proper. Nay, he fhows that the rack itfelf, though not admitted in the ordinary execution of justice, was frequently ufed upon any fufpicion, by authority of a warrant from a Secretary or the Privy Council. He refers, likewife, to a propofal of Burleigh's, that the Queen fhould erect a court for the correction of all abufes, and fhould confer on the commiflioners a general inquifitorial power over the whole kingdom, arguing, that "the form of government must be very arbitrary indeed, where a wife and good minifter could make fuch a propofal to the Sovereign."

Thefe inftances of tyranny Mr. M. paffes over in filence, and attempts to reply only to the hiftorian's arguments drawn from the Queen's exercife of the difpenfing power; from her iffuing proclamations which had the force of laws; from her levying hip-money by her own authority; and from her topping the progrefs of bills in either House of Parliament, and imprifoning fuch members as payed not on thole occafions implicit obedience to her commands. He does not deny the truth of any one of these charges; but obferves, that "the difpenfing power was exercised under great limitations, and in very fingular circumftances;" that "anciently the crown poffeffed no legislative power, and that regal proclamations were firft declared to have the force of laws in the reign of Henry the Eighth;" that the hip-money was levied to enable her to oppofe the Spanish invafion, and therefore cheerfully paid by the people; and that in checking the progrefs of a bill, to which, though it fhould pafs both Houfes, fhe had determined to refufe her affent, the Queen "feems to have confidered herself as merely defending thofe rights of the crown which had been tranfmitted by her ancestors!"

The reader, who confiders thefe arguments as a fufficient confutation of the reafoning of Hume, we must have leave to think, has not ftudied the controverfy with a mind divefted of prejudice. Had Elizabeth difpenfed with no laws but fuch as related to the church, the peculiar circumftances in which fhe was placed, would have been a fufficient apology for even a violent ftretch of the prerogative; but the difpenfed with laws which regarded not the contefts between Proteftants and Papifts, but the general commerce and manufactures of the kingdom.

In like manner the emergency of the cafe might have excufed the levying of fhip-inoney, even though it had been an encroachment on the privileges of Parliament, had an act paffed, as foon as tranquillity was reftored, to indemnify the advisers of fo unconftitutional a measure. No fuch act, however,

S 4

however, was applied for; which is a proof, that the queen was not thought, either by her minifters or by the nation at large, to have paffed the boundary which the conftitution had then placed between the prerogative of the crown and the privileges of parliament; and if fo, the government of England was then defpotic.

(To be concluded in our next.)

ART. IV. The Scenery, Antiquities, and Biography, of South Wales, from Materials collected during two Excurfions in the Year 1803. By Benjamin Heath Malkin, Efq. M.A. F.S.A. Embellished with Views, drawn on the Spot and engraved by Laporte; and a Map of the Country. 4to. 644 pp. 21. 12s. 6d. Longman and Co. 180.

THIS is one of the most elaborate, and, indeed, fatisfactory accounts of a Tour through South Wales, that has yet appeared, and the moft likely to keep an honourable station among topographical collections. It commences with a fcientific defcription of the legends, traditions, and history of Wales, particularly dilating on the Legendary Tales of Arthur. It then proceeds to exhibit in detail, Glamorganfhire, Brecknockshire, Radnorfhire, Cardiganfhire, Peinbrokeshire, and Caermarthenshire. With the general scenery of these places, the manners of the people, local peculiarities, and general history, the public must now be well acquainted from various works which have of late fucceffively made their appearance. One extract from the prefent volume may, therefore, be fufficient; but this, we doubt not, will be thought very curious and interefting, as it exhibits fome moft extraordinary circumstances.

"On defcending from the prefent haunts of mountain sheep, and ancient feats of unfociable and distruitful barons, the traveller arrives fuddenly at a spot, the most incongruous and unexpected that can be conceived in thefe fimple regions. He finds himself tranflated all at once to the Paragon, Profpect Place, Paradife Row, Mount Pleafant, or fome fuch fupreme court of finery, foppery, and folly, as occurs within a circle of five miles round London: a fpace which comprehends moft of the architectural abfurdities, and most of the horticultural deformities, to which à vitiated imagination has ever given birth. Yet does Trevecca feem, by combination, to have outdone them all. Here a Gothic arch! there a Corinthian capital! Towers, battlements, and baftions! peacocks cut in box, and lions hacked in helly! And

who

who is it that has thus deluged his native country with bad tafte? Is it a nabob, an inn-keeper, or a dancing-mafter, who, having contrived to raife a fortune by one of thofe trades, which often profper where better fail, prudently determines to record the event, and raife a triumphal monument on the fite of his honeft father's humble cottage? Nay, verily it is a preacher of the gofpel, profeffedly of the ftricteft perfuafion and most mortified habits. Howel Harris was born at Trevecca on the 23d of January, 1714. Having a refpectable paternal estate in reverfion, he was defigned by his family for the church, and having re ceived the rudiments of a claffical education, was entered at St. Mary's Hall in Oxford; but he did not pursue or perfect thofe ftudies at the univerfity, which might have given him rank and character among its members. When he was about the age of twenty-five, he began his career as an itinerant preacher, facrificing all views of worldly aggrandizement to what he con ceived to be his highest duty. But a total want of rationality in the purfuit miferably detracted from that approbation, which muft otherwife have been extorted even from his opponents by the unquestionable refpectability of the motive. He was the friend of Whitefield, with whom he afterwards quarrelled, and the first importer of the methodistical tenets and difcipline into the principality, as Vavafor Powel had been among the first, to introduce the earlier and more refpected modes of diffent, He actually officiated in the fields; but, after having undergone much persecution, and incurred fome danger in his travels, he determined, being, as my landlady at Talgarth informed me, a man of deep religion, to establish a religious family at Trevecca, adopting it as his own, and devoting to it his patrimonial eftates, with all the favings of a parfimonious life. With unaccountable inconfiftency, he built a large and coftly houfe, and laid out the grounds in the ftyle I have before described. In this house, and on his own eftate, he collected a number of families, profeffing the fame religious abforption of mind. He even purchafed farms in the neighbourhood, and established manufactories, to as great an extent as his finances would admit, or opportunities prefented themfelves of laying out his money. The condition he impofed on those who joined his community was, that they should pursue their avocations of hufbandry or trade folely for the benefit of the common ftock, difclaiming all private property, or interfe rence in the management of the joint capital, renouncing the fociety of ftrangers, and adhering punctually to the rigid obferv. ances of the family. The inftitution continued to flourish during his lifetime in almost a formidable degree. Their farms entirely fupplied their numerous families difperfed over the eftates; for the manfion-houfe was occupied by his own family and clofer intimates. There was befides a large furplus for the markets;

fince their inflexible fobriety was confidered to have the effect of making them good farmers, though the bufinefs was much interrupted by their unremitting prayers. They alfo manufactured, independent of other articles, large quantities of fine flannels, the quality of which was in high requeft all round the country, and large orders were executed for fo distant a market as Bristol. Mr. Harris died in July, 1773. I have not been ftrictly correct in ftating the produce of their labours as brought to a common stock, for it was all made over to him without controul, though exclufively and confcientiously applied to their ufe and the extenfion of the establishment. By his will, he bequeathed the whole of his poffeffions, hereditary and accumu lated, to the maintenance of the family: for ever on the stric principles of its foundation. He left two trustees, with regulations for the replacing them, who were to live in the house, receive the earnings of the people, conduct the pecuniary arrangements and devotional fervices, and in every respect exercife that plenary authority, which he had himfelf preferved. He was married, and had a daughter, to whom he left nothing, except an apartment in the houfe, on the fame terms as the others, if ever the chofe to become a member of the family. It is, how ever, to be observed, in extenuation of what men of lefs deep religion will confider as injuftice towards a deferving child, that her mother's fortune, not inconfiderable, rendered Mifs Harris independent of her father. But this independence, and all worldly cares and poffeffions, fhe was to relinquish, if ever the came to Trevecca. It will readily be anticipated, that she did not make that election, when the reader is informed that she was married to a gentleman of Brecknock, of the name of Prichard, I believe before Mr. Harris's death.

"There have been, within the recollection of perfons refiding at Talgarth, one hundred and forty efficient members of this extraordinary family, befides children: there are now not more than fixty; but the ftrict ritual of the place is ftill preferved; the character of induftrious feclufion and eccentric fanaticism is fedulously maintained; and the vifitor of Trevecca may fee it now, as in the days of the founder. There is fervice in the house three times a day all the year round, the time of harvest not excepted: each perfon is allowed a certain proportion of abfences, on the fame plan as the attendance of chapel is regulated for the ftudents in college, and if the number is exceeded, the offender lofes the benefit of the inftitution, however reasonable may be his excufe, or urgent the plea of his neceflity. The fervice, though fo frequent, is very long; and a numerous. attendance is by thefe regulations conftantly fecured. It were much to be wifhed, that it were better worth attending! I happened to arrive there, without any previous knowledge of

the

the place or inftitution, about three o'clock on a Sunday, when a number of decently-dreffed and well-behaved people were affembling, with whofe manners on the outfide of their chapel I was well pleafed; but the infide exhibited fuch a melancholy exhibition of fanatical fatuity, as, happily for the honour of human intellect, is rarely to be met, but among these jumping enthufiafts. The fpeaker, for I will not infult the dignity of our establishment by confidering him as a clergyman, had his face and head completely muffled with a red pocket handkerchief tied under his chin. The caufe of this might have been candidly afcribed to the tooth-ache, had I not obferved at Brecknock and elsewhere, that the preachers of thefe degradedly methodistical and jumping fects, which would not be worth noticing in a work of this kind, were they not the unhappy growth of the foil, uniformly array themselves in a fimilar paraphernalia, probably in an oftentatious fhew of fqualid piety. The reft of his apparel was confiftently mean; and all his air and manner indicated the loweft ignorance, though I could not judge of his language. Its effects, however, atoned in power for what it might want in elegance, or the means of rational conviction. The groans of his hearers, fometimes in a folo part, and fometimes in chorus, correfponded with the scarcely human contortions and ejaculations of the preacher. Some ftood, fome knelt, and fome were ftretched upon the floor in proftrate humiliation. I did not, however, ftay for the animating found of "Glory to the Lamb," left the forgetfulness of fuperftitious enthufiafm, violating the laws of hofpitality, might have compelled me alfo to join in the fantaftic rites of light-heeled devotion. But I will no longer weary the patience of my reader on the habits of an institution, which has culled with fcrupulous care all the abfurdities and evils of the monaftic life, except the prohibition of marriage, and at the fame time paffed a fevere edict of exclufion against all its learning and utility. Mr. Harris had a brother, who made a confiderable fortune as an army taylor in London, which was, I believe, inherited by Mrs. Hughes, his niece, who has a very handfome manfion near Trevecca. The family are very much refpected; and it is moft unaccountable that the zeal of a man, placed by birth and education in the most refpectable class of fociety, fhould have degenerated into fuch unmeaning and irrational mummery.

"Since my return, I have heard accounts of Mr. Harris, not so favourable to the difinterested abfurdity of his character and views. I know the imputations under which leaders of fects and parties labour from the mifconftructions of their opponents, and pretend not to decide. It is certain that he extorted large fums from the deluded people among whom he travelled, as well as from the labours of his domestic fraternity. Thefe went in aid of the establishment at Trevecca. The frugality and felf