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the Bank of England was furnished with money by private perfons, either fuch as placed their money at intereft, or fuch as deposited it in the Bank with a view to difpofe of it at pleafure. It was upon a capital fo formed, that the bank negotiated afterwards, and derived confiderable profit from making it circulate in commerce at the Exchange of London. All thefe objects combined enabled the Bank to lower the exorbitant intereft of money, which had taken place during feveral years, and to pay to its proprietors, all cofts deducted, a dividend probably much more confiderable than the interest which was then common at the Exchange.

Such, according to our Author, are the principles by which the operations of the Bank are ftill directed, with fome modifications that arife from incidental circumftances. The funds of the proprietors of this bank are fubject to the difpofal of government, and all its negociations elsewhere are fupported by its own credit. Our Author fhews, that this credit ought to have for its bafis public utility; and he points out fome of the principal circumftances that are neceffary to render such an eftablishment useful, and without which, he thinks, it must be rather, in the iffue, prejudicial to the public. We refer our Readers to the Work itself for thefe details, which are inftructive, and furnish matter of ferious reflection. Our Author's great principle is, that all paper-circulation, that does not reprefent a capital really exifting in a bank, is prejudicial in the iffue;-and that more especially with refpect to a nation, the profperity of whofe inhabitants depends upon the activity of their commerce, it is neceffary that money alone fhould be the measure of those things that are the objects of commerce. He thinks, that in order to render the Bank of England a useful eftablishment, its fund fhould reft upon a capital furnished by the government or a fociety, -that this capital fhould be fufficient to fupply what the exigencies of commerce often require, -that, for this purpose, one part of this fund fhould lie inactive in the bank, to be ready for difcounting bills, advancing money on the public revenues, &c. while the other circulated in the public in current fpecie, or at leaft in paper, representing not the credit of the Bank, but its folid contents.

According to our Author, the multiplication of circulating fpecie by bank notes and paper credit, instead of delivering from poverty, only difguifes mifery for a while. He alfo obferves, that money is debafed in proportion as the paper-figns that reprefent it, are augmented. It retains no longer that primitive value that was annexed to it. He thinks, that the bank, whofe capital is in circulation, expofes to danger the fortunes of individuals, and makes an ill ufe of the confidence which the public has in it,—and that when it fends into circulation by its

credit,

credit, or its notes, a fum beyond its capital, it heightens the price of provifions, and becomes detrimental to fociety in many respects.

To estimate the prejudice occafioned by this ideal money, our Author examines the progreffive augmentation, that has taken place in the price of things, including in this eftimate, houses, lands, the falaries of workmen, as well as victuals, and mercantile wares. But to build his calculations on folid ground, he does not take for his bafis the price of things, as it was fome years before the erection of the Bank of England, but goes as far backward as the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, because it was then that filver coin was regulated upon the footing on which it is at prefent; and alfo, tecaufe, during the whole reigns of her fucceffors, notes or paper credit were in ufe. Our Author then fuppofes, that in the time of Queen Elizabeth, there were four millions of fpecie, that circulated in England, and this account of the matter is generally adopted. He farther fuppofes, that thefe four millions were equivalent to five, on account of the difference between the population of England at that time, and its prefent population. This fum reprefented the riches of the nation at that period, and was fufficient for every object of commerce. About a century after, the current coin in England was valued, by fome able calculators, at eighteen millions and a half; which were then infufficient, if we judge by the credit and paper that were admitted, probably fince the conclufion of the reign of Elizabeth, or fince the reign of James I. The price of things being tripled fince the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the quantity of money, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, muft have been tripled alfo, in order to reprefent the value of things, as they were at the former of thefe periods. Farther, commerce, in its progrefs, has comprehended new objects, and thus created new wants: thefe objects require an augmentation of fpecie in order to their being continually reprefented, Again, the national debt, in proportion as it increafes, requires a greater mafs of money, or of fomething equivalent to money, in order to its being reprefented in the commerce of stocks, that is conftantly carried on in London; befides, there muft alfo be a reprefentation, not only of the objects of commerce, but alfo of the taxes and charges, which increate in proportion to the augmentation of the national debt. To fupport this heavy burthen, England is obliged to have recourfe to ideal money, that is, paper credit. According to the most probable opinion, fays our Author, England poffeffes, at prefent, eighteen millions in real fpecie, and fifteen millions in circulating paper; and he thinks, that if this great mafs of paper had not been introduced, the real fpecie of eighteen millions would

have represented nearly what the thirty millions in fpecie and paper reprefent at this day, as all prices muft have been proportionably regulated in confequence of this. He makes afterwards feveral reflexions on the intereft of money, and its variations in England, and draws from them fome ferious conclufions with respect to the ufe which this nation has made of its credit. The general truth that refults from the difcuffions contained in this first part of the Second Volume is, that loffes and inconveniencies may be occafioned by banks, which greatly exceed the advantages they are capable of procuring to the focieties where they are erected.

In the fecond part of this volume, which we expect from this well-informed writer, with impatience, he promifes us a full account of what he understands by circulation, and fome reflexions relative to that object. He also propofes, in this fecond part, to treat concerning the origin of Lombards, of ancient and modern ufary, or intereft of money, of credit between individuals, of public credit, or of the origin of the prefent debts of almoft all the powers of Europe, and of the influence, which thefe different objects have upon the general mafs of national means.

The third part will begin, by a detail of the effects that with have been produced by bills of exchange, in favour of which branch of commerce, our Author implores, with a kind of ardour, the protection and countenance of fovereign princes and states, and defires, that they would act in concert in publifhing, with refpect to that moft ufeful and important object, uniform regulations, that may be obferved in all countries. This difcuffion will be followed by our Author's ideas concerning the balance of trade, in which he folves the interefting queftion propofed, at the entrance of his work, viz. Whether commerce is not become too extenfive, and (confequently) contrary to the true interefts of mankind? Our ingenious Author proposes farther, to add fome reflections relative to the true and effential interefts of the different European ftates, to fhew that the real riches of every community confift in the number, induftry, and manner of living of its inhabitants; and confequently, that whatever is prejudicial to good morals and population, is contrary to the true interefts of humanity. All this will be followed by a Supplement to our Author's first volume, containing difcoveries relative to the money of the ancients, which have come to his knowledge fince the publication of that volume.

ART

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Obfervations fur la Nature fur le Traitement de la Rage, fuivies d'un Precis Hifiorique et Critique des divers Remedes, qui ont été employés jufqu'ici contre cette Maladie.-Obfervations concerning the Nature of MADNESS, and the Manner of treating it, &c. By M. PORTAI, Profeffor in the Royal College of France, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences. 8vo. Paris. 1779.

HIS fmall work is divided into two parts. The firft,

TH

which relates to the nature of the disorder, is subdivided into feven articles, which contain the divifion of madness into its various kinds-the circumftances relative to fpontaneous madness-an account of the fymptoms of the diforder-fome anatomical details concerning the opening of bodies.-Obfervations on the different fymptoms of the hydrophobia—faAs, which throw fome light upon the manner in which madness is communicated, and inquiries concerning the feat of the diforder. The fecond part, which relates to the manner of treating this diforder, contains the researches and opinions of M. PORTAL, concerning the local treatment-blood-letting -bathing and potions-the ufe of mercury-emetics, purgatives, and anti fpafmodics: all which is followed, by obfervations on the cafes of fome perfons that have been bitten by mad animals, and have experienced the happy effects of M. PORTAL'S method of cure. This work, though not exempt from fome defects, is inftructive, and must be useful.

AR T. XVI.

Epilogo della Vita del fú Cavaliere Antonio Raffaello Mengs, &c.—A Compendious Account of the Life of the late Chevalier ANTONY RAPHAEL MENG, First Painter to his Catholic Majesty, Member of the Academies of Rome, Bologna, Florence, Parma, Genoa, &c. By CHARLES JOSEPH RATTI, Director of the Academy of Genoa, &c. Folio. 1779.

HE Abbé Winkelman, who was, certainly, both in learn

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the head of that clafs, never fpoke of the late M. MENGS, without a kind of enthusiasm, and called him conftantly the modern Raphael. It has, nevertheless, been affirmed, and by fome who had it from the mouth of that great artist, that he was not born with a genius for painting, and that he applied himself with diligence to that fine art, rather from a regard to the authority of his father, than from tafte and inclination. Be that as it may, his fuccefs was illuftrious; and his works will place him in the rank of thofe, whofe pencils have been as much under the impulfe of genius as under the guidance of art. The gallery of Northumberland Houfe, and the University of

Oxford,

Oxford, exhibit two fublime fpecimens of the talents and merit of this eminent artist. It was bold, to attempt a copy of the School of Athens (Pindarum quifquis ftudet æmulari, &c.), but it was glorious to execute it in fuch a manner, as to prevent our regretting the impoffibility of feeing the original in England.

MENGS (according to our Author, who has written his life. in an inftructive manner, and with a noble fimplicity) was born at Auffich, a little town in Bohemia, near the confines of Saxony, the 12th of March 1728. His father, Ifmael Mengs, was a Dane, a painter alfo of note, in miniature and enamel, and died, in the year 1764, Director of the Royal Academy of Drefden. He defigned his fon for his own profeffion, from the very moment of his birth, and gave him the names of Antony and Raphael, after Corregio, and the grand artift of Urbino; this ftep was not prudent, for had MENGS proved a mean artist, thefe names would have rendered him ridiculous. But this was not the cafe: young MENGS made a rapid progrefs under the care of his father, who was his mafter; and his reputation foon fpread throughout Europe. He died last year, at Rome, and has not left behind him an highly eminent hiftory painter, either in his own country, or in Italy, France, or Germany. It is with fingular pleasure that we find ourselves authorifed to except Britain. Kauffman and Cipriani kindly came to adorn the temple of the arts in our ifle: but they found Reynolds, Weft, and many other diftinguished artifts, facrificing with fuccefs to genius and the graces, and enriching their native land with the nobleft productions of the pencil.

The Chevalier MENGS left behind him, a treatife concerning painting, written in German, and a lift, in Italian, with ample remarks, of the pictures in the Efcurial, which are both published at the end of M. RATTI's work.

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Deux Memoires fur la Fertilité de la Paleftine.-Two Memoirs concerning the Fertility of Palestine. By the Abbé GUENEE.

HESE two Memoirs, compofed by the learned and ingenious Author of the celebrated Letters of the Portuguese Jews to M. De Voltaire, and not yet publifhed, were read to the Academy of Infcriptions and Belles Lettres at Paris, and were communicated to M. De Guignes; and it is to the account given of them by this learned man, that we are indebted for that which we here lay before the public. The fubject treated in thefe Memoirs, is of confequence to the caufe of religion; as feveral infidels, and more efpecially Voltaire, have drawn from the pretended fterility of the land of Judea, difficulties and objections against the authority of the facred writings.

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