Retrofpeét of Doonzjiic Literature—Hiftory, 
have oftentimes expreffed a decided opi- 
nion, that England was virtually the ag- 
greflor in this war, and as Mr. Marth 
had, with fuch ability and force, con- 
tended that the endurance was all on this 
fide of the water, and the provocation all 
on the other, we cannot but feel rejoiced 
that Mr. Belfham has fo fuccefsfully en- 
deavoured to give the public an opportu- 
nity of judging on this fubjeét for them- 
felves. After having expatiated on the 
depreda ations which have been made on 
the Confitution, and for which the plea 
of neceffity has been fo frequently and 
unjaftly alleged, Mr. Belfham ftates what 
the effect of the prefent war has had on 
the comforts of the people, and on that 
relative fituation, in terms which we can- 
not forbear to quote :—** We have feen 
on one fide of the channel which divides 
the Britifh Iflands our_fellow-fubjects ex- 
alperaied* into rebellion, and perifning 
under the edge of the fword ; and on the 
other, terrified into univerfal fubmiffion, 
and in - filence of delpair, ftarving with 
inset while placemen, .contraétors, 
lee aleeens and the hoft of locufts which 
prey upor the vitals of the land, are ac- 
cumulating out of the deep diftreffes of 
the people “@upendous Sal ieltagoial the 
bowers of pleafure and of opulence fur- 
veying, with frigid indifference, the fur- 
rounding abodes of mifery ; and with un- 
bluthing effrontery proclaiming amidft 
their abominable revels, mafques, and 
orgies, that the war is HOLY, JUST, AND 
NECESSARY.” 
We ought long fince to have noticed, 
that a fociety of gentlemen have publifhed 
the firft volume of a work which is not 
very diffimilar in its plan from the Annual 
Regifter, entitled ‘* The Annual Hamp- 
fhire peep aE 5 or, Hiftorical, Econo- 
mical, and Literary Mifceliany : a Pro- 
vi ee Work of entirely original Mate- 
rials, comprifing all Matters relative to 
the County, including the Ifle of Wight, 
&c.”” This plan of a County Regifter is, 
we ee novel, and a work of the 
fort,‘ when, the execution is good, certainly 
has a claim to the patronage of the public. 
The prefent volume opens with a fum- 
mary of the civil and political hiftory of 
Hamphhire, from the date of the King’s 
Proclamation, May 21, 1792, to the end 
of the year 1798: a chronicle follows of 
events arranged under the heads of births, 
marriages, preferments, promotions, and 
deaths ; next comes a minute account of 
the navy, army, and church; and then 
a lit of aéting magilirates, reports of 
affizes and: feffions-caules, a lift of county 
“antiquities and natural hiitory. 
‘conclude the volume. 
569 
officers and members of Parliament, an 
account of the ports of the county, and a 
lift of the exports and imports, The 
ftate of the poor in this county, and cha- 
rities for thei relief, form an important 
divifion of the woik: a good account is 
given of the ftate of its acricultas ‘ey of its 
Av mifcel~ 
laneous department, and an appendix, 
It appears, there- 
fore, that the plan of this work is, as it 
fhould be, to embrace a great variety of 
objects, and to communicate whatever 
intormation inay be interefting to the hit 
torian, the lawyer, the naturalift, the 
man of bufinels, and the farmer. The 
execution is, on the whole, refpeétable, 
and we fhall be happy if the fuccefs of 
the prefent publication fhall induce gen- 
tlemen of other counties to collect mate- 
rials for fimilar repofitories of provincial 
hiftory. : 
‘¢-Secret Memoirs of the Court of Pe- 
terfburg, particularly towards the end of 
the Reign of Catherine II.-and the com- 
mencemient of that of Paul I. ; f rming 
a detcription of the manners Mi Peteri-.. 
burg, at the clofe of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, and containing various anecdotes, 
collected during a refidence of ten years 
in that capital ; tog ether with remaras on 
the education of the Grand Dukes, the 
manners of the ladie 8) and the releiog of, 
the people, tranflated from the French} in, 
2 vols.” A great part of the information 
contained in thefe volumes, had befcre 
been tranflated. by Mr. Tooke ; fome 
anecdotes, however, are related of the late 
Emperor Paul, which, if true—ifnot fa- 
bricated tor the occafion—materially Neffen 
our furprife at his political whimiica! ty. 
A tranflation which feems to be exe- 
cuted with care, has appeared of M. VoL- 
Niy’s Legtures cn‘Hittory, deliver ed i 
the Norman School at Paris. 
‘* Retrofpection; or, a Review of the 
moft firiking and important Events of 
the laft eighteen hundred Years, by H. 
L. Prozzi,2 vols. 4to.”? An attempt 
is here made to reduce into a {mal] com- 
pais, the multiplicity of events which have 
occurred fince the era of man’s redemp- 
tion, It is the opinion of the aut horels, 
that in our difturbed and bufy days 
abridgements only can be ufeful, as no 
one has leifure to read better books., How 
it happens that men in general have leis 
leifure now than formerly we know not ; 
but this we know, that it would be a 
waite of what leifure they have, to {pend 
it in reading fo contemptible a work as 
tlie pretent. Whatever? little reputation 
I this 
