}

very feldom, that a member is returned, without incurring an expence inconvenient to his private fortune. God, only,. knows, with what views fuch expence is, at any time incurred. We have, often, reafons to fufpect, that a member who pays, for his feat, conceives that he has a kind of private property in the houfe, purchased by his money; and which he is not willing to give up, but on a valuable confideration, or at the end of the time, understood to be fixed for the duration of parliament. This man muft be alarmed at the thought of a diffolution, in the firft or fecond feffion; and would, generally, be an enemy to any one who propofed it. If the whole house had offended, the measure then would have been more juft, though not more effectual. In the prefent cafe, the houfe was divided; and the decifion complained of was carried, not without difficulty, and by, only, a fmall majority. But, according to the petitions, the houfe was to be branded with. infamy; and punished, without making any diftinction of the friends from the oppofers of the vote. Those who had endeavoured to prevent the harm, as well as thofe who had done it, were to be fent back to a country, where they had, but lately, almost ruined their families. You may say, that they would have been returned without expence. Thas might. have been the cafe of fome; perhaps of all of them. But fhew me the member of parliament who will take your word. for it; and having a feat, which he has procured by corrup-. tion, will chufe to relinquish it for the chance of being returned without expence, by a people whom he knows to be venal; and whom a fum of money would tempt to break through any refolutions they may have made. I think, therefore, the measure was not judicious, as it was not likely to obtain its end; and it was very probable, it would alarm and alienate from them, many friends who might have been ufcful to the petitioners.

Courtier. Well; what think you then of remonftrances ? • Phi. I think of them, as of the measures of men, who. were determined to go on as they begun: men who had more zeal than knowledge.

• Cour. Come; fay they were feditious: I am fure, you muft think them fo. Then must be an end, of all dignity, and even power in government, if the king is, not only to be remonstrated with in the name of a body of people; but to be talked to, and fcolded at:

Phi. Not quite fo bad, neither; though bad enough in truth. I have not ufed myfelf to think of kings as gods; or even their vicegerents, but as other magiftrates may be ; yet I was hurt at Beckford's behaviour; it was unjuftifiable ;

6

it

to attain to spiritual life in a way clearly oppofite to God's own faithful declaration; you are stumbling among dark mountains, in the valley of the fhadow of death, buoyed up with only the hopes of the hypocrite, you own confciences condemning you; and if fo, God is greater than your confciences, and will alfo condemn you; Chrift faith, speaking in the name of God, "I am the way, the truth and the life." God is a spirit, and thofe that worthip him, must worship him in spirit and in truth, for the fiefh profiteth nothing, it is the fpirit that quickeneth; no man can fee God till he has loft the life of all flefly hopes; God has everlaftingly fecured that way, it is by a death, and refurre&ion in fpirit, that God is feen, and spiritually known; then, and not till then, the fpirit becomes acquainted with God in fpirit, becomes married to the Lord; and as it ftands divorced from all its former hopes and lovers, then, and not till then, it becomes at liberty to be married to another, even to the Lord, whom it joyfully takes for its wisdom, righteoufnefs, fanétification, and redemption, and thus its Maker becomes its hufband; the Lord of Hofts is his name; and thus the fpirit's wounds are healed, while the fits under her own vine, and under her own fig-tree; and nothing can make her afraid, while fhe thus fits admiring the beauties and wif dom of her glorious Maker and husband, while he sweetly teaches her the following leffons.'

But these leffons being rather long, and not very edifying, we must take leave to omit them, and refer the reader to the book itfelf, if he wishes to indulge his curiofity any further.

The next circumftance which raifes our admiration is the curious revival of fome of the cant terms which were in use with the religious army of Oliver Cromwell; for this purpose, we are under the neceffity to quote more of this work than is agreeable to us, rather to give our readers fome idea of its want of merit, than to raise its author into confequence; we (meaning the fhip's crew) fell down the coaft a little way, and let go our anchor off the town of Conviction, not above a musket-shot from the fhore, and there we lay, to give any of the people an opportunity to go on fhore, to buy whatsoever they should want for the whole remaining part of the voyage.

You must note this was a medicinal town, not many inhabitants, except what were either chemifts, druggifts, apothecaries, doctors, diftillers, &c. for this town's dependence was upon foreigners and ftrangers; fo our people went on fhore, firft, one boatfull, and then another, till the whole that wanted had gone, and every one came loaded on board, for they laid out a good deal of money in this town; and all partly. bought the fame kind of merchandize, which were chiefly as

follorus:

wenia minus, the lefs indulgence it meets with, the heavier the toil, and the drudgery the more painful. If we ftri&ly examine the general prepoffeffion of the world, that to compile a dictionary requires but little or no abilities, we fhall find it has rather been implicitly received, than admitted on good and folid grounds. It is a juft obfervation of that prince of cri.ics, Longinus, that to pass a judgment on words, and decide concerning their various imports, is the laft refult and confummate perfection of a long experience. It has likewife been obferved by a celebrated modern author, that notwithstanding the many efforts made by men of genius and abilities to improve the several languages of Europe, and bring them to a just standard, the philofopher ftill fees them fo remote from perfection, that it would require the cultivation of ages to give any one of them all the energy and force it is capable of acquiring. Thefe confiderations, if duly attended to, will induce us to think lefs light of the task which the writer of a dictionary has to perform; fince to acquit himself to general fatisfaction, he muft join the talents of the philofopher and critic to the diligence and accuracy of the compiler.

Among the European languages none feems to contain a greater number of niceties and refinements than the modern French; from whence it follows, that the author of a dictionary or grammar of that tongue, has a much more arduous task to discharge, than he who engages in a work of the fame nature in any other language. That the author now under our examination has happily fucceeded in his undertaking, will be acknowledged by fuch as are thoroughly acquainted with the French tongue, which is in fome measure become that of all Europe. To convince the reader that this judgment is well founded, we shall give a fketch of his method, which we apprehend to be clear and comprehenfive.

j. Whenever a French word has two or more meanings, those meanings are in the work before us explained by English words or fentences, to which numbers are prefixed, in order to diftinguish them from each other.

2. The different meanings are often explained by French fentences, with the English annexed to, and the respective number placed before each of them.

3. As there are fome French words for which no correfpondent English words can be found, whenever this happens thofe meanings are explained in French, and English fentences placed immediately after the various meanings of the French words, or after the French and English fentences, fhewing thofe different meanings. The French proverbs, and VOL. XXXI. May, 1771. D d

the

the idioms peculiar to the language will be found in the fame place.

4. Whenever the English of a French word does not bring to the mind a clear idea of that word, it is elucidated by fome words in a parenthefis, or by other words fixing the fenfe of that English term.

5. Numbers are fometimes used to fhew to what part of an article a word, whofe meanings are explained, has a relation. 6. But one of the greatest advantages of this Dictionary over thofe hitherto published, is, that it contains all the various fignifications of the French words, whereas feveral of them are omitted in the others.-This our author illuftrates by an example taken from Boyer's and Chambaud's Dictionaries, and confronted with one from his own, from which it appears, that the word revetir, has, in his Dictionary, fix imports, befides thofe contained in the French and English fentences; whereas, in that of Boyer, it has but two, and in that of Chambaud four.

Such is the plan of M. Delatanville, which he has, in our opinion, executed in a judicious and mafterly manner; but above all, he deferves our praife for avoiding those improper English words and phrafes, which too frequently occur in other Dictionaries.

XI. The Hermit of Warkworth. A Northumberland Ballad. In Three Fits or Cantos. 410. 2.5. 6d. T. Davies.

THIS poem is founded upon a tradition concerning a curious

hermitage, in a deep romantic valley, about a mile from the castle of Warkworth, in Northumberland; executed in the folid rock, and fuppofed, from the ftile of the architecture, to have been formed about the time of Edward III. It is univerially agreed, that the founder was one of the Bertram family, which had once confiderable poffeffions in that county.

The first fit, or canto, is a poetical narration of a love adventure of a youth of the Percy family, fon of the famous Hotfpur, and a young lady, daughter to Ralph Neville, first earl of Westmoreland. The lovers, defpairing to obtain the confent of the lady's father to the marriage, on account of an old family-animofity, had refolved to fly to Scotland, where Percy had formerly lived as a fugitive. In a ftormy night they are feparated near Warkworth, but being difcovered by the hermit, are conducted to his fequeftered habitation. After this general account, we fhall prefent our readers with an extract from the beginning of the poem, which opens with a poetical defcription of a tempeltuous night.

'Dark

majefty's yards, from the great and mighty mafters attendant, down to the cabin-boys, powder-monkies, and old women who fteal the chips.

- We wish all fuccefs to our fhipwrights, but cannot help our belief that they are as well paid in proportion to their merits, as any other carpenters in the kingdom; and without the fpirit of prophecy can venture to affure them, that if ever their wages fhould be raised, it will not be in confequence of the labours of Mr. W. S. who feems, like Shakespeare's pedant, to have been at the feaft of languages, and to have brought away all the Scraps.

12. Two Speeches of a late Lord Chancellor. 8vo.

Almon.

1s. 6d. The utmost sketch of critical fagacity will not afford us a reason to account for the appearance of these speeches particularly at this time, unless it was with a view to make the purchafers believe they were the production of a much later chancellor than they really are. Something of this kind of literary jockeyship appears in the prefent cafe; and it is that fort of deception which is not eafy to be discovered before you buy the book. The fubject of the first speech relates to the aboli tion of heretable jurifdictions in Scotland, which was in the year 1746, The other is upon the militia bill, in the year 1756. From hence let the reader judge what connection these fpeeches bear to the present face of affairs; or whether they can have any other merit to recommend them, but being the compofitions of the great lord chancellor Hardwicke.

13. A Letter to the Right Hon. Lord Mansfield. By John Mifling, Ejq. Barrifter of the Inner Temple. 8vo. IS. Davies. The labour and defign of the prefent-performance is to inform the good people of England, that they have a right to petition their king; to elect, or inftruct their representatives; and are likewife entitled to freedom of debate. To all these propofitions we readily join iffue with our author; but when he comes to argue on the nature of these privileges, and to treat of the boundaries which the laws of fociety and reason affign them, we find him loft and bewildered.

The particular address to the noble lord, calls to our memory a circumftance which occurred at the trial to which this letter is fuppofed to have a reference; for at that time an excellent diftinction was made by the judge, by which our author might have been benefited, and his work would not have been the worfe for it. Since this original caufe is at this time fub judice, we shall not enter further into the matter, but shall take our leave of the author and his Letter.