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NOVELS.

ART. 21. The Laft Man; or Omegarus and Syderia, a Romance in Futurity. 2 Vols. 75. Dutton. 1806.

If any readers of our Review fhould be much addicted to the reading of romances, and fhould be alfo moft pleafed with thefe which are most extravagantly wild and eccentric, we recommend thefe volumes to a very refpectable place in their library: but if the fame readers fhould be hoftile to licentioufnefs and profanenefs, and fhould think that tranflations (as this feems to be) of one of the vileft books imported from the Continent, ought to be con figned to fome other confpicuous place-we recommend the fire.

TRAVELS.

ART. 22. The Belgian Taveller, or a Tour through Hol land, France, and Switzerland, during the Years 1804 and 1805; in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to a Minifter of State. Edited by the Author of the Revolutionary Plutarch, &c. 4 Vols. I 2mo. 155. Egerton. 1806.

This, it feems, is one of the works, for the fale of which the unfortunate Palm, the bookfeller, was, by a moft tyrannical act of arbitrary defpotifm, arrested in the Free State of Nuremberg, hurried before a Military Tribunal, and fentenced to be fhot. If half the acts of atrocity pourtrayed in this lively narrative be true, and we fee no reafon to queftion the authenticity of any, it Cannot excite furprise that the editor and publisher of fuch a work fhould provoke the perfecution of the tyrant. It is a warning voice, however, which speaks loudly to those who are yet out of the reach of the aggreffor, to unite, with cordiality, in vindication of their liberties, and resistance to the inordinate ambition of Buonaparte and his hordes. It is a noble monument of the generofity of our countrymen, that at this moment a fubfcription is raifing for the benefit of the widow and children of the abovementioned unfortunate Palm; and it is a delightful confolation to fee, that while all Europe crouches under the oppreffor's feet, his scattered and terrified ships fly in all directions and every quarter of the world, from the proud banners of the British Navy, ·

POLITICS.

ART. 23. A Dialogue between Buonaparte and Talleyrand, on the Subject of Peace with England. 12mo. 24 PP. 6d. Hatchard. 1806.

The fubftance of this little tract may be feen in the Revolutionary Plutarch, where the sentiments of Talleyrand op peace, as

the

the beft mode of fubjugating England, are given at large. Thefe fentiments are here thrown into a dialogue between that wily ftatesman and his ambitious mafter; and it may be very ufeful to circulate in fo cheap a form, opinions which feem to have but too much truth in them: and against the operation of which it is fo important for us to be put upon our guard. Unhappily, there are dangers on all fides, through which he only who governs all na tions can fafely conduct us.

ART. 24.

LAW.

Evidence taken at Port of Spain, Island of Trinidad, in the Cafe of Louifa Calderon, under a Mandamus iued by the Court of King's Bench, and directed to the Lieutenant Governor: with a Letter addreffed to Sir Samuel Hoad, K. B. late one of the Commiffioners for the Government of that Colony. By Col. Thomas Picton, late Governor and Captain General of the Iland. 8vo. 139 PP. 26. Budd. 1806.

ART. 25.

An Addrefs to the British Public, on the Cafe of Brigadier General Picton, late Governor and Captain General f the Ifland of Trinidad: with Obfervations on the Conduct of William Fullarton, Efq. F. R. S. and the Right Hon. John Sullivan. By Lieut. Col. Edward Alured Draper, of the Third Regiment of Foot Guards, formerly Military Secretary to the late General Grinfield, in the West Indies. 8vo. 282 PP. 25.

Budd. 1806.

We have, on the occafion of noticing two former publications*, declined entering into the merits of this acrimonious controverfy; which, though a trial has taken place, does not yet appear to have received a final adjudication. The fame reafon which then influenced our conduct, fubfifts in its full force. It is not, we conceive, the province of critics to decide on queftions affecting the character of individuals, which are fubmitted to a Court of Justice. We fhall therefore only ftate, that the first of the above pamphlets contains the evidence taken at Trinidad, with a view to the trial of General Picton, which afterwards took place in the Court of King's Bench, for an alledged cruelty in the execution of his office of Governor of that Ifland; to which is prefixed a fpirited and well-written Letter from the General to Sir Samuel Hood, one of his late colleagues in the government, remarking on the accufation against him, and the unjuftifiable means adopted to injure his character. The "Ad. drefs to the British Public," by Colonel Draper, befides ftating the evidence, contains an elaborate, and, in many parts, eloquent defence of his friend, General Picton, with many

* See British Critic, Vol. xxiv. 580,

fevere remarks on the conduct of his accuser, and the witnefles produced to fupport the accufation. On the point of law, upon which the cafe principally hinges, (fo far at least as it is cognizable by a Court of Juftice) his arguments appear well worthy of confideration: but fome of his reprefentations are exaggerated, and, in noticing the conduct of individuals, (fuppofed to be hoftile to General Picton) his zeal, though doubtlefs arifing from a laudable motive, has hurried him into an intemperance of language, which we cannot but difapprove; more efpecially in his attack on a very refpectable character, Mr. Sullivan. But as this conduct has, if we mistake not, produced another criminal profecution, we forbear from any further remarks.

ART. 26. Reports of Cafes argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery. Collected by John Dickens, Efq. late Senior Register of that Court. Revijed by John Wyatt, of the Inner Temple, Ejq. Barrister at Law. 2 Vols. Cr. 8vo. 11. 8s. Butterworth, London; Cook, Dublin.

The editor ftates in his preface, that thefe Reports are taken from the MSS. of Mr. Dickens, written in his own hand, and although without attention to arrangement, yet with a view to publication. He obferves, that he has not affumed the liberty of expunging any cafes which the Reporter thought worthy of prefervation. His object has been to reduce them into chronological order, and to add marginal references to fuch other books as report the feveral cafes. He has alfo prefixed a table of their names, and fubjoined an index (as he defcribes it) on the model of the Digefted Index in Chancery." We are enabled, without much difficulty, to guess the book which is thus alluded to. But as its title is much more correct and defcriptive, we were surprised at a mifnomer as flovenly and carelefs. But Mr. Wyatt, although a found lawyer, does not appear to have fuccefsfully cultivated the graces of his mother tongue. There are many fpecimens in his short preface, which leave it fomething lefs than dubious, whether he has paid due attention to the common rules of grammar, or the ufual modes of expreffion.

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His preface, however, is evidently his own; but he comme morates the affiftance which he has received from a learned friend of his, a Mr Toler, in the body of the work, and gravely proclaims the fact as a debt due to common juftice." The share, which this gentleman is to boaft of in this literary partnership, is ftill a fecret, fo that this debt of juftice remains not altogether fatisfied. Indeed if we had not been told otherwife, it would not have appeared to us that the fcales of juftice must have loft their equipoife, if this circumftance had efcaped a public difclofure, and the gentleman had been left to enjoy the fnug and re. tired approbation of his private friends. Much applaufe cannot be feriously claimed from an effort at a chronological arrange.

ment;

ment; and if that is taken away, the only reputation, which remains for the learned pair to parcel out between them, confists of an index accurately executed. Without recurring to Chaucer or Pope, we may venture to affert, that these poets have affigned no niche in their temples of fame to concentrate the memory of an index maker. But perhaps that facred edifice has its cellars and catacombs as well as more noble and fpacious chambers, a kind of farcophagus nooks, in which dead authors may reft encrufted and embalmed, as well as lofty halls, where ever-living genius courts the examination of pofterity, and receives the admiration of mankind.

But to turn from thefe editors to the work. The cafes relate principally to the practice of the court, and are generally reported with great concifenefs. Mr. Dickens, from his official fituation and knowledge, was enabled to take notes with accuracy, and to felect fuch decifions as would be moft ferviceable to the profeffion. Some of them are not reported by Mr. D., but were fe lected by him from other fources. They will be found at the beginning of the first volume.

MEDICINE.

ART. 27. Letters to Dr. Rowley, on his late Pamphlet, entitled Cow-Pox Inoculation no Security against the Small-Pox Infettion. By Aculeus. Price 1s. 6d. H. D. Symonds, Paternofter-row. 1805.

8vo. 60 PP..

Mr. Birch has complained, though we believe he had little ground for his complaint, that the prefs had been fhut against the antivaccinifts. We wish we had influence fufficient to induce the gentlemen on both fides to restrain their ardour for writing, and if they cannot agree on the terms of a peace, to admit of a truce, if it were only for a few months, to allow themselves to cool a little, that they may be enabled to look at the object of contention without paffion.

The queftion on which they are at iffue is, whether the cowpox affords a complete fecurity against the infection of the small. pox. It is in vain to attempt to answer this question by wit, and raillery, or even by argument. It can only be decided by experiments, and the more numerous the experiments, the fooner and the more certainly the queftion will be decided. Thofe gentlemen, therefore, who think that the cow-pox does not give the promifed fecurity, act inconfiftently, when they labour fo ftrenuously to prejudice the people against the practice, as it is doing all in their power to prevent the matter from being brought to the only teft, by which it can be determined. Let the vaccinifts, on the other hand, be careful that they ufe only the genuine cow-pox fluid for inoculation, and that it be taken from healthy, and Hh

BRIT CRIT. VOL. XXVIII. OCT. 1806,

found

found fubjects, who are not affected with scrofula, or any complaint that may be likely to be transferred to their patients; and before they difmifs their patients, be assured they have had the cow-pox, if it be practicable to get such information. But this we know to be extremely difficult to be done among the lower, and most numerous clafs of people, as they will feldom attend sufficiently often to enable the vaccinators to fatisfy themselves completely on that fubject. It is probable this may have afforded to the anti-vaccinifts the greatest number of their cafes, where the cow-pox is fuppofed to have failed in fecuring the parties from the fmall-pox. Against fuch accidents, we are afraid, no pro vision can be made; but as the enemy are upon the watch, the vaccinators muft ufe all the precautions they can.

In the anonymous pamphlet before us, which gave birth to. these reflections, the author has attempted, and not unsuccessfully perhaps, to repel the farcafas of the late Dr. Rowley against the cow-pox, with much humour, and no lefs afperity. He also examines the Doctor's pretensions to learning and genius, but with them we have nothing to do in this place; and as there are no obfervations here on the fubject, but what have been fre. quently urged by other writers, and as the perfon to whom the letters are addreffed, is now dead, we fhall decline entering into any examination of them, only obferving, that the writer appears to be well qualified for the talk he has undertaken.

ART. 28. An Encyclopedia of Surgery, Medicine, Midwifery, Phyfiology, Pathology, Anatomy, Chemistry, &c. To which is added, an abridged Tranflation of Cullen's Nofology. By John James Watt, Surgeon. 12mo. 8s. Highley. 1806.

This deficit is in

"The want of a concife, yet accurate medical dictionary, has long," the editor fays, "been acknowledged. No work of that kind has yet prefented to the pupil, a brief yet fufficient view of the symptoms and cure of difeafes." tended, we prefume, to be fupplied by the volume before us; and although we may not, perhaps, agree with the editor, that fuch a work was wanted, which the number of dictionaries, compendiums, and vade mecums lately published, feem to difprove, yet if he had made any confiderable improvement, either by the addition of new and valuable materials, or by better arranging thofe ufed in fimilar compilations, and if these improvements had been obtained, "not," as he promifes, preface, p. 1, "by the exclufion of valuable information, but folely by the omiffion of numerous unimportant points, fuch as references to the ancients, &c." we should, with pleasure, have recommended the Medical Encyclopædia to ftudents and young practitioners in the art. But a very flight examination will be fufficient to show, that inftead of improving on former compilations, the editor has omitted much ufeful information to be found in nearly all of them, and

that

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