an hypothefis, that products will be increased by equal quantities in equal periods; and, fo brought forward, speaks of it as a demonftrated principle. We do not deny, but that the increafe of population must be ultimately ftopped by the recurrence of want of food, granting to the advocates of the Agrarian divifion of land all the inpoffibilities they introduce among their poftulates; yet it appears certain, that this want will not of neceffity recur, at fo early a period as the effayift affigns: for, by giving up the ufe of fermented liquors, the land for bread-corn would be doubled, or support fourteen millions : and, by a change of the confumption of bread-corn for potatoes, and fome improvement in the keeping of them, according to Smith, the fame land could fupport forty-two millions. Cultivation by the fpade, with fuch a population, would fupercede that of the plough; beafts of draft be almoft difpenfed with; and the dung of animals for food, reared in a greater proportion, would furnish manure. Something extraordinary allo is to be reckoned, for improvements in tillage, when it fhall be the fole employment and ftudy of men. The combined effect of all thefe augmentations of food would carry us nearly to the end of the third period of twenty-five years, if the caufes not here confidered would not infallibly cause both population and product inftantly to fall into a molt rapid decline, when the divifion first took place. We have then a long and tedious application of the doctrine of the two progreffions, to the fucceflive ftates of human fociety; that of hunters, thepherds, and cultivators. The author feriously proves alfo, that no arguments are to be deduced from analogy, or the apparent qualities of man, to prove he may become immortal; that the paffion between the fexes will become extinct; and that we fhall ever be able to fubfift without augment be no longer a geometrical progreffion; and that law of increafe will alfo ceafe to take place, in the feries expreffing the whole population. In America, population is obferved to be stationary in great towns, and parts fully fettled, its increase is in the back fettlements, therefore its inhabitants must cease to increase in a geometrical progreffion, or become doubled in twenty-five years; or thofe remote from the coaft must be multiplied with a celerity, not uniform as taken above, but with a celerity perpetually accelerated, whereby that part of the people must increafe more rapidly than in geometrical progrefiion, which deftroys this writer's affumption; and this, if it take place, must be owing to caufes, which have nothing to do with the regular courfe of the multiplication of the fpecies, and therefore are to be taken as accidental; and, as fuch, the accounts of American population lend no fupport to the general propofition of the writer. nleep: fleep and if here in fome places we might praise the ingenuity of fome of his arguments, or in others the neatness of a philofophical ftyle, we should be obliged to add that ingenuity or ftyle are mifapplied to fuch fubjects. We thall not however refrain from noticing, and with approbation, a great part of the fixteenth chapter of this Effay, where the author cenfures a fundamental error in the principle of Dr. A. Smith; that every increafe of the flock (monied ftock) of a fociety, is an increase of the fund for the maintenance of labour. Our readers may expect from what precedes, that Mr. M. is an enemy to the idea of perfectibility; but in this they will be deceived: he denies it to the human fpecies indeed, but liberally confers it upon every particle of matter. He confiders "the creation as a procefs neceffary to awaken inert chaotic matter into spirit [a great chemical apparatus] to fublimate the dust of the earth into foul, to elicit an etherial spark from a clod of clay." In another place, he makes the world to be the furnace of a pottery, "for the formation of mind," by baking; and thence infers," that many velfels will neceffarily come out of this great furnace in wrong fhapes; these will be broken and thrown afide as ufelefs: while thofe veffels which are full of truth and lovelinefs, will be wafted into happier fituations, nearer," &c. &c. P. 247. We no longer, when we follow the poet*, "trace" with grief the degraded, but noble duft of Alexander, till we find it ftopping a bunghole;" when philofophy affures us, that "the loam" which was made of it, may, by this new procefs for the formation of mind, become even the foul of a conqueror equally illuftrious. How charming is divine philofophy! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools fuppofe, ART. XI. Cratio in Theatro Collegii Regalis Medicorum Londinenfis, ex Harveii Inftituto, habita Die Octob. xvii, An. M,DCCC, ab Henrico Vaughan, M. D. Medico Regio extraordinario. 40. 18 pp. White, Fleet-Street. 1800. IN IN this elegant compofition the author deprecates, in a nervous and feeling manner, all attempts to feparate classical and philofophical knowledge from the ftudy of medicine, and *Hamlet, a&t v, fcene 1. + Milton's Comus, 1. 480. hence hence points out the neceflity of paffing through thofe preliminary steps, required by the rules of our univerfities, prior to entering on the practice of an art, allowed on all hands to be one of the highest importance and difficulty. After dwelling on this part of his fubject, in a proper and impreflive manner, he gives a thort fketch of the characters of the founder of the College, and of those who have fince improved it by their donations, or adorned it by the splendour of their talents; and fhows that they who, in their youth, had laid the deepest and best foundations, and excelled in literature, became afterwards the molt eminent in their profeffion. Defcending to the prefent times, he concludes with elegant and well deferved encomiums on the characters of Dr. Heberden, and Sir George Baker, living monuments of the excellence of the Inftitution, which the Oration is intended to celebrate. This part, as peculiarly well calculated to mark the ability of the author, and above others grateful to us, as praifing thofe who fo eminently deferve every fpecies of commendation, we fhall with pleafure lay before our readers. Atque hic loci, pro more mihi liceret Orationi hodiernæ finem facere; quandò verò unde initia cœperim in memoriam revoco; quantio non modò honeftain illam mecum reputo, fed neceffariam ferè medicinæ tum literis et philofophiâ conjunctionem, nequeo Illuftriffimum Virum prætermittere, qui vivo exemplari fuo ad majora nos provocat atque incendit. Vidiftis cum nuperrimè fummum apud vos magistratum fummâ cum laude tenentem; et dum eo munere fungebatur, noviftis Pharmacopoeiæ renovandæ quam totum fe dederit.-Audiviftis eum, hâc ipfâ ex cathedrâ, incorruptâ Romanæ dictionis fanitate, et eloquentiâ Ciceronianæ ætatis non indignâ, noftrorum Medicorum æterna ftatuere monumenta. Scripta ejus in manibus atque in deliciis habetis, quæ fivè rei propofita explicationem, et, que vera dicitur, Philofophiam fpectes, five verborum pondera et venuftates, inter pulcherrima collocanda funt, ne dican Medicinæ folùm, fed univerfæ eruditionis ornamenta. Inter alià teftari licet libellum egregiè fcriptum de Catarrho et Dyfenteriâ, morbis ejufdem anni epidemicis-et etiàm Differtationes illas de Colicâ Pictonica-in quibus fingularis morbi hiftoria ab omni ferè antiquatate ad hæc ufque tempora deducitur, et ejus caufa non nifi fimplex et una effe monftratur. At mitto plura, et mori Antiquorum obfequor, qui non nifi Solis occafu Heroibus fuis facra faciebant. "Cum autem de virtute nondum ex oculis fublatâ apud nos agitur, ecquis eft, Auditores, cui non mentem ftatim fubeat Vir ille egregius, multifque nominibus colendus, qui fpatio vitæ ultrà communem vivendi conditionem protracto, et æqualibus fere fuperftes nec ingenio fuo acri et acuto, nec fubtili judicio, nec rerum memoriæ, nec amori literarum, nec denique pietati in hanc domum etiamnum fuperfuit:— Ille, nimirùm, cui artem exercenti Medicorum gens adfurgebat omnis -quem omnes in antiquâ literaturâ verfati imprimis habent-quem Phyfici Phyfici agnofcunt fuum. Talem virum et vivere, et valere, et noftrum effe nobifmet gratulari licet. Quid memorem Alta Collegii Medicorum (nefcio quo malo fato intermiffa) ipfo auctore primùm inftituta effe, ipfo duce incepta? Aut quid collaudem aureas iftas obfervationes, non aliundè quam ex naturâ et experimento hauftas, quas ille in paginas iftas, tanquam in commune medicinæ ærarium conjecit? Sed me reprimo, ne rei captus dulcedine, in areâ tam late patenti nimis ultrà terminum excurram. "Valeas! itaque fortunate Senex, otioque literato, et doctorum hominum colloquiis, et vitæ tuæ anteactæ recordatione diù perfruaris! infigne Medicis exemplum relicturus, amplam dicendi materiam Oratori." P. 13. It is not eafy to determine whether the juftnefs of the fentiments, or the elegance of the Latinity, be the more remarkable in this Oration; both however appear in a degree very highly creditable to the writer, who himself affords an additional ilJuftration of the precepts he enforces. In the apostrophe to Dr. Heberden, the "Valeas! itaque fortunate Senex,"-, &c. is one of thofe paffages which cannot be read without ftrong feeling of their pathetic energy. The praises bestowed throughout derive peculiar force from their characteristic propriety, as well as the ftyle in which they are expreffed. ART. XII. Confiderations on the Coronation Oath, to maintain the Proteftant Reformed Religion, and the Settlement of the Church of England, as prefcribed by Stat. 1. W. and M.c.6. and Stat. 5. Ann. C. 2. Second Edition, with Additions. By John Reeves, Efq. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Wright. 1801. OW How much the public attention is directed to the fubject difcuffed in this able pamphlet, is fufficiently apparent, from its having paffed through two editions in the fhort interval of a fortnight. A molt important queftion, involving every thing which can be fuppofed dear to an Englishman and a Proteftant, is here difcuffed without any thing approaching to afperity, either against the Catholics as a party, or against any individual whatever. Neither will there be found any very ftrong declaration about the inexpediency of admitting the claims of the Catholics, any further than the obligation to preferve the law and conftitution eftablished in the time of King William. The whole, indeed, may be confidered as a law-argument, confined to ftatutes, the law of the land, the fpirit and the letter letter of the conftitution. The whole feems to turn upon the part which we shall quote. If this is not just, the rest muft fall to the ground. Let the reader therefore judge for him felf. "The infatuated conduct of King James confirmed all the apprehenfions, that had been entertained of danger in a popish King. It was then feen, that fome ftronger measure must be taken, than any yet tried, for fecuring both church and ftate against this enemy to civil liberty, no lefs than to the practice of pure religion; an opportunity was offered by King James abdicating the throne, and leaving King William to take quiet poffeffion of the fupreme power. Now was the time for framing fome fundamental conftitutions of the realm, that should remain unalterable, and thus contribute to fecure pofterity, as well as the prefent time, against the dangers of Popery, which had at laft worn out the patience of Proteftan:s in the repeated struggle to maintain their religion and liberties. "To make unalterable laws feems to be an impoffibility arifing from the very omnipotence of parliament itfelf; for every fucceeding legiflature has the fame power to alter, that the former had to enact. But though the fupreme power cannot be reftrained in ability, those who exercife it may be withholden by the check of confcience. Fortunately for us, our conftitution is fuch, that the fupreme power of the ftate is not lodged in any body or bodies of men, which, we may fay without offence, are in their nature lefs likely to be influenced by fuch fanctions than one perfon; but refides in the King, who makes and executes the law by the afiiitance of fuch advisers and counfellors as the ufage of the realm has affigned him. The politicians of that day faw, that they had no way of fecuring unalterably the Proteftant religion, nor any way of binding their pofterity, but by binding the King, whofe political character gave a fort of individuality to the nation; and who, in all fucceffion of time, might fet himself against every attempt that should be made, even by his minifters and parliament, to repeal the Proteftant conftitution, which they then intended to fix for ever. They accordingly refolved to ftipulate with the King, to bind himself in a folemn oath, at his Coronation, to do his utmoft fo to maintain it; and they refolved that the fame oath, being taken by every fucceeding monarch, fhould operate as a renovation of the fentiments they wished to perpetuate; fo that whatever changes might happen in the minds of minifters or parliaments, no defire of innovation, no coolnefs about the interefts of the Church, or indifference about religion in general, in the advisers of the Crown, fhould be an excufe or a juftification to the King for following their advice; but that he should, on all fuch occa fions, recur only to the obligation of his own oath, and refuse all alterations, though fuggefted to him by the lawful advifers of the Crown, if they appeared to him, in his confcience, to be incompatible with it. "This feems to have been the refolution of thofe great men, who combined their counfels to form the fettlement on King William; and fuch feems to me, to be the only conftruction that can be put on this claufe of the Coronation Oath, framed at that time. The Coronation Oath, as prescribed by Stat. 1. W. and M. X BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XVII, MARCH, 1801. c. 61 |