tion and fanaticism, in the room of that liberal and tolerant system now established, by puritanizing the church, and discountenancing every member of an ingenious and inquisitive turn of mind; first to ruin their reputation, and then to eject them. But the best reformed system of christianity and true philosophy, exist together in this country, and they will scorn the assistance of such a miserable perversion of philosophy and truth as Mrs. Hannah More describes, whatever religiously sick minds may say or do in favour of her nostrums. She will, it is hoped, impose but on few; for it is not a religion of love, of expansive embrace, comprehending the human race, proclaiming the "goodness of living together in unity," but a re ligion of hatred and persecution to all who differ from herself, and utterly repugnant to the attributes of God, that she teaches. Her own written works, and her late conduct at Blagdon and elsewhere, sufficiently demonstrate this. She is now, however, detected as an enemy, not only to individuals among the clergy, but, notwithstanding her smiles and unction, to the whole order. I ask, if she had succeeded in ejecting Mr. Bere from his living, as well as his curacy, would she and her supporters have rested there? Would the rest of the clergy have any thing to apprehend? I speak not at random, I have proof of what I write.

Mrs. More makes Trueman repeat that beautiful and divine precept of our Lord, our Lord, "love your "enemies ; do good to them that hate you ;"" if

"thine enemy hunger, feed him," &c. &c. And yet, in real life, she who is so exclusively holy, acts in direct opposition to these commands in the character of Trueman, towards Mr. Bere, supposing him to be the philosopher; for she meanly, wickedly, and clandestinely endeavoured, with the assistance of all she could get to join with her, to deprive the Curate of Blagdon, aged and infirm, of every possible means of existence, by stripping him of his gown, and depriving him of his benefice. Of this the proof ought not to be brought forward in books, but in a court of law. Hanc tu Romane caveto. She, at last, gets Fantom's man servant hanged, and blames the French philosophy for it; as if executions had not been more frequent in England before and since the French revolution, in the proportion of two to one, than in France, though the population of France be more than twice that of England. But the venal hireling was paid for it. And what have we got by the war? Three hundred million more debt, the blood of two or three hundred thousand shed, and an island or two in India; and a military republic established and acknowledged in the heart of Europe.

In the History of the TwoWEALTHY FARMERS, I thought as I proceeded I should have but little to observe, the object seemed so excellent, and the stile appropriate. O! si sic omnia! He who has enjoyed the comforts and felt any of the evils of life, entertained the expectations of hope, the confidence conscious virtue inspires, experienced the

delights of walking with God, and can appeal to him for the rectitude of his intentions, and the purity of his means, whose highest object and aim were to be honest rather than rich, who has observed and meditated on the ways of God withman, may here revel in religious and intellectual pleasure. But I had not advanced very far, before I observed, with all this ardent piety and enflamed devotion, this apparently genuine spirit of christianity, such shrewd, "knowing" intelligence, such acquaintance with the deformities and depravities of the human mind and heart, as appeared to me inconsistent with the innocent speculations of a female mind, and such as would have indicated rather a disposition capable of entertaining the uncharitable opinions, the artful subtlety, and the shrewd cunning which she has manifested on different occasions in private life, than that mild disposition, that christian charity, that gentle and humble spirit, which she so zealously inculcates. If her conduct to individuals, a conduct that would disgrace a fairer fame, and depreciate excellence superior to her talents, could be forgot, the enjoyment and profit of her reader would be greater. When he reads (p. 66, vol. 4) "He had that "sort of sense, which good men call cunning, "and knaves call wisdom. He was too prudent

ever to do any thing so wrong that the law could "take hold of him; yet he was not over scrupu"lous about the morality of an action when the

prospect of enriching himself by it was very

great, and the chance of hurting his character "was small;" he who can forget secret accusations against Mr. Bere, literary robbery from Mrs. Cowley and Mrs. Yearsley, her secret calumny against the latter, by her letters to London, who can read p. 72, and not consider her as vain, ambitious, violent, and high-minded.

In p. 76, at the imaginary school where the Miss Bragwells were educated, "Religion was "not learned, because christianity was an edu"cation fit to be taught at charity-schools," it is intended to praise themselves and their own seminary, at the expence of others. But if they taught so much and so refined a system of the gospel, and such pure morality, they have not been very successful in the impressions they made on the late Mrs. Robinson, alias Perdita, who in her life written by herself, and lately published, tells us, she had her instruction from them, and with the other young ladies, attended the Miss Mores to the theatre. But in H. More's mind, many revolutions, counter-revolutions, progressions, and retrogradations have taken place since those days, and her present state of mind and principles. are not yet fixed, they being indeed, non-descript. God give her grace to repent, with a repentance not to be repented of.

Upon the subject of the Farmers, let me transcribe a few sentences, to contrast with the lady's prose sentiments, and secret accusations in private letters and otherwise.

tr

can say,

"Goodness is not a single act to be done; so that a man I have atchieved it, and the thing is over; but it " is a habit that is constantly to be maintained; it is a con"tinual struggle with the opposite vice."

This is all very well. But the scriptures are misunderstood in the following sentences.

66

6

"The change the Gospel requires is of quite another "cast: it is having a new heart and a right spirit;' it is "being God's workmanship;' it is being created anew "in Christ Jesus unto good works;' it is becoming new "creatures; it is old things being done away, and all things made new; it is by solearning the truth as "it is in Jesus;' to the putting off the old man, and "putting on the new, which after God is created in righ"teousness and true holiness;' it is by partaking of the "divine nature.' These," she says, 66 are not her words, "nor words picked out of any fanatical book; they are "the words of that Gospel you profess to believe; it is not "a new doctrine, it is as old as our religion itself. Though "I cannot but observe, that men are more reluctant in believing, more averse to adopting this doctrine, than al66 most any other and indeed I do not wonder at it; for "there is perhaps no one which so attacks corruption in "its strong holds; no one which so thoroughly prohibits ." a lazy Christian from uniting a life of sinful indulgence "with an outward profession of piety,'

Mrs. Inkle, one of her characters, is taught to say

"To cheat the weary hours, I looked about for some "books, and found, among a few others of the same cast, Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul. "But all those sort of books were addressed to sinners; now as I knew I was not a sinner, I threw them away "in disgust. Indeed they were ill-suited to a taste formed by plays and novels, to which reading I chiefly trace my "ruin; for, vain as I was, I should never have been guilty

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