She opens the door, gets behind him on his horfe; thev gallop away in the fwifteft courfe. Then the fwain fays these identical words:

"De mond, de fchint fo belle, De doden riet fo fchnelle. Fiens Leeuken gruvlt di ok?” "Wat fcboll mi gruveln, du bift ja by mi.”— She replies. After they have been gallop. ing for a good while, he makes up to a church-yard. The graves open; horfe and rider are fwallowed up, and the woman is left behind in darkness and gloom. "Sapperment! en fcholl ehn wual gruveln!” will the old man add in his peculiar hu

Yet that I may not injure our poet's known veracity and candour; I must say, that it appears pretty natural to me, that, on hearing the old ftory related, Bürger immediately conceived the idea of his Leonora; and that afterwards, perhaps. after the lapfe of many years, he could not himself diftin&tly recollect, and, in his ftatement to his friend, feparate from his own fictions what originally belonged to the old tale. Whoever has made it his ftudy to examine fimilar productions, either taken from or built upon popular fayings, will most certainly be of my opinion in this particular.

If even the whole ground-work of the

affures us, that Bürger in the study of the old English ballads confined himself almost exclufively to Perty's Reliques of Ancient Poetry. Your's &c. Glandorf.

、 J. FRANCIS CORDES.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

N the article of "Neglected Biogra

phy," last month, there is an account of John Upton, critic. I find in a late publication, intituled, "Alumni Etonenfes," by Mr. Harwood, a much fuller account of him-that he was born at Wymflowe, in Cheshire, and that he was for fome

time an affiftant at Eton fchool-that he

married a daughter of Mr. Proctor, who kept a boarding-house at Eton; and was prefented by Sir Philip Sydenham to the rectory of Monk Silver, in Somersetshire. He became mafter of Ilminster school, and afterwards of Taunton, in the gift of Earl Pawlet. In addition to the publications mentioned by Dr. Watkins, he edited

&c." with a Latin verfion" Aristotle Dionyfius Halicarnaffius, de Structura, de Arte poetica"-and various school

books. There is a Latin ode of his writ

ing in the Gentleman's Magazine for October 1737. He died Rector of Plympton, August 13, 1749, at the age of feventy-nine. His fon, a captain in the navy, died on the 17th of the fame month in that year. I am, &c. July 24.

G. D.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

ANY of readers will proba

it can however not be. denied, that it has confiderably gained under his hands: Leonora's frantic anguish when fhe does not meet her lover among the returning warriors-the language of comfort of her mother-her contempt of the facrament, and her incredulity in its virtues, which motives the apparition are not to be met with in the oral tradition.

It appears, that the tale originally paffed from mouth to mouth in rhime and verse, till in progress of time it entirely loft that form.

The explanation of the refemblance of our Tale with the Suffolk Miracle I must leave to you. Perhaps it is fo old that the Saxons carried it over to England. For my part, I am fully fatisfied that Bürger did not take his Poem from any English ballad, but from an old LowDutch tale; the more fo as Mr. Schlegel

Plan for altering the manner of collecting a large part of the Public Revenue;” a tract which difcovers an intimate acquaintance with the true principles of political economy, and at the fame time evinces that high degree of liberality and patriotism, which alone could induce his Lordship to offer, to his political opponents, a plan which he confiders as effectually preventive of any deficiency in the public re

venues.

But while I give Lord Lauderdale much credit for this plan, and for the distinct manner in which he has explained its advantages, I ftill fee difficulties and objections which he has not removed; and therefore I propose to submit a few obfervations on this fubject to the readers of your very excellent mifcellany.

The plan is, to replace the Tax on In come, by a tax, equal in amount, on ca

pital paffing by fucceffion; and to continue this tax, even after the termination of the war, for the purposes of liquidating part of the national debt, and diminishing the taxes on confumable commodities. The inquiry then is, whether a tax on fucceffion is preferable to those which it is meant to replace.

Without entering upon the diftinction which Lord Lauderdale has adopted, between the nature of the rights to property and to inheritance; it will readily be allowed, that a tax on fucceffion would, in general, produce lefs of hardship to the contributors, than almost any other manner in which an equal revenue could be raifed. Cafes of direct fucceffion must however be excepted. Children are usually maintained from the income of their parents, and may be confidered as having, in almost every refpect except the management, a joint property with them. At the death of the father, that part of the income which was derived from his exertions is always loft to the family, and this part, in moft cafes, greatly exceeds what he himfelf had confumed. It would be extremely hard, at the very time that the family is unavoidably deprived of part of their former income, to occafion a ftill further reduction, by levying a heavy tax for the ufe of the fate. It would not only be taking from them what they had the reafonable expectation of enjoying, but, what Lord Lauderdale obferves is a grievance of a much more ferious nature, it would be depriving them of thofe comforts and conveniences which they have long had the habit of enjoying. Accordingly, both in this country and Holland, direct fucceffions are exempted from the taxes levied on collateral; an exemption which, if admitted, and it could not in juftice be refufed, would in a great measure defeat the ends propofed in Lord Lauderdale's plan.

In confidering that important point in taxation, the facility of collection, I think it must be allowed, that a tax on fucceffion would upon the whole be less liable to frauds on the one hand, and vexatious fcrutiny on the other, than a revenue affeffed annually, either on capital or income; while it would certainly be attended with lefs expence in the collection, than taxes on confuméable commodities. But there would still remain confiderable difficulties in levying this tax from property vefted in trade.

When a merchant dies, his fortune is ufually engaged in fpeculations, of which the iffue is uncertain. Until the event of

pe

all his adventures is afcertained, his books cannot be finally closed, nor the amount of the tax determined. During this riod, it would be hard on his fucceffor, and difadvantageous to the community, to keep his property idle and unproductive. The heir, being on this account immediately admitted to poffeffion, and allowed to act in every refpect as proprietor, may, in a very fhort time, greatly increafe or diminish the wealth to which he fucceeded. Finding fome of his predeceffor's fchemes unproductive for want of fufficient capital, he may render them highly advantageous by making advances from his own private funds; he may fee occafion to extend fome of his fpeculations, and to modify, or even totally abandon others. How fhall we now disentangle his affairs from thofe of his predeceffor? How fhall we diftinguifh the effects of his capital, fagacity, and labour, or of his negligence and incapacity, fo as to difcover what ought to be deemed the amount of the inheritance? Even if we fhould permit that kind of fcrutiny which is the ftrongeft objection to all direct affeffments, we fhall have little chance of ef certaining the truth. While on the one hand the amount of the tax holds out fo powerful a temptation to fraud, and, on the other, there is fo much difficulty in judging of the real amount of the fucceffion, all fuch inquifitions must be more productive of bribes to the officers, than of revenue to the state.

With respect to merchants engaged in co-partneries, a tax on fucceffion muft have this farther inconvenience, that it publishes, in fome measure, the circumitances of the furviving partners. It is' true, that the books of commercial companies are, even at prefent, open to the infpection of the heirs of a deceafed partner; but thefe heirs have ufually an intereft in concealing from the public the refult of their inveftigation. Were the books to be equally open to the revenue-officers, who can have no intereft in any fuch concealment, the affairs of a mercantile company would be completely disclosed at the death of each partner. Indeed, as the fum to be levied at one time must be much greater by a tax on fucceffion, than by annual affeffment, the temptation to concealment would be proportionably ftronger, and the neceffity of an accurate inveftigation more indifpenfible; and in fo far this plan is probably more objectionable than an annual affeffinent.

It may be added, that many expedients would probably be dévised, by various

forms

forms of truft-deeds, and by collufive deliveries during life, for evading the tax, in as far as it affected perfonal property; and thus a fucceffion tax would ultimately become a partial, and therefore oppreffive, burthen on land.

Thefe objections, applying chiefly to the mode of levying a tax on fucceffion, may be palliated, or perhaps removed, by judicious regulations: it remains now to mention an objection, which, being to the principle of all fuch taxes, cannot ever be weakened by any modifications. Lord Lauderdale has stated with much ingenuity the advantage which a tax on capital poffeffes over one on income, in enfuring a greater increase of revenue from the augmentation of our wealth; I think his reafoning on this point very fatisfactory; but it appears to me, that a tax on fucceffion, by diminishing the productive capital of the country, would effectually prevent that augmentation of wealth, from which the increase of the revenue is expected to proceed.

It must be unneceffary to prove, to any perfon who has read that justly popular work, the Wealth of Nations, that capital is the faving from the former produce of the land and labour of the country, and that, when once acquired, it greatly increafes the future produce. Each man's income may be confidered as divided into two portions; of which one, being confumed within the year, adds nothing to his opulence; the other, being faved, increates the amount of his capital. The capital of the nation, it is obvious, must be the aggregate of the different capitals poffeffed by individuals, and therefore it be comes important to inquire, from which portion of the annual income of the inhabitants the amount of a proposed tax will moft probably be taken.

for

When a tax is laid on commodities, it naturally raises the price of the commodities taxed, and, being ultimately paid by the confumer as part of that price, it is withdrawn from what he had fet apart confumption. If the tax is very high, he may, no doubt, neglect to make fuffici. ent allowance for it at firft; but, finding that he exceeded the expence which he had proposed to himself, even though he should not difcover from what this excefs has arifen, he will soon confider of fome retrenchment, by which he may continue to live at the rate which he thinks fuited to his circumftances.

In the fame manner, a direct tax, whether levied on capital or income, may at first affect the general accumulation of MONTHLY MAG. No. XLIX,

wealth; but, whenever it comes to be confidered as a permanent charge, the contributor will endeavour gradually to reduce his ordinary expences, fo that he may neither encroach on the capital he has already acquired, nor prevent that accumulation from which he expects future independence, perfonal confideration, or the comfortable establishment of his family..

Á tax on fucceffion, however, falls not on expenditure, but on capital. If such a tax is levied from perfonal property, it muft evidently convert what was formerly capital, into a fund deftined to the expenditure of the state. If a tax of ten per cent. is raised on a property amounting to a hundred pounds, the heir acquires only ninety pounds of additional capital, which he may employ in fome kind of re-production; but, as his predeceffor poffeffed a hundred pounds which he employed in the fame manner, the productive wealth of the nation has been reduced by a fum exactly equal to the amount of the tax.

The fame diminution of capital must be occasioned by a tax on the fucceffion to lands. If lands are worth thirty years' purchafe, ten per cent. of the value is exactly equal to three years' rents; a fum, which, as the heir will, in almost every cafe, immediately live according to his new, not to his old, rank in fociety, cannot be drawn from the rents to which he has fucceeded, but must be provided, either by a loan, or by a fale of part of the lands. The eftate must thus be either diminished or burthened, and the amount of the loan or purchase-money, which was formerly part of the floating capital of the nation, is paid into the public treasury, and confumed. There formerly exifted both the land and the floating capital, which is taken to pay the tax; the land no doubt ftill remains, though mortgaged or divided, but the amount of the tax no longer exifts as a separate and diftin&t capital.

It surely must be a serious objection to any fcheme of taxation, that it diminishes the productive capital of the country. As long as the money expended by the community is drawn from what would otherwife have been confumed by the inhabitants, the progrefs of national wealth is not even impeded: individuals may be deprived of comforts or luxuries which they might otherwife have enjoyed, but the national capital augments as quickly, and yields its annual produce as fully as if no tax had been levied. Part of the general income is expended in a manner 4 I

fomewhat.

pital paffing by fucceffion; and to continue this tax, even after the termination of the war, for the purposes of liquidating part of the national debt, and diminishing the taxes on confumable commodities. The inquiry then is, whether a tax on fucceffion is preferable to those which it is meant to replace.

Without entering upon the distinction which Lord Lauderdale has adopted, between the nature of the rights to property and to inheritance; it will readily he allowed, that a tax on fucceffion would, in general, produce lefs of hardship to the contributors, than almost any other manner in which an equal revenue could be raifed. Cafes of direct fucceffion mult however be excepted. Children are ufually maintained from the income of their parents, and may be confidered as having, in almoft every refpect except the manage. ment, a joint property with them. At the death of the father, that part of the income which was derived from his exertions is always loft to the family, and this part, in moft cafes, greatly exceeds what he himfelf had confumed. It would be extremely hard, at the very time that the family is unavoidably deprived of part of their former income, to occafion a ftill further reduction, by levying a heavy tax for the ufe of the fate. It would not only be taking from them what they had the reafonable expectation of enjoying, but, what Lord Lauderdale obferves is a grievance of a much more ferious nature, it would be depriving them of those comforts and conveniences which they have long had the habit of enjoying. Accordingly, both in this country and Holland, direct fucceffions are exempted from the taxes levied on collateral; an exemption which, if admitted, and it could not in juftice be refufed, would in a great meafure defeat the ends propofed in Lord Lauderdale's plan.

In confidering that important point in taxation, the facility of collection, I think it must be allowed, that a tax on fucceffion would upon the whole be lefs liable to frauds on the one hand, and vexatious fcrutiny on the other, than a revenue affeffed annually, either on capital or income; while it would certainly be attended with lefs expence in the collection, than taxes on confumeable commodities. But there would ftill remain confiderable difficulties in levying this tax from property vefted in trade.

When a merchant dies, his fortune is ufually engaged in fpeculations, of which the iffue is uncertain. Until the event of

all his adventures is afcertained, his books cannot be finally closed, nor the amount of the tax determined. During this pe riod, it would be hard on his fucceffor, and difadvantageous to the community, to keep his property idle and unproductive. The heir, being on this account immediately admitted to poffeffion, and allowed to act in every respect as proprietor, may, in a very fhort time, greatly increafe or diminish the wealth to which he fucceeded. Finding fome of his predeceffor's fchemes unproductive for want of fufficient capital, he may render them highly advantageous by making advances from his own private funds; he may fee occafion to extend fome of his fpeculations, and to modify, or even totally abandon others. How fhall we now disentangle his affairs from thofe of his predeceffor? How fhall we diftinguish the effects of his capital, fagacity, and labour, or of his negligence and incapacity, fo as to dif cover what ought to be deemed the amount of the inheritance? Even if we fnould permit that kind of fcrutiny which is the ftrongest objection to all direct affeffments, we fhail have little chance of ef certaining the truth. While on the one hand the amount of the tax holds out fo powerful a temptation to fraud, and, on the other, there is fo much difficulty in judging of the real amount of the fucceffion, all fuch inquifitions must be more productive of bribes to the officers, than of revenue to the state.

With refpe&t to merchants engaged in co-partneries, a tax on fucceffion muft have this farther inconvenience, that it publishes, in fome measure, the circumitances of the furviving partners. It is' true, that the books of commercial companies are, even at prefent, open to the infpection of the heirs of a deceased partner; but thefe heirs have ufually an intereft in concealing from the public the refult of their inveftigation. Were the books to be equally open to the revenue-officers, who can have no interest in any such concealment, the affairs of a mercantile company would be completely difclofed at the death of each partner. Indeed, as the fum to be levied at one time must be much greater by a tax on fucceffion, than by annual affeffment, the temptation to concealment would be proportionably ftronger, and the neceffity of an accurate inveftigation more indifpenfible; and in fo far this plan is probably more objectionable than an annual affeffinent.

It may be added, that many expedients would probably be dévised, by various

forms

forms of truft-deeds, and by collufive deliveries during life, for evading the tax, in as far as it affected perfonal property; and thus a fucceffion tax would ultimately become a partial, and therefore oppreffive, burthen on land.

Thefe objections, applying chiefly to the mode of levying a tax on fucceffion, may be palliated, or perhaps removed, by judicious regulations: it remains now to mention an objection, which, being to the principle of all fuch taxes, cannot ever be weakened by any modifications. Lord Lauderdale has ftated with much ingenuity the advantage which a tax on capital poffeffes over one on income, in enfuring a greater increase of revenue from the augmentation of our wealth; I think his reafoning on this point very fatisfactory; but it appears to me, that a tax on fucceffion, by diminishing the productive capital of the country, would effectually prevent that augmentation of wealth, from which the increase of the revenue is expected to proceed.

It must be unneceffary to prove, to any perfon who has read that justly popular work, the Wealth of Nations, that capital is the faving from the former produce of the land and labour of the country, and that, when once acquired, it greatly increafes the future produce. Each man's income may be confidered as divided into two portions; of which one, being confumed within the year, adds nothing to his opulence; the other, being faved, increafes the amount of his capital. The capital of the nation, it is obvious, must be the aggregate of the different capitals poffeffed by individuals, and therefore it be comes important to inquire, from which portion of the annual income of the inhabitants the amount of a propofed tax will moft probably be taken.

When a tax is laid on commodities, it naturally raises the price of the commodities taxed, and, being ultimately paid by the confumer as part of that price, it is withdrawn from what he had fet apart for confumption. If the tax is very high, he may, no doubt, neglect to make fufficient allowance for it at firft; but, finding that he exceeded the expence which he had propofed to himself, even though he should not difcover from what this excefs has arifen, he will foon confider of fome retrenchment, by which he may continue to live at the rate which he thinks suited to his circumftances.

In the fame manner, a direct tax, whether levied on capital or income, may at first affect the general accumulation of MONTHLY Mag. No. XLIX,

wealth; but, whenever it comes to be confidered as a permanent charge, the contributor will endeavour gradually to reduce his ordinary expences, fo that he may neither encroach on the capital he has already acquired, nor prevent that accumulation from which he expects future independence, perfonal confideration, or the comfortable establishment of his family.

Á tax on fucceffion, however, falls not on expenditure, but on capital. If such a tax is levied from perfonal property, it muft evidently convert what was formerly capital, into a fund destined to the expenditure of the ftate. If a tax of ten per cent. is raised on a property amounting to a hundred pounds, the heir acquires only ninety pounds of additional capital, which he may employ in fome kind of re-production; but, as his predeceffor poffeffed a hundred pounds which he employed in the fame manner, the productive wealth of the nation has been reduced by a fum exactly equal to the amount of the tax.

The fame diminution of capital must be occafioned by a tax on the fucceffion to lands. If lands are worth thirty years' purchafe, ten per cent. of the value is exactly equal to three years' rents; a fum, which, as the heir will, in almoft every cafe, immediately live according to his new, not to his old, rank in fociety, cannot be drawn from the rents to which he

has fucceeded, but must be provided, either by a loan, or by a fale of part of the lands. The estate must thus be either diminished or burthened, and the amount of the loan or purchase-money, which was formerly part of the floating capital of the nation, is paid into the public treasury, and confumed. There formerly exifted both the land and the floating capital, which is taken to pay the tax; the land no doubt ftill remains, though mortgaged or divided, but the amount of the tax no longer exifts as a separate and diftin&t capital.

It surely must be a serious objection to any scheme of taxation, that it diminishes the productive capital of the country. As long as the money expended by the community is drawn from what would otherwife have been confumed by the inhabitants, the progrefs of national wealth is not even impeded: individuals may be deprived of comforts or luxuries which they might otherwife have enjoyed, but the national capital augments as quickly, and yields its annual produce as fully as if no tax had been levied. Part of the general income is expended in a manner + I

4.

fomewhat.