Commentators on the whole fcriptures. § 20. On the whole New Teftament. § 21. On felect parts both of the Old and New Teftament. § 22. On felect parts of the Old Teftament only. § 23. And of the New Teftament only. § 24. (III.) THEOLOGICAL works, both fyftematic and mifcellaneous. And firft, public confeffions and catechifms. § 25. Latin fyftems of divinity. § 26. Alfo English. § 27. English practical writers.-Puritans. § 28. Nonconformifts. 29. Epifcopalians. § 30. Scotch. § 31. Americans. 32. Sermons that excel, as models of compofition. § 33. (IV.) ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, including biography, chronology, rites, and antiquities. And first, of the Old Teftament church. § 34. Hiftories of the chriftian church. $35. Of fome parts of the chriftian history. § 36. Biography. 37. Chronology. § 38. Antiquities. § 39. (V.) Books that treat of the PASTORAL CARE, and PUBLIC SPEAKING. And firft, of the paftoral care. $ 40. Of public Speaking, in general. $41. Of preaching, in particular. § 42. Books in which eloquence is eminently exemplified. § 43. (VI.) MISCELLANEOUS books. And first, evidences of revealed religion. § 44. Moral Science. §45. Natural Science. § 46. Civil history. § 47. Poetry and mufic.

§ 1. A learned author very justly remarks,

that one great defect, in the conduct of study, is an ill choice of books;' and yet perhaps is of all others the most common fault.' A great many read any thing they light upon, and to them the cheapest books are the most valuable. In most fales the purchasers had much better give ten times the money they pay for books, to be without them; for, befides the price, the time spent in reading them, which is far more valuable, is all thrown away. Besides, to be much engaged in reading or confulting worthlefs books, tends to mifguide the reader, to fpoil his tafte, and corrupt his language. It is the bufiness of à ftudent to peruse the best books, on every subject, and employ himself on those only.

2. Many books, which, at the time of their first publication, were very proper to be read, because the most valuable of their kind, are now comparatively useless; for others have been fince published on the fame fubjects, which are much fuperior with regard to the matter, method, and language; which correct their miflakes, fupply their defects, and carry things to a far greater

L13

greater degree of perfection.

Confequently,

it is egregious trifling, to spend time and pains upon the former, to the neglect of the latter. *

3. (1.) To remedy, in fome degree, this too common evil, procure the best PREPARATORY books, that give a particular account of authors, and their publications. These are principally either Catalogues, or Bibliothecas.

§ 4. One of the first inquiries of an economical ftudent, when a book is well recommended to him, is, What is the price of it? And as he may be fo fituated, that he can have no other information than from books, the beft ftep he can take is to procure fuch Catalogues or Lifts of books as contain the prices of them. Of this nature is,

BENT'S London Catalogue of books, with their fizes and prices, thin 8vo. corrected to September, 1799. Of this, no doubt, there will be fucceffive editions, with improvements. It contains only the principal books published in London, from the beginning of the prefent century.

Other catalogues, which are often circulated by town and country bookfellers, fometimes contain books which cannot be had in the more common mode of application, and, by comparing

* See CLARKE's Effay on Study, page 115.

them

them together, the ufual price of moft books may be foon learnt, making due allowance for the binding, and, what is of chief importance, the EDITION. This laft is a circumstance which deferves peculiar attention.

The General Index to the Monthly Review, 3 vols, 8vo. Lond. 1786, and 1799, exhibits the ftate of English literature for about forty years; that is, from 1749, when the review commenced, to 1790; and one part of the work contains the title of every publication reviewed in that period, with the price, under the different claffes of literature. HARWOOD'S View of the different editions of the Claffics, 12mo. Lond. 1778, contains alfo an account of the best editions of the Septuagint, Greek Teftament, and Chriftian Fathers, both Greek and Latin, with occafional remarks, and references to the prices. CLARKE'S Efay upon Study, 12mo. Lond. 1737, contains an ample catalogue of books, in all the feveral parts of learning; in which are noticed the best editions, but not the prices. It must be obferved, that he wrote in an early part of the 18th century, and that the recommendations of his modern books in divinity are to be taken with caution.

§ 5. For an extenfive acquaintance with books, efpecially when a tafte for what is useful and

and folid is in a good degree formed, and the judgment is not liable to be unduly influenced by fpecious titles, Bibliothecas may be confulted with great advantage. And it will naturally

occur, that when a fentiment or character of a work is given, the connections and opinions, as well as the taste of the party, fhould be taken into the account. In this clafs of Bibliothecas the following will be useful, and most of them are easily procured:

CAVEI Scriptorum Ecclefiafticorum Hiftoria Literaria, 2 vol. fol. Oxon. 1740, is a work of great value. To a fketch of the lives of literary characters in every age, from the birth of Chrift to Martin Luther, is added a lift of publications, both genuine and spurious attributed to them.

CAVEI Chartophylax Ecclefiafticus, 8vo. Lond. 1685, is an abridgment of the former work. DUPIN'S Bibliotheca Patrum, or hiftory of ecclefiaftical writers, commonly bound in 8 vol. fol. Lond. 1697 and 1725, begins with a brief account of the writers of the Holy Scriptures, and defcends with the ecclefiaftical writers of after ages, in a regular feries, and more at large, to the close of the 17th century. He fometimes gives a very minute account of works, and even an abridgment of them. It fells low, as may be feen in catalogues. The 2nd part of the 17th century has not been published