taken from the enemy; but they were obliged to ufe this influence with juftice and moderation, and could not keep above a third part of thefe lands and fpoils to themselves, without incurring the indig nation of their troops. King Harold, by retaining a greater proportion than this of the Danith and Norwegian fpoils, occafioned fo great a difgutt and desertion in his army, that it proved the chief cause of his ruin. The confent of the wittenagemot was commonly obtained to the conclufion of peace, as well as to the declaration of war; because the profperity and happiness of the whole kingdom was as much concerned in the one as in the other.

Among the ancient Germans, the King had no power to inflict any punishment upon his foldiers for defertion, or other offences, this being the province of their priests, who acted by the authority of the god of war, who was fuppofed to be prefen: in their armies. But after the introduction of Chriftianity, the exercife of military difcipline became one of the royal prerogatives, as it was never claimed by the Christian clergy.

The Anglo-Saxon Kings had no power of remitting any mult or fine impofed upon any criminal by a court of justice, because that would have been depriving another person of his right; but they had a power of changing a capital into a pecuniary punishment.

The Kings of England, in the period we are now confidering, were only ufufructuaries of the crown-lands, and could not alienate any of thefe lands, even to the church, without the confent of the wittenagemot.'

Dr. Henry, after having defcribed the wittenagemot, takes notice, that though great efforts have been made to prove that the ceor's, or fmall proprietors of land, were reprefented in the wittenagemots by their tithing-men, or borfholders, and the inhabitants of trading towns by their aldermen or portreeves, it must be confeffed, that of this there is not fufficient hiftorical evidence remaining.' Here again we are obliged to declare, that we differ in opinion from our Author. We are not infenfible of the difficulties in which the fubject is involved. Nevertheless, we are perfuaded that the historical, circumftantial, and legal evidences, taken together, form a ftrong proof of the Commons having had a share in the Anglo-Saxon legislature. Dr. Henry himself acknowledges, that the ceorls were not excluded from the wittenagemot by any pofitive law; and it is not likely that they should, in general, voluntarily give up fo important and valuable a privilege.

Our Author, fpeaking of the Welch, obferves, that their animofity agaift the Saxons was for fome ages fo violent, that they would comply with none of their customs, either in civil or religious matters. But when this animofity began to wear off, the great imperfection of their own form of government made them fo ready to adopt the political regulations of their ancient enemies, that before the middle of the tenth century, the conftitution, magiftrates, and courts of Wales, were almoft exactly

exactly the fame with thofe of England. This is so true, that a more minute and particular account of the Anglo-Saxon con• ftitution might be extracted from the Welch laws of Howel Dha, which were collected A. D. 842, than even from the Saxon laws themselves.'

We are furprized that Dr. Henry did not difcern fome appearance of inconfiftency in this representation of things. Laws collected before the middle of the ninth century, cannot prove how far political regulations might be borrowed from the Saxons, which are intimated not to have been completely adopted till toward the middle of the tenth century. The ingenious and learned Mr. Whitaker confiders the laws of Howel Dha, as evidences of what was the ancient British conftitution; and we agree with him in this refpect. There seems to have been a great fimilarity, among all the northern nations of antiquity, in their original forms and modes of government. We do not, however, mean to deny that the Welch did, in a courfe of time, take many of their cuftoms from their neighbours the Saxons.

In the defcription of the different kinds of ordeals, it is pleafant to remark the prudent care which the clergy took of themfelves. The corfned, or confecrated bread and cheese, was the ordeal to which they commonly appealed, and the appeal could not either be dangerous or difagreeable to a hungry prieft. A piece of barley bread, and a piece of cheese, were laid upon the altar, over which a priest pronounced certain conjurations, and prayed with great fervency, that if the perfon accufed was guilty, God would fend his angel Gabriel to stop his throat, that he might not be able to fwallow that bread and cheese. These prayers being ended, the culprit approached the altar, took up the bread and cheese, and began to eat it. If he fwallowed freely, he was declared innocent; but if it ftuck in his throat, and he could not fwallow, he was pronounced guilty. After the ftrictures we have made upon Dr Henry, and which, we think, might be extended to other inftances, it is but doing juftice to him to tranfcribe what he has said, at the conclufion of his third chapter.

If the Anglo-Saxon constitution, government, and laws, do not appear fo excellent and perfect in all refpects, in the above defcription, as they have been fometimes represented, and as the fond admirers of antiquity have been used to think them, the Author of this work cannot help it; and hath nothing to fay in his own defence, but that he hath used his best endeavours to discover the truth, to reprefent it fairly, and to guard against mistakes. It muft, in particular, be evident to every intelligent reader, that many of their penal laws were founded on wrong principles; and many of their modes of trial led to wrong decifions."

The fourth chapter, comprehending the hiftory of Learning, is very entertaining, and, if our limits would permit, we could, with pleasure, make feveral extracts from it, especially with regard to the literary characters of Aldhem, Theodore, Bede, Alcuinus, John Scot, and King Alfred. But we must content ourfelves with laying before our Readers Dr, Henry's obfervations upon the difficulties of acquiring literature, during the Saxon period. L

זי

• That we may not entertain too contemptible an opinion of our forefathers, who flourished in the benighted ages which we are now examining, it is necessary to pay due attention to their unhappy cir cumftances. To fay nothing of that contempt for letters which they derived from their ancestors, and of the almoft inceffant wars in which they were engaged, it was difficult, or rather impoffible, for any but the clergy, and a very few of the moit wealthy among the laity, to obtain the least smattering of learning; because all the means of acquiring it were far beyond their reach. It is impoffible to learn to read and write even our own native tongue, which is now hardly elteemed a part of learning, without books, mafters, and materials for writing; but in those ages all these were fo extremely scarce and dear, that none but great princes and wealthy prelates could procure them. We have already heard of a large eftate given by a King of Northumberland for a fingle volume; and the hillory of the middle ages abounds with examples of that kind. How then was it poffible for perfons of a moderate fortune to 'procure fo much as one book," much lefs fuch a number of books as to make their learning to read an accomplishment that would reward their trouble? It was then as dificult to borrow books as to buy them. It is a fufficient proof of this, that a King of France was obliged to depofit a confiderable quantity of plate, and to get one of his nobility to join with him in a bond, under a high penalty, to return it, before he could procure the loan of one volume, which may now be purchased for a few fhillings. Materials for writing were alfo very scarce and dear, which made few perfons think of learning that art. This was one reason of the fcarcity of books; and that great eftates were often transferred from one owner to another by a mere verbal agreement, and the delivery of earth and flone, before witneffes, without any written deed. Parchment, in particular, on which all their books were written, was fo difficult to be procured, that many of the MSS of the middle ages which are still preferved, appear to have been witten on parchment from which fome former writing had been erased. But if books and materials for writing were in thofe ages fo fcarce, good mafters, who were capable of teaching the fciences to any purpose, were still fcarcer, and more difficult to be procured. When there was not one man in England to the fouth of the Thames who understood Latin, it was not poffible to learn that language, without fending for a teacher from fome foreign country. In thefe circumftances, can we be furprized, that learning was fo imperfect, and in fo few hands? The Temple of Science was then but a homely fabric, with few charms 19 allure worshippers, and at the fame time furrounded with steep

and

and rugged precipices, which difcouraged their approach. When Alfred the Great formed the defign of rendering learning more general than it had formerly been, he never dreamed of extending it to the common people, which he knew was quite impracticable, but only obliged perfons of rank and fortune, by a law, to fend their fons to fchool; and we have good reason to believe, that this was esteemed a very hard law, and that it was not long obeyed.'

The hiftory of the Arts of Great Britain, which is the subject of the fifth chapter, contains much curious and pleasing information. In the account which is given of the great honour that was paid to poetry and the poets, we have some doubt, whether the Author hath fufficiently difcriminated the precife character of the Saxons in this refpect, from that of the nations around them. If we are not miftaken, the Saxons of England were less enthufiaftically fond of poetry and poets than some others of the northern tribes, and particularly the ancient

Britons.

In the hiftory of Commerce, Coin, and Shipping, we read, with particular fatisfaction, of the furprizing efforts of Alfred the Great for encreafing the trade and naval power of his country, and for making new difcoveries. The flourishing condition to which Edgar the Peaceable raised the English fleet is, likewife, an object of agreeable contemplation. Dr. Henry has taken no little pains in deducing the ftate of coin in Great Britain, from the departure of the Romans to the establishment of the Saxons. In the management of this intricate and perplexing subject, he has received confiderable affistance from the labours of the late learned Mr. Clarke, to whom he gratefully acknowledges his obligations.

The feventh and laft chapter, which relates to the Manners, Virtues, Vices, remarkable Cuftoms, Language, Drefs, Diet, and Diverfions of the People of Great Britain, from the Arrival of the Saxons to the Landing of William Duke of Normandy, contains a variety of entertaining circumftances. As it would be impracticable to purfue our Author through his whole narration, we fhall only present one farther specimen of his work, in the reprefentation he hath given of the love which the Anglo-Saxons had for liberty.

After the account that hath been given of the Anglo-Saxon conftitution in a former chapter, it is hardly neceffary to obferve, that the love of political liberty, and of a free and legal form of government, may be juftly reckoned among the national virtues of the Englifh in this period. This virtue, together with the great and leading principles of their conftitution, they derived from their ancestors, the ancient Germans, who are greatly celebrated by the Greek and Roman writers for their love of liberty, and their brave defence of that ineftimable bleffing. Thofe armies of adventurers which arrived from Germany in queft of fettlements in this ifland, in the fifth and fixth

centuries,

centuries, were composed of high-fpirited and haughty warriors, who were almost equals, and would admit of no greater degrees of fubor dination than they chose themselves, and thought neceffary to the fuccefs of their enterprizes. Their conquefts, we may be certain, did not abate their haughtinefs, or make them more fubmiffive to their leaders. For their own honour, after their fettlement, they allowed thofe leaders to affume the name of Kings, and gave them a large proportion of the conquered lands to fupport their dignity; but they still retained in their own hands the power of making laws, impofing taxes, and determining all national queftions of importance, in their national assemblies, as their ancestors had done in their native feats on the continent. Of thefe inestimable privileges they continued to be infinitely jealous, and to defend them with the most undaunted refolution; and it is to this political jealoufy and refolution of our remote ancestors, that we are indebted for our present free and legal form of government.'

The martial fpirit of the Danes, and the caufes and properties of that fpirit, together with the fondness of that nation for a violent death, are well defcribed by Dr. Henry. Among other eircumstances he hath not forgotten the attention and respect that were' fhewn to the fair fex; an amiable peculiarity in the character of the northern nations; which has been beautifully difplayed, and well accounted for, by Monf. Mallet, in the Introduction to his History of Denmark.

1. Whatever farther defects might be pointed out in the prefent performance, it must be acknowledged that, upon the whole, it poffeffes confiderable merit. The Author, indeed, is not diftinguished by elevation of genius, by philofophical penetration, or by a capacity of rifing to the higheft fpecies of historical compofition; but he poffeffes a great thare of good fenfe, and his diligence and labour muft have been uncommonly great. He refers always to his authorities. His flyle, if not elegant, or remarkably nervous, is clear, and for the moft part, though not univerfally, correct. As a collection of facts and materials, Dr. Henry's Hiftory of Great Britain cannot but be peculiarly ufeful. It is a work which every gentleman would with to place in his library, that he may be able to confult it on proper occafions.

ART. IX. Sethona; a Tragedy. As it is performed at the TheatreRoyal in Drury-Lane. 8vo. I s. 6d. Becket. 1774.

'COL

OLONEL Dow,' (fays the Editor's advertisement) when he failed for India, left the following tragedy in the poffeffion of Mr. Garrick. The event has fhewn, that the reputation of an abfent Author could not have been trufted in fafer hands.'-We fubfcribe to this grateful declaration; and we have no objection to the feveral acknowledgments which make up the rest of this advertisement. We are only forry that