work is good but we think that the execution would admit of amendment.

The preliminary rules, for instance, are not very fortunate. The first rule, to write as you would talk,' is far from universally admissible. Many trifling and needless things may be said, rather than suffer dead pauses in conversation, but trifling and needless things should not be written. Much greater condensation is expected from the writer than from the talker. Some of the other rules are obvious enough, and proper.

Into the selection of letters, many models are admitted to which we should have objected: but Taste here becomes the arbiter, and is an ever-varying standard. In the third letter, Dr. Beattie writes to the Duchess of Gordon," I take the liberty to inform you that my son James is dead;" and a mixture of obsequiousness and coldness runs through the whole epistle. Most of the letters are too long: that of Dr. Doddridge at p. 40. is a conspicuous instance. Those of Mrs. Carter want grace and vivacity. A decided preference has been shewn to letters filled with pious effusions, which gives a gloomy hue to the collection :-gaiety is the natural pitch of a correspondence undertaken to amuse. The letters of Pope and Gray strike us as containing the best specimens. None of those of Horace Walpole have been included, though excellent; and, among the female letter-writers, we lament to find no extracts from the admirable Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who is of all the best.

The biographical notices are drawn up with propriety: they are concise; and they include the several characters in favor of whom the previous correspondence had excited an interest.

Art. 23. A View of the Pleasures arising from a Love of Books; in Letters to a Lady. By the Rev. Edward Mangin, M.A, Crown 8vo. 6s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1814.

These Letters to a Lady may have deserved to be shewn about in the genteeler circles of Bath, (whence the author dates,) and to be praised for morality of purpose, selection of topic, and correctness of diction. Yet, if they had remained in modest manuscript, and had been communicated by particular favor only to the chosen few, or at most had been read aloud in a blue-stocking party, we do not think that the reputation of the author would have been less. That flower may be blighted in the attempt to expand, which would have lin. gered unblown in the shade, and would there have passed for a promising bud.

We have here nine-and-twenty letters, introduced by a preface, concerning various English poets: but we observe in them none of that precision of criticism which distinguishes Dr. Johnson, and which renders his censures, or his panegyrics, so characteristic, so appropriate, so untransferable. Praise, however, is ascribable to Mr. Mangin for perpetually cautioning his fair readers against passages of an indecorous or a prurient tendency. Thus, at p. 17., young persons are advised to skip over Pope's Eloisa to Abelard: in another place, Swift's Lady's Dressing-room is denounced; and, elsewhere, Fielding and Smollett are wholly prohibited. In the tenth letter, the writings of Sterne are harshly treated for the same reason: in the twelfth, Burns

Burns must be given up; and broad hints are uttered, as if even the Spectator should be read by a delicate woman only in a selection. While, however, as in the present day, the dress of our ladies is subject to the same reprobation which the Spectator bestowed on that of his female contemporaries, they can scarcely, without affectation, pretend to shrink from the papers which discuss it. The poems of Prior, and of Little, are more justifiably attacked.

SINGLE SERMONS.

Art. 24. Preached in the Parish Church of Lancaster, August 25. 1814, at the primary Visitation of the Right Rev. George Henry Lord Bishop of Chester, and published at the Request of his Lordship and the Clergy. By Thomas Dunham Whitaker, LL.D. F.S.A. Vicar of Whalley, &c. 4to. IS. 6d.

Murray.

While this preacher strenuously and ably argues against Calvinism, he reprobates, in the strongest terms, the exercise of an acrimonious spirit in the controversy with Calvinists. He remarks that Calvinists have no very powerful claim upon the courtesy of those who differ from them: but what we do not owe to them we owe to ourselves. We applaud this learned writer for his attempt to suppress all acrimony in a controversy in which too much has been shewn, though we cannot subscribe to all the epithets which he bestows on the author of "Letters by a Barrister" since it is the tendency of Calvinism, and not Calvinists, which that work labours to expose. Dr. Whitaker's testimony in favour of the irreproachable characters of many Calvinists is, we know, very correct; yet this statement does not invalidate the arguments which have been and will be urged against the immoral operation, in many instances, of the Calvinistic creed.

Catholics will feel themselves less obliged to Dr. W. than Calvinists, for this discourse; and, as to Unitarians and Antinomians, the idea of fraternity with them is disclaimed. This declaration is not in unison with the general tenor of the sermon: but it follows some obscure reflections on Bible-Societies, and the inference is manifest.

Art. 25. Preached at Blandford, at the Visitation of the Lord Bishop of Bristol, August 20. 1813; and at Knaresborough, at the Primary Visitation of the Lord Bishop of Chester, August 1. 1814. By the Rev. Samucl Clapham, M.A. Rector of Gussage St. Michael, Dorset, &c. 8vo. 18. Rivingtons.

Mr. Clapham is more decided in his opposition to the Bible-Society, and in his reprobation of an union of Churchmen with Dissenters for the purpose of distributing merely the sacred Scriptures, than the Bishop of Chester himself. Mr. C. calls the union heterogeneous," is afraid of the liberality shewn to Dissenters, and prays God that the Church of England may not have cause deeply to lament it. One passage will display the views of the preacher in this respect:

Do we believe the doctrines, professed by the Church of England, to be true? If we do, we must, necessarily, believe the doctrines, professed by the Dissenters of every denomination, to be false: every sect inculcating tenets, irreconcilable with those which we believe to

be

be divine. Why, then, associate truth with error? What! Do we expect the genuine fruits of Christianity to be produced by grafting the scion of reason on the stock of delusion? Vain expectation! "When we shall look for grapes, behold! only wild grapes."

We are also told that to distribute Bibles, without annotation ⚫ or comment, is the same thing as to give a hungry man indigestible food. We entirely agree with Mr. C. that a few short explanatory notes, such as he suggests, would make the Bible more intelligible to the common reader: but he must be aware that notes are prohibited in order to prevent any sect or church from taking advantage of another by the insertion of comments. The Prayer-Book is considered in the light of a comment, and for this reason it is not circulated by the BibleSociety but they no more mean to give an opinion against the Liturgy than against the Assembly's Catechism, by not including it in their plan. What, in short, is the amount of the objection with which a large portion of our clergy are assailing the Bible-Society? Its sum and substance may be given in few words. A society is formed to include all the sects and denominations of Christians, and the bond of union is a plan for the distribution of that book which all agree in receiving as of Divine origin, to the exclusion of every thing which has any particular reference to any one church or communion;- when a party starts up, and says, "we will not agree to a distribution of the Divine basis of our common faith, unless you distribute with it that which is peculiar to our individual church." A more unwise and unfair objection cannot be formed. The substance of Mr. C.'s sermon may be perused with more pleasure than his introduction.

CORRESPONDENCE.

We are sorry to hear the complaints urged by W. W. respecting the publication to which his letter refers; and that we cannot offer the aid in remedying them which he would politely ascribe to our criticism on it. New Editions, as we have often declared, it is out of our power frequently to notice, without detriment to the numerous original works which demand our attention; and, in the case of the important book in question, the task would be too laborious to be executed whenever a new impression appears. We are under the necessity, at present, of passing over more than the one which our correspondent implicates.

The verification of the letter " on a subject in which humanity is so much interested" is agreeably satisfactory to us. We have not yet obtained the work mentioned, which we must peruse before we can speak farther on the matter, but we hope that we shall be able to attend to it in our next Number.

The title of Mr. Davis's Olio, noticed in our Review for September, was there erroneously copied; the word biographical being used instead of bibliographical anecdotes.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For DECEMBER, 1814.

ART. I. A Voyage to Abyssinia, and Travels into the Interior of that Country, executed under the Orders of the British Government, in the Years 1809.and 1810; in which are included an Account of the Portuguese Settlements on the East Coast of Africa, visited in the course of the Voyage; a concise Narrative of late Events in Arabia Felix, and some Particulars respecting the Aboriginal African Tribes, extending from Mosambique to the Borders of Egypt; together with Vocabularies of their respective Languages, illustrated with (by) a Map of Abyssinia, numerous Engravings, and Charts. By Henry Salt, Esq. F.R.S. &c. 4to. pp. 580. 51. 5s. Boards. Rivingtons. 1814.

A FTER having noticed the important share which was occupied by this enterprising and intelligent traveller in the narrative of Lord Valentia's voyages, (see our Review for July 1810, p. 234.) we added, not without great pleasure and the anticipation of highly interesting results, the information of his then recent appointment by the British government as the bearer of presents and dispatches from his Majesty to the Emperor of Abyssinia, with a view to the possible opening of some commercial communication with the people of that country. We had, indeed, the summary decision of the East India Directors against the indulgence of any very sanguine expectation from such an opening, on the score of mercantile advantage: yet we were unreasonable enough to entertain the hope that a sufficient prospect, even in that direction, might be afforded, to support and promote the more disinterested spirit of discovery which requires so little stimulus to its exertion in this country; and for which so extensive and promising a field would be presented by any periodical or stated intercourse with the nations of Eastern Africa.

We have now to perform the welcome duty of congratulating Mr. Salt on his safe return; and, before we proceed to analyze the fruits of his literary labours since his arrival, we shall briefly state the conclusion to be formed from them with respect to the advancement of the object principally entertained. In the first place, then, we unwillingly observe that Mr. Salt's embassy does not appear to have contributed so essentially towards this end, as those might have expected who were unacVOL. LXXV.,

quainted

quainted with the circumstances attending his mission, and the very limited extent of his powers; and it is equally an act of justice to himself and our readers to quote his own account of the obstacles which prevented him from advancing to the capital of the empire:

In the course of our journey to Chelicut I had partly ascertained, in conversation with Mr. Pearce and Debib, the impracticability of proceeding to Gondar, as I had proposed, on account of the distracted state of the interior provinces, and the enmity subsisting between Ras Welled Selassé and a chief named Guxo, who at this time held the command of some of the most important districts eastward of the river Tacazze. In a conference which I had with the Ras on the 16th of March, when a long discussion took place relative to the subject of my mission, the difficulties above mentioned were not only strongly confirmed by him, but he also assured me, that it was absolutely impossible for me to attempt such a journey, unless I could wait till after the rainy season in October had subsided, at which time, it was his own intention to march with an army to Gondar; for that, if I were to venture unprotected on such an expedition, the enmity which Guxo bore him would occasion my certain detention, and in all probability my destruction. I own, that I felt inclined to have braved even these hazards; but, on pressing the point, I ascertained that the Ras was resolved not to permit it, and I knew that it was in vain to contend against his authority. I was therefore reluctantly compelled to give up the idea of visiting Gondar; for, with respect to waiting till after the rains, it was entirely out of my power, on account of the expence which would have attended the detention of the Marian; for, unfortunately, I was positively enjoined by my orders to return in that vessel.'

Under these circumstances,' he continues, I was under the disagreeable necessity, in compliance with my instructions, of delivering over his Majesty's letter and presents, designed for the Emperor, to the Ras.' It is evident, therefore, that, whatever consequences are likely to result from this visit by Mr. Salt, its immediate influence must be restricted to the eastern division of the empire, called the province of Tigré; and, in order to calculate the actual extent of that influence, the physical importance of the district itself, the character of its inhabitants, and above all that of its present chief and the principal officers under him, must be taken into the calculation; for all which, the observations made by Mr. Salt during his short residence afford very ample materials. From these we collect that the present disposition of the ruling powers in this department of the empire is highly favourable to us; and that their good inclinations have been not a little strengthened and animated by his embassy. The establishment in Tigré, and under the immediate patronage of the Ras, of that extraordinary adventurer Pearce, and the occasional intercourse which is still kept up

between