Chirurgical Observations relative to the Cataract, the Polypus in the Nose, the Cancer of the Scrotum, &c. By Percival Pott, F. R. S. Elements of Anatomy and the Animal Oeconomy. From the French of M. Perfon. Corrected and augmented; with Notes by S. Feart Simmons, 485 Remarks on the principal Acts of the 13th Parliament of Great Britain, Vol. I. Anfwer to the Speech of Edm. Burke, Efq. fpoken April 19, 1774, Addrefs of the People of Great Britain to the Inhabitants of America, Irenicum: or the Importance of Unity in the Church of Chrift confidered, 504 Remarks on " A Scriptural Confutation of the Arguments against the One A poetical Epiftle from an Officer at Otaheite to Lady Gr * *y* n*r, An heroic Epiftle from Omiah to the Queen of Otaheite, The Cypress Tree; or Moral Reflections in a Country Church-yard, i] THE CRITICAL REVIEW. For the Month of January, 1775. ARTICLE I. The Works of George Lord Lyttelton; formerly printed separately, and now first collected together with fame other Pieces never before printed. Published by George Edward Ayfcough, esq. 4to. 11. 5s. boards. DodЛley. W THEN genius, learning, and virtue unite in a perfon of diftinguished rank and fortune, they render him peculiarly illuftrious, and men are univerfally gratified by the publication of the works of fuch an author. In this honourable degree of eftimation stand the literary productions of lord Lyttelton, a nobleman defervedly celebrated for the poffeffion of eminent talents, and all thefe amiable endowments of mind which conftitute the ornament and happiness of so ciety. The first article in this mifcellaneous collection is, Obfervations on the Life of Cicero, formerly published. These were written in the early part of the author's life, and difcover great acuteness, as well as extenfive learning. They are fucceeded by Obfervations on the Roman Hiftory, no lefs judicious, and now firft publifhed, from a manufcript communicated by William Henry Lyttelton, efq. The fubject of thefe Obfervations is the period of the Roman Hiftory, from the ufurpation of Sylla to the fettlement of the imperial power; from the view of which period his lordship endeavours to afcertain fome of the caufes of the deftruction of liberty in the republic. He obferves, that the caufes which at laft produced this event, had long before begun to operate, by the pernicious outrages of the people on one hand, and violent acts of VOL. XXXIX., Jan. 1775. B the the fenate on the other. He then proceeds to fhew, that the balance of the ftate was deftroyed by the office of dictator, which conferred fuch an unlimited power as was inconsistent with public liberty. The inftitution of this office, fays his lordship, was almoft coæval with the liberty of Rome. Twelve years after the expulfion of Tarquin the Proud, or, as some reckon, only eight, (ita lex jubebat de dictatore creando lata,) a law was made for the creating of a dictator, with a power fuperior to that of all other officers, military or civil, and fubject to no appeal, being only restrained By the following limitations-that it was to be exercised within the bounds of Italy, and not for more than fix months. The idea of it feems to have been taken from Alba, of which city the Romans were a colony, and may therefore have adopted, without much deliberation, what had been practifed there: but the occafion of their having recourfe to it was (according to Livy) the instant dread of a war, which thirty Latin cities, confederated with the Sabines, threatened to make against Rome. Other reafons have been given, but this feems the most probable; because military operations are better carried on by a fingle commander, than by two equal chiefs; and the people, at a time of imminent danger, might more eafily be induced to conftitute fuch an officer for the defence of their country against foreign enemies, than if the law had been first propofed by the fenate for any political purpofe. Yet they fhould have confidered, that the dictatorial power extended over the ftate, as well as over the army, and that the nobles might ufe it as an engine against them upon other occafions. : The nomination of this magiftrate appears to have been affigned by law to either of the two confuls; but the choice was con fined to fome one of thofe fenators who had before obtained the cons fulfhip and the ufual method was, for the fenate to decree, upon any great exigency, that a dictator fhould be made, and to direct on what perfon of confular dignity the nomination fhould fall. Yet it was in the power of either of the confuls, without any order from them, and without the approbation of his colleague, to name, of his own accord, any confular fenator to this fupreme magiftracy; and their approbation, concurring with fuch an appointment, fully ratified and confirmed it, however difagreeable it might be to the people. A remarkable inftance of this, and likewife of the ufe occafionally made of the dictatorial power for the purposes of the fenate, occurs in the account which is given by Livy of the events of the year 316 from the building of Rome. He tells us, that the fenate reproaching the confuls with a neglect of their duty, for not having exerted the authority of their charge to punish a confpiracy of the Roman knight, Spurius Mælius, with fome tribunes of the people, against the commonwealth, one of them faid, "The blame laid on them was unjuft: for they, being fubject to the controul of the laws, which had given an appeal from them to the people, wanted ftrength in their magiftracy, more than they did in their minds, to inflict the vengeance due to a crime of this nature. (Opus effe non forti folum viro, fed etiam libero exfolutoque legum vinculis. Itaque fe dictatorem Lucium Quintium dicturum.) That there was need of a man, not only courageous, but But moreover free; and not fettered with the restraints of the lars. He therefore would name Lucius Quintius dictator." The whole fenate approving it, Lucius Quintius was accordingly named to that office; and the next day guards of foldiers having been placed in the forum, Caius Servilius Ahala, whom he had appointed his general of the horfe, cited Mælius, by his orders, to come before his tribunal, and answer there to the charge brought against him in the fenate. But, he calling on the people to fuccour him in this danger, which, he faid, was drawn upon him by his kindness to them and the malice of the fenate, fome of them refcued him from the hands of an officer, who was going to carry him before the dictator: whereupon Servilius, affifted by a band of young patricians, followed him into the crowd, in which he had taken refuge, and killed him there with his own hand: after which, covered over with the blood he had shed, he went back to Quintius, and told him what he had done. That magiftratę praifed him for having freed the republic; and then, in an harangue which he made to the people, whom the fight of this deed had thrown into a tumult, declared, (Mælium jure cafum, etiam fi regni crimine infans fuerit, qui vocatus a magiftro, equitum ad dictatorem non veniffet,) That Mælius, though he were innocent of aspiring to make himself king of Rome, with which he had been charged. was yet justly put to death, because, having been cited by the mafler of the horje, to come before the dictator, he did not come. • When we confider, that this man was probably guilty of no other treason, than affecting to render himself too popular, by lar geffes of corn to the people, in a time of great dearth; it muit appear that a power, which, upon fuch an occafion, could fo fuddenly be called forth, and fo violently exercifed, was not very confiftent with the much-boafted liberty of the Roman republic. The conftitution of that state is praised by Polybius, as a happy mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, but the dic tatorship brought into it a kind of domination more properly ty rannical than regal. For, in a limited monarchy, the king is not abfolute, but re ftrained by the laws, and his minifters are refponsible to the other eftates of the kingdom, or the courts of judicature therein, for any abufe of his power: but a dictator in Rome (abfolutus legum vinculus) was abfolved by his office from all reftraints of the laws, and not accountable to the fenate, or affembly of the people, or any other jurifdiction, for any act he had done in the exercife of his charge, however arbitrary or illegal. If it be faid, that the regal power in the Roman conflitution was exercifed by confuls, and the dictatorship was only an extraordinary remedy, to which recourse was had in fudden emergencies, when the ordinary courfe of government was unable to answer the exigency of the ftate, or provide for its fafety, I anfwer, that not only the confuls, or the fenate, or both these powers united, but the people. alfo as one conftitutional part of the Roman commonwealth, onght to have judged of the neceffity of employing this remedy, fo dangerous to their freedom, and without their confent it never should have been used. We cannot help regretting that the noble author's obferva tions on this fubje&t have been left imperfect, as his political B 2 and and historical knowledge eminently qualified him for profecut ing fuch an investigation. The fucceeding article is entitled, Confiderations upon the prefent State of our Affairs, at Home and Abroad, in a letter to a member of parliament, from a friend in the country. This was first published in the year 1738, and affords further proof of his lordship's political abilities. Afterwards follow the Letters from a Perfian in England to his Friend at Ifpahan ; which are well known to the public, and abound with just and ingenious obfervations. Thefe elegant Letters are fucceeded by Obfervations on the Converfion and Apoftlefhip of St. Paul; a work which has placed his lordship's piety and acquaintance with the Scriptures in a light no lefs confpicuous than his other diftinguifhed qualifications. The next in the order of arrangement is The Dialogues of the Dead, which have alfo already received the public applaufe. Four Dialogues are now added, inferior to none of the preceding in wit, ingenuity, or learning. The first of these is between Scipio Africanus and Julius Cæfar, in which the noble author contrafts the moderation and patriotifim of the former with the ambition of the latter. The fecond, which is between Plato and Diogenes, exhibits the difference between the maxims of a cynic and those of a refined philofopher. The third is maintained by Ariftides, Phocion, and Demofthenes: here his lordship examines the different principles which actuated Phocion and Demofthenes in fupporting the interests of their country; fhewing it to be the opinion of Phocion, that Philip was fo much. fuperior to the Athenians in ftrength, as to render a contest with him unadviseable; but that Demofthenes entertained the moft fanguine hopes from a general confederacy of the Grecian ftates. The fourth additional Dialogue is between Marcus Aurelius and Servius Tullius, and ingeniously contrasts the different effects refulting from regal power, according as the fubjects are virtuous or corrupt. We are then presented with Four Speeches delivered in Parliament: the first, upon the bill of the jurifdictions in Scotland, in the year 1747; the fecond, on the mutiny-bill, in 1751; the third, on the repeal of the act for naturalizing the Jews, in 1753; and the fourth, concerning the privilege of parliament, delivered in the house of lords in the year 1763. These four fpeeches evince his lordship's patriotifm, moderation, political abilities, and oratorial talents. The fubfequent divifion of the work contains a variety of beautiful poems, most of which were written at an early time of life. Among thefe is a Monody to the memory of the noble author's lady, which will ever be admired for unaffected tenderness of |