will happen, as long as my son has life; and say, that I command them to let the boy win his spurs; for I am determined, if it please God, that all the glory and honour of this day shall be given to him, and to those into whose care I have entrusted him." p. 327. In this passage also we may remark a sort of flatness in the modern version. For example, so hot an engagement' does not convey quite the idea of so hardly matched, nor does it well express'il est en dur parti d'armes, which implies personal conflict as well as presence in a battle. Upon the whole there is a sort of amplification, perhaps unavoidable in modern language, which sounds tamer and less like the tone of chivalry than that employed by Lord Berners. In short, the Chronicle is as it were neatly bound in calf extra; nay the leaves, back and edges are gilt; but it wants the massy garniture of antique clasps, gilt Anosps, and silver roses, which add to the dignity of Lord Ber ners's version. Although the style of Mr Johnes is unquestionably inferior to Lord Berners, and although it is, occasionally degraded by such quaint expressions as sheering off, making off, shewing their heels, and the like, we cannot but bestow high commendation on the fidelity and attention with which the task of translation has been executed. In a historical point of view, there can be no comparison betwixt the usefulness of Mr Johnes's version and Lord Berners's, as the latter has not only failed to correct the errors of Froissart as to proper names of persons and places, but has deplorably aggravated them. The Earl of Stamford, to recur to the passage last quoted, is in Froissart called le Compte D'Estanfort, and in Berners's hands he becomes Camfort. Mr Johnes, on the contrary, though his notes are not numerous, has bestowed laudable diligence in correcting the text of his author; has left few blunders, and we trust has made none. The oppor tunity of comparing so many various manuscripts has doubtless tended much to reform the text, and we do not venture to offer criticism where we have not an opportunity of seeing the original authorities. It might be worth Mr Johnes's while to consult the splendid manuscript of Froissart, formerly belonging to the Conventual Library of Newbottle, and now to the Earl of Ancram. Engravings from many rare and curious illuminations are given in this volume. They present to us the dresses, costume, and manners, of Froissart's heroes, and add greatly to the interest of the publication. After all, it may occur to our readers, that an edition of Lord Berners's translation, reduced to a systematic orthography, and corrected and enlarged where correction and enlargement was necessary, might have superseded the labours of Mr Johnes, and, at the same time, have preserved an ancient English classic. But we are more disposed to be grateful for what may be considered as a free gift made to the public, than strictly to examine how far it might have been made more acceptable. If the Hafod press performs what is incumbent on that of Clarendon, the founder is surely entitled to choose betwixt the character of a translator and editor; and while, as a private individual, he discharges at his own expence a public duty, we willingly say, God speed his labours. ART. VIII. Memoirs sur la Respiration, par Lazare Spallanzani. Traduits en Français d'après son manuscript inédit, par Jean Senebier, Membre de diverses Académies et Sociétés savantes. Associè correspondant de l'Institut National, et Bibliothécaire. à Genève. 8vo A Genève, chez J. Pauchaud, An. XI. (1803.) PP. 373 THIS HIS work seems entitled to attention, both from the importance, of the subject and the celebrity of the author. Few of the modern physiologists of Italy are so well known in this island as Lazarus Spallanzani. The novelty of his physiological inquiries, the ingenuity of his experimental researches, and the unwearied perseverance with which he vestigated the most minute circumstances connected with them, have given to most of his works the reputation of originality and uncommon accuracy. Some of his discoveries, indeed, were so unexpected, and so contrary to analogy, that they were at first received with very general distrust; and, by detailing again and again the same experiment under circumstances but slightly varied, he frequently carries his desire of extreme precision so far as to become prolix and fatiguing. This however, is a fault which will meet with a ready excuse from all lovers of science; at least, we have much oftener had oecasion to lament an injudicious concisenes, which has limited the utility of experimental inquiries, by suppressing circumstances which, although at the time they seemed unimportant, afterwards have become of the greatest consequence when connected with subsequent discoveries or opinions. To these posthumous memoirs, Senebier has with great propriety prefixed an historical account of the life and wrings of their author. Although, from its extreme partiality, it can lay no claim to biographical excellence, it is not without its utility as a record of facts and dates. Lazarus Spallanzani was born at Scandiano, in the dutchy of Modena, on the 10th January 1729. At the age of fifteen he went to Reggio, where, under the tuition of the Jesuits, his progress in belles-lettres was so rapid, that he became an object of attention to the Dominicans, who endeavoured to entice him to enter their order; but fortunately, his thirst for knowledge led hir ART. I. Report from the Lords' Committees appointed to search the Journals of the House, Rolls of Parlia- II. 1. Almanach des Gourmands; Servant de Guide dans V. Anastasius; or Memoirs of a Greek, written in the 92 VI. The Opinions of Messrs Say, Sismondi, and Malthus, 102 VII. The Shooter's Guide. By J. B. Johnson 123 134 VIII. The View, and other Poems. By Chandos Leigh IX. Three Months passed in the Mountains East of Rome, X. 1. Tableau Historique de l'Etat et des Progrès de la Joseph de Chenier. 2. Fragment d'un Cours de Littérature fait à l'Athenée le Paris en 1806 et 1807, par M. J. de Chenier; 140 ART. XI. 1. A Series of Letters to a Man of Property, on the XII. 1. An Appeal to the Legislature and the Public; more especially to Dissenters from the Established Church, of every Denomination, on the Tendency of Mr Brougham's Bill for the Education of the Poor ;- to augment the Poor's-rate-to interfere with the Rights of Conscience, and infringe on the Spirit of the Toleration Acts: With some Remarks on its probable Effects in injuring Sunday Schools. By James Baldwin Brown, Esq. LL. D. of the Inner- 2. Observations on Mr Brougham's Bill; showing its Inadequacy to the End proposed, and the Danger which will arise from it to the Cause of Religious 3. Inquiry into the Operation of Mr Brougham's Edu- 214 258 EDINBURGH REVIEW, MARCH, 1821. N° LXIX. ART. I. Report from the Lords' Committees appointed to search the Journals of the House, Rolls of Parliament, and other Records and Documents, for all matters touching the Dignity of a Peer of the Realm, &c. &c. Folio. pp. 448. (Ordered to be printed 25th May, 1820.) IN N July 1814, a petition from Lewis Dymoke, lord of the manor of Scrivelsby, claiming the barony of Marmyon, as a feudal honour incident to the possession of the manor of Scrivelsby, was referred to the House of Lords. Evidence was heard before the Committee of Privileges in support of the allegations of this petition; but doubts having arisen with respect to the grounds of the claim, certain Lords' Committees were appointed, on the 3d of July 1815, to search the Journals of the House, the rolls of Parliament, and other records and 'documents, for all matters touching the dignity of a Peer of the realm, which may appear to the Committee to be mate• rial for the information of the House on claims of such dignity; and to report the same to the House. The same Lords' Committees, we believe, have been reappointed in every succeeding Session of Parliament, and have continued their investigations ever since. In June 1816, they printed a short Report, stating the nature and object of the inquiries in which they were engaged: And in May 1820 they made a second Report, infinitely more voluminous than the first, containing the results of an elaborate inquiry into the constitution of the supreme legislature of England, from the Conquest to the present time. On this Report we intend to offer a few remarks. We trust no apology is necessary for commenting on a work, which, though printed for the use of the House of Lords, has not yet been published. On examining the Report, we think VOL. XXXV. No. 69. A |