but it cannot be of any importance in this metropolis, where the author's opinions will be found to be never new, and often inaccurate. POLITICS, &c. Art. 34. Observations on the Produce of the Income Tax, and on its Proportion to the whole Income of Great Britain. A new and corrected Edition, with considerable Additions respecting the Extent, Commerce, Population, Division of Income, and Capital of this Kingdom. By the Rev. H. Beeke, B.D. 8vo. pp. 185. 3s. 6d. sewed. Wright. 1800. We gave some account of the first edition of this pamphlet in M. R. vol. xxix. N. S. p. 351. It was then published only as a first part but the ingenious author informs us that he has relinquished the design of writing a second part, and that the observations on several topics, which he intended for the continuation of his plan, he has now connected progressively with the original work. He has thus enlarged its bulk, and also its value; for, though these pages may contain, as Mr. Beeke styles them, only approximations to true statements,' his inquiries and calculations may help us to elicit the truth, and to account for disappointment without accusing individuals of having made false returns. 6 Mr. B. is far from a croaking politician; yet, in opposition to all the Minister's statements, he contends that the Income Tax cannot produce more than 7,000,000l. * Very few (says he) of those who turn their thoughts to this subject have duly considered the effect of the scale of abatement.’ Mr. Beeke takes much pains to ascertain the value of our exports, of which he exhibits a table; and he ventures to consider the inreased amount of our produce and manufactures, as an evidence of our greatly augmented population. To this we cannot subscribe: it is a very fallacious mode of estimating the population of a country; and we do not therefore admit his conclusion, that our population in England and Wales only is at present increasing at the rate of 120,000 annually, deducting for military and sea-faring loss ten or fifteen thousand a-year.' In the first edition of this pamphlet, the author estimated our commercial and manufacturing income at 1,500,000l. more than in this second edition; where the statement is now as follows: Gain by exporting British produce and manufactures has been reckoned at about £. 4,000,000 800,000 3,000,000 The gain by exporting foreign merchandise, at And for the last article and contingent omissions · 200,000 Total £. 8,000,000* A considerable deduction is also made from the income arising from shipping. * Though Mr. B, states the produce of the tax a million short of the Minister's expectations, he does not think that the whole income of the nation has been stated too high. Moreover, he believes that nothing short of confusion can prevent its future increase, The additions to this new impression are interesting and important. Mr. Beeke has taken great pains with those subjects which he professes to discuss; and his ideas, while they tend to correct extravagant expectations respecting the amount of the Income Tax are calculated to keep up the spirit of Britons, by shewing them the true causes of their power and wealth. We shall subjoin the author's Short Statement of the present value of the capital of Great Britain, as given in the postscript: PRIVATE PROPERTY, • Productive of Income. 1. Cultivated lands, South Britain 600,000,000l. North Britain, 120,000,000l. 2. Tithes, in South Britain only, after deductions for the personal service required on account of the part possessed by the clergy 3. Houses not included in the rent of lands 5. Present value of income from the public debt 7. Home trade 8. Foreign trade and shipping £. 720,000,000 75,000,000 200,000,000 100,000,000 300,000,000 125,000,000 120,000,000 80,000,000 1,720,000,000 Unproductive of Income. 9. Waste lands, after excluding all such as are incapable of any improvement adequate to the' expense; and also allowing for incidental di minution of the value of adjacent lands, in case of their loss of the benefit of pasture, &c. about 10,000,000 acres 10. Household furniture 11. Plate, jewels, and all other useful and ornamental articles not considered as household furniture 12. Specie, about Unproductive private property Total PUBLIC PROPERTY. The value of that part of the permanent income of the nation which is applicable to the annual expenditure, about The value of that part which is appropriated extinguish the public debt, about 160,000,000 90,000,000 Value of shipping, arsenals, national buildings, stores, credits, and all other assets, after deducting all unfunded debt Value of all provincial and municipal buildings, &c. &c. as charches, hospitals, bridges, prisons, &c. &c. with the effects belonging to them 15,000,000 25,000,000 N. B. A good deal of public has been already estimated jointly with the private property; such as the crown lands, corporate incomes, &c. &c. But in so general a statement as this, a more accurate analysis appears to be unnecessary.' According to this table, our ruin cannot be so near as some melancholy prophets have predicted. Art. 35. Considerations on the present high Price of Corn, with a Proposition for the effectual Regulation of the Prices of all the Requisites of Life; addressed to every Class of Society, by Homo! 8vo. 18. Printed at Norwich; London, Scatcherd, &c. -Homo advises his countrymen to petition, on the approaching meeting of Parliament, for an act to fix the maximum price of breadcorn; (he recommends this to be four guineas per quarter;) and whenever wheat shall attain this price, to empower certain persons to ascertain the stock in hand; in order that importation may be encouraged, to the amount of the necessity. We give this gentleman full credit for benevolerce of intention: but we doubt whether, under the circumstances of the country*, his advice could with prudence and sound policy be adopted. It would be unjust to fetter agriculture with a maximum; unless all those articles, for which the farmer must exchange his produce, were also saddled with a maximum. It may not, moreover, be fair, from temporary circumstances, and from a singular coincidence of events, to argue in favour of such a measure as a general regulation. We had better have recourse to the most liberal encouragement of importation, in order to lower the present high price of grain, than to make a law compelling the farmer to bring his commodity to market, and sell it at a fixed price (say four guineas at most per quarter); when he, for his sugar, soap, candles, &c. shall be obliged to give a price continually advancing. All barter should be free, and trade suffered to find its own level. Arbitrary enactments will caly do mischief. We should apply other remedies to the evils of which the nation most justly complains. Art. 36. Dean In the political as in the natural world, great effects rarely proceed from the operation of one solitary cause; yet nothing is more common, with philosophers and politicians, than to attempt the solution of all difficulties by the assumption of one favourite Especially the enormous magnitude of the public debt, which must sink the comparative value of money. principle principle. The present pamphlet is a case in point. From a know.'. lege of the nature of commercial and banking accommodation, the writer would account for the present unexampled dearness of the articles of the first necessity, without allowing the existence of scarcity. -What is scarcity? When the supply of an article is found for a considerable time to be unequal to the demand for it, we say that it is scarce in the market. When there are many to buy and few to sell, a want or scarcity is experienced; and when this is felt, the commodity required will advance in price. Scarcity and dearness, then, though not absolutely synonimous terms, imply one another. When these things, however, become subjects of general complaint, an evil of a complicated kind exists. To the present dearness of provisions, several causes contribute; one may be, and probably is, as here suggested, the plenty of the circulating medium, and the facility of money (or rather paper) accommodation, by which farmers as well as traders are tempted to speculate: but this alone would not produce the effect of which we complain. The state of Europe, and the singular magnitude of our naval establishments, have occasioned us to feel, in a peculiar degree, every deficiency of crop. When we stand in need of more than usual, and produce less than - usual, it requires no ghost to predict the consequence. An artificial plenty of money may produce dearness, without there being an absolute famine threatening want: but no plenty of money, nor banking accommodation, could operate, if there were a great and manifest abundance. The quantity produced is not found to be completely adequate to all our wants and exigencies; and this discovery has tempted men, in all the departments of trade, to speculate to the injury of the public. Art. 37. The Case of the Farmers, at the present important Crisis, stated by a Hertfordshire Farmer. 8vo. 6d. Law. 1800. "Vain declamation all." To hear a farmer now complaining of the oppressed case of himself and brethren must excite indignation, instead of compassion. Whether the farmers' leases be long or short, they are all getting money. Every thing is at present in their favour; and, according to the old saying, Let them laugh that win.-We expected from this writer a vindication of the farmers, against the charge of their being the cause of the present exorbitant price of provisions: but we find no such thing. He says that they are themselves so oppressed,' that they should be indulged with leases for a longer term than 21 years. BOTANY. Art. 38. The Lady's and Gentleman's Botanical Pocket-Book, adapted to Withering's Arrangement of British Plants. Intended to facilitate and promote the Study of indigenous Botany. By Wm. Mavor, LL. D. 12mo. 3s. Vernor and Hood. The indefatigable Dr. Mavor has published this work avowedly for the use of students; and we should be sorry to undervalue any thing that is written with the intention of increasing the boundaries of a science science so elegant and amusing as botany. He has certainly used the title of Botanical Pocket Book with more propriety than Professor Hoffman, who so calls his Flora Germanica; of which a second edition has just appeared. Dr. Mavor gives a figure of the parts of fruetification, illustrated by the white lily, (why not choose a plant with a nectary?) and another plate of the Linnéan classes. The work itself contains only a slight account of every class, with the numbers of orders and genera belonging to it, followed by the Latin and English names of each genus; and a blank space is left, to enable the student to insert the several species when he finds them. As Dr. Mavor says that the utility of his plan is incontestable, we shall not attempt to contest it, but content ourselves with expressing our earnest hopes that it may be found so. DRAMATIC. Art. 39. PP. 100. 3s. 6d. sewed. Leigh and Literary judges, like the dispensers of law, have their integrity sometimes severely tried. Their secret wishes may be excited to exculpate, while the rigor of justice forces them to condemn. inclination leads us, in the present instance, strongly to espouse the Our cause of an amiable writer, whom we have had the satisfaction of praising for compositions of a lighter kind: but we must observe, with whatever regret, that she has not properly consulted her strength in attempting this high walk of poetry. To succeed in tragedy requires, perhaps, a turn of mind not compatible with the elegant softness of the female character. The bard of terror must be made of sterner stuff." In this point of view, however, the fair writer has chosen her subject very judiciously, as the distresses of her heroine arise from disappointed love, and from her struggles between delicacy and filial affection. We shall select the following passages as specimens of the dialogue; which is in general easy and correct, though not elevated. " • How can I amuse her? This mansion, spacious and magnificent, She eyes. gazes with a strange and absent air, She starts, averts her head, and from her cheek And beautiful, tho' wanting animation." 'THEODORA. "Oh! lead me to some quiet verdant bank Whose |