'day fent one of her female flaves to introduce him to her, and then gave him to understand, that if he could overtake her, by running after her through the apartments of her houfe, he fhould have the enjoyment of her favours: he was befides told, that, in order to run more nimbly, he muft ftrip to his thirt. To all this Shak-Abak agreed; and, after a number of turns up and down the house, he was at laft enticed into a long, dark, and narrow paffage, at the furtheft extremity of which an open door was to be perceived; he made to it as faft as he could; and, when he had reached it, rushed headlong through it, when, to his no fmall aftonishment, he found him. felf in the middle of a public street of Bagdat, which was chiefly inhabited by fhoemakers. A number of these latter, ftruck at the fudden and strange appearance of the unfortunate Shak-Abak, who, befides ftripping to his shirt, bad fuffered his eye-brows to be shaved, laid hold of him, and, as the Arabian author relates, foundly lafhed his pofteriors with their ftraps.

If we turn again to European nations, we fhall meet with farther inftances of the fame kind of correction. It was certainly adopted in Denmark, and even in the court of that country, towards the latter end of the laft century, as we are informed by Lord Molefworth, in his Account of Denmark. It was the cuftom, his Lordship fays, at the end of every bunting-match at court, that, in order to conclude the entertainment with as much feftivity as it had begun, a proclamation was made--if any could inform against any person who had infringed the known laws of hunting, let him ftand forth and accufe. As foon as the contravention was afcertained, the culprit was made to kneel down between the horns of the ftag that had been hunted; two of the gentlemen removed the fkirts of his coat, when the King, taking a fmall long wand in his hand, laid a certain number of blows, which was proportioned to the greatnefs of the offence, on the culprit's breech; whilft, in the mean time, (the Noble Author adds, p. 108.), the huntsmen with their brals horns, and the dogs with their loud openings, proclaimed the King's juftice. and the criminal's punishment, the scene. affording diverfion to the Queen and the whole court, who ftood in a circle about the place of execution.

Among the Dutch, verberations on the pofteriors are equally in ufe; and a serious flagellation on that part is the punifhment eftablished at the Cape of Good Hope, one of their colonies, as Kolben informs us in his Defcription of it, for thofe who are found fmoaking tobacco in the streets; a practice which has frequently been there the cause of houses being fet on fire.

In Poland, a lower difcipline is the penance conftantly inflicted upon fornicators in convents, previously to tying them together by the bond of matrimony; or fometimes afterwards.

In England, caftigations of the fame kind, not to quote other inftances, are adopted among that refpectable part of the nation, the feamen, as we find in Falconer's Marine Dictionary; and a cobbing-board is looked upon as a neceffary part of the rigging of his Majefty's fhips.

Among the Spaniards, they fo generally confider this part of the human body as the propereft to bear ill usage and mortification, that in every place there is commonly fome good friar, who makes his pofteriors anfwerable for the fins of the whole parish, and who, according as he has been fee'd for that purpofe, flogs himself, or at least tells his cuftomers he has done fo."

This work is embellished with two vignettes, one reprefenting Fulk, furna med Grifegonnelle, drawn naked on a hurdle, with a halter round bis neck, through the streets of Jerufalem, and lafhed with fcourges, about the year 1000, for having killed, with his own hand, Conan Duke of Bretagne; and the other, Henry II. of England undergoing difcipline from the Monks of Canterbury, for the murder of Becket.

In the account which the author gives, p. 286. of a famous (or rather infamous) ftory of Mifs Gumley, afterwards Countefs of Bath, he feems not to know that the letter of Lord Bolingbroke, dated as there faid, was produced before the fecret committee, of which Mr Pultney happened to be a member. G.

An Argument to prove that it is the indif penfable duty of the Creditors of the Public to infift that Government do forthwith bring forward the confideration of the State of the Nation in order to afcertain, as near as may be, the Annual Receipts and Expenditure of the E 2 State;

State; and, by providing efficient and adequate Funds for the fum in which the latter fhall be found to exceed the former, to ftrengthen the Public Credit, and to restore Public Confidence. In conclufion, "tired with thinking, By John Earl of Stair. Edit. 2. 8vo. weary of conjectures," the Earl calls upI s. 6d. Stockdale. on the public creditors to meet, and find ORD STAIR, after comparing our an- iffues from this labyrinth of diftrefs," nual peace-expenditure with that of if they can; offering them, at the fame 1774, makes the following time, his affiftance, and adding, in the close, "That, if the premiffes are juft, or nearly juft, and nothing effectual is 8,080,000 done to prevent their confequences, the 1,550,000 infallible, inevitable conclufion that fol1,100,000 lows, is, That the ftate is a bankrupt, 5,517,549 and that thofe who have trufted their 500,000 all to the public faith are in very immi nent danger of becoming (I die pronoun cing it) BEGGARS!" G.

their authority. By Andrew Wight, of Or-
mifton. vols. 3. 4. 5. and 6. 16. boards. A
Gresh-Thefe volumes, with the two pu-
blithed formerly, complete the furvey of Scot-
land. From this book it appears, that
great improvements in husbandry have of late
been made in different parts of Scotland. The
following extract however, from the furvey
of the fhires of Rofs and Cromarty, shows,
that there are still some remote corners which
the modern improvements have not reached.
"Meikle Tarrel, the property of Sir John
Gordon, in the parish of Tarbet, is poffef-
fed by a tenant. I shall give the particulars
of his management, as a sample of what
is univerfally practifed in his part of the
country. The farm does not exceed eighty
acres. The whole is fowed yearly with
grain, and nothing left either for grafs
feeds or for pafture. It pays a rent of 100
bolls bear, 48 oat-meal, at nine ftone weight
per boll, and L. 3 Sterling for converted
cultoms. The only thing depended on for
pafture is a neighbouring moor, naturally
very poor, and rendered more fo by the fur
face being carried off to make up what is
called dunghills. To this moor all the lit
the borfes around are fent to ftarve upon.
The oxen are fent in fummer to grafings
thirty-fix miles diftant. They are very little
better provided than the horfes; which will
be readily conceived, when a fhilling only
is paid for pafturing an ox. Twenty-four
osen are thought neceffary for ploughing this
little farm; befide eighteen garrons, (fmall
horfes], which are employed during fummer in
carrying earth, or rather gravel, from the ad-
jacent moor of poverty, to make up a dung-
bill, with a little horfe or cow dung. Six men
and two boys on yearly wages are the stand-
ing number of men-fervants. To these are
added a fresh supply of hands about the be-
ginning of December, when the ploughing
begins, and the dunghill is led out to the
land. The number added, are two men and
five women. Three ploughs are fet a-going,
with eight oxen in each, which occupies three
men and the three boys. The remaining five
men are employed in driving dung to the
field; and the five women are employed in
filing. It is carried in fledges, on which
ftands a basket for holding the dung; and
the little horfes creep along, with a fmaller
load than the driver might carry on his back.
Nothing can be conceived more miferable.
The tenant is fenfible of the abfurdity of this
practice; but is indolently fatisfied with ob-
ferving, that fo it has been time out of mind,
and that fervants cannot be reclaimed by

the authority of a tenant."

Horace's Epiftle to the Pifos on the art of poetry, tranflated into English verfe; with obfervations and notes, critical and expla. Batory. as. 6 d. boards. Bell.

Moral Fables. 3 s. bound. Bell.

circumftantial account of the projecting, conftructing, and equipping, the Floating Batteries employed in the late memorable attack of Gibraltar; with the curious contrivance of the projector to extinguifo the red-hot bullets; the inattention to which, by thofe intrufted with the execution, feems to have been the principal caufe of the miscarriage of the whole enser prife.

THE aftonishing preparations made by Spain to recover the little fortress of GIBRALTAR, which had been attempted in vain twice before, in1705 and 1727, were, by the concurring opinions of many experienced generals, to be carried on in the late fiege of 1782 by fea, by the facrifice of ten or twenty fhips of war. An able engineer from France oppofed this as a wild defign, which could end in nothing less than the total deftruction of all thofe fhips in two hours after they appeared before the place. He propofed the mode of floating batteries, that could neither be funk nor fired. The firft of thefe properties was to be acquired by the great thickness of timber, contained in the keels of thefe veffels; the other, by contriving a supply of water, that fhould keep all the parts expofed to the red-hot balls conftantly wet. This project was prefently accepted. by the miniftry; and the King of Spain not only made himself mafter of it, but even improved upon it. As the inven fair, he defired only a general chearful tor was perfectly paffive in the whole afconcurrence, and a confidence arifing from conviction; little fufpecting the foare he fell into from the envy and ambition of others, who wanted to make him refponfible for the ill fuccefs, and to take all the glory to themselves if they fucceeded.

After much delay, the plan was finally adopted in February, but (for what reafons never known) was not fet about till May. The preparations must be immenfe; and as the time of execution was to be September, all the activity, complish the degree of perfection requidifpatch, and expence, could not acred. Thus the months of June, July, and Auguft, paffed in an activity not eafily to be defcribed, in transforming ten merchant ships into floating batteries, which required 200,000 cubic feet of timber to be employed. The confidence in the fuccefs infpired an eager

nefs

*38 nefs and a degree of enthusiasm, which animated the actors who were to conduct and execute this defign in the face of the enemy. Matters were in this ftate when the arrival of the Comte d'Artois in the night between the 15th and 16th 'of August added fresh vigour to fuch favourable preparations. It was announced by the complete explosion of a new kind of mine, at once expreffing the whole defign of this attack; which perfectly fucceeded, but was concealed from the enemy by the rapidity of its execution. The floating batteries already gave good hopes of fuccefs; but being more complete in external fubftance than in internal arrangements, people gave themselves up to an eagerness, which they justified by the real or pretended circumftances of political neceffi. ty, and began to talk of going before the place by the 7th of September, when there was nothing ready, and three of the largest batteries would have been left behind, not to mention that the other seven were still unfinished. Yet the cry was, "We need only appear before Gib. raltar, and it will be taken in twentyfour hours; for we have enough already to take four Gibraltars." The floating batteries were scarce finished when they put on board the powder and ammunition, and fet up the rigging; and in this moment of hurry they worked the pumps to throw the water into the principal refervoir, which was to furnish a gentle circulation of water to extinguish the red-hot balls. It was propofed that this fupply fhould, like the blood in the veins of animals, follow every bullet however deep it entered, by means of a spongy medium placed in the intervals between the fide-planks. The fuccefs of this invention had been infured by experiments made to confirm it.

Account of the Spanish Floating Batteries."

It was not till then that they discover. ed that the calkage that was to keep the water in circulation, had been miferably neglected. The commanders of the veffels, finding the water get in the infide, were apprehenfive the powder might be damped; fo the pumps were forbidden to be worked. Difficulties were started concerning the place of attack. The report of the arrival of the enemy's fleet fometimes feemed to be nearer, fometimes further off; and the ignorance of the deftination and position of the combined fleets contributed to a variety of circumftances, and made what was a

Vol. 46.

prudential measure one day, an abfolute
abfurdity the next.

Other motives (at that time a secret)
made the author of the plan request that
the attack fhould be made on the old
mole. The imperfection of the floating
batteries in the most essential article, that
of protecting them against the red-hot
balls, made it neceffary to keep it in our
power to draw them off on the firft a-
larm of inconvenience; which the an-
chorage behind the old mole rendered
eafy, whereas thofe of the new mole, by
a depth of 80 or 100 fathoms or upwards,
It is easy to
rendered it impoffible.
conceive the confequences of fuch dif-
ferences at the moment of action. To
obtain these difpofitions in the critical
instant, the author had opposite elements
to reconcile. Such was the contradic-
tion and jealoufy which fubfifted to the
laft, that the author wrote to court,
August 25. "a plan must be well found-
ed indeed to refist such violent fhocks."
Yet the execution was fo hurried, that
a day was fixed for the attack: the fup,
pofed diftrefs of the befieged, the alarms
of a relieving fleet, certain inclinations
whole motives we are afraid to pry into,
and the advanced feafon of the year,
made it of two much importance to the
honour of the propofer to defer it any
longer. In this fituation, without being
allowed a fingle previous trial of his bat-
teries by red-hot balls, the author was
obliged to stop (mafquer) the internal
circulation of the water, and confined
himself to a mere fuperficial watering,
The want of circulation was not per-
ceived till five days after the battery of
Pacola had been tried before the Comte
d'Artois.

From this time the author, convinced that remonftrances would be vain, determined, in compliance with the refoIution of the court and the generals, as they had ftill the greatest means of fuccefs in their hands, not to shake the confidence of the brave officers who were to execute his plan. The general was however informed of this want of internal circulation: most of the officers on board the batteries knew it, and difregarded it; many did not understand it. The author alone knew the confequences; but he expected fuch a decided fuccefs on the opening the attack, that he was lefs folicitous about his own induftry; and he trufted to the mere outer wetcommonly ting, in hopes that the red-hot balls,