There was a distinction made between the vaffals of the crown, and thofe of the duchy of France, although united in the perfon of Hugh Capet. Of the number that held immediately of the crown at the acceffion of that Prince, fuch as the Dukes of Guienne, Normandy, Burgundy, the Counts of Flanders, Thouloufe, and others, they were reduced, by the reign of Philip Auguftus, to only fix; the most powerful having probably obtained a fuperiority by the gradual lapse of time; and to these above mentioned, it feems to be generally allowed that fix of the most dignified clergy were affociated by Lewis the Young, to affilt at the coronation of his fon Philip Auguftus; and, from that period, they wer, fixed at twelve, who, contined to that number, were confidered as peers of France, with all their peculiar and local privileges. The That there was not any general affembly of the nation under the latter Princes of the Carlovingian line, or the first of the Capetian monarchy, in which refided a legiflative authority, extending over the community at large, is proved by the fate of the feudal government above defcribed, and by the collection of the laws of France. laft Capitulary, digetted by Monfieur Baluze, was at the clofe of the reign of Charles the Simple; and the firft Ordonnance of the kings, which appears to have extended to the whole kingdom, was in the reign of Philip Auguftus; fo that, in the space of two hundred and feventy years, no new law was added to the ftatutary code of the Gallic monarchy. The affize courts of the early Princes of the third race were the fame as thofe held by their vaffals, the jurifdiction of which extended only within their own demefies, and were called together, at stated times, with peculiar pomp and ceremony, the lower clafs of barons feldom holding theirs but when exprefsly required by their vaffals. Women who inherited a fief, were likewife competent to hold their courts. Three or four perfons were fufficient to fit in judgment; and when a baron could not affemble a proper number, it was cuftomary to borrow the vaffals of a neighbouring lord. With the feudal law was introduced the right of primogeniture; a custom entirely unknown under the princes of the firft race, in which the fons divided equally amongst them the inheritance of their fathers. When fiefs became hereditary, feniority was fully established, as well in the crown as the fief, which was in itfelf confidered as no more than a great fief. Surnames, alfo, became in ufe about the fame time: the nobles derived them from their territories, the lower orders from the places of their births, and not unfrequently from either perfonal advantages or defects. The revenues of the princes arofe from nearly the fame fource, the produce of their own demefnes; the perquifites of their courts of juftice; fome fmall rights upon their vaffals, as upon the marriage of his eldeft fon, or daughter; and the taxes upon the Jews, who were deemed the property of the lord within whofe lands they refided. Manners, as may be eafily fuppofed in this undetermined ftate of government, were still barbarous. Without any check upon their natural ferocity, the barons exercifed the most unjustifiable acts of tyranny: the people, poor and contemptible, were funk, as were their defpots, in the most profound ignorance: few of the nobles could either read or write: there were no titles to poffeffions bus ufage, no authentic deeds of marriage but tradition; hence, what was entrusted to memory was foon loft. The want therefore of records, occafioned thofe perpetual difputes relative to fucceffion, and to the degrees of kindred: a circumftance of which the clergy availed themfelves. All arts, but thofe of war, were held in contempt. Surrounded by his vaffals and dependents, the powerful baron, when not employed in fome predatory inroad upon the lands of his neighbour, commonly refided at his country feat, where military exercises, and the fports of the field, were his only cccupations. Without arts, fciences, commerce, they even lived without the moft flight connexion with neighbouring provinces; a fingular inftance of which is preferved, among others, in the collection of Dom Bouquet. An abbot of Cluny in Burgundy, being requested to remove his monks to Saint Maur des Foffés near Paris, excufed himself from undertaking fo long a journey into a strange and unknown land. If any perfon travelled from one part of the kingdom to the other, he was obliged to acknowledge himfelf within a year and a day the vaffal of the lord in whofe territory he had fettled, or be fubject to heavy penalties; and the wretched inhabitants of the maritime provinces, who fought protection from the Normans by flying into the interior parts of the country, renounced one tyrant for another, by being immediately reduced to a ftate of fervitude.' The work is incorrectly printed, and the engravings cannot be ftyled excellent. ART. XXIII. Plutarch's Treatife upon the Diftinction between a Friend and Flatterer: With Remarks. By Thomas Northmore, Esq. M. A. F. S. A. 8vo. pp. 132. 45. Boards. Payne. 1793. OF F writings fo richly ftored with the treasures of history and philofophy as thofe of Plutarch, it is much to be regretted that an entire English verfion, adapted to the improved tafte of the present times, has not appeared. The tafk has, indeed, been in part executed with ability and judgment in Langhorne's tranflation of Plutarch's Lives: but much yet remains to be done with refpect to thofe mifcellaneous pieces commonly known under the title of his Morals. One of the most pleasing of the pieces is here prefented to the public in a drefs which does much credit to the tranflator's judgment and tafte. Mr. N. has been very attentive to correctness of verfion, and has only allowed himself fuch a degree of freedom of interpretation, as was requifite for the fake of idiomatic propriety and harmonious arrangement. The difference between an elegant and a rude exhibition of the fame sentiments, every reader, who has cultivated a tafte for the graces of compofition, will perceive from comparing the two following verfions of the fame paffage; the former from the tranflation by various hands published in 1694; the latter by 1 Mr. Northmore. The moralift is laying down rules refpecting reproof: Old Verfion. "In the next place, let us free our difcourfe from all contumelious language, all laughter, mockery and fcurrility, which fpoil the relish of our reprehenfions. For, as a Chirurgion makes an incifion in the flesh, he ufes decent neatnefs and dexterity in the operation, without the affected and fuperfluous gefticulations of a quack, or mountebanck: fo the lancing the fores of a friend may admit indeed of a little humour and urbanity, but that fo qualified, that it fpoil not the seriousness and gravity requifite to the work. For boldness, infolence and ill language destroy its force and efficacy. And therefore the fidler reparteed handfomly enough upon Philip, when he undertook to difpute with him about the touch upon his inftrument: God forbid that your Majefty fhould be fo unhappy as to understand a fiddle better than I do. But Epicharmus was too blunt upon Hierom, who inviting him to fupper a little after he had put fome of his acquaintance to death, replied, Ay, but you could not invite me the other day to the facrifice of my friends. And fo was Antiphon too rude in his reflection upon Dionyfius, who on occafion of a difcourfe about the best fort of brass, told him that was the best in his opinion of which the Athenians made ftatues of Hermodius and Ariftogeiton. For thefe fcurrilous abufive jefts are moft certainly difagreeable, and pain, to no purpose, being but the product of an intemperate wit, and which only betray the enmity and ill-nature of him who takes the liberty to ufe them, which whofoever allows himfelf in, does but wantonly sport about the brink of New Verfion. In the fecond place, let us purify our reprehenfions of every unpalatable feafoning, and banish from them all expreffions of reproach, fcorn, ridicule, and fourrility. For as a furgeon ought to be very attentive to preferve neatnefs in his operations, and as every kind of unfteady, wavering, fuperfluous motion should be far removed from his hand; fo freedom of reproof, provided its refpectability be preserved, admits of a proper degree of humour and urbanity; but on the approach of the leaft impudent, fcurrilous, or opprobrious language, all its purpoles are defeated. And therefore the musician very fhrewdly and pertinently filenced Philip, who was beginning to difpute with him about notes and founds, by telling him; "God forbid, O King! that you fhould ever be fo unfortunate as to know thefe things better than I do." But Epicharmus, the Pythagorean philofopher, acted very imprudently, when, upon being invited by Hiero to a dinner a few days after he had put to death feveral of his companions, he replied; "But you did not invite your friends to your late facrifice." Nor was the refponfe of Antipho at all better judged, when, the difcourfe turning upon the best fort of brafs, and Dionyfius inquiring which it was, he told him; "That, with which the Athenians made the ftatues of Harmodius and and Ariftogiton." For neither is this bitterness and feverity of any fervice, nor are thefe fcurrilous jefts at all agreeable; but fuch language bears rather the appearance of intemperance and animofity blended with contumely and malice, and Rr3 they of that pit, which one day will fwallow him up and ruin him. For Antiphon was afterward executed under Dionyfius: and Tima. gines was in difgrace with Auguftus Cafar, not for any extravant freedom in his difcourfe, but only because he had took up a foolish cuftom of repeating thefe verfes at every entertainment and walk where the Emperour defired his company: For nothing else but meerly to make sport, Amongst the merry Greeks they did refortalledging the pleafantnefs of his humour, as the caufe of his favour at court. "Thus you fhall meet with feveral smart and fatyrical reflections in a comedy, but the mixture of jeft and fool in the play, like ill fauce to good meat, abates their poinancy, and renders them infignificant. So that upon the whole, the poet acquires only the character of a fawcy and foul-mouth'd buffoon, and the auditors lofe that advantage, which they might otherwife reap from remarks of that nature. "We may do well therefore to referve our jollity and mirth for more fuitable occafions; but we muft by all means be ferious and candid in our admonitions; which, if we be upon important points, muft be fo animated with our geftures, paffion and eagernels of voice, as to give them weight and credit, and to awaken a tender concern in the perfons to whom they are addreil." they who indulge in it often bring on their own ruin, plainly dancing, according to the proverb, on the brink of a well. Thus Antipho was put to death by Dionyfius. And Timagenes loft the friendfhip of Auguftus Cæfar, not for the freedom of his reproofs, but because he would fcatter his abuse and flander in the public walks and convivial meetings for no ferious purpose, But to excite the laughter of the Greeks; alledging the cause of friendship as a pretext for calumny. Thus too our comick writers often introduce upon the flage many grave and falutary remarks, but the ridicule and buffoonery which are mixed with them, like bad feafoning with a good difh, vitiate the whole and render the admonition ufelefs and infignificant; fo that the fpeakers acquire only the reputation of being icurrilous and abufive, and the audience derive no advantage from what is faid. At other times indeed we fhould relax in our feverity, and indulge with our friends in the cheerful jest and laugh, but in our admonition and cenfures we should carefully obferve a proper degree of gravity and decorum; and if the fubject be of more ferious importance, our paffions, geftures, and tone of voice fhould be so regulated as to give weight and energy to our fentiments.' Numerous remarks are added, in the way of notes, at the end; chiefly for the purposes of illuftrating the moral doctrine of the effay, and of bringing it into comparifon with Cicero's' treatise on Friendship, tranflated by Mr. Melmoth. In the course of these notes, many juft obfervations are made, and many elegant quotations are happily introduced. The author does not at prefent enter on verbal criticism, but referves his philological remarks till he publishes the original, of which he intimates an intention. ART. ART. XXIV. Walks in a Foreft: or, Poems defcriptive of Scenery and Incidents characteristic of a Foreft, at different Seafons of the Year. Infcribed to the Rev. William Mason, of Afton in Yorkfhire. 4to. pp. 52. 3s. White. 1794. POETR DOETRY produces its effect, chiefly, by means of the impreffion which it makes on the imagination of the reader by calling up forms of nature, or phantoms of fiction, adapted to excite emotion. Unless it awaken fome kind of paffion or fentiment, refulting from the view of what is grand or beautiful in inani- · mate nature, or from an interesting fympathy with the manners or fituations of animated beings, it leaves the mind in a flate of cool contemplation, attended with only a languid perception of pleasure. Hence the necefity, in works of fancy, of attending to the nature of the objects prefented before the imagination, as well as to the difplay of ingenuity, fkill, or patient attention in the artist. It is not enough that the copy be exact; it must be the copy of fometh ng which will intereft the fpectator.-Had the author of this defcriptive poen, paid a frict attention to thefe principles, he might perhaps nave rendered his performance more pleafing. His defcriptions of natural objects are elaborately accurate, and difcover a fcientific knowlege of nature and a close attention to her various forms: -the changes which take place in woodland tracts, both in the vegetable and animal world, through the feveral featons, and at different parts of the day, are marked with nice difcrimination: -the language is chofen with the utmost propriety, fo as to convey to the mind an exact and full image of the objects which the poet means to defcribe:-as a copyift of nature, the writer has great merit, in correctly delineating thofe objects and fcenes which he undertakes to defcribe: - but, after all, it may be regretted that he has relied fo entirely on his talents for defcription, and has not taken more pains to give animation and intereft to his performance by a more frequent introduction of fentiment, character, and incident. Of the merit of the poems our readers may form fome judgment, from the following specimen, taken from the poet's first walk in fpring :' Even yet with ruddy fpoils from Antumn won Loaded, the beech its leng hen'd buds untwines. Its knotted bloom secured, the afh puts forth Rr 4 Of |