XI. The Hiftory of Great Britain, from the Reftoration, to the Acceffion of the House of Hanover. By James Macpherfon,. Efq. Two Vols. 410. 21. 25. Cadell.

As this work derives its importance from the Original Papers to which the author has had accefs, it will be proper to give a general account of these, before we enter on the examination of the Hiftory. They are now firft published, under the following title,

XII. Original Papers; containing the Secret Hiftory of Great Britain, from the Refloration to the Acceffion of the House of Hannover. To which are prefixed Extracts from the Life of James II. As written by Himself. Two Vols. 410. 21. 28. Cadell.

THE THE Extrads from the Life of King James II. which occur in the front of these volumes, and confist of more than thirty fheets of print, were taken from a manufcript in the Scotch college at Paris, written with the king's own hand, partly by the late Mr. Thomas Carte, and partly by Mr. Macpherfon, the editor. Thefe memoirs, Mr. Macpherfon obferves, confift rather of memorandums made for the king's own ufe, than a regular detail of events.. The moft materialpaffages have been felected, and the language of king James in a great meafure preferved by both the tranfcribers. In fuch detached notes, written carelessly, without any coherence or premeditation, we cannot expect to be gratified with the ornaments of elegant compofition; but our curiofity is more fefully entertained by circumftances of greater importance to hiftory. We here meet with an account of tranfactions, either more explicit and fatisfactory, or different from that which has been hitherto communicated to the public. through other channels. With refpect to the fidelity of thefe memoirs, no fufpicion can be reafonably entertained. They were written before there was any neceffity for misreprefentation on the part of the royal author, and without the leaft apparent intention of ever being publifhed. Befides, it is well known that James II. amidst all his defects as a king and a religious zealot, was of a difpofition avowedly governed by principle, even in cafes where policy required the practice of diffimulation; and he affected to regard the smallest deviation from truth with a degree of abhorrence. These extracts are chronologically arranged, in one continued feries, from the Restoration to the end of the year 1698.

The fubfequent papers in thefe volumes commence with the year 1688; and are thofe of the family of Stuart, and the Houfe of Brunfwick Lunenburgh. The former are the col

lection

lection of Mr. Nairne, who, during the period from the Revolution to the end of the year 1713, was under fecretary to the minifters of James II. and to thofe of his fon. Thefe papers came into the poffeffion of Mr. Carte, fome time before his death, who intended to have made ufe of them in the future part of his History.

Exclufive of the correfpondence of the Houfe of Stuart, the editor has received original papers from several perfons at home and abroad. He particularly acknowledges great obligations to Mr. Duane, who poffeffes, by purchase, the papers of the Houfe of Brunswick Lunenburgh, containing their whole correfpondence with Great Britain, from the paffing of the A&t of Settlement, till the establishment of George I. on the throne. This valuable collection, we are informed, confifts of ten large volumes in quarto.

The originals of three fourths of these papers, are written in French, Italian, and High-Dutch; but for the convenience of the public, they were tranflated, under the eye of the editor, and, we doubt not, with due care and fidelity. From the fame motive, long memorials are abridged; and where letters were tedious, extracts are only given.

Such are the fources from whence thefe Original Papers have been derived, and fuch the manner in which the editor has conducted the publication. Concerning this mafs of historical evidence, we shall at present only observe, that, as it comprises the fecret correfpondence of the perfons who were principal agents in the political negociations and tranfactions of thofe times, and that, too, of each of the families who were rivals for the fucceffion to the crown, it promises a fund of information, which muft throw great light on a period perhaps the most interefting of the British annals. We fhall conclude this general account, with inferting Mr. Macpherson's preface to his Hiftory, as it contains the plan upon which he has proceeded in compiling the work.

The Papers of the Family of Brunfwick-Lunenburgh, and thofe of the Houfe of Stuart, having been placed in the hands of the author of the following volumes, he was encouraged to write the History of Great Britain, during a very important period. The new light thrown upon public tranfactions, the difcoveries made in the fecret views of parties, the certainty eftablifhed with regard to the real characters of particular perfons, and the undeviating juftice rendered to all, will, he hopes, atone for his defects as a writer, and recommend his work to the public. Unwilling to advance any matter of fact, without proof, he has 'printed his materials; and, for their authenticity, he refers the reader to the papers

themselves.

In the dates of great events, in facts which fell under public difcuffion, in decifions of importance, in the ftate of debts, taxes, grants, and fupplies, he has availed himself of the records and journals of the two houies of parliament. In the detail of battles he has followed the best military writers; in wellknown events, the authors who wrote in the times. In defcribing the fecret fprings of action, the private negociations of parties, the intrigues of minifters, and the motives of fovereigns, he has followed unerring guides, original papers. In relating the affairs of Great Britain, he has frequently introduced a fummary of the affairs of Europe. He has confulted, with the utmost attention, the best writers of foreign nations; and endeavoured to give a comprehenfive view of the state of other countries, in order to throw a more complete light on

our own.

Where the facts are important and but little known, the authorities have been carefully quoted. Where their truth is univerfally admitted, the author has been lefs anxious about the precifion of his citations. To crowd a margin with the names of different writers, is an eafy, and, perhaps, a harmlets impofture. In the minds of the fuperficial, the expedient might eftablish an opinion of an author's induftry and knowledge; but it would have little effect on the judicious, from whofe decifion he has moft to hope and to fear. To the latter, it may be fufficient to obferve, that he has confulted, on every point, a greater number of printed works, than he would chute to cite at the bottom of any page. He has taken no fact, in all its circumftances, from any one writer. His narrative is the general refult of an intenfe inquiry into what has been advanced on all fides.

In recording events, every poffible attention has been paid to the order of time. The dates have been carefully investigated; and, where they are not interwoven with the work, are placed at the bottom of the page. In matters already known -and admitted, a comprehenfive brevity has been ftudied. No circumstance, however, has been neglected, no fact overlooked, that was thought either material in itself, or conducive to throw Hight on events of real importance. The intrigues of the cabinet have been more minutely recorded than the operations of the field. In the defcription of battles, fieges, and naval engagements, the author has endeavoured to be concife. But he has marked the outlines of military operations with a precision that brings forward the whole figure diftinctly to the

view.

Where the tranfactions are most important, and least known, the greatest labour and time have been bellowed. The intrigues which preceded the Revolution, and were partly the caufe of that event, are inveftigated at an early period, and traced through their whole progrefs, The circumftances of the Revolution itfelf have been examined with the utmost care, and

the

the most undeviating attention to truth. The events that immediately followed the acceffion of William and Mary, particularly the affairs of Ireland, have employed a great deal of time, as they have hitherto been very imperfectly known. The negociations of king James in France, his fecret intrigues with his former fubjects, have been carefully connected with the great line of history; and their effects on public affairs, as well as on the conduct of particular perfons, have been pointed out, as the circumftances themselves arofe.

Upon the death of James, and the fubfequent demife, of king William, the whole fyftem of fecret intrigues for the throne fuffered a material change. In the first years of queen Anne, the adherents of the Pretender abroad, fixed their hopes on the fuppofed affection of that princefs for her brother and family, Thofe in England who were most attached to the hereditary defcent of the crown, entertained the fame views. The di fturbances in Scotland, which terminated in the union of the two kingdoms, were fucceeded by events, which are related with brevity, as they are in fome measure already known, But the change of men and meafures, which happened in the year 1710, introduced a period of hiftory that has been hitherto very little understood. The four last years of queen Anne, therefore, coft the author much time and labour; and if he has not fucceeded, his want of abilities must be blamed, and not his want of information.

The reign of Charles II. has been much inveftigated by other writers. The caufes of many of the most important events are already fufficiently known. But the ampie extracts from the life of king james II. which were placed here in the author's hands, the accefs he had, in perfon, at Paris, to the pa, pers of that prince, together with fome materials, equally unknown, procured from other fources, have enabled him to throw a new and, he hopes, a complete light on that period. He was advised to prefix only a review of that reign to his work. But he neither liked that imperfect mode of writing. hiftory, nor could he be perfuaded, after he had examined the fubject, that any of his predeceffors had occupied the whole ground.

To decide on the execution of the work, is the province of the public. To form fome judgment of his own fentiments, may be fairly left to the author. In his progrefs through his fubject, he is not confcious of having once departed from the obvious line of evidence. He felt no predilection for any party. He has, furely, been biaffed by none. In his obferv

ations on the worst men, he has made allowances for human paffions. In commending the beft, he was forced to remember their frailties. He confidered himself throughout in the light of a judge upon mankind and their actions; and, as he had no object but truth, he trufts he has attained his end,

To speak with more warmth of the work, would be incompatible with the modefty, which writers ought to obferve when they treat of themfelves. To fay lefs in its favour, the author hopes, would be deemed inconfiftent with juftice. Without var nity, he may affirm, that the hiftory of the period he has chofen, has been hitherto very imperfectly known. He is far from fuppofing, that the following volumes are wholly free from errors. He hopes, however, that they are neither great nor many, with regard to matters of fact.'

In our next Review, we fhall begin the examination of these volumes, and carefully collate Mr. Macpherson's History, with the authorities that fupport it.

XIII. Travels through the Middle Settlements in North America, in the Years 1759, and 1760. With Obfervations upon the State of the Colonies. By the rev. Andrew Burnaby, A. M. Vicar of Greenwich. 410. 35. 6d. Payne.

WHILE

HILE the affairs of America intereft us fo much as they do at prefent, all information relative to that country and its inhabitants will be received with avidity. This is, therefore, a favourable opportunity for a traveller through that part of the world to recount what he has met with remarkable; and should he be inclined to indulge himself in criticifing the conduct of the people he has feen, in recommending improvements in their cuftoms and policy, or in prying into futurity, and predicting what their condition will be in future times, he need not dread the mortification of talking to inattentive hearers; we shall croud round him as foon as he begins, and ftand till the conclufion of his discourse arrectis auribus.

Mr. Burnaby affures us, that it is owing to the prefent critical fituation of affairs joined to the request of his friends, that he publishes the prefent work. His obfervations, he says, were intended only as memorandums; and this appears probable from fome of the relations he has given us, which had he at first intended to write for the public, he would probably never have tranfcribed; but it is the failing of travellers, to think that every thing in which they had any concern, while remote from their own country, is of confequence enough to be laid before the public.

It must be confeffed, that our author gives us a great deal of very agreeable information, and, if he cannot vie in defcription with Pennant or Brydone, he is, nevertheless, on the whole, no un-entertaining traveller.-We now proceed to accompany him; and finding nothing remarkable in his paffage by fea, behold him arrived fafe in Chesapeak bay, and attend