FLETCHER. 
we can 
370 
hn sears II. and IV.) Even in the present age 
a 
of the power of judice over the wisest and 
were in truth liberal and tolerant in their domestic 
foreign policy, we could with less difficulty have 
is 
tion concerning a right regulation of governme 
good of mankind, &c. 1703,” In the re- 
port of the characters and di , he shews consider- 
able dramatic skill ; and in his own part of the scene, 
he di $a of politeness and address superior 
to any thing of this ki . ou a his parliamen- 
tary speeches. Thoug’ etcher did not succeed to 
the extent that he desired, he laid his country under 
great obligations, by the modified « Act of Security,” 
which was eventually , and by the many wise and 
salutary provisions which he caused to be connected with 
the measure. One hundred and eight years have now 
elapsed since this most important act of union was 
adopted ; and the ive improvement and happi- 
papecngl bit yh trom bu mregenie st ore 
ven, in which, 
ri Se Rooted pees oe sven 8: snow i 
picture of its e ith i d 
evil consequences. Sse gergro 
an instance of tory 
he had a seat in the parliament of Great Britain ; 
that the advanced period of his life, and his dissatisfac- 
tion wi aa ae a lead- 
ing part in the del ions of that . “He 
died in London in the 
talents, great courage, integrity, generosity, and tempe- 
rance. On the of his tetentiolia as a bate. 
the exertions ings of his life form best 
commentary. He was a most elegant scholar, and an 
His speeches are remarkable for 
i orator. 
Son ilamee and energy, and form, by their brevity, © 
a 
iking contrast to the wordy eloquence of the pre- 
sent day. His Phe = geiseenen phe med of 
»” origi ublished in i ; 
et which epics in an English dress in the 12mo 
and ound acquaintance with the interest, : 
oud tovatelions of the continental states, as at 
Great Britain, and shews him to have been deeply ac- 
quainted with the doctrine of the balance of power, 
which has since been the theme of so much discussion, 
and the cause of so much strife the philosophers, 
politicians, and warriors of E His “ Discourse 
on the establishment of a nati militia,” is learned 
and ingenious, but too Utopian to admit of a practical 
application. _ His « Two Di on the affairs of 
Scotland,” contain many curious views of the state of 
society at the time when they were written. On one’ 
topic only, we must offer a few remarks. These Dis- 
courses were written in 1693, when, in consequence of 
some years of barrenness, a scarcity, or rather a famine, 
existed through the land, and occasioned the most 
se- 
vere sufferings to the lower classes. The author A 
clares, that besides those who were scantily i : 
: 
sin Scot. — 
for out of the church boxes, there were at 
when he wrote, not less than 200,000 person 
land begging from door to door. And though,” he 
observes, “ the number of them be ps double 
to what it was formerly, by reason of this present dis- 
tress, yet in all time there have been about 100,000 of 
those vagabonds, who have lived without any regarc 
either to the laws of the land, or even to those of God 
and nature.” He tells us also, that when he considers 
the many excellent laws enacted by marae 
for setting the poor to work, particularly made in 
the reign of James VI. contrasted with their utter in- 
utility ; when he considered farther, that all the other 
' nations in Europe, Holland alone H is 
under a similar pressure, he was led to i 
neither the cause nor the remedy of the evil 
diseovered. As no such evil had been complained of’ — 
ot ee ee - 
bition of princes, that he icing all’ those” “ 
persons and their posterity Socauvery, by a solemn act: ~~ 
inted at Glasgow in 1749, displays an ample 
