the confequence of this fmall part, by the diminution of that of the fuburbians. Much may be done to improve the metropolis; but its inhabitants must first learn to distinguish rightly between the glory or folly of war, and the effects of induftry employed for the prefervation, not the deftruction, of mankind.

A Letter addressed to the Right Honorable Lord Chief Justice Kenyon, complaining of Injustice, and pointing out the Danger to Society from Perjury, and the Facility with which the loofe and equivocal Teftimony of Servants may deftroy the Peace of private Families. By A. Hook, Efq. 4to. 15. Murray and Highley. 1798.

The legal hiftory of the cause in which major Hook is concerned, is briefly this. In the year 1793, captain Campbell fued that gentleman in the court of King's-bench for damages, on a charge of adultery with Mrs. Campbell; and the jury declared againft the defendant. Encouraged by this verdict, the accufer applied to the ecclefiaftical court for a divorce à menfå et thoro ; and the perfon who officiated for Dr. Harris as commillary of Surry, pronounced a sentence of that nature, after a due investigation, of the cafe. An appeal was made to the court of arches; and, when the judge had affirmed the fentence, the cause was transferred, by a fecond appeal, to the court of delegates, compofed both of profeffors of the common law and civilians. By this court the caufe was finally determined against Mrs. Campbell and Mr. Hook.

Notwithstanding this concurrence of decifion, the major strongly afferts his innocence; imputes perjury to thofe witneffes whofe teftimony induced the different courts to confider him as guilty; and, having difcuffed the particulars of the cafe, expreffes his hope, that lord Kenyon will fuggeft à fuitable and adequate remedy' to the evil of which he complains; an evil which, he thinks," loudly calls for the interpofition of the legislature.

The Republican Judge: or the American Liberty of the Prefs, as exhibited, explained, and expofed, in the bafe and partial Profecution of William Cobbett, for a pretended Libel against the King of Spain and his Embassador, before the Supreme Court of Pennfylvania. With an Addrefs to the People of England. By Peter Porcupine. 8vo. 25. Wright. 1798.

Highly exafperated at the prosecution which was commenced against him, Peter vehemently attacks M'Kcan, the chief justice of Pennsylvania, for his conduct on the occafion. The libel published by the bold Anti-Gallican reprefented his catholic majefty as • deftitute not only of the dignity of a king, but of the conmmon virtues of a man,' and as the supple tool of the most nefarious politics' of the French; and it contained other reflexions, not the moft decent or liberal. The grand jury, however, returned the bill ignoramus.The judge is vilified in the prefent pamphlet, both with regard to his public and his private character; and other perfons are favoured with a share of abuse. The American press is

affirmed to be less free than that of Great Britain; and, in the addrefs to our countrymen, the opinion which ascribes to the TransAtlantic republicans a greater portion of liberty and happiness than the inhabitants of this ifland enjoy, is controverted as a dangerous notion, and ftigmatifed as falfe.

Some Account of the early Years of Buonaparte, at the Military School of Brienne; and of his Conduct at the Commencement of the French Revolution. By Mr. C. H. one of his School-Fellows. 8va. 25. Hookham and Carpenter.

职

It is unquestionably an object of curiofity to trace back the hero to his boyish days. Most of the characters which have aftonished the world by their genius or bravery, have been found to give some early promife of fame. The particulars, however, afforded by Mr. C. H. are fcanty. It appears that Buonaparte was referved and infocial, blunt in his manners, boid, enterprising, and even ferocious; and that he gave no earneft of that 'moderation towards his enemies' for which he is here celebrated. The author is apparently charmed with his fubject perhaps more than his readers will be, when they balance the victories in Italy with the quackery of the general in Egypt.

an

The Commentary of Hierocles upon the Golden Verfes of the Pythagsreans; now first tranflated into English from accurate Edition of the Greek Original, published in London, in the Year 1742, by the learned Dr. Warren, accompanied with Notes and Illuftrations, by William Rayner, A. B. Vicar of Calthorpe. 8vo. Longman.

45.

Thofe who are fond of the more intelligible Platonic morality, may perufe with pleasure the Commentary of Hierocles. From the notes it appears, that Mr. Rayner has adopted the belief of a preexistent state. A tranflation of Theophraftus is annexed.

Anecdotes Hiftorical and Literary; or a Mifcellaneous Selection of curious and friking Paffages, from eminent Modern Authors. Svg. 6s. Boards. Vernor and Hood.

This collector profeffes, that his object is to amufe thofe readers who are neither profound in their inquiries, nor fastidious in their criticifms. Before a court of this defcription, he may probably be acquitted. Our verdict is, that he is guilty of collecting a certain quantity of matter without taste or judgement; that fome of it is indecent, much is vulgar and ufelefs; and that, upon the whole, the compilation is the worft of the kind that has been presented fince it became a fashion to employ fciffors, and paste or wafers, rather than pen and ink, in the manufacture of books.

Afhort Argument on the Administration of Oaths, endeavouring to fhew that it is an effential and unalienable Prerogative of the Sovereignty. 8vo. 6d. Becket.

This argument glances at the feditious focieties in which oaths

have been administered to the members. The conclufion is, that the legislature should pointedly and explicitly affert its right, declare the administration of all oaths to be an inherent, inalienable prerogative of the fovereignty, by which alone a fubordinate power of that kind can be delegated, and annex punishment to every exercise of this folemn and dangerous power by persons not duly authorifed. But it may be doubted whether an act of parliament for those purposes would prevent the unlawful administration of oaths in fecret confpiracies. Men who associate to do that which is unlawful will not fuffer fuch a statute to deter them from taking an oath, as a mutual bond or pledge, or word of honour. An oath, however, is a moft ferious obligation, in whatever manner it may be administered, because it lies rather between God and man, than between one man and another; and he who takes it ought to confider that he must answer at the bar of divine justice, if he should efcape that of the lower world.

The Fashionable Cypriad: in a Series of elegant and interefting Letters, with correlative Anecdotes of the most diftinguished Characters in Great Britain and Ireland. Part I. Izmo. 45.. Bull. 1798.

To perfons of a certain class, anecdotes and memoirs of the frail fair afford a high gratification. We do not approve their taste, or admit the moral motives of the author: but we fhall pass no other cenfure on his letters than that they are neither elegant' nor interefting' to readers of fense and virtue.

A Translation of the Passages from Greek, Latin, Italian, and French Writers, quoted in the Prefaces and Notes to the Purfuits of Literature; a Poem, in Four Dialogues. To which is prefixed, a Prefatory Epifle, iutended as a General Vindication of the Pur fuits of Literature, from various Remarks which have been made upon that work. By the Tranflator. 8vo. 35. 6d. Boards. Becket. 1798.

This publication is attributed to the author of the Purfuits of Literature himself, and apparently with good reafon. We felect from the prefatory epiftle a paffage which, though fome may think it very fine, will appear very ridiculous to those who recollect that it is intended to defcribe the writer of a fatire fo dull and unpoetical.

• From his very childhood he grew up in filence and in folitude; neither feduced, nor diverted from his purpose; in a quiet independance; not embarraffed by difficulty, or depreffed by neglects conftant in thought; waiting patiently for his hour; of the world not unknowing, though unknown. Much and often would he mufe on other times; and dwell with the bards and fages, whose names are written in the books of fame and eternity. His ftudies and his meditations were an habitual poetry. To thofe who obe

ferved the mantle he would fometimes wear in his youth, it .feemed

Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge.

Like to that fanguine flower, infcribed with woe.

But he never blamed his fate. Most of all, he reverenced the lyre; and fought out those who could ftrike the ftrings most cunningly and fweetly. One fuch he found. He looked abroad through`all the realms of nature; through her scenes of majesty, of softness, or of terror; the wilds of folitude, the stormy promontory, the culti vated profpect, the expanse of forefts, the living lake, the torrent, or the cataract. By the fhores of the interminable ocean, on the cliffs, and on the ragged rocks, he found and felt the power of inspiration. But still his fancy wandered chiefly in the mild retreats of the elder poetry, the banks of Mæander, and the Mincio. The fcenes of ancient Greece and Latium were the hermit haunts of his imagination. In the valley of Tempe, by the hill of Hymettus, and the grove of Plato, he first heard, and learned

The fecret power

Of harmony, in tones and numbers hit

By voice, or hand; and various meafur'd verfe,
Eolian charms, and Dorian lyrick odes,

And his, who gave them breath, but higher fung.

Sometimes reclined on the verge of Caftalia, he would drink of the original fountain, whofe murmurs were familiar to him. Last of all, in the moments of divine and of ferene delight, he would ascend the chariot of the Mufes, and fix his eye, but not without fuperior guidance, upon the central heaven.' P. lvii.

Impartial Strictures on the Poem called "The Purfsuits of Literature:" and particular ly a Vindication of the Romance of "The Monk." 8vo. 35. Bell. 1798.

A pamphlet written with some learning and fome ability. ·Remarks on the Pursuits of Literature, in a Letter to the Author. 8vo. Is. 6d. Rivington. 1798.

A Letter to the Author of a Pamphlet, entitled "Remarks on the Purfuits of Literature, in a Letter to the Author, dated Cambridge May 1, 1798." Containing Obfervations on "The Remarks." By a Country Gentleman, formerly of the Univerfity of Cambridge. 8vo. IS. Lee and Hurft. 1798.

These pamplilets occupy as much room as they deserve with their titles.

ANSWER TO A CORRESPONDENT.

Mr. Cook's eagerness to see an account of the work which he mentions, might have been more decifivèly manifested by the tranfmiffion of a copy of it.

то THE

TWENTY-FOURTH VOLUME

OF THE

NEW ARRANGEMENT

OF THE

CRITICAL REVIEW.

FOREIGN ARTICLES.

Hiftorisch-Statistisches Gemälde des Ruffifchen Reichs, am Ende des achtzehnten Jahrbunderts, und unter der Regierung Katharina der Zweyten, von Heinrich Storck. Riga. 1797. An Hiftorico-Statistic Picture of the Ruffian Empire, at the Clofe of the eighteenth Century, and under the Government of Catharine II. by Henry Storck. 2 Vols. 8vo. with coloured Maps. 11. 115. 6d. Boards. Imported by Efcher. THE great extent of the Ruffian empire, the multiplicity, of nations fubject to one government, the variety of their languages, the diverfity of their manners, and the defpotifm by which they are enflaved, render the objects in this work interefting to the ftatefman, the philofopher, and the philanthropist. Our recent connexions alfo with this coloffal ftate naturally call our attention to a part of the globe, whence, in the prefent confufion of European politics, or der is expected to be established, religion fupported, regular government reftored; and, if the will of a defpot, aided by brutal force, can produce these wonderful effects, the prefent work gives us fufficient proofs, that the expectations of fome politicians are not built entirely upon a fandy foundation. The arts, indeed, during this century, have been making great progrefs in the Ruffian dominions: fcience flourishes in the capital, and in fome other towns; but the people are flaves, and the great body of fubjects in this vaft empire are immerfed in floth, ignorance, and fuperftition. APP. VOL. XXIV. NEW ARR.

LI