f hypothetical disputation.

The advantage of the bounty is evident and irrefragable. Since the
bounty was given, multitudes eat wheat who did not eat it before, and
yet the price of wheat has abated. What more is to be hoped from any
change of practice? An alteration cannot make our condition better, and
is, therefore, very likely to make it worse[2].

FOOTNOTES:

[1] These Considerations, for which we are indebted to Mr. Malone, who
published them in 1808, or rather to his liberal publisher, Mr.
Payne, were, in the opinion of Mr. Malone, written in November,
1766, when the policy of the parliamentary bounty on the exportation
of corn became naturally a subject of discussion. The harvest in
that year had been so deficient, and corn had risen to so high a
price, that in the months of September and October there had been
many insurrections in the midland counties, to which Dr. Johnson
alludes; and which were of so alarming a kind, that it was necessary
to repress them by military force.

[2] This little essay on the Corn Laws was written by Dr. Johnson, which
is in the very best style of that great master of reason, so early
as the year 1766; and at a period when subjects of this kind were
but imperfectly understood, even by those who had devoted themselves
to their study. It is truly admirable to see with what vigorous
alacrity his powerful mind could apply itself to an investigation so
foreign from his habitual occupations. We do not know that a more
sound, enlightened argument, in favour of the bounty on exportation,
could be collected from all that has since been published on the
subject; and, convinced as we are of the radical insufficiency of
that argument, it is impossible not to be delighted with the
clearness and force of the statement. There are few of his smaller
productions that show the great range of Johnson's capacity in a
more striking light.--Edin. Review, October, 1809. p. 175.--Ed.

A COMPLETE VINDICATION OF THE
LICENSERS OF THE STAGE,
FROM THE
MALICIOUS AND SCANDALOUS ASPERSIONS
OF
MR. BROOKE,
AUTHOR OF GUSTAVUS VASA;
WITH A PROPOSAL FOR MAKING THE OFFICE OF LICENSER MORE EXTENSIVE AND
EFFECTUAL.

BY AN IMPARTIAL HAND.[A]

It is generally agreed by the writers of all parties, that few crimes
are equal, in their degree of guilt, to that of calumniating a good and
gentle, or defending a wicked and