confufion and bloodshed. But we are now grown wifer; we know, that the "fear of God," or true notions of the Divine Nature, direct us to a different conduct. We have learned alfo from experience, as well as from reafon, the great injuftice and bad policy of this measure. We are convinced, that every man, while he continues a peaceable fubject, hath a right to follow the dictates of his own confcience, in the profeffing of his faith, and the worshipping of God; that the attempt of compelling men to follow the confciences of others, is as dangerous to public peace, as deftructive of true religion; and lastly, that the belt means to preferve and promote both, are to withdraw that attempt; to treat all who differ in opinion from us with brotherly affection and charity, and to leave them at liberty to determine for themfelves, what they ought to believe as neceffary to falvation; and what they ought to perform in the worship of God, as most acceptable to him.

Our ancestors, at the Revolution, acted on this principle. Among the many excellent improvements which were made in our conflitution about that period, the toleration of Proteftant Diffenters was not the leaft. It banished, as far as it went, perfecution aud oppreffion on account of religion, from amongst us. It removed a great blemish, which difgraced our religious eftablishment, and contributed to increase its ftrength, as well as to improve its beauty. In a word, it put a stop to as many evils, and produced as much good, as perhaps the principles and fpirit of thofe times would then allow; and left to those who came after them, the duty and glory of finishing at a proper season, the work which they began.

That feafon. I truft, is now approaching. An opportunity will. E hope, Joan be offered to us, of fhewing, that we deserve the character, which we have long affumed among Proteftants; of placing religions liberty on its true foundation; aud of giving to all who diffent from our religious establishment, and are good fubjects to the State, that legal Security, to which reafon, and the Gospel, and found policy, undoubtedly

entitle them,

The Diffenters, it is to be prefumed, will not neglect fo honourable and liberal an invitation to apply for the full ellablishment of their religious liberty.

II. Preached to a Congregation of Proteftant Diffenters at Nottingham, Feb. 27, 1778*. Being the Day appointed for a general Falt. By George Walker. Svo. IS. Johnson.

A ferious, manly, feasonable difcourfe, abounding with the freeft and boldest strictures on the times; in which THE GREAT come in for a due fhare of just reprehenfion. We do not, however, approve of the defpondency of this very patriotic preacher, when he fays, I think no more of thee, my country, than of the venerable dead. The proceedings of the prefent- are the last act of public thame, and can only be equalled by the infenfibility of the nation.'-But, courage, Sir!-Since the time when your animated and animating discourse was delivered, more favourable appearances have been obferved; and the mourning genius of Britain,' has given proofs

* We believe that this fermon was not published till very lately; when a copy of it was tranfmitted to us by a friend.

that

that she is not totally lost in infenfibility.-To defpair of the State is criminal.-Let us hope that there are ftill among us, in thofe humbler walks of life from which every thing great and good has generally fprung, a virtuous few,' as Mr. Walker expreffes it, who are the invigorating foul of the community; and whofe return to God, and to their duty, may give the law to their fuperiors, and force them to affit in faving their country'-For a farther idea of the principles and manner of this pious and fpirited divine, see our account of his fermon on the faft of December 13th, 1776. Rev. Vol. Ivii. p. 176.

MR

CORRESPONDENCE.

R.D. -z*, from whom we have a long letter of complaint, will please to obferve, that we have not mifrepréfented his meaning defignedly; and if we have mifreprefented it, it is becaufe he had not fufficiently expreffed it himself. We were left to gather that part of his plan which relates to fubfcribers receiving 21⁄2 per cent. for their money, if obliged to fell out, from a particular inftance He has no where given it in general terms. We therefore gave that inftance; not chufing to express ourselves generally where we had no authority for doing fo, as we fhould thereby have laid ourselves open to reproof, which he feems by no means difpofed to neglect. We likewife wish to leave to the determination of that Public, whom he threatens with an appeal, whether in (p. 8.) he is not calculating the amount of the original ficck, fubfcribed to the ftate banks, at the rate of 8 per cent. compound intereft, for the 20 years which they are to have it in their hands, and not the amount of the annuities which the fubfcribers are to receive at the expiration of that 20 years, as he tells us he is. If he there means to compute the intereft which the subscribers make of their money, he has committed a capital error indeed, by neglecting to deduct the chance which every subfcriber has to die before the end of 20 years, and fo receive nothing.— Laftly, we again affert, that Mr. D-z has erred moft egregiously in fuppofing, that because the tables fhew three will die out of 100 the first year, three must alfo die the 20th year, out of the number that will be left alive at the end of the 19th. Mr. D-z is welcome to publish what he thinks proper in the news-papers: all that we hope for is, that he will not expect us to follow him.

U. X. has fent us fome ftrictures on Mr. Cuthbert Clark's treatise on Husbandry †, and concludes with the following remark: You (the Reviewers) heve spent fome time to prove the fallacy of Mr. Clark's doctrine of thickening the staple of a shallow foil, by plowing thin and broad. This appeared to me, as it has done to you, paradoxical, and his arguments feemed mere sophistry. But in reading the explanation of his inftruments, I found (p. 349) an account, and plan, of a plough, whofe mould-board may be extended behind to various widths. By means of this, it is evident,

Author of a tract, intitled Public Welfare, &c. See Review for December laft.

† See Review for November laft.

that

that beginning at the narrowest width, and conftantly increasing, a thin ftaple may be ridged up to a greater thickness, by occupying a narrower space.

As by this his favourite paradox is explained, it is a pity that it miffed your attention."

Had we imagined that there was much chance of Mr. Clark's book falling into the hands of unlettered mechanics, we fhould have thought it incumbent on us to have pointed out, with fcrupulous attention, the errors which are noticed by this correfpondent, with feveral others, obfervable in the book: but from the high price of that performance, and the fmall part of it which treats of mechanics, we were led to apprehend, that there was no danger of its even being confidered as an elementary book, on that branch of science, and thus falling in the way of, and misleading, ignorant mechanics. We expreffed ourselves with fome caution; perhaps we should have done it with ftill more referve; but we hardly yet imagine that those who attend to the character given, in our Review, of the writer in question, will expect that he should reafon with firia confiftency on any topic; although he may discover more ingenuity on one fubject than on another.

If U. X. will re examine the paffage on broad and thin plowing, we believe he will find, that the doctrine there delivered, is meant to be general, without having any reference to the plow which he mentions; fo that we fee no reafon for adding or altering a word on that fubject.

+++ An agreeable Querit, X. Y. defires fome elucidation with respect to the manner, in which the shortness of the Grecian petticoats (mentioned in our laft Appendix, p. 519), evidently indicate purity of manners, in the women of Nio. We might refer our Correfpondent to the Count de CHOISEUL, the Author of this noble work, for the explication of a remark which is his and not ours, and which we have only quoted from him. But this we shall not dobecause we think the expreffion fufceptible not only of a folid, but alfo of an elegant fenfe. When the noble Author fays, that the short petticoats, or the half-uncovered legs of the women of Nio, indicate purity of manners, he confiders, no doubt, the virtuous fimplicity of thefe women, as refembling that of a child, which difcovers its nakedness without that fhame, which arifes from the consciousness of guilt or of irregular paffions. We defire our amiable Querift (who probably wears petticoats) to confider, that our original mother (and beautiful he was !) was entirely without petticoats;—and, that this indicated the purity of her heart and manners, appears evidently from this, that the moment the fell from her purity, and became the victim of irregular appetite, fhe made petticoats (or an equivalent) of fig leaves. The truth is, that fhort petticoats do not, of themselves, always indicate purity of manners; place, cuftom, and other

collateral circumitances may modify this external mark of inward fentiments: they may indicate purity among the women of Nio, and impudence among the wh-r-s of Covent Garden; the nakednefs of a prostitute is very different from that of an Indian.

1st We are forry that we have it not in our power to oblige our readers with the prices of the foreign books occafionally mentioned in our journal. Our correfpondent, in particular, who figns Пev, is defired to confider this as an anfwer to his letter. This gentle man thinks it would be an eafy matter for us to learn the price of each article; but he may reft affured, that it is abfolutely impoffible to perform, correctly, the task he would enjoin us: for which reafon we chufe to omit this circumftance altogether. Our Readers, however, will always be able to form fome judgment of the purchase of any foreign publication, from the mention we make of its fize ; and when a book confifts of more than one volume, we generally specify the number.

N. B. The price of a book, as fixed by the printer, abroad, does not always govern the intereft or the confcience of the importer, who fells the fame article in London.

$18 The Critique fent us by F. R. S. on a learned work, not yet mentioned in our Review, is judged rather too brief, for a publication of fo much, confequence. A more ample account will, no doubt, be expected, from us, of a book of fo much confideration. The gentleman will, however, be pleafed to accept our thanks for the favour which he intended us.-The work alluded to will, in duẹ time, appear in our Review.

"

IIS A. B. of Wigfon Lodge, Leicestershire, informs us concerning "A Collection of Hymns for the Ufe of the Hearers of the Apostles, printed at Nottingham. We have enquired for it in vain, among the London bookfellers. If our Correfpondent, or any other person, will fend us a copy, by fome unexpensive conveyance, the publication will find fome place in our journal.

If our obliging correfpondent, J. B. will favour us with his address, a private letter will be conveyed to him.

ERRATUM in the Review for November laft, viz. P. 346, 1. 28, for beptarchy, read monarchy. We are obliged to I I. for the correction of this overfight.

ERRATUM in the Review for December laft, viz. P. 427. 1. 4. Firlot is explained by the English bushel; but it should have been remarked, that two kinds of firlots are ufed in ScotJand, one for wheat. or peafe, which is one pint, English, larger than the Winchefter bufhel; the other, for oats or barley, which is nearly 5 gallons more than the Winchefter bufhel: the latter is the quantity meant in the place above referred to.

ERRATA in the REVIEW for laft Month.

Page 2. 1. 33. dele which are.

3. 1. penult. dele generally.

17. 1. 6 from the bottom, for raisonée, read raisonné. 58. par. 2. l. 16. for reasons, read years.

ERRATUM in our laft APPENDIX. viz.

P. 548. 1. 23, for extravagant rank of fanatical idolatry, read rant, &c.

ART. I. MARSHALL'S Minutes of Agriculture (continued).

WE

our Review for January..

See

E hinted, in the former part of this Article, that to practice agriculture with profit, requires the whole attention of the perfon who directs the operations of the farm. This, we are fenfible, is an unfashionable doctrine, but we have been long convinced that agriculture, like every other mechanic art, requires a nicety in the operations, which nothing but practice and diligent application can teach, and an unceafing attention to minutia, which nothing can effectually insure but that folicitude which arifes from the hopes and fears of the man himfelf who is, in all cafes, to be the gainer by fuccefs, and the lofer by the failure of any of his operations. We were therefore very well pleafed to meet with so many experimental proofs of the juftnefs of our remark, in the volume now before us. The following quotations all tend to the elucidation of this very important point:

SELF-ATTENDANCE.

June 2, 1775. Labourers want looking-after.-Yefterday, I was in town;-to-day, at home.-The two plow-teams and the eight Weeders did as much work to day before noon, as they did all day yesterday. They were happily fituated for goffiping and fun ;-the teams on one fide of a hedge, the weeders on the other.'

June 30. Deuce take the Town! The day's work of a team loft!

A team went this morning to harrow at Wood-fide - The horses ran away with the harrows, and kicked each other, with the Carter, into the ditch. The horfes efcaped unhurt, but the man was lamed very much; and, being from home, the horfes flood kicking their heels in the stable the remainder of the day.

"You may talk of your Farmer This and your Farmer That, but "I fay, FARMER SELF-ATTENDANCE is the best Farmer in all this "country.".

'Sept. 20. A fine day at last, thank God! Turned the barley, and got it into rare order; but lo! when we came to open the stack, though covered with two very good cloths-one fide was almoft rotRev. Mar. 1779.

N

ten,