confidence he reposes; and who is neceffarily led to indemnify himself as well as he can. Unhappily the difcredit of fuch conduct extends to literature in general, and affects the first proposals of the most accurate writer on any fubject; a disappointed purchaser naturally forming conclufions prejudicial to every author who folicits attention to his labours. Even the claffes contained in this performance, are neither Full nor correct. Under Cyder we have regulations for making malt, from the laft act, which the Author afterward, under Malt, owns to be " unnaturally blended" with cyder. Under the title Game, the penalties for killing game in the night, or on Sunday, are recited from the 10 Geo. III. c. 19. which was repealed by the 13 Geo. III. c. 80. The provifions relating to black and red game are taken from the 2 Geo. III. c. 19. though that act, fo far as it related to thofe fpecies of game, was repealed by 13 Geo. III. c. 55. Thefe acts 13 Geo. III. c. 55. and c. 80. do indeed by a ftrange inftance of careleffness, tending to confound the reader, follow the obfolete matter; and it is to be noted, in general, that recent acts, not already abridged by others, are given at large without abftract, the formal enacting words beginning the claufes, excepted: by which easy means, the book is unneceffarily fwelled with little trouble to, the Compiler. The laws relating to Hay and Straw are quoted from the act 2 W. & M. c. 8. which reference appears to govern the whole; though the greatest part of what is there faid is taken from the 31 Geo. II. c. 40. by which means the reader who may with to confult the original act more carefully, is misled in his search, and left without a guide to fet him right. Under Hemp, one only circumstance is mentioned, viz. the penalty on watering it in ftreams or ponds where cattle are watered; although there are feveral other laws relating to flax and hemp, neceffary to be known by perfons concerned in those articles. Under title Horfes, there is no mention of the ftatute relating to the exportation of them, and the duty to be paid on sending them abroad; nor of the regulations for horfe racing, which moft country gentlemen would wish to know, as racing is at this time so seriously purfued by the gentlemen of the turf. Laws relating to the grinding corn and malt, are indeed given under the article Miller; but those fly knaves are not told the penalty they are fubject to if they fell flour for making ftandard wheaten bread, of a different quality from that prefcribed by the late bread act. It had not perhaps been worth while to enter into thefe inftances of careless compofition, were it not fometimes needful to guard against common-place invectives, which are generally ready. N 4 when when the writers of fuperficial books are summarily dismissed, without evidence being produced to enable the Public to judge, of the verdict given against them. As to the hafty Compiler of the prefent performance, whatever he may now deem of the foregoing hints, they may hereafter, perhaps, be made to an fwer a purpose, to which the Reviewers will have no objection. ART. VII. The Irenarch; or, Juftice of the Peace's Manual. Addreffed to the Gentlemen in the Commiffion of the Peace for the County of Leicester. By a Gentleman of the Commiflion. To which is prefixed, a Dedication to Lord Mansfield, by another Hand. Evo. 2 s. Payne. 1774. O begin regularly with this excellent pamphlet, the un÷ commonly expanded dedication to the Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench claims the first notice, though the reader's attention will finally reft on the tract before which it is placed the latter being of landing utility, while the former is only of temporary importance; the one refpecting the welfare of the whole body of the nation, the other only regarding the character of an individualan individual indeed of no trifling relation to the Public, confidering his ftation and his power. The declared purpose of this addrefs is thus expreffed.: I It was not fo much meant for a dedication to your Lordship, as for a vehicle to convey certain hints to the Public, under the aufpices and fanction of your Lordship's name. Hints will fuffice for the purpofe here in view: which is, not to treat things in detail and at large, but only to touch them in a fummary way; not fo much to teach men any thing of which they are ignorant, as to remind them of what they know. Under this idea, and upon this plan, let me be borne patiently, while I mention a few of thofe articles, which are reckoned among our grievances in the law; and which have fome what unfettled your Lordship in the affections of the English.' This is artfully done by commenting on the feveral charges exhibited in Junius's celebrated letter to Lord M. from which charges the Dedicator would feem willing to exculpate his Lordfhip; though it is probable the perfonage addreffed will not hold himself under any greater obligation for the matter of the defence, than for the manner of thus refreshing the memory of the Public with respect to these accufations against him. The Writer is undoubtedly a man of abilities, and of extenfive reading; which latter qualification he seems no lefs difpofed to display throughout, than fufficiently to value himself upon, at the close of his addrefs. Befide our with not to enter into the perfonality of this dedication, it is too far extended for us to include any fatisfactory view of it, in a fhort extract; we shall therefore only produce, as a detached fpecimen, what he fays on a fubject of general import, the liberty of the prefs: As to the liberty of the prefs, Junius calls it "the palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman," to which I readily affent; and he contends, that no particular abuses ought, in reafon and equity, to produce a general forfeiture, or to abolish the ufe of it." I shall lofe no time in defcanting, whether they ought or ought not perfuaded am I fincerely, that, if our prefent manners hold, they most affuredly will: for, as a certain writer has faid very truly, 66 never did an envenomed fcurrility against every thing facred and civil, public and private, rage throughout the king+ dom with fuch a furious and unbridled licence." But take warning, my good countrymen; and deceive not yourselves. When the prefs ridicules openly and barefacedly the most revered and fundamental doctrines of religion: when the prefs, in political matters, attacks perfons without any regard to things, or perhaps fometimes attacks things for the fake of abufing perfons: when the prefs not only want tonly affaults the first characters in church and ftate, but even facrifices the peace and quiet of private families to the sport and entertainment of an ill-natured public and is it not notorious, that all this has been, and daily is, done?-then, fay, this noble, rea fonable, and manly liberty is degenerated into a bafe, unwarrant able, cruel licentioufnefs; and this licentioufnefs, determine as lo gically, and contend as loudly, as you please, will, by an unavoid able confequence, flowing from the nature and conftitution of things, fooner or later bring about its deftruction. Things are fo formed, that extremes must ever beget, and prepare the way for, extremes. Abuses of every thing mul defroy the afe of every thing: and if the people grow licentious and ungovernable, it is as natural, perhaps as neceflary, for their rulers to increafe their rettraint, and abridge their liberty, as for an horfe-breaker to tighten the reins, in proportion as his feed hall fhew an impatience to be managed. It has been faid, that without freedom of thought there can be no fuch thing as wisdom, nor any fuch thing as liberty without freedom of speech: and, becaufe the latter is true in a qualified fenfe, and under certain limitations, the authority of Tacitus has been abfurdly and even ftupidly obtruded, as a warrant to take off all reftraint, and allow ourselves an unbounded licenfe, as well in fpeaking as in thinking, "Rare and happy times, fays he, when a man may think what he will, and speak what he thinks:" rana temporum felicitas, ubi fentire que velis, et quæ fentias dicere, licet: Rare and happy times indeed! But pray, dear Gentlemen, what times were thofe, or who has read of any times, when men were not at liberty to think as they would? A man may think as he pleases in the work times, as well as in the bett, becaufe Thought, as is commonly faid, is at all times free: but can a man at any time, or under any go vernment, even the beft, be allowed the liberty of Speaking what be pleases, of communicating himself up to the ftandard of his ideas? May every man fpeak of every man, what, for inftance, the spleen of humour, or the caprice of imagination, fhall happen to fuggeft? My Lord, these people know as little of Tacitus, as they do of Society, and what it will bear." If life remains, fays he, I have reServed, for the employment of my old age, the reign of the deified Nerva, with that of the Emperor Trajan; a work more copious, as well well as more fafe: fuch is the rare felicity of thefe times, when you are at full liberty.to entertain what fentiments you please, and to declare what sentiments you entertain." To declare what sentiments you entertain: yes, but of whom, or what?-not of every man you meet, nor indeed of every thing that happens: Tacitus understood human affairs in a different manner: but of those particular reigns, in oppofition to fome former tyrannical reigns; when men, far from fpeaking out, durft scarcely trust themselves even with their own thoughts. "It is remarkable, that the freest thinkers as well as the freeft speakers have never allowed such a license in theory, whatever themfelves may have taken in practice. "Let us feek truth, fays Lord Bolingbroke, but feek it quietly as well as freely. Let us not imagine, like fome who are called Freethinkers, that every man, who can think and judge for himself as he has a right to do, has therefore a right of Speaking, any more than of acting, according to the full freedom of his thoughts. The freedom belongs to him as a rational creature: he lies under reftraint as a member of fociety. We may communicate our thoughts only fo, as it may be done without offending the laws of our country, and disturbing the public peace." And if this be true about things and opinions, fhall it not be fo a fortiori, when applied to perfons and characters? Muft a philofopher be circumspect and guarded, when treating of abftract propofitions, or difcuffing speculative points, which not one in ten thousand knows any thing of; while every low, malicious, unprincipled wretch fhall be permitted to scatter firebrands indifcriminately in society, and vomit out fcurrility and abufe, without juftice and without measure? Will any man say, that the laws of our country are not offended, and the peace of fociety difturbed, more in the latter cafe, than in the former ? -I know it will be afked, where will you draw the line of diftinction? how ascertain the point, where Liberty ends, and Licentiousnefs begins and I fhall in this, as in many other cafes, allow the extreme difficulty of reducing human affairs to any degree of precifion and exactnefs; but I believe nevertheless, that, unless fome expedient can be hit upon to correct the very atrocious abuse of the prefs, the deftruction of its use will be found unavoidable. As to any formed defign_against the liberty of the prefs, I cannot fuffer myself to be at all apprehenfive of it: it is of more use and importance to a King of Great Britain, than (if poffible) to any of his fubjects; and this alone fuffices with me to ftifle and keep down every rifing jealousy. In abfolute defpotic governments, where the will of the prince is the law of the country, where all things are administered by force and arms, and where the glory of the Grand Monarque is the fole end and object of the monarchy, it matters not much for him to know, what the condition of his fubjects is, and what they fay or think about him: but in a qualified and limited monarchy, like ours, where the King is no more than the first magistrate appointed by the people, where he is as bound to obey the laws as the meaneft of his fubjects, and where the wellbeing of thefe fubjects is the fole end of his appointment-furely to fuch a Prince it must be of the last confequence to know, as minutely as he can, what is doing in every corner of his kingdom; what the ftato ftate and condition of his fubjects; whether they enjoy plenty, proportioned to their induftry; and whether, in fhort, the end of his kingly government be in every refpect anfwered? All this, I fay, and more, a King of Great Britain must know as he can: but-how muft he know it ? A King, let his difcernment of Spirits be what it will, let him pry ever fo acutely into the heads and hearts of thofe about him, will never be able to pierce through the manifold disguises, which courtiers always know how to wrap themselves in. By courtiers are not meant thofe gaudy painted images, which flutter about a palace, and are really nothing more than the moving furniture of it; but thofe, who are entrusted with the great offices, to whom the administration of affairs is committed, and who, for the most part, manage and direct the reins of government as they please. And as he cannot dif cover, by any natural fagacity in himself, the latent principles of things, any more than the real characters of perfons; fo he must not expect to receive any effectual information from others. For, I fuppofe, it will be no fatire upon any particular court, that now is, or ever was, to say, that there never was a Prince, who was told by any of his fervants all thofe truths, which it concerned him to know. At least this is a propofition I take to be fo well grounded, that I do not think the fevere plain-dealing of a Clarendon, or the honeft bluntnefs of a Sully, fufficient to form an exception to it. The Emperor Dioclefian made the difficulty of reigning well, to confift chiefly in the difficulty of arriving at the real knowledge of affairs." Four or five courtiers, fays he, form themselves into a cabal, and unite in their councils to deceive the Emperor. They fay, what will please their mafter: who, being fhut up in his palace, is a perfect stranger to the real truth; and is forced to know only, what they are pleased to tell him." Now this great hindrance to good government, as Dioclefian justly thought it, is almoft, if not altogether, removed by the glorious privilege of the British Constitution, of which we are fpeaking, the liberty of the prefs. By means of this, the loweft fubject may find access to the throne; and, by means of this, the King has a key, if I may fo call it, to all manner of intelligence: nor is there any thing, of the least importance to government, of which his Majefty can long remain uninformed and ignorant, unless he wilfully and obftinately fhuts his eyes. It is not meant, that he should fuddenly adopt as real truth and matter of fact, every thing which may be read in the public prints: and many perhaps may think, that amidst so much mifreprefentation and error, fo much partiality and difguife, so much indifcriminate fcurrility and abufe, he can hardly depend upon any thing at all, or take any measures from fuch a chaos of truth and falfehood. But of this chaos, were it ten times more fo, it is indifputably certain, that very much ufe and very many advantages may be made. The King may be directed to find things, which he would never have thought of looking for: more than glimmerings will ever and anon appear, which will enable him to push his discoveries far, and to trace many things to their fource, which would otherwife have Jain hid from him. In short, from thefe public intelligencers, fome things will be hinted, others fpoken out more freely, and others pre feated |