doubt, alluded to the Indian fhot by the aftronomer's fentry, as already related." It is prefumed thefe repeated accounts, of the horrid cuf tom of favages devouring human flesh, will remove the scepticifm refpecting the existence of Cannibals; which, however ftrongly afferted by fome travellers, began, before the late expedition to the South-Seas, to be generally exploded among thofe who were no travellers. On the arrival of our voyagers, at the island of Otaheite, they were received with the civility, for which the inhabitants of that complacent ifle are remarkable. The Journalist obferves, however, on the arrival of the Adventure, that the females, who were fo lavish of their favours on the first arrival of the Europeans, were now become as mercenary as the faireft of our ladies of pleasure in England. "At nine brought to in Mattavey-bay, and the rest of the day employed in mooring the fhip, furling the fails, and getting the tents and other requifites on fhore. All this day great numbers of the natives thronged about the fhip, to exprefs their joy on the arrival of their old friends; among whom the girls were no fmall part of the company. It was now remarked, that the Otaheite girls were no lefs artful than the London mistreffes; each was anxious to know what prefents their lovers had brought them, where they had been, what curiofities they had met with, and no favours were now to be expected till the cheft was opened, and they complimented with what they liked beft, The freedoms that had been granted formerly were all forgotten, and new kindneffes were to be purchased with new valuables. Some indeed there were among them who expreffed a real affection for the men they loved, but thefe were rare; for most of them chose to attach themselves to new admirers, by whom they expected to be more liberally rewarded than by their old mates. They were not now as formerly to be gratified with a nail; but infifted upon fomething equivalent in value to what would content a London miftrefs, and no pence, no paier-nofter. It is a fact that fome of the failors fquandered all they had, and all they could get credit for, upon them. Such are the mercenary tempers of the ladies of pleasure all over the world." Notwithstanding this farcaftic reflection on the ladies of eafy virtue all over the world, our editor enters the lift in mitigation of the just condemnation, paffed by Dr. Hawkefworth on the debauched Otaheitean fociety, named the Arreoy, of whofe abandoned principles and practice the Doctor gave us fo fhocking a defcription. "Among their other diverfions, they have their heivas, very nearly correfponding with our ancient wakes. The young people meet together to dance and to make merry; and at these meetings their minstrels and players conftantly attend, as formerly perfons of the fame character were wont to do all over England, and in fome counties counties the vestiges of that ancient cuftom remain to this day. At thefe hievas, however, their girls in their dances have no regard to decency; and though the fame end was no doubt in view in the inftitution of the wake and the hieva, yet what in England was concerted with the greatest fecrecy, is in Otaheite publickly avowed and practifed. "It should seem that though the inftrumental mufic of the Otaheiteans is much confined, the vocal mufic is by no means contemptible; yet in the sweetness of the voice confifts all the melody, for they have no rules to regulate the tones. Their fongs are like the fongs of children, accompanied with words of their own compofing, which they can vary into long and short verses, sprightly or folemn as occafion prefents; and as the language itfelf is mufical, the ftranger is no lefs delighted with the arranteft nonfenfe, than he would be with the moft fublime compofition. "The heivas are indifcriminately frequented by all ranks of people among the Otaheiteans; but there is ftill a more exceptionable meeting held by fome of the principal people, to which thofe only are admitted who are properly initiated. Thefe people form a diftin& fociety, in which every woman is common to every man; and at their meetings, which are diftinguifhed by the name of Arreoy, the sports they practise are beyond imagination wanton: There is,' fays the writer of the Endeavour's voyage, a fcale of fenfuality which these people have afcended wholly unknown to every other nation whofe manners have been recorded, from the beginning of the world to the prefent hour, and which no imagination could conceive; and yet, notwithstanding this very fevere cenfure and pofitive affertion, we may trace fomething very like it in the hiftory of the ancient inhabitants of our own ifland. The following are the words of Sir William Temple, a writer of no fmall authority, who in reciting the cuitom makes nearly the fame obfervation with the learned voyagewriter. One custom there was (fays Sir William) among the ancient Britons, which feems peculiar to themselves, and not found in the itories of any other nations, either civil or barbarous, which was a fociety of wives among certain numbers; and by common confent, every man married a fingle woman, who was always after and alone esteemed his wife; but it was ufual for five or fix, ten or twelve, or more, either brothers or friends, as they could agree, to have all their wives in common. Encounters happened among them, as they were invited by defire or favoured by opportunity. Every woman's children were attributed to him that had married her; but all had a fhare in the care and defence of the whole fociety, fince no man knew which were his own. Though this custom be alledged as a teftimony how favage or barbarous a people the Britons were, yet (adds Sir William) I know not why it fhould appear more extravagant than the community of women in fome other countries, the deflowering of virgins by the priests on the first night of marriage, the unlimited number of wives and concubines, not to mention the marriage of fifters among the ancient Egyptian and Athe nians, 'nians, and the borrowing and lending of wives among the Romans.' Thus it appears that fomething very like this ladder of fenfuality had been afcended by our ancestors, probably as early, if not before, the fociety we are fpeaking of had exiftence; and I believe if we were to tranfmit an impartial record of the manners of the prefent times, fomething ftill more fimilar to all the aggravated circumftances of this barbarous cuftom in Otaheite (where when a woman happens to prove with child, the writer fays, the poor infant is mothered the moment it is born, that it may be no incumbrance to the father, nor interrupt the mother in the pleasures of her diabolical prostitution,) might be traced in the purlieus of Covent-Garden, and the alleys in and about Drury-Lane. Perhaps it would be no exaggeration if we were to add, that in the city of London there are as many men as the whole ifland of Otaheite contains, who devote themselves entirely to the pleasures of variety, and who attach themselves to no one woman, but enjoy indifcriminately all they may; and that there are an equal number of women to be met with, who are at all times ready to gratify their defires; nor have these men or thefe women any more regard for their poor infants, than the members of that diabolical fociety, against which the piety of the writer prompted him to exclaim. We faid aggravated circumftances, because as the reafons affigned by the writer for fmothering the poor infants are to the last degree futile, it may be prefumed that the children of fuch general commerce may, like the children of our ancestors, be confidered as the children of the fociety, fince fmothering the child as foon as born, would not fhorten the interruptions neceffarily impeding the pleafures of the mother, nor encumber a father that could not be known." With what view our editor thus oppofes the groffnefs of favage with the depravity of polifhed manners, we know not, unless it be to throw the greater condemnation on the latter. In this we moft heartily join him, thinking many things pardonable in the conduct of an ignorant, unenlightened heathen, which merit the fevereft condemnation in an inftructed and civilized Chriftian. It had been worthy the editor's fagacity, if, in correcting the efcapes of his journalist, he had also put in now and then a caveat to fome of his facts, and illuftrated some of his obfervations; for want of which caution and illustration, they want verifimilitude, if not probability. Thus, in the account of a mountain, of which the journalist hath given a drawing, he tells us, it is feventeen miles above the horizon; who that knows how many feet feventeen miles perpendicular must be, can forbear exclaiming credat Judæus Apella, non ego.- Again, in defcribing the behaviour of a favage, to whom after eating, fome wine was given him to drink, he is faid to have thrown the wine in his eyes; the action fimply related appears inconfiftent and ridiculous: but if it were told that the wine being given in a glafs or cup, the favage, unpracticed in its ufe, carried it of courfe higher than his mouth, which he had been accustomed to supply directly with his fingers fingers in eating, as he had been to bend down to the liquor inn drinking, the reader would be at no lofs to account for his fpilling thewine in his eyes. We must not take leave of this work alfo, without obferving that the editor has been remarkable remifs in his language, not only with regard to grammatical conftruction, but also the very meaning of words, from whofe proper as well as common ufe, he has fometimes unjustifiably deviated *. ART. II. The History of the Cafes of controverted Elections, which were tried and determined during the first Seffion of the fourteenth Parliament of Great-Britain. 15. Geo. III. By Silvester Douglas, Efq. of Lincoln's Ínn. 2 vols. 8vo. 12s. Robinson. Mais fi les tribunaux ne doivent pas être fixes, les jugemens doivent l'être a un tel point, qu'ils ne foient jamais qu'un texte précis de la lol. S'ils étoient une opinion particuliere du juge, on vivroit dans la focieté fans fçavoir précisément les engagemens que l'on y contracte. L' Efprit des Loix, liv. xi. c. 6. Prefixed to these cafes is a copious introduction, explaining the nature and the defign of the work, and exhibiting, ift. A state of the jurisdiction of the Houfe of Commons in the trial of controverted elections: zdly, The authority of precedents in fuch cafes, and 3dly, An account of the conftitution of committees for trying controverted elections, and the manner of proceeding in them. In treating the first head, the author traces the jurisdiction of the houfe back to the earliest periods of English hiftory, at which the privileges of the Commons were extremely uncertain and precarious. "In the fucceffion of ages, fays he, a mighty change took place in most of the feudal governments; particularly in England. The exorbitant power of the barons, which the king's feeble and limited authority was unable to controul, gave rife to numberlefs jealoufies and civil wars; till a great part of their ancient territories, were either exhaufted by the efforts they made, or reciprocally confifeated, by the party which chanced, at different times, to prevail. Many of the most confiderable families were entirely extinguished, either by the fortune of war, or the fword of juftice; and, when the contest between the two rofes was finally terminated by the union of the houfes of York and Lancaster, in the perfon of Henry VIII. the strength, riches, and domains of the old rivals of the kingly power, had, in a great measure, fallen into the hands of the crown. The *To mention only one inftance. "Their women were cloathed with coverlids;" Miftaking cover lids to be fynonimous to quilts, blankets, &c. generally used to cover perfons in bed. But they are not cover lids unless deftined to that purpose, nor could women be properly faid to be cloathed with coverlids unless when receiving vifits, like fome fine European ladies, in bed. R. over-grown over-grown poffeffions of the remaining nobility were gradually snapped, and diminished, by the operation of that policy, by which the judges, under the cover of a legal fiction, had, in effect, repealed the ftatute of entails; a ftatute extorted by the barons, from Edward I. with the Vain defign of perpetuating their grandeur with their eftates This policy had been connived at by Edward IV. and Henry VII. and foon received a parliamentary fanction. It was the original fource of the independence and riches of the people; who were encouraged by the first princes of the houfe of Tudor, as an inftrument, to aid them in the project of annihilating the power of the nobles. "In the mean time, learning and the arts were revived in the Weft; the two Indies were difcovered; navigation was improved; commerce cultivated; and opulence univerfally and eagerly pursued. The people foon found themfeves in a condition to acquire that próperty, which common recoveries (now become the law of the land) enabled the nobility to alien. Riches naturally beget the fpirit of independence: but other more powerful caufes now co-operated to the fame effect. Literature and philofophy had enlightened and enlarged the human faculties. The follies of fuperftition, and the impofitions of priest-craft, were detected, and attacked with fuccefs. The reformation of the church could not take place, without affecting the ftate. Civil liberty was as eagerly fought after, as freedom of confcience; and the Commons of England felt and afferted their importance. The reprefentatives of the people no longer confidered themselves as mere attornies, or agents, paid by their conftituents, for the fole purposes of beftowing their property, and of prefenting their humble petitions for the redrefs of grievances. They affumed the character of ftatefmen, politicians, and law-givers: of trustees charged with the guardianfhip of the property, the liberty, and the lives of a great nation. A feat in their houfe was foon one of the prime objects of ambition. It was a prize for which many contended at once. Contested and litigated elections, therefore, became daily more and more frequent. But a queftion now arofe concerning the judicature, by which they should be tried and determined (I). "The Commons could no longer bear, that the upper House should decide on the right of fitting in theirs; and they were equally unwil ling, that any of the judges of Westminster-hall fould exercife this jurifdiction, being men, at that time, expofed to the influence of the Crown, and removeable from their places, if they fhould be found not futhciently fubfervient to its commands. The chancellor advanced a claim founded on this technical reafon, that the parliamentary Writ iffues out of chancery, and is returnable there (K). However, notwithstanding repeated attempts, at the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and the beginning of James the First's, to draw this power to the court of chancery, the commons were able to maintain and establish the exclufive right of trying controverted elections; and they have enjoyed that right, without interruption, for near two centuries (K). "In the beginning, their determinations were diftinguished for their wisdom, purity, and justice. The first men, for talents, and inte grity, |