Juft o'er the tops of chimneys, form'd to fly:
Not with a wing fublime, to mount the sky.
Say to the dog, his head's a downright drum,
Unequal to the Hift'ry of Tom Thumb:
Nay-tell, of anecdote, that thirsty leach,
He is not equal to a Tyburn Speech.

For that Piozzi's wife, let me exhort her
To draw her immortality, from porter:
Give up her anecdotical inditing,
And ftudy bouferwifery instead of writing:
Bid her, a poor biography, suspend;
Nor crucify, through vanity, a friend.

I know no business, women have with learning:
I fcorn, I hate, the mole eyed, balf difcerning:
Their wit, but ferves a husband's heart, to rack;
And make eternal horfewhips for his back."

The hero and heroine of the poem, warming as they proceed, at last burst into mutual rage, and reproach each other in very coarse terms with the demerits of their works. Sir John puts a stop to the altercation, and gives his decifion in the following lines:

For hame! for fhame! for heaven's fake pray be quiet-
Not Billingsgate exhibits such a riot.

Behold, for Scandal, you have made a feaf,
And turn'd your idol, Johnfon to a beaft:
'Tis plain that tales of ghofts, are arrant lies,
Or inftantaneously, would Johnson's rife:
Make you both eat your paragraphs fo evil
And for your treatment of him, play the devil.
Just like two Mohawks on the man you fall-
No murd'rer, is worfe ferv'd at Surgeon's Hall.
Inftead of adding Splendor to his name,
Your books are downright gibbets to his fame.
Of those, your anecdotes-may I be curft,
If I
can tell you, which of them, is worst.
You never, with pofterity can thrive-
'Tis by the Rambler's death alone, you live-
Like wrens, (that in some volume, I have read)
Hatch'd by strange fortune, in a horse's head,
Poor Sam was rather fainting in his glory-
But lo! his fame, lies foully dead before ye,
Thus, to fome dying man, (a frequent cafe)
Two doctors come, and give the coup de grace.
Zounds! Madam, mind the duties of a wife,
And dream no more, of Doctor Johnson's life.
A happy knowledge in a pye or pudding,

Will more delight your friends, than all your fudying.
One cut from ven'fon, to the heart can speak
Stronger than ten quotations from the Greek:
One fat Sir Loin poffeffes more fublime

Than all the airy caftles built by rhime.

One

One nipperkin of finge with a toast,

Beats all the streams, the Mufes Fount can boaft,
Yes! in one pint of porter, lo! my belly can
Find bliffes, not in all the floods of Helicon.
Enough those anecdotes, your pow'rs, have shown:
Sam's Life, dear Ma'am, will only damn your own,
For thee, James Bofwell, may the hand of Fate
Arreft thy goofe-quill, and confine thy prate:
Thy egotifms, the world, difgufted hears-
Then load with vanities, no more our ears
Like fome lone Puppy yelping all night long;
That tires the very ecboes with his tongue.
Yet fhould it lie beyond the pow'rs of Fate,
To stop thy pen, and ftill thy darling prats;
Oh! be in folitude to live, thy luck;

A chattering magpie on the Ifle of Muck.'

Much of Peter's fire is difcernible in this publication; but it burns not fo clear as we could have wifhed. He is, in his line, a favourite of the public, and defervedly fo; let him remember that fame is perhaps more eafily acquired than preferved. He was fingularly happy in his Lyric Odes; he was at home, he revelled at his ease. In his compofitions of a different kind we do not think that he is equally excellent; there is a want of incident in his Loufiad, and in the prefent performance many carelefs lines mark the haftiness of the compofition. When the world has paid uncommon attention to an author, it is proper he fhould pay fome attention to the world. In works of this kind, however, that turn on the incidents of the times, the charm depends in a great measure on the moment of publication; and where fo much extemporaneous merit appears, the fevereft crititic will forgive little. blemishes.

ART. IV. The Hiftory of Wales, in Nine Books: with an Appendix. By the Rev. William Warrington, Chaplain to the Right Hon. the Earl of Beborough. 4to. 11. 1s. boards. Johnson. London. 1786.

(Concluded.)

OUR author in his fourth book continues his narrative, from the death of Roderic the Great to the death of Bleddyn ap Cynvyn. Here we have the hiftory of HOWELL, the prince of South Wales, who collected into one code the ancient cuftoms and laws of Wales, "which had nearly lost their efficacy and weight in the lapfe of ages, and in the confufion and turbulency of the times." The account we have of these laws forms by much the most entertaining and useful portion of the history before us.

The king poffeffed, by virtue of his prerogative, the patronage of monafteries, the protection of public roads, the right of creating

laws

laws with confent of his people, of coining money within his dominions, and of prefiding in the principal caufes that related to himself, his crown, and its appendages. He was empowered to lead an army only once a year, and for no longer time than fix weeks, out of his kingdom; within his own territories he might at any time mufter his fubjects and conduct them to battle. He was privileged to hunt in any part of his dominions. He had a power of compelling any of his fubjects to build the royal caffles.

• If any person addreffed the king with unbecoming and infolent language, he was conftrained to pay a fine of fix head of cattle. Offences against the king were, to commit adultery with his queen, to kill his fubftitute, and violate his protection. The judges were confidered as the king's fubftitutes. The fine for thefe treafons confifted of a rod of gold of the king's ftature, a bull, and a hundred cows, from every cantred or district belonging to the attainted person. For affaffinating the king the penalty was made threefold.

• The witness or debtor, who followed the found of the military horn when the king went to war, was excufed from obedience to a legal fummons. At his acceffion he confirmed the rights of places of afylum; and it was alfo his prerogative to fix the bounds of cantreds and trevs or townfhips. He had likewife a power of bringing to immediate trial causes in which the crown was concerned, and of fetting afide a written law to make room for a traditional cuftom. There were fpecies of offences which gave the king the privilege of felling the offenders. The king was not amenable to his own judges.

To moderate thefe exceffes of authority, fome limitations were thrown into the oppofite fcale. If complaint was made that the king, or any of his fubftitutes, had violated the laws, and exercised oppreffion, the matter was then to be decided by a verdict of the country; that is, a jury of fifty men holding lands, fworn to do justice; if the accufation was found to be juft, they ordered reparation to be made. The king had no power to punish his fubjects for offences committed out of his kingdom, or in the time of his predeceffor. Though he had granted to an abbey rights or privileges by which his prerogative was infringed, yet the law ordained that the grant fhould never be revoked; alledging, that it is fafer to diminish than increase the royal power.

The Welsh, engaged in a roving and military life, had little lei. fure to exercise the arts, or cultivate the ground; and of confequence were, in fome degree, in a state of poverty. They had many usages, however, which tended to make their princes opulent, and to fupply them with the means of difplaying that unreftrained hofpitality by which their refidence was always rendered confpicuous.

The king was the original landlord of the whole of his dominions. The fervices by which lands were held under him were of three kinds; military fervice, fervice in the courts of law, and the payment of the public tribute; which in ancient times was made with horned cattle. When lands, by neglecting the fervice for the performance of which they were granted, or by deferting them without the king's leave, were forfeited, they reverted to him. His fubjects were obliged to build, the royal palaces, and, in a great measure, they maintained his houfehold; he was entitled to all treasures wherever found; to all goods

not claimed by any owner, and the poffeffions of deceased bishops. Among the various productive fources of revenue, was the fale of honourable and lucrative places; and the efcheat of goods exceeding one pound in value, fuch as horfes, oxen, cows, gold, filver, and embroidered garments; efcheated goods of inferior price belonged to the royal officers and domeftics. According to the ancient division of Wales, fettled by its laws, a cantredh contained two commots, a commot twelve manors, a manor four townships or parishes. A yearly tribute of one pound was due from every free manor, and was paid to the king in money; or in lieu thereof, a horfe load of the best flour, a flaughtered ox, a cafk of medh or mead, one hundred and fixty fheaves of oats for the provender of the king's horfes, a fow, a flitch of bacon, and a veffel of butter. This tribute was paid in the fummer. In winter the royal household was in a great measure supported by the free manors; each of which paid likewife two fhillings in money, to be divided among the domeftics. Those manors which were not emancipated, but remained in a state of vaffalage, paid twice in the year a fmaller tribute, confifting of ale, butter, cheese, bread, corn for provender, hogs and fheep. In every commot of Wales two townThips remained ungranted to any fubject, in the king's private poffeffion. A mayor and a chancellor fuperintended the king's demefne; the latter officer had the privilege of being preceded by a virger; he had also the power of imprisonment, and was not liable to be taxed. Shipwrecks, and all things thrown up by the fea on the shore of the king's perfonal eftates, became his property; when on the coast of a bishop, abbot, or any other lord, that lord was obliged to divide them with the king.

• Befides these sources of advantage arifing to the king, there were many others which were confidered as the fruits of his prerogative. He had the efcheat of the goods of fuicides. Strangers, who were vagabonds, and were found in any part of his dominions, were the property of the king. He was the proprietor, likewife, of waftes, forefts, and the fea. He had the power of commanding a workman from every town in villanage to erect his tent. The villains of the crown were obliged to build for the king nine apartments of his palace: the hall, the royal bed chamber, the pantry, the ftable, dog kennel, the barn, the kiln, privy, and the dormitory. Young women were reckoned among the fources of the king's revenue, and to him a fee was paid on their marriage or violation. A fine was paid to the king on any breach of contract. A toll was also to be paid by every merchant ship which came into the ports of Wales; and if any fhip, which had not paid toll, happened to be wrecked, its cargo was forfeited to the king. Vaffals, in a state of villanage, were obliged nine times in the year to furnish the king's horfes and dogs with provender, and his foreigners with provifion. They were likewife constrained to yield up all their honey and fifh to the ufe of the court, and to provide horfes to carry the baggage and ammunition of the army. A third part of all military plunder was yielded to the crown.

The Queen had a right of patronage, or protection; and received a third part of the revenues of the royal manors. The violation of her perfon was reckoned among the treasonable offences, with the ad

dition of a moiety to the ordinary penalty. A prefent of money was due to her, when her daughter was married. She had alfo a power to difpofe of a third part of what she had received from the king.

The Heir Apparent was either the fon, brother, nephew, or coufin of the king: and it was believed that the king's private promife or appointment could fecure the fucceffion to either of these relations without regard to nearness of kindred. The laws placed him near the king's perion, and under his authority: he fat at the king's table, and was ferved by the royal attendants. The king, the heir apparent, and the mafter of the palace, paid no portion with their daughters: the honour and influence derived from fuch an alliance was deemed a fufficient portion. Deformity of perfon, as well as incapacity of mind, difqualified the king's fon or next of kindred from the government, as they did any fubject from public offices and the inheritance of lands.

The Officers of the Household, and twelve gentlemen, whose tenure of land was by military fervice, compofed the royal guard, and were mounted on horfes furnished by the king.

• The Royal Household confifted of the following officers and do mestics.

• The Mafter of the Palace. He was fometimes the heir apparent, always of the royal blood. His authority extended to every perfon of the household; and, when any of them fell under the king's dif pleasure, this officer entertained him till a reconciliation was effected. He received a fhare of all military plunder, and, on three feftivals in the year, was obliged, by his office, to deliver the harp into the hands of the domeftic bard. He was alfo, it is probable, the king's treasurer.

The Domestic Chaplain was, by his office, appointed to fay grace, to celebrate mafs, and to be confulted in matters of confcience. He was also fecretary to the king, and to the principal court of justice. In the king's abfence, the domeftic chaplain, the judge of the palace, and the steward of the household, fupported the royal dignity, and exercifed the authority annexed to it.

The Steward of the Household fuperintended the inferior domeftics; receiving, among other emoluments, the fkins of lambs, kids, and fawns, and all other creatures, from an ox to an eel, killed for the use of the king's kitchen. He was the king's tafter; and drank, but did not eat, at the king's table. He diftributed among the household their wages, he affigned them proper feats in the hall of the palace, and allotted the apartments where they were to lodge.

The Master of the Hawks was required to fleep near his birds: he had his bed in the king's granary, where they were kept, and not in the palace, left they fhould be injured by the smoke. He was re ftricted to a certain measure of mead and ale, that he might not neglec his duty. In fpring he had the skin of a hind, and in autumn that of a ftag, for gloves to guard his hands, and thongs for the geffes of his hawks. The eagle, the crane, the hawk, the falcon, and the raven, were confidered as royal birds; when any of these were killed without authority, a fine was paid to the king. The king owed three services to the master of the hawks; on the day when he took a curlieu, a hern, or a bittern. He held the horfe of this officer while he took the bird, held his ftirrup while he mounted and difmounted; and that night honoured