204 
formed, and, we can assure him, that 
their only effect was to canse a little 
extra consumption of snuff; and fur- 
ther, that any thing he may say in fa- 
ture on the same subject, however 
“dull and drear’’ it may be, will not 
have the slightest tendency to abridge 
the span of our existence. Indeed, in 
the present instance, we partly agree, 
though our conclusions are derived from 
different premises. He seems inclined 
to pull down the * ancients’? because 
they were republicans; whereas we 
really doubt their moral and intellec- 
tual superiority. He endeavours to 
show, from the pleadings of Iseeus and 
others, that, notwithstanding the po- 
pular forms of their institutions, the 
Greeks were no better than ourselves ; 
—that they were a deluded people— 
that their wiiters aud publi¢ speakers 
were many of them like our own, pro- 
fligate and unprincipled—and that there 
was similar bribery and corruption in 
the administration of their affairs :— 
Ergo—the Greeks were a despicable 
people ; ergo—England is only a despi- 
cable country. A singular conclusion, 
we adinit, from one whose business it 
is ex officio to laud whatever is in this 
country, and who of course ought not 
to have adduced it as a proof of the de- 
basement of a people, that they suffered 
under evils similar to those by which 
we are degraded. Leaving the re- 
viewer fo scramble out of the dilemma 
in which he is placed by his mode of 
reasoning, we shall just observe, that 
it has always appeared to us the merits 
of the ancients were greatly over-rated, 
for which, we think, two reasons may 
beassigned. First, the system of edu- 
cation in our great seminaries of in- 
struction, in which it is usual to attach 
an undue importance to every thing 
handed down in Latin or Greek. Se- 
condly, the ancients derive some advan- 
tage, we think, from being contrasted 
with an antecedent period of society, 
when the moderns had not attained 
the present intellectual eminence. In 
this respect they share the good fortune 
of the Chinese, who, we all remem- 
ber. were rated much higher some fif- 
teen years ago, solely because their 
merits were taken on the credit of re- 
lations, in which their attainments 
were compared with those of Europeans 
in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. 
Without entering into a tedious com- 
parison, we shall conclude our notice of 
the Quarterly by remarking the things 
in which the ancients were confessedly 
Act for stopping up unnecessary Roads. 
{April T, 
inferior to the moderns. First, in the 
exclusion of women from society; se- 
condly, in the prevalence of domestic 
slavery ; thirdly, in their want of written 
laws, anda more perfect administration 
of justice ; and, astly, in their ignorance 
of the representative form of govera- 
ment. With such defects in their do- 
mestic and public economy, they can- 
not be supposed to have attained a high 
degree of refinement, nor exhibited 
very perfect models of social organiza- 
tion. 
Te 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
N answer to a correspondent in your 
Magazine for January, relating to 
the stopping up footpaths, for the in- 
formation of him and the public, I 
refer him to the act for that special 
purpose, which may be purchased at 
the King’s Printers, George Eyre and 
Andrew Strahan, London, for 1s. viz. 
Cap. 68. An Act toamendan Act of the 
13 of George III. for the amendment and 
Preservation of the Public Highways, in 
so far as the same relates to notice of Ap- 
peal against turning or diverting a Public 
Highway ; and toextend the Provisions of 
the same Act to the stopping up of unne- 
cessary Roads. (June, 1815.) 
This act is concise, but possesses 
sufficient powers for public improve- 
ments, and at the same time to protect 
individuals from being aggrieved. 
Whether done by trustees or surveyors, 
it must be done by order of two justices 
of the peace: such notices to be insert- 
ed in the newspapers of the county, 
and affixed to the door of the church 
or chapel of the parish wherein the 
said foot-paths or highways are situ- 
ated, aud the order returned to the 
clerk of the peace and confirmed and 
enrolled at quarter sessions. 
Persons injured by any such orders 
or proceedings, may appeal to justices 
at quarter sessions, upon giving notice 
thereof in writing. 
If no appeal be made, or if such 
order be confirmed, the old ways may 
be stopped, and proceedings shall be 
conclusive, and new highways shall 
afterwards continue public highways, 
&e. Justices on stopping up unneces- 
sary foot-paths or highways, may sell 
the same, and appropriate the sums 
arising therefrom, for the improvements 
of the road. 
Foot-paths and highways are also 
altered and diverted by Act of Parlia- 
ment for enclosures, and notice given 
y 
