have been practising the arts of doubting, they have been lofing all firmness of principle, which might tend to establish the rectitude of their private conduct. As a moralift, therefore, lord Bolingbroke, by having endeavoured at too much, feems to have done nothing: but as a political writer, few can equal, and none can exceed him. As he was a practical politician, his writings are lefs filled with thofe fpeculative illufions, which are the refult of folitude and feclufion. He wrote them with a certainty of their being oppofed, fifted, examined, and reviled; he therefore took care to build them up of fuch materials, as could not be easily overthrown: they prevailed at the times in which they were written, they ftill continue to be the admiration of the prefent age, and will probably laft for ever."

Though this portrait has confiderable merit, we cannot think it proper to compare Bolingbroke with Cæfar; becaufe Cæfar was by profeffion a warrior, and Bolingbroke a statesman and philofopher. As an orator, and a writer, we prefume that Bolingbroke was fuperior to Cæfar, notwithstanding the great literary merit of the latter, and the veneration which is paid to works of antiquity. The compofitions of Bolingbroke are animated with a dignity and fire, which Cæfar, as an author, feems not to have poffeffed.

It seems ftill more unreasonable to blame lord Bolingbroke for having thought of adding to ethical knowledge, after the improvements, or, (as the author of this Life feems to imagine) after the perfection it had received. So progreffive is the human mind, and fo widely may its powers be expanded, that the whole system of arts and sciences may, in process of time, receive improvements, of which we cannot now form an idea. A capital genius may ftrike out new lights in any age; and he should never be difcouraged from attempting what he may poffibly effect. Lord Bolingbroke should not have been reprehended for undertaking to frame a new moral scheme. The question to have been examined was, whether it is a good, or a bad one. If it promotes the good of mankind, it should have been praised; if it is pernicious to fociety, the memory of its author fhould have been ftigmatized by his biographer

with the feverest censure.

The Differtation upon Parties, to which the Life of Bolingbroke is prefixed, is fo well known, and its merit fo well established, that obfervations upon it will not be expected from us. It may be neceffary, however, to obferve, that the publication of this. masterly work is undoubtedly feafonable at a time when the nation is divided into fo many different parties.

The Life of Lord Bolingbroke is evidently written by the author of The Life of Dr. Parnell, who has no reason to be afhamed of the performance.

IX. Na

bestowed. In acts, of generofity and kindness, it is fuppofed that the perfon who confers a favour, confers it without requiring a promife of a return, elfe it would not be giving, but trading and felling. In acts of gratitude, the obliged perfon requites according to his inclination and abilities. He is often the beft judge of the value of the kindness which he has received, and of the circumftances increafing, or leffening it; and he returns good offices, favours, and fervices; perhaps he hath nothing to give besides his heart, he repays benefits with love, honour, and refpect, which are no contemptible returns, and prove him to be truely grateful. But human courts cannot measure the degrees of love and honour which are due to a benefactor, or the manner in which they fhould be expreffed. Thefe and other reafons may be given, to fhew that fuch laws fhould not be made, and cannot be executed.

National laws being thus neceffarily imperfect, and incapable of fecuring the public tranquillity, men, to fupply this defect, have added to them another law, the law of Civility or Goodmanners. This is a law of cuftom, eftablished by common confent, and the violation of it is punished by the general difapprobation and contempt which the offenders against it ufually undergo. But this law alfo is infufficient for the purposes for which it is defigned, as may be known, if we confider that civility for the moft part is outfide fhew, dwells upon the tongue and in the carriage, and is not required to extend itfelf to acts of real benefi. cence towards others; efpecially towards thofe who have offended us; fo that one may obferve the laws of civility and decency, and yet be deficient in his duty to his neighbour.

But in thofe cafes, in which the laws fall fhort of their defign, a meek perfon will be a law to himself, and fhew more courtesy, humanity, and condefcenfion than they require of him.'

The twelfth fermon is on religious retirement. From the example of our Saviour in this respect the author draws these obfervations. 1. That we ought to fet apart fome portions of our time for private and filent acts of religion, for converfation with God and our own hearts. Our Lord went up into a mountain apart to pray. 2. That we ought to employ all the

But Seneca is of another opinion, and fays;

• Hoc tam invifum vitium, an impunitum effe debeat, quæritur : et an hæc lex, quæ in fcholis exercetur, etiam in civitate ponenda fit, qua ingrati datur actio-Magnum hoc argumentum, dandam non fuiffe; quia adverfus maleficium omne confenfimus, et homicidii, veneficii, parricidii, violatarum religionum, aliubi atque alibui diverfa poena eft; fed ubique aliqua. Hoc frequentiffimum crimen nufquam punitur, ubique improbatur. Neque abfolvimus illud: fed cum difficilis effet incerta rei æftimatio, tantum odio damnavimus, et inter ea reliquimus quæ ad vindices Deos mit timus. Rationes autem multæ mihi occurrunt, propter quas crimen hoc in legem cadere non debeat, &c. De Benef. iii. 6.

* Quam angufta innocentia eft, ad legem bonum effe? quanto latius officiorum patet, quam juris regula? quam multa pietas, humanitas, liberalitas, juftitia. fides exigunt, quæ omnia extra pub. licas tabulas funt? Seneca De Ira, ii, 27.

powers

powers and abilities which God has conferred upon us, to the glory of their author, and to the benefit of mankind, and lofe no opportunity of doing good. Our Saviour spent the day in feeding and teaching the people. 3. That the active and focial duties are more valuable and important than the contemplative virtues which are of a private and folitary nature. Our Saviour left not the people till the evening came on; and the hours which he paffed in folitude and retirement were few, compared with those which he spent in the discharge of his ministry. 4. That as our Saviour had, fo we also have time enough for the one and for the other, for the exercise of public and of private duties and virtues; and that therefore neither fhould be omitted.

On a fequestered or monaftic life our author has thefe juft obfervations:

Of two perfons who live foberly and righteously, the one in a public ftation, the other in retirement, the former must be allowed to be the more excellent perfon, and the brighter example of virtue; for it is more commendable, because more ufeful, to be a burning light in the midft of a crooked and perverfe generation, than in a defart, in a folitude, where it is in a great meafure loft to the world, and shines almost only to itself.

The account which we have of the old folitary Saints, though written by their admirers and adorers, is often little to their advantage, or to the credit of Chriftianity. If time, which hath destroyed fo many excellent records and monuments, had fwept away thofe hiftories, the lofs had been inconfiderable. We find that their retired fituation and moping and mufing way of life threw them frequently into melancholy and enthufiafm, and fometimes into frenzy and madnefs: and indeed there are few heads ftrong enough to bear perpetual folitude, and a confinement to the fame place, the fame objects, the fame occupations, and the fame little circle of action; and when to all this is added want of proper food and of fleep, it is no wonder if a man lofes his fenfes.

One would not cenfure without diftinction all thofe who retired from the world. Their defign might be honeft, and their piety fincere; but whilft we make proper allowances for their good intention, we cannot compliment their prudence and commend their choice, especially when thefe inftitutions became a public nuifance, and called aloud for a reformation. Several evils arofe from this injudicious devotion: young perfons were fometimes feduced from their parents, and fometimes confined against their inclinations; they engaged themselves by vows never to change their way of life, which expofed them to innumerable temptations; a blind and flavifh obedience was required to their governors; the public was deprived of many ufeful citizens, and great fums were mifemployed by the indifcreet charity of fimple perfons who gave away their poffeffions to fuch focieties. Vice alfo and works of darkness found their way into fome of thefe religious houses, which feemed to be only bolted and barred against charity and true piety.

• One

One of the general weakneffes of mankind, is to run into extremes; and, in truth, there is a middle way between a quite folitary life, and a life of gaiety, hurry, and diffipation, which confifts in fo laying out and dividing our time, and chufing our friends and acquaintance, that we may give to every laborious or ftudious occupation, and to every innocent amusement, its proper feason, and find leifure for every thing that is good and reasonable and this may be done in populous cities as well as in cloisters, and perhaps much better."

In the thirteenth difcourfe, the author endeavours to fet before us the future ftate of the virtuous. The good, he obferves, will hereafter be free from all the pain, the fears, and difquietudes of life, will be happy in the increase of knowledge, in a freedom from fin, in the fociety of beings like themselves, in occupations fuitable to their dignity and difpofitions, and. in many other refpects which exceed all human conception : and this happiness will be encreased by the certainty of its endlefs duration.

In the next fermon, we have a clear and fatisfactory illuf tration of the thirteenth chapter of St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians; on the nature of Chriftian charity. This difcourfe abounds with excellent fentiments, from which we cannot forbear extracting the following paragraph, which is expreffed with a fhrewdness peculiar to Dr. Jortin.

To banish, imprison, plunder, ftarve, hang, and burn men' for religion, is not the gofpel of Chrift, it is the gofpel of the devil. Where perfecution begins, Christianity ends; and if the name of it remains, the fpirit is gone. Chrift never used any thing that looked like force or violence, except once; and that was, to drive bad men out of the temple, and not to drive them in.'

The fifteenth fermon contains many practical reflections on the duty of living peaceably with all men: the fixteenth points out the use of afflictions: the feventeenth displays the object, the causes, the effects, and the cure of envy: the eighteenth confifts of remarks on the converfion of Cornelius, A&s x. 22. relative to the equity and unlimited beneficence of the Deity, and the honeft and pious difpofition of the Roman centurion. The laft fermon of this volume is calculated to fhew, that all the fair projects and flattering hopes of the wicked are delufive, and their fecurity without foundation.

[ To be concluded in our next. ]

VI. Mechanics; or the Doctrine of Motion. Together with the Projection of the Sphere, and the Larus of Centripetal Forces. By William Emerfon. 8vo. 75. Nourfe.

THERE

HERE is not any branch of mathematical knowledge mor ufeful to mankind than mechanics; it is by this noble art, that the utmost improvement is made of every power and

force

force in nature, and the motions of the elements, water, air, and fire, are made fubfervient to the various purposes of life: for, however weak the force of man appears to be, when un, affifted by this art, yet with its aid, there is scarce any thing above its reach. By this fcience, we can investigate the properties of the mechanical powers, as the lever, balance, wheel, or axis in peritrochio, pulley, &c. illuftrate the whole theory of motion, fhew how to determine the motions which are produced by given forces, and converfely, when the phænomena of those motions are given, we can, with great facility, trace the powers or forces from whence the motions themselves did firft arise. Without the knowledge of mechanics, we could not even account for the moft common and natural motions of animals, fuch as walking, jumping, flying, swimming; for all thefe depend upon the properties of the center of gravity it is by the motion of this point, as our author justly remarks, that when a man endeavours to walk, he stretches out his hind leg, and bends the knee of his fore leg, by which means his body is thruft forward, and the center of gravity of his body is moved forward beyond his feet, then to prevent his falling, he immediately takes up his hind foot, and places it forward beyond the center of gravity, then he thurfts himself forward, by his leg which now is the hindmoft, till his center of gravity be beyond his fore foot, and then he fets his hind foot forward again, and thus he continues walking as long as he pleases.

In ftanding a man having his feet clofe together cannot ftand fo firmly, as when they are at fome diftance, for the greater the base, the firmer the body will ftand, therefore a globe is eafily moved upon a plane, and a needle cannot stand upon its point, any otherwife than by fticking it into the plane.

• When a man is feated in a chair, he cannot rife till he thrufts his body forward, and draws his feet backward, till the center of gravity of his body be before his feet; or at leaft upon them, and to prevent falling forward, he sets one of his feet forward and then he can ftand, or step forward as he pleases.

All other animals walk by the fame rules, first setting one foot forward, that way the center of gravity leans, and then another. In walking up hill, a man bends his body forward, that the center of gravity may lie forward of his feet; and by that means he prevents his falling backward, In carrying a burthen, a man always leans the contrary way that the burthen lies, fo that the center of gravity of the whole of his body and the burthen, may fall upon his feet. And a fowl

2

going