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by John Mathers: the Grave, by a Solid Gentleman. 2 vols. 12mo. 12s. boards.

Mandeville, a Tale of the Seventeenth Century in England. By William Godwin. 3 vols. 12mo. 11. 1s. boards.

POETRY.

De Vaux, or the Heir of Gilsland; a Poem. By Robert Carlyle. fc. 8vo. 5s. boards.

Zapolya, a Christmas Tale, in two parts. By S. T. Coleridge, Esq. 8vo. 5s. 6d.

Cambridge Prize Poems; being a complete Collection of the English Poems which have obtained the Chancellor's Gold Medal in the University of Cambridge. fc. 8vo. 5s.

POLITICS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY.

A Treatise upon the Poor Laws, with a View to the Measures likely to be proposed in Parliament for their Amendment. By Thomas Peregrine Courtenay, Esq. One of the Committee of the House of Commons appointed for the Consideration of that Subject. 8vo. 2s.

Considerations on the Poor Laws. By John Davison, M.A. Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. 8vo. 4s.

Refutation du Manuscrit venu de St. Hélène d'une Manière inconnue,' ou Tableau des Fureurs de la Guerre et des Avantages de la Paix. Par un Officier supérieur de l'Armée. 5s. 6d.

Insecurity of the British Funds. Essay on Public Credit, by David Hume. With a Letter addressed to the British People, on the sound and prophetic nature of its Principles. 85. 6d.

THEOLOGY.

A Course of Sermons for the Lord's Day throughout the Year, from the first Sunday in Advent, to the twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity. Adapted to, and taken chiefly from the Service for the Day. By Joseph Holden Pott, A.M. Archdeacon of London, and Vicar of St. Martin's-in-the-fields. 2 vols. 8vo. 11. 1s. A Charge delivered at the Primary Visitation of Herbert, Lord Bishop of Landaff, in August, 1817 25.

The New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ, Translated into pure Biblical Hebrew, for the Use of the Jews in every part of the World. Published at the expense of the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews. 8vo. 21s. on common paper, and 26s. fine.

The Old Church of England Principles, opposed to the New Light,' in a series of Plain, Doctrinal, and Practical Sermons, on the First Lesson in the Morning Service, of the different Sundays and great Festivals throughout the Year. Shewing the connexion between the Old and New Testaments; and explaining the Histories, Characters, Types, and Prophecies of the former, by the Events, Personages, Realities, and Fulfilments of the Latter, with a Preface. By the Rev. Richard Warner. vol. i. 12mo. 6s. boards.

A Sermon preached in the Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge, on Tuesday, December 16, 1817, being the Day appointed for the Commemoration of Benefactors of that Society. By James Henry Monk, M.A. Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, and Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge. 8vo. 1s.

God is Love the most pure, my Prayer, and my Contemplation; freely Translated from the Original of M. D'Eckharthausen, with suitable Alterations and Additions, and including a Companion to the Altar. By Johnson Grant, M.A. Minister of Kentish Town Chapel. 12mo. 2s. 6d.

Hora Mosaicæ; or, a Dissertation on the Credibility and Theology of the Pentateuch: and on the Connection of the Patriarchal, the Levitical, and the

Christian

Christian Dispensations. Comprehending the Substance of Eight Lectures read before the University of Oxford, in the Year 1801: pursuant to the Will of the late Rev. John Bamptou, A.M. By G. S. Faber, B.D. Rector of Long Newton, Durham. 2 vols. 8vo. 11.5s.

TOPOGRAPHY.

Anecdotes respecting Cranbourn Chase, with a very concise Account of it; together with the Amusements it afforded our Ancestors in the Days of Yore. By William Chafin, Clerk. 8vo. 4s. boards.

The History and Antiquities of Croydon; comprising a General and Descriptive Account of the Town, its Hamlets and Manors, their Ancient and Present Possessors, from the earliest Authentic Records to the present Time, &c. &c. By the Rev. D. W. Garrow, B. D. with plates. 8vo. 14s. boards. The Personal Narrative of M. de Humboldt's Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, during the Years 1799-1804. Vol. III.

8vo. 11. 1s.

Peak Scenery, being the first of a Series of Excursions in Derbyshire. By E. Rhodes, of Sheffield. With Engravings by Messrs. W. B. and G. Cooke, from Drawings by F. L. Chantrey, A.R.A. Imperial 4to. with Proof Impressions of the Plates, on India Paper, 31. each. Royal 4to. 11. 14s. Demy

4to. 11. 4s.

VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.

Memoirs on European and Asiatic Turkey, from the Manuscript Journals of Modern Travellers in those Countries. Edited by Robert Walpole, A.M. 4to. 31. 3s. with plates.

Observations, Moral, Literary, and Antiquarian, made during a Tour through the whole of the Pyrenees, France, Switzerland, Italy, and the Netherlands, in the Years 1814 and 1815. By John Milford, Junior, late of St. John's College, Cambridge. 2 vols. 8vo. 11. 1s.

History of a Six Week's Tour through a part of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland; with Letters descriptive of a Sail round the Lake of Geneva, and of the Glaciers of Chamouni. 12mo. 4s. 6d.

FRENCH BOOKS.

De Candolle, Regni Vegetabilis Systema Naturale, sive Ordines, Genera, et Species Plantarum, secundum Methodi Naturalis Normas Digestarum et Descriptarum. Vol. I. contiuens prolegomena, et ordines quinque, nempe, Ranunculaceas, Dilleniaceas, Magnoliaceas, Annonaceas, et Menispermeas. 8vo. 18s. Villers (Charles de), Précis Historique sur la Présentation de la Confession d'Augsbourg à l'Empereur Charles V. par plusieurs Princes, Etats, et Villes d'Allemagne. Ouvrage posthume. Suivi du Texte de la Confession d'Augs bourg. Nouvelle Traduction Française, accompagnée de Notes. 12mo. 2s. Simonde de Sismondi, Histoire des Républiques Italiennes dans le moyen Age. Vols. XII, XIII, XIV. 8vo. 11. 7s.

Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire des évenèmens de la fin du dix-huitième Siècle, depuis 1763 jusqu'en 1810. Par l'Abbé Georgel. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris,

1817. 11.

Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire de la Campagne de 1815, dans la Vendée. Par le Comte d'Autichamp. 8vo. Paris, 1817. 5s.

Annales du Musée et de l'Ecole Moderne des Beaux-arts. Salon de 1817. 8vo. Paris, 1817. Cartonné, 11. 5s.

Traité des Maladies des Femmes, par Capuron. 8vo. 1817. 12s. 6d. Connaissance des Tems, ou des Mouvements célestes, à l'usage des Astronomes et des Navigateurs, pour l'an 1820. 8vo. Paris, 1818. 10s. 6d.

London: Printed by C. Roworth, Bell-yard, Temple-bar.

THE

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

JANUARY, 1818.

ART. I. 1, 2. Reports from the Select Committee on the Poor Laws. July, 1817. March, 1818.

3. Considerations on the Poor Laws. By John Davison, M. A. Fellow of Oriel College.

4. Observations on the Impolicy, Abuses, and False Interpretation of the Poor Laws; and on the Reports of the Two Houses of Parliament. By John, Earl of Sheffield.

IN the account of his own conduct and views, which Louis XIV.

drew up for the instruction of his son, is the following remarkable passage:-Si Dieu me fait la grace d'exécuter tout ce que j'ai dans l'esprit, je tâcherai de porter la félicité de mon règne, jusqu'à faire en sorte, non pas à la vérité qu'il n'y ait plus ni pauvre ni riche, car la fortune, l'industrie, et l'esprit laisseront éternellement cette distinction entre les hommes; mais au moins qu'on ne voie plus dans tout le royaume, ni indigence, ni mendicité; je veux dire, personne, quelque misérable qu'elle puisse être, qui ne soit assurée de sa subsistance, ou par son travail, ou par un secours ordinaire et réglé. What, Louis XIV. thus proposed to himself as the last and greatest object of his ambition, and the highest degree of excellence to which the internal policy of his kingdom could be carried, had here been effected. A provision for all persons, who were unable to provide for themselves, existed, at that time, in England, and had existed for more than a century. That such a provision ought to exist in every civilized country, is uncontrovertible; that England should be the only country in which it exists, is indeed honourable to the English character. If, in its consequences, it should be found to have increased the evils which it was designed to mitigate, the cause must be sought for in the injudicious application of the principle, not in the principle itself.

At the conclusion of Burnet's History of his own Times, (a book of which the great and standard value is in no degree lessened by the ridicule with which it was assailed,) that excellent bishop speaks of two great measures which particularly required the care of Parliament. First, that the law, which he affirmed to be the greatest grievance of the nation, should be made shorter,

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clearer, more certain, and of less expense.' 'The other matter, said he, is about the poor, and should be much laid to heart. It may be thought a strange motion from a bishop to wish that the act for charging every parish to maintain their own poor were well reviewed, if not quite taken away: this seems to encourage idle and lazy people in their sloth, when they know they must be maintained. I know no other place in the world where such a law was ever made. Scotland is much the poorest part of the island, yet the poor there are maintained by the voluntary charities of the people. Holland is the perfectest pattern for putting charity in a good method: the poor work as much as they can; they are humble and industrious; they never ask any charity, and yet they are well relieved. When the poor see that their supply must in a great measure depend on their behaviour, and on their industry as far as it can go, it will both make them better in themselves, and move others to supply them more liberally. All this must begin in the House of Commons; and I leave it,' he continues, to the consideration of the wise and worthy members of that body, to turn their thoughts to this, as soon as by a happy peace we are delivered from the cares of the and and are at leisure to think of our own affairs at home.'

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Something more than a century has elapsed since Bishop Burnet thus expressed himself at the close of Queen Anne's wars, when Marlborough's victorious career had been so scandalously terminated by the peace of Utrecht. In our days a more arduous struggle has been closed by a victory more signal than even Marlborough atchieved, and by a peace whereby the great objects of the long contest have been secured. The subject of the poor laws is now brought before the legislature as Burnet in his time vainly desired; and after having gloriously concluded the most perilous and obstinate war in which these kingdoms ever were engaged, we have now to contend with, and triumph over the greatest domestic evil. It is no little encouragement to perceive that only one opinion prevails concerning the magnitude of the evil, and the necessity of adopting remedial measures; as little difference does there appear to be concerning the nature of the evil, even among those who are habitually opposed to each other on other subjects: and when a similarity of opinion is found between men whose views upon the fundamental principles, not of literature alone, but of the most important subjects in which the dearest interests of mankind are involved, are as opposite as light and darkness, it may be presumed that the point upon which they are agreed has very much the force and character of a general truth. Hence we would gladly infer that on this occasion no feelings of party are likely to intrude; that the question will continue to be considered as one in which the common interest is concerned; and that men of all descriptions will unite in checking the

growth

growth of this cancer in the body politic, as they would to stop the progress of the plague, or to extinguish a conflagration.

It is impossible to enter without anxiety upon the subject of the poor laws, perhaps the most arduous and the most important subject that ever came under the consideration of parliament. The provision which the laws of England have made for the poor is not more honourable in its principle and object than it is injurious in its application: it operates as a perpetual bounty for the encouragement of pauperism;-nothing can be more anomalous, and nothing more contradictory to the general spirit of our institutions. The peculiar boast of an Englishman is that he cannot be taxed without his own consent; but in this case he is liable to an assessment concerning which he has no voice, and against which he has no appeal. When the legislature imposes a tax, it always maturely considers the ability of the subject to bear it, and proportions the amount to that ability, as well as to the necessities of the state; here, there are no limits to the assessment, and it has gone on therefore in natural progression, till the absurdity stares us in the face, when it has brought us to the very brink of ruin. The respect paid to property is another distinguishing characteristic of the laws of England, the end and object indeed of the most extensive branch of the law being to secure to every person the enjoyment of that which is his own. But so perilously is this entrenched upon, by the manner in which the poor laws have been misapplied, (the misapplication having very generally grown into a custom,) that it may startle the reader to be told how nearly we have approached the fundamental principle of the Spencean philanthropists: these gentlemen themselves, perhaps, are not aware that a partnership in the land," such as they have confederated to obtain, has already been established:—that the territory of this kingdom may truly, at this time, be called the pau'pers' farm, from which every vagabond, who chuses to claim it, receives, in the course of the year, a larger sum, without tax, toll, or custom,' than the annual four pounds, which Mr. Evans apportions to every man, and child, as the profit of their natural estate. The Spencean plan indeed, which seems to have been seriously aimed at by some of the disaffected visionaries of 1817, was not in its utmost intention so unjust or so ruinous as the natural effect of the poor rates will become, unless the system shall be effectually reformed by the wisdom and authority of parliament. Spence modestly required land-owners to quit what he called the people's farm the poor-rates will soon require generally (what they have already effected in some places) that the farms should be cultivated at the expense of the owner, for the benefit of others;-that is, in order to satisfy the demands of the poor. Such a state must speedily produce a revolution of the most dreadful description, a kind of

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