A vein of pointed fatire runs through the whole work; and though it is often judiciously applied, and with much wit, particurly against modern writers of novels and romances, yet it feems to be fo much the Author's favourite turn, that three or four different strokes of it are frequently complicated and thrown together in the fame fentence. This unavoidably creates confufion, and periods of an immoderate length, a defect, which we have taken the liberty to correct as much as poffible in the translation.

Although the story is profeffedly borrowed from a Greek manufcript, yet there are many allufions in it to modern, customs, manners, and writings, which take off in a great measure from the antique caft that ought to have been uniformly preferved through the whole. The Author indeed apologizes for thefe in the preface; but the neceffity of fuch an apology had better been avoided; for we apprehend that he either wished to fave himself the trouble of correcting thofe paffages, or that his turn for fatire induced him rather to leffen the dignity of his subject, than to omit any opportunity of indulging this propenfity.'

As the Tranflator's impartiality has led him to take notice of the flight imperfection pointed out in the laft paragraph of the foregoing extract, he very honeftly proceeds to cenfure his Author for certain careless expreffions, and an indelicacy in fome of his allufions, which, as he obferves, we fhould not have expected in fo elegant a Writer; but we think there is, in this work, a defect of more importance than any of those which he has noticed. A romance, or a novel, like other fables, usually ends with a moral deduction; and it is proper that this should always be the cafe, not only because the moral is the main object and end of the piece, but becaufe the farewell impreffion left on the Reader's mind when he clofes the book, is generally that which ftrikes the deepest, and lafts the longest. Now, although the balance obviously inclines in favour of morality, throughout the whole of Agathon's hiftory, there is no exemplary inference of this kind at the conclufion of the work; for, there, the hero of the tale relapfes (after his return to vire tue, in the third volume) into his mifplaced love for a beautiful and highly accomplished courtezan, who had deluded and fafcinated him in the early part of his youth, and of his adventures. This, in the Author, is criminal; but he has alfo grossly violated the laws of female delicacy and decorum, by introducing this courtezan to the acquaintance and friendship of an amiable and virtuous lady, who certainly could not, confiftently, at leaft, with our modern notions of honour, attach herself to fuch a perfon, without relinquishing all pretenfions to reputation.

In juftice to Mr. W. we must not, however, omit to acquaint our Readers, that he does not, in fact, appear to have intended the close of the fourth volume for the final completion of his defign. On the contrary, he there talks of certain fupplements and additions to the History; which may not be un

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worthy the attention of the public, and which will give us a view of the opinions and conduct of the amiable Agathon, at fifty years old.

ART. VI. The Farmer's Lawyer; or, Every Country Gentleman his own Counfellor. Containing all the Laws now in Force that particularly concern the Farmer, the Country Gentleman, the Clergyman, the Maltfter, the Hop-Planter, the Carrier, or any other Perfon whofe Bufinefs or Amusements occafion him to refide chiefly in the Country, &c. By a Gentleman of Lincoln's Inn. 12mo, 3 s. 6 d. Kearsley, &c. 1774.

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S this Gentleman of Lincoln's Inn feems difpofed to parcel out our laws into fmall compendiums for different ufes (which is not an ill fcheme, if maturely executed, and not converted into hafty jobs) it is to be hoped he will be more careful in any performances of this kind now under contemplation, than he has been in thofe already published. His Compleat Parish Officer was far from meriting that character; and his Farmer's Lawyer, will leave his client as ignorant as he found him with refpect to many points on which he may have occafion to confult him, notwithstanding his liberal affurances of fupplying all the laws now in force relating to-a specification too long to copy from the ample title-page. A farmer's lawyer is a definite term, and if judiciously executed might have anfwered the purpofe both of the farmer and publisher; but this Gentleman, in one duodecimo volume, affures us he has given us any (or every) perfon's lawyer whose business or amusements occafion him to refide in the country! Alas, our laws cannot be fo compactly epitomifed, that we fhould take a random affertion of this nature for a truth! But as the Farmer, the Country Gentleman, the Clergyman, the Maltfter, the Hop-planter, and the Carrier, are particularly mentioned, it may also be afked at random, why no notice is taken of laws under the titles Advowfons, Bailiff's and Bailiwicks, Banks, Chaplains, Churches, Commons, Copyholds, Courts Baron and Leet, Fairs and Markets, Fences, Fens, Firft-Fruits and Tenths, Forefts, Freeholds, Hufbandry and Hufbandmen, Land-Tax, Leafes, Militia, Mortgages, Parks, Poor's Rate, Simony, Tenures, Trefpafs, &c. all which concern one or other of the three former rural ftations?

Whatever may be thought or faid by fuch writers as the prefent nameless Compiler, the expofing the failures in their engagements affords no pleafure, apart from the care we endeavour to take not to deceive our Readers, who in this inftance are no fmall number, by unfair representations; and no author has a right to claim any tenderness of this kind. Let him fettle the point with his bookfeller who happens to be deceived in the

Vid. Catalogue for this month.

confidence

Confidence he repofes; and who is neceffarily led to indemnify himfelf as well as he can. Unhappily the difcredit of fuch conduct extends to literature in general, and affects the first propofals of the moft 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. 8o. The provifions relating to black and red game are taken from the 2 Geo. III. c. 19. though that act, so 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 recen. acts, not already abridged by others, are given at large without acftract, the formal enacting words beginning the claufes, excepted: by which eafy 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 wish to confult the original act more carefully, is mifled in his fearch, and left without a guide to fet him right.

Under Hemp, one only circumftance 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 fending them abroad; nor of the regulations for horfe racing, which moft country gentlemen would with to know, as racing is at this time fo feriously pursued by the gentlemen of the turf.

Laws relating to the grinding corn and malt, are indeed given under the article Miller; but thofe 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 compofitión, were it not fometimes needful to guard against common-place invectives, which are generally ready

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when the writers of fuperficial books are fummarily difmiffed, 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 anfwer a purpose, to which the Reviewers will have no objection.

ART. VII. The Irenarch; or, Justice 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 Commiffion. To which is prefixed, a Dedication to Lord Mansfield, by another Hand. 8vo. 2 s. Payne. 1774.

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O begin regularly with this excellent pamphlet, the uncommonly 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 ftanding 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 individual;—an individual indeed of no trifling relation to the Public, confidering his ftation and his power. The declared purpose of this addrefs is thus expreffed :

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 auspices and fanction of your Lordship's name. Hints will fuffice for the purpose 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 fomewhat 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 difplay throughout, than fufficiently to value himself upon, at the clofe of his addrefs. Befide our wifh 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 fhall therefore only produce, as a detached fpecimen, what he fays on a fubject of general import, the liberty of the prefs:

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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 use of it." "I fhall lofe no time in defcanting, whether they ought or ought not perfuaded am I fincerely, that, if our present -manners hold, they moft affuredly will: for, as a certain writer has faid very truly, "never did an envenomed fcurrility against every thing facred and civil, public and private, rage throughout the kingdom 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 wantonly affaults the first characters in church and ftate, but even facrifices the peace and quiet of private families to the fport and enter tainment of an ill-natured public :—and is it not notorious, that all this has been, and daily is, done ?-then, I fay, this noble, reafonable, and manly liberty is degenerated into a base, unwarrant able, cruel licentioufnefs; and this licentioufnefs, determine as logically, and contend as loudly, as you pleafe, will, by an unavoidable confequence, flowing from the nature and conflitution 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 must deflroy the ufe of every thing: and if the people grow licentious and ungovernable, it is as natural, perhaps as neceffary, for their rulers to increase their reftraint, and abridge their liberty, as for an horfe-breaker to tighten the reins, in propor tion as his steed fhall fhew an impatience to be managed.

It has been faid, that without freedom of thought there can be no fuch thing as wifdom, nor any fuch thing as liberty without freedom of speech: and, because 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 re ftraint, and allow ourselves an unbounded license, as well in speaking as in thinking. "Rare and happy times, fays he, when a man may think what he will, and speak what he thinks:" rara temporum felicitas, ubi fentire quæ 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 worst times, as well as in the beft, becaufe Thought, as is commonly faid, is at all times free: but can a man at any time, or under any government, even the best, be allowed the liberty of Speaking what he pleafes, of communicating himself up to the ftandard of his ideas May every man speak of every man, what, for instance, the spleen of humour, or the caprice of imagination, thall happen to fuggeft? My Lord, these people know as little of Tacitus, as they do of So ciety, and what it will bear." If life remains, fays he, I have re ferved, for the employment of my old age, the reign of the deified Nerva, with that of the Emperor Trajan; a work mare copious, as

well