collected; and extended as this article already is, our readers will not blame us for faying nothing on thofe points.

Although an article of fuch length may feem to have exhausted the fubject of confideration, yet fo widely extended are the labours of Dryden, and fo great his excellence in every ftyle, notwithstanding his occafional faults, , that this review does not feem to contain more than fufficient , to give a flight notion of his purfuits and powers, and barely enough to enable the reader to form fome judgment on the . edition prepared by Mr. Scott, omitting altogether many heads, each of which would demand ample obfervation. Among thefe are his profe, the moft captivating of his time, his feparate tranflations, fongs and epiftles, and his prologues and epilogues, many of which are of the higheft merit and beauty.

In the courfe of thefe remarks, cenfure and praise have been occafionally bestowed on the editor; and in a general fummary, the unqualified application of either would be unjuft. To Mr. Scott the public is indebted for the first collection of the works of Dryden, but the obligation is diminifhed by the ftrong evidence that the undertaking was chiefly planned by the book feller, and that the publication was to be made as dear as poffible to the purchafer, with the lealt poffible labour on the part of the editor. Eighteen thin octavo - volumes, unadorned with engravings, (except a head of the author, and an indifferent copy of a caricature) are to be -fold at half a guinea each. The twenty-eight plays, without notes, or any of the labours which attend the publication of the earlier dramatifts, as Shakspeare, Maflinger, and Jonfon, occupy seven volumes. There are, it is true, fhort biographical fketches and flight notes occafionally annexed to the dedications and prefaces, and to each play is prefixed a brief differtation; but the fubftance of fome of thefe essays had been given in the life, and the previous publication of Mr. Malone had rendered the refidue eafy. Perhaps it is no exaggeration to fay, that the revifion, punctuation, and annotation, of one play of Maffinger, must have occafioned more labour to Mr. W. Gifford than all thefe feven volumes did to Mr. Scott. On the hiftorical poetry of Dryden, the editor has beflowed more illustration, but that too was collected without any great effort. With fo complete a collection at hand as that of Mr. Luttrel is defcribed to be, it was easy to afford notes to an almost unlimited extent; but this is not faid with a view to depreciate these explanatory additions; they are of the highest value and utility. On the want of criticifm upon the tranflations we have already remarked: the

Pp 4

omiffion

omiffion is a flagrant dereliction of the editor's duty, and a ftrong proof that neither his own fame, nor that of his au thor, weighed against his hafte and love of ease. Of the profe, one volume is filled with the life of Sir Francis Xavier, tranflated from Father Bohours, which may be worth half a guinea to those who will read it; and fome of the other volumes are pieced out with tales from Boccacio, and poems. from Chaucer. Had all these, and fome other redundancies, been omitted; had the proper care been bestowed on the tranflations, and other neglected portions of the work; and had the whole been as well printed, and in volumes of the fame fize as Mr. Malone's edition of Dryden's profe, twelve volumes, at the price of fix guineas, would have exhibited a much better and more fatisfactory edition of the poet, than the prefent eighteen volumes at the enormous price of nine guineas.

ART. VI. The Expofition of the Creed, by John Pearfon, D. D. Bishop of Chester, abridged, for the Ufe of Young Perfons. By the Rev. C. Burney, LL. D. F.R. S. 12mo. 556 pp. 8s. Cadell and Davies. 1810.

DR.

R. Pearfon, one of the moft diftinguished and most learned of English Bifhops, before he was elevated to the See of Chester was for fome time Rector of St. Clements Eaft Cheap. In this fituation he preached to his parishioners in the form of Sermons the fubftance of that admirable Expofition of the Creed, fo long and fo deservedly confidered among the best and most ufeful theological productions of our language. Neverthelefs, and with all its excellence, the Right Reverend Author may appear in his arguments too diffife for the leifure of fome readers, and too elaborate for the capacities of others. A judicious Abridgment therefore has before been thought a falutary and expedient undertak ing. A brief Expofition of the Creed according to Bishop Pearfon, in a new Method of Paraphrafe and Annotation, was published by Dr. Kennett in 1705. There was another printed in Ireland, but by whom does not at prefent occur to

us.

This work has been most meritoriously undertaken by Dr. Charles Burney for the exprefs ufe of Young Perfons of both sexes, and it never could have been put forth either at a more proper feafon, or by skill and talents better qualified for the purpose. We are not only fallen on evil days, but the days, it is much to be feared, are made worse, by the careles

ness in some inftances, and by omiffion in others, to im prefs upon the minds of Youth, the important and effential principles of our holy Religion.

In a Preface, which cannot be perufed without emo tion, and which does equal honour to the head and heart of the writer, the doctor thus explains his motives and inten tions.

"With regard to the object of this Abridgement, it has been made chiefly with a wifh of promoting the religious educa tion of youth in the upper forms of our public schools and claffical feminaries. It is recommended to their ufe, as an exercise book for Saturday evenings; on winch the fcholar should be directed to tranflate a portion of it, into Latin or Greek; and fhould be required to infert, in their proper places, the paffages from the original of the New Teftament, which are cited, or to which the marginal not s refer. This Abridgement may also be made a book of general perufal in all schools; if, while one of the upper boys reads it aloud, the reft are taught to bring forward the citations, from the Greek, Latin, or English Teftament, according to their progress and advancement in thofe languages. From this plan the younger readers muft derive an early facility of reference to the Scriptures; as well as of quotation from their facred pages. By confining the references alfo to the New Teftament in modern languages, this Abridgement may, in nearly the fame manner, be admitted as a Work of facred inftruction into schools, planned for female education; and into private houses, in which the Family circle, on Sunday evenings, may be wifely defirous of cultivating Religious Knowledge.

"Let me trefpafs a little further on the patience of the Reader; in order to recommend this Abridgement, with affectionate refpect, to my brethren, who are employed in the laudable, but anxious, duty of inftructing the rifing generation; to which fervice, between twenty and thirty years of my life have been conftantly devoted. During the latter part of this period the difficulties, the toils, and the folicitude of a School Mafter's Occupation have been gradually, and greatly increased: not nearly fo much, let me add, by the evil days, on which we have fallen; as by thofe extraordinary and deftructive indulgences, with which children are now gratified, during the feafons, at which they are under the roof of their Parents

As long as the domeftick fyftem of Education preferves its prefent form, it will inevitably produce a diftafte for ftudy at School, which the active exertions of a Mafter must combat; a repugnance to regulations, which he muft vigorously correct; and a defiance of authority, which he muft inceffantly labour to retrain: left his profeffional duties fhould firft become infupportable, and then nugatory. If thefe efforts fhould fail, the confequences may be readily forefeen: Learning will by degrees decay; and

Society

-Society will in vain deplore the lofs; while the fettled rules" of our wifer Ancestors, who affigned their proper Places, as well as their proper Duties, to Individuals of all Ages and all Ranks, will fpeedily lofe their influence; and become useless, like repealed Statutes, inftead of being cherished as the guides and lights of Society.

"Let not my Brethren, however, though the profpect is gloomy, and their cares are augmented, fhrink from the active fulfilment of their arduous tafk; but let them recollect, amidst watchfulness, which must enfeeble the ftouteft frame, and amidst exertions, which muft enervate the mott vigorous understanding, that no Occupation can be more eminently ufeful, than that in which they are engaged. Let them alfo feel, with confcious pride, that the real dignity of every Profeffion refts folely on its utility. Let them train their Pupils to early and steady habits of industry and obedience, and let them inculcate the neceffity of thinking with ferioufnefs and reverence on facred fubjects:-let them be efpecially careful, that the foundation of a virtuous and religious life may be established in their docile minds, by an early introduction to the knowledge of a Chriftian's duties.

"If they uniformly purfue this courfe, they may be affured, that the Public will justly and gratefully appreciate their efforts.Then will they reflect with unallayed fatisfaction, that by fuch a difcharge of their obligations towards thofe, whofe education has been entrusted to their direction, they have contributed effentially to the promotion of Learning, to the interefts of Virtue and Religion, and to the profperity of their Country." P. x.

With respect to the mode in which this Abridgement has been made, and the merit of its execution, we can unequivocally declare that it is entitled to praife of the most exalted kind, to the gratitude of Parents, Teachers, and the heads of families. It is, in the highest degree, luminous, a quality which in abridgments it is exceedingly difficult to fuftain with uniformity; nothing effential is omitted, little except fingle words occafionally added.

The original work it is well known is much occupied by erudite notes, with theological difputations, with argumenta tive confutation of heretical opinions, &c. thefe would here have been out of place.

We beg to add the tribute of our thanks for this very excellent and ufeful publication, and to avow the grateful complacency, with which we fee the learned and reverend author occupied in labours at the fame time honourable to himself and beneficial to his country.

Hic Defenforibus tempus eget.

ÁRT.

ART. VII. Metaphyfical Effays, &c. By Richard Kirwan,

WE

Efq. &c.

(Concluded from page 465.)

E have now arrived at Dr. Kirwan's great object in the publication of thefe Effays, the establishment of the theory of Berkeley. Every thing that we have hitherto examined in the volume before us, may be confidered as merely preparatory to this end, which the author confiders as of fo much importance, that he labours not only to convince the understanding, but also to intereft the heart in favour of it. We are not fure that this conduct is perfectly fair, though in the prefent cafe it is certainly harmi fs; for, as we have already granted, the theory of Berkeley may be held without injury either, to morals or religion; and if its abettors would not contend that it is abfolutely demonftrated, and that the common belief in the exiftence of a material world is an abfurdity, they fhould have no controverfy on the fubject with us. That our fenfations might all have been as they are, though no other beings had ever exifted but God, ourselves and other animals; nay, that the fenfations of every individual might all have been as he is confcious they are and have been, though no other Being had ever exifted but God and himself, is certainly poffible, for any thing that we know to the contrary; but every thing that is poffible is not therefore real, or even probable. The reader, therefore, muft not be deterred from examining the queftion at iffue, by the following attempt to excite his prejudices against the existence of a material world.

"The fuppofition, that any other clafs of beings (God, and created minds excepted) whether known or unknown, poffefs a power of acting on our minds, is not only gratuitously affumed, when not attefted by Divine revelation, rationally interpreted, but has ferved as a foundation for the fuperftructure of the groffeft and moft pernicious errors, which unhappily have, for forty cen turies at leaft, overspread the greater part of the globe, and ftill fpread their malignant influence over no inconfiderable portion of it, as polytheifm, idolatry, magic, demonifm, and the various cruel and abominable practices that fpring from them." P. 255.

It is no good argument against the truth of our doctrine, that the perverfity of men has deduced from it pernicious errors; but were the cafe otherwife, it does not appear to us that polytheifm, magic, or demonifm depend in any degree on belief in the exiftence of the material world. If Dr.