*174] 
council of Constance. A short ac- 
count of it may be found in L’En- 
fanv’s history of that council ; but 
the best relation of it isin the 8th 
vol. of Vanden Hardv’s collections. 
Ifthe author should publish a se- 
cond edition of bis work, which we 
think its merit makes highly pro- 
bable, we hope he will give the par- 
ticulars of this curious event in our 
diplomatic history. 
Mr. Ward now pursues his subject 
from the 15th to the 17th century, 
and concludes with the age of 
Grotius. He pronounces a high 
eulogium on the celebrated treatise, 
de Jure Belli et Pacis, of that ami- 
able man and universal scholar. He 
_ mentions Puffendoiff with praise, 
and Vattel in terms of the greatest 
commendation : but he observes, in 
conclusion, that his treatise does not 
appear, by any means, to preclude 
the necessity of studying the works 
of his masters. 
From the persual of this publica- 
tion we have derived great pleasure. 
We think that it is written with 
method and clearness; thatit is re- 
plete with various and _ extensive 
erudition; and that it bears through- 
eut unequivocal marks of industry 
and ability. 
An Inquiry into the Duties of Man, 
in the higher and middle Classes of 
Society in Greut Britain, resulting 
Sromtheir respective Stations, Pro- 
Sessions, and Employments, Bu 
Thomas Gisborne, M. A. Ato. 
ie has been objected to moral 
writers, from Plato and Aristotle 
down to Puflendo:? and Grotius, 
that their systems are too scientific 
and refined for the ordinary occurs 
zencesof life; fer how shall abstract 
ANNUAL REGISTER,: 1795. 
principles repel a present and strong 
temptation? More modern authors 
have delivered their rules of ethics 
with a closer attention to practice; 
but they have usually comprehended 
too wide a range, and have described 
the general duties of man, while 
those of the different ranks and pros 
fessions in society have been passed 
in silence. Indeed, to trace out 
minutely the different habits and 
obligations of all the different or- 
ders in civil life, might be too much 
to expect from an individual writer; 
it would be considered as sufficient, 
if he should explain clearly the pars 
ticular duties of that class of persons’ 
whose pursuits and avocations were 
allied to his own. Sorel, the his- 
toriographer of France, published, 
about the midde of the lastcentury, 
in his * Bibliotheque Frangois,” 
along account of authors in the 
French language who have treated 
of the conduct of life in public, or 
of what are called the homiletical 
virtues; but jt should seem that 
their precepts referred to behaviour 
rather than:to morals, and were di- 
rected chiefly to the higher orders 
in society. This last observation 
applies to a very ingenious little 
pamphlet, entitled, ** Thoughts on 
the Manners of the Great,” of 
which elegance and force are its 
least recommendations ; and which 
appears to have suggested the hint 
ot the work before us. The author 
of thishas indeed extended his plan 
over a much more ample and useful 
field of enquiry, and has rendered. 
by it avery eminent service to his 
country and to mankind. That he 
has been able to treat minutely and 
correctly of the habits, pursuits, and 
occupations of the different ranks 
and professionsinto which the higher 
and middle classes of society eee 
; this 
