system. What has been done towards accomplishing so desirable an object, we have at present no means of ascertaining. But, what Lord Stanhope hoped and wished to see effected, has in some degree been achieved by the learned and indefatigable editor of the work, which we are now to introduce to our readers. In this collection Mr. Evans has endeavoured to bring together, in a moderate compass, the several statutes which are connected with the ordinary course of professional and magisterial practice, accompanied by a very few others which appeared to possess an interest as matter of historical curiosity. In order to accomplish this purpose, he has excluded all statutes relating to the functions of the different officers of government---to matters of revenue, (with the exception of the land revenue of the crown)---to naval and military subjects, and other objects of partial and limited interest. The following general synopsis of its contents will convince our readers how much important matter is here successfully brought together. 4 Parent and Child. 20 Actions 5 Corporations. Writ, Process, Arrest, Imprisonment, Bail, auce. Appear tutes respecting Civil Actions and Proceedings. 16 Wales, Counties Palatiue, Liberties. 16 Inferior Courts. 17 Statutes relating to Personal Liberty. 18 Real Actions. 19 Distress, Replevin, and Matter, relating to Landlord and Tenant. VOL. IV. against 23 King's Debts. Justices of Peace 24 Ecclesiastical and and other Offi- MaritimeCourts, cers. 21 Hue and Cry, and actions against the Hundred. 25 Courts of Equity. Addenda to the preceding Classes of Part IV. 22 Penal Actions and 26 Bankrupts. Informations. VOL. VI. 7 Larceny and Rob- | 16 Felony relating to bery. Assaults the Slave Trade. with intent to 17 Escapes and Resrob. cue. 19 Seducing 8 Offences relating 18 Perjury. Agents, and public Officers 10 Embezzlement of public Stores, 11 False pretences. 12 Forgery. 13 Piracy and Of fences committed on the High Seas, or out of the Realm. 14 Felony relating to the Revenue. 15 Offences relating to Quarantine. 20 Arti- Champerty, Li veries 24 Miscellaneous Of fences. 25 Criminal Proceed ings. VOL. VII. Part VI.-Justices of Peace. 1 Alehouses. 2 Apprentices. 3 Banks, destroying 4 Bastards. 5 Bent. 6 Bridges. 7 Carriers. 8 Coal Mines. 9 Constables 10 Costs. 11 County Rates. 12 Distress. 13 Dogs. 14 Examination. 17 Forcible Entry. 20 Gaming. of Correction. 22 Highways. 23 Justices of Peace. VOL. VIII. 35 Swearing. 37 Turnips and other 38 Vagrants. 39 Weights and Mea a statute are applicable to the general design of the work, the others which relate to limited or temporary objects, are omitted, or are merely noticed by inserting the marginal abstracts. In some cases the titles only are inserted as sufficiently declaring the object of the act, as in cases of acts by which others are continued or made perpetual, or where the mention of such acts may be considered as merely pointing out, in a general manner, the course and progress of the law upon subjects in respect of which it would be foreign from the principal design of the work to include the entire contents. To several statutes, Mr. Evans has added notes of the cases which have been decided upon their construction. In some instances, these notes are applied immediately to the particular expressions upon the construction of which questions have taken place. ---In others they assume the character of a dissertation or a digest of the law, as applicable to the general subject.---In the composition of these notes as much attention seems to have been paid to conciseness as was consistent with perspicuity :---And in the examination of some questions, the editor has interposed his own views, and canvassed with freedom, (but without transgressing the limits of respect,) the conclusions of judical authority. In others, he has ventured to suggest an alteration of the subsisting law, or to offer such opinions as have occurred to him, with regard to legislative enquiry. This is a brief outline of Mr. Evans's arduous and laborious work. Of the utility of his design, there can be but one opinion; and the manner in which it is executed is such will not detract from Mr. Evans's wellearned reputation, as an acute and able lawyer. Some errors occur in the cross-resures. 40 Wood. ferences; but these will doubtless be Addenda to Part VI. removed in a future edition. The Appendix. Index. In general, Mr. Evans has inserted the Articles without abridgment, as they appear in the ordinary editions of the Statutes: and where some parts only of work is very handsomely printed; and, considering the vast mass of matter comprised within the moderate compass of eight large octavo volumes,---it is a cheap one,---a circumstance that is of no mean consequence to the purchaser of books, and especially of law books. H 4 The Banquet, in Three Cantos, with "LA critique est est aisée-la pratique difficile," said a French wit of the last century; had he lived in the present, he would have been induced to reverse the position-such exuberance of invention, such fertility of imagination as it has become our good fortune to witness, our forefathers could have had no conception of; and, confined within the narrow limits of vulgar common sense and judgment, their sober faculties would no doubt have been completely bewildered in the airy flights of modern imagination. To transcribe into the most unintelligible phraseology, the wild ravings of a disordered brain is an occupation, now neither uncommon nor extraordinary; and to receive with profound veneration what they are unable to comprehend, was ever the characteristic feature of the multitude; a general smile of contempt would be passed on him who should dare avow his inaptitude to understand a modern fashionable author's meaning. When literature has arrived at this pitch, the task of the critic ought in fact to be at an end, but as his opinion is still called for, hard indeed is the burthen imposed on him! whether the new works are to be judged by the old established rules, or whether new rules are to be framed and adapted to the fresh-raised fabrics of romantic inspiration,-is yet a question undecided in the empire of British taste. ventured to pass upon him, we can with The drawing-room its yawning valves unfold. rest." Canto II. 255. Although the subject is by no means susceptible of being treated in a very serious light, we find if any thing too much disposition to pun and ridicule in the author; who, carried away by a ready and lively wit, is apt perhaps to indulge in too many puns and quaint allusions, which tho' very well at proper distances, lose much of their effect by so numerous a distribution, as in this passage: What would you covet more? Not so however in the following, where the hypoclondriac is admirably painted. Avoid to ask the valetudinarian, Who with capricious phlegm atrabilarian. (atraliliarian) In this state of things, therefore, it Cross, whimsical, irresolute, and shy, is with sincere pleasure that we hail the Sees all your dainties with distemper'd eye; publication of a work in which some-Looks, ere he eat, for his physician's nod; Who, willing slave of Epidaurus' God, thing like classical information may be Before he takes a mouthful on his plate traced to the author-who evidently Must try it by apothecary's weight : gives a preference to the wits of our Au- Your ramekins toe rich; - your mutton gustan period above the more fashionable writers of the day. Although this dereliction of modern theories may not recommend him to the generality of readers, yet to such as are not alarmed by so formidable a censure as we have mean; Your craw-fish cold;-your harrico too hot; Your hash a thousand morbid ills has got.— Such fill their mouths with arguments, exof every meat will tell you the abuses, cuses, With sophisms cramm'd, and aphorisms plenty, And for one dram will give yon scruples twenty; By little eating, hope to grow the stronger, And starve themselves to death to live the longer. Nor in the following delineation of a cook. How singularly fortunate, who can This Rara Avis meet, this proper man; Who, conscious of his own unrivall❜d powers, Far over all his fellow-creatures towers; Who, bred originally to the-bar, Thinks he may treat his master on the par; Like his profession, luminous and bright, And, in his own opinion, always right. His pride to kindle, not to quench a flame, And wake the passious, not by reason tame: of With ample range of powers, and powers range, And well prepared this side or that to change: Still in the vehemence of action cool Who tries with patience, and condemns by rule, As grave, as dignified, as those, and big, His visage grave, his aspect rough and stern, We by no means mention this as a principal recommendation of the poem, as we acknowledge that it has much higher claims, and contains in many passages that simplicity and force, which is only to be found in our best writers. We shall only mention the opening of the 3rd Canto. Ah! where is now the care-constructed pile, chime: The ravens, with funereal cawings, hang Where matin peals their cheerful carols rang: Where sculptured tracery carved the storied dome, The chough and jackdaw build their fetid home: The ivy clings around the oaken stalls, must The sad spectator here subscribe his dust: The mite of earth thou must contribute too, That other worms may moralize—on you. The tardy hand of Time these ruins saves, To heap their fragments on more recent toms at table. The conversation turned on that multitude of indispensable trifles which are necessary to enable a man to mix in good society without being laughed at. "They are really innumerable," added Delille; "and what is most vexatious is, that all the wit and good sense in the world would never be sufficient, by themselves, to perfect you in these desirable accomplishments. A short time since," pursued he, "the Abbé Cosson, Professor of Belles Lettres at the College Mazarin, was describing to me a dinner to which he had been invited a few days before, where there were many persons of the first rank, blue ribbons, Marshals of France, &c. at the house of the Abbé Radouvilliers at Versailles. I will lay you any wager,' said I, that during this self-same dinner you were not guilty of less than an hundred improprieties.' What do you mean?' said the Abbé, quite startled; I am sure I did every thing like every body else.' What presumption!now I dare say you did no one thing like any body there. But let us see-first of all, what did you do with your napkin when you sat down to table With my napkin? why, like others I unfolded it, spread it before me, and fastened it by one corner to a button hole of my coat. Well, my good friend, you were the only person there that did so. Your napkin should not have been displayed in this way, it should have been thrown carelessly across your knee. Pray in what manner did you take your soup? Like every body else, I believe, with my spoon in one hand, and my fork in the other. Pleasant, indeed! your fork!-who would think of eating soup with a fork.-Well, go on;— after your soup, what did you eat? A fresh egg.' And what became of the shell?Why, the servant took it away to be sure.' -What, without breaking it ?? Yes, without breaking it.'-Shocking! remember never to eat an egg again without crushing the shell. After that I asked for some bouilli.- Bouilli! you must never ask for bouilli, you must ask for beef.'-' Now, what next? I requested the master of the house to send me some fowl.'-' Worse and worse. You should have asked for chicken, pullet, poult, any thing but fowl. This expression is entirely confined to the basse cour. But what did you call for when you wanted to drink? Why, like every one else, I asked for red wine or white wine, as I happened to want.This was wrong again, you may call for Champagne or Hock, or Burgundy; never for wine. Then tell me in what way you ate your bread?'—' Certainly, as every one else does; I cut it as neatly as I could with my knife. Bless me! do you not know that people always break their bread, never cut it? Go on; how did you manage your coffee? For once I am sure I was right; it was scalding hot, and I poured it into the saucer to cool it. Nobody else would have thought of doing such thing; we always drink coffee out of the cup, and never out of the saucer. From these specimens I think the probability is, my dear Cosson, that you neither uttered a word nor performed a single action any otherwise than diametrically contrary to the most obvious and established principles.' "The Abbé was thunderstruck," continued Mr. Delille, "and for six weeks afterwards did little else but inquire of every body be happened to meet, how far I was right in the information I had given him.” Mr. Delille himself was indebted to a female friend for his initiation into these mysteries. He had long felt embarrassed in the great world where his talents were esteemed, and where those who are most admired for their genius are often most ridiculed for their awkwardness. Although the Abbé Cosson was deficient in attention to the manners of the great, he was not wanting in presence d'esprit. Having breakfasted one day with an intimate acquaintance, where he met with some pastry which appeared to him excellent, the taste recurred to him the following morning. He went back to his friend at an early hour, and said to him very seriously-"My dear sir, some company that I did not expecthave called to breakfast with me; do me the favour to lend me your pye!" On the whole, we conceive our readers will not be displeased with us for recommending the book to their notice; which, as it does not depend on any of the ephemeral topics of the day, is likely to become a lasting favourite. Reflections on the Liberty of the Press in Great Britain. Translated from the German of the celebrated F. Von Gentz, Aulic Counsellor to the Emperor of Austria, &c. &c. 8vo. 4s. Bohte and Co. London, 1819. We have not forgotten that, when almost every other voice upon the Continent was hushed in admiration or in fear of Napoleon Buonaparte, then every where victorious-and when eyes which should have looked defiance, were turned towards his dispensing greatness in adulation or expectancy-that it was to M. Gentz more than to any other individual, that Europe owed the resuscitation and cherishing of that spirit of resistance which has led to his signal overthrow, and to the re |