him they learned the doctrine of a Triad, or Trinity, in the divine Effence, and the natural immortality of man. By the first they contradicted the effential doctrine of the fcriptures both in the Old, and New Teftament, the abfolute unity of God: by the fecond they fubverted the fundamental doctrine of a refurrection from death, and a future judgment; thereby fuperfeding the neceffity of the Chriftian difpenfation. And indeed not this alone, but many other bad confequences followed the introduction of the pagan principles. Such as the doctrine of an imputed ftain of original depravity; a doctrine not only abfurd, unjutt, and impious, but abfolutely impoffible; the doctrine of purgatory, limbus patrum, infantum, maffes for the dead, faint and image worship, and all the nonfenfe of an intermediate ftate of existence between death and the refurrection. These things were the confequences of explaining the doc-trines of Chriftianity upon the principles of Pagan philofophy. I charge not the perfons who firft did this, with any bad defign; and only lament in men undoubtedly of great merit, fuch cogent examples of human frailty. Because this their frailty in procefs of time gave opportunity to others to carry the worst defigns into execution. The religion of Christ however made a rapid progrefs, and great numbers were converted even to their reprefentation of the Chriftian faith. Here began the misfortune and great corruption of the church. Not in the numbers converted to Chriftianity, but in the numbers perverted after their converfion, to these vain doctrines of fallible men. For thefe learned and philofophic Chriftians now made themfelves the heads of parties; no better in truth than leaders of fo many feparate factions; and taught peculiar notions, and doctrines of their own. Then human pride took alarm. Each feparate teacher, like the ancient fectarian philofophers, thought he raifed his own reputation the more, as he could make himfelf the more diftinguished. The peculiarities of his own doctrines ferved as a characteristic creed, or confeffion of faith ; which was the mark of his difciples; was the admiffion into that particular fociety, and in time effected the exclufion of those who were of a different opinion.

At this æra, I place the origin of fubfcription. For though these leaders perhaps did not actually require in writing an affent to their peculiarities; yet whoever would be efteemed a difciple, muft by fome outward form profefs the opinions of his mafter; which in my apprehenfion comes to the fame thing. In this manner did human erudition and pagan philofophy new mould the plain and important doctrines of Chriflianity; and by impofing the falfe opinions of men as ne ceffary articles of faith, throw fuch a burthen upon conscience as is now become too grievous to be borne.'

The author traces the progrefs of fubfcription through fucceeding ages; and fhews, that the church of Rome gradually

carried

carried to the greatest extremity the impofition of human opinions, in open defiance of the fcriptures; penned her confeffions and articles of faith in blood; made them necessary conditions of Chriftian communion; and perfecuted every one, who durft diffent from her tenets, with the utmoft feverity; till the true fpirit of the gospel was buried in profound ignorance and fuperftition.

From the darker ages, he proceeds to the time of the Reformation; and obferves, that the narrow-minded principle of contracting the terms of communion, continued to operate at this period, with the utmoft violence, to the deftrusion of all Christian charity. It exasperated the Papifts against the Lutherans, the Lutherans against the Calvinists, and the Calvinifts against the Arminians.

This view of things leads him to confider the confequences of fubfcription; the nature of the thing required, and the right to require it in Proteftant communities. He concludes with hints for fome eafy alterations, which he thinks may contribute fomething towards healing the wounds of the

church.

This tract appears to be the work of a fenfible and confcientious layman, well acquainted with ecclefiastical history, liberal in his notions, and anxious to promote the honour of Christianity.

FOREIGN ARTICLES.

XIV. De Philippa, Regina Sueciæ, Daniæ, atque Norwegiæ, Angliæ Principe, Differtatio. 4to. Goettinge.

PHILIPPA, one of the greatest northern queens, was a daughter of king Henry IV. of England, probably born in 1391, when her father was yet earl of Derby, about eight years before the revolution of 1399, by which the earl was raifed to the throne of England. In 1406 he was married to Eric of Pomerania, the prefumptive heir to the three northern crowns, and her marriage was celebrated at Lunden in Schonen. For fome years after her marriage the refided in Sweden, where John Jerechini, a Dane, was by her mediațion preferred to the archiepifcopal fee of Upfal, but afterwards proved himself unworthy of her patronage. After queen Margery's death, in 1412, Philippa, who soon after lost her father, took a very active and leading part in the government of the North; feveral excellent regulations in Sweden, the foundation of Landskrone on the coast of Schonen, and the acquifition of Copenhagen from the bishoprick of Rotfchild, were chiefly owing to her couniels. She also patronized the convent at Wadftena; endeared herself fo far to the minds of the Swedes, that during all her life Sweden was preferved in perfect tranquillity and peace; and was by her confort Eric rewarded with a very confiderable addition to her dowry, confifting of all the royal demefnes in Sealand; for the reftitution of which he was, after the king's death, to poffefs the greater part of Weftmannland, Upland,

and

and Dalecarlia, and among other confiderable places, Enkioping, Upfal, Stockholm, with all the fovereignty. In return the engaged by her credit to infure to duke Bogislau, the king's coufin, or to fome other Pomeranian prince, the fucceffion to the northern kingdoms. In 1423, Eric entered into a confederacy with the Hanfetowns Lubeck, Roftock, Stralfund, Wifmar, Luneburg, Gryphfwald, and Anklam, who, among other articles, guaranteed the future poffeffion of the dowry to the queen.

From good hiftorical proofs it appears, that Eric undertook, in Auguft 1423, a very adventurous voyage, from which he returned about the fpring of 1425. He paffed through Pomerania into Poland, and affifted at king Uladifaus' marriage with his fourth queen Sophia; afterwards attended the emperor Sigifmund to Hungary, where he obtained, at Buda, a fentence against the dukes of Slefwig; after which be raftened to Venice, and from that place, incognito, by fea to Palestine, where he visited the holy fepulchre, though at the risk of being recognised and made a prifoner, from which he however narrowly escaped to Venice, and at length returned into his own dominions.

During his abfence his kingdoms were governed by Philippa; who called in the base coin, and restored it to the true standard. After the king's return, the war against the dukes of Slefwig was renewed; in which the Hanfe-towns took the duke's part against Eric; and in 1428, appeared with a powerful fleet, with 12,000 men on board, before Copenhagen. The king, who before had made fome preparation for refiftance, kept himself now concealed at Soroë; whilft Philippa haftily collected fome raw forces, infpirited them to bravery, faved both the royal fleet and Copenhagen, and after that exploit raifed a folemn monument to her troops, and commended their fpirit and fidelity. The Hanfeatic league, however, was at that time two powerful to be repulfed at once. In 1429, Eric paffed into Sweden in queft of affistance; Philippa refolved on attacking the enemy in their own towns, and hastily collecting a fleet of 75 fmall veffels, the embarked 1400 men against Stralfund. At first this weak fleet took feveral veffels from the enemy, and burned fome others; but being driven by contrary winds into Wolgaft, the Stralfunders, on the arrival of fome fhips from Lubeck and Wifmar, took courage, and engaged the returning Danes with fuch fpirit and fuccefs, that most of their veffels were destroyed, and their crews either killed or taken. King Eric, without whofe knowledge this expedition had been undertaken, was incensed at this difafter, and treated his queen with great brutality. Her grief at his treatment, and at the ill fuccefs of her armament, determined Philippa to retire from the world into the convent at Wadftena, where he died foon after, on the fixth of January, 1430. Eric affifted in perfon at her funeral, confirmed her will, by which fhe had left her crown and valuable effects to the convent, added his own crown to her legacy, and founded colleges of canons at Wadstena and Calmar, for celebrating perpetual maffes for her foul.

The friendship and intercourfe with the English court were kept up; but the charms of Cecilia, formerly one of Philippa's ladies, who now became his miftrefs, made Eric foon forget the lofs of bis excellent queen. However, his misfortunes after her death futa. ciently evince, how greatly he had been indebted to her abilities and spirit.

The

The remarkable and interefling history of this princess is here fupported by fufficient proofs.

XV. Examen Critique des Anciens Hiftoriens d'Alexandre le Grand. 410. Paris.

As the hiftory of Alexander the Great is visibly disfigured by a variety of inaccuracies and fables, the Royal Academy of Infcriptions and Belles Lettres at Paris propofed, in 1770, a prize for a critical examen of the ancient hiftorians of Alexander the Great; and being diffatisfied with the memoirs received in that year on this fubject, they deferred the prize to the year 1772, when it was obtained by the author of this learned and valuable performance, Baron de Sainte Croix; who fince that time has ftudiously endeavoured ftill farther to improve his work by neceffary corrections and additions; and for that purpose not only confulted the Greek and Latin originals, but also fuch of the works of eaftern writers as may ferve to ascertain the authenticity of many facts related by ancient authors. In order to judge of the historians of Alexander the Great, M. de Sainte Croix begins with furveying the political state of Greece. That celebrated country did then no longer enjoy the liberty neceffary for manly hiftorical performances. The Greeks were, under Alexander's fucceffors, funk into mean flatterers and flaves. The rapidity of his conquests produced an enthusiasm fond of the marvellous. Callisthenes endeavoured to exalt the actions of his hero by a diction equally improper to the gravity of history and the fpirit of eloquence, and by a mixture of fables and fuperftitions. Oneficritus of Egina related the expedition of Alexander, on the plan of the Cyropædia; and Strabo treats him as a fabulous writer, who by his impudence in telling the strangest and abfurdeft tales, has outdone all the hiftorians of the Macedonian monarch. According to the fame Strabo, Hegefias of Magnefia was the first who introduced the Afiatic eloquence into Greece; an hopeful hiftorian! alike faulty in his thoughts and diction. Clitarchus, fon of Dinon, wrote in the fame fpirit.

Of fuch writers then no authentic narrative can be expected. There is, however, another more creditable clafs; among these the memoirs of Ptolomy and Ariftobulus, two of Alexander's generals, written after his death; the journals of his actions, digefted by Diodorus of Erythrea, and Eumenes of Cardia, one of his favourites next to Hephæftion; the Itinerary of his army, described by Diognetes and Beton, furveyors employed by him in the furvey of his marches; Cephaleon, who wrote an abftract of universal hiftory, diftinguished for its accuracy and precifion, of which the last book contained the exploits of Alexander; Chares; Anticlides; Philon of Thebes; Hecatæus of Eretria; Duris of Samos; Nearchus; Timagenes; hold a diftinguifhed rank. But of all thefe writers there are only some fragments left, inserted in those that are ftill extant.

Arrianus of Nicomedia, lived under Adrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Antoninus, and was a difciple of Epictetus. He commanded Roman armies, and by dint of merit, role to the confular dignity. This philofopher, in his Hiftory of Alexander the Great, judges of the manners, genius, motives, and actions of man, and traces the caufes of the increase of empires. As nène of Alexander's hiftorians had the fame talents for war as Arrian, the accuracy and fidelity of his relations of Alexander's battles ftard unrivalled.

unrivalled. It is, however, confeffed that Arrian was rather prejudiced in his hero's favour, and inclined to glofs over his faults, and exaggerate his fucceffes.

Alexander's life by Plutarch cannot be confidered as a regular history. That writer collected facts merely as themes for reflection, and took the materials of his work from indifferent authors, fuch as Callifthenes, Oneficritus. &c.

An account of Alexander's actions is alfo given by Diodorus Siculus, who never fupports his narrative by quoting his authorities, and feems indifcriminately to copy good or indifferent authors.

Quintus Curtius is accufed of having inverted the order of geography and hiftory, of being unacquainted with tactics, of wanting difcernment, of feeking rather probability than truth, of being too fond of witticisms, and of an abfurd refinement in his maxims, too poetical in his defcriptions, and too florid and declamatory in his fpeeches. He himself confeffes that he copies many more accounts than he believes; that he does not warrant things which he doubts of himself, but could not refolve on fuppreffing what he had learned. Clitarchus appears to have been the chief fource from which he derived his accounts.

Juftin's common defects are inaccuracy in ftating facts, and confusion in his narrative; he is therefore but little to be depended upon, fince he even disfigures the names of nations and of towns. Georgius Syncellus, Suidas, Cedrenus, Paulus Orofius, fwarm with grofs mistakes. Eufebius, in his Chronicle, is not very exact with regard to Alexander. Neither will Athenagoras, or St. Austin, or St. Cyprian ftand the teft of criticifm. As to the eastern hiftorians, their accounts of Alexander are full of fables and mistakes.

Yet, fince the exacteft hiftorian is liable to error, and fince the most indifferent may happen fometimes to find and to relate truth, M. de Sainte Croix has entered into an examen of all the facts and events related by thefe different hiftorians. Thus, in fact, his work becomes a critical history of Alexander the Great. After having, in his first fection, delineated the different characters of the various historians; he examines, in his fecond fection, the accounts of the military expeditions of that prince; in the third, their narratives of his private actions; and in the fourth, the geographical details. The work concludes with a differtation on Alexander's birth, and on the last epochas of the chronicle of Paros. The whole performance is illuftrated and fupported by a great number of notes; and will, on account of the profound and judicious enquiries contained in it, prove very acceptable to the ftudents of ancient hiftory, and to future hiftorians of Alexander the Great.

XVI. Viaggio in Dalmatia, dell' Abbate Alberto Fortis.

Venice. [concluded.]·

2 Vols. 4to.

THE fecond volume of fignor Fortis' travels contains his remarks on the fouth weft part of the coaft of Dalmatia, from Trau to the defolate town of Narona, and on the adjoining iflands. In the neighbourhood of Trau the country people neglect the cultivation of chefnuts and prepare a wretched fort of bread from alphodil roots. In the inland of Bua, bitumen exudes from rocks and tones. The mill ftones exported from the island of Milo are faid to he tough, foft, and confequently dangerous on account of mingling their duft with the flour. The diftrict of Salona is fertile, ef pecially in excellent oil. Near Spalatro, our traveller met with fe