the counterpoife; and if accounted for, is equally an injury to individuals; fank, perhaps, into fome private purfe, by a very new project, very little to the honour of the treasury, or the magis fams quam vi of the ftate: And very different from the reputation and rectitude of King William's miniftry, who to par the counterpoife in the receipt of taxes, allowed fixpence in the ounce: and to balance the deficiency of thofe who brought light filver into the mint, had two-pence the ounce, and the benefit of the counterpoife; that is to fay, had weight for weight in coined money. But that miniftry had a Newton and a Locke to confult, who were not only knowing, but impartial, and difdained to advise the pitiful finking the deduction on the people.' From thefe fpecimens our readers will form no very high opinion of this critical enquirer's talents as a writer; and probably no very favourable one of his abilities as a calculator and financier. Many of the reflections however that occur in the courfe of this enquiry are juft and pertinent, though not always expreffed with that decent refpect for men in public ftations, nor with that grammatical propriety, which we might reafonably expect. There is an obfcurity in our Author's reasoning, and an inaccuracy in his language, which the attentive and candid reader muft condemn. Art. 38. A Difcuffion of fome IMPORTANT and UNCERTAIN POINTS in Chronology, in a Series of Letters, addreffed to the Reverend Dr. BLAIR, Prebendary of Weftminfter. By John Kennedy, Author of the Complete Syftem of Aftronomical Chronology, unfolding the Scriptures. 8vo. 1 s. Davis. 1773. ༣ R A feries of calculations, purfued with great labour, in the view of ascertaining the true coincidence of the Julian with the Egyptian year, and confequently of difcovering a very material error in the chronological computations of the famous Abp. Uther, by which our modern chronologers have been generally mifled. A mistake of four years in eftimating the age of the world, is a matter, in one view, of little confequence, as it bears a very fmall proportion to the whole interval of more than 57c0 years from the era of the creation, to the prefent times; yet it muft neceffarily affect many fub. ordinate æras, and more especially that coincidence of events, which is marked out in our most approved chronological tables. Mr. K— undertakes to point out and rectify this mistake; to determine, by means of this correction, the true year of the world, and to remove many difficulties which have hitherto perplexed the general fyftem of chronology. How far he has fucceeded, is fubmitted to the judgment of the public. As Dr. Blair has followed Usher's computations in the conftruction of his elegant and useful tables, our Author addreffes his enquiries and fuppofed difcoveries more immediately to him. In this intricate and laborious inquiry, he propofes to examine feveral lunar eclipfes, recorded by Ptolemy in his Almageft, and to in. vestigate, by a calculation of thefe eclipfes from his data, the months and days of the Julian year, correfponding aftronomically with the months and days of the Egyptian year, affigned in the Almagest. The first of thefe cclipfes is related by Ptolemy, to have happened on the 29th of Shoth, in the year of Nabonasser 27, which our Author 3 affigus affigns to the year of the world 3287, whereas according to Abp. Uber's account, it coincides with 3283: fo that in this inftance, there is a difference of four years. It would require more room than we can allot to an article, in which many of our readers will think themfelves little interested, to prefent the public, through the medium of our journal, with the regular procefs of our Author's calculations, and to give them a fair opportunity of judging, how far we may rely on the principles which he adopts, and the method which he purfues. Dr. Blair, however, and fome other altronomers to whom the province of reviewing these letters primarily belongs, and who are addreffed by Mr. K for this purpose, will, we apprehend, think it worth while to examine the juftnefs of his computations and conclufions. It is unquestionably of great importance to trace the correfpondence of the Egyptian to the Julian year; and Mr. K-'s attempt will on this account be very favourably received. R--S. Art. 39. An Hiftorical Account of Coffee. With an Engraving 4to. 3 s. 6d. (With the Print coloured, 4 s. 6 d.) Dilly. 1774. We have no account of coffee earlier than the 15th century: an Arabian manufcript informs us, that it was first introduced into Aden, a city of Arabia Felix, by mere accident. Gemaleddin, the mufti of this city, recollecting that he had feen it ufed by his countrymen in Perfia, had recourfe to it in an illness, and found great relief from it. Among other good effects he found that it prevented drowziness without doing injury to the conftitution; and on this account, he recommended it to the Dervifes, to enable them to pafs the night, with greater attention and zeal, in the exercises of devotion. His example gave it reputation, and it came into general ufe. Before this time, coffee was hardly known in Perfia, and little used in Arabia, where the tree grew. From Aden it paffed into feveral neighbouring towns, and was much ufed by the religious Mahometans. By degrees it was drank in great quantities at the public coffeehoufes, where the people affembled and purfued a variety of amufements, which gave offence to the rigid Mahometans: and government was obliged occafionally to interfere, and to reftrain the ufe of it. In the year 1554, coffee became known to the inhabitants of Conftantinople, and was publickly fold in a coffee houfe, elegantly fitted for that purpose: and though it was condemned by the Mufti, in confequence of the clamours excited against the prevailing ufe of it, coffee was ftill drank in private houfes; and the officers of the police allowed it to be fold, on paying a tax, and under certain reftrictions. It was not long, however, before these restrictions were removed, and the fale of it became more general than it had ever been. It is reckoned that as much is fpent by private families in the article of coffee at Conftantinople, as in wine at Paris. The cuftom of drinking coffee is fo general, that you are as much fo. licited there for money to drink coffee, as you are here for money to drink your health in wine or beer: and among the legal caufes of divorce, the refufal to fupply a wife with coffee is one. Coffee - REV. June, 1774. K k was ་ was not introduced into the western parts of Europe, 'till about the middle of the 17th century: the Venetians were the first who imported it, and the cuftom of drinking it in France, (at Paris in particular) was established in the year 1669, during the stay of the Ambaffador from Sultan Mahomet the fourth in that city. The first ufe of coffee in London, was earlier than at Paris: for in 1652, the Greek fervant of a Turky merchant opened a house for the fale of it in George Yard, Lombard Street. The first mention that is made of it in the ftatute books is, in the year 1660, when a duty of four-pence was laid on every gallon of coffee made and fold, to be paid by the maker: And in 1675, King Charles iffued a procla mation, to fhut up the coffee-houfes, becaufe they were seminaries of fedition. As to the culture of coffee, we shall only observe, that, in 1727, the French conveyed fome plants to Martinico; from whence it most probably spread to the neighbouring iflands: for, in the year 1732, it was cultivated in Jamaica, and an act passed to encourage it's growth in that ifland. We fhall conclude this article with a few obfervations, extracted from a letter written by Dr. Fothergill to the Author. "In respect to real ufe, and as a part of our food, I have no evidence to induce me to think that coffee is inferior to tea. That, in respect to the national economy, the benefit of our colonies, and the lives of the feamen, every circumstance concurs to give coffee the preference. It is raifed by our fellow fubjects, paid for by our manufactures, and the produce ultimately brought to Great Britain. That the great obftacle to a more general ufe of coffee is, the very high duty and excife." (Not lefs than one fhilling and ten-pence per pound weight.) "That leffening the duty would not leffen the revenue; fmuggling would be difcouraged, and an increased confumption would make up the deficiency to the treafury. The planters would be induced to cultivate coffee with more care, was there a better market for it. That, as little planters might be enabled to fubfift by raifing coffee, &c. their numbers would increase, and add to the ftrength of the feveral iflands; as Europeans might endure the labour requifite for cultivation." R.-S. Art. 40. The Grammarian's Vade-mecum, or Pocket companion: Difpofed in Alphabetical order. Defigned as an affiftance to the Memory of young Beginners; and alfo as a ready Method of recovering a perfect Knowledge of Grammar, when it has been loft through inattention, or want of practice. By a private Tutor. 12mo. Is. Bound. Brown. 1774. Those perfons who are unacquainted with the meaning of the terms of grammar, will find this little book to be of use, as it will furnish them easily with this knowledge. By having it continually with them, they will generally be enabled to understand terms of this kind, which may occur either in reading or converfation. The Author adds a very short dialogue toward the end of his performance, in which he directs the fuppofed young lady his pupil, to lay in a store of fynonimous words, that he may not be obliged always to exprefs the fame idea juft in the fame manner, without attending to which, he fays, a miferable barrennefs or want of ingenuity, will manifest itfelf in converfation and in writing. He offers fome instances to illuf trate trate his obfervation, which on the whole is juft: but it may at the fame time be proper that pupils fhould be guarded againft, a multiplicity of words, while there is a barrenness of ideas. and alfo against that great nicety and fcrupulofity which produces a precife and formal manner of writing and converfing, much more difgufting than any little inaccuracies of expreffion. Art. 41. Familiar Letters, on a Variety of important and intereking Subjects. From Lady Hariet Morley, and others. 8vo. 5 s. Cadell. 1774. There is fo much good fenfe in thefe letters, and fuch a variety of entertaining ftories, fketches of characters, moral obfervations, &c. &c. that we are really forry to fee the language frequently difgraced by low phrafes, and Scotticifms. Would the Writer procure, for a fecond edition, the corrections of fome friend, who is a perfect mafter of the English, his book, we doubt not, might gain the approbation of the public, and contribute, with the better fort of the novel kind, to the instruction, as well as amufement of its readers. Art. 42. A Letter to the Solicitor-General: being an Appendix to a Pamphlet lately published, entitled, An Appeal to the Public, relative to a Cause lately determined in the Court of Chancery; &c. Folio. 6d. Wheble. Mr. Mawhood's appeal to the public was the fubject of Art. 35, in our last month's catalogue. In this fupplementary letter he fummons the Solicitor General, (who, he fays, was his leading counfel) before the bar of the public, charging him with having occafioned the fuppreffion, or mifreprefentation, of certain proofs which were neceffary to the fupport of his caufe: to the great injury of this complainant. MATHEMATICAL and PHILOSOPHICAL. Art. 43. Brief Remarks upon Mr. Jacob's Treatife on Wheel-Carriages. By Daniel Bourn. 8vo. 1 S. Crowder. 1773. An illiberal attack on Mr. Jacob, and on the committee of mechanics in the Society of Arts, &c. from which we can only learn, that Mr. B. feems to be very angry, and disposed to fall out with every body who comes in his way. Art. 44. Thefe lectures contain a compendious abstract of the fundamental the Hi. the fpeaking trumpet is narrowest at, the mouth-piece, and thence widens and enlarges continually to the extremity, the air within it, which is an elastic fluid, may be confidered as divided into a great number of cylindrical bodies of very small but equal altitudes, the bafis of the first being equal to the aperture of the trumpet to which the mouth is applied, and the bafis of the reft increasing one above another as they are more and more removed from the mouth; upon which account the motion that is impreffed by the force of the voice on the first cylindrical body of air, grows greater in the fecond, and greater fill in the third, and fo on, till at length, at the exit of the tube, it becomes fo great as to magnify the found very confiderably.' In page 80, lecture 3, there is a miftake, which has escaped either the tranfcriber or corrector of the prefs; for the excefs of the equatoreal diameter above that of the polar is ftated at 17 miles, and not, as it should bave been, at 34 miles. NAVIGATION. R-3. Art. 45. A Treatife of Maritime Surveying. In two Parts. With a prefatory Effay on Draughts and Surveys. By Murdoch Mackenzie, Senior, late Maritime Surveyor in his Majesty's Service. 4to. 65. Dilly. 1774 A very complete and ufeful treatife, in which no inftructions are omitted that are either effentially or incidentally necessary to the bufinefs of coaft furveying. And they have this confiderable advantage to recommend them, that they are the dictates of experience. The furveyor in general, and the practical aftronomer likewife, may derive many ufeful hints.from this performance; though it is principally intended for the information of our nautical gentlemen. In a country like ours, a fubject of this kind deferves particular attention; and yet it is a fubject which has been too generally negle&ed. It is no uncommon complaint, that many of our charts are notoriously defective and faulty; were the teachers of navigation to enlarge their plan, and to make this branch of practical geometry the object of their study and inftruction, many errors might be corrected by the navigators themselves, and many inconveniences and dangers might be avoided. R-s. RELIGIOUS and CONTROVERSIAL. Art. 46. The Book of Common Prayer reformed, upon the Plan of the late Dr. Samuel Clarke: together with the Pfalms of David; for the Ufe of the Chapel in Effex Street. 8vo, 4s. Johnfon. 1774. We cannot give a more fatisfactory account of this specimen of a reformed liturgy, than that which Mr. Lindley, the Author, has himfelf given, at the end of his fermon preached at the opening of the chapel in Effex-houfe, April 17th. See Rev. for April, p. 334 When the defign of a more fcriptural form of worship was first propofed to be put in practice, upon the plan of the late Dr. Samuel Clarke, fome friends advifed to print the liturgy of the church of England, with his emendations, and to make ufe of it, exactly as he had left it. The fame has been fince much recommended by others. And it were to have been wished that this reformed liturgy might have come out quite fheltered under the name of that great man, and called intirely his. . But |