the Conqueror is bold, ftriking, and, upon the whole, just: nevertheless, we are of opinion, that it is more owing to accident than the refult of policy, that the foundations laid by the Conqueror have proved firm and folid. For it is certain that the Barons wars, which happily opened the road to Liberty, were owing to his imprudent allotment of fuch immenfe pofletions to his followers.

But we must not omit our historian's fentiments with refpect to William's right to the title of Conqueror, as they are fomewhat fingular, and repugnant to the most respectable authorities. "Some writers," fays he, "have been defirous of refufing to this prince the title of Conqueror, in the fenfe in which it is commonly understood; and under pretence that that word is fometimes, in old books, applied to fuch as make an acquisition of territory by any means, they are willing to reject William's title, by right of war, to the crown of England. It is needless to enter into a controverfy, which, by the terms of it, muft neceffarily degenerate into a difpute of words. It fuffices to fay, that the Duke of Normandy's firit invafion of the island was hoftile; that his fubfequent adminiftration was entirely fupported by arms; that in the very frame of his laws he made a diftinction between the Normans and English, to the advantage of the former; that he acted, in every thing, as abfolute mafter over the natives, whofe interefts and affections he totally difregarded; and that if there was an interval, when he affumed the appearance of a legal magiftrate, the period was very fhort, and was nothing but a temporary facrifice, which he, as has been the cafe with most conquerors, was obliged to make of his inclination to his prefent policy. Scarce any of those revolutions, which, both in history and in common language, have always been denominated conquests, appear equally violent, or have been attended with fo fudden an alteration both of power and property. The Roman ftate, which fpread its dominion over Europe, left the rights of individuals, in a great measure, untouched; and those civilized conquerors, while they made their own country the feat of empire, found, that they could draw most advantage from the fubject provinces, by beflowing on the natives the free enjoyment of their own laws, and of their private pofleflions. The barbarians, who fubdued the Roman empire, though they

fettled in the conquered countries, yet ing accustomed to a rude uncultivated li found a small part of the land fufficient fupply all their wants; and they were n tempted to feize extenfive poffettion which they neither knew how to cultiva nor employ. But the Normans, and ther foreigners, who followed the ftan ard of William, while they made the va quifhed kingdom the feat of empire, we yet fo far advanced in arts as to be a quainted with the advantages of a larg property; and having totally fubdued ti natives, they pufhed the rights of com queft (very extenfive in the eyes of av rice and ambition, however narrow thofe of reafon) to the utmost extremi against them. Except the former co quest of England by the Saxons then felves, who were induced, by peculia circumstances, to proceed even to the ex termination of the natives, it would b difficult to find in all history a revolutio more destructive, or attended with a mor complete fubjection of the ancient inha bitants. Contumely feems even to hav been wantonly added to oppreflion; an the natives were univerfally reduced t fuch a ftate of meanness and poverty, tha the English name became a term of re proach, and feveral generations elapfe before one family of Saxon pedigree wa raised to any confiderable honours, could fo much as attain the rank of Ba rons of the realm. Thele facts are fo ap parent from the whole tenor of the Eng ith hiftory, that none would have bee tempted to deny or elude them, were the not heated by the controverfies of fac tion; while one party were abfurdly afrai of thofe abfurd confequences which the faw the other party inclined to draw from this event. But it is evident, that th prefent rights and privileges of the people who are a mixture of English and Nor mans, can never be affected by a tran! action which paffed feven hundred year ago; and as all ancient authors, who live nearest the time, and knew beft the state of the country, unanimously speak of the Norman dominion as a conqueft by wa and arms, no reasonable man, from the fear of imaginary confequences, will eve be tempted to reject their concurring and undoubted teftimony."

We agree with our hiftorian, that no reafonable man will reject thefe teftimonies, through fear of any confequence which may affect prefent rights and pri yileges; nevertheless, this is no pretence

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Feb. 1767.

for admitting them, unless they deserve credit from their own weight; which, in our opinion, they do not. There is a ma terial difference, as Lord Hale observes, between a conqueft over the king, and a conqueft over the kingdom. William either had, or pretended to, a right of fuccethion, from the Confeffor; confequently could make no pretence to a,conqueft over the kingdom. As to his cruel treatment of the natives, he punished them in their perfons and properties, not as ene mies, but as rebels. It is plain that he cid not pretend to acquire any thing jure belli: be confirmed the laws of the Confeilor; and foon after the Conqueft, the charters of the ancient Saxon kings were pleaded, and allowed. The famous records of Pinnenden and Sharbonne are, among others, proofs of such allowance; though Mr Hume, with regard to the latter, fays that this paper, which was able to impose on fuch great antiquarians as Spellman and Dugdale, is proved by Dr Brady to have been a forgery *. But William likewife made feveral grants and charters for restoring the lands and goods which had been taken from the bishopricks and abbeys; and it is evident from many authorities, that he never pretended any title to the lands of neuters: neither did William tyrannically and arbitrarily fubject the nation to a feudal dependence. And this alteration which he made, fo far from proving his right of conqueft, fhews the contrary: for the law which, in effect, introduces the Feudal law runs thus: Statuimus ut omnes liberi homines fœdere et facramento affirment, quod intra et extra uicerfum regnum Anglia, WILLIELMO SUO DOMINO fideles effe volunt, &c. The terms of this law are abfolutely feudal; and, as Wright takes notice, in his Tenures, the manner of penning it is obfervable for it is penned as if the King was merely pallive, the more clearly and fully to exprefs the confent of the commune concilium to fo confiderable an alteration. In the language of the other laws of this King, it would have run, Quod NOBIS fideles effe volunt, &c. As to the monkih This paper, if a forgery, impofed on others befides Spellman and Dugdale. See Hale's Hift. of Common Law, Wright's Tenures, Wilkin's Leg. Anglo-Sax. Bacon's Hift. of Eng. Gov. and Taylor's Hift. of Gov. Perhaps it may be thought too hafty to reject fuch authorities on a angle teftimony; efpecially as Brady is a profelled anfwerer, and, as fuch, partial and fyftematical,

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writers; though they evidently prove too much, confequently deferve little credit, when they fay, fpeaking of the English, NEC UNUM de illis pristina potestate uti permiffum; yet, admitting their relations of William's cruelty and oppression in their utmost extent, they by no means prove a right of conqueft. If every tyrant, oppreffor, and ufurper, may be ftyled a conqueror, many of our early kings have a claim to that title. On this foundation, Henry IV. Edward IV. and others, may be deemed conquerors, as they exercised several acts of tyranny, cruelty, and oppreffion, on those whom they fubdued, and indeed over others. But not to infift farther on this point, we with pleasure return to our historian: and as our limits will not allow us to attend him in the order we could wifh, we pass on to the reign of Henry II. where we find the following judicious and manly reflections on the murder of Becket.

"The clergy, meanwhile, though their rage was happily diverted from falling on the King, were not idle in magnifying the fanctity of Becket; in extolling the merits of his matyrdom; and in magnifying him above all that devoted tribe, who, in feveral ages, had, by their blood, cemented the fabrick of the Temple. 0ther faints had only borne testimony, in their fufferings, to the general doctrines of Chriftianity; but Becket had facrificed his life to the power and privileges of the clergy; and this peculiar merit challenged, and not in vain, a suitable acknowledgement to his memory. Endless were the panegyrics on his virtues; and the miracles operated by his relics, were more numerous, more nonfenfical, and more impudently attefted, than those which ever filled the legend of any confessor or martyr. Two years after his death, he was canonized by Pope Alexander; a folemn jubilee was established for celebrating his merits; his body was removed to a magnificent fhrine, enriched with prefents from all parts of Christendom; pilgrimages were performed to obtain his interceffion with Heaven; and it was computed, that, in one year, above an hundred thousand pilgrims arrived in Canterbury, and paid their devotions at his tomb. It is indeed a mortifying reflection to those who are actuated by the love of fame, fo juftly denominated the laft infirmity of noble minds, that the wifeft legislator and moft exalted genius that ever reformed or enlightened the world, can never

exped

expect fuch tributes of praife, as are la vifhed on the memory of a pretended faint, whofe whole conduct was probably, to the laft degree, odious or contemptible, and whofe industry was entirely directed to the purfuits of objects pernicious to mankind. It is only a conqueror, a perfonage no lefs intitled to our hatred, who can pretend to the attainment of equal renown and glory."

These bold, and at the fame time juft fentiments, are worthy the pen of a Livy or a Tacitus; and they difplay that liberality and benevolence of mind which muft render the author refpectable in the opinion of every one who dares to think freely, and who has ftrength to break afunder the fetters of religious and political bigotry. His reflection on conquerors is keen and juft; for in the eye of true wifdom, military heroifm, fo far from being a proof of magnanimity, is rather an indication of a narrow mind; which, for want of a more exalted fenfe of greatness, meanly places its glory in inhuman tri umphs and favage skill.--Omitting the intermediate King, we proceed next to the reign of John.

[To be continued.]

Fingal. An ancient epic poem. [xxiii. 681.]

Strange as it may feem, that an epic poem, compofed in our own country above fourteen hundred years ago, and handed down by tradition from the ancient bards, fhould not have made an earlier appearance in the English language, it had been yet stranger, if the prefent publication of fo uncommon a production had failed to engage the attention of the literary world. Its extraordinary merit, indeed, has not a little contributed to increase that admiration, which must be naturally excited by fo great a curiofity. The fenfible pleasure we ourselves received in the perufal, makes us readily fubfcribe to the univerfally-allowed merits of this poem; for which we think the public much obliged to the ingenious editor, whofe tranflation is very justly deem ed a valuable acquifition to English poetry. We fhould be wanting, however, in a due regard, both to our own character, and the juftice we owe to our readers, did we implicitly join in that exceffive admiration, which, indifcriminately entertained, even for the beft performances, is diametrically oppofite to the candour of true critición, and deftructive of

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the very elements of literary compofition. The noble flights, and native excurfions, of true genius, are, indeed, frequently too excentric to be exactly measured by critical rules; nor is it to be wifhed they fhould be too strictly fubjected to fuch restraint: it is expedient, nevertheless, that the mechanifm and execution of every confiderable performance fhould be compared with that ftandard, and examined by thofe laws, which have, for many ages, been allowed to comffitute the perfection of that peculiar fpecies of writing, under the denomination of which fuch performance is prefented to the world. Criticifm degenerates, otherwife, into a fervile echo of the leading voices of the times, and gives encouragement for every rifing genius to indulge the luxuriance of his imagination, at the hazard of being hurried, by the impetuofity of unbridled fancy, into bombaft, extravagance, and abfurdity. At the fame time, the tafte and judgment of the reader, mifled by fuch general and undiftinguishing applaufe, become gradually vi tiated, and the very end and design of all critical institution thereby totally fubvert ed.

Were we to judge from the many unfuccessful attempts that have been made by poets, in differents ages, to reach the dignity and perfection of the Epopeia we thould be apt to conclude it the most difficult, as well as the most perfect, fpecies of poetry. But though we fhould a gree with the Stagyrite, that an epic poem is inferior in excellence to a perfect tragedy; yet certain it is, the former requires fuch fuperior faculties of the human mind, as have been feldom found to correspond with the studies and incli clinations of those who have undertaken fo arduous a task.

~The Iliad of Homer, the father of heroic poefy, as it is the most ancient, fo it is univerfally allowed to be the most perfect epic poem extant. It was, indeed, from an examination into the construc tion and execution of Homer's poems, and not from the efforts of intuitive ge nius, that Aristotle deduced those laws which he has laid down as effential to the Epopaia. In admitting the justice of thole laws, therefore, we do not impli citly fubfcribe to any abftract reasonings, founded on arbitrary affumptions a priori, or to the mere ipfe dixit of the Stagyrite; but to the propriety of thofe precepts which he rationally deduced a pofteriori,

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Feb.1762.

from the approved practice of the Grecian bard, and in compofing which

Nature and Homer were, he found, the fame. Some critics, from a fuperficial knowledge of thefe rules, have talked of them as if they related only to the form, and not the fpirit, of poetry. This, however, is far from being the cafe: and though we are not, as above hinted, fo prejudiced in favour of the models of antiquity, as to pretend a poetical genius thould fervilely conform to them in the mere forms of compofition; yet experience is ftrong on our fide, to prove, that fuch as deviate from thofe eflential parts which compofe the fublime and perfect works of the ancients, will ever fall fhort of their perfection. If Ariofto has been cenfured by fome, for neglecting the eftablished rules of Ariftotle, and juftified by others, as having a right to invent a new fpecies of compofition; the critics on both fides the question may, neverthelefs, have been right in their different opinions, if the former fuppofe his work a complete epic poem, and the latter take the contrary for granted. A poet has an undoubted right to indulge his genius in any known fpecies of writing; or, if he think proper, to invent a new one: but, by the fame rule that he is allowed the privilege of inventing a new species, he ought not to endeavour to corrupt and destroy the old. The world, in general, has been long agreed, as to the eilentials of a genuine epic poem; and a work that is not diftinguished by them, whatever poetical beauties it may otherwife poflefs, can lay no claim to the confummate merit of the Epopeia. To centure or juftify Ariofto on this head, is therefore, in our opinion, as abfurd, as to rank him in the number of genuine epic poets; as we fhould, for our own part, almoft as foon rank Spenfer's Fairy Queen among the epic poems, as the celebrated allegorical performance of Ariefto.

Our readers must not hence, however, imagine us fo hypercritical as to expect, that Offian fhould have compofed with as much poetical propriety as Homer or Virgil. On the contrary, we are fenfible of the moral impoflibility of its being fo. There are fo many requifites to the perfection, and even to the constitution of an epic poem, that the greatest powers of genius are not alone equal to the task. A happy collifion of the times and circumftances in which the poet lived, has had a great fhare in contributing to the per

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fection of fuch compofitions. In the very early infancy of languages and states, when the manners of men were fimple, and their intercourfe confined, they muft evidently want the means of acquiring an extensive knowledge of mankind, and thereby of a very intimate acquaintance with the various faculties and operations of the human mind. Hence the poet must be neceflarily, in a great degree, deficient in the powers of diverfifying his perfonages, diftinguithing them by mental characteristics, and making them exprefs themselves with a propriety of fpeech and fentiment, juftly adapted to their characters on every occafion. Had Offian therefore poffefled even a fuperior genius to Homer, we conceive he could not, in the age wherein he is faid to have lived, have produced an epic poem of equal merit with that of the Iliad. On the other hand, that exceffive refinement of manners, that extensive knowledge and accuracy of reafoning, which prevail in a very polite age, are equal obstacles to the fuccefs of the epic poet. In the former times, the imagination of the poet will be more luxuriant, his fentiments more animated and striking, and his style bold and metaphorical, even to abfurdity. His ideas being few, and their combination lefs diffute and complex, external objects will have all their effect on his fenfes, and make a vigorous and lasting impreflion on his unburthened memory. Hence, in a variegated foil and climate, he may produce an infinite variety of beautiful defcriptions. In reading his productions, we fhall admire the loofe, though nervous outlines of his figures, the fublimity of his expressions, and the daring boldnefs of his fimiles. We shall be captivated with the feductive glare of his ftyle, while the caft of obfcurity that envelopes the whole, will excite in us a kind of veneration, which precife ideas. correct imagery, and perfect fimilitude of allufion could never infpire. He will be found alfo to excel chiefly in ftill life. In defcribing the paffions, and their effects, he will naturally exprefs them as they appear in fuch an age of barbarous fimplicity, undiversified by thofe various accidents, and numerous arts of diffimulation, which form or modify the factitious characters of more polished times. In thefe again, the perfection of epic poetry is counteracted by contrary means. knowledge increafes, precision and propriety, thofe enemies to the fublime, are

As