other provifion as well; for when the price was fo much reduced as it was in the foregoing year, fuch quantities were then bought up and confumed, that the poor foon felt the dreadful effects of that very act which they fo ardently had wished fhould be made, and it was foon repealed, for ere a few months had paffed, there was no provifion of any fort to be got at any rate whatever. But in the eleventh year, owing to a plentiful feafon, wheat then fold for ten-pence a bushel, which before fetched ten fhillings; and a bushel of oats for eightpence, which the preceding year was worth eight fhillings. But foon after it began to grow dear again, and fo continued conftantly increafing, that (fays Caxton) forty years after the death of Edward the Second, a bufhel of wheat fold for ten fhillings, which in the former reign was worth no more than three-pence. But in the reign of Richard the Second, plenty began again to fhine upon them; for in the third year a bufhel of wheat fold for four-pence and fix-pence; a gallon of white wine for fix pence; and of red for four pence: and thus continued till the fourteenth year, when a bushel of wheat was worth thirteen-pence; and fuch plenty was again in the beginning of the 21st year of the fame king, that a quarter of barley fold for only one fhilling. But again we find the price of corn advancing from this time, for in the fecond year of Henry the Fourth, a quarter of wheat fold for fixteen fhillings; but a great plenty being brought from Normandy, the diftreffes of the people were much alleviated and in the 16th, 17th, and 18th years of Henry the Sixth, the wet and bad weather caufed fuch a fcarcity of corn, that wheat fold from half a crown to three fhillings and four-pence a bushel; fo that the poor people made them bread of fern and oats. In the 24th year of the fame prince, an act of parliament was paffed, permitting the farmer, when wheat fold for fix fhillings and eight-pence the quarter, and rye for four fhillings, and barley for three, to export it without any further licence, except it was to the king's enemy. In the fecond year of Henry the Seventh, wheat was fold for three fhillings the bufhel: but fo much reduced was the price in the 25th year of his reign, that a quarter of wheat was worth but forty fhillings. From this fhort and general account of the prices of wheat, we may fee the amazing fluctuation thereof. This will naturally lead us to confider the reafons, which in principal are thefe: Firft, the vaft parcels of land that in different parts of the kingdom lay ufelefs and untilled: and fecondly, whenever they had a plentiful harveft, fuch great quantities of corn were inftantly bought up at a low rate, and exported, that if a bad feafon enfued, the dreadful confequence was, that the nation was foon in a ftarving condition for the want of all forts of grain: and the only remedies attempted, were fuch as could not afford any further at best, than a temporal relief; as we have seen in the inftance of that affize, made for provifion, by Edward the Second. The Londoners alfo did what they could, by eftablishing a very good law, in the ninth year of Edward the Second; for at that time great quantities of wheat were made into malt, which they forbid for the future, in the precincts of the city, when wheat fhould be dear; and the king judging that the ftatute was worthy his obfervation, iffued forth his mandamus, prohibiting in all parts of the kingdom that they fhould make any malt of wheat from that time forward: but it fhould feem that this practice was aftewards used, as appears from an old receipt for the making of beer, taken from the ancient Chronicle of London. It runs thus, zellys of longyl beer; the of beer 36 galones. To hewe beer, 40 pounde weyght of hoppys,—to make 60 bas We could dwell with pleafure upon many paffages here extracted from ancient chronicles, which prove our ancestors to have been as wife, and as foolish, as their defcendants; but the variety with which we wish to decorate our monthly entertainment, will not permit us to crowd the table with one dish, though a favourite one. We will finifh our extracts with Mr. Strutt's farewell apology: Thus have I at laft, with great pains and diligence, brought this laborious work to an end, and submit it to the candour and lenity of the readers, hoping that the toilfome difficulty that must neceffarily attend fuch an extenfive work, may in fome measure excufe the errors and imperfections that may be found therein. And if the reader has but met with pleasure and fatisfaction enough to think his time has not been ill bestowed which he has spent in the perufal, I fhall be perfectly happy in my labours. My love for my national antiquities is greater than I can exprefs. I have with patience, nay with pleasure, turned over the many various volumes from whence the chief materials of this work are collected, and endeavoured faithfully to preferve thofe things which fome years hence might elfe be loft and buried in oblivion. It is the most natural love which every man either does or ought to bear to his country, and 'tis his duty to preferve its glory; for the pictures of our ancestors are fo truly noble, that we may with pleasure perufe the records, and look back upon the ancient times with fatisfaction, for it is not our leaft honour to be so nobly defcended. Thus have I chaulked out the path; perhaps hereafter, when I am laid in the filent grave, fome pen more able than my own may quite complete this my imperfect tracing.' * In this volume are many plates, copied, as in the former volume, from the illuminations prefixed to the feveral chronicles, &c. from which this work is compiled. We cannot difmifs Mr. Strutt without doing him the justice to fay that he has avoided, throughout his whole work, obtruding any thing in his own praife: to fay the truth, he had little occafion, as every candid Reader will take that task upon himfelf. n Don!" Not lefs than fixty, each on a quarto page; the whole ferving to illuftrate those paffages in the work which relate to ancient events, buildings, dreffes, &c. Ff 2 ART, ART IX. A Liturgy on the principles of the Chriftian Religion: with Services for Baptifm; the Lord's Supper; Vifitation of the Sick; Burial of the Dead; Prayers for a Family; and a Collection of Palms. 8vo. 2 s. Kearley. 1774. TH HE Author of this work feems to poffefs much of the zeal of a reformer. He complains of the degeneracy of the times; and laments, that a bigotted orthodoxy, and a profligate infidelity, are from different views firmly united in oppofing every improvement in our religious fyftem,' and that religion, which ought to be fomething more than a political inftrument, is now on an exal forting with the Excife, and all its bufinefs regarded and treated like the bufinefs of the Cuftomhoufe.' To give fome countenance and fupport to this dying caufe, he offers to the public a Liturgy, formed on the rational principles of the Chriftian Religion, and not defigned to ferve the intereft of any preacher or any party. He particularly places his Liturgy before his Readers, as an improvement upon one which was written fome years fince, for the use of a society of Proteftant Diffenters in Liverpool *. Concerning this Liturgy, which, he acknowledges, was introduced in the Spirit, and founded on the principles of chriftian and philofophical liberty, he remarks, that the fervices are too long, and that the prayers in general are in the explanatory ftyle of moral difcourfes, or perhaps are neither prayers nor differtations, but must have a new rank given them in compofition. After this cenfure of the ftyle and compofition of a work which is acknowledged to poffefs very confiderable merit—a cenfure which would perhaps be found upon examination to have little foundation-we expected to find that the Author had taken uncommon pains to render the composition of his prayers, pure, fimple, and liturgic. But, on a careful perufal, we are obliged to confefs, that we meet with many marks of haste and negligence, and many deviations from that fimplicity which ought to be the principal characteristic of this fpecies of writing. In the morning and evening fervices, we have particularly noticed, the following inaccuracies. Thou feeft our fecret fins [our fecret fins are] in the light of thy countenance. We acknowledge the righteousness of thy laws; they are [obedience to them is] our reasonable service.Grant [that] we may, &c.That it may please thee to bless the whole chriftian church; remove all corruption and error, and all kinds and degrees of uncharitableness; and may all who profefs it [what? uncharitableness? or the Christian church ?] * See Monthly Review, vol. xxx. p. 214. be enlightened by its doctrines, &c.- -Wherever the form of expreffion, "Good Lord deliver us," is introduced, a full ftop is put between this clause and that with which it is connected; thus, from revenge and all uncharitablenefs. Good Lord deliver us. In the Liturgy of the church of England, the phrase, "That it may pleafe thee," is always properly connected with the response from the people, "we beseech thee to hear us, good Lord," as making a part of the fame fentence. But in almost all the prayers of the evening fervice of this Liturgy, in which this form of expreffion is ufed, it is mistaken. for May it please thee," and the grammatical construction is left incomplete; as in the following inftance: That it may please thee to blefs the king's counsellors, the nobility, gentry, judges and magiftrates of the land: give them wisdom and integrity, and make them faithful guardians of thy bleffings unto thy people. We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.' The proper conftruction doubtlefs would have been; "That it may please thee to blefs the king's counfellors, &c. giving them wifdom and integrity, and making them faithful guardians of thy people; we beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.". following phrafes are fpecimens of the deficiency of this work, with respect to expreflion-" Glory, be to thee, O God, the fovereign judge of the earth, who wilt fuffer no man to be wronged in his matter.- -We thank thee for the light he has thrown on the laws of thy kingdom.Give refignation and peace to thole who are falling into the hands of death. The To give our Readers an idea of the mode of compofition which prevails in this Liturgy, where the prayers are not borrowed from others, we have felected from the evening fervice the following general thanksgiving: Almighty and everlasting God, whofe glorious name is exalted above all bleffing and praife, who flandeft not in need of any homage that men or angels can pay unto thee: mercifully regard the humble praifes we now offer; though we cannot find out the Almighty unto perfection, or show forth all thy glory. And grant, that hereby we may be better difpofed to conform ourselves to thy likeness in all the moral excellencies of thy nature, and yield a cheerful reverence and fubmiffion to thy fovereign will in all things. Preferve on our minds a conftant fenfe of thy perfections, of thy dominion over, and grace unto us; that we may be engaged to forfake, with humble penitence, all our paft fins, and to live in the unwearied practice of univerfal goodness; that we may glorify thee in the best manner we are capable of in this world; and be fitted for, and in the end, be admitted into a more perfect life of duty and happiness with thee in heaven, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen. The Ff3 The fervices for the Lord's Supper, Baptifm, &c. may be of fome use to those who do not perform thefe offices according to the established ritual. The collection of Pfalms is almost entirely copied from that which is annexed to the Liverpool liturgy. Perhaps, after all the attempts which have been made in this way, a liturgy formed on truly liberal principles, and executed in the style and manner moft proper for public acts of devotion, is ftill to be reckoned among the defiderata in religion. There. is fo much difficulty in this fpecies of compofition, that it requires no common fhare of ability and taste to execute it with fuccefs. The ideas ought to be philofophically just, yet not raifed above the eafy comprehenfion of the multitude, nor far removed from their ufual manner of thinking. The method fhould be clear and diftinét; and might, perhaps with advantage, be confiderably varied from that which is at present gene ally adopted. The language fhould be plain and fimple, that it may not become tiresome by repetition; free from all fcholaftic words and phrafes, that it may be eafily understood; and neither debafed by vulgarifms, nor decked out with antithefis and conceit: at the fame time, it fhould be raised above the familiar ftyle, by a certain difpofition of words and ftructure of periods, which fhall give harmony and dignity to the whole. Of this kind of writing, the liturgy of the Church of England is doubtlefs the best model. By a careful imitation of this model, with the aid of juft principles, and a correct taste, it would perhaps be poffible to frame a liturgy much more worthy of the public notice, than any which has hitherto appeared. ART. X. The Correftondents; an original Novel: In a Series of Letters. 12mo. 3 s. bound. Becket. 1775. A a from catchpenny frauds of Grubftieet, feems attempted in this publication. The title, as well as fome other parts of this little work, appear calculated to mislead the Reader, unlefs by "an original novel" is implied, by a kind of contradiction in terms, that the perfonages are not only real, but also that the epiftles here exhibited are their original letters. They bear indeed, notwithftanding a fimilarity of ftyle that runs through the whole feries, many marks of originality, feveral touches relative to time, place, and circumftance, not likely to be founded on fiction. The Correfpondents appear to be a NOBLE Poet and Hiftorian lately deceased, and an amiable female now dignified with his title, by having given her hand to the prefent owner of the fa |