Katz. I did not fcruple a moment lending 80 on it. • Bar. Don't you recollect it?

Katz. Madam !

Lif. The very fame; on the inside of the setting is your cypher; look, my lady.

• Bar. It is, it is: how came you by this ring, landlord?

Katz. "That ring-very honeftly," very honeftly indeed, Madam; my dear, fweet lady, do not bring me into trouble: many things may have changed mafters during the war, without the confent of the original proprietors. I had it, I am fure, from a man I cannot fufpect, from a very good man.

Bar. From the best man breathing, unless you measure his merit by his wealth. Quick, fly, bring him to me.

Katz. Whom, my lady?

Lif. Why, don't you hear? Our Colonel.

Katz Colonel, yes he is a Colonel I had it from, and 'twas he lodged here, in this

Bar Here, Holberg lodged here! "He pledged this ring to you!" How came he into fuch difficulties? Where is he? Is he in your debt? Lifetta, the casket (Lifetta opens it). Speak. Does he owe any one else? Here is money; here are notes; all are his. Where is he? Speak.

• Katz. He was here a little while ago.

• Bar. Odious man! how could you treat him fo unfriendly, fo hardly, fo cruelly?

Katz. Your ladyfhip will pardon

Bar. Quick, go, bring him here.

Katz. I don't know where he is, but his fervant is still here: would your ladyfhip please that I should go and fetch him?

• Bar. I please! run, fly, and for that fervice I will forget how ill you have treated him.

Katz. Madam I

Bar. Quick, begone. (pushes him out)'

The characters, particularly thofe of Rhof and Warmans, are well difcriminated. They, as well as the difbanded officer and the Baronefs, are at once nation I and general. The Prologue and Epilogue are both fuitable the piece, though we think the latter rather calculated for the meridian of Paris, than of London.

MONTHLY

CATALOGUE,

For AUGUST, 1786.

POLITICA L.

Art. 16. The Propriety of an Actual Payment of the Public Debt confidered. By Sir Francis Blake, Bart. 8vo. 1s. Debrett. 1786.

T HE queftion difcuffed in this pamphlet is of fuch great magnitude, that having been charged, on the part of the Author, with misapprehenfion of his meaning on a late occafion *; we fhall

Y.

See latt vol. p 461. See alfo, p. 576, Appendix.

now

now give the plan alluded to, in his own words, from the prefent publication:

It is propofed to transfer the public debt to the great body of proprietors of the known and visible income of Great Britain, meaning thereby that particular income which arifes from houfes, land, and public funds; the amount of which being stated at 60,000,cool. and the debt at 240,000,ocol. it is obvious that the debt is equal to four years income.

This debt transferred, it is farther propofed to make it bear an intereft of 41. per cent. and that thofe perfons who are the oftenfible proprietors of fuch income, fhall likewife be the oftenfible paymafters of fuch intereft; but it is not propofed that they shall take upon themselves the whole exclufive burthen of this public debt. The great body of proprietors will indeed be made refponsible for the whole intereft of the debt, and each in full proportion to his nominal fhare of income; but no perfon will have to pay out of his own pocket that full proportion of intereft which belongs to his fhare of income, except the nominal income which he holds is alfo to him a clear income; for in fuch proportion as any man's fhare of income falls fhort of a clear income, in like proportion will the amount of his payment of intereft fail fhort of that full payment for which it is propofed he should be made accountable. Let us put a cafe:Suppofe a man who is in poffeffion of 500l. per annum to be indebted in fuch a fum, as that the intereft of it fall amount to 100l. per annum; in this cafe, the creditor or creditors will have to pay one fifth, and the proprietor four fifths of that lot of public intereft which falls to the hare of fuch proprietor; that is to fay, the proprietor will have to contribute as his quota 641. and the creditors as their quota 161. making together 8cl. per annum, which is the intereft at 41. per cent. of 200cl. or four years income of 500l. per annum. But the creditors are required to make their particular payment to the proprietor himself, and to no one else; and in order to fecure fuch payment to the proprietor, who is made accountable not only for his own, but his creditor's fhare, it is propofed that he fhould be armed with a power to detain that full proportion of payment, which by this plan is due from others who hold fecurities under him. Seeing then that no third perfon either has or can have any concern with this part of the tranfaction, or need be made privy to it, the fact is furely proved, that for any thing which this plan has to do with fuch difcovery, the fecret of every man's fituation muft continue in his own keeping.'

This is Sir Francis Blake's plan for paying off the national debt; but the propriety of paying it off, being the point now under confideration, he thus decides it:

To fpeak my mind freely, I do not conceive that it would really be of any advantage to this country, but quite the contrary to disturb the prefent circulation of money, by paying to the flate creditors the feveral principal fums of which the debt is compofed. It is enough for them, and is all they require, to have good fecurity for what they have lent, to have the intereft of it well and punctually paid, and that there should be no more difficulty than there is at prefent in the fale or transfer of what belongs to them. Now all the fe ends will

be

be fully answered by the plan before us*. On the other hand confidered, it would certainly be detrimental, it would weaken us to a very great and alarming degree to have fo much of that, which may well be called the vital fluid, drawn off from the veins of this country, through which it circulates in health and ftrength to the political body. But except we can furnish fresh fecurities to detain the money in circulation amongst us, after payment is made, it must neceffarily happen, that it will find its way, to our great and irreparable lofs, into other states. From which it follows, that any attempt to liquidate the debt by actual payment of the principal fum, even fuppofing that it could be effected by means of any one of the plans which have been produced, or any other, would be clearly to act upon a wrong principle of policy, juft as much as it would be wrong in phyfic to bleed a patient, who ftands in need of no fuch evacuation, till death enfues, under pretence of faving his life.

All that is wanting to the full improvement of our fituation, is not, as has been thought, to get rid of the debt, but in fuch fort to difpofe of it as to do away the ill effects which it has at present upon trade and manufactures.-Now these effects are most completely done away by the plan which is here recommended, inafmuch as the debt transferred will operate no more to their difadvantage than a mortgage or quit rent does, which has no fuch operation at all belonging

to it.

• What I mean to exprefs is this:-That it is fufficient for our purpose that the debt has no longer any kind of existence as a national incumbrance; it is not neceffary that it fhould be purfued to abfolute annihilation, for it is not hurtful in the abftract, but only in the management; it is wealth in the abstract, and wealth in trength; it is therefore in itself beneficial to us.

It is my idea that the debt has been a means of introducing much wealth, of which the ftream would not otherwife have flowed into these parts. It is alfo my idea, that it is now the means of detaining wealth, of which we cannot retain the ufe in any other way. When it is viewed in this light, any diminution of its bulk will be feen and felt as a diminution of ftrength; and fo, by parity of reafoning, its total extinction will not only be injurious, but may prove fatal to this country.'

In a Poftfcript, the Author very properly warns us of the gradual extenfion of the excife laws; but the foregoing extracts will, we truft, acquit us, as well with the Author, as with the Fublic. Art. 17. The Debute upon the Establishing a Fund for the Dif charge of the National Debt, March 29th, 1786. To which is added, the Report from the Select Committee, relating to the

* It is propofed to have the intereft collected, and depofited in the Bank of England half-yearly, where dividends, as ufual, will be paid, and where property of this kind may be bought, fold, or tranfferred, as is now the practice; only with this difference, that it will not be fubject to the prefent fluctuations, but will then be of a fixt value, and always at par. As to fecurity, none can furpafs it, Landed fecurity guaranteed by government.

Public Income and Expenditure, March 21ft. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Stockdale.

Art. 18. Report from the Select Committee, to whom it was referred to examine and fate the feveral Accounts and other Papers, prefented to the Houfe this Seffion of Parliament, relating to the Public Income and Expenditure: and alfo to report to the House, what may be expected to be the annual Amount of the faid Income and Expenditure in future (March 21, 1786). 8vo. 35. Debrett.

Neither of thefe publications come before us as literary compofitions; debates are given in all forms, as articles of intelligence. The Report is an official paper, concerning which we have only to remark, that the latter publication contains the feveral accounts and papers referred to, in an Appendix, which are omitted in the former.

Art. 19. An Efay on the Population of Ireland. By the Rev. J. Howlett, Vicar of Great Dunmow, Effex. 8vo. IS. Richardfon. 1786.

Dr. Price and Mr. Howlett furnish a pointed illuftration of the old proverb, that two of a trade feldom agree; and we may, perhaps, as justly add, fo much the better for the market! They are both political calculators, but can never audit each other's accounts: and, after having varied fo confiderably in their respective statements of the population of England, there is lefs caufe for furprife at their being obftructed by fome awkward intervening blunder, when they venture upon Irish ground. Dr. Price does not allow that the preJent hearth tax in Ireland affords fufficient documents from which to form a tolerably correct judgment of the population of that island; though he determines that of England, from a comparison between the returns of the obfolete hearth tax here, which was dropped at the Revolution, compared with the prefent returns for the window tax. Mr. Howlett objects to the latter data, as vague, and too diffimilar for comparison; but from refpe&table information, deems the former as fufficient for the purpose, as any thing of that kind can well be: fo that what one calls black, the other pronounces white! Having, however, no better materials than the hearth tax furnishes, Dr. Price thence computes the inhabitants of Ireland to be about two millions in number; while Mr. Howlett, from the fame data, allows at least half a million more.

Such are the outlines of a tract, that will be found of an interefting nature to students in political arithmetic.

POLICE.

Art. 20. Proposals for establishing, at Sea, a Marine School, or Seminary for Seamen: as a Means of improving the Plan of the Marine Society, and alfo of clearing the Streets of the Metropolis from vagabond Youths. 8vo. 18. Dilly. 1785.

Mr. Hanway having propofed, to the Marine Society, that a fchool fhould be opened for inftructing and employing the children under their care, this writer + fuggefts, as an improvement on that gentleman's plan, that a fchool fhould be formed, on board a fhip,

* The Right Hon. Mr. Beresford, Firft Commisioner of the Irish Revenues. + Mr. Edward King. L

REV. Aug. 1786.

cruizing

cruizing in the Channel, and keeping out at fea, and conducted by proper mafters, from among half-pay officers, and experienced failors. The fcheme appears to merit attention; how far it may be practicable, or defirable to adopt it, the Society is best qualified to judge.

EAST INDIES.

Art. 21. A Speech in the House of Commons, March 7th, 1786. By Philip Francis, Efq. 8vo. 25. Debrett.

An amendment, or rather a repeal, of Mr. Pitt's famous India Bill, was the object of Mr. Francis's motion and speech, at the time above mentioned. The oration is animated, nervous, and fraught with useful information on the fubject.

Art. 22. The Refolutions of the Madras Committee, held at Fort St. George, September 19th, 1785. Alfo their Petition to the Parliament of Great Britain. 8vo. 1S. Stockdale. 1786. The complaints against the late A&t for regulating the affairs of the East India Company, ufually known by the diftinction of Mr. Pitt's Bill, have been made. fufficiently public; and are principally the hardship impofed on every fervant of the Company returning from India, of difclofing his private circumftances upon oath; and the inftituting a new court of judicature for the trial of offences committed in India, inftead of trial by jury. Thefe, with other griev ances, are well stated, and ftrongly reprefented by the gentlemen of Madras, in a petition to the King, and in another to each Houfe of Parliament.

Art. 23. Mr. Dundas's India Bill, for the further Regulation of the Trial of Perfons accused of certain Offences committed in the Eaft Indies; for repealing fo much of an Act made in the twentyfourth year of the Reign of his prefent Majefty, intitled, &c. as requires the Servants of the Eaft India Company to deliver Inventories of their Eftates and Effects; for rendering the Laws more effectual against Perfons unlawfully reforting to the East Indies, &c. 8vo. IS. Stockdale.

A qualifier of Mr. Pitt's Bill, to render it more palatable to the objects of it; for which we must now refer to the statute book, where it will be found with its final corrections.

COMMUTATION ACT.

Art. 24. Obfervations on the Commutation Project. By Thomas Bates Rous, Efq. With a Supplement. 8vo. 1s. Debrett. 1786. Mr. Rous, who thinks the fmuggler might have been crushed, and the revenue indemnified, by a reduction of the duties on tea; confiders the transfer of thefe duties to another object, as being preg nant with the most pernicious confequences to this country. He obferves, that the natural bad tafte, and great adulteration of the low priced teas, had brought the article into difcredit among the common people; but when the full effect of the prefent fyftem has taken place, fine hyfon tea, a moft delicious liquor, may be drank at the unadulterated price of the former; and he dreads the confequences of the extenfion of the confumption.

'In fhort,' adds he, to fum up all the evils arifing from this project in one view, a partial, oppreffive tax, has unneceffarily been