drawn from this oblique infinuation; yet is equally true, that there is nothing unworthy of the pen of lord Chesterfield in this production. The author has accurately inveftigated and defined all the faculties, affections, and paffions of the human foul, and given us a very clear and distinct view of our intellectual fyftem. 50. A Letter to the Author of an Obfervation on the Defign of Eftablishing Annual Examinations at Cambridge. 8vo. 6t. Crowder.

This writer has answered the objections advanced by the Obfervator, and fhewn that no examination, in a private college can fuperfede, or render unneceffary the plan lately propofed to the fenate; that this plan neither interferes with the lectures of the public tutors, nor can poffibly impede a fingle part of the difcipline of any private college; that it does not leffen the authority of the mafters and fellows of any fociety; and that it is evidently calculated to animate the youth of the univerity to a vigorous purfuit of every rational and laudable attainment. On these accounts the letter-writer earnestly wishes, that the scheme may be paffed into a law.

51. Logic by Question and Answer for the Use of the Portfea Academy. 12mo. 25. Baldwin.

A compendious fyftem of logic, containing an explanation of all the terms commonly made ufe of in that fcience. The definitions are illuftrated by proper examples.

52. Obfervations on Eaft-India Shipping. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Nourfe.

The author of the Obfervations appears to have confidered the fubject with great attention. According to his calculation, a faving of about 19,500l, might be annually made, on the freight of the goods imported from China and Bencoolen ; an object not unworthy the regard of the East India Company, 53. A Sermon upon the Turf, by a Saint from the Tabernacle : preached at the laft Newmarket-Meeting. Svo. 9d. Bew. This is not the production of any faint from the Tabernacle,: as the title page afferts; but a piece of burlesque, in the, rambling, incoherent ftrain of a methodist preacher. The text is, "Good luck have thou with thine honour, ride on." The language of Scripture is too facred for drollery; otherwife we, fhould not have been displeased with fome of the author's ftrokes of humour, applied to the gentlemen of the turf..

54.4 Sunday Ramble: or, Modern Sabbath Day Journey; in and about the Cities of London and Westminster.

Bew.

I 2mo.

IS.

The author of this piece feems to be well acquainted with the various places of refort in and about London and Weftminfer. The feveral incidents which he relates are fuch as may, naturally be fuppofed to occur, the manners are juftly defcribed,, and the characters in general ftrongly marked. A ftranger who would form an idea of the manner in which the Sabbath is ufually spent about London, will here meet with information and entertainment.

1.

THE

CRITICAL REVIEW.

For the Month of February, 1775.

ARTICLE I.

The Hiftory of Manchefter. By the Rev. Mr. Whitaker. Vol. II. 17. 15. in Boards. Johnson.

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LMOST four years ago we reviewed the first volume of this work *, which we obferved to be replete with much curious information relative to the antiquities of Britain; for though the town of Manchester is particularly the object of the Hiftory, Mr. Whitaker, in tracing its origin and various ftages of advancement, has been led from local into general difquifitions, and has thereby thrown confiderable light on the ancient ftate of the whole island. When he began the work, he proposed to divide it into four books, containing an equal number of diftinct periods, viz. the British and Roman-British, the Saxon, the Danish and Norman-Danish, and the modern. The first of thefe was comprehended in the former volume, and in the prefent he treats of the Saxon period.

This book commences with an account of the ftate of the Roman provinces in Britain about the middle of the fifth century, the conduct of the provincials, and the invasion of the Saxons. Mr. Whitaker affirms that the interior condition of Roman Britain, at this period, has been ftrangely misreprefented by all our hiftorians; who defcribe the provinces as entirely drained of their warriors, exhausted of their spirit, and incapable of defence. This erroneous account he afcribes to Gildas, whofe authority has been generally followed by fuc ceeding writers. Our author likewife maintains that the

* See Crit. Rev. vol. xxxi. p. 245. VOL. XXXIX. Feb. 1775.

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charge of barbarism against the Britons, while they were under the Roman government, is equally deftitute of foundation: and he supports thefe feveral allegations by urging the improbability of the fuppofition that the contrary can be true, while fo many Romans were in the ifland, who could inftruct the natives in the arts both of peace and war. We agree with Mr. Whitaker in rejecting the teftimony of Gildas where it is apparently repugnant to credibility; at the fame time it muft be confeffed, that this fummary method of determining hiftorical facts upon the authority of opinion, may frequently lead a writer into very falfe reprefentations, as probability is not always a certain criterion of truth.

The fecond chapter contains an hiftorical vindication of the actions of the famous prince Arthur, the authenticity of which our author confiders as fufficiently fupported by the evidence of contemporary writers, notwithstanding the filence of Gildas concerning them. Mr. Whitaker afterwards relates the exploits of this British hero in war, his conduct in peace, and bis death and fepulture.

In the third chapter the author recites the invasions of the Saxons, and the fuccefs of their arms to the reduction of Manchefter by Edwin, which happened in the year of the Chriftian æra 62o. In the fubfequent chapter he delineates the Saxon geography of the ifland, and fhews the immediate effects of the Saxon fettlements in it and at Manchefter. The picture which he draws of the depravity of thofe ages, though expreffed in glaring colours, is far from being exaggerated.

The fyftem of religion, which the Provincials had fo long embraced, furnished antidotes to the foreign principle of corruption, and provided reftraints for the headlong impulfes of vice, in the heart of man, the most powerful that the wisdom of Divinity could contrive and the freedom of humanity admit. It held up the most ravishing profpects of felicity, to invite the foul to the practice of virtue. It prefented the most aftonishing views of wretchednefs, to deter her from the profecution of vice. It drew the line of duty in the brighteft colours, as a full direction to the wildered faculties of the understanding. And it promifed the aid of co-operating Omnipotence, as an effectual affiftance to the weakened powers of the affections. But under fuch a rule of conduct, and with fuch lively motives to the practice of it, the Britons had for fome time funk into a wretched degeneracy of manners. And they were not tainted merely with the fins, which even the purity of Chriftianity has not been able to prevent entirely in any period, the customary fruits of the original pollution. Ambition, the difeafe of the intellectual paffions, and fenfuality, the malady of the bodily,

ap.

appeared among their kings in all their wildeft horrors, public wars, private murders, adultery, incest, and fodomy.

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In 564 one fovereign prefented himself before the altar, the more folemnly to confirm an affurance which he had previously given, never more to injure a Briton and even there, in the very act of confirmation, and amid the very rites of religion, ftretched out his hand, and ftabbed two royal youths that were near him. Another, covered over with various parricides and adulteries, repudiated his own wife and married his own daughter. And a third, cotemporary with both, after repeated acts of violence and wickednefs having invaded the patrimony of his uncle and deftroyed him and his adherents, and been ftruck with a seeming remorfe for his crimes, became afterwards enamoured of his nephew's wife, murdered his own queen, murdered his own nephew, and married the widowed niece. Thefe were dreadful enormities, the ebullitions of outrageous impiety. And the kings in general were the applauders of villains and the patrons of robbers, were whoremasters and adulterers, frequently guilty of perjury, very charitable, and very wicked.

Even the clergy afforded wretched examples to the people, feldom adminiftering the eucharift, never reproving the prevailing fins, and being avaricious, ignorant, and proud. Some indeed were negatively good. But thefe were few. And fome were pofitively fo, exemplary in their moral practices, and faithful in their minifterial duties. But thefe were fewer ftill. The generality pursued eagerly the idle diverfions of the world, meanly courted the wicked great for fecular advantages, and even maintained their miftreffes in private. And, in this great degeneracy of the king and priest, the general body of the nation muft neceffarily have been very profligate. In any age or country the various reftraints, which prudence impofes and religion fixes on the modes of minifterial life, will neceffarily fecure the clergy the longest of any from the contagion of public vicioufnefs, and retain them the nearest of any to the sphere of religious duty. And that nation is peculiarly abandoned, where the clergy are openly profligate.

The national corruption commenced about 540, broke out in the horrors of civil butchery, and terminated at laft in a general profligacy. Goodness beheld the accumulated crimes with pity, and Justice refolved to punish them with feverity. The Saxons were called from the thores of Britain and the heaths of Germany, the ordained inftruments of avenging Providence. They came. The crimes of the Britons in their own nature accelerated their punishment. And their un-interrupted diffenfions and royal murders, the deaths of Arthur, Urien, and others, prepared them an easier prey for the enemy. Victory waited upon the Saxon battles. Conqueft attended the Saxon invafions. And they, who had fubdued only three counties in ninety years before, now reduced three fourths of the Provinces in eighty,'

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The fifth chapter treats of the feveral great divifions of Saxon ftate, the civil polity established in each of them, and the military oeconomy fettled over the whole. Mr. Whitaker obferves, that the partition of the Saxon kingdoms into tythings, hundreds, and counties, has been almost universally attributed to the Great Alfred, by modern hiftorians and lawyers; but in this he affirms that they are mistaken, and we think upon fufficient authority. According to him those three divifions were introduced by the Saxons at their invafion. The tything and fhire, he remarks, are both mentioned in the laws of the Weft Saxons, before the clofe of the feventh century, and during the reign of Ina; and the whole three divifions occur in the Capitularies of the Franks, prior to the year 630. He thinks it probable that these several inftitutions would commence originally at one and the fame period, among the kindred nations of the Franks and Saxons. This fuppofition is far from being inadmiffible: at any rate, Mr. Whitaker has produced authority for the exiftence of two of the abovementioned divifions in England, before the epoch to which they have been usually afligned; and from his enquiry into the civil polity of thofe times, we are confirmed in an opinion which we formerly fuggefted, that the feudal fyftem was received among the Saxons before their invafion of this country.

The fixth chapter is employed on the genius and conftitution of the Saxon royalty, with the nature and regimen of the Saxon lordships and towns. In this part of the work, Mr. Whitaker makes feveral animadverfions on fome modern hiftorians, with refpect to the representation they have given of the Saxon polity; for which he produces authorities of no inconfiderable weight. In the feventh chapter he treats of the general œconomy of the town of Manchefter under the Saxons; and the cuftoms, manners, and dress of its inhabitants. From this divifion of the work, we fhall prefent our readers with the following quotation.

The baronial manfion on the ground of the prefent college, in all ages of our hiftory, was the little capital of the manor and the mimic palace of the parish. And in it the lord exercised the moft remarkable attribute of baronial royalty, and minted his own money. This was even below the Conqueft the common privilege of all the barons in the kingdom, though not more than one or two pieces remain at prefent the indubitable coinage of any of them. And his houfe was the fchool of civility for all the gentlemen, and the academy of arms for all the military tenants, in the tything. The manners of the baron, foftened by his connexions with his brethren, and refined by his three annual attendances on his fovereign, would

be