cerning property. Fenton finding that many had what he wanted, and, most unphilofophically, would not part with it, prepared to enforce his right, and, for that purpose, provided himfelf with a brace of piftols. Betaking himself to the highway he ftopped a poft-chaife. The travellers not having yielded their fuperfluities fo foon as he wifhed, he fired. Being foon after feized by fome of that clafs of perfons which Caleb Williams fo much abhors, and thieves and highwaymen abhor no lefs, he was carried to an inn, where he found that the lady whom he had fho was his own mother. His fentiments on this occafion difplay his thorough adoption of the Godwinian fyftem concerning natural affection. In arguing with his father, who, from his prejudices, was in an agony of diftrefs at the murder of his wife by his and her own fon, he fays, "would any revolution happen if brothers, and fathers, and fons, feared to plunge the dagger in each others' bofom? The mind which cannot leap over thefe paltry and prejudiced confiderations is not infpired with genuine patriotifm. We must learn only to appreciate perfons by their intrinfic value, and not by their titles, nominations, and connections." Having found means to escape, he departed. "I foon (faid he) fhook off the chagrin this little incident had occafioned, and, having recovered my piftols, I thought it common prudence to ftrike from the high road." His next philofophical act (robbing two ladies in a poft chaife) gives him an opportunity of paying a tribute of applaufe to that excellent morality which is inculcated, not by the philofopher Godwin himself only, but by her who was, as the said philofopher informs us, his concubine and wife.— "One of the women, (fays Fenton,) fainted away, and the other was exceffively frightened. I took nothing but her purse, informing het, that the mistook if the fuppofed me a common robber. I could not but execrate the whole fyftem of female education, which thus enervates the kuman body, it being an eternal fact, that were women educated to all the exercifes of men, and, as my dear Mary ufed to fay, fo mingled with the world that every action would be performed promifcuously, (fex out of the queftion,) we fhould not have women fainting on fudden emergencies, and as imbecile as infants." Not long after this encounter he met with Dr. Alogos, as has been already mentioned. Entertained with great hofpitality by the Doctor, the philofopher endeavours to feduce the Doctor's niece, and finding her fo unreasonable as not to gratify a natural appetite with her confent, he prepares for gratification without it; but is difappointed. On the fcore of feduction his fentiments are worthy the philofophy which he T 2 profeffed: profeffed:" In love, (fays he,) we may conceal the truth, because it is an allowable deception to deceive a girl to her own benefit and the augmentation of mankind." Dr. Alogos and Mr. Fenton join in measures for the propagation of truth among the neighbouring ruftics. The confequence of their inftructions is, that thofe who had been before induftrious become idle, and fome of them rob the Doctor of a great fum of money. The two philofophers are now joined by the great Stupeo, who perfuades them to leave polished fociety and betake themfelves to the wilds of America. The hardships and diftreffes they there encounter give a change to their philofophy. They return to England. Fenton, having recovered the thoughts and fentiments of his præ-philofophical ftate, is most delightfully furprized with the intelligence that the wound of his mother had not proved mortal. Emanci pated from his flavery to abfurd, nonfenfical, and deftructive philofophifm, he becomes a good member of fociety. Thefe are the outlines of the ftory. Some of the adventures, especially in America, are extravagant and improbable; but it is, on the whole, a lively fketch of the more obvious abfurdities, follies, and wickedness of the new philosophy, As fuch we recommend it to our readers; at the fame time we have the pleasure to announce to them that a much more com prehenfive expofure of the ravings of Wollstonecraft, Holcroft, Godwin, Paine, Thelwall, and other abettors, princi pal or fubordinate, of the new philofophifm, is the subject of a Novel of four volumes, now in the prefs, by that zealous Anti-Jacobin, Dr. Biffet, ART. VI. A Difcourfe on the Study of the Law of Nature and Nations introductory to a Courfe of Lectures on that Scis ence, to be commenced in Lincoln's-Inn-Hall, on Monday, Feb. 18, 1799, in Pursuance of an Order of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's-Inn. By James Mackintosh, Efq. of Lincoln's-Inn, Barrister at Law. Price 2s. 6d. Cadell and Davies. London, 1799. REAT is our pleasure in finding the learning, genius, and philofophy of this author elevated to a fubject fitted to exercife his powers, and employ his attainments to the lafting benefit of mankind. The work before us contains the outlines of a most valuable acceffion to the fcience of ethics in its various departments of private and public relations and duties, with their fources and fanctions, The The object of this prefatory difcourfe is, to lay before the public the author's reafons for undertaking fuch a labour, as well as a fhort account of the nature and objects of the courfe proposed to be delivered. "I have always (fays he) been unwilling to wafte, in unprofita ble inactivity, that leifure which the first years of my profeffion ufually allow, and which diligent men, even with moderate talents, might often employ in a manner neither difcreditable to themselves, nor wholly ufelefs to others. Defirous that my own leifure fhould not be confumed in floth, I anxioufly looked about for fome way of filling it up, which might enable me, according to the measure of my humble abilities, to contribute fomewhat to the ftock of general ufefulnefs. I had long been convinced that public Lectures, which have been used in molt ages and countries to teach the elements of almost every part of learning, were the most convenient mode in which thefe elements could be taught: and that they were the best adapted for the important purposes of awakening the attention of the ftudent, of abridging his labours, of guidiug his enquiries, of relieving the tedioufuefs of private ftudy, and of impreffing on his recollection the principles of fcience.-The fcience which teaches the rights and duties of men, and of ftates, has, in modern times, been called the Law of Nature and Nations. Under this comprehenfive title are included the rules of morality, as they prefcribe the conduct of private men towards each other, in all the various relations of human life; as they regulate both the obedience of citizens to the laws, and the authority of the magiftrate in framing laws, and adminiftering government; as they modify the intercourfe of independent commonwealths, in peace, and prescribe limits to their hostility, in war. This important fcience comprehends only that part of private ethics which is capable of being reduced to fixed and general rules. It confiders only thofe general principles of jurisprudence and politics which the wisdom of the law-giver adapts to the peculiar fituation of his own country, and which the skill of the ftatefinan applies to the more fluctuating, and infinitely varying, circumstances, which affect its immediate welfare and safety." This science, (Mr. M. obferves,) treats the great questions of morality, of politics, and of municipal law, more gene rally, than that important branch which profeffes to regulate the relations and intercourfe of ftates, efpecially as thefe are modified by the ufages of civilized Chriftendom, with particular minutenefs of detail. He obferves, that the modern method of confidering individual and national morality, as fubjects of the fame fcience, is a convenient and reasonable arrangement. "The fame rules (he proceeds) of morality which hold together men in families, and which form families into commonwealths, alfo link together these commonwealths as members of the great fociety of mankind. Commonwealths, as well as private men, are liable to injury, and capable of beneft, from each other; it is, therefore, their intereft, as well as their duty, to reverence, to practice, and to enforce, those rules of juftice which controul and restrain injury, which regulate and augment benefit, which, even in their prefent imperfect obfervance, preferve civilized states in a tolerable condition of fecurity from wrong, and which, if they could be generally obeyed, would eftablish, and permanently maintain, the well-being of the univerfal commonwealth of the human race.” He explains the reafon why one part of this fcience has been called the Natural Law of Individuals, and the other the Natural Law of States. He delivers his reafons for difcourfing on the Law of Nations in a sketch of the history and prefent ftate of the fcience, and of the fucceffion of able writers, who have gradually brought it to its prefent perfection. We have, he remarks, no Greek nor Roman treatise on the Law of Nations, and he promifes, in his Lectures, to offer reafons why the Ancients did not erect that part of morality which regulates the intercourfe of states into an independent fcience. He enumerates fome of the leading caufes which have rendered the intercourfe of the feveral nations of modern Europe much clofer. Among those are— "A common extraction, a common religion; fimilar manners, inftitutions, and languages; in earlier ages, the authority or the See of Rome, and the extravagant claims of the Imperial Crown; in later times, the connections of trade, the jealoufy of power, the refinement of civilization, the cultivation of science, and, above all, that general mildness of character and manners which arose from the combined and progreffive influence of chivalry, of commerce, of learning, and of religion. Nor muft we omit the fimilarity of those political inftitutions which, in every country that had been over-run by the Gothic conquerors, hore difcernible marks (which the revolutions of fucceeding ages had obfcured, but not obliterated,) of the rude, but bold and noble, outline of liberty, that was originally sketched by the hand of thefe generous barbarians. These, and many other caufes, confpired to unite the Nations of Europe in a more intimate connection, and a more conftant intercourse, and, of confequence, made the regulation of their intercourse more necessary, and the law that was to govern it more important." The reduction of the Law of Nations into fomething like a fyftem was referved for Grotius. He produced a work which we now, indeed, juftly deem imperfect, but which is, perhaps, the most complete that the world has yet owed, at fo early a ftage in the progress of any science, to the genius and learning of one man. The character of Grotius, sketched by this masterly hand, hand, we fhall quote, as a fpecimen of the author's skill and talents in exhibiting intellectual and moral portraits : "If we fairly estimate the endowments and virtues of Grotius, we may justly confider him as one of the most memorable men who have done honour to modern times. He combined the discharge of the most important duties of active and public life, with the attainment of that exact and various learning which is generally the portion only of the reclufe ftudent. He was diftinguished as an advocate and a magiftrate, and he compofed the most valuable works on the law of his own country; he was almoft equally celebrated as an historian, a fcholar, a poet, and a divine; a difinterested statefman, a philofophical lawyer; a patriot, who united moderation with firmnefs, and a theologian who was taught candour by his learning. Unmerited exile did not damp his patriotifm; the bitterness of controverfy did not extinguish his charity. The fagacity of his numerous and fierce adverfaries could not difcover a blot on his character; and in the midst of all the hard trials and galling provocations of a turbulent political life, he never once deserted his friends when they were unfortunate, nor infulted his enemies when they were weak. In times of the most furious civil and religious faction he preferved his name unfpotted, and he knew how to reconcile fidelity to his own party with moderation towards his opponents. Such was the man who was deftined to give a new form to the law of nations, or, rather, to create a fcience, of which only rude sketches and indigefted materials were fcattered over the writings of those who had gone before him. By tracing the laws of his country to their principles, he was led to the contemplation of the law of nature, which he justly confidered as the parent of all municipal law.” Having paid this juft tribute to the general character of Grotius, the author confiders his treatile on the Laws of Peace and War. He obferves, that for the laft half century it has been the fashion to depreciate Grotius's work, and that this fashion originated with French declaimers. According to thefe accurate investigators and profound reafoners, Grotius's work was a compilation, in which reafon lies buried under a heap of authorities and quotations. The author, though he allows that there is a profufion of learning, yet appeals to the book, to fhew that Grotius never quotes on any fubject till he has ftated fome principles. He accounts for this language of the French declaimers very probably, by fuppofing that the difplay of Greek characters had deterred them from perufing Grotius, and that they confidently pretended to judge of what they had never read. He allo anfwers an objection made by a very able and ufeful writer, of our own country, whofe knowledge of facts and principles, and powers of reafoning, led to very different conclufions from thofe of the |