ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 
this country distributed, is owing, 
as he informs us in a Short preface, 
to his having been favoured with 
the unreserved advice and animad- 
versions of persons severally occu- 
pying the station, or belonging to 
the profession in question, and ac- 
customed to consider its duties in a 
conscientious light. 
The work is divided into fifteen 
chapters. The first contains the 
plan of the work ; and in the course 
of this chapter the author gives his 
reasons why no part of the work has 
been appropriated to those who are 
placed in the lowest ranks of so- 
ciety, By them argumentative and 
bulky treatises of morality will not 
be read. The careful perusal of 
their Bible, and the study of short 
and familiar expositions of its pre- 
cepts, aided by the public and pri- 
vate admonitions of their pasters, 
are to them the principal sources of 
instruction. ‘The second chapter 
_ contains general remarks on the first 
principles of the British constitution. 
Chapter the third explains the du- 
ties of the sovereign. Chapter the 
fourth, the general duties of En- 
glishmen, as subjects and fellow- 
citizens. Chapter the fifth is on 
the duty of peers, Chapter the 
sixth is on those of members of the 
house of commons. Chapter the 
seventh treats on the duties of the 
executive officers of government. 
Chapter the eighth is’ on the duties 
of naval and military officers. Chap-~ 
ter the ninth on the duties of the 
legal profession. Chapter the tenth 
on those of justices of the peace and 
municipal magistrates. Chapter the 
eleventh ap the duties of the 
clerical profession, Chapter the 
twelfth on the duties of physicians. 
Chapter the thirteenth on the duties 
of persons engaged in trade and 
[*175 
business. Chapter the fourteenth 
on the duties of private gentlemen, 
In the fifteenth and concluding 
chapter, considerations are submit- 
ted to persons who doubt or deny 
the truth of Christianity, or the ne= 
cessity of a strict observance of all 
its precepts. In a work, the ob- 
vious intention of which is to be 
useful rather than amusing, much 
novelty ought not to be expected ; 
we will, therefore, content ourselves 
with passing cursorily over the work, 
selecting such passages from each 
chapter, in its order, as shall appear 
to us most original or important. 
Our author’s observations, in the 
second chapter, on the privilege of 
voting for members of parliament, 
are of this description : 
‘*‘ It is undoubtedly true, thata 
very large majority of the inhabi- 
tants of this kingdom has no elective 
voice in the appointment of the 
inembers of the house of commons; 
in other words, most of the people 
of Great Britain have no suffrage in 
the nomination of the persons who 
are to enact the laws by which non- 
electors, in common with the rest 
of the nation, are to be governed. 
But the limited diffusion of the 
elective franchise cannot fairly be 
affirmed to be a breach of justice. . 
The right of voting for a member of 
parliament is a public trust; it is as 
truly a civil office as the most con- 
spicuous employment in the state; 
and, humble as it may seem, isa 
civil office of considerable impor- 
tance, All public offices and trusts 
being constituted in this kingdom 
for the general good of the whole ; 
it is just that they should be confer- 
red on such polstical conditions as 
the general good may demand, and 
be devolved on those persons alone 
who possess the political qualifica- 
tions 
