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Speaking of refined friendship, he fays, This amiable and interefting image of human felicity, in which fo many of the chafteft fenfibilities and fweeteft beatitudes are united, is not to be expected in the abfence of fo much perfection as ftill adheres to our best connections.' The pale hand of forrow-difentangles the heart from thofe luscious gulphs of luxury into which it frequently plunges.'-We are at a lofs to know under what rhetorical head fuch language as this fhould be placed; the rhetoricians not having thought proper to make nonfense one of their figures.

It is a maxim in criticism, that good writing must be agree able to truth and nature. If Mr. More had not forgotten or defpifed this maxim, he would never have faid- It is in the contemplations especially of infinite space, omnipotent power, immenfe exiftence, and eternal duration, where mind feems most at home, and imagination most in character. Thofe [these] objects indeed are peculiarly fitted to act on all the capital movements in our fyftem; and every other energy is neceffarily abforbed in theirs.' And again, Thomfon faw nothing but beauty, heard nothing but music, and felt nothing from the objects around him but palpitations of joy and fentiments of gratitude.'

We have hitherto been accuftomed to confider it as a fundamental law in writing, that purity of ftyle fhould be preserved by avoiding vulgar words and phrafes; by ufing words in their generally received fenfe, and by adhering to the grammatical forms obferved by the beft writers. The following phrafes al moft tempt us to fuppofe that our Author ranks this law among his antiquated abstractions.- Set the minds of his hearers a moralizing-The tyle of common writers is calculated fome how to give no precife ideas-Stubborn habits are ill to bend-Poor Thomfon has been tried and caft with a vengeance-His felicity in blending a certain Spicery of novelty with nature and truthThe following paffages which are among the firft that accrued to me-let every one judge for themselves-the whole cordage of the heart are alive-when it was wrote.'

As the ancient rules of criticifm are ftill acknowledged to have the authority of law, and are ftill, by many, obeyed with a kind of religious veneration, if our Author has been fo fortunate as to difcover that they are the arbitrary prefcriptions of affuming pedants, we would nevertheless advife him, for the prefent, fo far to accommodate himself to the prejudices of the times, as to conform to them in his publications*. At least we should request this piece of innocent conformity from him,

He would, likewife, do well to get fome English friend to expunge the Scotticifms.

if we could fuppofe that our fanction could be of any confequence to him: for, without this, while the old prejudices remain, and the old laws continue unrepealed, whatever idea we may in fecret entertain of his genius and ability, it will not be in our power to give our public verdict in his favour.

E.

ART. VI. Continuation of our Account of Mrs. Macaulay's Hiftory of England, from the Revolution to the prefent Time.

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N our Journal for February, we gave a general view of the defign, and peculiar form, of this extraordinary hiftory, with fome fpecimens of the execution, to enable our readers to judge for themselves, with refpect to the principles, the fpirit, and abilities of the Writer; and for their further fatisfaction we will now proceed to felect a few more extracts, from those parts of the work, to which we had not advanced, in the former article.

The third letter commences with fome obfervations on the national debt, and the introduction of the funds into this country; a fyftem ftyled, by this penetrating writer, a diabolical engine, which by its powerful but fatal effect on the manners and liberties of the people, has long threatened to put a final end to the profperity of our country. On this account, the hiftorian deems it neceffary to enter into a detail of the nature, rise, and progress of the practice of borrowing and funding; tracing its confequent inconveniencies, and its deftructive influence on the management of our public concerns: averring, that fuch expedients, and meafures, were too ruinous, even for the corrupt parliament of Charles the Second to comply with.

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James the Second,' fays Mrs. Macaulay, with all his faults, was a frugal prince. The revenue fettled by parliament on his first coming to the throne, was more than fufficient to defray the expences of his government; therefore that bold ftroke of policy, which delivered up the purfe and the credit of the nation into the hands of the prince, was referved for the immortal William and his whig partizans.'

This learned lady has, herfelf, been generally deemed a whig partizan;' but whoever attentively perufes her historical writings, and particularly the prefent work, will be convinced that she is attached to no party; that her genius rifes fuperior to them all; and that both whigs and tories are with equal severity cenfured by her, when the apprehends that the leaders of either fet have, in any instance, violated the true principles of the constitution.

Burnet, the celebrated hiftorian of his own times, and bishop of Salisbury, is here faid to have propofed the expedient which he had learned in Holland, of raifing money for public fervice on the fecurity of taxes, which were only fufficient to pay a

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Jarge intereft. But, adds our Author, Burnet was not the only perfon whom the Dutch fchool of financing had rendered proficients in the certain way of ruining the independence of the people.' The fame expedient, we are told, had been propofed to Charles II. but neither the art nor the influence of that prince could carry the fatal point, even with a very venal and corrupt parliament.

When the Prince of Orange was raifed to the throne, and a general war began in thefe parts of Europe, the king, and his counsellors, thought it would be ill policy to commence his reign with heavy taxes on the people, who had lived long in eafe and plenty, and might be apt to think their deliverance too dearly bought; yet money being wanted to fupport the war, which even the convention which put the crown on his head were unwilling that he fhould engage in,-this new piece of ftate machinery was therefore put in motion.

The motives which prevailed on the people, at this time, to fall in with the project, were many and plausible; for, fuppofing, as the minifters induftrioufly gave out, that the war could not laft above one or two campaigns, it might be carried on with very moderate taxes, and the debts accruing would, in procefs of time, be cafily cleared after a peace; then the bait of large intereft would draw in a great number of those whose money, by the dangers and difficulties of trade, lay dead upon their hands; and whoever were lenders to the government would, by the fairest principle, be obliged to fupport it. Befides, the men of eftates could not be perfuaded, without time. and difficulty, to have thofe taxes laid on their lands, which cuftom hath made fo familiar; and it was the business of fuch as were then in power, to cultivate a monied intereft, because the gentry of the kingdom did not relifh thofe notions in government to which the king, who had imbibed his politics in his own country, was thought to give too much way.'

When this expedient,' fays Mrs. Macaulay, of anticipations and mortgages was firft put in practice, artful men in office and credit began to confider what ufes it might be applied to, and foon found it was likely to prove a moft fruitful feminary, not only to establish a faction they intended to fet up for their own fupport, but likewife to raise vaft wealth for themselves in particular, who were to be the managers and directors in it.

It was manifeft that nothing could promote these two defigns fo much, as burthening the nation with debts, and giving of encouragement to lenders; for as to the first, it was not to be doubted that monied men would be always firm to the party those who advised the borrowing upon fuch good fecurity, and with fuch exorbitant premiums and intereft; and every new um lent took away as much power from the landed men, as it

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added to their's; fo that the deeper the kingdom was engaged, it was ftill the better for them. Thus a new eftate and property fprung up in the hands of mortgagees, to whom every houfe and foot of land in the kingdom paid a rent charge free of all taxes and defalcations, and purchafed at lefs than half the the value; fo that the gentlemen of eftates in effect were but tenants to these new landlords, many of whom were able in time to force the election of boroughs out of the hands of those who had been the old proprietors and inhabitants: this was arrived to fuch a height, that a very few years more of war and funds would have clearly caft the balance on the monied fide.

As to the fecond, this project of borrowing on funds was of mighty advantage to those who were the managers of it, as well as to their friends and dependants; for funds proving often deficient, the government was obliged to ftrike tallies for making up the reft, which tallies were fometimes (to speak in the merchants' phrafe) at about forty per cent. discount; at this price those who were in the fecret bought them up, and then took care to have that deficiency fupplied in the next feffion of parliament, by which they doubled their principal in a few months; and for the encouragement of lenders, every new project of lotteries or annuities propofed fome further advantage either as to intereft or premium.

The pernicious practice of borrowing upon remote funds, my friend, neceffarily produced a brood of ufurers, brokers, and ftock-jobbers, who preyed upon the vitals of their country; and from this fruitful fource, venality overfpread the land; corruption, which under the government of bad princes had maintained a partial influence in the adminiftration of public affairs, from the period of the revolution, was gradually formed into a system, and instead of being regarded with abhorrence, and feverely punished, as in former times, feceived the countenance of the whole legiflature; and every individual began openly to buy and fell his intereft in his country, without either the fear of fhame or penalty. In addition to this national evil, all the fources of justice were fo grofsly polluted by the partiality of party, that every mifdemeanor of a public nature efcaped both cenfure and punishment; whig and tory reciprocally lending their affiftance to the caufe, to protect the individuals of their party from the juft refentment of their country, and the profecution of the adverse faction.'

Such is the fide glance view given by the fair hiftorian, of those very important fubjects, the national debt and public credit; a moft pernicious novelty in the British government and police; a new fpecies of defpotifm, the mifchievous effects of which have been often pointed out, by the best political writers;

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but no where have they been more warmly or more juftly dif played, than in the prefent performance.

The following is the sketch given by our hiftorian, of the character of Queen Anne:

Anne,' fays the Author, is allowed by all parties to have been a woman of an excellent heart; but her genius and underftanding were so very inferior to the weighty talk of a govern ment, where the welfare and profperity of the nation depend entirely on the virtue and good fenfe of the prince, that it was hardly fufficient for the purposes of private life.

There are not fix characters among the human race, my friend, which have been found equal to princely power. A wifdom in any degree proportioned to imperial dignity perceives the difficulty of the task, and the mind is filled with an awful timidity, which the habit and exercife of government can alone diminish. And it is an obfervation founded on the authority of general experience, that the ambition for arbitrary fway increafes in proportion to the incapability of exercifing regal truft.

Inclination to power was no lefs prevalent in the queen's character, than in those of her predeceffors; and a circumstance of an accidental nature co-operated with the declared principles of the tories, to tincture her mind with a ftrong prejudice in their favour. From a jealoufy natural in crowned heads to the heir apparent, he had been treated very ill by the late king and queen. On her refufing to difmifs the Lady Marlborough from her fervice, a quarrel had arifen to fuch a height between the two fifters, that all friendly correfpondence between them ceafed; and during the princefs's abode at Bath, the ufual ceremonies were omitted by exprefs orders of the court.

The whigs, who were taken into favour towards the clofe of the laft reign, were too good courtiers not to follow strictly the example and direction of their majefties; but the tories, looking forward for power to the reign of a princefs who had carly imbibed the high principles of the church party, purfued an oppofite conduct, and by their influence in parliament had procured her an independent fettlement of one hundred thoufand pounds.

No fooner had death transferred the fceptre from the hands of William to the Princefs Anne, than the whigs endeavoured, by their earnest affiduities, to make up for former deficiencies. Anne mounted the throne, to the apparent fatisfaction of all parties; and, according to the ufual fortune of new fovereigns, amidst the clamorous applaufes of the multitude.'

In defcribing the afcendency gained by the high-flying parties (as the Jacobites, tories, and violent churchmen were called)

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