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guftus, King of France; their duty was to watch round the King's tent, and arreft traitors and other offenders: their num ber at present is reftricted to eight.

The yeomen of the guard were raised by Henry VII. in 14853 they confifted of 50 men, of the beft quality under gentry, well made, and fix feet high; their duty was to attend the King and his fucceffors for ever. Their numbers have varied in almoft every fucceeding reign: at prefent they confift of a Captain, Lieutenant, Enfign, four Exons, a clerk of the cheque, two meffengers, and an hundred yeomen.

These are the different fpecies of troops, of which the Britifla armies have at different times been formed; except the royal regiment of artillery, and corps of engineers.

Mr. Grofe proceeds now to the ftaff officers of our armies; i. e. officers whofe duty is not confined to any fingle company, but lies equally with the whole corps, battalion, or regiment. The firft is the High Conftable, who was the fupreme commander of the army next the King: his authority, in fome cafes, feemed to clash with that of royalty; it was confequently deemed too great to be entrufted to a subject, and was therefore laid afide by Henry VIII. fince which time it has only been occafionally granted to be exercifed at a coronation, or fome other great public folemnity.

The Marefchal, or Marshal, was the officer next in command to the conftable. This office, like that of the Conftable, is as old as the Conqueft. At prefent, it is a civil and not a military office, the duties of which are fomewhat fingular: the Author has tranfcribed from original papers the most remarkable parts of the Marshal's duty; fome of which, efpecially thofe regulations that were made when the office was first granted to the Norfolk family, ftrongly mark the barbarous manners of the time.

Next in order to the Marshal, was the Mafter of the Ordnance, an office which is no older than the first year of Richard II. yet is of vaft importance. The hiftorian gives the general outJine of the duties and privileges of the ancient Masters of the Ordnance, and concludes his article on this great office, with a lift of the Mafters General of the Ordnance, from its firft inftitution to the year 1780, referving the modern regulations reIpecting it until he treats of artillery.

The ancient officers next defcribed are the Sergeant Major, the High Harbinger, the Provoft Marshal, &c. &c.

It appears uncertain when our armies were first divided into regiments, or rather, at what time that term was firft introduced; the fame difficulty occurs with refpect to Colonel. Our hiftorian places the introduction of Colonels about the reign of Henry VIII. After defcribing the duties of this office, he pro

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ceeds to thofe of the Lieutenant Colonel, Sergeant Major, Cap tain, Lieutenant, Enfign, Sergeant, Corporal, or, as our Author more properly writes it, Caporal, Lancefpeffata or Lance-Corporal, and Private, Drum Major, Drums and Fifers. Thefe were the officers, commiffioned and non-commiffioned, till about the middle of the last century, when the Adjutant, or Aide Major, was added.

In a fimilar manner, the Author defcribes the officers of the cavalry, and then comes to the material article of Pay.

Ancient hiftorians have not handed down to us any regular lift of the pay of the different officers and foldiers of which our armies have at different times been compofed: Captain Grofe has therefore, with great labour, collected from old records and official accounts, the pay of the individuals of the army at different periods; and with thefe extracts of accounts, the first volume concludes:-the fecond will form another article.

[To be concluded in our next.]

ART. XI. Winter Evenings: or Lucubrations on Life and Letters. Izmo. 3 Vols. 9s. Boards. Dilly. 1788.

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T has long been a question with many, whether what is usually called a learned education, were really advantageous to, or deftructive of, that faculty which we denominate genius, and of which the poffeffor has fo much reafon to be proud. If, indeed, the ftudy of Greek and Latin authors can present us with no other character than the pedant defcribed by an eminent writer : "Juft broken loofe from his cell; puffed with pride; his head to full of words, that no room is left for ideas; his accomplishments fo highly prized by himself as to be intolerable to others; ignorant of the hiftory, and untouched with the interefts of his native country:" if, we say, the character here pourtrayed were the only one that the schools could furnish to us, it would, no doubt, be advifeable to burn our books, and leave the fashioning of the mind to nature;-fimple, unaffifted nature. But if, on the other hand, by a careful examination of the ancient writers, we add to our natural endowments; if the mind is fo far ftored with the riches of antiquity, as that we may be enabled to scatter them with a free but not too prodigal an hand; and if it be only in an erroneous judgment, and a perverted tafte, that we are to look for the affectation and pedantifm already noted, all is perfectly right.-The mines of Greece and Rome may affuredly be opened and worked with fuccefs.

We were led into the above reflection by a perusal of the work before us,-the writer of which appears to be a man of learning, but not a man of tafte. His readers, in general, will probably open the book, as we did, in expectation of finding, as

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the title-page announces, Lucubrations on Life and Letters,' but they will meet with fo many pages which are taken up with fubjects relative to fcholaftic difputation; fo many uninteresting effays on verbal criticism; so much concerning Prudentius, Apollinaris, Palengenius, Scævola, Samarthanus, &c. &c. that unless they be of a kindred spirit with the Author, they will be apt to throw afide the volumes (as the poet fays)" in mere defpair."

The unknown writer of this work, though evidently a man of learning and extenfive reading, appears fometimes in the light of a rigid and uncharitable fectary; and yet he rails at bigotry and fuperftition. The manner in which he speaks of the dignified clergy of the church of England is rude and illiberal. The following extract will fufficiently evince the truth of this affertion; though it may not be confidered as a happy specimen of that charity or brotherly love, that moderation and candour which are repeatedly and earnestly recommended to all men, in the course of these effays:

The dull, dry, torpid, languid, foporific ftyle displays itself in all its academical grace, in fermons at Westminster Abbey before the Houfes of Lords and Commons. Thefe are commonly printed, and few things ever came from the prefs more infipid; mere watergruel, or rather mere chips in porridge. You may read feveral of them, and not find the name of Jefus Chrift once inferted. The name of God is fparingly admitted. A paffage from scripture might fpoil a period, or give the difcourfe a vulgar air. No attempt to ftrike the imagination or move the paffions. The firft aim of the preacher feems to be to give no difguft to a faftidious audience; to go through the formality, with all the tranquillity of gentle dulnefs, neither ruffled himself, nor rudely daring to disturb his hearers. He is ufually before his Maker, in a temporal fenfe, on these occafions, and must therefore carry his difh very upright, and be upon his good behaviour, or he may hinder his preferment and retard his tranflation. A bold rebuke, a fpirited remonftrance against fashionable vice, against vain babbling, againft reviling each other in the fenate, might fix the preacher in his place for life, as the froft congeals the ftream. It is fafer to talk about good old King Charles, and King David, the Jews and the Samaritans, the Scribes and the Pharifees, the Greeks and the Romans. Dulnefs feems to be confidered as a conftituent part of dignity; and when a great man is defired to preach an occafional fermon, he affumes fomething of an owl-like heaviness of manner to preferve the appearance uniformly majestic. If his dif courfe is not underflood, fo much the better; it may then be fuppofed to contain any thing, and every thing; and as imagination exceeds reality, the preacher's fame is likely to gain by the artifice.' Again

True religion infpires a greatnefs of mind as diftant from abject meanness as from empty pride; but how cringing is the demeanour of the preferment-hunter, how fervile his converfation! He affents and diffents at the nod of his graceless patron. Many a footman is a man of spirit in comparison. And are such as these the fervants of REV. Oct. 1788. Jefus

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Jefus Chrift, commiffioned to rebuke vice boldly, and to teach others not to be conformed to the world? Themfelves the flaves of vanity and fashion looking upwards, not to heaven, but to preferment, and downwards with contempt on the inferior clergy, and all the poor? Are thefe the men that are to bear the crofs, and teach us to follow their example? They know this world well indeed, and love it heartily; and if you wish to play your cards well, either in the literal, or figurative fenfe of that phrafe, you cannot find better inftructors; but for religion, many a plowman is a faint in comparison. Divest them of their feather-topt wigs, their gowns and caflocks, and they are only qualified to make a figure at a watering-place, a dancing and card affembly, or in Exchange Alley.

Nothing feems to fatisfy their rapacity. From vicarages and rectories, they rife in their afpirations to prebends, canonries, archdeaconries, deanries, bishoprics, and archbishoprics, and thence to heaven as late as may be; fuch is the edification after which they pant, like as the hart panteth for the water brooks; as to preaching the Gofpel to the poor, vifiting the fick, cloathing the naked, feeding the hungry, they have neither time nor inclination for fuch mean employment. Think ye that they entered the church to ferve others? They have no fuch enthufiaftic ideas. Themfelves only they wish to ferve, and in this world are contented to fix their refidence, provided they can but lodge them felves in a palace. Did they ever rebuke the vice of their patron, either in the pulpit or in converfation? Have thefe men, who think them felves entitled to the very first places of ecclefiaftical dignity, devoted their youth to ftudy, and their manhood to ufeful labours in their facred profeffion? Have they been indefatigable preachers, or irrefragable controverfialifts? By no means. They have ftudied the graces, and the arts of pleafing, and the Letters of Lord Chesterfield have been unto them as a Gofpel. Contrary to the fcriptural precept, they have men's perfons in admiration because of advantage. They have been neither men of learning themfelves, nor inclined to encourage it in others. When they have been at laft elevated to the wifhed-for pinnacle, they have ftill feemed to look down with contempt on the poor and the miferable, for whofe fake Chrift was born and died. To form connections with titled perfonages, or men in power, is their firft labour and their laft.'

After many other uncandid and ungentlemanlike reflections, the effay is concluded in the following words:

I beg leave to add, that there are no perfonal allufions in this chapter. Nor let any one accufe me of cenforioufnefs and illiberal reflection on a profeflion which I ought to honour.'

True, Sir, it is no doubt a profeffion which we all ought to honour. But thus to bedawb, and then endeavour to cleanse by fuch apologies, reminds us of a fcavenger in the ftreet, who, after befpattering a lady from his mud-cart, fet about rubbing her down with his apron, which was entirely plaftered by the commodity he dealt in. But let us turn to another page:

Death, judgment, heaven and hell, convey ideas infufferably unpleasant to refined and elegant people who loll on the cushions of

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á chapel gallery, or fit at their eafe by the fire. A polite preacher, who fhould frequently talk of torments, and a fire of brimftone, with peculiar earnestnefs, would be in danger of not letting his pews, and might, in a fhort time, be under the diftreffing dilemma of Shutting up shop, or of preaching the Gofpel to the poor. The Devil is under peculiar obligations to the polite preacher, for all mention of him is precluded, at leaft by name; much more thofe bold and rude invectives against him, which the old divines, who were not men-pleafers, poured out like a torrent, careless of offending either him or his adherents.'

He who laments that the denunciations formerly vociferated by fome flaming minifters of the church of England are no longer to be heard from our pulpits, and who acknowleges the excellency of moral rectitude but in proportion to our zealouf nefs and religious faith,-would do well to attend to the fellowing argument of Rouffeau; an argument which, when thoroughly comprehended, might go far toward freeing him from that intolerant and perfecuting fpirit which, though it cannot here, as in Popifh countries, exert its influence to the perfonal injury of any one, is yet continually talking of fire and brimftone, and hurling forth its anathemas against the WICKEDthat is, against fuch perfons as may happen to differ in opinion from the infpired preacher; who, if you will believe himself, is in poffeffion of the keys of heaven, and of hell too. But let us ftate the reasoning of the Helvetian philofopher :

"Quand un homme ne peut croire ce qu'il trouve abfurde, ce n'eft pas Je faute, c'eft celle de fa raifon; et comment concevrai-je que Dieu le puniffe de ne s'être pas fait un entendement contraire a celui qu'il a reçu de lui? Si un Docteur venoit m'ordonner de la part de Dieu de croire que la partie eft plus grande que le tout, que pourois-je penser en moi-même fi non que cet homme vient m'ordonner d'être fou? Sans doute l'orthodoxe, qui ne voit nulle abfurdité dans les mifleres, eft obligé de les croire; mais je foutiens que fi l'écriture elle-même nous donnoit de Dieu quelque idée indigne de lui, il faudroit la rejetter en cela, comme vous rejettez en geometrie les demonftrations qui menoit à des conclufions abfurdes, &c."—Let us now return to the Effays.

Our Author, who dogmatizes in almoft every page, thus expreffes himself, when speaking of the principles of modern philofophers:

The pride of human reafon is no where more vifible than in the writings of thofe who affume the name of philofophers, and men of a liberal way of thinking. They claim the right and the ability of deciding on every fubject which can fall under the human cognizance. They judge with dogmatifm; they pronounce with authority. Religion is their favourite topic; and in the exercise of their difputatious talents they fit in judgment on their Maker and his ordinances. They fee, indeed, that Chriftianity is addreffed to fomething very different from the reafoning faculty; but they acknow ledge no criterion of truth but reafon, and think at the fame time, that none poffefs it in a state of fo much perfection as themselves.

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