one, because the inan of integrity palliates, and in fome degree masks, the ill effects of law.

Lucian. This part of your philofophy is not fo new as you ima gine. All punishments, then, would be banished from your republic, excepting the long difcourfes, to which you would oblige criminals to liften.

Neodidactus. Punishment is nothing else than force, and he who fuffers it must be debafed, and infenfible of the difference between right and wrong, if he does not confider it as unjuft. I have deeply reflected, fuppofe, upon the nature of virtue, and am convinced that a certain proceeding is incumbent on me. But the hangman, fupported by an Act of Parliament, affures me that I am miftaken.'I Can any thing be more atrocious? more injurious to our fublime fpeculations?

Lucian. Doubtlefs, philofophers of your fect muft fometimes be difagreeably interrupted, in their progrefs to perfection. But in a fociety without laws, without the fear of punishment for offences, without the distinctions of virtue and vice, and deftitute of the ties of gratitude and friendship, I feel it difficult to conceive, how the tranfactions neceffary to existence can be carried on. You must depend much on family attachments, and on the inviolable regard which individuals fhould pay to their promises.

Neodidactus. Family attachments we regard as filly, and even criminal, when they tend to bias our opinions; and as to promifes, our mafter has written a long chapter, to prove that they are great evils, and are only to be observed, when we find it convenient.

Lucian. Did it never occur to you, that this system might produce more evil than good in the world? and that you have been recommending a plan, which, inftead of perfecting man, and improving fociety, must be deftructive of every eftimable quality in his breaft, and muft drive him again into favage folitude? Neodidactus. We cannot always anfwer for events. thing is connected in the universe. If any man afferted that, if

Every

Alexander had not bathed himself in the river Cydnus, Shakspeare would never have written, it would be impoflible to affirm that his affertion was untrue.'* Such is our doctrine,

Lucian. Your logic is equally admirable with your morality; this fpecies of fophifm has been exploded with contempt by good au thors; you now revive it as one of your difcoveries, and you may, perhaps, raise it to the rank of thofe which merit indignation.

Neodidattus. Be not too hafty, facetious Greek; you mifcalcu late, like all thofe who err, the quantities of energy neceffary for this occafion. Our mafter has taken many of the things which you dif. approve, from the writings of your friend Swift.

Lucian. Yes, I am aware that a great part of your new philofophy is ftolen from Gulliver's Travels, and that the republic of horses was the archetype of your perfect men. But come, that we may part in good humour, I will treat you with a fentiment, which I derive from a dear friend of Swift. We are for a juft partition of the world, for every man hath a right to enjoy life. We retrench the fuperfluities of mankind. The world is avaricious, and we hate avarice. A covetous fellow, like a jackdaw, fteals what he was never made to enjoy, for the fake of hiding it. Thefe are the robbers of mankind, for money was made for the free-hearted and generous; and where is the injury of taking from another, what he has not the heart to make use of? What is your opinion of this?

Neodidactus. It is admirably expreffed, in the true fpirit of our philofophy, and of impartial juftice. Indeed our mafter has faid fomething very like it. Pray, in what divine work is this great truth to be found?

Lucian. In the Beggar's Opera; it expreffes the fentiments of a gang of highwaymen, an inftitution which approaches nearer to your idea of perfect fociety, than any other with which I am acquainted."

ART. XIII. A Propofal for restoring the ancient Conftitution of the Mint, fo far as relates to the Expence of Coinage. Together with the Outline of a Plan for the Improvement of the Money, and for increafing the Difficulty of Counterfeiting. By the Rev. Rogers Ruding, B. D. Vicar of Maldon, in Surrey. 8vo. Pp. 40. Price is. 6d. Sewell. Hatchard, London. 1799.

WE

f

cannot better inform our readers of the plan and purpose of this ufeful work, than by tranfcribing the author's own words, in a fhort introduction prefixed to it :

"Enquiry, VOL. I. P. 161.

See the Voyage to the Houynhms.

Enquiry, VOL. I. P. 208. and yoL. II. P. 444; 445."