and Creffida to the Earl of Sunderland, he, either flyly or undefignedly, let thofe whom he had formerly flattered, fee how little reafon they had to be proud of his eulogics. It begins,

"My Lord, fince I cannot promife you much of poetry in my Play, it is but reafonable that I fhould fecure you from any part of it in my dedication. And indeed I cannot better dif tinguish the exactnefs of your tafte from that of other men, than by the plainnefs and fincerity of my addrefs. I must keep my hyperboles in referve for men of other understandings. An hungry appetite after praife, and a strong digeftion of it, will bear the groffness of that diet; but one of fo critical a judgment as your Lordship, who can fet the bounds of juft and proper in every fubject, would give me fmall encouragement for fo bold an undertaking."

The Spanish Friar, Dryden's next play, has ever been admired and celebrated as one of his happieft productions. The exquifite union of the tragic with the comic part has been amply applauded, and the character of Dominic well deferves Mr. Scott's eulogy. Churchill has treated this

character as a mere imitation of Falstaff.

"Vain all difguife; too plain we fee the trick,
Though the Knight wear the weeds of Dominick,"

are his words. But the imitation is not to us obvious, except on the ground that Falstaff recommends himself to Mrs. Page in the defcription of their fympathies.

"You are not young, no more am I; go to then, there's fympathy: you are merry, fo am I; Ha! ha! then there's more fympathy: you love fack, and fo do 1; Would you defire better fympathy ?"

In all these particulars, the Knight and the Friar refemble each other, but in all other refpects they are as diftinct as it is poffible for character to make them.

At the time when this play was produced, Dryden, fharing in the feelings of his friend and patron, Lord Mulgrave, seems to have been out of favour at Court, and he wrote this as a Proteftant play, and dedicated it to a Proteftant patron. He was, however, foon induced to aflift the Crown with his powerful talents, and took fuch a fhare in the political difputes of the day, as must for a while, fufpend the view of his dramatic labours.

ART. IX. Some Obfervations on the Statement and Evidence in the Fourth Report prefented to the House of Commons, from the Committee on the Public Expenditure: containing an Examination into the Conduct and Tranfactions of the Commiffioners for Dutch Prizes. By Jofeph Clayton Jennyns, of Lincoln's Inn, Efq. Barrister at Law. 8vo. 175 pp. Richardfon. 1810.

T is the plain and obvious demand of justice, that this trac fhould obtain an early and a confpicuous place in our pages. Much public obloquy has been thrown upon the Dutch Commiffioners, in confequence of the Report here confidered, which, if it be in any degree undeferved, cannot be too foon removed. Among the evil features of the prefent time is a love of public accufation, occafioned evidently by the too fuccefsful efforts of a few difcontented individuals, to render every man fufpected, who holds a place of public trust. But, as is moft truly faid in a paffage quoted by Mr. Jennyns in his title-page, "JUSTICE is the great flanding policy of civil fociety, and any eminent departure from it, under any circumftances, lies under the fufpicion of being no policy at all :" or as he writes himself, with equal dignity and truth, "It is for juftice and fecurity that the public calls, and not for accufation."

To our apprehenfion, after the most unbiaffed and deliberate perufal, the Dutch Commiffioners are in this tract completely vindicated, from every accufation or even fufpicion, that was raised against them. With the most respectful deference to the Hon. Committee of the House of Commons, by which this fourth Report was made, Mr. Jennyns undertakes to prove, that the cenfure of having affumed to themfelves" large and unreasonable profits," thrown out in that Report, against thefe Commiffioners, is founded on imperfect views of the cafe; and that the Commiffioners are fully juftifiable in law, equity, and established ufage, for every ftep which they have taken.

It is ftated firft, that, from the very complicated and difficult nature of the duties impofed upon the Dutch Commiffioners, fome of them even of a judicial kind, they could not be at all adequately remunerated, on the footing of merchants tranfacting ordinary bufinefs of commiffion; that, however this might be, the Commiflioners, who had been appointed in 1795, were in 1798, by the change of public relations, actually conftituted prize agents, and judicially so pronounc

U

BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXXV. MARCH, 1810.

ed:

ed: they were therefore, of legal right entitled to the cuf tomary profits of prize agents, as they food at that period, and for ten years enfuing. It is argued further, that their proceedings, with refpect to the balances in their hands, were fully authorized by the aƐt under which they were appointed; and were alfo neceffary, on account of the demands to which they were liable; and that even their appropriating to themselves the intereft of the floating balances, which were always liable to be called for, was matter of common and undoubted right, in all analogous cafes. It is evident that whoever would fee and judge for himfelf, of the truth of thefe allegations, muft have recourfe to the original tract. We can only give an abftraft of it. The following paffage, as containing a very material part of the general argument, we lay before our readers.

"The Committee complained that the Commiffioners, with a balance never fo low as 150,000l. on an application from Mr. Pitt, for information what fum then on hand arising from Dutch property could be paid for the service of the current year, had an fwered, that no fum of confequence could be paid into the Bank according to the Act of Parliament, unlefs, the Eaft India Company were directed to reimburse them a fum of 118,000l. then due.

"Let us remember that the first duties of the Commiffioners were not to furnish fupplies to the Treafury,-and then let us examine how the facts appear, as they are reprefented in the Report. On the 26th February, 1796, the application was made. At that period, the demands upon the Commiffioners, both exifting and impending, were not lefs than 259,000l. The highest balance in their hands did not exceed 190,000l. They had paid, and were to pay the charges on the fhips and cargoes to be fold at the India Company's fale, equal to 118,000l. They thought it neceffary to require reimbursement of that fum, before they could, confiftently with other duties, further diminish their means, by a payment of any confiderable fum into the Exchequer; and this reimbursement could not be promptly obtained without the aid of Government. It must not be forgotten that the commands they had received were pofitive and imperative; that claims, legal and equitable, long outstanding and expectant, fhould be first and forthwith paid. It was, therefore, incumbent upon them, in calculating the balances in their hands, to take care that they should be fully adequate to fatisfy demands, the full amount of which, from the peculiar circumftances, it was impoffible exactly to afcertain. They were, therefore, bound to confider thefe balances, not with reference to their nominal amount, but to the extent of the incumbrances with which they were charged. It

has

has been already stated, that their higheft balance was only 190,000l. and that the claims upon it were at the time of the application from Mr. Pitt about 260,000l. How then was it poffible under fuch circumftances, without the most culpable indifference to claims precedent and acknowledged, ftill lower to reduce, by a precipitate and unauthorised payment to the Govern ment, a balance already inadequate to its exifting engagements? We have always underitood that to keep a due proportion between a balance and the demands it is to anfwer, is indifpenfible in the ufe and application of the skill of an apt and provident accountant. But the Committee have concluded, after they had discovered from fubfequent events, and after the fact had taken place, that the Commiffioners not having been difappointed of the receipt of certain fums, then in abeyance, ought, before these facts were afcertained, to have advanced to Mr. Pitt 50,000l.; at the very inftant, and when it was only inquired whether he might look to them for any, and what fum, for the general fervice of the year. We are all of us very fagacious after the fact has occurred; but, it would not have exhibited much of wisdom, or of business-like precifion, if with a spendthrift and improvident anticipation, the Commiffioners, unreftrained by their duties and their obligations, had by fuch an advance exhausted their funds. With the smallest pretenfions to conduct and good management, they were not at liberty, at their pleafure, on the fpeculation of a future contingent acquifition, to put to hazard their punctuality in payments, which could not be deferred without the risk of aggravating the distress of thofe, for whofe relief they were exprefsly appointed and, for what? to be oftentatiously forward to fatisfy an official ap plication, which was not urgent, and with which an immediate compliance was not defired or expected. It was, at best, but fecondary and conditional. In the whole defign of their commif. fion, the former was the primary, the latter but the secondary confideration. The application itself was not even direct, nor for an immediate fpecific fupply, but to be informed what fum, if any, for the general fervice of the year, might reasonably be expected. There were the facts. In February, 1796, informa tion was asked on the part of Mr. Pitt, if any, and what fum, then on hand, could be paid for the fervice of the current year* ? This is not an application for an inftant fupply. The anfwer of the Commiffioners has already been given; but on the following June, only four months fubfequent, when they received part of the payments of which they had been in expectation, they then paid into the Exchequer this very sum of 50,000l. t.

"See the Meffage and Report, p. 344.
+ See the Report.

There no

where appears on the part of the Government any complaint directly or indirectly, with refpect to this tranfaction; we have, therefore, every right to conclude, that the conduct of the Com. miffioners was to them at least not unfatisfactory. We put it to the judgment and candour of the Reader, whether from this, evidence of facts, and the circumftances here adduced, the cenfure which has been fo liberally beftowed, can in fairness be fupported?" P. 130.

If, as it appears to us, all this be foundly argued, as well as the other topics in this tract, ought not fomething to be done to reinstate the Dutch Commiflioners in that juft eftimation with the public, which they have fo unfortunately, and, as it feems, unfairly, loft? It is truly remarked by this author, "that a criminal accufation, even to the most innocent, is of itself a fevere punishment;" and this appears to be a case in which public accufation has been unbounded, and innocence has been hitherto unredreffed. The author of the tract appears not to have any perfonal interest in the matter.

ART. 10.

BRITISH CATALOGUE.

POETRY.

The Renovation of India, a Poem, with the Prophecy of Ganges, an Ode. Cr. 8vo. 121 pp. 6s. Mundell and and Co. Edinburgh; Murray, London. 1808.

A poem written for a prize which was never awarded, and then published without a name, does not offer many attractions to readers; but if these prejudices be laid afide, the present volume will be perused with great fatisfaction. The author is undeniably a poet of confiderable power in various ftyles; and he fhines alfo as a critic in his introductory remarks.

"The Renovation of India," fays the author's preface," and the Latin Ode which follows it, were prefented to the University of Edinburgh, in competition for prizes offered by Dr. Buchanan, of Calcutta. But, though more than three years have ince elapfed, no award has been made, nor has any public notification appeared, to alarm the pride or the humility of the different can didates. The conteft appears to have ended in the fame placid and equal manner in which the ftrifes of an eclogue are ufually terminated."

We will venture however to pronounce, that the competitors of this writer are not very likely to have furpaffed him, unless