e

e

of

HE fermon before us is afcri

Tbed in the daily papers (though

bed in the daily papers (though

his name is not in the title-page) to one
John Brett D.D. of Ireland. The popula-

6

It is plain, and it is happy mostly for the family where it falls out, that where that apple of gold, in a picture of filver, beauty and virtue meet, they bear an irrefiftable fway over the hearts of men; and where the heart is inflaved, the will is too fast chained to be free; for the fame link will always draw both: how many impetuous and daring fpirits, who have awed even their fovereigns, and made whole fenates tremble, have been seen fervilely crouching to draw the smiles of a wife; and the conquerors of the world, for thefe and other little en

rity of the fubject, and the very extra-dearments fain to lay all their tro

phies and laurels at their feet, fatisfied as with a full reward, as if this had been the end and aim of their toil.'

He then fteps out of his way to refute lord Bacon's, affertion, ⚫ that In wives and children are hindrances to great atchievements,' and alledges, in oppofition to it, that moft of the great heroes in the world have been married men; this naturally leads him to the praife of wedlock what he fays upon this is the best part of his difcourfe.

ordinary manner in which it is treated,
together with a moft fingular dedication
(See p. 611. 1757.) have so far exerted
the curiofity of the public, as already
to have brought it to a third edition;
the great call for it among the ladies
bidding fair for as many more.
the discourse itself there is nothing, in
our opinion, (a few paffages excepted)
very remarkable, though it appears
throughout rather to have been written
by way of effay, in fome periodical
paper, than as a fermon the levity
and jocularity of it being, in many
places, highly unfuitable to the dig- By this fweet and intimate union
nity of the pulpit. Senfe and abfur-(Jays the Doctor) how are the hearts
dity, ferious and comic, mirth and gra-
' of men cheared and comforted?
vity, are indeed so oddly jumbled to- • every evil of life alleviated and lef-
gether in this performance, that we fened; every joy of it raised and
fcarce know what to make of it. improved where the difpofitions
tally and are mutually fweet, it is fa
blissful, fo truly paradifaical, that
he who is in it would hardly defire
to change it for another: it hath
this, the greatest and only inconve-
nience, that it ties our affections too
faft to the world, fo fast, that we are
with difficulty weaned of that af-
fection, and hardly torn but by vio-
lence from it.

The doctor fets out very gravely and folemnly, to inform us that the bafinefs of this difcourfe is, 1ft. To affert the honour and dignity of the married state, zdly, To hew in what way both the honour and happiness of it may be beft fecured: and to this end, after fome common obfervations on the celibacy of monks, and the aufterities of a cloister, he proceeds to take to task the other enemies to matrimony, call'd libertines, who endeavour, by banter and ridicule, to bring this ftate into contempt. In this part of his discourse we meet with a digreflive encomium on the fair fex.

Without this partnership, hardly any condition or fortune yields much content: a four and peevith inquietude, which in the long run turns ever into melancholy, grows upon the best tempers in a folitary and

A.2. at 1910 mod fingle

Such is doctor Brett's fermon, will and direct. In proof of this he which, as he informs us himself, in quotes Elian, Diodorus Siculus, Arifioan advertisement prefix'd to it, was phanes, and Valerius Maximus, &c. greatly admir'd; many interceding to + who, each of them, tell us fome read or take copies of it: infomuch story or other about the fuperiority of that he was oblig'd to print it, for the women, and their power over their fatisfaction of his friends; to which husbands: from all which the doctor be was the easier induced, as it gave thinks he has a right to conclude, him the opportunity of paying no unac- that from madam Eve to madam ceptable compliment to lady Caroline Pampadour' (ftrange language this Ruffel, to whom it is faid to have been for a divine) the fceptre hath ever dedicated. ⚫ been in the hands of the fair."

This dedication is indeed a most un-
common and extraordinary perform-
ance, if we confider to whom it comes,
and from whom it came. The prero-
gative of beauty, and the privileges of
the fair fex, are no doubt very enter-
taining and agreeable fubjects, but
fuch at the fame time as one would
not expect to see tacked to a difcourfe
from the pulpit, and by a doctor of
divinity but our furprife is ftill
greater, to fee the author in fome
parts of it fhamefully tranfgreffing
the bounds of decency, and addreffing
a young lady of the highest rank and
diftinction, as well as the most amiable
and virtuous character, in terms which
it would be as unbecoming in her to
attend to as in him to dictate.

The dedication begins thus.
MADAM,

There is an Italian proverb,
' which fays that handsome girls are
⚫ born married: the meaning whereof
' is not what hath been vulgarly fup-
* pofed, that marriages are made in
'heaven: but that fuch is the power
of beauty over the human heart,
⚫ that when they will, they may.'

He then defires her ladyship to look eat for a husband; and after a little

See (fays our learned doctor) Henry, firnamed the Great: In the cabinet, how politic and wife: in the field, how perfevering, valiant and intrepid! was even he the fovereign of his own will? no: but the fervant of Madam Gabrielle d'Etrees: fee him attending her in her accouchment, feasoning her gruels, and warming her flannels, doing all the offices of a valet or a chambriere: his foul, we must say, "was undoubtedly in her hands, the • could turn it whitherfoever the willed.'

་

The following is perhaps the most extraordinary part of this extraordinary dedication.

In the fifteenth century it happened, there lived a man in France,

+ Alex. ab Alex. tells you, fays the doctor) that his father, who by being a father had undoubtedly the advantage of good experience, never had this faying of Thales out of his mouth, and was ever twitting with it all who came in his way; thence proving, that whoever had a mind to be free, had this only way, to live fingle. Nor is this, Madam, by the way, any prejudice against mar

flourish about the powers of fenfe, beau-riage, for the fame is true of a religious
ty, and firength, he tells us, that man
is only a puppet, a meer paffive intru-
ment in the hands of women, edged
and blunted, furious and bluftering,
gentle and tame, as their fovereigns

• We refer our readers to his curious dedication, beginning at, The learned have diflinguifhed, &c.

fate; it alfo is a ftate of fervitude: but both are fufficiently recommended by this, That the yoke is eafy and the burden light.

The doctor's application of feripture in this place, as well as in many other parts of this dedication, is fhamefully loofe, and borders very nearly, in our opinion, on prophaneness.

• Alain