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I

SIR,

HAVE to request of you the favour of permitting me to make, through the liberal medium of your publication, a short statement of law, in answer to a gross instance of ignorance exhibited by the legal reviewers in their fugitive strictures on my treatise "De Libellis Famosis, or Law of Libels," in the Legal Review, N. 1. Art. 12.

The passage which gave offence to the reviewers is the observation in italics at the close of the following quotation, which states the law as it relates to defence in an action for a libel, pp. 52 and 53. De Lib. Fam. "PLEA 1. The general issue in this action is Not Guilty, or a denial of the libel. 2. Justification, which admits of the publishing of the libel stated, but justifies so doing because it is true-this matter must be pleaded specially, for the defendant will not be permitted to give it in evidence on the general issue."

The editors of the Legal Review, in contradiction to this correct statement of

The associations by which the names and dates of Henry the Eighth and James

the Second are to be remembered.

+ The delightful and appropriate association of sounds, by which the professor teaches his pupils to remember the lines: "Man wants but little here below, Nor wants that little long." MONTHLY MAG, No. 247.

the existing law, thus run on into error: "Where a civil action shall have been brought for the recovery of damages for a libel, the defendant is held at full listated in the presumed libel in justificaberty to plead the truth of the facts tion; and on proving the facts so to be pleaded, the jury are enabled to withhold, enlarge, or assess, the quantum of damages or recompence, according as the facts stated in the libel shall more or less be made apparent; and it also seems now agreed, that although the defendant shall have omitted to plead the truth of the facts, in justification of the libel, yet that he may give such truth in evidence on trial, in mitigation of damages. It may be observed by the way, that Dr. Jones has overlooked the decisions wherein this important point has been ruled. The Doctor cites Underwood v. Parks, 2 Str. 1200, but see Earl of Leicester v. Walker, 2 Camp. N. P. 251, and other cases, particularly Lake v. Hatton, Hob. 253. and Anony. 11 Mod. 99." And again, in p. 168, the reviewers repeat their error: "Of the concise compilation by Dr. Jones we are spared the necessity of saying much, and we have already noticed his overlooking the cases, by which it has been decided that in a civil action the truth of a libel may be given in evidence in mitigation of dainages."

But the fact is, that I have not overlooked any case in print; and that it has not been decided in the cases referred to by the reviewers, nor in any other cases, that the truth of a libel may be given in evidence in mitigation of damages. In the case of the Earl of Leicester v. Walker, which was an action for a libelplea, not guilty: "the defendant's counsel proposed to call witnesses to prove, in mitigation of damages, that before, and at the time, of the publication of the libel, there was a general suspicion of the plaintiff's character and habits; that it was generally rumoured that such a charge had been brought against him, and that his relations and former acquaintances had ceased to visit him. Best, serjeant, for the plaintiff, objected to the admissi bility of this evidence. Shepherd, serjeant, and Abbot, contra. The facts to be proved do not amount to a complete justification. Therefore they may be given in evidence under the general issue, &c. The witnesses were accordingly exanined." 2 Camp. N.P. R. 251.

The case of Lake v. Hatton has been taken notice of in my publication in its 2 R pro¡ er

proper place, page 5; and in Anony. 11 Mod. 99, the language of Holt, Ch. J. is a mere repetition of the last case, "a man may justify in an action upon the case, for words or for a libel; otherwise in an indictment."

But these cases referred to by the reviewers state the practice of special pleading, not of evidence; and corroborate my position that the truth must be pleaded specially, for the defendant will not be permitted to give it in evidence on the general issue. The reviewers, however, by citing cases which they had never read, have blundered into a new position in law, unknown in practice, and contrary to the cases to which the reader is referred.

These enterprizing reviewers, whose names do not appear on the law list, any where between my Lord Chancellor and the bound bailiffs, would do well in consulting Com. Dig. Pleader, L. 2 Str. 1200. 1 T. Rep. 748. Willes. 20. 1 Saund. 130, n. 1. 1 Bos. and Pul. 525. 2 Bos. and Pul. 225. n.a. 4 East, 567. Selw. N. P. 929, and 1066; and they would do better in retiring from the chair of legal criticism, to take their seats for four or five years at the desk of a special pleader. JOHN JONES.

Lower Road, Islington,
Sept. 14, 1813.

For the Monthly Magazine.

PHENICIAN SYMBOLS.

HESEUS, the Numberer or Computer

limit of primary numbers, is captivated with the Lights of Pleasure, the delight ful luminary Aôr-eden, or with intense pleasure, Are-cden, of astronomic science (or TV-NN); the impulse of which guides him through the path (777, Darak), the windings or la byrinths of astronomy. From Darak or Drak to Draco is a very obvious transition. The Dobeh (investigatrix) was perhaps originally the Minotaur, the half human half ferine animal, shut up in this labyrinth, which winds round both the Bears:

Arctos.

Circum perque duos, in morem fluminis, GEORG. And such an image represents man while involved in the mazes through which he has to pass in pursuit of knowledge.

Theseus, however, becomes unfaithful to this celestial attachment: astronomic research is neglected, when Bacchus (Bakkar, or new inquirer, the word signifies to inquire or investigate) revives

this sublime study, and places Ariadne with her 3 (êter chabod) her crown of glory among the stars.

It is remarkable that Beker, with the same radicals, is an Ox; and this, with the similitude of Beoz to Bootes, when astronomy passed from Thrace (whither it had been carried by the Phanicians) into Greece, may have occasioned Bacchus (Bakkar-Beôz), the strong-inquirer, to be called Bootes, Bowls, the or driver.

It appears to me that Jason is no other than Joshua, ¡YWM.

And this will carry (as before) the im portation of our asterisms and their names, and the first outlines of astronomical science, to the flight of the Canaanites, or ancient Phanicians, into Thrace, about 1450 years before the Christian æra, or 3263 before the present time: how much earlier these symbols existed, baffles eren conjecture.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON appears therefore to be perfectly well founded in his main idea.

This great man is in more esteem on the continent than in this his native island. It is growing into a fashion, even for learned and highly deserving persons, to attack his philosophy. Thus his proposition that quantities whose difference continually diminishes must ultimately coincide, or become less distinguishable from each other than any assignable quantity, and therefore (practically) equal, has been attacked. And

gation can pursue, quantities between which we perceive the difference to be less than any thing by which we can estimate it, are equal, and the evanescent incalculable difference may be rejected. Popular language is in this not unfit to be the language of science. You can assign no intelligible difference between this and that. The diagonal of a square has a difference from its side; this specics of rectangle may be drawn out into a physical line, and then the difference coincides or vanishes.

In the same manner, negative quantities, which are so convenient in calculation and intelligible in example, are attacked; and it is triumphantly asked, Can any thing be less than nothing? And yet suppose one person to have 500l. another to have nothing, and ano ther to be 5001. in debt beyond his whole property; the terms are,: +500: 0 :: -500: -0; or, as 5001. in positive property exceeds the absence of property,

SO

so 5001. in negation of property, or debt, falls below the mere absence of property, or neither having nor owing any thing: and I see no advantage in the more modern way of stating it. The practice of merchants agrees with the common sense of mankind in calling this negative quan. tity worse than nothing.

In the same manner, attraction is combated and repulsion asserted by the same author in the same breath; and yet these are reciprocal terms, and express only the fact of the tendency of bodies to or from each other in given circumstances. And if absolute contact be impossible, as the same author admits, there is no more difficulty in supposing the tendency of Sirius to the Sun, or of the Sun to Sirius, and so throughout the universe, than the tendency of the particles of a gold ring to one another, none of which are in real contact. Impulse will not solve the problem,, if by impulse be meant action at no distance; for neither the impelling particles nor the impelled can ever be so circumstanced. Between bo dies which have no distance, there can neither be a mover nor a moved.

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Head-Chief.

Head is Saxon, chief is French, for the same part of the body; and both words are employed metaphorically to designate the superior, the conducting person of an undertaking. The head of a battalion; the chief of a battalion. A head officer; a commander in chief.

If any difference gains ground between these words, it is, that the Saxon appellation, having been immemorially prevalent here, mingles more readily with our civil institutions and domestic habits; whereas the French term, having been imported by military men, remains technical for strategic affairs. Hence to the word head, ideas of mere pre-eminence are attached; but to the word chief, ideas of active spirited soldier-like efficacy. A head-borough. Is the lawyer, or the parson, the head of that parish? He will go to the reformers' dinner, if they will make him head of the company. You may make him head of the company; but the orator Rightipan will re main its chief.

To teach-To learn.

To teach is to give instruction; and to learn is to take instruction. These terins are rather antithetic than synonymous, but they are misdefined by Dr. Trusler, 2R 2 Impediment

Impediment-Obstacle-Obstruction. An impediment (in and pes) shackles the feet; an obstacle (ob and stare) with. stands the person; an obstruction (ob and struo) blocks the passage. The impediment stays; the obstacle resists; the obstruction stops. We must stoop to remove an impediment; we remain erect to surmount an obstacle; we make exertions to pull down an obstruction.

Brightness-Splendor.

The moon is said to shine bright, when there is no mist in the air, when its rays reach us without perturbation; but the quantity of light which emanates from the moon, at its greatest brightness, does not amount to splendor. Splendor is that fulness of light which in some de gree dazzles the human eye. The bright ness of dawn; the splendor of noon. The brightness of a taper; the splendor of a patent lamp. Brightness is opposed to dulness, and splendor to obscurity.

To receive-To accept.

To receive is to take in; and to accept is to take for one's self. I have received the pheasants, and accept them thankfully. What we take in deposit, we receive; what we take in gift, we accept. We receive what is sent us for another; we accept what is sent us for ourselves. To receive a favor, which is to be returned; to accept a favor, which is not to be returned.

Roundness-Rotundity.

Roundness describes circularity, and rotundity describes sphericity. The roundness of a wheel; the rotundity of a turnip. A painter expresses the roundness of an orange by means of the line which bounds the figure; he expresses its rotundity by means of the shadowing which gives apparent protuberance. A round flat face. The rotundity of Sir John Falstaff. On dit la rondeur, et la rotondité, de la terre; la rondeur pour designer sa figure, la rotondité pour de signer sa capacité.-ROUBAUD.

Management-Direction.

Το

Management (from mener) and direction (from dirigere) differ as leading and Tuling. That which is conducted by example is managed; that which is conducted by authority is directed. manage the affairs of a partnership; to direct the affairs of a company. The manager of the theatre, if he is himself an actor; the director of the opera, if he is not one of the performers.

Outside-Appearance.

The outside is the external surface of a

thing; and the appearance is the effect produced by that external surface on the organ of sight. In the dark, objects have still an outside, but no appearance. His present appearance does not harmonise with his general outside, yet I think you caught him in a characteristic un dress.

Silence-Taciturnity.

Silet qui desinit loqui; tacet, qui ne loqui quidem incepit, says Valckenaer in his Philological Observations. He is silent, who does not speak; he is taciturn, who shuns to speak. The loquacious man may be sitting in silence; and the taciturn man may be making an effort at conversation. Silence describes the actual, and taciturnity the habitual, dispos sition.

Talk-Conversation-Discourse-
Dialogue.

Continued verbal intercourse, when accidental, is called conversation; when premeditated, is called discourse; and when recorded, is called dialogue. A cheerful conversation; a formal discourse; an interesting dialogue. The conver sation of yesterday occasioned our meeting by agreement this morning in Chapelfield: if old Fransham had heard the discourse, he would have made a dialogue of it. Talk is less than conversation; it is the driftless interchange of desultory phrases,

Resolution-Determination-Decision.

A choice between action and inaction is a resolution, and between compared motives is a determination; an irrevocable choice is a decision. When we have considered, we resolve; when we have deliberated, we determine; when we have decided, we look back no more. Resolution is opposed to doubt; determination to uncertainty; and decision to hesitation.

Chat-Prate-Tulk.

Chat is welcome, prate is unwelcome talk. At the same time a gossip prates with the husband, chats with the wife, talks with the daughter: to the first she is troublesome, to the second agreeable, to the third indifferent.

Familiar-Intimate.

Easy intercourse is familiarity; close intercourse is intimacy. To be familiar, implies facility of access; to be intimate, implies opportunity of confidence. Intimacy abolishes distance, and familiarity reserve. A familiar is a friend of the house; and an intimate a bosom-friend.

Ferr

For the Monthly Magazine.

POPULATION OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE, according to the Returns of 1811.

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276 2,034 2,215 4,249 2,946 2,946

17,252 21,022 93 257 12831 5,305 2,888 50,756 50,353 (101,109

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Wirrall
City of
Chester
Town of
Macclesfield

Local Mi-}

3,296 3,745 15 161 397 2,296 1,052 7,007 9,133 16,140

2,518 2,728 23 49 244 2,458 26 5,629 6,670 12,299

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