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LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

Or the life of JOHN LOUIS DE LOLME, the author of the popular work, on the English Constitution,' but few particulars are known; or at least, known in this country. His family had been long settled at Geneva, where he was born about the year 1745.

He tells us in his advertisement, that he was twentyseven years old when he came to England, where he resided for several years. The writer of these pages has been informed, that he was a man of irritable temperament; soon offended and not easily pleased. This characteristic is indeed sufficiently perceptible in his advertisement. He complains of neglect and of the want of encouragement; and how few literary men are there who have not made the same complaint!

The present work was originally published in French; and experienced a very favourable reception upon the continent. The first English edition made its appearance in 1775. It has not hitherto been explained in what manner the translation was made; whether by the author himself, or by another person.-The following information on that subject may therefore not be unacceptable. At the time that the translation was begun, Mr. De Lolme was too little acquainted with the English language, to write it with grammatical accuracy, and still less with idiomatic propriety. But as he was unwilling that the profits of an English version of his treatise should be engrossed by any other person, he resolved to make the attempt, and, consequently translated some of the sheets into such English, as, if it had been printed, could hardly have been understood. His manuscript of these sheets was shewn to Mr. Baron Maseres, who had recently become acquainted with the author, and who very kindly undertook the task of correcting the grammatical and other inaccuracies of the

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translation; and of substituting for the numerous Galli. cisms of Mr. De Lolme, a pure unaffected English phrase. ology. The author for several months waited on Mr. Baron Maseres, every morning at his chambers in the Temple; and it was under his enlightened superintendence and benevolent assistance, that the present translation was fitted for the press. When the work first appeared, it was, as the writer of these few pages believes, dedicated to the then lord Abingdon, with whom the author had become acquainted during his residence at Geneva.-But Mr. De Lolme was rather capricious in his partialities, and variable in his friendships. He possessed that kind of mind which is apt to construe slight or unintentional neglects into serious and premeditated affronts. The name of lord Abingdon was not long retained. A subsequent edition exhibited another object of the writer's panegyric, till the fourth edition was given to the public with a dedication to the late king.

As the author enlarged his treatise in the subsequent editions, and as the additional matter does not appear to have been subjected to the revision or to have experienced the correction of the able scholar above-mentioned, this circumstance may account for the diversities of style and incongruities of idiom which are perceptible in different parts of the work.

Of the essay itself, it is now needless to speak. It has long been exposed to the judgment of the public, and it has certainly experienced a favourable verdict. If the author's remarks are not often profound, they are usually acute; and they are never dull.-If the theory of the English Constitution' is often better than the practice, it is not the fault of Mr. De Lolme, nor of other writers, who have indulged in similar eulogies on the venerable fabric.

The light of modern times is at present radiating round the institutions of a less-civilized age, and it is not improbable that improvements will hereafter be introduced, par ticularly in the representation of the people in the house of commons, which will bring the interest of the government into a more compact and solid union with that of the community.

Besides the present volume, Mr. De Lolme was the author of several other works; but none of which made

LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

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any addition to his literary reputation. His ' History of the Flagellants,' which was published in 1783, was not very honourable to the purity of his sentiments or the delicacy of his taste.-Of the two or three political pamphlets, which issued from his pen, little is remembered. They made =only a transient impression when they were published, and are now consigned to oblivion along with the other ephemeral productions of the same period.

Mr. De Lolme's circumstances forced him to become an author by profession; but he found this only a precarious and insufficient support. Whether it was owing to want of perseverance, to want of economy, or to adverse circumstances, which no foresight could prevent and no prudence counteract, it is certain that, for a long interval, before he left this country he suffered great pecuniary distress. The writer of this biographical sketch has been informed = that his poverty, at one period, was so great as to compel him to submit to a species of menial drudgery, which must have been very humiliating to his pride.

For some time previous to his decease, Mr. De Lolme retired to France, where he obtained an official situation under the late emperor Napoleon; and was sub-prefect in one of the departments. In this situation he died in 1807.

Mr. De Lolme had travelled a good deal before he came to this country. In France, bis penetrating mind could not fail to remark that general change of opinion, both religious and political, which was the precursor of the revolution. The spirit of inquiry, which had been awakened at the reformation, had long been slowly but surely dissipating those prejudices which attached the people to an arbitrary government.-Revolutions are first effected in the mind; and till this mental revolution is complete, all great changes in ancient establishments are premature. If they are attempted, the attempt will either prove abortive, or the change will be fleeting and evanescent. The change of opinion, which had taken place in France, was very great; but it was not so great as to warrant the adop tion of an entirely new form of government. Hence the first French reformers were not wise in attempting the destruction of the monarchy: and hence the republican constitution, which they established, proved only a fugitive phantom; while it prepared the way for a despotism

of a more rigid and oppressive character than that which had been overturned.

The English constitution has been so long-lived, because it has gradually accommodated itself to the change of sen. timent in the national mind. But, if the government of the country, instead of being directed by the light of the age, will set itself in direct opposition to those changes in particular parts of the constitution, which the change of opinion has rendered necessary, and which the diffusion of knowledge has rendered safe, a violent and perilous conflict must hereafter arise between the advocates for a more enlarged and comprehensive system of policy, and the interested adherents to the corrupt part of our ancient institutions. Some writers have predicted the destruction of English liberty when the legislative body shall become the most corrupt part of the constitution. Whether the latter event is not rapidly approaching, or has not already occurred, it must be left to others to determine;-but it is certain, at the same time, that the principles of liberty were never in any period of our history in a state of wider expansion and more vigorous growth.-And while these principles are connected with the increase of knowledge, the people of this country can never cease to be free.The government may be actuated by despotic propensities or the legislature may be corrupt, but there will still be a strong counteracting energy in the augmented information, and enlightened virtue of the community.

TO THE KING.

SIRE,

THE approbation with which the public have been pleased to favour this Work, together with the nature of the subject, emboldens me to lay the present fourth and enlarged edition of the same at your Majesty's feet, both as an homage and an expression of the desire I entertain that the book may, for a few minutes, engage the attention of a person of your deep and extensive knowledge.

Your Majesty's reign has, for many years past, afforded proofs, in more respects than one, that, though human wisdom may not always be able to anticipate difficulties, yet, assisted by fortitude, it can succeed in terminating them in a more favourable manner than it seemed at first possible to be expected, or even in bringing them to a happy issue. According to the common course of nature, your Majesty has only yet seen the less considerable part of the years of which your reign is to be composed: that the part which now opens before your Majesty may be attended with a degree of satisfaction proportionate to your Majesty's public and private virtues, to your disinterested government, and religious regard for your royal engagements, is the fond hope of

YOUR MAJESTY'S

Most humble and most devoted servant,

And these many years

Subject, by choice,

J. L. DE LOLME.

May, 1784.