amply recompenfed: and in executing most of the chapters appropriated to particular defcriptions of men, and especially fome of thofe chapters, with the fubjects of which I was the least acquainted, I have been fortunate enough to receive the unreferved fuggeftions, advice, and animadverfions of perfons feverally occupying the ftation, or belonging to the profeffion in queftion, and accustomed strictly to confider its duties in a confcientious light." The exemplary character and high refpectability of the author form a strong pledge to the public, that his friends, and they who communicated their opinions. to him, would be found among thofe individuals who are beft qualified to give found decifions in fuch queftions; and we doubt not, therefore, that their names, if mentioned, would carry with them a strong additional recommendation of the work to which they have contributed.

That which is obvious to the eye of the general critic is, that the materials are ably put together, and the book written in a masterly and eloquent ftyle. The arrangement and fubdivifions are fo clear that no effort is required to comprehend or recollect them; and even the famenefs which might be expected to arife from the uniform objects of recommending right and profcribing wrong in every inftance, is in great measure avoided. That, after fo many treatifes of practical divinity, a treatise of practical morality should ftill be a new undertaking appears a little extraordinary, yet fo it is, to the best of our recollection; and though books on general morals have been multiplied in every language, we have not met with one which thus diffected fociety, to bring the truths of morality home to every bofom. "To apply inoral truths to practical purpofes; to point out their bearings on modern opinions and modern manners; and to deduce from them rules of conduct by which the inhabitants of this country in particular, each in his refpective ftation, may be aided in acquiring the knowledge, and encouraged in the performance of their feveral duties,"-are, according to Mr. Gifborne's own statement, the objects of his work. To this arduous tafk he brought a mind already ftudiously exercised in moral fcience, the powers of which he had alfo publicly evinced to be confiderable, by a book in which he urged fome ftrong objections against the plan of Mr. Paley's acute and, in general, excellent moral treatise; and alfo laid his own founda

The Principles of Moral Science Inveftigated, and briefly applied to the conftitution of civil fociety. 8vo. White. 1789 and

1791.

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tions

tions for the principles of moral fcience. On thefe foundations he raises his prefent fuperftructure, and the edifice is certainly fuch as promiles to do permanent honour to the artist. Nor mult the reader expect mere morality in the work now recommended to him, it is Chriftian morality, in which religion is fo interwoven as to be altogether infeparable; and the appeal is conftantly made to the conscience, not as finally to be judged by its own decifions, but by the justice of him who gave it that faculty of deciding.

It is a great collateral excellence in this publication, that, being calculated for the principal claffes of fociety in this country, it gives, on the whole, the completeft view of the nature of our civil polity that can be imagined. The foreigner, by perufing it, will obtain a knowledge which he could not otherwife acquire without much feverer study, or a long intercourse with us; and if fuch a work could be produced, with equal care and confcientioufnefs, in every country in the world, the moft perfect history of human fociety might be formed from the whole, that could be withed or devifed. A great fimilarity would undoubtedly appear in the general duties of certain univerfal claffes, which are found in all focieties, but the. particular colour arifing from local application, would make perpetual difcriminations, of the moft curious and inftructive nature. Mr. Gisborne has wifely confined himself to the task of recommending morality to his own countrymen. To have attempted a fimilar detail, with refpect to the claffes of men in other nations, would have been an undertaking, arduous beyond the reach of human powers, and by no means attended with proportionate utility; for, after all, the circulation of it must chiefly be where it was written. Whether he has done equally well in two other reftrictions of his plan may, perhaps, admit of a doubt. The first of them, however, he has noticed, and has affigned his reafons for the omiffion, in. the following terms:

"It will not be expected that in a work of this kind, a distinct part fhould be appropriated to those who are placed in the lowest ranks of fociety. By them argumentative and bulky treatises on morality will not be read. The careful perufal of their bible, and the study of short and familiar expofitions of its precepts, aided by the public and private admonitions of their pastors, are to them the prin cipal fources of inftruction." P. 3.

That there is much truth in this obfervation cannot be denied; yet if, as the author allows immediately after, the fuperior claffes among the laity, as well as clergy, ought to endeavour to inftruct and improve the lower by judicious atten. tion, it may, perhaps, be thought that a view of the kind of character,

A a 2

character, which they fhould endeavour to form among their inferiors, might be attended with fome advantage. The parts also addre:fed to the lower claffes might, with great utility, have been extracted in fmaller publications, for their use; and certainly, as a whole, the work would have derived a fuller appearance of perfection, from comprehending every clafs, than by paufing at a certain line. The other omitiion will undoubtedly admit of much excufe, yet we are inclined to doubt whether, on the whole, the reafons for fupplying it in future may not preponderate. It is that of leaving the duties of females entirely untouched, the work being literally on the Duties of Men. From the fituations of their hufbands, the wives of all claffes of men derive particular duties, and are exposed to particular temptations; and as, from the limited fcale of female action, thefe cannot afford materials for a feparate treatise, perhaps, it might have been ufeful to have fubjoined to each chapter a view of this part of the queftion; or in one chapter to have gone through the feveral claffes, with the refpect to the duties of this amiable and very important part of fociety.We propose this plan, with the choice of his mode of executing it, to the refpectable author, when he thall prepare for future editions; reminding him that this particular advantage will probably arife from it, that the rules there laid down will be received with more attention than any others. The female character, barring fuch exceptions as will readily occur, is, in general, more defirous of information on points of duty, and more fcrupulous in acting up to it, than our own; and we will venture to promife that judicious advice fo directed will feldom be fuggelled in vain.

We fhall now haften from preliminary matters, on which we have been led to dwell longer than we intended, to the view of the work, which, in a general way, cannot be more readily conveyed than by fubjoining the Table of Contents.

"1. Plan of the Work explained. 2. General Remarks on the First Principles of the British Conftitution. 3. On the Duties of the Sovereign. 4. On the general Duties of Englifhmen, as Subjects and Fellow-Citizens. 5. On the Duties of Peers. 6. On the Duties of the Members of the House of Commons. 7. On the Duties of the Executive Officers of Government. 8. On the Duties of Naval and Military Officers. 9. On the Duries of the Legal Profeffion. 10. On the Duties of Juftices of the Peace and Municipal Magiftrates. LI. On the Duties of the Clerical Profeffion. 12. On the Duries of Phyficians. 13. On the Duties of Perfons engaged in Trade and Bufinefs. 14. On the Duties of private Gentlemen. 15. Confiderations fubmitted to Persons who doubt or deny the Truth of

1. We are happy to fee that a fecond edition, in two volumes 8vo., is already published.

Christianity,

Christianity, or the Neceffity of a ftrict Obfervance of all its Precepts."

སྙ

The fubdivifions of these general heads are fuch as arife naturally out of the fubject, in a mind capable of taking fo accurate and extenfive a furvey of the whole, as the author of this work has made. The moft common objection, probably, which will be urged by individuals, peruling fuch parts of this work as relate to their own particular fituations, is, that the line of duty is drawn too ftrictly for practical obfervation; but on this topic it will become every objector to ask himself whether the rules he has laid down for himself are not, on the other hand, too lax, which certainly is the most ufual cafe: nor will it, we think, be denied that in fuch a work it is better to err on the rigorous than the indulgent fide: fince men will readily enough take liberties, though they might not think of all the ftrictnefs of their duties, unless it was exprefsly fuggefted. Perfection may be unattainable, but to aim at it is the only way by which any high degrees of goodness can be achieved.

It will not be expected of us, that we fhould go through every department of this extenfive work, and ftare exactly in what points we agree with the author, and in what we differ from him. Such an examination would go to an extent far beyond what we can allow, or our readers would defire; and as we have seen sufficient reason to be abundantly fatisfied that the whole is written with the fpirit of a wife and liberal man, and a confcientious chriftian, we leave minuter matters to be difputed or acceded to by others, according to their own knowledge or perfuafions. It will be fufficient for us to exhibit fuch fpecimens, as may induce our readers to become readers alfo of a work moft evidently calculated for public utility, or at leaft to decide for themselves, whether it be fuited to their taste and course of enquiry.

Mr. Gisborne opens his book by remarks on the first principles of the British conftitution, for which he affigns the following fatisfactory reafon.

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Among the moral obligations incumbent on all men as accountable beings, there are fome which in different countries and on particular occafions affume different forms, point to different modes of conduct, and have to encounter the oppofition of different temptations and impediments, in confequence of peculiarities in the established forms of civil government. No ethical work therefore, which profeffes to treat of the duties of various claffes of fociety in Great Britain, can be complete as to its plan, unless it pays a marked attention to the British Conftitution. The ufes of the principal parts of 'that Conftitution will be distinctly noticed in fubfequent chapters, in which the refpective duties of the individuals compofing the feveral branches of the Legiflature will be difcuffed. The way however may be

cleared

cleared for thofe details, by a previous inveftigation of fome points of a more general nature." Page 11.

In this difcuffion we are happy to find our intelligent author a found and able advocase for the conftitution of this country, as it ftands at prefent. The view he takes of the nature of reprefentation appears to us as just as poffible, and is in fome degree new.

"One leading circumftance, however, in the British Conftitution, the ftate of Popular Reprefentation, has been repeatedly ftigmatifed as incompatible with the fundamental principles of juftice. It is undoubtedly true that a very large majority of the inhabitants of this kingdom has no elective voice in the appointment of the members of the House of Commons; in other words, most of the people of Great Britain have no fuffrage in the nomination of the perfons who are to enact the laws, by which non-electors in common with the reft of the nation are to be governed. But the limited diffufion of the elective franchife cannot fairly be affirmed to be a breach of juftice. The right of voting for a member of Parliament is a public truft; it is as truly a civil office as the moft confpicuous employment in the State; and, humble as it may feem, is a civil office of confiderable importance. All public offices and trufts being conftituted in this kingdom for the general good of the whole; it is just that they fhould be conferred under fuch political conditions as the general good may demand; and be devolved to thofe perfons alone, who polefs the political qualifications deemed effential to the proper difcharge of the duties attached to them. Of thefe conditions and qualifications the nation is the judge; and when it has fixed, according to its beft views of public utility, the terms on which each public office fhall be conferred, and the defcription of perfons to whom it fhail be entrusted; no man who is deftitute of the civil qualifications preferibed has any plea for complaining of injuftice in being precluded from filling the poft. It would be as unrafonable in a perfon thus difqualified to contend that he is treated with injuftice in not being permitted to be an elector, as it would be to affirm that he is unjustly treated in not being permitted to be king. The king and the elector are alike public officers; and the nation has the fame right to appoint citizens of a particular defcription to choose members of parliament, as it has to appoint a particular family to occupy the throne." Page 14.

Of all political queftions, none is more immediately connected with the grand divition, between thofe who think the mere will of the people the true fource of law, and those who refer it to cffential justice, than that of inftructions to reprefentatives. They who hold that the legislative body ought to fpeak directly the will of the people, muft defend the right of conflituents to inftruct their members, and the neceflity of 'implicit obedience to those instructions: they who hold that what is moft beneficial, not what is most popular, ought to be enquired by a deliberative affembly, will, if they are confiftent,