God, and repenting, were juftified through Faith in Chrift, the feed of the woman, who, by an unfinning obedience, and absolute conqueft over the enemy of righteoufnefs, obtained glory enough to ⚫ add a fufficient weight to the scale in which man is weighed, and keep the balance even. Faith without works, or any qualification, was that which looks forwards with the fame ease as backwards, to Jefus, the Author and Finisher of Faith, and who is able to fupport all that come to him. To this purpose the ceremonial fervice was inftituted on the Fall, as a fhadowy reprefentation of what was to be done for them, in the fulness of time; that all whofe hearts were right, and it was their own fault if any had falfe hearts, might • reap the fame advantage from the righteoufnefs of Chrift to come, as they who should live afterwards. This mercy extends to all, and ever did, who believe; whether fons of God, or fons of men be'fore the flood; whether of the patriarchal line, or any other before ⚫ Moses; whether Jew or Gentile fince; excluding none before Chrift, but as Mahometans or Pagans are excluded now.-One body and one fpirit: one hope of the Jame calling. One Lord, one Faith, one Baptifm, one God and Father of all; who is above all, ⚫ and through all, and in all.'- -This is fo very plain, as to ftand in need of no comment. R Art. 32. A plain Account of Faith in Jefus Chrift. In Remarks feveral Paffages in the Letters on Theron and Afpafio. 12mo. 66 6d. Buckland. The principal defign of these Remarks, is, to examine what the Writer of the Letters on Theron and Afpafio has offered on the subject of Faith.-The Letter-Writer fays, "That every doctrine which "teaches us to do, or endeavour any thing towards our acceptance "with God, ftands oppofed to the doctrine of the Apostles, which, "instead of directing us what to do, fets before us all that the most "difquieted confcience can require, in order to acceptance with God, as already done and finished by Jefus Chrift-That the whole New "Teftament fpeaks aloud, that there is no difference betwixt one "man and another, as to the matter of acceptance with God; no "difference betwixt the most accomplished Gentleman and the most "infamous Scoundrel, the most virtuous Lady and the vileft Profli"tute, the most reverend Judge and the most odious Criminal, the "moft fervent Devotee and the greatest Ringleader in profaneness " and excefs." Our Author makes fome very pertinent and judicious Remarks on thefe and the like paffages; and fhews, in a plain, eafy, and candid manner, that no Faith in Chrill will be of any avail to us, but that which operates by Love, which purifies the Heart, and produces, in the Life and Converfation, the peaceable fruits of righteousness, and univerfal virtue. R Art. 33. Twelve Difcourfes upon fome practical Parts of Solomon's Song. Preached at St. Dunstan's in the Weft, Lon don. don. By William Romaine, M. A. Lecturer of the faid Church. 8vo. 4s. 6d. Worral, &c. Thofe who think, with Mr. Romaine, that Solomon's Song can afford a foretaste of thofe pleafures which are at God's right hand for evermore,' may find abundance of confolation in the perufal of thefe right godly Difcourfes: which, however, we can by no means recommend to the carnal Reader, whom we fhall take the liberty to addrefs, on this occafion, in the words of the pious Preacher, as they stand in the fourth page of his firft Sermon. Away then, ye Prophane. Come not near to the Holy of Holies, nor prefume to look into it, left ye die. You are no more fit to read this book, than you are to partake of the facred Elements 6 at the Lord's table. With your carnal unregenerate heart you ⚫ will read the one, and partake of the other, to your greater ⚫ damnation. Oh keep back then, and prefume not to look into, or to judge of the facred myfteries of this divine Song. But if you will venture to read it, and to ridicule it, remember that it is one of the treasures of divine Wisdom, and though you may level your wit against a Song of Solomon's, yet it falls upon the Almighty God who inspired it.' If this be true, need we wonder that, as Mr. Romaine affures us, the DEVIL has a particular spite against the Canticles? Art. 34. Confiderations on fome modern Doctrines and Teachers. Addreffed to the worthy Inhabitants of St. Alban, Woodstreet, and St. Olave, Silver-Street, &c. By C. Grange, an Inhabitant. 8vo. 3d. 8vo. 3d. Cooke. Mr. Grange vindicates the Rev. Mr. Vn, Lecturer of St. Alban, &c. from the charge of Methodifm, which had been brought againft him by Dr. Free, in his late pamphlet addressed to the worshipful Company of Salters. See Review for May, p. 499. N. B. The Catalogue of all Books and Pamphlets mentioned in the Review, which was advertised some Months ago, is deferred till the Twentieth Volume of the Review is compleated; viz. till next Summer, when the faid Catalogue will be printed. We have received a Letter from Dr. H. wherein he dif claims the Pamphlet concerning Harris the Pimp, mentioned in our laft Catalogue: Our Information concerning the Author of that Article muft, therefore, have been wrong. Ta To the AUTHORS of the MONTHLY REVIEW. GENTLEMEN, HO' Paintings and Prints feem not to come under your Cognizance, yet many of your Readers, no doubt, would be glad to fee the Strictures of any Connoiffeur upon fuch new productions of the Pencil or the Graver, as may be thought worthy the peculiar notice of the public. If, therefore, you will please to accept the occafional communications of a fincere well-wifher to your very usefull Review, I may, perhaps, fome-. times trouble you with my thoughts upon fuch of our new Engravings as may appear to merit any confiderable diftinction from the ordinary productions of our numerous tribe of Sculpfits. At prefent, I beg leave to offer a word or two upon the ingenious Mr. Hogarth's new Print entitled, CHARACTER; or, The BENCH: a piece of fo extraordinary a nature, that it would appear to me an unpardonable omiffion, in a Literary Journal, to pafs it unnoticed:-not, indeed, fo much on account of the Print itself; for, in that, tho' not a bad one, there appears no peculiar excellence. The words at the bottom of it, intended for the inftruction of the ignorant world, are what have chiefly drawn my attention. The Print reprefents four Judges of very different appearance, and very differently employed. Two of them attentive to the proceedings, are taking minutes of the cause, whilst the other two are fast afleep. To this group is fubjoined an attempt toward an explanation of the words Character, Caracatura, and Outré. I fhall tranfcribe the whole, as it would be otherwise impoffible to give your Readers any idea of it. "Of the different Meaning of the Words Character, Caracatura, and Outré in Painting and Drawing. "There are hardly any two things more effentially different "than Character and Caracatura, nevertheless they are ufually "confounded and mistaken for each other; on which account "this explanation is attempted. It has ever been allowed, that "where a Character is ftrongly marked in the living face, it "may be confidered as an index of the mind, to exprefs which "with any degree of juftness in Painting, requires the utmost We do not think that it requires the utmost efforts of a great Mafter, to express a Character ftrongly marked in the living face: For where a Character is fo ftrongly marked, Nature feems to have done half the work of the Painter. Indeed where there is nothing ftriking in the living face, there it may require the utmost efforts of a great Mafter, to exprefs an unanimated countenance, which has nothing characteristic, with any degree of juftness. " efforts efforts of a great Mafter. Now that which has, of late "years, got the name of Caracatura, is, or ought to be, to"tally divefted of every ftroke that hath a tendency to good "Drawing; it may be faid to be a fpecies of lines that are "produced rather by the hand of chance, than of fkill: for the "early fcrawlings of a child, which do but barely hint an idea "of an human face, will always be found to be like fome per"fon or other, and will often form fuch a comical resemblance "as, in all probability, the moft eminent Caracaturers of these "Times will not be able to equal with defign, because their "ideas of objects are fo much more perfect than children's, "that they will unavoidably introduce fome kind of Drawing: "for all the humourous effects of the fashionable manner of "Caracaturing, chiefly depend on the furprize we are under, at "finding ourselves caught with any fort of fimilitude in objects "abfolutely remote in their kind. Let it be observed, the more "remote in their nature, the greater is the excellence of these "pieces: as a proof of this, I remember a famous Caracatura "of a certain Italian Singer, that ftruck at first fight, which "confifted only of a ftraight perpendicular ftroke, with a dot "over it. As to the French word Outré, it is different from "the foregoing, and fignifies nothing more than the exagger"ated outlines of a figure, all the parts of which may be in other refpects, a perfect and true picture of nature. A Gi "ant or a Dwarf may be called a common man Outré. So any "part, as a nose, or a leg, made bigger, or lefs, than it ought to be, is that part Outré*, which is all that is to be under"ftood by this word, fo injudiciously used to the prejudice of "Character. I muft beg leave to differ with the Author, as to what he says of the meaning of thefe words being commonly mistaken. I have conversed a good deal with Painters, with Connoiffeurs, and with people entirely ignorant of Painting; and yet never remember to have heard them mifapplied before: nor, indeed, do I recollect any three terms of art, in the meaning of which mankind are more generally agreed. With fubmiffion to fo great an Artist, I muft beg leave to fay, that his definition of Caracatura is entirely wrong. It is by no means true, that it must be void of good drawing. There are many inftances of Caracaturas well drawn. Good drawing does not always confift in what is called Proportion, or in accurate out lines; for, where the Painter intended to exaggerate, Proportion would be bad drawing. To give the public a proper idea of Caracatura, the Artist mentions the firft attempts of children; which is, indeed, a See Excefs, Analyfis of Beauty, chap. vi. very very childish example, and by no means to the purpose. He might as well, with Hamlet, have defired us to look up to the clouds, for a whale or an ouźle, Of the fame nature is his may perpendicular ftroke with a dot on the top. A playful imagina tion will difcover fimilitudes in any thing. But all this is entirely foreign to the thing in question. The true meaning of any word, without regarding its derivation, is that in which the moft fenfible part of mankind have thought fit to receive and use it. If we were afked, by an Englishman, what we understand by. the word Character in Painting, we fhould anfwer, That in Painting, Drawing, or Defigning, it is understood in its comnion acceptation; and, for illuftration, we fhould refer the Enquirer to Lord Clarendon and Shakespear, and alfo to many of Mr. Hogarth's excellent performances, which are truly charac→→ teriftic. Caracatura, means the diftinguishing figure of a per-> fon or thing ludicrously exaggerated, yet fo as to preferve the fimilitude of the original. This we apprehend to be a true de→→ finition of the word, regardless of any circumftances that arife from good or bad Drawing. And as to the word Outré, it never meant any thing more than fimply exaggerated. We cannot have a more striking inftance of the difference between Character and Caracatura, than in Mr. Garrick and Mr. Wood-> ward the firft is always Character, and the other Caracatura. If we refer the idea of these two Actors to Drawing, or Painting, we can never mistake the meaning of the words, Character, therefore, is true Refemblance; Caracatura is exaggerated ridiculous Refemblance; and Outré is Exaggeration with, or without Refemblance. Character has nothing in it of Caracatu ra, or Outré. Caracatura comprehends Character and Outré. Outré is mere Exaggeration, without any regard to either of the other two. As to the Print before us, it may be characteristic' of a bench of Judges, and therefore may be confidered as an example of Character; but if, as we have been told, the prin cipal figure was intended to give the idea of an Owl, it is then certainly neither Character, nor Caracatura. After all, it must be allowed, that Mr. Hogarth is a man of inimitable Genius; and as real Genius is always above harbouring any little Refentment against any perfon, on account of a mere difference in opinion; fo I doubt not but this excellent Artift will readily pardon the freedom of the few animadverfions, here fubmitted to his, and to your Correction, by, London, GENTLEMEN, Your very humble Servant, B |