Jarly trained in London, their connections are extended, in various ways, to every part of the empire, and the increase of immorality and difhonefty is felt throughout the whole. But the importance of the confiderations adduced upon this fubject, cannot better be ftated than by the author of the book himself.

"Next to the bleffings which a nation derives from excellent laws, ably adminiftered, are thofe advantages which refult from a well-regulated and energetic police, conducted with purity, activity, vigilance, and difcretion.

Upon this depends, in fo great a degree, the comfort, the happinefs, and the fecurity of the people, that too much labour and attention cannot poflibly be bestowed in rendering the fyftem complete. "That much remains to be done in this refpect no perfon will deny; becaufe all ranks must bear teftimony to the infecurity, both with regard to life and property, which arifes from the phalanx of criminal people, who are fuffered from a variety of caufes (which it is the object of the writer of thefe pages to explain) to continue with impunity to repeat acts of licentioufnefs and mifchief, and to commit depredations upon the property of the public.

"In vain do we boaft of thofe liberties, which are our birth-right, if the vileft and moft depraved part of the community are fuffered to deprive us of the privilege of travelling upon the highways, or of approaching the capital, in any direction, after dark, without danger of being affaulted and robbed; and perhaps wounded or murdered.

"In vain alfo do we boast of the security which our excellent laws afford us, if we cannot lie down to reft in our habitations without the dread of a burglary being committed, our property invaded, and our lives expof d to imminent danger before the approach of the morning.

"Equally delufive is that protection which we are taught to fuppofe we derive from the adminiftration of criminal justice, if crimes are found to increate; if the moral principle ceafes to be a check upon a vaft proportion of the lower racks of the people; and if fmall thefts are known to prevail in fuch a degree, as to affect aloft all ranks of the community who have any property to lofe, as often as opportu nities occur, whereby pilfering in a little way can be effected without risk of detection." P. 5.

Among the caufes of the prefent depraved ftate of things in this refpect, muft be the imperfection of the preventive code; and the following obfervation on the nature of our criminal laws, deferves peculiar attention.

"Were the exifting laws, which form our prefent criminal code, (according to the fuggeftions of Lord Bacon, and an eminent criminal lawyer of our own times) now to be referred to able and intelligent men, who fhould undertake to revife, confolidate, and adjust the whole in a manner beft fuited to the prefent ftate of fociety and manners, the investigation would unquestionably excite wonder and aftonifhment; and those concerned in it could not fail to lament that fo many laws, inflicting fevere penalties and punishments for flight offences, at prefent fill the ftatute-book, while feveral crimes, highly injurious to fociety, are not punished at all.

"Penal

"Penal laws which are either obfolete or abfurd, or which have arifen from an adherence to rules of common law, when the reafons have ceafed upon which thefe rules are founded; and, in fhort, all laws which appear not to be founded on the dictates of truth and justice, the feelings of humanity, and the indelible rights of mankind, should be abrogated and repealed.

"The method of inflicting punishments ought always to be proportioned to the end it is meant to ferve. That boundary fhould never be exceeded, and where death does not attach to the crime, the reformation and future utility of the convict to the itate, fhould conftantly form a leading feature in our criminal jurisprudence.

"By compelling perfons convicted of offences to be useful and induftrious, a repetition of crimes is prevented, and, in place of being injured by reiterated depredations, as is the cafe at prefent, fociety would enjoy not only the benefits arifing from the protection of life and property, but also from productive labour, encreafing and enlarging the refources of the ftate through the medium of its worft members." P. 13.

Among the principal caufes of depravity which the laws do not fufficiently reftrain, the great evil of ill-regulated publichoufes is very properly ftated. "An ill-regulated publichoufe," fays this magiftrate," is one of the greatest nuifances which can exift in civil fociety." It is in fuch houses that thieves find an afylum, and confult how and where they are to commit depredations on the public. It is here that the youth of both fexes is initiated in vice. On which fubje&t a moft extraordinary piece of information is communicated in a note on p. 42.

"It has been lately difcovered, that clubs of apprentice boys are harboured in public-houtes, for the purpofe of fupporting their brethren who run away from their mafters, and of indulging themselves early in the fcenes of lewdnefs and drunkenness, which they generally do by pilfering their mafters' property and difpofing of it at the oldiron fhops. In this fituation, from being an apprentice to a lawful trade, they in general become the apprentices of thieves, who refort to fuch houfes to mind boys fit for their purpofe." P. 42.

The next evil is the facility of difpofing of ftolen property, by means of the numerous receivers and purchafers of fuch articles, who are ufually dealers in rags, old iron, and stores of all kinds. The aftonishing increafe of thefe fhops within a few years, marks fufficiently the neceflity for legal interference and regulation. From about three or four hundred, they have multiplied, within twenty years, to upwards of three thujand, within the metropolis alone; and, from the information of a confiderable dealer in this line, confirmed by much intelligence afterwards obtained through other channels, it is calculated that the fmall thefts committed by perfons not known to belong

long to the fraternity of thieves, a nount annually to the value of more than feven hundred thousand pounds. So great is the feductive force of thefe warehoufes of iniquity. In the feventh chapter are enumerated no lefs than twenty-one diftinct claffes of cheats, who regularly fubfift in London by their feveral branches of fraud. Among thefe the author does not fpare the gaming-houfes, nor does he fail to point out how important it is that the magiftrate fhould interfere to prevent the direct infringement of the laws, fo palpably committed in many places of what is called genteel refort.

After furveying the various branches of depredation, the author earnestly enforces the obfervation, that the fureft way to destroy the profeffion of thieving, is to fupprefs the receivers. Nothing can be more just than the old obfervation, "that if there were no receivers there would be no thieves." Deprive the thief of a fafe and ready market for his goods, and he is undone.

Let the ftrong arm of the law, and the vigour and energy of the police, be directed in a particular manner against the receivers; and the chief part of thefe robberies and burglaries, which are fo much dreaded, on account of the acts of violence which attend them, would abfolutely ceafe to exift; and the refource for plunder being thus narrowed in fo great a degree, robberies on the highway would alone feldom anfwer the purpofe of the adventurer, where the rifque would be exceedingly multiplied, while the advantages were in the fame proportion diminished;-the refult therefore would be, that in the fuppreffion of the receivers, the encouragement to become thieves and robbers would be taken away, and the prefent depredators upon the public muft either return to honeft labour as ufeful members of the ftate, or fubmit to be ftarved." P. 184.

The neceffary regulation of the receivers, Mr. C. propofes to effect by obliging all dealers in fuch branches of trades as ufually carry on that profeffion, to take out an annual licence, fubject to the fame kind of infpection and controul as now exift refpecting public-houses: and to enter, at the fame time, into a recognizance for their good behaviour. But we

cannot pursue this able and well-informed writer through the various plans he propofes, nor can we undertake to appreciate their value and importance. To thofe who are appointed, by the laws of their country, to the office of legiflation, it belongs to weigh and examine thefe matters with the moft fcrupulous care and attention. To them, therefore, rather than the public at large, do we recommend the ftudy of this book; which, however, to all must be a matter of intereft and curiosity, and which is more likely than any we have yet feen, to excite that public and general defire for the neceffary improvements, which will not fail to influence the conduct of the legislature.

ART.

ART. XI. The Life of Milton, in Three Parts. To which are added, Conjectures on the Origin of Paradife Left: with an Appendix. By William Hayley, Esq. 410. Cadell and

Davies. 1796.

FROM the praifes which we gave to this Life of Milton, when it appeared with the fplendid volume of Mr. Boydell, we have found no reason to detract; but we could have withed that, in the dedication to the prefent edition, addreffed to Dr.. Warton, the author had avoided the application of Claudian's "Servi rabies" to Dr. Johnfon. Amidst the handfome expreffions very properly ufed refpecting that great man, it is hardly fair to brand him with fo difgraceful a title; one which his foul no lefs difdained, than he does by whom it is applied, and which he certainly in no refpect deserved. Here, therefore, we must fuppofe the author ready to retract his words, in the form he has himself fuggefted; "Si quid dixerim contra fpiritum caritatis evangelicæ, indictum volo." Mr. Hayley takes occasion, in this dedication, to defend the genius of Pope against the very critic whom he addreffes, and in terms to which we cordially accede. He burfts out into fevere indignation against "the fupercilious prelate Warburton, a great part of whofe lumber Dr. Warton is to remove from the pages of the poet :" and he glances at the part of Bishop Hurd's Life of Warburton, which almost every reader regrets; his cold and contemptuous mention of Lowth. Refpecting the excellent tranflation of Milton's Latin poems, by Mr. Cowper, the fpecimens of which in this Life we before commended, and concerning the auther, we are heartily glad to fee the following paffage:

"A very different character is due to that verfion of Milton's Latin poetry, which my excellent friend has finifhed with fuch care and felicity, that even from the feparate fpecimens of it with which this life is embellished, you, my dear Warton, and every delicate judge of poetry, will, I am confident, efteem it an abfolute model of poetical tranflation. For the honour of Milton, and that of his worthy interpreter, I hope that the whole of this admirable performance may foon be imparted to the public, as I trust that returning health will happily reftore its incomparable author to his fufpended ftudies; an event that may affect the moral intereft, and the mental delight, of all the world; for rarely, very rarely indeed, has heaven bestowed on any individual fach an ample, fuch a variegated portion of true poetic genius, and

* Vol. vi. p. 5°5•

never did it add greater purity of heart to that divine, yet perilous talent, to fanctify its exertion." P. xxii.

This hope, which we delight to participate, and this praife, to which we fully fubfcribe, we are eager to fend forth into the world, for the gratification of many others.

The tranflation of the paffage from Andreini, we cannot much commend. The analyfis of the Adamo et Eva of Troils Lancetta, is a novelty which we receive with pleafure. The conjectures on the origin of Paradife Loft are in themselves ingenious, and are ftated with modefty. The refult of them is, that the fubj & of Adam in Paradife, was probably fuggefted to Milton's mind by the drama of Andreini; and the idea of converting it into an epic poem, poffibly, by Tome expreffions of Lancetta. Whether thefe opinions gain affent or not, they are topics of liberal fpeculation, and as fuch deferve commendation. In points of criticifin we agree fo entirely with Mr. Hayley, that we could with pleafure tranfcribe feveral paffages of this effay; but his opinion on the taste neceffary to relih Milton, is too juft to be paffed without notice. This tafte, he fays, is rare, but he afligns the reafon why it is fo.

"To form it completely, a reader muft poffefs, in fome degree, what was fuperlatively poffeffed by the poet, a mixture of two different fpecies of enthufiafin, the poetical and the religious. To relish Homer it is fufficient to have à paffion for excellent verfe; but the reade of Milton, who is only a lover of the mufes, lofes half, and certainly the beit half, of that tranfcendent delight which the poems of this divine enthusiast are capable of imparting. A devotional tafte is as requifite for a full enjoyment of Milton, as a tafte for poetry." P. 278.

Hence he accounts for the inconfiftent judgments given, on Milton, by Dryden and by Voltaire, who both relished his poetry; but the former only a little, and the latter not at all his religion. He concludes thus:

"To fay that his poem wants human intereft, is only to prove that he who finds that defect, wants the proper fenfibility of man. A work that difplays at full length, and in the ftrongeft light, the delicious tranquillity of innocence, the tormenting turbulence of guilt, and the confolatory fatisfaction of repentance, has furely abundance of attraction to awaken fympathy. The images and fentiments that belong to thefe varying fituations, are fo fuited to our mortal

*We fee with pleasure, in a note on p. 269, a kind of promife of fome remarks on the proper connection between true religion and poetry. We certainly do not affent to Johnfon's opinion either of pious poetry in general, or of the fixth book of Paradife Loft.

exiflence,