Gillett 314 37 052 V.9 CONTENTS OF VOL. IX. Balfour's Collection of Treatises on the effects of the Sol-Lunar Influence Belsham's Calm Inquiry into the Scripture Doctrine of the Person of 428 153, 305 Bennet's legislative, authority of revealed grace, an Essay on the Gospel Bogue's Essai sue la divine Autorité du Nouveau Testament, traduit de 426 655 Grattan's Speeches, including a brief review of Irish Affairs 204 Lambert's Sermon on the death of Dr. Williams 655 - 369 Life of a Dissenting Minister, written by himself 284 109, 214, 345, 449, 563, 677 Rejected Addresses, or the New Theatrum Poetarum Reasons against the Bill for the appointment of a Vice Chancellor 94 Saumarez's Pinciples of Physiological and Physical Science 539, 662 587 Select Literary Into mation Smeaton's Reports made on various occasions in the course of his employment 108, 213, 343, 447, 561, 676 53 Wakefield's Statistical and Political Account of Ireland Walker's Econom cal History of the tlebrides and H ghlands of Scotland Wardrop's History of James Mitchell, a boy born deaf and blind THE ECLECTIC REVIEW, FOR JANUARY, 1813. Art. I. Memoirs of the Political and Private Life of James Caulfield, Earl of Charlemont, Knight of St. Patrick, &c. By Francis Hardy, Esq. Member of the House of Commons in the three last parliaments of Ireland. 4to. pp. 443. Cadell and Davies. 1810. WE are of opinion that Ireland is one of the most important subjects which, at the present juncture, can engage the attention of British politicians, and that this biographical performance is one of the very few instructive books which have been written on the subject of Ireland. It is also, we think, an entertaining book; on which account, we should hope, it stands a good chance of being generally read, and of helping strongly to diffuse that acquaintance with Irish affairs, which the relation of the two countries, at the present epoch, renders of so much importance. For these reasons we make no scruple of assigning a conspicuous place to this volume in the present number of our journal, notwithstanding that Ireland formed a prominent topic of discussion in our last. In attending to Mr. Dewar moreover, we had chiefly to consider him as a reporter of facts, relating to the "manners and customs" of the Irish. Mr. Hardy, on the other hand, conducts us into a wide field of political speculation. Having, therefore, laid before our readers the remarks of a sensible observer on the actual condition of our sister conntry, we may with the greater propriety invite their attention to some of those leading circumstances which have been the means of placing it in that condition. Mr. Hardy's book may be not unaptly termed the gossiping history of Ireland during all that period in which, to any good purpose, Ireland can be said to have had a history. When we say gossiping we use the word, however, in the best sense. We use it to express those historical topics which most naturally, that is, most frequently, form the subject of conversation VOL. IX. B among well informed people, who take an interest in the politics and literature of their age and country. It is not only full of details respecting the grand events-the wars-the alliances the parliamentary debates-the ministerial changes— the opposition struggles; but of anecdotes respecting the principal personages who appear in the field, whose character, whose talents, views, and connections are minutely and with intelligence described. The author is a man who has acted a part in the scene which he delineates, and is well qualified for the task which he has set himself. Profound political views he leaves, as not within his sphere: but the outside of the political machine he had an opportunity of observing from a near station during many years, and with its visible movements, and the hands which directed them, he is evidently well acquainted. How the common mass of well informed people in Ireland felt, and how they acted, may therefore be learned from this book with no common accuracy. Nor is this, at the present eventful moment in the history of the British people, a knowledge of small importance. If the closer and darker machinations of the intriguing few, and the sublimer views of the real philosophers, if any such were in the scene, seldom enter much into the delineations or inferences of Mr. Hardy, still what he exhibits, is the ground-work upon which both the selfish and the philanthropic had to erect their schemes. Lord Charlemont was a first rate nobleman, rather than a first rate man of talents. He had a love of toleration, and a cultivated mind. He wrote well, and even elegantly. His understanding was, to a considerable degree, emancipated from the prejudices which govern the weak and ill instructed, and which, from their general operation, frequently retain too strong a *hold upon minds of more than ordinary force and cultivation. Lord Charlemont was a man of principle in the truest and most uncommon sense of the word. He loved his country better than himself. What his mind suggested to him for the good of his country he pursued; and no prospect of reward or benefit to himself, in gratifying the powerful by a sacrifice of his convictions, led him to desist in the pursuit. He did more. He preserved his understanding free from conquest. In the path of corruption it is a very common case to make a surrender of the understanding first; after which the training of the conscience is a task comparatively easy. Present' to a man an act of baseness or corruption in which he is desired to participate. At first his mind revolts, and he refuses his sanction. Yet it would have been extremely favourable to his interests, had he heartily joined with those who were so able to serve him. He begins, therefore, by listening to the doctrine, " that government, as such, ought to be supported; that the community is disposed to |