would almost imagine there was some instinctive sagacity in the government of that time, which pointed out to them, even before he had made himself known to the world, the man who was destined to be the most successful adversary of superstition and tyranny." But we must draw to a close.For a specimen of the pathetic, which may be confidently compared with what from any other historian can be produced, we may refer to the last scenes of the life of Argyle. There is, however, one passage still, containing a description of the political character of the leading orders in the nation, during the flourishing period of the reign of James, a passage which is too remarkable and instructive to be omit ted. "On the 2d of July, parliament was adjourned for the purpose of enabling the principal gentlemen to be present in their respective counties, at a time when their services and influence might be so necessary to government. It is said that the House of Commons consisted of members so devoted to James, that he declared there was not forty in it, whom he would not himself have named. But although this may have been true, and though from the new-modelling of the corporations, and the interference of the court in elections, this Parliament as far as regards the manner of its being chosen, was by no means a fair representative of the legal electors of England, yet there is reason to think that it afforded a tolerably correct sample of the disposition of the nation, and especially of the church party, which was then uppermost. "The general character of the party at this time appears to have been a high notion of the king's constitutional power, to which was superadded, a kind of religious abhorrence of all resistance to the monarch, not only in cases where such resistance was directed against the lawful prerogative, but even in opposition to encroachments, which the monarch might make beyond the extended limits which they assigned to his prerogative. But these tenets, and still more, the principle of conduct naturally resulting from them, were confined to the civil, as contradistinguished from the ecclesiastical, polity of the country. In church matters, they neither acknowledged any very high authority in the crown, nor were they willing to submit to any royal encroachment on that side; and a steady attachment to the church of Engall dissenters from it, whether Catholick land, with a proportionable aversion to or Protestant, was almost universally prevalent among them. A due consideration of these distinct features in the character of a party so powerful in Charles's and James's time, and even when it was lowest, (that is, during the reigns of the two first princes of the House of Brunswick,) by no means in considerable, is exceedingly necessary to the right understanding of English History. It affords a clue to many passages otherwise unintelligible. For want of a proper attention to this circumstance, some historians have considered the conduct of the Tories in promoting the Revolution as an instance of great incon sistency. Some have supposed, contrary to the clearest evidence, that their no tions of passive obedience, even in civil matters, were limited, and that their support of the government of Charles and James, was founded upon a belief, that those princes would never abuse their prerogative for the purpose of in troducing arbitrary sway. But this hypothesis is contrary to the evidence both of their declaration and their conduct. Obedience without reserve, an abhorrence of all resistance, as contrary to the tenets of their religion, are the principles which they professed in their addresses, their sermons, and their decrees at Oxford; and surely nothing short of such principles, could make men esteem the latter years of Charles the Second, and the opening of the reign of his successor, an era of national happiness, and exemplary government. Yet this is the representation of that period, which is usuall made by historians, and other writers of the church party. "Never were fairer promises on one side, nor greater generosity on the other," says s Mr. Echard. "The king had as yet, in no instance, invaded the rights of his subjects," says the author of the Caveat against the Whigs. Thus, as long as Janies contented himselt with absolute power in civil matters, and did not make use of his authority against the church, every thing went smooth and easy; nor is it necessary, in order to account for the satisfaction of the parliament and people, to have recourse to any implied compromise, by which the nation was willing to yield its civil liberties as the price of retaining its religious constitution. The truth seems to be, that the king, in asserting his unlimited power, rather fell in with the humour of the prevailing party, than offered any violence to it. Absolute power in civil matters, under the specious names of morarchy and prerogative, formed a most essential part of the Tory creed; but the order in which Church and King are placed in the favourite device of the party, is not accidental, and is well calculated to shew the genuine principles of such among them as are not corrupted by influence. Accordingly, as the sequel of this reign will abundantly show, when they found themselves compelled to make an option, they preferred, with out any degree of inconsistency, their first idol to their second, and when they could not preserve both Church and King, declared for the former. "It gives certainly no very flattering picture of the country, to describe it as being in some sense fairly represented by this servile Parliament, and not only acquiescing in, but delighted with, the early measures of James's reign: the contempt of law exhibited in the arbitrary mode of raising his revenue; his insulting menace to the Parliament, that if they did not use him well, he would govern without them; his furious perse cution of the Protestant dissenters, and the spirit of despotism, which appeared in all his speeches and actions. But it is to be remembered, that these measures were in no wise contrary to the principles or prejudices of the church party, but rather highly agreeable to them; and that the Whigs, who alone were possessed of any just notions of liberty, were so out-numbered, and discomfited by persecution, that such of them as did not think fit to engage in the rash schemes of Monmouth or Argyle, held it to be their interest to interfere as little as possible in publick affairs, and by no means to obtrude upon unwilling hearers, opinions and sentiments, which, ever since tlie ANN. REV. Vol. VIL. dissolution of the Oxford Parliament in 1681, had been generally discountenanced, and of which the peaceable, or rather triumphant accession of James to the throne, was supposed to seal the condemnation." A fine specimen of the moral reflections which even politics suggest more readily than any other to Mr. Fox, is connected with the details which he presents respecting the degrading traffic carried on be tween the crown of England and Louis the Fourteenth, when the two mean-spirited kings of these noble islands received pecuniary allowances from the hands of the king of France, and acknowledged their vassal gratitude in more hyperbolical and abject terms than a common beggar who has received an alms beyond his expectation. Compared with their headlong propensity to domineer over their own subjects, these transactions afford a most striking exemplification of the common remark, that he who would tread upon one man is the most fitted by nature to truckle to another; and yields a remarkable proof that the disposition' (of which some people seem to make a parade, as a thing to be proud of,) to rule with a high hand over the mass of the people, and not to restrain the arm of power by shackles too strong and degrading, is a disposition so far from being allied to magnanimity, that there is no more sure indication of a mind, slavish at bottom, and on a revolution of circumstances prepared to act the most degrading part. The following is the short passage to which we allude. "Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, whom he appointed Lord Treasurer, was in all respects calculated to be a fit instrument for the purposes then in view. Besides being upon the worst terms with Halifax, in whom alone, of all his ministers, James was likely to find any bias in favour of popular principles, he was, I both from prejudice of education, and from interest, inasmuch as he had aspired to be the head of the Tories, a great favourer of those servile principles of the Church of England, which had lately been so highly extolled from the throne. His near relation to the Dutchess of York might also be some recommendation, but his privity to the late pecuniary transactions between the courts of Versailles and London, and the cordiality with which he concurred in them, were by far more powerful titles to his new master's confidence. For it must be observed of this minister, as well as of many others of his party, that his high notions, as they are frequently styled, of power, regarded only the relation between the king and his subjects, and not that in which he might stand with respect to foreign princes; so that, provided he could, by a de. pendence, however servile, upon Lewis the Fourteenth, be placed above the controul of his Parliament and people at home, he considered the honour of the crown unsullied." The language or style of this history has no very remarkable characters of excellence. Mr. Fox, in fact, appears to be still only serving his apprenticeship to composition. He seems by no means at home in the business; though neither is it stiffness that is in any degree the defect of his style. His language is perspicuous, and flowing. It has no appearance of labour, though it is often incumbered. Like most beginners in composition, he is too circumstantial, too anxious to make out precisely his meaning, by qualifying clauses. The same want of experience has on various occasions led him to dwell too long on trivial circumstances; and it has not unfrequently betrayed him into awkward, and even into inaccurate expressions. Mr. Fox's genius, however, is diffuse, and with the greatest experience he would have always drawn out his details to too great a length. To the work there is prefixed an address to the reader, drawn up by Lord Holland, and intended to explain the views of the illustrious author in his noble and virtuous undertaking. It contains some very interesting particulars relating to the tastes, the habits, and pursuits of Mr. Fox. It is pleasing to a man of Mr. Fox. enamoured of literature, to perceive how strong was the propensity of Mr. Fox to literary occupations. "Oh how I wish," says he, in a. letter to Lord Holland, in 1803, "that I could make up my mind to think it right, to devote all the remaining part of my life to such subjects; and such only!" His taste however led him by a strong preference to belles lettres and criticism. His notions of history and of style had in them something peculiar. He conceived that the philosophical delineations of the manners of particular ages and nations, of particular forms of government, of literature, of laws, which form the distinctive characteristic of modern history, did not properly belong to that species of composition; which should be confined, he said, to telling the story of the times to which his history relates. His opinion in regard to style was, that it should as nearly resemble conversation as is consis tent with avoiding meanness and vulgarity. We account it unneces sary to enter into a critical examination of these opinions, which would carry us to too great a length. We must forbear too from surpassing our limits, by presenting an account of the details which this prefatory address contains. We have the satisfaction, however, to think that this is in a very small, if in any degree, necessary; as it is probable that there is hardly any of our readers who is not al ready acquainted with them. ART. IV. Annals of Europe; exhibiting the Origin, Progress, Decline and Fall of every Kingdom and State, from the Dismemberment of the Roman Empire to the Peace of Tilsit in 1807. Comprehending a View of Italy and the Church, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Prussia, Turkey. Also an Account of the Monastic Life and a List of the Popes; and containing a Life of Bonaparte, with Strictures on his Merits as a Soldier, a Sovereign and a Man; to which are added, all the Trea ties and Declarations, concluded and issued by the Belligerent Powers. By JAMES EDE, 12mo. 2 vols. LEST this title-page puff should be insufficent, Mr. Ede has blown up a prefatory one in the same modest manner. After lamenting "that the History of Europe, so rich in variety, knowledge andexperience, has been in a great measure kept from the public, either by enormous volumes which many have not time or inclination to peruse, or an enormous expence which is still more to be lamented;" he adds, "to remedy both, I undertook the present performance, which is intended to bring within the reach and reading of all, every important information that can be derived from the best writers in modern Europe." If these Annals are not en titled to the full eulogy which Cicero bestows on history when he calls it the "testis temporum, lux veritatis, vita memoriæ, magis tra vitæ, & nuntia vetustatis," it has at least the "unam dicendi laudem, brevitatem"-it is short." Indeed the title-page is so long that very little else was necessary. The authorities consulted for this compilation are Voltaire, Hume, Robertson and Russel: the newspapers have furnished a plentiful variety of scolding against Bonaparte, which Mr. Ede no doubt calculates, and very justly so, will please John Bull and the patriotic gentlemen at Lloyd's, and will at the same time help the sale of his book. ART. V. Annals of George the Third: from his Majesty's Accession to the Throne, to the unparalleled Victory of Trafalgar, in 1805. By WILLIAM GREENE, A. M. 12mo. 2vols. IN literature as well as in chemistry there is not only a process which is called composition, but another which may with propriety be denominated decomposition. The one is a synthetic and the other an analytic operation. Historic annals may either be considered as a body of the prominent and important events of the passing day, collected and prepared for a sort of guide to direct the research of the historian, and as composing what the French call "Memoires pour servir a l'His toire;" or they may be, like these before us, a kind of heads of chapters, a table of the contents of other works. To furnish the historian with materials for his history, to supply him with facts, and refer him to authorities, to suggest topics for investigation, and point out the proper channels of enquiry, is a task which derogates from the intellectual powers of no man to perform; it bespeaks intelligence and observation, it demands fidelity and judgment, Not so the annalist, who instead of furnishing materials to others is content to get the chapters of historians in order to supply materials for himself. This is a task to which many are competent who are unable to perform the other. It requires only half the accomplishments: judgment and fidelity are necessary, but it bespeaks no intelligence or observation. With respect to the present work, it may have the merit of fidelity, but there are too many sins of omission, and there is too exclusive a re liance on one individual histori- testas ut esset populo cognoscendi, an to allow the annalist much merit on the score of judgment. The individual historian to whom we allude is Mr. Belsham; let it not be understood that we speak disrespectfully, of that gentleman's labours; they have come before us officially, and we have given them the praise to which they are entitled. But it is no mark of judgment in a compiler of history to pin his faith on the sleeve of any single authority when there are so many others, who may be consulted with equal advantage, and who contribute to the correction of each others errors. We have traced the pen of Mr. Belsham so often in the first of these volumes, that we have no doubt of his being the Magnus Apollo of Mr. Greene. Some times we have traced him word for word, and still more frequently is his narrative feebly and ineffectually disguised by some slight transposition or verbal change. The history of Mr. Belsham, however, is exchanged as an authority for that of Dr. Coote in the second volume. That gentleman's useful history is brought down to the peace of Amiens, and it is from that recent period only that Mr. Greene has any pretensions to the character of an annalist according to the original acceptation of the term. The first annalists we are informed were the Pontifices Maximi, who, in order to give immediate publicity to current events, and to preserve the memory of them, had those of each year recorded and exposed on tables within their houses. Erat Historia, says Cicero (de Oratore Lib. II. § 12.), nihil aliud nisi annalium confectio; cujus rei, memoriæque publicæ retinendæ causa,au initio rerum Romanarum usque ad P. Mucium, pontifiem Maximum, res omneis singulorum anuorum mandabat literis pontifex Maximus, efferebatque in album, & proponebat tabulam domi, po ii qui etiam nunc annales Maximi nominantur. It appears, therefore, that these annals were a sort of government gazette, official newspapers, relating the transactions of the times. The last sixty pages of these volumes comprehend the Annals of England from the treaty of Amiens to the victory at Trafalgar. The debates in both houses of parliament seem to have been sedulously consulted and are more amply detailed here than in other parts of the compilation. In a work of this sort the compiler has scarcely room to edge in any reflections of his own: now and then, however, we catch a glimpse of Mr. Greene in propria personâ. In one place we find him abusing the dissenters for the active steps they took towards obtaining the repeal of the corporation and test acts: "The dissenters, encourged by the trifling majority, which had negatived Mr. Beaufoy's motion the last session, now strenuously exerted themselves to increase their interest in the commons: they convened provincial meetings in almost every part of the kingdom, they passed resolutions, frequently violent ones, and reprobating the injustice and oppression under which they suffered. They had even the audacity, in contemplation of the approaching general election, openly to recommend, at many of the public meetings, a marked preference to those candidates, who were favourable, or promised to support the repeal. Instead of Mr. Beaufoy, a friend of the ministers, they solicited Mr. Fox to introduce for the third time, their motion for a repeal of the Test Acts. He supported their cause with a wonderful deal of ability." Notwitstanding this "wonderful deal of ability" on the part of Mr. Fox, to use the elegant and classic phraseology of Mr. Greene, there was such a still more wonderful deal" of persuasion in the honied harangue of Mr. Pitt, that |