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The Englishmen who firft fettled thefe countries, went thither about the year 1630, during the tyrannical part of the reign of King Charles I. on purpose to avoid the feverities they were then exposed to from the Bishops of England, though Proteftants, and with a view to follow and establish their own mode of worshipping the Supreme Being, which they conceived to be purer (as they expreffed it), and more agreeable to the fimplicity of the Gofpel and the practice of the primitive Chriftians, than that which was adopted by the Church of England. For the liberty of worshipping God in their own manner could not at that time be enjoyed by them in England; the mode of worship adopted by the Church of England being then prescribed and enforced with a high hand upon all the fubje&ts of the Crown, without any allowance of any other, even to Proteftant Diffenters. From this original diflike to Bishops in the first fettlers of thefe provinces, arifing from the hard treatment they had fuffered from them, it is eafy to conceive that their defcendants may have retained a strong prejudice against that order of clergymen, and a dread of falling under their authority. And this has really been the cafe, and in a very high degree: infomuch that nothing can be more alarming to this part of the King's American fubjects, than the idea of falling back (to ufe their own expreffions) under that Egyptian bondage, and that yoke of fpiritual tyranny, from which their ancestors, with fo much difficulty, fpirit, and perfeverance, had made themfelves free; though with refpect to all civil matters they greatly reverence and efteem the conftitution of the English government, Thefe being the fentiments that prevail amongst them, one would have thought that common prudence fhould have induced the inhabitants of Great Britain never to touch upon the ftring of Epifcopacy with them, for fear of exciting thofe notes of difcord which it had formerly produced among their ancellors before they went from England to America, and which it was next to certain it would produce again amongit them as foon as it should be put in motion. And it must be confeffed, in justice to the various fets of minifters of state that have directed the government of England for more than a century after the restoration of monarchical government in the year 1660, and more efpecially fince the happy revolution in 1688; 1 fay, it must be confeffed that few or no attempts have been made by the government of England to thwart the fentiments of the Americans upon this fubject by endeavouring to establish Bishops among them; but the Kings and Queens of England have been contented to leave the fettlement of the affairs of religion in the American provinces to their respective legiflatures, referving only to themfelves and their governors the fame power of allowing or disallowing the acts of the American Affemblies made relating to it, as they exercifed with respect to the acts made by the fame legislatures concerning any other fubjects. All that has been done by the mere authority of the Crown, for the accommodation of the Epifcopalians of North America, has been to authorize the Bishop of London for the time being, to exercife Epifcopal jurifdiction in thofe provinces by Commiffaries to be appointed by him for that purpofe, and who have been accordingly fo appointed. And this, I believe, has given no umbrage to the Nonepifcopalians in thofe provinces.

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But ftill it has, more than once, unfortunately happened, that fome of the members of the Church of England in thefe colonies have not been fatisfied with this delegated exertion of Epifcopal authority over them by the Bishop of London's Commiffaries, but have been defirous to have a Bishop established and refident among them, and have even fhewn great uneafinefs at the want of one. They have complained, on thefe occafions, that it was a great misfortune to them to go without what they ftyled the important benefit of Epifcopal confirmation, and that it was a cruel hardship upon their mipillers to be obliged to cross the Atlantic ocean, and go to England, for the purpose of receiving holy orders from the English Bishops, by which fome of them have died, either in their paffage to England by. the fatigues and dangers of the fea, or of the fmall-pox after their arrival there, and, others have been put to more expence than their flender fortunes could conveniently bear: and for thefe and, perhaps, other fuch reasons, they have earnestly folicited the establishment of a bishop in America, Thefe complaints have generally taken their rife from the fuggeftions of a few zealous clergymen of the Church of England fettled in America, who probably wished to increase their own confequence in this country by obtaining fo fplendid a fupport to their party, which would feem to raise it above all the other religious parties, and be the means of exalting its members, or, at least, its minifters, to offices of dignity and power, And fometimes we may fuppofe these reverend gentlemen might flatter themselves with the hope that they themfelves might be the happy perfons whom the Crown would pitch upon to fill this new and lofty ftation. But, whatever might be their motives to it, it is certain, that thefe complaints about the want of a Bishop in America have been principally fet on foot by fome clergymen of the Church of England refiding in it, and have been propagated by them amongst the laity of the fame communion, who have fometimes been perfuaded to join with them in complain ing of this hardship. And what is most remarkable is, that these very zealous clergymen, who have found out this grievance for the Americans of the Epifcopal communion, have been, for the most part, natives of England, and not of America; though, by their zeal for the fpiritual welfare of the inhabitants of the latter country, one would be inclined to fuppofe they must have been born there, For, as to the principal clergymen of the Church of England in America, who have been born and bred in America (and who therefore seem to have the beft right to judge of what is fit to be done in this matter for their own accommodation, and that of their feveral Congregations), I have been well affured that they are in general very well contented with the prefent ftate of the Church of England in America, and with the exercife of the epifcopal authority there by the Bishop of London's Commiffaries in the manner I have already mentioned: and this is more particularly true of the American clergy in the provinces of Virginia and Maryland and South Carolina, in which the Church of England is legally established by acts of their respective legislatures, and in which the number of diffenters from the Church of England is greatly less than in the other coJonies,

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• The complaints concerning the want of a Bishop in America have generally taken their rife from fome clergymen of the Church of England, who have been born and bred in England, and, not meeting with preferment in their native country, have gone over to North America to exercife their profeffion in that country. There clergymen have been of two forts; either fuch as have been invited to officiate there as minifters of particular congregations of the communion of the Church of England, or fuch as have gone thither as miffionaries from a certain fociety in England, called The Society for propagating the Gospel in foreign Parts, for the purpofe (as has been pretended) of converting the Indians of this continent from Heathenifm to the Chriftian and Proteftant religion. But, though the clergymen of the latter clafs have been fent to America under pretence of furthering that pious and ufeful work, they have ufually employed their time and talents in a manner that had not the smallest relation to it, and to purposes that have rather had a mifchievous than a beneficial tendency to the peace and happiness of these provinces. For inftead of going amongst the Indians, and refiding in their villages, and learning their languages, and endeavouring to inftruct them in the truths of the Chriftian religion, they have generally fettled themselves in fome of the most populous towns and diftricts of the cultivated parts of those provinces, which are inhabited only by Englishmen, or people who fpeak the English language, and have there employed themselves in converting Chriftians and Proteftants from one mode of Chriftianity to another, that is, from the opinions entertained by the Prefbyterians, and Independents, and Anabaptifts, and other diffenters from the Church of England, to the doctrines and difcipline of that church: which I must needs confider as doing mischief instead of good in those provinces, inasmuch as it has tended to raise uneafineffes and diffenfions amongst the inhabitants of them,. and make them diffatisfied with the modes of Divine worship to which they had been accustomed from their youth, and in the prac tice of which they had lived virtuoufly and peaceably and in charity one with another.'- And they have alfo done a differvice to Great Britain itself, by exciting amongst the Non-epifcopalians in America an apprehenfion that the British government would, one day or other, at the folicitation of those very zealous miffionaries, and their converts, fupported by the intereft of the Bishops that were their patrons in England, eftablish Episcopacy amongst them ;—an apprehenfion which has a manifeft tendency to weaken their attachment to the kingdom of Great Britain, and make them less disposed to continue in dependence on it.'

Our Author proceeds to fupport his representations on this fubject by quotations from Dr. William Douglas's Historical and Political Summary of the British Settlements in North America, and Mr. Smith's Hiftory of New York. But fome further particulars, which we fhall felect from this work, muft be deferred to a fubfequent Review.

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ART. IX. The Chapter of Accidents: a Comedy, in Five Acts, as it is performed at the Theatre-Royal in the Hay-Market. Written by Mifs Lee. 8vo. I s. 6d. Cadell. 1780.

TH

HE Adelphi of Terence, that admirable comedy, has been the avowed and oftenfible parent of many other comedies in almost all modern languages; and as the Pagan deities, in cafual encounters with mortal women, fometimes left the divine origin of their offspring unknown even to the mothers themselves, fo we have here before us a drama drawn from the rich fource of Terence, even without the confcioufnefs of the ingenious authorefs. Diderot has declared himself a warm admirer of Terence, whofe Adelphi gave the canvas for the Pere de Famille. Mifs Lee feized and enriched the canvas of Marmontel and Diderot; and thus by the Chapter of Accidents, and through various channels and ftrainers, has produced a new impreffion of the Adelphi.

Steele, in reverence to modern manners, reformed the Andrian of Terence, and converted the frail Glycerium into the virtuous Indiana. Mifs Lee, in the free spirit of Terence and Nature, hazarded the defign of introducing into the [modern] drama a female heart, capable of frailty, but fhuddering at vice, and PERHAPS fufficiently punished in her own feelings. A lover, whofe error was likewife in his heart not head." Thus the fpeaks of these characters in her Preface; but we think they are more accurately, as well as humouroufly, defcribed in Mr. Colman's Prologue, as

a lady, and a lover

So full of virtue, fome of it runs over!

The Cecilia of Mifs Lee, frail and penitent; her Woodville, capable of reafon, but enflaved by paffion; are at least more interefting perfonages than the philofophical Bevil, and the vir tuous Indiana. Woodville is a young gentleman, in the ftyle of Terence, of the family of Pamphilus and Æfchinus. Cecilia is more dramatically difplayed than the fallen females of the Roman Comedy, or the rigid Indiana of the modern. How far the example may be warrantable on our stage, we will not determine; but we are not among thofe who cenfure the Author for exhibiting it. Her lapfe and remorfe certainly render the fituation of Cecilia more theatrical. Indiana may wrap herself up in her own virtue, and with Touchftone's Audry, thank Heavn, that the gods have not made her poetical.

Governor Harcourt is a fprightly running from Diderot's Commerdeur, who is lincally defcended from Terence's Demea. The two Somerfetfh re fervant, Jacob and Bridget, Jacob efpecially, have many natural and provincial features, very happily

marked,

marked. The rest of the Dramatis Perfonæ, Grey excepted, have but little original excellence.

The title of The Chapter of Accidents is in fome fort an apology for a romantic fable; we fhall not therefore too feverely examine the probability of the incidents. The dialogue, though not perfectly pure and natural, is often enlivened by humour, and ennobled by fentiment. The following fcene is the first interview exhibited by our Author between Woodville and Cecilia :

Enter Woodville.

• Wood. My Cecilia!-my foul!-have I at laft the happiness of beholding you? You know me too well to imagine I would punish myself by a moment's voluntary delay.

Cec. Oh, no; it is not that—(both fit down on the fopha )

Wood. Say, you are glad to see me?-afford me one kind word to atone for your cold looks!—are you not well?

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Cec. Rather fay I am not happy.-My dear Woodville, I am an altered being: why have you reduced me to fhrink thus in your prefence -oh, why have you made me unworthy of yourself? (leans against his shoulder weeping.)

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Wood. Cruel girl!is this my welcome?-when did I appear think you fo?

• Cec. Tell me, when any one elfe will think me otherwise ?

Wood. Will you never be above so narrow a prejudice? are we not the whole world to each other?-nay, dry your tears! allow me to dry them; (kifles her cheek) what is there, in the reach of love or wealth, I have not fought to make you happy?

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Cec. That which is the effence of all enjoyments,-innocence :oh, Woodville, you knew not the value of the heart whofe peace you have deftroyed. My fenfibility first ruined my virtue, and then my repofe. But, though for you I confented to abandon an humble happy home, to embitter the age of my venerable father, and bear the contempt of the world, I can never fupport my own. My heart. revolts against my fituation, and hourly bids me renounce a splendor, which only renders guilt more defpicable. (Rifes) I meant to explain this hereafter; but the agitation of my mind obliged me to lighten it immediately.

Wood. Is your affection already extinct? for fure it muft, when you can refolve to torture me thus.

• Cec. Were my love extinct, I might fink into a mean content; -oh, no.-'Tis to that alone I owe my resolution.

• Wood. Can you then plunge me into defpair?-fo young, fo lovely too!-oh, where could you find fo fafe an afylum as my heart? -whither could you fly?

Cec. I am obliged to you, Sir, for the queflion; but who is it' has made me thus deftitute ?-I may retain your protection, indeed, but at what a price!

Wood. Give me but a little time, my love!-I am equally perplexed between my father and my uncles each of whom offers me a wife I can never love. Suffer them to defeat each other's fchemes! let me, if poffible, be happy without a crime; for I muft think it

one,

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