ported the holy Catholic League, by the most servile and scandalous prostitutions of the Gofpel. The fecond, fupply dates, names of perfons, and particular circumstances, regarding the facts mentioned in thofe pieces, with that inaccuracy which is not only common but pardonable, in writing of things that are transacted in the times in which we live. The laft, are contrived to point out concealed ftrokes of fatire, dark turns of humour, and such allufions as without a key could not be easily understood: By the help of these Notes therefore, and a reafonable degree of attention, the Memoirs of the League may be read with nearly the fame pleasure, and certainly with as much profit, now as then; for as the tempers of men are pretty much the fame in all ages, and of course their foibles and follies, fo ftrictures upon these are ever fure to please; and tho' the beauty of a panegyric is loft in half a year, the quickness of a fatire is very little abated when tafted in the second century.

There cannot be a wifer thing in any country, than from time to time to retouch and restore such works as thefe. They are not only the fureft and moft pleafing collections of Hiftory, the trueft and the finest pictures of the manners of an age, but at the fame time, and which perhaps is more useful than either, they are the best preservatives against that political malady which they were originally exhibited to cure. At all feasons, pieces of this fort may be with pleasure and propriety revived, but in France it may be at present with profit. Religious madness begins again to prevail; and what better, what eafier, what more effectual method, to prevent the fetting on foot a new League, than to reprint these excellent Memoirs of the miferies produced by the old one?

Le Petit Dictionaire du Temps, pour l' Intelligence des Nouvelles de la Guerre, &c. Dédie, à S. A. S. Monfigneur le Prince de Condé. Par M. l'Amiral. Paris, 1757. 8vo. That is, The little Dictionary of the Times, for the better understanding the Articles of News in the prefent War; dedicated to the Prince of Conde.

This is nothing more than an alphabetical defcription of the countries that have been, or may be, the theatre of modern wars; with the cities and fortreffes which have made most noife; their fituations and fortifications, the fieges they have fuftained, and the battles that have been fought near them. It contains likewise a collection of the Terms in the Military Art, in that of Artillery, and the Marine, with fo much of Geography, and other fciences, as may render the whole understood, and fcarce leave any term unexplained which may occur in any Papers, Relations, or Memoirs of our own times. This is one REV. May, 1758,

ᏞᎥ

of

of thofe comprehenfive little Miscellanies, upon which, the Paris Writers value themselves extremely, and, to fpeak impartially, not altogether without reafon; for tho' this Dictionary might, without much difficulty, have been better executed than we find it, yet it would not have been eafy to conceive any thing more striking, more engaging: or more instructive than fuch a collection, judiciously diipofed, and in which the terms were clearly, correctly, and concifely explained: as one might prove at large, but that every Reader's understanding will fuggeft to him more arguments on this head, than are at all neceffary to convince him of the truth of fo plain a Propofition.

G

MONTHLY CATALOGUE,

For M A Y,

POLITICAL.

1758.

Art. 1. A Propofal for making a Saving to the Public of many Thoufand Pounds a Year in the Charge of Maintaining his Majefty's Marine Forces, and for the better Regulation of them. To which is annexed, eight half-fheet Tables, containing Distributions of Marine-Pay in all its Branches; Accounts of the Charge of Maintaining Marine Forces, according to the different Establishments in the laft War; and an Establishment, most humbly propofed, for his Majesty's Marine Forces, with Obfervations and Explanations relative thereto. Most humbly. fubmit ted to the Confideration of the Parliament of Great Britain. By J. Maffie. 4to. 2s. 6d. T. Payne.

TH

HIS laborious Projector feems to have the good of the public much at heart. His fcheme for making a faving in the Marine Forces is plaufible, but too tedious for us to abridge in this place, as it confifts of feventy-four large quarto pages. Belides, it is in many parts imperfect, as he himself acknowleges; for it depends upon drawings for Forms of Accounts, or Tables for Calculations, which must be feen, and have their uses explained, before the work can be understood. The Author concludes with an apology for keeping these Drawings and Tables from the light of vulgar eyes, in the following words..

I fhall therefore conclude with faying, that the Right Honourable William Pitt, Efq; &c. and the Right Honourable Henry Bilfon Legge, Efq; &c. may, whenever they please, fee the before named Drawings for Accounts, and Tables for Calculations, but I hope that no other perfonages or perfons will infilt upon feeing either the A one or the other; becaufe they are things of my own invention,

4

and as fuch, I most humbly apprehend, that I have a natural right to the fame, and, by confequence, to fhew or not to fhew them, ' as I fhall fee occafion; fo that no perfonage or perfon can with ⚫ reafon take offence at my mentioning thofe two Right Honourable, Gentlemen, exclufively of o.hers, upon this occafion.'

Certainly no one can dispute Mr. Maffie's natural right to curiofities of his own invention: bat we hope, after they have undergone the infpection of Meffrs. Pitt and Legge, that he will oblige the public with a fight of them, that his Readers may form a better judgment of the voluminous fcheme he has laid before them and in the mean time we recommend it to him, to apply for his Majesty's royal Patent, in order to fecure to himself the benefit of his invention, and to prevent all perfons whatever from pirsting or copying the faid Drawings and Tables, which are fo neceffary to the understanding of his faving proposal.

We cannot take leave of this Gentleman without recommending his example to the imitation of the Author if the Estimate. It muit be allowed, that Mr. Maffie's pages do not appear mercenary; one of his twelvepenny pamphlets feems to contain as much as the fourfhilling volume: and Mr. Maffie fhews he has fome principle, while the Doctor only talks of it. R-d

Art. 2. Facts which fhew the Neceffity of establishing a regular Method for the punctual, frequent, and certain Payment of Seamen employed in the Royal Navy. Moft humbly fubmitted to the Confideration of Parliament. 4to. 6d. T. Payne.

The being employed to fettle the accounts of Cottrell's regiment of Marines, has again fet to work the fruitful brain of Mr. Mailie : the facts offered to the Parliament's confideration, are,

I. A flate of the number of men who deferted from the late Col. John Cottrell's late regiment of Marines, between 25 October 1741, and 23 February 1746-7; diftinguishing the circumitances under which they deferted.

II. A state of the number of voyages or cruizes made by men of the late Col. John Cottrell's late regiment of Marines, on board his Majesty's fhips of war, for which fervice they received ballances of fea-pay, upon their returns to quarters; diftinguishing how many . of those ballances were under one pound each, and how many of them amounted to one, two, three, &c. pounds, omitting the odd fhillings and pence.'

From the first table the Author infers, that,

'The number of men who appear to have deferted upon receiving their pay is only three *.

So that the Desertion after payment is at the rate of one in four hundred nearly, and no more.

*This does not appear by the Table.
li 2

• Whereas

Whereas the Defertion without being paid, is at the rate of one in fifteen, which is twenty-fix times as many.

From hence it appears very evident, that the speedy and regular payment of men, doth not encourage them to defert, but on the contrary induces them to continue in the fervice of their country; ⚫ for nothing but a difpofition to remain in the fervice could have pre⚫ vented so many men from deferting upon the receipt of their pay, as they were then on fhore, and might have deserted at any time.

6

From hence it also appears, that if the naval fervice be by any • means made unneceffarily disagrecable to men, they will not continue in it, but make ufe of the firft opportunity to defert; and how weak ties an arrcar of pay, and the fear of punishment, are, to men fo fituated, appears by ninety Marines of this regiment deferting, though they had three hundred and ninety-one pounds due to

⚫ them.

If the keeping of men's pay, greatly in arrear, be neceffary for the good of the fervice, it must certainly be fo in the Army as well as in the Navy, and yet the Land Forces are paid in quite another manner; for a private Soldier receives his Arrears of Pay every two months, though he is provided with meat, drink, cloaths, lodging, and medicines, and these are all the things with which Seamen are provided in the Navy.

If the speedy and regular payment of military men made them turbulent and riotous, it would certainly be seen in the Army, but fuch behaviour is rarely found among Soldiers, excepting when they are il paid or ill cloathed; and as to the levity and irregularity of Seamen on fhore, it feems miftaking the matter greatly, to call this turbulence or riot, fince it is only an excefs of joy on their being relieved from hardfhips and fufferings.'

All this is very true; but it is alfo felf-evident; and what is in the mouth of every one. He likewise observes,

Imprifoning or hand-cuffing of impreffed-men may be fometimes neceflary, but I am humbly of opinion, that the poorest Briton fhould not be fo used without real neceffity, manifetted by fome overt-act of his; because it is treating a man as a criminal before he hath committed any crime; nor is the shame, which men so treated are thereby expofed to, the only thing to be confidered, for it operates upon the fufferers minds much to the prejudice of the service; because they will fometime or other be at liberty, and then, the bitter ⚫ remembrance of their fhame will be apt to make them defert, and ⚫ must difcourage others from inlifting.'

But this we all affent to without hesitation, although from another caufe; for if we force men into the military fervice, by unjuftihable methods, the means of detaining them must be unjustifiable alfo, though perhaps neceffary.

N.-B. Since the publication of the FACTS above-mentioned, we have met with

Obler.

Observations concerning the Tax upon Houses and Windows; whereiz the ill Confequences of increafing that Tax are confidered, and a way of raifing Two Millions of Pounds by other Means, is briefly pointed Price fix-pence.

out.

Thefe Obfervations are comprized in a fingle half fheet, prefixed to the foregoing Facts. This crafty method of re-publishing a pamphlet, may be conftrued by the ill-natured into a species of Authorifm. or Curl-ifm; but we who are acquainted with the public spirit of Mr. Maffie, are fatisfied it was only a fcheme to render those Facts more generally known; that those people whose curiofity did not enquire what the Facts were, might be cheated into a knowlege of them, by purchafing them under the cover of Obfervations upon the Win. dow-Tax.

In thefe Obfervations he argues against the augmentation of the Tax upon Windows, already fufficiently difagreeable; as it will make people disfigure their houses, and corrupt the rules of Architecture, in order to reduce the number; nor is this all, for- If the want of fuch neceffary windows fhould unhappily be the occafion of any ⚫ aged or infirm perfons breaking their limbs, or of otherwife hurting themfelves, it would occafion great difguft; and if an accident of this fort fhould be mentioned in a News paper, more things of the fame kind might be faid to have happened, which would furnish matter for very difagreeable converfation.'--This, no doubt, is an important hint; and therefore we hope the Par iament will not, by increafing this tax, increase the number of Cripples among our countrymen. The two Millions which this indefatigable Schemer proposes to furnish, are to be raised by a new duty of two fhillings per hundred on Sugar.

Art. 3. A Reply to the Vindication of Mr. Pitt.
Officer in the Pruffian Service. 8vo. Is.

By an English
Cooper

The Pen of this Writer appears to be guided by the malice of party, and is, indeed, a courfe illiberal invective against Mr. P~; feafoned with some aukward compliments on Mr. F. Among other things, our rambling Author inveighs against the Marriage Act, and takes care to inform us, in these words, That the fuperlative Mr. P-made no oppofition to it; and that the vicious, infernal Mr. F- did.' It is not our office to be Apologifts for any perfons or ⚫ parties, yet, on this occafion, we cannot forbear taking notice, that this charge against Mr. P has often received an answer, and it has been affirmed, that during the time of the Bill's paffing through the Houfe, he was confined to the bed of ficknefs; therefore this defence should be obviated, before the charge is repeated. Befides, as the propriety of that bill is merely a matter of opinion, we do not know that it would have been criminal in Mr. P had he voted in favour of it.

But though this pamphlet, confidered as a political performance, is thoroughly contemptible, yet it contains fome entertaining anec dotes, which, we believe, are not generally known. Defcribing the

113

character