1799-] 
part which is, and certainly ought to be, 
exempted from the operation of the tax. 
There are fome grounds for thinking that 
the grols income of the nation, or the 
aggregate revenue of individuals of all 
clailes, rather exceeds than falls fhort of 
125,090,0001. at which he eftimated it, 
and the reafon of his over-rating the tax, 
feems to be, that the deduétion of twenty- 
three millions for iricomes under 6ol: 
Which pay nothing, and ‘the. part under 
200l.wiich pays on an average one-filtieth, 
Was much lefS than it ought to have been. 
By the accounts laid betore parliament, 
it appears.tbat the total nuinber of perfons 
paying aileffed taxes in 1797 was 791,802, 
of whom 339,685 paid leis than five 
fhilliigs per annum; {uch perfons cannot 
be fuppoled in general to have incomes 
excecding 6cl. a year, and if there are 
fome few exceptions, there is probably a 
‘reater number paying upwards of ten 
fillings; whole incomes do not exceed 
this amount; there appears. tlerefore to 
be at the utmoft not more than 472,117 
perfons with fome of the members of their 
families, liable to the Income Tax. 
Confidering all fuch perfons as heads of 
families, and their families as confifting 
bn an average of 5 perfons each, which 
exceeds the proportion to a family ufu- 
ally tound where fuch accounts have been 
taken, the whole number of individuals 
depending on income liable to the tax 
will be 2,360,585; this however is but a 
{mail part of the whole population of the 
country, which has lately been ftated as 
high as 9,000,000: but taking it only at. 
7,500,000, which is probably much nearer 
the truth, there appears to be 5,139,415 
perfons fubfilting by income exempt from 
the tax: the whole annual expence of {uch 
perfons cannot, according to the prefent 
prices of the neceflaries of life, be lefs than 
$l. each, or 41,11 5,320l. which fu be- 
ing deducted from the general income of 
125,000,000!. leaves 83,384,680]. the 
utmoft fum liable to the tax; andif a 
further deduction is made on account .of 
incomes from 6o0l. to 20 1. paying lefs 
than a tenth, the tax will be reduced to 
nearly the {um of 7,000,000. at which itis 
now eftimated, without fuppofing that the 
returns made are below the truth, which 
however may be the cafe in a {mall degree. 

Fuint€ 14, 1799. G, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
WAS much gratified by the obfer- 
vations made at page 106, of your 
Magazine, No. 42, on the neceflity that 
Income Tax....Tranflations of German Plays. 
427 
tranflations from the German, and from 
KorzeBug, in particular, thould be 
faithtully made trom the refpective Origi- 
nals. Your correfpondent very juitly re- 
probates the fanc#ul alterations made by 
Mrs. INCHBALD in her “ Lower’ s Vorwus;*? 
and by Mr. SHERIDAN in the “ Stran- 
ger,”’ and judiciouily points out the iupe- 
rior coniiitency of Mils PLumerre’s 
<¢ Natural Son, and,ot Mr. ScHinx’s 
*¢ Stranger,’ both of which are faithful 
trdnflations trom Kotzebue. 5 
How indignant would be the feelings of 
an intelligent Englifhman, who, witneifing | 
the repreientation on a German {tages 
of ole of the belt plays of his darling 
Shak{peare, found that a conceited and 
half informed tranilator or editor, had 
fuppreffed whole fcenes, changed the fea- 
tures of thé characters, and introduced 
other fcenes fo inccngruoully as to render 
the whole inconfiftent and unlike the ori- 
ginal! Precifely, however, in this fiiua- 
tion ftands the German dravaatift in re. 
{pe to his plays of the Stranger, Lover’s 
Vows, the Birth Day, and Pizarro. 
The alterations which, while they are 
the leaft in extent, are alfo the wort in 
effect, are thofe by Mr. SHERIDAN in 
the Spaniards in Peru, to which, without 
any obvious reafon, he has given the 
name of the Spanifh tyrant, Pizarro, His 
alterations, in the four firft aéts, confilt of 
little more than the omiifion of fome parts 
of the dialogue, and the introduGtion of 
fome political fentiments, in page 24,* 
calculated to catch the popular feelings 
of the moment, and therefore a trick be- 
neath the dignity of a man of Mr. Sheri« 
dan’s fuppoted genius. 
In the fifth act, however, he has taken 
very reprehenfible liberties. Of the pro- 
priety or neceffity of thefe the public will 
judge, who read Kotzebue, and fee She» 
ridan. Cora, in her firlt moments of dif. 
traction, for the fuppofed lofs of her huf. 
band, is made to fing a bravura fong : no 
perfon who reads her affecting joliloquy 
at page 80, would fufpe& that the Enelifh 
editor had fo far violated probability as 
to exchange Kotzebue’s natural expreflions 
of grief into afong! The other alterations, 
and thofe which involve the groffeft abfur- 
dities, are the introdu&tion of two new 
{cenes, after the death of Rolla, end. the 
complete clofe of the German play— 
perhaps one of the moft fimple, tragical, 
and affectirig clofes to be met in the 
whole range of dramatic compofition. 
The intelligent readeis of the Monthly 
Magazine cannot fail to be acquainted 
_—- 
* Irefer to Mils Plumptre’s tranilation. 
with 
