he became poffeffed both of the upper springs, and of the nether Springs.'

In applying this doctrine to common ufe, the preacher exhorts his hearers to ftrike at the letter of fcripture with the vigor of Othniel, in order to get at the poffeffion of the fpiritual meaning, which like the coy Achfah, veiled from the public eye, muft be fought with affiduity before it can be enjoyed with freedom! • Let a good heart, fays this good Doctor, ufe the letter of the word and spare not. Take it, ftrike it, fmite it, tear it, chew it all to pieces; not because he hates the letter, but as men do by meat, they tear it, champ it, chew it between their teeth, not because they hate meat, but because they would get all the nourifhment of it they poffibly can.'

This reminds us of Rabelais' dog; and the great pains the poor animal took in cracking a very hard and a very dry bone. 'Twas all for the fake of a little marrow !-So very little, in truth, that if the dog had not been very hungry, he would not have given himself the trouble.

Some perfons may think that we have treated this fubject with an unbecoming levity. We are not confcious however of the leaft defign to ridicule what is ferious; and fuch is our veneration for the holy fcriptures, that to fee them burlefqued by mistake, excites our pity, as to fee them burlefqued by defign, would excite our indignation. The fanaticifm of Mr. Macgowan is that in earnest, which the infidelity of Woolfton was disguised with in jeft.

ART. XIV.

Election Cafes, determined during the firft Seffion of the Fifteenth Parliament of Great Britain, by Committees of the House of Commons, appointed by virtue of Stat. 10 Geo. III. Reported by John Phillips, Barritter, of the Inner Temple. Vol. I. 8vo. 55. Boards. Cadell. 1782.

THE

HE important improvement in the trial of controverted elections, projected and carried into a law, by the late Mr. Grenville, wanted nothing to affimilate it to a regular court of judicature, but an able and judicious reporter of the determinations of the refpective committees. Though their decifions may perhaps want fome of the properties which give to precedents a binding force, and make them a rule of conduct to fucceeding times; yet it is impoflible that former decifions on the fame points fhould not carry weight with other committees, as at least affifting their determinations, if not concluding their judgments. The only queftion then is, whether it be not more defireable to have recourfe to printed reports of fuch decifions, than that they should be merely cited from memory, which is fubject to fo many fallacies, and is fo little to be depended upon,

where

where the facts are numerous and complicated, and where the law is to arife from the facts.

The Grenville-act (as it is called) was fortunate in this refpect, that a Gentleman of abilities at the bar attended the election committees the very firft Seffion after the act was perpetual, and gave to the public a valuable collection of the most important decifions during that Parliament. His Work, of which we gave an account, appeared in our Review at the time of its publication, has been of fignal benefit in giving uniformity and confiftency to the determinations of this new judicature. It comprized in the whole about 35 cases, and moft of the reports were enriched with notes by the reporter, containing much collateral information and parliamentary learning.

The prefent publication takes in only four election cafes, all of which have been determined in the prefent Parliament, viz. Ayrshire, Sudbury, Milborne Port, and Lyme-Regis. They are introduced with the following fhort advertisement:

My engagements at the Coventry elections led me to attend the hearing of that petition before the committee; and, as I write short-hand with fome expedition, I took minutes of the proceedings. The favourable opinion which fome Gentlemen entertained of thofe minutes, added to the request of my friends, induced me to attend other committees.-When I had taken feveral cafes, fome of the counfel, who are at the head of the profeffion, advised me to print them; and it has been no fmall encouragement to me fo to do, that they were pleased to read, and approve of them. But I confefs, that I fhould have published the proceedings on the Ayrshire petition with more fatisfaction, if I had been better acquainted with the laws and customs of Scotland. The great length of the cafes, has obliged me to omit almost all the notes which were originally intended for infertion.'

This apology for omitting the notes will hardly be deemed fatisfactory to thofe who obferve the very little matter that is contained in this volume, though by the dexterity of the Printer, it is expanded to 400 pages, with the help of a broad margin (and other ingenious methods, which appear to have been first invented, and brought to perfection by the dealers in light fummer reading for ladies). The Ayrshire cafe, of which the reporter speaks fo modeftly, takes up near one third of the whole volume, and is as dry in the report as, we doubt not, it was at the trial.

On the whole, thefe reports for the reafon given above, are better than no reports at all; and will derive an adventitious

Hiftory of the Cafes of Controverted Elections, by Silvester Douglas, Efq. See Review, Vols. LIII. and LIX.

6

value,

value, when bound up in the fame fet with the cafes, publifhed by Mr. Douglas, whom we are forry we cannot felicitate on the fucceffor, who has thus taken up the pen which he has laid down.-Non fimili frondefcit virga metallo.

ART. XV.

Specimens of Juice, Humility, and Uniformity, in another Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Mansfield. By Mr. Burtenfhaw. 4to. 3s. Kearney. 1782.

S fome literary cooks have, of late, ferved up to the Pub

As the file title

BEAUTIES of Johnfon, the BEAUTIES of Sterne, &c. Mr. Burtenfhaw is willing to difplay to the world the BEAUTIES of Lord Mansfield. The fpecimens, however, of juftice, humility, and uniformity, which his title-page announces, are to be understood in an ironical fenfe; and the great man, to whom the letter is addreffed, will probably feel no very lively emotions of gratitude for the pains the writer has taken to illuftrate his judicial character. Lord Mansfield, it feems, has had the miffortune to decide more than one caufe in which Mr. Burtenfhaw's property has materially been affected, and to this fource will the world be apt to attribute the spleen which tinctures his pen. If it be a standing maxim, that no man is to be received as a witness in his own favour on a queftion of Fact; it must be equally true, that no man is a proper judge in his own caufe, on a queftion of Law. As a lawyer, Mr. Burtenfhaw's authority, when weighed in the fcale againft that of Lord Mansfield, and the other Judges, will, we apprehend, make few profelytes. As a writer, we have given our opinion of him on a former occafion*. He is verbofe, and rambling; with a mixture of wit and humour, uncontrouled by a correct judgment. Cafes and metaphors are jumbled together; law and poetry, argument and banter, take place alternately. The Reader is firft dazzled, and then difgufted; and finds neither fufficient inftruction, nor fufficient amufement to repay him for the space he travels over.

"Letters to Lord Mansfield," Rev. July 1781. p. 44.

The Difquifitions on feveral Subjects,' and Dr. Towers's Vindication of Locke's Political Principles, against Dean Tucker, in

our next.

APP. Rev. Vol. LXVI.

ERRATA in this VOLUME

Page 55, 1. 7. from the bottom, for

60, 1. 6. from the bottom, for

and,' r. with.

of,' r. in.

65, 1. 2. Del. the words It is cold and obfcure.”
67, 1. 10. For prefumptive,' r. presumptuous.

183, 1. 3. from the bottom, del. the comma at 'expected.
194, 1. 18. Del. the comma after none.'

207, par. 4. 1. 11. For unharmonius,' r. harmonius.

1. 15. For decifive,' r. delusive.

211, 1. 5. from the bottom, for in muniment,' r. in the muni◄ ment room, &c.

1. 6. For Authority,' r. Authenticity.

embrice,' r.

ewbrice.

216, 1. 4. from the bottom, for farms,' r. terms.
217, 1. 16. For
221, 1. 1. For
execute, &c.

1. 2. convenient.

For

they will execute,' r. they will adhere to and

they may find convenient,' r. they may find it

223, par. 3. 1. 3. for and renders him fit for nothing else,' r. and ruins his conftitution.

292, 1. 1. for all,' r. ill.

300. In the title of the first article of the catalogue, for war of ports,' . war of posts.

320. In the 8th line of the par. concerning the rot in fheep, take away that,' and place it before bad, in the line preceding.

353. par. 2. line 1. for caft,' r. cafts.

356. (the note) for Perdinand,' r. Ferdinand.

351, 1. 1. del. the comma after 'fides."

362, 1. 4. from bott. col. zd. for o", 61, r. o", 67.

477, par. 4. 1. 8. for laren,' r. larem.

5c6, par. 2. 1. 3. for de,' r. Du; and elsewhere, as often as the name of M. Dionis du Sejour occurs.

INDEX

To the REMARKABLE PASSAGES in this Volume.

N. B. To find any particular Book, or Pamphlet, fee the
Table of Contents, prefixed to the Volume.

ACID, phosphoric, how to pro- BEAUTY, philofophical definitions

BERTHELOT, M. his mechanics,
&c. 464.

BEZOUT, M. engaged with Meff.
Lavoisier and Vandermonde, in
thermomet. experiments, 499.

AKENSIDE, Dr. anecdotes rel. to, BIBLE. See LANGUAGE.