which at that time prevailed, even among the warmest abettors of that prince's fucceffion to the British crown. In clogging the meafures of government, the difcontented among the two parties ftood upon popular grounds. They railed against continental connexions. They argued for exerting the force of the nation at fea. They took advantage of the impolitic preference given by the king to his own countrymen, the Dutch. They added their force to the general difguft which his forbidding manner had fpread among the English officers and nobility. Though William could have been no ftranger to thefe difcontents, he took little pains to gain the esteem of the nation. He shut himself up all day. His clofet was almoft inacceffible. The few whom he received to an audience were more difgufted at his habitual filence, than if they had been denied admiffion to his prefence. When he dined in public with his Dutch officers and favourites, his English fubjects were excluded from his table. The first nobility stood behind him unnoticed, or retired in filence and difguft. He entered, in a manner unfuitable to his dignity, into the quarrels between the royal fifters. He treated the earl of Marlborough, who had deferved much at his hands, with coldness and contempt; because that nobleman and his lady were in high favour with the princefs of Denmark. The king, however, ought not to be altogether blamed for a conduct which feemed impolitic. The Whigs, who had raised him to the throne, foured his temper by their rudeness and prefumption: and he fufpected, that the Tories were ready to make use of his favours against his authority." The Original Papers about this period contain a variety of. inftructions, from the abdicated king to his friends in Britain, respecting the means of reftoring him to the throne. How much this event was defired, appears from the following paffage in thofe hiftorical materials. The earl of Sunderland writes to his majefty, that a descent is the only means to finish the misfortunes of the king and those of the nation; and that if his majefty comes now with an army, he cannot fail to carry his point. "He does not enter into particulars, because he fears that his majefty does not confide fufficiently in his advice. But when he is affured that the king is fatisfied with his fidelity, he promifes to fend good intelligence, and to contribute as much as he can to his majefty's fervice." "The earl of Arran affures his majefty of the fincerity of lord Sunderland, and that he may be of great fervice; and he also advises his majefty to go to England, with an army of 30,000 men, with which his majefty cannot fail to fucceed, providing he comes immediately, to take advantage of the difpofition of the people, of their contempt for the prince of Orange, and of their discontent, on account of the taxes with which they are loaded. The circumftances are the moft favourable that can be for for facilitating the paffage, as well as the landing of his majesty's troops; fince the fleet fails to the Streights, the greatest part of the troops go to Flanders, and the money which the parliament gives the prince of Orange will not be raised in time to put him in a condition to make any oppofition. "Lord Churchill advises his majesty to come, and gives him affurances of his own fervices, and of the fervices of all those who are of his party, which is very confiderable *." Mr. Cholemondly affures his majesty, that the people of England are very much difpofed to receive him, and conjures him to take advantage of the conjuncture.' At a time when the unfortunate James was exerting all his intereft on the continent, to be reinftated on the throne of thefe kingdoms, the account of the firft audience which his ambaffador, the earl of Perth, had of the pope, whofe affiftance he had been fent to folicit, affords a piЯuresque defcription of the political infignificancy of the Roman pontiff. It is contained in the following letter, dated at Rome 7th of June, 1695.. "I faid all I could think of before him [pope], that could move him to have a true sense of the ftate of the king's fufferings; demonftrating, that no earthly power could have hurt the king, fave by the concurrence of catholic princes, and not they neither, if the king had been of the religion of his dominions. This he feemed firmly to believe, and called the king a faint. This being fo, then, I faid, that all that his holiness could do for him was but too little: that there was now in Rome a great talking of peace, and upon fuch terms, as if confented to, or even permitted, would be a ftain upon his holiness's reputation, and a reflection upon the apoftolique chair. He faid it was true. But what can we do? I have done and will do, what, humanly speaking, is poffible: but catholic princes will not hearken to me; they have loft the refpect that used to be paid to popes: religion is gone, and a wicked policy fet up in its place. But, I faid, that he could ftill prevent a peace with the king's exclufion in it. God knows, he faid, to restore the king, I would give my blood; but Chriftians have loft all re fpect, even to us; to us! faid he. But can it be believed, continued his holiness, that I should ever confent to any peace, that excludes that good king from his juft right. God forbid ! God forbid! But what will become of all this? The prince of Orange is master: he is arbiter of Europe. The Europeans and king of Spain are flaves, and worse than fubjects to him. They neither will nor dare venture to difpleafe him; and here be ftruck twice with his hand upon the table, and fighed. If God, (faid he), by fome ftroke of omnipotency, do it not, we are undone. I preffed him to reflect, that this was really a In the MS. the pen is drawn through the paragraphs within, the inverted commas. war 2 war of religion. He faid, that they were blind who did not fee that. Laft of all, I laid before him the pitiful cafe of the poor catholics, who, having followed their mafter, were now reduced to extreme mifery. God help them! faid he; but what can I do? If I fhould do any thing, I am cryed out upon, as favouring France, who are pushing to be masters of all. However, he faid, he was convinced, that all I faid was most reasonable, and that he would think upon it. In the mean time, I am very confident he will never confent, or even wink at any peace, by which his majefty may fuffer in his juft rights; and this is one great point; and for the money part of it. I hope, with him, we may obtain fomewhat. Meanwhile, I fancy nobody has fpoke directly to his holiness of any truce." We shall here fufpend the examination of these works, the general character of which it would be improper to delineate until we have furveyed the whole. So far as we have proceeded in our review, we find that the most material documents which the Original Papers contain, relate to the intrigues into which the prince of Orange had entered for obtaining the crown of these kingdoms; and to the defign of reftoring the unfortu nate James by those persons who were the principal instruments in effecting the revolution. From the evidence furnished, respecting these transactions, it is certain, that, at the period to which we have brought down our enquiry, king William was tottering upon his throne. Nor can this be afcribed to the inconftancy of his former adherents, fo much as to the unpopularity of his own impolitic, and even unjustifiable conduct. To prove to what degree he was at this time hated, by almost the whole English nation, no ftronger proof can be adduced, than that they could form the refolution of expelling him, in favour of a prince under whose reign they had already experienced the most alarming violations of the religious and civil liberties of the kingdom. It is remarkable in the fortune of William, that he appears to have derived stability to his government, from the lofs of that fupport which had chiefly contributed to his elevation. His title to the fucceffion being weakened by the death of the queen, it became neceffary for him to affect popularity; to attain which, however, he was far from being happily qualified, either by his natural endowments, or that fullen and referved policy, which perhaps he had in part acquired from a long habit of diffimulation. Had the fate of Mary happened to William at this time, we are fufficiently authorised to affirm, upon the teftimony of the papers in this collection, that he would have died not only unlamented, but with a character extremely unfavourable, and different from that which he has obtained, from the partiality or ignorance of hiftorians. [To be continued. 1 III. The III. The Speaker: or, Mifcellaneous Pieces, felected from the best English Writers, and difpofed under proper Heads, with a View to facilitate the Improvement of Youth in Reading and Speaking, To which is prefixed an Effay on Elocution. By William Enfield, LL. D. 8vo. 55. unbound. Johnfon. THI HIS work was undertaken principally with the defign of affifting the ftudents of the academy at Warrington, in acquiring a juft and graceful elocution. It confifts of an effay on this fubject, and a large collection of mifcellaneous pieces, felected from the best English writers, and difpofed under proper heads, with a view to facilitate the improvement of youth in reading and speaking. In the Effay the author lays before his readers, in a plain didactic form, fuch rules refpecting elocution, as appear beft adapted to form a correct and graceful speaker. His first rule is this: Let your articulation be diftin&t and deliberate.' In his illuftration of this rule, he fays: Some cannot pronounce the letter, and others the fimple founds, r, s, tb, f; others generally omit the afpirate b. These faults may be corrected, by reading fentences fo contrived, as often to repeat the faulty founds; and by guarding against them in fa miliar conversation. Other defects in articulation regard the 'complex founds, and confift in a confused and cluttering pronunciation of words. The moft effectual methods of conquer ing this habit are, to read aloud paffages chofen for the purpofe (fuch, for inftance, as abound with long and unufual words, or in which many fhort fyllables come together) and to read, at certain ftated times, much flower than the fenfe and juft fpeaking would require.' ६ The acquifition of a diftinct articulation is a circumstance of infinite confequence in reading and fpeaking. But our author has confidered this point too fuperficially. His directions do not strike at the root of a vicious enunciation. The young speaker hould be carefully inftructed, as lord Chesterfield very properly directs," to open his teeth," and Speak, as it were, ore rotundo. Milton, in his Letter on Education, observes, that "We Englishmen being far northerly, do not open our mouths in the cold wide enough, to grace a fouthern tongue; but are observed by all other nations to speak exceedingly close and inward." If this obfervation were duly regarded, if children were thus inftructed to articulate every word and every fyllable clearly, diftin&tly, and fully, before they are permitted to aim at any thing higher, they would foon acquire a clear, perfect, VOL. XXXIX. April, 1775. and and graceful enunciation. At least, we are convinced, tha a mumbling, lifping, muttering way of fpeaking is inevitably contracted by attempting to read upon any other principle. Our author's fecond rule is, Let your pronunciation be bold and forcible. In order to acquire a forcible manner of pronouncing your words, inure yourself, fays he, while reading, to draw in as much air as your lungs can contain with ease, and expel it with vehemence, in uttering those founds which require an emphatical pronunciation. Read aloud in the open air, and with all the exertion you can command.' The whole art of reading depends on the proper manage. ment of the breath; but we cannot agree with our author, when he fays, expel it with vehemence, and with all the 'exertion you can command.' We fhould rather fay: ufe your breath with œconomy. Accuftom yourself to breathe freely and imperceptibly at the proper ftops. Pronounce your words fully, with fpirit and vivacity; but not with violence, and clamor. Prefer a calm and gentle delivery; that you may more eafily preferve the command of your voice, and pronounce the last words in the sentence with due force and energy. Whenever your breath begins to be exhaufted, and it will foon be exhausted, if expelled with vehemence, you will inevitably fink into a broken, faint, and languid tone: the very circumftance, in which confifts the difference between the lamentable cadence of a bad reader, and the energy, with which a man of fenfe naturally expreffes his perceptions, emotions, and paffions, in common discourse. Above all things therefore, let the young speaker guard against a violent exertion of the voice. Quintilian complains, that some of the orators of his time exerted themselves fo furiously, that they rather bellowed than fpoke. Clamant ubique et emugiunt, multo difcurfu, anhelitu, jactatione, geftu, motu capitis furentes. Illi hanc vim appellant, quæ eft potius violentia *.' Cicero, in allufion to this vehement exertion of the voice, fays, latrant quidam oratores, non loquuntur +.' Ho'mer's description of the oratory of Ulyffes gives us a complete idea of that mild and graceful enunciation, which every perfon fhould endeavour to acquire, But, when he fpeaks, what elocution flows! * De Inftit. Orat. lib. ii. cap. 12. + De Claris Orat. § 58. Iliad iii, 283. Rule |