Rise and Progress of the Royal Navy" seem to rank in the present chapter rather than in any other. The numerous tables which accompany the work appear to be calculated with accuracy, and to give a fair estimate of the number of ships and tonnage, &c. of their several classes at different periods. Our author commences the history of the British navy with the reign of Henry VII. It is generally, we believe, dated from that of Henry VIII.; but as the former prince is well known to have been possest of one large ship, it certainly may be transferred to the period here proposed. As a book of frequent reference we can cordially recommend the publication before

us.

All danger of invasion from the French coasts having been of late supposed to have ceased, the greater part of the attention which was antecedently bestowed on this subject has ceased with it; and we are no longer overpowered with those miscellaneous tracts on military and internal tactics, that at

one time swarmed forth from the press, and which perhaps, from the change of the political horizon, may soon swarm forth again. On the present occasion we shall only notice a single anonymous octavo, entitled "Observations on the Use of Light Armour." This volume is intended to revive the old practice of wearing a body-fence. called jakes, and which were no other than quilted waistcoats, covered with narrow plates of thin iron, so intersected as to allow of every muscular motion. The rapidity of modern tactics, which has made side-arms of more consequence than almost at any time, and which has so often plunged hostile division into close contact with hostile division, seems to have made a revival of this defence an object of expediency. And though we cannot give much commendation to the bombast and glittering style in which this book is written, we have at least thought the ob servations it contains worthy of propagation, and have noticed it accordingly.

THE

THE late disturbances and the present fermentation in Ireland have fixed the general eye of mankind upon this part of the united empire for many years, and still prevent it from wandering. Its history and its politics, the moral disposition and religion of the multitude, have been examined in every

possible attitude, and in publications of every shape and tendency. Still the subject is by no means exhausted, and we are yet called to the consideration of new histories, and new political tracts. We shall commence this chapter with noti cing Mr. Gordon's "History of Ireland, from the earliest Accounts

to the Accomplishment of the Union with Great Britain in 1801, in two volumes, 8vo." This is a judicious and convenient compendium of Irish history: the language is in general correct and pure, though occasionally characterized by the creation of new terms, and attempts at new modes of phrasing. The political principles of our author lead him to a love of popular freedom and catholic emancipation: yet these principles , are restrained within due bounds, and his loyalty is unimpeachable and satisfactory. The first volume opens with a geographical sketch of the country; examines with much brevity the traditionary periods of Druidism, and the earliest Christian missions, and treats with due contempt the wonderful legends which are generally crowded into this primæval epoch, and constitute its most prominent features. It proceeds in a steady and temperate track through the different centuries of real history, from the arrival of Robert Fitzstephen in Ireland, in 1170, and closes with the civil wars that devastated the country anterior to the commonwealth. The whole of these trans actions are divided into twenty-six chapters. The second volume begins with twenty-seven, and extends to chapter forty-seven. It traces the affairs of Ireland under the discreet administration of Henry Cromwell, a man, perhaps, of as much disinterestedness and public spirit, as his father was of selfishness and personal ambition; the restoration of the Stuart dynasty, accompanied with enormous confiscations and popular commotions; the confiscations of the revolution, by which many families were re-instated in possessions that the restoration wrenched away from them; the

political animosities that divided the country through the period of American dissentions and hostilities; the influence of the French revolution on the feelings and inclinations of the people; the entire scope of the measures which have been pursued to obtain catholic emancipation; the provincial and secret committees formed at different times to carry these measures into effect; and the influence produced upon the hopes of the catholics by the accomplishment of the Union, with which great aud glorious event it closes. The two prime benefits which our author tells us were expected by the Irish nation as the immediate consequence of the unity of empire, were "a commutation of tithes, and the abolition of all political disabilities in catholics. By the former," he continues, "would agriculture be encouraged, violent discontents a gainst the maintenance of the protestant clergy be banished, and the clerical character rendered more respectable. The last consequence of commutation must be evident to all persons acquainted with the degrading circumstance of wrangling for tithes, and enforcing their payment on miserable peasants, to which the clergy are compelled by the present systems. By catholic enfranchisement would the union of the British people throughout the united kingdom be completed, and protestant ascendancy secured of the empire. That measures of such prime advantage should be sa long prevented by a spirit of narrow policy, must be a matter of deep regret; for when powers on the continent of Europe are, by the natural course of events, growing into enormous magnitude by the absorption of the weaker states, what have the British land's for the

preservation of their independence but their aqueous barriers, firm union at home, and a wholesome system of government, promotive particularly of agriculture, the great source and only solid foundation of national wealth for the maintenance of fleets and armies. To the Roman catholic religion I am far from being a friend: it endungeons human reason, the only light with which we are furnished by our Creator for discriminating between real and fictitious revelation. Its intolerant spirit has far surpassed that of all others, even the Mahommedan. For under what other system of worship can we find in history such courts of inquisition, such national massacres, and such numbers with solemn formality burned alive for a mere difference of opinion? By a mental thraldom it has degraded the human species, and paralysed their industry! But the spirit of papal intolerance is broken: the revolution of France has inflicted a mortal wound. Commixed with protestants, and vested with no predominant power, the catholics are as good members of society as any other description of men whatever: a more kind-hearted and obliging people than the catholics of Ireland I am persuaded can no where be found, and I must confess that I feel for them a strong affection; nor can I entertain a doubt of their inviolable attachment to British government, if they were once fully admitted to an unqualified participation of its benefits." We shall soon have occasion to advert to this subject more at large; and shall at present only observe, that however attached to the Irish catholics our author appears to be, as well from principle as affection, he feels more than half afraid of trusting them not

withstanding: for if his proposition. be true, that it is only while they are "vested with no predominant power, that the catholics are as good members of society as any other description of men," it must follow of necessity, that the moment they are enabled by any means to obtaina predominancy of power, they will cease to be as good members of society as other descriptions of men. Without entering into the question on either side at present, we shall mere. ly remark, that we have not heard a stronger argument advanced by their enemies than is here advanced by one of their advocates, for continuing the restraints to which they have been so long subject. We believe it is not this opinion, but one far less hostile towards them, that has thus far prevented, and is, for some years, likely to prevent their shackles from being loosed, and their emancipation rendered complete.

"Journal of the Transactions in Scotland during the Contest be tween the Adherents of Queen Mary and those of her Son, 1570-1573, by Richard Bannatyne, Secretary to John Knox, 8vo. p. 50." This is a curious and important document. The peculiar situation of Bannatyne, while it rendered him inimical to the cause of this accomplished princess, afforded him abun dant opportunities of acquiring minute information upon subjects that must have been inaccessible to every one without the pale of the corps diplomatique and there is much reason to suppose that the work before us was drawn up with the express purpose, as we knew it was offered with the express wish, of being printed among the memorials selected for publication by the general assembly of the kirk, soon alter the death of Knox. Our au

thor, however, for some cause we are unacquainted with, did not succeed in his application; and it has hence remained as a manuscript authority, to be consulted by all who are desirous, and have opportunity of plunging into the most genuine archives of Scottish history. Into whose care it was at first committed we know not. Towards the beginning of the last century it was in the possession of Robert Miln, and the handwriting was generally supposed to be Bannatyne's own: it bears credible evidence of being a manuscript of his own æra, if not his actual autograph. In 1748 it was transferred to the advocate's library, at Edinburgh, where it has continued ever since, and has been examined and quoted by Crawford, Goodall, and other historiographers. In its present state, however, it is imperfect, the first eighteen pages being wanting these are supposed to have opened with an account of the death of regent Murray, and perhaps with the circumstances of the murder of Darnley; the imprudent marriage of Mary with Bothwell; the rebellion that ensved; the defeat of the Scottish queen; her imprisonment at Lochlevin, and escape into England, that immediately preceded this atrocity; and our editor, Mr. John Graham Dalyell, has filled up the introductory vacuity with a sketch of these events in a manner that does credit to his chronological talents. The journal of Bannatyne immediately succeeds this introduction, accompanied with notes from the editor, which has so much pleased us, that we regret they have been so sparingly interspersed.

At the close of the journal are subjoined, 1. Letters from Secretary Maitland, and the Earl of Mortown, written in 1572. 2. An Account of the Death

of the Earl of Huntly, in 1576. 3. Confession of the Earl of Mortown, 1581. 4. Mutual Aggressions by the contending Factions: a document, in point of time, anterior to the three preceding, and exhibiting an anachronism that might easily had been avoided.

"Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, Governor of Nottingham Castle, Town, &c. with origi-,. nal Anecdotes of many of the most distinguished of his Cotemporaries, and a summary Review of Public Affairs: written by his Widow, Lucy, Daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, Lieutenant of the Tower, &c. now first published from the original Manuscript, by the Rev. Julius Hutchinson, 4to." This is by far the most valuable piece of national history that has reached us in the course of the year to which our labours are directed. It is true that it blends private history with public; but we cannot consent that it should on this account sink into a book of mere family biography: the excellent editor of the work, and descendant of its exemplary author, has well characterized it when he tells us that it chronologizes “a period most remarkable in the British annals, written one hundred and fifty years ago, by a lady of elevated birth, of a most compre hensive and highly cultivated mind, herself a witness of many of the scenes she describes, and active in several of them.” There is a moral and literary elegance and excellence in the midst of comparative barbarity and rudeness; a liberality of sentiment in the midst of bigotry; an intrepid honesty of heart in the midst of political defection and religious hypocrisy; a delicacy and tenderness of domestic feeling in the midst of camps and chaos-which stamp a ' value upon these memoirs that few

others

others can boast, and no others exceed. We have given the most convincing proof we could offer of our thorough persuasion of their merit, by the ample extracts we have made from them in a preceding department of this volume: we beg the editor to accept our sincere thanks for the treat he has afforded us, and we sincerely lament that they have thus long been secluded from the public eye. They are a gem of inappreciable value, whether regarded as national documents, or as specimens of polite literature. It would be unjust in us not to add, that the original autograph is at this moment in the editor's hands.

But literary merit, domestic virtue, and moral goodness, are not confined to any single political party, dependent upon any individual set of diplomatic characters, or religious opinions: and we now allude to an anonymous, but, we believe, authentic publication of "Original Memoirs, written during the Great Civil War," of which by far the larger part consists of memoirs of sir Henry Slingsby, written by himself, and containing a tolerably fair, and very interesting account of the facts and manners of the times in which he lived and suffered. Sir Henry Slingsby was a man of a warm and honest heart, and an unquenchable perseverance in the cause of the Stuart dynasty: yet by intermarriages he was closely connected with the chief families of the opposite party; and hence, notwithstanding his frequent attempts to gain over the officers of the different casties in which he was successively confined, and to which in consequence of a communication of these various tamperings to the protector, he was successively transferred he was not brought to his trial till nearly three years after

his arrest, which was at Hull, in 1655. Cromwell was afraid of juries, as well he might be; and hence he had the audacity to invent another sort of tribunal, which he called, the bigh court of justice, in which the commissioners, chosen from his own creatures, united the characters of judges and jurors. It was before this court sir Henry Slingsby was arraigned: he denied its juris diction, and demanded, a trial, by jury. His demand was not complied with; he was tried before the high court, May 25, 1658, found guilty of high treason, and, on June Sth, beheaded on Tower Hill-a sentence to which he submitted with much fortitude. His remains were deposited in a chapel belonging. to his family, in the church at Knaresborough. The other arti cles in the collection before us are of less interest. They consist of "Memoirs of Capt. John Hodgson, of Coalley-Hall, near Halifax," containing a narrative of his persecations, in consequence of the Restoration, as well as of the movements of the parliamentary army, anterior to this event, in which he commanded a company: but the style is coarse, and the manner uninviting. The additional papers are official documents respecting Cromwell's campaign in Scotland. These, as records of authority, may be of service to the historian, but few besides the historian will ever peruse them.

"History of the Campaign of 1805, in Germany, Italy, the Ty. roi, &c. by William Burke, Svo." The short but important series of transactions that frost put Germany into the hands of Bonaparte; that enabled him, by a single manoeuvre, to swallow up the grand army of Austria; to seize possession of its capital within three weeks from the commencement of the campaign;