the has taken against his friend and ally. Should, therefore, negociation prove ineffectual, his immediate object would doubtlefs be the invafion of Holftein; a meafure which muft not only wound Denmark in a principal part, but increase to the Czarina the sphere of her military attention, as it may be fuppofed fhe is bound, by treaty with Denmark, to reciprocal affistance. The King of Pruffia feems to be likewife ftrenuously employed in exerting all his influence for preventing the States of Poland from taking any part in the hoftile combination against the Ottoman power. Nothing can indicate greater weakness in the policy of that turbulent nation than fuch a defign. The jealousy both of Austria and Ruffia will always enfure her protection, were it neceflary, from any hoftile machinations of the Porte; but fhe might have learned, from fatal experience, that fhe cannot excite the other powers of Europe to undertake her defence against the all-grafping avidity of the courts of Vienna and Petersburg. IMPERIAL ALLIES. Choczim, after an obftinate defence, has at last furrendered, by an honourable capitulation, to the Imperial allies; and the fortress of Novi has been reduced to follow the example; but they come into their poffeffion accompanied with fuch difafters as muft greatly reprefs, if not preclude, every sentiment of felicitation and triumph. Some thousands of lives have been recently facrificed in thefe enterprises, and in their fruitless attempts on Oczakow. At Illova, in the Bannat, the Emperor's troops have fuftained a repulfe, marked with circumstances peculiarly fatal, as well as inglorious, and have fled with precipitation before the army of the victorious Vizier; while not only the capital, Temefwaer, is threatened with fubjection, but the whole territory, on both fides of the Danube, as far as Belgrade, is refigned to the power of the enemy. In the mean time, the Emperor affumes the appearance of a refolution, not yet extinguished by disappointment, misfortunes, or disgrace. He perfifts in drawing all the refources poffible from his Auftrian dominions. Of men they may yet afford him more thousands to perifh by fruitless affaults, unsuccessful encounters, and the peftilential diseases of the camp; but pecuniary fupplies can never be derived in great abundance from a people whofe chief fupport is the produce of agricultural industry. Their ability for contribution will be confiderably diminished by the lofs they have lately fuffered in their mines; and they cannot be much inclined to the the continuance of a war which expofes their country to the ravages of an exafperated enemy, without the knowledge of one reafonable motive, or any national advantage, that might justify the conduct of their fovereign. ERRAT A. Page 242, line 8, for part read port 243, 2 from the bottom, for primum read primam Ibid, 245, Ibid, Ibid, Ibid, 3, for Germanicæ read Germanice 8, for Allebrogici read Allobrogici 12, for quidam read quidem Ibid, for patrus read patres Ibid, line 15, for divem read divum Ibid, Ibid, Ibid, 26, for ruft read reft 30, for familios read familias Ibid, fur patricorum read patriciorum 246, line 2, for brevio read breviore 248, Ibid, Ibid, 249, 250, 12, for Hardini read Nardini 26, repeat this correction I from the bottom, for Hardini read Nardini 16 from the bottom, for past read part 15 from the bottom, read divert from the, &c. A few fmaller corrections In this article are fubmitted to the indulgence of the reader. The sheet, indeed, would have been reprinted had the day of publication permitted it. ERRATA in our REVIEW for SEPTEMBER. Page 196, line 12, for one thousand two hundred and thirty-fix ftatute Engli acres, read one acre 236 thousand parts of an acre: or 1.236 acre. Communications for THE ENGLISH REVIEW are requested to be fent to Mr. MURRAY, No. 32, Fleet-ftreet, London; where Subfcribers for this Monthly Performance are respectfully defired to givè in their Names THE ENGLISH REVIEW, For NOVEMBER 1788. ART. I. The Hiftory of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. By Edward Gibbon, Efq. Volumes IV, V, and VI. 4to. 31. 3s. boards. Cadell. London, 1788. IN us. [Continued from our last. ] N the general preface to these three volumes we meet with the following paffage, which claims a particular notice from • Were I ambitious of any other patron than the public,' fays Mr. Gibbon, I would infcribe this work to a statesman, who, in a long, a ftormy, and at length an unfortunate administration, had many political opponents, almoft without a perfonal enemy; who has retained, in his fall from power, many faithful and difinterested friends; and who, under the preffure of fevere infirmity, enjoys the lively vigour of his mind, and the felicity of his incomparable temper. LORD NORTH will permit me to exprefs the feelings of friendThip in the language of truth; but even truth and friendship should be filent, if he ftill dispensed the favours of the crown.' This is feemingly well faid. In appearance it does honour to Lord North, and does honour to Mr. Gibbon. And it strongly reminds us of that honeft burst of generofity in Mr. Pope, amidst all the cunning and meannefs of his artificial character; when, in 1721, he addressed the Earl of Oxford in the following lines: ENG. REV. VOL. XII. NOV. 1788. X In In vain to deferts thy retreat is made, The mufe attends thee to the filent fhade: Here we fee the poet and the hiftorian seemingly contending with each other, in delicacy of attention to their own honour, and in dignity of fentiment towards an ejected minifter. But Mr. Gibbon's apparent generofity of conduct lofes all its force with thofe, who know the original enmity of his spirit to Lord North, and the fudden converfion of that enmity into friendship. And we therefore lay the following anecdote before our readers, affuring them that we firmly believe it to be all true. In June 1781 Mr. Fox's library came to be fold. Amongst his other books, the first volume of Mr. Gibbon's history was brought to the hammer. In the blank leaf of this was a note, in the hand-writing of Mr. Fox, ftating a remarkable declaration of our hiftorian at a well-known tavern in Pall-Mall, and contrafting it with Mr. Gibbon's political conduct afterwards. The author,' it obferved, at Brookes's faid, That there was na falva ion for this country, until siIX HEADS of the PRINCIPAL perfons in adminiftration,' LORD NORTH being then prime minister, WERE LAID UPON THE TABLE. Yet,' as the observation added, eleven days afterwards, this fame gentleman accepted a place of a lord of trade under thofe very minifters, • and has acted with them ever fince.' This extraordinary anecdote, thus recorded, very naturally excited the attention of the purchafers. Numbers wifhed to have in their own poffeffion, fuch an honourable teftimony from Mr. Fox, in favour of Mr. Gibbon. The contention for it rofe to a confiderable height. And the volume, by the aid of this manufcript addition to it, was fold for three guineas. From fuch a state of savage hoftility in Mr. Gibbon, did the rod of this minifterial Hermes charm him down, in eleven days only; and change the man who stood, as it were, with his axe in his hand, ready to behead him and five of his affociates, into a fure friend; a friend in power; and-how the spirit of ambition is forced to fleep in the breaft of Mr. Gibbon, and he himself is obliged to retire into Switzer land, a friend out of it. The FIRST chapter of this volume (chap. thirty-ninth in the series of the volumes) contains the hiftory of Theodoric, the Gothic fovereign of Italy. But the hiftory, at first, is fo broken, fhort, and uninterefting, that the reader becomes tired at the very outfet. This arifes principally, we believe, from the imperfectness of the original notices. Yet, from whatever it arises, it has a very unpropitious influence upon the present chapter. We fee a fet of barbarians moving before us, of whom we know little, and for whom we care lefs; doing nothing, either to attract our attention or to provoke our regard. This difguft, however, goes off by degrees. Theodoric, reigning peaceably in Italy, becomes, in fome measure, a favourite with us; and the deaths of Boethius and Symmnachus interest us in their favour. In p. 26 Nardini is cited for faying, what he does not fay.. These horses of Monte Cavallo' at Rome, Mr. Gibbon tells us in a note, had been tranfported from Alexandria to the baths of Conftantine' (Nardini, p. 188). Yet, what are the very words of Nardini? We have not the original Italian by us; but, in Grævius's tranflation of the work into Latin, they are thefe: Panvinius, parte primâ de Rep. Romanâ, a Conftantino Alexandriâ deportatos afferit, et in Thermis ejus pofitos; quod vero proximum videtur * Nardini, we fee, does not affert the point himself; he only cites Panvinius for afferting it. And this affertion, he adds, feems to be nearest to the truth.' We mention not this inftance, as any striking deviation in Mr. Gibbon from his cited authorities. We notice it only as a small one; as a flight evidence of that want of accuracy in him, which we marked in the firft volume. And a trifling one of this nature, where no prejudice could interpose, and no unfaithfulness take place, is the strongest evidence of the general inaccuracy of his references. In p. 3 Mr. Gibbon fpeaks of Ennodius, as the bishop of • Pavia; I mean the ecclefiaftic who wished to be a bishop.' This is fo darkly worded, that it leaves the reader without a meaning. Nor can he understand it till he comes to p. 13. There he finds that, two or three years afterwards, the orator, [Ennodius] was rewarded with the bishopric of Pavia.' And then, for the firft time, he obferves that Mr. Gibbon intended to tell us before, Ennodius was then seeking the bishopric which he now obtained.-In p. 10 Theodoric's march' is faid to be |