to public notice. We feel considerable regret that a controversy has arisen concerning the comparative merit of men to whom, whatever view of the subject may be taken, the world is under very important obligations: and, as the discussion before us is rather of a personal nature, we do not wish to enter into an examination of the question particularly since the public are already in possession of the principal documents from which an opinion would be formed. Dr. Pearson admits that Dr. Jenner was the first to impart this important discovery to the world; and that there is no reason for believing him to be acquainted with any prior inquiries, the exist ence of which has been asserted.

Art. 40. A Treatise on the Cow-Pox; containing an Enumeration of the principal Facts in the History of that Disease; the Method of communicating the Infection by Inoculation; and the Means of distinguishing between the Genuine and Spurious Cow-Pox. Illustrated by Plates. By George Bell, Surgeon, Edinburgh. 12mo. pp. 115. 38. Boards. Longman and Co.

This little treatise is directed to and principally intended for the use of the clergy of Scotland, who possess great influence on the minds of the people, and have it in their power to be of very consi derable assistance in accelerating the diffusion of vaccine inoculation over that part of the united kingdom. It contains the most material facts on the subject; and we doubt not that it may have its use in still farther extending the knowlege of the vaccine practice.

In performing the operation, the author recommends a puncture to be made between the epidermis and cutis, into which the virus is afterward to be inserted. This appears to be an unnecessary refinement, since the insertion may as effectually be made with one application of an armed lancet. By withdrawing too much matter from the vaccine pustule, he thinks, we may prevent such a quantity of it from being absorbed, as is necessary to produce the required effect on the constitution: but he carries his alarm on this subject to an useless and inconvenient extent, when he enjoins that one pustule should always be left untouched; and indeed there seems to be no ground for the idea which he entertains, unless such a degree of inflammation is produced on the pustule, by abstracting the matter, as will interrupt its usual and regular course.

Mr. Bell mentions, on the authority of Dr. Jenner, as stated in an inaugural dissertation lately published at Glasgow, that sulphur has a remarkable influence in enabling the constitution to resist the infection of Cow-pox. This fact was known from the inoculation of several soldiers failing, immediately after they had concluded a course of friction with sulphur ointment for the itch, though a se* cond insertion of the cow-pox matter, in 2 or 3 weeks afterward, produced the genuine disease.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 41. Hints to Consumers of Wine, on the Abuses which enhance the Price of that Article, their Nature and Remedy. By James Walker, Wine Merchant, Leith. 8vo. pp. 66. Vernor and Hood. 1802.

Many

Many sensible observations will be found in this pamphlet, which discusses a subject interesting to most of our readers. The present enormous price of wine is, according to this author, Imputable in some measure to the inattention of the consumers, and the mismanagement of the merchant. The taxes laid on this article, however, and the expences attending its importation, all which must be paid immediately on its arrival, increase its price in the proportion of nearly two-thirds of its original cost. The merchant must of necessity, independently of his other charges, be paid interest for the money which he is thus obliged to advance: but to obviate in a great degree this inconvenience, Mr. Walker recommends the merchant not to import his wine until it has remained in the country, in which it is made, as long as it is desirable to keep it in wood; by which means, the wines improve more in their native climate in a shorter period, and the interest on two-thirds of the principal is saved. As soon after its arrival as it has recovered from the fatigue of the voyage, the wine merchant (according to Mr. W.) should bottle it, and then the consumer should purchase; letting it remain in his cellar, instead of that of the vendor, during all the interval between its bottling and consumption ;-the purchaser should also pay ready money for the article. By pursuing this method, which saves accumulated interest, and lessens the duration of the risk on the part of the merchant, wines of the best quality might be bought for a sum less by one sixth than the amount of their present price.

Mr. Walker concludes his pamphlet with the following directions:

In the general course of supply, and in every case in which it is possible, let bottled wines, whatever be their quantities, smaller or larger, be bought a proper time before they are wanted for use, taken straight or recent from the wood and laid by, and let them be paid for by ready money. On the other hand, let it be the part of the wine merchant to give such a practice all the encouragement it deserves and requires; let his prices render it beneficial in the highest degree possible. The consumer will find his small trouble amply compensated by his great saving; and the reason of the thing will ever be obvious and strong in this, simple consideration, that twothirds of the price have no origin in the merchant's business, that is, in the capital sunk in the production of his article, (or, what comes to the same thing, its purchase when produced,) but are the mere amount of certain tolls and duties levied upon it when entering the market in a state quite ready for the consumer: and, therefore, that to keep the seller under this advance is needlessly to load the price as heavily as it must of necessity have been loaded, if the capital requisite for the possession of the article had been three times as great as it actually is.'

Mr. W. joins in the common wish that some universal standard for the size of bottles could be enforced; as such a standard would put. an effectual stop to the existence of shameful impositions in this ar ticle. The size sanctioned by the excise statute, namely, that each bottle should be one fifth of a gallon, this writer considers as preferable to other measures; and he represents it as being the most generally adopted in Scotland, containing about seven Scotch gills, rather more than less. In London, the bottles most generally used are what are called good fourteens.

Art.

Art. 42.

Statements submitted to the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society of London. 8vo. 6d. R. Baldwin.

The respectable character of Sir Joseph Banks will receive no injury from these statements; in which, the purport of his letter to the President of the National Institute of France, on being elec ted a foreign associate, is completely misrepresented. He did not compliment the National Institute as the first philosophical (elevating it above our own Royal Society) but only as the first literary society in the world; an epithet which does not belong to that body over which he presides, and which is purely confined to scientific investigation. It is singular that Sir Joseph should have been censured for the omission of the word religion in the abovementioned letter. He probably thought, as well as the writer of the comments before us, that there was little room for complimenting the French on this head; though he might safely introduce a hope of their return to the love of virtue and justice.

This pamphlet is printed at Louth, and is probably the production, of "some d-d good natured friend" in the neigbourhood of Sir Joseph Banks's country seat.

Art. 43. Proverbs; or, the Manual of Wisdom: Being an Alphabetical Arrangement of the best English, Spanish, French, Italian, and other Proverbs. To which are subjoined the Wise Sayings,. Precepts, &c. of the most illustrious Antients. Crown 8vo. 3s. Boards. Kirby.

As far as we can judge from a general review of these proverbs, they appear to be judiciously selected, and to be free from that grossness of language or of sentiment, which is too often the defect of proverbial sayings; and which was, perhaps, the reason that induced Lord Chesterfield to banish them from the mouth of a gentleman.— Yet, whatever praise may be due to this collection, there is a proverbial treatise which we more particularly recommend for the moral and practical wisdom that it contains; we mean the much neglected Proverbs of Solomon."

Art. 44. The Shakspearean Miscellany: Containing a Collection of scarce and valuable Tracts; Biographical Anecdotes of Theatrical Performers, with Portraits of ancient and modern Actors (of many of whom there are no Prints extant); scarce and original Poetry, and curious Remains of Antiquity; viz. The Life and surprising Adventures, Miracles, &c. of the Prophet Abraham, from a MS. translated from the Arabic; Account of John of Eltham, with an illustrative Plate; Account of the Death and Burial of the Princess Elizabeth, Daughter of King Charles the First, with a Plate of her Coffin; The Wicker Chair, a Poem, from the MS. of W. Somerville, Esq.; Two Elegies by Dr. Donne, not in any Edition of his Works; The Country Life, a Poem, by Bishop Corbet, not in any Edition of his Works; A poetical Description of a Journey from Margate to Brighthelmstone by Dr. W. Dodd; Curious Epitaphs in Brighton and Rottingdean Churchyards; The Holy Vengeance, a Scotish Ballad, by F. W. G.; A concise History

of

4to.

of the early English Stage, with Anecdotes and Portraits of the following Authors and Performers, Perkins, Bond, Cartwright, Harris, Pinkethman, Farquhar, Miss Norsa, Theo. Cibber, Redman, and T. Davies. Printed chiefly from MSS. in the Possession of, and with occasional Notes by, F. G. Waldron, Editor of the Literary Museum, Harding's Biographical Mirror, &c. pp. 180. 5s. Boards. Lackington and Allen. 1802. We have with exemplary patience transcribed the whole of this most fatiguing.title page, in order that our readers may, at one view, perceive what a variety of matter is introduced into this single volume. A more heterogeneous collection we never witnessed, nor one from which less of either amusement or information could be derived. -The engravings constitute the only valuable part of the produc

tion.

Art. 45. Extracts from a Correspondence with the Academies of Vienna and St. Petersburg, on the Cultivation of the Arts of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, in the Austrian and Russian Do minions. To which is prefixed a summary Account of the Transactions of the Royal Academy of London, from the Close of the Exhibition 1801, to the Exhibition at Somerset-House 1802. By Prince Hoare, Member of the Academies of Florence and Cortona, and Secretary for Foreign Correspondence to the Royal Academy of London. 4to. pp. 50. 2s. 6d. White.

1802.

When the author of this publication was appointed secretary for foreign correspondence to our Royal Academy, he communicated to the president and council a design of opening a correspondence with the different academies of Europe, for the purpose of obtaining a general knowlege of the Fine Arts in various countries, as well as of learning the particular degrees of their respective encouragement and cultivation. A design so laudable in itself, and promising such advantages, was naturally approved; and the present pamphlet contains some of the communications which were made in consequence of the letters written by Mr. Hoare. We are presented with a short view of the state of the fine arts at Vienna and at St. Petersburg, with an account of several of their regulations, the first furnished by M. Fuger, President of the Imperial Academy, and the latter by M. Labzin, the perpetual secretary of the academy at St. Petersburg. A history of the Plastic Arts at Vienna by J. R. Fuseli (brother of the celebrated painter) was transmitted at the same time by M. Fuger, from which several extracts are made. In return for these communications, the president of our academy has been desired to prepare an account of the historical work from the sacred writings, in which he has been long engaged by his Britannic Majesty; and Messrs. Banks and Flaxman are likewise commissioned to draw up an account of the national works of sculpture about to be executed.

It is pleasing to contemplate such an interchange of good offices, from which considerable advantages to the cause of the Fine Arts may reasonably be expected; and we trust that the particulars of so Honourable a correspondence will continue to be given to the public.

Art.

Art. 46. A Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain; divided into Journeys. Interspersed with useful Observations, particularly calculated for the Use of those who are desirous of travelling over England and Scotland. By the Rev. C. Cruttwell, Author of the Universal Gazetteer., 6 Vols. 8vo. 21. 8s. Boards. Robinsons.

This publication must be considered as a new edition of a work which was printed for the eighth time in the year 1778, and of which in our 59th volume we spoke in terms of commendation. The author has acknowleged his obligations, which are indeed many and obvious, to the persevering industry of his predecessors: but he arraigns, rather unnecessarily, their want of plan.

Mr. Cruttwell informs us, in his preface, that he has in the present volumes divided the whole of the kingdom into different journeys, as the roads from London may extend, wishing to note all places of which any thing can be recorded worthy the attention of the traveller or the reader; as much as he could, adding historical information to local description, and preferring plain narrative to beautiful or ornamental language. In the first volume, he has given a short view of the history of England, of Wales, and of Scotland; with a survey of each of the counties respecting their antient and their present state, their agriculture, commerce, parliamentary consequence, and population; and this by way of introduction, that the journeys might be less interrupted with observations, in themselves proper, but more applicable to the state of the country at large than the parti cular town or village in review: this occupies half the first volume. To London and Westminster, with their additions, the remaining part of the volume is allotted; and yet such are the grandeur, commerce, trade, and buildings, of these united cities, that the history and description of their several parts must be necessarily short. From London, the itinerary begins on the right bank of the Thames through Kent to Dover, and proceeds from the south and west progressively towards the north and east, till the reader is brought to the left bank of the Thames in the county of Essex. The journeys through England and Wales, with the islands round the coast of the whole of Great Britain, occupy the second, third, fourth, and fifth volumes. The sixth and last is appropriated to the roads of Scotland only.'

In the summary view of the history of England, we meet with the following observation: In the court of King's Bench, there are four judges, the Lord Chief Justice being the first in rank; here matters are determined by common law between the crown and the subject. The court of Common Pleas tries all causes and civil actions between one person and another.'-From this passage, the reader would naturally infer that the court of King's Bench had no jurisdiction over civil actions; when in fact it possesses, independently of its authority in criminal cases, a concurrent jurisdiction over personal actions with the court of Common Pleas which latter court has an exclusive jurisdiction over real actions only, and they are of very rare

occurrence.

We have carefully examined many of these journeys, and com pared them with the accounts contained in the former edition; and,

though