Then, in sublimer song her voice should raise
Strains less unequal to her Hero's praise.
But what at last avails the poet's fire?
Vain are his honours, and his boasted lyre:
Vain is the laurel that adorns his brow:
Vain are his numbers: nor can all bestow,
But from their deathless theme alone receive
The fame, not e'en Mæonides could give.
Since then establish'd glory thus defies
The pow'r of poesy, that never dies;
How much more vain are offerings alone,
Compos'd of perishable brass and stone,
Though quarries were consum'd and millions spent,
When the whole empire forms one monument.

And thou, ill-fated Prince, whom discord gave
An early victim to misfortune's grave,

Whate'er thy frailties were, (and, who has none?)
Amply thy greater virtues shall atone,
Whose heralds on the wings of mercy crost
The trackless deserts of Siberian frost.
Thee, coward cruelty in horrours dight,
And mean suspicion that avoids the light,
And persecution with tormenting flame,
Shall ever execrate, and hate thy name;
While freedom's gratitude and pity's tear
Shall drop a tribute on thy mournful bier.
But Heaven will'd! nor let thy realms deplore
The mix'd event, that left one PETER more.'

This other Peter, it seems, means the late Empress; who, by a poetical licence which can only be derived from royal authority, is here invested with the name of her husband. Perhaps Mr. Pybus had been thinking of a passage in Shakspeare:

"And if his name be George, I'll call him PETER."

In truth, the author seems liable to mistakes of this kind; for we observe that some of his couplets terminate with words which have not even so much affinity with each other, as that which subsisted between Peter and Catharine ;

"Rhymes, like Scotch cousins, in such order plac'd,
The first scarce claims acquaintance with the last."

Considered in its political relations, Mr. P.'s work is not less unfortunate than in its literary station. After the high and splendid hopes of curbing France which are held out in the poem, comes a dolorous prose-epilogue to inform us that the glory of Europe is blasted, and that the Emperour has withdrawn his troops!-Subsequent occurrences have lamentably deepened the gloom of this disappointment; and we sincerely

condole with Mr. Pybus on the ungracious return which this Northern Mecanas has made to the British Treasury, both for its solid pudding and its empty praise *.

Illustrated by Sixteen Engravings 2 Vols. 8vo. 18s.

ART. IX. Elements of Botany.
By John Hull, M. D. &c. &c. Manchester.
Boards. Bickerstaff. 1800.

WE
E have pleasure in announcing to our readers the appear-
ance of this publication; which, if we be not much de-
ceived, will tend to enlarge the boundaries of natural history,
and to supply what has long been to British botanists one of
their most important desiderata. Though some objections may
be made, yet, considered with respect both to the plan and
the execution, it displays much knowlege of the subject, and
promises to be of very extensive utility. As its contents, how-
ever, from the nature of the objects which it embraces, are
necessarily multifarious, it would be an endless task for us to
indulge in extracts, or in the more minute species of criticism;
and the most that can be expected from us is to give the out-
line of the author's design, referring to the work itself those
who wish for more particular information.

In an able preface of 33 pages, Dr. Hull brings us in some measure acquainted with his plan, makes a few observations on the Botanical language which he employs, and very successfully combats the alterations in the Linnéan system first suggested by Thunberg, and since adopted by many eminent botanists; among whom is to be reckoned our late worthy coun tryman Dr. Withering. We wish that our limits would allow us to enter on a consideration of each of these points separately: but such an attempt would require too much space; and, indeed, Dr. Hull has (with very few exceptions) adopted the language recommended by Professor Martyn, in his letter on that subject, published in the first volume of the Linnéan Transactions. With regard, also, to Linné's own classes, the botanical world looks up to Dr. Smith with hopes that, when his leisure permits, he will favor us with a complete justifi cation of their original distribution.

Dr. Hull begins with an introduction to the Linnéan system; explaining first what botany is, then defining the parts of a plant, and afterward briefly treating of the Classes, Orders, Genera, Species, and Varieties. This division is followed by

Weigh solid pudding against empty praise." (Pope.) The Imperial Balancer seems to have placed both in one scale, and to have counterpoised them with some other commodity, which has made our offerings kick the beam.

an account of the different methods employed in the formation of an herbarium; to which succeeds a definition of the terms used by most writers on the subject, with a particular explanation of those that are found in Hedwig and Gärtner: which, having never before appeared in this language, may be more particularly considered as a valuable addition to our stock of botanical information.

These materials, with two short dictionaries of botanical terms, (in one of which the English is prefixed to the Latin, and in the other the Latin to the English,) and twelve plates, (many of them little more than copies, and none conspicuous for their excellence,) constitute the first volume.

We must not neglect this opportunity of pointing out to Dr. Hull's notice, the celebrated Willdenow's "Grundriss der kräuterkunde;" a work which stands in deservedly high estimation on the Continent, and of which we wish that he had availed himself more than he appears to have done. Its plates, among other recommendations, are particularly good; and that which contains specimens of the different colours suggests an idea which appears to deserve the imitation of English elementary authors.

The Second Volume is chiefly occupied by the characters of the British Genera; which, many readers will perhaps think, might well have been omitted, as having little reference to this work, and as being contained in almost every Flora: not to mention Linné's Genera Plantarum, with which very few botanists can be supposed to be unprovided. In one respect, however, this part will be serviceable: since, in the class Cryptogamia, Dr. Hull brings us acquainted with Dr. Smith's arrangement of the genera of dorsiferous ferns, and with the German distribution of Musci, Alge, and Fungi. These divisions, especially in the Lichens and Fungi, appear to be carried to an unwarrantable length: but we still regret that this country so pertinaciously adheres to the old arrangement of Linné; and it would give us great pleasure if Dr. Smith, in the remaining volumes of his Flora*, could devise some method which, without entering into all the minutia of Hedwig and Persoon, might nevertheless fix the genera on the basis so universally established on the Continent, and enable the botanists on either side of the water to understand each other's meaning.

The definition of these Genera is followed by an account of the natural orders; and Giseke's map, explaining their vicinities, concludes a performance of which the utility, if not the necessity, to every botanist, is in our judgment indisputable :

*We propose to give an account of the 1st and 2d vols. of this work, in our next Review..

however

however it may be their opinion that Dr. Hull has judged erroneously in publishing the major part of the contents of the

second volume.

ART. X. The Jurisdiction of the Lords House of Parliament, con sidered according to ancient Records. By Lord Chief Justice Hale. To which is prefized, by the Editor, Francis Hargrave, Esq. an introductory Preface, including a Narrative of the same Jurisdiction from the Accession of James the First. 4to. pp. 450. 11. 7s. Boards. Cadell jun. and Davies. 1796.

HE late appearance of the present article will not be attri buted to any disrespect towards the learned editor of this publication, when it is recollected that we have on frequent occasions borne willing testimony to his merits; neither can it be ascribed to a disapprobation of the contents of the volume, when we sincerely acknowlege that we have seldom perused a work in which we have discovered so many proofs of patient investigation and accurate research. Causes of a very different description have occasioned a delay which we have much regretted, while it has been wholly out of our power to prevent it.

In a volume of law tracts which Mr. Hargrave presented to the world several years ago, with a promise (which, we lament to say, he has not been encouraged to fulfil) of continuing his labours in that branch, he introduced to the public notice some MSS. of Chief Justice Hale, which were extremely valuable. The present treatise by the same venerable author, and which was communicated to the editor by John Blagden Hale, Esq. (who is now the possessor of the Chief Justice's paternal seat and estate at Adderley in Gloucestershire,) is highly to be prized; both on account of the important and interesting nature of the subject which it discusses, and because it was acknowleged by its writer, who had in other treatises exercised his attention on the same subject, " to be perfected."

This work may, with the greatest propriety, be considered as consisting of two grand divisions; the one, which is the preface, comprising 230 pages; and the other, the treatise by Lord Hale, comprehending 208 pages.-Of each of these we shall proceed to give a summary account; and the object of both parts of the publication we shall present to our readers in Mr. Hargrave's words:

Before entering upon an account of the controversy, between the two houses of the English parliament, about judicature, it may be fit to explain the limits, within which the editor, for the most part, and as far as the complex nature of that controversy will per mit, means to confine himself.

• There

There are various kinds of judicature exerciseable in parliament. -The lords have a judicature for their privileges; and since the union have had a judicature for controverted elections of the sixteen peers for Scotland. The commons have a judicature for the privileges of their house, and also for determining matters relative to the election of their members.-There is a judicatare for impeachment: and under it, on the one hand, the commons, as the great representative inquest of the nation, first find the crime, and afterwards, acting as prosecutors, endeavour to support their finding before the lords; whilst, on the other hand, the lords exercise the function both of judge and jury, in trial of the cause and in deciding upon it.-Further, there is a judicature for the trials of peers, by the lords, in and out of parliament. There is also a kind of judicature exercised by the lords in parliament, over claims of peerage and offices of honour, under

references from the crown.

But the narrative, the editor means to offer, is not with a particular view to these several kinds of judicature; for his object is chiefly applicable and restricted to the controversy between the two houses of parliament,-about the exercise of an original jurisdiction by the lords in civil causes,-about the exercise of an appellant jurisdiction by the lords in the causes of equity, on a petition to themselves, and not as upon a writ of error, but without commission or delegation of any kind from the crown, about the claim to extend such original and appellant jurisdiction to all causes, whether temporal or ecclesiastical, maritime or military, which the lords shall please to undertake,-about the claim to a jurisdiction thus vast and comprehensive, under the supposition of a primitive and inherent right in the lords, attached to their order by the law and constitution of the kingdom,-and about the exercise of such original and appellant jurisdiction by the lords singly, as being in themselves, without any participation either of the king or the house of commons, the Supreme and dernier resort.

Such is the nature of the controversy, to which lord Hale's following Treatise chiefly applies, and of which therefore it is now intended to give a general account.

This great controversy, about original and appellant judicature in parliament, did not regularly begin till some few years after the restoration. But several things, which connect with and may illustrate the subject, and sume of which were not wholly unmixed with controversy, occurred previously; and in respect of them it may be convenient to go back as far as the accession of James the First to the crown of England, and in some degree to look back even to a still earlier time.'

In this narrative, which is replete with historical information of a very interesting nature, it appears that the Lords, in the third parliament of Charles I. which was memorable for passing the Petition of Rights, made great advances towards fixing in themselves an universal jurisdiction, both original and appellant, over causes between party and party; the orders of the house in this respect extending to spiritual courts as well temporal.