Shall we transfer The Sermon for the People (No. I.) to "The Cottager's Monthly Visitor," as being most suitable to that most useful Work? "The Reformer of Mid Lothian," is simple and affecting. Whilst it is finishing, we shall communicate with its Author, upon a point to which this communication has given rise. H. W. of B-t House will hear from us. Of X. Y. it cannot be Z that we approve, let him try again. Z. A.'s suggestion of a regular heading for one or two of our columns is so good, that we shall most likely adopt it. "PANDEMONIUM.”—We will wait for the Meeting of Parliament:-we can then make known a little of what is going on above ground, as well as below, in the way of the Devil's work on earth; such as-of blasphemy, treason, radical restlessness, and the downright murder of all good old feelings and principles. In the mean time, we recommend Lady Mn to get a new pair of Satan shoes, (couleur de soufre,) to shew off at the great dance below, to the tune of "the Devil among the Drapers." Cock Robin may somewhat more harmlessly brush up his wings and epaulets as one of King Cole's body-guard; and Dr. P. -r may lend Parson F-s one of his old full bottoms:-Will o' th' Whisp too may pick out for him a round dozen or two of his best sermons, for the more serious purposes of the Session. J. B., with another prophecy deciphered from his old chronicles, shall appear in our next. In the mean time, he may have leisure to clear his way more completely as to one or two others, which he speaks of as having partially unravelled. SELINA'S RADICAL MADRIGALS we suspect to be from no female pen. They are admirably loyal; but there is more lampoon than love in them. The Lines on the BLACK DWARF, as a little cloven-footed Cupid for the Loves of Paudemonium, are such as we would insert, if the measure were a little more in the madrigal way. There is more of Butler than of Sappho in the metre.-Hudibras won't do in song. We quite agree with Q. O. that there is no more chance of Sir Robert Wilson's being Secretary at War, than of the Alderman at the corner of Bridge Street supplying the Bodleian with book muslin. We quite enter into BRITANNICUS' feelings as to the many absentees from our country,-and at a time when the necessaries of life have returned to the prices of thirty years back;--but we have more to do just at our outset, with the asses in præsenti. Civis came too late for insertion; he may feel assured that nothing is more valuable to us, or is considered by us more friendly, than the conscientious criticism of our opinions. NOTICES. We have been amused, gratified, and flattered with the public and private criticism, which "THE COUNTRY versus LONDON" has undergone; but we protest against the work being called a monthly newspaper, which it is not all periodicals contain a political summary. We conduct this work, very differently indeed, from the manner in which newspapers are got up,-namely, upon a principle of responsibility for our opinions; and no party concerned in its management, writes any other than his own undisguised and personal opinions;-no whigs writing loyalty, no loyalists writing radical, among our coterie. The Author of the Letter from the King to his People, will sign all his articles with W., and will be personally and politically answerable for them. THE AGE OF GEORGE THE arose, which multiplied as the reign THIRD. (Continued from page 18.) NUMBER II.-Consequences of the Revolution. Accession of the House of Brunswick. THAT the accession of GEORGE THE THIRD was the dawning of a new era in the British empire, will become more correctly understood, by retracing the age which preceded it. Exactly a century before this event, the throne of England emerged from the gulph of republicanism, into which it had been thrown by a herd of fanatics, and their ferocious leaders. Exhausted by a long civil war, democratical hypocrisy, and the rigour of a military adventurer, the people at length saw that there was no hope of escape from the misery of anarchy, but in the restoration of the Constitution.Gladly, therefore, was "the Royal Exile" welcomed home, after having been a wanderer in foreign lands for twelve years and upwards, depend. ent upon the bounty of foreign states. But though the nation rejoiced to a degree of enthusiastic extravagance at the return of CHARLES THE SECOND, the crown placed upon his head was far from being secure. The sour puritans, the sturdy republicans, and the turbulent soldiery, viewed the change with the resentment of disappointed minds. Hence jealousies and plots advanced, with the prospect that the succeeding one would re introduce popery and arbitrary power. Under the apprehension of these evils, associations were formed, which only ruined those who engaged in them; and the bills of exclusion brought into parliament to guard the national religion, and civil liberties, served but to create discord, and to encourage what they were intended to prevent. When JAMES THE SECOND came to the throne, his policy was to court the non-conformists by concessions he had no right to make; and it is notorious, that the dispensing power which he thus so illegally exercised, was received by the whole mass of those who were against the Church, with joy and gratitude. Addresses poured in from all quarters, thanking the King for contravening laws to serve a particular purpose; and thus was this ill-fated monarch encouraged to follow up his designs, by a confidence in the hollow professions of men, who were actuated by no other motive than that of seeing a revolution again brought about, by any, and no matter by what means. A revolution did take place, of a far different description from what those expected who had been most active in preparing the way for it. In filling the throne, after the abdication of James the Second, the parliament acted precisely as 6 the crown had succeeded by death; and accordingly the next heir was proclaimed, together indeed with her husband, which was the only variance distinguishing this proceeding from an ordinary demise. Beneficial as this great and important change was, in securing a Protestant succession, it was yet far from productive of peace and tranquillity. The internal state of the country was rendered gloomy and dissatisfied by political divisions, which were much aggravated by the decay of trade, the deteriorated state of the coin, the influx and ascendancy of foreigners, and the pressure of new taxes to support the expences of wars for continental interests, and to gratify the military vanity of the King, who felt less for his new, than his old dominions. In this reign the national debt first arose. Besides, the abdicated monarch left many adherents, and the repulsive manners of William served to increase their number; so that between discontent on one side, and suspicion on the other, the public mind was in a continual state of turmoil and apprehension. The language of Bishop Burnet, who had a principal share in the Revolution, and was the confidential friend of King William and Queen Mary, is this:-" Upon the whole matter, the nation was falling under such a general corruption, both as to morals and principles; and that was SO much spread among all sorts of people, as to give us great apprehen. sions of heavy judgments from heaven." It was hoped, that the accession of Queen Anne would have had the effect of correcting the evil which the Bishop so feelingly lamented; but it rather increased than diminished in her reign, notwithstanding the endeavours of that exemplary princess, and excellent wife, to check depravity, and to allay political feuds. These exertions of the Queen were, however, as fruitless at home, as her arms were glorious abroad; and though English valour and English genius rose at this period to a transcendent height, the splendour of both was obscured by the total want of principle in both the Whigs and Tories of those days. Public virtue was then but little respected, because the worst characters in the kingdom were observed to set up the loudest pretensions to it; and because each side in turn charged the other with gross pecu lation, and even treachery. Amidst all this strife, the people at large were treated as the mere instruments for the several parties to work with, in the great struggle for political ascendancy. Where so much venality existed, little confidence could be reposed in regard to the regal succession; and that was a matter of the greatest moment, since the interests of the exiled branches of the House of Stuart were supported by some of the first powers in Europe, and even by many of the influential families in Britain. It is true, the Act of Settlement had passed, securing the crown to the Protestant descendants of James the First, namely, the Princess Sophia of Hanover, and her issue. But this Act passed through Parlia ment with great difficulties, and numbers were known to be still averse to it; and it was more than suspected, that the Queen herself had a secret leaning towards her brother. Under such circumstances, therefore, it was far from impro bable, that the son of James the Second might have gathered strength enough to set aside even the Act of Settlement; and it is now put beyond all doubt by the Stuart papers, that there were many Whig Lords and Commoners of high name, who felt no scruple in negotiating with the French court upon the subject. Under all these conflicting circumstances, the nation was not secure from the probability or possi bility of having a Roman Catholic on the throne, till the Act of Settlement was carried into effect, by the coronation of the Elector of Hanover, in the person of GEORGE THE FIRST. Then, indeed, and not till then, the Revolution of 1688 might be truly said to have received its completion; for as long as Queen Anne lived, the hopes of the Stuarts in the Catholic line of James the Second continued to invigorate them and their friends; but when the Protestant branch of that House came into possession, those hopes withered at their root. And here we may not improperly advert to that Whig-dining toast, which of late years has become a proverb among coffee-house politicians, who remind one another of the principles which set the House of Brunswick on the throne of these realms-THE CORNER STONE IS PROTESTANT ASCENDANCY. It appears to some, as though the august Family, at present reigning, were indebted for the crown to Parliamentary or popular election; than which opinion, nothing can be more erroneous. Going very far back into history, when might overcame right, it does appear, that the legislature adopted persons as kings, and thereby limited and regulated the succession. There are many instances of this proceeding; but notwithstanding these irregularities, the true title to the crown of England is of hereditary right; and it was so acknowledged to be by the Convention Parliament, which declared the eldest daughter of James the Second, the lawful and rightful heir to the throne. The succession of Anne followed in the same tract; and George the First came to the throne as the lineal Protestant descendant of James the First, parliament having previously excluded all Roman Catholics from the throne of England. In brevity we may say, THE THRONE OF ENGLAND IS HEREDITARY, BUT A CATHOLIC CANNOT Succeed. If parliament, stepping over the Electress Sophia Matilda of Hano ver, had preferred to choose George the First, then something might be urged in support of the principle, so much talked of, but so misunderstood; or had there been two Protestant competitors for the crown, and parliament taking their respective merits into consideration, had chosen one to the preference of the other, then some argument might arise in favour of this hackneyed sentiment. But nothing of the kind occurred: the Electress Sophia of Hanover stood first in succession; and being a Protestant, her claim, as grand-daughter of James the First, was fully recognized, as a strict matter of hereditary right. This is a question of more serious and fundamental importance than many are aware of; and it has drawn from us this retrospect of the succession. A house divided against itself falleth; and unfortunately some of the Royal House have been so indiscreet, and so ignorant of the real principle by which the throne is upheld and succeeded to, as to be inveigled into the objectionable, unconstitutional, and democratic jargon alluded to. But, though the line of Brunswick was now in the person of GEORGE THE FIRST in possession and fully established; it was not without powerful enemies, both domestic and foreign. There were still many persons of rank and consequence who remained attached to the excluded family; and even the nation felt some indifference at least, if not absolute repugnance, to a prince who was an utter stranger to the English language. George the First had many good qualities, and his talents as a politician were highly respected on the continent of Europe, but they were not adequate to the task of managing parties in England; in consequence of which, with the preference shewn by him to his native states, disaffection increased during his reign. What contributed to aggravate the prejudices formed against the King, was the want of a royal consort at his court, where females of elevated minds could scarcely appear, with out feeling some repugnance, especially when they were compelled to meet an acknowledged mistress instead of a Queen. The case was altered in the next reign, when Queen Caroline, wife of George the Second, gave more life and dignity to the Royal circle than her august partner, who was so completely a militaire and politician, and had so little taste for literature, or the sciences, that he presented Hogarth with a guinea for a proof of his finest print; and said to Lord Hervey, "You should not write verses, you should leave poetry to little Mr. Pope, for it is his trade." Yet under George the Second, England prospered exceedingly, and attained a high degree of military character; but, at the same time, it cannot be denied, that the achievements of the seven years' war were more brilliant than beneficial to this country; and that the enormous sums lavished upon the King of Prussia, might have been better be stowed in improvements at home. Never were laurels more dearly purchased, than those which distinguished this martial reign; in which, however, an end was put to the disputes about the throne, thereby laying the foundation of that national greatness which was to follow under the auspices of A NATIVE PRINCE. It would have been unreasonable to expect more advantages than those which really accrued to the nation by the accession of the House of Brunswick, and yet many arose out of that event which the most zealous and enlightened statesmen of the period we have been reviewing, could not have contemplated even in imagination. With such minds, the settlement of the throne upon a permanent basis, thereby securing the civil and religious liberties of the people, was the single object of serious consideration. But that important point could not be said to have attained its consummation, till the hopes of the exiled family were extinguished, and all the powers of Europe had abandoned the remnant of that unfortunate lineage, to the fate which was so visibly stamped upon the Catholic Stuarts. appre While there yet existed any thing to affect the Protestant ascendancy, it became expedient to coerce those from whom danger was to be hended. Hence arose objections to the full extension of toleration, and the necessity of keeping in force many statutes which, under other circumstances, would have been odious, and which, in a land of freedom, were detestable. In consequence of this, the resources of the empire were not so fully drawn out into full and active exertion, as they would have been in a state free from impositions, and disgraceful restrictions. The last expiring attempts made in the reigns of the first two monarchs of the House of Brunswick, to replace the son of James the Second on the throne, were unavoidably attended with new and more invidious measures of legislative defence, which kept a considerable portion of the realm in a state little differing from that of the bondage of Egypt. During the same period, the wars in which England engaged with the great continental powers, increased the jealousy at home; and the security of what was called the Protestant interest in Germany, however plausible that pretext might be, could not charm away the spirit of discontent; political dissensions multiplied, even when success crowned the British armaments throughout the globe; and it was evident, that as long as England granted subsidies, her allies would never be disposed to encourage overtures for peace. Yet, dazzled by splendid but useless victories, the people appeared eager to follow the phantom of glory in an interminable direction; so that every fresh acqui |