he has given to the public the prefent work, confifting of two parts, written in an incorrect and defultory manner. As a fpecimen of the improvements fuggefted by him, we will only name one, which may excite fome ferment in Paternofter-row. All bookfellers and printers fhould be examined, after the manner (we prefume) of the candidates for a fellowfhip in Dublin, as to literary and moral qualifications, and fhould not be permitted to exercife their trades without a licenfe. No one could be better employed in this task than our author; and if he should then be allowed to make an index expurgatorius, he might curb the licentioufnefs of the English prefs, and teach us to read and think within found limits. In the unitarian fpectre, Mr. Belfham occupies a much greater space than was apparent to our optics, and our inipector must not blame his achromatics for his mistakes in the genealogies of this fect. Prieftley is placed at the head; Lindfey, Evanfon, Williams, &c. are called his followers. The order, we think, fhould be Evanfon, Lindsey, Priestley; and Williams does not belong to the fociety. Amidst ftrange tautology and wild effufions, there is evidently in this work a fpirit of religion, which we highly approve a degree of learning is alfo vifible, which might have been introduced to great advantage. We will exhibit an inftance of the author's best manner in the caftigation which he gives to Paine, and the judicious interpretation of a difficult paffage in the Scriptures. Aping his mafter, Paine, in like manner, has difcovered that the book of Job was originally written in Greek, by fome heathen philofopher, of late date, and thence tranflated into Hebrew ;from the Greek names of the conftellations, "Pleiades, Orion and Arcturus," adopted from the Septuagint version, by our English translation, in two remarkable paffages of Job, ix. 9. and xxxviii. 32.—not knowing, in the extent and compass of his ignorance, that the original terms in Hebrew are as unlike in found as in fense -"Aish" denoting Urfa Major; "Chimah," Taurus; and "Chefil," Scorpio-while the fourth conftellation, "Mazaroth," left, through ignorance of its meaning, untranflated by the Septuagint and our English tranflation, is judiciously rendered by Suidas, in his fecond fignification of Masxpwe"the Dog-ftar" or Sirius; where the Hebrew or Egyptian termination (as in Naboth, or Thoth, Be-` hemoth, &c.) marks his utter ignorance of the Greek tongue alío. Μαζυρωθ These inimitable paffages, amidst all the clouds and darkness attached to patriarchal language and patriarchal aftronomy, still burfting forth to the philofophical orientalift, with a radiance the most dazzling, and with an imagery the most fublime and beautiful, and yet the most chafte and fcientifically correct--which even a Mafkelyne and a Herfchell, a De la Lande and De la Place, might view with admiration and amazement-may thus be less incorrectly rendered, illuftrating each other, in the most difficult and obfcure parts, of the most obfcure poem extant, as it is by far the most ancient-compared with which, Lycophron is plain and eafy : "How can man be justified with God! One of a thousand cannot anfwer Him- And the receffes of the South." "Canft thou fhut up the delightful teemings of Chimah? Canft thou draw forth Mazaroth in his season ? This is the moft picturefque defcription of the cardinal conftelJations, in the primitive sphere-many ages before the Argonautic expedition (when, according to Newton's fanciful fyftem, it was first conftructed,)-and the leading qualities of the seasons over which they were supposed to prefide; according to the most ancient Chaldean aftronomy:-Chimah, or Taurus, denoting the expanfions of the earth's bofom in fpring by the fun's genial heat; Chefil, its contractions in autumn, by the cold weather, so finely denoted by the contraction of the Scorpion's claws, numbed by the commencing cold; Mazaroth, as prefiding over the fultry heats of fummer during his feafon" of the dog-days-commencing at his heliacal rifing, on the 30th of July, in the prefent age and climate, and lafting for forty days; and who is here represented as drawn forth from "the receffes of the fouth," or antarctic circle, by an almighty Orion; to face Aish, or Urfa Major, "revolving in her arctic den, and watching Orion," as fo finely defcribed by Homer, Iliad. xviii. 485. Αρκτονθ' ήν και Αμαξαν επίκλησιν καλεύσιν, Η τ' αυτό στρέφεται και τ' Ωρίωνα δοκεύει. "And the Bear, furnamed alfo the Wain (by the Egyptians), Who is turning herself about there, and watching Orion," --and his hounds Sirius and Canicula ;-and, under the guidance of the fame almighty Arctophylax, presiding over the oppofite feafon of the winter's frofts. And the drift of the argument, in both stanzas of Job, may thus perhaps be not incorrectly fummed up; God is all powerful Conftantly regulating the feafons of the year: But canft thou,-puny and prefumptuous mortal! Reverse the diftinguishing characters of fpring and autumn Well furely might the venerable but rather impatient Patriarch exclaim, with contempt and indignation-"A miferable critic art thou !" -this wooden critic-as Paine defcribes himself at the close of his unhallowed labours on the Old Teftament, which he ignorantly confounds, like his mafter Voltaire, with the Bible.' P. 172. We refpect the author's erudition; and we approve his zeal for religious truth, though we with it to be tempered with more charity. His work may amufe the leisure hours of a few of the learned; but it will not gratify readers of taste, or perfons of a liberal turn of mind. MONTHLY CATALOGUE. POLITICS, &c. Subftance of the Speeches of the Right Honourable Henry Dundas, on his Majefty's Meffage for declining to treat at prefent with France: and his Objections to an Inquiry into the late Expedition to Holland. With a Preface, touching briefly on the State of Affairs. 8vo. 25. Chapple. 18co. THIS publication reminds us of the apartments in the capital of the northern part of this ifland, to which, however elegant, there is frequently no access but by a stair-cafe offenfive to the noftrils and difgufting to the fight of the vifitants. The preface is written in one of the highest paroxyfms of anti-jacobinifm; a mania which, like ja cobinifm, is often destructive to the beft feelings of the human mind; and the panegyric on Mr. Dundas is laid on fo thick, and with fo coarse a trowel, that the writer, we fhould think, must be in danger of lofing the expected reward of his labours. Both speeches have fome degree of merit. The fpeaker boldly afferts his claim to the merit or demerit of refufing to negotiate with Buonaparte; and he accompanies his reafons, which are drawn from the fuppofed inftability and iniquity of the French government, with the ufual invectives against the French and their conful. On the inquiry into the failure of the expedition to Holland, he states the objects of that enterprise, which were, first, to rescue the United Provinces from the tyranny. of the French; fecondly, to add to the efficient force of this country, and to gain poffeffion of the Dutch fleet; thirdly, to divert the enemy from his projected purfuits in general.' In two of these objects it fucceeded; in the third it failed; and the gain of two out of three points proved more than fufficient to counterbalance the inconvenience arifing from the lofs of the third. The grounds for expecting the co-operation of the Dutch cannot be conveniently laid before the public, as fuch a discovery might be the means of baffling another enterprise upon that country, and depriving us of the affiftance of those who in more favourable circumstances might be ready to join us. The ill fuccefs alfo of the expedition, confidered in itself, was in a great measure occafioned by the very extraordinary inclemency of the weather; and we had the fatisfaction of knowing that nothing was omitted to produce fuccefs, which could be expected from troops of unparalleled bravery, and a commander who amply deferves every encomium bestowed upon him. Though the lofs too of life had been confiderable, yet there was a fatisfaction in knowing that it had been exaggerated, as the whole number of the killed amounted to eight hundred and fortyfix only, and only one hundred and eighty-five had died of their wounds. This is fo very different from other accounts, that incredulity has fcarcely given way to the high authority which made this affertion. At length the motion for inquiry was refifted, ' as it could not be productive of any actual benefit, at the same time that it might confiderably clog and harafs the meatures of govern ment.' Subftance of the Speech of the Hon. Thomas Erskine, in the House of Commous, on Monday, the 3d of February, 1800, on a Motion for an Addrefs to the Throne, approving of the Refufal of Minifters to treat with the French Republic. Svo. IS. Debrett. Mr. Erfkine confidered the houfe as affembled on a very momentous occafion, to decide on the conduct of minifters in a new æra of the prefent calamitous war. Their conduct, in refufing to negotiate with Buonaparte and returning fo petulant an answer, met with his pofitive and unequivocal cenfure. He would not enter into the queftion. of aggreffion, but would confine his cenfure of their answer to other points. It was inconfiftent with his majesty's declaration in 1795; it was inconfiftent with their own attempts to negotiate at Paris and at Lifle. From their paft conduct they were bound, upon their own principles, to liften to terms of negotiation;' and it was alfo their intereft to treat; for Buonaparte's government could be overthrown only by democratic revulfion, or the restoration of the houfe of Bourbon. If it fhould be overthrown by revulfion, new difficulties would occur, and peace could not be obtained for a long period, as there must be a ftate of probation for every new form of government. If the house of Bourbon fhould be restored, it must be kept on the throne by the force of arms against the fenfe of perfons of property; and it was the fenfe of property which, in both countries, gave ftability to their refpective governments. As the latter event was in the highest degree improbable, and the anfwer returned to Buonaparte's meffage was likely to strengthen his intereft among the French, and make the refiftance to the confe derate powers more obftinate, it appeared to him more deferving of cenfure than of approbation. Speech of the Right Hon. William Pitt, delivered in the Houfe of Commons, Monday, Feb. 3, 1800, on a Motion for an Addrefs to the Throne, approving of the Anfwers returned to the Communications from France relative to a Negociation for Peace. Wright. 8vo. 25. This fpeech may be divided into two parts; firft, an answer to the celebrated pamphlet written by Mr. Erfkine; fecondly, a justification of minifters for rejecting the late negotiatory overtures of the French. Previously to the entrance on the first part, the speaker claffes the perfons who would have favoured the reception of the overtures under one or other of these three heads. The first comprehends thofe who do not think that the nature of the French revolution ever was or is now fuch as to render that nation incapable of negotiating with foreign powers. The fecond comprehends those who imagine that the recent change in the administration of France gives a fecurity for negotiation, which did not exist in the former ftages of the revolution. Under the third head are fuch as think that the preffure at home is a fufficient call for pacific measures, even if the fecurity to be afforded by the enemy should not be adequate to our wishes or expectations. This claffification appears to us very incomplete; for, on many other grounds, perfons adverfe to the French revolution might be willing to liften to the overtures. They might fee the hopelessness of the conteft in which we are engaged; they might think that during the negotiation France would be lefs able to recruit its strength than England to retain its forces; and that, if it should not fucceed, we fhould be no lofers by the delay; they might urge, that, fince the prefent war has been reprefented on our part as a war of defence, there can be no grounds for continuing it when the affailants propose to lay down their arms, and to settle all differences by better means than the fword. Many other reafons might be given by thofe who wish for the return of peace; but, as the claffification itself is of little confequence, it is unneceffary to mention them. With regard to the first part of the fpeech, it will be difficult for many years to hold the balance even between Mr. Pitt and Mr. Erfkine. The origin of the war between this country and France will not perhaps be fairly difcuffed before the heat of party fhall have fubfided. Mr Pitt denies that the order for M. Chauvelin's departure was the cause of the war, and he repeats the trite arguments that have been frequently adduced upon this fubject. The French aggreffions on the rights of nations are fummed up; and it is obferved that France has been at war with all the nations of Europe, fave two, and, if not thefe two (Sweden and Denmark), it is only because, with every provocation that could juftify defenfive war, thefe countries have hitherto acquiefced in repeated violations |