Already were the mountain, and a revolutionary tribunal favourite toafts; and already were principles familiarly proclaimed, which in France, had been the precurfors of that tremendous and favage defpotifm, which in the name of the people, and by the inftrumentality of affiliated focieties, had fpread its terrific fway over that fine country, and had threatened to extirpate all that was wife and virtuous. That a great majority of thofe ftates. men who conducted the oppofition would deprecate fuch a refult, furnished no fecurity against it. When the phyfical force of a nation ufurps the place of its wifdom, thofe who have produced fuch a ftate of things, do not always retain the power of controuling it."

In all these proceedings, the Prefident is difcerned only in the acts of government; his peculiar fentiments and per. fonal influence are little obferve; a circumflance favourable to his character, but difadvantageous to the biographer. But where the feparate or perfonal acts of Washington are confpicuous, they are always honourable to him, a ftrong inftance of which is afforded in his anxious interference in behalf of La Fayette, a perfon to whom, whatever opinions may be entertained of him in Europe, America certainly owed the higheft obligations. The appeal of Washington in his behalf was far more natural and justifiable than that which fome members of parliament wifhed the British government to make.

As Washington never appears to have defired power, but for the public good, he enjoyed the great advantage of placing his character in this refpect beyond the reach of difpute, by a voluntary refignation of his pretenfions to office, fome time before his death. In this voluntary retreat, it does not appear that he ever degraded his high character. He never looked back with regret to the dignities he had quitted, nor did he affume a ftately fullennefs, the counterfeit of philofophical elevation. He continued to advise those who took a fhare in public affairs, and his influence is ftated to have been beneficially employed, in the arrangement of the difputes which prevailed between America and France, at the period when the minifter of the executive die rectory infolently demanded a large fum of money as an indifpenfably preliminary to any negociation.

Washington's death was fudden. On Friday the 13th of December [1799], while attending to fome improvements upon his eftate; he was expofed to a light rain, by which his neck and hair became wet. Unapprehenfive of danger from this circumstance, he paffed the afternoon in his ufual manner; but in the night he was feized with an inflammatory

6

affection

affection of the windpipe. The disease increased with a vio lent ague, accompanied with fome pain in the upper and fore part of the throat; a fenfe of ftricture in the fame part, a cough, and a difficult, rather than a painful deglutition, which were foon fucceeded by a fever, and a quick and laborious refpiration. Believing blood-letting to be neceffary, he procured a bleeder, who took from his arm ten or twelve ounces of blood; but he would not permit a meffenger to be dispatched for his family phyfician until the appearance of day. About eleven in the morning, doctor Craik arrived, and perceiving the extreme danger of the cafe, requested that two confulting phyficians fhould be immediately fent for. The utmoft exertions of medical skill were applied in vain. The powers of life were manifeftly yielding to the force of the diforder: fpeaking, which was painful from the beginning, became almoft impracticable: refpiration became more and more contracted and imperfect, till half paft eleven on Saturday night, when retaining the full poffeffion of his intellect, he expired without a fruggle. So fhort was his illness, that, at the feat of govern ment, the intelligence of his death preceded that of his indifpofition. It was first communicated by a paffenger in the ftage to an acquaintance whom he met in the street, and the report quickly reached the Rreprefentatives, which was then in feflion. The utmoft difmay and affliction were difplayed for a few minutes; after which a member stated, in his place, the melancholy information which had been received. This information, he faid, was not certain, but there was too much reason to believe it true.

"After receiving intelligence," he added, "of a national calamity fo heavy and afflicting, the houfe of reprefentatives can be but ill fitted for bufinefs." He therefore moved an adjourn. ment. Both houfes adjourned till the next day.

The folemnity of the first impreffion produced many high encomiums from the members of the legiflature; a joint committee was appointed to confider on the molt fuitable manner of paying honour to the memory of the MAN, first in war, firft in peace, and firft in the hearts of his fellowcitizens; a general mourning was ordered; a fplendid funeral oration pronounced; and a marble monument was voted to perpetuate his memory. All this, enthufiafm and gratitude could effect, but here civy and jealoufy refumed their reign." A party exifted in America capable of teftifying joy at the retreat of Washington from office; the fame men have fuc

cected

ceeded in preventing the accomplishment of the purposed national act of celebration.

"The monument," Mr. Marshall fays, "has not been erected. That the great events of the political as well as military life of General Washington fhould be commemorated, could not be pleafing to those who had condemned, and who continued to condemn, the whole courfe of his adminiftration. This refolution, therefore, although it paffed unanimously, had many enemies. That party which had long conftituted the oppofition, and which, though the minority for the moment, nearly divided the houfe of reprefentatives, declared its preference for the equeftrian ftatue which had been voted by congrefs at the clofe of the war. The divifion between a ftatue and a monument was fo nearly equal, that the feffions paffed away without an appropriation for either. The publ feelings foon fubfided, and thofe who poffeffed the afcendancy over the public fentiment, employed their influence to draw odium on the men who favoured a monument; to reprefent that measure as a part of a general fyftem to waste the public money; and to imprefs the idea, that the only proper monument to the memory of a meritorious citizen, was that which the people would erect in their affections."

Mr. Marshall concludes with a character of Washington, drawn at great length, and in terms of warm, and generally of merited applause.

Confidering the fphere in which Washington acted, it may appear furprifing, that even he, the first character in his country, fhould be commemorated in five bulky volumes. Much of the matter certainly does not exclufively belong to the life of this general, but it feems to us to be not improperly connected with it. In writing the life of him whole efforts moft materially contributed to eftablifh the United States of America among independent nations, it was natural and not unneceffary, to give a review of the previous flate of the country. From the period when Washington appeared confpicuoufly on the fcene, his agency was fo important and commanding, that no fatisfactory narrative of his life could be made, without giving an ample view of all the public affairs with which he was connected. It may be faid that the fame reafons would apply to the lives of many other perfons who appeared in the American revolution, or were confpicuous in the country, before or fince that event. With equal force they could not be applied, and even if they could, it would be too much to fay that Mr. Marfhall muft omit matter neceffary to his fubject, because others may find it useful in treating on theirs. But, with every inclination to refrain from cenfure on this fcore,

we

we must confefs that the details in the first four volumes want intereft, in proportion as they want novelty. As the author had no exclufive ftores of information, he might, without injury to any one (his book feller not excepted), have compreffed his narration into a much smaller compafs. The fifth volume is the moft interefting, but even that might have been advantageously abridged.

In the writings of Americans we have often difcovered deviations from the purity of the English idiom, which we have been more difpofed to cenfure than to wonder at. The common fpeech of the United States has departed very confiderably from the ftandard adopted in England, and in this cafe, it is not to be expected that writers, however cautious, will maintain a frict purity. Mr. Marshall deviates occafionally, but not grofsly, and his compofition, on the whole, although not of a high clafs, is creditable to him as a scholar. A great and ftriking defect in the book, is the want ofdates, which frequently renders it neceflary to paufe, and fometimes even to refer to other authorities, before the narrative can be clearly understood.

ART. V. The Hiftory and Antiquities of the County of Leicester. By John Nichols, F.S. A. &c.

(Concluded from p. 141.)

S this volume is already become remarkably fcarce on account of the accident which we defcribed and lamented in a preceding number, we may well be excufed expatiating a little further upon its contents. Indeed thefe contents render it a matter of common juftice to do this, for perhaps there is not an example of any county hiftory which communicates fuch various and circumstantial defcriptions of perfons, places, and things. Perhaps there may be fome who may object to this minutenefs of detail; but fuch will not be found among thofe for whofe ufe and information the work has principally been compiled, namely, the inhabitants of Leicestershire, or thofe who have intereft, connection, or property in that county.

The firft parith which meets us after the general account of the contents, which we have before given, is Arnsby, where, among other matters of entertainment, the following whimfical anecdote is related.

"In this town is a congregation of Proteftant Diffenters, of the denomination of Old Particular Baptifts, under a peculiar endowment; which the following advertifement, dated Sept. 25, 1757, will explain:

This is to give notice, that there is now wanted at Arnsby, a Minister or Paftor for the fociety of people there, called The Old Particular Baptifts*. Any fingle perfon of a good reputation, and is found in the fundamental and effential parts of the Gospel, and falls in with and maintains the Articles, as the fame are fet forth by the Society, and ftand in the Church-book, as a rule for the Society in faith and practice; and were particularly handed and recommended by Mr. Benjamin Winckles, heretofore of Arnfby aforefaid, deceased, and is approved of by the trustees of the faid Benjamin Winckles, fhall have the rents, iffues, or profits, of the eftate left by the faid Benjamin Winckles, at Arnfby aforefaid, paid unto him, as the fame becomes due, by me, W. HACKET." P. 12.

In our progrefs we were very agreeably amufed and detained by the defcription of the parish of Claybrook, from which, as it is drawn up with a mafterly hand, and contains much curious animadverfion, we shall be juftified in giving a more copious extract.

"With regard to manners and cuftoms, and peculiarities of phrafeology, there are very few in this parish, excepting fuch as are applicable to a confiderable part of the county. I fhall now throw together the obfervations I have made on those heads.

"There is one circumftance which cannot escape the notice of the moft cafual obferver; and that is, the hofpitality and urbanity which prevail among the yeomanry in this neighbourhood. There

"The Baptifts are divided into the General, who are Arminians; and Particular, who are Calvinists. Some of both claffes allow mixed communicants; by which is understood, that those who have not been baptized by immerfion on the profeffion of their faith (but in their infancy which they themselves deem valid), may fit down at the Lord's table along with those who have been thus baptized." Evans's Sketch of the Denominations of the Chriftian World, p. 142.-By a pamphlet, intituled, "The Minutes of an Affociation of General Baptifts, held at Leicester the 26th and 27th days of April 1786," it appears that they had then only 31 places of worthip in this kingdom; that the total number of their members was 2357 (an increase of 57 in that year); and that five of their chapels was in this county; at Burton, 147 members; Donington, 74; Hinckley, 101; Kegworth, 109; and Loughborough 260. At Melbourn alfo, on the edge of this county, there were 245 members."'