605 Retrofpec? of Domeftic 
common leader after the natlon begun 
to engage in more extenfive enterprifes. 
Tn this period, therefore, Mr. Millar 
confiders the government to have at- 
tained the condition of a feudal monar- 
chy. About the period of the acceffion 
ot James I. the introduction of arts 
and manufa€tures made a material al- 
teration in the ftate of fociety. The 
Jower orders began to rife into confe- 
quence, while the increafing expence 
of the government made it more ne- 
ceffary that they thould contribute to 
the fupport of it. The ftruggles 
which thence arofe between the com- 
mons and the prerogative terminated 
in what Mr. Millar calls the commercial 
government, which was eitablifhed by 
the Revolution of 1688. The third 
portion of the plan is left unexecuted, 
but the differtations which would have 
been incorporated in the work, had the 
Profeffor lived, are extremely Curious 
and valuable, and leave us to regret 
that he was not fpared for the compie- 
tion of his projected inquiries. Pro- 
feffor Millar was a very decided Whig 
in his politics; indeed he rather leaned 
towards republicanifm, which he con- 
ceives is the beft form of government 
either for a very extenfive ora very limit- 
ed empire. When he comes to the ftate 
of the Englifh government under the 
houfe of Stuart, we find a very elaborate 
reply to Mr. Hume’s partial and muti- 
lated hiftory of that period : Mr, Mil- 
lar has very little tenderne{s towards 
the frft Charles, 2nd does not hefitate 
to fay, that he deferved death upon 
every principle of juftice, although he 
is Inclined to think that it was not ex- 
pedient to take away his life againft 
the general voice and inelination of the 
community. Charles the Second is 
treated with as little lenity; and con- 
cerning James the Second it is faid that 
«< impartial juftice, perhaps, would de- 
termine that he was far from fufferine 
according to his demerits ; that he was 
guilty of crimes, which in their nature 
and confequences infer the higheit 
enormity, and that, initead of forfeiting 
bis crown, be well dejerved the highe# 
punifhment which the law can inflit.” 
Another volume has made its ap- 
pearance of the *‘4fgticAnnual Regifter.” 
The Chronicle reaches to April 
to$2, and comprifes the events of 
Bombay, Madras, and Bengal, in fe- 
parate feétions. We noticed the ar- 
rangement of the Afiatic Regiiter on a 
former occafion, and have only to ob- 
ferve that the prefent volume Is no lefs 
Literature. —Hiftory. 
interefting and valuable than thofe 
which have preceeded it. 
Mr. PLowDEN has publifhed in three 
quarto volumes ‘¢ Az Hifforical Review 
of the State of Ireland, from the Iuvafion 
of that Couniry under Henry II. to its 
Union with Great Britain on the firft of 
Fanuary 1802.” 
The gentleman whofe name is affix- 
ed to this work is weil known and re- 
fpected in the Republic of Letters: on 
more occafions than one he has evinced 
an extent and accuracy of hiftorical 
and legal knowledge, a fpirit of re- 
fearch, a folidity of judgment, and an 
impartiality of narration, which would 
qualify him for fuch an arduous under- 
taking as the prefent. We muft con- 
tent ourfelves, for the prefent, with 
merely announcing this valuable and 
authentic publication. 
The only remaining work which we 
have to notice under this divifion of 
cur compendium is ‘* The Hiffory of the 
Revolutions of Rufha to the Acceffon of 
Catherine the Firft: including a Concife 
Review of the Manners and Cuffoms of 
the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, 
éy Henay Carp, A. B. &e. 
“From the various fubjeéts adapted 
for hiftorical compofition I have been in- 
clined to felect thofe revolutions,” fays 
Mr. C. ‘“* which have as deeply thaken 
as they have now firmly eflablithed rhe 
mafiy fabric of the Ruffian Empire.” 
A narrative of thofe occurrences which 
ferve to point out and explain the do- 
meftic caufes which prevented Ruffia 
from affuming, until fo late a period, 
her proper ftation in the balance of 
Europe, is unqueftionably well entitled 
to attention. Mr. Card has difin- 
guifhed no lefs than eight important 
revolutions in the Ruffian Empire. 
The firf is the introdudtion of the Va- 
ragians, and thé foundation of the mo- 
narchy by their leader Rurik. This 
occuried in fo remote a period as the 
ninth century. Without inveftigating 
the numerous fables which have been 
forged refpeCling the Ruffian origin, 
Mr. Card contents himfelf with fixing 
it as a fact that at this time dwelt a 
race of people whofe geneaology was 
venerable, along the fhores of the Dnie- 
per, the Neva, and the Volkhof, form- 
ing the republic of the Novgorodians. 
The /écond revolution is the eftablith- 
ment of Chriftianity in the reign of 
Viadimir J. Sviatoflavitz, farnamed the 
Great. In the inveftigation of the 
Pagan rites of the Ruffians, Mr. Card 
evinces confiderable Jearning; in con- 
formity 
