The word Back, a vessel used in brewing and diftilling, and as a term by horsemen, failors, painters, &c. is totally omitted. The word Badger, a Huckster, from Bajulo, might have properly followed the description of the badger, an amphibious animal. The word Bail, or giving bail or fecurity for the appearance of a perfon, is omitted, as is alfo the word Bailiff, an officer in our courts of law, alfo a fuperintendant or manager of eftates in the country. Again, though we have a fufficiently full account of baiting bulls, we have none of the choice of baits for catching filh. That we may not fatigue our reader by multiplying inftances, we shall recur once more to the volumes of the work, and take the first fubject that occurs, which happens to be Sponge. This is properly enough faid to be "a genus of animal plants brought from the Levant, and that it is a foft, porous, and light fubftance, eafily imbibing water," but about the manner of its growth, to what fubftances it is ufually found adhering, or how collected, the editor is totally filent. Turning back to the word Marble, we find him equally fparing of that kind of information which he might fuppofe his particular readers would require; and giving a chemical analysis of the stone, instead of defcribing the different kinds of Marble, and showing whence those most in efteem are brought, or the uses to which they are ordinarily applied. The word Sculpture, implying one of the most important uses of Marble, has no place in his alphabet, nor the word Scagliola, a composition of plaster, in imitation of the finest Marbles. Under the word Mould, a proper defcription is given of that kind of earth moft fuited to vegetation; but the moulds ufed by mechanics to give form and fashion to metals, and other fubftances, as in cafting bells, cannon, candlesticks, in making candles, &c. is not noticed; nor Mouldinefs, or the vegetable fubftance, denominated Mould, found in cheefe, on vinegar, beer, &c. and which probably is a fpecies of it, the dry rot fo fatal to timber. But in return for these omiffions, (and we believe fome hundreds of neceffary articles are omitted) the editor has given abundant information, on the fubjects of anatomy, furgery, medicine, and chemistry, and has also described many plants and animals; though we have been as much puzzled to account for the infertion of many objects in the two laft claffes, as for the omiffion of others of the fame kind, that had an equal right to be introduced. The fame we may fay of manufactures, fome of them are fully and properly defcribed, others either 3 totally totally omitted, or only partially noticed. On the whole, we cannot commend the care, or diligence of the compiler, or recommend the work as containing what will be looked for, and ought to be found in fuch a compilation; and yet it was incumbent on the editor, to be particularly careful that as few errors as poffible fhould be committed, in putting together these volumes, as he has been moft illiberally fevere on his brother labourers in this way, Procul, Q procul efte profani! Behold I, a man of a fuperior order, have undertaken this bufinefs! "The rapid fucceffion," he fays, Preface, p. 1," of Cyclopedias, and Encyclopedias which have appeared within the last twenty years, and which often are more diftinguished by their alluring title pages," (the title to these volumes, however, is not a short one, nor quite free from pomp) " than by their intrinfic merit," &c. And, in the next paragraph, "When it is confidered," he fays" that the editors of these bulky compilations, have directed their chief attention to the quantity of their materials, rather than to a critical felection of facts, that with a few exceptions, fuch works have been conducted by perfons better qualified to fuperintend a printing office, or a book feller's fhop, than to arrange or explain the immenfe circle of the fciences; and that the Auri facra fames has almoft uniformly been the principal object of thefe fpeculators, it will then be readily allowed, that their productions afford only negative advantage to the focial world." The meaning of which laft words, we must leave to our readers to discover. Peras impofuit Jupiter nobis duas ; Propriis repletam vitiis poft tergum dedit, We recommend thefe lines to the attention of the editor, his volumes feeming to have been put together with as much hafte, and to have been publifhed under as fufpicious circumftances as any of thofe which he has fo rudely attacked. In the firft place, though the articles contained in them are fo different, and so numerous, that no one man, however well informed, can be fuppofed capable of treating of them all with propriety, yet he does not appear to have had the affiflance of any coadjutor, and from a pretty certain datum (the publication of an 8vo. volume of 700 pages*, in the year 1799) we may fairly * See British Critic, vol. xiv, p. 55%. collect collect that no great portion of time could have been allotted to the compilation of them. It feems therefore, not very improbable, that the "Auri facra fames," had fome fhare in producing this Encyclopedia. We, however, have nothing to do with the motives inciting authors to undertake their performances, but with the diligence they have ufed in collecting their materials, and the ability they have shown in arranging and difpofing of them. In both thefe points, as we have shown, the editor of the volumes before us feems manifeftly deficient. Had he, inftead of paffing his fevere and illiberal cenfures, on the conductors of former Encyclopedias, laid their decried volumes before him, and taken from them fuch articles as fuited his defign, he would have avoided the errors he has committed, and produced a work more creditable to himfelf, and highly advantageous to the clafs of readers for which it was intended. ART. VIII. The Hiftory of England, from the Acceffion of King George the Third, &c. (Concluded from vol. xxi. p. 670.) THE fpecimens already given of this Hiftory, will have conveyed a favourable opinion of it to our readers, whom we have detained hitherto in the first volume of the work. After a few more general obfervations, we fhall complete our furvey, labouring only to give a fair and candid judgment, and to prefent a juft idea of the whole. We have already obferved, that Mr. Adolphus is laudably exact in citing his authorities; but there is one mode of reference which frequently occurs, not so easy to be appreciated by a reader, as thofe which point to printed or manufcript fources. Inftead of any other citation, the margin often has " from private information." This we confider as an intimation, that he is not in thofe places at liberty to declare his authority; but warns the reader to enquire for himself, if he wishes for more fatisfaction. This hint we have accordingly taken; and in many of thofe cafes have enquired, what is faid of the facts so fupported, by perfons likely to know the truth? The answer has uniformly been, that they are accurate; and fometimes accompanied with a little wonder, who could have communicated facts, of which fo few are in poffeffion. This is important. Private information may be of every degree of value, from the lowest to the higheft; and had the author betrayed a propenfity to receive groundlefs reports and furmifes, under that that name, it would greatly have impaired the credit of his Hiftory: being proved to have taken fuch aids from those who were really competent to give them, he obtains a new claim to our confidence; and his fources of information, even when not diftin&tly known, are allowed to be entitled to respect. Inftances of this kind occur in the firft volume, at pp. 3, 101, 123, 125, &c. and will be found in general to relate to tranfactions in their own nature rather fecret. Those which refer to the fudden and unexpected refignation of Lord Bute in 1763. are particularly interefting, and contradict, in a great degree, the opinions ufually received. "Even the King," it is faid, " was not early apprized of his intentions, and from his good opinion of the Earl, lamented that he had loft a friend, as well as a minifter." P. 125. Thus alfo, with refpect to the caufes of his refignation, and his fuppofed influence when he had retired, the private information of the hiftorian authorizes him to write in these terms. "In fact, the principal caufe of his refignation was the want of fupport in the cabinet. In a private letter to one of his friends, before he retired from the helm, he more fully explained the motives of his conduct. 66 Single," he faid, " in a cabinet of my own forming; no aid in the Houfe of Lords to fupport me, except two peers (Lords Denbigh and Pomfret) both the Secretaries of State filent, and the Lord Chief-Juftice, whom I myself brought into office, voting for me, yet fpeaking against me; the ground I tread upon is fo hollow, that I am afraid, not only of falling myfelf, but of involving my royal mafter in my ruin. It is time for me to retire." "The continuance of the ex-minifter's fecret influence in the clofet, for a confiderable period, has been fo repeatedly and confidently afferred, that to doubt it would feem rafhnefs; yet, perhaps, if we except the negociations for minifterial changes foon after his refignation, in which he was occafionally the medium to communicate the King's intentions, no report was ever less confonant to truth: for it was his conftant and repeated complaint to his intimate friends, both in his travels and at home, that he was neglected by his fovereign. This avowal from a man fo cautious as Lord Bute, outweighs all the vague affertions of thofe who maintained the exiftence of a myfterious agency, and proves that the loss of his influence had funk deep in his mind." P. 126. The great impropriety and impolicy of allowing such an influence is a fufficient juftification of the caution of which Lord B. complained; and the statement of the fact proves, how ill the nation then appreciated the magnanimity of their fovereign; who, when he profeffed to give his confidence to new fervants, gave it without referve, and without regard to his prior feelings and opinions. It appears, however, that the opinion of Lord Bute's fecret influence prevailed even among perfons of high situation for fome time; for a subsequent ar ticle of private information ftates, that when a negociation was carried on for continuing the miniftry of 1765, Mr. Grenville was directed to wait on the King, and to ftate five propofitions, as the terms of retaining their fituations, of which the two firft were, "that Lord Bute fhould not interfere, directly or indirectly, in the affairs of government," and that "Mr. Stuart M'Kenzie, Lord Bute's brother, fhould be difmiffed from the office of the Privy-feal for Scotland" (p. 197); and the hiftorian allows that," although it may not be true that Lord Bute interfered in the tranfactions of the cabinet, yet the jealous apprehenfion on that fubje&t occafioned the miniftry to do many things offenfive to the King." P. 196. The celebrated King of Pruffia, whofe views refpecting England were neither accurate nor candid, gave credit to the fame idea of fecret influence, even in 1775." Bute, the Scotchman," he says, 66 governs the King and realm: like thofe evil working fpirits, who are always talked of but never seen, he shrouds himself as well as his operations, in impenetrable obfcurity; his emiffaries, his creatures, are the fprings with which he moves, at his pleasure, the political machine." Vol. ii. p. 376. To him entirely he imputed the American War. But if thefe things were fo impenetrable, how were they fo well known to the King of Pruffia? Politicians are fond of feeming to know what is profoundly fecret, and Frederick appears not to have been fuperior to this idle vanity. The private information of Mr. Adolphus is, we conceive, much more to be trufted, in this cafe, than that of the great and fagacious King of Pruffia. A great part of this Hiftory is occupied, of neceffity, in the narrative of the American War, a melancholy period to a British patriot, becauses it fhows his country lavishing her ftrength and her refources in an unfuccefsful conteft;/a melancholy period to all Europe, because it gave force and currency to thofe exaggerated notions of freedom, which foon punished the perfidy of France by fubverfion of its monarchy, almost diffolved the bonds of fociety in every ftate, and led to thofe portentous events, the ultimate confequences of which have not yet been calculated, while their immediate effects have diffufed more mifery than the world has feen for many previous ages. The declaration of rights, prepared by the provin cial convention of Virginia in 1776, is, in many points, the fame in fubftance, and almoft the fame in words, with that prefixed by the French Jacobins to their conflitutional code, as the Univerfal Rights of Man. See a felection from them, in volume the fecond of this Hiftory, p. 404. The narrative of this unhappy war, which begins near the end of the first vo lume, |