endeavour to fhew the origin, progression and establishment of national lociety, and confequently the nature of moral, civil, and religious liberty. The obvious and primary division of man is into a fentient and material principle. Without entering into a circumstantial detail of all his faculties, either mental or corporeal, I fhall, at prefent, only confider him in a partial view; as a being endowed with fense, fenfation, and appetite, together with the bodily powers of locomotion, and of performing others obedient to the will. By fenfe I mean the intuitive power of feeing, hearing, fmelling, tafting, feeling, which arifes from the different organization of the parts appropriated to these several offices. By thele the intelligence of external things is conveyed to the mind; and by thefe it is taught, not only to diflinguish one object from another, but the different qualities and degrees of all, as they refpectively appertain to each fenfe-by fenfation, that power of perceiving pleafure and pain, which, in fome degree, from the leaft to the greateft, is united wih every idea imparted by the fenfes. By thele mankind are admonished to select that which is beneficial, and to avoid that which is prejudicial to the ends of their being formed.—By appetite, I mean that inftinctive emotion, which is fubfequent of pleafurable and painful fenfations, which urges us to will and to obtain the agreeable, and to avert the noxious, by the exertion of all our faculties. "It will hardly be denied, that man, by nature, is born to like, and procreate; and that he has an indifputable right to those means by which thefe ends are to be obtained. Or that he enjoys a physical liberty of exerting his faculties, to the attainment of fuch objects as are necellary to felf-prefervation and the perpetuating of his race; not only in common with all other men; but in contradiftinction and preference of felf to all other beings, in all inftances where either of them cannot be obtained but by that preference. Yet, fuch is the flate of human-kind, that, notwithstanding nature hath bestowed on all men thefe faculties and rights, the former are, nevertheless, by her unerring decrees, circumfcribed in their energy and operatión, not only refpecting man, as he ftands in relation to all other productions, but comparatively, aifo, with others of his own kind: and the latter are not attainable by every individual of the race. As thefe objects are fuch as cannot be at all times acquired, nor preferved, when gotten, by the utmost exertion of the faculties of a fingle man, whatever may be the energy of volition, does it not irrefiftibly follow, from Dr. Price's definition of phyfical li berty, that in all fuch events, proceeding from actions of spontaneity, or felf-determination, which conftitutes an agent, his will is effectually oppofed; and by that force or impoffibility, that the agent himself is placed in a ftate of fervitude. Man, therefore, in every circumitance wherein that force prevails against his will, is, by nature, formed a fiave: and, confequently, in all fuch cafes, he can have no claim to phyfical liberty. Unless he can, by nature, be entitled to enjoy that, which, by the laws of nature, he has not powers to acquire and retain. what a multiplicity of inftances will Dr. Price's freeman, then, be In found found to be enflaved! is man enabled to forefes the iffues of his own intents and tranfactions; whether he fhall prove fuccessful in his fearch of fuftenance; in the retention of what he has acquired: or the prefervation of himself from death and injury? and yet, in all these circumftances and innumerable others, in which he wills to know the events of his endeavours, and is utterly unable, is he not reduced to fervitude? in like manner, because he is incapable of seeing in the dark, or objects very remote; of hearing founds beyond certain diftances and below fome degrees; of tafting what is not offered to his palate, or has no flavour; of fmelling inodorous things, and of feeling what he does not touch; all w he may will, does that force, inftituted by nature, which opposes this will, deprive him of phyfical liberty? if it do, nature deprives him of what the never gave, and I leave to Dr. Price the reconcilement of that contradiction. "Because, by all poffible endeavours, no man can extend his arm beyond its length, in order to reach that food which is otherwise unattainable, and which he wills to have; nor move his feet with the celerity of a greyhound, to catch the animal he wills to poffefs; because the bird he wills to catch, escapes his hand, and he cannot fly and fave it, like the faulcon in the air; because the fifh he wills to take eludes his grafp, and he cannot dive, like the otter, to feize his prey, because he cannot afcend inacceffible eminences, to gather the fruits which grow, thereon, and he wills to have; defcend perpendicular precipices, te avoid the tyger, which he wills to escape: nor obtain the food he wills to eat, without labour; in all these acts of spontaneity and self-determination, wherein the agent's will is oppofed by force, is he not reduced to fervitude? and, as fervitude implies a mafter, is he not the flave of brutes, fowls, fish, mountains and precipices? but can man be deprived of his physical liberty, by not obtaining his will in thofe acts, which, by the inftitutes of nature, he is incapacitated to accomplish? as the rights of humanity are founded on the neceffity of acquiring what is requifite for the ends of man's existence, fo his physical liberty as founded on what his faculties can perform: and not on what he may fpontaneoufly felf determine, and will to have. The force, therefore, which opposes the agent's will, can, in no sense, render him a flave; because, to be reduced to fervility is to fall from that condition to which, by nature, man is born. "With a view more explicitly to difcover, whether phyfical liberty do really confift in the agent's being unoppofed by force in acts of felf-determination, for the attainment of his will, let me adduce examples of what must frequently have happened in the primeval flate of humankind. It has been previoufly obferved, that nature hath given to man an indifputable right to all things which may fuftain and preserve his life, in preference to that of all other beings; and, confequently, a phyfical liberty of exerting his powers, as far as they can extend, to the accomplishment of that purpose, whether it be in acquiring aliment or averting injuries. But, as men are unequal in degrees of intellect, courage and firength, there muft, neceffarily, exift one, or a few fuch human beings, that is lingly fuperior to any other, who may be, in dividually, dividually, oppofed to him: one of these fuperior man, suppose, hath acquired a fufficiency of food for a day's fubfiftence: and one of the inferior has proved unsuccessful in his endeavours. Should the latter Self-determine, will, and attempt to take from the former that which he poffeffes, will not he, who exceeds in excellence, will and endeavour Allo to preferve it? In this inftance, each of them is actuated by Spontaneity or felf-determination: and according to the inflitutes of nature, which have decreed, that every man has a right to preserve his own life in preference to that of every other's. But, if he who wills to dif poffefs the other be fruftrated by the fuperior force of him who wills to retain what he has gotten, has the former loft his phy Goal liberty, because his faculties are inadequate to his will or felf-determination? and, if he hath, was he not, by the unerring and univerfal laws of nature, which originally pronounced that a lef Thould invariably fubmit to a greater force, born to fervitule? Ar not all men, therefore, whofe wills are oppofed and conquered in their contentions, as phyfically flaves as Freemen? hence, is it not evident, that the molt exalted in mental and corporeal faculties are the only human beings who can enjoy Dr. Price's phyfical liberty in perfection. Because they alone, in oppofition to the force of every other man, can carry the purposes of their wills into certain execution. In confequence of the preceding ftate of the effects which originate from the inequality of men's abilities, does it not neceffarily refult that, in proportion as individuals approach to the higheft excellence of human attributes, every one, the moft excellent excepted, is, in degrees proportioned to his abilities, not only a freeman, but a fovereign, refpecting thofe below, and a flave refpecting thofe above him? according to the principles of Dr. Price, in P. 35, if any part of a man's property is fubject to the difcretion of another the whole must be fo; thofe therefore who are at the difcretion of others, to impofe on them what conditions they pleafe, are in an abfolute ftate of flavery. And every man, but the most powerful is by nature doomed to be a slave. Because he, alone, is endowed with that principle of Spontaneity or Self-determination, which conflitutes an agent, and gives him powers to follow his own will, who is fuperior to all that force. which can ftand in oppofition to it, proceeding from the will of every other man. Such being the iffue of this inquiry into freedom and fervitude, as they are eftablifhed by nature, where the will of one perfon is oppofed, by force, to that of another, let me now examine, whether effecting the acts of volition, where no force oppofes it, be, in all inftances, confentaneous with phyfical liberty." [To be continued and concluded in the Appendix.] S. The Trials on the Informations which in pursuance of an Order of the House of Commons, were filed by his Majefty's Attorney General against Richard Smith, Efq. and Thomas Brand Hollis, Efq. for having been guilty of Notorious Bribery, and thereby pro caring themfelves to be elected and returned Burgeffes to ferve in Parliament for the Borough of Hindon, tried by a Special Fury on Tuesday the 12th of March, 1776. At the Affize bolden at Salisbury for the County of Wilts; before the Honourable Sir Beaumont Hotham, Knt. One of the Barons of his Majefty's Court of Exchequer. Taken in Short-hand by Jofeph Gurney. 4to. Is. 6d. Gurney. We know not any inftance, of late years, that hath done fo much honour to the administration of justice, in our publick courts of judicature as the trials before us, and the fentence confequent thereon. In an age, when the influence of wealth appears to have abforbed within its deftructive vortex all the feeble efforts of virtue, it is with fingular fatisfaction the poffeffors, of the fmall remains of integrity and public virtue, left among us, can congratulate their native country that their yet remains so many honeft men in the land, as to avert the just indignation of providence againft its manifold vices.-At the fame time it is grievously to be lamented there fhould be found men of reputation and property fo abandoned to every moral, every national, principle of probity, as to make use of that pecuniary influence, with which providence had favoured them, to feduce ignorance and poverty to the commitment of fo horrid a crime as that of perjury. May the fate of thefe (we were going to fay gentlemen) fhameful culprits, be a warning to others not fo wantonly to fport with the laws, as (to their fhame be it fpoken!) many others of their colleagues, tho yet unde tected, are notoriously known to do.-The paffing Grenville's act undoubtedly did great honour to our houfe of commons, but it reflects, we fay again, greater honour on our judges, that they appear to be inuch more faithful interpreters of the laws than they who make them. The Family Preacher: confifting of Practical Difcourfes for every Sunday throughout the Year: as alfo for Christmas Day, GoodFriday, and other folemn Occafions. By D. Bellamy, M. A. -Chaplain of Kew and Petersham, in the county of Surry. 4to. 1. Is. Law. The tafte for fermons, and with it the mode of fermonifing, have altered fo greatly within thefe twenty years; that this fecond edition of Mr. Bellamy's Family Preacher wears a very different afpect to the firf, which made its appearance about that time ago. Some of the fermons, that were printed in the former, are in the prefent entirely omitted, many of them improved and moft, if not all. confiderably fhortened. There are fome additions, alfo, by no means the leaft valuable part of the collection; which render the work a very proper and ufeful domeftic inftructor, in religioufly-difpofed families, whofe pious determination is that, whatever others do, they and their houfe will ferve the Lord.' Letters Letters from the Duchefs de Cruci and others, on Subjects moral and entertaining; wherein the Character of the Female Sex, with their Rank, Importance, and Confequence is ftated, and their relative Duties in Life are enforced. 5 vols. fmall 8vo. 12s. 6d. fewed. Robfon. We are forry that the multiplicity of publications on hand at this time of the year, prevents our making any extracts at prefent from this pleafing and interefting production. We fhall, in the courfe of the vacation, very probably find room for fome quotations that may afford both inftruction and entertainment to our readers; while they excite their admiration of the fenfibility, good fenfe, and good tafte of the writer. As it appears to be the production of a lady, we must not take leave of it, however, without congratulating our age and country on the addition of another luminary to the constellation of female wri ters, that do honour to the prefent century. Letters relative to Societies for the Benefit of Widows and of Age. 8vo. is. Johnfon. The prevailing phrenzy for annuities, and the purchase of reverfionary payments having given rife to focieties both in town and country; which engaged, on vifionary calculations, to pay much more than the admiffion money and annual fubfcriptions enable them to afford; the author of thefe letters, had formed a plan for expofing the fallacy of thofe inftitutions; in order to prevent the disappointment that, in the end muft inevitably fall on the annuitants. Dr. Price's famous obfervations on the fame fubject rendering the profecution of his design needlefs, it was of course dropped; nor do we fee the neceffity of the republication of this part of the plan, after the matter hath been To fully treated by other writers. The ingenious editor, indeed, hath annexed fome remarks that, being applicable to particular focieties, deferve their particular attention. Some of thefe, he fays, engage to pay widows an annuity of twenty pounds, when by calculation they can afford only to pay about feven pounds ten fhillings. A wide dif ference! Surely, fays he, fuch focieties muft in time produce fatal confequences! Ought they not immediately to fet about a refor mation? An Addrefs to the Members of Parliament upon the neceffity of paffing an Act to confine the Proprietors of Stage Carriages, and of Porters at Inns, at certain Rates for the carriage and porterage of Goods. 8vo, Is. Bew. The author of this addrefs feems to be well verfed in the nature of the fubject, of which he treats; but whether they, to whom he ad dreifes |