1324.] Mr. Lowe on the Effects of 



Brother, on the Souls of the Brute Cre- 

 ation. 4. Questions on Genesis. 5. 

 A Question on Exodus. 6. A Dis- 

 course on Samson. 7. A Discourse 

 on Jonas. 8, A Dialogue on tlie 

 Angels that appeared to Abraham. 

 To introduce these works to the 

 learned, by whom they were thought 

 to be lost, M. Aucher has translated 

 them into Latin, confronted with dif- 

 ferent copies from Armenian MSS. 

 One of tliese had been in the posses- 

 sion of Haiton II. a King of Armenia, 

 in the 13th century, and was trans- 

 cribed by one of his scribes named 

 Vesil. 



M. Aucher has been publishing one 

 part of his labours in a folio volume, 

 which contains a Dedication, two 

 Prolegomena, one of which is that of 

 an ancient Armenian Glossary on 

 Philo, the Treatises on Providence, 

 and that on tlie Souls of Brutes, in 

 Armenian and in Latin. M. A. has 

 accompanied them wilh Notes, Illus- 

 trations, and Greek fragments of the 

 same works preserved in other an- 

 cient authors. At the end of the 

 volume are an Alphabetical Table of 

 Contents, Proper Names of Men, a 

 Collection of Apophthegms of the 

 Jewish Philosopher, and some ancient 

 Armenian Verses, known by the 

 name of Philo's Epitaph. I'hispartof 

 Phiio's works will be very interesting 

 to a great number of readers, it being 

 a direct refutation of the doctrines of 

 fatalism and materialism. 



Philo was well acquainted with all 

 the philosophical systems on the uni- 

 verse ; he combats them with argu- 

 ments, and obviates their objections 

 to a general and particular Provi- 

 dence. He quotes frequently from 

 Plato, Hesiod, Homer, Eschylus, 

 Pindar, and others ; and makes men- 

 tion of many Greek philosophers, 

 poets, and historians. In his Dialogue 

 oh Zoological Points, he treats of the 

 Instincts, Intelligence, &c. of Ani- 

 mals, 'i'liroughout these three Dis- 

 courses, his manner is entertaining 

 and instructive. 



In that part which relates to science, 

 are facts which illustrate the mechani- 

 cal arts, the manners, &c. of ancient 

 nations. One of these plainly indi- 

 cates that clocks, with wheels, and 

 similar horary machines, were known 

 in his time., 'llie. obscurg passages 

 arc every where made plain and easy 

 by notes. 



Taxation on Housekeeping. 99 



F<n' the Mmithly Magazine. 



EFFECT of TAXATION OT8 HOUSEKEEPING, 



communicated hi/ mk. Lowe. 



THR result, or, to speak more pro- 

 perly, the avowed te'idency, of 

 most taxes, is an augmenialion of price. 

 Taxes on commodities arc alwajs im- 

 posed on the calcnlalioii of being paid 

 by the consumer ; the supply of atsv arti- 

 cle, whether a luxury, such as wine and 

 sugar, or a necessary of life, like corn, 

 salt, leather, being presumed to be in 

 proportion to the efl'ectual demand, and 

 the tax intended not as a burden on the 

 producer or vender, but as an addition 

 to the price paid by the consumer. 

 This was strikingly exemplified in the 

 enhancement during the war of several 

 articles of daily use. The sugar which 

 the |)lanter, on paying a moderate duty, 

 could have afforded to sell in England 

 at 60*. the cwt., was raised by the effect 

 of new taxes and war charges to 70*. or 

 755. Tea which, after paying half ifs 

 original cost to the Custom-house, might 

 have been sold at 5*. or 6s. the lb., was 

 raised, in consequence of being taxed 

 100 per cent., to 7s. or 8s., and the salt 

 which (see Sir T. Bernard's pamphlet 

 on the employment of the labouring 

 classes in 1817) might, if rnbuidened, 

 have been afforded at ll. a ton, was 

 made, in consequence of the duty, to 

 cost more than twenty times that price. 

 Holland was the lirst country in 

 Europe that afforded a striking example 

 of the enhancement arising from taxa- 

 tion, her long and expensive struggle 

 against Spain having necessitated very 

 heavy imposts so far back as two centu- 

 ries ago. Sir William Temple, among 

 other interesting paiticulars with which 

 he has diversified the graver matter of 

 his Memoirs, takes occasion to insert 

 the following remark: "The excise in 

 Holland is great, and so general, that I 

 liave heard it observed at Amsterdam, 

 that when, in a tavern, a certain dish of 

 fish is eaten with the usual sauce, thirty 

 .several excises arc paid for what is 

 necessary to that sinall service." — In 

 England taxation was comparatively 

 light, until we became ardent partici- 

 pators in continental war, at first under 

 King William, afterwards under Queen 

 Anne. A long ])cace, and the prudent 

 administration of "Walpole, lessened for 

 a time the jjressnre of the burden ; but 

 it was very sensibly increased by Iho 

 wars of 1740, 17.00, 1775, and, above all, 

 by those of the present age. 'I'liis is 

 sufliciently apparent from the following 



table 



