A continuation of the Nottingham Election controversy, Parchment versus Worsted Stocking; in which, Parchment rattles most lustily, but Worsted Stocking gives him such a hard dry rub in reply, that he shrinks vanquished from the field. Indeed, the Worsted-Stocking conceals a two-edged sword of no common keenness and temper, by which the Parchment is cut to atoms and made the sport of the winds. Mo-y. Art. 48. A Letter to the Electors of Nottingham. By John Cart wright, Esq. 8vo. Pamphlet. 1803. Major Cartwright's political principles are well known, and, qualis ab incepto, he has steadily persevered in recommending and defending them. Undauntedly he continues to maintain the necessity of a parliamentary reform; and in offering himself a candidate to the electors of Nottingham, on the occurrence of any vacancy, he exhibits to them his views of the real nature of the British Constitution, of our situation, of our wants, and of our prospects. In a strain of bold, nervous, and animated eloquence, he attacks that which is termed the borough-faction, and reprobates with indignation the despotic principle of Taxation without representation.' To true Whigs, including we trust sancta cobors comitum, many of Major Cartwright's periods will be highly relishing, while to those of an opposite cast they will be wormwood." He considers the prevention of a parliamentary reform as having been the real object of the late war; he exposes those writers who, at its commencement, laboured to explain away the nature of our constitution, as bottomed on representation; he urges the necessity of recurring to original principles, in order to preserve our national greatness; and he concludes with observing, that it is not for an Englishman to despair of the Liberties of his Country. Do 66 Art. 49. The State of Things in 1803; in a Dialogue between the Art. 50. The Substance of the Speech of the Right Hon. Henry Ad- The impression made by this speech was favourable to the charac ter and talents of the minister. It offers statements which are said to be satisfactory, and holds out pleasing prospects for the future: but, by the issue of Exchequer bills to the amount of 11,000,000, it appears that the income of the State is not yet adequate to its annual expenditure. Art. Do Do Art. 51. The Importance of Malta to Great Britain, as a Naval and The substance of this sensible pamphlet may be given in the author's Art. 52. A Letter addressed to the Citizens of London and Westminster; Socicty in a vitiated state will not easily tolerate those remedies MISCELLANEOUS. Moy. Do Art. 53. The Life, Adventures, and Opinions of Col. George Hanger. of of Female Prostitutes.-The History of Egyptia, the Pamela of Norwood, and Paragon of the gyptian Race; the Author's Marriage with her, and her cruel Infidelity and Elopement with a travelling Tinker;-and a History of the King's Bench Prison, written by the Author during his Custody under the Marshal of that Prison, descriptive of the Miseries endured by the Prisoners, and the extravagant Expence incident to their Confinement. 2 Vols. 8vo. pp. about 400 each Vol. 16s. Boards. Debrett. Col. Hanger certainly possesses wit: but he forgets that a man may laugh till he cries, and that then he does not wish to laugh any longer. Irony, in which he particularly indulges, may be carried too far. An antient critic, wishing to restrain writers from attempting dilated pathos, reminds them that nothing dries up sooner than a tear; and of the risible faculties it may be also said that they soon tire, and that, by an injudicious endeavour to protract pleasure, weariness and pain are excited. Never was this remark more forcibly illustrated than by Col. Hanger's Miscellany. Like the eternal titter which we have sometimes witnessed, when we have unfortunately been in vulgar company, his humour, so far from exhilarating us, at last subdues and makes us grave. He has seen the world, from the court to the night-cellar, and has undoubtedly powers of amusement: but why, as Mrs. Slipslop would say, will he iron us to death!-We discern no wit in the effigy of himself suspended on the gallows; it will not serve for a pun on his name: for he is there not the hanger, But the banged. The Colonel describes himself as nudus agris, nudus nummis; and well he may, after having expended for only one winter's dressclothes the sum of nine hundred pounds. Having taken more li berties with himself than he would choose any man to take with him,' he proceeds to offer his advice to Prelates, Cyprians, &c. at considerable length: but then, as children say at school, it must all be taken the backward way; and, not being Crabs, we are tired of this retrograde motion. Art. 54. A Letter to the Hon. Col. George Hanger, from an Attorney at Law. 8vo. rs. 6d. Debrett. If we became grave at the vast exuberance and incessant reiteration of Col. Hanger's dry humour, we were forced to smile at this attorney's serious and argumentative reply to what he calls an hurly Burly attack on the profession of the Law. All that he advances may be yery just, and much to the purpose: but did the occasion call for a sober vindication? We should as soon have expected a letter from the Bench of Bishops to Cal. Hanger,-thanking him for kindly advising the ladies to fasten their petticoats to their shoes, when they walk along the street, lest any Bishop, passing by and seeing a beautiful leg, should have his thoughts diverted from things above,—as an expostulatory one from an Attorney, complaining of his having treated the limbs of the law too roughly. No doubt, this laughing Democritus sometimes means to be serious, but he has so blended grave irony with grave admonition, that few probably will give themselves the trouble to separate the one from the other. Art. Mo-y. Do 74 Art. 55. An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of Emigration from the Emigration, when carried to any extent, is one of those serious evils which it is much easier to deprecate than to resist by adequate remedies. When bodies of men annually quit their native country with the purpose of never returning to it, they must be actuated by foreign temptation, domestic dissatisfaction, or the combined operation of both these causes. The fact itself respecting the Highlands seems to be indisputable. It is said that last year upwards of five thousand people emigrated (to America), and that this year (1802) four thousand or more are about to follow.' Mr. Irvine does not mention these numbers as strictly correct: but he positively asserts that 6 there are some parts of the Highlands where population has dimi nished one-fourth within these ten or twelve years, and where this depopulation is severely felt.' By the arguments here employed, the reader is led to believe that this is an evil of an alarming nature; yet, if we are to admit the statement at p. 8 and 9, the object of Mr. I. is completely nugatory; for it is there not only asserted that the Highlands are more populous now than they were a hundred years ago, and are still rapidly increasing,' but that Emigration may partly be the cause of this rapid increase.' It is added that No country upon the face of the earth has risen so rapidly in the scale of improvement, nor attained eminence through such difficulties. In the space of fifty years, the value of property has arisen to a pitch unexampled in the history of any mountainous country. The price of labour has kept pace with it. Money has increased in proportion, and, comparatively speaking, affluence shines now, where formeily penury and sorrow hung their heads in darkness.' What, then, it may be asked, is the ground of complaint? It may be a singular phenomenon in the history of Great Britain, (28 Mr. I. remarks, p. 155.) that so many citizens should leave the most favoured province but if, on the whole, emigration operates rather as a benefit than an injury to this most favored land, how is it to be deplored? In this view of the subject, it may be wise, according to A gentleman of respectability and extensive local knowledge, of obliging manners and patriotic zeal, was good enough to furnis me with an example of this. The lands of Glencarnock, lying in the parish of Balquhidder, were bought by the Earl of Moray in 1764 at 3800l. At Whitsunday 1801 they were set at above 8ool. f yearly rent, an not a shilling expended by the proprietor upon mprovements. The farm of Invernenty, in the same parish, was feued by the Duke of Athole in 1736 to Donald M'Leran at the agreed price of merks Scots. It was sold at a public sale in 1794 300 for 3620l. Sterling, and not a shilling laid out upon improvement. Many such instances might be quoted. Let these suffice.' the the common adage, to let well enough alone; and not to interfere by measures of prevention, which are likely to do more harm than good. For what purpose, then, has Mr. I. been employing his pen? Is his interference prudent ?-Leaving him to settle these questions with his countrymen, we shall content ourselves with briefly laying before our readers the contents of his pamphlet. It distinctly enumerates, first the causes of emigration, and next its effects. Then follow observations on the means to be employed for preventing emigration, and on the conduct of Government with respect to it; and to the whole are subjoined some miscellaneous observations. From the details given in these pages, and the various suggestions respecting the improvements necessary to be undertaken in the Highlands, in order to fix the affections of the inhabitants to their native land, and to prevent their migration, we see nothing to confirm the description which the author gives of the Highlands as a most favoured province. That district is certainly capable of amelioration, and it concerns the Government and the land-proprietors to direct their attention to this object: but it is extremely impolitic to employ coercion, or even to use dissuasives. Make the Highlander as comfortable as circumstances will admit, and let his habitual enjoyments operate to bind him to his native mountains: but if they fail to produce the desired effect, restrain him not, lest he should regard his home as his prison. Empires flourish not by such means. Art. 56. A Picture of Monmouthshire, or an Abridgement of Mr. Coxe's Historical Tour in Monmouthshire. By a Lady. Crown 8vo. 5s. Boards. Cadell and Davies. This abridgement of Mr. Coxe's Tour (see Rev. Vol. xxxvii. N.S. p. 113.) is dedicated by the Lady Epitomist to that gentleman, and published with his permission. It owed its origin, we are informed in the advertisement, to a few minutes or notes made for a friend, who was about to travel into Monmouthshire; and proving of great service to him, it was thought that it might be generally acceptable to the tourist in this part of the country. The undertaking is executed with taste as well as brevity: but a map of Monmouthshire ought to have been subjoined. Art. 57. An Introduction to the Knowlege of rare and valuable Editions of the Greek and Roman Classics: Being, in part, a tabulated Arrangement from Dr. Harwood's View, &c. With Notes from Maittaire, De Bure, Dictionnaire Bibliographique, and References to antient and modern Catalogues. By T. F. Dibdin, A. B. 8vo. PP. 75. 33. 6d. Boards. Payne, &c. 1802, A very useful catalogue for the direction of the classical student in the choice of editions; and the more valuable, because the work of Dr. Harwood, on which it is partly formed, is now become exceedingly scarce, and is moreover not altogether correct. The notes form a principal part of this publication, and contain much information on the subject of editions. If this work should be favorably received, the author intends that it shall be succeeded by another on a larger scale. The public are much indebted to Mr. Dibdin for the troublesome office which Mo-y. D: |