firing; its foil as fit for the production of any kind of vegetable food and the feas to abound with the most delicate fish. Should any ob.. ject to the paucity of quadrupeds, it must be remarked, that a friendly intercourfe with the tropical islands will not only procure a fupply of hogs for food, but alfo for flock; and as most of our "navigators have afferted that the islands lying eastward of Borneo, are well stocked with cattle of the buffalo kind, a breed of those, who are endemial to the climate, may be introduced, and in a few years, with the affiftance of the hogs, there may be a fufficient fupply of animal food, not only for the use of the fettlers, but also of those who may be induced to vifit them.'

POLICE.

Art. 47. A ferious Admonition to the Public, on the intended Thief-Colony at Botany Bay. 8vo. Is. 6d. Sewel. 1786. The Author objects to the plan of fending convicts to New Holland, on feveral accounts. He thinks it unadvifable for us to eftablish new colonies, efpecially at fo great a distance from home, while the country is ftill fmarting for a war with her old colonies, whom the found herself unable to keep in dependance.' His next argument is founded on the idea that the fcheme would be an infringement on the charter of the Eaft India Company, granting to them an exclufive trade and navigation from the Cape of Good Hope to the Streights of Magellan, within which boundaries New Holland is fituated. The great expence neceffary to keep the convicts in fubjection, after their landing, as well as that of transporting them thither, forms another of this gentleman's objections to the intended plan he likewife fhews the great inconveniences that must arife if the colonists are left entirely to themselves. The arguments of our Author are by no means thofe of an unexperienced man, either in politics or in trade; yet his ftyle, we are forry to obferve, is neither fo polite as a public admonition, and ftrictures on the conduct of government, require; nor is it altogether free from rancour.

After having thus ftated, and in a good measure demonftrated, the truth of his objections, our Author proposes a fcheme of fending convicts to another place, which he apprehends will be attended with lefs expence to the Public, and free from the objections to which the former is liable. He would tranfport them to the Island of Tristan da Cunha: where, on account of its fituation, governors and guards would be unneceffary; and he would have them left there to themselves, without arms, and with fuch fmall boats only as could not quit the coaft. This island is fituated in lat. 37° 7° South, and long. 16° 10' Weft of London. It is confiderably larger than St. Helena; well watered, and abundantly stocked with feals and birds. The coaft abounds in a variety of fish, and the inland parts produce plenty of vegetables and wood.

Near to this ifland are two others (one bearing S. W. by W. diftance 6 or 7 leagues; the other S. S. W. W. diftance 6 or 7 leagues) which, though not fo large, are nevertheless fimilar in their external appearance and productions.

From the fituation of thefe iflands, there is no poffibility of the banished convicts ever escaping while they are deftitute of boats capable of failing to the distance of 200 miles or upwards, in a rough

and

and dangerous fea; this laft circumftance feems a strong argument in fupport of our Author's fcheme.

Art. 48. A Letter to the Committee of the Court of Common Council appointed to confider of the high Price of Provifions. 8vo. Dilly. 1786.

IS.

Mr. Merriman, the writer of this judicious letter, afferts, that one of the causes of the prefent high price of provifions, is the excess of copper money, both lawful and counterfeit, now in circulation. His arguments depend on the principle that an increase in the quantity of any kind of coin decreafes its value.' Mr. M. would have copper coin of the real intrinfic value of which it is a fign. This he thinks would undoubtedly leffen the quantity of it, and remedy the evil with which trade is at prefent oppreffed; and alfo be the most effectual method of preventing the circulation of counterfeit coin. Many other good obfervations are to be met with in this pamphlet.

S E R MON S.

I. Preached before the Ancient and Honourable Society of Free Masons, in Provincial Lodge affembled, in the Church of St. John in Chester, June 26, 1786. By Thomas Crane, Minister of St. Olave, Chester, and Chaplain to Earl Verney, Past Provincial Grand Chaplain, Paft Mafter, and now Provincial Grand Orator. 4to. Chester printed, and diftributed gratis among the Brethren. Where publications are circulated in this liberal, difinterested manner, the privileges of authorship are extended; for mankind, by common confent, decline looking a gift horfe in the mouth neverthelefs, though we have ever viewed the inftitution of Free Masonry in a favourable light, fo far as we could comprehend it, we cannot deem the pulpit a proper roftrum for the exhibition of its dictates.

Gen. iv. 17. And he builded a city. This Rev. Brother supposes, that Cain, in his fugitive ftate, corrected his morals, and feems to have been received into favour by God; by his being permitted to build the first city recorded in hiftory: but-as he had previously been permitted to kill his brother Abel, the inference drawn from his building a city, feems to require a firmer foundation than mere permiffion to execute his purpose.

• Genuine mafonry, he obferves, whether applied to ship-building, or to land ftructures, had its origin from Divine revelation and infpiration.'

1

There is a branch of architecture, which being applied to the conftruction of floating bodies, is thence termed naval architecture; but we did not conceive that operative mafonry had any affinity with fhip-building: the ftone-mafon and the fhip-carpenter having little in common between them, except fome few general principles, com mon alfo to other mechanical profeffions. How far masonry may be intitled to a divine origin, may be left for those to prove, who affert it.

We are difpofed to receive with thankfulness any communications with which fo referved a body as the Free Mafons may vouchsafe to favour us, especially when fo folemnly delivered ex cathedra; and therefore fhall, with all due refpect, lay before our Readers, Brother Crane's illuftration of the three principal orders in architecture.

• We

We MASONS acknowledge no more than THREE perfect and diftin&t ANCIENT ORDERS: the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. To give a proper notion of these Orders, Architects have compared them to the appearance of the human body.

Obferve a MAN in his luftre, formed by PROVIDENCE to be Lord over the inferior creation in fuch a figure you will find no very ftriking beauty, but much fymmetry, much strength and majesty. Akin to this idea is the DORIC Column: not the most beautiful indeed; but neat, and of mafculine proportion.

Attend to the appearance of a careful MATRON, without brilliant ornaments, and yet not abfolutely unadorned. Such is the IONIC Column, handfome and yet grave.

Fancy to yourself a blooming MAID, on whom Art and Nature have combined to lavish every excellent enrichment of drefs and beauty. This will give an idea of the CORINTHIAN Column, more flender than the Ionic, and abundantly more fplendid—the most perfect of the Columns.'

Such fimilitudes, being the mere play of the imagination, we may yield our affent to them or not, as they ftrike our fancies with propriety or impropriety; but when a clergyman, in his proper character, ventures to pronounce, publicly, and pofitively, as to hiftorical facts of high antiquity, and to controvert their general acceptation, we naturally expect to find affertion fupported by fome kind of vouchers. Brother Crane boldly tells his congregation, that- these Orders, though at prefent they take their names from the Dorians, Ionians, and Corinthians, three States in ancient Greece, exifted among the Ifraelites before thefe States received them: thefe Orders came originally, as every excellent gift cometh, from God; and are coeval with SOLOMON'S TEMPLE, which was built to the NAME of JEHOVAH, a name adored by all true Mafons.'

As we cannot fuppofe our Author would trifle with his audience, and with the Public at large, by a fermon, which being now printed muft come into a variety of hands befide ours, who are not Mafons; fo, when we ask for fome evidence to justify thefe pofitions, we do not expect him, as a rational divine, to elude us by flipping into the obfcurity of his lodge, and to cut us fhort by the plea of their being mafonical fecrets! Any affertions may be hazarded upon fuch ground.

Mystical writers, however, while they foar in regions far above the ken of those heavy mortals who are cautious of quitting terra firma, · enjoy their opinions in perfect fecurity. For our part, we have only to confefs, that our small stock of common fenfe is ftaggered by the confident language of incomprehenfibilities; and when a writer like the prefent, undertakes to compound different myfteries together, it is time for us to retire, as we now do, after leaving the following paffage to the investigation of our Readers:

But what if the fpirit of Mafonry, as carried on in the earthly Lodge, will certainly be introduced into a better state of existence! Saint John, in the Book of Revelation, fpeaking of thofe events which are to take place at the end of the world, faith" the temple of GOD was opened in heaven, and there was feen in his temple the ark of his teftament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings,

thunderings, and an earthquake and great hail." Those who have attended the Lodge in the higher degrees of Masonry will eafily. know the affinity between the earthly lodge and this text: and a complete Mafon will trace Mafonry through almoft every book of Holy Scripture, but especially the book of Revelation, in which Saint John the Evangelift, by the fpirit of prophefy, has disclosed fuch scenes in heaven, as must astonish and delight every one who is well skilled in the higher degrees of Masonry.'

Were it an easy talk to reduce pious bombaft into intelligible language, the substance of all mafonical fermons whatever might be refolved into one fimple propofition; which is, that Chriftianity is not a complete moral fyftem, without the aid of mafonical principles to fupply its deficiences, and give it luftre!

II. The Love of Chrift the Portion and Principle of the Children of God-at St. Giles, Reading, December 4, 1785, upon the Death of Mrs. Talbot, Relict of the Rev. Wm. Talbot, late Vicar of the faid Church. By Wm. Bromley Cadogan, M. A. Rector of St. Luke's, Chelfea, &c. 8vo. 6d. Rivington.

Rom. viii. 35. Who fhall feparate, &c.

When Mr. Cadogan vifited Mrs. Talbot in her laft illness, fhe complained, that he could neither fpeak, think, nor pray; and what, fays fhe, muft I do in this cafe? I told her fhe must leave it. to Jefus, to speak, think, and pray for her: fhe clapped her hands and faid, This Jefus is all in all.'

If deficiencies, especially in the faculty of thinking, can be fupplied at fo eafy a rate, why had not Mr. Cadogan availed himself, f This privilege?

III. Duty to God and the King. Preached at St. Alphage, London. Wall, Auguft 13, 1786. By James Illingworth, D. D. Lecturer, occafioned by the late Attempt on the Life of his Majefty. 8vo. 6d. Matthews.

It should seem that Dr. J. differs in opinion from the Privy Coun cil, who deemed Margaret Nicholfon infane; for he speaks of her attack on the King as that very awful attempt upon the life of his Majefty, which cannot but ftrike every faithful fubject with the deepest horror and deteftation at fo daring, so impious an affault !'— It was happy for the poor maniac that he was not accountable for her conduct to the reverend lecturer of St. Alphage !

CORRESPONDENCE.

+++ Aftronomicus may confult FERGUSON for general and fuperficial knowledge; and KEIL, DE LA LANDE, LONG, and (above all) NEWTON, for deeper investigation. N.B. We have in our Notes to Correfpondents, frequently requested not to be troubled with applications and inquiries of this fort. It is not our bufinefs, like the Conjurer in the Old Bailey, to "anfwer questions, by fea and land." We give our opinions of books, as they are published; and fuch opinions, formed on due confideration, are, we conceive, fufficient for a full discharge of the duties of our office.

Our thanks are due to S. P. See the following:

Erratum in our last; p. 351, 1. 6 from the bottom, for 1} read 3}.

Lately

Lately Published,

In Two large Volumes Octavo, Price 15s. in Boards,

A

GENERAL

то THE

INDEX

MONTHLY REVIEW;

From its Commencement, to the End of the Seventieth Volume. By the Rev. S. A YSCOUGH,

COMPILER OF THE CATALOGUE OF UNDESCRIBED MANUSCRIPTS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

Containing a Catalogue of the Books and Pamphlets characterized, with the Size and Price of each Article, and References to the Reviews wherein the Account of them, with the Bookfellers' Names, are inferted. Alfo an Index to the principal Extracts, Obfervations, and remarkable Paffages.

Sold by T. BECKET, Pall Mall, and T. LONGMAN, Paternofter Row.

A

AT length this Compilement, fo long and frequently called for by our Readers, hath made its appearance; and we hope it will answer the wishes and expectations of those who have been fo defirous of fuch a publication.-Of the manner in which the Work hath been executed, fome idea may be formed, by attending to the following extract from the Compiler's Preface.

"The plan which was adopted in the Catalogue of undefcribed Manufcripts in the British Museum, hath been followed, on the prefent occafion. The reader may, therefore, confider the two volumes, now laid before him, as calculated to exhibit the ftate of English Literature during a period of THIRTY-FIVE YEARS.

"The FIRST Volume contains an Index to the Titles, AUTHORS NAMES, Sizes, and Prices of all the Books and Pamphlets (digested under their refpective claffes) which are characterized in the Reviews, from the beginning of the Work, in 1749, to the end of the SEVENTIETH Volume, which was finished in the year 1784. This comprehenfive Catalogue contains, nearly (indeed with fcarce any omiffions), all the Publications in Great Britain and Ireland, during that period; together with the moft confid. rable productions of the Foreign preffes.

"As fo great a number of articles, in one General Alphabet, would have rendered it very difficult to confult, occafionally, the Books on any particular fubject, efpecially anonymous publications, the expediency of an arrangement under the proper claffes, or general divifions of literary ftudies, is fufficiently obvious.

66

Anonymous Tracts are, therefore, claffed under the fubjects on which they were refpectively written, and not, after the ufual manner of Indexés, under the first, or leading word of the title: a vague and defultory method, by which the object of the fearcher is too often eluded, and his wish, perhaps, difappointed at laft.

"On