time when Mary formed the project of her flight. M. de Noailles, he obferves, places this circumftance in the fhort interval between Edward's death and Mary's advancement to the throne. It is not, however, to this circumftance that M. de Noailles has alluded; and if our Author had given himself the trouble to confult the English hiftorians, he might have learned, that Mary had, at different times, conceived an intention of abandoning the kingdom. At the time referred to in the dispatches of M. de Noailles, the thought of flying into a foreign country, in order to escape the vigilance of the duke of Northumberland, whose criminal ambition had induced him to plot against her life, that he might fecure to lady Jane Grey the fucceffion to the crown of England. The ignorance and inaccuracy fo apparent in the extract we have given from this performance, are no lefs confpicuous in the other obfervations which it contains. It appears to be the production of a rigid papift; and its general tendency is to vindicate the character of Mary from the juft reproaches that have been thrown upon it by the proteftant hiftorians. It is a panegyric on a queen, who joined to great weakness of understanding, the moft obftinate bigotry and the utmoft malignity of difpofition. ART. IV. Critical Obfervations on the Buildings and Improvements of London. 4to. 2s. 6d. Dodley. 1771. I put N this performance, the particular defects of many of our public ftructures are pointed out; and the Author has very properly ridiculed that aukward imitation of the country amidit the fmoke and bustle of the town, which is fo difgufting in fome of the fquares in this metropolis. But though, in general, his obfervations are just, we must remark, that in criticifing fome of our public works, which are not of very modern date, he feems inclined to draw conclufions from them concerning the taste of the present inhabitants of London. From edifices, however, which have exifted for any length of time, we can only judge with propriety of the ideas of elegance and convenience which were entertained at the period of their erection. In this cafe we are not to reafon from the past to the prefent; and inconvenient streets, and unfhapely fabrics, cannot be demolished in a moment, and inftantly conftructed and rebuilt after happier models, to please the caprice of a virtuofo or an artist. Perhaps the prefent period is that in which the moft general fpirit of improvements of every kind has prevailed in this country; and to do juftice to our Author, he feems to be abundantly fenfible of this fact in feveral parts of his performance. Every feffion of parliament, fays he, is now marked by fome bill for the inclofing of commons, cutting of canals, conftructing of bridges, embanking of rivers, making, mending, and watering of highways, and for the paving and lighting of streets.' From the taste now diffufed among all ranks of men, the greateft advantages are doubtlefs to be expected. The improvements begun, will be extended and continued; and it is impoffible to fay to what length they fhall be carried, in a country where commerce is perpetually enriching the individual, and where the difplays of his magnificence are unreftrained by fumptuary laws. The object in London fufceptible of the highest improvement in the opinion of our Author, is the river Thames. The Thames, the pride and palladium of London, has hitherto, fays he, been allowed to fteal through the town, like Mr. Bays's army, in difguife, while the Seine, the Arno, and every ditch in Holland, are adorned with fuperb keys. However, the time feems at hand when it is to emerge from its antient obfcurity. Already two bridges, worthy of its waters, Stretch gracefully from fhore to fhore; and the third, which has fo long obftructed and difhonoured its ftream, bids fair under the prefent enlightened fyftem of the city, to be foon removed. It may not be amifs to obferve here, that Blackfryars bridge, to its own intrinfic merit, adds this concurrent advantage of affording the best and perhaps the only true point of view for the magnificent cathedral of St. Paul's, with the various churches in the amphitheatre that reaches from Westminster to the Tower, The project of embanking also promifes much for the embellishment and improvement of the river. Befides the benefit to navigation, it opens a vaft field of reformation on the wharfs and keys. The works carrying on amid the antient ruins of Durham Yard, is a fample of what may be done in that way; and from the terras of that ftately pile we can best judge of the effect of fo noble an object as the Thames properly difplayed. You have here an extenfive fweep of water with numberlefs gay images moving on its furface; two handfome bridges bound the unbroken profpect, while beyond, the various fpires of the city, and of Weftminster, appearing at a distance, add to the richness of the scene. Were but the embankment completely finished all along, it would depend folely on the inha bitants to have keys on the Thames, which none in Europe could rival either in beauty or extent,' What he has advanced concerning the building of a fenatehouse, and concerning a palace for our kings, deferves the at tention of the legislature. The former, he remarks, fhould not only comprehend every accommodation of eafe and dignity for the two houfes of parliament, but also include the courts of juftices with their proper offices, that the oracles of law may no longer be delivered from wooden booths, run up in the corners of an old Gothick hall. hall. Nothing more readily impreffes ftrangers with reverence for the laws and government of a country, than the pomp and fplendor which furround them. Whoever beheld the Stadt-house at Amfterdam, without conceiving a more respectful idea of the républic of Holland, than can be conveyed by the words High and Mighty repeated fifty times in a plácaart * ?' The latter is certainly an undertaking which is loudly demanded by the honour and dignity of the nation. • How dif graceful, fays our Author, to fee the head of this mighty empire worfe lodged than the Gonfalioniere of San Marino, or the chief magiftrate of Glaris or Zug! But it is not fufficient to have a mere royal house for the refidence of the fovereign. In it fhould alfo be comprehended proper offices for the departments of the executive power that are more immediately connected with the crown, fuch as thofe pertaining to the privy-council and the fecretaries of state; the latter of which are at prefent fcattered in different corners of the town, and fome of them hired by the week. Thefe objects, continues he, properly fulfilled, would add luftre to the crown and weight to the government. It is truly laughable to hear the expence mentioned as an argument against them, in a nation that has on many occafions thought light of bestowing ten times the fum neceffary for thefe ends in foreign fubfidies, often employed by the princes who received them to no better purpose than patching up an old castle, or spouted away in jet d'eaus. I fhould imagine forty or fifty thousand pounds a year fufficient for carrying on and completing thofe works: a fum which a moderate duty on a few articles of luxury' alone could easily raife. Not to mention numberless other untouched refources for fo trifling a fupply, the lotteries would furnish it with eafe, fince they are found by experience capable of producing annually two hundred thousand pounds clear by a voluntary tax on the folly and fuperfluity of the people.' The other improvements which our Author has fuggefted for the decoration of London, would alfo tend confiderably to produce that effect; and he deferves the highest commendation for the public spirit which his obfervations discover. In regard to compofition and literary merit, his performance is by no means defective; but we could have wifhed, we must confefs, that there had been lefs affectation in it, and that he had been more ambitious to distinguish himself by a modeft fimplicity, than by foppish and meretricious ornaments. * Why not placard? If our author meant to follow the Dutch or-, thography, he should have written plakaert. ART. V. Elementa Logica. Subjicitur Appendix de Ufa Logica & Confpectus Organi Ariftotelis. 8vo. 3s. Oxonii, excudebat G. Jackfon. 1770., Sold by White, &c. in London. THE art of logic has fuffered more from fchoolmen and fyftematic writers than any other. Whilft they profeffed to aid the operations of the human mind, and to pave the way for the difcovery and communication of truth, they, in effect, reftrained the freedom of the former, and raifed infurmountable obitacles in the way of the latter. Men of true genius felt and deplored the fhackles they impofed, though their implicit fubmiffion to venerable authority, the happy æra of our release from which was not yet arrived, would not permit them to affert their native liberty, and to think and judge for themselves.Others who were deftitute both of genius and taste, learnt to think and reafon by a fet of mechanical rules, as children used to make verfes and under a notion that art fupplied all the deficiencies of nature, fet up for prodigies of learning. Pedants and bigots became very numerous, and artificial science greatly prevailed, to the difgrace and injury of real knowledge.-The celebrated lord Bacon ftruck out new light, in an age of general ignorance and corruption, and prepared the way for thofe fubfequent difcoveries and advances in every branch of science which have rendered the last century fo diftinguifhed in the annals of time.-Newton and Boyle purfued the track which he had marked out for unfolding the fyftem of nature, whilft Locke applied the hints he had given, to the investigation andanalyfis of the powers of the human mind. His effay on the human understanding, needs none of the encomiums which we may be difpofed to beftow on it: but we are forry to observe, though we are profeffedly the advocates of FREE ENQUIRY, and would ever proteft against an implicit fubmiffion to any authority, however refpectable, that it is more the fashion of modern writers than might be wifhed, to flight the author, and undervalue a work, are perennius. We fhall be excused for bearing our teftimony in its behalf, at a period when truth must be rendered eafy of accefs, and alluring in its afpect, to engage the attention and gratify the taste of the bulk of readers. This is a dangerous fymptom, and we cannot but apprehend, that in proportion as the name and writings of Locke fink into neglect and difufe, fcepticifm will prevail. Nor is our apprehenfion altogether ground lefs, as feveral publications, of late years, feem to furnish but too ample a foundation for it. We have therefore waited an opportunity to do fome juftice to a Writer of the fift rank on the fcience of the human mind, and the article before us ferves our purpofe in this refpect. The The title of this piece conveys a juft notion of the work. It contains a brief abftract of the elements of logic; and though the intelligent reader can expect to find nothing new in it, he will be pleased to fee the principal definitions and rules of this art comprised in fo fmall a compafs, regularly digested under their proper heads, and expreffed with equal clearness and conciseness. He will, perhaps, regret that the Author had not taken a larger scope, and introduced a greater number of illuftrations. There is undoubtedly a mean between the extremes of prolixity on the one hand and brevity on the other. Logic itself teaches the neceffity of treating every fubject fo copiously as that nothing may be wanting, yet fo concifely as to exclude all redundance. Some may likewife be at a lofs to know why, in his definition of logic, (fince it is an effential character of a good definition that it be univerfal or adequate) the Author has confined it to the direction of the mind in the discovery of truth, whilft moft writers have extended it to the communication of it alfo; and why he has excluded difpofition, when he is enumerating the operations of the human mind, for the regulation and aid of which this art is intended. It is true, the Author has, in his conclufion, difcufied the fubject of method; though method itself feemed to require his dividing his fubje& into four general parts inftead of three. Some danger may arise from connecting words and ideas, as he does in the first part of his work. Young perfons, for whofe ufe this treatise feems to be intended, may not diftinguish with that precifion and accuracy which the Author himself has done. On the whole, notwithstanding the above remarks, which our duty in this province led us to make, this work may be acceptable and useful as a school-book, to give young perfons fome notion of this important art. ART. VI. A New System of Mathematics. By John Muller. 8vo. 10s. 6d. bound. Cadell. THE HE defign of this fhort treatife, fays the Author in his preface, is to reduce the principal parts of the extensive science of mathematics into fo narrow a compass, as to contain no more than what is abfolutely neceffary to be known, with refpect to practice, in the different ufeful arts of life to which mathematical knowledge may be conveniently applied; and hereby fave both time and expence, as well as prevent that difguft occafioned to many ftudents from a tedious round of intricate and at the fame time ufelefs fpeculations. Were the execution in any meafure anfwerable to the defign, this work would be exceedingly valuable and important: but we are forry to fay, that the Author has railed expectations which he has miferably disappointed. And though no particu U 2 lar |