and reputation; if all my thoughts, folicitude, and vigilance, have laboured for no end but the fulfilling of my duty, and the support of truth, your fentiments and virtue, venerable judges, may be the fame in deciding this important caufe, as mine have proved in undertaking and purfuing it; that, if Caius Verres hath, in every act, been guilty of unheard of and unexampled impiety, audacity, avarice, lewdnefs, and barbarity, he may, by your judgment, meet a fate proportioned to the abominable tenour of his life and character; that the republic and my glory may, in this one profecution, be amply fatisfied, and that hereafter I may rather be permitted to defend the good, than reduced to the neceffity of impeaching the wicked.' ART. X. Variety: A Collection of Effays, written in the Year 1787. 8vo. 3 s. 6d. Cadell. 1788. N these effays we difcover many of those traits of excellence, which have often been found in this fpecies of writing. Of the pieces on moral and religious subjects, however, fome will be objected to by the more critical reader, as fuperficial, and others as injudicious. Among the latter, many will include the papers which cenfure and ridicule the useful inftitution of Sunday- fchools;that which pleads for greater latitude in the obfervance of the Sabbath, and reprefents Sunday as with us a day of cheerless ftupidity; and that which, treating of the incomprehenfibility of the Divine Nature, under colour of reverence for the Deity, difcourages all inquiry concerning his perfections, and afferts it to be folly, if not impiety, to affix attributes to that Being, whose nature and properties are not to be comprehended by human reafon. We muft further obferve, that the Effay in vindication of punning, Young Bottom's Letter on Epigrams, and the outline of a Poem on the decline of Dramatic Tafte, will not bias the claffical reader in favour of this Effayift's critical judgment. From this cenfure we, however, with great pleasure, except a confiderable number of the papers, particularly the comic defcription of the diftrefs of a modeft man, in the character of Mongrel Morell-the interefting tale of the friar-and the following valuable biographical memoir : In an Effay on Gratitude, the writer fays: I will conclude my obfervations on this fubject, by defcribing the character of a clergyman, now actually living in the county of Norfolk; but whofe real name I fhall difguife under that of EuCHARIS. This gentleman was early in life prefented to the adjoining Rectories of B*** and B**, by a patron, who at that time was unmarried; and therefore had no idea of fecuring a reverfion of the livings to a younger fon; and Eucharis has now enjoyed the benefice full thirty years. Being hofpitable with œconomy, and charitable with prudence, the income of his living, with fome private fortune, have enabled him to live in fplendid affluence, and and leave a faving every year for extraordinary purposes, which gratitude has pointed out. He first confidered the heavenly Mafter whom he ferves, as his original and greatest patron; and, though his piety would check the prefumption of repaying for the bleffings he enjoys; yet he knows, that every attempt in man to fhew his gratitude, is acceptable in the fight of Heaven. With this view, he has confecrated part of the annual favings of his income to repair 'an ancient Gothic structure, where he exhorts his flock to worship; and has actually expended many hundred pounds to restore and beautify the temple of his GOD. This fingular act of piety was fecretly conducted, he raised an annual fum from his parishioners, that he might not be fufpected of the fact, and celebrates the rebuilding of the church, as the effect of voluntary contribution; nor did he neglect any other duties of a Chriftian, to fave the money fo appropriated; for his private well-directed charities, amount to nearly half his income: his barns and ftore-houses are a repofitory for the industrious poor, who buy of him all the neceffaries of life, at a price confiderably lefs than what he pays for them: he never gives money to the idle, but liberally recompenfes labour, and relieves with tenderness, the wants of age, of ficknefs, and infirmity, demonftrating true gratitude to Heaven, by acts of charity to man. He has thewn in a manner, almost unprecedented, his gratitude to his earthly patron: that gentleman died about ten years fince, leaving an eftate entailed on his eldest fon, and three other boys fo fcantily provided for, that they could ill afford the expence of a learned education. EUCHARIS knew this, and taking them to the Parfonage, he confidered them all as part of his own family; inftructed them in the learned languages himself, and fent them to the Univerfity to qualify them for orders, that they might in time fill thofe benefices which are in the gift of their elder brother. Nay, he has done more, he has actually refigned one of those livings which he himself received from their father, to the eldest of these three, who is just become of age to hold it having no nearer relations, he confiders the defcendants of his patron as his heirs; and thus prolongs his gratitude to a fecond generation. A character fo unexampled, will appear to many the produce of invention; but though I might offend the modefty of my friend, by mentioning his name, I have recorded the county, which actually poffeffes fo bright an ornament of human nature; and my heart feels (I truft) a laudable degree of pride and exultation, when I reflect, that I am perfonally acquainted with this glorious pattern of unabating gratitude. P. S. Since I wrote this Effay, I have been moft deeply afflicted by the following paragraph in the Norfolk Chronicle, of 22d March 1788: "On Monday laft, died the Rev. William Hewett, Rector of Baconsthorpe and Bodham." Such examples, which fpeak to the heart more powerfully than a thousand preceptive lectures, ought never to be forgotten! From certain inequalities obfervable among these Essays, we are led to fufpect [though poffibly mistaken] that they are not all the production of the fame pen: efpecially not that of the ingenious writer to whom the Public are indebted for the papers particularly particularly noted in our exceptions to the general cenfure, which our regard to impartiality, and juftice to those who rely on our judgment, has obliged us to pafs on fome parts of this otherwife pleafing little volume. ART. XI. The Theory of Language. In two Parts. By James Beattie, L. L. D. F. R. S. E. Profeffor of Moral Philofophy and Logic at Aberdeen, and Member of feveral Philofophical Societies. A new Edition, enlarged and corrected. 8vo. 5 s. Boards. Cadell. 1788. TH HE Treatife now before us, was first published in 1783, in a volume of Effays, of which we gave fome account in the 730 volume of our Review, p. 30. An event (the common lot of mankind) difcontinued, at that time, our Analysis of Dr. Beattie's Moral and Critical Eflays *. As we had then gone through the firft four chapters of the Treatife on Language, we fhall now proceed, briefly, to notice the fifth, which treats on Accent. Accent is a variation of the voice from acute to grave, and from grave to acute; and conftitutes what is generally called tane. Dr. Beattie fhews the neceffity of this continual vibration of the voice in fpeaking intelligibly; and after fome general reBections on the particular accents of different nations, and of different provinces of the fame nation, he afks, Are then all provincial accents equally good?' This queftion is answered in the negative. Of accent, he thinks, as well as of fpelling, fyntax, or idiom, there is a ftandard in every polite nation; and that it is in the metropolis of a kingdom, and in the most famous fchools of learning, where the greatest refort of people, adorned with useful and elegant accomplishments, may be expected, that we are to look for this ftandard of accent and pronunciation. We fhall not now, after fo long an interruption of the fubject, enter into the ingenious author's arguments, but proceed to the next chapter; which is employed in refuting the Epicurean doctrine of the origin of language. Instead of fuppofing mankind to have originally been mutum et turpe pecus, Dr. Beattie alleges many powerful arguments to prove that men must have spoken in all ages. In the conclufion, be fays, we may warrantably fuppofe that our first parents muft have received language by immediate infpiration.' Admitting this fact (which in a philofophical Effay ought to have been proved), our author follows the Mofaical account of the The remaining Effays in this volume are, on Fable and Romance; on the Attachments of Kindred; and on Sublimity; the first and last of which are excellent in point of criticism, and the second is a piece of found morality. confufion at Babel; whence he derives a variety of primitive languages, all of which, he fhews, muft have had fome things in common, though each has its peculiarities. The confideration of those qualities that are common to all languages, forms that Science which has been called Univerfal or Philofophical Grammar; the principles of which, Dr. Beattie proposes to unfold, in the remaining part of his Effay. He has a long and curious investigation of the origin of writing, but no determined decifion is made concerning it, except in the following fentence: Alphabetical writing must be fo remote from the conception of those who never heard of it, that without divine aid it would feem to be unfearchable and impoffible.' He fhews its great utility, defcribes the different forts of it as practifed by different nations, and concludes the firft part of his treatife with a fhort hiftory of printing. The fecond part of the Theory of Language is entitled Univerfal Grammar, which feems to be founded on principles fimilar to thofe of Mr. Harris. Dr. B. indeed, is more minute and lefs intricate than former writers; and the treatife will be perufed with pleasure by the inquifitive, and with advantage by the ftudious reader. ART. XII. The Solicitudes of Abfence. A Genuine Tale. 12mo. 3 s. fewed. Forller, &c. 1788. I N characterizing this work, we cannot acquit ourselves with more propriety, than by giving an abstract of our account of a former publication *, by the fame author; viz. that the facts here related will not fail to gain the reader's attention; that they are frequently enlivened by occafional pieces of poetry,in which fpecies of compofition the writer poffeffes a very agreeable vein; and that in the correspondence between the Author (Mr. Renwick) and his wife, during their neceffary feparations, the lady's letters prove her to be endowed with an excellent capacity, and highly to be praised for her exemplary virtue, and conjugal fidelity. We have frequently had occafion to commend Mr. Renwick for his laudable addreffes to parliament, and his unremitting zeal, in favour of our feamen, navy furgeons t, and furgeons widows; but we are truly forry to find that he himself hath fo often needed fome friendly advocate, whofe aid might have contributed to the relief of his own private diftreffes.-It hath been his fate to ftruggle, for, many years, under the preffure of misfortunes, from which, it too plainly appears, that he is not yet entirely exonerated: being till expofed to the disappoint *Unfortunate Lovers," &c. See Rev. vol. xlv. p. 301. The Author hath himfelf been in this fervice. ments ments and forrows of a dependent and uncertain fituation !-He has here given an abftract of his own hiftory; a melancholy tale! but he has contrived to render it as agreeable to the reader as poffible, by the infertion of letters, and little poems. However adverfe the world, in general, may have been to Mr. R. the Mufes have not been altogether unkind to him:-fome of his verfes may, indeed, be termed excellent; and none of them are totally undeferving of praife. As a fpecimen of his poetical talents, we have felected the following, written in one of his feparations from his beloved Delia; and which will, in fome measure, intimate the propriety of the title of his book: the poem is accompanied by a letter to her, dated at Spithead, May 14, 1785. 'SOLICITUDE. The heart that throbs with latent woe, Come, drowfy night, and shed the balm When mutual love invites me home. • Though twenty years their months have told, I yet would lose the world t'enfold Bright as the ftar of evening glows, Mild as the breath of vernal gales, More foft than oriental tales, The trains her lips fupply.' In most of his letters, we fee the genuine effufions of a warm and impaffioned heart of which, a fingle paragraph will ferve to give our readers an adequate idea: Nor wine can foothe the anxious cares of love! I have for once drank till the pen trembles in my hand, yet I feel myfelf equally alive to the fenfations of forrow; and in the lunacy of conjugal attachment, could involve the world in one general ruin. I could disturb the calm of midnight with greater vociferation than the hero who storms in the drama of romance; and I could weep like a woman, when I was |