bf 
SUPPLEMENTARY NUMBER 
TO. Tbe 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 

Wo. Miie-V.o1 WI. 


ea snes anes oo 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
HALF-yEARLY Retrospect oF Do- 
MESTIC LITERATURE. 
4° VERY man of obfervation and pa- 
triotic feeling muft have remarked 
with forrow, the filent but fatal operation 
of two celebrated bills *, which pafled in 
a late feffion of parliament, for the pur- 
pofe—the frvfifed purpofe, and fo tar as 
the framers of them had no other object in 
view, the /aydable purpofe of repyefling 
creafonable and feditious practices. Till 
this period, ever fince the revolution of 
1688, and indeed for fome time antcce- 
dent to that memorable era, an unfettered 
and free {pirit of enquiry had been che- 
_tifhed amongft us, and by common con- 
fent had, as it were, become naturalized 
to the foil; genius and talent were called 
forth, and literature flourifhed under its 
influence. This free fpirit is now ba- 
nifhed trom our fhore, and in its room 
Black melancholy fits, and round her throws 
A death-like filence, and a dread repofe : 
Her gleomy prefence faddens all the fcene, 
Shades ev’ry flow’r, and darkens ev’ry green ! 
As we have commonly introduced our 
retrofpect with a fhort eulogy on the ftate 
of domeftic literature, this comfortle{s 
reflection will doubtlefs feem to militate 
again{t our former opinion ; but the pre-' 
fent obfervation is chiefly referable to 
works of a political and theological na- 
ture, for “ a man is allowed {nfficient 
freedom of thought, provided he knows 
how to choofe his firbieé&t 5 you may cri- 
ticife freely upon the Chinefe conftitution, 
and obferve with as much feverity as you 
pleafe, upon the abfurd tricks and de- 
ftructive bigotry of the Bonzees. But,” 
continues Mr. Burke, “ the fcene is 
changed as you come homewards, and 
atheifm or treafon may be the name 
* Commonly known by the names, Lo d 
Grenville’s and Mr. Pitt’s bills; but, perhaps 
#ill more commonly by the vulgar, yet fig- 
nificant appellation of ‘* The gagging bills,” 
MONTHLY Mac. XL. 

given in Britain, to what would be rea- 
fon and truth if afferted of China +.” 
We fhould fearcely, perhaps, have 
thought it necefflary to notice, in this 
place, the reftraint which is impofed on 
political inveftigation, did we not antici- 
pate its injurious effects on literature in 
general, and fee] anxious to warn our 
countrymen before warning comes too late. 
If timidity once enters into our literary 
{peculations, the flights of genius will 
be languid, and philofophy muft crawl 
with a flow and tottering ftep: we fhall 
foon fhrink from’ the deduétions of our 
own reafoning, fhall ‘ dwell in perpetual 
alarms, and ftartle like Profpero, at the 
fpestres of our own creation.” But let 
us not give way to thefe difpiriting im- 
preflions in any immoderate and unnecef- 
fary mealure: the mifchief, fo far as ge- 
neral literature is concerned, is at prefent 
in apprehenfion merely, as will be obvious 
when we conduét our readers mto the 
NATIONAL LiBRaARyY, and point out to 
them the valuable acceflion which have 
been made-to it in different departments 
of {cience, within the laft fix months. 
H{STORY. 
The work which has firft claim to 
notice, as from its fubjeé&t of pecu- 
liar intereft to our countrymen, 1s My. 
Belfham’s “ Hiffory of -Great Britain, 
from the Revolution to the Seffion of Par- 
liament, ending A.D. 1793.” Mr. B. 
has obtained {ome celebrity for his me- 
moirs of the Brunfwic family, and is 
indeed the only writer of any refpectabi- 
lity, with the exception perhaps of Mr. 
Macfarlane, who has brought down the 
hiftory of England to our own times. 
The period which Mr. B. bas chofen for 
the exercife of his talents is a very event- 
ful one, and could not pofhibly Jead him 
into that unbecoming and dangerous la- 
titude of expreflion, or rather virukence 
of inveftive, which ftained the pages of 

+ See the ‘6 VWendicgtien of Natural So- 
piety.” 
aR his 
