And of prime moment to our worldly weal; --Yes, witness heaven and earth, amidft this dream, In almost every page of this work there is an appearance of the author's unfeigned contrition, piety, and benevolence. He fpeaks of his guilt with the deepeft fenfibility, of his profecutors without acrimony, of his wife and friends with the warmest affection. He mentions his concern in feveral charitable inftitutions; and we fincerely believe him, when he fays: • His bofom beat at Pity's gentleft touch From earliest infancy. His inmoft foul Melted thro' life at Sorrow's plaintive tale.' He speaks likewife of his literary labours, with a proper degree of modefty. On this occafion we may obferve, in justice to his real merit, that he must have employed a very confiderable part of his life in the most laborious, the most liberal, and the most useful purfuits: for his productions are voluminous. In all of them, even in this last, there are the marks of a warm imagination; and this quality, rather than any depravity of heart, feems to have been the fource of his eccentricities. It is in-, deed a dangerous ingredient in the human conftitution. It leads men into irregularities; it brings the heaviest task upon the vigilance of reafon; and to guide it with unerring rectitude, or invariable propriety, requires a degree of firmness, which does not always attend the higher gifts of the mind. But we do not mean to offer an apology for the author's criminal condu&: we only exprefs the fentiments, which have fuggefted themselves to us, on the perufal of these melancholy reflections, his Thoughts in Prison. Thoughts on the Letter of Edmund Burke, Efq. to the Sheriffs of Bristol, on the Affairs of America. By the Earl of Abingdon. 8vo, Is. Almon. SINCE our noble author feels the weight of his undertaking, and wishes it-in abler hands, and is not infenfible to his own incapacity, and knows how much he ftands in need of excufe;' we shall only obferve, upon the intention with which this pamphlet is written, that, as we cannot doubt of its ho nefty, the earl of Abingdon wants no other praise. His lordship's opinion of law and the conftitution we fhall infert, without any comment, as a bone for our legal readers. But now I fhall be afked, what is this conflitution, and what is this law? I answer, that by pointing out their relations, their differences too are marked. But this is not enough: definition is neceffary, and therefore, as a definition of the name I would fay, that conftitution fignified compact, and was the fame with public or political law; and that law, as here meant, was the municipal or civil law of the state: but as a definition of the thing, perhaps both may best appear as derived the one from the other. I define conflitution then to be, those agreements entered into, thofe rights determined upon, and thofe forms prescribed, by and between the members of any fociety in the first fettlement of their union, and in the frame and mode of their government; and is the genus whereof the municipal or civil law of fuch established community is the fpecies: the former, afcertaining the reciprocal duties, or several relations fubfisting betwixt the governors and governed; the latter, maintaining the rights and adjusting the differences arifing betwixt individuals, as parts of the fame whole. And this I take to be the true diftinction, and real difference between the conftitution and the law of England. But this is matter of theory only. It is the paffive state of government, and government must be active. Practice therefore is to be fuperadded to this theory; and hence the origin of parliaments. What then are parliaments? Parliaments make the formal, as rights do the fubftantial, part of the conftitution; and are the deputies, the agents, or appointees of the people, entrusted by them with the powers of legislation, for the purpose of preferving (and not of deftroying) the eftablifhed rights of the conftitution. But what are the established rights of the conftitution? In detail, they are multifarious, and many but reduced to their firft principles, they are these, દ fecurity of life, liberty, property, and freedom in trade." Such are the great outlines of the English conftitution, the short hif tory, or abftra&t of that original compact, which is the bond or cement of our civil union, and which forms, in particular, the relations that exist betwixt the legislative power of the state, and the people. But there is ftill another relation to be confidered. The legislative power of the state muft receive its force from an executive power. This executive power is lodged in the crown, from whence a relation arifes betwixt the crown and people; and is called the contract between king and people." As compact then is that agreement of the people with the legislative power, or among themfelves, concerning their fame rights; fo contract is that that bargain of the people with the executive power concerning. their different rights. But here it will be faid, How is this known, and where is this to be found? I reply, As well in the reafon of the things themfelves, and our own experience, as in the letter and fpirit of our charters: for instance, in Magna Charta, which is not only declaratory of the original compact, or fundamental rights of the people, but is itself that folemn contract, which was had between king and people, for the protection of thofe rights; and therefore, as fuch, proves quod erat demonftrandum.' To enter the lifts with Mr. Burke, and to come off with honour, fometimes with victory, would do credit to a professed author, does not difgrace a nobleman. -Among our political writers, lord Abingdon is diftinguished by fomething more than rank. Of his lordship's fincerity in this publication, thofe only can doubt, who refuse their belief to the conclufion. In fine, these are my fentiments, and thefe my principles. They are the principles of the conftitution; and under this perfuafion whilft I have figned them with my name, I will, if neceffary, as readily, feal them with my blood. FOREIGN ARTICLES. Confiderations Générales fur l'Etude et les Connoiffances que démande la Compofition des Ouvrages de Géographie. Par M. d'Anville, 8vo. Paris. BY his particular application for fixty years together, by his great collection of maps, and by his continual reading, M. d'Anville has been enabled to carry the fcience of geography, and the art of maps far beyond the limits where he had found them. After having published a great number of excellent maps, he propofes his reflexions to thofe who intend to devote themfelves to the fame ftudies; nor could they eafily meet with a more skilful and more experienced guide. The firft geographical maps were drawn by Anaximander, the difciple of Thales, about 600 years before the Chriftian æra. During the Armenian war under Nero, maps were laid down which extended in Iberia to the defiles of Caucafus. In order to promote the study of geography, maps were put up in public places; that of Italy, for instance, in the Temple of the Earth, in ade telluris, &c. Under Charlemagne, geography feems not to have been entirely neglected. The Gefta Dei per Francos contain maps of fome eastern countries drawn during the Crufades: fome others were drawn up after Marco Polo's Travels. About the middle of the fifteenth century, one Castaldo, a Piedmontefe, applied himmelf to drawing of maps, which were engraved at Venice. But the first Atlas any way confiderable, was Mercator's; who was fucceeded by Ortelius, whom whom the authors of maps might ftill confult with advantage. Others laid down marine charts. The ftudy of geography has within a fhort time, greatly enlarged by an increased acquaintance with the north of Europe, with China, Tartary, the Indies, and, finally, with America. The most eminent French geographers were Sanson, Guillaume de l'Ifle, &c. From thefe preliminary reflexions, Mr. d'Anville proceeds to fome details concerning the accuracy neceffary in the compofition of maps; and then to what is termed projection, and to the confideration of itinerary measurements, &c. For every student of geography, this is a very inftructive, and for profeffed geographers a claffical performance. De l'Etat de l'Agriculture chez les Romains depuis le Commencement de la République jufqu' au Siécle de Jules Céfar rélativement au Gouvernement, aux Moeurs, & au Commerce. Par M. Arcere. 8vo. Paris. THE Parifian Academy of Infcriptions and Belles Lettres had propofed the following queftions for the prize of last year: 1. What was the ftate of agriculture among the Romans to the times of Julius Cæfar, with respect to government, to manners, and to trade? 2. What the mutual influence of agriculture and of these different objects on each other? 3. What were the relations by which they were connected? The prefent differtation obtained the acceffit. The first care of the founder of Rome, after having distributed his fubjects into tribes and curia, was to allot them fields. Every individual received a portion of two jugera. Numa encouraged agriculture. Under his fucceffors the Romans were allured by plunder, and became more fond of war than of husbandry. Servius Tullius gave fome new laws in favour of agriculture, and allotted a part of the demefnes of the state to the poor; an expedient which was afterwards often repeated. The Licinian law confined the poffeffions of private people to five hundred jugera of the ancient demefnes of the ftate, to one hundred head of horned cattle, and to five hundred head of fmall cattle. The ruftic tribes were preferredto the town tribes. Citizens of fome confequence refided in the Country: the prætor came from his plough to town to administer juftice. By this plain and frugal life provifions were in a manner multiplied. Agriculture gave the ftate a greater number of robust and warlike fubjects; and, of course, victories and triumphs so glorious to the Roman name. The Romans being thus, especially at first, husbandmen, and occafionally foldiers whenever called upon by their country, lived in great fimplicity of manners. Their wealth confifted in the poffeffion of a herd of cattle, and of a field fomewhat extenfive. This way of living influenced their manners, and was tranfinitted from the fathers to their families. Frugality paffed from the country to the town. Their tables were very homely and plain; the chief bufinefs of their women was fpinning. But after the defeat of the Tarentines and of Pyrrhus, the eyes of the Romans were dazzled by the rich spoils; wealth introduced pleasures; virtue gradually declined, and finally difappeared. The great revolution in morals affected all the branches of government, and its effects were felt by agriculture. The first conquests infpired the Romans with views of am. ambition and aggrandizement, and foldiers were lefs fond of agriculture. This aggrandizement was fucceeded by luxury, and total corruption. The Romans thus enriched and pampered, refigned the adminiftration of their fields to flaves or farmers. While the lands were cultivated by their owners, every loss caused by accidents or ignorance was foon repaired by redoubled efforts; but when they were abandoned to the negligence, the mifmanagement, and underhand depredations of mercenaries, loffes became irreparable. Agriculture was ftill more. hurt by vanity and oftentation. The rage for immenfe villas, and magnificent country houses of pleasure became epidemical. Commerce was never in high eftimation among the Romans. Every branch of trade was prohibited to fenators, as derogatory to their dignity. Before their extenfive conquefts, the Romans lived foberly and frugally, and cultivated their lands only for their own confumption, The people was, of course, poor, and agriculture and trade continued in a languid ftate. Till Cæfar's times the Romans neither knew how to encourage agriculture by commerce, nor to fupport commerce by agriculture. Finni Johannæi, Epifcopi dioecefeos Skalholtinæ in Islandia, His toria ecclefiaftica Iflandiæ. Tome I. II. III. 4to. Copenhagen. T HIS laborious and voluminous work, of 263 fheets, was, by bifhop Finnur Joensen, undertaken at the defire of the general ecclefiaftical infpectors, and printed at the king's expence. Though rather too voluminous, it is not deftitute of merit; and its author appears to have kept clear of almost all the numerous prejudices of the northern antiquarians and hiftorians. He has divided the whole. work into fix periods, of which the ift ends at the abolition of Heathenifm in 1056; the 2nd at the union of the Islandic commonwealth with the kingdom of Norway in 1264; the 3d at the conclufion of the fourteenth century, when Norway loft its independency; the 4th at the introduction of Lutheranifin, in 1542; the 5th at the year 1630; and the 6th at 1740. Every period fince 1264, contains, firft a concife relation of the lives of the kings, efpecially of their influence on Iceland, then of thofe of the royal governors; an account of the ecclefiaftical conftitution; of the fchools, and the state of literature; memoirs of the learned; and, in modern times, of the rectors of the dioceses; and, finally, more minute details of the bishops of Skalholt and of Holum. In the first period we meet with an account of the state of Paganism. And before the epocha of the Reformation, the author employs a particular section concerning the archbishops of Drontheim. The notes contain a variety of confiderable and useful illuftrations of antiquities, and of ecclefiaftical and civil inftitutions; of literary anecdotes and other curiofities; and to every period is subjoined a number of Islandic originals, with their tranflation. The most remarkable of the men of learning, of whom we here find many anecdotes hitherto unknown, are: Are Frodi, the author of the Iflendiga Book; Sæmund Frodi, editor of the older Edda, of which there are only 16 chapters yet extant; Snorro Sturlæfon, Sturlo Frodi, Oluf Hvitafkald, brother Eystein, a monk of the 14th century, (whofe long hymn on the holy Mary is here in VOL. XLIV. Sept. 3777, ferted |