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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
r * yp have not shy ays the rnje ^ ins of-Jc ^ Qwing , whether one of \ tiem Has fce ^ ji only purveyor to the other , Or whether both have equally participated in all the preparations for tbehanquet . Mr . Bogue and Mr . Bennett must be content to
^ p , p ^ rUQn , for therii $ elves the dpom y | hich critical equity calls us to award - Our praise * we fear , will not , for the sum of it , be worth dividing : we say nothing of its quality and consequent value ; and it might be arrogant in us to speak of our approbation or
condemnation ^ were not we persuaded tl ) at . the judgment which we shall give , in this instance , has been given already by intelligent and candid readers of every sect . That the authors are deeply interested in the subject matter of
their history , and warmly attached to the principles of civil and religious liberty , is evident in almostevery page of their volumes . But , however laudable their mo-~ it , * " tiyes ,, they , have not . been success , fill in the execution of their design . They have qrowded into
the ., work , a mass qf foreign and redundant materials : they are unskilful in the distribution and
division of their topics : their style is commonly incorrect and mean , afyd 5 in ^ very property , the reverse of wfyat is fit for history : they do xyj % exercise the discrimination \ y , hicfy characterises good
historian ; apcLa harsh , sectarian , into-Jeriint ami narrow spirit is perpetually visjible ^ or , to use one of t ^ ir favourite words , dominant tjpffxugh + h book . 'I ^ . tiie first volume , more than a i ) un ^ i'cd p" 4 ges are occupied by an introduction , giving a sketch
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qf the history of Ch'Astlantt ^ Sfji Britain to the Resvolu'tion , aiia nearly the same tiumber , in a statement of the reasons lor dissent ; while almost tvvo-thirds of the second volume ai * e devoted to
the lives of eminent dissenters aind the state of religion in the world . It will hence be perceived that to the History of Dissenters a comparatively small part of the publication has been appropriated .
Unity of narrative , as well as unity of subject , is violated by these writers . When , after a very long preface and introduction , they , at last , profess to enter ou the History of the Pissenters fr 6 «\ the period of the Revolution to the death of Queen Anne , th * ir
object should have been to represent , in an unbroken serks , all the incidents which , during that terip , affected the nonconformists ^ s a body ; and ihen their reader ? would have proceeded with
advantage to separate chapters re , specting Fresbyteri ^ ns , liKlep ^ ndents , &c . The consequence of the history being written in < tetached poTtions , is that , in thqse pages , we seldom behold the dissenters as one class of men , and
are ill prepared for estimating t ] ieir common principles . A living author * , who has often delighted and instructed us ,
observes concerning historical cotn * position : — negative merit is almost all that is wanted ;—and if the relator has taste enough Jo a b-
stain from affected pliraseologyj unseasonable digressions , and ^ tnp ^ rtinent rem arks , he can scarcely fail , with a selection o ^ stri ^ ng incidents , to . pi ; bdi } c& \\ ie' $ & **** effect . ^ M c have again ' aw
* Or . Aihm ' . Letters to hi » Son , yol . Si . pp , 5 8 , S 9
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50 % Bogue and Bennett $ Review . —History of Dissiiifer ^ m t' f *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1809, page 502, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1740/page/28/
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