general, briefly to inform our Readers, that there are fuch new publications, and that they contain fome additions to, or improvements on, the plans laid down in preceding treatifes on the fame fubjects. Art. 33. The Beggar's Wedding; an Opera, as it is acted with great Applaufe at the Theatre-royal in Drury-lane. By Mr. Charles Coffey. 8vo. Is. Horsfield. An old piece revived. It was firft brought on the ftage about thirty years ago, in Dublin, The Author, a native of Ireland, has been dead fome time. He was a poor creature, both in body and mind; and his performances are a difgrace to literature:-but any thing will go down in the fing-fong way; which feems, at prefent, to be the preveiling tafte. Art. 34. England and Wales defcribed. In a Series of Letters- Useful to Travellers, and thofe who take phyfic. * See Review, Vol. XII. page 235. SERMONS. Efore the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, at Westminster-abbey, 1.B January 31, 1763; being the Day appointed to be observed as the Day of the Martyrdom of King Charles 1. By John Lord Bishop of Lincoln. Dod. 2. Before the Commons, at St Margaret's, on the fame Occafion with the foregoing. By Thomas Bray, D. D. Fellow of Exeter College, Oxon. Fletcher. 3. Two occafional Difcourfes. By William Cooper, A. M. Rector of Kirkley-Wisk in Yorkshire, and late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Richardson, &c. 4. Mundi perpetuus Adminiftrator Chriftus-Concio ad Clerum, habita Cantabrigiæ, in Templo Beatæ Mariæ, Aprilis 1 2mo, 1762, pro Gradu Doctoratus in facra Theologiâ. Auctore Johanne Delap, S. T. P. DodЛley, &c. 5. On the Death of the Rev. Henry Mihles, D. D. and F. R. S. at Tooting in Surry, February 27, 1763. By Philip Furneaux. Buckland, &c. 6. At Rotterdam, January 9, 1763, on the Death of Mrs. Hannah Sowden. By Thomas Greaves. Field. 7. The Character and Happiness of the Chriftian Minifter briefly reprefented, at Chefhunt in Hertfordshire, Feb. 20, 1763. On the Death of the Reverend and Learned John Mafon, M. A. By John Hodge. Henderfon, &c. THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For APR I L, 1763. Dr. Smollet's Continuation of his Compleat Hiftory of England. 8vo. 4 Vols. 11. 4s. bound. Baldwin. W . HEN we confider the great uncertainty in the hiftory of remote times, and how little we can depend even on those which are fupported by cotemporary authority, we are ftrongly induced to expect fuperior advantages, from the perufal of a history which records recent events, and delineates living characters. It must be acknowleged, that Hiftorians in general, whether they have compiled from the traditions of others, or have commemorated tranfactions which paffed within their own sphere of obfervation, have been too frequently guilty of deviations from truth and the want of authenticity is no where more obfervable, than in thofe relations which are tranfmitted to us by fuch as were themselves actors in the scenes they reprefent. If we compare the cotemporary Hiftorians and Memorialists of our own country, particularly thofe who have treated of the grand Rebellion, and were themfelves engaged in thofe civil diffentions, we find that they clafh with, and contradict, each other, and that little confidence is to be repofed in any of them fingly. It is, perhaps, next to impoffible for men fo totally to abstract themselves from prejudice and partiality, as to be perfectly fincere and faithful in commemorating events, wherein their own interefts and paffions were ftrongly engaged and affected. It is for this reafon, that Minifters and Negociators are, perhaps, most unfit to inftruct pofterity with regard to the hiftory of their VOL. XXVIII. S own own times. They may, it is true, be prefumed to have a more perfect knowlege of facts, and to be better capable of unfolding the latent motives of action; but they are fo clofely interested in the fcene, and their paffions are fo powerfully influenced, that if not wilfully, at leaft undefignedly, they may mistake the one, and mifreprefent the other: and if they are above propagating falfhoods, at leaft they may not fcruple to difguife truth. Add to this, that their attention is generally fo much engroffed by the bulin of their own department, and the progrefs of their own machinations, in. t they are not fufficiently at leifure to examine the operations of thofe who are entrufted with the conduct of other independent parts of the great political machine. A calm, difinterested, and intelligent Obferver, therefore, whofe mind is not bent on the management of any detached part, who has leifure and opportunity to furvey the whole, and who is free from private attachments and animofities, to warp him from the ftrait line of truth, is beft qualified for the office of an Hif torian. But, though a Writer who records events ftill recent in memory, is moft likely to adhere to veracity in his relation, yet, on the other hand, we are not, perhaps, to expect all the freedom and impartiality we could wish to find in his comment on men and meafures. He who dares boldly to cenfure living characters, and to expofe the corrupt motives of their political conduct, may, perhaps, be thought to want prudence as a man: and he who is afraid to do either, may be deemed deficient in courage as an Hiftorian. Add to this, that there are many latent causes and fprings of action, which are not to be difcovered while the Actors are in being. Though the materials of hiftory, therefore, ought to be collected as they rife, yet the publication fhould, perhaps, be deferred, till we are able to make our reflections on the detail of political actions and characters, with a proper dcgree of freedom, certainty, and difcretion. A narrative of what has paffed under our own eyes, fcarce comes up to the idea we form when we fpeak of a history. We would not, however, be understood, by thefe obfervations, to depreciate the merit of the Writer whofe works are now under our confideration. It is but juft to acknowlege, that in his reflections on public meafures, he difcovers fome degree of intelligence and acuteness, without any of that affectation of fagacity which dives for myfteries, while truth fwims upon the furface. He feems likewife to have been equally careful of not giving way to that indolent credulity which feldom moves out of the beaten tract of vulgar prepoffeffion: and, with respect to perfonal characters, he has not here offered incenfe to the idols of popularity, nor heaped calumny on the victims of public afperfion. afperfion. With pleasure too we obferve, that, in this Continuation, he has carefully avoided those prejudices, and partial attachments, which rendered the former part of the work liable to cenfure. If he has not been able to give all the light and information which a history should afford; if he has not always expreffed himself with that "fearless fpirit" which diftinguishes the unbiaffed Hiftorian, we may candidly impute it to the causes above fuggested; that the facts he records, are yet too recent, and the Actors most of them ftill living, and, perhaps, interested to conceal the real motives of their conduct. In this Continuation, which opens with the tranfactions of the year 1749, the Writer has been extremely copious in his account of the Parliamentary Debates, and of the provifions made in confequence thereof. To us, this appears to be the most interesting part of thefe volumes: for, as to the detail of battles, &c. the Gazettes are still fresh in our memory.-The first debate which claims our notice, is that memorable one concerning the reduction of intereft, under Mr. Pelham's adminiftration. "The capital measure which diftinguished this feffion of parliament, was the reduction of the Intereft on the Public Funds; a scheme which was planned and executed by the Minifter, without any national disturbance or difquiet, to the aftonishment of all Europe; the different nations of which could not comprehend how it would be poffible for the Government, at the close of a long expensive war, which had fo confiderably drained the country, and augmented the enormous burthen of national debt, to find money for paying off fuch of the Public Creditors as might choofe to receive their principal, rather than submit to a reduction of the intereft. It was not very much for the honour of the Oppofition, that some of its leading Members endeavoured to impede this great machine of civil oeconomy, by taking opportunities of affirming in Parliament, in oppofition to his Majesty's fpeech, that the nation, far from being in a flourishing condition, was almoft entirely exhaufted; that commerce drooped and declined; that public credit ftood tottering on the brink of ruin; and that all the treaties lately concluded among the different Powers of Europe, were, in effect, difadvantageous and prejudicial to the interefts of Great Britain. In anfwer to thefe affertions, Mr. Pelham undertook to prove, from the register of exports and imports, that the commerce of the kingdom was more extensive at this than at any former period; and that the public credit was ftrong enough to admit of an experiment, which he would not prefume to hazard, except upon a moral certainty of its being firmly rooted, beyond the power of $ 2 accident accident and faction to shake or overturn. He declared, that his defign of reducing the interest upon the funds, was the refult of the love he bore his country, and an opinion that it was the duty of the Servants of the Crown, to cafe the burthens of the People. He faid, he had conferred on this fubject with perions of the most approved knowlege, and undoubted experience; and chofe to promulgate the method proposed for alleviating the load of the national debt, that the public, in knowing the particulars of the fcheme, might have time to confider them at leifure, and ftart fuch objections as thould occur to their reflection, before it might be too late to adopt amendments. He obferved, that nothing could more clearly demonftrate the vigour of public credit, and the augmentation of national commerce, than the price of ftock, which had, within three years, rifen to a very confiderable increase; and the duties on imports, which in nine months had added one million to the Sinking Fund, notwithstanding a very extraordinary fum which had been payed as bounties for exported corn. He exprefled great tenderness and regard for the interefts of thofe who had advanced their money for the fervice of the Government; declaring, that his aim was to contrive a fair, honeft, and equitable method for leffening the national incumbrances, by lowering the intereft, conformable to parliamentary faith, and agreeable to the rules of eternal juftice. His plan was accordingly communicated, canvaffed, and approved in the House of Commons, and an act paffed for reducing the intereft of the funds which conftitute the national debt." Many of our Readers may recollect the violent clamour and oppofition which was made to this very falutary measure; a meafure which had long fince been recommended by Sir Jofiah Child; who, in his excellent treatife on this fubject, proves that a low rate of intereft, tends to advance the value of land, to improve the rent of farms, to increase the bulk of foreign trade, to multiply domeftic artificers, to difpofe the nation to frugality, to employ the poor, and increafe the ftock of the people. But the fons of indolence, luxury, and diffipation, joined by a few withered maidens and voluptuous widows, raifed a violent cry against this reduction, and prefumed to place their private intereft in competition with the national welfare. Among other paffages in thefe volumes, the account of the proceedings against Admiral Byng, will afford a fpecimen of the abilities and impartiality of our Author; who makes the following remarks on the Admiral's fate. "Notwithstanding all that has been faid in his favour; notwithstanding the infamous arts that were practifed to keep up the cry against him: notwithstanding his folemn appeal to hea ven |