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In other paffages, the author very properly exposes the craft, the duplicity, the falfhood, the treachery, the dark and deep underminings, hourly practifed by multitudes of our fex to gain their ends among the other.

• The worthiest characters are marked generally by an opennefs, and always by a probity, that reflects the greatest credit on their hearts, and, I add, on their underftandings alfo. Yes, my beloved and honoured auditors, after all that a late wellknown mafter, patron, and teacher, of diffimulation has advanced to the contrary, I do not hesitate to pronounce diffimulation, and indeed the whole family of cunning, by whatever name dignified, impotent and miferable apes of manly ability and genuine wisdom. I fubjoin, that men of integrity and fentiment difplay a noblenefs, which fails not fooner or later to ftrike and perfuade beyond all the paltry arts in the world; and I call the beft and greateft fpirits of every age to witness, that fnch men are placed upon an eminence, from which they may look down, with fuperlative fcorn, on the whole inglorious race of knaves, liars, and dissemblers.'

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In conformity to thefe obfervations we cannot forbear taking notice of a remarkable difference between the fentiments and maxims of Chefterfield and Cicero, addreffed to their refpective fons. The former fays, no bufinefs can be carried on without fome diffimulation; it is fimulation, that is falfe, mean, and criminal. *.' But the latter, who was a courtier as well as the former, affirms, that both fimulation and diffimulation ought to be banished from fociety: ex omni vitâ fimulatio diffimulatioque tolenda eft +.

At the conclufion of this difcourfe the author addreffes his young difciples in the following terms:

• After all we have faid refpecting the advantage to be derived by young men from the fociety of virtuous women, much must be left to your own reflections. Represent to yourselves a youth of good fenfe, and good difpofitions, dedicating a confiderable fhare of his focial hours to the conversation of a few females, who were chaste but not fevere, frank but not indelicate, good-natured but with proper dignity, ferious and lively by turns, polite and fincere at the fame time, elegant without vanity, knowing without pride, and pious without oftentation: you, .my brothers, can better imagine than I can defcribe, the improvements which he must neceffarily receive from fuch communications.

• When I spoke of a few females, I did not think only of the young. Thole men who fhould deny attractive qualities to women advanced or advancing in life, and avoid their com

*Cheft. Let, 151.

† Cic. de Off. 1. iii. c. 15.

pany

pany on that account, would betray a bad understanding and a worse tafte. Whatever they may think of the affertion, nothing can be more true, than that many, very many, of the most accomplished and moft agreeable companions, are to be found among fuch of the other fex, as have outlived the allurements of youth, with the little conceits, affectations, and follies, to which. it is subject, and have matured, by recollection and experience, the best acquifitions of their early days. Perhaps, indeed, one of the fureft marks of fobriety, and intelligence, is having a pleasure in the converfation of age.

• Bleffed are thofe of both fexes, who, by the fweetest fymphony of minds and hearts attainable in this world, together with the daily practice of all the Chriftian virtues, are preparing for the immortal concert of the fons and daughters of God. Take care, beloved and honoured, we call upon you in God's name to take care, left any of you fhould, by a contrary course, expose yourselves to the infamy and horror of an everlasting exclufion from that divine assembly,' &c.

The reader will find many excellent precepts and obferv. ations, relative to the conduct of youth, in thefe Difcourfes, adapted to the fituation and circumstances of both fexes, and expreffed with delicacy and propriety. Yet in fome places, perhaps, the author's language has the tone of a fentimental Arcadian, breathing out the gentle whispers of Platonic love.

The author has obferved very little order in the arrangement of his thoughts..

This addrefs is faid to have been felected from a fet of dif courfes, intended chiefly for the improvement of young men, which are to be published with all convenient speed.

VIII. The Nonconformifi's Memorial: being an Account of the Minijiers, who were Ejected or Silenced after the Reftoration, particularly by the Act of Uniformity, which took place on Bartholomewday, August 24, 1652, Wc. &c. &c. 2 vols. 8vo. 161. Harris.

BY

Y the act of Uniformity, which was paffed in the year 1662 it was required, that every clergyman fhould be re-ordained, if he had not before received epifcopal ordination; fhould declare his affent to every thing contained in the Book of Common Prayer; fhould take the oath of canonical obedience; fhould abjure the folemn league and covenant, and fhould renounce the principle of taking arms, on any pretence whatfoever, against the king.

Abbé Milot, a fenfible, and, in the prefent cafe, an unbiaffed hiftorian, delivers his fentiments of this act in the folJowing terms:

· The

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The act of Uniformity produced a kind of ecclefiaftical revolution. It was called the act of St. Bartholomew, because the execution of it was fixed to the 24th of Auguft, the feftival of that apoftle. Without deferving to be compared with the French St. Bartholomew, it gave a proof of the ins vincible obftinacy of the enthufiafts.'

Hume fays, a combination had been entered into by the more zealous of the prefbyterian ecclefiaftics to refuse the subfcription; in hopes, that the bishops would not dare at once to expel fo great a number of the most popular preachers. The catholic party at court, who wished to divide the proteftants, encouraged them in this obftinacy, and gave them hopes, that the king would protect them in their refufal. The king himself by his irresolute conduct, contributed, either from defign or accident, to encrease this opinion. Above all, the terms of fubfcription had been made very strict and rigid, on purpose to disgust all the zealous and fcrupulous amongst the prefbyterians, and deprive them of their livings. About 2000 of the clergy, in one day, relinquished their benefices; and to the great aftonishment of the court, facrificed their intereft to their religious tenets. Fortified by fociety in their sufferings, they were refolved to undergo any hardships, rather than openly renounce thofe principles, which, on other occafions, they were fo apt, from intereft, to warp or elude. The church enjoyed the pleasure of retaliation; and even pushed, as usual, the vengeance farther than the offence. During the dominion of the parliamentary party, a fifth of the livings had been left to the ejected clergy; but this indulgence, though at first infifted on by the house of peers, was now refufed to the prefbyterians. However difficult to conciliate peace among theologicians, it was hoped by many, that fome relaxation in the terms of communion might have kept the prefbyterians united to the church, and have cured thofe ecclefiaftical factions, which had been fo fatal, and were ftill fo dangerous. Bishopricks were offered to Calamy, Baxter, and Reynolds, great leaders among the prefbyterians; which the laft only could be prevailed on to accept. Deaneries and other promotions were refufed by many.'

Dr. Calamy's account of thefe men has ever been held in high eftimation. His work having been long fince out of print, many of the Diffenters have wifhed for a new edition of it. But as it confifts of four large octavo volumes, including the Life of Mr. Baxter, and the Hiftory of the Times, it has been thought expedient to bring it into a smaller compaís, by omitting fome things, which are redundant, and at prefent uninterefting; and likewife to infert in their proper places the

author's

author's fubfequent additions in the Continuation, in order to obviate the difagreeable neceflity of turning to different volumes for a complete account of almost every minifter.

This is what is attempted in the prefent publication. Befides which, the editor has made many improvements in the ftyle of his author, has corrected a great number of mistakes, and inserted many new anecdotes, extracted from Lives, Memoirs, funeral Sermons, &c. or communicated by correfponfpondents.

This work is likewife embellished with elegant engravings, of the heads of Baxter, Owen, Howe, Calamy, Bates, Caryl, Manton, Goodwin, Gilpin, Flavel, Gouge, Doolittle, and feveral others mentioned in the Memorial.

Bishop Burnet, fpeaking of thefe divines, obferves, that many of them were distinguished by their abilities and their zeal*. And Mr. Locke remarks, that Bartholomew-day was fatal to our church and religion, in throwing out a very great number of worthy, learned, pious, and orthodox divines †

That many of them were fuch as Burnet and Locke reprefent them, we readily allow; but, that their non-conformity was 'fatal to our church and religion', is a point we cannot fo implicitly admit. Numbers of them were more likely to convert religion into fanaticifm, than preach it in its native purity and perfection.

There is undoubtedly a great deal of useful information in thefe volumes. But no man can pretend to read them through, who is not endowed with an uncommon fhare of piety and patience.

IX. An Efay towards establishing the Melody and Measure of Speech to be expreffed and perpetuated by peculiar Symbols. 4to. 10s. 6d,

Alinon.

IN

N the work now before us, we meet with fomething new, which has particularly attracted our attention. Even to think with novelty challenges fome degree of praise, though it fhould end only in a paradox. It is a mark of genius, at leaft, which is not confined to, though often reftrained by, science. Skakespeare owed his fuccefs to his never having heard of Aristotle's Unities, or read Horace De Arte.

But there is here fomething better than novelty to recommend this Effay; as the thought is not only ingenious in itself,

* Hiftory of his own Times, vol i. p. 315. 12mo. edit. + Locke's PSS. Works, Des Maizeaux, Col. p. 62. Fol, zd, edit. p. 20. Letter from a P.rion of Quality.

but

but the reducing it to practice may be alike ufeful to the fe nate, the ftage, and the bar.-Ornamental, at leaft, it must be, as an addition and an improvement to the liberal arts. Speech is made one of the diftinguishing characteristics of man and whatever conduces to the perfection of that excellence, ought ever to be gratefully accepted of by him, and fondly adopted into the province of literature.

When we mention the novelty of this thought, we do not mean to propose it as one entirely original, except in the branch to which it is here applied: for the notes of the gamut, the fymbols for dancing, even the letters of the alphabet, that happy art

Of painting thoughts, and fpeaking to the eyes,'

are feverally a species of the fame invention.

Nay, the fimilitude between the notes here recommended, and thofe of mufic, is acknowledged by the author himself, who has premised that none but perfons well fkilled in that art, both the theory and the practice of it, can be capable thoroughly, or with tolerable eafe to themselves, to comprehend the meaning or purpose of his fcheme. But when this art is perfected, and once brought into familiar ufe, we think it may be as poffible to convey an oration from one kingdom to another, or hand it down to pofterity, in the manner, style, and emphasis of the speaker, as a fong with the air underwritten, which a mafter can fing or play, at fight, as juftly as the composer; every word or fyllable being marked with the proper measure and inflection of the original expreffion.

There is no giving extracts, or fpecimens of fuch a work as this, without being in poffeffion of the types referred to in it, or framing fimilar ones; we thall therefore only quote a paffage from the preface, to point out the imperfection or deficiency that is intended to be remedied by this de

vice.

The puzzling obfcurity relative to the melody and meafure of fpeech, which has hitherto exifted between modern critics and ancient grammarians, has been chiefly owing to a want of terms and characters, fufficient to diftinguish clearly the feveral properties and accidents belonging to language; fuch as accent, emphafis, quantity, paufe, and force. Inftead of which five terms they have generally made ufe of two only, accent and quantity, with fome loofe hints concerning pauses 3 but without any clear and fufficient rules for their ufe, or admeasurement. So that the definitions required for diftinguishing between the expreffion of force (or loudness) and emphafis, with their feveral degrees, were worfe than loft; their

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