advertising; but, for that reafon, if for no other, it would furely be prudent to fend copies of them to the editors of public journals, inftead of fuffering them, as is frequently done, to fall till-born from the prefs. Of Dr. Finlayfon's merit as a writer of Sermons, we had conceived a favourable opinion, from his Sermon on the death of Dr. Blair, which was noticed, with merited praife, in the British Critic for laft January; and, in the difcourfe before us, we fee no reafon for changing that opinion. Here indeed the author appears rather as a philofopher than a divine; as an eminent logician rather than an animated preacher; but into that ftrain he was naturally led by the view which, with great propriety, he chose to take of his fubject.

From Corinth. ch. i. ver. 21, he undertakes to prove, that the preaching of the Gospel has contributed more than any thing elfe to the progrelive improvement of mankind in this world.

"The three great requifites, for improving the human condition, are knowledge, confolation, and virtue.-Knowledge, to difcern what is good, and what are the means of attaining it,-Confolation, to fupport us under the inevitable forrows of our probationary state,― and Virtue, which is the health of the foul, and our preparation for the pure, unfading happiness of Heaven. Now, in each of thefe refpects, the inflitution of preaching is admirably calculated to produce the most extenfive and beneficial effects."

This point the preacher feems to us to have completely proved; but that our readers may judge for themselves of his ftyle and manner of reafoning, we fhall lay before them part of what he fays of the influence of preaching, on the progrefs of science, and the arts. After appealing to his audience for the truth of the affertion, that the people are most enlightened where the truths of Chriftianity are regularly preached, he proceeds thus:

"From these hiftorical facts, it is obvious that intellectual improvement has at least been an attendant on the preaching of the Gofpel: and it will not be difficult to show, that this inftitution was itfelf the direct and principal caufe of that improvement. It threw into the circulation of human thought a new flock of most interesting principles-principles well established themselves, fruitful in important confequences, and fitted to exercise all the higher faculties of the underflanding. It trained a numerous order of men, and forced them, by the very nature of their employment, to cultivate their intellectual talents, to cherish habits of regular thought, and to study the most effectual method of elucidating and confirming the doctrine which they taught. This order of men it mingled with the mafs of the people,

E 2

and

and placed them in a fituation, where their inftruction and examples could not fail to draw forth and improve the reasoning powers of their hearers.-Schools of heavenly wifdom are opened through the nations of Christendom, where all ranks liften from their infancy to doctrines the most interesting and attractive, and where, in learning the things of God, they have their faculties exercifed, their tafte formed, and their powers of judging and reafoning, even concerning earthly matters, gradually ftrengthened and improved. Nothing, faid the fon of Sirach, is fo much worth as a well-inftructed mind. And this bleffing even the labourer with us, who toils through the week for his daily bread, may enjoy in a very eminent degree. Through the inftitution of preaching, he has means of intellectual improvement far fuperior to those of the fame rank in former times, and poffeffes in fact a more accurate and extenfive knowledge of the works and ways of God, of the benevolent plans of Providence, and of the deftination of man, than was enjoyed by the moft enlightened fages of antiquity."

The author purfues this train of thought with great ability, and concludes the firft head of his difcourfe with the following words:

"Thefe obfervations may be fufficient to prove, that the preaching of the Gofpel, though appointed alfo for higher ends, has been employed by Providence as an inftrument for cultivating the understanding of men, for bettering especially the intellectual condition of the poor, and for communicating to our race all the invaluable bleffings which fpring from knowledge, and the improvement of their rational nature. Even on this account every good man, who takes an intereft in the happiness of his kind, will be deeply grateful to God for this beneficial measure of his government; and will in fupport of it refpect those who have been appointed to convey to the nations the word of knowledge, avoid with care whatever may tend to impair their credit, rejoice in their fuccefs, and ftrive by his example and influence to render their utility as extenfive and permanent as poffible.”*

It gives us pleasure to pay to such a preacher, and still more to fuch a Society, the compliment of a confpicuous notice in our Review. The Church of Scotland, though differing from us in fome important points, we esteem and honour.

* Subfcriptions for the use of the Society before which this Sermon was preached are, in London, received by Meffrs. Coutts and Co, and Mr. Cadell in the Strand; Sir Robert Herries, St. James's-street; Meffrs. William Fuller, Son, and Chattris, Lombard-street; and by the Rev. Dr. Trotter, Knightsbridge.

ART.

ART. XIV. Verfes written in the Vicinity of Stoke Park, in the Summer and Autumn of 1801. By Henry James Pye. 12mo. 5s. Hatchard. 1802.

THE poetical prefents of the Laureat to the public have been

very numerous, and all of them acceptable. There is not a branch of poetry in which his talents have not been fuccessfully exercised. These are fome of the lighter effufions of his pen; yet in the part which we shall felect as a specimen, there is fomething fo very interefting, and indeed pathetic, that every friend and patron of the Mufe must be difpofed moft eagerly to with, that the calm rays of tranquillity and independence may brighten the declining days of the author.

"As o'er yon filver lake I throw my fight,

Beyond imperial Windfor's tower-crown'd height,
Where, in the foftening tint of heavenly blue,
Thy diftant uplands, Berkshire! blefs my view:
In waking dreams my fancy wings her flight,
Delightful region! to thy weitern fite,
Where Ifis' waves divide thy rural reign
From the green borders of Oxonia's plain;
And gently rifing from the vale below,
Rears lovely Faringdon her breezy brow.
There the mild code of Albion's legal fway,
I whilom faw a generous race obey;
Saw the free yeoman and the sturdy swain,
Guided, not gall'd, by influence' lenient rein;
Not to the magiftrate's ftern mandate bend,
But feel the judge ftill temper'd by the friend.
Why driven by wild Ambition's veering gale,
Why did 1 quit, alas! my native vale,
'Mid fenates and 'mid camps in vain to find
Joys that could rival those I left behind,
Where, grafping at expence 1 ill could bear,
I faw my farms and woodlands melt to air?
Yet, when, by vengeance arm'd, the Gallic host
With bloody inroad, threaten'd Albion's coaft;
Her veteran warriors o'er the Atlantic main,
Stemming Rebellion's bloody furge in vain;
Her recreant fleet fwept from her guardian flood;
Manly and firm, while every Briton flood,
Array'd in arms the impending ftorm defied,
And frown'd confufion on invafion's pride;--
Could I, long train'd in peace, my fword now yield,
When war's loud clarion call'd me to the field?
Or when two factions, whose contention hurl'd
The throne of Britain from the weitern world,

yeomen

We faw at length in treacherous compact meet,
To make deftruction's horrid work complete;
While patriot George, in Freedom's happy hour,
Appeal'd to England from her Senate's power;
While virtuous youth a people's fuffrage won,
And Chatham's foul reviv'd in Chatham's fon:
Then as on me, with kind and partial view,
Their favouring eyes the Berkshire
threw
Rejecting thofe, who, dup'd by faction's flave,
Turn'd 'gainst themfelves the facred truft they gave;
Could I refufe of Fame the proudeft bough,
That e'er can twine around a Britain's brow?-
Friends and companions of my earliest youth,
The ingenuous days of unfufpecting truth;
Who knew to read each feeling of a heart,
That fcorn'd the flatt'ring fuppliant's fervile art;
Of truft conferr'd by you, is ftill imprefs'd
The fond remembrance on this grateful breast ;-
The proud remembrance! that no selfish aim
Stain'd the fair wreath you gave of public fame:
That when my hands reftor'd the fplendid load
Of delegated power your choice bestow'd,
I won the noblest trophy man could raise,
My conduct fanction'd by your fav'ring praife.
But fay, did all who led their native fwains,
Wafte while they guarded their paternal plains?
All whom their country chofe with partial eye,
The facred trust with mortgag'd manors buy?
Say,, muft of Prudence' voice, the warning found,
In warm debates and fhouts of war be drown'd?
I feel the juft reproof-but, ah! how few
The golden path that Prudence point purfue!
Who know to join in Wisdom's facred band,
The head retentive with the liberal hand;

Who fafe their barks from Avarice' quick fands keep,
And the dire vortex of Profufion's deep.

When fuch I view, who, with forejudging care,

Know how to fcatter, and know when to fpare;

Who by no felfifh paffion led afide,

Or the falfe glare of oftentatious pride;

No pleasure e'er in vain expence can find,

While lavish for the good of human kind;

Whofe time, whofe care, whofe bounties now are given
Free and extenfive as the rains of Heaven;

Now like the lucid ftreams that filent flow,
Sooth by their healing power domeftic woe:
Such worth I blefs as God's beft, nobleft boon,
And in the glorious portrait hail Colquhoun!"

The other Poems in this fmall but elegant volume, are addi tions to Gray's Long Story; Verfes fent to the Wantage Vo

lunteers;

Junteers; a Prologue, fpoken at Reading School; an Ode to J. J. Arnold, Efq. now the author's fon-in-law; Epitaph on a Child; two Sonnets, written at Cliefden Spring; a very interesting little Poem, which the author calls the Vine, in the manner of Dr. Darwin's Loves of the Plants; and, finally, a tranflation of the laft Elegy of the third Book of Tibullus. A profile of the Laureat, from a drawing by his daughter, is prefixed; with a view of Windfor-Castle, through Stoke-Park, from the ingenious pencil of Mr. S. Arnold.

ART. XV. Extracts from a Correfpondence with the Acade mies of Vienna and St. Petersburg, on the Cultivation of the Arts of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, in the Auftrian and Ruffian Dominions. To which is prefixed, a Summary Account of the Tranfactions of the Royal Academy of London, from the Clofe of the Exhibition of 1801, to the prefent Exhi bition at Somerfet-Houfe, 1802. By Prince Hoare, Member of the Academies of Florence and Cortona, and Secretary for Foreign Correspondence to the Royal Academy of London. 4to. 47 pp. White. 1802.

E avail ourselves of the earlieft opportunity to express our fatisfaction with refpect to Mr. Hoare's prefent performance, which may undoubtedly be confidered as a work of national concern.

The noble inftitution of the Royal Academy, the foundation of our present beloved and revered Monarch, is unanimously acknowledged to have contributed much to the ornament, to the renown, and to the emolument of the British nation. In whatever light we view the plan and the conduct of this magnificent establishment, we are forced to acknowledge its extenfive and beneficial influence. Whatever tends to improve or to enlarge its plans and regulations, muft furely contribute to increase the advantages which the nation derives therefrom: and fuch is the object to which Mr. Hoare's endeavours are laudably directed. He has folicited, and he has established, liberal correfpondence with two diftinguished foreign Academies, with whofe Secretaries he has exchanged accounts of their refpective establishments; as alfo of their prefent numbers, their works, and their merits. A laudable emulation is thereby established between those different fchools, from which mutual advantages may hereafter be derived.

In