be fuppofed that free men fhould ever entrust their most facred interests to the care of thofe who were not free, as by this election they evidently did to their Representatives.

Thefe free men, who at first confifted almoft folely of the foldiers and inferior officers of the Conquerors, to whom lands had been granted under the Lords, as has been obferved before, were now in a courfe of years confiderably increased in number; many of the natives having recovered their Freedom on various occafions; but ftill this number was greatly inferior to that of those who were not free.

"As property alone could give that Independency which was evidently the reafon for limiting the Right of Election to free men ; and as all property then confifted in lands, that right was annexed to a certain amount of fuch property, as in those times was efteemed fufficient to fupport the Poffeffor in the neceffary degree of Independency; and to certain Qualifications which were efteemed equivalent to fuch property.

"In confequence of these inftitutions, no man was admitted to join in electing a Representative for a County, who did not hold lands in that county, to that amount, by a right, which was not determinable at the will of another, or at any known time; nor for a Burrough, who did not either hold fuch lands within the precincts of that burrough, or was acknowleged to enjoy his Freedom in it, by an authentic record; which latter privilege was given to burroughs (or towns) to encourage peoples living together, for the advancement of induftry and trade; and it was not to be fuppofed, that this acknowlegement would be given to any, who had not a visible probability of living in a ftate of independency. The former of these were called Free Holders; the latter fimply Free Men.

"These wife precautions had the defired effect; and the Reprefentative of the people foon arofe to that great importance in the State, which their ftrength naturally entitled them to.

"But as the wifdem of man is not capable of making any provifions which fhall invariably comprehend all the various changes, wrought by time, it cannot be imputed to want of refpect to the conftitution, to enquire whether these precautions were fufficient to produce the fame effects at prefent, when the circumftances, on which they were principally formed, are fo effentially altered.

"The improvements of industry, in more fettled times, the acquifitions of Commerce, and the difcoveries made in the purfuit of it, have introduced a new kind of property, unknown

to

to the Modellers of the Conftitution, and which, therefore, they could make no provifion for; at the fame time, that the increafe of money has diminished its value, and the luxury infeparable from opulence, multiplied the wants of mankind to fuch a degree, as to make the prefent appointment of Charity calculated for the bare fubfiftence of a Parish-beggar, amount to many times the fum which was then judged fufficient to establish the independency of an Elector.

"When these circumftances are confidered, can it be unreasonable to suppose, that if the fage Legiflators who fixed the value of the property neceffary to fupport that Independency at fuch a fum of money, could have forefeen this change, they would have made fome provifion for enlarging that property, in proportion as the caufes above-mentioned diminished its value, and confequently its effect; and have judged the Poffeffors of this new property fufficiently free and independent, to have shared in the right of electing Reprefentatives, and of fufficient confequence to merit being reprefented?-That 40,000l. for inftance, lent to the Government, fhould make a man as independent of all undue influence, as Forty Shillings a Year, in free-hold eftate; and that a Gentleman who fhould expend an affluent income in hofpitality or a Merchant, who fhould af ford fupport to the feveral trades in a town, and add to the wealth of the community, fhould be as proper to join in electing the Representatives of that town, as one of thofe Tradefmen, whofe utmost industry could barely earn him a subsistence ; and, who after a life, worn out in poverty, might poffibly be brought to the place of election from a Work-houfe, where he had been long fupported by public charity?

"Or would it have been confiftent with that equity which fo evidently appears to have been the foundation of all their inftitutions, that those whofe Independency (the original and fole motive for limiting the right of election) was established on property, in many inftances, many thoufand fold greater than that appointed by this inflitution, fhould be made to depend for the very enjoyment of that property, on the determinations of a Representative, in the electing of which, they were not permitted to fhare?

"And might not their wisdom have apprehended, that this very limitation might, in thefe circumftances, be a means of deftroying that Independency which it was appointed to fupport; and give an opportunity of gaining an influence, as unconftitutional, and dangerous, as the authority of the Lords, over a few indigent Electors, which could never be attempted with any ⚫ profpect

profpect of fuccefs, over the opulent and numerous body of the whole people.

"That to preferve this Independency, was the fole motive for limiting the right of Election originally, is inconteftibly proved (if what is intuitively evident to reafon can require proof?) by this, that in the charters granted to feveral burroughs, where the Lords, at the time of granting them, had no fuch power, as it was defigned to guard againft, the right of election was given to all the inhabitants in general, without any fuch limitation to Free-holders and Free-men.-Why the fame liberty is not extended to the inhabitants of all, (due regard being had to all difqualifications particularly appointed) now that the reason against it is univerfally removed, I do not presume to enquire."

This is really a point of great and ferious concern; for if, as our Author obferves, thefe non-Electors are fo confiderable a part of the people, as to amount to a very great majority of the moft fubftantial inhabitants, in every county and in every borough, it then remains to be enquired, whether it be not a grofs defect in the conftitution, that they should be excluded from the common advantage of fending Reprefentatives, to speak their fentiments in the great council of the nation? For no one, we believe, will maintain, against our Author, that their legal incapacity of electing, finks them beneath the attention of a Government which they fo largely contribute to fupport!

A Critical Differtation on the Poems of Offian, the Son of Fingal. 4to. 2s. 6d. Becket.

N an Advertisement prefixed to this performance, we are

tures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, in the University of Edinburgh.

The learned and ingenious Author fets out with fome general obfervations on the ancient poetry of nations, particularly on the Runic and Celtic; after which he proceeds to point out the antiquity of the works of Offian; to give an idea of the fpirit and ftrain of his poetry; and after applying the rules of criticifm to Fingal, as an epic poem, to examine the merit of Offian's compofitions in general, with regard to defcription, imagery, and fentiment.

Among the monuments remaining of the ancient state of nations, fays our Author, few are more valuable than their poems

The Rev. Dr. Blair, Profeffor of Rhetoric in the Univerity of Edinburgh,

or

br fongs: Hiftory, when it treats of remote and dark ages being feldom very instructive. But in every period of fociety, human manners are a curious fpectacle; and the moft natural pictures of ancient manners are exhibited in the ancient poems of nations.

"Poetry, continues, he, has been faid to be more ancient than profe and however paradoxical fuch an affertion may feem, yet, in a qualified fenfe, it is true. Men certainly never converted with one another in regular numbers; but even their ordinary language would in ancient times, for the reafons before affigned, approach to a poetical ftyle; and the firft compofitions tranfmitted to pofterity, beyond doubt, were, in a literal fenfe, poems; that is, compofitions in which imagination had the chief hand, formed into fome kind of numbers, and pronounced with a mufical modulation or tone. Mufic or fong has been found coæval with fociety among the moft barbarous nations. The only fubjects which could prompt men, in their first rude ftate, to utter their thoughts in compofitions of any length, were fuch as naturally affumed the tone of poetry; praises of their gods, or of their ancestors; commemorations of their own warlike exploits; or lamentations over their misfortunes. And before writing was invented, no other compofitions, except fongs or poems, could take fuch hold of the imagination and memory, as to be preferved by oral tradition, and handed down from one race to another.

"Hence we may expect to find poems among the antiquities of all nations. It is probable too, that an extensive fearch would discover a certain degree of refemblance among all the moft ancient poetical productions, from whatever country they have proceeded. In a fimilar ftate of manners, fimilar objects and paffions operating upon the imaginations of men, will stamp their productions with the fame general character. Some diverfity will, no doubt, be occafioned by climate and genius. But mankind never bear fuch refembling features, as they do in the. beginnings of fociety. Its fubfequent revolutions give rife to the principal diftinétions among nations; and divert, into channels widely feparated, that current of human genius and manners, which defcends originally from one spring. What we have been long accustomed to call the oriental vein of poetry, because fome of the earlieft poetical productions have come to us from the Eaft, is probably no more oriental than occidental; it is characteristical of an age rather than a country; and belongs, in fome measure, to all nations at a certain period."

This fuggeftion is by no means improbable. We do not think it any encomium, however, on that delightful art, to say, REV. Feb. 1763.

L

that

that fuch rude fketches contain the higheft beauties of poetical writing. We readily admit, that the productions of uncultivated ages, abound moft with that enthufiafm, that vehemence and fire, which are frequently called the foul of poetry; that many circumstances of thofe times which we call barbarous, are favourable to the poetical fpirit; and that the ftate in which human nature shoots wild and free, encourages the high exertions of fancy and paffion. We are yet far from thinking, that the exertions of wild and ungoverned fancy, are the greatest beauties of poetry; as we make a very effential diftinction between the fublime and the extravagant. It is true, the hand of a greater Mafter may be fometimes better feen in a prepofterous and unnatural daabing, than in a correct and finished piece; but is the latter therefore to be preferred as the most beautiful performance? Mere extravagance alfo may, and certainly doth fometimes, excite admiration; but this is one of the meaneft of all the paffions. And yet we are apprehensive the Reader is often deceived in the fenfations excited by the rude sketches of ancient poetry; imagining the nobler paffions affected, when, in reality, his imagination is only fet to work by wonder and curiofity, at what he does not very well comprehend. We may venture even to put the queftion home to Readers of tafte, whether they have not been fometimes apparently delighted with metaphors, fimilies, and defcriptions, which, on a repetition, have difgufted, as being void of all beauty, refemblance, or propriety. With what then could they be at firft delighted? Could the novelty of words afford even a tranfitory charm, independent of their numbers? Or were fuch Readers really delighted at all? Were they not rather, in Mr. Bayes's phrafe, only elevated and furprized, the effect of mere admiration; which we cannot think the great criterion of poetical beauty? A Dancer on the tight rope, or the wire, may excite our admiration, and prove his own agility, much more than another who exhibits himself in the eafy or graceful attitudes of the minuet or louvre but is it a proof of our tafte, to be better pleased with his performance, or ought he to be cfteemed, therefore, a greater Mafter of his art? Agility may with as much propriety be called the foul of dancing, as enthufiafm the foul of poetry; but as the hop, skip, and jump, do not conftitute the graces of the one, fo neither do the incoherent fallies of the most vigorous imagination, difplay the beauties of the other.

As to the advantages which poetry may reap from the fimplicity of barbarous ages, and the difadvantages it lies under on account of modern refinements, our ingenious Profeffor hath thus agreeably defcribed them.

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