principle. The present pamphlet is a case in point. From a know. lege of the nature of commercial and banking accommodation, the writer would account for the present unexampled dearness of the articles of the first necessity, without allowing the existence of scarcity. -What is scarcity? When the supply of an article is found for a considerable time to be unequal to the demand for it, we say that it is scarce in the market. When there are many to buy and few to sell, a want or scarcity is experienced; and when this is felt, the commodity required will advance in price. Scarcity and dearness, then, though not absolutely synonimous terms, imply one another these things, however, become subjects of general complaint, an evil of a complicated kind exists. To the present dearness of provisions, several causes contribute; one may be, and probably is, as here suggested, the plenty of the circulating medium, and the facility of money (or rather paper) accommodation, by which farmers as well as traders are tempted to speculate: but this alone would not produce the effect of which we complain. The state of Europe, and the singular magnitude of our naval establishments, have occasioned us to feel, in a peculiar degree, every deficiency of crop. When we stand in need of more than usual, and produce less than usual, it requires no ghost to predict the consequence. An artificial plenty of money may produce dearness, without there being an absolute famine threatening want: but no plenty of money, nor banking accommodation, could operate, if there were a great and manifest abundance The quantity produced is not found to be completely adequate to all our wants and exigencies; and this discovery has tempted men, in all the departments of trade, to spe culate to the injury of the public. Art. 37. The Case of the Farmers, at the present important Crisis, stated by a Hertfordshire Farmer. 8vo. 6d. Law. 1800. "Vain declamation all." To hear a farmer now complaining of the oppressed case of himself and brethren must excite indignation, instead of compassion. Whether the farmers' leases be long or short, they are all getting money. Every thing is at present in their favour; and, according to the old saying, Let them laugh that win.-Wa expected from this writer a vindication of the farmers, against the charge of their being the cause of the present exorbitant price of provisions: but we find no such thing. He says that they are themselves so oppressed,' that they should be indulged with leases for a longer term than 21 years. BOTANY. Art. 38. The Lady's and Gentleman's Botanical Pocket-Book, adapted to Withering's Arrangement of British Plants. Intended to facilitate and promote the Study of indigenous Botany. By Wm. Mavor, LL. D. 12mo. 35. Vernor and Hood. The indefatigable Dr. Mavor has published this work avowedly for the use of students; and we should be sorry to undervalue any thing that is written with the intention of increasing the boundaries of a science science so elegant and amusing as botany. He has certainly used the title of Botanical Pocket Book with more propriety than Professor Hoffman, who so calls his Flora Germanica; of which a second edition has just appeared. Dr. Mavor gives a figure of the parts of fructification, illustrated by the white lily. (why not choose a plant with a nectary?) and another plate of the Linuéan classes. The work itself contains only a slight account of every class, with the numbers of orders and genera belonging to it, followed by the Latin and English names of each genus; and a blank space is left, to enable the student to insert the several species when he finds them. As Dr. Mavor says that the utility of his plan is incontestable, we shall not attempt to contest it, but content ourselves with expressing our earnest hopes that it may be found so. Art. 39. DRAMATIC. Theodora; or, the Spanish Daughter: a Tragedy. By Lady Burrell. Evo. pp. 100. 3s. 6d. sewed. Leigh and Sotheby. 1800. Literary judges, like the dispensers of law, have their integrity sometimes severely tried. Their secret wishes may be excited to exculpate, while the rigor of justice forces them to condemn. Our inclination leads us, in the present instance, strongly to espouse the cause of an amiable writer, whom we have had the satisfaction of praising for compositions of a lighter kind: but we must observe, with whatever regret, that she has not properly consulted her strength in attempting this high walk of poetry. To succeed in tragedy requires, perhaps, a turn of mind not compatible with the elegant softness of the female character. The bard of terror must be "made of sterner stuff." In this point of view, however, the fair writer has chosen her sulject very judiciously, as the distresses of her heroine arise from disappointed love, and from her struggles between delicacy and filial affection. We shall select the following passages as specimens of the dialogue; which is in general easy and correct, though not elevated. How can I amuse her? This mansion, spacious and magnificent, She starts, averts her head, and from her cheek And beautiful, tho' wanting animation.' "THEODORA. Oh! lead me to some quiet verdant bank Whosa · Whose ripling waves the water lily shews Plagiarisms are frequently discoverable in this drama; such as Yet a secret grief Has like a worm conceal'd within a rose Gnaw'd at thy heart, and fed upon thy bloom.' Worse than these, however, are some attempts to paint or describe Nature without attending to or studying Nature; thus at p. 4. Flowers of unnumbered tints' are represented as growing under trees which exclude the rays of the sun;-and a still greater mistake occurs at p. 21. where the moon is said to be so much in her wane as 'to afford but half her light,' and yet is described as appearing in the dusky gloom of the evening. In the character of Theodora, we discover many traits of refinement and delicacy which probably would have escaped a male-writer: but beauties of this kind are better adapted to the closet than to the stage.. Voltaire has observed justly of the latter, that plays must in come measure resemble scene-painting, and that "quelquefois il vaut mieux frapper fort que frapper juste." Art. 40. Maximian; a Tragedy: taken from Corneille. By Lady Burrell. 8vo. pp. 98. 3s. 6d. sewed. Leigh and Sotheby. 1800. pos This play is not to be considered as a simple translation from Corneille, though it is moulded on his original. In our opinion, it would require a much more nervous strain of poetry than that which is sessed by this fair author, to reconcile the longueurs of the French stage to English readers. Of all our dramatists, Rowe has perhaps approached nearest to the French school, and several of his plays continue to be represented: but they are supported by the merit of some happy passages, and by the aid which he drew from Shakspeare, and some of our then neglected writers. We possess a beautiful fragment by Gray, in the style of Racine; yet perhaps we admire it the more because it is incomplete. A single act may be read with pleasure, when the attention would be fatigued by going through four four others.-Ease and grace in writing are not sufficient qualifications for a task so arduous as the present. The strength of a Parnassian hero is requisite here; and his Pegasus, instead of a lady's pad, must be a charger of the first vigour and spirit The language of Lady Burrell is generally correct, but it wants the fire and force of the French Dramatist. We have remarked also some oversights respecting the costume. Thus, at the opening of the play, we are told that the clock strikes ten, a circumstance which certainly never occurred in antient Rome; and in p. 3. Maximian looks at his watch, though no such instrument existed at that time. These are trifles: but our theatrical exhibitions are so much more correct than formerly, that even mistakes like these demand notice. MISCELLANEOUS. Art. 41. Memoirs of Hyppolite Clairon, the celebrated French 2 Vols. Of these memoirs we have already given our opinion, with consider able extracts, when we examined them in the original *. We shall now therefore point our attention chiefly to the merits of the tran slation. We can perceive that the person, whether male or female, who has been at the trouble of transfusing into our language the contents of this spirited and entertaining work, has read and reflected more than he, or she, has written. A preface is added by the translator; which, though little more than an argument to the book, contains some judicious remarks on the drama and on human life: but it is not well composed, and is manifestly the production of a person who is unused to the press. The promiscuous use of the numerical one, and the Gallic pronoun one, is more frequent than we have seen it elsewhere. Preface, p. xxi. After twenty years of brilliant success, one has a right to give advice as a lesson. She was one of the most illustrious actresses of her time.In the text, we have lay for lie; refrain laughing, for refrain from laughing; I was ceased to be disturbed altogether,' for it ceased to disturb me. The inaccuracy of style, which most frequently occurs in this translation, is the omission of which, and that, as a pronoun and a conjunction. The epithet harmonious is used for melodious, more than once. Ways for way. Dubellay, for Dubelloy. We cannot quite accord with Mademoiselle Clairon herself, when she says, p. 165. I agree that (the) comic-opera and the ballet absorb every thing else; and that, at present, performers in that line are the most essential part of the theatrical company. The talents required for such situations are in the reach of every one, whatever may be their educations.' Surely a voice must be given by nature:-it may be improved, but not acquired; nor is the necessary knowlege of music attainable by singers of mean capacities. * See vol. xxvii. N. S. p. 557; and vol. xxviii. p. 519. It It is but justice to allow that the style of the translator improves as the work advances; so much, that in the second volume we have scarcely any material inaccuracies to censure,-except the frequent use of learn for teach; and, on the whole, we may venture to assure the English reader, that he will find much entertainment in these memoirs. Art. 42. An Account of Two Charity Schools for the Education of Girls: and of a Female Friendly Society in York: interspersed with Reflections on Charity Schools and Friendly Societies in general. By Catharine Cappe. 8vo. 35. Johnson. 1800. The schools of which this pamphlet gives an account are the Spinning and the Grey coat schools, in the city of York. The origin of the spinning school, and the whole progress of its establishment, concur in an eminent degree to prove what useful parts of charity are direction and good management. Towards the close of the year 1782, two ladies, painfully impressed by the behaviour of a set of children employed in a hemp manufactory in their neighbourhood, determined to try if something could not be done to mend their condition. On the 7th of Novem ber, having been encouraged by some donations and subscriptions from a few particular friends to whom they had communicated their design, twenty-two young girls were entered with a mistress who was engaged to teach them to read, knit, and sew, in the evening after they had finished their work in the manufactory.' Other ladies soon joined, and took an active part in forwarding these charitable purposes: but it was not till May 1784 that the plan of establishing a spinning school was fully digested; when an offer was made to the parents, of allowing wages to the children equal to those which they carned in the hemp manufactory. This was accepted by most of them, and the children were immediately taken under the protection of the ladies. The visible good effects of the plan of management, adopted for the spinning school, occasioned an application to be made to the ladies who patronised it, from the governors of the Grey coat school, requesting their advice and assistance in reforming that institution; and afterward, at the farther request of the governors, the ladies undertook the whole conduct and superintendence of the Grey coat echool: setting an example of active charity which is well worthy of being imitated. The different regulations, with an account of every part of the disbursements, and the whole economy of the management, are explained in this pamphlet ; and the expences of the former are compared with those of the improved plan.-An account is also given of every particular respecting the plan and management of a Female Friendly Society at York. This publication is well calculated to invite and encourage the more opulent members of the community, to examine into and take a share of the direction of our public charitable institutions. If the sale of it should be more than sufficient to defray the charges of printing, &c. the benevolent writer purposes that the profits shall be applied towards a fund for the benefit of the members of the Female Friendly Society, of which she has given an account. Art. |