Review of New Publications. "If this work fhould ever come to another edition, it is hoped that the gentlemen, who now honour it with a place in their libraries, will oblige the Editor by fuch further notices as their refearches may obtain ; which fhall be most respectfully confidered hefore re-publishing, fhould the fame hand undertake it." The two views, drawn by Courtenay and Millar, and engraved by Angus, are elegant reprefentations of their refpective fubjects. Mr. Welch appears to have executed his work faithfully, as far as his materials enabled him. He has given feveral blank pages for a continuation, and added a copious index of names. 95. Objections to the Abolition of the Slave Trade, with Answers. To which are prefixed, Strictures on a late Publication, intituled, "Confiderations on the Emancipation "of Negroes, and the Abolition of the Slave "Trade, by a Weft India Planter. By the Rev. James Ramfay, A. M. 8vo. MR. R. who may be called the Han. way and Howard of the Negroes, purfuing his laudable defign against all op. polition, like many other advocates in a good caufe, in his zeal frequently pushes his arguments further than they can bear. In no inftance, perhaps, fo forcibly, as when he recommends to us to give up the fugar colonies and manufactories, rather than hold the one, and carry on the other, at the expence of humanity, and the rights of fo large a part of mankind as the inhabitants of Africa while, at the fame time, he gives us leave to buy fugar of our neighbours, who manufacture it on the fame hard and unjuft terms. Mr. R s plan "aims only at the abolition of the Slave "Trade; it meddles not with flaves al"ready in the colonies. All our flaves "are not yet generally in a state where"in full liberty would be a bleffing: "Like children, they must be reftrained "by authority, and led on to their own 66 good. But it would be infidious not "to declare, that humanity looks for"ward to full emancipation, whenever "they fhall be found capable of making a proper use of it. But this may be "left to the mafter's difcretion." Such is the conftitution of things, that even humanity cannot be reftored to her rights without much deliberation. The motion made by Sir William Dolben, the 20th inftant, for a bill to regulate the number of flaves to be taken on board each fhip, is a preliminary to fome future reformation. 437 96. A Differtation on the Influence of the Paffions upon Disorders of the Body. By William Falconer, M.D. F. R. S. &c. being the Fay to which the Fothergillian Medal was adjudged. THIS is the first fruits of the laudable inftitution of the Medical Society 1784, of giving a prize medal of gold or filver for the beft differtations on fubjects proposed by them. Dr. Lettfom, in a fpeech on the occafion, from which we learn that he intended an hiftory of the paffions, expreffes his great fatisfaction in delivering the medal to a physician of whom Dr. Fothergill had fo high an opinion. Dr. Falconer has followed the paffions in their effects on the feveral claffes and genera of diseases. 97. Mont Blanc, &c. (Concluded from p. 330.) ENOUGH, and perhaps too much, has already been faid upon this fubject; but we willingly indulge the animated writer of the following epiftle, by inferting it at length: "Since Mr. Urban's Reviewers, p. 329, profefs willingly to admit into their publica tion appeals from their tribunal, it is prefumed they will not exclude a difavowal of the charge of mean jealousy brought against the defender of MONT BLANC. "They know, or affect to know, whence that defence proceeds, and hint, that its pen is accustomed to fcribble in numbers; yet impute to envy-what? even the difinterefted affertion of a rival author's claim to poetic honours-a claim which they had unjustly fpurned. They obferve, that "mufes of fire are apt to bear no brother near the throne." A mufe, whofe fires were of that lightless and corrofive nature, would have felt little inclination thus to have entered the lifts as champion for a rival bard, especially beneath inevitable confcioufnefs, that if the fource of fuch temerity was gueffed, it would be revenged upon the defender's own works, if Mr. Urban's critics. They add, that this they should hereafter pafs in review before (meaning the detence of Mont Blanc) is not the firft inftance they have had occafion to remark and to lament-(they do not say of what, but it is to be fuppofed they mean of envy); but that, for the fake of a character they esteem, they fincerely hope it will be the laf. The author of the stricture in question begs leave to obferve, that a character is not likely to become more amiable by lofing its zeal in the difinterested defence of injured genius and that, if it is a mark of envy, in the eyes of Mr. Urban's Reviewers, to enter a protest against decisions which contemptuely refuse to glowing poetry the praise they lavish upon vapid nothingness, this author is content to be deemed envious by them. } "The "The most exalted literary character now living, well acquainted with the Defender of Mont Blanc, has pronounced, with his pen, that a warmer Encomiaft of real genius does not exist *. "If indeed Mr. Hayley has borrowed a line from the Engraver, rather than the Engraver from Mr. Hayley, the latter is fufficiently honoured. But on which fide is the plagiarifm probable? The fecond edition of Hayley's Ode to Howard was printed in the year 1781. If the poem, which contains the line in queftion, preceded that beautiful Ode two years, whence, but in its want of power to attract public notice, can it be, that nobody recollects to have heard of his SHENSTONE, or the FORCE OF BENEVOLENCE, during the years that have elapfed fince its publication? No occafion, furely, for the most jealous author breathing to fear left such a neglected brother approach too near the throne." 98. Coke on Littleton, Fr. &c. (Continued from p. 337.) "THE reputation of Sir Edward Coke's Commentary is not inferior to that of the work which is the fubject of it. It is objected to it, that it is defective in method. But it should be observed, that a want of method was, in fome respects, infeparable from the nature of the undertaking. During a long life of intenfe and unremitted application to the ftudy of the laws of England, Sir Edward Coke had treasured up an immenfity of the most valuable common-law learning. This he wished to prefent to the publick, and chofe that method of doing it in, which, without being obliged to dwell on those doctrines of the law which other authors might explain equally well, he might produce that profound and recondite learning which he felt himself to poffefs above all others. In adopting this plan, he appears to have judged rationally, and confequently ought not to be cenfured for a circumftance infeparable from it. "It must be allowed, that the style of Sir Edward Coke is strongly tinged with the quaintnefs of the times in which he wrote: but it is accurate, expreffive, and clear. That it is fometimes difficult to comprehend his meaning, is owing, generally fpeaking, to the abftrufenefs of his fubject, not to the obfcurity of his language. It has also been objected to him, that the authorities he cites do not, in many places, come up to the doctrines they are brought to fupport. There appears to be fome ground for this obfervation. Yet "Well acquainted" as we are both with the writer of this letter, and the "exalted literary character" alluded to, (and in laft month we have, in more inftances than one, paid the tribute of gratitude to both), we heartily join iffue in this fentiment; and shil now difmifs the fubject. EDIT. it should not be forgot, that the uncommon. depth of his learning, and acuteness of his mind, might enable him to discover connec tions and confequences which escape a common obferver. "It is fometimes faid, that the perusal of his Commentary is now become useless, as many of the doctrines of law which his writ¬ ings explain are become obsolete; and that every thing useful in him may be found, more fyftematically and agreeably arranged, in modern writers. It must be acknowledged, that when he treats of those parts of the law which have been altered fince his time, his Commentary partakes, in a certain degree, of the obfoleteness of the subjects to which it is applied: but even where this is the cafe, it does not often happen that the doctrines laid down by him do not serve to illuftrate other parts of the law which are ftill in force. Thus, there is no doubt but the cafes which now come before the courts of equity, and the principles upon which they are determined, are extremely different in their nature from thofe which are the fubject of Sir Edward Coke's researches. Yet the great perfonages who have prefided in those courts have frequently recurred to the doctrines laid down by Sir Edward Coke, to form, explain, and illustrate their decrees. Hence, though portions charged upon real eftates, for the benefit of younger children, were not known in Littleton's time, and not much known in the time of Sir Edward Coke, yet, on the points which arise respecting the vesting and payment of portions, no writings in the law are more frequently or more fuccessfully applied to than Sir Edward Coke's Commentary on Littleton's Chapter of Conditions. It may also be obferved, that, notwithstanding the general tenor of the prefent business of our courts, cases must frequently occur which depend upon the most abftrufe and intricate parts of the ancient law. Thus the case of Jacob versus Wheate led to the difcuffion of efcheats and ufes as they stood before the statute of Henry VIIL and the cafe of Taylor verfus Horde turned on the learning of diffeifins. "But the most advantageous, and perhaps the most proper, point of view in which the merit and ability of Sir Edward Coke's writings can be placed is, by confidering him as the centre of modern and ancient law. The modern fyftem of law may be fuppofed to have taken its rife at the end of the reign of King Henry VII, and to have affumed fomething of a regular form about the latter end of the reign of King Charles II. The prin cipal features of this alteration are, perhaps, the introduction of recoveries; conveyances to uses; the teftamentary difpofition by wills; the abolition of military tenures; the ftatute of frauds and perjuries; the establishment of a regular fyftem of equitable jurisdiction ; the difcontinuance of real actions; and the mode of trying titles to landed property by ejectment. Review of New Publications. jectmept. There is no doubt but that, during the above period, a material alteration was effected in the jurifprudence of this Country: but this alteration has been effect ed, not fo much by fuperfeding, as by giving a new direction to the principles of the old law, and applying them to new fubjects. Hence a knowledge of ancient legal learning is abfolutely neceffary to a modern lawyer. Now Sir Edward Coke's Commentary upon Littleton is an immenfe repofitory of every thing that is most interesting or useful in the legal learning of ancient times. Were it not for his writings, we fhould ftill have to fearch for it in the voluminous and chaotic compilation of cafes contained in the Yearbooks, or in the dry, though valuable, Abridgements of Statham, Fitzherbert, Brooke, and Rolle. Every perfon, who has attempted, muft be fenfible how very difficult and difgufting it is to purfue a regular inveftigation of any point of law through those works. The writings of Sir Edward Coke have confiderably abridged, if not entirely taken away, the neceffity of this labour. "But his writings are not only a repofi Bory of ancient learning; they also contain the outlines of the principal doctrines of modern law and equity. On the one hand, he delineates and explains the ancient fyftem of law, as it stood at the acceffion of the Tudor Line; on the other, he points out the leading circumstances of the innovations which then began to take place. He fhews the different restraints which our ancestors imposed on the alienation of landed property, the methods by which they were eluded, and the various modifications which property receiv ed after the free alienation of it was allowed. He fhews how the notorious and public transfer of property, by livery of feifin, was fuperfeded by the fecret and refined mode of transferring it, introduced in confequence of the statute of uses. We may trace, in his Works, the beginning of the difufe of real actions; the tendency in the nation to convert the military into focage tenures; and the outlines of almost every other point of modern jurifprudence. Thus his writings ftand between and connect the ancient and modern parts of the law; and, by fhewing their mutual relation and dependency, difcover the many ways by which they refolve into, explain, and illuftrate one another." (To be continued.) 99. De Lolme's Obfervations on the Window Tax, &c. (Concluded from p. 345.) HAVING been affured that this is a genuine production of the writer whofe name it bears, we have been induced to give it a fecond perufal; and, though we fill think the fubject treated in a manner abundantly too jocular, and in fome parts of it perceive an ineffectual attempt to reach thofe flights which 439 Swift fuccefsfully took in the cha- "The idea," fays Mr. De Lolme, "1 mean to fuggeft, is, the removing of the Market held in Smithfield to fome field at a fhort diftance out of London. The fields about St. Pancras, or Battle-bridge, would, very likely, be a proper fituation. "That the Market for cattle being held in the very centre of London is no ornament to the town, I do not think there is any neceffity of undertaking to prove. - "In the fecond place, the confequence of the Market being held in an interior part of London is, that the cattle must be driven through the streets the whole length of their way to that particular place to which they are bound, however diftant that place may be; whether Tower-hill and Ratcliff-highway, or the streets adjacent to Piccadilly. This paffage of cattle through the streets is productive of much inconvenience, and very frequently of mifchief; which would be avoided if the Market were held in fome of thofe fields abovementioned: the cattle would follow thofe roads by which London is furrounded, till they should reach that particular part or street to which they are fent. The ftreets about Smithfield Market are in the number of the narrowest and most crowded in London. "But the providing the cattle with water, during the time the Market is held, is that circumftance which I mean more particu larly to suggest. "The feelings of dumb animals feem to be they want forefight): it is a kind of duty to very quick, perhaps as quick as ours (though pay attention to that; efpecially when it colts but little. "The cattle are driven through the dusty roads, for several hours, in Summer, to the Market-place, where they are kept twelve hours more without a drop of water. Sheep, efpecially, muft fuffer much, as they walk clofe together, in flocks, with their mouths no higher than twelve or fifteen inches abov● the ground, fwallowing, when they breathe, more dust than air: the mifery of those sheep that walk in the middle of a flock muft be very great: the heat raised by the paffage of a flock of fheep may be felt at the distance of feveral yards. Sheep bear patiently their diftrefs on the Market-place; but the larger cattle grow unruly and mischievous. "The fields I have mentioned, about St. Pancras, being lower than the New-river head, ! head, would be eafily fupplied with water. Troughs, conftructed in a lasting manner, might be placed through all the pens, at the height of twelve inches or fo above ground; and water might begin to be fent through these troughs as foon as the time of the Market begins. Two or three rows of larger troughs might alfo be fixed, to which the larger cattle might be tied, and water kept running under their nofes during the whole time the Market is kept. "Some perfon or perfons, paid for that purpose, ought to be appointed to take care of the troughs, and also to see that the water begins conftanily to be distributed at the proper time. "The Market-place might be paved with bricks placed edgewife; which would have a neater appearance; would keep the place dry, and not be fo cold as ftones. Houfes of entertainment, for the perfons attending the Market, would be built in a trice around the new place. "In cafe the proprietary rights of any perfons were an obstacle to the removal of the Market from Smithfield, the Parliament might affift the City, not only with a bill, but also with money, if neceffary; as the measure might in fome degree be confidered as a national object." This idea is excellent, and well worthy the attention of the higher powers. 100. A Letter to Arthur Young, Efq. on the Bill now depending in Parliament to prevent the Exportation of Wool. By Thomas Day, Efq. 8vo. (Reviewed by a Correfpondent.) THOSE who are acquainted with the writings of Mr. Day cannot but rejoice when an author of fuch approved merit ufes his endeavours to avert the danger with which the rights and liberties of one part of the community are actually threatened. "Commerce (he fays) is in its origin a gentle river, gliding fi "Jently along its banks, and difpenfing little "fertility to every foil it vifits: a "farther advanced, it is a falutary in"undation, that may fometimes impede "the labours of agriculture, but repays "with ufury the damage it occafions. "In its laft ftage (he fears) it is toe "apt to become an impetuous torrent, "that threatens deftruction in its course, "and bears away liberty, public fpirit, "and every manly virtue."-He confiders the prefent propofed regulations of wool as one of the moft extraordinary inftances of defpotifm; and describes what would be the unhappy ftate of the farmer in the following words: "From "the very inftant that he hears the fa"tal fleece, all his cares, all his exertions, must be confined to complying 66 "with the falutary reftrictions of the "law; one claufe directs him how it "fhall be carried into his barn; another to be carried out; another conde"difplays the legal form by which it is "fcends to regulate the manner of its "package, and the infcription upon the "trufs. In the mean while, his fer"vants, neighbours, family, and rela❝tions, are all inftigated to continual "treachery; and he can never close his eyes with a certainty that he may not "awake the next morning to experience "the rage of offended manufacturers, "and the vengeance of the Chamber of "Commerce."-He condemns the con duct of the manufacturers in applying to the legislature to diminish the price of a material; which price, under every disadvantage, is only raised by their own competition, and the extenfion of their bufinefs; and contends, that the higher the price of wool is at home, the lefs will be the clandeftine exportation of it. He urges the impolicy of compelling France to cultivate the breed of theep; which, however, might not be effected were the fmall quantity of wool fuppofed to be fmuggled really fent into that country. Mr. Day concludes his wellwritten letter with the higheft eulogium on Mr. Young; to whom he afcribes the greatest praife for his vigorous ex ertions in oppofing this Bill. Review and Catalogue of New Publications. writing, as he ftill does, for a penfion from the publick, though not from the privy purse, he seems less t nder of his poetical reputation than when our acquaintance first commenced. The ad 441 vertisement of the proprietor of his works, to detect piracy, favours too much of the quaint but now worn-out device, ― Beware of Counterfeits, for juch are abroad! Mr. URBAN's Reviewers, once for all, folemnly profefs themselves to be under no influence but that of Impartiality and Juftice. If, therefore, the works of one publisher feel their lash more feverely than those of another, it is not from any refentment either to the Author or the Publifher, but from a fair and difpaffionate judgement of the publications. Not men, but books, are their object. A concern for the interefts of Literature urges them to the feverity of free and unreferved cenfure. Were bookfellers of the greatest reputation to fubmit to be the propagators of frivolity and infipidity, whether under the titles of Beauties, Flowers, Abridgements, or of Essays, Obfervations, Differtations, Difquifitions, Sermans, or under more fpecious and lefs hacknied titles, or fuch Imitations of the writings of celebrated authors as difcredit both the original and the imitator, in poetry or prose, and those too full of error, and the effect of hafte-they are fair game to Reviewers, whose province is to expofe error, either by argument or ridicule, without regard to the pocket or perfon of the author or the bookfeller. Publishers' names are rarely noticed in our Review; but if Publishers, for want of competency to judge of the merit of a work offered to them, or from any other motive, will take up with every compofition that a vain, an empty, or hungry author, offers to them, they stand in need of fome friend to pull them by the fleeve, as Apollo pulled the old poets by the ears. To fhew, however, how little Mr. Urban's Reviewers apprehend from an appeal, they have printed one in the last month (fee p. 319), founded, they prefume, on the warmest friendship, and have left the impartial publick to judge between the two opinions. They have gone further. In p. 437 they have, on the fame subject, admittel a fecond appeal against themselves, without, however, by any means intending to make a precedent. P. 428. The frontispiece to "The Book Club" is defigned by James Dunthorne, and etched by J. Rowlandfon. That to "The Patriot King" defigned by R. Smirk, and engraved by Andrew Smith. |