to 1702; the feventh, from 1703, to 1727; the eighth, from 1728, to 1760; and the ninth, from 1761, to the publication of the prefenc volume. Each of these periods contains the following claffes: 1. The Royal Famlies, excepting thofe with the title of Duke, who have not fucceeded to the crown; they, with their defcendants, are comprehended in class 2. of Peers. 3. Gentry, 4. Clergy, fubdivided into fuch as are Bishops, and all others of every fect. 5. Lawyers, fubdivided into fuch as are judges, and all others. 6. Military. 7 Literary. 8. Artists, Actors, Writing-mafters, Tradefmen, including schoolmasters not having clerical orders. 9. The female fex, fubdivided into those who have the title of Lady, and Gentlewomen. 10. Phenomena, convicts, &c.; all thefe, except the first clafs, are alphabetically arranged.-Of the difficulties which Mr. Bromley had to encounter in the profecution of fo multifarious an undertaking, every reader may form fome idea:-the preface, which we have not room to tranfcribe, more particularly details them, and exhibits the manner in which he conducted the work. Mr. B. deferves much commendation for the minute and accurate attention which he has bestowed on a fubject that will be confidered as dry and uninteresting by the generality of readers, though it will be found a very useful guide to the collector of the works of our eminent artists, and to the fearcher after portraits of illustrious men.

Art. 58. Lectures and Reflections, on various Subjects, viz. Divinity, Law, civil and ecclefiaftical; Philofophy, Characters, Atheism and Hypocrify, Manlinefs, Godlinefs and Gratitude, Coalition, Marriage, Industry, and Sloth. In which Lectures are given various Rules to guard against Errors, in the Affairs of Religion and Human Life; as well as in the Sciences. With a Poem-The Force of Wonder. By John Hill, Philologus. 8vo. pp. 260. 45. fewed.

Locke.

It is with regret that we totally, and in a fummary way, condemn the production of any well-meaning writer: but occafions fometimes occur, on which we must discharge this difagreeable obligation. The prefent article affords an inftance of this kind.

Art. 59. Objervations on the A&t for the Relief and Encouragement of Friendly Societies. To which are added, Forms of the feveral Inftruments neceffary under the A&. By the Gentleman who framed the Bill. 8vo. 1s. Pridden. 1794.

This pamphlet relates to a fubject univerfally interefting; immediately fo to the labouring poor, and by confequence to the whole community. An act having paffed, in the last feflion of parliament, for the encouragement and relief of Friendly Societies, giving a legal protection and establishment to affociations for the mutual relief and maintenance of the members in ficknefs, old age, and infirmity, under fpecified regulations; the author of thefe Objervations explains the nature of the plan, points out the manner in which these associations may be most advantageoufly formed, and fuggefts hints for drawing up their rules, fecuring and difpofing their property, managing their disbursements, &c. He particularly infifts on the peculiar advantages to be derived by the members of established focieties, by the privilege

granted

granted to them of refiding where their trade or occupation can be mott conveniently pursued.

This inftitution for the benefit of the poor, as far as it goes, appears to be both judicious and benevolent. One thing, however, leems wanting to complete its utility; which is, fuch an amelioration of the condition of the poor, by increafing the price of labour, or decreafing that of provifions, as fhall place them in a condition to fpare, without materially interfering with their prefent exigencies, a weekly depofit, as a provifion against future contingencies.

Art. 60. The Distiller's Vade Mecum: Being a complete Set of TABLES, exhibiting, at one View, the exact Weight of SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS; from the loweit Quality to Alcohol, for any Number of Gallons, from 50 to 252, or one Ton. Together with fome ufeful RULES for calculating the different Strengths of Spirits,-adapted to Clarke's Hydrometer. To which are added, other useful TABLES, &C. By Jofeph Atlay. 12mo.

Robinfons, &c.

5s. fewed. • As no book of this kind has ever been publifhed, the author humbly prefumes it will be found a work of great utility, as it will entirely exterminate every error and inconvenience in the weighing of spirits of a higher or lower degree of ftrength; which, according to the common Table now generally made uie of, can feldom agree with the true gage, or measure; confequently the trader muft, at times, be a confiderable gainer or lofer in quantity, according to the ftrength of his goods.'

As to the utility of this work, it obviously depends on its accuracy; a circumftance on which we cannot pretend to pronounce: but, from the appearances of neatnefs and care in the printing, we are strongly prepoffeffed in favour of Mr. Atlay's performance.-In regard to the accuracy of the measure of liquids, the author affures his readers, in the preface, that he has had recourfe to the ftandard kept by the Mayor and Corporation of Briftol; and which was adjufted by the ftandard kept at his Majefty's Exchequer, in 1787. By which, and weights lately examined and adjufted by the ftandard, the fundamental principles of his Tables were eftablished, by actual experiment, to the greatest nicety.'

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the MONTHLY REVIEWERS.

C GENTLEMEN,

ΤΗ

HE heavy charge," refpc&ing Mrs. Macaulay, is given with a religious attachment to TRUTH. Mr. Graham attacks my candour; the public fhall judge of his own. The memorandum in the MS. he has given thus; " 12 Nov. 1764, fent down to Mrs. Macaulay.

(Signed) C. MORTON."

With what intention was the former part omitted? This is a correct transcript:

"Upon examination of this book, Nov 12, 1764, thefe
four laft leaves were torn out.

"Mem. Nov 12, fent down to Mrs. Macaulay."

Had the teftimony of Dr. Morton been as decifive as it is refpectable, I should only now have to retract my affertion. But the letter is myfterious; for it is only faid" that he RATHER thinks the leaves were wanting, when the MS. was fent to Mrs. M."

As no memorandums are made in MSS. which are fent down for the use of any perfon, I afk, Why is her name at all specified in this MS. It has been faid that the ftamp of the British Museum being on the last page proves that the MS. has been originally received in this ftate. This decides nothing; for if any one had torn thefe leaves, the stamp would have been renewed on the last remaining one.

• When I discovered this fingular note, I likewife received information from a quarter of undoubted authority. I was told that the female Hiftorian had acted thus more than once, and, when accused, infolently confeffed it, and was therefore refufed farther access to the Museum. Thefe facts are also well known to several gentlemen who attend the reading-room. At prefent, my remotenefs from the metropolis hinders me from citing names, without permiffion, which would fanction this intelligence.

The circumftantial evidence of the Memorandum, united with these facts, confirmed my belief when I published the anecdote; and now it is published, I still believe it. But, as my only view is the difinterested eaufe of truth, if Mrs. Macaulay can yet be exculpated, I fhall be the firft to eraze what I have been the first to write.

The refpect due to the public, not to the Rev. W. Graham, has claimed this notice. He has employed a virulence of style, which the good fenfe of fome has foftened into decency; and I wish that a modern Levite may be taught fome moderation, from one whom he calls " fon of Levi."

Exeter, Sept. 20,

3794.

'Gentlemen, I am yours, &c.

'J. D'ISRAELI.

To the MONTHLY REVIEWERS.

• GENTLEMEN,

THE ingenious author of the Art. XIV. in your Review for July obferves on the experiment of Mr. Cuthbertfon, inferted in Dr. Pearfon's Account of the New Chemical Terms: "We are rather furprized that this experiment has not been repeated on fuch'a fcale as to afford a large quantity of the airs for examination. For this purpose, a better apparatus indeed is requifite, and fuch may easily be contrived." Well knowing the extreme difficulty of this experiment, and its vaft importance, I fhall be moft happy to be informed what apparatus your ingenious writer has invented, or proposes :-Being, Gentlemen,

Your obedient fervant,

MEDICUS.'

We have as high a fenfe of the importance of this experiment as our correfpondent has: we cannot, however, fully gratify his liberal curiofity at the prefent moment: but we know that an apparatus for the decompofition of water, which will fuftain the discharge of a Leyden battery, is in the hands of a celebrated English philofopher, and indeed has been exhibited by him to a number of perfons. We have reafon to believe that his avocations have prevented him from profe cuting thefe experiments to the extent of his defign; and we shall be glad if our obfervations, or thofe of our correspondent, quicken his attention to the fubject, and produce a speedy account of his manner

of

of performing the procefs. Medicus will, perhaps, on reflection, contrive a fufficient apparatus for himself. The circumftance above mentioned is not our only reason for faying what we did: but we cannot now with propriety add more.

An anonymous correfpondent enters the lifts for us against Candour, (vide the correfpondence in our last number,) and very ably supports the opinions which we maintained on that occafion: but, on a fudden, he turns fhort round, and we behold our champion metamorphofed into an antagonist. The ground of his hoftility to us is the judgment paffed in our laft Review on A Collection of State Papers relative to the War against France, &c. publifhed by Mr. Debrett :" but, when he tells us that we condemn the whole volume with too much precipitation," furely he attacks our criticism without having read it. We condemned parts of it, and obferved that "into a collection called authentic, no paper of doubtful origin ought to be admitted, and still less, papers bearing internal evidence of their being fpurious." We then proceeded to fhew that papers of both deferiptions had found their way into this comp lation: but fo far were we from condemning the whole work, that we concluded our review with this fentence-" In other respects, this is a collection to which moft perfons will find it ufeful to have recourfe :" —a sentence which our correspondent must surely have overlooked, or he never could have faid that we had condemned the whole volume. He wishes to re feue the copy of the treaty of Pavia, given in this collection, from the imputation of being spurious; and he builds the probability of its authenticity on two grounds; one, that a partition-treaty is underfood to have been concluded by fome of the powers of Europe; the other, that this copy has been inserted as genuine not only in all the foreign and English newspapers, but alfo in the New Annual Regifter for 1792, where it is made the very,foundation of a confiderable part of the hiftorical article in which the whole confpiracy against France is treated with great ability and juftice.' With refpect to the former of these arguments, furely it does not follow that, because a treaty of partition was concluded, the pretended copy in queftion must be genuine, even though it should afford no internal proof of a spurious origin. As to the fecond, however refpectable the publications might be that fhould adopt, as genuine, an inftrument bearing internal evidence of the want of authenticity, we cannot acknowlege a paper to be authentic which we are convinced is fpurious: our reasons for pronouncing it to be fuch are in our last number, and need not be repeated here; our correfpondent has certainly not weakened them, nor proved the authenticity of his Pavia treaty, by telling us that there was a Congrefs at Pilnitz in September 1791, where the late Emperor and his fon the prefent Emperor met the Elector of Saxony, the King and Prince Royal of Pruffia, Count d'Artois, &c. &c.

Our correfpondent asks where we are to find ftate papers, or any information of any kind, if we are to throw afide the authority of newf papers?" We prefume that ftate papers and genuine hiftorical memoirs were to be found before newspapers existed. The authenticity of official documents must furely reft on fome better foundation than the unauthorized register of a daily print. We certainly would not call a document spurious because it had appeared in a newspaper; nor would we pronounce it genuine for the fame reafon alone. Authenticity may be fairly afcribed to all acts given as acts of state, in papers published by the authority of the different governments of Europe, &c.; it must be ascribed to fuch papers as are communicated to parliament by the ex

ecutive

ecutive power, whether purporting to be foreign or domeftic; and it might also be claimed in favour of thofe for the production of which, Motions have been made, though negatived, when the negative implied an affirmative; as when the refufal to produce fuch papers was juftified on the ground of its being impolitic to publish them; fuch a reafon amounting to an avowal of their existence, and an admiffion of the interpretation put on them. An abundance of papers of this defcription may be found in the collection in question; and confequently we never could have thought of condemning the whole :-but there were others of a different defeription, which we thought it our duty to notice; fome of them we pronounced to be of doubtful origin, others to -be abfolutely fpurious:-our reafons are before the public. Our correfpondent seems to think that. we ought to have particularized all the papers which we confidered as genuine, as well as thofe which we condemned as, doubtful or spurious. We differ from him on this head; for all that is not condemned may be prefumed to meet with approbation. When a general rule is laid down, it is enough to ftate the exceptions.

In answer to Mr. Digges's inquiry concerning the principal books that have been written against the "Errors of the Church of Rome," we only recollect, Ift, An octavo volume, with that title, by a Mr. Smithfee M. Rev. Ivii. p. 472. 2d, The Saiter's Hall Lectures, which are well efteemed. 3d, There is alfo a compilement, in 3 vols. folio, entitled, "A Prefervative against Popery:" but the writer of this note has no recollection of the value of its contents; it is not a very modern publication. 4th, A notable work alfo appeared about the year 1732, in 4 or 5 vols. 4to. entitled, Hiftoire des Papes depuis St. Pierre à Benoit XIII. inclufvement: published at the Hague, by Scheurleer. From the character given of this hiftory in the Journals of the time, its author was a man of learning and ability: but an outcry was raised against him on account of his appearing to favour the Proteftants, although profeffing himself a Roman Catholic: an objection which poffibly has proved nothing against him but his CANDOUR. 5th, Dr. Barrow's book on the Pope's fupremacy is of great character. As to Bower's Hiftory of the Popes, there can be no occafion for us to fay any thing concerning a work of fo much eminence.

ttt The queries of Clericus we muft answer as concisely as poffible. -We have no prefent intention of reprinting fome of our earlieft voJumes. The continuation of our GENERAL INDEX, to the end of the Old Series, is in forwardnefs.-We know nothing more of the translation of Livy which we fometime fince announced; and to which Clericus hopes Freinshemius's fupplement will be added.-A tranflation of the Greek particles, for fchools, was published fome years ago, price 3s. 6d. -The ingenious author of the Commentary, &c. is not forgotten: but he has unfortunately fallen into the hands of a gentleman who too much coincides in fentiment with Cicero, when he asked "Literato OTIO quid dulcius ?"-The Journal des Savans is dropped.

* We are obliged to J. W. for his letter; with which we have been entertained, and in fome points inftructed.

A. P.'s queftion rather furprizes us; we understand the ex preffion indefinitely.