blazon at p. 44.-At p. 106, the arms of Hoblethorne are thus blazoned, fable, a mascle within a double treffure flory, argent :' whereas in the plate the treffure is only fingle, but at the fame time counter-flory.-In the fame page, the E. of Sutherland's arms are properly blazoned, and the bordure faid to be charged with a double treffure flowery and counter-flowery,'-but in the plate the treffure is flowery only. Pl. 18. No. 3. the gauntlets, in the E. of Weftmoreland's arms, are engraved for the left, inftead of the right-hand, fee p. 149.-Pl. 19, No. 9. the mermaid holds her mirror, and comb, in the contrary hands to what the ought to do. See p. 161.

-

At p. 17, TENNE, or orange-colour, is faid to be marked by diagonal lines drawn from the finifter to the dexter fide of the fhield, traverfed by perpendicular lines from the chief:'-but in the figure there referred to, the diagonal lines are drawn from the dexter fide of the fhield to the finifter:-juft the reverse.

In Chap. VI. [mif-figured, VII.] the external ornaments of efcutcheons, intended to denote the birth, dignity, or office of the perfons to whom the arms belong, are well described and accurately engraved. Thefe are crowns, coronets, mitres, helmets, mantlings, chapeaux, wreaths, crefts, fcrolls, and fupporters. The feroll is placed at the bottom of the efcutcheon containing a motto, alluding fometimes to the bearings, or the bearer's name; and fometimes it has reference to neither, but expreffes fomething divine or heroic, as that of the E. of Scarborough,-murus aneus confcientia fana.

Chap. VII. gives us the rules or laws of heraldry, drawn up in a clear, though concise manner and in the 8th, we are inftructed in the methods made ufe of by heralds in marshalling coats of arms. Amongst other pertinent obfervations on this head, the following deferves particular notice. If a lady of quality marry a private gentleman, or one inferior to her rank, their coats-of-arms are not to be conjoined paleways, as those of baron and femme, but must be fet afide of one another in two separate efcutcheons, and the lady's arms ornamented according to her title.'-As an inftance of this, we have the arms of General Ch. Montagu, and Lady Eliz. Villiers, Viscountess Grandifon, engraved feparately, and fet afide of each other: but the lady's arms are in a lozenge, which we apprehend to be wrong; that method seeming to belong only to unmarried ladies.-See p. 12, where Mr. Porny himself fpeaks thus, The efcutcheon of maiden ladies and widows is, or ought to be, in form of a lozenge.'

Upon the whole, however, we really think the work before us a judicious compendium of the science of heraldry; and may be of great use to fuch as have not leifure to confult the many larger treatifes upon this fubject; and which Mr. Porny has

made

made fubfervient to the completion of his own defign, by extracting from each what he thought moft for his purpofe, with- : out loading the reader's memory too much with pompous trifles. The fhort Dictionary of Technical Terms, at the end, is very: concife, yet tolerably full: though fome words, made ufe of inthe book, are not explained in the dictionary; for inftance chappé, p. 108.-Di&t. Archbishop of York, he fays, writes himfelf [only] as bifhops do, by divine permiffion. In this he is wrong; as well as in ftiling the Abp. of Cant. the Primate of all! · England: the particle the not being used in his ftyle.-Diet. Marquis, his title is, faid to be, moft noble, instead of most honourable.

In the chapter of PRECEDENCY, the Lord Conftable is forgot, and the Secretaries of State faid to precede all of their own degree; which is the cafe, only, when the latter happen to be barons, or bifhops. And, at prefent, the Lord Great Chamberlain of England takes place only according to his creation, and does not precede thofe of his own degree.-Thefe inaccuracies are pointed out, with a view to their being amended in a future edition; and to prevent their being re-printed,-as is too often done, even where books are said to have been corrected.

P.

Commentaries on the Laws of England. Book the First. By William Blackftone, Efq; Vinerian Profeffor of Law, and Solicitor-General to her Majefty. 4to. 18s. in Sheets. Worral.

T has long fince been a complaint, that the ftudy of the law is of all others the leaft inviting, especially to a ftudent of any genius and vivacity: and this may feem the more extraor dinary, when it is confidered that the life, health, reputation, and property of mankind are preserved, nay that their very pleasures are regulated, by the law, which embraces within its circle quicquid agunt homines. One might imagine that in fo wide a field, the liveliest imagination might find fome path in which to exercise its faculties; nevertheless, dull plodding drones, whofe minds never entertained a bright idea, have been distinguished as the moft fhining luminaries of the law. The illuftrious Bacon, though Chancellor of Great Britain, is little fpoken of as a lawyer, while his cotemporary and competitor, Coke, is adored as an oracle.

We are inclined to think that this general averfion to the study of the law, cannot be owing to the nature of the science itself, but is rather, among other reafons, to be attributed to the inc legant and uncouth manner in which it has been treated. Lawbooks being chiefly compiled from reports, which have been

I 2

penned

penned from the mouths of the court and the bar, are full of all the inaccuracies attending common fpeech; and our compilers having most of them religiously adhered to the very letter, law, books have become the folemn fanctuaries of barbarifm, and cannot fail to disgust a reader of correct and elegant taste.

But the learned and ingenious Author of the commentaries. before us has, to use the expreffion of a popular judge, brushed away the cobwebs of the law, and placed it in fo clear a light, that, under his aufpices, the study becomes at once agreeable, elegant and inftructive.

-It is to be observed that the Writer has not difcharged the task of a mere lawyer,-than which perhaps there is not a more circumfcribed and infipid character. A mere lawyer contents himfelf with knowing what the law is in given cafes, and but feldom, applies his thoughts to difcover the rationale on which legal. principles are founded; much less does, he extend his ideas fo far as to confider what institutions are capable of improvement. What perseverance can, conquer, he will furmount; what go nius muft fupply, he will want for ever.

Our masterly Commentator takes a wider range, and unites the qualities of the hiftorian and politician, with thofe of the lawyer, He traces the first establishment of our laws, developes the principles on which they are grounded, examines their prepriety and efficacy, and, with that decorum which attends good fenfe, he fometimes points out wherein they may be altered for the better.

It affords us a fenfible pleasure that we have this opportunity of giving our Readers fuch an abstract of so able a performance, as, we think, muft neceffarily induce them to perufe the work at large. At the fame time, we fhall, with all the freedom of impartial criticism, take notice of fuch errors and inaccuracies as may feem to require animadverfion. But, whenever we find occafion to differ from our Author, the refpect due to his merit, nay, the refpect due to ourfelves, will oblige us to express our diffent with candor, with politeness, with delicacy *:

The introduction to thefe commentaries is divided into four fections. Of the fift, which treats of the fudy of the law, we hall take no notice, having already expreffed our fentiments with refpect to this meritorious treatife, which was long fince

Here, as members of, and we'l-wishers to, the republic of letters, we cannot forbear lamenting fome late inftances, wherein men of ac.. knowledged learning and genius, who ought to have been masters of themfeives and examples to others, have unhappily fhewn that the advantages of litera use, instead of ferving to moderate pride and affwage resentment, only fupply the means of conveying their effects with greater poignance and acrimony.

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publifhed feparately*: we shall therefore proceed to the second, which treats of the nature of laws in general.

This fection very properly opens with a definition of law in general. Law, fays the Writer, in its moft general and comprehenfive fenfe, fignifies a rule of action; and is applied indifcriminately to all kinds of action, whether animate or inanimate, Jational or irrational. Thus we fay the laws of motion, of gravitation, of optics, or mechanics, as well as the laws of nature and of nations. And it is that rule of action, which is prefcribed by fome fuperior, and which the inferior is bound to obey.' In this definition, the learned Author does not feem to have expreffed himself with his ufual correctness and perfpicuity. In the first place, it may be deemed rather inaccurate to talk of inanimate ACTION; to this we may add, that the definition feems to confound law in general, with law in a more confined fenfe: for, after having faid that it is applied indifcriminately to all kinds of action, whether animate or inanimate, rational or irrational, the paragraph concludes thus: and IT is that rule of action, which is prefcribed by fome fuperior, and which the inferior is bound to obey.' Now, the terms fuperior and inferior imply certain relations not ftrictly applicable to any thing inanimate or irrational: and this part of the definition is rather defcriptive of law, as denoting the rule of human action, than of law in the general fenfe here intended t.

From this general definition of law, our Author proceeds to an explanation of the law of nature, which, as he obferves, is founded on those relations of juftice, that exifted in the nature of things antecedent to any pofitive precept. These are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the Creator himself in all his difpenfations conforms; and which he has enabled human reafon to discover, fo far as they are neceffary for the conduct of human actions. Such, among others, are these principles; that we fhould live honeftly, fhould hurt nobody, and should render to every one its due; to which three general precepts, Juftinian has reduced the whole doctrine of law."

• But if the discovery of thefe first principles of the law of nature depended only upon the due exertion of right reafon, and could not otherwife be attained than by a chain of metaphyfical

See Review, Vol. XIX. p. 485.

+ It may be added, that it is in substance the same with the definition of law given by Puffendorf and Hobbes. Puffendorf fays, In genere ausem lex commodiffime videtur defini› i, per decretum quo fuperior fibi subjectum obligat, ut ad iftius prefcriptum actiones fuas componat. to Hobbes, to the fame effect, A law is the command of him or them that have the fovereign power, given to thofe that be his or their fubjects, declaring publickly and plainly what every of them may do, and what they mult forbear to do,'

difquifitions, mankind would have wanted fome inducement to have quickened their enquiries, and the greater part of the world would have refted content in mental indolence, and ignorance, its infeparable companion. As therefore the Creator is a being, not only of infinite power and wifdom, but also of infinite goodnefs, he has been, pleased fo to contrive the conftitution and frame of humanity, that we should want no other prompter to enquire after and pursue the rule of right, but only our own felf-love, that univerfal principle of action. For he has fo intimately connected, fo infeparably interwoven, the laws of eternal justice with the happiness of each individual, that the latter cannot be obtained but by obferving the former; and, if the former be punctually obeyed, it cannot but induce the latter. In confequence of which mutual connexion of juftice and human felicity, he has not perplexed the law of nature with a multitude of abstracted rules and precepts, referring merely to the fitnefs or unfitness of things, as fome have vainly furmifed; but has graciously reduced the rule of obedience to this one paternal precept, "that man fhould purfue his own happiness." This is the foundation of what we call ethics, or natural law. For the feveral articles into which it is branched in our fyftems, amount to no more than demonftrating, that this or that action tends to man's real happiness, and therefore very juftly concluding that the performance of it is a part of the law of nature; or, on the other hand, that this or that action is deftructive of man's real happincfs, and therefore that the law of nature forbids it.'

In this paragraph, the principles of Shaftesbury, in his inquiry concerning virtue, are adopted and enforced with great energy and concifenefs and our Author proceeds to obferve, that this law of nature being coeval with mankind, and dictated by God himfelf, is of courfe fuperior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and fuch of them as are valid, derive all their force and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original.'

The generous warmth with which this liberal Writer here fpeaks of the law of nature is highly to be applauded; but when he fays that no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this,' he must be supposed to mean that they are not morally valid for we know too well that they are politically valid; and we may be bold to add, that fome of our laws of property, and many of our criminal laws, are contrary to this precept of the law of nature, that we should render to every one his due.'