The rental on which the poor-rates were collected in 1803 was about twenty-four millions sterling; and the average rate was 38. 74d. in the pound. The counties in which the rates were most moderate were Northumberland, Durham, and the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire. The treatment of the poor in work-houses, was of course very different in different situations: the following bill of fare is taken from one in the Isle of Wight: We insert this little document in order to point out how proper it would be to take a lesson from our French or our Scotish neighbours; and to exchange the dry uncomfortable meal of bread and cheese in the morning, particularly in winter, for soup or hastypudding. The pamphlet, we are sorry to add, contains very little else worth notice; it is full of trifling details; and, venturing to go beyond his subject, the author falls into a surprizing miscalculation in recommending (p. 39.) that we should send out British land-holders and labourers for the cultivation of the East Indies. Art. 37. Remedies proposed as certain, speedy, and effectual, for the Relief of our present Embarrassments. By an Independent Gentleman. 8vo. pp. 51. 2s. 6d. Hatchard. Like others on the same subject, this pamphlet is ill calculated to meet the general wish, or to realize the confident expectations that it excites. With a very limited conception of the causes of the existing distress, the writer has little disposition to consult the welfare of the public at large, and confines his views solely to the relief of a particular class. He cannot bring himself to be satisfied with that progressive remedy which (as far as our situation admits of remedy) will not fail to be produced by the natural return of things to their level; and his impatience for a more speedy relief leads him to recommend the establishment of a new public bank, from which, after a fund should have been lodged with commissioners, notes might be issued on the security of merchandise, land, or other property. A man might thus coin his houses, his furniture, the goods in his warehouse, his ships at sea, the debts due to him, &c. so as to make the whole a disposable fund for accomplishing his payments.' This curious plan proceeds on the notion that our distress arises from want of money; as if want of property were were not the grand feature of embarrassment among the classes whose complaints are loudest. Money is and always has been of use only as a circulating medium; and no one will deny that the country possesses (particularly since the late postponement of the resumption of cash-payments) a sufficient stock, either of coin or paper, to transact the whole of its business. Other suggestions here offered are on a par with the whimsical project which we have just explained. We have in one part (p.41.) a recommendation to raise the import limit of corn from eighty to a hundred shillings per quarter; and, in a few pages afterward, we are presented with a most extraordinary project with regard to the management of the national debt. MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 38. Essays on various Subjects. By William Pitt Scargill. 8vo. pp. 207. Boards. Darton and Co. 1815. We often complain of the privation that we often feel; — of the non-existence, we mean, in the present age, of some sensible collection of moral and literary essays, descriptive of the character and habit of the times. Some attempts have been made to supply the deficiency but they have been themselves as deficient in the variety requisite to the general success of such an undertaking, as in the learning and genius which must be its first foundation and continued support. The present volume contains Essays on the Difficulties in the Way of the Acquisition of real Knowledge; -on the Principles of Grammar; -on the Management of the Temper; -on the Impolicy of War; and on Conversation, which is an agreeable and practical composition. The first of these essays is also an useful and creditable performance in its general complexion. It judiciously states that the great advantage of early education consists in the acquisition of mental habits, and in the cultivation of that funda mental property of all intellectual excellence, the fixedness of attention. More, indeed, might have been said on this peculiar branch of the subject, but altogether we are pleased with the paper. On the other hand, we cannot but consider the essay on the Principles of Grammar as singularly unfortunate. The author sets out with endeavouring to establish some universal principles to which all languages must conform, or be ungrammatical; and truth and common sense extort from him, in the course of his essay, the admission that there are peculiar canons appropriate to this or that nation, which do not affect the speech of the whole community of the human race. All the faults, in a word, which he charges on particular grammars, or individual grammarians, are equally attributable to the classical authors themselves; and Mr. Scargill does not shrink from the consequence, but attacks Dr. Withers and Cicero with equal unconcern: "Ruffum! qui toties Ciceronem Allobroga dixit." Mr. S. evidently forgets that the first framers of languages were not philosophers; and even the still more homely truth that, in the the catalogue of literary births, classical criticism is very posterior to classical composition. Several judicious distinctions are made between essential and accidental rules, in this essay: but we have to wish that the whole was written in a somewhat less arrogant and indistinct style of discussion. The essay on the Management of the Temper contains a number of important truisms; and we are far from undervaluing the repetition of such useful knowlege. We should think that no passionate man, who has not completely overcome reflection, could read this paper without a moral effect. Mr. Scargill has respectable powers of original thinking; and we like the bias of his mind in his general hostility to war. Much ridicule has been thrown on universally pacific feelings: but it would be easy to laugh again. At all events, the jokes that even our highest assembly ought to have blushed to re-echo, about dying with Grotius and Puffendorff in our hands*, are and must be now exploded. War cannot be often so offensively and so anticipatingly necessary as its advocates have not hesitated to maintain. Art. 39. Memoirs of an Old Wig. Crown 8vo. 78. Boards. 1815. Some learning and some humour are displayed in this little work: but alas! as learning conjoined with humour in every age and nation has too often testified, so auspicious an union does not exclude the admixture of some grosser particles and properties. In a word, this author, although he is occasionally heavy, is also occasionally facetious; and, if the former censure were the only drawback on the latter praise, we might safely recommend his book as better than most of its kindred contemporaries: but we are sorry to say that considerable indelicacy is betrayed in various parts of the work, and decided grossness in some passages. The account of Swift is particularly objectionable. Art. 40. Conversations on Matrimony. Intended as an Accompaniment to the Letters lately published on the Duties, Advantages, Pleasures, and Sorrows of the Marriage-State. By John Ovington. 12mo. pp. 143. Button and Son. Two intimate friends, named Martin and Trueman, being disposed to form matrimonial connections, here agree to hold a parley together on the duties and advantages of the marriage-state. Their opinions are found to be in perfect unison, and some amusing cases in point are adduced to confirm their mutual sentiments. That of Mr. Edmonds is cited in favour of marriage, whose house-keeping did not cost more after marriage, and with two children, than when he was single;' and Mr. Freeman, who, whan a bachelor, generally spent his whole income, something every year for his wife and children :' while the pitiable situation of Mr. Adams serves as a caution against wedding' a female master instead of a wife: a mistake which makes him both 6 now reserves See the Debates on the Copenhagen Expedition. ridiculous ridiculous and miserable.' To the misfortunes of this luckless couple, the conjugal felicity of Mr. and Mrs. Beaumont forms a pleasing contrast. Mr. Crauford, on the other hand, when ho married Miss Downton, knew that she was in no respect a suitable match for him :' but the hope of the money made him wink at those inclinations of Miss Downton, which he ought to have known would prevent their happiness.' In chapter iv., a gentleman of the name of Theophilus is introduced, who enters into a very copious consideration of the whole process of courtship, from the first stages of early acquaintance until its termination; and this personage takes a leading part in the conversation, being the mutual friend of both Martin and Trueman, by whom he appears to be held in great repute. His opinions, however, breathe too much of the spirit of a certain school to be particularly accordant with our own. 128. Art. 41. The Wanderings of a Goldfinch; or, Characteristic Sketches in the Nineteenth Century. 8vo. PP. 355. Boards. Longman and Co. 1816. The peregrinations of this airy wanderer, who is the principal character in the piece, give rise to some amusing narratives, chiefly relative to the manners and complexion of modern times. The style of writing, though altogether too inflated, and deficient in simplicity, (owing, we apprehend, to the avowed inexperience of the author in such compositions,) is yet lively and entertaining. The book, indeed, appears to have been produced under every possible disadvantage from the singular concurrence of afflicting events, which, we are informed, the fair writer has been fated to endure. We congratulate her on the many respectable and distinguished names prefixed to the publication, and cannot but hope that its sale may be found to answer her expectations. The dedication is signed Mary Anne M'Mullan. Art. 42. 1816. This tale of Eura and Zephyra is an amusing little proseallegory, in which the author has contrived, with considerable judgment, to convey many useful and important lessons of morality under the interesting garb of fiction. The poetical pieces, also, which Mr. B. has been ingenuous enough to avow were added in order to swell the work to the size required by the bookseller,' are strongly indicative of a mind early admitted to the sacred haunts of the Muses, and deeply imbued with impressions of refined and classical imagery Art. 43. The Universal British Merchant; embracing, in a sys tematic Manner, the epistolary Style of commercial Correspondence, between Great Britain and the principal trading Cities of Europe: the Mode of effecting Insurances, drawing, remitting, importing and exporting their respective Commodities, and innumerable mercantile Occurrences: adapted to cultivate and familiarize the Student with the general and real Transactions 12 I 2mo. Transactions of the Counting-House. Translated from the French of "Le Negociant Universel." To which is added an Appendix, giving an Outline of general mercantile Knowledge. For the Use of Schools and those intended for Business. By W. Keegan, A. M., Master of Manor House Academy, Kennington Lane; and Author of "Le Negociant Universel," &c. pp. 407. Boards. Law and Whittaker. 1815. Mercantile men are in the habit of discouraging all attempts to teach business by theory; and we must confess that they would not be very wrong if all publications on trade were of a character like the present. Mr. K. begins by inscribing his book to a gentleman well known in the city as an accurate book-keeper and accountant, but the strain of the dedication is very far from conformable to the plain and direct language of business. A similar animadversion is applicable to the letters which are introduced in great numbers as specimens of mercantile correspondence: in which, instead of the clear and concise style of the merchant, we find repetitions, diffuse explanations, and exaggerated compliments, all indicative of their French origin, and all different from such as would be recommended by an experienced merchant of London or Amsterdam. What are we to say of a teacher of composition who uses such expressions as (p. 3.) the price entirely depends more or less on foreign orders?" It looks also not a little strange to see in English such a mercantile firm as (p. 169.) Macpherson, father and son; a translation evidently of père et fils. The only useful part of the book is the conclusion; in which are several very proper tables of weights and measures, foreign coins with their values, and explanations of mercantile terms. Here, however, is a necessity for repeated corrections in such odá passages as (p. 377.) 16s. make a French Louis d'or, and is. 1od. a Dutch stiver or penny!' Art. 44. Statement of the Claim of Lieutenant-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty on the Java Prize Money. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Stockdale. A question respecting the Java prize-money arose in conse quence of Admiral Drury, who was to have commanded the naval part of the expedition, having died before it took place, and being succeeded by Captain Broughton, the next senior officer; who was afterward superseded in command by Admiral Stopford, from the Cape station. The different claims of these and the military officers produced several memorials to the Lords of the Privy Council and to the Prince Regent; and the decision on the case seems to have called forth the present statement from Sir Samuel Auchmuty. The discussion is interesting only to officers similarly circumstanced: but to them we may recommend this pamphlet, as being sensibly and temperately drawn up. SINGLE SERMON S. Art. 45. Sermon prêché à l'Eglise Suisse, le 4 Juin 1815, pour lå Société des amis des Etrangers dans la Détresse. Par le Rev. L.A. Anspach, Pasteur de l'Eglise Françoise de Londres. 4to. 28. De Boffe, &c. A forcible |