fences of a mixed form of government, like that of Great Britain. It is not its least merit, that it is written with perfect candour, and in the true spirit of doing good. As fuch it may be recommended as an antidote to the wildness of republican theories on the one hand, and to the obftinacy of Tory prejudices on the other. Plain Suggeftions of a British Seaman, refpe&ting the prefent Admiralty, and the Mode of conftituting the Board, &c. &c. as alfo the Figure made by his Country on the Seas during the prefent War. With loofe Hints for a Plan for Manning the Fleet without Prefing. 8vo. 15. Jordan. 1794. This writer fuppofes that the feats at the admiralty board are pointed out by the finger of corruption, and from that cause, filled by perfons whofe habits and occupations in life cannot have fitted them for the important task of directing the navies of England. He proposes to constitute this board in a very different way; namely, by an affemblage of men, whofe diverfity of knowledge might apply to the general tafk of conducting admiralty bufinefs. Thus he advifes not only a naval but a military officer, a merchant, a furveyor, &c. inftead of bankers, country members of parliament, and others who appear to be placed there only to give them a claim to enormous falaries. The author alfo enumerates a variety of abuses which other writers like himself have fruitlessly complained of, and has also added another to the many schemes that have been fuggested for manning our navy without the fcandalous and perhaps illegal cuftom of preffing. A Letter to the greateft Hyprocrite in his Majefty's Dominions. 8vo. 25. Lee. 1794. To know who is the greatest hypocrite in his majefty's dominions, is a piece of curiofity too harmless to deserve a fine of two shillings, which this modest author, undoubtedly the most unconferonable one in his majesty's dominions, condemns every man to pay who with es for fixteen pages of furious abufe against the principe! law officer of the crown, and his colleagues in adminiftration. The language of political rage is here exemplified in redundant epithets and farfetched metaphors, and the conclufion of the whole matter is, that his majefty has not at present the happiness to poffefs one official fervant who is not an enemy to his country. The Merits of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Haftings, as Minifters in War and in Peace, impartially stated. Svo. Is. 6d. Debrett. 1794. It is by no means difficult to guefs from whofe pen these remarks, which are meant as a defence of Mr. Haftings, proceed. As they were published however in the World, and muft, in that form, have undergone a very general perufal, we fhall forbear entering into them at any length. The author, whilft he profeffes himself an admirer of Mr. Pitt, fuggefts the very striking difference in the process of his measures compared with thofe of Mr. Haftings. He lays, It is far from his intention to caft a direct or an oblique cenfure on the minifter for his want of fuccefs; and it is foreign to his prefent purpose to detail the causes which have hitherto prevented Mr. Haftings from being rewarded for his fervices. "The experience of all ages teaches us that calumny and mifrepresentation are frequently the moft unequivocal teftimonies of the zeal, and poffibly the effect, with which he, against whom they are directed, has ferved the public." The juftice of this wife remark of Mr. Fox, has in no inftance, either in ancient or in modern hiftory, been fo fully exemplified as in the cafe of Mr: Haflings. His fervices have been publicly acknowledged. By his exertions the British nation has acquired many millions fterling; by his firmnefs and decifion an empire was preferved, and its refources improved, even amidst the calamities incident to a wide-extended war.-His meafures have been applauded by minifters. To his fyftems minifters have clofely adhered. Europe and Afia have done complete juftice to his characYet there is no fpecies of calumny and mifreprefentation to which he has not been expofed, nor a term of vulgar reproach in the English language, which has not been uttered against him, in the courfe of the laft feven years.' ter. The Trial of Thomas Muir the Younger, of Hunterfuill, before the High Court of Jufticiary, at Edinburgh, on the 30th and 31ft Day of August, 1793, for Sedition. 8vo. 35. Ridgway. 1794. On this trial we fhall make few comments. Mr. Muir was indicted for feditions harangues and fpeeches, and circulating Paine's works, &c. The evidence on the part of the crown is not complete as to the feditious intention, nor the fact of circulating pamphlets; on the contrary, they almost all agree that Mr. Muir in his fpeeches was a ftrong advocate for peace and order, difliked Paine's book, and always faid it, would not do; he appears to have belonged to fome focieties for obtaining a parliamentary reform by petition to parliament. The jury returned a verdict of guilty unanimoufly, and a fentence was paffed of transportation for fourteen years, to fuch place as his majefty, with the advice of his privy council, might appoint. Mr. Muir's defence was managed with great ability ;-and gives us the most favourable opinion of his eloquence and judgment, NOVE L. Selico, an African Tale, tranfiated into English Verfe, from the Youth is a very common apology for the imperfections of a literary production, but here it is age. Seventy years, however, do not appear to have blunted the feelings of the author, although they may have allayed the fire of his imagination. The story is interefting, and though the tranflator has adhered to his original, with at rigidness not favourable to the fuccefs of his undertaking, it is defi ..cient cient in very few particulars. The profits are intended to be applied to that great and defireable object—the abolition of the flave trade. LAW. Laws concerning Property in Literary Productions, in Engravings, Defignings, and Etchings: ufeful for Authors, Printers, Bookfellers, Engravers, Defigners, and Printfellers. Shewing the Nature and prefent State of fuch Property, and the Mode of fecuring it. Svo. is. 6d. Jordan. 1794 This is an ufeful compilation for authors, printers, bookfellers, printfellers, &c. It contains an extract from Blackftone, a fummary of the act of 1709, and the cafe of Millar against Taylor, with the pleadings and opinions of the judges. By the law, as it now ftands, an author has an exclufive privilege of fourteen years, with another equal term for himself and his heirs, if he shall be alive at the expiration of the firft. Some questions remain ; as, for instance, if a work be published in fucceffive volumes and years, at what period does the privilege commence? To enjoy this prerogative, the work must be entered at Stationer's Hall. The question however did not reft here, though in this particular cafe the plaintiff Millar was so fortunate as to fucceed. In about four years, after a fimilar dispute arose between Donaldfon and Becket, which came before the court of chancery, when the lord chancellor decreed in conformity with the above determination of the court of King's Bench: from this decree, there was an appeal to the houfe of lords, where it was ordered that the twelve judges fhould feparately give their opinions on the subject: and for that purpofe the following queftions were stated: 1. Whether at common law, an author of any book or literary compofition had the fole right of firft printing and publishing the fame for fale; and might bring an action against any person who printed, publifhed, and fold the fame without his confent? 2. If the author had fuch right originally, did the law take it away, upon his printing and publishing fuch book or literary compofition and might any perfon afterward reprint and fell, for his own benefit, fuch book or literary compofition, against the will of the author? 3. If fuch action would have lain at common law, is it taken away by the ftatute of 8th Ann? And is an author, by the faid ftatute, precluded from every remedy, except on the foundation of the faid statute, and on the terms and conditions prescribed thereby? • Whereupon, the judges defired that fome time might be allowed them for that purpofe. • On the 15th of February 1774, the judges gave their opinions.— Lord Mansfield did not speak, it being very unusual, (from reafons of delicacy) for a peer to fupport his own judgment, upon an appeal to the houfe of lords. 6 • Out Out of the eleven judges, there were eight to three, in the affirmative on the first question. Seven to four in the negative on the fecond queftion. Six to five in the affirmative of the third question. So that the decifion of the court of King's Bench, and the decree of the court of Chancery, was overtured by this decifion of the majority of the twelve judges, and the law fettled as follows. That an author had at common law a property in his work, and the fole right of printing and publishing the fame, and that when printed or published, the law did not take this right away, but that by the ftatute 8th Ann, an author has now no copy-right, after the expiration of the feveral terms created thereby. The universities were alarmed at the consequence of this determination, and applied for and obtained an act of parliament establishing, in perpetuity, their right to all the copies given them heretofore, or which might hereafter be given to or acquired by them. This was done by ftatute 15 Geo. III. c. 53. A. D. 1775; befides which this latter act alfo amended the act of 8th Ann, refpecting the regiftering the work at Stationer's Hall; in doing which, the title to the copy of the whole book, and every volume thereof, muft now be entered.' The Laws refpecting the ordinary Practice of Impofitions in Money: lending, and the buying and felling of Public Offices. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Clarke and Son. This work cannot but be extremely useful to all persons who either lend or borrow money, fince it difclofes the different methods which have been taken to evade the ftatute against ufury. It is acknowledged, in the advertisement, that the cafes here detailed have appeared already in a periodical publication; but if it be also true, that no other work on these very interefting fubjects is in existence,' the prefent republication is by no means to be regretted. MEDICIN É. A Treatise on the Struma, or Scrofula, commonly called the King's Evil: in which the common Opinion of its being a Hereditary Difcafe is proved to be erroneous; more rational Causes are affigned, ilinftrated by a Variety of appofite Cafes; and a fuccessful Method of Treatment recommended: together with general Directions for Sea-Bathing. By Thomas White. 8vo. 35. Murray. 1794. We noticed the first edition of this work, in our LVIIIth vo lume, p. 232--and we now find it a little enlarged, but, in the most effential refpects, the fame: the doctrines and the practice are unchanged, except that the plan is fupported by more extenfive experience. POETICAL. Mufa Berkhamstedienfes or Poetical Prolufions by fome Young Gentlemen of Berkhamfted School. 8:00. Is. M'Dowall. 1794. That tricks are practifed in every trade is an opinion which experience feems to juftify mankind in having adopted; and, that the trade of education is not exempt from them, we have continual and lamentable proofs, and may cite the work before us as an inftance. We may poffibly have been in an error in fuppofing the first object of education to be the culture of the heart, and the second, the communication of ufeful knowledge; for here we are presented with a collection of poetical pieces as the fummum bonum of a boardingfchool fyftem. We are apprehenfive that parents are as willing to be deceived as teachers to deceive, and that the frothy appearances of knowledge are as fatisfactory to the one as convenient to the other. Of the two, however, we judge the deceiver to be infinitely the least excufable, and therfore we shall not hesitate to advise our readers, in perusing the following paffage from the introductory addrefs, to omit the negatives. Thus, • Oftentation and motives of felfifh intereft have [not] impelled the editor to this little publication. To attract the notice of parents by a pompous difplay of his scholars' abilities and improvement was [not] his object.' Of the pieces themselves, we should be inclined to speak favourably, as juvenile efforts; but, we cannot help remarking, that the pen of the editor has been bufily employed throughout the whole, There are many parts, however, whence extracts might be taken, that would not be unpleafing to our readers; and perhaps the following, from a Poem called the Schoolmaster,' written in imitation of Spencer, may not pafs unadmired: · Beneath the fhade of deep embow'ring maft, So |