But Malm. argued, the writ was good as it now stood, for two reafons: first, because the trefpafs was done in the time of our predeceffor, for which trefpafs we are entitled to our action by the ftatute; fecondly, becaufe of the detinue in our time. Herle. Your

writ has nothing to do with detinue of chattels, but is of a fact done with force and arms to another perfon; fo that the king would be entitled to a fine for a trefpafs done in the time of his predeceffor. Malm. (repeating what he had before urged) Suppofe the chattels were dead or cloigned, I could not recover the things themselves, and then my action must lie in damages, or I should have no recovery at all. Herle. Yes, you might recover the value, &c. Then Weft, one of the juftices, interpofing, faid, The force of their objection is, that a man fhall not recover damages for a trefpafs done to another; and yet executors may recover damages for a trespass done to another. Again, if wafte is done in the time of my father, I fhall have an action for the waste and trefpafs, &c. In regard to the first of these cafes, it was observed, that the executors recovered not in their own right, but in right of another: and as to the second about waste, that it was by ftatute, and not by the common law. However, Roub. another justice, faid, they were all agreed that the writ was good, and therefore awarded another refpondeas oufter; upon which the defendants pleaded the general iffue, that they did nothing against the peace, preft, &c. et alii e contra, and fo iffue was joined.

IN the above cafe, where there were fo many pleas in abate ment, as they were all over-ruled at the instant, they were confidered as fucceffive amendments, and none of them were entered on the roll, but only that plea which was finally approved and relied on, namely, the general iffue. The following is an action where they went on to reply, rejoin, and furrejoin. The cafe was this: Aleyne de Newton brought his writ of annuity against the abbot of Burton upon Trent, and demanded 30l. arrears of an annual rent of 451. per ann. and he faid (that is, counted) that one John, abbot of Burton, and predeceffor of the prefent, did, by affent of the convent, grant an annuity to Aleyne, payable twice in the year, till he was advanced to a convenable benefice; and he exhibited a fpeciality, containing, that the abbot by affent, &c. did grant an annuity to Aleyne de Newton Clerk, in the above manner as he had counted. To this Willuby (as counfel for the defendant) prays judgment of the writ, because of the variance between the writ and. the fpecialty; for in the writ he was named Aleyne de Newton, but in the fpecialty, Aleyne de Newton. Clerk. Ward faid, that it was no variance; yet Willaby maintained, that as he might have had a writ agreeable to the fpecialty, if he varied in his own purchase of it, the writ would be ill; but he could in this cafe have a writ agreeable to his writ. Ergo, &c. And again, as far as appearsTM by the fpecialty, it was made to fome one elfe, and not to the perfon named in the writ. Stonore, one of the juftices, faid, Then you may plead fo if you will, but the writ is good; therefore refpondeas oufler. Then faid Willuby, He cannot demand this annuity, because we fay, that John our predeceffor on fuch a day, &c. tendered him the vicarage of, &c. which was void, and in his gift, in the prefence of fuch and fuch perfons, which vicarage he refufed; where

fore

fore we do not understand that he can any longer demand this an•* nuity. Shard. We fay this vicarage was not worth 100 fhillings; therefore we do not understand it to be a covenable benefice, so as to extinguish an annuity of 401. Willuby. Then you admit that we tendered you the vicarage, and that you refused it, &c. ? Shard. As to the tender of a benefice that was not convenable, I have no bufinefs to make any anfwer at all. Then Mutf. one of the justices, afked, what fort of benefice they confidered as convenable, fo as to extinguish the annuity? Shard. We mean one of ten marks at leaft. Then Stonore, another of the juftices, faid, Do you admit that the vicarage was not worth 100 fhillings? Willuby. We will aver that the vicarage was worth ten marks, preft, &c.; and he has admitted that one of that value fhould extinguish the annuity. Shard. And we will aver that it was not worth ten marks, preft, &c. After this iffue, Willuby was defirous of recurring back to his first plea, and faid, As you declare that the vicarage was not worth 100 fhillings, we will aver that it was worth 100 fhillings, &c. But Stenore interpofed, and faid, He declares that the vicarage is worth ten marks; and after that there is nothing to be done, but that the issue should be taken on your declaration or his: now it feenis that it should rather be taken on yours; for, by your plea, you make that a covenable benefice that is worth ten marks, which declaration you ought to maintain, &c. Willuby. The mention of the value came firft from him, when he faid it was not worth 100 fhillings; fo that it will be fufficient for me to traverfe what he had faid. But Stonore preffing him whether he would maintain his plea, Willuby faid he would, and pleaded that the vicarage was worth ten marks, preft, &c. et alii, that it was not worth ten marks, preft, &c. and fo iffue was joined.

THE pleadings upon the record in the above case must then have stood thus: The defendant faid, a vicarage had been tendered and refufed, and fo the annuity fhould ceafe, judgment of the action. To this the replication was, The vicarage tendered was not worth ten marks, and so not a covenable benefice to extinguish the annuity: rejoinder, it was worth ten marks: furrejoinder, it was not. Thefe inftances, without troubling the reader with any more, will ferve to fhew the manner of pleading vivá voce at the bar: every thing there advanced was treated as a matter only in fiery, which upon difcuffion and confideration might be amended, or wholly abandoned, and then other matter reforted to, till at length the counfel felt himfelf on fuch grounds as he could trust; and where he rested his caufe, that was the plea which was entered upon the roll, and abided the judgment of an inqueft or of the court, according as it was a point of law or of fact.'

Nothing now remains, but that we obferve that Mr. Reeves has addreffed this volume to my Lord Mansfield, who had expreffed an approbation of his labours. His work, however, must reft finally upon its own merits whatever they are. But what ftrikes us as very remarkable, the author urges in his dedication that the praife of Lord Mansfield was directed to his hiftorical method of ftudying the

law;

law; and yet in his preface he formally lays it down as a general maxim, that history could be of little or no fervice in legal investigations. Juftice requires that we should point out this circumftance; but our candour will not allow us to infist upon it.

Art. III. The Hiftory of Modern Europe. Part 11. From the Peace of Weftphalia, in 1648, to the Peace of Paris in 1763. With a View of the Progrefs of Society during the prefent Century. In a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son. 2 vols. 8vo.: 145. Robinson.

A

Ta period when the defire of literature is nearly uni verfal, and when a general cultivation is courted by almoft every order of men, it is natural, that elementary books of all kinds thould be fought for with avidity. To devour whole libraries may hardly be fufficient for mere men of letters; but in every department of human life there are individuals who have not leifure to devote all their hours, or the greatest part of them to reflection and study; and who are yet ambitious of enriching their minds, and of being ornamental in their stations. To fuch perfons liberal and inftructive abridgments of knowledge in the different arts and sciences are valuable. And they are more peculiar ly neceffary in the education of thofe of the young of both fexes, whofe condition and inclination concur in difpofing them to acquire information, and to advance in lite

rature.

Of works, however, of this kind, it is obvious that the moft extenfively ufeful and entertaining are thofe which refer more immediately to human actions, purfuits, and manFor to travel through the labyrinth of univerfal hif tory, is an endlefs occupation. To the majority of readers, therefore, hiftorical compilations of particular periods, where the matter is fuccinctly put together and proceeds in a rapid and comprehenfive narrative, are highly defireable. It is to this clafs of productions that the work belongs which is now under our review; and the fuccefs of the first part of the hiftory of Modern Europe is, doubtlefs, a proof of its me rit. Of the fecond part it cannot, without injuftice, be faid, that it is inferior to the firft. Of Modern Europe, therefore, the public have now a general picture in four compact volumes in octavo.

In eftimating the confideration of our author it would not be just to look at him in comparison with thofe hiftorians whofe object it was to exhibit a full narrative of any particular period. It was in their power to stop at every memor

able

4

able event which struck their imaginations, and to adorn it with all the touches of art. They could exercise themselves in defcriptions of every fort, and difplay the variety of their knowledge, and the treasures of their ftudy. They might indulge in differtation, and engage in ample delineations of: the most eminent perfonages. They might feize every op portunity of making a difplay of their talents. But the cafe with our author was very different. It was his duty often to abandon a topic on which he had a fancy to dilate; to forfake characters which he was ambitious to paint; and to bend the impulfes of his mind to the limits of his purpose. If his talents had been equal to the task it was not his bufinefs to have indulged like Hume in the deepnefs of philofophical remark; to have uncovered like Gibbon the duplicity and felfifhnefs of religionifts and fectaries; or like Fergufon to have taught his reader to glow with the fire of patriotilm, and in the midft of the admiration which was due to the talents of factious ftatefmen and commanders, to have illuftrated the dignity and greatness of public virtue. His aims were more humble. He was to condense and to confolidate; to avoid the enchantment of eloquence and picture, fpeculation and philofophy; to neglect altogether minute facts; and to communicate only, and that with clofenefs, the more important and prominent occurrences.

In the department he has affumed, it is our opinion, that he has fucceeded in no inconfiderable degree. For while his matter is crowded together without confufion, his diction is clear, and has obtained the fimplicity which corresponds beft with the nature of his compilation. But, perhaps, the juftnefs of this fentiment may appear beft to our readers from the following extracts.

The author has thus detailed the fentence and execution of Charles I.

THREE times was Charles produced before the court, and as often declined its jurifdiction. On the fourth fitting, the judges hav ing examined fome witneffes, by whom it was proved, That the king had appeared in arms against the forces commiffioned by the parlia ment, they pronounced fentence against him; adjudging, That he, the faid Charles Stuart, as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy, fhould be put to death, by the fevering of his head from his body. Firm and intrepid in all his appearances before his judges, he never forgot himself either as a prince or as a man, and difcovered no emotion at this extraordinary fentence; but feemed to look down, with a mixture of pity and contempt, on all the efforts of human malice and iniquity. Three days were allowed him between his fentence and execution. Thefe he paffed in great tranquillity, occupying himfelf chiefly in reading and devotion, and every night hept found as ufual; though the noife of workmen employed in

framing

framing the scaffold, and making other preparations for his exit, continually refounded in his ears.

On the morning of the fatal day, the king rofe early, and 'continued his devotions till noon, affitted by bifhop Juxon; a man whofe mild and steady virtues very much refembled thofe of his fovereign.. The street before Whitehall was the place deftined for the execution; it being intended, by chufing that place, to difplay more fully the triumph of popular juftice over tyrannical power and Charles having drank a glass of wine, and ate a bit of bread, walked through the Banqueting-house to the scaffold, which was covered with black cloth. In the middle of it appeared the block and axe, with two executioners in mafques. Several troops of horfe and companies of foot were placed round it; and a vast number of spectators waited, in filent horror, at a greater distance. The king eyed all thefe folemn preparations with great compofure; and finding that he could not expect to be heard by the people, he addreffed himfelf to the few perfons about him, but particularly to colonel Tomlinfon, to whofe care he had lately been committed, and on whom he had wrought an entire converfion. He vindicated himself from the accufation of having commenced war against his parliament: but, although innocent towards his people, he acknowledged the equity of his execution in the eye of Heaven; and obferved, that an unjust sentence which he had fuffered to take effect upon the earl of Strafford, was now punished by an unjust fentence upon himself. He declared, that he forgave all his enemies, even the chief inftruments of his death; but exhorted them and the whole nation to return to the ways of peace, by paying obedience to their lawful fovereign, his fon and fucceffor.

THESE exhortations being finifhed, the king prepared himself for the block; bishop Juxon in the mean-time warning him, that there was but one ftage more between him and heaven, and that, though troublesome, it was fhort. "I go," faid Charles, "from

tors;

a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance "can arife."" You are exchanged," replied the bishop, "from a temporal to an eternal crown: a good exchange !" One of the executioners, at a single blow, fevered the king's head from his body; and the other holding it up, ftreaming with blood, cried aloud, "This is the head of a traitor!" Grief, terror and indignation, took at once hold of the hearts of the astonished spectaeach of whom feemed to accufe himself either of active dif loyalty to his murdered fovereign, or with too indolent a defence of his oppreffed caufe, and to regard himself as an accomplice in this horrid tranfaction, which had fixed an indelible ftain upon the character of the nation, and must expose it to the vengeance of an offended Deity. The fame fentiments fpread themfelves throughout the whole kingdom: the people were every where overwhelined with forrow and confufion, as foon as informed of the fatal catastrophe of the king, and filled with unrelenting hatred against the authors of his death. His fufferings, his magnanimity, his patience, his piety and his Christian deportment, made all his errors be forgot; and nothing was now to be heard, but lamentations and felf-reproaches.'

2

The