important Debate, those Members will readily bear testimony: And so strictly impartial has he been, that in no single page of the Thirtyeight Volumes which have passed through his hands, can, he ventures to assert, an instance of unfair preference or prejudice be pointed out. In addition to the Debates of both Houses, the Work contains an invaluable Collection of Parliamentary Papers, consisting of Reports, Estimates, Returns, Treaties, Conventions, Lists of Divisions, &c. &c.; and a regular Series, for the last fifteen years, of Accounts relative to the Finances, and to the Trade, Navigation, &c. of the United Kingdom. These Documents are exact copies of those laid before Parliament. They are to be met with in no other publication, and will be found eminently useful and convenient to the Reader; to whom, indeed, if his attention be at all turned to subjects of Political Economy, they will be indispensably necessary. Each Volume contains a copious Table of Contents, together with separate Indexes, not only of the Debates in both Houses, but of the names of the several Members who took a part therein. It is hardly necessary to add, that a Work which has found its way into most of the Public Libraries, not merely of this country, but of Europe, will, at the Meeting of the New Parliament, be continued with that activity and perseverance which a reception so favourable is calculated to produce. THE Proprietors have it in contemplation to publish, in separate Volumes, to be taken at the option of the Subscribers: 1. A GENERAL INDEX to the Parliamentary History; and, 2. A GENERAL INDEX to the first Thirty-eight Volumes of the Parliamentary Debates. These Indexes will form a sort of Parliamentary Dictionary or ready Book of Reference to every subject of importance that has come before Parliament from the earliest period down to the present year. The great utility of such Indexes to every Member of the two Houses, and indeed to every Politician, must be self-evident. Complete Sets of the Work may still be had of the Publishers; but the Volumes containing the Debates of any particular Session, may be purchased separately. All Communications for the Work, if forwarded to Mr. WRIGHT, A COM III. A COMPLETE COLLECTION OP STATE TRIALS AND PROCEEDINGS FOR HIGH TREASON AND OTHER CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE YEAR 1783, COMPILED BY T. B. HOWELL, Esq. F. R. S. F. S. A. WITH A CONTINUATION TO THE PRESENT TIME BY HIS SON T. J. HOWELL, Esq. IN presenting to the Public a Complete Collection of State Trials from the earliest period, the Proprietors avail themselves of the opportunity of briefly pointing out a few of the many advantages which the present Edition possesses over all that have gone before it. Upon the great utility of Collections of this nature, in a national point of view, it will be unnecessary to dwell. The Trials and Proceedings here preserved (amounting to more than SIX HUNDRED in number) are indisputably such, that a Collection of them must appear, at first sight, highly beneficial to all studious Inquirers into the Laws of this Country, especially into that principal branch of them which concerns the Life and Liberty of the Subject: for since the Laws of England are, in a great measure, grounded upon immemorial Customs and Usages, the Precedents, Judgments, and Examples of former times must be singularly useful, if not absolutely necessary, to a right understanding of them. The Professors and Students of the Law will not, however, be the only persons who may derive benefit from this Work. It will be found to contain matter of Instruction and Entertainment to all who are delighted with History, or inquisitive after the transactions of the past or present times: the most interesting and important parts of British Annals are herein developed and illustrated the Reader may here see them, as it were with his own eyes, not needing to trust to the statements of others, which are often tainted with partiality or prejudice, according to the party and disposition of the Historian. For the nature of this Work admits not of those partial representations with which other historical works are but too justly chargeable the Trials contained in these Volumes being plain Narrations of the Proceedings of our Courts of Justice, either published by authority of the Courts themselves, or by indifferent and impartial persons with their consent and approbation. In short, there is scarcely a controverted point, either in Law or Morals, that the Reader will not find, in these pages, fully argued and discussed by the greatest men our country has produced; and it is no exaggeration to say, that they comprise the largest Collection of able Speeches and Arguments, on the most important subjects, that has hitherto been exhibited to the World. It is a remarkable fact that, from the unwieldy form in which the State Trials have heretofore appeared, a work so necessary to the Lawyer and the Statesman-so curious, interesting, and instructive, in itself-and so highly illustrative of the Legal, Political, and Constitutional History of the Country, is to be met with in but very few private libraries, those of Professors of the Law not excepted. "It is much to be regretted," observes the Editor of Lord Erskine's Speeches' in his Preface," that English STATE "TRIALS are so little known: they have hitherto been printed in folio, and are only to be found in the possession of lawyers, "or in great libraries; whereas they ought to be universally "circulated throughout the country, where the prudent assertion of invaluable privileges depends so much upon a perfect acquaintance "with the principles on which they rest, and where the common "classes of the people are called upon daily to assist in the admi"nistration of criminal justice; in cases too, where the stability and security of the Government on the one hand, and the lives and liberties of the Subject on the other, may depend upon an enlightened judgment. On this account we have seen, with much "satisfaction, the progress of the Edition of the STATE TRIALS now printing in octavo; which appears from the Notes to be superin"tended with very great legal information and research, and which "we hope will in the end embrace all the important proceedings in our Courts of criminal Justice." The mere reduction of size, therefore, from the unmanageable folio of former editions, to the Royal Octavo of the present, uniting economy with convenience, must, in itself, be regarded as no inconsiderable improvement. But the present Edition will be found to possess other and higher claims to the countenance ard protection of the Public. Of the great merit of the late Mr. Howell as an Editor, and the success of his researches in obtaining matter which had escaped the attention of former Collectors, some notion may be formed, from the bare statement, that, independently of the valuable Notes and Illustrations with which he has enriched almost every Case, the twenty-one volumes edited by him, include, in addition to the whole of the matter contained in the Folio Edition of Hargrave, upwards of Two HUNDRED Trials and Proceedings never before collected. One of the capital defects of former Editions, as candidly acknowledged by Mr. Hargrave himself, has been in the article of Parliamentary Trials, under which denon.ination may be included, not only Trials on Impeachments, but Proceedings on Bills of Attainder, and on Bills inflicting Pains and Penalties. In the last Folio Edition, Mr. Hargrave laments that there are not thirty articles to be found which fall under the above description In the Collection now presented to the Public, more than One Hundred such Trials have beer preserved; and infinite light has thereby been thrown on a subject most interesting to Lawyers and Politicians; namely, the Criminal Judicature of Parliament. Another important improvement will be found in the insertion of several Scotish Trials which took place in the reigns of Charles the Second and James the Second, and which are now first printed from the Books of the Privy Council and Records of Justiciary at Edinburgh. These are not only highly interesting and curious in themselves, but illustrate, in a very eminent degree, the History of the arbitrary æras in which they occurred. The Proprietors cannot conclude this Address without remarking, that the vast extent of the British Empire, and the immense Republic of America, likely in the end to embrace so great a portion of the Globe, springing from the same Fathers, speaking the same Language, and adopting, wherever they can be made applicable, the principles and decisions of our Courts, extend the benefit of this Work to the remotest Nations, and to the most distant Periods. Our Language becomes daily more extensively understood and cultivated, and we cannot doubt, that when the nature and character of these Volumes shall be better known, by the course we are now pursuing, they will form an "indispensable part of all Collections of English History," and be found worthy of reception into all the great Libraries of Europe, and, indeed, of the whole civilized World. To the 21st Volume is subjoined a Table of Parallel Reference, compiled for the purpose of rendering this Octavo Edition of the State Trials, applicable to those Books of Authority in which References are made to the Folio Edition of Hargrave; and after the completion of the Continuation, a complete Index of the whole will be published. Gentlemen desirous of becoming Subscribers, may have the option of purchasing the whole of the Volumes at one time, or of being supplied with them at the rate of a Volume per month. The Twenty-one Volumes contain nearly 600 Trials, of which more than 200 are not to be found in the compilation of Hargrave. The Continuation will be comprised in eight or ten Volumes: the three already published contain the following very interesting cases: RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY R. TRIPHOOK, 23, OLD BOND STREET. 1. FAIRFAX'S TASSO, WITH AN INTRODUCTORY PREFACE BY S. W. SINGER. Or this beautiful version of Tasso's noble Epic, the lover of early poetry is now presented with a correct and elegantly printed Edition, embellished with Wood Cuts to each Canto, exquisitely engraved by Thompson from the designs of Thurston; with a fine Portrait of Tasso from the print by Raphael Morghen. The text is formed from a careful collation of the first and second Editions. A brief biography of the Translator, with one of his Pastorals, and a specimen of an earlier translation of Tasso, are prefixed. It is presumed that this publication will be found worthy a place in the most tasteful poetical cabinet. Two Volumes Royal 12mo. Price 17.5s. extra boards; a few Copies are taken off on Large Paper, in Royal 8vo. price 37. 3s. in French boards, lettered. II. FAIR VIRTUE, THE MISTRESS OF PHILARETE. BY GEORGE WITHER, Gent. Reprinted from the Edition of 1622-Crown 12mo. |