1

This author ufually quotes no authority for what he advances in this, however, he does not differ much from his cotemporaries, who even in their arguments and opinions delivered in court, had not got into that practice of vouching authorities, which has obtained fo much fince. Whenever he has a point to handle which is not thoroughly fettled, he generally ftates the different opinions on it, and then gives his own reafons for differing or agreeing with either: and where he does not deliver an opinion declaredly his own, the laft is fuppofed to be that which he is inclined to adopt. This rational and candid way of treating every thing, added to the known abilities of the author, acquired him fuch confidence with posterity, that any thing out of Littleton has been taken upon that au thority alone. Thus, the want of references, which at firft might feem a want of authenticity, has in the end administered to the fame of this writer; as opinions, which otherwife might be vouched from an adjudged cafe, are now totally rested on the words of Littleton.

The undiminished reputation which this author ftill poffeffes, is owing principally to the choice of his fubject. The law of eftates and tenures, as understood at the time of Littleton, is at this day the beft introduction to the knowledge of real property; and, though great part of this volume is not now law, yet fo intimately was the whole of this fyftem connected, that what remains of tenures cannot be understood without a knowlege of what is abolished; and therefore the parts of Littleton which are now obfolete, are ftudied both with profit and pleasure. We may ftill fay what the author pronounced of his work in another refpect: Though certain things which are moved, and fpecified in the faid book, are not altogether law, yet fuch things thall make thee more apt and able to understand and apprehend the arguments and reafons of the law."

Befides this, the law of tenures and eftates has always been thought the most natural entrance into the ftudy of the law in general; therefore this fmall volume became the first book which was put into the hands of the ftudent; and while it was confidered by practicers and the courts as a book of the highest authority, it was at the fame time the inftitute to English jurifprudence. Lawyers gave their earliest and lateft application to the text of Littleton; every fection and fentence was weighed, and every propofition confidered in all its confequences; it was tranflated, commented, and analyfed; and every method contrived to gain a complete knowlege of its contents. Per haps no book, in any fcience fo confined as the municipal laws of any country must be, has more employed the labours of the learned and induftrious. A writer, who was himfelf one of the greatest ornaments of the law, and whofe name never appears greater, than when accompanied with that of our author, furnished the world with a very copious and minute commen

tary

tary on this book; in which he has carried his attention to the import of every word fo far, as to make interefting remarks on his very et cateras. The fame of Littleton has not been confined to this ifland As the Norman lawyers made Glanville a model upon which to form their couftumier, and give fyftem to their jurisprudence; fo a modern writer of that country has lately made a learned comment on Littleton, as the best help towards illuftrating their own cultoms and laws.'

The reign of Henry VII. is a great conftitutional period; he wrefted the power from the nobles, which at last fell to the people. But as our author avoids fuch difcuffions, the history of the law in his reign is not very interefting. The attention of the king was principally directed to criminal proceedings, and almost all offences were made fineable; a circumfance which ftrongly marks the ruling paffion of this politic prince -the accumulation of wealth. That very technical part of the law, the doctrine of ufes, was refined upon with greater fubtlety, efpecially as, by a ftatute of Richard III. they had become connected with the law of entails. The support given by the courts to the action of ejectment, has in the end entirely precluded the use of real actions; which did not merit fuch neglect. They feem perfectly adapted to this end, and for the decifion of the feveral questions which could arife concerning real property. The procefs was certainly tedious, and full of useless formalities; but this might easily have been remedied. The method of deciding upon real property is at prefent utterly unintelligible to all except lawyers, and has given an air of myflery to a profeffion which is grounded on common fenfe, and must be supported by it.

We here take leave of a work which, if it had been finished as it was defigned, we fhould not have hesitated to have called a great one. We must exprefs a hope, however, that Mr. Reeves will foon feel the infufficiency of these motives which tempted him to defert his original plan, and complete the Hiftory of the Law in a manner which may make us forget that it was ever given to the world unfinished. Not indeed that we wifh, in any degree, to be understood as entertaining an unfavourable opinion of the prefent publication: on the contrary, however inferior it may be to that which the author promised in his outfet both to himself and his readers, it is even as it now appears, a production of confiderable importance. More perhaps might have been done (though if we had not been taught to expect, we should probably not have required more); yet this in juftice ought not to derogate from the merit of what is performed. The young ftudent, as well as the

more

more experienced proficient in the law, may reap advant age from thefe volumes, where they will find a well-connected recital of all the ancient ftatutes, and an historical digeft of all the fundamental doctrines contained in the treatifes of our firft law-writers, fuch as Glanville, Bracton, Fleta, Britton, and the Mirrour of Magiftrates; authors, whofe black letter pages in barbarous Latin, bad English, and worse French, however venerable they may look, opportunely dif played upon a table, we believe to be neither fo generally nor fo attentively studied by modern lawyers as they deferve. The prefent attempt to render them more extenfively known, entitles Mr. Reeves, in our eftimation, to the thanks of all who wish well to the advancement of legal science. [Correfp.

Sketch of a Tour into Derbyshire and Yorkshire, including Part of Buckingham, Warwick, Leicester, Nottingham, Northampton, Bedford, and Hertford-fhires. By William Bray, F. A. S. 8vo. Second Edition. 6s. in Boards. White.

T 'HE first edition of this Sketch, comprifed in a half-crown pamphlet, has formerly been noticed in our Review. The work is now fo much extended as to form a moderate volume in large octavo. To give a regular detail of the narrative, would be to relate the author's progrefs and obfervations through the whole of the Tour: and though this might perhaps be no difagreeable task, it is fuch a one as must be precluded by the neceffity of accommodating the limits of our Review to a variety of other fubjects. In performing this Tour the author has proceeded by Buckingham, Banbury, Edge-hill, Warwick, Coventry, Leicefter, Derby, Matlock, Buxton, Sheffield, Leeds, Rippon, and Afkrig; whence he returned through the wilds of Yorkshire, called Craven, and by Mansfield, Nottingham, Northampton, Woburn, and S.

Alban's.

For the gratification of fuch of our readers as are unacquainted with the beauties of Stowe, we fhall lay before them our author's account of thofe gardens, in delineating which he has chiefly followed the defcription of the late Mr. Whately.

In the front of the house, which ftands on the brow of a gentle rife, is a confiderable lawn, open to the water, beyond which are two elegant doric pavilions, placed in the boundary of the garden, but not marking it as fuch, though they correl pond to each other; for, ftill further back, on a rifing ground

Crit. Rev, vol. xlv. p. 159.

without

without the inclofure, ftands the Corinthian arch, which is feen in the approach.

I fhall not attempt to defcribe all the buildings, which are very numerous, but fhall mention fome of the principal scenes.

'On entering the garden, you are conducted to the left by the two Doric pavilions, from whence the magnificent front of the houfe is full in view. You pafs by the fide of the lake (which, with the bafon, flows about ten acres) to a temple dedicated to Venus, looking full on the water; and over a lawn, up to the temple of Bacchus, to which you are led by a winding walk. This laft building ftands under cover of a wood of large trees. The lawn, which is extenfive, is bounded by wood on each fide, and flopes down to the water, on the oppofite fide of which is the very elegant temple of Venus, juft mentioned, thrown into perspective, by being inclined a little from a front view. Over the tops of the furrounding wood is a view of the distant country, terminated by Brill-hill, near Oxford; and Quainton-hill, near Aylesbury.

From hence you cross the lawn by the front of the house, which is nearly in the centre of the gardens, dividing them as it were into two parts. In the latter divifion, the tower of the parish church, bofomed in trees, the body of it wholly concealed from view, is one of the first things which strikes the eye, and you are uncertain whether it is more than one of the ornamental buildings. Paffing by it you enter the Elyfian fields, under a Doric arch, through which are feen, in perspective, a bridge, and a lodge in the form of a caftle. The temple of Friendship is in fight; and within this fpot are thofe of Ancient Virtue and of the British Worthies, adorned with bufts of various eminent men, and infcriptions, mentioning their particular merits. Here is also a roftral column to the memory of captain Grenville, brother of the late earl, who was killed in that fuccessful engagement with the French fleet in 1747, when Mr. Anfon took the whole of the convey. In the bottom runs a ftream, which, with the variety and difpofition of the trees difperfed over gentle inequalities of ground, make this a very lively and beautiful scene.

Close to this is the Alder-grove, a deep recefs in the thick. eft fhade. The water, though really clear, is rendered of a dark blue colour by the over-hanging trees: the alders are of an uncommon fize, white with age; and here are likewife fome large and noble elms. At the end is a grotto, faced with flints and pebbles, in which the late earl fometimes fupped. On fuch occafions this grove was illuminated with a great number of lamps, and his lordship, with a benevolence which did him. honour, permitted the neighbourhood to share the pleasure of the evening with him and his company, the park gates being thrown open.

The temple of Concord and Victory is a moft noble building. In the front are fix Ionic columns fupporting a pediment

filled with bas-relief, the points of which are crowned with ftatues. On each fide is a beautiful colonade of ten lofty pillars. The infide is adorned with medallions of thofe officers who did fo much honor to their country, and under the aufpices of his lordship's immortal relation, Mr. Pitt, carried its glory to fo high a pitch in the war of 1755; a war molt eminently diftinguished by Concord and Victory. This temple ftands on a gentle rife, and below it is a winding valley, the fides of which are adorned with groves and clumps of trees, and the open space is broken by fingle trees, of various forms. Some ftatues are interfperfed. This valley was once flowed with water, but the fprings not fupplying a fufficient quantity, have been diverted, and it is now grafs,'

On the oppofite fide of this vale is the Lady's Temple, on an elevated fpot, commanding the diftant views. Below is a ftream, over which is thrown a plain wooden bridge.

On another eminence, divided from this by a great dip, ftands a large Gothic building, fitted up in that tafte, and furnished with fome very good painted glass.

The Temple of Friendship is adorned with elegant marble bufts of fome whofe friendship did real honour to the noble owner.'

In treating of Banbury, Mr. Bray obferves that Puritans were always numerous in the town. Camden fpeaks of it as a place famous for cakes and ale; and when Holland tranflated his Britannia without his confent, he played him a trick: getting at the printer, he changed cakes and ale, into cakes and zeal, which alteration got Holland many enemies.'

The feat of lord Scarfdale, at Kedlefton, affords our author a large fubject for architectural defcription; but for an account of this magnificient building, as well as of Chatsworth, already well-known, and of Wentworth Castle, we must refer to the work; in which the reader will meet with an agreeable mixture of anecdote and topographical delineation, accompanied in fome places with etchings.

The Life of Cervantes: together with Remarks on his Writings, by Mr. de Florian. Tranflated from the French by William Wallbeck. Small Svo. 15. Bew.

MR. Florian, we now ufe Mr. Wallbeck's words, will be

found to have executed his task as tranflator very ably. And I think, when you have perufed the Life of Cervantes and the remarks upon his writings, you will agree with me that the Frenchman has evinced no lefs good fenfe, than liberality and candour: and, if he is not quite a Rouffeau or D'Alembert, he is a good writer, and no defpicable critic.'

We have tranfcribed thefe words, becaufe they are well fitted to characterife, this fhadow of a fhade,' the tranflation

from