his imagination. Few persons out of the island will look for either entertainment or instruction in the jurisprudence of this spot; and we think that the portion of our journal, which we recently bestowed on Mr. Wood's account of it, formed as great a portion of our room as, in justice to other demands, we can spare. The composition of Mr. Johnson's book appears to us quite equal to the subject; though to point out occasional errors of style, (such as p. 5. paucity of Manks history') would prove no difficult task.

Art. 27. The ruinous Tendency of Auctioneering, and the Necessity of restraining it for the Benefit of Trade, demonstrated in a Letter to the Right Hon. Lord Bathurst, President of the Board of Trade. 8vo. pp. 51. 2s. 6d. Wilson.

This pamphlet might have been made a vehicle for curious information, had the author confined himself to facts and particulars, instead of launching out into vague generalities. The embarrassments of the times have led to a diminution of the regular business of shopkeepers, and to a correspondent increase of sales by auction: the necessities of the holders of merchandise often oblige them to send their goods to those markets at which they can be sold for ready money, at whatever reduction; and the concentration of that kind of business at the general receptacle, the Auction Mart, together with the increased activity of the auctioneers, have all co-operated to the same end. Of the goods exposed to sale, a great part is bought in by the auctioneer for the owner: but the biddings having served the purpose of ascertaining the value, a sale by private contract generally follows: so that in either case a certain portion is deducted from the business of the retail vender. Government, aware of the advantages possessed by the auctioneer, has imposed a heavy duty (five per cent.) on the amount of his transactions, and obliges him to render a regular account and payment to the Excise: but the present author, who knows no bounds in his effusion against this business, and the persons who exercise it, would unmercifully raise this duty to 20 per cent. He expatiates on the greater trouble and attention bestowed by the retail vender on his customers, and contrasts it with the abrupt treatment experienced at the auction-room; without considering that this very circumstance, which is in his eyes a hardship, will be the surest means of bringing back business to the retail dealer, as soon as circumstances have reduced the quantities of goods pushed off at present by

auction.

It is well known that a manufacturer, after having made a certain quantity of any given article on a new pattern, can contrive to make

a price considerably lower; and it was formerly a point of honour with him, after having supplied the merchant at the higher price, either to limit the quantity made to the demand, or to take care that any which was subsequently made should not be sold at an inferior rate. The auctioneering system, however, says the present writer, by concealing the quarter from which goods are supplied, tempts the manufacturer to make 20,000 pieces of an article of which only 10,000 have been commissioned, and renders him, in some degree, the rival

*See Review, Vol. 66. N. S. p. 61.

of the man to whom he was indebted for the original order. Another great branch of auctioneering-business, in late years, has arisen from tottering traders, to whom the grand point is the acquisition of a little ready-money.

Vehement as the author is against the practice of public sale, he admits that goods may be bought much lower in this way than in shops; and though auctioneers have not been, in any age, patterns of veracity, we can by no means agree in his outrageous charges against the whole profession. His observations on the sale of books, a topic with which we may be supposed to possess a little acquaintance, we have no hesitation in pronouncing to be greatly exaggerated. He is equally erroneous in his general declamations against parsimony, and in his exhortations to us all to live up to our incomes. The money laid up by the saving man is not, as he seems to think, lost to the productive capital of the country with which it never fails to mix, directly or indirectly, in the shape of loan or investment in the public funds. Moreover, parsimony has no such charms as to threaten to overspread the land; and this writer, as well as his brother pamph leteer, Mr. Spence, may safely take it for granted that the possessors of the largest incomes are at no loss to find the means of spending them. As to the subject of auctioneering, generally, we are disposed to regard it as sufficiently burdened with taxes. We cannot doubt that the liberty, which is so desirable for commercial transactions at large, is equally beneficial in that particular branch; and it is, perhaps, to be regretted, that any considerations should have induced government to interfere in burdening the disposal of goods in one way more than in another. Whatever may be, in some respects, the advantages of buying at public auction, the attendance required will suit only a particular class of persons-those who buy to sell again. The housekeeper, whose time should be devoted to his business, and who wants but little of an article at once, will always find his intercst in dealing at a shop; where a most important reduction of price might be ef fected, if the practice of ready-money-payments could be generally introduced. These considerations shew that the situation of the shopkeeper stands in less need than this author imagines, of legislative support; and they point to the expediency of contemplating, in better times, a reduction of auction-duty, as an approximation to that system of equality which alone can insure the stablity of our

commerce.

SINGLE SERMON.

Art. 28. The Sin and Folly of Cruelty to Brute Animals. By Thomas Moore. 8vo. 9d. Johnson and Co.

Dr. Hartley, in speaking of the dominion of man over brute-animals, observes that "we are in the place of God to them ;" and this thought will excite in all well-regulated minds an attention to the conduct which we ought to observe towards them. On this subject, however, it is painful to reflect that, in the midst of great national refinement, as Mr. Moore remarks, a large portion of a country always remains in a state of barbarism, and that of course all endeavours to promote the exercise of humanity must be limited and partial. Yet, not discouraged by this reflection, Mr. M. nobly

exerts

exerts himself in behalf of the inferior creation; and if servants and children will not read this sermon, parents and masters may be so impressed by it as to inculcate its substance with an authority which must not be resisted. Perhaps the argument of the discourse is in one part carried too far: but we would recommend to especial attention that portion of it, which is derived from the claim which the inferior creatures have on our gratitude. They are intitled to humanity on the score of their subserviency to our use and comfort; and, as Mr. M. farther adds, humanity to brutes is a constant companion of real benevolence to man.'

CORRESPONDENCE.

'An Old Friend' may be assured that we shall never depart from nor compromize those principles, either religious or political, which he says have so long obtained for our work his perusal and approbation. He does us no more than justice in supposing that, while we advocate the claims of our Catholic brethren to an equal participation of civil privileges, we are actuated only by an adherence to the grand maxims of toleration, and by a perfect conviction that no danger can result from the operation of them in this instance. The baneful tenets and practices of the Catholic religion, and the horrible application of them when united with political dominion which past ages have witnessed, can have no steadier and more deadly foes than they have ever had in us: but we can see no grounds for fearing the influence of Popery in these days, and in this empire; while the mischiefs of an exclusive system, especially in our sister-island, have long been apparent, and daily grow in magnitude.

We shall inquire respecting the works mentioned by an Old Subscriber.' The Sermons we had apprehended to be only a collection of discourses formerly published; but we will ascertain this matter.

J. M.'s volume is sub judice: but he knows little of the number of publications which call for our notice, if he considers the lapse of four months as a long period for us to be silent respecting a small collection of Poems.

The APPENDIX to this volume of the Review will be published on the 1st of June, with the Number for May.

Our readers are requested to correct the following errors in the last Review. In p. 264. 1. 9. from the bottom, the word bendecasyllables was by some strange accident used instead of anapasts. Between pp. 273. and 275 the intermediate page is misprinted 286. instead of 274.- P. 278. 1. 4. for 24. r. 54.-P. 280. 1. 19. the words xxx as should be united: Ib. 1. 25. for yeaμigums, r. yugas; and in the next line, for Plut.' r. Plat.-P. 286. notet, 1. 11-12. read, Hence appears the impropriety of calling, &c.; the contrary assertion being occasioned by the carelessness of a transcriber.

THE

APPENDIX

TO THE

SIXTY-SEVENTH VOLUME

OF THE

MONTHLY REVIEW

ENLARGED.

FOREIGN LITERATURE.

ART. I. Tableau Historique, &c.; i. e. An Historical View of the War of the French Revolution, from the Commencement of Hos tilities in 1792 to the End of the Year 1794; with a general Introduction, explanatory of the defensive Means of France in 1792, and of the State of the French Army from the Reign of Henry IV. to the End of 1806:-accompanied by a Military Atlas, or Collection of Maps and Plans of the principal Actions in the Revolutionary War; and a Chronological Table of the various Occurrences of the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 3 Vols. 4to pp. 987. Paris. 1808. Imported by Dulau, London. Price 51.

THIS

HIS is one of the many publications which have lately issued from the productive work-shop of Messrs. Treuttell and Würtz of Paris; and we should be induced to entertain no small share of respect for these indefatigable booksellers, were the labours of their literary friends in general characterized by such merits as distinguish the present work. The author has chosen to conceal his name; in which precaution, writing as he has done so largely concerning living characters, he probably acted judiciously, though the evident moderation of his remarks could scarcely fail to justify him in the opinion of all considerate readers. He deals in no invective, and seems desirous at the same time to avoid all interested or exaggerated encomiums. He apprizes us, in the outset, that he found it a task of vast APP. REV. VOL. LXVII.

Gg

labour

labour to give a consistent and accurate shape to the vehement and inflated reports which were rendered to the Convention, respecting the eventful operations of the early part of the war: but he appears intitled to the credit of great industry in research; and he had, moreover, the good fortune (preface, p. 20.) of obtaining materials for a part of his detail made ready to his hand by the previous labours of a General officer. A large proportion of the historical documents for these years consists in the letters, not so much of the Generals, as of the "representatives in mission;" men who were usually unacquainted with military affairs, and ill fitted, by the enthusiasm to which they were excited, to draw a correct picture of the events which passed around them. Amid this mass of incoherent and exaggerated reports, it is with pleasure that we see recorded at least one honourable exception;-that of M. Delbrel, deputy from the department of the Lot to the Convention, who was employed in 1793 at the head quarters of the army of the North, and in 1794 at those of the army of the Eastern Prénées. The communications transmitted by this functionary have been found to stand the severest scrutiny; and his personal conduct is known to have been distinguished, in the time of the greatest phrenzy, by an exemplary attachment to justice and humanity.

The first volume of this extensive publication consists of two parts; a collection of old documents on the general defence of the French frontier, and a narrative of the state of the French army since it first obtained a regular formation under Henry IV. We view these two divisions with a very different share of favour; the latter appearing to us highly interesting; while the former, from its length and its incompatibility with present circumstances, strikes us as the least useful and least entertaining portion of the work. It is not enough to allege in defence of reports extending to the length of 300 quarto pages, that they are the productions of eminent hands of a Créqui, a Berwick, a Grimoard, or a Servan:- the frontiers of France have, it is but too well known, undergone a total change; and we see no probability that they will speedily resume their former attitude. The labours of these distinguished commanders might therefore have been allowed, for the present, to rest on the shelves of the Depot de Guerre, since the French officers, like our own, will find that they have enough to learn without aiming at the attainment of information which was designed for the use of their grandfathers. As an accompaniment to the study of the early part of the revolutionary war, these voluminous documents are, we admit, in some de gree applicable: but, under any point of view, a selection ought

to