ART. 37. Defultory Obfervations on the Act of the laft Seffion of Pare liament, entitled" An Ã& for granting to his Majefty, until the firft Day. of May next after the Ratification of the Definitive Treaty of Peace, a Contribution on the Profits arifing from Property, Profeffions, Trade and Offices." Addreffed to the Landed Intereft of Great Britain, by a Landbolder. 8vo. 55 PP. 1s. 6d. Conftable and Co. Edinburgh; Longman and Rees, London. 1804.

We cannot be expected to give any detailed account of this very defultory publication. Notwithttanding the time and attention which the author tells us he has given to the subject, we think him but fuperficially acquainted with the Act he has fo feverely criticized.

MISCELLANIES.

ART. 38. A Sporting Tour through the Northern Parts of England, and great Part of the Highlands of Scotland, including Remarks on English and Scottish Landscape, and general Obfervations on the State of Society and Manners, embellished with Sixteen Engravings, by Meffrs. Medland, Pouncy, Landfeer, and Peltro, from Paintings made on Purpose, by Mr. Garrard. By Colonel T. Thornton, of Thornville Royal, in Yorkshire. 4to. 11. 15s. Vernor and Hood. 1804.

This is a Tour entirely of a new defcription, though not without its portion of intereft to many readers. The writer does not afpire to pene trate the centre of Africa, to measure the pyramids, to discover a fouthern continent, &c. but fets out with the train of a patriarch, the activity of a Tartar, and the perfeverance of a German over bogs and moors, and fpacious lakes, is bent on the deftruction of game of every defcription, from the noble roebuck of the hills, to the humble trout of the ftream. Great indeed was his fuccefs, of which the reader, however he might tremble at the fatigue which obtained it, would doubtless, as we should, have been delighted to partake. Like a skilful general, the author makes each day a regular return of the killed off, as, for example: "Returns, fix pike, seventeen trout, fhot four black cocks, and feven partridges; hawks, killed two partridges and three fnipes." The following alfo is a defcription of one of the Colonel's accidental dinners.

"A Hodge Podge.
REMOVE

A roaft pike of seven pounds,
Sauces,

Greens, rein deer's tongue, potatoes,
Chickens.

SECOND COURSE,

Loin of mutton,

Black game and partridge,

Currant jelly, capficum, elder, garlick, vinegars,

Pomerade and char,

A carving,

Bifcuits, Stilton cheese, Cheshire, butter,

Goat's milk,"

Who would not have liked to have been one of fuch a party? The whole is written with much vivacity and good humour; others muft determine whether the author did not occafionally fhoot with a long bow, but once he talks of killing his mark at the distance of one hundred and three yards. Some pleasant anecdotes are interfperfed, and some refpectable engravings illustrate the narrative. We think the fum of one pound fifteen fhillings rather extravagant for a book which will hardly be read more than once, except by keen lovers of the sports of the field; fed qui vult decipi, decipiatur.

ART. 39. The Importance of Malta confidered, in the Years 1796 and 1798; alfo Remarks which occurred during a Journey from England to India, through Egypt, in the Year 1779. By Mark Wood, Efq. M. P. late Chief Engineer, Bengal. 4to. 5s. Stockdale, 1803. Several Members of both Houses of Parliament had expreffed doubts of the importance of Malta to this country. This very experienced and intelligent gentleman explains, in the moft fatisfactory manner, its great value, both in a commercial and political point of view. It ferves as a depot, and protects our commerce in the Mediterranean and Ionian Seas, and it affords the only check we can have to restrain the vaft plans and boundless ambition of Emperor Bonaparte. The opi nions communicated in this interefting tract, fuggefted themfelves to the author in the courfe of a journey from England to India through Egypt. The route which he himself fuccefsfully pursued is detailed, for the benefit of future travellers to India by the way of Suez, and to fuch it cannot fail of being highly acceptable. The additional remarks feem to merit the attention of thofe who employed Mr. Wood on this service, as it seems that, although he was fent on a bufinefs where ftrong injunctions of fecrecy were authoritatively given, it would have been an easy matter to have intercepted the difpatches, on many different occafions, previous to his arrival at Suez. The uncertainty and peril of navigating the Gulph of Venice is fe great, that fome other track ought furely to be devifed. A very neat and correct map of the route to India by Venice, Grand Cairo, and Suez, is fub joined.

ART. 40. A Biographical Dictionary of the celebrated Women of every Age and Country. By Matilda Betham. 8vo. 125. Crosby. 1804.

The author had originally intended to publish a work on the fubject in four octavo volumes, but the appearance of another production, with the fame title, deterred her. She now on a more contracted scale exhibits fome of the materials fhe had before compiled, perceiving that her plan does not interfere with that which has been printed by Mifs Hayes. The "Dictionnarie des Femmes celebres" has confeffedly communicated many useful and substantial aids to the writer, but we have perufed the performance with much fatisfaction, and think it an interefting compilation of female biography. The whole is written with great impartiality, and great attention appears to have been paid to the authenticity of the information which is communicated.

ART.

ART. 41. Some Particulars of the Royal Indifpofition of 1788-1789, and of its Effects upon illuftrious Perfonages and oppofite Parties inte refted by it. 8vo. 111 pp. 45. 6d. No Publisher's name.

This is a publication which ought, on various accounts, to have been suppressed: and of this the publisher was manifeily confcious, as appears by the concealment of his name. Were it poffible, that the narrative could be relied on, much of it is of a nature which delicacy would long withhold from public view; and if it be altogether false, it is ftill more ftrongly reprehenfible. "It is extracted", the editor fays, "from a long-continued journal of a departed friend, whofe peculiar fituation, for a series of years, afforded her ample means of informa tion, whilst it left her wholly unconnected with contending parties.” Such anecdotes, however, if published at all, require much better evidence to their truth than that of an anonymous journal, brought forward by an anonymous editor and publisher. The alledged motive for the publication, which was intended to be produced during the late illness of our justly revered Sovereign, is, " that a knowledge of the circumstances, which on a former occafion terminated in a complete recovery of health, may be calculated to foothe anguish, and excite hope, in the prefent inftance." But this motive feems to us infufficient to counterbalance the strong objections which lie against fuch communications as are here made; and even this motive was confeffedly wanting at the time of publication, his Majesty's happy recovery having actually taken place before the pamphlet could be finifhed. The editor, indeed, alledges, that the progrefs of the printer had not left it in her power at that time to withdraw the publication. But this we do not understand, unless it alludes to expence only; for in other refpects it was as easy to fupprefs the work as to add the concluding advertise

ment.

ART. 42. Part the Firft of an Addrefs to the Public from the Society for the Suppreffion of Vice, inftituted in London 1802: fetting forth, with a Lift of the Members, the Utility and Neceffity of fuch an Infi tution, and its Claim to Public Support. 8vo. 106 pp. with a large Table of the Laws against Vice, &c. 25. Rivingtons, Harris, &c. &c. 1803.

ART. 43. Addrefs to the Public from the Society for the Suppression of Vice, inftituted in London 1802. Part the Second, containing an Ac count of the Proceedings of the Society from its original Inftitution. 8vo. 96 pp. 1's. 6d. Same Publishers. 1803.

Societies for the reformation of public manners are by no means new in this country. At the latter end of the seventeenth century, fuch an inftitation was formed, and branched out into many others, the proceedings of which were published in 1700. How long it fubfifted afterwards we have not had an opportunity to trace; but in that publication reference is made to a fimilar inftitution"in times of ufurpation." A further account of this work will be found in p. 69 of the first part of this Addrefs, and the following pages. Soon after the

iffuing

iffuing of his Majefty's Proclamation in 1787, " for the Encouragement of Piety and Virtue, and for preventing and punishing of Vice, Profaneness, and Immorality", a fimilar defign was taken up by fome of the first perfonages in the kingdom for rank and worth, who, in the 1789, eftablished, on that bafis, a fociety which still subfists, and is called the Proclamation Society." The wife and temperate efforts of this fociety, to enforce the execution of the laws alluded to in the proclamation, were attended with diftinguished fuccefs. But after the lapfe of thirteen years, it appeared to the inftitutors of the fociety which here addreffes the public, that the extenfion of the plan was neceffary, and that a fecond fociety, formed for a fimilar purpose, might be attended with confiderable advantage. This new defign has met with a rapid and highly refpectable support, and has now been made more generally known, by the excellent Dif courfe of the Bishop of Landaff, which we have noticed under the head of Divinity. A propofal has fince been made for the incorporation of the two focieties, which has ended rather in a close alliance than in an actual union: the one, however, avowing the ftrongest approbation of the defign and proceedings of the other. The decla ration of the Proclamation Society on this fubject will be found at p. 94 of the fecond part.

With refpect to the publications here announced, it is only neceffary to fay, that the reader will find in them every information on the fubject of the Society and its plans; and many more cogent arguments for the fupport of fuch an inftitution than would probably have occurred to his own mind, without the aid of long and mature confider. ation. With the affiitance of these Addresses, and the eloquent recommendation of the Bishop of Landaff, there can be little doubt that the Society will continue to flourish.

ART. 44. Everfion; or, the Refutation of the prefent Principles of Mundane Philofophy. By Thomas Cormouls, A. M. Editor, Wol verhampton. 8vo. 148 pp. 78. Longman and Rees, and Hurft. 1804.

This work contains fix Dialogues, wherein the principal doctrines relative to the general fyftem of the world, to attraction, to gravita tion, defcent of bodies, &c. are attempted to be ridiculed, and absolutely controverted. By way of illuftration, a plate is prefixed to the work. We must forbear faying any thing more concerning it, as it is neither neceffary, nor in our power, to give our readers an adequate idea of the ftrange nonfenfe it contains.

8vo.

ART. 45. Nen Refuted: a Geographical, Nautical, Mechanical, and Mathematical View of the Universe. By W. Parkes. 68 pp. 35. G. and J. Robinfon. 1804.

This publication being one of the fillieft we ever were under the ne ceffity of perufing, cannot poffibly demand our serious examination.

FOREIGN

FOREIGN CATALOGUE.

FRANCE.

ART. 46. Les Liliacées; par P. J. Redouté, peintre du Muséum national d'hifloire naturelle. Paris, folio, fixth livraison, pr. 40 fr.

The Plants contained in this livraifon are the Amaryllis atamafco; the Amaryllis equeftris; the Amaryllis fernienfis; the Ixia longiflora; the Gladiolus triftis, and the Gladiolus cufpidatus.

The execution is equally admirable with that in the preceding livraisons. The text, drawn up by Mr. Decandolle, is excellent; and the beauty of the typography anfwers to that of the plates.

Nouv. Efpr. des Journ.

ART. 47. Flore des Pyrénées; par Philippe Picot-Lapeyroufe, de PInftitut-national de France, de l'Académie des fciences de Stockholm, de la Société d'agriculture de la Seine, Toulouse, Caen, Auch; de celles des arts et fciences de Grenoble, Montpellier, Nimes, Montauban, Sc.Sc, Ie. ze. 3e. et 4e, livraisons, contenant la monographie des faxifrages; large folio. Paris.

The Pyrenees, from their extent and pofition, from the diverfity of their fituations, afpects, and temperature, prefent an aftonishing variety in their vegetable produtions; there being found on them many plants which are peculiar to these mountains, almost all those of the Alps, many of those of Siberia and Lapland, and a great number of thofe of Spain.

Tournefort and fome of the old botanifts had travelled in the Pyrenees; Gouan and Pourret among the moderns have vifited the eaftern parts of this chain; the former of thefe had claffed in his Inftitutions the fpecies which he had been the firft to obferve; the others had defcribed fome fpecies which had before been little, or imperfectly known.

It still remained then to give an hiftory of the plants of the Pyrenees. This talk could be undertaken by no one fo properly, as by the man who had devoted himself for thirty years to the examination of these rich mountains, and collected, with an unremitting zeal, all their natural productions.

The author does not give the hiftory of all the plants of these mountains, but of thofe only which are peculiar to them, which were not known, or of which defcriptions and figures had not been before published; every defcription is accompanied with a figure.

Mr. Lapeyrouf feems to have been the firft who has made a fuccessful ufe of the French language in Natural Hiftory. He has, in imitation of the Latin of Linnéus, fuppreffed the verbs and the articles, introduced words borrowed from the Latin and the Greek, and thus been ena

bled