fund was the tax upon the neceffaries of life, yet the people would pay it as cheerfully as ever, if convinced that it was neceffary for the prefervation of their liberties and independence. The tax, however, might be leffened, and ftill enough left for the maintenance of garrifons. In the provinces of Holland and Zealand, where the tax produced four millions five hundred thoufand livres, there were few garrifons. It was not to be fuppofed, that the merchants and artifans would leave the country. A great part of the inhabitants, and all the ftrangers, had come on account of enjoying civil and religious liberty. At Antwerp, they would be overawed by a garrifon; the fea was, in a great measure, in the power of the General Eftates; and the Catholics might be prevented from going away, by allowing them, in fome refpects, the exercife of their religion; a liberty which might be granted without any danger. With regard to the other taxes, as the convoy money, licences, and dues of Admiralty, they could not, indeed, be levied in the fame manner, in the time of peace, as during the war; but part of them might be retained, and fecured by the treaty; and, because the Archdukes levied the fame taxes on goods coming out of the United Provinces, the General Eftates might certainly impofe duties on fuch goods as came from the other provinces; or at leaft, adjust these affairs upon moderate and reasonable terms. But, if the Archdukes fhould abolish these taxes altogether, rather than allow them to be continued by the Confederates, they could not deprive the General Eftates of the power of impofing, in their place, taxes upon beer, cheefe, fifhings, and the like. At any rate, the produce could never fall below what would be fufficient for their fea-armament, during a peace; whereas, the fum of one million eight hundred thousand livres a-year, arifing from thefe duties in time of the war, was fo far infufficient, that the province of Holland alone had expended, in twenty years, four millions more than they produced. The contributions raised from the enemy's country would, no doubt, ceafe entirely; but, at the fame time, the contributions exacted by their enemies, with equal rigour and feverity, from the frontiers, and fuch places as were fubject to the General Eftates, would likewife ceafe; by which means the country people, by being freed from this burden, would be better able to pay their proportion to the public, and, perhaps, even give fome addition, in return for the bleflings of peace. From all this, it was concluded, that, even after the peace, there would be an ordinary revenue of fix millions of livres; and even though the taxes fhould, after four or five years, be reduced, as they ought to be, fuppofing two parts in five, which would be a confiderable reduction and a great eafe to the inhabitants, yet ftill there would remain about three millions eight hundred thoufand livres, a fum that would be fully fufficient for defraying all the neceffary expences of a peace establishment. In this computation were not included the great revenues of fome of the towns, part of which, in cafe of neceffity, might be applied to the public fervice; for, though one half fhould be employed for the benefit of the towns them felves, the other half would amount to more than a million of livres. The tax on confumption, and the fubfidy raised from houfes and lands, were cal culated, the former at five millions five hundred thousand livres,

though

though equal to fix millions; and the latter at two, though equal to three millions; b. caufe the overplus of each year was applied, both in the provinces and towns, to the payment of their debts. The full revenue of fix millions as above flated, would maintain twenty thoufand men in garrifon, if there was occafion for fo many, for the first year; pay the falaries of the fervants of the State, the expence of the fortifications, and of an armament at fea, the next; and, in following years, this fund would increafe, becaufe the garrifons might be reduced to ten thousand men, by which means there would be a faving, each year, of two millions of livres, that might be employed likewife in payment of debt. Inteftine divifions might be prevented by proper attention, and by eftablishing a Council of State invested with fufficient authority. The body of the State, which was, in fact, a Republic, where the fovereignty was equally diffufed among all the members, had, nevertheless, this advantage, that the common people did not interfere in the affairs of Government. These were left entirely to the management of the chief men in every town; who, being not only capable of exercising the administration, but zealous for the prefervation of liberty, would eafily fecure a strict obfervance of fuch regulations as fhould be judged neceffary for the public fafety. Neither was corruption much to be feared among a people who had hitherto fhowed fuch a defire for liberty, and fuch a hatred to the Spaniards, from whom alone any attempts of this kind were to be apprehended. There was little probability, that the mafters of ships and failors would engage in the fervice of Spain; because the trade to the East Indies, without which being allowed no treaty would be made, and the trade to Spain and other places, would give them fuflicient employment. Befides, a free people, impatient of controul, would never bear the pride and infolence of the Spaniards, nor fubmit to live in a country where their natural difpofition would be thwarted, and where they could not enjoy the exercife of their religion. To chefe arguments the advocates for peace added others, deduced from the probable confequences of continuing the war. Thus, it was argued, that an end could not be put to the calamities already fuffered, but either by a complete victory, or fome agreement made at laft with the enemy. The former could not reafonably be expected over fo powerful an adverfary; and the latter would, at any time, be attended not only with the fame dangers which were dreaded at prefent, but with greater, because the continuance of the war would oblige the Confederates to contract more debt, and, by reducing them to ftraits, expofe them to be corrupted; caufe them to feparate from one another; and induce them to accept of worfe terms than they had now in their power

to obtain.'

From this fpecimen it appears, that Dr. Lothian's ftyle is low, colloquial, and inaccurate; and indeed, in no part of his work does he once affume the tone, or afpire at the dignity, of hiftorical compofition. His narrative is uninterefting, ill arranged, and ill conducted. He feems to have written himself into fome knowledge of his fubje&t; plodding on, from one detail to another, and patiently tranfcribing every minute particular

from

from the authors whom he follows. He is never animated with the grandeur of his theme. On furveying the fubject before him, he never breaks into thofe general obfervations which excite curiofity; he never ventures upon any of those reflections which convey instruction; and, in a word, he seems to have undertaken this work without having fufficiently informed himself concerning the nature, the object, and the aim of history. G. ART. XI. The Maid of Arragon; a Tale. By Mrs. Cowley. 4to. 2 s. 6 d. L. Davis, &c. 1780.

T%

O this tale in blank verfe are prefixed a Dedication, and what our poetical termagant calls a Deprecation; in each of which the difplays a degree of irritability fuperior to that of Male Scribblers. She is indeed "tremblingly alive all o'er." The Dedication is intended to be pathetic; but the acid humour of the Writer, jealous of affront, runs over into a note. To Mr. PARKHOUSE of Tiverton, Devon. Accept, dear parent! from a filial pen,

The humble off'ring of my penfive Mufe:
She painted on my mind a Daughter's woes,
Nor could my heart the tender theme refufe,
The rightful Patron of th' eventful tale,
To you I dedicate the fcenes the drew;
My foul fhe fearch'd to find OSMIDA's thoughts,
And colour'd her from what I feel for you.
Yours then the meed-if meed kind Fame will grant,
The tale to you-to you the bays belong;
You gave my youthful fancy wings to foar;
From your indulgence flows my wild-no.e fong.

Its mufic in your ear will fweetly found;

Its page, with fond delight, you'll traverse o'er:
With half your pleafure may the world perufe!
My mufe, my vanity can ask no more.

Dear other Parent! guiltless hold my heart,
Though unadorn'd my numbers with your name;
Your worth, your goodnefs, in its centre lives,
And there fhall perish only with my frame.

It is near three years fince the above lines were written, and the First Part of THE MAID OF ARRAGON finished; though other avocations have prevented the publication till now. This circumftance is mentioned, to fhew that they were prompted by the heart, and not by the defire of imitating the Author of an admirable Novel, which was addreffed to a Father fince that period.'

Now comes, in proud humility, the DEPRECATION! Off with your hats, and hear it recited!

I entreat the Reviewers to have compaffion on me. From the beginning of my literary warfare, thefe unmerciful Wits have purfued me with the sharpest arrows of Criticifm: and I have had nothing to confole me, alas!-but the approbation of the Public. How fhall I

escape

efcape now, when to all my other faults are added, fo many out-
rages in Geography? With what triumph of critical fagacity will
they fay, (after the neceffary strictures on the ftory, thoughts, and
verfes) If our Author was determined to fend her Pegasus into
Spain, in queft of adventures, the ought to have confulted Salmon
about the fituation of its provinces. She would there have found
that Arragon is fifty miles from the fea; and that the Moors could not
poffibly have debarked on its confines, unless, like fish to the London
markets, their fleet had arrived by land-carriage. With equal faci-
lity, the troops of the King of Leon are brought across Old Caftile to
Saragoa in about thirty hours-another miracle; which was doubt-
lefs accomplished by the interpofition of a friendly necromancer, who
furnished the army with wings, in exchange for fome chafte damfel,
or beautiful princefs. Had this Lady-Writer's reading extended to a
tranflation of the Iliad, he would have found no examples of fuch
liberties there. Homer gives an exact map of the countries he carries
us through; and from Ithaca to Troy not a village or river is mif-
placed."

True: but Homer (I name him as a modern painter mentions a Corregio, and a Raphael) Homer united the Hiftorian with the PoetI deal entirely in fiction. It was enough for me, that Spain, through a fucceffion of ages, had been fubject to the ravages of Africa; and that during this period, fovereigns had been robbed of their crowns, and been obliged to refign their fceptres to their fwarthy conquerors. The relation of the particular events of these remote times, the Hiftoric Mufe has generally left to her creative Sifter, who never fails to profit by their obfcurity, in relating them to the world in her own manner; the geography of the heart, and the hiftory of the paffions, are the only realities to which the attends. If, in defcribing these, I shall be found deviating from the laws of Truth and Nature, I shall have failed in my intention; but I proteft, if the cacoëthes fcribendi fhould continue on me, or if I should ever wander again into the regions of Romance, I fhall treat oceans and provinces with as little ceremony as rivulets and meadows: I will avail myself of the eftablished privileges, and raife mountains, feas, or kingdoms, in any part of the habitable globe that hits my fancy; or, if it ftrikes me, build a temple to Dulnefs-in the chamber of a Reviewer.'

This Deprecation was evidently written in the hour of infolence and vanity-probably just after the treasurer of the theatre had humbly offered the balance of three benefit-nights of The Belles Stratagem, a new comedy, which has, we hear, been attended with great profit to the stage, and to the Writer-" Nothing to confole me, alas !-but the approbation of the Public." -But the approbation of the Public?-Kind Public! Cruel Reviewers! But after all, why, Madam, fin againft geography and where is the imagination difcovered in the trefpafs? The madman, and the lover, and the poet, Are of imagination all compact.

True! and yet the madman, or mad woman, and the poet, are not quite the fame thing. The "fine phrenzy" of the poet is,

or

or ought to be, in fome measure regulated, and not like the fancy of the lunatic, entirely difordered.

One fees more devils than vaft bell can hold,

The madman

But the imagination of the poet, or as the Greek term fignifies Creator, TonTns, bodies forth forms, and affigns to airy nothing probable habitation and name. The idea of Shakespeare tallies exactly with the precept of Horace,

Fidla voluptatis caufa fint PROXIMA VERIS.

Good poets, with a kind of holy witchery, "lie like truth." The geography of the heart, and hiftory of the paffions are best delineated by adhering to the real map of the world, and not departing too wantonly from authenticated facts. If the fair Writer fuppofed the wreck of a veffel on the coast of Bohemia, an inland country, to be one of the brighteft paffages in the Winter's Tale of Shakespeare, why does fhe, with more conformity to geographical truth, make the troops from Leon enter at the Western gate of Arragon ?

In from the Western gate, like bees returning
From their diurnal circuit, rufh'd amain
Ten thousand fons of war.
P. 12.

Shameful accuracy! Scandalous breach of the poetical privilege to raise mountains, feas, or kingdoms, in any part of the habitable globe that hits my fancy! And how fatally has our Poetefs been blinded by her refentment, when the winds up this fentence, and concludes her Deprecation by adding Or, if it ftrikes me, build a temple to Dullnefs-in the chamber of a Reviewer.' This circumftance being enumerated as the boldest of fictions, and the climax of all improbability, is the highest compliment that has ever yet been paid us.

We fhall endeavour, however, mortal men as we are, not to fuffer our impartiality to be warped or biafled by menace or flattery. The Tale before us, as far as we can judge from this first part of it, is wild and romantic, here and there affecting in its circumftances, and delivered with much freedom, fometimes perhaps tedioufnefs, of narration. The blank verfe is, in general, eafy and flowing; but the measure is often unneceffarily, as well as inharmoniously, deficient or redundant, and the ftyle abounds with inaccuracies of expreffion. Rhyme, perhaps, on this occafion, would have been more agreeable to the generality of readers than blank verfe: at leaft the admirers of Dryden's Fables will not be among the blindeft idolaters of Mrs. Cowley.

To the Tale of the Maid of Arragon are fubjoined fome lines in imitation of our Poetefs's great namefake of illuftrious memory. The lines are pretty enough, but not fo much crouded with

thought