conftitution and corruptions of Athens and Lacedemon, but the principles and obfervations it contains being founded in nature, they may be applicable to all ages and nations. It may be confidered as a political history of the human mind; and in that light deferves to be perufed by all who would render themfelves acquainted with the fources, the dependency, and concatenation of the paffions, or acquire fuch a knowledge of the caufes and effects of public vice and virtue, as may teach them the interefts of fociety, and qualify them either for the legislative or executive part of government.

We cannot conclude, without acknowledging that Mr. Macbean has, in this work, not only prefented to the public an ufeful and ingenious production, but has alfo honourably acquitted himself in the province of translation.

VII. Difcourfes on Perfonal Religion. In Two Vols. By Samuel Stennett, D. D. 8vo. Pr. 10s. in boards. Buckland.

IN thefe difcourfes the author endeavours to explain the nature and establish the authority of religion, to awaken the attention and conciliate the regards of men to it, and to affift in the experience and practice of it. For this purpose he confiders it under all the different views, in which it is capable of being placed, fhewing its nature, reality, importance, difficulties, pleafantnefs, and fruits; its ufe in the time of affliction, and the hour of death, and its rewards in a future ftate. These points, and fome others, which are fubordinate to these, are treated in a plain and rational manner; and, in many places, with great energy and pathos.

Having fhewn the importance of religion, he goes on in this manner : I might difcourfe of its utility to the young; to check the violence of their paffions, to restrain their inordinate defires, to regulate their aims and purfuits, to fortify them against the fnares of life, to animate them to the duties of it, to infuse a sweetness into the enjoyments of it, and to add a real beauty to their character and deportment in the view of all. I might represent the importance of it to perfons of riper years; to qualify them for the various fervices to which Providence calls them, to direct them in emergencies of the most critical and trying nature, to hold them fteady to their best interests in seasons of imminent temptation and danger, and to render them both respectable and useful in their day and generation. And hence I might go on to a description of the many bleffings it pours upon the hoary head; what chearfulness it VOL. XXIX. Jan. 1770.

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fpreads over the countenance, when the vigour and sprightli nefs of youth abates; what firm support it yields the heart, when the animal spirits are almost dissolved and broken by the infirmities of nature; and what weight it adds to the inftructions and counfels then given, when the capacity and judgment of former years are in other refpects greatly on the decline.

I might farther enlarge on the importance of it to perfons in every relation of life; to magiftrates and to fubjects, to mafters and to fervants, to parents and to children, to bre.thren, to friends, and to neighbours: how needful to teach men their duty, to animate them to it, and to affift them in it.

From hence I might go on to reprefent the advantages refulting from it to perfons in every condition: in profperity, when the world fmiles upon them, and they have an affluence of all outward good; to fecure their hearts from an immoderate fondness for prefent enjoyments, to infpire their breafts with thankfulness, and to difpofe them to usefulness and in adverfity, when Providence frowns on them, and they are encompaffed on every fide with perplexity, forrow, and trouble, to reconcile them to the will of God, to alleviate their affiction, and to render it fubfervient to their real advantage.

In like manner I might proceed to fhew you how needful/ true religion is in a time of fick nefs and death, when all the fcenes of life are paffing away from before our eyes, when the king of terrors is nearly approaching, and when eternity with all its awful realities is immediately in our view; how needful it is then to banish fear from our hearts, to reconcile us to that moft certain event, and to diffufe ferenity and joy through our minds, when nature itself is diffolving and dying away.

In a word, to finish the fcene, I might represent to you the never-fading honours, and immortal pleasures of the heavenly world; the large and fair inheritance there provided for the fons of God, the crowns of glory which fhall be placed on their heads, the palms of victory which fhall be put into their hands, the robes of joy and gladness they fhall wear, and the reft, the happinefs, and renown they fhall poffefs to all eternity. But however inftructive and animating thefe fubje&ts are, I forbear at prefent to enlarge any farther upon them.'

In order to demonftrate the use of religion in death, our author gives us the following reprefentation of fome of the circunftances attending that awful crifis.

How tremendous is death, even when we view it as a natural evil only, and feparate from all confiderations of a moral and religious kind! the ufual forerunners of it, the stroke itself,

itself, and the confequents of it as to the body and this world, do each of them excite fear.

1. The ufual forerunners of it; by which I mean fickness. and the other preceding accidental circumftances of dying. Thefe are the heralds of the pale conqueror, who go before him to proclaim his approach. And their appearance is many times as tremendous, yea perhaps more fo than that of the conqueror himself. The houfe must be fhaken before it comes down the fortrefs affaulted before a breach is made: and the veffel toffed about with fierce winds, before the tempeft tears it to pieces. Circumftances thefe extremely alarming to thofe who are immediately concerned. In like manner the burning fever, the wafting confumption, the racking ftone, and various other difcafes, either fecretly mine the foundation, or fuddenly and furiously pull down the walls of thefe earthly houfes. And how can fuch affaults upon the human frame be even diftantly apprehended, much lefs actually endured, without exciting horror? "We groan being burdened," is not the language of old age only, but many times of early life, and always of a broken aud declining conftitution. And can we hear thefe groans, and not be affected with them? Can we ftand by a fick bed, and fee a friend languishing thereon, turning reftlefs from fide to fide, counting impatiently the paffing minutes, loathing every cordial offered him, and for days and weeks it may be dying, as Job expreffes it, in the bitterness of his foul; can we, I fay, be witneffes of all this, without feeling a chill on our blood and spirits ? It is a fad fcene: and the folemnity of the fcene increafes as death advances. Every Rep the last enemy takes alarms. Every fresh fymptom ftrikes terror into fpectators, and fpreads filence and gloominess through the dwelling. The difeafe baffles the power of medicine-They who ftand by obferve its progrefs-The dying man watches. their looks-He fufpects his cafe to be defperate-The phyfician at length pronounces it fo-He believes it. Now the wheel of life goes down apace. The vital flame burns faint and irregular. Reason intermits. Short intervals of sense divide his thoughts and paffions: now-himfelf is the object; then-his family. His friends, his relations, his children croud around his bed, fhed their unavailing tears over him, and receive his laft bleffing. His pulfe beats a furrender to the pale conqueror.-His eyes fwim-His tongue faulters-A old fweat bedews his face-He groans-He expires. Thou changeft bis countenance, and fendeft him away. Can it be wondered that fuch fcenes as thefe affect us? Or is it a virtue in any one to be a cool and unconcerned fpectator of them? Thus

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are the preceding circumftances of death tremendous. And fo is,

2. The ftroke itself. Not having indeed felt it, we cannot frame adequate conceptions of it. Yet it muft needs be painful and diftreffing, and fo a juft caufe of fear. The friendthip between foul and body is ftrong, like that between David and Jonathan. The connection is very intimate: it is the clo eft of all unions. It interefts each party in the other's pains and pleasures, and that in fo fenfible and inftantaneous a manner as is truly aftonishing. That therefore which diffolves the union cannot but be a violent shock to nature: and so it ap pears to be by the ftruggles which many endure in the article of death. The fwellings of Jordan can scarcely be beheld without fhivering, especially by him who ftands at the brink of it, and is just launching into it. Indeed we know not, as I said, what it is to die: imagination therefore may unduly heighten the terror of dying. Yet, as this great change is a tranfgref fion of the original law of our existence, and hath evident fymptoms of pain and anguish attending it, it would be unnatural not to dread it. It is the king of terrors, the first, the chiefeft, the mightieft of all natural evils.'

This description is ftriking and expreffive, and feems to be founded upon obfervation. It is certain, indeed, that the fear of death is one of the strongest paffions implanted in human nature, and wifely ordained by Providence, as a fort of guard to retain mankind within their appointed station. Yet, poffibly, there are not thofe agonies in dying, which are usually fuppofed. Many things appear more formidable in imagina tion, than they are in reality. When we are in perfect health and vivacity, we have a horrible idea of fickness and confinement; but when we are actually fick and confined, we are more infenfible to the pleasures and gaieties of the world, and reconciled to the alteration. As our diftemper increases, we be gin to be difgufted with life, and wish to be releafed. The afpect of death becomes more familiar, as it approaches. As nature finks into diffolution, we gradually lofe the power of fenfation. The interval of departure is fhort and transient: the change imperceptible. No reflection, and therefore no pain fucceeds. The foul forgets her anxiety, and finks into repofe; and if there is a pain, there is, upon Christian principles, a blifs in dying. We may perhaps reconcile ourselves in fome meafure to the thoughts of our deceafe by obferving, how fleep pervades the human frame, and fufpends its operations. With what cafe do we pafs from waking to fleeping? with how little concern do we part with the knowledge of light, and of ourfelves? And if this temporary infenfibility, this

image of death, fteals upon us imperceptibly, if we feel an inexpreffible sweetness in that fituation; why may not we imagine, that the fenfes glide away in the fame foft and eafy manner, when nature finks into the profoundest repose?

VIII. An Efay towards a Syftem of Mineralogy: by Axel Frederic Cronstedt. Tranflated from the original Swedish, with Notes, By Gustav von Engeftrom. To which is added, a Treatise on the Pocket-Laboratory, containing an eafy Method, used by the Author, for trying mineral Bodies: written by the Tranflator. The whole revised and corrected, with some additional Notes, by Emanuel Mendes da Cofta. 8vo. Pr. 6s. Dilly.

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HIS Effay, as we are informed by the tranflator, in his Preface, was originally published in the year 1758. The author at first, for private reafons, chofe to be anonymous; but the merit of the work foon pointed him out to be the learned and noble Frederic Cronstedt. Its reputation foon spread over foreign countries, and it is with pleasure that we now fee it tranflated into the English language, efpecially as. this country abounds fo much with the materials of which it treats. This extenfive and valuable work might have been rendered fill more perfect, had the author lived to augment it with farther improvements; but he was unfortunately cut off in the flower of his age, while he was bufily employed in profecuting his discoveries. As it is, however, it will not only prove highly entertaining to all lovers of natural history, but likewife of the utmost importance towards the improvement of those arts which are connected with mineralogy. The following extract from the author's own Preface, will give our readers an idea of the nature and plan of the work.

As former ages principally encouraged philological and antiquarian enquiries; this prefent age, at leaft in Sweden, favours the ftudy of Natural History.

Such changes must be afcribed to geniuses, who underftand how to make thofe fciences, which they have chofe for their principal ftudy, agreeable to the public; and which fciences, being in general ufeful to the whole community, every individual thereof can reap fome advantage from it, and thereby gratify that felf-love implanted in the breait of all mankind in the pursuit of them.

When the pride of a nation is flattered with the vain glory of being of great antiquity, the author of fuch an opinion is always favoured; and every little circumftance conducive to further confirm it, is carefully recollected and noted. Thus