MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For AUGUST, 1787. TRADE and COMMERCE. Art. 12. A brief Essay on refpectively attend France the Advantages and Disadvantages which and Great Britain with regard to Trade. By Jofiah Tucker, D. D. Dean of Gloucefter. 8vo. 25. Stock. dale. 1787. TH HIS treatife is reprinted from the third edition, which was publifhed in 1753. It flates the advantages and difadvantages that France enjoys with respect to trade, and compares them with the advantages and difadvantages which England enjoys. Three effays are added, I. On the balance of trade. II. On the jealoufy of trade. III. On the balance of power. These were written by Mr. Hume, and firft published in 1751, in a collection of Political Difcourfes, for which fee an account in the 6th volume of our Review, p. 19, and 81. The abilities of the Dean of Gloucefter, in regard to fubjects of this kind, are univerfally allowed. POLITICA L. R Art. 13. Caricature Anticipations and Enlargements; occafioned by a late pious Proclamation; alfo by two celebrated Speeches in Parliament relative to a Repeal of the Teft-Act; one by Lord North, the other by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. 8vo. ley. 1787. Is. Kearf Ironical. Lord North and Mr. Pitt are here the objects of ridicule. Whatever fhare the Author poffeffes of wit and argument, is employed in defence of the Diffenters' caufe; or, in his own words, to affift in promoting the intereft of religion and virtue, of truth and liberty;-to raife in the minds of British fubjects an abhorrence of intolerance and priestly domination, flavery, and defpotifm.' His plan is formed on the fuppofition that the Diffenters have renewed their application to Parliament, for a removal of the test barrier, which feparates them from the establishment. Art. 14. An Inquiry into the Effects of Public Punishments upon Criminals, and upon Society. Read in the Society for promoting po litical Inquiries, convened at the Houfe of his Excellency Benjamin Franklin, Efq. in Philadelphia, March 9th, 1787. By Benjamin Rush, M. D. Profeffor of Chemistry in the University of Pennfylvania. 8vo. 1s. Dilly. Dr. Rufh obferves, that the defign of punishment is faid to be,— ift, To reform the perfon who fuffers it; - 2dly, To prevent the perpetration of crimes, by exciting terror in the minds of the fpectators; and,-3dly, To remove thofe perfons from fociety, who have manifefted, by their tempers and crimes, that they are unfit to live in it.' He argues very fenfibly on the inefficacy of public punishments in all thefe points of view; but has experience established the fact, that when the paffions of men, and their habits of thinking, are become fo depraved as to fubject them to the cenfure of the law, that REV. Aug. 1787. punishment M punishment in any mode will reclaim them to fobriety and integrity? Our Author, indeed, in the ardour of fpeculative refinement, is bold enough to declare- I have no more doubt of every crime having its cure in moral and phyfical influence, than I have of the efficacy of the Peruvian bark in curing the intermitting fever. The only difficulty is, to find out the proper remedy or remedies for particular vices.' So Archimedes thought it poffible to move the whole world, if he could but find a fulchrum for his lever; but even then, where was the lever? This confidence in our Author arifes from his profeffion; he first fuppofes an analogy between diforders of the mind and thofe of the body, and then loofely infers, that a pharmacopoeia might be adapted to the one as well as to the other. But though the doctrine of fpecifics is nearly difcarded from bodily medicine, we have the offer of one for the cure of malefactors, and here is the recipe: Let a large houfe, of a conftruction agreeable to its defign, be erected in a remote part of the ftate. Let the avenue to this house be rendered difficult and gloomy by mountains or moraffes. Let its doors be of iren; and let the grating, occafioned by opening and fhutting them, be encreafed by an echo from a neighbouring mountain, that fhall extend and continue a found that fhall deeply pierce the foul. Let a guard conftantly attend at a gate that fhall lead to this place of punishment, to prevent ftrangers from entering it. Let all the officers of the house be ftrictly forbidden ever to difcover any figns of mirth, or even levity, in the prefence of the criminals. To encrease the horror of this abode of difcipline and mifery, let it be called by fome name that fhall import its defign.' The plan of this prifon appears to have been conceived from a defcription of the dungeon in fome inchanted caftle in romance! Nor is the application of this horrid place lefs romantic- Let the various kinds of punishment that are to be inflicted on crimes, be defined and fixed by law. But let no notice be taken, in the law, of the punifament that awaits any particular crime.' That is, a number of tortures and feverities are to be invented; they cannot be called punishments until they are applied to crimes, and this application is referred to the difcretion of Huctuating tranfitory courts! Is this the boafted land of liberty, that is to give the old corrupted states of Europe models of pure government and fublime legiflation? But to fhew that we are totally got into fairy land, let us, with the aid of a conjunction, fee how the grating of iron hinges, echoes, and private difcretionary difcipline, are to operate. If crimes were expiated by private difcipline, and fucceeded by reformation, criminals would probably fuffer no more in character from them, than men fuffer in their reputation or usefulness from the punishments they have undergone when boys at school. I am fo perfectly fatisfied of the truth of this opinion, that methinks I already hear the inhabitants of our villages and townships counting the years that fhall complete the reformation of one of their citizens. I behold them running to meet him on the day of his deliverance. His friends and family bathe his cheeks with tears of joy; and the univerfal fhout of the neighbourhood is, "This our brother was loft, and is found-was dead and is alive." If Dr Rush by any improvement of animal magnetism, or by fome other new difcovery, can fo purge the human conftitution, as to purify his countrymen from thofe propenfities, that gencrate crimes in Europe; his plan may poffibly operate according to his ideas, which are, at prefent, far above our grofs conceptions. N Art. 15. Debate on the Repeal of the Teft and Corporation As, in the House of Commons, March 28, 1787. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Stockdale. Those who have attended to the important fubje&t of the abovementioned debate, and with to preferve the memorials of the tranfaction, will be glad to find, in the prefent collection, the fpeeches of Mr. Beaufoy, Sir Harry Houghton, Lord North, Lord Beauchamp, Mr. Smith, Sir James Johnftone, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Mr. Young, Mr. Courtenay, and Sir W. Dolben. The principal fpeech (the opening of the bufinefs), by Mr. Beaufoy, hath already been noticed, with approbation, in our Review for April, p. 349. NAVAL. Art. 16. An Addrefs to the Right Honourable the First Lord Commiffoner of the Admiralty, on the vifible decreafing Spirit, Splendour, and Difcipline of the Navy. With a Propofition for reducing the Guard Ships to eight Sail of the Line, and employing Twelve additional Frigates upon the Home Service, to prevent Smuggling, &c. Alfo a Differtation upon the alarming Decrease and Confumption of Naval Timber in Great Britain. By an Officer. 8vo. 13. 6d. Stockdale. 1787. This officer thinks proper to abufe his correfpondent, as a man ungracious in his manner, unfeeling in his nature, of a mysterious, perverse difpofition, difpenfing his favours among boatswains, carpenters, gunners, and cooks, while in the fuperior line of naval fervice, he purfues indigefted pitiful plans of economy, totally repugnant to the honeft generous feelings of veterans. What may be the reafon of his addreffing his Lordship in a ftyle fo very ungracious, does not appear; but if any part of his performance merits attention, it may be what he obferves refpecting the growing fcarcity of fhip timber for large veffels; and fo far as he may be well informed on this most serious object, the legislature ought to take it up. N IMPEACHMENT of Mr. HASTINGS. Art. 17. Articles exhibited by the Knights, Citizens, &c. in Parliament, against Warren Haftings, Efa. 8vo. 2s. Debrett. 1787. To give the heads of thefe twenty articles of impeachment, would be in our opinion unneceffary, fince thofe to whom they relate, or who would wish for information on this fubject, would not reft satisfied with fuch an abstract as that to which our narrow limits would confine us. POETRY. R-m Art. 18. Ode on General Elliot's Return from Gibraltar. By Anna Seward. 4to. IS. Cadell. 1787. The fervices rendered by General Elliot [now Lord Heathfield] to his country, during the memorable fiege of Gibraltar, demand from the voice of gratitude the loudeft and the livelieft ftrains. M 2 Mifs Jee Mifs Seward, a lady whofe poetical talents are known to the world, has welcomed the faviour-hero to his native fhore in numbers which will noway diminish her fame. The fituation of the French and Spaniards, when their floating bat- The fair Author, however, fometimes ufes a language which we cannot thoroughly understand. She fays Creft fail'n Britain where were then The rumours of thy matchlefs might, &c.' But when was Britain conquered? When was Britain subdued? By talking, in another place of the western flood-the provincial ftandard,' &c. the Author undoubtedly alludes to the war in America. But though the English, for fo long a time, were endeavouring to conquer and fubdue the Americans, it by no means follows that, failing in that attempt, themfelves were conquered and fubdued:nay, far, very far was Britannia from being even what the poet is pleafed to call creft fallen. As her enemies increased in ftrength, fhe redoubled her efforts; and actually rofe fuperior to the several powers which were leagued against her. A.B. Art. 19. Ode to the Right Honourable Lord Melton, Infant Son of This Ode is written in praife of Earl Fitzwilliam, and the patriot phalanx to which he belongs. The Poet addreffes the fon of that nobleman in the following lines : Heirs not the racer all his lineal speed? So to the progeny of man's decreed To boaft th' inherent virtues of his fires: *This verb has fomething particularly harsh and difagreeable in it. But perhaps the Poet was driven to the ufe of it by neceffity. We do not remember to have met with it in any other writer than Corre- Dryden: 7 pondence at the end, after the Index. "His fon in blooming youth was fnatch'd by fate, And And hence, in confidence of Nature's laws, My fong, with bold prefage, thy portrait, Melton, draws.' Thus would the Author, by induction as it were, infift on the future excellency of the infant Lord. To fay that the racer heirs his lineal fpeed' that the war-horse burns with paterna fires-that the child fhall inherit the virtues of his progenitors, &c. is poetically pleafing, but it is by no means philofophically juft. Virtues and vices, no doubt, pafs continually from father to fon; but not according to any invariable law of nature. It is certain, that we frequently note degeneracy not only in the race of man, but throughout the animal world. Our Author's fophifm, however, as we have already hinted, is an agreeable one. Dr. Johnfon has obferved of Gray, that "there is a kind of cumbrous fplendour in his Odes, with which the reader of tafte must be diflatisfied." This is undoubtedly true. In the production now before us, however, there is nothing of the kind to comp. in of. The ftanzas (if we except the one already cited) have in them all that beautiful fimplicity and clearness of expreffion, which we have been taught to look upon with reverence, as well in lyric poetry as in every other species of compofition; though we are very fenfible that tumour, and even obfcurity, are by many fuppofed to be effential to, and characteristic of, the genuine Ode. But the reader fhall judge of the merits of this performance himfelf. The Poet, after lamenting the death of the Honourable George Fitzwilliam, proceeds: But whither roves my fong? The mournful lay To happier themes fhe dedicates her lyre, And round her brow bids feftal roses bloom, As through the deepening chords her hand the flings, The Earl is then addreffed on the subject of training, and forming the manners of the youthful Lord: Nor lofe the hour of childhood's candid morn, And if the frolic heart deluded ftray, She back to Virtue's paths will guide the wanderer's way.' That |