There fate's portentous sign shall fix thy doom. 'The contents of this small volume have afforded us much pleasure; and we recommend the publication to the attention of our readers, as calculated to interest both the learned and the unlearned. MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For DECEMBER, 1803. MINERALOGY. Art. 11. Sperimens of British Minerals, selected from the Cabinet of Philip Rashleigh, of Menabilly, in the County of Cornwall, Esq. M.P. F.R.S. and F.A.S. With general Descriptions of each Article. 4to. pp. 26. and 21 Plates. 11. s. 6d. Boards. Nicol. In the 25th volume of our New Series (p. 320), we announced the Arst part of this splendid work. We then hinted that the pencil is very inadequate to a satisfactory delineation of universal specimens: but we allow that it may sometimes render a pretty faithful copy of a few of the more prominent characters; and in this secondary point of view, such performances as the present may aid the effect of verbal descriptions. Among the most remarkable of the copper ores here particularized, we observe two curious varieties of arseniate, thin six-sided plated orystals, of a milk white colour, and double four-sided pyramids, of a sky blue Of the tin ores, that which comes from Pednandra is found in four sided crystals, covered with a white hydrophanous calcedony, that imbibes water immediately, and becomes transparent, so as to shew the tin ore very distinctly, and soon becomes opake again.'-We are also presented with some curious samples of galena, serpentine from the Lizard, three figures of a bivalve fossil from Colebrook Dale, a section of the stream work at Poth; and a fossil mamillary echinus, with a flint filling the shell, and running through it, being both unbroken.' Hence it is inferred that the flint must have been in a fluid state, without the agency of fire; as, according to the igneous hypothesis, the shell would have been converted into Line. The descriptions which accompany the plates are short and meagre. Indeed, the editor disclaims all pretensions to an intimate acquaintance with the science and nomenclature of modern chemistry; and it is proper that intending purchasers should be duly apprized of this circumstance. Art. BOTANY, &c. Art. 12. Richardi Relham, A.M. Villa de Hemingby in agro Lincolniensi Rectoris; Regia Societatis Londinensis 'Socii; et Societatis Linneana Assoc. Flora Cantabrigiensis, exhibens plantas Agri Cantabrigiensis indigenas, secundum Systema Sexuale digestas: cum characteribus genericis, diagnosi Specierum, synonymis selectis, nominibus trivialibus, loco natali, tempore inflorescentia. Editio altera. 8vo, pp. 580. 8s. Boards. White, &c. 1802. An account of the first edition of this respectable work, and of its supplement, was given in our 73d volume, p. 371, and the 74th vol. p. 389. In the present edition, the aukward position of Ban hin's name in the list of references can no longer offend us, for it has wholly disappeared; and its absence is more than compensated by those of Bolton, Sowerby, Roth, &c. Of new genera, we observe Ecidium, Alyssum, Auricularia, Beta, Centunculus, Coriandrum, Craterium, Datura, Farinaria, Fistulina, Monotropha, Ornithogalum, Rhizomorpha, Retbellia, Rubia, Ruppia, Salicornia, Spharocarpus, and Trichia. Not fewer than 281 species have been added, making the list amount to 1344-a greater number than Lightfoot particu larized in his Flora Scotica. We wish that the plates of the former edition had been retained: but we hear with sincere concern of the author's inability to pursue his researches in a manner suitable to their importance: · FLORA autem CANTABRIGIENS'S majores thesauros jactaret, si dies auctori feliciores arrisissent; si rei familiaris angustia itinerum sumptus non omninò vetuisset; animumque frustra luctantem miseria quotidiana pregravássent, • Alia etiam cause silentio non prætereunde sunt; specimina in Herbario (cheu non amplius meo) conservata, plurima amicorum defunctorum fignora, in possessionem SOCIETATIS LINNEANÆ transiverunt: librosque, Flora meæ fructus, ut venderem, sæva constrinxit necessitas. As it is only by the multiplication and careful revision of such Flora as the present, that we can ever hope to ascertain with precision the vegetable contents of our native country, we trust that the university of Cambridge, or Lord Hardwicke (to whom this edition is dedicated), or some patron of the sciences, will do more than peruse the above affecting statement. POLITICAL. Art. 13. A Reply to two Pamphlets, in Answer to "The Question, Why do we go to War? temperately discussed, according to the Official Correspondence:" one entitled "The Reason why," and the other" Observations suggested, &c." 8vo. 23 Wallis. A certain degree of political initiation is essential to the perfect development of cabinet mysteries, which more or less prevail in all great affairs of state. Politicians, when most communicative, do not unbosom all their secrets; and there are some who, by adverting to the Protean shape which the object of the late war assumed, and by regarding the present as its legitimate offspring, are not satisfied with the public reasons assigned for its justification, but suspect that the Ff3 rcal real motives are not avowed. The author of the Question, &c. (who, if public rumour has rightly given his name, is a man of singular learning and vigour of intellect,) at the commencement of the renewal of the contest, expressed his doubts of the validity of those reasons for going to war, which were furnished to the public in the Official Correspondence; and being invited by his anatagonists to review the ground which he occupied in his first pamphlet, he now firmly perseveres in his original opinion. He regards the whole evidence adduced in the Official Papers rather as pretexts than as substantial reasons for war; and neither to the author of the "Reason why," nor to the writer of the "Observations," does he yield a single point: but he states more at large his persuasion that the war could and ought to have been avoided, that gaining time was as much an object of importance to us as to the enemy, that as to Malta and Egypt they are matters of no importance to this country,—and that we ought not to make the Mediterranean a bottomless pit to swallow up the seamen and treasures of this country. He believes the First Consul to have been serious when he said, that "there would have been nothing he would not have done to prove his desire to conciliate; participation in indemnities as well as in influence on the Continent; treaties of commerce; in short any thing that could have given satisfaction or testified his friendship." There was certainly reason for questioning his sincerity respecting his friendly disposition towards our influence on the continent but we shall not here discuss either this or any other point. We leave it to the Genius of History to penetrate the hidden motives of statesmen, and shall dismiss this pamphlet with remarking that, however certain surmises prevent unanimity of opinion respecting the causes of the war, we truly display that unanimity of defence which, with the blessing of Providence, must secure us against all efforts of the foe. Art. 14. The Reason Why, in Answer to a Pamphlet, entitled, Why do we go to War?" To which is affixed, A Rejoinder to the Reply of the Author of "Why do we go to War?" 2d Edition, with Additions. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Stockdale. Replies and Rejoinders are generally occupied with personal altercations, in which the public have no great concern. So it happens for the most part in the instance before us. This author retorts the accusations of his antagonist, charges him with misquotation and misrepresentation, and, while he uses the lash with much dexterity, takes credit to himself on the score of compassion. The argument is so much exhausted, that little new can be expected in support of the justice and necessity of the war; instead, therefore, of entering into the reasoning of this Rejoinder, we shall satisfy ourselves with giving a single specimen of the manner in which the contest is conducted. As for the phrase of "every one has read the Correspondence,❞. with which our author finds fault, every liberal minded man will understand it as a common mode of expression, when a publication has been generally read. I certainly did not mean, that every individual being in the British Empire had performed this task, and I willingly admit, that our author is critically exact, when he politely says "Every, "Every one has not read the Correspondence," This is the only victory he has gained, and a most glorious and important one it is. I must, however, beg leave to rectify a slight error into which he has inadvertently fallen, a few lines farther on. He charges me with having written sixty-four pages to unravel the Correspondence. Now he really totally mistakes the matter. I did not write my sixty-four pages to unravel the Correspondence, but to unravel his comments upon it, to detect his artifices, and to expose his misrepresentations.' By this happy mode of managing the controversy, it may be made to last as long as the war, but probably not to the satisfaction of the public. Art. 15. Eventful Period! Exhortation of the French in England to the French in France, and all over the World. Translated by Mr. King. 8vo. IS. Parsons. From calling names, little benefit is derived even to a bad cause; and a good one, like that of Great Britain at the present moment, should reject the practice with disdain. An enraged emigré may write in the following style, but Mr. K. might have spent his time better than by translating it into our language: Crouching, kneeling, base, abject people! who have sacrificed the dignity of the nation to elevate one man,-all the natural native growth of France is blasted by this noxious exotic transplantation; that, Colossus like, overtops all other plants, and by its baneful influence dwarfs them. This new-fangled mock reign is the climax stigma of France, the political being of the whole nation is sacrificed to the monstrous ambition of this excrescence of deceit and endless apostacy. The whole pamphlet is in this strain. Art. 16. Reflections on the Invasion of Great Britain by the French Armies; on the Mode of Defence; and on the useful Applica tion' of the National Levies. 8vo. 38. Cadell and Davies. This author is not only a man of experience, but of sound judg ment; and his hints relative to the conduct which ought to be pursued by us, in case of Invasion, merit general attention. He has divided his pamphlet into three chapters; the first treats of the Probability of an Invasion, and on the necessary Preparation;-the second, of the Mode of arming, arranging, and training the National Levies; and the third, On the Mode of Defence against an Invasion. Admitting the possibility of Invasion, he contends that prudence requires that we should be prepared for it, and leave nothing to the power of fortune. Among other means, he advises the appointment of a Council of War, composed of the most intelligent and experienced military and naval officers; with the exception of the Commander in Chief, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Master General of the Ordnance, the Secretaries of State and of War, whose thoughts ought not to be diverted from the laborious duties of their respective situations. On the subject of training the National Levies, he insists on the necessity of teaching the recruit to load and fire properly, quickly, and with good aim; and he reprobates the practice of platoon-firing, in which the attention is directed from the important object of doing Ff 4 execution execution to the parade of making a grand explosion. As the terror of fire-arms is now greatly abated, and as close combat will be brought more and more to decide the battle, he strongly recommends the use of pikes; and particularly that every company should consist of a certain number of pikemen; because the pike, he observes, for close fight, is incomparably superior to the bayonet, which is an un. wieldy weapon, and of such small length, that the front rank only can use it with much advantage.' He adopts the idea of Marshal Saxe respecting the impropriety of halting to fire before the charge is made: but he does not, with him, reprobate all firing on a close attack. Of the discharge from the musket he would avail himself; and that it may not fail of effect, he advises that the firing should be at the moment when the soldier arrives at the enemy... This writer adopts the opinion of a great commander, who said that battles were the resources of weak Generals; and therefore, in his third chapter, he recommends, in case the enemy should land, that a decisive engagement should be avoided, and that we should pursue the system of harrassing him by incessant attacks on his flanks, rear, and every salient point, night and day; so that he sha!! be constantly harrassed, alarmed, fatigued, and at length exhausted. From an examination of the nature of the country, as covered with inclosures, he infers that England is fully capable of resisting an Invasion, and of gradually destroying the hostile army. Adverting to the case of Ireland, he suggests that, as a matter of good policy, the Catholic clergy should be subsisted at the national expence; and that the Catholics should be restored to their civil rights, in order that there may be an union of mind and of condition, as well as of Government, between the two islands. Art. 17. Observations on a Ministerial Pamphlet, entitled "Cursory Remarks of a Near Observer upon the State of Parties during the Administration of the Right Hon. Henry Addington." By an Anxious Spectator. 8vo. 29. Ginger. Politicians, like Papists, have their favourite Saints. Mr. Pitt is the god of this writer's idolatry, whose vindication is underten with all the enthusiasm of religious zeal, against the direct c' ges and sly insinuations of the Near Observer. It is contended that the faith and consistency of the late ministry are not impeached by the cold assistance which they give to their successors; that their engagement to support was not unconditional; and that duty to their country prohibited them from abetting measures of rashness and feebleness, such as the peace, and the conduct of government towards Ireland. How far this comes home to the exact state of the case when Mr. Pitt resigned and Mr. Addington accepted the office of Prime Minister, we cannot undertake to decide. When the parties themselves are silent, conjecture labours in vain to supply adequate evidence: but, while writers only speculate, they can display their spleen and their partiality. This Anxious Spectator disclaims the mean practice charged on the Near Observer, of insulting by insinuation: but he soon forgets himself, and conveys his contempt in tales and low comparisons. One specimen will suffice: • Should |