tive. There are brave men, and good officers too; taken from the lower class of people; and why may there not be commercial talents among the gentry? The Dutch pufhed their commerce vigorously through all parts of the globe, at the fame time that they fought as vigoroufly at home, for the prefervation of their country. The eldeft fon of a noble family was at the head of his regiment, while the younger, perhaps, was in his countinghouse. Both were ferving their country at the fame time, and how fhall it be determined who ferved it beft? A gentleman, fays the Chevalier d'Arc, knows no other mafter than his God, his honour, his country, and his King. Yes, fays the Abbe Coyer, he has a fifth master, Indigence. Other people, adds he, ferve these masters as well as a gentleman; and ferve them as effectually. If a trading, had been incompatible with a martial, fpirit, we should not have seen Athens, Tyre, Syracufe, Carthage, Marseilles, or Rhodes, make war with fuch fuccefs, or defend themselves with fo much courage. Could Rochelle have made so great and gallant a defence against Lewis XIII. if trade had not furnished the means? After all, is a spirit of honour the fole fupport of a great monarchy? No certainly, the fpirit of agriculture, of letters, of arts, and of various other kinds, are equally neceffary. From the combination of thefe, refults that great force that sustains the state.

The question has been put, Whether commerce is not already arrived at that point where it ought to ftop? In order to refolve this question, our Author labours the proof of various important propofitions. He fhews, that the commerce of France is not near fo great as it might be; that it has fuffered great loffes within a certain period of time; that it is vaftly inferior to the commerce of England and Holland; that it has the means of being greater than either; that it is very agreeable to the genius of the nation; and that there is no method fo likely to carry it to a greater height than hitherto it has attained, and even to the greatest height poffible, than encouraging the gentry to become traders; the utility of which fcheme he points out by a great many very good arguments.

It is farther demanded, where fhall reduced gentlemen who have no fortunes, find the funds that are requifite to carry on trade? This alfo is anfwered with great perfpicuity by our Author. A gentleman, fays he, who has only a coat to his back, provided he can read, write, and knows a little of figures, may, from the first day that he embraces this defpifed profeffion of trade, draw an independent fubfiftence from it. Even with this flender stock of endowments, he may find employment on board a merchantman, with a table and a fmall falary. The produce of

his firft voyage will equip him for a second, and with the affiftance of his Captain, enable him to carry a little venture. Some profit will arife from hence, and in half a dozen voyages he becomes a Captain himself, with a fortune more or less confiderable, and a degree of knowlege in navigation and trade, that qualifies him for much greater acquifitions. Has he the like certainty of rifing in the land-fervice? If not, trade is a better mistress than honour. Or if that be still his turn, he may, in a time of war, turn Captain of a privateer, and tread the steps of de Gue Trouin. Befides, France has her factories abroad, and it would be much to her advantage if she had more. Venice, Genoa, London, fend the younger brothers of the very fame families abroad, to manage their commercial concerns, who are entrusted with the command of their forces, and the direction of their civil affairs at home. Why fhould not France do the like? But a ridiculous picture is drawn of a gentleman, with a yard in his hand, folding cloth or mufling, lifting dufty bales from place to place, fubject to the command or direction of a low fellow that has wealth, and doing things beneath his birth, in the service of one who is much more beneath him. Ridiculous as these scenes are, do they occur only in trade? A poor gentleman may be a page, a clerk in an office, a master of the horse, or a domeftic with some other title, and in any of these ftations be as much fubject to caprice, to ill ufage, and to the moft irksome fervitude, for bare bread, that he is in the other, without any fuch prospects as that affords. Instead of submitting to this, had he not better apply himself to the super-intendency of a fifhery, the management of a large manufacture, or any other lucrative employment of the fame kind? Dependance has always fomewhat ridiculous in it, except when it is the road to independance. Those who defpife trade, fays the Abbe, laugh at fictions of their own inventing, whereas I laugh at scenes that are truly ridiculous; at men who are proud of being beggars, and who, provided they may be idle, are not afhamed to cringe, fawn, and flatter, for a mean and miferable livelihood.

Laftly, he demands in his turn, whether any of the other projects, that have been formed for drawing unfortunate gentlemen, deftitute of employment, out of that fad ftate, will, in reality, answer the end? Banifh luxury, fays the Chevalier d'Arc. Very well, replies the Abbe, but banish it first out of the army, where it does moft hurt.-Yet banish it where you will, this will not give thofe who are idle a fubfiftence. Let it be retained, and perhaps it will. But, fays the Chevalier, give commiffions to none but gentlemen; and then gentlemen will be provided for. Be it fo, but remember there are four hundred shoufand gentlemen in France. But if these could be com

miffioned,

miffioned, who are to be foldiers? Are mean people to have heads and hearts to expose their lives in winning battles, and for want of birth be deprived of all hopes of command? Is this the way to excite valour, or to fecure fuccefs; or is it not better to produce both by emulation? But the Chevalier is for cutting the knot at once. Let our army, fays he, be entirely compofed of gentlemen. Very refpectable gentlemen, truly, replies the Abbe, ferving for five pence a day

In this manner he treats his fubject, with equal ftrength and fpirit, and fhews clearly that the old Gothic principles were only fit for barbarous nations, whofe titles arose from their swords, and whose wealth confifted in plunder; but that in civilized nations, fuch notions ought to be difcarded, and all who pique themselves upon being rational Beings, left to ftrike out the means of an honeft fubfiftence, upon rational principles.

Cours Elementaire de Geographie ancienne & moderne, & de Sphere, par demandes & reponfes, avec des remarques hiftoriques & politiques, par M. F. Ofter valdt. A Neufchâtel chez Sinnet, 1757. 2 parties dont la premiere contient fans la preface, 265 p. & la feconde 373. That is,

An Elementary Course of Geography, antient and modern, and of the Sphere, by queftion and answer; with remarks hiftorical and political. By M. Oftervaldt.

This work feems to be defigned purely for the ufe of children, and with a view to give them diftinct ideas of these necessary sciences. There is no doubt, that every work of this kind that is tolerably well executed, deferves proportionable encouragement. The author of this is remarkably modeft, fince he affumes no other merit, than that of extracting from the best authors, and those who are allowed to have treated these subjects with the greatest accuracy, what he thought most proper for his purpose; and adjufting them in fuch a manner, as that they might be eafily and thoroughly understood by children. He has diftinguished by an afterifk, the queftions that he thinks moft neceffary, in order to prevent the memory from being burthened too much, by obliging his young pupils not only to go through, but to retain the whole. It has been obferved, and perhaps with truth, that it would have been better to have reduced the fize of the work, and to have given only what was neceffary. However it may be urged, in favour of the Author, that the capacities of children are very different, and that in fuch kinds of introductions, care should be taken, if it be poffible, to accommodate all. The first part regards Modern Geography, that is, the ftate of countries as they now are, with which children ought to be

first acquainted, as being the most neceffary and ufeful. The defcription is intermixed with fome hiftorical points; and though there may be objections to this, as it seems to render the matter more complicated, and confequently lefs fuitable to the underftandings of thofe for whofe inftruction it is defigned; yet who. ever is well acquainted with the nature of children, cannot but be fenfible, that they frequently afk, of themselves, queftions of the fame nature with those that the Author propofes: and therefore it is easy to judge, that instead of fatiguing, these answers will afford them great fatisfaction.

Antient Geography is the fubject of the fecond part of this performance. As foon as young people commence their studies, they are fenfible of new wants, and therefore require fresh affiftances. It is impoffible to understand hiftory, without the affiftance of geography, and therefore the description of the antient Greek and Roman empires, ought to precede, or at leaft to accompany, the perufal of fuch authors as relate to them. The junction of these studies, instead of distracting and confounding, will, from experience, be discovered to have a direct contrary effect. Children are not fo much difcouraged by the pains they take, as by their not apprehending why they are obliged to take fo much pains. The better they understand what they are about, the more pleasure they will take in it; and as soon as they have any pleasure in a study, their natural curiofity will carry them through it.

The third part of this treatife, regards the Sphere, and is much larger than in other abridgments. The reafon the Author afligns for this, is, that a bare defcription of the fphere, and acquainting children with the names of the circles that compofe it, ferves rather to load their memories, than to enlarge their understandings. He has therefore taken great pains to acquaint them with the utility of thofe things, which he has moft accurately defcribed; that the conception of many new and useful truths may compenfate the trouble of learning fo many hard and difficult

terms.

There may, perhaps, be fome fmall mistakes pointed out in this performance; which poffibly might have been rendered more fuccinct, without prejudice to that variety of ufeful matter it contains: but as this would be an invidious task, and as, upon the whole, the best judges allow it to be one of the best things of its kind, we fhall not attempt to leffen its reputation.

C

The Hiftory of the Four laft Years of the Queen. By the late Jonathan Swift, D. D. D. S. P. D. Publifhed from the laft manufcript-Copy, corrected and enlarged by the Author's own Hand. 8vo. 5s. Millar.

HE very name of Swift is alone fufficient to excite curiofity and raife expectation: as in every work of his we expect entertainment at leaft. This has been long talked of; and hardly ever without fome tincture of thofe prejudices which divifions and factions never fail to excite: Some declaring peremptorily, that what was called a Hiftory, would be found a Libel: Others, that the language of Libels would alone be proper for exhibiting fuch Facts, and fuch Characters, as were to be the subject of this History.

However, that the Dean could not write even what was true, without intermixing the bitterness of his own nature, and the refentments of thofe he had been fo notoriously connected with, might be not unfairly inferred; and it is now indifputable, that this inference was no way injurious to him: the feal of the turbulent times it was compofed in, is fixed to every page of the work; and, in following his steerage, we feel the furge ftill heaving under us, tho' the tempeft has fo long been over.

As to the objection, that his employers did not let him into the fecret of things; and another inference from it, that he could not be qualified for the task he undertook,-it would hold equally good against most of the Hiftories extant; and would operate with double force against the crudities now obtruded on the public in the name of Hiftory: which are, indeed, little better than tranfcripts of transcripts; uninformed by any intelligence, undirected by any penetration, and unanimated by any of that fuperior fpirit which is the life and foul of fuch compofitions.

To fuch eye as Swift's, a very little light would ferve. He that knows the receffes of the human heart, will not lose himself in the maze he endeavours to wind, for want of ability. He may err thro' perverfenefs, or difingenuity; or rather make it his point to teach others to err; and if the Dean could be dif culpated on this head, his admirers would have no great reafon to be in pain for his performance.

We fhall neither flay to afk, how it came to be concealed fo long? or to be produced at laft? or thro' what hand it reached the prefs? nor to folve the problematical advertisement prefixed to it. That it will appear to every body as well as to us, a compofition of Irish Stitch, or interfering and irreconcilable Zig-Zags, we