"Part the fecond contains an account of a furvey carried on in Kent, in the years 1795 and 1796, with the small inftrument, by order of the Mafter-General, for completing a map of the eastern and fouthern parts of that county, for the use of the Board of Ordnance, and the military commanders on the coast." The first part is divided into four fections, the first of which contains fix articles, namely; I. Of particulars relating to the operations of the year 1795. II. Angles taken in the year 1795. III. Of particulars relating to the operations of the year 1796. IV. Angles taken in the year 1796. V. Situation of the ftations. And VI. Demonftration of Mr. de Lambre's formulæ in the Connoiffance des Temps of 1793, for reducing a distance on the sphere to any great circle near it, or the contrary. By Nevil Mafkelyne, D. D. F. R. S. and Aftronomer Royal. The fecond fection contains calculations of the fides of the great triangles, carried on from the termination of the feries published in the Philofophical Tranfactions of 1795, along the coafts of Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall, to the Land's End. The third fection is fubdivided into four articles, which upon the whole contain the heights of the stations, and the terrestrial refractions at the different places of observation; together with the elevations and depreffions of thofe places. The fourth fection is fubdivided into five articles, and contains the fecondary triangles, in which two angles only have been obferved. The fecond part is divided into three fections; the first of which is entitled, account of a trigonometrical furvey carried on in Kent, in the years 1795 and 1796, with the fmall circular inftrument, and is divided into fix articles; I. Particulars refpecting the inftrument. II. Situations of the stations on which obfervations were made with the small circular inftrument, in the fummer of the year 1795. III. Triangles for determining the distances of the ftations. IV. Secondary triangles. V. Triangles carried over another part of Kent, in 1795, with remarks. And VI. Secondary triangles. The fecond fection defcribes the operations performed in 1796, with the small circular inftrument; and is fubdivided into three articles, I. Situations of the stations. II. Triangles for finding the distances of the stations. And III. Secondary triangles. The third fection contains the distances of the objects intersected in the survey with the small circular inftrument, from the the meridian of Greenwich, and from the perpendicular to that meridian: alfo their latitudes and longitudes. The three articles into which this last section is divided, are entitled, I. Bearings and Distances, 1795. II. Bearings and Distances of the Stations, and interior Objects, interfected in 1796. III. Latitudes and Longitudes of Objects interfected in 1795. The refults of the operations here defcribed are exbibited in two most accurate plates, which accompany the paper; the first of which contains a delineation of that part of the fouth coaft of this island, which lies between the weltern extremity of Cornwall, and the meridian of Barrow-Down in Dorfetshire, with the principal triangles of the furvey. The fecond plate contains the part of the coast of Kent and Suffex, which lies between the meridian of Beachey-Head and the North Foreland, together with a delineation of the inland part; namely, of the roads, hills, &c. to a confiderable extent. Alfo the triangles which were taken for the purpose of ascertaining the fituations of thofe places. This part of the volume of the Philofophical Tranfactions concludes with a lift of the prefents received by the Royal Society from November, 1796, to July, 1797: and an Index to the whole volume for 1797. ART. III. The Baronage of Scotland; containing an hiftorical and genealogical Account of the Gentry of that Kingdom; collected from the public Records and Chartularies of the Country; the Records of private Families; and the Works of our beft Hiftorians. Illuftrated with Engravings of the Coats of Arms. Vol. I. Folio. 11. 11s. 6d. Bell and Bradfute, Edinburgh; Cadell and Davies, London. 1798. THE value of fuch a work as this will be differently esti mated, according to the preconceived opinions of its different readers; while it will be entirely rejected as unworthy of perufal, by fuch as have filled their heads with the new and fantaflical notions of the imprefcriptible rights and equality of men. That mankind have in general the fame powers of mind, and the fame organs of body, though not all in the fame degree of perfection, is doubtlefs as well known to the editors of the Baronage of Scotland, as to the most flaming partizan of the Jacobinical fect. But as long as men thall continue to employ their talents to very different purposes, inequalities of rank and of fortune muft neceffarily arife in every country, C BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XII. JULY, 1798. where where merit is rewarded, and property protected; and the hiftory of thofe families whofe ancestors raised themselves, or were raised by their fovereigns, above the common level of their fellow citizens, tends, in no fmall degree, to ftimulate honeft industry, and to excite heroic exertion. Nor is this the only useful tendency of fuch publications. In a country, which engroffes the greater part of the commerce of Europe, and among whofe inhabitants luxury is very generally diffufed, large fortunes are fometimes fuddenly acquired; and though we do not implicitly receive what Dr. Johnson certainly did not literally mean, that "there is always a fcoundrelifm about a new man," yet we think it undeniable, that the fudden acquifition of riches is too often the parent of infolence; and of infolence the more intolerable, that it is generally displayed towards merit obfcured by poverty. To reprefs this fpirit in the petulant upftart, nothing contributes fo much as the honour which is attached to an ancient pedigree. The Commiffary, who has grown rich by the plunder of his country, and occupies perhaps the eftate on which he was formerly fteward, while he treats with contemptuous kindness the curate of the parish, or the village furgeon, fhrinks back towards his original station, in the prefence of him, whose family has been established for two hundred years. This may be called prejudice, but it is a falutary prejudice; and if it be true, that Fate never wounds more deep the generous heart, Than when a blockhead's infult points the dart, no wife or good man would wish to eradicate from the breast a fentiment by which fuch darts are forcibly repelled. But are not thofe, who inherit large eftates from a long line of ancestors, as contemptuous and infolent to obfcure merit, as thofe who have fuddenly acquired their wealth by their own efforts or induftry? Doubtlefs this fometimes happens; but it certainly is not a general cafe. The man who inherits an eftate, has not the balance of his mind deftroyed by unexpected profperity; he is in poffeffion of nothing but what he looked for from the years of his childhood; and if his education has been what it ought to have been, it must have ftrongly impreffed upon his mind, the duty of maintaining the honour of an ancient houfe, by a conduct at once eafy, dignified and generous. So true is it, as the editors of this work obferve, that "the propriety of preferving the genealogies of families cannot be reasonably queftioned.' "The genius, the virtues, and the atchievements of eminent men, ought to be remembered; and even thofe, who, though not prominent in public affairs, or engaged in purfuits interesting to strangers, had in their private fphere, demeaned themfelves with propriety, and fupported the the line of an antient family with refpectability, ought not to be forgotten. The line of a family may fail, but fuch a publication as the prefent will preferve it in the recollection of posterity.” It will be recollected, that in Scotland, there were two diftin&t claffes of Barons, the greater and the lefs. The greater were the nobility, dignified with the title of Earls, &c. The lefs were the freeholders of landed eftates, who, though their privileges and fortunes were not equal to thofe of the nobles, were entitled as well as they to fit and vote perfonally in the Scottish parliament; which, as most of our readers doubtless know, confifted of but one houfe or council. A commoner, or untitled Earon, fometimes even prefided in that houfe, as speaker or chancellor. In the work, of which the first volume is now before us, it is propofed to delineate the genealogies of the Smaller Barons, or, in other words, of the Baronets and other freeholders of ancient defcent; by tracing the line of their an cestry, enumerating their intermarriages, mentioning their employments, whether civil or military, and recording the public atchievements which have been performed by the moft eminent members of the different families. By.much the greater part of this volume was long ago compiled and printed by Sir Robert Douglas, Baronet, who had, fometime before, publifhed a copious account of the greater Barons or nobility of Scotland; but the completion of the work has been referved for men, who feem more capable of doing it juftice than Sir Robert Douglas. Without calling in queftion the baronet's knowledge of the ancient hiftory of his country, we may fafely affirm, that he had either been very indolent, er poffeffed no talents for arrangement; for in his part of the volume he feems to have) fent to the prefs, without method or order, the hiftory of each family, just as the materials were furnished to his hand. Hence it is, that the accounts of the different families are fo confufedly intermixed, that he who wishes to trace any one of them through its various ramifications, muft hunt for the particular branches through upwards of five hundred folio pages. Of this enormous defect, the prefent editors feem to be abundantly fenfible; and having done every thing in their power to remedy it, by a copious and accurate index, they promife to adopt a more fyftematic arrangement in the fubfequent volumes. The arrangement which they ought to adopt, is indeed very obvious, and has doubtlefs been well digefted by themfelves; yet as we with fuccefs to an undertaking, which, if judiciously executed, may certainly be of national utility, we fhall take the liberty to offer a few hints to their confideration, of which they may make what use they pleafe. C 2 โจ In Scotland, as in every other country, where the feudal fyftem has been fully eftablifhed, the families of ancient defcent are divided into clans. Of thefe clans each has a chief; but to ascertain to whom the chieftainfhip belongs, is fometimes a task of no little difficulty; and the hiftorian who attempts it, is in danger, when there are competitors, of giving offence to more than one of his readers. So late as the year 1774, Mac Leod, of Raafey, was almoft offended at Dr. Johnfon, for having, in his Journey to the Western Islands, faid that Mac Leod, of Dunvegan, was acknowledged as chief of the clan. This hazard the editors of the Baronage of Scotland must however be contented to run; otherwise it seems to us altogether impoffible to give to their work a fyftematical arrangement. Having afcertained, on the best évidence which they can procure, the tamily which has the jufteft claim to the chieftainship over the other families of the fame name, they fhould begin with tracing that family from its origin down to the prefent day, barely mentioning, as they proceed in the order of defcent, the various branches which have fucceflively fprung from it. They will thus delineate, without confufion, the pedigree of the chief family of the clan; and by proceeding from it through its various branches, beginning with the branch which fprung from the parent (tock at the most remote period, they will be able, in the compafs of not many pages, to give a Juminous view of the history of the whole clan. The clans themselves fhould be ranged according to their feniority, the eldeft occupying the first place; and if the dulnefs of genealogical detail be occafionally relieved by fuch biographical anecdotes as they have publifhed of the family of Hawthornden, a work may be published on this plan, which fhall be at onceentertaining and inftructive, and which will undoubtedly command a very extensive sale. ART. IV. A Treatise on Chirurgical Difeafes, and on the as to render it unneceffary that we fhould give any ace count of its contents. The edition from which this tranflation |