"Fourthly, We are obliged to love Jefus Chrift for his laws: It is wonderful to fee the perverfenefs of the human mind; we avoid Chrift, left to ourfelves, as we would a tyrant, and we are as much afraid of his fervice as we are of fickness or a misfortune; and when any of us are prefied into it (I speak of unconverted people,) we are very uneafy under it, and glad when it is over; while we are held to it, we are birds kept in the unnatural heated place of a human hand, and when we are let go, and the fervice is over, we are birds in the natural expanfe-hither and thither, this way and that way, to and fro, and every where rather than into the hand that once held us. But, Lord Jefus, is it true that thy yoke is flavery? Haft thou indeed brought a body of laws that diftract people to obey? And doft thou need rack my foul to bring it right? Ah! my brethren, let us own it as a great truth that fin was not made for man; or, what is the fame, that man's foul was not made for fin; and when he practices fin, he diftorts himself, and does that which his nature is not fitted to: he is a kind of large complicated machine, all the wheels go placid and cafy, and fmooth, when he works righteoufnefs and holiness, and the wheel is racked and torn, spoiled and distorted, when he works the works of fin, for which he was never conftructed. I appeal to you, you know what it is to be angry; that's the Devil's law: fire at him-revile him-revenge yourself on him-hate him-hate him when you go to bed-hate him when you rife-keep it rankling in your foul all your life, and don't forgive him when you die-pursue him with your laft will and teftament, and harafs him, if it be poffible, many years after your death; that's the Devil's law. Is that like the law of Chrift, which fays, forgive him-forgive him and be happy-forgive him, do as I do-be fettled and fteady, fo that fin itself cannot difturb your pleafure; I ask in which cafe is a man eafieft and fafeft? Yes, you are infinitely obliged to Chrift for bringing you under his laws, fome of you." P. 256. The third Sermon begins as oddly as the former. By putting this language into the lips of different people, which would be proper in the mouth of every one of us, I conceive that proper anfwers might be given, not only pointing to a duty, but to the degree in which that duty fhould be performed. What fall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me? Why, who are you? Relate to us your hiftory, and fay what it is that lies upon your mind. Can you fpeak of Jehovah's bencfits to you? Probably you will fay, we have nothing great in the eyes of the world to falk of; but we have received benefits from Almighty God, which appeared great in our eyes-they are really great, becaufe they are for our good, for the good of our families, for the good of our neighbours, for the good of thofe that are, afflicted; in a word, for the good of fociety at large. What is that? Why, fay you, I can write, I can read, I can work, and I can never enough admire that God who put it into the hearts of my parents, my good parents, to bring me up to live in this prefent world; by this means they have confirmed and established my health, which I should have loft in idleness; by this means they have put it in my power to fupport the partner whom I efteem; by this means they have enabled me to train up a small, fome may fay a large family, and to blefs those with my induftry whom I am bound by every tie to fupport, and to teach to fupport themselves; by this means they have enabled me to do good to my neighbours: I have been enabled to fay, through mine honeft industry-My cup is full; yea, my cup runs over; hold my neighbour's cup to take the overplus, and let me bless thofe that have nothing to comfort themselves with, the fick and the old, who cannot work, and who are dependent wholly upon charity; by this means, I thank God, I can confider myfelf, as all politicians who treat upon government do—an useful member of fociety." P. 267. The following expreffions, p. 270, however affecting and well intended, are furely very puerile. "There is a fight, a very simple fight, that always ftops me fhort, and fixes me to feast on a kind of heavenly joy, and that is when I see a charity child, a poor charity child, with his little bible under his little arm, &c." We here take our leave of Mr. Robinfon; lamenting that we must withhold that unqualified praise, which the Editor infifts upon as the indifpenfable teft of true wifdom, and found judgment. And we muft add, in our own defence, that in regard to the difcipline of the church we belong to, its rites and ceremonies, laws and ftatutes, we are not moved by any thing Mr. R. has advanced upon the fubject, though) we have paid the utmost attention to all his arguments, and all his affertions. ART. VI. Amadis de Gaul, a Poem in three Books; freely tranflated from the first part of the French Version of Nicolas de Heberay, Sieur des Effars; with notes by William Stewart Rofe, Efq. 8vo. 198 pp. 8s. Cadell, 1803. WITH ITH the name of Amadis de Gaul, we have all been familiar from childhood, but few perfons are acquainted with more than the name; indeed, the origin of Amadis, like that of fome other celebrated productions, appears to be veiled in deep and impenetrable obfcurity: Mr. Warton, in one of his differtations on Romantic fictions fiations in Europe, confidently afcribes it to Vafco de Lobeyra, a Portuguese, who flourished in the reign of Don Denys: and Mr. Southey argues with great force to confirm that opinion. French Authors, on the contrary, contend that it was tranflated from the Romance Tongue, into the Spanish, and consequently claim its honors for their own nation; the queftion itself may perhaps be of no greater importance, than to fhow the intereft which Amadis de Gaul has every where excited, and hence the expediency of a popular tranflation into our own language. The original work confifted of twenty-four books; fix only of which, before the late publication by Mr. Southey *, had ever appeared in English; and these fix, which were tranflated in the 16th century, by a person of the name of Anthony Munday, are now only to be met with in public libraries, or the more felect collections of literary Antiquaries. Mr. Rofe has contented himself with the publication of three books only, which are freely tranflated from the first part of Herberay's French Verfion, and comprise a fufficient number of the exploits of Amadis, to prove the propriety of his claim to all the honors of Chivalry. This felection, as it could only have been intended to gratify curiofity, or amufe an idle hour, we conceive to be fully adequate to the Author's defign; the following fummary of its contents, will give the reader a general idea of the whole. The firft Book records the parentage, birth, and education of Amadis, his exposure to the fea, from whence he is providentially rescued, and his reception at the Court of Scotland; here he falls in love with Oriana, daughter of the king of Britain, at whofe requeft he is dubbed a Knight Errant, by Perion, king of France, his own father, but unknown to him at that period. In Book 2d, he fallies forth as ufual in queft of adventures; diftinguishes himself on all occafions in the true fpirit of his order; is made the inftrument of deliverance to king Perion, and difcovers, by means of Oriana, the fecret of his birth. Book 3d, and laft, continues the hiftory, fhowing how Amadis conferred the honors of Knighthood on a ftranger, whom he afterwards difcovers to be his brother; how he From the Spanish verfion of Garciordonnez de Montalvo. See Brit. Crit, xxiv. 471, fell fell into the Inare of an enchanter, and of his deliverance by a friendly fairy; how he engaged in defperate combat with a powerful Knight, which would have proved fatal, had not the difcovery been miraculously made that they were brothers. Amadis finally rescues Oriane from Arcelaus, a powerful magician, which leads to the confummation of his happinefs, and the conclufion of the poem. These particulars Mr. Rofe has given in an easy strain of verfe, with a proper admiffion of old words, as we fuppofe to give a degree of antiquity to the flyle. If Mr. R.. can boait of few pretenfions to excellence, as a poet, he feldom finks below mediocrity; but there is a great want of fpirit. and variety, and frequently a tedious recurrence of the fame rhymes. Towards the clofe of the first book, for in stance, p. 32, 33, 34, 35, &c. the chimes are played upon "Oriane," without meafure, and without mercy, and the following is among one of the lameft lines that ever difgraced the pages of poetry. P. 76. "Whoe'er faid he, Thou art, that know'ft me, better than I know thee." For an awkward ufe of an obfolete word, fee page 21. "Gulnor the boy was CLEPT!"-Paffages indeed are not wanting, that need not "thank the Gods," but which are folely indebted to the rhymes for making them poetical. Mr. R., in his introduction, had occafion to complain of the licentiousness of his original; in one or two inftances we confider the tranflator as not entirely free from the fame error. After these free, but we truft candid obfervations, we fubjoin the following paffage, as a fair fpecimen of the general character of this work; which, notwithstanding the exceptions we have found it neceffary to make, we conceive will be read with intereft and amusement. The author is fpeaking of the early prowefs of Amadis, in the court of Scotland, and of his fuperiority over his competitors. "Revolving years had wing'd their rapid flight, D BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXVI. JULY, 1805. Who Who in the barons bow'rs, with foftering care But fill the princely infant bore away He twangs the bow and wings the feather'd dart; One more inftance will not be thought fuperfluous. Oriane, in preparing for her departure from the court of Scotland, accidentally difcovers the fecret of the birth of Ainadis. "Who now but Oriane inceffant weeps ; And with fond tears her midnight pillow fteeps? "But fwift, lov'd damfel, to the woods repair, Tha |