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We therefore suggest to Mr. Clapham the propriety of altering the title of his book, in order that country gentlemen and merchants, who form a very considerable and respectable part of the community, may be induced, from its title-page announcing its contents, to possess themselves of a work which embraces the several subjects wherein both the landed and moneyed interests are so nearly concerned.

We shall give a few instances, from which our readers will be enabled to judge whether the contents of the book are not worthy the attention to which we have represented it as entitled.

"6. Child punishable if able to distinguish. BURN, Infants. WILLIAMS, Forcible Entry III. Infants. ADDINGTON, Informations 3266, Murder 4992. BLACKSTONE, b. 1. c. 17. [464]; b. 4. c. 2. [22.] HAWKINS, c. 1. s. 8; c. 64. s. 35. LAW DICT. Infants, Riot."

"24. Child in mother's womb, or posthumous, Will made before marriage, birth of amounts to revocation. It takes land by descent, though in that case presumptive heir may enter and receive profits till birth of child, which seems to be the only interest it loses by its situ ation. BLACK. b. 1. c. 1. [130, note 9]; b. 2. c. 11. [174, note 4.; 175, note 5.]; c. 14. [208, note 5.]; c. 23. [376, note 4]; c. 32. [502, note 6.]

25. Child may bind himself to pay for necessary meat, drink, apparel, instruction, &c. but if with a penalty for payment, obligation invalid; may buy necessaries, but not borrow money to buy. BURN. Infants, II. BLACK. book 2. c. 30, note 3: vide book 4. c. 17. last note.

26. Child dying intestate without wife or issue, father succeeds to whole of property; if no father, mother equal

share with brothers and sisters. BLACK. b. 2. c. 14. [212, note 7.]

"27. Child having estate left by parents, and dying and leaving his sister his heir, parents having at any distance of time another son, he shall take the estate as heir to his brother. BLACK STONE, book 2. c. 14. [208, note 5.]"

The Editor produces 40 points under the head of Child; the references to which, as our readers will perceive from the above quotations, could not easily be found except by a Lawyer.

Under the title Descent:

"6. Descent: Person purchasing Estate, and it descends to his son, who dies without issue, whoever succeeds to it must be of the first purchaser of the family first purchaser is he who ac

quired it by any method except that of descent. BLACKSTONE, b. 2. c. 14. [220.]

7. Descent: Estate coming by to son from his mother, no relation of his father shall be his heir; and if estate from his father, no relation of his mother for his father's kindred have none of his mother's blood, nor have his mother's relations a share of his father's ther's father, the relations of his father's blood. Estate descending from his famother shall not be admitted, but only those of his father's father. BLACKSTONE. book 2. c. 14. [222, 3.]”

Under the head Estate much information is derived, interesting to those who are in possession or expectation jects embracing the Descent and Disof property. Upon the several subposition of property, upon trusting inclosures, woeds, and whatever conservants, purchase of goods, commons, cerns Country Gentlemen, Mr. Clapham has, as we have already stated, collected all the information contained in the Commentaries of Blackstone, besides references he has made to other Authors.

The following point is well worth the attention of people of property, and of all who have litigious neighbours, tenants, and connexions.

"PROSECUTOR giving notice of trial, but withdrawing record without giving notice in due time, Prosecutor to pay Costs. BURN. Certiorari 11. K. v. Bartram."

This is to be met with in one author only, and under a head where few would expect to find it.

The Clergy will gain much satisfacnefices, Chaplains, Church, Degrees, tory information under the heads Bethe sacred order. Scarcely any thing, Marriage, and all others relating to we believe, is omitted, contained in the writers above-mentioned, which is necessary to be known either for the security of their personal interest, or the discharge of their professional duty. On the subject of Marriage, a young Clergyman, by consulting this work, may learn many things with which he might otherwise be totally unacquainted.

"1. Marriage by Banns to be published in an audible manner, 26. G. II. c. 23. BURN; vide Marriage throughout in 21st edit.; in 22, Poor Settlements, ix. 4. ADDINGTON, Marriage 3878.

"2. Notice to be given to Minister in writing of names and residences seven days before first publication. s. 2. AD, DINGTON, Marriage 3879.

"3. Mar.

"3. Marriage: one or both parties under age, Minister exempt from censure, unless have notice of dissent of parents, or guardians, or banns publicly forbidden. s. 3. ADD. Marriage 3880. BLACK. b. 1. c. 15. [437, note 8.]

"4. Extra Parochial-place being without Church or Chapel, banns to be published in adjoining Church- where no Church or Chapel, or none wherein divine service is celebrated every Sunday, deemed extra-parochial. s. 4. 6."

"7. Marriage to be solemnized in the presence of two witnesses; if by licence, one or both parties under age to be expressed in register. s. 6."·

"9. Marriage, whether by banns or licence, after solemnization, no evidence to be received to prove non-residence. s. 10. ADD. Marriage 3882."

"11. Marriage-act, bastards within, who require consent of father, guardian,

or mother, if under age, when not married by banns. Vide Bastard I. 3. supra.”

13. Marriage, one party of age, the other an infant, marriage not void but voidable at infant's election. ADD. Infants 3261. BLACK. b. 1. c. 15. [436, note 5.]"

"15. Marriage by licence, either of parties not being a widower or widow, and under the age of 21, without consent of father, or, if dead, of guardian of such of parties under age, null and void.

s. 11. ADD. Marriage 3883."

On the subject of Church Livings much necessary information may be gathered.

"5. Benefice, collation to, when Ordinary is Patron, and confers the Living; presentation and institution in this case one and the same act, so that there is no fresh presentation till another vacancy; but not full against the King till induction. Upon institution, the clerk may enter upon premises, house, and glebe, and take the tithes, but cannot

grant, or let, or sue for them, till induc

tion. WILLIAMS, Dissenters, iv. [2.] BLACK. b. 1. c. 11. [391.]”

"8. Benefice vacated, successor appointed, appointment shall have retrospect so as to entitle him to profits from the instant vacancy commenced. BLACK. b. 2. c. 16. [261.]"

12. Benefice becoming void by death, or cession through plurality of Benefices, Patron to take notice of vacancy; but by resignation, deprivation, or Clerk refused through insufficiency, Bishop to give notice to Patron. Lapse not to accrue to Metropolitan or the King. BLACK. b. 2. c. 18. [278.]"

15. Benefice, exchange of, one presented, instituted, and inducted, and the other presented and instituted, but dies

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before induction, exchange not being completed-for entry must be made on both sides-the former shall not keep his new benefice. BLACK. b. 2. c. 20. [323.]

"19. Benefice, presentation to, not to be recovered by the clerk, who is afterwards to have the advantage, for before institution and induction he has no right; and therefore as he can suffer no wrong is entitled to no remedy. BLACK. b. 3. c. 16. [252.]

4. Bishop generally called the Ordinary; but the Ordinary includes every Ecclesiastical Judge who has the regular ordinary jurisdiction independent of another. BLACK. b. 1. c. 11. [383, note 18.]"

From the above extracts Gentlemen, and the whole body of the Clergy, will see the knowledge they may severally acquire by what the Editor injudiciously terms "Sessions' Law." His chief view, however, in this Publication seems to be, to "enable Justices to possess themselves at once of the information they are seeking; then to take a comprehensive view of the subject, and deliberately to weigh whatever the several authors have written upon it." He has therefore arranged alphabetically, that is, he has collected, somewhat in the form of a Dictionary, the several points, and also the several cases arising from them, which Justices may have occasion to consult; and from this alphabetical arrangement every point and case are instantly found, thus preventing both delay and disappointment.

In order that our Readers may the better comprehend the plan of this Work, we will lay before them what Mr. C. has said under the head Abuse. tion, Slander, &c. Justices are, proOn the subject of Abuse, Defamabably, more teized than on any other.

"1. Abuse no breach of peace: in actions for words, if damages no more than' 40s. costs no more than damages: those who contend in Justice's presence may be bound to the peace, but not for mere words. BURN, Abuse I. Assault I. Justices V. Riot. I. Slander, Surety for the Peace IX. WILLIAMS, Affray I. Ássault 1. Surety IV. V. VII. (26) Words. ADD. Affrays 72, Assault 267, Costs 1607, Slander 5269, Words 6759. BLACK. b. 3. c. 7. [104], c 8. [125, note 5], b. 4. c. 11. [146.] HAWK. c. 21. s. 13. c. 61. s. 3. c. 69. s. 1. c. 63. s. 2. LAW DICT. Assault, Surety, Trespass."

That the Justice may satisfy himself and the party who applies for his protection,

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tection, Mr. Clapham has supplied him with no fewer than 27 references.

"2. Abuse: full costs may be given in Courts Baron in actions for words, though damages under 40s. ADD. Costs 1607. "3. Abuse: action for within two years after injury committed, 21. Jac. I. c. 16. BLACK. b. 3. c. 20. [307.] Vide Action, 3 infra.”

It will certainly occur to every one, that all the Writers upon Justices' Law have observed the same alphabetical arrangement: but this Publication possesses an advantage to which no other pretends, that of uniting under one head all that has been said by Burn and the several authorities throughout their several works, and all collected into one focus.

We will give another instance, which shall be that of Commitment. A Justice upon such an occasion would turn in Burn, Williams, Addington, to Commitments, with which he would, perhaps, rest satisfied. Whereas, Mr. C. refers him in Burn, besides Commitment, to 14 different heads, all of which elucidate in several instances the points asserted. In Williams he will find, exclusive of Commitment, seven, and in Addington six references: to which we are to add a whole chapter, both of Blackstone and Hawkins; a reference to Nolan, and to Tomlin's Law Dictionary, under Commitment and Surety. We do not say that all these references are equally and essentially necessary; but it is very obvious that every Justice, upon a subject so important to himself, would express himself dissatisfied rather with too scanty than complain of too full information.

"1. Commitment must be legal, or escape no felony; to express the cause; if to House of Correction, and time and manner not expressed by Statute, to be kept to hard labour until the next Quarter Sessions, or until by due course of Law: two Justices may discharge, Justice who committed to be one, 17. G. II. c. 5. s. 32. BURN, Introduction II. (28-31.) Bail. III. IX. (1. 2.) Commitment III. Confession, Conviction, K. v. Simpson, Forcible Entry V. Gaols III. Surety for the Peace VI. Vagrants VII. K. v. Rhodes. Time. WILLIAMS, Commitment V. (n.) VIII. Confession, Conviction, K. v. Cooper, v. Simpson, Forcible Entry IV. Game XIV. Pallant v. Roll, (n. Bennet v. Talbois.) Vagrants IV. (n.) K. v. Rhodes., ADD. Commitments 1414, Escapes 2354, Habeas Corpus 2780, House of Correction 2151, 2, Informations 3266, Overseers 4181, Rogues 4828, 4854. BLACK.

b. 4. c. 22. throughout. HAWK. b. 2. c. 13. throughout. NOLAN, c. xxxv. (3.) LAW DICT. Commitment, Surety: Vide 16. 17. infra, and Correction House of 14, and vol. II. Poor xi. 2."

Mr. Clapham has been careful to arrange and collect the definitions of terms, and to mark their distinctions: for instance, the distinction between an Inhabitant and a Sojourner: this point seems not to be mentioned by any of the Writers to whom Mr. C. has referred, except Mr. Nolan. Now it might be necessary, in case of a marriage, of relief, &c. to ascertain with precision the distinction; through ignorance of which a Clergyman might act very erroneously, Overseers be unable to act at all, and Justices as unable to afford them information. The great usefulness of this compilation is, to bring before the reader the very subject or word he is considering, and then to lay before him the various authorities.

The Editor has further adapted his work to the use of Vestries: in directing which, it will be found singularly useful. It will enable them to transact the business of their Parishes without assistance from Justices, and thereby relieve them from much trouble and investigation.

We are persuaded that many Gentlemen in the Commission of the Peace will, in consequence of this Publication, be induced to qualify, who would otherwise have felt some hesitation to

act.

It seems indeed to contain every thing necessary to be known upon the several subjects to which it professes to refer. Mr. Clapham may congratulate himself upon finishing a work which must have required the utmost labour and perseverance.

There are interspersed many observations and cases in the form of notes, which will be very useful in directing Poor Laws in vol. II. the Editor has young Magistrates. At the end of the proposed an alteration on the subjects of Apprentices, Public-houses, Examinations, and Removals of Paupers and Vagrants.

"Should these subjects be taken up before the great business of the revision of the Statutes is entered upon, the saving will be sensibly felt, and universally acknowledged; many poor children will be preserved from starving at home or cruelty abroad, and many heart-broken wives from sorrow and despair: the vagrant who literally lived without God in

the

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the world may, by good advice, and prudent persuasion, be brought to a belief and a profession of Christianity, and thus end his days in peace and comfort."

Mr. Clapham professes his conviction that the Laws respecting the subjects he has mentioned above can only by one means be rendered efficacious. "Associate the Magistrates, and in some instances, as tipling, apprenticing poor children, and vagrancy, the Incumbents of the several parishes, with the Churchwardens, Overseers, and Constables : let them meet one Sunday, or two several Sundays in the year, previous notice being given, in one or two Churches in the civision, and severally take an oath immediately after divine service, in the presence of such of the congregation as may choose to witness the solemnity, that they will, as required by certain Statutes, diligently and uniformly discharge the several duties therein enjoined—and the Acts will be put in force. Unless recourse be bad to some such measure, all Laws embracing these subjects will, I am persuaded, be inefficacious."

To adopt such a measure, would be to introduce a singular, but probably a very happy innovation, into the administration of Justice. Were the Magistrates, the Incumbents of Parishes, and Parish-officers, solemnly engaged to discharge certain duties for the good of the community, abundant ad. vantages would doubtless result from such an association.

We have spoken of this work with high approbation as to its extensive utility; but we do not mean to represent it as perfect. On the contrary, Mr. Clapham has put many of his Points together, as in Commitment, which we have quoted, very carelessly,sometimes scarce intelligibly; which in him is very reprehensible, because his former Publications evince a comprehensive knowledge of the English language. Notwithstanding this defect, which extorts our animadversion, and which is not at all palliated by considering the work merely as a book of reference, we are persuaded that the collection of the several Points of Sessions' Law is a work so extensively useful as the Magistracy of the Kingdom could scarcely have hoped to have seen executed.

23. Remarks on the Life and Death of the fam'd Mr. Blood; giving an Account of his Plot in Ireland, to surprize Dublin Castle; several Transac tions in his Head Quarters in the City,

Rescue of Capt. Mason of Doncaster; Attempt on the Person of his Grace the Duke of Ormond; seizing on the Crown and Sceptre in the Tower: coming into Favour with his Prince; Concern about his Grace the Duke of Buckingham's Sickness, Death, and twice Interment. 4to, pp.34. Smeaton. THIS is an elegant Re-print of a scarce and curious Tract, first published in 1680, and now edited by Mr. George Smeaton, the ingenious Printer of it; who announces an intention of publishing, in the course of the ensuing Spring, “ Biographia Minima; or, Lives and Portraits of the most remarkable Dwarfs;" a Work which is in forwardness; but "the Editor would still be highly gratified by any communications that Gentlemen may please to honour him with."

24. The Episcopal Coins of Durham, and the Monastic Coins of Reading, minted during the Reigns of Edward I. II. and III. appropriated to their respective Owners. By the late Benjamin Bartlet, F. A. S. A new Edi̟tion, with Notes and Illustrations, by John Trotter Brockett. 8vo, pp. 14. Charnley, Newcastle.

A NEAT re-publication of a Tract originally printed in the " Archæologia," and printed in the present form at the suggestion of a few of the Editor's friends, and principally for distribution among them.

"What we have been able to learn of the Life of Mr. Bartlet, the Author, is extremely scanty. His father was an eminent apothecary at the town of Bradford, where Mr. Bartlet himself followed the same profession, before his introduction to London by the celebrated Dr. Fothergill *. After a successful practice of some years in the Metropolis, Mr. Bartlet's health began to decline; he then resigned

his business to a Mr. French, who had been his partner. In 1764 he was elected a Member of the Antiquarian Society, and was their Treasurer at the time of his death.

"The present Essay is the only thing which Mr. Bartlet ever actually published, although he prepared "Manduessedum Romanorum; or, the History and Antiquities of the Parish of Manceter," &c. sinee printed in Mr. Nichols's Topographical Antiquities.' We must not, however, forget to mention that he received the public thanks of

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Dr. Nash, for the communications he made to the History of Worcestershire; and that Mr. Gough also, in his advertisement prefixed to the History of Thetford, published in 1789, acknowledges himself to have been indebted to that able master, Mr. Benjamin Bartlet,' for the arrangement of the Coins.

"Mr. Bartlet died of a confirmed dropsy on the 2d of March, 1787, in the 73d year of his age; and was interred in the Quakers' Burying Ground at Hartshill, in the county of Warwick. Mr. Bartlet had an excellent and numerous collection of Coins; his knowledge in all the different departments of Numismatology being most extensive. He had likewise a good Library, and also a great variety of antient Seals, Celts, and other Antiques; all of which, as well as his Coins, came to the hammer shortly after his decease. But, indeed, what collections are there, in the present times, which ultimately escape that fatality?"

25. The Code of Agriculture, including Observations on Gardens, Orchards, Woods, and Plantations. By the Right Honourable Sir John Sinclair, Bart. Founder of the Board of Agriculture. 8vo, pp. 588. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones.

THIS appears to be a Work in which the theory and practice of Agriculture is completely identified. This Code of Agriculture, which actually embraces all its laws, any Practical Farmer may consider as his Encyclopædia, and a complete Library, for the reasons given by the able Author of this Work, who observes in his Introduction,

"That, from the numerous improvements which have recently been made, and the great increase of knowledge which has of late years been acquired in the art of Agriculture, the difficulties attending the practice of an improved system of Husbandry have in a considerable degree been removed, and its principles so much simplified, and so well understood, that the time has at last arrived, when it is possible, with propriety, to undertake the arduous task of drawing up

'A Code of Agriculture.' "Till the present period this could not have been attempted with any wellfounded hopes of success; for so many able and well-informed individuals had never, in any former æra, directed their attention to agricultural pursuits; so much capital had never been previously employed in the cultivation of the soil;

so many practical farmers had never before published the result of their experience and observations on agricultural subjects; nor had those minute opera-. tions, on the due execution of which the success of the Farmer must in a. great measure depend, been ever formerly so distinctly pointed out. Hence the superiority of the present period for such an undertaking."

After a great number of valuable materials had been amassed in consequence of the institution of the Board of Agriculture, the Author acknowledges

"That the publication of a Work like the present was in his contemplation, and that nothing could be more desirable than to reduce the substance of the whole into so moderate a compass that it would require neither much expense to purchase, nor much time to read.

"To enable any person to undertake such a task as the present, it was not alone sufficient that he had access to

books, however numerous, or however valuable the information they might contain. It was necessary for him also to converse with Farmers; to discuss the various subjects connected with Agriculture with practical men; to survey their farms; to examine their various practices on the spot; to compare the systems of different countries; and, above all, to be himself a Farmer-and that on a great scale. These advantages have not been wanting on the present

occasion.

"After considering deliberately how. the proposed plan could best be executed, the following appeared to the Author the most simple and the most comprehensive that he could devise:

"I. To consider those preliminary points which a Farmer ought to ascertain before he undertakes to occupy any extent of land-as Climate, Soil, Subsoil, Elevation, Aspect, Situation, Tenure, whether in property or on lease, Rent, burdens on, and size of the Farm.

"JI. To enquire into the nature of 'Those means of cultivation which are essential to ensure its success.' These are- -Capital, Regular Accounts, Arrangement of Agricultural Labour, Farm Servants, Labourers in Husbandry, Live Stock, Implements, Agricultural Buildings, command of Water, Divisions of Fields, and Farm Roads.

"III. To point out The various modes of improving Land,' by cultivating Wastes, Enclosing, Draining, Manuring, Paring and Burning, Fallowing, Weeding, Irrigation, Flooding, Warping, and Embanking.

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