of this collection have each their portion affigned them.-The Will is contained in No. 40 (the laft), in which are al his Dying words: The melancholy event predicted in a late Number has taken place. GREGORY GRIFFIN is no more. About five minutes three feconds after nine o'clock on Monday evening, his friends were alarmed by a hafty fummons to his bedfide. The good gentleman feemed to be perfectly fenfible that the moment of his diffolution drew near. It has been usually customary with the biographers of eminent men, when drawing towards the conclufion of their Hero's exist ence, to make the world acquainted with every little fymptom attending his exit. But the effects of a Cathartic, or the operations of an Emetic, have been too minutely inveftigated, and too frequently difcuffed, to be any longer interefting; and the various circumstances of this kind which marked the termination of Mr. GRIFFIN's existence, would be of as little confequence to the literary, as medical world. Thefe therefore we shall omit mentioning. "My friends!" (faid he, as we stood round him, raising himself a little on his left elbow, while the bookfeller's boy placed a pillow under his head,-We knew there was but one way, for his nofe was as Sharp as a pen)-" my friends," faid he, "I could not quit this world fatisfactorily to my own confcience, without acknowledging my obligations to you. I die, it is true, at an age, when I might, without prefumption, have hoped for the enjoyment of a protracted existence. But I have long forefeen this event, and am happy to be prepared to meet it. It is a great confolation to me, that I leave you behind me, the defenders of my conduct, in that official character, which I have during my life-time fupported. It has been my endeavour to blend the inftruction of my fellow-citizens with their entertainment; to temper my cenfure with lenity; and to laugh away their follies, rather than to fcourge their vices. If, in any one of these points, my fuccefs has been equal to my wifhes; the end of my existence is fully answered. "It has indeed fo happened, that, contrary to my expectations, my name has found its way beyond the limits of our little republic. Even there, caft as I was on the wide world, I have met with fuch a reception, as to convince me, that the tendency of my plan has been warmly approved; however inadequate may have appeared its execution. And if by these means, I may have added one more citizen to our commonwealth, or contributed to diffufe a patriotic love of Eton among its prefent members, then indeed fhall I be proud to congratulate myfelf on the fuccefs of my endeavours. But i feel my ftrength going from me."-The Publifher pulled out his pockethandkerchief Adieu !"-the Publifher applied his pocket-handkerchief to his eyes. "To your care I entrult my will,-you will find, I have not forgotten you, my friends;-you will execute my commiffions with fidelity."" Mr. GRIFFIN is dead," faid the bookfeller. Sure enough," faid the book feller's boy. -- The printer's devil blubbered.-It was too much -We were forced to retire, to give vent to our feelings-and open the will.-A copy of it we now lay before the Public. 66 P 4 The • The LAST WILL and TESTAMENT of GREGORY GRIFFIN, Efq. "Vicefimo tertio die JULII, anno regni GEORGII Tertii, Magna Britannia, Francia, et Hiberniæ Regis, Fidei Defenforis, &c. vicefimo Jeptimo; Domini, millefimo feptingentefimo o&ogefimo feptimo. "I, GREGORY GRIFFIN, of the College of ETON, in the County of BUCKS, being weak in body, but found in understanding, on this twenty-third inftant of this July prefent, in the twentyfeventh year of the reign of his Majefty GEORGE the Third, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. in the year of our Lord one thoufand feven hundred and eighty-feven, do hereby commit my body to the prefs, from whence it came; my spirit to the comprehenfion of my readers. "Of my Wordly Effects, confifting chiefly of Effays, Poems, Letters, &c. &c. "IMPRIMIS, I do give and bequeath the whole of the aforefaid Effays, Poems, Letters, &c. &c. to my much-beloved Friends J. SMITH, G. CANNING, R. SMITH, and J. FRERE; to be among them divided as fhall be hereafter by me appointed; excepting only fuch legacies, as fhall be hereafter by me affigned to other my worthy and approved friends. "And I do further conftitute and appoint the aforesaid, my much beloved friends, the Executors and Administrators of this my laft Will and Teftament, to divide my Effects, according to the form appointed therein. ITEM. I DO GIVE AND BEQUEATH to Mr. JOHN SMITH, late of the College of Eton, now of KING's College, CAMBRIDGE, all my Papers, Effays, &c. &c. which bear the Signature of A. "ITEM. To Mr. GEORGE CANNING, now of the College of ETON, I DO GIVE AND BEQUEATH all my Papers, Effays, &c. &c. figned with B. ITEM. To Mr. ROBERT SMITH, now of the College of ETON aforefaid, I DO ASSIGN all my Papers, &c. &c. (as aforefaid) figned C. "ITEM. I DO MAKE OVER to Mr. JOHN FRERE, now of the aforefaid College of Eton, all my Papers, &c. (as beforementioned) marked D. "ITEM. To Mr. JOSEPH MELLISH, of TRINITY College, CAMBRIDGE, in token of my respect and esteem, I DO ASSIGN the Paper bearing the fignature of M. "ITEM. To Mr. B. WAY, I DO BEQUEATH the Letter figned MUSIDORUS; to Mr. LITTLEHALES the Letter of CEMETERIUS; to LORD H. SPENCER the Letter and Poem of IRONICULUS, with the Letter of Σοφος Πολυφάγος. "The rest of my Papers, &c. &c. here undifpofed of, I DO HEREBY ENJOIN my EXECUTORS, to make over to fuch of my CORRESPONDENTS as fhall feverally make good their claims thereunto; DECLARING moreover, that all fuch PAPERS as do not bear any of the aforefaid fignatures, A. B. C. or D. are not to be confidered as the property of my EXECUTors. "Dated "Dated this Twenty-third Day of July prefent, in the Year, &c. &c. 1787. Witnesses G. CANNING, R. SMITH, J. FRERE.' Signed GREGORY GRIFFIN. The Microcofm, as the name imports, is profeffedly written for the Little World, but we may venture to affirm that many of the Papers in it will be perufed with pleasure in the Great World; and we flatter ourselves with the hope of much amusement in future from the ingenuity and learning of Gentlemen, who have begun their career of science with so much reputation. ART. V. Principles of Military Movements, chiefly applied to Infantry. Illuftrated by Manoeuvres of the Pruffian Troops, and by an Outline of the British Campaigns in Germany during the War of 1757. Together with an Appendix containing a practical Abftract of the Whole. By Colonel David Dundas. 4to. 11. 15. Boards. Cadell. 1788. N elementary treatife on tactics, deduced from clear prin Aciples, and expreffed in perfpicuous language, has long been confidered as a defideratum in English literature *. We entertained hopes, on perufing the title and preface of the prefent work, that it might have ferved to fupply this defect; but we are forced to acknowlege, that although Col. Dundas's performance contains many good obfervations, yet in what we chiefly expected from it, our hopes are difappointed. To thofe, however, who are previously acquainted with the language of war, and the manoeuvres of armies in the field, the work before us will afford entertainment and inftruction; and will perhaps fuggeft, to perfons in power, the neceffity of fome military alterations and arrangements, which, without endangering our liberties, would conduce to the defence of our empire. The great point at which the Author aims, will appear from the following paffage, which is judiciously imagined and nervously expreffed : • Permanent and detailed regulations for the conduct of every military individual, in every poffible fituation, obviously ufeful in all fervices, are particularly neceffary in the BRITISH. Such regulations prepare the materials, wind up the fprings, and give unity and energy to the whole machine: without fuch, chance and caprice di * The French have not been deficient in productions of this kind; for which, confult our General Index, in the MILITARY Clafs; particularly under the word Tactics. rect, .rect, negligence and confufion follow, and the operations of fo Tartar-like an army, can only be attended with ruin and disgrace. It is our misfortune to have had no line of conduct laid down: the good order of regiments has lefs depended on the rules of the fervice, than on the accidental efforts of individuals, and on the fashion of the day, equally as that changing: where zeal or fcience were wanting, the confequences have been too often apparent. Hence our very thin and extended order to make more showan affected extreme of quicknefs on all occafions-the running of one movement into another, without thofe neceffary paufes which tend to fhow their propriety, and juftnefs of execution-the fyftem of central dreffing, filing, and forming on almost all occafions-the fingle perfon attempting to direct the battalion and its parts, in every fituation, in order to beget a falfe and improper precifion-the forming and breaking on the move, the easier to conceal and cover loft distances and accidental lines, which otherwife would be apparentthe feveral methods of wheeling established the different and falfe compofitions of columns, which each battalion at pleafure adoptsthe chance movement of the line in front, regulated by no fixed principle. Unaccustomed to form or move on determined points (the neceffity of which is not fo immediately ftriking in the management of a fingle battalion), a given polition is taken up with no degree of precision-filing, which was formerly little known or practifed in the infantry, is now general and often mifapplied where divifion-marching fhould take place the hurry practifed by individual regiments, becomes improper and impoffible when acting in conjunction with others; confufion and inaccuracy follow; and time is confumed in endeavouring in vain to correct thofe errors, which original method would prevent from ever arifing. Our ranks are fo thin, our files fo open, and fuch intervals permitted between companies of the fame battalion when in line; that all idea of folidity feems loft.-We have begun at the wrong end, and have endeavoured to deduce the ufeful movements of the line, from the fhowy and review ones of the battalion. We have establifhed as general rules, what ought to be regarded only as exceptions-we have ftarted from parade, as our primary order, instead of confidering it as only fecondary to that of attack-our conclufions have been falfe, as our data were defective. Nor do these irregularities operate only in the field, and in great bodies. They equally take place in the internal compofition and management of our battalions; each has its fingular mode of difcipline, unknown to the other, and often as oppofite as thofe of two diftinct fervices.-A detachment or guard, is as heterogeneous a body as an army, and the command of it on a fmall fcale, is attended with the fame difficulty. The whole forms a fcene of intricacy, which no individual can be fufficiently mafter of, and which nothing but the fubftitution of one over-ruling and univerfal method can ever diffolve.' In order to introduce uniformity into the military fyftem of this country, Colonel Dundas propofes the example of the na tion beft acquainted with the art of war, and moft diftinguished for its military fuccefs. Taking the Pruffians for his model, he examines the field fervice of troops, under all the proper heads. In explaining. thefe operations, which are illuftrated by 25 copper-plates, the Author continually makes ufe of the abbreviated technical language, employed by officers in the field, which, though ufeful on that occafion (becaufe words of command, provided they be understood, cannot be too fhort and prompt), is yet extremely unfit for explaining military movements, and the principles on which they are founded. This obfervation applies to every treatife on Tactics, which we have. feen in the English language, and renders fuch performances far lefs agreeable and inftructive than the works of Guischart, Mauvillon, and other French and German writers on the fame fubject; not excepting the King of Pruffia himself, the great inventor, as well as explainer, of the military art among the moderns. Thefe learned foreigners univerfally defcribe the manœuvres and operations of war in perfpicuous and precife, but common language. They lay down the general principle, fhow the object to be attained, and point out the readieft way of atraining it. Our English writers, on the contrary, are continually involved in the peculiar phrafeology of their profeffion; a phrafeology, mixed, imperfect, and rude: without regularity, and without precifion. Befide this defect, it must be acknowleged that our military treatifes, deduced from crude rules of practice, want that fpirit of generalization, which forms the principal charm of a book; and our officers, though better educated than any in Europe in whatever relates not to their profeffion, yet when they come to speak of the military art, commonly do it in fuch a manner, in words fo appropriate and profeffional, that ftrangers would imagine they were unacquainted with every other ftudy or purfuit, and fo much wedded to partial rules of practice, as to be regardless of the principles on which all rules must be founded. The outline of the British campaigns in Germany, by which the Author has chofen to illuftrate his military movements, contains nothing but a dry itinerary of the contending armies, with'out fufficiently elucidating the reafons of their refpective motions, and deducing clearly and fully the confequences which refulted from them. This epifode, indeed, is fo little connected with the principal fubject, that it might be introduced with as much propriety into any military or hiftorical work whatever, as into the prefent publication. Notwithstanding thefe ftrictures, which juftice has extorted from us, Colonel Dundas's work is entitled to a distinguished place |