high treasurer, &c. to enquire into the state of the former, and on March 25, 1635, a special commission, under the privy seal, was given to Sir Henry Mildmay, master of the Jewel-house, and others, to make an inquiry, and to discover the abuses committed by goldsmiths, and others trading in gold. These particulars will give a tolerable state of the regalia, and other royal jewels in the reign of the unfortunate Charles I. [To be continued.] NOTES ON ATHENÆUS. BY GRÆCULUS. No. XXII. "The wit and genius of those old Heathens beguiled me, and as I despaired of raising myself up to their standard upon fair ground, I thought the only chance I had of looking over their heads, was to get upon their shoulders." THE King of Persia was allowed to get drunk only one day in the year-on the sacrifice to Mithra, or, in other words, on a holiday. Lib. x. p. 434, E. I know several people who would not accept of his dominions on such terms! We are told that "Sine Baccho, friget Venus," but it seems that some prudence is necessary not to drown Venus. See the same page, and Aristotle, in Quæst. Phys. ii. and 32. sect. 5. A small portion of opium will invigorate the spirits, but a great quantity will put them to rest. In the epigram or inscription, page 436, E. for en, read Celo, and Tov for & Bau. Alcetas, the Macedonian, was honoured with the cognomen of the Funnel, one being tired of wine as soon as the other. We have now a long list of drunkards.It was foretold that Mycerinus, a king of Egypt, p. 438, would not live more than six years, but he contended that he had disproved the oracle, and doubled the number, by turning night into day, arguing that while we are awake, we live, and he drank during the whole of the time, or twelve years as he called it. In youth, until eighteen years of age, Plato forbade the use of wine, because he would not add fire to fire, and the stronger sort* was wholly prohibited among the Roman women-provi dently therefore they were not allowed to keep the key of the cellar, see p. 440 and 734. It appears by Antiphanes that they were by no means proof against the temptation, since he thinks it alone safe and prudent to marry in Scythia, where they do not plant the vine, p. 441. E. In this page F, line four from the end, read σhives for canva. Omnia sint obscæna. June 4. OUR LAWS. NOTHING can be more engaging than the general description of our laws, as given in the works of our legal writers, but on enquiry the reader will find himself lost in the mazes of subtle and intricate distinctions, rendered more so by the obsolete phraseology, in which they are communicated. Their number has produced a degree of uncertainty, confusion, and expence, both dangerous and oppressive, and the almost infinite number of adjudged cases often thwarting and contradicting each other, has rendered those difficulties in many cases inextricable. TACITUS imputes a great part of the misery of the Romans in his time to this abuse, and tells us, that the laws grew innumerable in the worst and most corrupt state of things-the intention of our laws may be good, but they are so numerous, and the volumes of our statutes and adjudged cases so vast, that nothing is now so clear, but men of ingenuity and legal knowledge may find a pretext to justify any judgment they have a mind to give. The obscurity and expence,† besides the uncertainty, which necessarily attends the conduct * A sweet kind of wine called Taσσov, they were allowed to drink. bius, lib. vi. and Pliny de Dulcium generibus, lib. xiv. cap. ix. See Poly *It is the expence of the law that creates the great grievance to the subject,---a creditor not only loses a just debt of ten or twenty guineas, but if his debtor can. not pay, is involved in costs to three times the amount. At present it is very fre quent for the debtor to go to gaol in execution, and for the creditor to follow him in consequence of having pursued him to execution. The uncertainty of the law cannot be more strongly exemplified, than in the decision of the committee of the House of Commons, on the Southwark election.---' Mr. Thelluson, previous to standing for that borough, took the opinions of eleven, the most eminent counsel, to know whether the determination of the former com $34 THE MONTHLY MIRROR. of a suit at law, and more particularly where special pleading is required, is an unanswerable subject of complaint. Special pleading, as it is practised at present, is a fertile source of abuse, expence, and delay, and though it ought not by any means to be entirely dispensed with, it would be an abundant good if methods were adopted, by which the proceedings in a suit should be greatly contracted and rendered far less intricate, uncertain, and expensive. More especially by disburthening the pleadings of many dark and obscure references to customs and things, with which they are fettered, and of the origin of which, the most learned lawyers are themselves entirely ignorant. JAMES the First was so sensible of the great burthen and inconvenience of these superfluous branches in law proceedings, that in a speech in the Star Chamber, 1614, he promised to cut them all off; little, however, was done towards it in his reign. CHARLES the First had no time for reflection on matters of this sort; in the days of CHARLES the S the Second, the courts at Westminster took it into serious consideration, and a great deal was certainly done, but in endeavouring to attain the end of substantial justice, many legal fictions, in open violation of common sense, were introduced, and have been suffered to remain even to the present day. dff has cipal to qidegoaestor I cut of botriogge asw adt or in STAND ACCOUNT OF "LES MŒURS."EneanST' donde MR. EDITOR, Bow & lo tudine ori, ymebsos cin seodų bus, „eizasely old szobie Dad yd beatový viddiva! IN In reply to your Correspondent, F. H. who is anxious to know whether an excellent little French work, intitled "Les Maurs," has been translated into our language, and if its author be known, I feel gratified in communicating the following particu Mê msi མཔས mittee precluded his eligibility to sit again, provided he was returned, and they all agreed that he was eligible. The committee determined the contrary. Junius bas given an opinion on this subject, "As a practical profession," says he, "the study of the law requires but a moderate portion of abilities. The learning of a pleader is usually upon a level with his integrity. The indiscriminate defence of right and wrong, contracts the undersanding, while it corrupts the heart. Subtlety is soon mistaken for wisdom, and impunity for virtue." Letter to Lord Mansfield. HAIM HIMOM WHY lars. The original first appeared in 1748, and having acquired great popularity on the Continent, was translated into English, and published in London the following year, under the title of "Manners," its reception being very favourable, it was again. printed in 1751, with many any corrections, and dedicated to the celebrated Lord Chesterfield. In 1752, a new translation was published, which in a great measure superseded the preceding, and passed through several editions, the last of which was printed by Urie, of Glasgow, in 1770. Some of these editions are not uncommon, although the work and its merits are only known by few. The author was a M. Toussaint, who, having laboured under a complication of misfortunes in France, in the course of the seven years' war, retired to Bruxelles, where he became the edi tor of a French paper, in which, during the hostilities with Prussia, Frederic the Great was invariably called "the highwayman of the North." He wrote some articles in that noble work, the "Encyclopedie," which was graced by the writings of all the great literary characters, who then flourished in France and some of the neighbouring countries. Besides the works above-mentioned, he wrote several others, among which was "Eclaircissement sur les Maurs," but it did not excite much attention, and never appeared in English. In the winter of 1764, Toussaint was appointed to the Professorship of Logic and Rhetoric, in the Civil and Military Academy at Berlin. Although Frederic knew of the galling epithet formerly bestowed upon him, in the paper of which Toussaint had been the Editor, he did not impute it to the heart of the man, and the philosophic king willingly engaged in his academy, the author of a work from which he had derived considerable pleasure, and whose genius and principles had been so lavishly praised by the Chevalier D'Argens, and other eminent characters. How long he remained at Berlin, the time and place ace of his decease, and age, I cannot ascertain; but I trust these few facts, relative to "Les Meurs," and the author, will gratify the curiosity of your correspondent, and merit a niche in the Mirror. I am, Sir, June 4th, 1809. Your obedient servant, WALTER SCOTT, POPE, MACPHERSON, AND SOUTHEY. SIR, TO THE EDITOR OF THE MONTHLY MIRROR. HAVING observed in your Number for April, a very ingenious The first I shall mention is from Pope's Windsor Forest. "Firm in the lists, and graceful in the dance.” "Firm was his stirrup in the lists, And light his footstep in the dance." The next is from Mr. Macpherson's book, intitled “Ossian,” in a note on the poem of Croma, where the sound of the wind seems to have had the same effect upon the deer, as the bell of Lindisfarn! "The stag lies on the mountain moss, the hind is at his side. She hears the wind in his branchy horns. She starts, but lies again.”—Ossian. "So far was heard the mighty knell, Listed before, aside, behind, Then couch'd him down beside the hind." Marmion. The two which remain are from our great contemporary poet, SOUTHEY "When the prince, Came to the field They echo'd Madoc! Madoc ! thro' the host Spread the miraculous joy."-(Madoc.) This exclamation upon the unexpected appearance of any chief |