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VIII. A Survey of the British Customs; containing the Rates of Merchandize as established by 12 Car. II. c. 4. 11 Geo. I. c. 7. and other Statutes; with Tables of the net Duties, Drawbacks, Bounties, & payable thereon, under all Circumftances of Importation and Exportation. Also a diftin&t and practical Account of the feveral Branches of the Revenue called the Customs. With an Appendix, containing an Abstract of all the Laws now in Force relative to the Cuftoms. The whole continued to the End of the Seffion of 9 Geo. III. By Samuel Baldwin. 4to. Pr. 105. 6d. Nourse.

CUSTOMS or duties upon merchandize paid to the king for

goods exported or imported confift of two parts, magna and antiqua cuftuma and parva cuftuma, the former of these, and which probably began with government, is payable out of our native commodities, as wool, leather, &c. the latter, which is a tribute, or toll, paid by merchants, ftrangers, and denizens, is faid to have commenced in the reign of Edward I. to whom the parliament granted three pence in the pound for all merchandizes exported and imported. But that which is granted by parliament is more properly called a fubfidy. In the reign of Edward III. it was enacted, that no new customs should be levied, nor old ones increased, but by authority of parliament. But though the king cannot lay new duties on merchandizes without the confent of parliament, yet by his prerogative he may reftrain merchants from trading without his royal li

cence.

The chief cuftoms in England are thofe of tonnage and poundage; the duties upon thefe were very early in use, and were granted by parliament for the defence of the realm, and fafeguard of the feas. By the 5th of Richard II. c. 3. two fhillings tonnage, and fix-pence poundage, were granted for a term of years. On this footing, they were continued till the 3d. of Henry V. when, as lord Coke obferves, they were granted for the life of that king. Edward IV. had the fame for life, as alfo Henry VII. Henry VIII. Edward VI. Mary, Elizabeth, and James I. In the reign of Charles I. they were illegally levied, without grant from parliament during a courfa of fifteen years. By the 12th of Charles II. cap. 4. the subfidy of tonnage and poundage was granted by the legislature for the life of the king. James II. had alfo a grant for life. King William III. for years only. Till at last, by the 7th of Ann, cap. 7. half of the inward cuftoms was granted to the queen and her heirs for ever. The other half, by George I. cap. 12. was granted to the king and his heirs for ever.

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fubfidy outwards by 9 Ann, cap. 6. was granted for thirty two years and by 3 George I. cap. 7. was made perpetual.

The work before us contains, in one large volume, 4to. a complet furvey of the British cuftoms, in which Mr. Baldwin has, with great skill and induftry ranged, in a very ufeful and confpicuous manner, the feveral rates, duties, imposts, &c. payable upon the importation of foreign and domeftic goods, and likewife tabulated the drawbacks, bounties, &c. ufually allowed upon their being exported. In the course of this performance, our author's chief defign feems to have been. an improvement upon the writings of Edgar, Crouch, Saxby, and others, who have treated upon the fame subject; and, indeed, when we confider the difficulty of collating fuch an amazing number of articles, and tracing the various changes and mutations which have happened in the laws relating to the form and manner of ascertaining the duties, so very effential to a work of this nature, we cannot help thinking this ingenious writer has perfeâly fucceeded in his attempt; and we are farther of opinion, that the extenfive appendix, containing an abstract of all the acts of parliament now in force, relating to the cuftoms, will prove of general ufe, as will, in fome measure appear, by the two following extra&s, from p. 156, and p. 240. where it is recited, that if any keeper of an alehouse, tavern, &c. fhall knowingly entertain any perfon who abfconds for obftructing or abuúng officers, or for any offence against the laws for preventing frauds in the cuftoms, or excise, or who has made his escape after having been committed to prifon for the faid offence, or flies from juftice after conviction, is to forfeit 100 l. and be rendered incapable of having a licence for the future, provided public notice has been given of perfons abfconding fix days before in two fucceffive Gazettes, and in writing upon the door of the parish church where he last dwelt before his abfconding.'

If any perfon or perfons fhall export lambs or rams, alive, for the first offence, the exporter, his aiders, or abettors, are to forfeit all their goods for ever, and to suffer a year's imprisonment, without bail or mainprize, and then to have their left hands cut off in a market-town, upon a marketday, and those hands to be there publickly nailed up.'

Upon the whole, we recommend Mr. Baldwin's Survey of the British Customs, as a very useful book, and worthy the perufal of merchants, traders, cfficers of the revenue, and all others concerned in customhouse affairs.

VOL. XXIX. May, 1770.

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IX. Prayers

IX. Prayers for the Use of Families. By William Enfield. 8vo. Pr. 31. Johnson and Payne.

THIS

HIS writer has given us a useful, and in the main, a much better collection of prayers, than many of thofe, which are frequently made ufe of in private families. The following thanksgiving for the birth of a child will give the judicious reader a more adequate idea of the author's manner, than any we can convey by mere description.

We render thanks unto thee, who art the author of life, and the giver of all good things, for the bleffing which thou haft been graciously pleased to beftow upon this family, by the birth of a child. We receive it as the gift of thy bounty; and we defire, with chearful hearts, to recommend it to thine almighty protection, and to devote it to thy fear and fervice. In its infant days, may it be the charge of thy providence, and may its life be precious in thy fight. May its opening mind be enriched with ufeful knowledge, and adorned with amiable and virtuous difpofitions. May its native innocence be preserved amidst the fnares of the world, by the influence of wise inftructions and good examples. May it long live to be happy in itself, a comfort to its parents, and ufeful in the world: and finally, may it be trained up for everlasting life, through Jefus Christ our Lord.'

Would it not have been more rational and manly to have mentioned the object of this prayer as a perfon, than as a thing; instead of faying, in the infantine ftile, we receive it,' to have faid, we receive him or her, as the gift of thy bounty? This latter is always the mode of expreflion in our office of baptifm. Has not this fentence an air of affectation in its infant days may it be the charge of thy providence, and may its life be precious in thy fight.' Would it not have been much better to have faid plainly and fimply, "may thy providence protect him in his infancy ?"-In feveral of these prayers the author introduces a long and formal recognition of the several operations of the Supreme Being through the various parts of the univerfe, in this manner:

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made, and all the host of Thou didst say, Let there

By thy word were the heavens them by the breath of thy mouth. be light, and there was light. Thou haft placed the fun and moon in the heavens, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day, and over the night. The heavens declare thy glory, and the firmament fheweth thine handy work: day unto day uttereth fpeech, and night unto night fheweth knowledge: there is no fpeech, nor language, where their voice is

not

hot heard. Thou makeft the out goings of the morning and evening to rejoice. Thou covereft the heavens with clouds ; and prepareft the rain and the dew. Thou vifiteft the earth, and watereft it; thou makeft it foft with fhowers; thou bleffeft the fpring thereof. Thou giveft us the former and the latter rain in its feafon, and referveft unto us the appointed weeks of harvest. Thou crowneft the year with thy goodness, &c.'

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A fhort and general acknowledgment of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God in the works of his creation and providence, feems to be all that is neceffary in acts of private devotion; which certainly fhould not confift in a collection of poetical images, and fublime expreffions, relative to the fun, moon, and stars.

One of the best compofitions in this collection is a general prayer, compiled from the liturgy of the church of England. The author has fhewn ingenuity in the arrangement of his

materials.

In reviewing this work we have, perhaps, carried our ideas too high. Critics and philofophers require, that compofitions of this nature should be written with great delicacy and judgment; that the fentiments fhould be just and important, the language pure and expreffive, free from the leaft tincture of affectation, and at the fame time warm and animated. But plain pious Christians will be satisfied if their manuals of devotion are not fo refined. By these then the work before us may be used with pleasure and advantage.

X. An Objection drawn from the Act of Union, against a Review of the Liturgy, and other ecclefiaftical Forms, confidered: In feveral Letters to a Divine of the Church of England. The whole now fubmitted to the impartial After-thoughts of William Blackftone, Efq. Author of the Commentaries on the Laws of England. 8vo. Pr. 1s. 6d. Dilly.

IN the first of these letters the author states the point, which is the fubject of the prefent difpute, in this manner.

The act of Union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, was paffed and settled in the fifth year of queen Anne, 1707. By this ftatute, as a learned commentator upon it informs us, the acts of uniformity* of 13 Eliz. and 13 Car. II.

There was no other act of uniformity in the reign of this queen befides that of the first year, which is generally prefixed to our Book of Common Prayer. The act of 13 Eliz. here referred to, bears a different title.'

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(except as the fame had been altered by parliament at that time †) and all other acts then in force for the prefervation of the church of England are declared perpetual; and it is ftipulated that every fubfequent king and queen fhall take an oath inviolably to maintain the fame within England, Ireland, Wales, and the town of Berwick upon Tweed. And it is enacted that these two acts (recited in the Statute of Union, c. 5. and 8.) " fhall for ever be observed as fundamental and effential conditions of the union.”

• Dr. Blackstone's obfervation here is this: "That whatever else may be deemed fundamental and effential conditions, the preservation of the two churches of England and Scotland in the same state they were in at the time of the Union, and the maintenance of the acts of uniformity which establish our Common Prayer, are exprefsly declared fo to be." And he adds, That therefore any alteration in the conftitution of either of those churches, or in the liturgy of the church of England, would be an infringement of thefe fundamental and effential conditions, and greatly endanger the union." Comment on the Laws of Engl. 6. 1. Introd. §. 4.

These are the profeffor's arguments, whereby he seems to be fully of opinion that no akeration, of any kind, can be made in our Book of Common-Prayer, without infringing the A&t of Union.

If this opinion is folid, and agreeable to the great and true defign of that act, taking it altogether in all its parts and connections, we are never to expect any, the leaft, reform of our Liturgy from what it is at prefent, and was when that act was made, and vain therefore have been all our reasonable hopes of fuch a favour, and our applications to obtain it.

If there be room ftill allowed for reafoning upon the point, a great variety of arguments will occur, which may seem to invalidate thofe of the profeffor, how strong soever they may appear to be.

I fhall not trouble myself on this occafion, to make any formal detail of those arguments, leaving that to others, who have more leisure to confider the fubject, and better abilities to exhibit it in its true light.

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+ At that time, viz. the time of the Union. But the words of the Union-act are, "Otherwife than fuch clauses in the said acts, as have been repealed or altered by any fubfequent acts of parliament." As particularly for one, by the Toleration-act. -Such overfights, however, if we muft call them fo, may be deemed very pardonable in so voluminous an undertaking, of so complicated a nature, and fo replete with difficulties.'

• For

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