the Lonely wern Eusébet znate The tous between the Bone of Lords and Commons, concerning one pros té vitiboa, were infated to a mouem degree on account of an appeal to the upper Horie, in a cave wheres a Member of the lower was one of the parties. On as occafion, the Commons inpeated me ble judicial authority of the Lark, and proceeded to que extremiter, committing the Couniti who pleated at the Lords bar, for a breach of their prileges. The Lords, on the other hand, if they re ́led to pleas, committed them for a contempe, in that the poor Advocates, being pulled on one fde by the Ufner of the Black Rod, and logged on the other fide by the Serjeant at Arms, were in danger of being worried to death. To put an end to this cipate, the Parliament was prorogui. But, in the mid4 of all their more important confiderations, they were not unattentive to grievances of a more private nature. They examined into the abuses of the Courts of Juftice, and particularly enquired into the exorbitant jurifdiction of the Court of Chancery: on which occation Mr. Sacheverell made the following remarks. Mr. Sacheverell.] "Sees to day what he hoped never to have feen; that after four or five years of mal-proceedings in Weftminfter-Hall, Courts of Juftice are precarious. It feems, that grievances are not big enough to be redreffed. The Judges either want judgment or honefty. It becomes fix ace or quatre trois, for a caufe in thofe courts. Would know whether the Chancery hath taken all law into its authority. One fingle perfon nav alter all the law. He fpeaks it not reflectively on this Lord Chancellor, but on that court. And the Judges now having their patents durante hene placito, do as the Court directs. As in one Millar's cafe. They come to Sir Lionel Jenkins's ecclefiaffical court, and a letter is fent to him from the King, to direct him which way to give his judgment, and after the letter was read, he gave a judgment pursuant to it. And at the court he faid, The King was concerned, and he would have no delegates, and has none.-And, at common law at Derby and Nottingham affizes, one perfon had paid the duty, and had a discharge in full. The Excifeman comes next day to diftrain upon him, though he owed nothing. The perfon brings his action of trover and converfion for the goods. The Judge faid, That there was an error in the Officer; but unless he countenanced the Officer, the King would lofe his revenue; and fo he caufed the Jury to be withdrawn. At Nottingham, he was of the Grand Jury, and a Recufant was then prefented. Says Judge, the indictment fhall be drawn, and would have them prefented from fixteen years of age and upwards,' though no evidence upon it. The Judge fent them out with the indictment, and the Jury muft find that they came not to church, and were all of the age of fixteen years. He told us, we were a company of Fanatics, and would not find a Romanist, and we must find fix weeks,' when three weeks were gone already. And fo we went on to find the reft of the time by prophecy. In the action brought by Sir Samuel Bernadifton against the Sheriff of Suffolk for a falfe return, the Judge faid, 'Malfeazance,' in the action, was pepper and falt, and nothing; and tells you it is fo now, because there is an 100l. damage; and fo the Sheriff may return what Member he pleases. If this be fo, we all fit here to no purpose. Would therefore firft proceed in the grievances from the courts of Westminster-or else we fit here in vain." After long debate on this fubject, the House came to the following resolution. "Refolved, That the House be moved to appoint a Committee to bring in a bill, for redreffing and regulating all extraordinary power and jurifdiction exercifed by the high Court of Chancery, and other Courts of Equity, in matters determinable at common law; which the Houfe agreed to, and ordered Sir Francis Winnington, &c. to bring in fuch a bill." What was the fate of this bill, at prefent we cannot deter mine: but whatever became of it, it certainly produced very little effect and if thefe Patriots had lived in later days, they would have feen the grievance here complained of, rather aggravated than redreffed. As to the abuses of the common law courts, if we believe Sacheverell's fpeech, the Judges acted with no more discretion than integrity. Common policy might have -directed them at least, to give fome colour to partiality and oppreffion, and not expose them in their native hue, to fhock the public eye. We may be thankful, that we live in happier days, when the Minifters of Justice are more independent of the Crown; and have more wisdom and honesty than to give occafion for any parliamentary fcrutiny into their conduct. These two volumes afford many other curious debates, which our limits will not allow us to abridge. But we cannot conclude this article, without taking notice of an incident, which ferves to fhew that the levity and ludicrous turn of those days, could not be restrained even on the most ferious occafions. In the midft of one of their violent debates, concerning breach of privilege, by an appeal to the Lords House, "Some Ladies were in the gallery, peeping over the Gentle men's men's fhoulders; the Speaker called out, What borough do thofe Ladies ferve for?' Sir William Coventry replied, They serve for the Speaker's chamber.' Sir Thomas Littleton faid, The Speaker might mistake them, for Gentlemen with fine fleeves, dreffed like Ladies.' Says the Speaker,' I am sure, I faw petticoats. [To be continued in our next.] The Cure of Saul, a Sacred Ode. Written by Dr. Brown. 4to. Is. Davis and Reymers. W ONDERFUL are the effects which of old were ascribed to the united efforts of mufic and poetry: for though we should not really believe, that they fubdued the rage of wild beafts, or moved inanimate bodies, yet if they are allowed to have withdrawn human favages from their ferocious pursuits and horrid feafts, their power was certainly very extraordinary. Compared with thefe, when we confider the effects of this union in our own times, we are apt to entertain a very contemptuous idea of modern Bards and Musicians. Were Dr. Brown and Dr. Arne to vifit the Cape, it might be queftioned whether all their mufical efforts could withhold one dirty native from the fanguine chace by day, or the filthy feast by night. The Hottentot would probably still prefer the taste of his sheep's guts, in their original ftate, to any found that could be drawn from them, when converted into fiddle-strings. The Let us not, however, fuppofe, that the arts of music and poetry are more imperfect now than they were of old. ftructure of that lyre +, which Amphion is faid to have invented, and therewith to have introduced the Lydian mufic into Greece, appears to us to have been incapable of any great or very comprehenfive harmony. Befide, the concords of the ancient scale were grofs and imperfect; and it is univerfally allowed, that they have been happily tempered by modern improvements. It is moft probable then, that poetry, in gratitude for the affiftance the received from her fifter art, was lavish in her praise, at the expence of truth. One inftance, however, of the power of ancient mufic, we are not to doubt, and that is, the [temporary] Cure of Saul. • Hor. Art. Poet. + Quint. Inftit. lib. xii. cap. 10. The The various powers of that mufic, whereby the Ifraelitish Shepherd charmed his unhappy Prince, Dr. Brown has attempted to exprefs in this facred Ode. Some of its beauties and defects (for both beauties and defects it has) we shall lay before our Readers. By fleeple's terror Saul poffefs'd, Deep feels the fiend within his tortur'd breast. In toops they rife; And feas of horror overwhelm his foul. In this stanza the dreadful images of terror and diftraction are well sustained, and the measure of the verfe happily corresponds with the imagery; but we cannot approve the last line: what propriety is there in feas of horror? might not the Poet as well have faid, mountains, or pits, of horror? The bold, the inflated expreffion, no doubt, deceived him. Sunk on his couch, and loathing day, The heaven-forfaken Monarch lay : To the fad couch the Shepherd now drew near; Thy pitying aid, O God, impart! We are pleased to find the divine Mufician fo affected with the miseries of the Monarch, as to "drop a generous tear:" and his ready address to the Almighty is well conceived; but is "thy poifon'd arrows drink his heart," properly expreffed, even allowing that poifon'd arrows might come from the benevolent Being whom we ferve? We fuppofe, our friend Scriblerus would have called this a Catachrefis. The mighty fong from chaos rofe. But, why? was it only because Virgil made one of his Singers commence at Chaos ? Hark! loud Difcord breaks her chain: The hoftile atoms clash with deafening roar: Her hoarfe voice thunders thro' the drear domain; All this is adequately expreffed, except the laft line, which is too feeble. The fpeech of the Almighty follows. "Tumult cease! "Let there be light," th' Almighty faid. REV. Mar. 1763. P Indeed! Indeed would the Almighty utter Lilliputian verfes, infantine rhymes, and pleon:fms? No. This must be a mistake. After "Tumult cease,"-" Sink to peace," is a feeble redundancy; and these pigmy verses are fo far from expreffing the fublime in an adequate degree, that they are fuitable to nothing but the trivia. itrain of fome hornpipe or country dance. Dr. Young, as we have once before obferved, fell into the fame error; and, because Dryden had made his Hero nod in fuch dwarfish rhymes, conceived that this meature was certainly calculated to exprefs the fublime. Ye planets, and each circling confteil tion, To heavenly founds; And footh his fong-inchanted ears, "In fongs harmonious tell your generation," cannot boast much poetry, whatever becomes of the philofophy. As to the Seraph's ftanding on the pole-ftar, and turning the spheres, the Author, no doubt, meant it for a fublime image, and we dare fay, many of his Readers will accept it as fuch; but really we loft the pleasure of confidering it in that light, by catching from it the unlucky idea of a Savoyard's grinding mufic, or a Mechanic working at a lathe. The harmony and imagery of the following paffage are equally beautiful, and to us it appears to be faultlefs throughout. Ocean haftens to his bed, The lab'ring mountain rears his rock encumber'd head: The torrent rolls his thund'ring tide. The lark, high-foaring, hals the morn. Heaven's own blifs on Eden's bower: Peace on Nature's lap repoles; Joys divine in circles move, Hail happy love, with innocence combin'd ! " The |