from their fight. We cannot, therefore, but regret, that in this, otherwife judicious, felection, a confiderable number even of those Ovidian Fables, which are, both in point of fubject and of poetical merit, the belt calculated to answer thefe purposes, fuch as thofe of Pyramus and Thifbe, of Narciffus, of Echo, and of Pygmalion, are not to be found, whilst others lefs interefting are admitted into it. Under the text are placed fhort Latin notes, including the most important various readings from the collections by Burmann, compared with the editio Vicentina, 1480, with Mr. Seidel's appreciation of them, and fome conjectural emendations by himself. To these are added the contents of the pieces forming this felection, fome account, for the fake of pointing out the connection, of those which have been omitted, and, in regard to feveral of the Fables, hints refpecting their meaning and origin, partly borrowed from other writers, and partly fuggefted by the prefent editor; as alfo, an useful Index Rerum et Verborum. Jena ALZ. DENMARK. ART. 58. J. Chr. Fabricii Entomologia fyftematica emendata et aucta; Vol. III. (which is to contain the Butterflies) Part 1, 487 pp. in 8vo. Copenhagen. Though the additions to this clafs are not fo great as in those by which it was preceded, it appears however from the number of pages, that they are by no means inconfiderable; this part, comprizing only the Papilio Hefperia, Sphinx, Sefia, Zygena, and Bombyx, with their feveral varieties. Kiöbenh. lärd. Efter. ART. 59. Denkwürdigkeiten der franzöfifchen Revolution in vorzuglicher Rücksicht auf Staatfrecht und auf Politik, von C. U. D. von Eggers, der Rechte Doctor und Profeffor. Memorabilia of the French Revolution, with particular Reference to the Law of Nations, and to Politics, by C. U. D. v. Eggers, &c. Vol. I. 479 pp. in 8vo. Copenhagen. According to the plan of this work, as ftated in the preface, it will confift of the following divifions:-1. An Enquiry into the Caufes by which the Revolution was produced; 2. The Bibliography of the Revalution in France, England, an! Germany; and on the influence which it may have had, not only on the opinions of different writers, but likewife on the manners and actions of a confiderable part of the public; 3. Hiftory of the Revolution, from its firfi Commencement to the prefent Time; and, 4. Refult, collected from the whole, both as it regards France and the rest of Europe in general. In the prefent volume of this fenfible, and really interefting work, the hiftory extends only to March, 1787. Ibid. ART. 60. De arte ac judicio Flavii Philoftrati in defcribendis imaginibus commentatio autore Torkills Baden, A. M. Copenhagen. An excellent differtation, in which the commentator has shown himfelf to be perfectly acquainted with the manner of his author, and in which are introduced many ingenious obfervations; as, for inftance, on Xenophon's defcription of Panthea, compared with that given by Philoftratus, &c. Ibid. ACKNOW ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO CORRESPONDENTS. An Undergraduate has certainly acted wifely in deferring his important work, The Hiftorical View of Religions. We cor dially with him fuccefs in his botanical refearches, and think he will render a material fervice to the public by illuftrating the very difficult fubject of graffes. Dic In answer to Mr. D'Ifraeli's note, concerning the " tionary of Literary Converfation," we have received a letter from the Editor, of which the following is the moft effential part: SIR, It being equally in the power of innocence or guilt to affume a contemptuous filence when accufed; it becomes neceffary to the establishment of my innocence, that I fhould reply to Mr. D'Ifraeli's charge against a book, entitled "A Dictionary of Literary Converfation." He fays it is a mere republication of fome articles of his work, with a very few additional ones." It is true there are fome few articles on the fame fubjects, and evidently drawn from the fame fources, but they are fo differently applied and illustrated, as to render them totally diffimilar. This a comparison of the two works will prove. The author of "Chriftian Knowledge in Theological Extracts," may depend upon it that we neither forget nor think contemptuously of his publication; though accidentally delayed, it will certainly receive a proper degree of notice. Honeftus, who undertakes to write to us in defence of T. Paine, thouid learn to fpell, before he fancies himself qualified to maintain a controverfy. One great misfortune of this age is, that thofe who can neither write nor read, imagine themfelves wifer than those who have ftudied in ages past. We will endeavour that Amicus fhall be fatisficd in the particular to which he adverts. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. Dr. Vincent's learned and curious work, on the Voyage of Nearchus down the Indus, is at the prefs, and proceeding with fome rapidity. It will make a large volume in quarto. Mr. De Luc is about to republifh his Letters on Geology, which appeared in the British Critic; with a feventh Letter, and an Addrefs to Dr. Geddes on his Tranflation of the Bible. Mr. Stedman's long-expected work on the Natural History of Surinam, adorned with many plates, will now appear in the courfe of a month. Mr. Lawrence, author of the abridgement of Sainbel's works, and of various political and moral tracts, is at prefent engaged in writing a philofophical and practical treatise upon Horfes. THE BRITISH CRITIC, For MAY, 1796. I hate when Vice can bolt her arguments, ART. I. A Defcription of the Country from thirty to forty miles round Manchefter; the Materials arranged, and the Work compofed, by F. Aikin, M. D. Embellished with feventy-three Plates. Large 4to. 624 pp. 21. 12s. 6d. to Subfcribers. 31. 35. to Non-Subfcribers. Stockdale. 1795. AT Ta period when the fpirit of the nation is peculiarly putting itfelf forth in expenfive publications, we cannot but contemplate the prefent volume, as no inconfiderable proof of that fpirit. We here behold a work, projected by the mind, and executed with the purfe of one enterprifing bookfeller, at the vast expence (as he himself has affured the public) of three thoufand five hundred pounds and the paper, the print, the plates, all unite to confirm his affertion. The circuit defcribed by the work is more than a thousand fquare miles in extent. In a publication upon fo large a scale Kk BRIT. CRIT. VOL. VII. MAY, 1796. as as not to have a parallel (we believe) in any part of the island before, there must be a variety of notices, novel, pleasing, and striking; of these we shall select a few, that our readers may judge for themfelves, and approve from their own feelings. To a good general account of Lancashire, Cheshire, Derby fhire, the Weft-riding of Yorkshire, and the Northern part of Staffordshire, is fubjoined a hiftory of river and canal navigations. From this we extract the following paffages, as exhibiting fome features of the work in a happy point of view. "Those magnificent plans, which have rendered the name of the Duke of Bridgewater fo celebrated in the hiftory of canal navigation, commenced in the years 1758 and 1759.-Poffeffing an extenfive property at and near Worley, rich in coals, which could not by landcarriage be conveyed to Manchester, fo advantageously as thofe from the pits on the other fide of that town, the Duke was naturally led to confider of a better mode of conveyance. The formerly projected, but un-executed, fcheme of making navigable Worfley brook to the Irwell, evidently fuggefted the defign; but the original and commanding abilities of his engineer, that wonderful felf-inftructed genius, James Brindley, pointed out a much more eligible mode of effecting his purpofe, than by means of the waters of a winding brook, fubject to the extremes of overflow and drought. This first undertaking was marked with the features of greatnefs. At its upper extremity in Worley it buries itfelf in a hill, which it enters by an arched paffage, partly bricked, and partly formed by the folid rock, wide enough for the admiffion of long flat-bottomed boats, which are towed by means of hand-rails on each fide. This paffage penetrates near three quar ters of a mile, before it reaches the firit coal-works. It there divides into two channels, one of which goes five hundred yards to the right, and the other as far to the left, and may be continued at pleature. In the paffage, at certain diftances, air-funnels are cut through the rock, iffuing perpendicularly at the top of the hill. The arch at the en trance is about fix feet wide, and about five in the height from the furface of the water. It widens within, fo that in fome places the boats may pafs each other. To this fubterraneous canal the coals are brought from the pits within the bowels of the hill, in low waggons, holding about a ton each; which, as the work is on the descent, are eafily pushed or pulled by a man along a railed way, to a ftage over the canal, whence they are fhot into one of the boats. These boats hold feven or eight tons, and, feveral of them being linked together, are eafily drawn out, by the help of the rail, to the mouth of the fubterraneous paffage, where a large bafon is made, ferving as a dock. From hence they are fent along a canal to Manchester, in ftrings, drawn by a horfe or two mules. It was the principle of this, as it has been that of all Mr. Brindley's canals, to keep on the level as much as poffible; whence it has been neceffary to carry them over the roads or fireams, upon arches after the manner of an aqueduct, and to fill up the vallics by artificial mounds for their conveyance, as well as to cut down or bore through hills. The most ftriking of all the aqueduct works, is in this firit canal, where it paffes over the navigable 5 navigable river Irwell, at Barton-bridge. The aqueduct begins upwards of two hundred yards from the river, which runs in a valley. Over the river itself it is conveyed by a ftone bridge, of great ftrength and thickness, confifting of three arches, the centre one fixty-three feet wide, and thirty-eight feet above the furface of the water, admitting the largest barges navigating the Irwell to go through with masts and fails ftanding. The fpectator was, therefore, here gratified with the extraordinary fight, never before beheld in this country, of one veffel failing over the top of another; and thofe, who had at firft ridiculed the attempt, as equivalent to building a caftle in the air, were obliged to join in admiration of the wonderful abilities of the engineer, from whofe creative genius there was fcarcely any thing within the reach of poflibility, which might not be expected.--This canal, after paffing Barton-bridge, was conveyed on the level, with great labour and expence, in a circuitous tract of nine miles, to Caftlefield, adjacent to Manchefter. The most remarkable part of its courfe is that, where it croffes the low grounds near Stratford, upon a vaft mound of earth, of great length, the conftruction of which exercifed all the inventive powers of the conductor. At its termination it is fed by the river Medlock; and, in order to keep up the water to a proper height, and prevent a fuperabundance of it in time of floods, a large circular wear is constructed, having in its centre an aperture or swallow, which conveys the fuperfluous water by a fubterranean paffage into the brook below. Another wear of a fimilar kind is formed at Cornbrook, three miles further." P. 112. The close of this very pleasing extract is plainly disfigured by fome tranfpofition, which at prefent carries the canal three miles further than its termination," but placed Cornbrook originally (we believe) at three miles further than "Stratford," and then fpoke of the termination of the canal. at the "Medlock." To this account we will add a brief notice of another canal, running off from the former, executed equally by the Duke, and varying in one grand effect of genius from it. "This canal, which is more than twenty-nine miles in length to its termination at Runcorn-gap,-is carried acrofs the Mersey by an aqueduct bridge, fimilar to that over the Irwell at Barton, but lower, as the Merley is not navigable in that part." There is fome confufion here again, from the writer or his printer. The aqueduct bridge, acrofs the Merfey, is a continuation of that vaft mound of earth, in which the canal "croffes the lower grounds near Stratford," and confequently is a part, not of the second canal, but of the first. "Further on, it alfo croffes the fmall river Bollin, which, running in a tract of low meadows, has made a mound in that part neceffary for the conveyance of the canal, of a height, breadth, and length, Kk 2 that |