lines. The English poetry interfperfed is in general elegant, the memoirs of Mary interefting, and the frontifpiece uncommonly elegant. This appears to be a fecond edition, though not fo mentioned in the title; but it had not reached us till now. We have claffed it with Novels, as convinced of its being fictitious.

ART. 17. The Woman of Colour, a Tale. 8vo. 2 Vols. 10s. Black and Parry. 1809.

The writer tells us in his title-page, that he is the author also of "Light and Shade," "The Aunt and Niece," "Edersfield Abbey," &c. &c. What can be the fate of all these books? how foon must they return from whence they came, filthy rags? Yet it must be confeffed that this Woman of Colour is by no means illiterate or without ingenuity of contrivance; the moral alfo is excellent. It is, that there is no fituation in which the mind may not refift misfortune by proper refignation to the will of heaven. It is very hard after all, that the poor heroine does not get a hufband, for fhe is made very much to deserve one.

ART. 18. Romance Readers and Romance Writers, a Satirical Novel, in three Volumes. By the Author of a Private Hiftory of the Court of England, &c. 3 Vols. 12mo. 1os. 6d. Hook ham. 1810.

We should be glad of this gentleman's occafional affiftance "to ftrike a hundred men at the fame inftant," that all the vampers of romance who merit annihilation, who were in our prefence, whofe fpawn creep to our fire-fides, and cover our tables, our chairs, and fophas, and our mantle-pieces, might feel the effects, Neverthelefs this author of the Private Court of England, of which, te our shame we prefume we never heard, breaks flies on a cart." wheel. Who is this Joshua Pickerfgill, jun. Efq.? where is Horseley Curteis to be heard of? when did The Fatal Revenge appear which excited fuch general intereft? We begin to fear either that our memory fails us, or that we are not fo familiar with the eminent literary productions of the day as we appre. hended ourselves to be. True it is that none of these perfonages or their works are at all known to us. There is certainly fome humour, particularly in the character of Margaret, or rather Margaretta, in this production, and no fmall share of invention; but the author appears to be

Sometimes himself the great abfurd he paints.

However, we have read a great part of his three volumes, and give it as our opinion, that the writer is qualified for better things.

ART.

ART. 19. The Irish Reclufe, à Breakfast at the Rotunda, in three Volumes. By Sarah Ijdell, Author of the Vale of Louisiana. 3 Vols. 12mo. 125. Booth. 1809.

Three writers of this clafs appear in fucceffion in our Journal of this month, reprefenting themfelves to be authors of various works, whofe names never before were known to us. This muft exhibit a proof to our readers of the difficulty, or rather of the impoffibility, of keeping pace with the ephemeral productions of the London prefs. We however do our best, and have looked over thefe three volumes, but if they had been overlooked altogether, we will not allow that our readers would have had any jult caufe of complaint against us.

AGRICULTURE.

ART. 20. Facts and Experiments on the Ufe of Sugar in feeding Cattle; with Hints for the Cultivation of Wafte Lands, and for improving the Condition of the Lower Orders of Peasantry in Great Britain and Ireland. 8vo. 121 pp. 5s. Harding. 1809.

The ufe of fugar in feeding cattle, is a point most highly in. teresting, not to farmers and the people of this kingdom only, but to the world in general. It is here difcuffed with all the zeal which a difcovery fo important might be expected to produce, but with fuch a profufion of words, (the general fault of the advocates of the plough) that we feem to be reading the speech of the chairman of an agricultural club, during two or three hours after dinner. Experiments on this fubject will, doubtlefs, foon be multiplied; and we recommend that they be relatedwit n a fourth part of the space here occupied, and at a proportionate expence, Farmers in general cannot find time to read, and many cannot conveniently pay for fuch diffufe narratives as we have been condemned to toil through, Wafte lands, and the lower orders of peasantry might have been omitted in the titlepage.

POLITICS.

ART. 21. Reform in Parliament. An Addrefs to the People of England on the abfolute Neceffity of a Reform in Parliament. T which are annexed, complete Copies of the Magna Charta, and the Bill of Rights. With explanatory Notes. By a true Friend to the Conftitution, and nothing but the Conftitution. 8vo. 64 pp. 2s. 6d. Blacklock.

By what mode of reafoning either Magna Charta or the Bill of Rights can be brought to bear upon the queftion of Reform

(as

(as it is termed) of Parliament, it requires all the fagacity of Our modern patriots to difcover. The author before us, how. ever, has shown fome candour in publishing authentic copies of thofe great national records, inftead of loofcly declaiming upon them. The former (it is not even now univerfally known) is almost wholly inapplicable to modern times, and contains little more than an argument between the King and the principal Barons, his tenants in capite, by which the rigour of the feudal fyftem was foftened, and the oppreffive foreft laws mitigated. Even the celebrated claufe, Nullus liber homo imprifonetur, &c. excluded from its purview all the villains, who then formed a very nume rous part of the nation. At that period alfo it appears (and indeed is admitted by this writer) that Parliament confifted folely of the King's tenants in capite; fo that, if the conftitution of England at that period were to be taken as a model for parliamentary reprefentation, the boafted Reform would confift in narrowing, not in extending, the right of fuffrage. Even the Declaration of Rights (invaluable as it was as a fecurity against any future attacks on the conftitution) has no allufion to the state of reprefentation, nor is there a paffage that conveys any condemnation of its fuppofed inequality, or any opinion in favour of altering that part of the conftitution. The above documents, therefore, have no application whatever to the propofed innovations in the reprefentation of the people. But they seem to be published merely ad captandum, and for the fake of a preface, termed "An Addrefs to the English Nation," in which the writer, after a tolerably distinct and fair account of the circumftances froin which Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights origi nated, goes into all the trite declamation and hacknied mifreprefentations of the measures of government which, during the laft fixty years, have characterized the fpeeches and filled the pamphlets of modern demagogues. Would it be believed by any rational and impartial man, that "the decline of liberty" (as he terms it) is dated by this author from the acceffion of the House of Brunswick ?" a new family" (as he is pleased to call them) from Germany, unacquainted with the laws of the country or the genius of the people." On whom this fapient writer would have conferred the Crown he has not been pleased to inform us. The reft of this " Addrefs to the English Nation" is of a piece with this candid affertion. The trite imputation upon Sir Robert Walpole (of having declared that every man had his price) is here impudently revived, though never attempted to be proved, and indeed lately difproved (fo far as the cafe would admit) by Mr. Coxe. The author is, of courle, a great Wilkite, though Wilkes humouroufly declared, that " he never was fo himself," and a detractor, not only of the Duke of Grafton, Lord North, &c. but of Mr. Pitt, and, in fhort, of every minifter who has enjoyed the confidence of his Sovereign. Nor does the administration

UNIVERSITY

administration of juftice (pure and impartial as it is generally allowed to be) efcape the cenfure of this malignant writer. Need we fay more to characterize his work?

ART. 22. Plain Senfe; or the Dangers of Intemperate Reform. 8vo. 42 pp. 2s. 6d. Dublin, Gilbert and Hodges; London, J. J. Stockdale. 1809.

The character of this little tract is, in our opinion, very justly expreffed in the title-page. The intemperate fpeeches and dangerous tenets of our modern reformers are combated, and, we think, overthrown, by the weapons of plain fenfe and found argument. The author before us declares (we believe with great truth) that he is neither the apologift of corruption, nor the venal advocate of abufes. His object is to expofe and deprecate the nefarious defigns of thofe perfons, who would involve us in all the complicated calamities of Revolution, under the pretence of effecting a complete reform in the state."

After giving due praife to the Revolution in 1688, this author admits, that it is natural to prize highly that which we have gained hardly, and to evince uneafinefs and irritability upon the moft minute infringement of thofe rights which our ancestors fo fuccefsfully endeavoured to fecure." This "keen-fighted prudence" he approves, and only blames that "angry patriotifm" of Britons, of which every demagogue can take advantage, to talk them into fears of approaching flavery.

The recent enquiry into the conduct of the Duke of York has revived the obferves) a defcription of political theorists, who had become torpid fince the failure of the French Revolution. The artifices of thefe men in reprefenting the functionaries of government as unworthy of public confidence, and inculcating the abominable fentiment that the conftitution is fo depraved as to authorize us in no longer fighting under its banners, are strongly reprobated; and the wretched condition to which the whole na tion would be reduced, in the event of its fubjection to our inveterate foe, is ftrikingly and justly delineated.

The author next oppofes the doctrine of Sir F. Burdett, that whatever calamities the nation may feel are owing to the improper compofition of the Houfe of Commons, in the ad. miflion of fome members really nominated by noblemen or other individuals, of others who have purchafed their feats, and of placemen and penfioners. Admitting abufes and cor. ruptions in fome departments of the state, and that too great eagernefs and rapacity for places and emoluments are evinced both in and out of Parliament, the author denies that thefe confiderations ftrengthen the arguments in favour of an extension of the elective franchife, or the exclufion of placemen and penfioners from Parliament. He properly calls upon the reformers to pro.

duce

duce their plan, and prove its practical fuperiority to the prefent fyftem. On this fubject he quotes the former ftrong declarations of Cobbett, fo completely at variance with his present doctrines.

Many more fenfible obfervations, and juft (though, as the author admits, not intirely novel) arguments, are to be found in this work; which deferves the public attention, as an antidote to the poifon fo induftriously infused into the public mind, and fo dangerous to the peace of the country.

ART. 23. An Account of the Operations of the British Army, and of the State and Sentiments of the People of Portugal and Spain, during the Campaign of the Years 1808 and 1809. In a Series of Letters. By the Rev. James Wilmot Ormsby, A. M. Chaplain on the Staff, &c. 2 Vols. Izmo. Vol. I. 238 pp. Vol. II. 278 pp. 12s. Carpenter. 1809.

The tranfactions which thefe letters defcribe, and the chain of events which they relate, form a inoft interefting period in the history of the prefent war; a period during which fuccefs was often attended by mertification, and victory had almost all the confequences of defeat. Thefe events the reader will find detailed with impartiality, and generally accompanied with judicious remarks, in the work before us.

The author commences with his embarkation for Portugal in Auguft, 1808, and describes his voyage, (in which there was nothing very uncommon,) his difembarkation in Portugal, which finally took place on the 26th of Auguft, five days after the battle of Vimeira, and four after the Armistice which produced the Convention of Cintra. His account of the actions at Roleia and Vimeira accords with, and indeed feems to have been fince copied from, the letters from Sir A. Wellesley, which appeared in the Gazette. This, confidering the author's fituation, and that he could only have defcribed it from hearfay, was perhaps the fafeft method that he could have purfued. A defcription of the coun try through which the army marched in its fubfequent advance towards Lisbon occupies the next place in this narrative; and the writer takes occafion to ftate the opinion of the army on the meafure propofed by Sir A. Wellesley of a rapid purfuit after the battle of Vimeira, which, it feems, they, in general, highly approved. On this, and indeed on all military subjects, he him, felf fpeaks with a becoming diffidence and unaffected candour. Yet, contrary to the opinion of the army in general, he pronounces in favour of the Convention of Cintra, on the fame grounds on which it was defended in this country. The author then purfues his narrative through the various tranfactions that took place in Portugal prior to the departure of Sir J. Moore's army for Spain; in which one of the circumstances that struck us moft is, the gallant defence of the French General Kellerman

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