minently difgufting in the hiftory of modern Europe, that mockery of all public law, which by one ftroke of the pen transfers whole nations, without their confent, to foreign mafters, partitions the fairest portion of civilized fociety to a few ambitious dynafties, diffolves the recipro cal bond of protection and allegiance by which a government and people are held together, fcatters widely the feeds of contention and unceafing revolt, and establishes the plea of military government; which being rendered permanent, genius droops and withers, the best forms of focial order moulder to decay, and peace, juftice, and freedom, are banished from the earth." "This confideration," he adds, "is of itfelf fufficiently powerful to justify his inquiries," confidering it as an amufing as well as inftructive leffon, to review from an eminence the lot of those nations before they are extinguished from the page of independence, and to contemplate thofe laws, governments, and manners, which once raised them to a proud equality in the fcale of European communities, and which have fince proved too feeble to refift the inroads of corruption, the fhocks of adverfity, and the violence of ufurpation." After thus unfolding the nature of the objects on which he would fix the public attention, the author next explains the manner in which he means to proceed; which is, firft, "to prefent an outline of the progrefs of fociety and government, from the earlieft ages to the period under confideration" (on which topic he dilates very ably) then " to defcribe the genius of modern policy, to mark its progreffions, and to contraft it with the spirit of those nations which exift only in the page of hiftory" (in this part he propofes to explain the nature and applica tion of the feudal fyftem) and, laftly, to analyze the properties and effects of laws and government, by confidering Man as he is, without indulging" any fpeculative topics, and abftract reafoning." On this laft branch of his Lectures he also expatiates with much ingenuity and force, and lays fuch a ground-work for his reafonings, that we have the greatest hopes of finding the fuperftructure railed upon them at once beautiful and folid. He concludes, with ftating his motives for the prefent undertaking, alluding, without afperity, to the prepoffeffions entertained against him on account of his former political conduft, and citing, with full approbation, the ftriking panegyric delivered by one of our ableft crown lawyers (as Mr. Yorke justly terms Mr. Serjeant Hawkins) on the laws and conftitution of this kingdom. We have already fpoken with approbation of a political treatife by this author, and fhall foon have occafion to examine a more elaborate work which he has lately publifhed, on the important fubject of education. Whatever objections we may hereafter ftate to fome of his opinions upon that topic, we do not hesitate to declare of the tract before us, that it gives fuch a view of his propofed (or rather commenced) political Lectures, as induces us to believe his fellow students will derive from them much rational amusement, and solid inftruction. * * A Letter to the Reformers. See Brit. Crit. vol. ii, p. 554. BRIT. CRIT. VOL, XVIII, AUG, 1801, ART. ART. 47. A Letter to his Grace the Duke of Portland on the Subje& of Catholic Emancipation in Ireland. By a Gentleman who has refided in that Country for a confiderable Time. 8vo. 22 2 pp. IS. Stewart. 1801. This writer, who figns himfelf Bull Dog, ftates that he was an eye. witness of the conduct of the Irish Catholics during the late rebellion, and objects strongly to their being invefted with the fame privileges as the Proteftants, to their enjoying the high offices of ftate, being admitted into our Houfes of Parliament, or becoming counsellors to the King." His oppofition to the meafure is founded chiefly on his knowledge of their bigotry and hatred of the Proteftants. He feems very zealous, and, we doubt not, is fincere; but he fhould not have ufed the term catholic emancipation (an expreffion, adopted infidiously by the advocates for the Catholics) without repr bating, or, at leaft, qualify. ing it. SCARCITY. ART. 48. Obfervations on the enormous high Price of Provifions; fhew ing, among ft other Articles, that the overgrown Opulence of the Hufbandman, or Farmer, tends to fubvert the neceffary Gradations of Society; is inimical to the Interefts of Morality in General; and, if not falutarily corrected, will be the perpetual Bane and Mifery of the Country. By a Kentish Clergyman. 8vo. 54 pp. Locket and Frampton, Dorchefter; Collins, Salisbury. 1801. Το From writers apparently well intentioned we differ with regret; and yet, as in the prefent cafe, we fometimes differ very widely. our understanding, "the unkind feafons, and the (general) deficiency of crops," did appear very clear, and not at all problematica!. It appears to us almost equally clear, that "a maximum of four pounds per quarter for wheat," or any maximum whatever, would be a meafure full of difficulties in execution, and moft pernicious, if executed. The felling by jample is declaimed against in a way that brings little conviction to our minds. The propofed penalty for withholding corn, proportioned to the length of time withheld, and to the quantity hoarded up, would, probably within three months, convert fcarcity into famine. Doublefs, many gentlemen-farmers may be seen as abfurd as they are defcribed to be, generally, at pp. 41, &c. but any uneducated and vain man, who fuddenly becomes rich, will be equally abfurd; and perhaps for one fuch character among farmers, twenty might, in thefe days, be found among merchants. But it is not either farming or merchandife, that makes fuch characters; they are produced by the Itrong operation of great profperity upon weak or vulgar minds. The fuppofition that opulent farmers muft of neceffity be coxcombs, is juft as fenfible, as the fuppofition of a certain facetious fenator, that farming clergymen are of course Trullibers. These are errors, in vifion, of minds which have a very contracted ken. ART. ART. 49. Two Sermons, on the Alarm of Scarcity, and on the proper Improvement of the late general Faft; preached at the Chapel in WeftGate, Wakefield. By Thomas Johnstone. 8vo. 49 pp. Johnfon. 1801. Two very feeble declamations; tending to make us at least as much diffatisfied with our political condition and our rulers, as with our own religious and moral state, pp. 42, 43. ART.. 50. Practical Economy; or, a Propofal for enabling the Poor to provide for themelues: with Remarks on the Eftabiyhment of ScupHoufes; and an Investigation of the real Cause of the prefent extravagant Confumption of fire Wheaten Bread by the People of this Coun try. By a Phyfician. 8vo. 55 pp. 25. Callow, &c. 1801. The Propofal, which is placed first in the title-page, as moft capti. vating, is laft in the book; where the order of the feveral fubjects is, Soup-houfes-Tea-Cheap and healthy Food. On the firft point, we find a much greater degree of captioufnefs, than of candid argument. The fecond point may be conceded to the author, that the confumption of fine wheaten bread has been greatly increased by the habitual use of tea. We, fome of us, know country work-houfes in which the poor have feriously complained that they were not allowed tea-bread. But by the au hor's general declamation against tea itf lf, we are not convinced. His statement at p. 25, attributing the increase of palfy to tea, proves no fuch thing. In 30 years (he fays, p. 26) from 1717, palfy increafed, within the Bills of Mortality, about two to one. But he had just before said, that tea was not a general article of diet till after 1750. In the next fifteen years, it increases from 621 to 1021; but in the fifteen following, it stands at 1020. In 1792 it is 1062. But what do all these figures prove, without an accompanying table of the population? Nothing at all. If this could have been added, and fpirituous liquors were admitted to take their fhare of the blame, doubt whether tea would not ftand acquitted of palfy; at leaft, ic would not be convicted on this evidence. The laft, and most important topic, is alfo the moft fatisfactory. Enabling the poor to provide for themfelves," is indeed rather too large a promife. This is better stated in another place, "a mode of preparing food, fo that no part of the nutriment contaived in it shall be wafted, as at prefent; and by which the poffibility, as well as the neceflity of ufing adulterated grain is precluded." P. v. This is no other, than eating grain boiled, inftead of baked. On this point, we find many useful fuggeftions; and for the fake of this alone, two fhillings will not be thrown away by the purchase of this book. 66 we ART. 51. A calm Investigation of the Circumftances that have led to the prefent Scarcity of Grain in Britain: fuggefting the Means of alleviating that Evil, and of preventing the Recurrence of fuch a Calamity in future. By James Anderson, LL. D. F. R. S. F. S. A. E. &c. Editor of Recreations in Agriculture, Sc. 8vo. 94 PP. 2s. 6d. Cumming. 1801. This is perhaps the last article which the fcarcity will prefent to our examination; and it is certainly not the leaft important. Dr. A. goes deeply 02 deeply into the question, concerning the expediency and neceffity of a well-regulated bounty on the exportation, and a duty on the importation of corn; and he maintains these two points against Adam Smith and his difciples, not only by ftrong arguments, but by an appeal to actual experience; fhowing, that "the alarming change in the state of this country, which has been taken notice of by fo many writers of late, viz. that of having become a great importing country, in or der to fupply the wants of our own people, instead of a great exporting country as it was fifty years ago, is to be entirely attributed to the changes that have taken place in our corn laws." P. . 30. A very comfortable chapter fucceeds to this, "On the practicability of raifing corn in Britain fufficient to fupport a much greater degree of population than its prefent amount." Although the fame prolixity and garrulity pervade this tract, which have lately rendered agricultural books a fort of literary nuifance; yet we must atteft that Dr. A. has, in this inftance, been garrulous to a good purpose; and has placed before the public facts and obfervations, very deferving the attention of thofe who legiflate, as well as of thofe who fpeculate, pro bono publico, in the bufinefs of feeding our countrymen. MISCELLANIES. ART. 52. The Western Mail: being a Selection of Letters made from the Bag taken from the Wftern Mail, when it was robbed by George 8vo. in 17**. Now first published. Mawman. 1801. 282 PP. 45. The plan and idea of this publication, though rather uncommon, are not new; fomething of the fame kind had appeared both in France and in this country. The French book, we think, was called La Pofte Devalifee. The title of the former English work was the Poft Boy robbed of his Mail; and it was, like this, a collection of fuppofed letters, from perfons of different ranks and characters: The epiftles in this collection are of various kinds, and have various degrees of merit. Of those which have a ferious caft, the Letter from an Aunt to her Niece, on Marriage (p. 64) and the concluding Letter, on Adultery, ftruck us the moft. But we were highly amufed with the truly characteristic, yet instructive, Letter of the Servant-Girl to her Parents (p. 178) and fcarcely ever remember to have met with more fimplicity, and, we fear, justnefs of defcription, than in that Letter. Upon the whole, the collection forms an ingenious and inftructive work, and does credit to the author's knowledge of men and manners, as well as his ability to difplay and impart it. We would give a fpecimen of the performance, but that these Letters which are beft written are too long for infertion. ART. 53. A Parochial Plan for ameliorating the Condition of the Labouring Poor. 8vo. 40 pp. Is. 6d. Debrett. 1800. The caufes of that depravity, into which many of the labouring claffes have funk, are ftated to be "a want of attention to civilization; the he not making a public diftinction between the good and the bad; and fuffering the crimes of the latter to go unpunished." P. 4. The plan, mentioned in the title-page, confifts principally in making a public diftinction between the good and the bad, by rewards and honours conferred upon the meritorious poor, at general meetings of the inhabitants of each parish; and by punishing, according to law, the idle and vicious. That very good effects would flow from the adoption and steady execution of fuch a plan in any parish, is evident to us; and if this tract had been much lefs declamatory than it is, and in fome particulars lefs objectionable, we should have recommended it, without referve, to the attention of the public. ART. 54. Thoughts on Poor- Houfes, with a View to their general Reform, particularly that of Salisbury, comparing it with the more improved Ones of Shrewsbury, Ifles of Wight, Hull, Boldre, &c. And Deductions drawn, useful to other Poor-Houfes. To which is added, an Account of the Population of Salisbury, with Obfervations thereon. By Henry Wanfey, F.A. S. 8vo. 48 pp. 15. 6d. Cadell and Davies. 1801. That poor-houses require much reformation fome of us can ftrongly atteft, from diligent enquiry, attentive obfervation, and an experience not very confined, during many years. By reformation, we mean a removal of manifeft abuses. The original purpose of these houfes (like that of the poor-laws in general) is excellent. But it is moft lamentably perverted, merely by the negligence and fupineness of those perfons whom self-intereft might impel, if benevolence could not lead them, to pay fome attention to the condition of their poor neighbours. For we think it highly probable that by much attention, united with common judgment, the poor-rates throughout the kingdom might be diminished one third, to the far greater comfort of the poor themfelves. In the great town of Hull even more than this has been accomplished; as appears from a refpectable tract reviewed by us, volume xvii. p. 663. The chief defign of Mr. Wanfey in these Thoughts is, by stating the expences of the poor of Salisbury, to contraft the management of them with that in other places; and fo furnish hints for a better plan. "In the year 1787, the poor-rates there amounted to 21261. and in 1800 to 72491. though the population of the place remains nearly the fame, which is a point never to be overlooked in eftimating the increase of poor-rates. The effect of certain regulations, made under an act of Parliament obtained in 1796, in the Ine of Wight, has been a lowering of the expences from 4s. 3d. per head per week, to 1s. 10d. and 28.-at Shrew fbury the poor-rates have been lowered one third ;— at Hull to about half;-at Boldre and Dublin about one third. Are not these examples fufficient to roufe and animate the charge bearers, not in Salisbury alone, but in all other parishes within the kingdom?" ART. 55. Converfations and amufing Tales, offered to the Youth of Great Britain. 4to. 385 PP. 158. Hatchard. 1799. The fize and price of this volume are wholly unfuitable to the ufe for which it is defigned. Childrens' books fhould be cheap and porta blc. |