PEARSON'S PUBLICK LECTURE. works of his mortal enemy. But if he be not qualified for the chair, according to Charter rules, we hazard a prediction, that he will be filent, and will fecretly and unremittingly work under ground like a German miner. The difcourfe concludes by a recommendation of the Affem66 one of the bly's Catechifm, as beft antidotes against the fpreading, fatal poifon of the day;" and which has proved a more fuccefsful barrier against falfe theory, than the pulpit, and thoufands of folio volumes written to defend religion. For," as he fays above," if we do not feafonably imprefs the vacant minds of children with truth, fatan and his adherents will imprefs them with errour." We add only, that thefe difcourfes were preached on the fame day and in the fame town with those just now reviewed. We will not anticipate the reflections, which a fucceffive perufal of them will not fail to excite. ART. 31. A publick lecture occafioned by the Cam WE have, on the whole, been tolerably fatisfied with this lecture of the learned profeffor, fince it is not below the mediocrity we expected. As it is his firft production, we may reasonably hope, that he will improve as he grows older. Though we can difcover in it little originality of thought, dignity of fentiment, or elegance of Language, yet we mult ac knowledge that it is written in ..........hanc veniam petimufque damus- NEWELL, PALMER, HODGES, and Ho- In the beginning of the fecond fentence there is a nominative without a verb; an ellipfis, which, though allowable in familiar converfation, is not admissible into ferious compofition, The patriotick Hancock, whofe life was facrificed to publick energies, whose bounty not only decorated our publick rooms, but nobly enriched our library with more than a thousand volumes. Page 6. That the life of the patriotick Hancock was facrificed to publick energies is information perfectly new. It might have been abridg ed by the gout, partly hereditary, and partly increased by good living. If the learned profeffor means by facrificed, devoted or confecrated, he ufes the word in a new fenfe, not authorized by English writers. The latter part of the fentence partakes of the bathos; for after the facrifice of his life to publick energies, we should naturally expect fome ftriking inftances of heroick patriotifm. Inftead of this, we are informed that he "decorated the publick rooms,and enriched the library with more than a thousand volumes." As if we should fay, "Profeffor Pearfon is a gentleman of the most amiable difpofition and extenfive learning, and......in ftature is exactly five feet, fix inches, and three quarters." In the 7th page, we find the word therein, which, with its whole kindred, thereto, thereof, and therefrom, &c. has long been banished from elegant compofition. Though but few prefent were led to the Pierian fount by the benevolent SHAPLEIGH, yet all will remember their lafting obligations to the man, who, like the pious widow of old, gave all his live ing to increase our literary treasure, That a man fhould, after his death, give all his living, favours a little of the "land of potatoes." Towards the conclufion of the lecture, the learned profellor rifes almoft to the dignity of blank verse. But we are not denied the privilege Escaped from earth, he views celeftial objects, Not darkly through a glass, but face to There is, throughout the performance, an affectation of piety, which looks a little too much like cant, and the frequent ufe of the exclamation O, is difgufting. Monofyllables of this kind fhould be confined to the ftage and conventicle, whofe peculiar province it is to move the paffions,rather than to inform the understanding. It is the opinion of able criticks, that no fentence ought ever to begin with O; and indeed we feel inclined, with Swift, to fkip all paffages, which contain fuch abfurd excla mations, as unmeaning and im, pertinent.* * However we may difapprove of lieve that he is entitled to univerfal Profeffor Pearfon as an author, we bepelled bombaft from the University, and praise as an able profeffor. He has exintroduced a more correct taste. ART. 32. A fermon, delivered in Bofton, May 30, 1804, before the Maffachu Jetts Baptift Miffionary Society, being their fecond anniversary. By Thomas Baldwin, D. D. minifter of the fecond baptift church in Bofon. Publifked for the benefit of the fociety. Bofton. E. Lincoln. 1804. 8vo. pp. 20. THE text of this difcourfe is Acts xvi. 9. Come over into Macedonia and help us. From these words Dr. Baldwin is led to make the following inquiries. I. What were the peculiar circumftances of this people, which called for help from the minifters of Chrift? II. Are there any of our fellow beings at the prefent day whofe circumftances urge a fimilar claim upon us? III. What measures ought we to purfue in order to afford them the help which they need? These particulars are decently difcuffed; and the difcourfe is entitled to more confideration, than one from the fame pen, which we had occafion to review a few months paft. But the following paffage from page 5 is a fpecimen of a fort of profe run mad,which ought to be difpraised. At length the wondrous child was born. Angels announced the joyful advent to the eastern fhepherds. While night filence, the mufick of heaven a flumbering world lay repofed in midfwelled upon their delighted cars, and two An oration pronounced before the focicly of the Phi Beta Kappa, at their anniversary at Hanover, August 21, 1804. By Stephen P. Webfler, A. M. Hanover, Mofes Davis, 1804. THIS compofition is perfectly contemptible. Its purity is evidenced by the use of "lengthys" and one "multiforms," to which we are inclined to add "nonplus," notwithstanding the authority of Locke and Lowth. The orator begins his fentences with the copulative" and " while he corroborates his fentiments by the energetick "indeed." By a mysterious intellectual procefs Steele is coupled with Bacon for fimilar excellence of ftyle; and the author extols and affociates the "fine writings of Shakefpeare and Blackstone." He quotes the bible and English liturgy vulgarly and irreverentially, from which no gentleman nor chriflian scholar ever extracts, but with humility and pious infrequency. The poets of our country he ftimulates by pointing to the enviable, "unfading garlands of laurel," which flourish on the brow of Trumbull, and hang loofe and drooping on the tors have generally been polite pericranium of Humphreys. Ora to the ladies; but they have feldom faluted the fair in a style, likę that of the following addrefs, which combines the Atticilm of De Retz and the courtesy of Chesterfield. become converts in every particular to Although we profefs not to have the creed of Mrs. Wolftoncraft, yet we cannot but be charmed with that beautiful group, which enamel the bank of the Piereian fpring. Sip,fip often,ye fair, at this hallowed fount; for these are will cure more complaints, than all the waters, which, when carefully applied, celebrated fprings of Saratoga and Bath, ART. 34. Emily Hamilton, a novel. Founded on incidents in real life. By a young Lady of Worcester county. Worcester. Ifaiah Thomas, jun. pp. 249. a THIS volume was fent to us, as the production of “ country girl, about eighteen years of age, refiding in an obfcure town, and by her needle maintaining her aged parents." Either of thefe circumftances would have interested us in its favour, but we could not view them thus combined without an earnest wish for the fuccefs of the author. We do not recollect any American female, except Mrs. Rowfon, who has written a novel which can be read with any pleasure ;/ and we are not difpofed to encourage the exertions of females to become known as authors, unlefs convinced that the amufement and inftruction which they can furnish will extend beyond the circle of their own partial friends. Con fidering however the age at which it was written, and the peculiar IF we wish to lead the young to an acquaintance with the important doctrines and duties of the christian religion, to incite them to a love of virtue, and to estab lifh in their minds good principles and habits, we must accommodate our inftructions to their capacities, and endeavour to allure them by the promises and hopes of the gofpel. Such is the defign of this little work, and we think the defign happily effected. The great evangelical truths are reprefented in a concife and perfpicuous manner; and all abftrufe and controverfial points, as they tend to perplex youthful minds and prejudice them against religion, are carefully avoided. ART. 36. Friendly cautions to heads of families and others, very neceffary to be obferved in order to preferve health and long life with ample directions to nurfes who attend the fick, women in childbed, &c, Third edition, with alterations. By Robert Wallace Johnfon, M. D. The first American edition, with notes and alterations. Philadel phia. J. Humphreys. 1805. THIS little work has its ufe, and deferves admiffion into every family. The mother and the nurse will find many important rules and directions, with fome excellent advice, " very neceffary to be obferved in order to preferve health," and in order to af ford the fick real affiftance. ART. 37. An address delivered to the pupils of Henry Dean's writing-fchool, at their first annual exhibition in Concert-hall, Salem, O8.22,1804. By Nathaniel Fiber, rector of St. Peter's church. Salem. J. Cufhing. 40. erable purity of ftyle, and his addrefs contains many just and pertinent remarks. We prefume, that the author has fome good reafon for this mode of publication, with which we are unacquainted. Otherwife a production of less than eight pages could hardly be entitled to appear in the imposing dignity of a quarto. MR. Fisher writes with confid ART. 38. Arguments, natural, moral, and religious, for the immortality of the foul. Worcester. Thomas, jun. pp. 121. THAT "fuch a piece of work as man, fo noble in reafon, fo infinite in faculties, in form and moving fo exprefs and admirable; in action fo like an angel in apprehenfion fo like a God," fhould be born only to look around him, to tafte the doubtful pleafures, fuffer the multiplied forrows of life, and then return again to duft, is a theory, which feeling not less than reafon rejects. The winter's day of life, fhort, ftormy, and cheerlefs as it is, by this fuppofition is ftripped of all, that makes it tolerable. All the arguments, therefore, which feeling and philofophy can fuggeft, have often been illuftrated and defended; it is not therefore furprising, that the author of the little treatife before us offers little of novelty. The ufual arguments are however arranged in a manner, lucid and methodical, though not fufficiently condenfed; and their effect is aided by a ftyle of more than common purity and ease. MONTHLY CATALOGUE OF NEW PUBLICATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, FOR MAY, 1805. SUNT BONA, SUNT QUEDAM MEDIOCRIA, SUNT MALA PLURA.MART. ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS. The journal of a tour into the territory north-west of the Alleghany mountains, made in the spring of the year 1803, with a geographical and historical account of the state of Ohio, illustrated with original maps and views. By Thaddeus M. Harris, member of the Maffachusetts Historical Society. Bofton. Manning & Loring. Medical thefes, felected from among the inaugural differtations published and defended by the graduates in medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, and of the other medical schools in the United States; with an introduction, appendix, and occafional notes, by Charles Caldwell, M.D. editor of the work. To be continued annually. Philadelphia. T. & W. Bradford. pp. 395. Price 2 dollars. The Philadelphia fchool dictionary Compiled of the English language. from the most approved modern English dictionaries. By Benjamin Johnfton. Philadelphia. B. and R. Johnson. The trial of Samuel Chafe, an affociate juftice of the fupreme court of the United States, by the house of reprefentatives, for high crimes and misdemeanors, before the fenate of the United States. Taken in short hand by S.H. Smith and T. Loyd. Vol. I. Washington. S. H. Smith. A treatise on fractures, laxations, and. other affections of the bones. By P. J. Default, furgeon in chief to the HotelDieu of Paris, wherein his opinions and practice in fuch cafes are stated and exemplified. Edited by Xavier Bichat. With plates. Tranflated by Dr. Caldwell of Philadelphia. With notes and an appendix containing several late improvements in furgery. Philadelphia. W. P. Farrand & Co. Captain Smith and Princefs Pocahontas, an Indian tale. Adorned with an engraving of the lady Pocahontas running to the rescue of Captain Smith. Philadelphia. Published at the office of the Indian tale. Hamiltoniad, canto third and last. Pp. in the whole, 104. Bofton. A letter from Fidelis to his friend, exhibiting fome leading traits of the character and conduct of modern liberal, frolicking minifters. Effex. Price 9d. pp. 47. A difcourfe delivered at the opening for publick worship of the Presbyterian church in the north liberties of Philadelphia, April 7, 1805. By Afhbel Green, D.D. fenior minifter of faid church. Philadelphia. T. & W. Brad ford. 25 cents. An inquiry in the effects of ardent fpirits. A new edition, greatly enlarged. By Benjamin Ruth. Philadelphia. Dobfon. pp. 50. |