Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

1

espouse their religious belief: but we cannot bestow any praise on nor hope much from such kind of reasoning.

Art. 36. An Appeal of an injured Individual to the British Nation, on the arbitrary and inquisitorial Consequences of the Tax on Income, commonly called the Property Tax and particularly to the Manher it is sessed on Professions, Trades, and small Incomes. By Charles Rivers, Solicitor, Basing Lane, Bread Street, Cheapside, 8vo. 15. Richardson

In order to make the Property Tax productive, it has been deemed necessary to employ vigorous measures for ascertaining the amount of individual incomes; and in certain instances, it may be presumed that the process adopted has been inquisitorial and oppressive The case of the present author, who unsuccessfully appealed on oath against an excessive assessment, appears to be very hard: but, as we have not the reasons of the Commissioners for their conduct towards Mr. Rivers, we must not positively decide. His remarks concerning the unequal operation of the tax on the rich, and on persons in moderate circumstances, are just, though not new; and his hint respecting people of landed property, who, on the renewal of leases, saddle their tenants with the tax, is not altogether unworthy of notice. He cou siders the burden thus ingeniously shifted from the landlord to the occupier, as a virtual increase of rent, for which the latter should be surcharged: but perhaps our gentlemen will quote in this instance the maxim of law, Qui facit per alterum facit per se.

Art. 37. Brief Considerations on the Test Laws; in a Letter to the Right Hon Lord Viscount Milton. By a Beneticed Clergyman of the Fstablished Church and a Yorkshire Freeholder. 2d Edition. With a Postscript containing additional Observations and a Reply to Objections. >vo. 15. Mawman. We noticed the first edition of this liberal and sensible pamphlet in M. R. Vol. liv. N. S. p. 444; and we recall the attention of our readers to it, in consequence of the Postscript, in which the writer most satisfactorily exposes the futility of the objections to the repeal of the Test Act, that have been tounded on the nature of the Coro❤ nation Oath, and on the plea that it is a fundamental law of the realm. He concludes with a fervent wish that religious differences may cease to be the ground of political distinctions, and that vice and incompetency may be the only causes of civil disabilities and exclu sions.

Art. 38

EDUCATION.

The Calendar; or Monthly Recreations; chiefly consisting of Dialogues between an Aunt and her Nieces; designed to inspire the juvenile Mind with a Love of Virtue, and of the Study of Nature. By Mrs. Pilkington. 12mo. pp. 268. 3s. 6d. Boards. Harris. 1807.

To instruct young persons to conduct themselves with propriety in life, and to teach them just sentiments respecting the more familiar phænomena of nature, are the objects of this useful publication. Mrs. Pikington has contrived, by means of occurrences which are supposed

1

to have happened within the cognizance of the characters whom she introduces, and by the changes which were observed to take place during the several months of the year, to make an interesting work for the improvement of the juvenile mind. The valuable information, the just sentiments, and the familiar and pleasing manner in which they are communicated, render it worthy the attention of those who are engaged in forming the minds of the rising generation.

Art. 39

The Preceptor and his Pupils; or Dialogues, Examinations, and Exercises on Grammar in general, and the English Grammar in particular. For the Use of Schools and private Students. By George Crabb. 12mo. PP. 203. 39. 6d Boards. Boosey. 1807.

úd

Mr Crabb has divide the subject of this volume into 22 Lessons. in Dialogue, each of which is illustrated by various examinations and exercises. He does not pretend to any improvements;-acknowleging his adherence in disposition, terms, and definitions, to those of Mr. Murray. He professes only arrangement and method, and in this respect the teacher of youth will find the work of considerable service for the junior classes.

[ocr errors]

Art. 40. Scenes for the Young; or Pleasing Tales calculated to promote good Manners and a Love of Virtue in Children. By I. Day. 12mo. Is. 6d Darton and Harvey. 1807.

In these tales, the necessity of learning to read, the propriety of good behaviour, the value of good humour, and the advantages of diligence and a trust in Providence, are exemplified in a manner which is adapted to the comprehension of children. They form, therefore, an useful little work for young persons.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art 41. Narrative of the Expedition to the Baltic: with an Account of the Siege and Capitulation of Copenhagen; including the Surrender of the Danish Fleet. By an Officer employed in the Expedition. 12mo. PP. 397. 8s. 6d. Boards. Lindsell. 1808. Art. 42. The Siege of Copenhagen; or, Documents comprehending an official Detail of the Bombardment of that City, together with a Danish Narrative of the dreadful Calamities suffered by the Inhabitants in consequence thereof; the whole compiled from original British and Danish Papers. By an Officer from Copenhagen. To. which is prefixed an historical Account of the City of Copenhagen. 12mo. pp. 115. 2s. 6d. sewed. Hughes. 1808.

A clear idea may be formed, from either of these publications, of our late expedition to the Baltic. The editor of the smaller tract. however, has contented himself with doing little more than reprinting the Gazettes which contained the letters from the officers employed, and that which conferred on them the honours of the peerage as a reward for their exertions. The larger work consists of a rather more extended narrative; and is accompanied with a considerable portion. of political reasoning to prove the necessity and justice of the measure. In defending our ministers for this very questionable act, the

writer

writer boldly asserts: the direct motives which led to it will no doubt soon be developed.→the secret articles of the Treaty of Tilsit will be their avengers -The work appears, by the date of the dedication, to have been published on the zoth of last January, a very few days before the meeting of Parliament; and the author must have been not a little surprised at the falsification of his prophecy, by the refusal of Administration to produce those Articles, or even to state the substance of them. They still remain a profound secret to the public, which was desired to judge of the measure by referring to them; and the public, on the other hand, is now tolerably well satisfied that they have always been equally a secret to those ministers who so confidently appealed to them.

Art 43. Thoughts on the Expediency of disclosing the Processes of Manufactories being the Substance of two papers lately read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne. By John Clennell, F.S.A. Edinburgh and Perth. 8vo. Pamphlet Newcastle. 1807.

When public spirit shall generally triumph over selfishness, then Mr. Clennell's proposition will be adopted: but. as long as trade is carried on with views of private gain, so long will the manufacturer, who has a profitable secret, endeavour to keep it to himself; and he will not be easily persuaded that he shall gain more by divulging it. By the grant of Patents, individuals are indeed obliged to make disclosures, which are ultimately advantageous to the public. Mr. C.'s hints are good, but the difficulty will be to get them adopted.

CORRESPONDENCE.

We have received a letter from Mr. Crabbe, the ingenious author of the volume of Poems recommended in our last Number, in which he disclaims any title to the Poem called the Skull. He observes that he recollects to have seen, many years since, that this production was imputed to him in our General Index, and he had some intention of writing to us on the subject: but, not having then fulfilled his design, he now finds it expedient to declare that he neither is, nor knows who is, the author of that publication.-We very readily communicate this information, both as a matter of justice, and because we have considered the Skull as very inferior to Mr. Crabbe's other compositions. On what authority we originally ascribed it to him, we cannot at this distance of time recollect.

The publication intitled Ecclesiastica Hora, concerning which we sometime since received a letter, has not yet come to our hands.

J. S. of Dundee is acknowleged. We shall make inquiries on the subject.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For AUGUST, 1808.

ART. 1. Some Account of the public Life, and a Selection from the unpublished Writings, of the Earl of Macartney. The latter consisting of Extracts from an Account of the Russian Empire: a Sketch of the political History of Ireland; and a Journal of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China: with an Appendix to each Volume. By John Barrow, F. R.S., Author of "Travels in China" and "Southern Africa," and of "a Voyage to Cochinchina." 2 Vols. 4to. pp. 1150. 31. 38. Boards. Cadell and Davies. 1807.

WE

E are not now for the first time to consider the qualifications of Mr. Barrow as a writer, and, for the information of the public, to appreciate his merits and his defects; because, from the several works which he has already communicated to the world, and of which we have made due report, he is well known in both these respects. It has before been remarked that he is too much addicted to prolixity; and we are sorry that even prima facie evidence, in the present instance, affords countenance to the charge :-evidence, too, which a farther examination will strongly corroborate. We fear also that we shall have to add to this objection, another on the score of partiality. Every biographer may be supposed to feel a peculiar interest in the subject of his labours; and if the character which he delineates should on the whole stand high, it is natural for the ̧ writer's feelings to betray him into excess of panegyric. His duty to the public, however, requires him to correct this fault; and his obvious liability to fall into it takes from him all excuse for not being on his guard. His very sense, moreover, of obligation, when as in Mr. Barrow's case his patron is his hero, in proportion as it is creditable to his private feelings, is so far incompatible with his task as a writer of history, that, like the bias of a bowl, it requires to be calculated, and allowance to be made for it.

In the first volume, Mr. B. gives an account of the "birth, parentage, and education" of Lord Macartney; and he then proceeds to a minute and circumstantial narrative not only of VOL. LVI.

Z

his

his actions, but even of his words and observations, in the va rious situations of Envoy to St. Peterburgh, Chief Secretary of Ireland, Governor of Grenada, Governor of Madras, Ambassador to the Emperor of China, and Governor of the Cape of Good Hope.-He thus assigns his reasons for writing and publishing these memoirs:

The design originated in a hint that was conveyed to me of the great probability, amounting indeed nearly to a certainty, that the history of a life employed on such various and extraordinary occasions, as that had been of Lord Macartney, might be expected, in these times of general reading, to find its way into print in some shape or other, however imperfect; for that even in his life time application had been made to him for materials for this purpose, and that the pursuit of such materials after his death was not likely to be abandoned. On this suggestion I became naturally desirous not to be anticipated in a work of this nature; and thus deprived of the opportunity of fulfilling what I considered to be a duty to the memory of a great and distinguished public character, particularly due from one who for so many years had enjoyed his friendship and been honoured with his patronage. It appeared to me, indeed, on every consideration which I could give to the subject, that a faithful sketch of the public conduct of a man who had filled various and eminent situations in the four quarters of the globe, of one who, with the eye of a statesman and a philosopher, had surveyed mankind in every region and climate of the earth, and who, after a long and laborious life spent in the service of his country with an unblemished reputation, resigned it at last full of years and crowned with honour, in the midst of his friends and in the bosom of his family-it appeared, I say, that a sketch of such a life would afford an illustrious example for imitation not unworthy of being handed down to posterity; and in this opinion I had the satisfaction to be confirmed by the concurrence of many of those friends, who were most dear to him when living, and in whose memory he will long survive. Such were the motives and the origin of the undertaking.'

He adds that, being furnished with the means of giving a tolerable account of the many difficulties his Lordship had to encounter, of the firmness with which he always met them, and the wisdom by which he overcame them, he flattered himself with the hope of being able to exhibit an illustrious example of extraordinary self-denial and disinterestedness, of inflexible integrity, unabating zeal, and unrelaxing energy in the public service.' Though this be the very language of a determined and unscrupulous eulogist, Mr. B. declares that he has not ́indulged an inclination to launch into a strain of general and indiscriminate panegyric, but has contented himself with rather relating the actions of his patron than reciting his praise: but how can he expect his readers to regard his narrative of Lord Macartney's life as strictly candid and impartial, when he ex

I

pressly

« ПредишнаНапред »