introduced by them. We have, then, the consent of all statesmen, in and out of place, to sanction the exemption. It is also obvious that the bias of ministers must be against it. A minister is as fully aware as any man how much less productive it renders the tax; he is sensible that, in appearance, it favours the foreigner and increases the pressure on the British subject; and its unpopularity he must fully anticipate. What powerful interest does he flatter or gratify by it? What motive can he have for such a regulation, but a conviction of its policy and expediency, in addition to a sense of its justice? If in acting thus the late and present ministers have sinned, they have certainly not willfully transgressed. Their offence must have been a mere error in judgment, which they must have every disposition to renounce on being satisfied of its fallacy but it is an error into which Mr. Pitt and Mr. Addington and Lord Henry Petty have successively fallen, and which was never imputed to them as such (as far as we recollect) by those who wanted neither ability to discover nor inclination to display their faults. Of what value must be this unanimity among persons who have so many motives to disagree, who see things through such different mediums, and whom political animosity often leads to affect differences when in fact they are of the same mind;-of what value, we say, must consent be regarded, among parties thus circumstanced, on a point of importance, and when popularity is against the unanimity? With all persons who have not given these matters their own attention and consideration, consent of this sort ought to be decisive.We do not rest the matter on presumption, however, because it does not admit of being fully established by investigation, but we abstain from such investigation because our pages will not admit of it, and because many persons are incapable of following up such an inquiry. A defence of the exemption would form an appropriate chapter under the head of political economy. If, among those who doubt, there be any one who is imbued with this science, we invite him to reflect on the natural effects of capital, and on its effects among a people such as we are; and how imperiously the importance of these effects calls on public men to favour its flow into the country. Let him recollect that the investment of so much foreign capital in our funds permits an equal portion of our home capital to be employed in public improvements and mercantile speculations; let him calculate the vast advantages which we thus make of this investment; let him consider how beneficial it would be to increase this influx, and how pernicious to diminish it; and let him contemplate the delicate nature of that confidence, which attracts to this country the money of strangers,-how easily it is paralyzed, and with what difficulty, when it once departs, it is again established. This foreign deposit is so much money employed in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce; since, if it be withdrawn, the same sum must be diverted from those vivifying channels. We make, then, a handsome profit of this money, which is intrusted to our custody by our neighbours, who rely on our good faith and our honor; and let us be content with our fair and honest gains. The sentiments in this pamphlet are, in general, as liberal as they are patriotic; and it was from want of attention, we are persuaded, that this writer adopted the erroneous notion which we have been deprecating-He is a very ardent admirer of the late Mr. Fox; and if he be not just to that states. man's eminent rival, he shews laudable moderation and temper in the language in which he speaks of both: We have to deplore the loss of TWO MEN, whose abilities as statesmen are perhaps unrivalled in the annals of mankind. It were an idle waste of words to endeavour to prove, what the whole world acknowledges, that their talents were superior to all panegyric! The violence of party-spirit in regard to these eminent persons hath already nearly evaporated; the clouds of prejudice are already clearing away; the obstinacy of the one is no longer dignified by the name of PATRIOTISM, nor is the perseverance of the other any longer stigmatized under the appellation of DISAFFECTION. The merits and the errors of each are already beginning to find their level; and posterity will do justice to both. Entirely opposite in their characters, habits, dispositions, and manners, in one respect only they assimilated-each pursued the tame end, though by different means; each ardently laboured to pro mote, what he conceived to be the welfare of his country. The groundless assertions of the one, and the PROPHETIC WARNINGS of the other, are now examined by the eye of impartiality-and the natural good sense of the English nation begins at length to perceive, how quickly the most refined subtilties of SOPHISTRY vanished at the approach of TRUTH; and in the bitterness of disappointed ambition.to reflect upon the vanity of artificial eloquence, when opposed to the ROUGH AND AKTLESS MAJESTY OF TRUE WISDOM!' We do not equally praise a composition which this author highly applauds, viz. Mr. Godwin's sketch of the British Demosthenes, which is copied into this tract. Mr. Godwin has undeniably the merit of having happily seized and strongly painted many of the characteristic features of his original; the charms of his private character, his services to liberty, and the attributes of his eloquence, are well conceived by the artist: but the portrait is incomplete, and some of the more striking traits are not even attempted. In vain we seek for the G4 just just delineation of his exquisite taste; of his style so pure, so simple, so fascinating; of the vast and rich furniture of his mind; of that superior discernment in the foreign interests of his country, which dictated salutary and which foretold the mischiefs of unwise councils; of that high estimation in which he was held by enlightened foreigners; and of the vast number of respectable persons whose attachment to him nothing could shake. Why give to another physiognomy any part of the canvas appropriated to his portrait; why call up past times; why the parallelism which is on so many accounts to be, condemned; sitting down to such a subject, how came the pencil to sketch a groupe? We suspect that the artist is rather too complimentary to the national character, when, after having traced the excellencies. of Mr. Fox, he says, 'he was all over English.' The fair abstract of the English character probably falls short of that of the personage whom Mr. Godwin undertakes to pourtray. In the former, with honor, courage, openness, good sense, kindness, and devotion to liberty, an inordinate nationality is blended, which leads us to hold the rest of the world in too low estimation, to overlook the good qualities of others, and to be blind to our own imperfections. We should indeed be libellers of Mr. Fox if we denied him nationality, since there was every thing in his nature, in his situation, and in his pursuits, that could render the feeling intense but in him it was more than the mere feeling, it was the feeling purified and elevated, invigorated by study and guided by reflection. His pursuits led to intercourse with foreigners; he sought it, and was capable of maintaining it: for on the acquirement of accomplishments in this department, he had employed the whole force of his great talents. His rare excellencies of this kind attracted only the curious, who had a similar turn: but it is on this ground that his loss must at this crisis be regarded as most afflicting. Let us, however, restrain the pen.-Now that Mr. Fox is no longer among us, we may indeed more freely speak our sentiments of him than ever we did while he was living, because we can declare them without being suspected of those personal motives and that party spirit which the Monthly Review has ever disdained: but our gratitude, our affection, if it be permitted us to use the phrase, must not carry us on to attempt what is beyond our strength and beyond our means. To the arduous and meritorious task, he only is equal, who lived the intimate of the illustrious departed, who was blessed with a portion of the same genius, and who himself witnessed all his public displays; a sketch from such a hand, if such a hand there be, would be crowned with the warmest warmest acknowlegements of Britons. That the fame of Charles James Fox is not a national object, no man will now be hardy enough to question: but had it required evidence, it would have been furnished by the universal feeling which every where manifested itself, in a distinguished assembly, on occasion of a late most extraordinary attempt to taunt and insult his mighty shade. MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For JANUARY, 1807. POETRY and the DRAMA. Art. 15. Calista: or a Picture of Modern Life. A Poem in three Parts. By Luke Booker, LL. D. 4to. 2s. 6d. stitched. Button. W 7HEN the Muse is employed in the cause of virtue, she demands to be received with peculiar respect; especially when she courageously raises her voice in opposing vices and immoralities that are sanctioned by Fashion and the example of the great. We wish, as far as our influence extends, to encourage those writers who, like Dr Booker, endeavour not so much by satire as by serious expostulation, to resist the torrent of iniquity which is deluging the land; and especially to hold up to the Fair Sex the tremendous consequences which attend their departure from the paths of rectitude. Yet it is almost hopelefs to preach to a woman who is hurried round in the vortex of a pleasurable life; for alas, she is not only dead while she liveth (as the apostle says) to all the important ends of existence, but she is commonly dead also to shame and reproof. If, however, Dr. B.'s Calista should have no effect in reclaiming our fashionable dames, the picture may be of use as a caution to others, and may serve to shew the kind of education which females should receive in order to fit them for the characters of wives and mothers. In this poem, the author describes the virtuous rapture which a mother derives from nursing her own infants, and contrasts this picture with that of a dissipated female, who abandons her children during infancy, and plunges into scenes of fashionable dissipation. The effects of gaming on the moral principle, and on the female character in particular, are next exhibited. Calista loses her honour; advances in delinquency, and elopes with her seducer; they are overtaken by a storm and shipwrecked on a rock; here the husband, who was returning from abroad, accidentally comes to their succour; Calista, on seeing him, plunges into the sea and is drowned; and the husband, in a subsequent encounter, (a conclusion which we do not approve,) falls by the sword of the seducer. On this representation, the Senate is addressed respecting the crime of Adultery, which Dr. B. thinks should be restrained, if all other means fail, by coercion; and he recommends the trial of close solitary confinement for both the criminals. shall shall offer no remark on his new mode of repressing this growing vice, but we suggest it as our opinion that we should rather consult its prevention by the education and formation of moral habits in our females, than its punishment. If they are encouraged to tread in the paths of vice, it is no wonder that they fall. Dr. B.'s stanzas are flowing and impressive: but negligencies occasionally present themselves. Wide-widowing war' is a heavy alliteration. To where' is not grammar, as also may be said of the line Then many a bitter pang her heart was made endure.' We have no such verb as to statue, yet, for the grandeur of the effect, we must tolerate Statued with horror,' applied to the husband on discovering Calista with her seducer: but Dr. B. might have found a more pleasing name for the adulterer than Machus, and have helped out his line with something better than Macchus reply made none.' In the last stanza but one, Sinai is made three into syllables, In thunders from Judean Sinai.' These spots, however, will be lost in the general effect. We offer to the reader the following stanzas as a specimen. Having represented the strong affection of savages and even brutes towards their young, the poet proceeds: What magic, then, congeals the cordial tide? To more than brute, can FASHION's idle lure From wedlock's holy path and pleasure pure? While in her feverish breast she painful bears Along the flambeau'd streets do her swift wheels Her purse with Fortune's shining bounty stor'd;- The unwary wife. Ah, prostituted name! Her HoxovR next is pledg'd-and ransom'd by her SHAME! • Reproaching |