Retrofpect of Domeftic Literature...Voyages and Travels. 1047 with fo much perfonal anecdote and adventure, as will make it agreeable even to thofe who read for amufement merely. We were particularly ftruck by the hiftory of Mr. Johnson, of Virginia, who, in 1790, was taken prifoner, in confequence of an artful manoeuvre of fome tribes of native Indians, as he was defcending the Ohio, and who, after being in the most imminent danger of experiencing the dreadful vengeance of Indian conquerors, was luckily refcued, and returned fafe to his habitation at Richmond, where our traveller became acquainted with him. Mr. Adams is highly fpoken of as a zealous promoter of the American revolution; for his powers of converfation, abounding in farcaltic, yet not uncourteous wit, and for his modeft and retired mode of living. This was while he was vice-prefident of the United States. We are forry to find that Dr. Prieley has not obtained all the refpect in America which his virtues and extraordinary talents entitled him to expect. We doubt there is much truth in our author's observation, that this people of traders would give up all the experiments on air for one profitable speculation. The Travels of M. FAUJAS DE ST. FOND in England and Scotland," which were published at Paris in 1792, have been well tranflated into Englih. This enlightened and philofophical traveller vifited Great Britain in 1784, before the prefent lamentable rancour fubfifted between the two nations, and viewed, with a very approving eye, the admirable ftate of fuch of our manufactures as the jealoufy of trade permitted him to infpect. He gives a very lively and interesting account of the eminent characters to whom he was introduced; particularly of Sir Jofeph Banks, Dr. Priestley, Mr. Whitchurft, Mr. Cavallo, and Mr. Sheldon. The account of an anatomical preparation of a young lady, of whom the latter gentleman had been the lover, and which he keeps in his bed-chamber, is uncommonly ftriking. No one can read without pleasure the account of our traveller's introduction to Dr. and Mifs Herfchel: indeed, there are continual marks of the goodnefs of his heart, as well as the foundnefs of his judgment, and the liveliness of his imagination. He frequently laments, with the utmoft poignancy, the fevere fate of his philofophical friends who have fallen under the bloody axe of the revolution. The main objects which M. de St. Fond had in view were mineralogy and natural hiftory, of which perhaps there is ra ther too much for readers in general; but his animated defcription of the cave of Fingal cannot fail of interefting every body. Mifs PLUMPTRE has prefented the public with a very excellent tranflation of Matthiefon's Letters from Various Parts of the Continent, between the Years 1785 and 1794." We are glad to find that this lady has turned her attention to fomething befides German plavs, with which we have in truth been furfeited. The most interesting part of thefe letters is the account of the great living literary characters of Germany. The author lavishes his praife too indifcriminately, and his opinion mutt therefore be received with caution. He gives fome uncommonly interefting anecdotes of perfons in France, which he visited immediately after the inftitution of the Republic, anccdotes which will make the hearts of every friend of liberty to glow. At the end of the volume are given three original letters from our countryman Gray to Charles Von Bonftetten, baillie of Nion, in the canton of Berne, written in more than his ufual querulous ftyle of defpondency. Matthiefon himself is a poet; but it is rather unfortunate that Mifs Plumptre fhould have attempted the tranflation of one of his poems. Since the hazardous expedition of the French to Egypt and Syria, and the very interesting account publifhed by Mr. Eton of the Turkish empire, the public curiofity has been eagerly attracted to thefe countries: hence the avidity with which the narratives of BROWNE and SONNINI have been received. They are both of them folid and fcientific, but certainly rather dull works. Mr. Browne is, we understand, a gentleman of education and fortune, and, confequently, his expofing himself to the very great rifque weich invariably attends Frank travellers in thefe barbarous and fanatical regions is the more to be won. dered at. Mr. Browne arrived in Egypt in January 1792, and spent the whole of that year, and part of the next, in exploring the wonderful works of nature, and ruins of works of art, which that once celebrated country ftill contains. In May 1793 he began his African journey, in the courfe of which he arrived at the kingdom of Dar-Fur, till then abfolutely unvifited by any European travelier, and thus rendered the most effential fervice to the geography of Africa. In this curi ous and interefting country he was compeiled by the fultan to remain three years, and was thereby prevented from penetrating penetrating farther to the fouth or weft, she had intended. In 1797 he vifited Syria; and, after remaining there fome months, proceeded to London by way of Conftantinople. Mr. Browne has altered the orthography of many of the towns through which he pled: Damietta is Dimiatt, Roletta Rafcind, Joppa Yaffe, and Cairo Kahira. The greatest ufe of this journey has been to rectify fome confiderable miftakes of major Rennel, and other geographers, who had before treatcd of this imperfettiv explored country. It ought to be oblerved, that this work sectionally tinctured by the new philofophy, and contains paffages of an Antichitian tendency. M. S nnini was an engineer in the French navy, and employed by the old government of France; which, if we may believe our author (vol. II. p. 230), had the fame defign of colonifing Egypt which the republic has fince carried into effett, to explore that country, and bring as minute an account as poffible of all that it contained worthy of notice. It is faid that his account af. fided in determining the directory to put that remarkable project into execution. The work was not published at Paris till the prefent year, fo that Dr. Hunter, who has prefented the English public with a translation, has at least the merit of celerity and induftry. The contrast between the political fentiments of the author and the tranflator is very striking the former takes every opportunity of alluding, with enthufiaftic admiration, to the French revolution, and to the Egyptian expedition of Bonaparte; the latter prefixes to his tranflation an almoft idolatrous dedication to Mr. Pitt, and infufes continually into his notes antidotes against what he deems the poifon of the text. In this account of Egypt there is too minute an attention to natural history for the general reader. The author made an expedition to that part of the Libyan defert which is called the defert of Nitria, or Samt Macarius, and gives a moft difgufting picture of the Cophtic monks, who refide in the convent of Zainiel Baramous; but every thing he fas on religious fubjects must be recove ed with caution, as, from feverai paffages, he appears to be deftitute of religion. His account of the Saade, or ferpent-eaters, is curious, and fhows what a Circe fuperfta is: but the mt novel and striking description is that of certain operations profiled in Egypt on females, which are detuled, both in the original and in the tran laten, with a minutencfs which had mitor „ave been aed, as they render the book quite unfit for the parlour window. From the circumftance of Mouret Bey having come in competition with Buonaparte, the anecdotes relating to him will of course be read with avidity. A portrait of this warrior is prefixed to the fecond volume; befides which, there are feveral maps and engravings illuftrative of the work. We cannot speak very highly in favour of the tranflation: it has now and then fome mifconftructions which are almoft ludicrous. Mr. PRATT, after publifhing three volumes of his "Gleanings" on the Continent, has added a fourth, which contains the commencement of his gleaning in this country. We are givento underftand that this volume, which contains only part of Norfolk, forms but the beginning of the author's defign. If the fequel be carried on with the fame te dious garrulity as the commencement, the public will have reafon to with that Mr. Pratt had never formed the defign of gleaning in England. The part of this work which will the moft intercă the reader, is the account of an interview which this gleaner had with an amiable and moft eccentric chara&ter, Henry Lee Warner, Efq. the proprietor or Walfingham Abbey: however aftonifhing his peculiarities may appear, we have reafon to believe the defcription is not at all exaggerated. The country about Cromer is fingularly beautiful, and had it been gleaned by a man of taste and judgment, would have yielded fomething befides poppies. "Letters from Italy, between the Years 1792 and 1798, by MARIANA STARKE," form a work which, though it poffeffes no literary merit, is very interefting at the prefent moment, from the extraordinary circumftances which occurred during the author's refidence in Itaiv. Mrs. Starke prefents us with a view of the revolutions in that cuntry, from the capture of Nice by General Anfelm in the autumn of 1792, to the expulfion of Pius VI. from the ecclefiafti. cal are. Our author is evidently very boo the Frer ch caufe, which the calls that of clip emirs, Ingicides, and robbers; but, except in a few inftan es, ine has treated its partifans with candour. She acknowledges to have witnessed the mifery of Savoy under the old government, and we are therefore the lefs furprised at the favourable reception the French met with in that country. Whether the Savoyards have had reafon to repeat of their conduct we know not; but we very much fufpe&t that both in France and in the Retrofpect of Domeftic Literature... Law. the conquered countries, however in the firft, the cause of liberty has been violated, and in the latter national independence deftroyed, and in both the fortunes of the opulent injured, yet, that the great bulk of the people, particularly the farming intereft, have been greatly benefited by the revolution. If Mrs. Starke be correct in her statement of the refpective forces of the oppofed powers in Italy, at the commencement of the campaign of 1796, we shall have a higher opinion than ever of the tranfcendent military talents of Buonaparte. The Auftrians, Sardinians, and Neapolitans, are faid, by her, to have amounted to 200,000, while the French were barely 56,000, of whom many were worn down by difeafe, and finking under every fpecies of privation. We can hardly credit the accufation made against the duke of Brafchi, the pope's nephew, of having, "for the lucre of gain, engaged to feed and clothe the French army." We learn from Mrs. Starke a new fact respecting Buonaparte, that his courage, like that of the Turks, depends on his belief in predeftination. After the various accounts we have feen in the newspapers of the excelfes of the French foldiery, we are not a little furprised to learn from Mrs. Starke, an eye witnefs and not at all inclined to favour them, that "their behaviour was fo orderly, that their approach foon ceafed in the eyes of Italy to be an object of dread." When Coni, an impregnable fortrefs and the key of Turin, was, through unaccountable in. fatuation, given up to the French, Buonaparte had not three rounds of powder remaining in his camp, nor any artillery proper for carrying on a regular fiege: this fortrefs, as well as the others which were ceded at the fame time, contained fuch an abundance of ftores and ammunition, as fupplied the French with ample means to preferve their conquefts. After a rapid detail of the military events which occurred during her stay in Italy, Mrs. Starke proceeds to give an account of the reliques of antiquity and the mafter pieces of art which adorn this interefting country. That part of the work which contains inftructions for the ufe of invalids and families who visit Italy, and may not be inclined to incur the expence attendant upon travelling with a courier, is very useful. LAW. "A Treatise on the Laws of Bills of Exchange, Checks on Bankers, &c. by JOSEPH CHITTY, Efq. of the Middle MONTHLY MAG. LIV. 1049 Temple," is a work not at all inferior to the many others which have preceded it on the fame fubject. But why add to their number, unless any thing new can be faid? "The Lord Thanet's Cafe confidered," by WILLIAM FIRTH, of Lincoln's Inn, Efq. Barrister at Law. It is well known that a doubt having arifen, whether the judgment in the cafe of this nobleman was fpecific or dependent on the will of the court, and this doubt having produced a difference of opinion among the great law officers, the chief juftice requested publicly the afliftance of the bar, to aid him in determining the queftion: in confequence of this cali, Mr. Firth, a young barrifter, has laudably employed much industry in fearching for precedents, and has given the refult in the prefent publication, together with much clofe and logical reafoning to prove that the judgment of the court was dif cretionary. Mr. Firth has a very ingenious argument to establish this point, namely, that the omiflion of the word ftrike in the indictment, though it contains beat, bruife, wound, and ill-treat, apparently fynonymous, but not having precifely the fame meaning with the former word, was fufficient to exempt Lord Thanet from the fevere corporal punishment which the crime of ftriking -coram domino nofiro rege, incurs. This is one of the niceft diftinctions we ever recollect to have feen made: a man of common knowledge of language cannot well conceive how one can beat another without ftriking him; but the framers of indictments ought to have an uncommon knowledge of language. This pamphlet is written with great good fenfe, and is fingularly precife and clear. Dr. ROBINSON has published a "Report of the Judgment of the High Court of Admiralty on the Swedish Convoy." Judgment in this caufe, fo interesting to the commercial world, was pronounced by Sir William Scott the 11th of last June. It is not easy to beftow too much praife on the judge for the able and fatisfactory reafons which he gave as the foundation of his judgment. It is with pleasure we learn that Dr. Robinfon means to con. tinue thefe reports. A fecond volume has appeared of "Juridical Arguments and Collections," by FRANCIS HARGRAVE, Efq.; it is needlefs to fpeak of the meres of any thing that comes from the pen of this great lawyer. The prefent volume contains three arguments, delivered in the 6 T Court Court of Chancery against the will of the late Mr. Thelluffon being established, -an opinion on Mr. Perry's commitment by the Houfe of Lords for a breach of privilege an opinion of the effects of the king's pardon of perjury-an opinion in the Walpole cafe, on the fubject of mutual wills-two opinions in the cafe of Jady Dacre, against the dowager lady Dacre, on the conftruction of a will and an opinion on the petitions of the nabob of the Carnatic. Mr. Hargrave has given, in an appendix, fome account of Mr. Thelluffon's life, by which it appears that this gentleman came to England an alien, with no more than ten thousand pounds fortune, and that, before he died, he had acquired a fortune of feven hundred thousand pounds, and had three fons members of the British parliament. "Who'll change Old Lamps for New or a Word or Two concerning the Clergy and their Provifion :" is a tract written in defence of the maintenance of the clergy by tythes, which the author deems a fundamental law of the kingdom. We think his quaint title an unfortunate one, as the queftion fo triumphantly put admits of a very obvious anfwer. POETRY. "The Caldron, or Follies of Cambridge, a Satire," lathes with deferved feverity the fashionable follies and vices of that univerfity. The progress of free-t inking and atheifm is deplored. Hume, Gibbon, and Voltaire are warmly attacked for their share in spreading the evil. "Cupid and Pfyche, a Mythological Tale from the Golden Afs of Apuleius." It is not a little extraordinary that fo elegant a tale as the prefent thould not have been before prefented to the English public in a fuitable drefs,-that of poetry. Mr. Maurice, in one of the volumes, we recollect not which, of his Indian Antiquities, has tranflated part of it in profe; and Mr. Thomas Taylor, the well-known Platonift, has published a tranflation of the whole. Though written by Apulcius in profe; yet from the richnets of its language, the profufion of its imagery, and the pencil of fire, with which it traces the adventures of Plyche, it feems more fuited to the genius of poetry. Accordingly we find that La Fontaine did not think it beneath him to publish a poem, imitated from it in the French language; and all perfons of tafte will thank the prefent anonymous author for his fimilar performance in English, The gentleman in queftion poffefies confiderable poetical powers; and though we can not fay we have read his work with the fame intereft as the very pleasing original, we have yet received a very great degree of gratification. His poetry is in general chafte and fimply elegant, occafionally beautiful; but there are fome weak and fome faulty lines, and the whole poem is obfcure from its abrupt tranfitions, and from a want of fufficient adherence to the original. We queftion whether thofe who had not previously read the original would comprehend the story in the imitation. Lady MANNERS has published a poem called "Review of Poetry, Ancient and Modern," which difplays confiderable knowledge of the different poets, whom the notices with judicious difcrimination, and a well-cultivated mind. "Pictures of Poetry, Hiftorical, Biographical, and Critical," by ALEXANDER THOMPSON, Efq. The author means to take a view of the progrefs of polite literature from the earliest period to the prefent time: the prefent poem contains the execution of a part of this plan. It includes a period of eight hundred years, beginning with a ketch of the court of Solomon, and ending with that of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and is chiefly occupied with the literature of Greece. The first picture is the lyric poem of Selonon and Sheba, which concludes with an animated description of the celebrated trial faid to have been made of Solomon's wifdom by the queen. The comparative utility of didactic and heroic poetry, exemplified in a conteft between Homer and Hefiod, forms the fubject of the fecond picture: however much difpofed we may be to go through the whole of this highly interefting poem, we are forbidden by the limits of our article. "Innovation" is a poem, which, though not avowed, is known to be the production of Mr. GISBORNE. It has confiderable merit; and though we are not difpofed to join in the common-place cry against the attempt to ameliorate the condition of fociety, which it is now the fashion to ftigmatife with opprobrious epithets, we must acknowledge that the author has manifefted candour and difcrimination in his attack. We cannot fay fo much for the author of " Bubble and Squeak," and Crambe Repetita," which, though not deficient in wit, are fcurrilous and abu A Retrofpect of Domeftic Literature... Poetry. five. Much the fame may be faid of the "Unfexed Females,” which is a violent attack on those who have afferted the Rights of Woman, fuggefted it appears by a paffage in the Purfuits of Literature, and like that work difgraced by notes, filled with perfonal abufe of the moft cauftic nature. The author has difcovered impurity in the ftudy of natural history, and has dwelt with much complacence and indelicacy on the fubject. To thofe, whofe foul imaginations can thus create impunity where none exifted, we shall only fay, Honi foit qui mal y penfe. "Grove Hill, a defcriptive Poem, with an Ode to Mithra," by the author of Indian Antiquities. In this poem Mr.MAURICE has given a well-defigned and highly-coloured picture of Dr. Lettfom's villa at Camberwell. But materiem fuperat opus; and we cannot help regreting, that the great talents of Mr. Maurice, fo often mifapplied, fhould alfo in the prefent inftance have failed to meet with a fubject worthy of them. The poem defcribes, in rich and glowing lines, the grove leading to the house, the garden, the house and library, the temple of the Sibyl, the cottage, and the various other triking features of this beautiful I fpot. Each defcription is illuftrated by an exquifite wood-engraving, executed by Anderfon, who promifes to excell all his predeceffors in this line. Mithra is a republication, with confiderable additions, of a former poem. "The Pleasures of Hope, with other Poems," by THOMAS CAMPBELL. This exquifite poem is the production of a young man of twenty, who, if we may infer any thing from this aftonishing early effort, will probably rank with the firft poets of this country. Here we find none of the faults of young writers; no imbecillity, compenfated for, indeed, by occafional flathes of genius; no extravagance; no fickly fentiment; no meretricious ornament; but an uniformly correct and majeftic ftyle, lofty and virtuous fentiments, and pathos of the most touching kind. We rejoice that this youth of genius glows not with a poetic fire alone, but with a generous ardour in the caufe of freedom: most cordially do we fympathife in the fine ftrain of indignation which he pours forth against the oppreffors of Poland: we fhould rejoice if we could join in his hope, that the freedom of that unfortunate country will yet be restored. Of France, he fays nothing; indeed, Hope itfelf quits its anchor in that tempeftu 1051 ous ocean of giddy politics, in that inceffant wheel of revolutions.-The fecond part of this poem is on the beft hope of man, that of immortal blifs; and fo fublime and impreffive is the conclufion, that we cannot refrain from adorning our pages with its laft lines. Eternal Hope! when yonder spheres fublime Peal'd their first notes to found the march of time, Thy joyous youth began-but not to fade. Thou undifmay'd fhalt o'er the ruin fmile, Mr. BROWNE's "Inkle and Yarico" is a dull and feeble poem. The author fhould not have selected fo thread-bare a fubject. The Art of Making Tea" is a poem, which, though it does not rife above mediocrity, will afford pleasure during an idle half-hour. Perhaps it would have been as well if the author had attended to his own precept― "Keep then, directed by falubrious fears, Your tea nine minutes, and your piece nine years." Mrs. WEST, the authorefs of fome novels refpectable for their good fenfe and morality, has published a volume of "Poems and Plays" which will not detract from her reputation. "Rome at the Clofe of the Eighteenth Century!!!" a poem, with notes, by HENRY TRESHAM, Efq. R. A. This poem contains the moft fulfome adulation of the fovereign on the throne of Great Britain. Since the chivalrous exertions of the emperor of Ruffia against the common enemy, we fhould have thought that the moft decided anti-jacobin would allow that there was more than one crowned head who acted right;-but Mr. Tre. fham informs us otherwife. "Gebir" is the production of no common poet: the author has unfortunately chofen for the ground-work of his poem an old romance, obfcure, nay, almoft unintelligible; but there is a spirit and fire pervading the whole which we rarely meet with in modern poetry. The poet's perfonal fentiments feem to be as lofty as his poem. If there are now in England ten men of tafte and genius who will applaud 6 T 2 his |