We are by no means for defending the difingenuous and fhuffling behaviour of theatrical managers, but when a man is accused of a conduct fo infidious, that Mr. Garrick's, in the fame line, is comparatively generous and princely, it makes one fhudder to think of its comparative bafenefs. Our bicgrapher fays, that the bare expofition of the fact is fufficient, and there needs no commentary to explain that expofition. Now we think that, fuppofing the fact fairly stated, the inference by no means follows. Were the doors of Coventgarden theatre barred against Henderson for ever, because Harris declared he must then decline entering into any treaty with him?-Our Biographer, indeed, has not printed the word now in italics or fmall capitals, with the reft of the fentence; but it is legible enough in plain Roman, and is fufficiently strong and expreffive.-Mr. Harris could not at that time engage Mr. Henderfon; ergo, fays our Biographer, he was excluded for ever. Certainly this fage cafuift muft have learnt to chop logic of the Graver-diggers in Hamlet: argy! we thall here take leave of the reft of his narrative, and the wife faws and fagacious fentences, with which it is occafionally interLarded. For the fake of Mr. Henderson himfelf, who has undoubt edly great merit as an actor, we hope he was not acceffary to the publication of this piece of biography, as the writer gives us reason to think, throughout the whole. Whatever truth it may contain, the publication of it was ill-judged; for the truth, whatever the refpectable Mr. Thomas Davies may fay, is not to be spoken at all times, W. The History of Great Britain, from the firft Invafion of it by the Romans under Julius Cæfar. Written on a new Plan. By Robert Henry, D. D. one of the Minifters of Edingburgh. Volume the Third. 11. 1s. Cadell. As the two first volumes of this work were publifhed before the commencement of our Review, it may not be improper to inform our readers, that what Dr. Henry means by writing bis hiflory on a new plan, is that, inftead of giving all the events, civil, military, literary, commercial, &c. in one continued narrative, he divides them into different fections, and finishes the account of one kind of incidents before he enters upon the relation of another, The tain. The heads, or Chapters, into which he has divided his work, are thefe-1. The Civil and Military Hiftory of Great Bri2. The Hiftory of Religion in Great Britain. 3. Hiftory of Constitution, Government, and Laws of Great Britain. 4. The Hiftory of Learning. 5. Hiftory of the Arts. 6. Hiftory of Commerce, Coin, and Shipping. 7. The Hiftory of the Manners, Virtues, Vices, remarkable Customs, Language, Drefs, Diet and Diverfions of the People of Great Britain. The whole is concluded with an Appendix, containing a copy of Magna Charta, with an English translation; a Latin Epiftle from Peter of Blois to one of his friends on a medical fubject; and the permiffion of Richard !. for holding tournaments in England. This volume reaches from the Conqueft to the death of King John, that is, from the year 1066 to 1216. It is not to be fuppofed that, after the great number of Hiftories of England already published, Dr. Henry fhould be able to throw any additional light on the civil or military part of our annals; and accordi: gly we do not find, that his reprefentation of thefe tranfactions differs effentially from that given by other writers. But it might naturally be thought, that he fhould at leaft have entertained us with fome curious, anecdotes relative to the learning, arts, and manners of our anceftors, especially as the method he has adopted, furnishes him with an opportunity of mentioning feveral minute and detached circumftances, which could not perhaps be fo properly introduced into a hiftory written on the ufual plan. Of thefe, how ever, juftice obliges us to confefs, we have met with a much... fmaller number, than, from the apparent diligence and induftry of the author, we were at firft led to expect; and hence it is natural to conclude, that the English records do not abound with particulars of this kind. We fhall prefent our Readers with the most remarkable that have occurred to us in the perufal of this work, after taking notice of fome facts of a more general and interefting nature. la page 352, Dr. Henry tells us, on the authority of Ordericus Vitalis, who was born in England only nine years after the Conqueft, that the revenue of William i amounted to the incredible fun of 1061. 10. d. per day, which (neglect. ing the fraction) was equal in efficacy to 15,915. of our money per day, and to 5,808,975 per year. "This account, ays he, extravagant as it may appear, is not very different frein that which is given by Roger Hoveden, a contemporary hifto rian, of the revenues of England in the reign of Richard I. When Hubert, Arbifhop of Canterbury was about to refign VOL. VI. 3 A the the office of High Jufticiary A. D. 1196, he proved from his books, that the revenue he had collected in England in the two preceding years, was no lefs than eleven thousand marks of filver; a great fum, equivalent to 11,000,oco at the above rate of computation, in two years, or 5,500,coo in one year. What Dr. Henry means by "the above rate of computation," he explains afterwards, p. 545, 6 and 7, where he examines the opinion of Mr. Hume and that of Lord Lyttelton with regard to the value of money, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, compared to what it is at prefent. Both thefe writers agree, that any nominal fum of money contained nearly three times as much filver, in the former of thele periods, as it does in the latter; for as to gold-coin, it was not then come into ufe. But they differ widely with regard to the quantity of provifions which a piece of money, of the fame weight, (fuppofe, for inftance, a piece of the weight of one of our crowns) would have purchafed then, in comparison of what it will purchafe at prefent. Mr. Hume thinks it would have purchafed ten times as much then, as it will now; whereas Lord Lyttelton imagines, it would only have purchased five times as much. Dr. Henry fhows, from an induction of particulars, that, of the two opinions, Lord Lyttelton's is the beft founded; and it is according to his principles, that he forms his calculation. The Dr. entertains an opinion, which, we apprehend, will rather be deemed heterodox, with respect to the antiquity of juries in England. They feem (he fays, p. 357) to have been introduced in the reign of William I.: where, as it is the opinion of a most all our hiftorians, antiquaries, and law-writers, that they were established here in the reign of king Alfred, if not bore. As a fpecimen of the logical fubtilties, which were fo common in the fchools, he gives us the following curious queftion, which was very feriously agitated by fome of the most learned Doctors of the age. When a hog is carried toket with a rope about his neck, which is held at the other end by a man, whether is the hog carried to market by the rope or by the man ?" Nor was the age lefs remarkable for credulity than quibbling; witnefs the following ridiculous ftory, related, with great gravity, by Giraldus Cambrenfis, in his topography of Ireland. When St. Kewen (fays he) was one day praying with both her hands held up to Heaven, out of the window of her chamber, a swallow laid an egg in one of them; and fuch was the patience and good-nature of the faint, that fhe neither drew in nor fhut her hand till the fwallow had built her nest, laid all her eggs, and hatched her young. To preferve the remembrance of this fact, every ftatue of St. Kewen in Ireland ath a fwallow in one of its hands." Dr. Henry is high in his praises of Chivalry, on account of the virtues it recommended; among which he reckons modefty and chastity; and yet he fays the Normans, by whom this inftitution was brought into England, were fo licentious in their manners, that they violated the honour of maids and matrons, whenever they had an opportunity, and that young, women even of the first families, had no other chance of preserving their virtue, than by putting on the veil, and taking refuge in a nunnery. Hence it appears, that the precepts of chivalry, like thofe of morality and religion, however beautiful in theory, were not very easily put in practice. The English, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, had had only two ftated meals a day, dinner and fupper; the former at nine in the forenoon, the latter at five in the afternoon. These hours, befides being convenient for bufinefs, were fupposed to be friendly to health and long life, according to the following verfes, which were then often repeated; Lever a cinq, diner a neuf, We are not however, on that account to imagine, that they were eitner enemies or ftrangers to the pleafures of the table. On the contrary, they had not only a variety of difhes; but these too confifted of the moft delicate kinds of food, and were dreffed in the richeft and most coftly manner. Thomas a Becket is faid to have given five pounds, equivalent to feventy-five pounds at prefent, for one difh of eels. The Monks of St. Swithins, at Winchefter, made a formal complaint to Henry II. against their Abbet, for taking away three, of the thirteen dishes, they used to have every day, at dinner. The Monks of Canterbury were itill more luxurious: for they had at least seventeen difhes every day; befides a deflert; and thefe dithes were dreffed with fpiceries and fauces, which excited the appetite, as well as pleased the taste. As to the compofition of this work we fhall only observe, that the ftyle is plain and perfpicuous, though perhaps it is 3 A fome somewhat deficient in dignity; and though Dr. Henry poffeffes neither the elegance of a Robertson, nor the vigour or penetration of a Hume, he yet deferves the character of a well-informed, faithful, and fenfible hiftorian, A. Travels for the Heart. Written in France, by Courtney Melmoth, 2 vols. 12mo. 6s. Wallis. Written in France! A pretty recommendation truly !— Or perhaps the author means it as an apology. If the latter, it argues at leaft the merit of modefty, as well as fome degree of felf-knowledge. To fay the truth, we are forry that our commendations cannot keep pace with the productions of this once-promifing writer. In fact thefe follow each other fo rapidly, that we hope their author hath not much need of either victuals, drink, or fleep; for we cannot but conceive he muft otherwife be deprived of his natura fupport and that his ftrength of body muft fail under the incefiant labour of his imagination. The prefent travels in particular have all the appearance of being penned as they were performed, per diligence and per poft: they are, of course, of fuch a kind as might naturally be expected; as he that runs may read, what he that rides muft write-We are glad at heart, however, for the honour of our country, that theie frivolities are the product of their proper foil. We are perfuaded, that in England even the pen of Mr. Melmoth, though writing poft, would carry more weight. And yet he hath already acquired so much Gallic affrontery, as to attempt a juflification of them in his preface, and to endeavour to pafs there exotic levities on his own countrymen as worthy their atte: tion. "The motive," fays he, " by which I am urged to write a preface to this little book of running remarks, is, chiefly, to enter a caveat against a charge, which prec pitate readers may be pleafed to bring against it, upon account of my having admitted trifles, that, at firft fight, feem not worthy fo much notice "—If it were poffible to meet with a reader more precipitate than the writer, his caveat might not be thrown away. To others it is fuperfluous and fertile; as they must be very fuperficial readers, indeed, who, on the lighteft attention, do not find it engaged on very trifles. As this author, however, has a peculiar knack at manufacturing this kind of literary haberdafhery, we cannot refute him the juftice of laying before our readers, what he has to fay in favour of it. "Were |