keep him uncontaminated by the allurements which are commonly at an early age laid in the way of the heir to the crown. He was therefore brought up in privacy, and had been introduced neither to the pleasures nor the business of a court. His person and character were little known to the nation; but the accession of a young and native sovereign, decorous in behaviour and of unblemished reputation, was greeted by the warm affections and sanguine hopes of his subjects; and few in the line of English kings have ascended the throne under happier auspic... No immediate change took place, either in the plans of policy, or in the persons entrusted with the conduct of them. Mr. Pitt, as principal secretary of state, remained at the head of the cabinet, other members of which were Mr. Fox, Mr. Legge, the Duke of Newcastle, the Earl of Holderness, and Lord Anson.

"One of the first acts of royalty was to introduce into the privy council the Earl of Bute, who had obtained an ascendancy over the mind of his majesty, in consequence of the office he had held in the superintendance of his education. A royal proclamation issued on October 31st, ' for the encouragement of piety and virtue, and for preventing and punishing of vice, profaneness, and immorality,' indicated the sober and religious character which the new reign was about to assume.

"On November 18th, the subsisting parliament assembled, and was opened by a speech from the throne, the tenor of which gave general satisfaction. One of its clauses was judiciously calculated to operate upon the feelings of the nation, by alluding to a circumstance always desirable in a regal succession, but which was become a novelty in that of the British crown: Born and educated in this country,' said his majesty, I glory in the name of Briton.' In adverting to the war, a resolution was expressed of prosecuting it with vigour, in order to obtain the object of a safe and honourable peace; and to this end, the zealous concurrence of parliament was relied on in supporting the King of Prussia and other allies of the nation, and in making ample provision for the demands of the service. "No event, foreign or domestic, worthy of particular record, occurred during the short remainder of the year.”

The ill success, for a time, of the war of 1760-the despondency and discontent produced by it-the subsequent rousing of the national spirit, and the masterly direction of the national energies through the genius of William Pittone of the greatest ministers ever known-are well-known and generally-admitted facts. But they are the proud distinctions of more periods than one; and belong more pecu liarly, more emphatically, to the age of the last, than to that of the first William Pitt. The most powerful conflicts of the war of 1757, were those of mere cranes and pigmies, when compared with the tremendous ones which lately hurled the oppressor from his throne and set the nations free. But Dr. Aikin's observations on the conclusion of that war-a glorious one without doubt-are also memorable from the resemblance they bear to those that have been made on the late war.

"Such, in substance, was the treaty by which the most extensive and burdensome, but the most glorious and successful, war in which Great Britain had ever been engaged, was terminated. It was not to be expected that in the violent conflict of parties which had now commenced, negotiations, comprising so many nice and complicated points, could be brought to an issue without leaving much matter for political criticism; and, in fact, some very severe censures were passed upon different articles in the parlimentary debates on the subject. But the ministry, foreseeing the impending attacks, had prepared for it. Mr. Fox, though possessing only his former post of paymaster to the army, was engaged to conduct the affairs of government in the House of Commons; and by his abilities, and the support given to the court by the great body of the country or tory party, now enlisted under the royal banners, an address was voted by a large majority in approbation of the preliminaries of peace, notwithstanding the warm invectives of Mr. Pitt and other members in opposition. In the House of Lords, a similar address passed without a division. Through the nation at large much dissatisfaction prevailed at what appeared a gratuitous renunciation of so many hard-earned conquests: yet many calm reasoners were convinced that no solid advantages would have accrued from insisting upon higher terms."-p. 24, 5. [To be continued. ]

ART. II.-A Sermon delivered at the Cathedral of Ely, on Monday the 17th of June, 1816, before Mr. Justice Abbot, Mr. Justice Burrough, and Chief Justice Christian, on the Opening of their Special Commission for the Trial of the Rioters. Printed at the Request of the Grand Jury. By the Rev. Sir HENRY BATE DUDLEY, Bart., LL.D. Prebendary of Ely. Deighton and Sons, Cambridge; Wilkie, London. 1816. 4to. pp. 13.

THIS long title would be sufficient, were it to appear by itself, to deter a reader of ordinary courage from at all looking into the discourse. But here the title and the performance appear together; and we need not observe to those who have seen both, that there is not the least cause for alarm-the latter being, in all probability, the shortest that is to be found in the king's dominions. A rapid reader would make his way through it in five minutes: the most deliberate drawler would find it difficult to spin it out for the space of ten minutes. This brevity, however, is of importance; the deficiences of the sermon, in matter and in composition being such, that the united influence of both the reputation of the most excellent magistrate who wrote

and preached it, and of the high recommendation of the grand jury of Ely, would have gone a very short way in inducing readers to peruse it throughout, had it been long. But this same brevity has not been merely important to readers it must also have been serviceable to the friends and companions of the rioters, to most of whom the sermon could not be otherwise than obscure; while it must have been acceptable to the judges, who could derive from the sermon no species of instruction. The grand jury, however, were highly satisfied, as we shall presently see; and none but the preacher himself expressed a doubt of the sermon not being as perfect as it ought to be. Why is it imperfect? Granted that little time was allowed for writing, there could be no lack of leisure for correcting; and we know of no bar, legal or ecclesiastical, to a clergyman's amending both his language and his arguments before he go to press.

Here follow both Sir Henry's inducement to publishing, and his apology for doing so.

"The Grand Jury for the Isle of Ely, considering that such a judicious discourse may be attended with beneficial effects, if generally diffused, take the liberty of soliciting, that Sir Henry Bate Dudley will, at their unanimous request, permit the same to be printed, for the benefit of public perusal."

To this Sir Henry replies:

"Your having stated that, in your opinion, the diffusion of these sentiments might have a beneficial effect, I have directed the immediate publication of them, submitting myself rather to the discredit of so imperfect a composition, than to the censure of disobeying your commands."

After stating "that all rightful government is from God," and "that reverence and submission to human laws has, therefore, the force of a divine obligation," the preacher gives us the following passage, which is the only one in the discourse that contains any thing simple, and suited to the occasion; at the same time that it can vie in incorrectness and inelegance with any theological effusion of the age. Being so concise, and the production of a dignitary of the church acting in a conspicuous place and on a memorable occasion, the sermon ought to have been made to exhibit, which it does not, comprehension and vigour of thought, together with some purity and propriety of expression. We hope that neither the Bishop nor the Lord Chancellor will

see it!

"Christians will never be unmindful, that their divine Redeemer, while on earth, declared, that all the law, and the prophets, hung upon

.

two points, the love of God, and the love of our neighbour.' Surely it will be no violence upon these comprehensive words, to imply from them, that the legal government of his followers, as well as of their religion, doth depend upon that principle to this day. His apostle has also told us, that love is the fulfilling of the law, and that God himself is love.' How can so divine an union, then, be separated and destroyed? And what is the Christian profession, but to follow the example of that Redeemer, and to be made like unto him? He was meek and lowly— patient and just, and eminently submissive to the existing government of his country. He was neither irascible-nor rever geful, nor contentious even for his own. He was kind and pitiful, without respect of persous, and the summary of all his precepts was universal benevolence. What an ample and sublime exposition is this of the common laws of nature, and all preceding revelations? This then be our religion, and our law! Are not all the actions and duties of mankind comprehended in it? Why should men abstain from the commission of injuries, but for the love of their brethren? Why should they be honest, but because no dishonest man can love him whom he hath defrauded? Why may they not envy, and covet, but because every one should wish as well to his neighbour as to himself? Such is the system of religious law, and what do our legal provisions more than enforce that charitable system? How do human beings become tender parents, dutiful children, affectionate friends, obedient subjects, patriots devoted to their country, and zealous for the general welfare, but through that love which is religion, and that obedience which is the fulfilling of the law?”

Had Sir Henry forgot that "the parson must not be answered in the pulpit," when he put so many interroga tions? The bulk of his auditors could not answer, nor will they ever be able to do so, unless some of the good Fellows of Cambridge become expounders.

The disturbances at Ely are happily at an end; and if we ascribe the speedy termination of them, in a great mea sure, to the judicious conduct of Sir H. B. Dudley, we shall do him no more than justice. But it was by his wisdom as a magistrate, not his eloquence as a preacher, that he contributed so largely to the restoration of the public peace; and, therefore, we would have him be fixed for life on that bench, which alone he seems capable of adorning.

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ART. III.-Histoire des Factions de la Révolution Françoise, par JOSEPH LAVALLE'E, ancien Capitaine d'Infanterie, ancien Chef de Division à la Grande Chancelliere de la Légion d'Honneur, &c. &c. 3 vols. 8vo. Murray, Albermarle Street. 1816.

[Concluded from Vol. II. p. 613.]

THE Fédération, on the 14th of July, 1790, is painted by our author with a degree of enthusiasm, which proves how much it delighted his patriotic soul. But he is obliged to own, that on this day of reconciliation the torch of discord was thoroughly kindled; and that the lighting of it was speedily followed by the horrid massacres committed at Thoulouse, at Marseilles, at Montauban, and in the glaciers of Avignon. The promulgation of the new constitution: put an end to the labouis and the existence of the Constituent Assembly, on the 30th of September, 1790. It is, perhaps, a matter of regret, that this assembly, in which were many patriotic and enlightened individuals, did not continue its sittings, till experience had proved what was good, and what defective, in the constitution which it had framed. However this may be, the Legislative Assembly met on the 1st of October, 1791, and it was soon perceived that it contained three parties, as powerful as they were dangerous. The republicans, proud of their success in abolishing absolute power, were emboldened to attempt the subversion of monarchy, and the vain project of establishing a republic on the ruins of a throne. Among the true republicans, the members of the Gironde, Guadet, Vergnianx, Brissot, were no less remarkable for abilities than for eloquence. Robespierre, Danton, Couthon, &c. were the chiefs of the anarchists -a set of men who, detesting equally the king and the Gironde, meditated the destruction of both, and soon openly avowed their intention of levelling at once the throne and the altar. But, however opposite the dispositions and plans of these two parties were, they united in the intention of destroying the monarchy; and differed only upon the means by which the work should be accomplished. In one of the secret meetings of the Gironde it was assumed, as our author informs us, that nothing could save the country from bloodshed and ruin but the abdication of the king. It was, therefore, determined, that he must be persuaded or compelled to