printed Scot; a Highland Scot, Galloway Scot, Ifle of Skye Scot, &c. It is eafy to fee, that Englifhmen, not knowing the meaning of the word flot, and thinking they perceived a certain meaning, by converting it into Scot, have been induced to adopt that faulty phrafe; and having once adopted it, they will gradually apply it to females (heifers) as well as males, which is never, to our certain knowledge, done by the Scotch drovers.It is thus that languages are corrupted, and rendered obfcure. A-r-n. ART. II. The Modern Part of Univerfal History, from the earliest A S this part of the Univerfal Hiftory has been amply defcribed by us, when it first appeared, we think it unneceffary to trouble our Readers with any farther account of its contents, or the plan on which it is executed: it may be fufficient, for the prefent, to examine into the merits of this new edition, and to point out the alterations that have been made in it. We are told, that the whole work has undergone a laborious and attentive examination; that the plan has been methodized; that fuperfluities have been retrenched; that parts which had been left imperfect, are rendered complete; and that inaccuracies are corrected: on the whole, that the work has now acquired fuch extent, in point of fubject, and fuch effential improvements in regard to execution, as will not only obtain the approbation, but fecure the encouragement of the Public, to an undertaking which has been accompanied with almost unprecedented expence.' The former edition confifted of 44 volumes; this is comprized in 38; befide 4, which are called the Supplement, containing an abridgment of the hiftories of England, Scotland, and Ireland, compiled from the moft approved authorities.' From the confiderable reduction of bulk, which the work has fuffered, it appears that many circumftances are omitted which were in the original publication; and although the editors profefs to have made feveral additions, it does not feem that much room has been left for them. We could have wifhed, however, that, in making their retrenchments, the Editors had not expunged fo many paffages which we highly commended in our former account, and which, befides affording the intelligent reader much pleasure, were of great confequence to the learned and more cu See Review, vol. xxiii. xxv. xxvi. &c. to xxxviii. where this work was noticed, with peculiar attention, as it was published. rious 9 rious enquirer. For inftance; the difquifition into the origin of the Chinese, we are forry to find is fo much abridged, that it becomes very imperfect and obfcure. The opinion that Noah and Fohi, the fuppofed founder of that empire, were the fame perfon, was ftrenuoufly and ably fupported; the arguments for it were ingenious, and the reafoning, ufed to eftablish it, was cogent. On thefe accounts, we approved of this part of the work, and lamented that our limits would not fuffer us to lay it before our Readers, fince the force of the arguments would have fuffered by an abftract. There may, indeed, be many excufes made for this omiffion; fuch as, that it is not fufficiently fupported by written authorities or records; that it is uninterefting to the generality of readers, for whom this publication was principally intended, &c. Yet in the perufal of a work of this kind, where there muft unavoidably be a great famenefs, and tedious uniformity, any ingenious enquiry that may either exercife the capacity of the reader, or afford him room to admire the learning of the writer, diverfifies the scene, and refreshes the wearied attention. The omiffion of thefe more curious and philofophical parts of the prefent performance, is the more regretted when we are detained, for feveral volumes together, with numerous and minute defcriptions of the inhuman rites and favage cuftoms of the barbarous nations that inhabit the greatest part of Africa. And what is worse, the fame favage nation is defcribed in different places; the Giagas, for inftance, whofe horrid manners are in the highest degree fhocking to humanity, are repeatedly introduced, together with all their abominable rites and ceremonies, the bare recital of which is enough to make even cruelty itself hudder. The language in the former edition was by no means fuch as the importance of the work demanded: it was unequal, owing to the variety of authors concerned in the compilation, and in many places, as we formerly obferved, jejune, puerile, and, fometimes, not ftrictly grammatical. In its prefent form, it is greatly altered in thefe refpects; the faults which we then pointed out have been duly attended to, and the inaccuracies we mentioned are rectified; the who and the which are not confounded, nor have we any account of the Chineses or Japaneses: yet we often meet with inelegancies, to call them no worse, as, the king returned without having fruck a ftroke, or done any harm to any the carpenters fhops confift in a mis-fhapen axe, &c. :' both her's and his relations,' with others of a + fimilar kind, in abundance. What fhall we fay of the title of Vol. xiii. p. 73. † xiii. p. 8o. + xiii. p. 85. the the 5th §. of chapter lxxvii. The hiftory of the reign of Guftavus to his death?' Hiftorians and travellers cannot always be contradicted in their affertions. We are told, that fome of their [the Japanese] fcymetars will cut through an iron bar at one blow, without breaking, or blunting*.' From these and several other paffages of a fimilar kind, it is evident, that the prefent edition might have been much improved; and though juftice obliges us to acknowledge, that the work has received many emendations, yet much more might have been expected. It is a production of great confequence; and therefore we are forry to fee fo ufeful a performance make its appearance in an unfuitable dress. The divifion of the book is, in its prefent form, not the fame as in the laft edition; this being only divided into chapters and fections, the whole containing 99 chapters, befide the con❤ clufion, wherein the geography of the globe of the earth is confidered in a new light, with a view to future discoveries. In this long conclufion, we expected to have found fome account of the late difcoveries in the South Seas, efpecially as there is a minute relation of most of the early circumnavigators. It is furely the bufinefs of editors, in compilements of this kind, to enumerate the difcoveries that have been made fince the appear ance of former editions, in order to render the book perfect, to the time in which it is republifhed. If the original authors had brought down their accounts, to the latest dates, or, as the title profeffes, to the prefent time,' the Editors ought to have added accounts of tranfaétions fubfequent to the first publication of the work, continuing the original, making the performance as com❤ plete as the nature of it would admit, and fulfilling the promise in the title-page, of giving an account of all nations, down to the prefent time. This, however, has not been done; for few of the empires and ftates have their hiftory continued lower than the year 1700, and none later than 1750. The whole of this conclufion might have been very well fpared, for it contains little that was not mentioned in the former part of the work. A geographical defcription of the country generally employs the first fection of the chapter allotted to the hiftory of it; and to give another geographical account of the fame country, pretty nearly in the fame terms, is a repetition totally unneceffary, and tending only to increase the bulk of a work already too voluminous. One confiderable addition has been made to the original work, viz. a fupplement confifting of four volumes, containing a hiftory of Great Britain and Ireland. What materials the Editors have Rev. Aug. 1787. • Vol. vii. p. 347. I employed 4 1 employed in this compilation, or what authorities they have followed, we are not informed; but from the attentive perufal we have given it, we do not hesitate to pronounce it a tolerable abridgment of the hiftory of thefe kingdoms. The hiftory of England is brought down to the death of his late Majefty George II, that of Scotland to the year 1707, and that of Ireland to 1691; from which periods, the hiftories of these two kingdoms are naturally blended with that of England. To a general and univerfal hiftory, fuch an addition may by many be thought neceffary; but to English readers, for whom principally this work is intended, it is the lefs neceffary, fince we have fo many good abridgments already published, and fince the hiftory of his own country is fuppofed to be known before any reader proceeds to that of foreign kingdoms. The plates and maps accompanying this Part of the Univerfal History are not inferted in the places to which they belong, as in the Ancient Part, but are publifhed feparately, in a folio volume. This is much more convenient, as moft of them are on large paper, and the folding into an octavo form is both troublefome, and deftructive to the cuts. They are 26 in number, among which one is a general Chart of the World, according to Mercator's projection, fhewing the lateft difcoveries of Captain Cook: there is alfo a new Map of the United States of America, agreeably to the Peace of 1783: both thefe are neatly executed, and appear to be accurate. All the maps indeed are new, and their accuracy may be (as far as we can difcover, from comparing them with the most approved ones extant) depended on: a circumstance of much more weight than neatness of engraving, in which, however, thefe are not deficient. R--m ART. III. An Hiftorical View of the English Government, from the Settlement of the Saxons in Britain, to the Acceffion of the House of Stewart. By John Millar, Efq. Profeffor of Law in the Uni versity of Glasgow. 4to. 18s. Boards. Cadell, &c. 1787. UCH attention and difcuffion have, within our memory, been beftowed on the important and interefting fubject of the English Conftitution; yet there are ftill many difficulties attending it, and many parts of it lie in great obfcurity: fo that the endeavours of any writer to clear it from the clouds in which it is enveloped, and to reflect on it an additional degree of light, muft, undoubtedly, confer an obligation on the Public. To an Englishman, every book that treats of the government under which he lives, must be interefting. An eloquent and ingenious foreigner has prefented us with a juft view of the contitution, in its prefent ftate; but he has not noticed those pro 2 greffive greffive ftages through which it has paffed, and been enabled to affume its prefent appearance. To account for the peculiar nature of the English govern-, ment, is, furely, matter of rational curiofity; and to do this in a fatisfactory mode, it is neceffary to confider the different events that have taken place, and to examine the circumstances which have produced the various changes it has undergone. This, however, did not fall within the plan of M. de Lolme, who proposed to give an impartial statement of the Conftitution in its prefent form; and what he propofed, he has with ability. effected. Judge Blackftone, in the firft volume of his excellent "Commentaries on the Laws of England," has given us much. pleafing information on this important topic; but fill in the fame limited way in which the above-mentioned author proceeds. He has fatisfied himself with telling us in what fitua tion we are, and explaining the nature of the rights we enjoy ; and the fame point is the beginning and end of his labours; for, curious as the detail would have been, he has neglected to relate how we arrived at the one, or by what means, we procured the other. Mr. Hume, whofe name, as an hiftorian, will ever be mentioned with a confiderable degree of refpect, has not paid that minute attention to the earlier that he has to the later pe riods of our hiftory. He probably confidered them as immate rial, and apprehended that a diligent investigation of them would be no more amufing to the writer, than entertaining to the reader. In this inftance, however, though fupported by the respectable authority of Sir William Temple, and many others, we may venture to affirm that he was miftaken; he should have. remembered, that in the Saxon period, a period he has paffed over in too curfory a manner, thofe foundations were laid which were adapted to the fuperftru&ture that future hands were to erect, and which fucceeding ages have concurred in admiring. Such a period, with fuch circumftances attending it, could never be unfruitful; there must be in it many pleafing and agreeable views to diverfify the attention, and many prolific spots to gratify the taste of the reader. A good account of the Saxon times has long been much wanted, though that want is in a partial degree fupplied by the labours of the animated and acute Mr. Whitaker, in his Hiftory of Manchester; but his plan is neceffarily of too circumfcribed a nature to give all that information which curiofity would require. The prefent volume comes feasonably to our affiftance, and promises us much rational entertainment, by a view of thofe times, which, hitherto, have not attracted a fufficient degree of attention. We shall tranfcribe our Author's plan from his Introduc tion. |