By the light which has been incidentally thrown upon various parts of chemistry from those vaft undertakings of public focieties, as well as from the more exprefs labours of Stahl, Neumann, Hoffman, Juncker, Geoffry, Boerhaave, and many others equally worthy of commendation; by the theoretic conclufion's and fyftematic divifions which have been introduced into it; from the didactic manner in which the ftudents of this art have been inftructed in every medical school; chemistry has quite changed its appearance. It is no longer confidered merely in a medical view, nor restricted to fome fruitless efforts upon metals; it no longer attempts to impofe upon the credulity of the ignorant, nor affects to aftonish the fimplicity of the vulgar by its wonders, but is content with explaining them upon the principles of found philofophy. It has fhaken off the opprobrium which had been thrown upon it, from the unintelligible jargon of the alchemifts, by revealing all its fecrets in a language as clear and as common as the nature of its fubject and operations will admit.

Confidered as a branch of phyfics, chemistry is but yet in its infancy; however, the mutual emulation and unwearied endeavours of fo many eminent men as are in every part of Europe engaged in its cultivation, will in a little time render it equal to any part of natural philofophy, in the clearness and folidity of its principles. In the utility refulting to the public from its conclufions, with respect to the practice of medicine, of agriculture, arts and manufactures of every kind, it is, even in its prefent ftate, inferior to none.

The ufes of chemistry, not only in the medical, but in every economical art, are too. extenfive to be enumerated, and too notorious to want illuftration; it may just be obferved, that a variety of manufactures, by a proper application of chemical principles, might, probably, be wrought at a lefs expence, and executed in a better manner than they are at prefent. But to this improvement there are impediments on every hand, which cannot cafily be overcome. Thofe who by their fituations in life are removed from any defign or defire of augmenting their fortunes by making difcoveries in the chemical arts, will hardly be induced to diminish them by engaging in expensive experimental inquiries,

which not only require an uninterrupted attention of mind, but are attended with the wearisomeness of bodily labour. It is not enough to employ operators in this bufinefs; a man muft blacken his own hands with charcoal, he muft fweat over the furnace, and inhale many a noxious vapour, before he can become a chemist. On the other hand, the artists themselves are generally illiterate, timid, and bigotted to particular modes of carrying on their respective operations. Being unacquainted with the learned, pr modern, languages, they feldom know any thing of the new difcoveries, or of the methods of working practifed in other countries. Deterred by the too frequent, but much to he lamented examples of those who, in benefiting the public by projects and experiments, have ruined themfelves, they are unwilling to incur the leaft expence in making trials, which are uncertain with refpect to profit. From this apprehenfion, as well as from the myfterious manner in which most arts, before the invention of printing, and many ftill continue to be taught, they acquire a certain epiniâtreté, which effectually hinders them from making improvements, by departing from the ancient traditionary precepts of their art. It cannot be questioned, that the arts of dyeing, painting, brewing, diftilling, tanning, of making glass, enamels, porcelane, artificial stone, common falt, fal ammoniac, falt-petre, potash, fogar, and a great variety of others, have received much improvement from chemical inquiry, and are capable of receiving much more.

Metallurgy in particular, though one of the most ancient branches of chemistry, affords matter enough for new discoveries, There are a great many combinations of metals which have never been made; many of which, however, might be made, and in fuch a variety of proportions, as, very probably, would furnith us with metallic mixtures more ferviceable than any in ute. The method of extracting the greatest poffible quantity of metal from a given quantity of the fame kind of ore, has, perhaps, in no one inftance been ascertained with fufficient precision. There are many forts of iron and copper ores which cannot be converted into malleable metals without much labour, and a great expence of fuel; it is very probable, that by a well-conducted feries of experiments, more compendious ways of working these minerals might be found out. In our own times, three new metallic fubftances have been difçovered, and their properties abundantly atcertained by experiment; and it may reasonably be

Conjectured

eloquently to the found mind ; it appears animated to the feeling heart; it preferves peace of mind, and even reftores it when difturbed; it diffipates mean and haughty paf. fions, the torments of men in the buftle of life, and calms the violent convulfions concupifcence infpires. The country is the parent of virtuous fentiments; and independent of the natural advantages it procures, fuch as wholefome food, tranquillity, pure air, which reftore or improve health, it has many remarkable moral advantages; the more fhameful vices avoid of themfelves that afylum where the woods, the graffy verdure, the fields, the blooming hedges, feem formed for fimple tafte and peaceful virtue.

The country! the poets have fung it, the painters have tranfmitted it on canvas, philofophers have extolled it! More happy the man who, enamoured with its attractions, contemplates it, knows how to enjoy its various treasures, and preferve his morals pure, refpiring the balfamic fragrant air, and every morning treading the odoriferous plants.

Who has not felt the neceflity of vifiting the country, at least on the return of fine weather, when the tender green turf, the early melody of birds, the active rays of the fun haften vegetation, and call upon the most indifferent being to admire the hidden hand that fpreads the tufted grafs, unfolds the shoots, furnishes the trees with buds impatient to be opened, and which will foon adorn the leaves with fruit and flowers?

Enchanting picture! O fpectacle, more interefting than all which art can offer! How pleafing it is to gather the first bouquet of violets by the fide of a ferpentine rivulet, gently watering the moffy ground; and to have the foot moistened with the fresh and sparkJing dew at the dawn of a fine day in fpring, and the series of fine days that are to come to perpetuate the innocent pleafures of man!

It is in the country that writers acquire more elevated and fublime ideas, become more energetic and moving; it is there that generous works are compofed, that is to fay, thofe relative to the plan of public happinefs. In the country our thoughts are neceflarily led to the largest portion of the human race; they are visible, they are prefent before our eyes, bending under the yoke, and labouring at the first works of neceflity, thofe primitive works, which ever awaken and recal fimple ideas, productive of great ones; whilft in cities the arts, perhaps too refined in our time, purfue the niceties of form, to attract and pleafe, for a moment, the forrowful eye of the wealthy.

In populous cities they write voluptuous romances, light elegant verfes, and comedics in an affected stile; but the Natural Hiflory,

the Hifiory of the Commerce of both the Indier, and all thofe grand compofitions which do honour to the prefent age, feem to be produced under the happy influence of hamlets, and the waving shade of forests.

Could cities furnish, in their narrow bounds, thofe ravishing fcenes which are fo bountìful to the poet's pen, and more fo to philofopher's meditations, when the ruddy clouds melt and embrace the lofty circular heads of the tallest trees; when the sparkling rays difplay, by their prodigious refrangibility, all the dazzling pomp of the fun; when the light, increafing its ardent fire, fwiftly transforms one landscape into another, by the ardent vigour of its tints; when meadows, in those rapid moments, are metamorphofed even to the proprietor's eye, who ftands aftonished, and scarcely recognises the place the foft mild ray of dawn enlightened; fo forcibly is the magic of thofe ftriking lively colours, fuch a magnificent and no lefs admirable diverfity does it imprint on the fame objects!

And at night, when the tranquil lake reflects the filver face of the moon and brilliant ftars; when the light clouds that furround it pas like moving images, on the clear furface of the waters beneath the contemplator's feet; when he hears the lengthened cry of the night bird;-when he fees the fmooth but trembling lake reproduce the fresh landscape around him; where could he meet fuch complete repofe, fuch foft tranquillity can he fo well feel the voluptuous fentiment of an indefinite reverie ?

where

archs,

Ordained by the Almighty himself; labour, the only power on earth that can vivify and put idle matter in motion, is looked upon as a difgraceful employment in our degenerate days; while the unjust financier, the cruel foldier, the indolent citizen, dares to take precedency over the man who, by giving the first motion to the fap, has more just obfervations in his head, and more hofpitable virtues in his heart, than those who view him with difdain; a difdain which can only here be repaid with contempt; for that kind of difdain ought to be confidered with the greatest justice, as the last stage of human frenzy. The husbandman, who affects only an equality, does not go to the door of a courtier to beg an employment, nor expofe himself to the infulting ridicule of a clerk in office, the infidious difpenfer of favours he has purchased by the meanest acts; he knows the earth will fupply his wants, and he is attached to her all-nourishing bofom. -Alas! what will the vain and haughty beings, who, decorated with the livery of luxury, and are its perpetual flaves, fet up in oppofition! Do they dare think themselves fuperior to him? What, alas! will they fet up? Too well we learn from experience, idleness, vice, and crimes.

Philofophical writers have never been guil

ty of arrogant difdain, the crime of opulence ; they have all unanimously exclaimed, Immor tal boncur to facred agriculture! They have always revered it in their writings; the plough has been a hallowed object with themThey have celebrated princes that handled it with pomp and folemnity on certain annual feftivals. Virgil, even in the court of Auguftus, has defcribed the harrow, the mattock, the fpade, the rake, the plough which lays the earth equally on both fides; and all the writers whom I ftile munificent, have preferred the implements of ruftic fimplicity to all the ornaments of luxury and favour, that the corruption of morals and the arts could offer.

Thofe judicious interpreters of the public voice will be held in greater efteem as the world becomes more enlightened; they had the courage to celebrate, with all their powers, the labours of agriculture; they have reftored dignity to the grey-headed man, who during fixty years procured raiment and fubfiftence to his equals, and, as an additional benefit, has given his country his own children for hardy and tractable soldiers-Must not this countryman appear to be, in the view of a philofopher, after so many facrifices, labours and fatigues, the real Atlas, fupporting the whole weight of the globe on his truly laborious shoulders ?

LITERARY

JOURN A L.

THE Rev. Editor, after paying a compli

ment to the tafte of the age, which, he fays, readily liftens to leffons of virtue and inftruction; and bestowing that tribute of praise which they fo eminently deferve on the Sermons published by Dr. Blair, Mr. White, and the Bishop of Chester," which through the understanding make their way to the heart, the road that difcourfes from the pulpit fhould take;" gives the following character of the prefent work:

"The nature of the difcourfes now offered to the public, is happily adapted to the audi

M

ence before whom they were preached;

men of learning, who are in the conftant habit of pursuing arguments, of detecting falfehood, and investigating truth. They are chiefly argumentative; and if the arguments fometimes appear too abstracted, even when most abftrufe they difcover in the author a full poffeflion of his fubject. They are always ingenious; and, if not always new, his method of producing them makes them peculiarly his own." To this opinion we heartily fubfcribe, and fincerely recommend them to all who are capable of following the author

through a series of reasoning that does equal honour to his head and heart. To fuch as delight in the flowery, declamatory compofitions which are too much the fashion of the day, and which tend more to display the oratorical powers of the preacher, than to edify or improve the hearer, thefe difcourfes will not in all probability prove acceptable; but to the man of fenfe who has judgment fufficient to prefer the fubftance to a fhadow, found reafoning to empty verbosity, the perufal of this volume will afford not only entertainment but instruction.

It contains eighteen Sermons on various subjects. In the first of these, the author confiders the attributes of righteoufnefs and holiness. "The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." Mankind, he observes, may be sensible of the moral obligations of justice, yet not always perceive the reasons on which they hinge; or, perceiving them, be unwilling to be determined by them. Human juftice is liable to much obftruction from want of evidence, the obfcurity of facts, the dubiousness of circumstances, and inconfiftency of teftimony; or, where evidence is complete, the intricacy of a cafe, the fpecious appearance of probability on each fide, may render its merits impervious. Even where matters are cleareft, worldly confiderations too often pervert the judgment, prejudices of hatred or favour, friendship or relation, partiality to fome intereft or valued purpofe, the folicitations of fuperiors or the fafcination of bribery, may blind the eyes of men of understanding, and make them accepters of perfons in their judicial administrations. But the all-wife, the independent, the Almighty One must be inacceffible to such finifter influences. Perfectly knowing the rule of equity, and neceffarily judging of things as they really are; able to execute what is right and fit according to that knowledge, without any poffible temptation to deviate from it; incapable of being mined, moved by any bias, or awed by any power; fuch a Being muft evidently always act without iniquity, without partiality, without prejudice, without re1pect of perfons, confequently "righteously in all his ways."

The Doctor's arguments to prove that "the Lord must be holy in all his works" are equally clear, clofe, and conclufive.

"He who has will with reafon must be a moral agent: he who has reafon in the higheft and most perfect degree must be in the highest and most perfect degree a moral agent: he who is above every temptation to be bad, must be uniformly good in other words, he who hath an infinite understanding with an unbiaffed will, muft always perceive the best motives, and act conformably; that is, must be "holy in all his works."

He next confiders the objection urged against the divine juftice, for permitting the profperity of the wicked; and that against God's holinefs, from fin not being prevented, but admitted in the world. In anfwer to the former, he proves an unequal distribution of what we call profperity, to be neceffary in a state of trial like to the prefent world; and that if every thing were adjusted and apportioned bere with visible exactness and inftant effect, there would be no occasion for a future judg ment. In reply to the latter, he obferves, "if God must not allow, as objects prefent themselves, a bad choice, (and fin is nothing elfe) he must not allow any choice; he must fufpend the ufual powers of acting, which would be a perpetual violation of the order of Nature. If he must incline to good, and good only, he muft chain up the will and over-rule the mind; which may be government, but not moral government, as it deftroys the very capacity of virtue and vice." Having eftablished these attributes, he draws the fol lowing conclufion,

"If then God be holy, if God be just, what ever is, whatever adverse event occurs, muft be (in fome view of it) right, must have in nature adequate and fit caufes. The reasons of Providence in these allotments may be la tent, may be intricate; but can never be inequitable, never inexpedient: he who is im partial cannot be cruel; he who is rectitude itfelf, cannot act injuriously.”

In the fecond discourse, the preacher takes occafion to enquire into the common excep tion expreffed by infidelity or difcontent, against that foothing and interefting article of religious faith, the fuperintendence of Providence; and fhews, that they are fuppofitions without truth, or inferences without reafon. In the third he purfues the subject, and enquires from what reafonings on the nature of God and ourfelves it is fatisfactorily deducible that "the Lord is our keeper." Thefe arguments are founded on the attributes of God, a fpiritual fovereign, wife, powerful, and good. Without defign or direction, what is wisdom? Locked up from exertion, if every thing be done without interference, what is power? Without a distribution of rewards and punishments, what is justice › Thefe attributes have a reference, therefore, ta objects; their effence confifts in action, their perfection in exercise. To fuppofe the contrary would be to reduce the Creator below his creatures to a mere pageant. This reafoning is ftrongly corroborated by the evidence arifing from the fituation of man. Born in a state of debility and helpleiineis, what would become of him, were it not for the yearnings of parental instinct, which cannot be accounted for without the guidance of a contriving and observing Providence? The

fame