papers are fo full of this fort of matter; but I am a little furprised it fhould be mentioned in Parliament. Like all great ftate queftions, peace and war may be discussed, and different opinions fairly formed, on political grounds; but on a queftion of the prefent price of provifions, when peace with the regicides is always uppermoft, I can only fay, that great is the love of it." P. 43.

Many important leffons follow, on the queftion, "What the state ought to take upon itself to direct by the public wifdom, and what it ought to leave, with as little interference as poffible, to individual difcretion:" P. 45. and the tract concludes thus: "My opinion is against an overdoing of any fort of administration, and now efpecially against this, moft momentous of all meddling on the part of authority; the meddling with the fubfiftence of the people." P. 48.

No affurances can be neceffary, on our part, that this trac well deferves attention at the prefent important juncture.

ART. VI. A Treatise upon the Law of Legacies. By R. S. Dounifon Roper, of Gray's-Inn, Barrister at Law. 8vo. 236 PP. 4s. 6d. Butterworth. 1800.

THE

HE author of this work has demonftrated, that he poffeffes confiderable talents for the task he undertock; we lament, therefore, that he has published fo haftily, what his more mature judgment must have induced him to correct and reform in feveral places. If he had entitled his book, "Materials for a Treatife upon the Law of Legacies", inftead of a Treatife upon that fubject, the name would better have defcribed the nature of the publication. The general arrangement is defective, and the mutual connection and dependency of the feveral parts are by no means clearly made out. But a fault more radical, if poffible, is, that the author feems wholly to have mifconceiv ed the manner in which a treatise upon a subject like the prefent fhould be conftructed. Befides laying down the general rules upon which this part of the law refts, the leading cafes ought to be flated; the various diftinctions of law and fact pointed out; and the feveral determinations, which differ in thefe particulars, faithfully abridged. The reader is not to be referred to other books to obtain a general and full understanding of the subject. When thefe rules are neglected, a publication can be nothing but a general index to, other works.

In the book before us they are altogether neglected. Little more is given than the leading principle, upon which the author

con

conceives that a class of cafes turns. The names are then huddled together in a note; and nothing is ftated of the differences, actual or fuppofed, which have brought a fimilar point so often before the court for its decifion. From this deficiency it becomes impoffible fully to understand Mr. R.'s book, unless furrounded by the authorities to which he refers; and his work must be confidered rather as formed for reference, to tell us where we are to gain the neceffary information upon a particular point, than as containing that knowledge within itself. Mr. R. in forming his plan, feems to have been misled by the example of several able editors, in their notes to fome recent editions of reports, and other valuable books. These gentlemen have, of neceflity, limited themselves to a statement of the general principles of the law, and a difpofition of the feveral decifions under them in their notes. They were intended as nothing more than well-arranged repertoria of cafes, upon a particular fubject. They defcribe the feveral genera in a particular part of legal jurifprudence, and enumerate and clafs the various fpecies as they appertain to each; but they do not defcribe them. This plan is highly proper for editors, whose obfervations are fubfervient to the illuftration of an original work, and who laudably wifh to croud as much information as they can into a small compafs. But the object of a distinct treatise upon any fubject is wholly different; and it is little better than a truifm to ftate, that, to answer its purpose, it fhould contain every portion of useful knowledge, which the existing ftate of the science enables the author to discover or declare.

In other refpects, the work is not unworthy of profeffional notice. The rules laid down are generally stated with accuracy, and most of the modern cafes are referred to. The author is not always fuccefsful in his preference of one authority to another, nor in his attempts to reconcile conflicting opinions. But where the judgments of the greatest men in the country are at variance, it is impoffible that those who balance their arguments fhould not be fometimes mifled. The writer's own fentiments are frankly given, without any improper veneration for living in preference to deceased authority. They are fometimes pronounced in a peremptory tone of decifion, which a recollection of the great talents and experience that have generally prefided in courts of equity, would and ought to bave foftened, if not wholly repreffed. Such confidence cannot be eradicated altogether from a difcriminating mind, though it is ufually curbed and kept down by long intercourfe with mankind. In youth it often denotes that felf-consciousness of talent, without which nothing great has been ever accomplished; and indicates a ftrength of understanding, of which the world may augur well, when it fhall be matured by time and reflection.

ART.

ART. VII. Letters from the Rev. Mr. Job Orton; and the Rev. Sir James Stonboufe, Bart. M. D. to the Rev. Thomas Stedman, M. A. Vicar of St. Chad's, Shrewsbury: In Two Volumes. 12mo. 9s. Longman, &c.

1800.

THE first of thefe volumes was originally published in 1791, and contains Letters of a peculiar but a valuable kind. They are the admonitions of an elderly and pious, but far from bigotted diffenter, to a young clergyman of the establishment. Honeft and fincere in their defign of recommending every thing that is becoming and praifeworthy in the miniftry, they have received the approbation of feveral Bifhops; one of whom, as the editor informs us, expreffed him felf in the folJowing very strong terms. "Accept my thanks for the pleafure I have received from the perufal of Mr. Orton's Letters. The good fenfe, warm piery, becoming zeal for the promotion of Chriftian virtue, and rendering the paftoral character refpectable and useful, which run through the publication, make it worthy the attention of the parochial clergy of all ages.' This encomium does not appear to be exaggerated. The various remarks on books and men which are fcattered throughout the Letters, are fuch as tend to convey instruction, in a very pleafing manner, to a great variety of readers; but more especially to thofe who are fituated as the editor was when he received them. The Letters which compofe the fecond volume are of a fimilar character; and form, with the others, a very edifying work.

one

Mr. Orton was, as Sir James Stonhouse expreffes it, “ of the truly fenfible, moderate diffenters, and a man of iterling piety." He was a native of Shropshire, and was educated at Shrewsbury, but refided for the latter part of his life at Kiddermintter. He was author of many ufeful works in divinity; namely, Difcourfes on practical Subjects, Difcourfe on Chriftian Worthip, Religious Exercifes, Sacramental Meditations, Difcourfes to the Aged, Expofitions on the Old Testament, &c. His ftyle was fimple and natural, his method eafy and judicious. He died, July 19. 1783, in his fixty-fixth year, and was buried, by his own defire, in St. Chad's church, Shrewfbury. Some account of him has fince been publifhed, by Dr. Kippis, in the Biographia Britannica, in a note on the Life of Doddridge.

* Vol. ii. p. 14.

"

Sir James Stonhoufe was originally bred a phyfician; and, for feveral years, was fo little inclined to religion, as even to write against it. In his 36th Letter, giving a sketch of his life, he fays, I believe you know, that I was for feven years a confirmed infidel; which, during that time, I made no fcruple of declaring; and did all I could to fubvert Chriftianity; and wrote a keen pamphlet against it; the third edition of which I burnt. (for writing and fpreading of which, I humbly hope, as I have deeply repented of it, God has forgiven me, though I never can forgive my felf.)" The inftrument of his converfion was Dr. Doddridge, whofe three Sermons on the Evidences of the Gospel, and his Rife and Progress of Religion in the Soul, particularly, were of great ufe in removing his prejudices, and forming him to the love and practice of religion. Some time after, finding his health impaired by the practice of phyfic, he took orders, and obtained from two fucceflive Earls of Radnor, the two adjacent livings of Little and Great Cheverel in Wiltshire, where Mr. Stedman was his curate. He died, Dec. 8, 1795, in the 80th year of his age. He published many pious and ufeful tracts, which have in general been adopted by the excellent Society for promoting Chriflian Knowledge.

The Letters of Mr. Orton are dedicated by the editor to Sir James Stonhoufe; and thofe of Sir James, to Mrs. Hannah More, a friend of the author, and the writer of his epitaph. The abfence of all bigotry from Mr. Orton's mind cannot perhaps be better exemplified than by his very judicious remarks on extemporary preaching.

"I know not what to fay about extemporary preaching. It may on fome accounts be defirable and ufeful: but I dare not encourage it in young divines. I never knew an inftance of it, but the preacher was carelefs in his ftudies, flovenly and incorrect in his difcourfes; and lofing the habit of accurate compofing, could never recover it afterwards. Yet I would by no means defire you to confine yourself entirely to your notes. When a thought firikes you, or fomething in your fermon feems to ftrike your hearers, you may add a few fentences, as you find matter arifing in your mind and if you are thoroughly mafter of your fubject, and have a good deal of your fermon, efpecially the application of it, committed to memory, thus much will be eafy, and you will not hefitate and appear at a lofs." Vol. i. p. 28.

"I have known fo many minifters become injudicious and unacceptable by a carelefs habit of compofing, or rather of not compofing at all, in their younger days, and in fmall country places, that I make thefe conceffions, guarded as they are, with fear. The other extreme is beit for a young divine to err in. Befides, there is no way by which you will fo fpeedily and effectually increase your fund of theological knowledge, as by accurate compofures. Thus you will study your fubject carefully, viewing and examining it on every fide; confulting

all the commentators you may have upon your text and parallel places, and reading what other divines (whofe writings you may be poffeffed of) have faid upon the subject. So that were you to read nothing for a whole week, but what you would read in this method (except hiftory,' claffics, &c. by way of relaxation) I should commend your diligence, and fay, you had kept to the good maxim, Hoc age." P. 30.

On the fubject of perfeverance in the duty of preaching, we have the following excellent fentiments, in a note.

"Mr. Orton once wrote to an eminent divine of the established church in the following manner:-" You fay you do no good by preaching." This is talking weakly; I had almost used a harder word. Should you not be chided for it?" Why do you leave off preaching?" faid old bishop Latimer to a complainer like you. He answered, "Because I do no good, my Lord." The bishop replied, "That, brother, is a naughty, a very naughty reafon."-You do not know what good you have done, are doing, may yet do, and even after you are dead. No good man preaches, I am confident, without doing fome good, and more than he knows of, or will know of, till the great difcovering day. To have done our beft is moral merit ; and God will graciously accept and reward it. What great good did our Mafter himself do? "Who hath believed his report ?" Itaiah liii. 1.-Who would have thought that you fhould ever have talked of doing no good by preaching, when God hath done you so much honour already in your clerical character? I am afhamed of you; and alınoft angry with you. Labour more, and pray more ftill. "If the iron be blunt, as Solomon fays, then put to more ftrength." Ecclef. x. 10. If you begin to be lukewarm, whatever your motive is, it cannot be a good one. I am not clear, that I ever did much lafting good in my life; yet I do not repent my attempts. I am humbled and ashamed daily, that they were not more and better. Remember, that preaching is of God's own appointment." P. 73.

On the fubject of converfions, he is no less judicious.

Indeed, I lay very little refs upon what fome divines call Converfions; I have feen fo many inftances of their coming to nothing; or, that their converts have only been converted from the fins of men to the fins of devils, from drunkenness and debauchery to fpiritual pride, bitterness, and uncharitableness; and this I cannot call a faving change. I fee little alteration for the better in the conduct of many, who have been faid to be converted. I am cautious of calling any thing by that name, where there is not a regular, confiftent conduct following it. Hafty impreffions, which fome minifters are very ready to obferve and admire, are often loft in a little time, and those who have been under them become worfe than they were before. I have no idea of converfion, as paffing a certain line, and then getting into a faving ftate. Conversion is a work of time, and I fee no right we have to fay any are converted or become good, till one hath a longer feafon of trial, to obferve, whether they continue fteadfast in the practice of righteoufnefs, and act in every circumftance and relation, in