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is justly controverted by T. F. p. 513, who considers the passage as referring to a more awful event, still future. I perfectly agree with T. R. in the probability that the Revelation contains many internal marks, which, while the state of the Seven Churches was known, were clearly indicative of the time when the Book was written. One trait of this sort is obvious and decisive: the death of the "faithful martyr, Antipas," is mentioned (ii. 13.) as a recent event; and Hammond himself, though he contends for an early date and interpretation of the Apocalypse, says, Antipas suffered in the reign of Domitian; of course the book was not written before that reign.

The testimony of Irenæus, respecting the date of the Apocalypse, does not seem to have perfect justice done to it by your Correspondent. This illustrious champion of the second century often quotes the Apocalypse as the work of John, the beloved Disciple. He says, the number of the beast is found in all the pure and antient copies, and attested by those very persons, who "saw John face to face;" that the visions here recorded were not seen long ago, but almost in our age, at the end of the reign of Domitian." L. v. c. 30. A fact of such notoriety as it must have been, that the last surviver of the Apostles was banished by Domitian to Patmos (in which island, as he himself tells us, he saw and was commanded to write the visions of this book)-a fact of such notoriety should not hastily be called in question, when it is thus deliberately and historically recorded by a writer of unimpeached integrity and veracity, appealing also, as he does, to contemporaries of the Apostle, who, as it seems, were still living when he wrote. To this account Eusebius, that most laborious investigator of the antient monuments of the Church, accedes, in the beginning of the fourth century; and towards the close of that century, Sophronius expressly assigus the date of the Apocalypse to "the fourteenth year of Domitian," (A. D. 94.) which was the last year but one of the reign of that tyrant. It is a prudent maxim, ευ κειμενα μη κινειν, not to disturb what has once been well settled.

R. C.

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AM not learned in the history of

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Aldrich's Logic; but I doubt whether your Correspondent is correct in saying (p. 513. b.) that though "first printed in 1692," it was published till some sixteen years ago." I have a copy of it, " E Theatro Sheldoniano, A. D. 1771, impensis J. Fletcher, Bibliop;" and what a bookseller prints at his OWD expence is, generally at least, for public sale, not for private circulation. However, I am not certain that the impression of 1771 was not undertaken by the very respectable bookseller whose name is in the title-page, on the suggestion of an excellent tutor, then in Oxford, for the immediate use of his own pupils, and of a particular College, of which he was and is one of the brightest ornaments, rather than for public and indiscriminate sale.

The same Correspondent seems to mistake in attributing the Ars Cogitandi to Gassendi, on the authority of Aldrich. "The excellent Aldrich," as he is justly called, mentions and criticises the New Logic of Gassendi; but who was the author of the Ars Cogitandi, he either did not know, or forbore to mention: "Mittamus igitur hos duos (Lord Bacon and Descartes) quibus nulla nobiscum res est, quidque ipse præstiterit Gassendus in Nova sua Logica quæramus, quidque Autor ille Artis Cogitandi, cujus de opere tam muita, et tam præclara narrantur." He then speaks of Gassendi and his work for three pages and a half, introducing only by the way the short paragraph quoted by your Correspondent about the Author of the Art of Thinking: whom he then takes up in a distinct section, and censures him through the whole of it: "De Arte Cogitandi dicam primo ipse Author quid existimet," &c. And his strictures on this nameless Author are continued through the next section, the last in the book, which ends thus: "Erit fortasse aliquis qui mecum sentiat; quod cæteros quanto melius intellexeris, tanto pluris Aristotelem facies." The famous Immanuel Swedenborg shrewdly observes, that Aristotle himself is "inter sapientes," but many of his commentators are "inter fatuos;" and, had he never said any thing worse, his own works would not have been

dern practitioners have rendered it conformable to the fact, of distraining the jurors for default of attendance at the next return, unless the Justices shall first come.

These references to the most antient and high authorities are sufficient to shew how careful our progenitors were, to found a system of jurisprudence that embraces the liberty and rights of their dependants as well as of themselves; and they have left these records of their juridical wisdom as sacred deposits, upon the broad basis of which may be engrafted useful and beautiful columns, that shall support the polished entablature of British Justice, and hand it down without fear of dissolution to the latest posterity. These trials at Nisi Prius are always had in the County where the Venue is laid in the record, or where the act or crime is charged to have been committed; except in such cases as may afford a suspicion that an impartial trial cannot be had, in which cases the trial is held in the adjoining English County, and likewise where the cause originates in a County Palatine, wherein the Justices have no jurisdiction, be cause the King's Writ does not run therein. 12 Mod. 313; 1 T. Rep. 368; 2 Tidd. 734.

These Judges of Assize were instituted in imitation of the antient Justices in Eyre, who were appointed in 22 Hen. II. with a delegated and subordinate power from the courts of the great Aula Regia, and who made their Circuit once in seven years through all the Counties. The increase of population and of property rendered these Circuits too far distant from each other, and therefore gave place to the ✓ present practice of holding Assize twice a year, in the Summer vacation, and during the recess of Lent.

Respecting the latter it is to be remarked, that the union of the Ecclesiastical with the Civil Constitution is in this regulation apparent; for it appears by the Statute of 3 Edw. I. c. 51, A. D. 1275, that, at the King's request, the Bishops consented, on the ground that " it is charity to do right unto all men at all times, when need shall be," that the Assize should be taken in Advent, Septuagesima, and Lent. And the reason for the necessity of this Act was, that the Canon Law of Holy Church forbade, on pain

of excommunication, that from Septuagesima until eight days after Easter, and from the beginning of Advent until eight days after the Epiphany, or in the days of the four times, i. e. the Ember days appointed for public fasts, or in the days of the great Litanies, or in Rogation or Guage Days, or in the week of Pentecost, or in the time of harvest (arvi vestis), or of vintage, which continued from St. Margaret, 13 July, until 15 days after St. Michael, or in the solemn feasts of the Acts of Saints, -no man should be sworn upon the holy Evangelists, nor any secular plea be holden; but that all these times be given for prayer to God, and to appease debate, and to accord them that be at discord, and to gather the fruits of the earth whereof the people may live, which were works of piety and charity. See Britton, c. 53, who was then Bishop of Hereford; and Lord Coke says he was expert in the Common and Canon Law, and a Judge of the Realm also.

Before the Statute 32 Hen. VIII. Trinity Term extended into the time of harvest, and included the day of the Nativity of John the Baptist; it was therefore limited, so as to exclude that day. 2 Co. Lit. 264.

But, that I may not unsparingly pursue a thirst for antiquity too far, it may be proper, before I'advert to the more extensive concerns of modern times, to say, that it is here apparent that the great care which was originally taken to render justice in all parts of the Realm by the Country Assizes, requires at this æra a more extended provision; and as the subject is expected to occupy part of the attention of the Legislature during the present Session, it must be interesting to the publick to consider a few professional reasons for the extension of the Circuits to the Northern Counties during the Lent Assize.

At present it is the practice for the Judges to hold their Assize, in Durham, Northumberland, Newcastle, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, only in the summer recess; and it has been suggested that there is not space of time sufficient in Lent to extend them so far. First, as to the time, I do not recollect that more than six weeks were ever occupied in the whole journey of the Summer Assize; for the Commission must necessarily be

we trust will, sooner or later, view their own reflected better selves, and, with satisfaction, leave, if they cau, the delineating reflection,

"Tecum discedet, si tu discedere possis."

On the Extension of the Lent Assize to the Northern Counties of England. Mr. URBAN,

A

Feb. 12.

PROPOSITION having been suggested for Parliamentary attention, to relieve the Northern Counties from the inconveniences of their having only one Assize, by extending to them the Commissions in Lent; it may not be uninteresting to your Readers, to take a brief review of the origin of the Circuits of the Judges, and to place before them a few of the inconveniences incidental to the delay of one whole year before their local concerns can be brought into judicial notice before either a civil or criminal tribunal, superior, in order, to their customary quartersessions or inferior courts.

The history of the Court of Justices of Assize and Nisi Prius originates in the grand basis of English jurisprudence, Magna Charta; and the Writ of Assize is the title from which the Justices take their legal designation, established for the expedition of justice, and ousting of delays. Glan. 13, 32; Bract. 4, 164; Brit. 106, b. 112; Mirror, 2. s. 15; Co. Inst. 4, 158.

Previous to Magna Charta the Assizes at Common Law were not otherwise taken than in Bank, or before Justices in Eyre; and this was a great delay to the plaintiff, and a great molestation and vexation of the Recognitors of Assize; to remedy which evil, the sixth article declares, "Ut communia placita non sequantur curiam, &c. that Common Pleas shall not follow the King's Court, but shall be holden in some certain place; and that recognitions be taken in their proper Counties, and after this manner; viz. that the King shall send two Justices four times a year, who, together with four Knights of the same Shire, chosen by the Shire, shall take Assizes of novel disseisin, mort d'ancester, and darrien presentment; nor shall any be summoned hereunto but the jurors and the two parties."

But the Statute of Magna Charta, 9 Hen. III. c. 12, enacts, "Ut reGENT. MAG. February, 1818.

cognitiones de nova disseisina et de morte antecessoris non capiantur nisi in suis comitatibus et hoc modo, &c. that Assizes should not be taken but in the Shires, and after this manner: if we be out of this Realm, our Chief Justicers shall send our Justicers through every County once in the year, which, with the Knights of the Shires, shall take the said Assizes in those Counties."

This Statute was enforced and amended in the following Reign by 13 Edw. I. c. 30, which limited the Assizes to thrice in the year at the most -the first between the Quinzine of St. John Baptist and the Gule of August; and the second time between the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the Utas of St. Michael; and the third time between the feast of the Epiphany and the Purification. The subsequent Statute of 6 Ric. I. st. 1, c. 5. ordained, that these Justices should hold their Sessions in principal towns; and 8 R. II. c. 2, enacted, that none should be Justice in his own County, which was construed to mean that in which he was born and inhabits; (but by a late Statute of 49 Geo. III. c. 91, a Judge is allowed to hold pleas in such County;) and 2 R. II. c. 11, delegated to the Chancellor and Justices. the power of appointing the places where Assizes shall be held.

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And by 18 Eliz. c. 12, Issues in the three Courts of Common Law at Westminster are directed to be tried at Nisi Prius for Middlesex, by the two Chief Justices or Chief Baron, or in their absences two other Justices or Barons of those Courts, within the Term, or four days afterwards; and a transcript of the Record is to be sent to them.

2. Edw. III. who held his Parliament at York, c. 16, and 4 Edw. III. c. 2, and 14 Edw. III. c. 16, enacted, that Nisi Prius may be taken in every plea, real and personal, before two, so that one be Justice of one of the Benches, or the Chief Baron, or Serjeant sworn, without any regard where the plea depended; and this is the practice at this day.

The writ by which the cause is carried down to trial is called Nisi Prius, but was originally Si Prius, if the Justices shall first come; but the modern

:

dern practitioners have rendered it conformable to the fact, of distraining the jurors for default of attendance at the next return, unless the Justices shall first come.

These references to the most antient and high authorities are sufficient to shew how careful our progenitors were, to found a system of jurisprudence that embraces the liberty and rights of their dependants as well as of themselves; and they have left these records of their juridical wisdom as sacred deposits, upon the broad basis of which may be engrafted useful and beautiful columns, that shall support the polished entablature of British Justice, and hand it down without fear of dissolution to the latest posterity. These trials at Nisi Prius are always had in the County where the Venue is laid in the record, or where the act or crime is charged to have been committed; except in such cases as may afford a sus picion that an impartial trial cannot be had, in which cases the trial is held in the adjoining English County, and likewise where the cause originates in a County Palatine, wherein the Justices have no jurisdiction, because the King's Writ does not run therein. 12 Mod. 313; 1 T. Rep. 368; 2 Tidd. 734.

These Judges of Assize were instituted in imitation of the antient Justices in Eyre, who were appointed in 22 Hen. II. with a delegated and subordinate power from the courts of the great Aula Regia, and who made their Circuit once in seven years through all the Counties. The increase of population and of property rendered these Circuits too far distant from each other, and therefore gave place to the - present practice of holding Assize twice a year, in the Summer vacation, and during the recess of Lent.

Respecting the latter it is to be remarked, that the union of the Ecclesiastical with the Civil Constitution

is in this regulation apparent; for it appears by the Statute of 3 Edw. I. c. 51, A. D. 1275, that, at the King's request, the Bishops consented, on the ground that " it is charity to do right unto all men at all times, when need shall be," that the Assize should be taken in Advent, Septuagesima, and Lent. And the reason for the neces sity of this Act was, that the Canon Law of Holy Church forbade, on pain

of excommunication, that from Septuagesima until eight days after Easter, and from the beginning of Advent until eight days after the Epiphany, or in the days of the four times, i. e. the Ember days appointed for public fasts, or in the days of the great Litanies, or in Rogation or Guage Days, or in the week of Pentecost, or in the time of harvest (arvi vestis), or of vintage, which continued from St. Margaret, 13 July, until 15 days after St. Michael, or in the solemn feasts of the Acts of Saints, -no man should be sworn upon the holy Evangelists, nor any secular plea be holden; but that all these times be given for prayer to God, and to appease debate, and to accord them that be at discord, and to gather the fruits of the earth whereof the people may live, which were works of piety and charity. See Britton, c. 53, who was then Bishop of Hereford; and Lord Coke says he was expert in the Common and Canon Law, and a Judge of the Realm also.

Before the Statute 32 Hen. VIII. Trinity Term extended into the time of harvest, and included the day of the Nativity of John the Baptist; it was therefore limited, so as to exclude that day. 2 Co. Lit. 264.

But, that I may not unsparingly pursue a thirst for antiquity too far, it may be proper, before I advert to the more extensive concerns of modern times, to say, that it is here apparent that the great care which was originally taken to render justice in all parts of the Realm by the Country Assizes, requires at this æra a more extended provision; and as the subject is expected to occupy part of the attention of the Legislature du ing the present Session, it must be interesting to the publick to consider a few professional reasons for the extension of the Circuits to the Northern Counties during the Lent Assize.

dur

At present it is the practice for the Judges to hold their Assize, in Durham, Northumberland, Newcastle, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, only in the summer recess; and it has been suggested that there is not space of time sufficient in Lent to extend them so far. First, as to the time, I do not recollect that more than six weeks were ever occupied in the whole journey of the Summer Assize; for the Commission must necessarily be previously published, in order that parties, witnesses, sheriffs, juries, &c. should have due notice; therefore, if the Assize in any town should present an extraordinary pressure of business, that Assize is adjourned until the next; but, to avoid any such delay, both Courts have sometimes sat at early and late hours. If then six weeks are for the most part sufficient to comprise their labours, we may turn to the present year as exemplary of as early an Easter as possible; and we find that from the 12th of February, the last day of Hilary Term, till the 8th of April, the first day of Easter Term, there are very nearly two months; a time equally sufficient for the proposed extension.

I shall therefore proceed to state some of the inconveniences which arise to the parties whose questions are at issue, or to some of the criminals who are committed for offences to be tried in the abovementioned Northern Counties, by reason of the Northern Circuit not reaching those parts in Lent.

In Cases of ejectment, where a disputed title to estates is in question, in actions of account, and in any other litigated subject of importance, where a trial has taken place in either of those Counties in the month of August, if the plaintiff is nonsuited; if either party apply within the first four days of the following Michaelmas Term in November for a new trial, the delay of a whole year must necessarily take place before the new trial can be had, and thence to the following Michaelmas Term before the final judgment can be entered, and the damages recovered; and the further odious delay by a Writ of Error may retard the execution of the judgment for three more terms, or nearly three quarters of another year. In cases which are or might be submitted to reference or arbitration, and where very long and complex accompts form the seed of contention, regard will always be had by the accounting party, in conceding terms to the delay, which the Law would allow him, if he preferred the regular course of Law.

During this delay, the estate in litigation loses its value, its cultivation, its needful repairs; its tenants do neither pay rent, nor lay it by; its timber probably spoils, its underwood and

the other produce of the perhaps deserted lands are not brought to market; and the ultimate costs swallow up great part of the object of recovery. In Mercantile Cases the delay ay is long enough to admit of bankruptcy, by the non-payment on one side, or by the non-receiving on the other. And in Cases where any act is depending upon the determination of the issue, as the sailing of a ship, continuing to work a colliery, &c. &c. it is scarcely possible to calculate the evils which ensue upon the delay of another year, to that which has al. ready been occupied in the legal process necessary to bring the cause to its first trial. All which mischiefs will be spared, in a great degree, by reducing the delay to at least one half of the time stated, by establishing a Lent Circuit in those Counties.

But the case is of yet more urgent necessity where parties are to be brought to trial for criminal offences; their situation is hard enough where there are two Assizes within the year, for then they may chance to lie nearly six months in prison before their prosecution can be heard. In the above Northern Counties this period of delay is doubled; and it is easy to recount the miseries of a prison, the loss of all means of re-establishment, perhaps the death of witnesses, the habits of prison idleness, the corrupt communication of more profligate associates, the distraction of anxious fear and doubt, and the total bereavement of all domestic comfort, and of all public confidence. Even an acquittal, after a year's imprisonment, must be accompanied with ruin, and perhaps famine; and the discharge of that man proves worse than his captivity.

It is one of the principles of the British Law, except at the times when the Habeas Corpus Act is suspended, that every man should be brought to trial as speedily as possible. The Legislature will, therefore, no doubt, on this principle visit the Northern Counties (now become populous as well by increasing commerce as by their local mines, by the shipping in their great rivers, and by some extensive manufactories,) with that consideration which shall place themselves and their concerns upon a footing equal to the other Counties of the Realm; and thus enable them to enjoy

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