obscenity of ideas; and images of corrupt enjoyment may be seen through the veil of a writer's allusions. Religion, of whatever kind, or denomination, is invaded sometimes by insinuation, and sometimes by direct and open attack. The follower of Mohammed and the disciple of Christ seem to be alike objectionable to Mr. Browne; and he speaks of ' an infernal hatred which two divinely inspired religions could alone inspire. His style, comprehending under that term images and their signs, is open en to great reprehension. Of his words, some are newly coined, some affected, and some obsolete : he speaks of evils 'coetaneous with a state of society,' of * ' aculeate sarcasms,' of ' game being indigenous,' and of the progress of the wheels of a carriage being 'sufficiently vociferous.' The general character of the metaphors employed for the purpose of illustration, or ornament, is that they are too splendid and superb; the mind is too much swollen by the adventitious idea. The construction of several of the sentences is inverted: the pronouns are frequently omitted; and elegance is sacrificed, but not compensated, by the acquisition of force, Yet, after all abatements have been made from the praise of the author, much must remain to him. As a traveller, he appears to possess many excellent qualities; patience, courage, address, vigilance of observation, and acuteness of discernment. Estimating him as a writer, we have to wish that, to a mind fraught with knowlege, had been added a better judgment; and that he had formed his style on chaster models. If his language be sometimes nervous, it is seldom pure; when he attempts grandeur, he is only gorgeous; and he is concise and abrupt, without being impressive and energetic. In a word, had he been less desirous of swelling his volume, he might have made greater additions to the stock of knowlege; and, with a more moderate ambition of saying things splendidly and forcibly, he might have deserved the praise of having adorned and enforced the dictates of truth. * The word aculeate is used by Bacon in his 58th Essay, on anger; "Of extreme bitterness of words, especially if they be aculeatę and proper." ART. ART. II. A Proposal for restoring the Antient Constitution of the Mint, so far as relates to the Expence of Coinage. Together with the Outline of a Plan for the Improvement of the Money; and for increasing the Difficulty of Counterfeiting. By the Rev. Rogers Ruding, B. D. Vicar of Maldon in Surry. 8vo, s. 6d. Sewell, &c. 1799. THE author of this pamphlet complains that the coinage, which was formerly a source of revenue to the crown, has, for nearly a century and a half past, by the alteration of the antient constitution of the mint,' been managed in a manner detrimental to the public; and that, whilst other nations have derived considerable advantage from their mints, Great Britain has coined at a great and regular expence; and has given with ill-judged, though doubtless well-intended, policy, that profit to individuals, which might with more propriety have been applied to the public service.' • The late appointment of a Committee of the Privy Council to take into consideration the state of the coins, &c. with the act (38 Geo. III. cap. 59) that followed, suspending, for a time, the coinage of silver, afford well-grounded expectations that the present mode of coinage will be abolished, so far as may be without detriment to the public; and some other adopted, which, instead of being burthensome, may be profitable to the state. But whether by the re-imposition of a seignorage, diminishing the weight of the pieces, or increasing the alloy, the public has not yet been informed.' The profits which, formerly, the revenue received from the mint, arose from a seignorage paid by those who brought bullion to be coined; and from a difference made between the Money Pound, or Pound Tower, and the Pound Troy; the officers of the mint receiving by one weight, and issuing their coin by the other. In the present state of Great Britain, when commerce flows through so many channels, and is so well understood, coin will not purchase more than its own intrinsic value in bullion; (silver in small quantities, for the convenience of change, excepted;) and probably, the difficulty of obtaining bullion on easier terms in the reign of Henry VIII. was the principal reason, which induced the king and council then to determine that the Pound Tower should give place to the Pound Troy in the coinage at the mint. In the reign of Charles II. the seignorage was abolished, and since then the expence of coinage has been borne by the public. Henry VIII. and Charles II. were both necessitous princes, and neither of them was of such a character as can excite the supposition that they would unnecessarily cessarily lessen their revenue, or be willing to relinquish any privilege which could be retained with advantage to themselves. Mr. R. thus estimates the loss to the state from the alterations in the constitution of the mint: From the25th of October 1760, to the 18th of March 1797, 57,274,6171. 4s. 6d. in gold, and 63,4191. 6s. 8d. in silver, have been delivered from the mint. Now the profit on the gold, according to the difference between the Pound Tower and the Pound Troy, would have been little short of three millions, or, according to the seignorage, above one million. To which, if the expence of coinage be added, (taking it at no more than 10,000l. per annum) amounting to 380,000l. it will be found, that by the coinage of gold alone, for 38 years (more correctly 364 years), this kingdom has sustained a loss of at least three millions and a quarter, at the highest computation; and at the lowest, nearly one million and an half: to which the loss by the silver coinage will make an addition of a few thousand pounds.' This loss is in fact no other than the relinquishment of a privilege which had ceased to be productive; and which, in its most productive state, could not have been of much importance, the quantity of money then coined being so inconsiderable. The positive loss to the revenue has been the expence of coinage. To enhance the nominal value, or to diminish the intrinsic value of the coins, would be remedying a small evil by the introduction of greater, and possibly at the expence of important advantages. Scarcely any one will believe that the creation of revenue, by the profits of coinage, ought at this time to be attempted; nor that it could be productive of advantage. The expence of coinage is so very small a proportion of the national expenditure, that it cannot be an object worth the hazard of any experiment, which might affect our commerce or our public credit. If the alteration from the antient constitution of the mint has conduced to the increase of circulation, or has added strength to the national credit, (and we fully believe that it has done both,) it may be regarded as speculation of liberal policy which has we well answered the a end proposed. A diminution of the intrinsic standard value of coin would produce at least a proportionate decrease in its ability. It would retain its identity only in name. This would immediately be felt in all our foreign concerns, and thence communicated, if the commercial shrewdness of our countrymen did not sooner point it out to them. It is not to be credited that the alteration of the name, by which any specific weight or value of specie is called, will alter its power, or its relative estimation with other commodities. In former times, alterations in the standard coin must have been attended with injury to many. There is, however, a consideration of very superior magnitude, peculiar to latter times, which strongly militates against alterations in the intrinsic value of the coin, viz. the National Debt. The value of the pound sterling, according to every sentiment of integrity and of public faith, should not be subject to variation. If the intrinsic value of the guinea were altered, we will suppose to nine-tenths of its present standard value, and that it still retained its representative value of one pound one shilling sterling, the ounce of gold now valued at about 31. 175. 100. would be valued at 41. 6s. 6d. of the new coinage. The public creditor, and indeed all other creditors who lent before the alteration, and who were not paid till afterward, would thus sustain a loss of 10 per cent. A less quantity of gold would be necessary to pay debts; and, by the alteration, debtors would be relieved unjustly at the expence of the creditors. The pound sterling, if altered once, may be altered a second time, or any indefinite number of times, till it is reduced to the level of a French assignat. Mr. R.'s specific proposal only extends to the silver coin, but his observations and arguments professedly go farther. The idea of a mode of coinage, profitable to the state, suggests something more than an alteration in the silver coinage. It might happen that the relative value of gold and silver should so vary as to render it inconvenient, perhaps impracticable, to preserve the gold and silver coin in the same proportion of weight and fineness to each other as at present :in which case, it would remain to be decided by which of the two the value of the pound sterling should be determined. The gold being the more precious metal seems the most proper for a standard: but one or the other coin should be immutable. With respect to a new silver coinage, Mr. R. proposes that the shillings shall be reduced to go grains, instead of 924. He argues that, as foreigners have without scruple received sixpences at little more than one-third, and shillings at about two-thirds of their proper standard weight, we may reasonably suppose that they will not conceive themselves grievously injured, when they receive for their commodities, money which wants not more than 5 per cent. of the present standard weight.' The author of Thoughts on a New Coinage of Silver*, * See Rev. vol. xxvii. N. S. p. 463. whom whom Mr. R. quotes, thinks otherwise; " because the real value (of the present worn silver coin) being so little, could never make them pass from hand to hand with reference to themselves, but they are taken in exchange for convenience and accommodation, and as the representatives of the better sort; lessen the weight of these, and then the shilling, new or worn,. will only pass as a sign for an inferior value, and could never command the same estimation as before, purchasing of course fewer commodities." This is better argued than expressed. That our present worn silver coin is received by foreigners can only be for the convenience of change, which extends not beyond the fractional parts of a pound; because light money is certainly not taken to be stored up. Had the standard silver coin been less in weight, the worn silver at present current would likewise have been lighter than it now is; for it is fair to conclude that, under the same circumstances, the same proportion would have been found to exist between the standard and the worn coin: or, if there were any difference, that it would be in favour of the larger coins. In the author's Outlines of a Plan for a New Coinage of Silver,' his observations on the form most convenient for protection from waste by friction in wearing, and on the means of rendering the counterfeiting of coin more difficult, appear to be the most deserving of consideration. ART. III. An Essay on Practical Musical Composition, according to the Nature of that Science, and the Principles of the greatest musical Authors. By Augustus Frederic Christopher Kollmann, Organist of his Majesty's German Chapel at St. James's. Folio. 11. Is. Printed for the Author, Friary, St. James's Palace; and sold at the Music-shops. 1799. W by the same author; E examined a work with a title similar to this in 1796*, to which the present seems designed as a sequel, or second volume, though not so called. We gave a very favourable opinion of the doctrines contained in that publication, and chiefly confined our remarks to verbal -criticism. As, however, the ingenious author is a foreigner, we should not be too severe on his language, or we might object to the title of the present work. Music is no otherwise entitled to rank among the sciences, than by its connection with mathematics. It is a science in Euclid's Section of the Canon, in Smith's Harmonics, and in the divisions of the scale by all the antient and modern theorists by ratios and surd quantities: * See our. New Series, vol. xxi. p. 27. but, |