ences are not fo common as fome modern enthusiasts, and pretenders, would have us believe.

It hath farther been remarked, that we have too long kept up the popish cuftom of dedicating religious and charitable foundations to faints, and to names of faints, fome of whom, perhaps, never exifted, excepts in the annals of fuperftition, and the lying legends of Rome: --a practice no way becoming a proteftant people, who pretend to have renounced the errors and fuperftitions of that church, which hath conftantly made it her trade to draw afide the veneration of the vulgar, by mif directing it to the creature, instead of the CREATOR..—That, nevertheless, we fee this thoughtless cuftom, not to give it the harshest epithet, ftill upheld and propagated on every occafion. Is a new church erected, 'tis dedicated to fome faint; as that, for inftance, at Bethnal Green. Is a new hofpital founded, 'tis alfo infcribed to the patronage of a faint; as that in Moorfields, called St. Luke's. And now Mr. Dingley's fcheme is in fome measure befainted, by a Dedi-cation to the Memory of a perfon, whofe name is, with as much propriety, ufed on this occafion, as those of St. Urfula, and her eleven thoufand virgins, would have been.

Thefe, or the like animadverfions, we have frequently met with; and we have been forry to hear them, because it is poffible that fuch reflexions may have operated on fcrupulous and delicate minds, to the prejudice of fo well-meant a charity.—But to the pamphlet before us.

The author first fhews, by a variety of learned remarks, and quotations both from the fcriptures, and from the best commentators, that Mary Magdalen was not the finner spoken of by LUKE, ch. vii. v.37. feq. but on the contrary, that the was a woman of diftinction, and very eafy in her worldly circumftances. For a while fhe had la⚫boured under fome bodily indifpofition, which our Lord miraculously healed. For which benefit she was ever after very thankful. So 'far as we know, her conduct was always regular, and free from cenfure. And we may reasonably believe, that after her acquaintance with our Saviour, it was edifying and exemplary. I conceive of her, as a woman of a fine understanding, and known virtue and ⚫ difcretion, with a dignity of behaviour, becoming her age, her wisdom, and her high ftation. By all which fhe was a credit to him, whom the followed, as her master and benefactor. She fhewed our Lord great refpect in his life, at his death, and after it. And the was one of thofe, to whom he firft fhewed himself after his refur⚫rection.'

He also obferves, that the denomination, A Magdalen houfe for penitent proffitutes, is a great abuse of the name of a truly honourable and excellent woman. < If Mary's fhame,' fays he, had been ma⚫nifeft, and upon record, fhe could not have been worse ftigmatized: whereas the difadvantageous opinion concerning the former part of ⚫ her life is founded only in an uncertain and conjectural deduction.

See a pamphlet entitled Thoughts on a Plan, &c, Vid, p. 555, of this Month's Review.

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⚫ And

• And if the notion, that she was the woman in Luke vii. be no more than a vulgar error, it ought to be abandoned by wife men, and not propagated, and perpetuated.

Befides, are there no bad confequences, of a moral kind, to be • apprehended from this mistaken, or at beft very doubtful opinion? Some, perhaps many, will be admitted into thefe houses, who have lived very diffolute lives, and have been very abandoned creatures. And the proofs of the repentance of fome may be very ambiguous. • Nevertheless all who get into houfes, called Magdalen-Houfes, will ⚫ reckon themselves Magdalens. If they have been firft taught to impute to her their own vices, they will foon learn to afcribe to them⚫ felves her virtues, whether with reafon, or without. At the loweit, they will be encouraged to magnify themfelves beyond what might be wifhed where humility, as we may think, fhould be one requifite qualification. And indeed I imagine, it would be beft, that thefe houfes fhould not have the denomination of any faint at all.

It is not my intention to difparage your inftitution. I hope, that many of your patients may be recovered to wisdom and virtue: though I cannot fee the reafon, why they should be called Magda• lens.'

It may not be proper for me to recommend another infcription. But I apprehend, that a variety might be thought of, all of them ⚫ decent and inoffenfive. I fhall propofe one, which is very plain : A Charity Houfe for penitent Women. Which, I think, fufficiently ⚫ indicates their fault: and yet is, at the fame time, expreffive of tenderness, by avoiding a word of offenfive found and meaning, denoting the loweft difgrace that human nature can fall into, and which few modeft men and women can think of without pain and uneafi• nefs.'

We cannot conclude this article without teftifying our entire ap probation of the letter-writer's delicacy in exploding the word proftitute, used on this occafion: as we cannot but think it both indecent and unmanly to infult the unfortunate objects with fuch language. Though we remember that they have been criminal, let us not forget that they are women; and while we charitably attempt their reformation, let us not depart from the tenderness and refpect that is due to the fex, and which has been conftantly paid them by every civilized nation, eve fince the creation of the world.

I.

SINGLE SERMONS.

REACHED at Berlin, before the Queen of Pruffia and the royal

1. PREAL family, Sept. 3d, 1758, being the day appointed for

a general thanksgiving, for the glorious victory gained by the King over the Ruffian army. By A. W. F. Sack, his majesty's first chaplain. Tranflated from the German. 4to. 6d. Rivington.

2. The lawfulness of just wars maintained, with the many and dreadful calamities attending them.-Preached at the Meeting in Canterbury, Aug. 13, 1758. By Paul Foureflier. 8vo. 6d. Buckland.

ERRATUM in our Laft.

P. 412. L. 39. for lachrymphal read lachrymal.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For DECEMBER, 1758.

Some Enquiries concerning the First Inhabitants, Language, Religion, Learning, and Letters of Europe. By a Member of the Society of Antiquaries in London. Printed at the Theatre, Oxford, and fold by Rivington and Fletcher, in London. 4to. 6s. fewed.

VERY fearch into remote Antiquity, infpires us with a

lection of the earlier occurrences of our younger days: dark, indeed, and very confufed the remembrance; yet ftill we love to look back upon thofe fcenes, in which innocence and tranquility bear, or feem to bear, fo great a proportion. But how agreeable foever enquiries of this nature may prove in gratifying our curiofity, the advantage would be trifling if they refled only here. They are farther ufeful in promoting the advancement of other kinds of learning; for, an acquaintance with the caufes whence arts and fciences had their rife, will probably direct us to the methods moft conducive to their perfection. Nor is the Hiftorian lefs than the Philofopher indebted to the Antiquarian. It is from that painful collection o opinions, and the feemingly tedious inductions of the laft, that the firft draws his materials for the afcertainment of truth, gathers order from confufion, and juftiy marks the features of the age.

It is true, however, that as refearches into Antiquity are beyond the abilities of the many, fo are they calculated only for the entertainment and inftruction of the few. The generality of Readers regard investigations of this nature, as an uninformed Ruftic would view one of our India-warehoufes; where he fees a thouVOL. XIX.

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fand

fand things, which, being ignorant of their ufes, he cannot think convertible to any valuable purpofe; and wonders why people travel fo far, and run fuch hazards, to make fo ufelefs a collection. Experience would, however, convince him, that from such acquifitions as thefe, different artifts take the materials of their different occupations; and that the mistake lay not in the collectors, but in the obferver.

The more polite every country becomes, the fonder it seems of investigating Antiquity; yet it happens fomewhat unförtunately for this branch of Science, that it is always cultivated to moft advantage, at thofe times when a people are just beginning to emerge from primæval obfcurity. The firft Writers have the materials of many preceding ages to chufe from, and all that remains for their fucceffors, is to glean what they have left behind. From hence therefore we may infer, the great indulgence that fhould be fhewn to a Writer, who, in an age fo enlightened as ours, continues to cultivate fo laborious a part of learning: as his materials, in such a case, are not of his own chufing, he may often feem triflingly minute, many conjectures will be offered upon flight probabilities, and thofe opinions which he fuppofes peculiarly his own, may appear to be the repeated obfervations of former Writers.

As to our Author in particular, his learning is extenfive; and his candour, good fenfe, and modefty, serve to adorn it. He profefles himself not bigotted to any opinion, but willing to have his own examined, though not defirous of controverfy: fuch talents cannot fail of rendering a fearch after truth pleafing, even though the enquiry fhould prove abortive.

He draws the origin of the inhabitants of Europe from the northern parts of Afia, antiently called Scythia: whofe colonies fpreading fouthward, fettled near the Euxine Sea, under the general name of Cimmerians,-by whom in all prohability, the other parts of Europe were afterwards peopled. The firft Europeans, whofe Hiftory is tranfmitted to us, are the Greeks, who had their original from Scythia, as appears from what Strabo relates, that the Greeks were antiently called Barbarians; but Scythian and Barbarian were fynonimous terms, and confequently, how much foever that polite people might have been afhamed of their rude progenitors, they could be derived from no others. Their very Gods, whom they feemed fo fond of making natives of Greece, were probably of Scythian original: and it deferves notice, that fume of the greatest nations, in all ages, have valued themselves Thus the upon being defcended from Scythian conquerors. modern Moguls boast their defcent from Tamerlane; almoft

all

all the royal families of Europe claim.kindred with the Goths; and we may fee, by our own hiftory, how careful the Saxon Princes were to trace up their feveral pedigrees to Woden. The Greeks, Phoenicians, and Egyptians did the fame, only with this difference, they would have it thought that the Gods were natives of their refpective countries; and there is no doubt but each had as good a right to them as the other. However, whether the Titans, or Gods, were originally Scythians, the pofterity of Japhet, or whether they were Phoenicians, defcendants of Ham; our Author thinks it certain, that they were temporal Sovereigns, that they poffeffed large territories, and were otherwife greatly interested in the affairs of Europe: that probably, in their times, one common language prevailed over Europe; and that the remains of fuch a language are ftill to be found in different places, particularly fuch as have had no commerce with ftrangers, but were fecured from the inroads of later languages. Such,' fays he, are the mountains of Bifcay, the retreat of the old Cantabrian; which is ftill preferved entire, in spite of all the conquefts that kingdom has undergone from Carthaginians, Romans, Goths, and Moors. The old Gallic gave way to the Teutonic, but is still spoken in Armorica, or Bafs Bretany. The British funk under the Roman yoke, and would have been utterly extirpated by the Saxons, had it not taken refuge in Wales and Cornwall; in which laft place it is now almost extinct. The Highlands of Scotland, and the numerous ifles upon that coaft, are fo many barriers of this antient language; and above all, Ireland, where it is thought to be preferved moft uncorrupt.' To fupport his reafoning in this particular, the Author gives us the following anecdote, taken from his friend the Rev. Mr. Reynolds, Fellow of Eton-College, &c. "In my middle age, at a particular friend's houfe, I found a "near relation of his, one Mr. Hutchins, of Frome, juft come "into England out of Spain, from Bilboa, where he had belong"ed to the factory the better part of twenty years; who, among "other things, told us, that while he was there, fome time "after the Proteftants became entire mafters of Ireland, there

came over to Bilboa an Irish Roman Catholic prieft, that "knew neither English nor Spanish. When the perfon to "whom he was recommended, being at a lofs what to do,

brought him to the English factory, to fee if any one there "understood Irish; but to no purpofe: till fome mountain "Bifcainers, that used Bilboa-market, coming to the houfe "where he lodged, and talking together, were perfectly un"derstood by him, and on his accofting them in Irifh, he was as well understood by them, to the great furprize of "all that knew it, as well Spaniards as English." This, if

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