neceffary for the creation and government of the world; and that there is actually but one fupreme and independent Being is fo evident from the unity of defign, &c. that to fup. pofe more than one is highly unreasonable; but let not the pride of philofophy be ashamed to confefs that it is to divine revelation alone that we are indebted for our knewledge of the unity of God. In this Author's difquifitions on the attributes of God we have found as little novelty as in his demonftration a priori of the Divine exiftence. We have found, indeed, many falutary truths, and likewife feveral pofitions, which we cannot admit: but we have not found one truth or one error, that we have not repeatedly met with elsewhere. The whole indeed feems to be a compilation from Leibnitz, Clarke, Archbishop King, Lord Bolingbroke, Tucker *, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Law, and the Analytical Review! and we have no hefitation to fay that the third is by far the least valuable and leaft ingenious Effay in the volume. That Dr. Kirwan fhould have adopted the pre-established harmony of Leibnitz, or rather fomething resembling that harmony, as far as the efficacy of prayer is concerned, does not furprife us; for much may be faid in favour of it, and has indeed been faid in its favour by Wollafton and others, in terms more plaufible than those which are here employed; but that the man who believes that all the fenfations and impreffions, from which we infer the exiftence of the material world, are impreffed on the mind by the immediate agency of the Deity, fhould yet deny the reality of thofe Divine influences, to which Christian Divines give the name of Grace, does indeed furprise us. On this fubject, however, he prefers to the reafonings of Berkeley, which to us, though Hyloifts, appear unanfwerable, the reafonings of Bolingbroke, a notorious Deift; and of "the excellent Dr. Prieftley," a materialift and neceffarian! On the whole we have been much amufed, fometimes inftructed, and often difappointed by this volume. Yet we fhall be glad to see a second by the fame author; and requeft him to pay greater attention to the correcting of the prefs than he feems to have done when the Effays before us were paffing through it; for they abound with errors undoubtedly typographical, though not one is corrected either at the beginning or at the end of the volume. * Here referred to by his fictitious name, Search, ART. VIII. Erin, a geographical and defcriptive Poem. Large 8vo. With a Map, and several Vignette Plates. By the Rev. E. Smedley. 87 pp. 11. 1s. For the Author, by Ginger, College Street. 1810. To examine this production as a poem, to analyze its plan, and balance the cadence of its verfes, would be to depart from the line of judicious criticism. The author is not now commencing a poetical career, the fuccefs of which is to be calculated from this fpecimen. Having been thirty-fix years employed as an affiftant in a public fchool *, he must rather be taking his leave of the Mufes, than paying his court to them; and his appeal must be more to the regard of the multitudes, who, in that long period, have passed under his care, than to the fuffrage of the public at large. We fee him, accordingly, fupported by a moft honourable lift of names, and we cordially hope that the ultimate result will be fuch, as to gratify every feeling of the veteran inftru&tor, Erin has, however, further claims to attention. It is, as far as we know, the firft fpecimen of a local and defcriptive poem on Ireland; and though, with reference to a fubject fo extenfive, it may appear but a sketch, yet does it bring forward many remarkable particulars, and contain feveral pleafing allufions to the hiftory and traditions of that country. It will, therefore, fill a chafm, till fome more elaborate and extended poem fhall take its ftation next to the thirty books of Drayton's Polyolbion, The concluding lines, in which the poet celebrates the famous harp of Brien Boro, king of Ireland, ftill preferved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, may afford no unfavourable fpecimen of the poetry. Brien Boro, it feems, was flain in his twenty-fifth battle against the Danes, in 1014. "Mute is the tongue of Erin's tuneful king, * See his Dedication. Rude Rude tho' himfelf, each faithful kern admires Feats of the brave he fung-the robber Dane, "If haply I, without a mufe of fire, Few well defcribe high-founding deeds of war. But with the oak her hallow'd grafs entwine, A few notes are fubjoined to the poem, which, to English readers in particular, must be indifpenfable, as they illuftrate local allufions very little known on this fide of the Channel *. Some of the vignette plates are extremely elegant, particu Jarly the last, p. 59. ART. IX. Sermons by Samuel Horsley, LL. D. F.R.S. F. A. S. Late Lord Bishop of St. Afaph. 2 Vols. 8vo. 11. Is. London, Hatchard, Cadell and Davies; Edinburgh, Manners and Miller. 1810. NO English preachers, in their day, drew together more crowded audiences, or more completely engaged the attention of thofe audiences, than the late Bishops of London and St. Afaph. Both Prelates were indeed fully entitled to all the admiration, which, as pulpit-orators, they obtained, nor would it be eafy to fay, which of them obtained the larger portion; and yet few preachers, juftly celebrated, and equally orthodox, have differed more widely than these two diftinguished men, either in the choice of their subje&s, or in their manner of difcuffing them. A fmall book entitled "Hibernia curiofa," republished in London in 1782, contains delineations of feveral curiofities mentioned in this poem, rude indeed, but probably exact: for infrance, of the giant's causeway, the Powerscourt waterfall, the lake of Killarney, &c.. The The former generally preached on common topics, on which it was impoffible to fay any thing at once novel and true; but by the fimple elegance of his ftyle, the melliffluence of his voice, and the earnestness of his manner, he delighted liftening multitudes, while he was bringing home to their bufinefs and bofoms, the practical doctrines of the gospel. The latter, confcious, as men of ftrong and capacious minds generally are, of his own powers, feems to have taken pleafure in grappling with difficulties, from which most other preachers would have fhrunk; and convinced that it is the duty of the Chriftian Clergy to declare unto thofe committed to their pastoral care, all the counsel of God, as far as it is known to themfelves, he never fhunned an opportunity that was afforded him, of explaining to thofe, to whom he was preaching, the most obfcure paffage of Scripture, which appeared to have any reference, even remote, either to their faith or to their practice. In throwing light on obfcurity, he excelled, indeed, all the preachers whom we recollect to have heard; and though it is generally thought dangerous to enter, in the pulpit, upon a critical or logical difcuffion, of which if a link in the chain of argument be loft, the object of the whole difcourfe is liable to be mistaken, little danger of this kind was to be apprehended when Bifhop Horfley was the preacher. The fubject of his fermons was feldom hackneyed, his illuftrations of what was obfcure were generally fo original, and in his voice and manner there was fomething fo commanding, that the attention of his auditors could hardly wander. The characters of these two great prelates, as preachers, were, in our hearing, accurately diftinguithed, and in a very few words, by a clergyman, who obferved, that "the Bishop of London folicited the attention of his audience, and by the gentleness of his manner, and the agreeable fmoothness of his ftyle, obtained it; while the Bifhop of St. Afaph, by the energy of his manner, and the vigour of his ftyle, compelled that attention which he demanded." The fmoothing or rounding of periods, indeed, feems not to have been at any time an object of his particular regard; but his ftyle was always fuited to his thoughts; it rofe and fell with his fubject; and if it was fometimes rough, it was never feeble, and never perplexed. As he thought profoundly, he fpoke and wrote nervously and perfpicuously. It was obvious to all who had ever heard him, that his fermons, however haftily compofed, were at leaf as fit for the clofet as for the church; and we believe that at his death, a wifh very generally prevailed, that thofe difcourfes, which when when pronounced from the pulpit, had at once delighted and inftructed those who heard them, might foon be given to the public at large. The delay which has taken place in gratiying that with, is fufficiently accounted for by the editor of these two volumes, the only fon of the Bishop; of whom we can fay, on the evidence of one well acquainted with both, and with their modes of thinking, that he inherits all his father's prominent principles, with no fmall share of the vigour of his mind. That the Chriftian part of the British public will be highly gratified by this publication, there can be no doubt; nor will that gratification be the lefs for its being well known that Bishop Horfley never prepared for the prefs any fermons but thofe, which, being preached on public occafions, he was either requefted or commanded to publifh himself. We have, indeed, the means of knowing, that he did not confider his own fermons as adapted to the tafte of the age. When folicited, as he often was, to print a volume, and put in mind of the rapid and extenfive fale of other fermons, certainly of not greater merit, his ufual reply was, that the fale of fermons is not regulated by their merit, and that as he preached neither fanatical divinity, nor mere moral effays, his fermons, though he had compelled them to be heard, would not be generally read. But we truft that there is yet among us a fufficient portion of good fenfe and seriousness, to prove that in forming this low eftimate of British tafte, the learned prelate was mistaken. The fermons contained in thefe two volumes, are in number twenty-nine, of which fix were given to the public by the Bishop himfelf. Thefe are the ninth, thirteenth, fourteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, and the twenty-ninth, which was, we are told, the laft that he ever compofed; and the critical reader will find fome rational amufement in comparing the ftyle of these fix fermons with that of the others, of which the editor fays, that "fearful of injuring the native dignity and ftrength of the compofition, he felt it a facred duty to let them appear in the ftate in which they were left by the Bishop." In judging thus, he judged rightly; for he has fhown to the public, that his father compofed his fermons with as great care, when he had no other object in view than the inftruction of his audience, as when he must have been aware that what he was compofing would be fent to the prefs. The three first fermons are upon the most important of all fubjects the coming of the Lord to judgment; and in the firit, which is preached from St. James, v. 8, the learned Prelate |