fpirit of this picture they contained, we ftated our belief * of what we now know to be the fact, that they were the genuine production of a lady, who had been fituated as they defcribe, and the refult of actual knowledge and obfervation. The prefent pamphlet comes undoubtedly from the pen of the fame lady, and may be confidered, in fome meafure, as a fupplement to thofe Letters. It relates the frightful and miferable confequences of the maximum, as they were actually experienced when that law was established in France. One or two fpecimens will effectually fhow the fpirit and force of this feasonable tract.

"The French farmers argued much in the fpirit of Shylock, whenever I converfed with them on the caufe of their confinement; they perfifted they had a right to fell their corn under the protection of the fame laws, which had encouraged them to fow and reap it; and that they would endure every hardship, rather than any advantage fhould be derived from the injuftice practifed upon them. They urged, moreover, that it was impoffible for them to fell their grain at an arbitrary valuation, while they were themfelves obliged to pay for their cattle, implements of hufbandry, clothes, and every article (not raised on theirown farms), according to the will of the proprietors.-But it was in vain they reafoned; the prejudice against them was univerfal.-I was one day giving a meffage at the prifon door, when I obferved a member of the Convention, who had just entered to take a furvey of his flock, talking to an old decent looking prifoner, with a petition in his hand, and apparently very ill, "Vat'en, Va t'en" (Get along, get along with you), faid the polite legiflator of the moft polifhed nation in the world; and then turning to me, Citoyenne, added he, “ that fellow is a farmer, and when I meet with a farmer, je le traite comme un chien, I treat him like a dog." "Citizen reprefentative," returned I, "I with the farmers may not repay this, by treating us worse than dogs;-for dogs are fed, and, I fear, if we go on this way, we fhall be ftarved.""Pooh, it would be as well for the country, if all the farmers in it were fent to peep out of the + national cafement."

"Not caring much to argue with one, who, if he had chofen it, might, by way of frolic, have ordered me on the fame errand, I was filent, though I now began to fufpect this notion of treating farmers like dogs, would end in no good; and many befides my felf, converted by want, were of the fame opinion.-At first, the gentry, the nerchants, the fhopkeeper, in fhort, thofe of no occupation and thote of all occupations, had joined in calling for meafures of feverity again't he farmers; one would have imagined, it was a crime to plough, low, and cultivate the earth; or that fome method had been discovered of producing corn without labour; and, I may venture to fay, this madness was the only inftance of unanimity between the government and the people. The refult proved, that even a whole nation, when acting

* See Brit. Crit. vol. ix, pp. 176, 274, 369.

Guillotine,"

under

under the influence of its neceffities, and paffions more than its reafon, may be wrong; and that the voice of the people is not always the voice of God, ner that of common fenfe.

"A few weeks fufficiently manifefted the efficacy of this noftrum, of which political quacks had fo much boafted; whatever is done by force, is done badly; and whatever wars with the interefts of a whole body of men, muft be liable to a thousand latent modes of counteraction, which no wifdom can forefee, nor defpotifm reach.

"While the military fcoured one diftrict, furreptitious bargains were made in another; and, as I have before obferved, those who could afford it, were eager, not only to purchafe at any rate, but willing alfo to pay the farmer for his rifk in evading the law. The peo; le who were precluded from this private commerce, and who perceived, that bread, as well as moft other articles, was becoming daily more unattainable, now fancied nothing would relieve them effectually, except a general Maxi...um-Thi. opened the eyes of those who had been fo zelous in promoting the perfecution of the farmers; but it was too late, the lower claffes had acquired a difaftrous taste for innovation; and, with, the fickle rettlefinefs of disease, which is ever flying to new remedies, they were earneft in demanding an extenfion of the Maximum. At the end of October 1793, then this memorable decree was promulgated-A decree, which France will long execrate, which coft her the lives of fo many of her most useful citizens, and which her manufactures have not yet recovered.-Being in prifon, I only know the immediate effect from the report of others; from not being able to procure neceffaries for money, from the adulteration of every article which was fufceptible of it, and from the number of poor fhop-keepers hourly brought in, under the charge of violating the new law." P. 11.

A few more lines of this fingular picture, will render a ftill fuller comment on the dangerous text of a maximum.

"We remained pretty much in this ftate, till the Spring of 1794All open trade and commerce, were at an end-Sometimes we eat, fometimes we fafted-One day no bread, another no meat, and every day rifking our lives, merely to chtain food to preferve them: indeed, our existence a good deal resembled that of a highwayman; we ran great hazards, got very feanty fupplies, and were conftantly in fear.--The government, which fo long ridiculed all religions, and had ftrictly prohibited the Ronan Catholics from practifing the forms of theirs, now publifhed a pompous harangue, to perfuade people to a patriotic fait during Lent, and to inform them, that nature herfelf feemed to indicate to man, that in this feafon of univerfal renovation, he ought to eat sparingly.

"I know not what effect this eloquence might have produced of itfelf; but the Maximum operated fo powerfully, that very few had the choice of difregarding it; even the moft anti-patriotic appetites were fometimes obliged to fubmit to thefe civic faftings.-Corn, however, being an article too bulky for general concealment, was ftill to be obtained, though precarioufly, and in fmall quantities; or, rather, the rich managed to purchafe all the beft, at an enormous price, clandef

tinely;

tinely; and the refufe, what had been damaged by being fecreted in damp places, and was not fit for ufe, was fold at the Maximum to the poor. In the meanwhile, famine feemed rapidly approaching; parks, gardens, every flip of ground was ordered to be planted with potatoes; valuable trees and fhrubs were torn up; and fuch was the madness, or apprehenfion of the moment, that it was propofed in the South of France to cut down the mulberry and olive trees, and cultivate nothing but corn and potatoes. Struck* (as the French emphatically expreffed it) by the Maximum, all the manufactures at Lyons, Sedan, Rouen, Amiens, Abbeville, &c. &c, were fhut up; and, of course, thoufands of industrious workmen were ftarving. It must be obferved alfo, that every fort of labour was neceffarily included in the maximum lawt; fo that various trades, which before were not fubject to any regulation, were now obliged to work at fixed prices; thus, the act was entirely to the difadvantage of the poor; for a merchant, or fhopkeeper, could make private bargains, but the artizan and labourer could not; especially as the total tagnation of commerce and trade had thrown fo many out of employ, that hands were as plenty as provifions were fcarce. In this refpect, the law might well be compared to a cobweb, which confines fmall flies, and lets great ones efcape. Almoft every fort of importation ceafed; no foreign merchant would fend goods to be fold at the Maximum, nor would any native venture to fpeculate, or risk his capital, under fuch circumftances. Yet, as there were foine articks, which could not be difpenfed with, government itself undertook to procure them, and, for more than a year, the whole commerce of France was carried on by its agents. Ten thousand of thefe were employed, fome at home, others abroad, and many of them who were entrusted with vaft fums of money, to purchase corn, difappeared, and left the republicans to provide for themselves. As the fummer of 1794 advanced, the public diftreffes augmented, infomuch that it was judged expedient to facrifice the fleet, in order to fave the grain in the tranfports, and we owe the opportunity furnished us, on the glorious first of June, to the Maximum--the French would not have hazarded an er gagement, but to avert a famine. Yet, notwithstanding the supply obtained at the expenfe of fo great a lofs of men and fhips, the fcarcity continued; and farmers, fhopkeepers, and manufacturers were imprifoned, guillotined, drowned, and fhot, without pity or remorley.' P. 20.

Frappé par le Maximum.

"There is every reafon to believe the French government did not at first intend to fix the Maximum for any article, except corn: but they foon found that, having once begun, it was impoffible to stop. The law filled two large octavo volumes, and is extremely curious.

66

This number has been stated officially.

"See "the Report on Robefpierre's Papers," Moniteurs-Hiftory of the French Revolution-Trial of Carrier, and many other publications. Carrier, who was member of the Convention, ufed to menace the people of Nantes, that he would play at bowls with their heads. Nantes is a large commercial place, and thirty thoufand of its inhabitants were deftroyed in the various ways above cited."

Into

Into a fhort Appendix, the author has judiciously thrown the opinions of the French themselves, after their proof of this dreadful experiment. One of the best expreffed of these we fhall cite.

Throughout the republic, the progreffive rife in the price of ne ceffaries created univerfal uneafinels, and a confequent anxiety to dif cover the fources of the evil. In this flate of things, a defcription of men, equally devoid of principle and of experience, ftruck with the effects, but without capacity to afcertain the caufes of what they faw, and mifled by a perfidious cabal intent on the ruin of our liberty, forcibly wrefted froin the National Convention that fatal decree which went to fix the price of neceffaries. This law, as foolish as it was wicked, and injurious alike to all without exception, rent asunder the bonds of fociety, deftroyed the main-fprings of agriculture, of commerce, induftry, and the arts; and, as had been too well foreseen, manufactures and works of all kinds confequently ran to decay. No efforts continued to be made to replace the daily confumption, and the merchant found himself ftraitened in the means of ufeful fpeculation, and every door fhut against him. The deficiency of reproduction, the constrained inactivity of commerce, the outrages to which farmers were every where expofed, the yoke of a law more properly murderous than penal-all tended to diminish and render precarious the pub. lic fupplies, &c. &c.-You doubtlefs will not hesitate to repeal the Maximum, a law on which fentence of condemnation has long been, paffed, in the opinion of thofe even to whom it was held out as a talifman to operate their complete profperity." P. 59.

Mrs. very candidly confeffes, that at firft fhe had participated in the common opinion, that a maximum would put an end to impofitions, and rejoiced accordingly at the establishment of the law. Bitter experience undeceived her, and the now publishes the refult of that experience for the benefit of her own country. Such a purpose fo executed, demanded of us a fpeedy and confpicuous notice, and we have therefore taken the earlift opportunity to infert this brief account. Some anecdotes, addreffed to the feelings, are alfo inferted, and well related in this pamphlet; in which the talents that gave intereft to the Refidence are ftill manifeft.

ART. XIV. The Law of Executors and Adminiftrators. By Samuel Taler, Efq. of Lincoln's-Inn, Barrister at Law. 8vo. 144 pp. 8s. Butterworth. 1800. 8s. PP.

THE title of this book feems rather exceptionable. When the fubje& matter of a treatife is reprefented by an abftract term, writers of authority have frequently prefixed the word Law, as part of the name of their work, to fignify that

it

it comprehends every thing which is to be found in our fyftem. of jurifprudence upon the fubject. Thus there is "The Law of Parliaments", "The Law of Evidence", "The Law of Executions", &c. but we recollect no inftance where it has been applicable as is done here; not to the legal doctrine itfelf, but to the perfons who are partly interefted to know what that doctrine is. We fay partly, becaufe, in ftrictness of fpeech, the law which is unfolded by Mr. Toler, is as much the law of those who make wills, or of thofe who derive title under them, as it is of the executor by whom the will is carried into effect. This mode of expreffion is therefore not lefs inaccurate than it is unufual. The title of the valuable work, written by Mr. Juftice Dodderidge, upon the fame fubject, namely, "The Office and Duty of Executors", is exempt from a fimilar imputation. But when we quarrel with the fign which this author has hung out before his work, it is principally because it holds forth but an adequate promife of the real inftruction and entertainment which the reader will receive, when he enters more deeply into it. Mr. Toler has treated this very important and extenfive branch of the law in a manner useful to the profeffion, and creditable to himself. "The Office and Duty of Executors", published under the name of Wentworth, but generally attributed to Judge Dodderidge, is one of the best treatifes that we have upon a law fubject. But as it was written at a period fo diftant as the time of James I.* a new work has become neceffary, tince, as Mr. T. obferves, that treatife is of neceffity defective in regard to later adjudications, which, efpecially in equity, are very numerous and important. As that work is looked up to, and quoted as authority, in our courts of juftice, we cannot help withing that not only its fubftance, but its text, had been preferved entire in the prefent publication. At the fame time, it is but justice to Mr. T. to observe, that, to obtain this advantage, he must have facrificed his prefent more methodical and perfpicuous arrangement. He has divided his fubject into three books. The first of thefe treats of the appointment of executors and adminiftrators; the fecond, of their rights and interefts in and over the effects of the deceafed; and the third,

* As it is our intereft to reprefs the itch of fcribbling in perfons unqualified to inftruct or amufe, felfishness almoft tempts us to keep back an anecdote which may tend to encourage it, by fhowing that fome good may unexpectedly fpring from fuch publications. This treatife, and perhaps the no lefs celebrated production of "The Touchstone of Common Affurances", are stated by the author, in his Preface, to have owed their origin to King James's Preface to his book agamft Tobacco.

of