that the barton of Upton, one of the principal farms in Gurthian, was thus overwhelmed; that his great grandfather remembered the occupier residing in the farm-house, which was nearly buried in one night, the family being obliged to make their escape from the chamber-windows. It is very remarkable that the ruins of this house, which had never been seen by the oldest man living, were again exposed to view, in consequence of the shifting of the sands in the winter of 1808-9. The present rector remembers two fields Jost at Gurthian, having been buried with sand ten or twelve feet deep. The church-town would have shared the same fate, had it not been prevented by the timely exertions of the church-wardens, who, with all possible expedition, caused large plantations to be made of a species of rush, which grows abundantly in that neighbourhood, and by the rapid spreading of its long fibrous roots affords the only known method of checking the progress of the sands." P. 130.

"The parish of Piran, in Sabulo, is said to have been the residence and burial-place of St. Piran, the patron of the tinners, of whom the legend, as given by Hals, is, that "he swam over from Ireland on a mill-stone, and lived 200 years after his emigration:" but this differs from Capgrave's account, who says nothing of the millstone; his story is, that after having lived to the age of 200 years and upwards, and finding his health declining, he determined to end his days in Cornwall.' The two preceding parishes take their names from the same saint. This parish,' as Carew observes, 'but too well brooketh his surname in Sabulo, for the light sand carried up by the north-wind from the sea-shore, daily continueth his covering and marring the land adjoynant, so as the distresses of this deluge drave the inhabitants to remove their church : howbeit when it meeteth with any crossing brooke, the same (by a secret antipathy) restraineth and barreth his farder incroaching that way.' It was, probably, in consequence of this notion, that the inhabitants thinking such situation secure, removed their church only about 300 yards, it being on the opposite side of a brook: in the old church was the shrine of St. Piran in which his relics were carefully preserved: there was a great resort of Pilgrims to make oblations at this shrine, as appears by a deed in the registry of the see of Exeter, bearing date 1485. The brook above-mentioned, having been dried up by the adits made from time to time for the purpose of working the mines, the new church lost all the protection it could have derived from it and Borlase; in a MS. account of an excursion in 1755, speaks of it as being then in no little danger, the sands being spread all around it.' It stood among the sand-hills, with only a solitary cottage near it, half buried in sand, and the porch frequently so blocked up that it was difficult to obtain entrance; it was determined therefore, about ten years ago, to build a new church near the village of Lambourn, and the centre of the parish. Thither the pillars and the font, which appear to have be longed to the original church, were removed, and the new church

was

was consecrated by Dr. Fisher, then Bishop of Exeter, in 1805. When we visited Perran-Sabulce in that year, the former church, which had been unroofed was nearly filled with sand." P. 263.

Had the etymology of the names of places been inserted, as they occurred, it would have been a useful and pleasant addition. This omission, indeed, is much to be regretted, as the old Cornish names are, for the most part, accurately descriptive of the places themselves, and not unfrequently present a local miniature to the mind's eye; many of the following terms will fully justify our remark:

The reader who wishes to enter into this part of the subject more at large, will do well to consult Mr. Polwhele's History of Cornwall, where he will find much information in this curious and entertaining part of provincial etymology.

From the many pages of additions and corrections, that precede the index, &c. &c. &c. we should almost conceive, that our authors had misplaced their confidence in several of their Cornish friends. For the errors of the book relate chiefly to present persons and present transactions: and it is to the negligence and inaccuracy of their correspondents that we must of necessity ascribe them. The report, indeed, of numerous mistakes or inadvertencies

(besides

(besides those already specified in the pages above) has reached us. But these mistakes are, in general, unimportant, sometimes even imaginary. Often, in truth, to adopt the alteration of the corrector, would be, to introduce a blemish or a blot, where the speck was before scarcely discernible.

Such sort of trifling and silly criticisms are the lot espe→ cially of provincial authorship. A mistake in the genealogy of an obscure family; the miscalculation of a seventh degree of cousinship, or some such trivial error, will often furnish provincial critics with a handle for much needless and absurd asperity; while, of the various high qualifications and powers necessary to the accomplishment of so vast an undertaking as the present, they form no adequate conception; nor, for the learning, the judgment, the laborious exertion, and the persevering ingenuity, so uniformly here exhibited, do they entertain the slightest respect.

ART. IV. A compressed View of the Points to be discussed in treating with the United States of America. Richardson. 1814.

pp. 39.

THIS little work at the time of its publication was well cal culated to enlighten the public mind on the points which then existed for discussion between this country and the United States. The negotiation at Ghent has terminated in a treaty; but hostilities between the contending powers are not yet suspended. Our Government thinks it expedient not to relax its warlike efforts, till pacification upon the terms agreed to in the treaty is inade certain by the ratification of the American government. The uninterrupted continuation of hostilities after a provisional treaty of peace has been concluded, we believe to be unusual; but when we recollect the origin of the war and its avowed object, and the means by which our enemy lately threatened to sustain it, we are sure that his majesty's government discharges its important duty by a vigorous prosecution of the contest on our part, till the faith of America shall be determinately pledged to observe the compact made by the ambassadors.

While we wait most anxiously for the ratification of the treaty by the President of the United States, we are aware of the possibility that it may be withholden. The great usurper, whose fall was the restoration of peace to this Eastern world, might seemingly have averted his fate by a very late abandonment of those principles which had rendered his tyranny incompatible with general safety. But Buonaparte had proclaimed, that bis. revolutionary

revolutionary power should predominate over all opposition, aud he feared that by conceding to the Allies what would have rendered his future aggressions either hopeless or difficult, he would forfeit the only hold which he retained upon the fidelity of his subjects. They never loved him as their prince, but in supporting him while the full tide of success poured in from every quarter, and while the promises of the future equalled the brilliancy of the past, they found their natural vanity no less than their national power promoted, and all the views of their ambitious grandeur gratified, and patiently submitted to the domestic yoke. That charm dissolved, the career of Buonaparte ended. Mr. Madison has made unbounded promises to the sorry and selfish nation over whom he presides, and his prowess has been principally shown in an attempt to render them independant of established laws which have been so long recognized by civilized communities. The remaining colonies of England he was to reduce by conquest; his ships were to struggle for victory with the fleets which had conquered in every part of the ocean; on that vast continent of North America no European state was to retain any dominion; and the injured Indians were in future to subsist as the slaves of his precarious permission and will. The same causes which produced the fall of the Corsican usurper, may have a similar tendency in determining the fate of his humble imitator, Mr. Madison; for in abandoning all his proud pretensions, it is not improbable that he may abandon also his com→ mand over the American nation. The war which raged in both hemispheres may find a similar termination in the abdication of more than one presuming adventurer.

Our disagreement with America originated in a practical claim asserted by that country to avail itself of that colonial trade, from which, in times of peace, the policy of the parent states excludes all foreign competition, thus deriving an undue advantage from the war which desolated Europe, depriving this country of the fruits of its naval superiority, and relieving the enemy from the pressure of our hostility. The English Courts of Admiralty admitted the right of America to extend her accustomed trade to the utmost limit of which it was capable, but denied her right to exercise a trade which all nations prohibit in times of peace, and which the enemy himself (though his maritime weakness made it ridiculous) expressly prohibited in war under penalty of confiscation, if destined to a British port, by the decrees of Milan and Berlin.

In order to prevent such illegal traffic by which our commercial rivals were enriched, our enemy sustained, and our merchants deprived of the reward of victory, we claimed the right of searching neutral vessels on the high seas, and of seizing those

which were engaged in that prohibited commerce. This right. was previously claimed by the enemy in the decrees of Milan and Berlin, and was necessarily adopted on our part if we were to enforce the legal principle which restrains such interdicted

commerce.

The American government maintained that commerce against all remonstrance. The question was discussed with unfriendly pertinacity year after year, and at length was involved with another claim more expressly contrary to the laws of nations, and at least equally destructive to the interests of Great Britain.

The tie of allegiance between the country and its native subjects, is by the laws of every state indissoluble. But the Americans asserted a right to relieve British subjects from the indelible obligation which they owe to their own country, by conferring on them Letters of Naturalization, acknowledging them as citizens of the United States. By this outrageous principle the British seaman was emancipated from the service of his natural sovereign, placed immediately in commercial rivalship with his native country, and made liable to be involved in a traiterous support of the enemies of that country. The principle was of course resisted on our part. We asserted and practised the right of searching for such renegado mariners, and that practice the Americans resisted. These were the matters of disagreement which gave occasion to the war, which the Government of the United States at length insolently denounced against us.

The war thus unjustly commenced was most injuriously conducted. An invasion of our Canadian territories being projected, the neighbouring Indians were forced into the contest, and their states invaded. The accustomed laws of war were no more regarded, than the rules of pacific relations had been observed before hostilities commenced. Plunder was the incentive used to stimulate the soldiery, and authorized rapine ensued. But the brave Canadians, firm in loyalty, repelled the invasion. and the tide of success turned against the Americans. The President, like his master, the late Emperor of the French republic, maintained his insolence, even on the very verge of ruin. Though his capital had been in our power, and universal alarm, pervaded the whole of his territory, he advanced yet bolder pretensions. He threatened to drive us from the Continent, and prepared to give vigour to his threats by adopting the dreadful expedient of a military conscription.

Our author, in these circumstances of the contending parties, proceeds to compress the points for discussion in a negotiation for peace. As to the questions in which the war originated, he, passes them over almost in silence, not doubting that our, maritime rights will be preserved inviolate. He enforces the

necessity