articles in the fame way, as we find that the tranflators of Juvenal, in general, do not confider the indecency of that fatirift, as neceffary to be expreffed in plain English. Exceffive delicacy, however, is a weakness which can by no means be charged to this reverend writer.

"What nature dares to give, he dares to name."

As fome of the defcriptions of the charms of the fair fex, with the arts by which they attempt to increase them, are free from indelicacy, and fo modified, as to be a very pleafing fubject to all readers, we fhall transcribe a part.

"The most remarkable trait of beauty in the Eaft, is large black eyes, and it is well known, that nature has made this a characteristic fign of the women of thofe countries. But, not content with thefe gifts of nature, thofe of Egypt employ every effort of art to make their eyes appear larger and blacker. For this purpose, females of every defeription, Mahomedan, Jew, Christian, rich and poor, all tinge the eye-brows and the eye-lashes with black lead, known in the commerce of the Levant, by the name of alquifoux or arquifoux. They reduce it to a fubtile powder, to which they give confiftency, by mixing it with the fuliginous vapour of a lamp. The more opulent employ the fumes of amber, or fome other fat and odoriferous fub. ftance, and have the drug always prepared, at hand, in fmall phials. With this compofition they themselves paint the eye-brows and eyelids, and with a final morfel of wood, of reed, or of feather, they likewife blacken the lafhes with it, by paffing it with a light hand between the two eye-lids; an operation which the Roman ladies practifed of old, and which Juvenal has defcribed with fo much exactitude. They befides mark with it, the angles of the eye, which makes the fiffure appear greater.

"The ebony of thofe eyes fo black, contrafts agreeably with the dazzling white of the fkin of the beautiful Circalian women, and imparts vivacity to their complexion; but this oppofition of colour produces the most agreeable effect at a little distance; close up to it the layer of paint is too apparent, and it even oppreffes on the phyfiognomy, a thade of gloominefs which has fomething harth in it.""

The author has beftowed fome pains on the arts, and particularly the agriculture and manufactures of Egypt, and fhews how extremely productive a fource of opulence it might be under proper management. Both he and other travellers prove, that, in point of falubrity, Egypt is far from being fo bad as has been generally reprefented and believed; that the plague prevails much less than at Conftantinople, and that its ravages are more owing to the fuperftitious prejudices of the people, their inattention to cleanliness and wholefome air, and the ignorance of phyficians, than to the climate.

Having clearly fhewn that Egypt, in the hands of an enlightened, wife, and enterprifing people, may be rendered extremely advantageous, Mr. Sonnini delivers his opinion of the benefits which would have accrued to the country, had the philofophical and benevolent Buonaparte been fuffered to take poffeffion of it without disturbance. Nelfon's victory, unfortunately for mankind, prevented the realization of the expected bleffings. He is charged with stopping the progress of French light through those regions of darkness;-a charge, in which his friends and country must acquiefce, as all must acknowledge that it is impoffible to refute the allegation.

From Sonnini's account of the productions and capabilities of Egypt, we are by no means furprised that the Directory projected its invafion, both as a fource of plunder, and a road to India. The fcheme was extravagant, and the plan of execution, by taking away their beft troops and beft general, was deftructive to the revolutionifts. The accounts, however, given both by Sonnini and Brown, contain many facts and obfervations not unworthy of the attention of our government. Were Egypt under the direction of the wife, commercial policy of Britain, great might be the improvement of the ftate of her inhabitants, and of the public and private wealth of this country.

ART. XI. Hiftoire Naturelle des Oifeaux D'Afrique. Par François Le Vaillant. i. e. Natural Hiftory of African Birds. By Francis Le Vaillant. Vol. 1. 4to. Pp. 194. Fuchs, París. 1799 Imported by De Boffe, Gerard-street.

MON

ONS. LE VAILLANT is already well known in the literary world by his travels; during which he made a moft valuable collection of materials for a cabinet of natural history. But, independent of the felf-gratification derived from a favourite purfuit, he appears to have reaped no advantage from his labours; but, on the contrary, he complains bitterly of the lofs he has fustained, and the treatment he has experienced.

"As a reward for my devotion to the progrefs of a science which I conceive to be ftill in its infancy, I have received nothing but in fults, I have experienced nothing but injuftice; and the infults of thofe by whom I have been deceived bears a ftamp of baseness and cowardice of which no private hiftory affords an example. I am not the first who has had reafon to complain of the envy and perfidy of mankind; but I shall doubtless be the laft who, compelled to be filent on the vileft impofture and the moft glaring theft, finds himself reduced

to the cruel fituation of being unable to complain without fhame to himself, and without difgrace to the man who has fo publicly laboured to injure him."

He depended, he fays, on the protection of powerful pa trons, who, as is too often the cafe, deceived him, and treated with indifference his complaints "of having facrificed his fortune, and the beft days of his youth, to the progress of a fcience till then all theory and founded on little experience." He opened a Cabinet of Natural History at Paris, which af forded the public an opportunity of appreciating his labours, and of examining his very numerous collection of birds. Still, he fays, he was pursued by envy, and, instead of reward, only... met with abufe.

"At length, on the eve of the Revolution, which they fay, re ftores every thing and every body to his proper place, the government refolved to indemnify me for my loffes, by the only means that were fuitable to us both. It was even agreed, that my Cabinet should be depofited in the Mufeum of Natural Hiftory, and that I fhould receive the fum of 60,000 livres (2,500l. fterling) befides a penfion by way of indemnity."

Then follows fome declamatory nonfenfe about that hideous prostitute French Liberty, who made the author commence patriot, and, patriot-like, neglect his own affairs to attend to thofe of the nation.

"When the Conftituent Affembly met, the government appeared, for a moment, difpofed to fulfil the fame engagements which had been formerly contracted with me; but having an infurmountable antipathy to folicitations, and moreover having none of thofe powerful protec tors who are neceffary to enfure fuccefs, I was foon forgotten. The Legiflative Affembly cante in its turn, and was on the point of granting me an equitable indemnity; but the justice of the Legillative Aflembly alfo fell asleep. At length, the National Convention, more powerful and more decifive, feemed inclined to repair the injuries which I had fuftained. The greater part of the members of the Committee of Public Inftruction faw my Cabinet; commiflioners were appointed to infpect it; the temporary Committee of Arts was itfelf charged with this bufinefs; Citizens Richard and Lamarck made a report on the fubject; in short, no economical means of obtaining poffellion of the only riches I poffeffed in the world were neglected. But more interesting concerns, no doubt, caufed mine to be neglected, Having written a letter to the Committee to remind them of it, they talked of having an estimate made of my Cabinet. To estimate, one by one, each particular article of a collection, which had coft me thirty years' labour, five of them paffed in traverfing the burning fands of Africa, and for which I did not afk a twentieth part of its value; fince, notwithstanding the difference of the times, the fum

which had been offered me in 1789 was all that I asked of the govern ment in 1795!-In a word, this fum, moderate as it was, ftill remains in the National Treasury, and my Cabinet in my own poffeffion, and will probably be conveyed to fome foreign country, or elfe be difperfed, for my fortune does not permit me to keep it any longer. "Another hope now engroffes my mind, and will, perhaps, make me forget all this injuftice. My attention being wholly occupied by my ornithology, I confole myself for my disappointment at not feeing in the collection of national curiofities, the humble but rare tribute which I had offered to my country. I fhall give my birds to all Europe; I have multiplied the portraits of them which are faithfully drawn and faithfully defcribed; they will thus be a more precious property to amateurs, who may confult and infpect them at all hours; if the originals were fent out of France it would be no lofs, for all the defigns for my Ornithology are finished.

"In publishing the Hiftory of African Birds, I thought I should render a fervice to the fcience by mentioning all the rare and undefcribed fpecies which I have met with in the different cabinets of Europe. I have at the fame time taken care to specify the collection from which I took them; the reader is apprized, that all the birds which are not fo marked, belong to my own collection, and that the numbers placed at the head of each bird correfpond with the plate which reprefents the fpecies of which I give the defcription."

Having thus fuffered the author to explain the nature of the work, it only remains for us to obferve that the first volume contains eight numbers, with forty-eight plates, executed in a masterly ftyle. The colouring is chalte, brilliant, and natural; and the paper and type (but the former more particularly) combine to make the work uniformly elegant and fplendid.A ninth number is published; each number contains fix plates with their defcriptions. One appears every month, and the whole will contain about fix hundred plates, which will form a moft capital collection. They are published in different fizes; in folio, with double fets of plates, coloured and plain; in quarto, either with coloured plates or plain; and in twelves.

ART. XII. Defcente en Angleterre, Prophetie. i. e. Defcent upon England, a Prophecy in two Acts, and in Profe; as reprefented at the Theatre de la té-Varietés. 8vo. Paris, 1798.

THE HE author, in his Preface, tells us that the following paffage in the fpeech of the Prefident of the Directory, on the ratification of the peace with the Emperor, fuggefted the idea of this dramatic prophecy. "Go, and by shaftifing

the

the Cabinet of London, frighten the fenfelefs governments which would ftill attempt to deny the power of a free people.' He then obferves, that " timid and fearful minds confidered a defcent upon England as a fine dream;-but the conquest of Italy was alfo a fine dream.-After fuch a glorious war, which effaces whatever was wonderful in the battles of Alexander from the page of hiftory, what dreams however bold can be compared to the awful realities which Europe has witneffed!"

The ftage, during the whole progrefs of the Revolution, has been a powerful inftrument in the hands of the government for inflaming the paflions and influencing the opinions of the people; and nothing can fhew in a stronger point of view the extreme credulity of the French, and their extreme ignorance refpecting foreign countries, than the gross and ridiculous impofitions which are paffed on them at the Theatre.

The scene of this piece lies at Dover, where a young Frenchman, who had efcaped from prifon, takes refuge in the houfe of Ferguffon, a tavern-keeper in the town, and is concealed and fed by his daughter Clementina, who, of course, falls in love with him. Ferguffon is a patriot, and, in conjunction with some other patriots, one of whom is the Colonel of a Regiment in garrifon at the Castle, forms a plan for emancipating his fellow citizens, by favouring the defcent of the French, and affifting them in getting poffeffion of the port. Murai, "a traitor Jold to the party of Pitt," has the profligacy to detect the confpiracy, and to give intelligence of it to the Governor of the Caftle; the perfons of the confpirators are, in confequence, fecured, and having been apprehended, tried, caft, and condemned, in the courfe of the evening, they are ordered for execution in the night, but the French land apropos to refcue their friends from the gallows. The Caftle is taken, the Governor blows out his brains, and the united patriots of France and England determine to march to London to complete the bufinefs fo happily begun.

So much for the fable, of which we may fay to the author, Ah! quel conte!--Now for a fpecimen of the dialogue. The fcene is in Ferguffon's houfe-the patriots are all met-Gordon at their head

"Gordon. My friends, I will not remind you of the crimes of the English government; the long tyranny which it has exercised over the feas; the difafters which it has carried into the colonies; the perfidious means which it employs for perpetuating the war;-I will not talk of Pitt. You all know that canning is his inftrument, delufion his element, and that his infernal policy would facrifice all the belligerent nations to his ambition.

"Fergufon.