56 
er even the Franchise of the Borough ‘or other in- 
corporated body) itself, may be Jost by misconduct. 
The individual may be struck off from the list of 
citizens, or the Borough may lose one or all of its pri- 
vileges by an Act of the Legislature declaring it to 
be Te aanernaneiaea To AFFRANCHISE (to make 
free) was formerly written in place ot To Enfranchise. 
ENFRANCHISEMENT and DISENFRANCHISEMENT 
denote the several actions, or states of the 
Verbs. 
The most distinguishing of the privileges of a 
Borough is the Elective FRANCHISF, or right to elect 
and send Members to the Commons House of Par- 
liament; but this right of election varies extremely 
among the diffe-ent Boroughs. In some cases, the 
Elective Franchise belongs to the resident Freemen 
only;—in others, to the Freemen wherever they may 
reside. ‘‘ In some places the choice of two members 
18 committed Lo as many inhabitants as every house 
€an contain ;—in others, to the pussession of a spot 
of ground where neither houses nor inhabitants have 
been seen for years.” 
In many of the ‘ncorporated Boroughs (for all have 
Notcharters of incorporation) the Mayor and a fow 
of the Burgesses chuse the Representatives; and, 
this being supposed to be a corruption from ancient 
ugage, such are called Rorren Boroveus; and 
those who wish to procure a general suffrage of the 
Freeman are the advocates of BorouGH-REFORM. 
Ceriain Boroughs wholly the property of great land- 
holders, called, therefore, BoRoUGH-PROPRIETORS, 
and are transferable in the market like other goods 
and chattels. Jn some cases, where the Electors are 
féw, or where the influence or p.tronage is almost 
equally divided, bribery has been exerted, tv settle 
the doubts of the wavering concerning the compa- 
rative merits of the Candidates :—but this is notau- 
thorized by the law of the Jand. Boroughs, where 
an independent candidate, without influence, has no 
chance of success, are calied CLosE Korougas ; the 
few that are otherwise are Open BorouGus. He 
who buysor sells the Patronage ofa Borough is a 
BorouGu-MonGeER. Burrow is an old orthography. 
Burgh and Borough are written indiscriminitely. 
The freemen of an incorporated Borough are called 
BurGEssEs, or BURGHERS; a name occasionally 
given to their Representatives in Parliament, al- 
though these need not now be Burgesses of the 
town which they represent. 
“Ihe Burgesses of a City are CitizENs, (of which 
Cir 1s a contemptuous contraction,) and the latter 
term, agreeably to its Roman origin, is often used to 
denote the freemen of a state in general. , The rights 
of a Citizen constitute his Cir1zEnsaiP, formerly 
BurGHERSHIP; and a FELLOW-cIrizEN may be either 
a TowNsMAN, or a freeman of the same nation, 
C1TIZENESS, for a female Citizen, is in the vocabu- 
Jary of the ultra-republicans. Crivism, denoting 
faithfulness to the Commonwealth, and Incrvis, its 
opposite, are words that were created by the French ‘ 
Revolution. 
In a general sense, the adjective Crviu is applied 
to every thing which regards the community as Citi- 
zens; and hence the expressions, ‘Civil govern- 
ment,’ ‘ Civil rights,’ &c. as distinct from what be- 
longs to particular divisions of policy, such as Mili- 
tary government, Maritime rights, &c. In the same 
manner, we speak of ‘ Civil War) meaning the in- 
testine war amongthe Citizens, in opposition to the 
quarrels between separate nations. The Civu, 
LAw is the collected Institutes of the Laws which 
governed the Roman Cives, or Citizens; and this 
Code (not that of the Republic, but a Digest, collected 
about 1300 years ago by the Emperor Justinian) is 
still studied, by the Lawyers of the present day, 
and referred to asthe foundation of the Common 
Law of thiscountry. The numerous Commentators 
vn the Roman Laws are CiviLiAns. 
Nothing can be more clear and illustra- 
tive of thirty-five important words ; and in 
this manner Mr. B. most ingeniously and 
ably proceeds through the entire vocabu- 
lary of our language. It isa living and 
not a dead dictionary, and possesses all 
the advantages of animated over dead 
matter. It is to be completed in twelve 
parts, and we trust the author will be en- 
couraged to finish it with all suitable 
Yapidity. 
Literary and Critical Proémium. 
[Aug. f, 
Among the recent offerings of the muses, 
there is not a more affecting and pleasing 
collection of occasional effusions than those 
contained in a small octavo volume of 
poems, published under the title of Poetical 
Sketches, by Mr, ALaric A. WatTTs. 
When the author tells usin his advertise- 
ment, that lic has been induced to print 
the present edition of the efforts of his 
fancy, by the flattering reception with 
which a more limited edition was formerly 
favoured by the partiality of his friends ; 
we are fnlly disposed to accord him onr 
entire credit. In perusing them, we have, 
we confess, contracted feelings of the same 
partial nature; aud, considering that many 
of the pieces were written al tlre immature 
age of sixteen, are disposed to think that 
nature has endowed Mr, Watts with no 
small degree of poetical fancy, nor any 
trivial powers of versification. Among 
the articles (which are nearly sixty in 
number) we have met with many tempta- 
lions to transcribe, and have again and 
again regretted that our limits were so 
confined as to forbid the indulgence of our 
wishes. ‘The following specimen we ex- 
tract, not as one of the very best pieces in 
the collection, bnt rather because we are | 
encouraged to do so by its brevity :— 
Sacred Melody. 
There isa thought can lift the soul, 
Above the dull cold sphere that bounds it,— 
A star that sheds its mild controul 
Brightest when grief’s dark cloud surroundsit, 
And pours a so/t pervading ray, 
Life’s ills may never chase away! 
When earthly joys have left the breast, 
And e’en the last fond hope it cherish’d 
Of mortal bliss—too like the rest— 
Beneath woe’s withering touch hath perish’d, 
With fadeless lustre streams that light, 
A halo on the brow of night! 
And bitter were our sojourn here 
In this dark wilderness of sorrow, 
Did not that rainbow beam appear, 
The herald of a brighter morraw, 
A gracious beacon from on high 
To guide us to Eternity! 
Though this is far from being one of the 
brightest gems in this little volume, it is 
sufficiently excellent to sanction our say- 
ing, that it is characterized by much reat 
beauty, and that if the poem addressed to 
Octavia, in page 43, was for some time 
ascribed by the critics to the pen of 
Lord Byron, as we are told in note 5, 
the mistake was perfectly venial. This 
error recurred last year, when these pieces 
were printed only for private circulation. 
Our readers will recollect, that we did 
justice to the articles then brought for- 
ward; and of course will conclude that we 
should not have noticed the collection 
again, had we not found it considerably 
extended ; that since that time, many a 
fragrant flower had sprung up in the same 
bright parterre, and that the augmented 
beauty of the scene claimed our renewed 
attention, . 
The account of the Excursion through the 
United States and Canada, by ‘‘ an English 
Gentleman,’ 
