The Sun.
London, England, 1826-11-03 00:00:00

FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 3, 18:21i.

This Day was published, in one volume, post Bvo. price 9s. 6i.
THE YOUNG RIFLEMAN'S COMRADE ;
a Narrative of his Military Adventures, Imprisonment,
and Shipwreck. Edited by the celebrated Goethe.
Also, in post Fivo. price 9s. 6d.
A Second Edition of the ADVENTURES of a YOUNG RI-
FLEMAN. By Himself.
Printed for Henry Colhurn, 8, New Burlington-street, (re-
moved from Condnit-street.)

This Day was published, in three volumes, post Bvo. priceSls. 6d.
THE TOR HILL. By the Author of " Brain-
' bletye House."
" Oh ! what was love made for, if 'tis not the same,
Thro' joy and thro' torments, thro' glory and sbanw
I know not, I ask tot, if guilt's in that heart ;
I but know that I love thee, whatever thou ni t !
THOMAS MOOSE.
Printed for Henry Colburn, 8, New Burlington-street, (re-
moved from Conduit-street.)

DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO HIS MAJESTY.
In a few Days, will be published, in two volumes, Svo. with a
.fine Portrait, engraved by Turner, from a Pictut•e by Sir Thos.
Lawrence. Price 28s.
MEMOIRS of the LIFE of Mrs. SIDDONS.
• By JAMES BOADEN, Esq.
Interipersed with Anecdotes of Authors and Actors, and in-
tended as a Companion to the Author's Life of her Brother,' Mr.
Kemble.

Printed for Henry Colburn, 8, New Burlington-street, (re..
moved from Conduit-street.)

This day was published, in two vols. Bvo, with a fine portrait,
price 28s.
RECOLLECTIONS of the LIFE of JOHN
O'KEEFFE, (the celebrated Comic Dramatist), written by
himself; and 'comprising numerous very curious and original An-
ecdotes of distinguished persons in England and Ireland, front the
year 1755 to the present time.
Printed for Henry Colburn, 8, New Burlington-street, (re-
moved from Conduit-street.)

FUROPEAN LIFE INSURANCE and AN-
NUTTY OPFICE, 10, Chatham-place, Blackfriars,
London.—This Company is formed on principles combining,
every degree of security with advantages superior to any pre-
viously offered to the Public. It consists of a number of Pro-
prietors, who are required to assure on their own lives or on
those of approved nominees, sums proportionate to their respec.
tive shares, on every transfer 'of which a new insurance is re-
quired to be effected.., This system, by the perpetual renovation
of policies, secures the stability and growing prosperity of the
Company, and is productive of great benefit to the assured, who
participate in the profits arising from this regulation, without,be-
ing responsible for the engagements of the Company, which ire
secured by a large subscribed capital.
In the year 1819, when the European Company was formed,
the Directors caused rates of insurance to be calculated from the
amalgamated life tables of all Europe, which produced results
lower than the rates of any Company then established, and which
will still be found lower than any of the tables of Companies more
recently formed, which admit the insured to a participation in the
profits : and this difference is so considerable as to be in the na-
ture of an annual bonus to the assured.

The affairs of the Company are managed by a Board of Twelve
Directors, which sit every 'Wednesday throughout the year, at
the Company's Office, No. /0, Chathain-place, Blackfriars.
. Prospectuses may be had at the Office, or of any of the Pro.
prietors.

THE COURT LEFT
ATTEMPTED TO BE REVIVED BY Mc "HUNT.

The Court-Leet, or view of frankpledge, which is a
court of record, is held once in the year, and not oftener,
within a particular hundred, lordship, or manor, before
the steward of the leet, being the King's court, granted
by charter to the lords of those hundreds or manors.
Its original intent was to view the frankpledges, that is
the freemen within the liberty, who, (we may remem-
ber), according to the institution of the great Alfred,
were all mutually pledges fox the good behaviour of,
each other. Besules this, the preservation of the
peace, and the chastisement of divers minute offences
against the public good, are the objects both of the
court-leet and the sheriff's-tourn,
which have exactly
the same jurisdiction, one being a larger species of
the other, extending over more territory, but not over
more causes. All freeholders within the precinct are
obliged to attend them, and all persons connnorent
therein ; which commorency consists in usually lying
there, a regulation which owes it original to the laws
of King Canute. But persons under twelve mid
above sixty years old, peers, clergymen, women, and
the King's tenants in ancient demesne, are excused
from attendance there ; all others being bound to ap-
pear upon the jury, if required, and make their due
presentments. It was also anciently the custom to
summon all the King's subjects, as they respectively
grew to years of discretion and strength, to come to
the court-leet, and there take the oath of allegiance to
the King. The other general business of the leet
and tourn, was to present by jury all crimes whatso-
ever that happened within their jurisdiction ; and not
only to present, but also to punish, all trivial misde-
meanors, as all trivial debts were recoverable in the court-
baron and county-court ; justice in these minuter mat-
ters of both kinds being brought home to the doors of
every man by our ancient constitution. The objects of
their jurisdiction are therefore unavoidably very numer-
ous, being such, as in some degree, either less or more,
affect the public weal, or good governance of the district
in which they arise ; from common nuisances, and other
material offences against the King's peace and public
trade, down to eaves dropping, waif's, and irregularities
in public commons. But both the tourn and the leet
have been for a long, time in a declining way, a cir-
cumstance owing, in part, to the discharge granted by
the Statute of Marlbridge, 52 Henry 111. c. 10, to all
prelates, peers, and clergymen, from their attendance
upon these courts, which- ocausioned,them to grow into
disrepute ; and hence iris, that their business bath for
the most part gradually devolved upon the Quarter
Seissions, which it is particularly directed to do in
some cases by Statute, 1 Edw. IV. e. 2.

'Such is the' description given in the Commentaries
of Mr. Justke Blackstone, of the jurisdiction of the
Sheriff's Tourn Leet, _or view, or. trankpledge. The
jurisdiction which Mr. Hunt, as Lord of the Maxtor
of Glastonbury, is now endeavouring to revive, is a
jurisdiction carved out of that of the Sheriff of the
county within which he exercises his powers, which
are, indeed, similar to those of the Sheriff in his tonna,
arid 'when they exist in a Lord of a Manor, the au-
thority of a Sheriff is so far superseded.
It is quite impossible, in the barrow limits, of a
newspaper, to go into all the minute duties of the
Court Leet, which were, indeed, as numerous as the
duties of our modern Justices of the Peace, and very
nearly similar to them in all respecti. It will be seen
by the perusal of the above extract, that police regula-
tions were the object of the inquiries of the Leet ; and
when we consider the constitution of the Court, and
the nature of the numberless
.petty offences re-
ferred to it, we must at once perceive how admirably
calculated it was to suppress these petty irregularities
and disorders, and how free it must have been from
bias ar undue influence, inasmuch as the residents
within the Leet were alternately the judges and the
judged. Whilst, however, passing this high eulogy
upon this Court, we must remember that some of the
chapters of the celebrated Magna Charts were spe-
cially directed against the tyrannies of this Court, so
impossible is it to guard human institutions, however
wise, from abuse or malversion. The inquiries of this
Court of Police originally extended to felonies ; but
many ancient statutes have indirectly deprived it of
this power, and left it only
authority in cases
of misdemeanours, in refwce, to persons of bad
fame, . breaches_ of the peace,
weights and measures,
the assize of bread and ale when :it existed, excessive
prices, or adulterated provisions, haunters of alehouses,
travellers by night, vagrants, barretors, persons receiv-
ing poor men into. their parishes, usurers, eaves-drop-
pers, and common scolds; and how the officers of the
legit performed their duties. For each of these offences,
in all their variety of shapes, the Court feet was em-
powered to inflict a fine, unlimited in amount then,
but now subject to sound discretion, the. Bill of Rights '
having expressly declared that excessive fines ought to
be taken, and the several sums of 21. for a contempt,
Si. for refusing to be constable, and 401. for refusing
to impannel a Jury, have been judicially declared not
to. be excessive. Besides this jurisdiction, which ex-
ists at Common law, several ancient statutes haVe spe-
cially •devolved upon the COurt Leet the task of see-
ing their provisions duly observed; as the statute ofl4
andls, H. VIII. e.lO, directed against persons tracing
hares in the snow ; the 241-1: VIII. c. 10, for the de-
struction of crows and rooki ; the 82 H. VIII, c. 13,
against commoners putting scabbed or infected animals
on the common ; the 33 11. VIII. c. 9. against gaming
in public-hOuses ; the 33 H. c. I'7. for steeping
flax in a common pond ; and several others for the repair
of highways ; conspiracies to raise the price ofproviinons, •
and very malty others up to the time of Elizabeth.,
While speaking of the jurisdiction of the Court Leet,
there is one point of law which it behoves Mi. Hunt,'
or his Steward, to baWare of, -viz. that no felony what-'
ever is now enquirable by the Lett ; and, moreover,'
whenever any new felony is created, express words are
necessary to.' found the authority, of the Leet to in-
quire into it. - The instruments of correction -are the
tumbrel,
we modern statute (56 Geo. 3, c.. 138) has.
pillory, stocks, cuck-stoles for the scolds, and
fine. A
should say, aliotisheo the pillory' in every
unwisely,
ease except for 'perjury, and established fine
and imprisonment instead. The, . officers of thii
Court arc iby no - means numerous, viz. the,
steward whom the Lord. is bnimd to provide,
and ought - to . preside hiMself; and *l-fa is ai

judge of record, a bailiff, a reeve, the ale conner,
constable, and petit constable. To these latter officers,
every persiin the lest, is eligible, except
Aldermen of. London, attartilde mid barristers, mem-
bers of Parliament and, their servants, tiffhthecaries
in London, and surgeons. How far the country has
been tetieflted by the institution of Justices of the
Peace to perform the &Ales Which, in ancient times,
were assigned to the Court Led may be a question ;
and not the lets so, that it has been found necessary
for the protection of justices, to infringe some of the
broadest and soundest principles of the common law,
and throw around them a shield, which effectually
preserves them from all responsibility in the exercise of
their offices, save in cases Of the clearest malice. That
something like respect is due to them far the gra-
tuitous fulfilment of the arduous duties of a justice of
the peace, is not to be denied ; we feel that in
these days the point has been stretched much beyond
its bearing, end the effect has been naturally enough
to create petty tyrants, and so to bring the whole body
into.great discredit. Whether Mr. 1-hunt Will succeed
in the attempt he is now making, is extremely ques-
tionable, because the time of men in the situation of
those from whom the lest juries will be taken, is far
too valuable and necessary to their very existence, to
allow of their being abstracted from their daily avoca-
tions, without the same being attended with great loss.
Mr. Hunt, in his anxiety to be useful, has betrayed a
certain degree of ignorance of the nature, constitu-
tion, and province of the court lest. He seems to
consider that, he has authority, in his character of
Lord of the Manor of Glastonbury, to determine
debts and controversies under the value of 40 shillings;
but that is a jurisdiction perfectly foreign from a
CouYt Leet, and over which it has no sort of controul.
It is by no means intended to aver that such a power
does not reside in the puissant person who claims it,
but only that the right to hold a Court Leet does not
necessarily include a right to decide in matters purely
civil, and he has as yet shown nothing which any way
supports the authority he claims to exercise in these
matters ; for trivial debts are recoverable 'in the Court
Baron and county court as trivial misdemeanors and the
like are cognizable in the Court Leet. We trust,
however, that whatever result may attend his attempt
to hold a Court Baron, he will still persist in the re-
vival of the Court Leet ; and we hope every success
may attend, his praiseworthy and laudable endeavours
on tine point ; for should he be successful we are not
without hopes that the Sheriff's town may be re-
vived in every colunty in England, and the same
matters again referred to this ancient and most excel-
lent Court, which, in the days Of our forefathers, were
decided and considered therein. We are quite con-
vinced that such revival would be for the benefit of
the community, and very greatly relieve the Quarter
Sessions and the Assizes, by disposing of some of
those cases' ofitiisdemeanour, and breaches of the
peace, which occupy at present so large a portion of
the time of these respective courts. Moreover, the
immediate application of the stocks, or the infliction
of a low fine, in trivial cases, would be attended
with far better consequences, both to the culprit and
the public, than immuring his person within the walls
of a prison, in conjunction with sonic of the vilest of
men, with all the chance of contamination in mind and
body. Justice is proportionably effectual as she is speedy;
for men are more ready to own the equity of a sentence
following quickly on the perpetration of the offence,
than if the same sentence were postponed ; for it then
reaches•them under mitigated feelings. It must, hew-
ever, be remarked, that the Court Leet is better calcu-
lated for countries *here life can be sustained at far
less cost than at present is the case in England; for, as
before observed, where a man's most strenuous exer-
tions are necessary to enable him to support himself
end family, he cannot give that time to fulfil political
duties, which he feels it is essential should be profit-
ably employed, in order to his existence. In fact,
such a court is a court of unbounded utility amongst a
community, almost every member of which, is an owner
of land to a greater or less extent ; but where that land
is vested in a few persons, and large farms are the
order of the day, it is obvious a great part of
the very foundation of the court is cut away,
and with it departs also a large portion of its
utility. We are far from holding the Spencean
system, but hide it as you may, it is beyond all con-
troversy true, that the subdivision of the land compos-
ing; a state amongst its members to the greatest pos-
sible extent, consistent with a certain limit, is the
soundest and best policy; a policy, indeed, not only
dictated by wisdom, but supported by Divine autho-
rity, and practised under divine injunction with the
Most beneficial results in the best and 'proudest &era of
the greatest nation this world ever saw—the Jews,
who, indeed, were then more than the sand of the sea,
or the stars of Heaven for, multitude. By the Jewish
law, all the land sold by one to another, returned every
seventh year to the original vender or his heir at law.

;I:1, 47.177. Ti,;,,,-,.;:,'. \
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-44:".'".y. ' 3:lt ';'l '''
QUARTERt.I%. '' t• th'' ' .'i inf.
4
,„„,,.„,.,..„.,,,.,,,,i.,
The appearance of thfii , - LpeDnilical rivals,
the Edinburgh and 4744 eVildius, never fails to
excite a stirring sensation in the political and literary
world. Both are the declared organs of a party, both
divide the suffrages of England, almost indeed of
Europe, and both are characterised by the intolerance
—in some respect the necessary consequence of sin-
cerity—with which they treat dissenters from their
opinions. The intolerance, however, of' the one is
contracted : of the other, enlarged in its nature ; one
is unconstitutional and liberal, the other ortho-
. dox, matter of ' fact, and aristocratic ; one levels, th e
other upholds institutions ; :one possesses the va-
cillating vivacity of the Frenchman, with all his
glittering but e'ekl hearted genius ; the other, the
staid dignity of the Englishman, his hatred of
' innovation, his uncomprismg integrity, his sincere but
prejudiced piety, and abort all his enthusiasm
Tor the fine oW established governnient of his
which it appeared ; times when a fearful revolutionary
efooru, natnr yd.
c 'errtrahi6nlEy dienas6ttirjinh tnisseermientuildwaesifinthpearttiviceaslleind
tempest was abroad s and the ark of lbs constitution,
tossed to and fro on the waters of anarchy, had scarcer
ly a hope lef of escaping ship-wreck. Tile minds of
men in those stirring days were turned to fent one
object---innovation ;. it was the one paramount idol
which they worshipped ; whether as evinced in liSe-
rature, morals, politics, or religion. No wonder then
that. a review taking up this juggling pass-word. as its
motto—and appealing to all the tumultuous passions
of the heart, its love of change, its instinctive thirst
for (what is so often falsely called) independent thinking,
shisuld obtain immediate notoriety ; more especially when
recom mantled by wit, infinite i in its extent and power
of application ) showy specious reasoning, abun-
dant learning ; all mixed up felicitotisly together,
while the Charms or style gave spirit and con-
sistency to the whole. But the times which called for
She ~ fever and the
such stimulants are now gone 1):7 ;
li
fret " of politics have subsided ; 4:ld
of the Whigs,
that once powerful and popular party,ttle remains
but a 'name, 4' stat magni noininis unti;:ra." With
the decay of Whiggism -bas decayed also tlu Rubliee-
tions founded on, and upheld by its principlsts, and
hence the Edinburgh Review, an oracle for nearly
twenty years, has since sunk into the twilight of its
reputation.
The. Quarterly, on the contrary, setting out with
a firm resolve to support all that was venerable and
excellent in theory or practice, has been annually increas-
ing in influence, and by supporting Toryism through-
out, has lived to witness the triumph of its principles
and the fulfilment of its sagacious predictions. Mr.
Giffoid, indeed (its late editor) bad all the requisites
for such a task. With but little Warmth of feeling, and
still less of that mercurial restlessness which loves
to speculate on the future, more according to its own
wishes and fancies, than agreeably to the dictates of
common sense ; he possesses an Acute cynical knows
ledge of human nature ; an extensive acquaintance
with ancient and modern, literature, and above all, an
experience, melancholy, indeed, . but valuable, with
authorship. He knew, besides, instinctively as it
were, what would best suit the town, and accordingly
his Quarterly Review, however at times unamishla
and inexcusable in its criticisms, was never once found
deficient in an information, suited to all rsrties and cons
veyed occasionally in so piquant, scurrilous a manner,
as to glut the most excited appetite. Even the bigotry
of its prejudices, when compared with those of its rival,
wore a character of sincerity and good-will; for what.-
ever the generality may think, there is no bigotry so into.
lerant as the bigotry of scepticism, whether in morals,
polities, or religion. From the period, however, of
Mr. Gifford's retirement, his Review had been
gradually declining, assisted materially in its retrograde
movements by the twaddle of Southey and the in-
sipidity of Coleridge jun., until the accession of Mr.
Lockhart as its Editor ; when, as if by magic, it put
forth all its pristine energy which, at every successive
publication, it has kept up with increased vigour. ' The
present number, in particular, deserves our warmest
commendation, whether we look to the variety of its
knowledge, or the skilfulness with which it is applied.
The opening paper on the Cathedral Antiquitieespros
fessing to be a review of Mr. Britton's useful treatise,
but being in reality an amusing biography—ror. sketch
of Salisbury and its Bishops ; sets out in • the lively
desultory mariner with which Sir W. Scott would treat
such a topic. The subject itself is dull—at least to
the generality who turn from antiquarianism as they
would from the tread-mill, with disgust ;—and no slight
skill therefore must have been used to render it
palatable. The biography of Mr. Britton perhaps
might have been spared; but in every other respect
the article is adroitly manufactured, especially in
its passing allusions to Bishop Jewell, a name
which though at present comparatively unknown, is
yet one of the brightest ornaments of our hierarchy.
Thess reviewis' sufficiently
t of‘SuWieeided intte
Scott's
ivelista tone; it argue "w hichfsol;
low
point with Sir W. as to the utility derived frOm pe-
rusing works of fiction, and though professing to deny
eth truth of the Baronet's statement, that novels are in-
jurious, seems only to beg the question, or at least
y its feeble support to leave the subject where it
found it, on debateeble ground. Now, on a point of
s(uocflheitmiopno,rrf ofce
itiot;thaingnalisoenT2thheen: le:diadirareig JournalreadeTs
ionfgEbuerotwpte: srihgldanudndwaroubntged:lyikehamveabfoonruieite,sd
coffin
bstertownegenophienaivoeni:
and instead
eartioif. leaivninegvetrhyeotsiulebrjercetspoesecitlltaities
article is good, and possesses one striking remark,
wr
convinces every one of its
readiness original,eadbiesswh which be admits it ; namely,, that Horace
though
tHy the
orace would have made an admirable familiar
novelist. In the analysis of
the subject of the Northern Discoveries,
detailed in
Voyages" the Reviewer '
already
has chosen a subject
worn out s all that can be known of consequence on
"Parry's and Weddell's
been abundantly has
,oy n!
agesree already
thecovroenrin'et
Captain Parry, and hence the publication on which the
present article is founded, as well as the article itself,
are superfluous. The review of " Philippe Auusle'"
an Epic Poem, by je.A, Pereira), is distinguished by
the caustic severity to wikb we have before alluded as
eminently characteristii of the Quarterly. How far
the eritiscim is j
d ust, we cannot pretend to say, having
i
never intending to read one line of
abomination , Anti from the times ofeed the noted Rolland,
down to the present (both inclusive), we question
ft has had Dramatists in abundance, but who is there
wriethetr FiatiCe has produced a dozen genuine poets.
that can lay claim to the wane inspiration as our
Burns 9r Byron. All imitative poetry is of necessity
contemptible ; and French Literature has ever been
trammelled by Aristotle and the Classics; Mr. Lock.
hart, therefore, has merely done it justice.
(To be continued.)

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