fupply of timber for the royal navy. The object of the fpeech now before us is to induce government to revive a practice which once prevailed, we believe, to a confiderable extent, that of employing fhips belonging to the royal navy, ufually called troophips, for the conveyance of land forces by fea, inftead of hiring merchant veffels, as tranfports, for that fervice. The fuperior advantages of the fyftem recommended by the noble Lord are stated to be, the comfortable accommodation afforded to both officers and men, in troop-fhips, compared with that which they enjoy in common tranfports; (a circumftance highly conducive to their good health, and confequently their efficiency en fervice ;) the fafety of the troops in cafe of feparation; the comparatively few fhips required for the conveyance of an army, the expedition with which it may be tranfported; and the facility of landing and re-embarking troops. Other effential circumstances are ftated by the noble Lord to exift, though not neceffary to be detailed; but he relies, as a confideration "para mount to every other," on the advantage of "having fhips for the conveyance of troops under naval difcipline." In proof of this point he alludes to the inconvenience fuffered on the re-embarkation of Sir J. Moore's army after the battle at Corunna; on which occafion he avers, "the naval and military officers, who fuperintended that midnight embarkation, endured far more anxiety than they had experienced in the hour of battle." To ftrengthen the noble fpeaker's arguments, he has produced an extract of a letter from a naval officer employed on that embarkation, and he adverts to the papers produced refpecting the late expedition to the Scheldt; from which he infers that," had there exifted an establishment of armed troop-fhips adequate to the conveyance of even eight or ten thousand men, a very confiderable proportion, if not the whole of the enemy's fhips at Flufhing might have been captured or deftroyed.' He is alfo of opinion that the dreadful disease which prevailed in the army after the capture of Flufhing, would have been lefs mortal, had there been convenient veffels (fuch as the troop-fhips,) for the reception of the fick on board, conformably to the recommendation of the medical perfons who attended them. The principal reafon urged against the measure proposed, and which probably induced government to recur to the old fyftem (of hired tranfports) appears have been the fuppofed greater expence of troop-fhips. To refute this argument, the noble fpeaker goes into a comparative eftimate of the expences of the two fyftems. Of the accuracy of this eftimate we have not the means of judging with precifion. He alfo takes pains to show that fufficient number of men of war can be fpared for the purpofe*. ART. * Our readers must be aware that this is a question of which our information and habits do not enable us to decide. But we truft HISTORY. ART. 28. De Motu per Britanniam civico, Annis 1745 et 1746. Liber Unicus. Auctore T. D. Whitakero, LL.D. SS.A. 12mo. 145 PP. 6s. Longman, 1809. That is, "On the Civil War in 1745-6," &c. "Si cui eorum qui hunc libellum manibus contractaverint, mirari fortaffe fubeat, quam potiffimum ob caufam" Latine po.. tiùs quam Anglice fcriptum videat, nihil ab auctore allatum, nihil in ipfa re congruum inveniat. That is, in plain English, why does this author write in Latin? Is the Hiftory of the Rebellion in 1745 fo fecret a thing that it ought not to be divulged to the multitude? Alas! Johny Home blabbed the whole, in a quarto volume, which he published in 1802. Is it becaufe learned matters fhould be treated in the common language of scholars, that they may circulate throughout Europe without tranflation? The foreign Univerfities will, it is certain, care ftill lefs about our alarms in the laft reign than they do about our political fquabbles in the prefent. Is it for the fake of prefenting the learned world with an elegant fpecimen of pure Latinity? As Dr. Whitaker is, in other matters, a refpectable man, and has published fome good Topographical works, we will only fay, we hope not. That he has here and there picked up phrafes from the claffical Latin hiftorians is very true; but of all perfons who would be puzzled with the general tenor of his Latinity, Livy, Salluft, and Tacitus, (could they rife for fo inadequate a purpose as to read it) would probably be the most fo. Our English Latin is already in very bad odour on the continent, and in fome meafure unjustly; for we have few writers in that language, who write any thing half fo bad as the common jargon of Dutch and German critics. But fhould any German profeffor happen to take up this book, our caufe is loft. A work perfectly volunteered in this style will naturally be fuppofed to be the taste of the country, and we shall be called barbarians without mercy. No to difmifs fo elaborate a performance without one fpecimen, to enable the learned to judge for themfelves, we will leave them the following bone to pick, taken from the very fecond page. Stuartæ Gentis clades ac calamitates altius repetere, quum notæ cuivis ac vulgatæ fint, et ab hiftoriæ confcribendæ principibus Buchanano, Leflæo, Camdeno, Clarendono, aliis *, quam truft it will meet with the most attentive confideration; and, at all events, the public-fpirited motives of the noble fpeaker, and the able statement which he has brought forward, entitle him to the gratitude and applaufe of his country. Cur non, Johny Homio? ERIT, CRIT, VOL. XXXVI, OCT. 1810. Rev. quam quam haud fine partium ftudio, fumma et ingenii et elegantiæ laude deductæ, prudens omitto. Pauca tamen, quafi libris pramoribus, deguftanda cenfui, quo, nomine jam interituro, certamen regni vitæqui poft remutn, florentibus regiæ adhuc familiæ opibus conlatum, documentum pofteris daret, non decantatum illud et pueris declamitantibus ablegandum, nempe fummum faftigium, fummum effe fortunæ ludibrium, fed, quòd homines parum infipientes, in ipfo vitæ ftadio et curriculo fubinde fugiffe videatur, nimirum umbram ipfam ac memoriam principatûs, extorri, inopi, peregrino, circumdatas, imperio optimè conftituto hoftem ex contempto pœnitendum identidem peperiffe." They who like this, will foon come to things ftill better, and we with them joy, but we beg not to go with them. DIVINITY. ART. 29. An Attempt to throw further Light on the Prophecy of Ifaiah, Chap. VII. Verfe 14, 15, 16. By John Moore, LL.B. Minor Canon of St. Paul's, and Rector of St. Michael's Baffibar, London; and of Langden-Hills, Effex. 8vo. 53 pp. 2s. 6d. Rivingtons. 1809. Whoever is at all rerfed in facred ftudies must know the impor. tance of the Prophecy of Ifaiah here mentioned, which is referred to by St. Matthew, chap. v. ver. 22, 23, as predictive of the præternatural birth of our Saviour;-and not only its importance, but the difficulties alfo which attend it. The difficulties turn chiefly upon the application of the prophecy in its first fenfe, and the exact force of the Hebrew word ny, rendered in this paffage "a virgin." The Jews contend, of course, that the word means no more than a young woman, and confequently has nothing to do with immaculate conception: and this fenfe is also espoused by thofe who would degrade our Saviour to a mere man. Mr. Moore, examining the ufe of the word in other paffages of Scripture, thinks it neceffary to acknowledge, that it has not, in general, the ftrict fenfe of rapesvos, virgin. He thinks alfo, and we think with him, that the prophecy must have had a first application to the immediate occafion from which it arofe, the enquiry of Ahaz refpecting his enemies, the kings of Syria and Ifrael. παρθενος, Commentators in Who then was the child first designated? general fay Shear Fafbub, the fon of the Prophet. Mr. Moore fhows that there are strong objections to this fuppofition, and propofes a conjecture, which is unfortunately only fupported by another conjecture, but is yet extremely probable; that byn, the virgin, in Ifaiah, fignified a virgin recently efpoufed to Ahab. Further enquiry may perhaps prove that fuch was the customary appellation for one of the royal women, taken to the rank of queen 1 or or fpoufe. In the mean time, whoever the Virgin was, in the first inftance, is of lefs importance, if it be agreed, that in the fecondary fenfe of the Prophecy it applies unequivocally to the mother of Jefus and this Mr. Moore confirms by many good arguments. He thinks alfo, that the fon born to Ahaz, in fulfilment of the Prophecy, was actually called Immanuel; but on this, as no proof of it remains, no great ftrefs fhould be laid. : A few We have before had occafion to commend the fcriptural criticifm of this learned writer; and we fee, therefore, with fatisfac tion, at the end of this tract, that he is preparing to publish "Critical Notes on the original Text of St. Matthew." fpecimens, fubjoined to the notice of this work, give a fufficient pledge for the value of it; and as his principal object is to affift in the great work of rendering our authorized verfion of the Scrip tures as perfect as poffible, we earnestly hope that he will meet with ample encouragement; ART. 30. A Sermon preached at his Majesty's Chapel at Whitehall, January 21, 1810, at the Confetration of the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Chefter. By Francis Haggitt, D. D. one of his Majefty's Chaplains in Ordinary, Prebendary of Durham, and Rector of Nuneham Courtenay, Oxfordshire. 4to. 27 pp. 1s. 6d. Faulder. 1810. In the prodigious number of difcourfes which our critical office has led us to perufe, we have feldom met with one fo re-, markable for luminous clearness of plan, and claffical elegance of compofition, as that which we have now to notice. The preacher, after ftating the apparent dangers of Religion in the prefent day, directs us to the promise of our Saviour, that the gates of hell fhould not prevail against it," as the only, valid ground of reliance in its permanence. To fhow how the will of God has actually defended Chriftianity, under various cir cumftances of difficulty, lie takes a view of its condition during the most remarkable periods of its exiftence. Fie confiders firft, the Age of Perfecution; fecondly, the Age of Ignorance; thirdly, the Age of Scepticism and Infidelity; and laftly, the Age of Ina difference, by which name he characterizes the prefent ftate of the religious world. Of this, he fpeaks in the most just and able manner. : This is a phænomenon in the hiftory of man, who is naturally prone to exhibit his devotion, whether to falfe deities or the true God and neither did the Chriftians of former days, nor did the Jews, Mahometans, or Pagans, fcruple to avow and vindicate on all occafions their refpective tenets. It was referved for thefe latter generations to acknowledge truth, yet fhrink from afferting ft; to feel conviction, yet blush to declare it; to profefs religion, but fmother piety; to worship God, as it were, by ftealth, and E e 2 ftrive ftrive to appear as if they never thought of him. Scoffs and ridi cule have excluded Heaven from converfation, and brought it into fashionable difrepute; infomuch that a man can scarcely venture to be ferious, nor appeal to the authority of Sacred Writ, left he fhould be deemed a hypocrite or fanatic as if Religion were a thing fit only to be fpoken or thought of in the Church; as if it were not the rule of confcience, the teft of character, the polar ftar to guide us through the world; as if it were not paramount in our concerns, abforbing, like the rod of Aaron, every fubor.. dinate and earthly influence." P. 13. "But," he proceeds foon after, "like former evils, this too will he corrected: mankind will not endure much longer to be fneered out of their hopes and duties; they will not always be debarred from uttering their fentiments on the moft fublime and momentous of all fubjects; they will not leave the praise of confiftency to heretics alone, but will claim the privilege of proving themselves in earnest; and though the danger would be fatal, were it to continue, it is open to eafier and more certain remedy than thofe of former periods: a judicious effort of God's Minifters, aided by fome prominent examples among the laity, is fufficient for the purpose. Time, indeed, muft be allowed, for manners and habits cannot be new-modelled on a fudden; and difcretion alfo is required, for to change the common language of converfation, is neither feasible nor expedient; and we muft obferve that the object is to render current, not the phrafeology, but the spirit of the Gospel, not to fill the mouths of men with fentences of Scripture, but infufe into their hearts its fubftance and its fway. By this criterion we may diftinguifh a well-inftructed Chriftian from deluded zealots, or fanctimonious pretenders; he would fear to difhonour the word of God, by mixing its venerable idiom with familiar difcourfe; but, in the customary ftyle of fuch dif courfe, he lofes no occafion to vindicate the truth, and establish the proofs, the precepts, and importance of Revelation." P. 15. Speaking of the particular enemies of the Church of England, he thus defcribes their claffes. "The firft clafs is that of Infidels, who calumniate the Establishment because it is Chriftian, and abhor it in proportion to its Chriftian excellence. The fecond is that of factious and difaffected fpirits, who brook no pre-eminence either in Church or State. The third contains a fwarm of fectaries, who, difagreeing on other points, concur only in their envy and antipathy towards us; and while the Church of England tolerates them all, none of them tolerate the Church of England. To thefe claffes might be added the Economists, who imagine that to feize the property vefted in the Church would be a public benefit, that injuftice is the fitteft implement of husbandry, and plunder its beft profit: but I omit the confideration of this clafs, because I would not blend any temporal concerns with thofe of higher moment." P. 19. Thefe |