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the national industry, civilization, plenty and vopulousness. Mankind are by nature indolent and voluptuous, and would be funk in laziness and fenfuality, did not the diffi. culty of fubfiftence call forth their virtues and their exertions. The natural mean of civilization is induftry, united with inftrucion, which is the industry of the mind. Thus agriculture and the gofpel are the two great inftruments of Divine Providence to check the voluptuoufnefs, and exercife the virtues of man."

We shall conclude our remarks on thefe excellent discourses, in which the author has laboured fo fuccetsfully to eftablish the truth of the chriftian religion on the folid grounds of reafon, deduced from the most forcible prophetic evidence, with his beautifully expreffive character of the christian religion,

"When I confider chriftianity," fays he," as an inftitute of happiness, I do not mean chriftianity as it is now practifed

in the world: I do not mean the popish chriftianity, which is either a profligge hypocrify, or a gloomy fuperftition, which would exterminate the paffions by a flow and dreadful fuicide. I exclude from my ideas of the gofpel, that antinomian fanaticifm which makes religion to confift in inexplicable theories; much lefs has the libertiniím of the vulgar proteftants, and the customs of the prefent age, any pretenfions to the name and honours of true chriftianity. By this auguft name, I mean that religion which is defcribed and exemplified in the New Testament; a religion of perfonal, domeftic, and public virtue; in which the paffions are not extirpated but governed; in which God is adored thro Jefus Chrift, with love, admiration, fear, and gratitude; by which fociety is continually improved and meliorated; while the indivi dual is daily renewed and prepared, both by the blessings and adversities of the prefent life, for the endless felicity of the future."

Letters concerning the Northern Coast of the County of Antrim. By the Rev. William Hamilton, A. M. Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. 8vo. 4s. Robinsons, 1786.

(Concluded from Page 261).

MR. Hamilton thinks the defcription he

has given of the external character of the Giant's Caufeway pillars, will ferve abundantly to difcriminate the columnar bafaltes from any other foffil of a duferent fpecies, at prefent known. But as it does not always appear in its prifmatical form, he proceeds to enumerate the properties by which it may be diftinguifhed when difpofed in more rude and irregular malfes.

"The bafaltes is a black, ponderous, clofe-grained ftone; which does not effervefce in any of the mineral acids.

"Its specific gravity is to that of water nearly as 2.90. to 1.00 and to that of the finest marble as 2.90 to 2.70.

"Though its texture be compact, it is not abfolutely homogeneous; for if ground to a fmooth furface, its bright jet-black polish is disfigured by feveral fmall pores.

"It ftrikes fire imperfectly with a steel. "When expofed to a moderate heat it af fumes a reddish colour, and lofes about onefiftieth part of its weight.

"In a more intenfe heat it readily melts, and is, as the chymifts exprefs it, fufible per fe.

"With the affiftance of an alkali flux it may be vitrified, and forms an opaque glafs of

a black or blush colour.

"Its principal component parts are iron in a metallic ftate combined with filiceous and argillaceous earths."

From the experiments of Sir Torbern Bergman it appears, that

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After giving this analysis of the hafaltes, Mr. Hamilton proceeds to explain its moft remarkable properties from the known elements of which it is compofed. Thus from the metallic state of its iron element he infers à priori that the columns of the Giant's Caufeway are natural magnets, whofe lower extre mity is their north pole; and after offering fonie reasonable conjectures concerning the regular form and arrangement of the pubars, mentions fome of the principal variations in point of magnitude, articulation, arrange ment and texture of the different species ef bafaltes. He next enumerates the foffils generally attendant on it, confifting of extenfive layers of red ochre ; veins of iron ore; fteatites, generally of a greenish foapy appearance; zeolyte,of a bright and pureft white color, of different weights from a grain to a pound, af fecting a crystallization, in which the fibres re diate from one center; pepperion ftone, a friable matrix of indurated clay and iron, fucced with morfels of zeolyte and other fubftances; and laftly pumice-stone.

In the next letter the author confiders the arguments adduced in favour of the volcame theory.

theory. The formation of these pillars of bafaltes has been attributed, Mr. Hamilton thinks with great appearance of probability, to the agency of fubterranean fire. The arguments in favour of this opinion are derived from the nature and properties of the ftone itfelf, which is fuppofed to be nothing else than lava; and its varieties owing to accidental circumftances attending its courfe, or the manner of its cooling.-In fupport of this it is affirmed that it agrees accurately with the lava in its elementary principles, in its grain, and the fpecies of foreign bodies it includes.

The iron of the bafaltes is found in a metallic state capable of acting on the magnetic needle, which is also true of the iron in the compact lava.

The bafaltes is fufible per fe, the common property of lava and moft volcanic fub

itances.

The bafaltes is a foreign fubstance fuperinduced, or the original limestone of the country in a state of foftnefs capable of allowing the flints to penetrate confiderably within its lower furface. The lava is a fimilar extra. neous mafs overspreading the adjacent foil, and found in like manner, with flints and other hard metals in its fubftance. From their agreeing thus already in a number of circumstances, it is reafonably prefumed that they are one and the fame fpecies of fubftance, This opinion is strongly confirmed by the evidence derived from the nature and property of the attendant foffils.

Those extenfive beds of red ochre accompanying the bafaltes, are fuppofed to be an iron ore reduced to this state of a calx by heat; a phænomenon which is obferved to take place more or lefs in the prefent living volcanoes, and is therefore a prefumptive argument of the action of fire in the neighbourhood of bafaltes.

Crystals of fchorl, which appear in great plenty among many kinds of our bafaltes, are likewife found in great abundance among the Italian lavas, in circumstances fo exactly correfponding, as to afford a probable argument in the present instance.

Pumice-ftone, which obviously bears the character of a cinder in its exterior appearance, is found on the shore of the island of Raghery, and may be confidered as an unequivocal test of the action of fire.

To thefe external arguments others are added from the exterior character of the countries containing the bafaltes, and from the confideration of those elements which may be esteemed the food of volcanos being found in its neighbourhood.

Against thefe fpecious arguments in defence of the volcanic theory, many objections have EUROP. MAG.

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To this it is answered, that though during the eruption every thing be in a state of tumult and diforder, yet when the fury of the flames, which have been struggling for a paffage, has abated, every thing returns to its natural reft, and these various melted fubftances fubfide and cool with a degree of regularity capable of producing all the beauty and fymmetry of the Giant's Causeway.

"A fecond objection," fays our author, "arifes from hence, that the currents of lava which have iffued from Etna and Vefuvius within the memory of man, have never been known to exhibit this regularity of arrangement. It is therefore faid that experience abundantly proves the fallacy of the volcanic hypothefis.

"In reply to this we are told, that it is not in the erupted torrents of thefe volcanos we are to look for the phænomena of cryftallization, but in the interior parts of the mountains themselves, and under the furface of the earth, where the metallic particles of the lava have not been dephlogisticated by the accefs of fresh air, and where perfect reft and the most gradual diminution of temperature have permitted the parts of the melted mafs to exert their proper laws of arrangement, fo as to affume the form of columnar lava: that we muft wait until thofe volcanic mountains which at prefent burn with fo much fury, fhall have compleated the period of their existence; until the immenfe vaults which now lie within their bowels, no longer able to fupport the incumbent weight, fhall fall in and difclofe to view the wonders of the fubterranean world; and then we may expect to behold all the varieties of crystallization, fuch as must needs take place in those vaft laboratories of nature; then we may hope to fee banks and caufeways of bafaltes, and all the bold and un common beauties which the abrupt promontories of Antrim now exhibit."

After stating and replying to several other objections advanced again this theory, Mr. Hamilton remarks, that in reafonings concerning natural phenomena the standard of truth is extremely vague and uncertain; that climate bears a more powerful influence than can be well imagined; fo that an opinion univerfally adopted by the inhabitants of one country, fhall be universally reprobated by those of a neighbouring kingdom,

"Thus the Neapolitans, accustomed from *Z 2 their

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their infancy to the wild fcenes of horror and defolation which abound in a foil ravaged by volcanic fire, and to fee as it were a new world fuddenly raised on the ruins of their country; have their warm imaginations filled with the gigantic idea of this powerful principle, which to them appears adequate to produce every thing that is great and ftupendous in nature. How different the fenfations and opinions which prevail in the native of our temperate ifland! He beholds nature pursue her calm and fteady courfe with an uniformity almost uninterrupted: he views the fame objects unchanged for a long feries of years; the fame rivers to water his grounds, the fame mountains fupply food for his flocks; the fame varied line of coaft continues thro' many fucceffive ages to bound his country, and to fet the waves of the ocean at defiance; hence he naturally proceeds to extend his ideas of regularity and stability over the whole world, and ftands utterly uninfluenced by thofe arguments of change in the earth, which to the inhabitants of a warm climate appear abfolutely decifive."

After obferving, that the prevailing opinions even of philofophers are too often founded on general analogies; that it requires a vigorous mind and clear understanding to avoid being misled by the fpecious argu

ments and dangerous conclufions derived from fuch deceitful fources, tending to multiply false opinions and fubverting the true principles of religion and morality; the author in his last letter attacks with great spirit and found reasoning thofe fceptics who, building their opinions on things they do not rightly understand, ra. ther than truths which come clearly within their comprehenfions, unavoidably run into grofs mistakes, who rejecting all confideration of final caufes, and defpifing those fimple and obvious analogies which lead to useful truths, have chosen rather to pursue others, which neither they nor the rest of mankind are in any respect suited to investigate; who, blind to the most striking proofs in the formation of the world, and infinite goodness in its moral government, fet their faces against both natural and revealed religion. "If this be wifdem," fays Mr. Hamilton, "if these be the vaunted fruits of freedom of thought, we have good caufe to rejoice that we are not free; that we still retain our dependance on a wife and bountiful Providence; and have not yet fallen into that univerfal anarchy of opinion, where each individual labours to enthrone and to adore every wild phantom of his own wandering imagination, juft as folly or caprice may chance to direct his choice."

Bozzy and Piozzi; or, the British Biographers, a Town Eclogue. By Peter Pindar, Efq. 4to. 2s. 6d. Kearney, 1786.

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THE HE indefatigable Peter, ever on the watch for fome fubject on which to exercise his happy talent for fatire, has in thefe eclogues amply avenged Dr. Johnfon on his biographers, by difplaying the most remark. able anecdotes in a truly ridiculous light. "On the death of Dr. Johnfon," the author tells us in the argument, "a number of people, ambitious of being diftinguished from the mute part of their species, fet about relating and printing ftories and bons mots of the celebrated moralift... Amongst the most zealous, though not the most enlightened, appeared Mr. Bofwell and Madame Piozzi, the Hero and Heroine of our eclogues. To prove their biographical, abilities, they appeal to Sir John Hawkins for his decifion on their respective ments, by quotations from their printed anecdotes of the doctor." The eclogue begins with a humourous burlefque defcription of the fuppofed feelings of the heathen deities, occafioned by the death of the doctor :

when the doctor died, Apollo whimper'd, and the Mufes cried : Minerva fighing for her fav'rite for, Pronounc'd with lengthen'd face the world undone.:

fore wip'd his eyes fo red, and told his wife, He ne'er made Johnson's equal in his life;

And that 'twould be a long time first, if ever,
His art could form a fellow half so clever:
Venus, of all the little Loves the dam,
With all the Graces, fubb'd for brother Sam.”

After describing the Johnfo-mania, as he calls it, which has raged through all the realm, he introduces the Hero and Heroine of the piece before the tribunal of Sir John Hawkins, whom he gives a ruh ex passant. "Like school-boys, lo! before a two-arm'd chair

That held the knight, wife judging, stood the pair;

Or like two ponies on the sporting ground, Prepar'd to gallop when the drum should found,

The couple rang'd-for viery both as keen,
As for a tott'ring bishoprick a dean;
Or patriot Burke for giving glorious bastings
To that intolerable fellow Haftings.

"Alternately, in anecdotes, go on;
"But firft, begin you, madam," cried Sir John:
The thankful dame low curtfied to the chair,
And thus, for vict'ry panting, read the fair."

MADAME PIOZZI.

"Sam Johnson was of Michael Johnson born, Whofe shop of books did Litchfield town adorn;

Wrong

Wrong-headed, stubborn as a halter'd ram;
In short, the model of our bero Sam :
Inclin’d to madness too-for when his fhop
Fell down for want of cafh to buy a prop;
For fear the thieves might fteal the vanish'd
ftore,

He duly went each night and lock'd the door."

Bozzy.

"Whilft Johnson was in Edinburgh, my wife,
To please his palate, ftudied for her life:
With ev'ry rarity fhe fill'd her house,
And gave the doctor, for his dinner, groufe."

MADAME PIOZZI.

"I afk'd him if he knock'd Tom Osborn down;
As fuch a tale was current thro' the town→→→
Says I, "Do tell me, doctor, what befell?"
Why, dearest lady, there is nought to tell:
1 ponder'd on the prop'reft mode to treat him--
The dog was impudent, and fo I beat him!
Tom, like a fool, proclaim'd his fancied wrongs;
Others that I belabour'd held their tongues."

Bozzy.

"Lo! when we landed on the isle of Mull,
The meagrims got into the doctor's skull:
With fuch bad humours he began to fill,
I thought he would not go to Icolmkill :
But lo! thofe meagrims (wonderful to utter!)
Were banish'd all by tea and bread and
butter !"

In this manner they continue to entertain the knight, till his patience being quite exhaufted, he exclaims,

SIR JOHN.

"For God's fake, stay each anecdotic fcrap;
Let me draw breath, and take a trifling nap:
With one half hour's refreshing slumber bleft,
And heav'n's affistance, I may hear the rest."

The knight's nap, however, was disturbed by dreams.

"For lo! in dreams the furly Rambler rose, And wildly staring, feem'd a man of woes. Wake, Hawkins, (growl'd the doctor with a frown)

And knock that fellow and that woman down

Bid them with Johnson's life proceed no fur

ther

Enough already they have dealt in murther;
Say, to their tales that little truth belongs-
If fame they mean me-bid them bold their
tongues."

The doctor goes on to give his opinion of Bozzy and fome advice to the lady, and concludes his fpeech with,

"Tell Peter Pindär, should you chance to meet kim,

Yet let him know, crown'd heads are facred
things,

And bid him rev'rence more the best of kings;
Still on his Pegasus continue jogging,
And give that Bofwell's back another flog-
ging."

Sir John being awakened, the candidates are informed,

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that enabled by the nap,
He now could meet more biographic fcrap."
They accordingly proceed with fresh cou-
rage, and a number of anecdotes are inimi-
tably told, till at length, Bozzy, fpeaking
rather irreverently of Mr. Wilkes, the lady
takes offence and an altercation commences,
which is kept up with great fpirit at least.
MADAME PIozzi.

"Who told of Mrs. Montague the lie-
So palpable a falsehood- Bozzy, fie!"
Bozzy.

"Who, mad'ning with anecdotic itch,
Declar'd that Johnson call'd his mother
b-tch?"

MADAME PIOZZI. "Who, from Macdonald's rage to fave his Cut twenty lines of defamation out?” fnout,

In this file they go on, dooming alter. nately each other's works to the paltry-cook and trunk-maker, till at laft Bofwell exclaims,

"The praise of COURTENAY my book's

fame fecures,

Now, who the devil, madam, praises your's ♪*
MADAME PIOZZI,

"Thoufands, you blockhead-no one now
can doubt it;

For not a foul in London is without it;
So! Courtenay's praifes fave you-ah! that
fquire

Deals, let me tell you, more in smoke than
fire."

Bozzy.

Zounds! he has praised me in the Sweet line"

MADAME PIOZZI. "Ay! ay! the verse and subject equal shine. Few are the mouths that COURTENAY'S Wit rehearse-

Mere cork in politics, and lead in verse."

Having railed themfelves almost out of breath, Sir John takes the opportunity thus to address them:

"For fhame! for fhame! for heaven's fake, pray be quiet,

I like his genius-should be glad to greet him. Not Billingsgate exhibits such a riot.

#2 4 2

Behold

Behold, for Scandal you have made a feast,
And turn'd your idol JOHNSON to a beast.
Tis plain that tales of ghosts are arrant lies,
Or instantaneously would Johnson rise,
Make you both eat your paragraphs so evil,
And, for your treatment of him, play the
devil.

Of those your anecdotes-may I be curft,
If I can tell you which of them is worft."

He then recommends to the lady to attend

to the duties of a wife, in preference to writing, and concludes with these lines!

"For thee, James Bofwell, may the hand of

fate

Arrest thy goofe quill, and confine thy prate;
Or be in folitude to live thy luck,
A chattering magpye on the ISLE of Muck.
Thus fpoke the judge; then leaping from the
chair,

He left in confternation loft the PAIR.

Tracts on Subjects of National Importance. I. On the Advantages of Manufactures, Commerce, and great Towns, to the Population and Prosperity of a Country. II. Difficulties stated to a proposed Affeffment of the Land Tax: And another Subject of Taxation propofed, not liable to the fame Objection. By the Rev. John MacFarlan, D. D. F. R. S. Scotland, and Author of the Inquiries concerning the Poor. 8vo. Is. 6d. Murray, 1786.

THE nagnitude of the national debt, the

exhausted state of our resources, and that univerfal anxiety with which the finance fyftem of government is contemplated, render the fubjects of these Tracts peculiarly interefting. The author combats a variety of commonly-received opinions on the feveral topics mentioned in the title-page with great addrefs. We think some of his arguments go a good way to prove, that great towns, commerce, and manufactures, are not only the neceffary confequences of a certain degree of profperity, but contribute actually to produce it. The positions which he attempts to establish in the first part of his performance are, that the prodigious wealth which pours into London, does not produce profligacy of manners; that its enormous fize does not render it unhealthy; and that the annual fupply of fix thousand people, which it is faid to require, is not, as fome have fuppofed, an actual lofs of fo many lives to the community. His reafoning on thefe various points is ori. ginal and ingenious; and, though not every where alike fatisfactory, is always fhrewd and plaufible. The evils incident to the magnitude of the metropolis he, however, allows to a certain degree, but confiders them as unavoidable, and at the fame time doubts whether they are fo great national evils as is commonly apprehended.

The fubject of taxation is nearly related to thefe fpeculations. They implicate a ftrong

cenfure at least on the impolicy of the prefent fyftem, which creates an invidious diftinction between the landed and mercantile intereft, by heaping duties on the latter, exclufively of the former. He thinks means might be found of meliorating this abfurd fyftem, and fhews the infeparable connection which must inevitably, and always, subsist between commerce and agriculture. therefore, propofes a tax on all money occu pied in loan, and that the lender, not the borrower, shall pay it, as the profits he may expect to reap from this fpecies of traffic are well able to bear a duty.

He,

Suppofing it fomewhat extraordinary that this description of property has not hitherto been taxed, he thus accounts for the fact, "Dr. Blackstone, fays he, justly observes, that moveables were formerly a different and much lefs confiderable thing than they are at this day. In ancient times it was not lawful to take intereft; a tax, therefore, could not be laid on what did not exift. Even after intereft was obtained, the quantity of money in the kingdom was very inconfiderable until the reign of Henry VII. his time a mighty change has gradually taken place. By the introduction of manufactures, and the increase of trade, prodigious fums of money have flowed into the country; fo that the moveable stock now in the kingdom may be reckoned equal, perhaps fuperior, in value, to the landed property."

Since

The Beauties of Mr. Siddons; or a Review of her Performance of the Characters of Belvide ra, Zara, Ifabella, Margaret of Anjou, Jane Store, and Lady Randolph; in Letters from a Lady of Diftinction to her Friend in the Country. 8vo. 25. Strahan.

HIS female Critic has fhewn a good T taste and proper difcrimination on the principally ftriking paffages in the above plays; and though he is the profeffed and warm admirer and panegyrift of Mrs. Siddons, he does not lavish praifes on her in that dif.

guftful manner which has been too often done lately. To pollefs a confiderable degree of merit in any line is the privilege of fewMrs. Siddons is one of the happy number; but abfolute perfection is not the lot of mortality.

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