merce. The inferences he draws from these particular examinations, in reference to the apprehenfions entertained from the American revolution, will appear in the following paffage.

"The foregoing details, fhort in their ftatements, yet fatisfactory in their inferences, contain an account of our commerce in Europe from the beginning of the current century to the commencement of the prefent war. And they were fubmitted to the public, though in all ufeful truths there is dullness, in order to furnish facts for the two claffes of men who have been fupposed to be now divided in their opinions with regard to our commercial profperity or decline. Each party may probably find arguments to ftrengthen its fyftem, without changing its fentiments, as the pride of man is hurt by admitting that he had once been miftaken. Pofterity form at laft a right judgement, when their more candid inquiries have been facilitated by the publication of documents, authentic in their proofs, and convincing in their circumftances. An hiftorical detail of the trade of our factories in Africa and Afia, as well as of our colonies in America, was defignedly omitted, because it is a fact known and acknowledged, that their traffic has flourished prodigiously: our colonial commerce has profpered, fince we have fostered it by every means which interested traders could devife, or the mercantile system admitted; we have cherished it by bounties, by drawbacks, by the obstructions that have been thrown in the way of European rivals. If we again compare trade to a fluid, we may eafily perceive, that when mounds were raifed on the banks, and fhoals were formed in the channel, it would find a vent by a thousand paffages: it was directed in its courfe to the colonies; and it therefore no longer ran with its former force into the several European ports. In every community there can only exift a certain quantity of ftock, either for carrying on its agriculture, its manufactures, its commerce, or for the aggregate of its whole mercantile tranfactions. If part of the capital, which had been ufefully employed in husbandry, is withdrawn, in order to cultivate the cane and the coffee of the Weft Indies, our domestic agriculture muft neceffarily fuffer in the exact proportion to the fum taken away: if the bafinefs of thip-building is no longer carried on near the banks of

our rivers, but on those of our colonies, that important manufacture can be no longer confidered as a national one: if a portion of the capitals, which had been engaged in tranfacting our commerce with our European correfpondents, is diverted to the plantations, our European traffic muft neceffarily languifh; it must decline in the exact proportion to the amount of the ftock withdrawn. When thefe principles are applied to the foregoing details, we shall find in the comparifon the true reason why fome branches of trade have actually withered, why others have not greatly profpered. And it has been fhewn, by the numbers of our fhipping cleared outwards fince they were excluded from our colonies, that a revulfion had taken place, whereby the capital which had been gradually invefted in the plantation trade was again employed in its original bufinefs. They who amidst their delufions prefumed, that the mechanic, the merchant, or the mariner, could be induced to fit down inactive and idle, only evinced how little they had studied the science of mankind, who delight in activity and adventures. As Spain had been formerly ruined by withdrawing her wealth from domeftic induftry, and turning her energy to di ftant enterprises, more than by the emigrations of her people, or the importation of the metals; fo England ran fimilar risks in the pursuit of colonization, from fimilar caufes producing fimilar effects. It was the greatness of her capitals and credit, the fkill and the diligence of her people, and other means that cannot be fo easily defcribed, which have prevented her colonial policy, in respect to trade, from introducing greater diforder into her European commerce, and bringing on a real decline."

On the much-agitated question of our population, he eafily difcredits the premiffes from which Dr Price forms his very difcouraging conclufions, namely, the returns of official enumerations of houfes for the purposes of taxation. But this fubject having been already difcuffed by Wales and Howlet, we shall only obferve, that the prefent writer ftrongly corroborates what his predeceffors advanced. He goes even farther; for he not only cites hiftorical vouchers for a progreffive increase of population from the Norman conqueft, but reviews the alterations of government, and improvements in civil policy, which favoured a

E 2

multipli

multiplication of the people, to establish the fact. The refult of his inveftigation of this intricate fubject, is to prove, as far as a computation of this kind will admit of proof, the prefent inhabitants of England and Wales, inftead of being under five millions in number, to exceed eight millions.

The author appears to have beftowed confiderable labour and attention in forming this eftimate; and as we are given to understand, that it is detached from materials collected for a more extenfive work, we cannot but approve his caution in feizing fo fair an opportunity for feeing what encouragement the reception of this fpecimen may afford him for profecuting his labours.

The Effay on Population by Lord Chief-Juftice Hale, is the tenth chapter from that learned judge's Primitive Organization of Mankind confidered. M. Cecilia; or, Memoirs of an Heiress. By the author of Evelina. 5 vols. 15 5. Cadell, &c.

THE great and merited fuccefs of Evelina bath encouraged the fair author to the present undertaking, in which we are at a lofs whether to give the preference to the defign or the execution; or which to admire moft, the purity of the writer's heart, or the force and extent of her understanding. We fee much of the dignity and pathos of Richardfon, and much of the acutenefs and ingenuity of Fielding. The attention is arrefted by the ftory; and, in general, expectation is gratified by the feveral events of it. It is related in a style peculiarly nervous and perfpicuous, and appears to have been formed on the beft model of Dr Johnson's.

As this novel is univerfally read, we fhall fave ourselves the trouble of abrid. ging the ftory, or retailing the incidents of it. We will, however, prefent the reader with two or three extracts from the author's masterly delineation of fome of the leading characters of Cecilia:

"Mr Monckton, who was the young er fon of a noble family, was a man of parts, information, and fagacity. To great native ftrength of mind, he added a penetrating knowledge of the world; and to faculties the most skilful of inveftigating the character of every other, a diffimulation the moft profound in concealing his own. In the bloom of his youth, impatient for wealth, and ambi

tious of power, he had tied himself to a rich dowager of quality, whose age, tho' fixty-feven, was but among the fmaller fpecies of her evil properties, her dispofition being far more repulfive than her wrinkles. An inequality of years fo confiderable had led him to expect that the fortune he had thus acquired would fpeedily be released from the burden with which it was at prefent incumbered: but his expectations proved as vain as they were mercenary; and his lady was not more the dupe of his proteftations, than he was himself of his own purposes. Ten years he had been married to her; yet her health was good, and her faculties were unimpaired: eagerly he had watched for her diffolution; yet his eagerness had injured no health but his own. So fhort-fighted is felfish cunning, that in aiming no further than at the gratification of the prefent moment, it obfcures the evils of the future, while it impedes the perception of integrity and honour.

His ardour, however, to attain the bleffed period of returning liberty, deprived him neither of spirit nor inclination for intermediate enjoyment. He knew the world too well to incur its cenfure by ill-treating the woman to whom he was indebted for the rank he held in it. He faw her indeed but seldom; yet he had the decency, alike in avoiding as in meeting her, to fhew no abatement of civility and good breeding; but having thus facrificed to ambition all poffibility of happiness in domeftic life, he turned his thoughts to thofe other methods of procuring it which he had fo dearly pur chafed the power of effaying.

The refources of pleasure to the poffeffors of wealth are only to be cut off by the fatiety of which they are productive : a fatiety which the vigorous mind of Mr Monckton had not yet fuffered him to experience: his time, therefore, was either devoted to the expensive amusements of the metropolis, or spent in the country among the gayeft of its diverfions.

The little knowledge of fafhionable manners, and of the characters of the times, of which Cecilia was yet mistress, fhe had gathered at the house of this gentleman, with whom the dean, her uncle, had been intimately connected; for as he preferved to the world the fame appearance of decency he supported to his wife, he was every where well received; and being but partially known, was extremely refpected; the world, with its

wonted

wonted facility, repaying his circumfpect attention to its laws, by filencing the voice of cenfure, guarding his character from impeachment, and his name from reproach.

Cecilia had been known to him half her life. She had been careffed in his houfe as a beautiful child; and her prefence was now folicited there as an amiable acquaintance. Her vifits, indeed, had by no means been frequent, as the ill-humour of Lady Margaret Monckton had rendered them painful to her; yet the opportunities they afforded her of mixing with people of fashion, had served to prepare her for the new scenes in which the was foon to be a performer.

Mr Monckton, in return, had always been a welcome gueft at the deanry. His converfation was to Cecilia a never-failing fource of information; as his knowledge of life and manners enabled him to ftart those subjects of which she was moft ignorant; and her mind, copious for the admiffion, and intelligent for the arrangement of knowledge, received all new ideas with avidity.

Pleasure given in fociety, like money lent in ufury, returns with intereft to those who dispense it: and the difcourfe of Mr Monckton conferred not a greater favour upon Cecilia than her attention to it repaid. And thus the speaker and the hearer being mutually gratified, they had always met with complacency, and.commonly parted with regret.

This reciprocation of pleasure had, however, produced different effects upon their minds. The ideas of Cecilia were enlarged, while the reflections of Mr Monckton were imbittered. He here faw an object, who to all the advantages of that wealth he had fo highly prized, added youth, beauty, and intelligence: tho' much her fenior, he was by no means of an age to render his addreffing her an impropriety; and the entertainment fhe received from his converfation, perfuaded him, that her good opinion might with cafe be improved into a regard the most partial. He regretted the venal rapacity with which he had facrificed himfelf to a woman he abhorred; and his wishes for her final decay became daily more fervent. He knew that the acquaintance of Cecilia was confined to a circle of which he himself was the principal ornament; that she had rejected all the propofals of marriage which had hitherto been made to her; and as he had fedu

foully watched her from her earliest years, he had reafon to believe, that her heart had efcaped any dangerous impreffion, This being her fituation, he had long looked upon her as his future property; as fuch he had indulged his admiration, and as fuch he had already appropriated her eftate; though he had not more vigilantly infpected into her sentiments,than he had guarded his own from a fimilar fcrutiny.

The death of the dean, her uncle, had indeed much alarmed him. He grieved at her leaving Suffolk, where he confi dered himself as the firft man, alike in parts and in confequence; and he dread ed her refiding in London, where he forefaw that numerous rivals, equal to himfelf in talents and in riches, would fpeedily furround her: rivals, too, youthful and fanguine, not fhackled by prefent ties, but at liberty to folicit her imme diate acceptance. Beauty and independe ence, rarely found together, would attract a crowd of fuitors at once brilliant and affiduous; and the house of Mr Har rel [her guardian] was eminent for its elegance and gaiety. But yet, undaunted by danger, and confiding in his own powers, he determined to pursue the project he had formed, not fearing, by addrefs and perfeverance, to infure its fuccefs."

Such is the well-drawn character of a man who makes a very capital figure in this novel. His intrigues are some of the principal embarrassments of the plot; and in his disappointment we have a fine leffon, to teach us the infecurity of that wifdom which is not connected with a virtuous principle, and manifested by fimplicity and integrity of conduct; the one its firmeft fupport, and the other its loveliest ornament.

A fine contraft to this most infidious and fpecious character is given in that of Belfield, another gentleman who figures confiderably in the story of Cecilia:

"A tall thin young man, whofe face was all animation, and whofe eyes fparkled with intelligence. He had been intended by his father for trade; but his fpirit foaring above the occupation for which he was defigned, from repining led him to refift, and from refifting to rebel. He eloped from his friends, and contrived to enter into the army. But, fond of the polite arts, and eager for the acquirement of knowledge, he found not

this way of life much better adapted to his inclination than that from which he had escaped. He foon grew weary of it, was reconciled to his father, and entered at the Temple. But here, too volatile for serious study, and too gay for laborious application, he made little progrefs; and the fame quickness of parts, and vigour of imagination, which, united with prudence, or accompanied by judgement, might have raised him to the head of his profeffion, being unhappily affociated with fickleness and caprice, ferved only to impede his improvement, and obftruct his preferment. And now, with little bufinefs, and that little neglected, a small fortune, and that fortune daily becoming lefs, the admiration of the world, but that admiration ending fimply in civility, he lived an unfettled and unprofitable life; generally careffed, and univerfally fought, yet careless of his intereft, and thoughtless of the future; devoting his time to company, his income to diffipation, and his heart to the Mufes."

This gentleman is held up as a very lively portrait of the mifery of mere genius! that fplendour of imagination which only dazzles the understanding, without fatisfying the mind, and ever putting it on wrong purfuits, deludes where it promised to gratify; and while it makes it improvident, for the future, takes off the true ufe and enjoyment of

the prefent.

The prudence and fagacity of Monckton, enlivened by the genius, and fupported by the integrity of Belfield, would go near to form a perfect character; a part, the one terminated in felfish cunning, and the other in poignant difcontent. The former, when detected, makes a man the abhorrence of others; and the latter, in a ceaseless round of hope and difappointment, fets a man at variance with himself.

The other principal characters in this exquifite novel are in general nicely difcriminated, and properly fupported. They are all directed to the main object, and all concur to the denouement of the plot.

The prodigality of the Harrels, and the pride of old Delville, [another guardian to Cecilia], though carried to the extreme, are yet within the bounds of probability. The character of Mrs Delville is highly finished, and leaves a very ftrong impreffion on the mind. We fee dignity struggling with tendernefs. We fee the GREAT and ARDENT

fo foftened by the foothing affections of humanity, and the mild virtues of the heart, parental fondness, generous friendfhip, and impartial juftice, which furmount fome irrational, though deeprooted prejudices, that we always meet her with admiration, and part from her with regret. We wished to have feen more of her in the concluding scenes, where the want of her difappointed us. The volubility of Mifs Larolles is very well defcribed; and the sprightly wit, and inconfiderate ease and hilarity, of Lady Honoria Pemberton, always meet our idea of the character meant to be exhibited. We fee them as perfectly as if we were converfing with the originals. We may say the fame of fome characters that figure in a lower circle, particularly of Hobfon. The felf-importance of a rich tradefman is reprefented to the life. It is a character that frequently occurs; but we never faw it fo perfectly marked, or fo uniformly fupported. The ftory of the excellent Mr Albany is pathetic; and the events of his life well account for the fingularity of his behaviour, and the ftrangeness of his expreflions. M. Obfervations on the means of preserving the health of Soldiers; and of conducting Military Hofpitals, &c. 2 vols 8vo. By Donald Monro, M. D. Physician to his MajeRy's Army, and to St George's Hofpital; Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians at London, and of the Royal Society. DR Monro has divided his performance

into five parts: In the firft he treats of the general means of preferving the lives of foldiers; in the fecond, he explains the moft proper method of provi. ding and conducting military hospitals; in the third, he furnishes an account of the health and diseases of the troops who were encamped at Coxheath in the years 1778 and 1779; in the fourth, he details and examines the difeafes incident to foldiers in the time of actual fervice; and in the fifth, he exhibits a pharmacopoeia adapted to the ufe of military hofpitals.

As a fpecimen of the work, we fhall infert what he has said concerning the imbarkation of troops for fervice.

"At all times, when troops are to be fent upon expeditions, particularly into warm climates, great care ought to be taken to embark such only as are in good health; particular regard ought to be paid to thofe who are picked up in the ftreets, or have been taken out of the

Savoy,

Savoy, or other gaols. All dirty rags from off fuch people ought to be thrown away or burnt; and the men, after being well washed, and new clothed, ought to be kept for a fortnight or three weeks in fome garrifon-town, or with their regiments, in open airy places, that it may be ascertained that they have no infectious diforder before they be put on board the transports.

All fhips allotted for tranfports ought to be well aired and purified, and every thing fitted up properly, before the men are embarked. They ought to be provided with ventilators, or wind-fails, to make a free circulation of air through the vessel; and they ought never to be crowded; but full room allowed for each man, in proportion to the length of the voyage.

In military expeditions, foldiers are put upon fhip's allowance; which Dr Lind very justly observes, ought not, in voyages to the warm climates, to be made up fo much of falted beef and falted pork, which have a tendency to putrefaction, as is the common practice of the navy; but that a greater fhare of bifcuit, flour, oat-meal, groats, rice, and other stores of that kind, ought to be laid in; and a greater proportion of them, and a lefs of the falted meat, diftributed among the men; and he is certainly in the right, when he fays, that a full animal diet, and tenacious malt-liquors, are well adapted to the conftitution of our own and of other northern climates; and that failors who vifit the Greenland feas, and are remarkable for a voracious appetite, and a strong digeftion of hard falted meat, and the coarfeft fare, when fent to the Weft Indies, foon become sensible of a decay of appetite, and find a full grofs falted diet pernicious to health. "Instinct (he fays) has taught the natives between the tropics to live chiefly on a vegetable diet, of grains, roots, and subacid fruits, with plenty of diluting liquors."

A ftore of vegetables, such as muftardfeed, garlick, onions, potatoes, pickled cabbages, and other pickled vegetables, four crout, and other things of that kind, which can be purchased at a cheap rate, and preferved for fome months, ought to be laid in; which may be mixed with the foups prepared for the men, or given them to eat along with their falted provifions.

A quantity of beer, cyder, or wine, ought to be put aboard, and a certain allowance diftributed to each man daily. When, for want of these, men are reduced to an allowance of spirits, they ought to be mixed with seven or eight times the quantity of water, and occafionally fome molaffes, and a little lemon-juice may be added before they are given to the men; if lemons cannot be got, cream of tartar, or vinegar, may fupply their place; and it ought to be a duty of one of the military officers on board, to fee the fpirits mixed with the water, and distributed among the men daily.

It ought, however, to be observed, that altho' the juice of lemons and limes, and other vegetable acids, are good prefervatives against the scurvy and putrid diforders, yet that the too free use of them is fometimes in danger of weakening the ftomach and bowels too much, and rendering people fubject to diarrhoeas, or dyfenteries, on the leaft feverish attack; and that therefore, when punch is allowed to the men, it ought not to be made too four; and that it will be often better to give them but a pint, or quart of weak punch to dinner, and the rest of their allowance of fpirits only mixed with water, than to give them the whole in punch.

On expeditions, a quantity of loaves, fuch as the Ruffians ufe for preparing a beer, may, probably, be found extremely useful on fuch fervices, and the beer to be a good preservative of health. The late Dr Mounfey, who had been phyfician to the Emprefs of Ruffia, told me, that they prepared them in the following manner. They grind a quantity of malt into flour, which they mix with oat or barley meal, and make up into loaves, or cakes, with water, and then bake the loaves in an oven, and keep them for use; and when they want beer they break them, and infufe them in boiling water, along with fome mint, fortwentyfour hours, longer or fhorter time according to the heat of the weather; at the end of which time the liquor has acquired an acidulous vinous taste, and they use it by way of fmall beer; and he added, that when he ferved as phyfician to the Ruffian army, it was used much; and that it was a wholesome and pleafant liquor, which the Ruffians call by the name of quafs.”.

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