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at all. No other fovereigns ever were, or, from the nature of things, ever could be, fo perfectly indifferent about the happiness or mifery of their fubjects, the improvement or wafte of their dominions, the glory or difgrace of their administration; as, from irrefiftible moral caufes, the greater part of the proprietors of fuch a mercantile company are, and neceffarily must be. This indifference too was more likely to be increafed than diminished by fome of the new regulations, which were made in confequence of the parliamentary inquiry. By a refolution of the Houfe of Commons, for example, it was declared, that when the fourteen hundred thousand pounds lent to the company by government fhould be paid, and their bond-debts be reduced to fifteen hundred thousand pounds, they might then, and not till then, divide eight per cent.upon their capital; and that whatever remained of their revenues and neat profits at home, fhould be divided into four parts; three of them to be paid into the exchequer, for the ufe of the public, and the fourth to be referved as a fund, either for the further reduction of their bond debts, or for the difcharge of other contingent exigencies which the company might labour under. But if the company werė bad stewards, and bad fovereigns, when the whole of their nett revenue and profits belonged to themfelves, and were at their own difpofal, they were furely not likely to be better, when three-fourths of them were to belong to other people, and the other fourth, though to be laid out for the benefit of the company, yet to be fo, under the infpection, and with the approbation, of other people.

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It might be more agreeable to the company that their own fervants and dependants fhould have either the pleasure of wafting, or the profit of embezzling whatever furplus might remain, after paying the propofed dividend of eight per cent. than that it fhould come into the hands of a fet of people, with whom thofe refolutions could fcarce fail to fet them, in fome measure, at variance. The intereft

of thofe fervants and dependants might fo far predominate in the court of proprietors, as fometimes to difpofe it to fupport the authors of depredations, which had been committed in direct violation of its own authority. With the majority of proprietors, the support even of the authority of their own court might fometimes be a matter of lefs confequence, than the fupport of those who had fet that authority at defiance.

The regulations of 1773, accordingly, did not put an end to the diforders of of the company's government in India. Notwithstanding, that, during a momentary fit of good conduct, they had at one time collected, into the treasury of Calcutta, more than three millions fterling; notwithstanding that they had afterwards extended, either their dominion or their depredations, over a vast acceffion of fome of the richest and most fertile countries in India; all was wafted and deftroyed. They found themfelves altogether unprepared to ftop or refift the incurfion of Hyder Ali; and, in confequence of thofe diforders, the company is now (1784) in greater distress than ever; and, in order to prevent immediate bankruptcy, is once more reduced to fupplicate the affiftance of government. Different plans have been propofed by the different parties in parliament, for the better management of its affairs. And all thofe plans feem to agree

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in fuppofing, what was indeed always abundantly evident, that it is altogether unfit to govern its territorial poffeffions. Even the company itself feems to be convinced of its own incapacity fo far, and feems, upon that account, willing to give them up to government.

The language in these additions, as in the great work to which they belong, though clear, nervous, and precife, is not embellished with thofe artificial decorations, which might allure fuperficial readers into this line of fpeculation. Yet no writer was more capable of all the embellishments of compofition than Dr. Smith. But he feems to have been of opinion, that, in fuch fpeculations, fuch embellishments were not admiffible; and that an inquiry, addreffed to the understanding of philofophers and ftatefmen, ought to rest entirely on intrinfic merit, and is, when un-adorned, adorned the most.

The word prohibit, which fo frequently occurs, feems to be constructed on fome occafions with a latitude not per- . fectly agreeable to the English idiom. Instead, for example, of the phrafe, prohibited to be imported,* we should prefer prohibited from being imported, as more confonant to the analogy of English grammar. Hinder to for hinder from, is a common Scotticifm; and, we apprehend, prohibit to, for prohibit from, ftands in the fame predicament. If fo, we have detected perhaps the only Scotticifm to be met with in thefe volumes.

The late Dr. Johnson used to observe it as a fort of national characteristic, that the Scottish writers in general were extravagantly addicted to the praifing of one another. And we believe the remark is not altogether without foundation. Yet, we will venture to affirm, that this work of Dr. Smith has not been the fubject of extravagant eulogium, when it is pronounced, by a writert of his own country, to be, "a work which will, probably, in future times, be referred 66 to in political fcience, as the first just and systematic ac"count, that has appeared in any language, of the principles of public economy and the phænomena of com"mercial ftates."

* Vol. II. Page 254.

An oppofite propenfity feems to belong to a diftinguished hiftorian- -See Dr. Stuart's obfervations on Dr. Robertfon's Hiftory of Scotland.

Effays on the Hiftory of Mankind.

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ART. III. Anna; or, Memoirs of a Welch Heiress. Interfperfed with Anecdotes of a Nabob, 4 vol.

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I 2mo. I2S. Lane.

Y Lord Bacon endeavours to account for the rife of performances which are fictitious, from the natural and inherent dignity of the human mind. The affairs of the world, he conceives, are too limited to afford to man a complete fatisfaction. He must make excurfions into the regions of fancy; and he muft feek to improve upon nature. The theory of this great man, is ingenious; and perhaps it is well founded. But it is to be inferred from his reafonings, that fictitious writings would be the more perfect in proportion to their extravagance, and their diffimilitude from real life. This, however, is by no means the cafe. For though it is permitted to the novelift to employ a high colouring, and to exhibit a more perfect or a more depraved nature than confifts with exact juftness, the charm of his work muft ever confift in a happy probability, and a fortunate refemblance to real life.

The performance before us exceeds in no common degree the mafs of novels which are every day obtruded upon the public. It deferves, on this account, to be more particularly distinguished. The author avoids those gigantic inventions which can only furprize. He employs himself to move and agitate the affections, by a fable which holds out imitations of living manners, and which difplays characters which are frequently to be met with. His relations, drawn from obfervation and experience, inftruct while they amufe. We feel all the emotions which actually operate in fociety; and applaud, in the furvey of a full and connected picture, that tafte, capacity, fenfibility, and knowledge, which must have been poffeffed by the artist.

But while we beftow a general approbation upon the volumes before us, it is our duty to remark, that they furnish every where leffons of virtue; that they inculcate a pure morality; and that the author, fufficiently rich in his natural refources, had no occafion to excite the intereft of his readers, by addreffing himself to the imagination and the fenfes. The youth of both fexes may receive from the prefent performance an entertainment that is at once tender and moral.

As a fpecimen of thefe volumes, we fhall lay before our readers the firft or introductory chapter.

The latter end of September, Mrs. Clark, a widow woman, whofe narrow circumstances obliged her to let lodgings, was fo fortunate (as fhe then termed it) to have her apartments tak ather own price, by a very good-looking middle-aged man; who, to obviate any doubts that the might have refpecting his being a stranger,

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advanced a month's rent, and preparing her to receive a fick woman and a child, defired her to provide a nurse for the former, as the engaged to fuperintend all the attendance he wifhed for himfelf and the latter and having given her a couple of guineas, to lay out in what neceffaries might be immediately wanting, left her, to fetch the woman and child.

The stranger had dropped no hint that the perfon who was to Occupy the apartments was his wife, neither had he faid fhe was not fo. Mrs. Clarke was fcrupulous and particular in her own principles; but her lodgings were empty; they had unluckily been fo all the fummer: the winter was approaching; during that feafon fhe had feldom tenants for them, and neceffity rendered her lefs inquifitive than in more eafy circumstances fhe would have been; The was prevented asking queftions, by the fear of having them anfwered in a way that would oblige her to forego an advantage she could not well do without.

In two hours from the time he left her, a hackney coach fet down at her door an elderly woman, in the last stage of a confumption, a pretty little girl of three or four year old, a portmanteau, a fmall trunk, and the aforefaid gentleman. Luckily, Mrs. Clarke was a woman who made a point of fulfilling her engagements; for the affiduity with which fhe had prepared their rooms, and procured a nurfe, was rendered neceffary by the extreme weakness of the poor invalid, who was directly got to bed, and a neighbouring apothecary fummoned to her affistance.

The gentleman, with apparent concern, waited his decifion, and on a physician being recommended, begged (being, as he faid, a ftranger) the apothecary would give him the addrefs of the most eminent; adding, that he would go himfelf to procure his immedi ate attendance. As foon at he was furnished with directions, he fet off in hafte, accompanied by the apothecary, and Mrs. Clarke was beginning to fcrape acquaintance with her little charge, when her attention was called to a buftle at her door, where fhe met, to her furprize and concern, Mr. Linton, the apothecary, returning, affifted by fome accidental paffengers, with the lifeless body of her new lodger. A vein was immediately opened, but without effect, a fit of apoplexy had put a period to his existence; he breathed no

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'The confufion fuch an event raised in the house, reached the fick perfon, and the nurse incautiously telling her the caufe, it threw her into faintings, from which fhe never recovered fufficiently to fpeak to be understood, although the lived three days.

Among others whofe curiofity was excited by this awful and fatal circumftance, was the Rev. John Dalton, a popular preacher, belonging to a methodist conventicle in the neighbourhood. Mrs. Clarke as well as the nurse were his conftant hearers, and begged his prayers with the dying woman; who, a fhort time before the expired, gave proofs fhe was fenfible of his facred function and her own fituation, by making figns to have the infant and trunk brought her, both which the put into his hands, and appearing then more compofed and refigned, was, in a few moments released out of her pain.

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"The trunk appeared heavy enough to quiet in fome measure the apprehenfions of the reverend teacher; otherwife, the facred bequeft, and the folemn manner in which it was made, would not have been the most acceptable thing in the world to him. Poor Mrs. Clarke, as foon as the found the could not disturb the dying woman, began loudly to lament, herself, at having a couple of people to bury, of whofe names, connections, and even country, the was ignorant, and whofe baggage was too trifling to anfwer the funeral expences, which would half ruin her to defray, having a very fmail penfion, as widow of a carpenter of a man of war, and what the could make of her lodgings, to fupport herself and daughter, who The had put apprentice to a milliner.

This reflection fuggefted the idea of fearching the pockets of both the deceased: in the man's was found a gold watch and chain, with three feals, viz. a coat of arms, a creft, and a cypher, H. T. feven guineas, fome filver, and a fall key, which Dalton took as belonging to the trunk, and having half opened it, he shut if again immediately, declaring it was full of old papers, which he would look over when he got home, and as it had pleafed the Lord thus fignally to deprive the innocent child of its natural friends, he would take the prefent care of her himself.

To be fure, he had a large family of his own, and hard enough he found it to fupport them; but what of that? Deeds of charity, like thofe of virtue, were their own reward; nay, he would go farther he would take what effects there were, and pay all the expences of their respective funerals, and every other that was already incurred; if there was enough to reimburse him it was well; if not, God would pay him. The women were loft in admiration of his piety and charity, when, to avoid the cenfures of evil-minded people, he directed them to take an inventory of the things, the property of the defuncts; a prudent precaution, though not abfolutely neceffary, for the witneffes were well acquainted from memory with every particular, but that which he faid required none, viz. the fmall trunk, which he fuffered not to go out of his own hands.

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Having given what farther directions he thought proper, a coach was ordered, in which he conveyed the child, the trunk, and himfelf, to his own habitation.

When Mr. Dalton faid, he had a large family of his own, he had (which was not always the cafe) spoke the truth; having a fat, handfome wife, five daughters, and two fons, with a fmall income, fo that when he got home, Mrs. Dalton was not over fenfible of the neceffity there was for this extraordinary exertion of a charitable difpofition in her husband; to fay the truth, though nobody could preach it better, or enforce it with ftronger arguments, there was very little of that meek-eyed virtue in the Doctor's (as he was called) practice; it is therefore not to be wondered, Mrs. Dalton was both angry and furprised at this first inftance of that amiable virtue: he foon, however, contrived to reconcile her to the trouble and expence of this little addition to her family, and when after communing with her husband, fhe looked at the fweet baby then afleep, it was fo lovely, and had fomething fo genteel, fo above the common

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