the defendants from printing Milton's Paradise Lost, with Dr. Newton's Notes; although there was no doubt but that they were at liberty very material errors in the plaintiffs' map. That they were in many places defective in pointing out the latitude and longitude, which is extremely essential in navigating. That most of these, as well as errors in the soundings, were corrected by the defendant. Admiral Campbell observed, that there were only two kinds of charts; one called a plain chart, which was now very little used; the other, which is the best, called the Mercator, and which is very accurate in the degrees of latitude and longitude. That this distinction was very necessary in the higher latitudes, but in places near the Equator it made little or no difference. That the plaintiffs' maps were upon no principle recognized among seamen, and no rules of navigation could be applied to them; and they were therefore entirely useless. Lord Mansfield C. J. The rule of decision in this case is a matter of great consequence to the country. In deciding it we must take care to guard against two extremes equally prejudicial; the one, that men of ability, who have employed their time for the service of the community, may not be deprived of their just merits, and the reward of their ingenuity and labour; the other, that the world may not deprived of improvements, nor the progress of the arts be retarded. The act that secures copy-right to authors guards against the piracy of the words and sentiments; but it does not prohibit writing on the same subject. As in the case of histories and dictionaries: In the first, a man may give a relation of the same facts, and in the same order of time; in the latter an interpretation is given of the identical same words. In all these cases the question of fact to come before a jury is, Whether the alterations be colourable or not? there must be such a similitude as to make it probable and reasonable to suppose that one is a transcript of the other, and nothing more than a transcript. So in the case of prints, no doubt different men may take engravings from the same picture. The same principle holds with regard to charts; whoever has it in his intention to publish a chart may take advantage of all prior publications. There is not monopoly of the subject here, any more than in the other instances; but upon any question of this nature the jury will decide whether it be a servile imitation or not. If an erroneous chart be pade, God forbid it should not be corrected even in a small degree, if it thereby become more serviceable and useful for the purposes to which it is applied. But here you are told that there are various and very material alterations. This chart of the plaintiffs is upon a wrong prin ciple, inapplicable to navigation. The defendant therefore has been correcting errors, and not servilely copying. If you think so, you will find for the defendant; if you think it is a mere servile imitation, and pirated from the other, you will find for the plaintiffs. Verdict for defendant. "Dr. TRUSLER v. MURRAY, Sittings after Mich. 1789, cor. Lord Kenyon. This was an action for pirating a book of Chronology. It was proved by the plaintiff, that though some parts of the defendRT. JAN. 1892. E ant's liberty to have published the original book itself without tits • In Pedder v. M Master, 8 T. Rep. 609. the Court refused to dis charge a defendant out of custody who was arrested at the suit of a creditor resident here, on an allegation that the debt was contracted at Hamburgh, and that the defendant had become a bankrupt and ob. tained his certificate there, and that the plaintiff might have proved his debt under the commission: for the Court said that as the plaintiff was not resident in Hamburgh at the time of the bankruptcy, they would not decide the question in a summary way, but put the defendant to plead his bankruptcy and discharge. The defendant accordingly filed such a plea, which the Court held to be informally pleaded; and the matter never came on again." The latter part of the note, from the words for the Court said,' belongs not to the case of Pedder and M Master, as Mr. East intimates, but to a case in the Common Pleas, re ported by the name of Quin against Keefe in a H. Bl. 553. S.R. ART. XI. The Naval Guardian. By Charles Fletcher, M. D. Author of "A Maritime State considered as to the Health of Seamen," &c. 8vo. 2 Vols. F4s. Boards. Chapman. 1800. Too much cannot be done for the British Navy says this author as they guard us, it is but fair that we guard them.' He has therefore written a number of short essays, connected under the title of the Naval Guardian, the greater portion of which relate to topics that principally concern the British Navy: such as, advice to officers and seamen, as well with respect to their health as their conduct; naval anecdotes; ant's work were different, yet in general it was the same, and particularly from page 20 to 34 it was a literal copy. Lord Kenyon C. J. was of opinion, that if such were the fact the plaintiff must recover, though other parts of the work were original. He said Lord Bathurst had been of that opinion, and he thought rightly, with respect to the publication of some original poems by Mr. Mason, together with others which had been before published. And the like with respect to an Abridgment of Cook's Voyage round the World. The main question here was, Whether in substance the one work is a copy and imitation of the other; for undoubtedly in a chronological work the same facts must be related. The parties having received his lordship's opinion, it was agreed to refer the consideration of the two books to an arbitrator, who would have leisure to compare them.' remarks remarks on sea engagements, and on singular cases adjudged by Courts Martial, &c. Occasionally, also, the author has wandered into history, politics, poetry, and criticism. The Naval Guardian, he says, is calculated for the meridian of the quarter deck rather than that of the forecastle. As it lays claim to originality, and as it shall be studied throughout the whole, by one connected series of novel and interesting events, 'to unite as much as possible the utile dulci, conveyed too through the easy and, I trust, not inelegant style of literary correspondence; it may be hoped that the work will be read with satisfaction, not only by every description of officers in the sea service, but by the public at large,' &c.-The language, of this production, however, is sometimes marked by inaccuracy, and by a degree of obscurity and embarrassment; in part, we imagine, occasioned by haste in printing. Words of unintended import frequently occur, instead of such as are too obvious to have been missed on the slightest revisal. Ex gr. I would [should] deem my work incomplete, were I to omit every means for the improvement,' &c. I have too much veneration than to suppose.'- Such an hemorrhage ensued as gave [for left] but little hopes of life.' We meet with many similar instances. In the course of some observations on the Impress service, we find that Dr. F. believes pressing to be a necessary evil : but he recommends, in order to facilitate the manning of the navy, that encouragement should be offered for recruits, who have enlisted for the army, to enter into the Marine Corps; and also encouragement for marines to enter as seamen. From a plan of this nature, benefit might no doubt be derived, whenever men are more wanted for the navy than for the army. The author has introduced some specimens of his own poetry, and sketches of two dramatic compositions. As the latter are in a style at least uncommon, if not original, we shall present a few extracts from the Doctor's account of one of them: Seriously ruminating, casting about as you say, but not finding any thing answerable to my hopes of succeding in the abolition of pressing, I actually sat down and composed a play of five acts,proposing to myself, that whenever it should be brought forward, a part of the profits arising from the representation should be appropriated for the relief of domestic distresses occasioned by the hardship of pressing.-But patronage, that golden key to success, was wanting the managers are permitted to be the sole judges of the merit of dramatic composition: the result of which is, the present degeneracy of the stage, by introducing very rarely, but such matter as is a reflection on the public taste. A glare fallacious, thrown on E 2 fancy's 52 fancy's eye to bribe the judgement off; that once removed, the charm dissolves in air," into thin air," &c. proposes that To stem this torrent of stage degeneracy,' Dr. F. a society should be commissioned, with powers not only to investigate the political propriety, but dramatic merit, of all works intended for the stage: that upon having passed this ordeal, they should be sent to the theatres, with orders that they be got up, and with expedition proportioned to their merit.' The play, of which the ill success with the managers gave rise to the foregoing observations, is intitled The British Seaman. It would require too much room, were we to give an account of the plot; and we hope that the reader will be satisfied with a quotation or two, which will enable him to appreciate the author's talent for dramatic composition : Officer.-Saw you the Admiral, Sir, this way? -Invasion, ha! It rings a deadly peal in Fancy's ear; &c. Held me in convulse; how long, I cannot tell: Just to my wish, a boat now drifting in, Oh it was great!' &c. Dr. F. announces, in a note, that an essay upon genius and taste, principally applied to the present state of our theatres, will shortly make its appearance.' What will not our readers. expect from it, after having perused the preceding lines? These volumes are dedicated by permission to the Lords of the Admiralty, and it is but just to say that this favor was merited by the writer's zeal for the navy. They contain, indeed, a number of remarks and anecdotes, a perusal of which may be beneficial to the officer and to the service. The medical branch, it may be supposed, is not overlooked. Capt. B....y. ART. ART. XII. An Inquiry into the Knowlege of the Antient Hebrews, concerning a Future State. By Joseph Priestley, LL. D. &c. 8vo. 28. Johnson. 1801.. IT does not appear to us that this pamphlet manifests the usual acuteness of Dr. Priestley. On the contrary, all his arguments are founded on presumptions and supposed improbabilities. For example ; the Doctor says : ، that there is a state after death, and that it is more or less a state of retribution, ever has been and is now the belief of all the rest of mankind-can it be supposed then that the antient Hebrews were the only exception.' Again: since there is no evidence of a future state for man, any more than for other animals, from natural appearances, the doctrine of a future state must have come originally from revelation. But is it at all probable, that the nation, which has been most favoured with divine revelations, should be more ignorant of this most important of all truths than any other people?'-'To Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a doctrine known to the Egyptians, Hindoos, and Chinese, could not be unknown, or not accurately understood.' Again : The Hebrews had more just ideas of the moral attributes and moral government of God than any other people. They considered the Supreme Being not only as the maker but as the righteous go. vernor of the world; that being righteous himself, he was a lover and a rewarder of righteousness in his creatures; and yet they could not but see, yea they expressly acknowlege, that this his preference of the righteous was not always manifested in this life; and they represent the wicked not only as frequently living, but as dying in great prosperity, while the righteous suffered much affliction. They must necessarily therefore have believed, that there was a life of retribution after this, in which the ways of God would be justified, notwithstanding any present unpromising appearances. In these circumstances, their adherence to virtue must have been supported by their faith in a life to come.' Such is the author's mode of reasoning throughout the whole of the first section. In Section . Dr. P. collects what he calls allusions to a future judgment in the books of the Old Testament. These he finds in Ps. i. 5.-ix. 7.—l. 1. 4-lxvii. 3.—xcvi. 1 1.—xcviii. 9. Eccles. iii. 17. viii. 6.—xi. 5.—xii. 13. in none of which, we confess, can we see what the Doctor sees ;-nor indeed in any other passage quoted by him from books written before the Balylonish captivity. In Sect. IV. the author endeavours to shew that the antient Hebrews not only believed in a state of future rewards and punishments, but that they believed in a resurrection of the dead; for which purpose he produces Ps, vi. 5.-lxxxviii. 10.— E3 CXV, |