1754. Advantageous Situation of GREAT BRITAIN. I believe every one who reads this will agree with me in thinking, that we have more reafon to be afraid of the unequal diftribution of property in this kingdom, than they have in France; because the people of this country have not only all the temptations to refort to London, but a great many more than the people of A France have to refort to Paris; for, 1. Our parliament confifts of members fent from all parts of the united kingdom; and as it now fits every year, and every year continues fitting for fo many months, almoft all the members of both houses are in fome measure obliged to bring their families to town, and to have their moft conftant refidence in or near London. B Whereas the members of the parliament of Paris are not near fe numerous, and reprefent, if I may call it fo, but one province of France. 2. London, by means of our trading companies, and several other advantages, is become the emporium not only of our government, but of our trade and commerce; which is far from being the cafe with regard to Paris. And 3. All law-fuits of any confequence in England, must be brought to London to be determined in the first instance; which is not the cafe in France. The reader therefore muft obferve, that our author does not mention this disadvantage as one which France labours under and England does not: On the contrary, I believe, he mentions it chiefly as a warning to us, to provide against its many fatal confequences. The other extract I have fent you, is by our author intitled, Of the natural Form of Great-Britain; which is as follows: D "According to the computation of Mr. Edmund Halley, England, the firft, E and the greatest of the two kingdoms in Great-Britain, contains about forty milJions of fquare acres: And the form of it is fuch, that no point of land in it, the moft distant from the fea-coast, is farther than seventy miles from it. It is obvious to conceive how an extent fo happily proportioned must be favorable As an inland, Great-Britain poffeffes a great number of maritime provinces, which is, in courfe, attended with the moft natural difpofition for having a great number of feamen, fishermen, &c. The fea is her natural bulwark, her fhips are her forts, at once offenfive, and defenfive, in which they have the advantage of fortifications built upon fron 261 tiers: A great one this for her, and a great neceffity for her preferving the fuperiority of her navy, fo as to be even more in the cafe of attacking, than barely standing on her defence. The moft maritime power was naturally the propereft to become the most commercial one, whilft her commerce, and marine, ought naturally to procure reciprocally one another's augmentation. As a maritime, and commercial power, war must be less chargeable to her than to any other power; whilft France keeps on foot 400,000 men armed, GreatBritain fcarce employs 100,000 men by fea and land, who are scarce miffed out of the cultivation of the land, and the manufactures. Whilft the preserves her fuperiority at fea, she can, at the fame time, carry on her trade in her natural productions and her manufactures: So that in war fhe is certainly the power which spends the least, and gains the most. As an island, poffeffing a fufficient extent of fertile country, the might juftly renounce the spirit of conqueft, and has not been tempted to add to her continent, other countries, by any convenience of adjacency. A difpofition this favourable to the fpirit of her commerce, as well as to her conftitution and tranquillity. In a ftate, the territories of which are of a confiderable extent, the conftitution preferves itfelf difficultly without difturbances. (Be this faid, without any application of it to our poffeffions in America, which are rather acquifitions of commerce, than of conqueft.) The folitary, and insular existence, for which Great-Britain is beholden to nature, has happily freed it from various dependences, incident to the neighbourhood of other countries. For example, the will not permit France to get poffeffion of the Auftrian Netherlands, but the does not fear this event perfonally, as Holland muft. France may transport her victorious artillery before every place in Germany and Holland: But England will never be afraid of France, whilft the French navy fhall be in no condition to be feared. But what is become of this fo invaluable independence, fince a king of GreatBritain poffeffes dominions which give him an intereft foreign to that of the nation: Dominions which he must defend, which he wants to aggrandize, which he enriches with his favings: Dominions, in short, which give to a king of G England, a revenue, and troops which he does not hold from the nation? " I believe every one will agree with this author as to the many advantages we derive from our situation, and particularly, that of Trajan worth 50s. and a queen Anne's farthing value 51. He was with much ado diffuaded from carrying on his fuit, as the magistrate convinced him, that however highly he might rate his own treasures, a jury who were no virtuofi, would confider a farthing merely as a farthing, and look upon a copper coin of a Roman emperor as no better than a king George's half-penny. I cannot indeed, without great concern, as a Connoiffeur, reflect on the known dishonefty of my learned bre thren. Their fcandalous practices, where ever their darling paffion is interefted, are too notorious to be denied. The B moment they conceive a love for rarities and antiques, their ftrict notions of ho nour difappear; and tafte, the more it eftablishes their veneration for virtù, the more certainly destroys their integrity; as ruft enhances the value of an old coin by eating up the figure and infcription. that we have nothing to fear from France, From the CONNOISSEUR, May 30. N information was the other day A laid before a magiftrate by a fellow of the fociety of antiquarians against one of his brethren, for a robbery. The profecutor depofed upon oath, that the other called upon him to fee his collection of medals, and took an opportunity of flealing a leather purfe formerly belonging to the celebrated Tom Hearne, in which were contained, (befides an antique piece of copper-money, place, date, name, figure, and value unknown) a pair of breeches of Oliver Cromwell, a Denarius Most people are masters of a kind of logick, by which they argue their confciences to fleep, and acquit themselves of doing what is wrong. The country 'fquire, of confirmed honesty in all other refpects, thinks it very fair to over-reach you in the fale of a horfe; the man of pleasure, who would fcorn to pick your pocket, or stop you on the road, regards D it rather as gallantry than bafeness to intrigue with your wife or daughter; while the pick-pocket and highwayman value themfelves on their honour in being true to their gang. In the fame manner the virtuofo does not look on his thefts as real acts of felony, but while he owns that he would take any pains to steal an old rufty piece of brafs, boafts that you may fafely truft him with untold gold; Tho' he would break open your cabinet for a fhell or a butterfly, he would not attempt to force your efcritoire or your frong box; nor would he offer the leaft violence to your wife or daughter, tho' perhaps he would run away with the Jittle finger of the Venus de Medicis. Upon thefe principles he proceeds, and lays hold of all opportunities to increase his collection of rarities: And as Mahomet established his religion by the sword, the connoiffeur enlarges his mufæum, and adds to his ftore of knowledge, by fraud and petty larceny. F G If the libraries and cabinets of the curious were, like the peacock in the fable, to be tripped of their borrowed ornaments, we fhould in many fee nothing but bare shelves and empty drawers. I know a medalist who at first fet up with little more than a paltry feries of English coins fince the re 1754 PILFERING VIRTUOSOS, reformation, which he had the good luck I remember another, who picqued him. felf on his collection of fcarce editions and original manufcripts, most of which he had purloined from the libraries of others. He was continually borrowing books of his acquaintance, with a refofution never to return them. He would fend in a great hurry for a particular edition, which he wanted to confult only for a moment; but when it was asked for again, he was not at home, or he had lent it to another, or he had loft B 263 The general difhonefty of connoiffeurs is indeed fo well known, that the strictest precaution is taken to guard against it. Medals are fecured under lock and key, pictures fcrewed to the walls, and books chained to the fhelves; yet cabinets, galleries, and libraries are continually plun dered. Many of the maimed statues at Rome perhaps owe their prefent ruinous condition to the depredations made on them by virtuofos: The head of Henry V. in Westminster-Abbey was in all proba bility ftolen by a connoiffeur; and I know one who has at different times pilfered a great part of queen Catherine's bones, and hopes in a little while to be mafter of the whole skeleton. This gen tleman has been detected in fo many little thefts, that he has for feverat years paft been refufed admittance into the Mufæums of the curious; and he is lately gone abroad with a design upon the ancient Greek manufcripts lately difcovered at Herculaneum. It may feem furprising that these gentlemen hould have hitherto been suffer it, or he could not find it; and fome-ed to efcape unpunished for their repeated imes he would not fcruple to fwear, that he had himself delivered it inte the owner's hands. He would frequently fpoil a fet by stealing a volume, and then purchafe the reft for a trifle. After his death his library was fold by auction; and many of his friends bought up their own books at an exorbitant price. A thoroughbred virtuofo will furmount all fcruples of confcience, or encounter any danger to ferve his purpofe. Molt of them are chiefly attached to fome particular branch of knowledge, but I remember one who was pafionately fond of every part of virtù. At one time, D when he could find no other way of car- thefts, and that a virtuofo who robs you of an unic of inestimable value fhould even glory in the action, while a poor dog who picks your pocket of fixpence fhall be hanged for it. What a shocking difgrace would be brought upon taste, fhould we ever fee the dying speech, confeffion, and behaviour of a connoiffeur related in the account of malefactors by the ordinary of Newgate! Such an accident would doubtless bring the study of virtù into still more contempt among the ignorant, when they found that it only brought a man to the gallows; as the country fellow, when he faw an attorney ftand in the pillory for forgery, hook his head, and cried, "Ay, this comes of your writing and reading." It. were perhaps worthy the confideration of the legiflature to devife fome punishment for thefe offenders, which fhould bear fome analogy with their crimes; and as com mon malefactors are delivered to fur Fgeons to be anatomized, I would propofe that a connoiffeur fhould be made into The INSPECTOR. No. 177. tance into a convent, from whence he G the nivelling fellow who had abufud nole a fine head of Ignatius Loyola; and at Conftantinople he had almost formed a refolution of qualifying himself for the feraglio, that he might find means to carry off a picture of the grand feignor's •hief mistress, 5 a returned member, boafled his invita tion to dine with 'fquire what's-hisname: And you faw the rival author. ling, who fat by, lick his lips and pine at 264 An Author's Entertainment at a Noble Lord's. June at the found. You should pity thefe Thefe people of quality, because they I fhall not moralize: I defign to give I fat down where they bad me, and I talked in my ufual way, for I know not a word of their vocabulary of compliments. They bad me help myself, and I cut fome veal that was fwimming in a difh of broth. They told me the foup was to be eaten : And I could fee D powdered ideot laugh at me. I told him, it was very well if he did it to fhew E his teeth; elfe if I liked the meat and he the broth, there was for both of us; and I faw no jeft in the matter. It was well I feized upon this, for there was not another thing in the 20 dishes, I could call by its name; or that any body else chofe to call fo. I ftared at every thing, for every thing was new to me; and I fuppofe I had as much pleasure in the admiration, as the company in rallying my amazement. Thefe fort of people's feverity never goes farther than a laugh; and I told them, I was not out of humour about it. I could fee every body's eyes were upon me: They connect beggary with underftanding (much good may the reflection do them) and I could fee they thought it a new thing to me to dine with a tablecloth. The refpect the mafter of the enter 4 F G tainment fhewed me, rendered me hated pers. One turned his back upon me, by half the company. I heard their whif and took out his fnuff-box: Another looked me full in the face, and burft into a laugh, which was joined by the but that I did not fee I had done whole affembly; I told them I had no reafon to know it was not at my expence, any thing ridiculous: However, laughing had been called the characteristick of the human fpecies; and I thought they were prudent to stick to the only thing that could poffibly distinguish to what genus they belonged. all my feverity; but I could fee one My lord fmiled, and said they deserved of them very angry: And I told the mannikin, "Dogs could fnarl, it was no proof of his fpecies." The laugh was upon this gentleman, for I saw they were very well pleased to infult one another. But they were all afraid of me, and one if there be any fuperiority. What the has little quarter to expect in fuch cafes. All people hate what they fear, especially devil does my lord mean, fays one, by inviting a dirty fellow to abuse us? Every table in England will be open by and by to thefe authors, fays another: A fine recommendation truly, replies a third : Because a fellow can fay rude things he is to be admitted into good company. You are right, rejoins a fourth, clofing the argument, wit is nothing in the world but having no manners. I was all this time eating; and I did How the rafcal crams! fays one of We had dined in about two hours, and Summary of the laft Seffion of Parliament. I 1754. 265 zoth, it received the royal affent at the end of the feffion. As to the other affairs relating to the fupply, we shall obferve, that, Feb. 7, a petition from the commiffioners for building Westminster bridge was presented to the house and read, fetting forth, That A they could not make an effectual and conftant provifion for maintaining, cleaning, watching, lighting, paving and gravelling the said bridge, and for preferving the fame from annoyances and other damages, nor compleately execute feveral of the trufts repofed in them, without further fums of money than what was then in their hands; and therefore praying for fuch further fums as to the house mould feem meet. This petition was referred to the committee of fupply, and thereupon was founded the fourth refolution of that committee of Feb. 20. The 6th refolution of the committee of fupply of Feb. 6, was founded on petitions from the commiffioners appoint I do not know how it was, but we parted very much out of humour. I would have given the footman fixpence, but he laughed in my face, and faid they never took any thing of fuch as me! Ced within the counties of NorthumberI knocked him down, and bad him tell his mafter, it was for his difinterestedness; a vice in footmen. I fuppofe you won't imagine I vifited any more great men: Tell the man that envied his rival the ftory; and perhaps he will be lefs out of humour with his fortune. A Summary of the most important Affairs in the laft Seffion of laft PARLIAMENT. Continued from p. 221. UCH was the unanimity of this Sfeffion, that all the refolutions, both land and Cumberland, for making and keeping in repair a road proper for the paffage of troops and carriages from Carlisle to Newcastle; both which pe titions were, on Jan. 18, prefented and read, fetting forth, That they could not finish the faid road, or compleately execute the powers vefted in them, without Da further fum of money, and therefore praying for fuch further fum as to the house should seem meet. The 5th refolution of the faid committee of Feb. 20, was founded on a petition from feverál merchants, owners of outstanding bills of exchange, and certificates, drawn from Georgia, for values fupplied for the ufe of the provincial troops and veffels there, between Michaelmas 1743, and Michaelmas 1747, by order of the commanding officer, fetting forth, That after many applications to Mr. Thomas Marriot, agent and paymafter of the faid provincial troops and veffels, for payment, they had upon his refusal applied to the lords of the treasury, who answerFed, that no cognizance could be taken of their cafe, until Mr. Marriot's accompt of these fervices was exhibited into the auditor's office, and there examined and stated; that they then applied to the auditor's office, to have their claims properly afcertained, and the auditor having annexed to his state of the faid accompt to the lords of the treasury, a list of the particular fums fo drawn and certified, and remaining unfatisfied, amounting to the fum of 15,4971. 35. 2d. !, the petitioners, thereupon, applied to their lordships for payment, and the faid ftate LI of the committee of fupply, and of ways G being |