Instruction. By John Rippingham. 2d Edition. 12mo. Boards. Longman and Co. 1813.

The first edition of these Rules was mentioned with approbation in the M. R. for May 1812; and the work is now enlarged by examples of comparison and contrast, and by short essays and narratives taken from esteemed English writers, which may be considered as an improvement on the original publication.

Art. 30.

Méthode Pratique, &c.; i.e. A Practical Method of learning easily the English Language. By George Hodgkins. 12mo. 6s. Boards. Boosey. 1813.

This grammar is founded principally on that of Siret, which, being out of print, is now re-published with alterations and additions. The directions given for pronouncing the English alphabet, the diphthongs, &c. will be useful to a French Student, and the exercises explain many of the idioms.

In page 57. we have a table of the principal abbreviations in the English language:' but among these are several which no well educated person would employ: such as ben't for be not;'-'d for had;'D' for do;' d'os for does;' 'do't for do it ;' 'ha'n't for have not;'-Gi me for give me ;'-'t' th' for to the,' &c.

Art. 31. Bible Geography; or a brief alphabetical Account of all the principal Places mentioned in the Old and New Testament. Adapted for young People and religious Schools. By a Lady. 12mo. PP. 91. Williams and Son.

With the best disposition to applaud this lady's diligence in the compilation of this useful epitome, we must not forget our duty, which obliges us to intimate to her (however ungallant it may seem) that she is not quite so faultless as we hoped to find her. While her Pocket-dictionary of Bible-Geography manifests her reading, it betrays also symptoms of haste, and perhaps of her not being quite so much of a blue-stocking as at first sight she would seem. Under the article Alexandria, she misleads her young people by telling them that the celebrated library, collected in that city, was consumed in the wars between Cæsar and Pompey, when it is well known that this irreparable loss to the world of literature and science was occasioned by the order of the Caliph Omar, in the 7th century. In page 4. we have Nicanor, for Nicator; and in p. 5. Appii-Forum is directed to be pronounced appi-fo'rum, which the school-boy who is learning his Latin Grammar will tell her is wrong. The article Ecbatana contains this passage: In the Vulgate Bible, (Ezra iv. 2.) we read that at Ecbatana in Media was found a copy of Cyrus's Edicts,' &c. By the mention of the Vulgate, we might suppose that this notice was peculiar to that version: but the fact is that the word Ecbatana does not occur in the Bible; and that the information respecting the discovery of Cyrus's Edict is mentioned in the Apocryphal book of Esdras, vi. 23. We point out these errors to shew that the work requires revision. The principal places which occur in Scripture are well described: but the lady is too brief in her noFf 4

tice

tice of Rome; and, in a book for the use of schools, we object to a reference to larger works as an apology for disappointing omissions.

CATHOLIC-QUESTION.

Art. 32. An Address to the Protestants of Great Britain and Ireland, on the Subject of Catholic-Emancipation, presenting Facts and Documents illustrative of the real Object of the Irish Roman Catholic Leaders. By the Rev. William Thorpe, A. B. one of the Chaplains of Bethesda, and of the Lock Penitentiary, Dublin. 8vo. pp. 70. Seeley. 1814.

Alarmed for the safety of the Established Church, and even for our Protestant Government, in consequence of the intemperance with which the Catholics urge their claims, Mr. Thorpe feels himself required to raise his warning voice; especially as, from his peculiar situation, he has had opportunities of ascertaining the views and designs of persons in Ireland, with respect to Emancipation, which few possess. His object is to throw light on the subject, by a direct reference to the language and proceedings of Roman Catholics themselves; and he professes merely to furnish facts and documents, leaving others to form a judgment, without expressing any of his own but he is so very warm in the cause which he espouses, that he soon forgets the resolution to conceal his own sentiments ; and he boldly declares that, though it was formerly his opinion that, with certain limitations and suitable securities, the Emancipation of the Roman Catholics would be a salutary measure, events have so far changed his mind that he should consider any concession to that body, at present, as a serious misfortune to the empire.'

It is our duty, however, to remind Mr. T. that he has not made proper allowance for the wounded feelings of the Roman Catholics, irritated by repeated disappointments; and that it is not altogether fair to subject to criticism the first draft of their Petition to Parliament, before it had undergone a proper revi sion. Even in its corrected form, it wears too much the aspect of menace; yet it must be granted that, if their language be too bold for petitioners, the conduct which they have experienced has been sufficient to rouse the resentment even of meekness itself. It may be very right to notice the most intemperate publications, speeches, and resolutions of Catholics; yet these will not, in fair discussion, be allowed to bear hard on the real merits of the question. Much inflammatory matter may doubtless be detected in the addresses of some individuals of this body to their brethren: but it surely is going too far to say that the object was to excite insurrection and rebellion.

It is contended by Mr. Thorpe that Emancipation is not the ultimate object of the Catholic leaders, because they are forming a large supply of money; and he calculates that, by the plan for a parochial subscription, 156,2rol. will be raised, and may be raised annually. We have our doubts of the accuracy of Mr. T.'s calcu lation but, even admitting that this subscription would yield the sum which he specifies, it is inadequate for the purpose of rebellious

war.

war. If, out of the five millions of which the population of Ireland is stated to consist, 4,200,000 are Catholics, they may fairly be allowed to call themselves emphatically the People of Ireland, and no doubt have a right to a full share in the government of that country. Even supposing that they amount only to 3,000,000, according to Mr. T.'s statement, the conclusion is the same. We cannot think that this subscription is to be considered in the light of a tax, and that the plan of it is a daring assumption of the prerogative of Parliament:' but it shews, with other things, how much the hearts of the Catholics of Ireland are set on Emancipation; so that, if we are not prepared to accede to their petition, we must look to ourselves. Whether the object of the Catholics be or be not something beyond Emancipation, their irritated temper and feelings are fully exposed in this address; and the facts and documents which it contains are intitled to the consideration of the intelligent statesman, who will draw from them the suitable inferences.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 33. Reflections on Materialism, Immaterialism, the Sleep of the Soul, an intermediate State, and the Resurrection of the Body: being an Attempt to prove that the Resurrection commences at Death. By John Platts. 8vo. pp. 40. Sherwood and Co. Ingenious, though far from satisfactory: for who can proceed beyond the region of curious hyposhesis in such metaphysical wanderings? We shall content ourselves with the short abstract which Mr. Platts himself gives of his opinions, without attempting either to uphold or to confute them.

The sum of what I have said may be reduced to the following propositions. That death is neither the destruction, nor the interruption of human consciousness. That there is neither an intermediate state of happiness, nor of insensibility between death and the resurrection. That there will be no resurrection of the body. That the resurrection means, either a future state, or, the transition to that state, and that it commences immediately at death; when we shall appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ, and receive, according to the things done in the body, whether they are good, or whether they are evil; and that this is the coming of Christ, the end of the world, and the Judgment-day, to every individual.'

The scriptural account of a resurrection and a future life should not be understood in too literal a sense: it is evidently adapted to the ordinary conceptions of mankind; the doctrine of future punishment is always considered in this light, for who is there now believes that the wicked will be literally punished with fire and brimstone? So the notion of a simultaneous resurrection, or of all mankind being raised at one time and together, does not appear to me to be so easily proved from scripture as most people imagine.'

I

When he proceeds to notice 1 Cor. xv. 52., Mr. P. is not merely satisfied with denying that this passage is at variance with his views,

but he asserts that there is not a single word in all the chapter concerning the resurrection of mankind from the grave or of the resurrection of the body. If this be the case, how tie is Scripture understood! We recollect that Mr. Fellowes has thrown out hints much in unison with Mr. Plates's theory: but, if we do not mistake, he proposed them with more diffidence.

Art. 34. An Account of the different Charities belonging to the Poor of the County of Norfolk, abridged from the Returns under Gilbert's Act to the House of Commons in 1786; and from the Terriers in the Office of the Lord Bishop of Norwich. By Zachary Clark. 8vo. pp. 296. 78. Boards. Longman and Co.

Though this work has been long overlooked, or rather concealed in our heap, it must not pass wholly unnoticed; because the statement, as far as it goes, is of importance, and because it moreover presents an example which ought to be followed in every county in the kingdom. Mr. Clark, one of the respectable society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, having heard (as his editor the amiable Mr. Clarkson informs us in the preface,) that the Charities left by benevolent individuals for the use of the poor were often mismanaged and misapplied, felt a growing disposition to be more than a mere hearer of such reports; and being informed by a friend that, as far as his own county of Norfolk was concerned, he would find in the Bishop's office the ancient Terriers, in which were all the registers of land or money ever bequeathed to the poor, he made application to this office, and procured copies of two or three Terriers for places in which abuses of the Poor's money were said to have taken place; by which means he effectually detected some of those abuses. The editor thus proceeds:

Having found, in one or two instances, that the application of the Poor's money was different from that which the Terriers pointed out to be the true one, he was encouraged to seek for information in other cases. This, however, he did gradually. Thus, in one year, he added the copies of two or three Terriers to those which composed his stock. In another, he added others. In another, he was obliged to have recourse to the Petty Bag Office in London, for copies of decrees relating to cases in question. In another, he obtained copies of ancient Wills for the same purpose. Thus he went on, though but slowly, increasing his knowledge in this department.

In process of time, having obtained a number of copies of Wills, Decrees, and Terriers, he began to feel his ground on this subject, or, in other words, he began to feel the strength of the foundation on which he stood; and finding from the knowledge he had acquired, that some town lands belonging to the Poor were, in two several pa. rishes, improperly disposed of, he interfered publicly, and succeeded. The result of his interference was, that the Poor in each parish received a considerable augmentation to their income from the lands in question.

Cheered by this success, he was still more inclined to persevere; but, in doing this, he was persuaded that it became him for the future to adopt some regular and fixed plan. Living, as I observed before, in Norfolk, he thought no better plan could be devised than that of endeavouring,

16

endeavouring, expensive and laborious as the task would be, to procure copies of all the Terriers which might be in existence for that county. He believed that, if such copies were procured and printed, many advantages would result.-First, every person living in the county would have an opportunity of seeing whether any, and what Charities, had been left to the Poor of his own particular parish, and what were the intended uses of these. Secondly, by comparing their intended with their existing uses, he would see how far they were abused. And, thirdly, in the event of such abuse, he would be enabled, by producing such Terriers before his fellow-parishioners, to restore them to the end for which they had been originally designed. He had a hope, in fact, that individuals, seeing these Terriers in print for their respective parishes, would actually step forward in behalf of the Poor, and secure to them their just rights wherever they appeared to have been invaded. He had also another hope, viz. that as he himself had endeavoured to collect in one book the Charities belonging to his own county, others might be induced to make similar collections for those to which they respectively belonged; so that, one following the example of another, the Rights of the Poor might, in time, be ascertained, and put upon record through the whole kingdom.

But while he was contemplating this plan, and the means of executing it, he received information from a friend of a rich mine of materials, of which he had been wholly ignorant, and which on that account he had wholly overlooked. His friend informed him, that Mr. Gilbert, a worthy Member of Parliament, had brought in a bill, only a few years before, which had been carried through both Houses of Parliament, the object of which was to bring to light every species of donation belonging to the Poor, throughout the realm.'

Of the voluminous returns made to Parliament under the Gilbert act, Mr. Clark also obtained copies; hoping to find a well founded and important history of all the charities in the kingdom' but in this he was mistaken.

He perceived, says his editor, on comparing some of these with the copies of some of the Terriers which he had before obtained for the same places, that there were Charities in Gilbert's Returns not noticed in the Terriers, and, vicê versâ, Charities in the Terriers not noticed in Gilbert's Returns, for the same parish. He found also that both the Returns and the Terriers frequently threw light, where there was some obscurity, upon the contents of each other. This being the case, he considered that the returns for places under the Act of Gilbert would be often imperfect without accompanying Terriers for the same, and therefore he resolved, whatever expence he might incur, to realize his first resolution, that is, to collect also the Terriers for the whole county."

By favour of Dr. Bathurst, Bishop of the diocese, Mr. Clark was enabled to execute this laborious part of his undertaking; and he found that there are no less than between five and six hundred, out of between seven and eight hundred parishes in this county, which have some charity or charities belonging to them, and of which accounts have been collected from either the one or the other of these sources.' With all the care which Mr. Clark has bestowed on this compilation, it is probably, in some instances, imperfect: but it is a valuable

record.