known to be the determined enemy of the party accused. We must allow, however, that the most atrocious acts of barbarity, with which he charges the befiegers, have been fince ftated in full Convention, in crimination of fome of those who were principally concerned in them; and that the military operations of the fiege appear to be detailed with accuracy and fidelity.

He divides his account into four epochs; in the first, he makes his readers acquainted with the events that took place at Lyons from Feb. 6, 1793, to May 29 following; the fecond gives a relation of those which occurred between this latter date and the commencement of the fiege; the third includes what happened during the fiege, until the remains of the garrison marched out and endeavoured to escape on the 8th of October; and the fourth comprehends a fhocking detail of the barbarities exercised at Lyons by order of deputies from the Convention, after the reduction of the city.

Our readers already know that the buildings of Lyons were as little fpared as their owners; the fquare of Louis XIV., one of the finest in Europe, was demolished; the houfes of all the principal traders and manufacturers were pulled down, as were those which were fuch ornaments to the quays along the banks of the Rhone and the Saône ; nay the very name of Lyons was profcribed, and that of Ville Affranchie given to its fad remains: this latter, however, has been fince fuppreffed, and the former name restored, under the auspices of the prefent fyftem of moderation.

In the fiege of Lyons, all Europe was deeply interested. While it was able to withstand its befiegers, Toulon was fafe in our hands, Marseilles could not be kept in awe, the whole South of France would have looked to it as a rallying point, and the Northern departments of that vaft country would have been in the most imminent danger of being ftarved, as the principal fupplies of corn, which they received from abroad, arrived from Italy in the ports of the Mediterranean; and fhould the cities to which these ports belong be adverfe to the Convention, one of thefe two confequences must have inevitably folJowed, that the Convention must have been diffolved, or France split into two separate and hoftile states; and either revolution would have given a new turn to the affairs of Europe. From the fate of Lyons, nations may learn this falutary leffon;-as one of the greatest fcourges with which mankind can poffibly be afflicted is a civil war, fo it is the duty of thofe who are placed at the helm of the ftate fo to govern, that the people fhould have no grounds for feeking a redress of grievances in a revolution ;--and the people fhould on the other hand be convinced that there can fcarcely exift a grievance, which would not appear trivial when compared to that kind of revolution which changes all the elements of the government of a country, deftroys all land-marks, and places the citizens under no other guidance than that of the effervefcence of the human paffions. May our rulers and our fellow-fubjects bear this deeply in their minds; and then we may hope that they will both meet in the wish to effect, peaceably and coolly, fuch a reformation in our conftitution, as may bring it as near to perfection in practice as it is in theory; and render it at once the

happiness

ᏚᏂ .

happiness of Englishmen, the pride of reafon, and the admiration of all Europe. Art. 37. Narrative of the Events of the Siege of Lyons. Tranflated from the French. 8vo. pp. 97. 1s. 6d. Vernor and Hood. This speedy tranflation feems generally faithful, though, as the tranflator confeffes, not very correct and elegant. Dubois Crancé is every where printed without the accent, Crance; p. 54, the famous Chevalier Bayard is called Bargard; p. 13, pulling the firing of the guilloting is termed drawing a flender bolt: p. 56, they quickly feized-or occupied -the Isle of Perrache, is rendered they foon urged into the ifle, &c. &c. Some Scotticisms also occur. G.2.

THEOLOGY, POLEMICs, &c. ART. 38. A Free Enquiry into the Authenticity of the Firft and Second Chapters of St. Matthew's Gofpel: with a new Preface, containing an Account of fome MSS. in the British Mufeum: and a Differtation on the original Language of that Gofpel. The fecond Edition, corrected, improved, and much enlarged. By John Williams, LL.D. 8vo. pp. 173. 4s. Boards. White. 1789.

As we do not always notice new editions of works, we have long overlooked this publication; not being aware that it was fo much enlarged. It is indeed fo expreffed in the title-page: but we have been too often deceived by this ftale language of the trade to give much credit to profeffions of this kind. Had we been fully apprized of our error at the time of the republication, we should have paid that attention to the work which, in confequence of its additions and improvements, it deferves. All that we can now do is to fay that these additions are really important, and add confiderable weight of evidence against the genuineness of the chapters in queftion. Whether this evidence will convince many perfons that the chapters are fpurious, we know not: but however it turn out, no pious Chriftian ought to be in the leaft alarmed at the inquiry; for, let the event be what it will, Christianity, and all its important truths, will stand juft where they did before the inquiry was inftituted.

For an account of the first edition, which was anonymous, and for the replies to it, the curious may confult our General Index. Art. 39. Dogmatifm expofed, and Sophiftry detected: or a Confutation of Paine's "Age of Reafon." To which is prefixed a brief Account of the Replies already published. By Daniel M'Neille, A. M. 8vo. pp. 70. 1s. 6d. Chapman. 1794.

Though we do not fubfcribe to every affertion contained in this pamphlet, and cannot poffibly agree with its author in what he advances concerning the apocalypfe, that it is now well understood;' -though we cannot applaud the review which he has made (in his preface) of the former replies to the Age of Reafon, and feel ourselves bound to cenfure the low and illiberal pun refpecting Mr. Wakefield, who, from his refiding at Hackney, is defcribed as a gentleman backneyed in the tenets of Priestley;'-we would not with-hold from this writer the praise due to a strenuous and manly defender of Christianity. Mr. M'Neille fairly meets the objections of the Deift, and convicts REY. FEB. 1795. him,

Pear.e.

him, in several inftances, of ignorance, puerility, and mif-statemens. He defires the reader of the low witticifms, in the Age of Reafon, to recollect that levity is not reafoning;' and, to oppose Mr. Paine's general conclufion, he briefly defcants on the mafs of evidence on which the belief of revelation is founded, particularly noticing that fingular political phænomenon, the prefent ftate of the Jews.

Against the all-fufficiency of Mr. Paine's word of God, viz. " the creation," as a volume of religious inftruction, he obferves; to the reflecting mind, the creation exhibits aftonishing proofs of the power, wifdom, and beneficence of God; but it does not by any means convey to the mass of mankind any one idea [this is more frongly expreffed than the argument required] with regard to religious knowlege; if it did, the South Sea iflander, the American Indian, or the Hottentot, would be as enlightened on this fubject as the most learned European. All nations would poffefs the fame portion of divine knowledge, and the worship of the Deity would be equally pure among all people. According to Mr. Paine a man has merely to look around him to have a knowlege of the word of God. But we have only to confult the account of voyagers and travellers to be convinced that this word of God, appointed by Mr. Paine, is a very infufficient guide in religious concerns, and far inferior to Christianity, the great doctrines and precepts of which cannot be mistaken even by the most inattentive."

Mr. McNeille has gone a little too far in the conclufion of this pa ragragh; for, if the doctrines and precepts of Christianity cannot be mistaken, how can he account for the existence of so much religious controverfy?

Art. 40. Letters to Edward Gibbon, Efq. Author of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By George Travis, A. M. Archdeacon of Chefter. The third Edition, corrected and confiderably enlarged. 8vo. pp. 570. gs, Boards. Rivingtons. 1794.

Moy.

Mr. Travis has at least the merit of having expended much labour and ingenuity on the fubject of this work, His letters to Mr. Gibbon, which first appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine, were afterward collected and enlarged into a quarto volume, which was published in the year 1784;-another edition, farther improved, appeared in the following year; and now, after an interval during which the fubje& has undergone farther difcuffion, a third edition comes forth in a much more elegant form. We are affured that, though this edition is built generally on the bafis of that which immediately preceded it, many parts of the fuperftructure are enlarged by the use of new and (as it feems) valuable materials. When we recollect how intimately the point here difcuffed is connected with the general fyftem of eftablished belief, and what weighty interefts are in fome measure dependant on the folution, we feel no surprise that a question which, in a diftant view, appears fimple, fhould (to borrow our author's words) expand itself on a nearer approach into fo many complicated branches,

and cover fo large a field of hiftorical inquiry. We know that ingenuity and industry, when prop y ftimulated, can perform wonders: but, we own, we are furpriz that, without taking any direct notice of the elaborate inveftigation which has lately been bestowed on the fubject by Mr. Porfon, in his letters to Mr. Travis, published in 1790, it should be as confidently maintained, as if no fuch invefti gation had ever taken place, that the verfe in queftion feems beyond all degree of ferious doubt to have flood in the Epiftles when it originally proceeded from the pen of St. John.' It is not the addition of an elaborate difquifition to prove that R. Stephens, in fettling the text of the New Testament, was in poffeffion of MSS. which contain the difputed verfe, nor any other additions that we find in this improved edition of the Letters, which will obviate the objections to the authenticity of this text, drawn from the circumstances that it is not quoted by the early Chriftian fathers when exprefsly treating on the fubject of the divinity of Chrift, and that it is not found in any, or at molt not in more than one or two, of the Greek MSS. of the fcriptures which are now extant. We do not mean, however, to renew the debate on a fubject already fo thoroughly exhausted.

E. Art. 41. Antichrift in the French Convention; or, an Endeavour to prove that fome Part of the Prophecies of Daniel and St. John is now fulfilling in Europe. Addreffed to all Mankind who believe in the Old Teftament. To the Jew as well as the Chriftian. 8vo. 1s. Cadell and Davies. . 1795.

The vifions of Daniel, and the myfteries contained in St. John's Revelations, feem to have furnished an inexhaustible fund of employ ment for those learned adepts in myftic obfcurity, who know how to apply the fymbolic horns, vials, beasts, &c. &c. to the most re markable perfons and events of ages paft, prefent, and future, in all quarters of the habitable globe. Yet it is the misfortune of these pious and skilful interpreters to be as little regarded by their contemporaries, as were their precurfors, the good prophets of old.-Thus we find the author of the prefent expofition complaining, in his preface, that

In fearching for the grounds of Mr. FLEMING's conjectures refpecting the downfall of the French monarchy, and the pouring out the fifth vial upon the feat of the beat, he has been forcibly ftruck by the ftrong resemblance which the events foretold by Daniel and St. John bear to the tranfactions of the prefent times. He has attempted, more than once, to excite an inquiry, among learned men, into the fubject, as he wished it to have been taken up by a more able hand; but the fubject is obfolete; his hints in the Papers have been unnoticed, and the learned world turns a deaf ear to fuch opinions: yet thofe opinions, if right, are of the greate ft confequence; if erroneous, let them be confuted.'

The author modeftly adds, however, that his utmost pretenfions are, that thofe opinions only carry with them evident marks of probability: yet even this probability may not feem very clear to those who are unable to trace (with the prefent expofitor,) the civic cards and

national cockades of the French, with their affignats, and their tele
graphs, in the vifions of DANIEL or JOHN.

Art. 42. A Courfe of Prayer, for each Day in the Week, fuitable to
every Chriftian Family. Printed from the Manufcripts of the late
Rev. Auguftus Toplady, Vicar of Broad Hembury, Devon. 8vo.
PP. 34. Parfons. 1794..

In thefe days of herefy, we very much queftion whether a Course of Prayer, drawn up by a man fo found in the faith as Mr. Toplady, can be, as the title of this Courfe of Prayer promifes, fuitable to every Christian family. It will, however, doubtlefs prove very acceptable to that clafs of Chriftians who eftimate the value of all theological productions by what is termed their orthodoxy.

MEDICAL, CHEMICAE, &C.
Art. 43. A Treatife on the Hydrocele, on Sarcocele or Cancer, and other
Dijeafes of the Teftes. By Benjamin Bell, F. R. S. &c. &c. 8vo.
PP. 295. 45. Boards. Edinburgh, printed.-Robinsons, London.
1794.

This volume is chiefly a republication of the obfervations respecting thefe diseases contained in the author's System of Surgery. He was induced to print it in this form, by the request of feveral perfons who wifhed to have this part feparately; and also because he had fome additional remarks to introduce relative to the methods of curing the hydrocele, and the operation for the farcocele.

E.

Some late attempts to encourage the practice of injection, for the radical cure of the hydrocele, lead Mr. Bell to give a brief history of the origin and progrefs of this mode, and to compare it with the others employed for the fame purpose. He raises various objections to it: but the confideration, which principally feems to weigh with him, is the fafety and efficacy which he has always experienced in the cure by incifion; a method obviously more certain than any of the others, if not objectionable on account of pain and danger. The improved manner of performing it, which he defcribes very minutely, is not in any important refpect different from the practice of fkilful furgeons in general: but the mode of dreffing which he recommends has fome peculiarities that may contribute to the fuccefs :-for particulars we muft refer to the book. In the writer's practice, the disease has not returned in a fingle inftance; nor has one patient died, nor even been in danger, in 165 cafes in which he has operated by incifion.

As to the operation of removing the diseased part in a farcocele, the directions given are accurate and judicious, but, as far as we obferve, contain little that is new. The spermatic chord is fecured at the beginning of the operation by a ligature paffed round it; which, after having taken up the divided ends of the artery and vein separate from the nerve, is untied again, and left in, like a tourniquet, till all danger of hæmorrhage is past.

Ai. Art. 44. Defcription of a Pneumatic Apparatus; with Directions for procuring the Factitious Airs. By James Watt, Engineer, Birmingham. The Second Edition. 8vo. PP. 49. 25. Baldwin.

1795.