SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER 
¥" 1 oO 
THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 

No. xxx111. | 

HALF-YEARLY: RETROSPECT of Do- 
MESTIC LITERATURE. 
INCE our Jatt retrofpect of leiters, a 
| great variety of works has come be- 
fore the public—los, fur, fus, atque facer- 
dos; the mals of ephemeral matter, in- 
deed, as ufual, is motley and unmeaning, 
but with pleafure we have remarked, that 
many of the publications of the laft fix 
months are diftinguifhed by recondite 
learning, fome by laborious argument, 
and others by tafte and verfatility of ge- 
nius. We {hall offer as fair an eftimate 
as we can of their refpective merits. 
HISTORY. 
A very important period of more than 
forty years of the hiftory of England, 
has lately been illuftrated, by a gentleman 
well-known and refpeéted in the literary 
world, the Rev. Mr. Coxe, in his ** Me- 
moirs of the Life and Adminiftration of Sir 
Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford.’ This 
work confilts of three very bulky quarto 
volumes; the firft of which embraces that 
portion which will be moft generally in- 
terefting, namely, the ‘ Memoirs ;’ the 
two latter being chiefly devoted to origi- 
nal correfpondence, to notes, authentic 
documents, and ftate papers. Mr. Coxe 
pofleffed the moft ample fources of inform- 
ation relative to the period, of which he 
is the hiftorian, and fuch as are open to 
very few; if, therefore, he be found im- 
partial in narrating tranfa€tions, his 
claim to authenticity ftands high. Sir 
Robert Walpole has been almoft univer- 
fally reprobated for introducing corrup- 
tion, as a /y/tem, into the various depart- 
ments of adminiftration : when fecretary 
at war, it is well known, that he was 
accufed of breach of truft and corruption, 
was expelled the hcufe of commons, and 
committed to the tower. His biographer 
attempts to juftify him from this dif. 
irratetel charge, but his fuccefs, in our 
Opinion, 1s Very unequal to his zeal: the 
bare unfupporied afertions of Walpole, 
are not ‘to be received in proof of his in- 
macence. [a honour to Mr. Coxe, how- 
éver, and in order to anticipate any hafty 
charge of partiality which may be brought 
againit him, “we rejoice to ftate, that, 
with every honeft man, he cenfures, with 
sysurp, Moytuiy Mac, No, xxx. 
JuLy 16,1708. 
(Von. Vv 

becoming feverity, the conduct of Wal- 
pole, as a fyftematic and unprincipled 
oppofitionift, after the difmiffal of the 
Townfhend adminiftration. We mui en- 
ter our complete ‘and unqualified proteft 
againft Mr. Coxe’s opinion on the fubjest 
of the Septennial bill, which he confiders 
as ‘the bulwark of our civil and reli- 
gious liberties,” but which we regard as 
an act of ufurpation, to the deplorable 
fuccefs of which, the people may attribute 
every fubfequent invafion of their freedom. 
Thefe volumes of Mr. Coxe throw con- 
fiderable light on the character of Lord 
Bolingbroke, whofe ‘* Letters and Corre- 
fpondence, Public and Private, during the 
Lime he was Secretary of State to Queen 
Anne,’ have lately been publithed by 
Mr. GILBERT ParKE, of Oxford. A 
fund of political intelligence 1s contained 
in thefe volumes, which are of unque- 
ftionable authenticity, the materials having 
been obtained by the editor from a living 
defcendant of Thomas Hare, Efq. the 
under-fecretary of Bolingbroke, who fe- 
cuted the pages of his lordfhip on his dif- 
miffion from office. An interefting ‘ Hi/- 
tory’ has been written ‘¢ of the Reign of 
Shah Aulum, the prefent Emperor of Hin- 
doflaun,” by a gentleman well-known for 
his acquaintance with Afiatic literature, 
Captain WILLIAM FRANCKLIN, in the 
fervice of the Eaft India company. Captain 
F. was one of the firft pupils of that il- 
luftrious character, Sir William Jones, 
and one of the honourable few who ap- 
proved themfelves worthy of fuch an in- 
ftruétor ; at an early period of life he 
undertook a journey into Perfia, and res 
fided forme timeat Shiraz, a place ren- 
dered claffical from the circumftance of 
having given-birth to the poet mis 
the ftudy of oriental languages here erm- 
ployed cur author’s attention; and on his 
return to Bengal, he publifhed his Tour to 
Perfia. The prefent hiftory contains an 
account of the tranfaétions of the court of 
Deihi and.the neighbouring fiates, during 
‘a period of thirty-fix years; in the ap- 
pendix, among other interefting matter, ~ 
is given a narratiye of the late revolution 
at Rampore; ami the original letter, as 
well as a tranflatien of it, trom the Prince 
anil Mirza, 
