Exceffes commit, that muft ruin our cause, In breach of all difcipline, order, and laws. The heights of Famars on Valenciennes look down, Tell Fanny I'll fend her fome beautiful lace.” In fome parts the writer fhows himself poffeffed of much fenfibility, and capable of producing fpecimens of serious and tender compofition; and, on the whole, we fhall be exceedingly glad to fee a narrative of the campaign of 1794 in the fame ftyle and by the fame hand. torn from their backs, were wringing their hands in the greatest mifery! The officers of different corps exerted themfelves to find out and punish the offenders; and an Auftrian huffar officer, on being told that one of his men had torn the bed from under a woman and her infant, of which she had been but a short time delivered, cut the fellow down in our prefence. This fummary act of juftice had a good effect, by reftraining, in fome meafure, the unbridled licentioufnefs of the foldiery. The object of plunder at that village was cambric, as great quantities were manufactured there. I am forry to add, fome of the British difgraced themfelves by marauding: a corporal of the ift regiment of guards had croffed a branch of the Ronelle to fearch a houfe, and had encumbered his body with fuch a quantity of cambric, that he was drowned in attempting to return. Mont Anzin completely commands the citadel of Valenciennes, and could the attack have been made there, the place muft have furrendered in a short time; but that was impoffible, as the approach on that fide is full of mines. Valenciennes, though not a firit-rate fortification, is reckoned one of the completeft of the fecond-rate: it was conftructed by Vauban, and is fuppofed to be capable of fuftaining a fiege of two months. The French have calculations of the length of time each fortified town can hold out. + Worded in their ufual ftyle, that they had bound themselves, by oath, to be buried under the ruins rather than furrender the place. This anfwer was tied round with the tri-coloured ribband, and the direction was in terms of contempt and equality. ART. ART. XIII. A Difcourfe by Way of general Preface to the quarto Edition of Bishop Warburton's Works, containing Some Account of the Life, Writings, and Character of the Author. 4to. 15opp. Nichols. 1794. Not fold. THIS HIS is a work which at once excites and juftifies attention. The Life of Bishop Warburton, written by Bishop Hurd, under a promise of the latter, and from the diftinguished merit of both parties, has long been eagerly expected. Yet, as if the ftimulus of difficulty was wanting, obftacles are still thrown in the way of general curiofity; and the book, by a very fingular fpecies of management, appears at once to be publifhed, and not published. It is entered at Stationers-Hall, which is an authentic and regular act of publication; yet a very limited number is printed, correfponding with the copies of the edition for which it is defigned, and difpofed of only to the purchafers of that work. This circumfcribed publication, both of the works and the life, feems inconsistent with the opinion very positively pronounced by the excellent editor, that the name of his friend will hereafter "come into all mouths." Such a growing celebrity fhould, it seems, have been prepared for by a large impreffion of the works, and one yet more extenfive of the life; fince curiofity will certainly outgo ftudy, and many will be defirous to read the life of Warburton, who may not be inclined or qualified to cope with his. polemics or theology. The uncommon mode in which the life comes forth, appears to have been dictated by a mistaken, prudence. The violence of Warburton made his enemies almoft as numerous as his readers, and the Bishop of Worcester feems to have feared, that fo ftrong a panegyric as he was inclined to write, of a man fo generally obnoxious, would bring upon his editor fome of that anger which, with refpect to the author himself, is not yet extinct. But unfortunately the production is not the lefs open to criticism and attack for being thus partially circulated; and the very circumftance of attempting to withhold it, may eafily be conftrued to imply a confcioufnefs that it is not calculated to encounter every eye. We ourselves have been obliged to borrow it for the purpofe of examining its contents; but, inftead of paffing it over, we fhall think ourselves bound to be the more explicit in our account, as inany of our readers may be unable to procure the publication. Venerating, however, as we do, the abilities of Warburton, whatever we may think of his temper, and having the highest refpect for his friend and excellent editor, we shall feel no fort of inclination to pronounce a harsh fentence upon faults faults which proceed, moft evidently, from an amiable caufe. Our opinion will be freely delivered, certainly without the fmalleft with to offer captions objections, but no lefs certainly without a motive for fupprefling fuch as truth and juftice may demand, To take at once a comprehenfive view of this "Difcourfe by way of Preface," &c. we think it hardly poffible for an impartial reader not to pronounce, that there is a more lively and characteristic picture of the abilities, ftyle, and difpofition of Warburton in the fhort but able account, inferted by Johnson in his Life of Pope, than appears in this whole tract. There we find truth undifguifed, and delineated with great vigour; the fentence neither of a friend nor an enemy, but of a judicious critic, and an accurate eftimator of intellectual and moral qualities: this is the flattering portrait of a partial friend, and upon the whole fo flattering, that the likeness greatly fuffers by the foftening of the features. Yet, in one refpect, the reader will, with us, feel gratified at the very circumftance which we ftate as a defect. In reading fome of the compliments paid to W. by his friend, during the time of their actual intercourfe, it was difficult not to fufpect fome little mixture of adulation. So ample was the offering, that it feemed intended rather to gratify the foible of one great man, than to exprefs the feelings of the other. But Dr. H. lowers not the ftrain of his praifes, though the fubject of them can be no longer gratified, with that which foothes not the dull cold ear of death: and feems throughout his difcourfe to confider W. as no lefs above all competition, than he certainly was indignant at meeting with competitors. Thus, at leaft, is every fufpicion fairly cleared away. The great partiality of the biographer for the subject of his delineation, meets the reader in every part of this volume. Unfortunately it does not only lead him to palliate the faults of Warburton, but, in a few inftances, to do injustice to other perfons of eminent merit and abilities. We have not met with a fingle reader of this life, who does not with us lament, that the following fentence concerning Archbishop Secker was ever publithed. "Even in the narrow walk of literature he oft affected, that of criticizing the Hebrew text, it does not appear that he attained to any great diftinction.' p. 82. It is with difficulty we fupprefs an exclamation against this flight and contemptuous mention of a branch of study fo worthy of a bishop, and fo important in the eyes of every Chriftian divine. But when it is faid, that Secker obtained no great diftinétion in it, we feel it our duty to affert the contrary: res ipfaque per fe Vociferatur. In the archiepifcopal library at Lambeth are feveral volumes of MS. obfervations on the Hebrew text by Archbishop Secker, which, as we learn from fatisfactory information, are highly valuable: a frequent and useful refort of labourers. in that branch of theological learning. A fpecimen of the Archbishop's abilities in this line appears in the anonymous notes inferted in Merrick's Annotations on the Pfalms, and places the author in a very refpectable light; and in his preface, Merrick speaks with due commendation both of the notes and the communicator of them, though at that time concealed. Confidering in general the writings of Secker, and his talents and acquirements, as recorded by his well-informed biographer, in the life prefixed to his fermons, we believe that few fcholars will fubfcribe to the opinion here delivered, that "the courfe of his life and ftudies had not qualified him to decide on fuch a work as the Divine Legation." Bifhop Lowth is still more depreciated, in comparison with the overpowering brilliancy of Warburton. He is allowed to have been a man of learning, ingenuity, and many virtues, but it is faid, that "his friends. did his character no fervice by affecting to bring his merits,. whatever they were, in competition with thofe of the bishop of Gloucester.' P. 94. The difpute between them is afferted to have been managed on both fides with too much heat; "but on the part of the Bishop," (the expreflion is almoft ludicrous) with that fuperiority of wit and argument, which, to say the truth, in all his controverfial writings, he could not well help." When it is added afterwards, that his Latin Lectures on Hebrew Poetry were compofed in a vein of criticism not above the common, we think that few fuffrages of competent judges will be found to confirm the fentence. Nor lefs exceptionable is the contemptuous mention of his Verfion of Ifafah, and of the great work of Kennicott's collation. The verfion, it is faid, is chiefly valuable, as it fhows how little is to be expected from Dr. Kennicott's work,-and from a new tranflation of the Bible for public ufe." Thefe inftances abundantly exemplify the too common foible of able men, that of depreciating those branches of learning to which they have not applied their minds; and the extraordinary effect of strong partiality in deceiving a found judgment. Having by thefe preliminary remarks pointed out the kind of reprefentation which is to be expected in this difcourfe, we fhall proceed, as we have not before had a Life of Warburton from fuch authority, to give a fketch of theprincipal events. It is divided into four fections,-1. From the birth of W. to his appointment as preacher of Lincoln's Inn, in 1746. p. 1-50.-2. To his promotion to the fee of Gloucefter, in 1760. p. 50-84.-3. To his death in 1777 An ap p. 84-111.-4. His character. p. 111 to the end. pendix fubjoined contains only a letter from W. to Pope, in vindication of his patron Sir Robert Sutton, referred to at p. 30. [not 24.] and a letter to Mrs. Cockburn, on the fubject of Moral Obligation. William Warburton, defcended from an ancient family in Cheshire, at the head of which is the prefent Sir Peter Warburton, Bart. was born in Dec. 24, 1698, (net 1691, as it ftands in the Biographical Dictionary) and was educated chiefly under his coufin, Mr. William Warburton, Mafter of Newark school, and father of Dr. Warburton, now Archdeacon of Norfolk. His father, Mr. George Warburton, was an attorney at Newark, and William, the only fon that lived, was intended for the fame profeffion; but as the father died in 1706, he was placed under a Mr. Kirke, with whom he continued as a clerk from 1714 to 1719. Whether he ever practised as an attorney is uncertain, but after the expiration of his clerkship, his love of letters continually growing fronger, and the "ferioufnefs of his temper, and purity of his morals, concurring with his unappeafable thirst of knowledge," determined him to quit that profeffion for the church. His ftudies for this purpofe were aflifted by his coufin, who, " befides his claffical merit, (which was great) had that of being an excellent divine, and was a truly learned as well as good man." Thus prepared, Warburton took deacon's orders in 1723, and priest's in 1727. At this time he was presented to the fmall vicarage of Griefley in Nottinghamshire, by the intereft of Sir Robert Sutton; who himfelf gave him, in 1728, the valuable rectory of Brand-Broughton, near Newark. Here he refided, and applied himself to his ftudies with ardour and perfeverance fuited to his genius and temper. In 1740, he became acquainted with Pope, and through him with Murray, (afterwards Lord Mansfield) and Mr. Allen, whofe favourite niece, Mifs Gertrude Tucker, he married in 1746. In 1753, Warburton became a Prebendary of Gloucester, by the nomination of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke; but, in 1755, exchanged it for a Prebend of more value in the church of Durham. This preferment was given by Trevor, Bishop of Durham, at the request of Mr. Murray, Attorney-General. In 1754 he had been appointed a King's Chaplain. Towards the end of 1757 he was promoted to the Deanery of Bristol; and, in 1760, became Bishop of Gloucefter, whence he was never tranflated. In 1776, to his great and irrecoverable affliction, he loft his fon and only child, who died of a confumption in his 18th year; and, in June 1779, after languishing long in a melancholy ftate of inertnefs of mind, he died at Gloucester. For the fake of diftin&tnefs we have given this |