glafs-houses, where the furnace has been suffered to cool gradually. Iron is another of the principles which enter into the bafaltes; and this metal is found to cryftallize in regular figures. This is fometimes difcoverable in the ores of that metal; in our foundries the grain of cast-iron prefents a ftriated appearance; by the operations of chymistry, regular cubical figures are produced, clearly afcertaining this tendency toward a peculiar difpofition of its parts. Indeed, the particles of every fubftance in nature appear to poffefs private laws and affinities, whereby they proceed to unite and to arrange themfelves in regular forms. Thus faline fubftances, that have been diffolved in a watery medium, after the evaporation of the fluid, affect an arrangement peculiar to that fpecies of body. Thus bodies, which have diffolved by the medium of heat, when fuffered to cool equably, exhibit a peculiar difpofition of parts; of which inftances occur in every fpecies of metal, in fulphurs, and in glafs. Though crystals have never been produced from any fimple fubftance, precisely anfwering to the articulated bafalt pillars, we know that elements, which feparately form fpecific cryftals, may, when united, form bodies different from either figure. Thus melted glafs, through which fcoriæ of iron are mixed, are found to affect a columnar fhape. In the 10th letter Mr. Hamilton endeavours to fupport the volcanic theory of the bafaltes. Mr. Defma.eft, Sir W. Hamilton, and Mr. Faujas de St. Fond, have thrown great light on this fubject. We think our author's reafoning, on this fubject, amounts to proof. First. The bafaltes itself is esteemed to be nothing else than lava; and its varieties are attributed entirely to accidental circumftances attending its courfe, or the manner of its cooling. In fupport of which opinion, it is affirmed, that the bafaltes agrees almoft accurately with lava in its elementary principles, in its grain, in the fpe *This will appear pretty evident from ftating the products of each fubftance, according to the analysis of that able chymift, Sir Torbern Bergman: cies of the foreign bodies which it includes †, and in all the diversities of its texture 1. Secondly. The iron of the bafaltes is found to be in a metallic ftate, capable of acting on the magnetical needle. The fame is true of the iron contained in the compact lava. Thirdly. The bafaltes poffeffes the remarkable property of being fufible per fe; this property is alfo common to the lava, and molt volcanic fubftances. Fourthly. The bafaltes is a foreign fubftance, fuperinduced on the original limestone foil of the country, in a ftate of softness capable of allowing the flints to penetrate confiderably within its lower furface. It is hardly neceffary to add, that the lava is an extraneous mafs, overspreading the adjoining foil in a fluid ftate; that it is often borne on a limestone base; or that flints, and other hard matters, do frequently penetrate into its fubftance. In fhort, the circumstances of agreement are so numerous, and fo clear, as to create a very reasonable prefumption that they are one and the fame fpecies of fub ftance.' In the 11th letter our author anfwers the objections which can be made to his theory, and further illuftrates and confirms it. Upon the whole, thefe letters are the production of an ingenious and philofophic pen. They will entertain the curious reader, and inftruct the learned. Hamilton feems to be an aufpicious name in the ftudy of natural hiftory. ART. II. An Examination into the Rights and Duties of Jurors; with fome Strictures on the Law of Libels. By a Gentleman of the InnerTemple. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Whieldon. 1785, London. OUR author holds a middle courfe between the writers for the prerogative, and for the people. He avoids alike the imputation of being a favourer to republicanifm or to defpotifm. He opposes, accordingly, the claim of a jury to decide both concerning the law and the fact. At the fame time, he does not wish that judges fhould be defpotical. He contends, notwithstanding, that the wisdom of our conftitution did not "ordain that twelve judges fhould be chofen, for their learn❝ing and probity, merely to keep order among a jury, and † Bits of limestone, flints, fchorl, crystals of various colours, morfels of pure clay, &c. are common to the bafaltes, and to lava.' All the varieties of texture which take place in lava, from the compact, clofe-grained kind, to the fpongy lava, may also be traced among the basaltes, L 4 "learn "learn that law, in the practice of which their lives had been fpent, from John Lilburne and Michael Rayner." The three great points upon which our author exercises his legal and historical knowledge, are as follows: 1. He contends, that a jury have no original cognizance of the law. 2. He avers, that they have no incidental power over it. And, 3. He is decidedly of opinion, that, if a jury fhould give a verdict, in oppofition to the court, in a point of law, they intrude upon the province of the judge; determine a matter, in which, of themfelves, they can have no legal conviction; and incur the guilt of perjury. Upon thefe topics, it is to be allowed, that our author difplays learning and ingenuity. But we must confefs, that he has not been able to bring us over to his argument. As a fpecimen of his manner and compofition, we fhall fubmit to our readers a few of his obfervations on the subject of libels. 1 “It is not material," faid Lord Coke, in the star chamber," whe"ther the libel be true or false; or whether the party, against whom "it is made, be of good or bad fame." Mr. Hawkins, in the King'sBench, improves on the idea. "It is far from being a juftification," fays he, "of a libel, that the contents thereof are true, or that the perfon, upon whom it is made, has a bad reputation, fince the તું greater appearance of truth there is in any malicious invective, the "more provoking it is "" This pofition involves most abfurd, as well as unjust, confequences. Suppofe a man convicted of perjury. If A. had unfortu nately published this circumftance, whether in defence of his own character, against an unjust attack, or in vindication of his conduct towards fuch a mifcreant, or in order to caution the unwary ftranger against his base principles and defigns, he would be told, by the af fertors of this abfurd doctrine, that the truth of his libel enhanced its criminality, and be sentenced to pay fuch a fine, and fuch other corporal punishment, as the judges, in their difcretion, should think fit. Although fuch enormities are not yet practifed, ftill, according to the pofition alluded to, they may be daily committed under the fanction of the law. The exercife of any power, however moderate, is a very weak foundation upon which to reft the claim to that power, if it be inimical to juftice and liberty. Malus ufus abolendus eft. If it be unfound doctrine, Sir William Blackiftone tells us that it may be rejected, against the authority of a precedent +: if it be not law, it ought not to be allowed. The prevention of crimes, and the prefervation of the public tranquillity, form the only foundation of the right of any man, or body of men, to punish their fellow-creatures; and punishment di * Plac. Coron. i. 194. † Comment. b. i. p. 71. rected rected to any other view, or tending to any other end, is tyranny. This right is exercised to its proper purpose, when a perjuror, or a falfe and malicious libeller, is pilloried. The infamy, which fuch a punishment draws upon the culprit's credit and character, is the object for which it is inflicted; that others may be thereby intimidated from the commiffion of the like offences: for certainly the fitting in the pillory would, of itself, hardly be a fufficient curb on the malevolence of a man, far above the extreme of vice. The punishment confifts, then, in the public infamy. But, by the modern doctrine, if a perfon fhall proclaim to the world this punishment, which confifts in its very notoriety, as the greater appearance of truth increases its provocation, this, which refts upon the indifputable verity of a record, must be more provoking than any other whatsoever. By this fame modern doctrine, the judge fhall be obliged to tell a libelled plaintiff in a civil fuit," the truth only has been spoken of you; you de"ferved it; and if you fuffer, it is damnum abfque injuria; and you "are entitled to no redrefs:" and to tell a profecutor of a criminal accufation, under exa&ly similar circumftances, who seeks, in a vindictive punishment, to involve in ruin the enemy of his vices, We "will feed your revenge; the laws have been infulted in the punish"ment of a malefactor; and the prifoner fhall fuffer all the rigour "of their severity." 66 Is this confiftent with the principles of equity; that the vicious, the proffitute, the infamous, though they fhall not have the fame private remedy for an act, by which, in the eye of the law, they are not injured, shall yet have the fame power of drawing down the vengeance of public punishment, that the virtuous and juft fhall poffefs for the fevereft injury that can be offered to him? Or, is it politic, that the hiftorian's pen fhall tremble beneath the inquifitor's rod ? and vice and virtue, the patriot and the traitor, a Chartres* and a Savile, fhall be handed down to pofterity, with equal honour, undiftinguished by the plaudit of gratitude, or the cenfure of justice, becaufe," though a private man or magistrate be dead at the time of "making the libel, yet it ftirs up others, of his family and blood, 66 to revenge and break the peace t?" This, indeed, fome ages ago, was a very profitable doctrine to the crown; and might, therefore, be reasonably expected from the court of ftar chamber, or any other court, whofe judges were, in general, likely to be exalted for their corrupt fubferviency to the will of the prince, and to be continued only as long as they tendered the fame implicit obedience to his mandates. It was not very furprifing, too, when the fines and amerciaments of the courts of juftice formed a confiderable part of the crown revenues, that the minifters of the prince were not very delicate of the juftice with which they were imposed upon the wealthy and the powerful . *Celebrated by Arbuthnot's epitaph. + Hawkins, P. C. 1. 195. 5 Co. 125. a. But • But these causes have long ceafed to exift. The prince is endowed with a patrimony, fufficient, at least, to preferve him from practising extortion. His judges are no longer the minifters of arbitrary power; they are the independent depofitaries of laws, certain, equal, and permanent. Pity that there fhould exift even one cafe, which affords an exception to the ftrictnefs that guides their judgments! 66 In fupport of this new doctrine, it has been alledged, that the terms, maliciously, falfely, fcandaloufly," are words of course, tantamount to the "moved and feduced by the inftigation of the devil," in indictments for murder. But the comparison will not hold. It is a matter of perfect indifference, whether the devil instigated the murder or not; and, though I do not remember any cafe in which it has been determined that an indictment fhall not be quashed for the want of those words, it may be very fairly affumed, that, if the queftion came to be agitated, they would be judged to be immaterial; for it has been determined, that certain other words, of at least equal import, may be omitted, without vitiating an indictment. The perfon murdered is supposed to be in the peace of God, and of the lord the king, at the time of the murder: but it hath been adjudged, that the words are not effential in an indictment for murder, for they are not of the fubftance; and, perhaps, the truth was, that the party was, at the time, breaking the peace It would greatly exceed the bounds of our journal, if we hould enter into a difcuffion of the rights of jurors. We may, however, be permitted to exprefs our furprife, that any doubts fhould yet remain upon a subject which has been fo amply and fo repeatedly handled, by lawyers, politicians, antiquaries, and divines. Moft certain, notwithstanding, it is, that this is a field where fome fuperlative and penetrating genius is ftill to acquire the most honourable laurels. ART. III. The Mutual Deception, a Comedy; as it was performed at the Theatre Royal, Dublin. Dilly. 1785, London. IN N this play, as in the greater part of English comedies, there are two plots. The firft, as the author confeffes, is taken from "Le Feu de l'Amour et du Hazard," in the Theatre Italien; in which there is a quadruple exchange of characters, between mistress and maid, mafter and man. The underplot, he tells us, is the offspring of his own imagination; and he states a claim to originality from it, which we cannot allow; for the characters are common, and the incidents trite. The two plots have no more connection with one another, than 4 Co. 41. 2 Hawk, Pl. Coron. p. 233. the |