representation of real life. But, inftead of comedies, why are we continually deluged with five-act farces? Thefe, furely, cannot be confidered as tru: pictures of the times, any more than caricatures can be esteemed correct likeneffes; and it must be obvious to the dif cerning eye, that time will have the same effect upon one as upon the other! and, in the next century, the comedies of Reynolds and O'Keeffe will be no more understood than the etchings of modern caricaturists!

We might fuppofe that the mufe of comedy flept, were it not that fome rays of genius, at intervals, penetrate the gloom of infipidity. Perhaps, from fome remains of partiality to the age in which we live, we may not be willing to admit the fuperiority of our predeceffors in point of humour; but, if we are here compelled to relinquifh our claim, we can ftill boaft that, if we poffefs not the wit of Dryden, Congreve, and Vanbrugh, we are not oppreffed with their obfcenity. Our deficiency, however, remains to be proved; but while we celebrate the wits of the day, let not the unmeaning punfters of the hour be named.

To the delicate pen of fir Richard Steele, followed by that of Cumberland, do we in a great measure owe the prefent refinement of legitimate comedy, which, purged from the grofs indelicacies and infamous double entendres of the laft age, the eye of modesty may fearlessly behold.

As a fentimental writer, Cumberland seems to ftand foremost in the lifts for fame; while Morton, more fuccefsfully combining fenfe and fentiment with humour, reigns the first favourite of the hour. The dormant mufe of Sheridan, buried in the din of party, forgets the laurels fhe has won, elfe might her neglectful votary confole himself, that if he is thwarted by oppofition within the walls of St. Stephen, he is peerlefs within thofe of Drury.

CARLOS.

Literary Review.

ART. I. A philofophical and practical Treatife on Horfes, and on the Moral Duties of Man towards the Brute Creation. By John Lawrence. Abbreviator of the Veterinary Works of St. Bel, and Author of various Political and Moral Tra&s. 8vo. pp. 376. 75. boards. Longman.

THE pen of Mr. L. has been occafionally dipped in

political ink, as early as the commencement of the American War. His laft production of the kind is upon the elements and practice of Political Morality, of which it has been faid, that the Author treats the favourite prejudices of all parties with too rough a hand to expect the favour of any. The prefent work is purely original; the Author being well known to have been all his life attached with a kind of enthusiasm to Horses, and domeftic animals in general, and to have practifed veterinary medicine, as here laid down, with confiderable fuccefs. His attachment to, and know. ledge of agriculture, is vifible throughout the work.

His leading objects are to promote humanity to the Brute Creation in general, of which he exhibits the theory and practice, and to give a general idea of every thing appertaining to Horfes, in which confifts the difference of this to all other Treatifes, each being moftly confined to fome particular branch of the science. Some writers are confined merely to the farrying or medical branch, others merely to the equeftrian, and these last merely to a part of it-as the manége, &c. The prefent Treatife profeffes to comprehend the whole from experience.

VOL. II

Hh

As to the examination of Mr. Taplin's book, we fhall only say that, according to our information, it has been univerfally approved by the gentlemen of the Veterinary College, and of the Jockey Club; and Mr. L. has put the matter to the fairest iffue, by referring the enquirer immediately to the original writers, and by pointing out a fufficient number of examples.

The critical account of the preceding writers on thefe heads will be of fingular ufe to those who defire to attain a good ground of theory on the fubject. The hiftory of the horse, in the fecond chapter, will serve the fame purpose. The chapter on the hackney, on the qualifications of English horfes, on the fashionable ftyle of riding, and on journeys, are particularly pew, curious, and useful.

No part of the volume is more useful, or more deferving of general attention, than the remarks on draft-oxen, and the fyftem of horse-fhoeing: this last, and most important point, is treated very amply, and the rationale of it manifefted to thofe who are even unacquainted with the fubject. This author's knowledge of horfe-fhoeing appears to be the refult of having experimentally examined all the various theories ancient and modern. He profeffes to be a disciple of Ofmer, our original writer on fhoeing, and highly approves the prefent practice of the Veterinary Col lege. This chapter on horfe- fhoeing is of particular confequence to the interefts of those who keep draughthorfes in London, and they will find many interefting hints of which they are by no means aware.

After this analyfis of the work, which we have given both in juftice to Mr. L. who appears to be malter of his fubject, and for the information of thofe who are particularly interested in able treatifes of this kind, we fhall lay before our readers, as more calculated for general amufement, the following account of the HORSE,

"The

"The horse to the eye of fcience, is the most beautiful of all four-footed animals; fuperior to all in fymmetry of body, in speed, and in general utility to mankind. He poffeffes in common with the human race, the reafoning faculty, the dif ference confifting only in degree, or quantity. Human pride, prejudice, and cruelty alone, have questioned this truth; thofe paffions fufpended, it becomes inftantly obvious to common fenfe. The body then of the horse, as well as that of every living creature, is vivified and informed by a foul, or portion of intellectual element fuperadded. This portion differs in degree, in different animals, according to the wife difpenfation of nature. I hope I may be allowed to make ufe of the term foul, without any offence, either to the materialift or the atheift; and withal to add, that I conceive the dispute between them and their antagonists (like many other learned difputes) to be rather concerning the terms than the fubftance of the argument. All parties evidently fee and feel a fomething to exift, which it is not in the power of reason to get rid of, either in this world or the next."

"The horse, from the earliest accounts, feems to have been a native of nearly all the climates of the old world; why this excellent animal was denied to the new continent, almost all regions of which are fo well adapted to his production and maintenance, is a difficulty not eafily folved. Whether they were, ab origine, indigenous to one particular country, whence all parts elfe were supplied; or whether common to many, and of different races, befitting the nature and circumftances of each country, is a theme fit only to difplay the powers of imagination, in fuch an ingenious and fanciful writer as Buffon. Thus much conftant obfervation and experience have determined upon the matter, that the genus varies with foil and climate, that the horses of warm climes and dry foils, are of the trueft proportion, the finest skin, and the most generous fpirit; of course the fleetest, and fittest for the faddle; as we approach the north, we find them more robuft, and formed with very little fymmetry of fhape; coarse-haired, hardy, and flow, fitted for draft, and the more laborious purpofes of life; that the fpecies will thrive, with proper care, in all habitable countries; but fucceed beft under the temperate zones, and upon fruitful and graminivorous soils.

"It frequently happens, that of two hypothefes, although one only can be fimply true, yet both may lead, by different trains of argumentation, to the fame conclufion. The eafieft method, and perhaps that liable to fewest objections, is to divide the genus of horses into two original and distinct species, or creations; the fine and speedy, and the coarse and flow. To these original fources, all varieties whatever may be traced; and the various intermediate degrees may also be influenced in fome measure, by foil and climate; but it does not appear probable, either in theory, or by analogies which might be adduced, that any length of time, or change of foil, could convert the delicate, filk-haired, flat-boned courfer of the fouthern countries, into the coarse, clumsy, round-made cart-house of the north of Europe.

"The original countries of the two oppofite races (whether they were first and exclufively created there, matters not to us) are the mountainous part of Arabia, and the low lands of Belgium in Europe. Arabia is the oldest breeding country (to use a familiar phrafe) in the world; it has been known to poffefs a pure and unmixed race of horfes, for thousands of years; and the experience, both of ancient and modern times, has proved them to be of fuperior form and qualification to all other horfes upon earth. In the very early ages, the breed of Arabian Horfes was fought and difperfed over almost all Afia and Africa, and from thence to the southern parts of Europe; in more modern times, they have been introduced farther north, particularly into this country; and from that fource has originated our best racing blood, to which we owe thofe advantages and improvements, and that fuperiority in horfes, we fo evidently poffefs over all other nations.

"At what period of time, or by what nation, or individual, the horse was reduced to human ufe and obedience, is a piece of intelligence which must for ever lie hid in the impenetrable receffes of the most remote antiquity."

Our author's idea of a fine horse:

"The head of a horse should be void of flesh, and for length and fize, appear to hold fair proportion with the fize of his body; his eye full, and fomewhat prominent; eye-lids thin and dry; ears thin, narrow, erect, of middling length, and not distant from each other; forehead flat, not too large or

fquare,