That great, tremendous Power, that eternal Source of all Light and Being, (he. fore whom all the Worlds he hath made, are but as fo many Atoms floating in a fingle Ray of Light emitted from himself) O! who can by fearching find him out ? Where is the exalted Creature that is able, with the utmoft Stretch of Thought, to form an Idea of Perfection, worthy of the eternal Mind? How much do we difhonour the great God in our Words and Thoughts, and know it not, and little think how often we take his Name in vain in our irreverent Talk of him, and unattentive Addreffes to him! In order to awaken in our Minds a mere ferious and folemn Regard to our Maker,' I have chofen thefe Words, not fo much with a View to treat of the Knowledge of God, as our Want of it, and to excite in us that Humility of Heart, which is the best Difpofition to attain it. In this Chapter, Jch celebrates the Power and Wifdom of God, as manifeft in the Works of Creation; particularly in the Formation and Prefervation of this terraqueous Globe, which we inhabit, Ver. 7J2. He then turns his Eyes to the Firmament over his Head; Ver. 13. By bis Spirit be bath garnified the Heavens His Hand bath formed the crocked Serpent: That is, thofe various Constellations which befpangle the Firmament, and of which this of the Serpent appeared one of the Chief in the Hemifphere, under which he lived. He then adds, in the Conclufion of all, "Lo! thefe are Farts of His Ways, but how little a Portion is heard of Him! but the Thunder of His Power who can understand?" That is, "How fmall a Part of all His glorious Works have I here specified? How few are the Effects of the Almighty's Power that have ever reached the Eyes and Ears of human Creatures? And those few that have,O how tremendous and incomprehenfible!" But though the perfonal Pronoun Him feems here more strictly to refer to his Works, yet I propofe to take it in a more general Senfe (in which the Propofition implied in the Text is no lefs true) as relative to his Being, the Manner of bis Existence, his Perfections, Works, Ways and Word. All thefe are diftinctly confidered and illuftrated; we fhall felect his Obfervations under the 4th Particular as a farther Speci themfelves, than they appear to us; and the more we know of them the more they astonith us. Let us look into the minute Animal World, how are we amazed to fee (what for fo many Ages was never thought of) the very fmalleft Particles of Matter, that fall under the Reach of our beft Glaffes, all alive! Aquatic Infects, many thoufand Times lefs than a Mite, of different Species, Forms, Contexture and Make; Millions of them enjoying Existence in a Drop of Water, where they float and play, as in the Ocean; provided, not only with Organs, Limbs, Blood, Veins, Veffels, Fluids (and the like) proper to the Animal System; but with In truments and Weapons to procure them Food, and catch and kill their Prey, much fmaller than themfelves! How manifold are thy Works, O Lord! in Wijdom baft thou made them all. Let us turn our Eyes to the great World, -What amazing Cortrivance do we obferve in our own Structure, we are fearfully and wonderfully made: How curiously adjusted and exactly finished the Mechanifm of our Bodies! How capacious the ripen ing Powers of our Mind! the Weakness and Decay of which is only owing to that of an organifed Body, it is fo closely united to; but which, when they are got free from this Incumbrance, will be for ever increafing. And how aftonishing that Union that two fuch oppofite Subftances as Flesh and Spirit fhould be fo intimately conjoined! No Union in Nature can be more incomprehenfible. But the human Soul! an immortal Subftarce, that must fubfift for ever! know no End of its Being but live eternally in fome unknown State of Existence on which it is just about to enter!Adored be this great Auther of our Souls for this transporting Profpe&! But alas! What is Man in the Compass of the Creator's Works? A mere Mite and Atom of Existence; that bears no more Proportion to his other Works, than one of thofe invifible Infects, I before mentioned, does to a World.. -But, why do I make fuch low Comparifons? This whole Globe itfelf, which we inhabit, is but an Atom, when compared to the Whole of created Nature: Which may comprehend, for ought we know, as many fuch Worlds as there are Sands on the Sea- fhore. For is there not Room enough in boundless Space to contain them all? And what Limits can our Imaginations fet to the Effects of Almighty Power, eternally creative ?Here let us paufe and adoreHow great and marvellous are thy Works, a LORD LORD GOD ALMIGHTY! bow small a Portion is known of thee! II. The Hiftory of the Popes, from the Foundafion of the See of Rome, to the prefent Time, Vol. IV. By Archibald Bower, Efq; beretofore public Prof Jor of Rhetoric, Hiftory, and Philofophy, in the Universities of Rome, Fermo and Macerata, and in the latter Plate, Counsellor of the Inquifition. London; printed for the Author; and to be had at W. Sendby's, at Z. Stuart's, at Mr. Frith's, and at the Author's, 1759, Price 1 s. 6d. This Volume is printed in Quarto, and contains 350 Pages. There is neither Table of Contents nor Index, probably because the Work remains unfinished. The Names of the feveral Popes, hiftorically, treated of in this Volume, are placed at the Head of the Chapters and Running titles. The Author has profecuted this Hiftory according to the Order of Time in which they lived. This Volume begins with the History of Pope Paul, the 92d Bishop of Rome, A. C. 757. Page 1. Stephen III. 93d Bishop of Rome, A. C. 767. p. 14. Hadrian, 94th Bishop of Rome, A. C. 772. P. 39. Leo III. 95th Bishop of Rome, A. C. 795. P. 141. Stepben IV. 96th Bishop of Rome, A. C. 816. p. 185. Pafchal, 97th Bp. of Rome, A. C. 817. p. 187. Eugene II. 98th Bp. of Rome, A. C. 824. p. 205. Valentine, 99th Bp. of Rome, A. C. 827. p. 219. Gregory IV. 100th Bp. of Rome, A. C. 8a7. P. 220. Sergius II. 101ft Bp of Rome, A. C. 844. P. 233. Leo IV. tozd Ep. of Rome, A. C. 847. Pope Joan, A. C. 855. p. 246. Nicholas, 104th Bp. of Rome, A. C. 858. p. 265, to the End, We fhall chufe to entertain our Readers with the Author's Hiftory of Pope Joan, which he begins with an Account of her Birth, Education, various Adventures, & as related by feveral Writers, of that moft remarkable Event, her being chofen Pope, becoming pregnant, delivered in the public Street, &. But having finished this Part of the Account, he proceeds to offer was unknown to the cotemporary Latin out by whom this Fable was invented, and In the mean Time died Pope Leo IV, and tho' Men of extraordinary Merit were not then wanting in Rome, yet was a Woman preferred to them all, and, as of all the best qualified for fo high a Station, raised with one Voice by the People and Clergy to the Pontifical Throne. Thus did the World be. hold a Woman fitting in the Chair of St. Peter, and the Keys, with the Power of loofening and binding, fallen to the Distaff. How long the was fuffered thus to impose on the Chriftian World is not agreed amongst Authors; but in this all agree, that neither the People nor the Clergy had Occasion, till he was difcovered, to repent of their Choice; for he was difcovered in the End, and the Difcovery of her Sex was owing to the fame Paffion that first prompted her to difguife it. Had he been as chafte as many other Women, who are faid to have difguifed their Sex before her Time, as well as after it, the might have continued undifcovered, as well as they, to the Hour of her Death; but Chastity was a Virtue fhe had been an utter Stranger to ever fince her Infancy, and Opportunities now offering daily to gratify an Inclination that the never had the Refolution to withstand, the yeilded to it at all Adventures, difcovered herself to One of her Domestics, on whose Secrecy the knew he could rely, and difclouing to him all her Secrets, took him in the room of her former Lover. He was true to his Truft; G 2 and and to None was their Intimacy known till the Confequences, naturally attending it, betrayed it to the World. Her Holiness proved with Child; and we are told, that having prefumed, in that Condition, to exorcife a Demoniac, and command the Devil to tell her when he was to quit the Body he poffeffed, the evil Spirit answered, Tell me firft, you who are a Pope, and the Father of Fathers, when a fhe Pope is to be brought to bed, and I will then tell you when I am to quit the Body I poffefs. That Answer was understood by those who heard it as importing no more, than that the Devil never would depart from that Body; and no Notice was .therefore taken of it. In the mean time, her Holiness advanced in her Pregnancy; but not thinking herself fo near her Time as the really was, the unJuckily ventured to affift at a Proceffion, the annual Proceffion of the Rogation-Week. In that Week, the Week preceding Whitfuntide, extraordinary Devotions were performed to preferve the Fruits of the Earth, yet tender and liable to be blasted; and the Pope walked, in folemn Proceffion, with all the Clergy, from the Vatican Bafilic to the Lateran. She might have excufed herfelf; and a Woman of her Art and Address could not be at a Lofs to find Pretences, to excufe herself from attending fo long and fo fatigue. ing a Ceremony: But the chofe to attend it, not apprehending she was so near her Time, fay fome Writers; while Others gravely tell us, that, touched with Remorfe, the fincerely repented of her Wickedness; and that an Angel being thereupon fent from Heaven to offer her the Alternative, to be either eternally damned in the other World, or endure in this the Confufion that was due to her Sins, the chofe of the Two Evils the leaft. However that be, the fet out in Pro'ceffion from the Vatican, attended, accord. ing to Custom, by the Clergy in a Body, by the Senate, and immenfe Crowds of People, and walked with great Eafe till the came to the Street between the Church of St Clement and the Amphitheatre. There the was fuddenly feized with the Pains incident to Women in her Condition: fell, overcome by the Violence of those Pains, to the Ground; and while all about her were ftriving to help her up, and afford her fome Relief, not knowing what had befallen her, the was, in the public Street, and and in the Prefence of the whole Multitude, delivered of a Son, or, as a Monkith Poet expreffes it, of a little Pope. Some fay, that both the Mother and the Child died on the Spot; and Others, that the Child died; but that the Mother was preferved by a Kind of Miracle, to atone, as she did in a Dungeon, for her Wickedness, They add, that, to perpetuate the Memory of fuch an extraordinary Adventure, a little Chapel was built, and a Statue erected, in the Place where it happened, both to the Mother and the Child; and that, in Deteftation of the Fact, the Popes and the Roman Clergy have ever fince, in their Proceffions from the Vatican to the Lateran, turned off from that Street, chufing rather to go a good Way about, than to pass thro' fo infamous a Place. Not fatisfied with thus fhewing their Deteftation and Abhorrence of fuch a fcandalous Impofition, to prevent their being thus impofed upon for the future, they introduced the immodeft Cuftom of placing the new Pope on a perforated Stool, before he was ordained, and obliging the youngest Deacon to fatisfy himfelf and them, that the Perfon, whom they had chofen, was not a Woman; Mas eft, cried the Deacon; and the Clergy answered, Deo gratias. III. The Life and real Adventures of Ha milton Murray, written by himself, in three Volumes. London, printed for the Author, and fold by J. Burd, Printer, 1759. Price gs. bound. This Work is printed in 12mo. The First Volume contains 238 Pages, and is divided into nineteen Chapters; with a Preface. The Second Volume confifts of 240 Pages, and is divided into thirteen Chapters. The Third Volume contains 248 Pages, and is divided into eleven Chapters. As the Contents of thefe Chapters are too large to be included in the prescribed Limits of this Account, we shall give our Readers a brief View of the Author's Defign in the following Pages, by an Abstract from the Author's Preface, as follows. The fubfequent Sheets contain a faithful Narrative of the Life, and Tranfactions of a young Man, who, through the Villany of his Relations, has been frequently expofed to the deceitful Machinations of a Set of Men, whofe only God is Gain; and the fupreme Pleasure of their Lives is centered in that political Stroke of Fineffe, which by the knowing Ones of the Age, is vulgarly called Taking-in. I hope its Author will not be condemned, because the Incidents therein contained may be faid to border upon what is called Low, and were not tranfacted at the Court-End of the Town, fince I rather chose to relate Facts as they really fell to my Obfervation than in fuch a Manner as I might with thep them to have happened; and therefore, as Truth has many Advantages over real Fiction, I flatter myfelf, that this Narrative, low as it is, will not be unacceptable. As a farther Specimen of the Author's Stile and Genius, we fhall give the follow. ing Extract, from Vol. II. Chap. xii. Page 210. under the Title of "laying afide all Thoughts of Place-hunting refolves to turn Publican applies to a Regifter Officeam harangued by the Mafter, who inveighs bitterly against the Villainy of Brewers and Diftillers, Gr." viz. But though I had all the Reafon in the World to be fatisfied in having fo narrowly efcaped this Trap, yet I could not help being very much difpirited at my precarious Situation, hourly lamenting, that amidst a trading and flourishing City, I fhould thus be devoid of all Manner of Bufinefs; and this was the more irksome to me, not only as I faw my Money melting away apace, but also, as my Conftitution was not calcu. lated for Inactivity, I languished for Action; and at laft, defpairing of meeting with any Offer to my Mind, entertained the Notion of commencing Publican. Though this was a Step that but ill fuited my Pride, yet I found, that feveral very creditable People were embarked in that very Branch, and fome of them even made their Fortunes by it in a few Years. - Full of this Scheme, I bent my Mind to bring it to bear in the most effectual Manner, and applied forthwith to a noted Regifter-office, where I paid my Quota very readily, and likewife treated the Master with a Bowl of Punch, in order to influence him the more in my Favour, cordingly promised me Wonders; obferved, that a public Way was actually, at this Juncture, the most thriving Trade in the Univerfe, and asked me, if I could afford to go the Length of One Hundred Guineas. He ac Glad of this Opportunity to manifest my Importance, I told him, that if any genteel Thing, of good Custom and established Reputation, fhould fall in his Way, I would not even feruple to go to the Length of Three Hundred upon a Pinch; and if it had Conveniencies for raifing up a few Stables upon the Premifes, fo much the bet ter, as I might then make formething by letting out Horfes; for that I refolved to enter into the Spirit of the Business at once. "Say you fo? Quoth this worthy Member of the Community, Ecad! I fee you are another guefs Sort of a Man than many I have met with.——Let me alone to do your Bafinefs I love to fee Men of Spirit,there is nothing like it you can then have an Opportunity to keep your Brewer and Distiller under, who, to tell you a Secret that I would not chufe to acquaint every Body with, I do affure you are very good Servants, but extreme bad Mafters. What is the Reafon do you think of fo many Public Houses to be let every other Day? Why, Nothing in the World but this: a foolish Couple have no fooner fcraped together 60 or 70%. than unwilling to remain longer in a State of fervile Dependence, they muft, forfooth, be for commencing Housekeepers, and entering among the honourable Order of Publicans. It is an eafy Matter to take a Houfe, and throw away the best Part of their Money upon the Purchase of Fixtures, and what not; nay, even to procure Credit with their Brewer and Distiller to boot: But not having a fufficient Fund in Bank, if Trade is a little dead at first, as in most Cafes it generally is, even in the best of Houses, they are then under a Neceffity to run farther in Debt to thefe Men, who, if not Perfons of a very Chriftian Principle, oblige them to take the very Refufe of their Liquors, which not answering their Customers Palates, these confcientious Creditors directly feize upon the Premifes, to indem nify themselves, and, by a Writ of Eje&ment, turn the wretched Fools into the wide World, to repent of their Folly at Leifure; fo that I again fay, Sir, you are extremely in the Right of it, to begin with a full Hand; and I will do for you I promise you."”' I was wonderfully taken with the open Dealing of the Man, &c. IV. Memoirs of Madame de Stahl, in twe Parts; containing, a particular Account of the Plot, for which the Spanish Ambassador, great Numbers of the French Nobility, and Madame de Stahl quere committed Prifoners to the Battile, and to feveral other Prisons and Caftles in that Kingdom; ber Conduct under Confinement, and the Integrity fhe preferwed, notwithstanding the Artifices that avere made ufe of to induce ber to a Discovery; quith the Intrigues of feveral Persons of high Rank, from fome of culich he bad a narrow Ef cape; and a Relation of fome State-Trarfac tions, which throw new Lights on the Frenc Hifory. Likewife, fome Account of the conventual Life; this Lady having been brought up from her Infarcy in a Nunnery, in Normandy. The Whole being a Series of wery extraor dinary and incidental Events, and isintersper. jed zoith Charaɛters, and Ancedores of fime. ral of the French Nabuity, and of Parjons either beloved or detefted for their Virtues or Vices. Written by berfelf in ber laft Illness. Translated from the French. To which are added, biftorical and biographical Notes, by the Tranflator. London; printed and fold by W. Reeve, in Fleet-ftreet, Price 38. This Book is printed in 12mo. and contains 328 Pages. The firft Part contains 183, and the fecond Part is continued from thence to the End. The Tranflator having given fuch a particular Account of thefe Memoirs in the Title Page, has for this Reason, we prefume, omitted giving any diftinct Title to the first and fecond Part, Table of Contents, or Index. The Tranflator has prefixed to this Work an Advertisement to the Reader, which, for its Significancy and Concifenefs, we may infert as follow. where foon after I firft faw the Light. The Want of a Subsistence reduced her to look out for a Retreat, which the obtained in the Abby of Sauveur. Madame de la Rochefoucault, the Abbefs, by the Intereft of fome Friends, generously admitted her without any Expence; and when I was to be taken from Nurfe, even allowed my Mother to bring me into the Convent.My Understanding was clearer than usual at the Age of three Years, which was cultivated by all the Inftructions my Age was capable of. The Duchefs of Ventadour, having made my Mother an Offer of being Governefs to her only Daughter, fhe accepted of it, and the Conditions were both honourable and advantageous; but this Kind of Life, and efpecially the Inclinations of her Pupil being incompatable with her rigid Devotion, the left the Place. After a Year's Absence, my Mother joy fully returned to the Convent, where the Ladies fhe had left me with would not deliver me up; they looked upon me as their Child, and my Education as their chief The advantageous Mention made of this ·Piece in all foreign Reviews, induced me to look into it, and to ufe the Style of my Superiors, the Cenfors of Books "af-Employment. ter a careful Perufal, I have found Nothing in it contrary to good Manners, or which fhould hinder a Tranflation of it." I am, even fo fanguine, as to think it bids as fair to answer the worthy Booksellers Purpofe, as many other Memoirs or Adventures. The feveral Incidents, and Mifs De Lannay's Behaviour, befides the Recommendation of Truth, being fuch, that the Polite and the Politician, the Lover and the Scholar, and even the Philofopher and the Chriftian, will meet with Entertainment in it. The Authores gives us the following Account of herself, &c. in Page 1, in the firft Part, which may ferve as a Specimen of her Style, Genius, &c. vix. In my My Fate has been the Reverse of what is feen in Romances, where the Heroine from a Cottage rifes to a Throne. Childhood, I was treated like a Perion of Diftinction, but afterwards I came to know all my Meannefs, and that there was No. thing in the World I could call mine. My Mind, failing at firft to take the Turn na tural to Calamity, has ever been struggling against the Subjection which afterwards became my Lot, and hence proceeded the Wretchedness of my Life. My Father, on fome Account induftriously concealed from me, was obliged to remove into England; my Mother, then young and beautiful, remaining in France. Some Directors, however, raifing Scruples in her about being apart from her Husband, the went after him; but the Climate difagreeing with her, the returned to Paris, Their ftrong Affection begat in them a Defire of a Station, which would enable them to do me more Good. That they made Intereft for an Abbey.It was talked of a long while before it fucceeded, and I foretold it would not be till I had reached my 8th Year. Fools and Children are known fometimes to prophecy by speaking at Random. Nothing occafions a greater Stir in a Convent, than the Promotion of a Nun to an Abbess, every Step towards this Object is carefully watched, and as Mefdames de Grieu were fufpected to look that Way, I was questioned as one, who to be fure was the Depofitory of their Secrets, V. The Hiftory of Benjamin St. Martin, a fortunate Foundling; interspersed with curious Anecdotes, and Narratives of the Love-affairs of fome Perfons in bigh Life, in two Volumes. London; printed for 7. Coote in Paternofter Row. 1759. Price 6 s. bound. This Work is printed in 12mo. The first Volume contains 263 Pages, and is divided into three Books; and each of these into Chapters, the Contents of which are placed at the Head of them as follow. Book I. Chap. 1. Containing an Account how the Child, afterwards called Benjamin St. Martin, was refcued from the miferable State he was in, p. 1. Chap. 2. Containing an Account of the Child's being brought to Brifol, when no Intelli |