There is fome humour in this piece, but the principal character of Buftleton feems to bear too close an affinity to that of Harry in the Maid of the Oaks.-The Irishman's fongs have confiderable merit..

ART. 22. Who Wants a Guinea? A Comedy, in Five A&ts, as performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden. First Alted April 18, 1805. 8vo. Price 2s. 6d. Longman and Rees. 1805.

This is one of the fleeting productions of the day, which on account of a certain fprightlinefs in the dialogue, and the furprise excited by the strangeness of the incidents, is endured for a few nights, and then is forgotten for ever. All criticism would be thrown away on a work of fuch description.

ART. 23. Scenes of Life.
Harral, Efq. 3 vols.

1805.

NOVELS.

A Novel. In Three Volumes. By J. 8vo. 10s. 6d. B. Crosby and Co.

This author exults, not without reafon, in prefixing to his work the name of John Gifford, Efq. a patriot, who has long ftood confpicuous in that moft refpectable clafs of men who fear God and honour the King." It is truly affirmed, that "Novels and Romances have, of late years, been too frequently rendered the vehicles of revolutionary and infidel principles." To counteract thefe evils, to expofe folly, and correct vice, is the purpose of this work; and it is executed with no little degree of fpirit. At p. 155, of vol. I. we find an entertaining account of an evening paffed in a Spouting-club. In the next chapter, it is well obferved, that "the mifchief which thofe focieties, according to their prefent conftitution, have produced and promulgated, is perhaps incalculable. They are not independent inftitutions, but are closely connected with others of a more formidable nature; and may indeed be confidered as preparatory fchools of infidelity, fedition, and treafon." P. 179. We hope that these mischiefs have lately much abated; but the vigilance, with which they are reftrained, will never be unneceffary. This is in general, an interesting and entertaining narrative. Many good characters are depicted in ftrong and juft colours; fome bad ones, in colours rather incredibly ftrong. We can hardly believe that fuch a wretch exifts as Ber rington." I come, Sir, faid Mr. Jones, to announce a melancholy event! Mrs. Berrington [an excellent woman] is no more. Berrington gazed at him with an unbelieving ftare, and asked, What! is the dead? She is, Sir. Why then I suppose she must be buY

BRIT. CRIT, VOL, XXVI. SEPT, 1805.

ried;

ried; that's all I can fay upon the fubject." P. 158. If Mr. H. fhould refolve to favour the public with another Novel, we recommend to him a more conftant adherence to fimplicity in the ftile of his profe, and a little more elevation in his poetry..

ART. 24. Memoirs of M. De Brinboc, containing fome Views of English and Foreign Society. 3 vols. 12mo. Price 125. Cadell and Davies. 1805.

This is very fuperior to moft publications of the kind. It is, with the exception of a few pedantic and affected expreffions, remarkably well written. An emigrant, obliged to leave France, travels through Germany to England, and the modern manners of the places which he vifits are happily defcribed. There is no great contrivance in the plot; indeed the under-plot, which reprefents Eugenie, the fifter of Brinboc, expofed to various dangers and diftreffes from the villainy of Chevrebille, is the most interesting part of the ftory. It may be objected, that this mifcreant is not fufficiently expofed and punifhed, which is true alfo of the knavewho extorted a promiffory note from Brinboc, and caused him to be thrown into prifon. On the whole we have perused it with fatisfaction. The wretched principles of the Reformers in France, of the Illuminés at Berlin, and of fome fashionable Circles in this country, are pourtrayed with much liveliness and with great

truth.

ART. 25. St. Julian, in a Series of Letters, by Mrs. J. T. Serres. 8vo. Price 3s. Ridgway.

A very amorous, very fhort, and very inartificial ftory. A young dutchefs, married to an old duke, is enamoured of a young nobleman, who is applied to attend an old uncle, alfo a duke. The lady fays fhe never can be her lover's; but he be comes impetuous, and then the gives a delicate hint, that perhaps, they may one time or another be united. The dutchefs goes to Paris, and the lover to Switzerland; by fome accident nobody knows how they do not hear of one another for two years. Luckily the old duke dies, the young folks come together, and all is finooth and comfortable.

MEDICINE.

ART. 26. An Efay upan Peftilential Difeafes, fuch as the Putrid Malignant Yellow Fever, and the Plague; with an Account of an Infectious Fever, which broke out, and raged with great Mortality, on Board His Majefty's Ship Surprise, in the Year 1776, on the Banks of Newfoundland, upon the Methods of Prevention and Cure, and on the Means of deftroying Contagion, by Quick Lime,

and

and the Fumes of the fulphuric Acid, with Dr. Cullen's Do&rine of Contagion, and the Means recommended by him for preventing the fpreading of Infection. Also Dr. J. C. Smyth's Method of deftroying Contagion by the Fumes of the nitrous Acid; fhewing that the Fumes of the vitriolic Acid are not only more powerful and more certain for the Purpofe, but that the Fumes of burning Brimfone are the only Means of deftroying the Infection and Contagion of Epidemical Difeafes. Likewife occafional Remarks upon the Effects of the Fumes of Sulphur upon Infects, Animalcula, &c. with an infallible Method of deftroying the Vermin which infest Apple Trees, causing the Canker, &c. By James Rymer, Surgean, R. N. 8vo. p. 56. Price 2s. Symonds, Paternofter

Row. 1805.

This author is of opinion, that the vapour of burning fulphur is more efficacious in deftroying the contagion of peftilential fever, than the nitric gas recommended by Dr. Smyth; he therefore advifes it to be ufed in fumigating infected apartments, bedding, clothes, &c. and thinks that a portion of it might be elicited in the rooms of the patients, fufficient to destroy the infectious miafmata, without endangering fuffocation. He alfo recommends giving fulphur internally, and anointing the body with fulphur, as means of preventing perfons having commerce with the fick, or going into infected places, from receiving the contagion. He thinks the quantity of fulphur contained in pit-coal, of which 7 or 800,000 chaldrons are confumed annually in and about London is the principal caufe of the exemption from contagious fever we happily experience in this metropolis. Separation of the fick, where the difeafe actually rages, with ventilation and cleanliness, have alfo their share of praife. Bark and elixir of vitriol, by ftrengthening the conftitution, are powerful prefervatives; but thefe are far excelled, he fays, by a tincture of his invention, for which he has obtained a patent, "the cardiac, and nervous tincture." The manner of taking this fpecific, with an account of fome of the wonders it has performed, are then detailed; but as the compo fition of this famed medicine is a fecret, and we have never hap pened to hear of its efficacy, we fhall not, of course, be expected to give any opinion concerning it.

ART. 27. Proceedings of the Board of Health in Manchefter. 12mo. p. 262. Cadell and Davies, Strand, London.

In this very useful publication, we are prefented with a de tailed account of the establishment, and proceedings of the Board of Health, instituted at Manchester, in January 1796, for the purpose of preventing the generation, and checking the progrefs of infectious fever, among the poor in that town and neighbour hood; with letters from Drs. Haygarth, Percival, Ferriar, and other gentlemen, explaining the principles on which the infti

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tution

tution is founded, and fuggefting regulations for its conduct and management. The plan adopted by the fociety confifts in removing poor perfons, labouring under infectious fever, from their clofe, dirty, and miferable habitations, to houfes prepared for their reception, where they are lodged in fpacious and well ventilated apartments, and receive all neceffary attendance and affiftance. The beneficial effects of this arrangement became foon confpicuous, by a fenfible diminution in the number and proportion of fever patients. But completely to anfwer the purposes of the fociety, and to prevent the generation of contagious fever, much more remains to be done. The houfes allotted for the poor, or in which they are obliged to refide, must be rendered more wholefome, the streets, lanes, courts, &c. in which they are fituated, made more open and airy; and the number of perfons occupying them limited; in fhort, improvements must be made fimilar to thofe which have been going on in London for more than half a century, particularly they must be copioufly fupplied with water. We hear daily complaints of the prodigious increase of buildings in the vicinity of London; they may be productive of inconve nience; but the opportunity that has thence been given for feparating the poor, and spreading them over a larger space of ground, is probably one of the principal caufes of the little progrefs infectious fever makes, when it happens to be generated or introduced among us. The inhabitants of Manchester are aware of this fact, and there can be little doubt but they will take the steps neceffary for obtaining fimilar advantages. Should fome patriotic gentlemen build a row of fmall, low-rented houses in the skirts of the town, the rapidity with which they would be filled, would foor excite others to follow their example. The miferable hovels in the town would be deferted, or become lefs crowded, and thus a principal fource of infection would be removed. The number of ufeful regulations contained in this little volume, makes it highly deferving of attention, particularly at this time, when it is thought neceffary to adopt all practicable expedients to prevent the importation of fever from the southern parts of Europe.

ART. 28. An Examination of that Part of the Evidence relative to Cow-pox, which was delivered to the Committee of the House of Commons, by two of the Surgeons of St. Thomas's Hofpital; to which is added, a Letter to the Author (W. R. Rogers, Hertford fhire Regiment) from John Birch, Efq. Second Edition. 8vo. Price 2s. Callow, Crown-Court.

P. 40.

The first edition of this pamphlet having efcaped our notice, wa have thought it right to mention this new impreffion of it, though it does not appear to contain any new obfervations on the subject. Mr. Birch has conftantly oppofed the practice of vaccination, and his profeffional character gives weight to his objections, but not so much as to outweigh the teftimony of a great majority of the

5

moft

moft ingenious phyficians and furgeons in the kingdom, and of al. moft the whole world, who ftill continue to practice and recommend it.

ART. 29. The Syphilitic Phyfician; being a Treatise on the Venereal Disease, with concife Directions for Čuring it in all its Appearances; with fome ufeful Hints, tending not only to leffen its Virulence, but to prevent it altogether. By C. Erskine, Surgeon. 12mo. p. 71. Price 2s. Symonds, Paternofter-Row, 1804. This tract is intended to enable perfons affected with fyphilis. to be their own phyficians in every stage of the complaint. The fymptoms are in general accurately defcribed, and the regimen and medicines recommended in the cure, fuch as experience has proved to be efficacious. We have no difficulty therefore in saying, that it will be much fafer for perfons affected with gonorrhoea, or any fymptom of the venereal difeafe, to follow the directions contained in this little manual, particularly in recent cafes, than to have recourfe to any of the infallible noftrums fo confidently obtruded on the public, by hand-bills, advertisements, &c. fince, fhould they not be fo fortunate as to obtain a complete cure by the methods here recommended, they can fuffer no injury by the expe. riment; the disease will be difarmed, in fome degree of its malignity; its progrefs will be impeded, and what may remain to be done will eafily be effected by the advice of a fkilful furgeon.

DIVINITY.

ART. 30. A Sermon preached before the Honourable House of Commons, at the Church of St. Margaret, Westminster, on Wednefday, February 20th, 1805, being the Day appointed for a general Faft. By Charles Henry Hall, D.D. Canon of ChriftChurch, Oxford. 4to. 23 pp. 1s. 6d. Hatchard.

Frequent as the occafions have been, of late years, for public difcourfes of this nature, there are ftill, and will ever be, in the compofitions of men of fuperior talents, fomething that marks. them as original; fomething which gives novelty to the plan or ftyle, though it may not to the topics of the exhortation. Complicated, however, as the confiderations are which affect us as a nation, under our prefent awful circumftances, it is not eafy fo to exhauft even thefe, that a penetrating mind fhall not find Something to diftinguish or fomething to fuggeft, which has not been fo diftinguished or fuggefted before.

The perufal of Dr. Hall's difcourfe naturally gave rise to these reflections; by prefenting to us all thefe proofs of a fagacious and vigorous mind. In preaching on the text, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" he shows first, that God has been for us;

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and