254 
mestic and imperial, and made a good system 
of domestic government the foundation of 
unanimity in support of the empire ; that in 
consequence of such a conduct, a war not 
very fortunate, had ceased to be unpopular, 
and levies of an extraordinary proportion were 
not a ground of complaint. In the midst of 
all this, the British cabinet dissolved the go- 
vernment, and professed to dissolve it for 
the preservation of the empire. They con- 
verted a nation of support into a nation of re- 
monstrance, and unanimity in favour of go- 
vernment to unanimity against her.” 
This history is continued with instruc- 
tive minuteness through the whole of the 
late rebellion, of which however the civil 
rather than the military history is given, 
and to the final accomplishment of the 
union ; an event, says Mr. Plowden, af- 
fording the sure means of conciliating 
the affections, consolidating the ener- 
gies, and promoting the prosperities of 
every part of the British empire. 
This work is in its execution merito- 
rious; in its tendency useful ; in its ap- 
HISTORY, POLITICS, AND STATISTICS. 
pearance seasonable. Its chief fault is 
the want of proportion: the early -his- 
tory from Henry the second to Anne 
being excessively abbreviated ; and the 
Jate transactions excessively expanded. 
If the work professedly contained only 
the history of Ireland, from the acces- 
sion of the house of Hanover. to the pre- 
sent time, it might have been compressed 
into two quartos, and would have been 
passed for a completer work. We re- 
commend to the author to revise and 
expand the earlier portion of his labours: 
and if the immediate’ diffusion of his 
book is, as we sincerely believe, impor- 
tant to the consolidation of that union of 
spirit, without which the constitutional 
junction will litile avail, between the two 
nations ; rather to let his octavo edition 
begin with the accession of the Stuarts. 
A copious appendix of state-papers 
and other documents is annexed : these 
again might partly be omitted in a cheap 
edition for popular circulation. 
Arr, VIII. Historical View of the English Government, from the Settlement of the Saxons 
in Britain to the Revolution of 1688. By 
OF the two first volumes of this 
work a quarto edition was published in 
1787. It was received with that select 
approbation which surpasses popularity, 
in the estimate of a writer of judgment 
and intellect. The distinguished author 
is now no more: his surviving friends, 
with a becoming; solicitude for the public 
instruction, have republished the His- 
torical View of the English Government, 
which extended to the accession of the 
house of Stuart; and have annexed the 
finished Continuation, which extends to 
the Revolution, and which occupies the 
third volume: and also some unfinished 
chapters and fragments, which were to 
have included a critical estimate of the 
present times. These chapters and 
fragments fill the fourth volume of this 
edition. The whole work; and this is 
high praise, is worthy of the author of 
an Enquiry into the Origin of Ranks. 
Several continental writers have ac- 
quired diffusive reputation by treating 
on the philosophy of history: among 
the French, Voltaire, by his Essay on 
the Manners and Spirit of Nations since 
Charlemagne: among the Germans, 
Herder, by shis Philosophy of History, 
and Adelung, by his History of Culture. 
It cannot be too often repeated, that 
Joun Mizvar, Esq. 4 vol. 8vo. pp. 496. 
permanent revolutions are the result of 
general causes; and that the effects of 
individual ability vanish with the indi- 
vidual, whenever he is not the organ of 
a sect, the instrument of a party, the 
chieftain of a confederacy, or the repre- 
sentative of a multitude. 
is the tongue or the hand of a great 
party. Laws and institutions are the 
result of predisposing causes, not of 
personal caprice; else they never en- 
dure: so that, in the general course of 
things, that which is natural mostly 
comes to pass: the crimes of fanaticism, 
the martyrdoms of enthusiasm, are use- 
less alike: the quiet persevering “‘ so be 
it”? of the numerous classes, eventually 
conquers all the resistance of embodied 
faction, or of established power. 
Among the philosophers of history, 
professor Millar merits a high, perhaps 
the highest, rank. The sagacity with 
which he detects and indicates, even in 
remote periods, those predisposing cir- 
cumstances, which produced the gene- 
ral flow of event, is wholly unrivalled. 
His generalizations, or theoretical infe- 
rences, are numerous and very ingenious, 
His knowledge of human nature may 
seem confined to man in the abstract, and 
his indifference to individual merit, so 
A great man~ 
= 
