Art. 40. Kearsley's Traveller's entertaining Guide through Great Bri Art. 41. The Polyanthea: or a Collection of interesting Fragments 8vo. If this species of composition, the collection, from different sources, of materials for a Farrago libelli -be cousidered as indicat. ing little genius in regard to authorship, yet it will be admitted, that it is fully as meritorious and amusing a mode of levying a literary tax on the public, as that of numerous novel writers and authors of romance. These two volumes present a fund of light summer reading, and will become a welcome addition to the furniture of many public libraries, or watering place reading-rooms. CORRESPONDENCE. We are requested to announce that the New Vitruvius Eritannicus, mentioned in our last Number, is actually in a state of continuation, that two parts of a second volume have been published, that a third is in preparation, and that five will complete the volume. Delia reminds us that the object of Mr. Strickland's paper in the American Philosophical Transactions, as reported in our Review for April last, p. 343, was not then suggested for the first time, but was introduced in the Memoirs of the same body for the year 1793. Our Correspondent, however, mistakes in supposing that we were not aware of this circumstance, and will find an account of Mr. Williams's paper in our 15th Vol. p. 574, together with some objections to the theory: but, very contrary to our usual custom, we accidentally omitted, in reviewing Mr. S.'s Memoir, to refer to the similar remarks of his predecessor. The second letter of Doctrine Fautor is received; and we have to inform the writer that the publications to which he alludes will be noticed as soon as circumstances permit: but we cannot promise uniform attention to new editions, even of the restricted class in question, because our duty would thus be too much enlarged. 6 We have not heard of Zoega's work. Can our Constant Reader give us farther particulars respecting it? Cantianus is intitled to our thanks. We have availed ourselves of his information, and propose shortly to discharge our debt. 261,262,705 Errors, pp. 250, 257, 277, 319. Man THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For AUGUST, 1804. ART. I. The Life of George Washington, Commander in Chief of the American Forces, during the War which established the Independence of his Country, and First President of the United States compiled under the Inspection of the Honourable Bushrod Washington, from original Papers bequeathed to him by his deceased Relative. To which is prefixed, an Introduction, containing a compendious View of the Colonies planted by the English on the Continent of North America. By John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States, &c. &c. Vol. I. 4to. PP. 403. 11. 118. 6d. (8vo. 10s. 6d.) Boards. London, R. Phillips. 1804. TH HE Curiosity, which is usually excited by new biographical publications, is in general regulated by the interest that has been attached to the individual whose life is recorded: yet, such is the inquisitiveness of the human mind, that much attention is often paid to the details of very trifling actions, and the memoirs of very insignificant persons. Far indeed from meriting such epithets, were the character and the pursuits of GEORGE WASHINGTON; in comparison with whom, few among the human race, at least in modern times, have so conspicuously merited the honors of biography, and so eminently contributed to fill and dignify the page of the historian. If, in this instance, the attention of the public should be adequate to the real interest and importance of the subject, the production before us will be received into the most extensive circulation: but the present volume has created in us some temporary disappointments, and must cause a little suspension of general gratification, since it contains no memoirs of that great man to whom it is professedly devoted, but is wholly occupied by the historical introduction mentioned in the title. Whether preliminary matter of such extent would not more properly have preceded a history of the United States, than the life of the hero to whom they owe in so eminent a degree their independence, it might have been worth the author's while to have considered: but, whether the details be or be not properly placed, of their importance no doubt VOL. XLIV. can can be entertained. With regard to the manner in which they are presented to us, we may observe that the writer possesses most of the requisites for such an undertaking. He does not appear to be wanting in diligence, fidelity, and judgment; nor does he ne glect a comprehensive view of the objects of this part of his work. We could have wished, indeed, that he had sometimes entered more into particulars; and sometimes researches suggested themselves to our minds which are here omitted, and which would have essentially elucidated his relations. We are inclined to think that he did not fully appreciate the importance of the matter of this introductory volume. The pen of history, we conceive, is never more worthily and arduously employed, than when it exhibits the infancy of a great empire, when it holds up to view its first elements, and traces the course by which it rises to wealth, influence, and consideration. Our patience would not have been wearied, if the accounts had been more minute which describe the hardships of the first settlers, and the struggles which they maintained with an inhospitable climate, with a soil which the hand of cultivation had never touched, with the dangers which arose from disease and famine, from the attacks both of savage and of civilized foes. Mr. Marshall seems not to have been aware of the eager curiosity with which the philosophical reader surveys the occupations of the forlorn emigrants, who roved comfortless in those lonely tracks which were to become the seat of manners, arts, and science; and who dismally toiled to earn necessaries in the future abode of comfort, luxury, and refinement. It is in a degree true, as remarked by the author, that, accustomed to look in the page of history for incidents in themselves of great magnitude; to find immense exertions attended with inconsiderable effects, and vast means employed in producing unimportant ends, we are in the habit of bestowing on the recital of military actions, a degree of consideration proportioned to the numbers engaged in them.' It must also be conceded to him that, when the struggle has terminated, and the agitations felt during its suspence have subsided, it is difficult to attach to enterprizes in which small numbers have been concerned, that admiration which is often merited by the talents displayed in their execution, or that interest which belongs to the consequences that have arisen from them.' These observations, however, are principally applicable to minds of a grosser kind, and chiefly perhaps to them when poring over the performances of inferior artists. We possess numerous histories which do not owe their effect to this vast apparatus; those of Greece and Rome in their best days, with those of Florence, Swisserland, and even of Geneva, excite far more inter-st than ་ the bloody narratives of the wars which followed the death of Louis le Debonnaire, or of Aurungzebe, and evince that the author's propositions require to be very considerably qualified. The following sketch, drawn with a not less faithful than able hand, shews how well the author has appreciated his hero: The long and distressing contest between Great Britain and these States did not abound in those great battles which are so frequent in the wars of Europe. Those who expect a continued succession of victories and defeats; who can only feel engaged in the movements of vast armies, and who believe that a hero must be perpetually in action, will be disappointed in almost every page of the following history. Seldom was the American Chief in a condition to indulge his native courage in those brilliant achievements to which he was stimulated by his own feelings, and a detail of which interests, enraptures, and astonishes the reader. Had he not often checked his natural disposition, had he not tempered his ardour with caution, the war he conducted would probably have been of short duration, and the United States would still have been colonies. At the head of troops, most of whom were perpetually raw, because they were perpetually changing; who were neither well fed, paid, clothed, nor armed; and who were generally inferior, even in numbers, to the enemy; he derives no small title to. glory from the consideration that he never despaired of the public safety, that he was able at all times to preserve the appearance of an army, and that, in the most desperate situation of American affairs, he did not, for an instant, cease to be formidable To estimate rightly his worth, we must contemplate his difficulties. We must examine the means placed in his hands, and the use he made of those means. To preserve an army when conquest was impossible, to avoid defeat and ruin when victory was unattainable, to keep his forces embodied, and suppress the discontents of his soldiers, exasperated by a long course of the most cruel privations, to seize with unerring discrimination the critical moment when vigorous offensive operations might be advantageously carried on, are actions not less valuable in themselves, nor do they require less capacity in the Chief who performs them, than a continued succession of battles. But they spread less splendor over the page which recounts them, and excite weaker emotions in the bosom of the reader.' We must now, however, turn from the contemplation of this great character, in order to grope our way during a long, dismal, and stormy night, till we behold the day light which commences with the attainment of social comfort, which grows brighter under the more secure liberty imparted to the colonies. by the revolution of 1688, and which shone still more brilli antly when, under the auspices of that distinguished person, independence was added to freedom, and the colonies became states acknowleging no superior. The author justly observes that Henry VII. did not avail himself of the discovery of North America by Cabot, because he was unwilling to embroil himself with the Pope, who had divided the new world between the crowns of Spain and Portugal; that he also wished to stand on good terms with Ferdinand; and that his mind was averse from speculations of which the expected benefit was not immediate. From this period, no attempts were made to colonize North America, until those which were concerted under Elizabeth, and all of which miscarried. We are not to ascribe the rage for colonization, which prevailed in her time, to any enlarged or philanthropic views, nor to any just foresight of the real advantages which would result from it; since the zeal and exertions of its patrons were called forth by the chimerical hopes of discovering gold mines, and a passage to the Pacific Ocean which would shorten the distance to the enriching markets of the East. The charters of Elizabeth and James, properly considered, seem to us to throw light on the much agitated question, whether the Stuarts imported arbitrary principles into this kingdom, or found them established by their predecessors. The charter of the queen concedes to the grantees the whole of the executive and legislative power, the judicial supremacy both civil and criminal, and the entire administration of the colony; with the sole provisoes that the laws shall be conformable to those of England, and that the supremacy of the queen shall be acknowleged. James, on the contrary, in the charter which he grants, lodges both the executive and the legislative powers in a council named by him, frames the laws himself, has the power of sanctioning those which may be introduced by the council, and may abrogate them at his pleasure. These two instruments shew the opposite notions entertained by the two sovereigns, and the different systems on which they acted. The disastrous events of the several expeditions to the new world had damped the spirit of adventure, till it was revived in consequence of a successful voyage of Bartholomew Gonald, and by the favourable accounts of the country brought home by him. The same spirit was also much promoted by the exertions of the learned and intelligent prebendary of Westminster, the indefatigable Richard Hackluyt. A company, consisting of very considerable persons, was formed, the charter already mentioned was granted, and an expedition was fitted out: Under this charter and these laws, which manifest, at the same time, a total disregard of all political liberty, and a total ignorance of the real advantages which may be drawn from colonies by a parent which vest the higher powers of legislation in persons residing out |