insoluble dregs in the boiler, in order to separate the whole of the sulphuret from them. When this clears (being previously well agitated) it is also to be drawn off and mixed with the first liquor; to these again, thirty-three gallons more of water may be added, which will reduce the liquor to a proper standard for steeping the cloth. Here we have (an allowance being made for evaporation, and for the quantity retained in the dregs) sixty gallons of liquor from four pounds of brimstone. Although sulphur by itself is not in any sensible degree soluble in water, and lime but very sparingly so, water dissolving but about one seven-hundredth part of its weight of lime; yet the sulphuret of lime is highly soluble "." If Mr. Higgins's experiments be accurate, a considerable saving must result from his plan, which well deserves the attention of Go vernment. Art. 40. The Impolicy of prohibiting the Exportation of Rock-Salt from By John This writer pleads, with great force and clearness of argument, for permitting the exportation of rock-salt to Scotland, on the same terms on which it is admitted into Ireland. He shews that the effect of the present high price in Scotland is a considerable annual loss to the revenue, by smuggling; and that the Scotish salt-manufacturers would really find their interest in using the saturated solution of rocksalt, in conjunction with sea-water. It is indeed lamentable, that any remains of antient prejudices should prevent the inhabitants of this island from benefiting each other, by a free exchange of their reciprocal productions. Art. 41. An Examination of the Merits and Tendency of the Pursuits of Literature. Part First. By W. Burdon, A. M. formerly Fellow of Emanuel College, Cambridge 8vo. pp. 94. 23. Conder. 1799. The Pursuer is here very sharply pursued. Mr. Burdon not merely discusses the tendency of the work proposed to be examined, but follows the anonymous author even to his adverbs, conjunctions, and prepositions, and points out the most inconsiderable misquotations. Here Mr. B. will be thought to manifest a little hypercriticism.—In reply to the question, why he, to whom there is not even an allusion in the "Pursuits," should stand forwards as an examiner and champion, his answer is, that it is not the men but the principles which are attacked, that he is anxious to defend ;-that he combats the author, not because he has the talent to be dangerous, but because he has the power to misrepresent; -not because he is vigorous, but because he is venomous,' &c. Though Mr. B. allows that the satirist has sometimes a rare felicity of expression,' yet, detesting * When the above proportion of lime and sulphur is boiled with only twelve gallons of water, the sulphuret partly crystallizes upon cooling, and when once crystallized, it is not easy of solution.' his principles and mode of satire, he pronounces him to be a contemptible author. For the present, we shall content ourselves with adding an extract as a specimen of Mr. B.'s manner. I will now return to our author, with his minor and his major powers of democracy, and remark, that with singular ingenuity he has included the greater in the lesser, when he tells us, that the minor powers of infidelity might be dispersed, from Voltaire down to Godwin and Paine; this is liberal in the design, and is ingenious in the execution: it is a pity it is not quite intelligible. "From writers of this character, my thoughts are directed to the professors of that superstitious corruption of Christianity, which originally gave occasion to those attempts, to which it has pleased Providence to permit a temporary success, to scourge the nations of Europe. I am sure the plain simplicity of the Protestant religion of England could never have suggested so daring, so extensive a project. I have therefore spoken at large of the Roman Catholic religion, and its professors, and the emigrants and French priests."-From infidelity to popery, is not the common transition, rather the reverse; but I give our author credit for seeing any connection between the two. This is perhaps the most extraordinary passage in the whole book, for the arrogance, illiberality, and ignorance it displays. Our author is here hand in glove with Providence: in short, nothing is hid from him; he can tell to an iota the causes of all the great events in the world. Popery gave occasion to the French Revolution; the success of that Revolution is only temporary, and meant to punish the rest of Europe who have corrupted Christianity, I suppose but the best of all this is, that our author knows and is convinced that the Protestant religion is plain and simple, that there are no difficulties in its creed, no follies in its discipline, no contradictions in its liturgy, and that our bishops can boast an uninterrupted succession from Christ and his apostles: so thought the papists, and so think they still;, and who is to decide between us? but I had forgot, our author is the judge, and all is right. Alas! I doubt we have no infallible criterion but time for all the opinions of men; with our author, their truth or error depends on their being established or not; and if he had lived in the days of Popery, he must have died a Papist: so much for his judgment. Let the author consult Longinus and Quinctilian, to be instructed how frequent copulatives enervate the style of a writer.' A second part of this work has recently been published, but we received it too late for notice in this Review. Art: 42. A Letter to the Rev. John Milner, M. A. F.S.A. Author of the Civil and Ecclesiastical History of Winchester, occasioned by his False and Illiberal Aspersions on the Memory and Writings of Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, formerly Bishop of Winchester. By Robert Hoadly Ashe, D.D. 8vo. pp. 96. 2s. 6d. Bickerstaff. 1799. We are not surprized that Dr. H. Ashe should publicly notice the unhandsome mention made of his celebrated relation Dr. Benjamin Hoadly, by the author of the Civil and Ecclesiastical History of Winchester. 14 Winchester*. It is very evident that Mr. Milner, as a catholic, does. not admire the character and writings of this truly protestant and liberal-minded Bishop; and that he was resolved to lose no opportu nity of giving him what Dr. Johnson calla " a hard knock." On this occasion, Dr. Hoadly Ashe takes up the cudgels, and with zeal and effect fights the battle of his deceased friend. He clearly proves that Mr. M. has committed mistakes in his account of the Bishop, and (what is more) that his remarks are dashed with an acrimonious and illiberal tincture. The reflections on Bishop Hoadly's monument in Winchester cathedral were manifestly designed to stain his memory; and though, perhaps, all that Dr. A. has advanced will not induce Mr. Milner to retract them, he may thank the Dr. for correcting the errors into which he appears to have fallen respecting the Bishop, and may rectify them in a future edition or in a subsequent volume of his work. It is always to be lamented when historians write under the influence of strong prejudices; and though they may gratify transient illiberality, they are sure to offend and disgust impartial posterity. Art. 43. Rambles through Ireland, by a French Emigrant. Translated from the French of Monsieur de Latocnaye-by an Irishman. 12mo. z Vols. 6s. Boards. Robinsons, &c. 1799. An account of Ireland in its present state, dictated by an informed, inquisitive, impartial, and philosophic mind, would be a valuable and Interesting present to the public. We know little of that country; and yet it is essential to the interests of Ireland, and in course to the common well-being of the empire, that it should be known thoroughly. Many very important changes must have taken place in its economy and its circumstances, since the tour of Mr. Yonng was written; yet we have no valuable account of the state of Ireland since that time. Its agriculture has been improved, its manufactures have been increased, its wealth and population greatly augmented, and the manners and principles of its people considerably changed:-but how shall we measure these great improvements and variations in the state of Ireland? A dry detail of revenue accounts, or the interested and distorted testimony of political partizans, are the only documents which we possess to guide us. In These Rambles do not altogether supply this want. The author is a very good-humoured traveller, toujours gai, generally droll, and sometimes inquisitive: but he is also in general superficial. deed he does not profess much: he modestly entitles himself not a tourist, but a rambler: not a man who travels with the special design of observing and depicting life and manners: but one who wanders from place to place, without any fixed view of acquiring or imparting information.-M. de Latocnaye is one of those unfortunate men whom an attachment to a certain set of political principles, or to those who entertained them, has sent wandering through the world in the character of emigrants; and it was with a view of procuring sup port in this destitute state that he became a traveller, and a writer of *See p. 415. of this Review. his his travels. He had procured a great variety of recommendatory letters from men of rank in both countries, which secured him an ⚫ hospitable reception in almost every corner of Ireland in which he travelled; so much so, that, though he spent six months in making the tour of the Irish coast, he was but five times obliged to repose at an inn. He travelled on foot, with no luggage but what he carried on his back, and apparently without any cash but what his friends furnished. In the true spirit of his country, however, his heart was always light, and his imagination lively; and the reader who accom panies his rambles may learn from him, that a man may be poor without being melancholy; and, even with a light purse in a strange country, have his mind in tune for relishing existence. It was immediately previous to the breaking out of the late rebellion, that M. de Latocnaye rambled through Ireland. The angry symptoms of the late revolt were then manifest, and are noticed by the author in a way which proves him to have been a very impartial and unprejudiced spectator. We might have made several extracts from this publication, had we not already given sufficient specimens of the author's manner of thinking and writing, in our account of the original French. See M. Rev. N.S. vol. xxvi. p.208. Of the translation, we cannot speak very favourably;-the language is not very correct, nor has it any pretensions to elegance. Art. 44. Some brief Memoirs of the Life of David Hall; with an Account of the Life of his Father, John Hall. 12mo. 2s. 6d. hound. Phillips. David Hall must now have been dead many years; for we find one of his last letters dated A. D. 1755, and it appears that in 1753, he was upwards of seventy years of age: but whether any memoirs concerning him have been published before the appearance of this little volume, we are not informed. He belonged to the society of Friends, or Quakers as they have been more generally and illiberally denominated, though not now, we trust, with any intention of dis. respect. He was, we conclude, what is called an elder or minister among them; and notwithstanding his immediate employment in life, he appears to have exerted himself greatly in different and distant places, not merely to increase the number of his sect, but to engage them to the love and practice of piety and morality in all its branches. The small-pox, from which he recovered in early life, had nevertheless so debilitated his constitution as to incapacitate him for any trade suitable to his station; he therefore applied with great diligence to attain that share of learning which might qualify him for the instruction of youth; and accordingly he opened and conducted for many years, with reputation and success, as we apprehend, a boarding school at Skipton in Yorkshire. His memoirs and other writings are all in the style of the people with whom he was immediately connected; some of whose principles it is not always easy to explain, or, perhaps, to comprehend: yet they have a simplicity, an earnestness, and a mildness, united with good sense and affection, which recommend them to some regard amid all their peculiarities. To those of his own denomination, without doubt, this publication must be ac ceptable; ceptable; and in the perusal, many may possibly find themselves, not wholly without reason, reproved and censured. Others, who are not united with them, should they disapprove its singularities, may yet derive some improvement by attending to the instruction and advice which it offers. Art. 45. A new and general Biographical Dictionary: containing an historical and critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the most eminent Persons in every Nation; particularly the British and Irish; from the earliest Accounts of Time to the present Period. Wherein their remarkable Actions and Sufferings, their Virtues, Parts, and Learning are accurately displayed. With a Catalogue of their Literary Productions. A new Edition, in fifteen Volumes, greatly enlarged and improved. 8vo. 51. 5s. Boards. Robinsons, &c. The numerous advantages resulting from biography have been frequently discussed, and are universally acknowleged. The convenience of information being conveyed in the form of a dictionary is also sensibly felt, as no time is lost in searching after knowlege, which is by this method attained at the moment when it is required. The present work is enriched with a great variety of important names which appear in no other collection. Though this edition (as the preface informs us) is apparently extended only by the addition of three volumes, the actual augmentation is much greater; the volumes being not only, in general, thicker than before, but so printed as to contain in each page four or five lines more than a page of the preceding edition.' We have thought it incumbent on us, from the magnitude and importance of the publication, to announce it to our readers; though it must be ranked among new editions, which it is not our constant practice to notice. For our account of the 1st edition, see M. Rev. vol. xxviii. p. 210. also of the 2d edit. vol. lxxvi. p. 210. CORRESPONDENCE. For the MONTHLY REVIEW. IN the review of B. Faujas Saint Fond's Travels in England, (p. 239, of the last month,) you introduce the following obfervation and quotation: 16 M. Saint Fond was presented by Sir Jofeph Banks with two ounces of the seed of a species of hemp obtained from China, of a quality superior to the hemp cultivated in Europe. This, on his return to France, he distributed amongst his most scientific friends; and he relates the success with which it was cultivated in the South of France." "I wait for peace," says he, " to repay my obligations to the English, for it is no more than just to return that which they have so generously lent us. I should have published, a long time ago, the result of these experiments, but have been prevented by the melancholy remembrance which reminded me, that of eleven persons to whom I gave some of the seed from China, and who, with an enthusiasm for the public interest, devoted their whole attention to its cultivation, eight have |