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plies of money) to ufe effectual endeavours for reinftating it, he hoped to accomplish his purpofe within a reafonable time. But fuch was his want of fuccefs, that after employing the utmost exertions of his authority in that important work during a complete year, he upon a fresh view of the condition of the navy, taken in January 1686, difcovered that it was still in a progref. five ftate of decline." P. 100.

"William and Mary."

"The king in his fpeech to parliament in December 1697, acquainted them that the naval force of the kingdom was increafed to nearly double what it was at his acceffion, and that the charge of maintaining it would be proportionally increased, as it was certainly neceffary for the intereft and reputation of England, to have always a great ftrength at fea." P. 110.

"Great encouragement," Mr. D. obferves, "was given to feamen in the reign of Queen Ann, "by taking the utmost care of the fick and wounded; and fpeedy payment of prize money, with many unufual orders from time to time was iffued in their favour, all which gave a mighty fpirit to the feamen, and certainly contributed much to the fucceffes by fea, which were fo great, that after the battle of Malaga (in Auguft 1704) we hear no more of the great fleets of France, throughout the remainder of the war." P. 120.

"At the acceffion of George the First, the generality of the fleet was pretty much out of repair, as might naturally be expected, after fo long a war as had recently been concluded: in the course of which most of the fhips built before the commence. ment of it, or in the early part thereof, must have gone through a great deal of fervice. And at this early period of the peace, but few of those ships could have been put into good condition.” P. 126.

We pass over the reign of George the Second, as nothing material occurred, and we cannot recapitulate the numerous improvements and actions of our navy in the present reign, exhibiting to us fuch happy proofs of our national greatness; but fhall conclude our extracts with the following, which is the laft fentence of Mr. D.'s book.

"Nelfon is gone! but while we fo deeply lament our lofs, let not our enemies exult, or the nation defpond. In fuch a school as the British navy, and with fuch animating examples before them, it is not to be feared that a commander will not on every occafion be found who will be capable of leading our fleets into battle with the utmost skill and bravery, or that our officers and feamen will not come to deferve their great and dear-bought fame." P. 230.

Having alliduou y traced the "rife and progrefs" of our navy, Mr. D. fujoins a copious appendix, containing ac

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counts of the periods when our dock yards were establishedthe average number of fhipwrights employed in the feveral dock yards, from 1702, to the prefent year-abftracts of fhips and veffels, with their depth, breadth, force, &c. &c. built, rebuilt, or repaired, in his Majefty's yards, or by contract, from 1646 to 150-prices of tonnage for building fhips and floops by contract-tables of dimenfions of fhips-eftimates of expences of building, rigging, fioring, and victualling fhips-weight of anchors-length of cables-defcription of the feveral forts of ordnance ufed in early times-obfervations on experiments performed in the yards as to the better mode of felling and feafoning timber-and, finally, referring future ftudents to the libraries and authorities he has fo fuccessfully quoted.

. Such is the nature of the work before us, which, as may be feen from the above curfory view, contains much inte refting and valuable information; it is elucidated by notes and references, enlivened by the author's own obfervations, and infuring by variety of inatter, a greater variety of readers, than the fubject in general would be allowed to admit of; for however interefting to moft Englishmen the fubject may be, yet to many it is a matter of indifference, whether Charles the First neglected or improved the navy, or that firefhips were firft ufed in the reign of William and Mary. Mr. D. has, we prefume, from his fituation, been able to ftamp à greater validity on his work, by the authenticity of his authorities; to which he has likewife added the tellimonies of the Archæologia, Charnock, Pepys, and other valuable works and writers, on the fubjc. He informs us with much modefty, that had Mr. Lodge, agreeably to his printed prop fals in 1794, profecuted is defign of publifhing a naval hiftory, this performance of his would probably have never feen the light: we cannot poflibly judge how far we have to regret Mr. L.'s relinquishing his defign, but without ftudiouly complimenting either the one or the other, it feems to have fallen into very good hands; and that, without the test of rivalfhip, its own merit will enfure its fuccefs. Were we faftidioufly inclined, we fhould condemn the minuteness and repetition of the lifts of the navy which oc cur fo frequently, with little or no alteration, and engrofs fo many pages of this work, but perhaps it may be interesting to fome, and is to be confidered as part of the writer's plan.

ART.

ART. VI. Principles and Practice of Naval and Military Courts Martial, with an Appendix illuftrative of the Subject. By John MArthur, Efq. &c. The fecond Edition, on an entire new Plan, with confiderable Additions and Im provements. Two vols. 8vo. 11. ls. Butterworth, Egerton, &c. 1806.

THIS

HIS author had originally publifhed a Treatife on Naval Courts Martial. A fecond edition of his work having become neceffary, he has been induced to "extend his refearches to the principles and practice of Courts Martial in both departments." Mr. M'A. proceeds to ftate, in his Preface," that in the profecution of this tafk, he has feduloufly arranged, from the old and new materials in his poffeffion, the two fyftems of naval and military jurifprudence now offered to the tribunal of the public; wherein it has been his endeavour to exhibit the parallel fuperftructures, in order that their difcordance and analogy, the proportions of the one to the other, and their comparative merits and de-* fects, may be afcertained." The meaning of this figurative. language is, that the author has united the confideration of thofe topics which correfpond to each other in the proceedings of Naval and Military Courts Martial. This plan is by no means judicious. The law by which our army is regulated is diflimilar in many refpects to that which refpects our navy. The two fylleins are founded upon different ftatutes and principles, which cannot be brought to clafs and affociate together, without fome perplexity and confufion. We acknowledge it to be the duty of the legiflator and flatofman to inflitute analogies, and afcertain the proportions of taofe laws by which the rights and liberties of a nation are affected; fo that they may ameliorate the whole, and give to the people, as far as is practicable, an uniform rule, which, extending to all, leaves no particular cafis in fociety, to regard. the privileges of others with an envious and difcontented

eye.

But this book was not compofed for politicians, nor is it. adapted to their perufal. It is defigned for the ufe of naval and military officers, who are interested in the law, not only as being antenable to its provifions, but as being liable to be called upon to exercife that molt folemn fun tion of deciding upon the honour and conduct of various members of their own order. To fuch perfons, a perfpicuous and practical treatife, adapted to military habits and education, is not

Cc4

only

only the most useful, but that which is alone useful. So far. as it inftitutes comparisons between regulations confined to one service, with those which relate to the other, it may ferve to confound a mind unused to legal fpeculations; and, as we fear, will oftener tend to excite invidious comparisons as to those diftinctions, which, we are forry to observe, renders their condition but too unequal in various refpects, than to any other purpose.

This plan has thus given to the prefent book a greater appearance of confufed and inartificial arrangement than it would have difplayed if Military and Naval Courts Martial had formed diftin&t heads of difcuffion. Mr. M'A.'s book embraces a variety of legal matter, of which it was necessary to treat, rather with reference to the perfons for whofe ufe the work is compofed, than as they conftitute immediate parts of his fubject. His defign was (and we think properly) to include in his treatise all knowledge which may be neceffary to enable a military or naval officer to discharge his duty, as a member of a court martial, in whatever part of the world he may be called to discharge that duty. Some topics, however, might be omitted, not only without injury but with advantage to the work. Such are Chap. I. before Laws in General; the Anecdote about Sir Hyde Parker, vol. ii. p. 219.; and the Correfpondences, ib. from page 437, to the end of the volume; and many other parts of the Appendix. In particular, we advert to the Chronological Lift of Trials; and Mr. M'A.'s violent refentment against the Lords of the Admiralty, for refufing to permit him to bring it down to the period of his publication. The fmaller the compafs into which books of this kind can be reduced, without material omiffions, the more beneficial they will prove to thofe for whofe ufe they are written. But they are highly cenfurable fo far as they imitate a Magazine, in retailing ufelefs anecdote, or a party pamphlet, to gratify political prejudices. We are con.

cerned to obferve, that the prefent work contains various inftances of these defects. Mr. M'A.'s ftyle is diffufe, and his mode of difcuffion rambling and unmethodical; so much fo, that it is scarcely poffible to turn over a page which does not exhibit examples of thefe faults. He is, in many inftances, likewife inaccurate in his obfervations. Yet, upon the whole, this book may be confidered as an useful performance.

ART.

ART. VII. A Treatife on the Origin, Progrefs, Prevention, and Treatment of Confumption. By John Reid, M. D. 12mo. 317 pp. 7s. Phillips. 1806.

THE

HE firft five chapters of this volume may be confidered as preliminary. They contain a concife defcription of the refpiratory organs, theories of refpiration, accounts of the conflituent parts of the atmosphere, and an expofition of the Brunonian doctrine," which whatever may be its extravagancies or defects," the author fays, p. 7, " is the only theory of medicine that in its firft principles refts upon the firm, and indeftru&tible bafe of genuine philofophy," a pofition we are not difpofed to controvert, not knowing what the firm and indeftructible base of genuine philofophy is. In the fixth chapter the author treats of hemoptyfis, or pulmonary hemorrhage, which frequently, he admits, precedes, but does not neceffarily lead to, or terminate in, confumption. After expatiating on the numerous causes, and the very varied nature of this affection, the author proceeds to lay down the method of cure, and fortunately for "the incipient practitioner of medicine," p. 99, he has found p. 101, that the vitriolic acid has the peculiar advantage of being admiffible, by an appropriate regulation of its dofe and forms of administration, in almost every modification of pulmonary hemorrhage, whether the irritative actions of the arterial fyftem are morbidly increased, or more fenfibly diminifhed." The feventh chapter treats of catarrh, a more frequent precurfor of phthifis pulmonalis, than the former affection. The cure of catarrh is directed in the next chapter, treating of pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs, which the author confiders as near of kin to catarrh, or as only a higher degree of the fame affection. The author has often been able to trace pneumonia, and its too common conféquence, confumption, to meafles. The cough, which almott invariably accompanies the measles, fhould be diligently attended to, and the patients fhould not be confidered as well, and allowed to return to their usual habits of living, until it be entirely fubdued, This is certainly a good practical rule. The method of treating pneumonia, recommended by the author, is nearly fimilar to that which has been generally ufed from the time of Hippocrates. Bleeding largely and repeatedly, until the vehemence of the inflammation is abated. when blifters are to be applied between the fhoul les or over the breast, the bowels in the mean while are to se kept mo

derately

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