prolific ftye with litters teem'd, the rooft pour'd forth her hidden hoards and living troops-altho' fertility had bleft the furrow and the mead; yet void of gratitude, untouch'd by daily bounties and examples, her foul remained as fullen as the rocks, which frown'd upon the dale; and taftelefs of the gifts of Providence, as the dark barrennefs of thought, which brooded only on the hopes of future gain.' There is fomething picturefque in these descriptions, although this ftrange ftyle fhows them to difadvantage; and in the pathetic the author is not less fuccessful than in description. MISCELLANEOUS. 55. Lectures concerning Hiftory, read during the Year_1775, in Trinity-College, Dublin, by Michael Kearney, D D. 410. 2s. 6d. Murray. In an advertisement prefixed to thefe Lectures, the author delivers his reafons for publishing foffmall a number. He there informs us, that the profeffor being called upon by the duty of his office to read a lecture before the univerfity at the beginning of every term, the lectures neceffarily fucceed each other after long intervals, and the general plan must therefore be imperfectly comprehended. From this confideration, the lectures read in the course of last year are now laid before the students at one view. The publication confifts of four lectures, in which Dr. Kearney ingeniously purfues an idea fuggefted by Polybius, that the various revolutions in the Roman ftate were fuch as are entirely conformable to the natural series of events in the progrefs of fociety. To confirm this opinion, he traces the Roman government from its origin, which was voluntary association, to its settlement in a limited monarchy; fhewing afterwards the change of the regal into an aristocratic form, and the expanfion of the latter into democracy. Such is the fubject of the first two lectures; and in the third and fourth, the author continues to illuftrate his propofition by the fubfequent revolutions of the Ro. man government, through a fecond and different ariftocracy, to its final extinction in military defpotifm, the abyfs, as he obferves, of every form. In the courfe of these lectures we meet with many judicious obfervations, which evince the author's great difcernment and intimate acquaintance with the conftitution and principles of the Roman ftate. As he advances to modern hiftory, we may expect that his remarks will become yet more ufeful and interesting; and we are extremely glad to find, for the benefit of the ftudents at Dublin, and the public in general, that Dr. Kearney has devised fuch a plan for the profecution of his future lectures, as cannot fail of rendering them highly inftructive to those who attend to his obfervations. 56. An Appeal to the Officers of the Guards. By F. Richardfon, Enfign, &c. 4to. Is. Dodley. This appeal comes from the perfon who amazed the public last year with the account of a most ridiculous plot. It seems intended to vindicate the author's conduct from any unfavour able inferences that might be founded upon the Cafe of Mr. Nugent, which was mentioned in our preceding Review. 57. The Lord High Steward of England; or an Hiftorical Differtation on the Origin, Antiquity, and Functions of that Officer. 8vo. 25. Parker. Those who are defirous of informationr elative to the origin and hiftory of the office of lord high fteward, may have their curiofity gratified by this production; to which is prefixed a frontispiece, exhibiting John of Gaunt, duke of Lancafter, hearing and determining the claims of thofe, who were entitled to any office at the coronation of Richard II. with a reprefentation of the feal pertaining to his high rank. 58. The Ceremonial for the Trial of a Peer, in Weftminster-hall, with Garter's Lift of the Peerage as it now flands, April 1776. and a Plan of the Court. 4to. IS. Payne. An authentic defcription of the proceffion of the lord high steward, judges, &c. &c. to and from Westminster on occafion of the trial of the duchess of Kingston for bigamy; of the peers to and from the chamber of parliament to the court in Westminster-hall; and a minute detail of the ceremonies obferved during the trial.— The annexed lift of the peerage is copied from that of Garter king at arms, in which their lordships are ranged according to their precedency. 59. A Matter of Moment. 8vo. Ed. Corrall. The fubject of this pamphlet is, the mode of examining witneffes in the court of Chancery; which the author justly confiders as greatly defective, and highly expedient to be amended. 60. Johnfoniana; or, a Collection of Bons Mats, &c. By Dr. Johnson, and others. 12mo. 2s. Ridley. What a heap of bald unjointed chat is here! Such witticisms as these any man who is poffeffed of a certain degree of infipid fmartness, common to attorneys clerks, and under-graduates of the theatre, might be capable of framing a hundred of, Stans pede in uno. Indeed, this collection is poorly felected, and wretchedly told; and to thew how well the compiler answers the character Kent gives of himself in Lear, I can marr a cu rious tale in the telling,' we need only quote the fecond paragraph in p. 108, where he makes a king of France fay to a fat man, who had prefented him with a lean copy of verses, poets and horfes fhould not be fattened, but fed.-What fimili tude is there between a poet and a horfe, fat or lean? The true ftory was, that a patron being folicited to fettle an independent ftipend upon fome eminent writer, replied, that this would render him lefs fedulous in his ftudies, for that wits, like breed. ing mares, or race horfes, fhould be fed, but never fattened.' Here the comparifon is obvious, and completes the allufion. This curious publication, it feems, has been entered at Stationer's-Hall, to preferve the property of it to the editor: but we apprehend that the Flying-Stationers will be the principal venders of it. THE CRITICAL REVIEW. For the Month of May, 1776. ARTICLE I. A New Syftem, or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology: wherein an Attempt is made to divest Tradition of Fable; and to reduce the Truth to its Original Purity. Vol. 111. By Jacob Bryant. 410. 11. 25. boards. Payne. TH HIS learned writer having fhewn, in a preceding volume*, the certainty of an univerfal deluge from the evidences of moft nations, to which we can gain access, proceeds in this to give us a hiftory of the perfons, who furvived that event; and of the families, which were immediately defcended from them. Having mentioned their refidence in the region of Ararat, and their migration from it, he gives an account of the roving of the Cuthites, and of their coming to the plains of Shinar, from whence they were at last expelled. To this are added obfervations upon the hiftory of Chaldea and Egypt, of Hellas and Ionia, and of every other country, which was in any degree occupied by the fons of Chus. There have been men of learning, who have denominated their works from the families, of which they treated; and have accordingly fent them into the world under the title of Phaleg, Japhet, and Javan. Our author might, in like manner, have prefixed to this performance the name either of Cuth or Cuthim: for his fyftem chiefly turns upon the history of this people. * Crit. Rev. vol. xxxvii. p. 260, 401. VOL. XLI. May, 1776. Ꮓ It It may be asked, if there were no other great families upon earth, befides that of the Cuthites, worthy of record: if no other people ever performed great actions, and made themfelves refpectable to pofterity. Mr. Bryant replies: Sach poffibly there might have been, and the field is open to any, who may choose to make enquiry. My taking this particular path doth not in the leaft hinder others from profecuting different views, wherever they may 'fee an opening.' What the author now prefents to the public, contains matter of great moment; and, if his notions are well grounded, will afford a fure bafis for the future hiftory of the world.— His first enquiry relates to the migration and dispersion of nations. Part of what he advances upon this head is, that the ark rested upon the mount Ararat *, in the province of Armenia; that it was providentially wafted thither, being a very high country, confequently the fooneft dried, and containing every requifite for habitation; that Noah and his family there defcended from the ark; that mankind for a long time lived under the mild rule of this great patriarch; that when they multiplied, and became very numerous, it pleased God to allot to the various families different regions, to which they were to retire; that accordingly, in the days of Phaleg, they did remove, and betake themselves to their different departments; that the fons of Chus would not obey, but went off, under the conduct of the arch-rebel Nimrod, and were probably for a long time in a roving ftate; that at laft they arrived at the plains of Shinar, which they found occupied by Affur and his fons, who had been placed there by divine appointment; that they ejected him, and feized upon his dominions, which they immediately fortified with cities, intending to found a great, if not an univerfal empire; that the city Babel was first built, and afterwards the celebrated tower; that, fearing they might be divided and feattered abroad, they built this tower, as a landmark to repair to, as a token to direct them; that probably it was an idolatrous temple, or high altar, dedicated to the host of heaven, from which they were never long to be abfent; that the apoftates were one fourth of the line of Ham, and had an inclination to maintain themselves where they first fettled, intead of occupying the countries, to which they were appointed; that this rebellious purpose was defeated by a fearful judgement, a confufion of fpeech, through a failure in labial utterance, or an inability to articulate; that this judge A compound of Ar-Arat, and fignifies the mountain of defcent, .of the Hebrews הר-ירך and is equivalent to ment ment related only to the Cuthites of Shinar and Babel, and to thofe, who had joined themselves to them; and that in confequence of this calamity they fled away, not to any particular place of deftination, but were fcattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. Such, fays our author (if we have rightly collected his ideas) is the account tranfmitted by Mofes of the reparation of mankind after the flood; and of their migration, according to their families, to the regions appointed for them; of the rebellion alfo of the Cuthites, and the conftruction of the tower; and of the diffipation, which afterwards enfued.' He obferves, that many traces of thefe events are to be found in the Greek poets; and that the difperfion of the Cuthites is manifeftly to be difcovered under the fable of the flight of Bacchus, thus described by Nonnus * : His wavering bands now fled in deep difmay Sore travel others felt, and wandered far All in confufion.' Ancient writers are unanimous, that the tower of Babel was overthrown, and that Nimrod perished in it f. But this, our author thinks, could not be true, For, fays he, the term of Nimrod's life, extend it to the utmost of patriarchic age after the flood, could not have fufficed for this. And though writers do affert, that the tower was overthrown, and the principal perfon buried in its ruins; and it must be confeffed, that ancient mythology has continual allufions to fome fuch event, yet I fhould imagine, that this re lated to the overthrow of the deity there worshiped, and to the extirpation of his rites and religion, rather than to any real perfon. The fable of Vulcan who was thrown down from heaven, and caft into the fea, is founded upon this story ... Many writers speak of him, as being thrown off from the bat tlements of a high tower by Jupiter: and there is a paffage to this purpofe in Homer, which has embarraffed commentators, though I do not think it very obfcure, if we confider the hiftory to which it relates. * Nonni Dionyf. lib. xxxiv. p. 864. See alfo, lib. xx. p. 552. Homeri Il. vi. 132. + Syncellus, p. 42. Cedrenus, p. 11. Jofeph. Antiq. i. 4. Hom, Hym, to Apollo, ver. 317. |