Art. 39. Idées fur l'Opéra, prefentées à Meffieurs les Soufcripteurs, les Actionnaires, et les Amateurs, de ce Spectacle. Par M. Le Texier. 12mo. pp. 68. 2s. 6d. Bell. 1790. Art. 40. Ideas on the Opera, &c. By M. Le Texier. Tranflated from the French. 12mo. pp. 66. 2s. 6d. Bell. 1790. This little pamphlet is written with fpirit and taste. M. Le Texier, while he allows all due praife to the performers, &c. ridicules the abfurdities which are but too confpicuous in our opera, as it is at prefent conducted; and he endeavours to point out how they may be avoided: but, alas! fo many qualifications are required in the conductor of this entertainment, that we defpair of feeing his ideas speedily realized. 0: Art. 41. Obfervations on the Teft Laws, in Reply to "A Review of the Cafe of the Protettant Diffenters." 8vo. pp. 58. IS. Dilly. 1791. TEST ACT. This pamphlet contains a particular examination of the arguments adduced by the Bishop of St. David's against the repeal of the Teft Laws. The writer, (Mr. William Beltham, author of "Effays Philofophical, Hiftorical, and Literary," fee our New Series, Vol. II. Art. 1.) fcouts the idea of there being any danger to be apprehended to the State from Popery; which may be regarded, he fays, only as the gigantic ghoft of fome monster of other times.' He confiders the " Review, &c." on which he animadverts, as full of pompous nothings. In point of folid argument, we fcruple not to declare our opinion, that he has the advantage; nevertheless, the "Review" was ably written. We are fully convinced, with Mr. Belfham, that the Teft Laws are not cal culated for any purpose of safety, nor of defence, but merely for that of irritation. Moo-y Art. 42. Thoughts on such penal religious Statutes as affect the Proteftant Diffenters; molt refpe&fully fubmitted to the Confideration of the honourable Promoters of the Bill in favour of protefting Roman Catholics. By William Parry. 8vo. pp. 47. 1 S. Johnson. 1791. Befide the telt and corporation acts, there are others, which, if put in force, would be still more grievous to Diffenters. Thefe Mr. Parry enumerates, and calls on the legislature to repeal. He fhews that all penal religious ftatutes are objectionable on the principles of reafon, of humanity, of juftice, of Chriflianity, and of civil and ecclefiaftical policy. His arguments, under each of these heads, are exhibited with force and compreffion; and every enlightened and liberal mind will be convinced by them, that it is furely high time for Chriftians, in every nation, to unite in feeking, by peaceable methods, the abolition of perfecuting laws and edicts, and join their efforts to obliterate the reproach, which their exiftence has long affixed to the Chriftian name.' Mr. Parry very properly afks whether it would not be wife policy to legalife that liberty which has already, while poffeffed by fufferance, been productive of such happy confequences ?' @ POLITICS POLITICS and POLICE. At 43. Strictures on the Letter of the Right Hon. Edmund Burke, on the Revolution in France. 8vo. pp. 173. 2s. 6d. Gardner, 1791. Of a tract with a fimilar title, we gave an account in vol. iv. P. 453, of our New Series. The author of that performance was a juftice of the peace, and a diffenter. The prefent writer fays, he is neither papift nor diffenter; and that he never frequented any public place of worship but the church of England, though in fome parts of its fervice, to which he has infurmountable objections, he does not join.' He difplays good fenfe and ability, as well as much reading; and he is by no means unfuccessful in attacking feveral of Mr. Burke's civil and religious principles and pofitions: but his arguments would perhaps have been more striking, if they had been more compreffed. He tells us that he is verging towards old age; and his performance partakes of the garrulity that is com mon to that time of life. Mesh the greater part of this pamphlet is occupied in the difcuf. By much fion of general principles, or in the examination of some question of domestic politics, and more particularly the question of religious establishments, which the writer thinks have done much more harm than good to the cause of true Christianity. He even doubts whether the existence of a separate and diftinct order of men, called priests, be any wife neceffary to the fupport of religion and morality. In his fentiments on civil matters he writes with equal freedom; maintaining, with the humane and fenfible Beccaria, that no community has a right to take away the life of any of its members. What is faid of the French proceedings bears only a fmall proportion to the rest of the work. The government now eftabiifhed in France, the author calls a mixed form; the component parts of which are a limited monarchy, and what Ariftotle, in his Ethics, calls a timocracy. This latter differs from a democracy, by admitting to a share in the government fuch only as pay a tax, or have an income; while a democracy admits all the citizens without exception. Democracy refpects perfon; timocracy regards perfon and property. Here he obferves, that our own government, properly fpeaking, is, in no part of it, democratic: but confifts of a limited monarchy, an ariftocracy, and a timocracy. He rightly adds, that to cenfure any form of government because it is new, and differs from others, is neither wife nor temperate. Let us wait till time fanctions our decifion. In fome parts of his work, the author discovers rather too much of the fpirit of cavilling; especially in his captious and quibbling criticifm on Mr. Burke's celebrated apotheofis (if we may fo ftyle it,) of the Queen of France. On the whole, however, we think his remarks are, generally, fair and juft; and they are, for the most part, fupported and illuftrated by learned authorities, both ancient and modern though fome of them (from the Italian particul. rly,) are fo incorrectly printed, as to be hardly intelligible, even by the help of the lift of errata; which, long as it is, only corrects about In the first of thefe Letters, which have appeared before in fome of the daily papers, Mr. Burke juftifies the character that he had given, in his Reflections," of Henry the Fourth of France. The fecond is a letter of thanks to Captain W. for the speeches of the Abbé Maury, with which that gentleman had furnished Mr. Burke. It contains alfo a declaration, that whenever the Abbé fhall get rid of his prefent dangers, and fhall wish to relax in the eafe and free exercise of this island, Mr. Burke, with a very fincere and open heart, will be happy to give the accolade chevalerefque to one who has fo perfectly acquitted himself en preux chevalier. Should the Abbé hefitate to enter the fame houfe which once fheltered the Count de Mirabeau, Mr. Burke declares that he will have it purified and expiated, and will look into the best formula from the time of Homer downward, for that purpose. He will do every thing but imitate the Spaniard, who burned his house because the Connetable de Bourbon had lodged in it. That ceremony, he fays, would be too expensive for his finances. Art. 45. A Short Letter to the Right Hon. Edmund Burke, on his frange Conduct in the House of Commons on Friday May 6th, in which fome Obfervations are made on the Impeachment and the French Revolution. By a Member of Parliament. 8vo. pp. 25. 15. Ridgway. 1791. This felf-returned member of parliament, as we take him to be, here acts the part of a pleader, and of one too, not the moft temperate, nor liberal, in the caufe of Fox verfus Burke. His great object feems to be, to make the newly converted Tory, Edmund Burke,' declare himfelf more decidedly in favour of administration, or elfe co-operate more cordially with his former friends. To drive him from his neutral ground, he attacks his enemy with his own weapon-declamation: but he does not manifeft a tenth part of the fkill and dexterity in the management of it, which has been difplayed by the Right Hon. Gentleman himself. Do Art. 46. Report of the Commiffioners appointed to inquire into the State and Condition of the Woods, Forefts, and Land Revenues, of the Crown, and to fell or alienate Fee Farm, and other unimproveable Rents, to the Right Hon. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in purfuance of an order, dated the 1st day of April, 1790. Svo. pp. 28. 1s. Debrett. 1790. No fcrutiny into public management affords fatisfaction in the refult, notwithstanding the multitude of offices and officers, and the very ample emoluments allowed to all of them. Is it not alarming that the commiffioners fhould have occafion to reprefent, that, In the office of the Surveyor General of the woods and fores, where we expected the beft information on the business of that department, department, we found no official books, plans, furveys, or papers, of any kind, that could be of ufe to us. From this want of official information, our fituation was new and fingular; nor can the progrefs we have made, or the diligence we have bestowed, be judged of by a comparison with any former commiffion, where the accounts, documents, or vouchers, to be confidered, were either ready to be produced, or eafy to be referred to. Great part of our time has been confumed in feeking for materials for our investigations.' As to the objects of their inquiries, they declare, that there. is a general and alarming decreafe in the quantity of great mber growing in this country: that no dependance can, with fafety, be had on other countries for a Supply: that the quantity of oak timber wanted for various internal purposes, and for the fhipping employed in the extenfive trade of this country, will be as much as can be fupplied from private eftates at home; and that, if the royal forefts shall be improved and properly managed, they may, in time, be brought to furnish a fupply, which will prove a complete fecurity against the fcarcity which there will otherwife be too much reafon to apprehend.' The Report is fummed up in the following manner: We fhall conclude this Report with obferving, that in the courfe of our enquiries we have found, that the walled condition to which the royal forefts are reduced, is chiefly to be imputed to three caufes : ift. To the ill-defined and improvident grants of the Crown, by which oppofite and jarring interefts are created in the fame forests: 2dly. To the prefent confufed and abfurd fyftem of management, in which the officers are not paid by falaries proportioned to the duty they perform, but by fees, poundages, perquifites, and advantages, which increafe according to the wafte, extravagance, and deftruction, committed or allowed; but not one of which is calculated to excite attention to the intereft of the Crown, or the improvement of the forefts: and, 3dly. To the neglect and relaxation of Government, during the prefent century, refpecting this part of the public property; in confequence of which, no effectual check has been given to the mifconduct of the refident officers, nor to the intrufions of the neighbouring inhabitants and proprietors: and we have endeavoured, to the utmost of our power, to acquire fuch a knowledge of the fubject as to be able to give the Legiflature a clear view of the prefent state of this part of the public property; to fuggeft fuch alterations only in thofe rights of individuals, which are mixed with the rights of the Crown, as feem neceffary to admit of the whole property being improved, with reciprocal advantage to all the parties interested; to propofe a better and more fimple fyftem of management, in which the officers fhould be paid by adequate falaries, and all fees, poundages, and perquifites of every kind, fhould be. abolished; and to point out the means of preventing future incroachment or wafte, fo as to bring thofe forefts into fuch a general ftate of improvement as may, in time, provide a fupply of timber for our navy. These are objects of great importance; but they are attended with fome difficulty, and require deliberate confideration.' If public bufinefs can profper under fuch neglect, confufion, and peculation, we are fure that no private concerns can; we therefore fee, in a strong light, the melancholy prospect which fuch occafional investigations afford! Cleanfing particular corners of the Augean ftable is but trifling with a generous public; nothing fhort of a timely, thorough, ftern, rigid, reform, can fave us, and who is willing or able to engage in it? What are our reprefentatives doing? 2s. 6d. Art. 47. General Regulations for Inspection and Controul of all the Prifons, together with the Rules, Orders, and Bye-Laws for the Government of the Gaol and Penitentiary House for the County of Glocefter, made, published, and declared at a General or Quarter Seffions of the Peace, holden on the 15th of July, 1790; and confirmed by the Judges of Affize held for the faid County, on the 6th of Auguft following. Second edition. 8vo. Glocefter, printed by Raikes, and fold by Cadell, London. We have, with great fatisfaction, perufed this very useful and important publication; which contains an ample-we might, perhaps, fay, a complete-body of every thing relative to thofe branches of police which, collectively, form the fubject of the well digested work before us; and it comes to us under fuch legal fanctions as fully entitle it to, and will certainly give it, great weight with the public in general. The ADDRESS of Sir G. O. PAUL, Bart. to the Juftices, is fuch as muft reflect great honour on the enlightened mind of that worthy patriot.-We are particularly pleafed with the leading principle here advanced, That the prevention of crimes is ever preferable to punishment, not only on the ground of humanity, but of true national policy.-See alfo our account of Sir George's former publication, (entitled Confiderations on the Defects of Prisons, &c.) Rev. vol. lxx. p. 384. Art. 48. To the Right Hon. William Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c. By T. G Simpfon. 8vo. pp. 14. Mr. Simpfon, in this letter to the Premier, difapproves, and utterly condemns, as both impious and impolitic, the defign of a war with Ruffia, on the ground of favouring the Turks. He is not an elegant writer: but he offers fome arguments respecting the nature of the measure against which he earnestly teftifies, that will not easily be refuted by those who think, and act, and have voted, with Government, on this very important queftion. Art. 49. Serious Inquiries into the Motives and Confequences of our prefent Armament against Ruffia. 8vo. PP. 60. 28. De brett, 1791. The intelligent part of the nation, who attend to current political tranfactions, are fufficiently acquainted with the pretenfions of the Empress of Ruffia, and with the oftenfible foundation of our interference between her and the Turks: but, alas, exoteric and efoteric doctrines never differ more widely on any fubject than they do |