bencfices not unfrequently fall to the share of the ablest and most laborious men in the church. We are persuaded that Dissent is not indebted in the slightest degree for its progress to the poverty of benefices. Whether, or not, it has thrived the more in consequence of non-resident incumbents and pauper curates, is another matter.

Another cause assigned by the Reviewer is, the superior liberality of opinion professed both in word and practice by the clergy of the establishment.' Conscious that this bold position would excite surprise,' even in the readers of the Quarterly Review,-a feeling which it could not possibly awake were it other than a paradox, -the writer is more than ordinarily ingenious in the attempt to demonstrate it. Serious argument, however, would be thrown away in the attempt to expose the flimsiness of this part of the Reviewer's plea for the clergy. Indeed, we are not sure whether he is quite in earnest. His panegyric savours strongly of raillery. His whole plea reads like covert satire. The temper he ascribes to the clergy could not be a cause of the progress of Dissent. He tells us himself, that it is adapted to remove the prejudices of Dissenters against the Establishment. Is it not evident, then, that the real meaning he intends to convey by what he facetiously terms a paradox, is, that the absence of this liberality on the part of the clergy, has been one cause of the progress of Dissent? He may be right.

The next cause which is represented as acting in diminution of the influence of the clergy, is political Jacobinism. But this we may dismiss, as the Reviewer does not venture to rank it among the causes of the progress of Dissent. He is aware that the most effectual counteraction of the spread of Jacobinical tenets, has been supplied, almost exclusively, by the exertions of Dissenters. He bears testimony to the successful and praiseworthy labours of the Methodists. But then, fearful that he has conceded too much, he goes on to speak of the great evils' and grievous sins' chargeable nevertheless on these same Methodists. The great evil is, that the rich and poor do not meet so often as they did in the same parish church, where the real feeling of Christian equality' was so powerfully excited by the cushioned pews of the rich and the benches of the poor. The grievous sin is, that the low preachers' urge perpetually those passages of Scripture which denounce wo and danger against the rich, to gratify the spleen, rather than to comfort the hearts of the poor, to justify their hatred of the opulent.' The poor,' he says, are taught to read the fate of Dives, not merely without commiseration, but with sensations of fierce and bitter triumph. We will not trust ourselves to charact

erize this statement, lest our expressions should seem to partake of the fierceness and bitterness which he ascribes to the poor Methodist. We leave it to the indignation of our readers.

We find that we have not room to notice the remaining causes adduced by the Reviewer, viz. the sort of reflected interest which the Dissenters derive from the sufferings of ⚫ their forefathers; the great advantage which the Dissenters 'possess in the strict adaptation of their buildings to the pur'pose of preaching;' and the system adopted by some of the evangelical clergy. These points are all ably touched upon by the Nonconformist, together with a few collateral subjects to which we may perhaps advert on a future occasion. He has hunted the Reviewer through all the mazes of his inconsistencies, and has torn off the mask of philosophical candour with which he attempts to conceal the unsightliness of his bigotry, In point of ability, the Quarterly Reviewer must feel that he is in the gripe of at least an equal; and it is not for the aggressor to complain of rough handling.

Art. VIII. 1. A Pocket Expositor; containing Reflections on every Chapter in the New Testament: selected from Doddridge's Family Expositor. 18mo. pp. 250. Price 3s. 6d. London. 1824. 2. Selections from the Works of Archbishop Leighton; to which is prefixed a brief Sketch of his Life. By the Rev. W. Wilson, D.D. Vicar of Church Oakley, Hants. 18mo. pp. 204. Price 3s. 6d. London. 1824.

THE

HE practical reflections contained in Dr. Doddridge's Family Expositor have generally been considered as not the least valuable part of the work. They are eminently judicious, and always breathe an admirable spirit. Some degree of sameness was, however, unavoidable, which, together with an occasional feebleness in the style, renders them susceptible of being abridged with advantage.

ART. X.

SELECT LITERARY INFORMATION.

The Rev. Dr. Nares, Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford, is preparing for publication, Memoirs of the Life and Administration of the Right Hon. William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, Lord High Treasurer of England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth; with extracts from his private and offi. cial correspondence and other papers not previously investigated. The work is intended to forin two volumes in 4to., and to be accompanied by portraits and other engravings by the first artists.

Reflections on the Word of God for every Day in the Year, by William Ward, Missionary at Serampore, is reprinting from the Serampore edition, and will be speedily published in one thick volume, 12mo.

In the press, Lectures on Popery, delivered in King-street Chapel, Maidstore. By William Groser.

Mr. Phillips, Author of Pomarium Britannicum, and other works, has just committed to the press a new volume, on which he has long been engaged, entitled Floral Emblems, containing, together with a complete account of the most beautiful picturesque devices employed in ancient and modern times by the most celebrated painters and poets, a Grammar of the Language, whereby in the most pleasing manner, ideas may be communicated, or events recorded, under semblauces the most fanciful that can be applied to the purposes of amusement or of decoration. The poetical passages in which a specific character is given to the different Flowers, are selected from the best writers of all ages, and the plates, which present a variety of new and delicate associations, have been designed and executed by the Author.

ART. XI. LIST OF WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

EDUCATION.

Nova editio

Sophoclis Tragœdiæ, accurata in usum Prælectionem Acade. micarum et Scholarum, 2 tom. uniform with the Regent's Classics. 10s.

Thucydidis de Bello Peloponnesiaco, libri octo. Ad optimorum librorum fidem accurate editi. 2 tom. uniform with Sophocles. 12s.

Pindari Carmina. Ad optimorum librorem fidem accurate edita. uniform with the above. 6s.

An Introductory Key to the Greek Language: consisting of an Elementary Greek Grammar, including a copia verborum," and some new rules for the formation of Tenses, with numerous examples; an interlineary translation of the Gospel of St. Luke: preceded by the original Text in a separate form, with a Key to Parsing. For the use of Schools and Private Students. 8vo. 9s.

Greek Delectus, for the use of Schools, consisting of Extracts from Xenophon, with an interlineary Translation, on a new plan. Svo. 2$. A few copies to which the Grammar is added, 3s.

Hunt's Bredow's Tables of the History of the World; particularly adapted for Schools, Libraries, Reading Rooms, Coffee Rooms, &c. On three large sheets.-1. Ancient History.-2. Middle Ages.-3. Modern History. 3s. or folded in covers, 3s. 6d.

Ralph Gemmel. A Tale, By the Author of "Helen of the Glen." 2s.

Fragments of Wisdom: a Cabinet of Select Anecdotes, Religious, Moral, and Entertaining, many of them Original, and not to be found in any former publication. With a beautiful and striking likeness of the Rev. Rowland Hill, Minister of Surry Chapel, Blackfriars, London. 18mo. 4s. 6d.

The Duty and Advantage of Early Rising, as it is favourable to Health, Business, and Devotion: including valuable Extracts from the writings of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M.; Rev. Philip Doddridge, D.D.; Rev. W. Paley, D.D.; Right Rev. George Horne, D.D. Lord Bishop of Norwich; Dr. Gregory; Miss Taylor, and others. 18mo. 2s.

Pacaltsdorp; or an Account of the remarkable Progress of Civilization and Religion in a Hottentot Village, origi

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Eclectic Review.

SIR, IN the article of the "Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. William Ward, late Baptist Missionary in India," reviewed in the Number for February, there are some mis-statements which your present correspondent is able, on very good authority, to correct.

It is stated that Mr. Ward, after he came to Hull, " joined the Baptist Church, then under the pastoral care of a Mr. Beatson."

At the time when Mr. Ward came to Hull, Mr. Beatson had relinquished the pastoral office, if he had not already" entered into his rest." However, of the Church of which he had been the pastor, Mr. Ward never was a member. A Baptist Church had been recently formed, which assembled, and which still assembles, in Georgestreet, Hull. Of this Church, and not of the Old Baptist Church meeting in Salthouse-lane, Mr. Ward became a member.

It is further stated, that on the subject of his becoming a Missionary," Mr. Ward never expressed his feelings till after his removal to Ewood-hall." On that subject, which evidently lay near his heart, Mr. Ward expressed his feelings and his desires very strongly, at an earlier period, to your present correspondent, who, to the utmost of his power, encouraged him in his views; who was his pastor, and his only pastor at Hull; who baptized him there on the 28th day of August, 1796, and afterwards received him into the Church, to the great satisfaction and joy of all the members, as well as of their pastor,

Wellingborough, Feb. 14, 1825.

WILLIAM PENdered.

Since we received the above letter, Mr. Stennett also has written to us, acknowledging the inaccuracy of the statement which we copied from his Memoirs, and requesting us to insert a similar correction.

The conclusion of the article on Epidemic Fever is unavoidably deferred, owing to the pressure of the writer's professional engagements. We hope to be able to insert it in our next Number.

THE

1

ECLECTIC REVIEW,

For MAY, 1825.

Art, I. Historical Life of Joanna of Sicily, Queen of Naples, and

Countess of Provence ; with correlative Details of the Literature and Manners of Italy and Provence in the Thirteenth and Four.

teenth Centuries. In two vols. 8vo. London. 1824. HISTORICAL memoir-writing, or, in other words, the ser

lection of some particular reign, or of some eminent character in history, for the purpose of illustration by contemporaneous details, is rapidly gaining ground among us.

It must not be denied, that works of this description may be rendered, in many respects, both useful and interesting; useful in filling up those chasms in general history which its extended compass renders unavoidable ; interesting from the minuter picture of manners, and the greater variety of anec. dote, which writers occupied with the incidents of a limited period, are enabled to present. The volumes before us are entitled to take no mean rank among such productions, and deserve high praise for the taste and industry with which they have been compiled, and the contributions which they have brought to elucidate one of the most important epochs of modern history—the revival of letters in Europe.

But for these adventitious circumstances, we should scarcely hare thought the life of Joanna of Naples worth the expenditure of so much time and learning. Amid the crowded and turbulent events of the melancholy period in which she flourished, little is distinctly known of her personal history; and to that little, we fear, not much has been added by her present Biographer. For our own part, our curiosity, we frankly confess, has never been more strongly attracted towards this unfortunate princess, than to many other historical shadows, dimly descried through the mists of intervening ages, and we had satisfied ourselves with the few general anecdotes of her life and fortunes, which the virulence of her Vol. XXIII. N.S.

2 L