determined every one, who could be convinced by demonftration, or biaf fed by the opinion of acknowledged abilities and judgment on the fubject. It is evident, however, that the majority of the fubfcribers to the different Tontines must have been ignorant of the very fmall profits they could reasonably expect from thefe fchemes, and, perhaps, placed too implicit a confidence in fpecious propofals, fan&tioned by the names of perfons of character, whom they confidered better informed than themfelves. Such fubfcribers muft, by this time have been undeceived, or very foon will be; and it is to prove to others the neceffity of understanding the nature of any fpeculation, that may be proposed to them, before they engage in it, that the following fact is ftated:-The whole am unt of stock purchafed with the above fum of I. 81,090l. 58. 8d. is 118,1981. 8s. 48. in the three per cent confols, which is now to be fold, for the purpose of making the expected divifion of accumulated capital, intereft, and profits. If fold at the prefent price of 48, it will produce 56,7351. 4s. rod. which divided among the prefent members, gives them 151. 19s. 7d. each. So that, after the trouble of making quarterly, or halfyearly payments, for feven years, the poffibility of having been unable to continue the fubfcription, the risk of losing what they had paid, by the death of the nominee, and the lofs of all intereft whatever, they must be, content to receive 21. 18s. 5d. lefs than they have actually paid, and confefs that they have been grofsly deceived by falfe expectations. Feb. 8, 1798. STATISTICAL PAPER. J. J. G. Tranflation of Economical and Political Queftions, by the Citizen Volney. -longitude? 3. What are its limits? 4. How many fquare miles does its furface contain? 8. What are the greatest variations? 9. What are the prevailing winds during each month? 10. Are they general or variable? 11. Are there fixed periods for their duration and return? 12. Are there periodical land and fea winds? and what is their tract! 13. In what direction are the winds firft felt-on the quarter whence Art. 2. Climate, or the state of the they come, or in that to which they Heavens. blow?* 14 What are the qualities of each wind? are they dry or rainy; warm or cold; violent or moderate? 15. In what month does most rain fall? 16. How many inches fall in a year? 7. What is the height of the quickfilver in the barometer during each month? 17. Are * It has been remarked, that in land winds, (les vents de terre) the fails which are firft filled are thofe neareft the shore, or in other words, neareft the winds. It would feem then that the fame law ought to prevail in the fea breezes (la bife de mer) but it is otherwife, for the former rule takes plar there alfo. It would be defirable to know, what particular winds produce thefe different effects? 17. Are there any fogs? and at what feafon? 18. Are there any dews? where and when, and at what time are they greateft? 19. Do the showers fall gently, or are they fevere? 20. Are there any fnows, and how long do they endure? 21. Are there any hail-ftorms, and at what feafon? 22. What, winds bring fnow and hail along with them? 23. Is there any thunder? when, and what wind reigns at that period? 24. In what direction is it usually diffipated? 25. Are there any hurricanes? what wind prevails antecedently? 26. Any earthquakes? at what feafon? what are the prefages? do they fucceed rains? 27. Are there any tides? what height do they reach? what winds accompany them? 28. Are there any phenomena peculiar to the country? 29. Has the climate experienced any known changes? and what? 30. Has the fea rifen or fallen? to -what extent? and when? Art. 3. State of the Soil. 31. Does the country confift of plains or mountains? and what is their elevation above the level of the fea? 32. Is the land covered with trees and forefts, or is it naked and un cloathed? 33. What are the marshes, lakes, and rivers? 34. Is it poffible to calculate the number of fquare leagues in mountains, marshes, lakes, and rivers? 35. Are there any volcanoes? and are they burning or extinguifhed? 36. Are there any coal mines? Art. 4 Natural products. 37. What is the quality of the foil? Ed. Mag. March 1798. 44. What are the weights and fizes of thefe, compared with ours? SECT. II. Political State. Art. 1. Population. 45. What is the phyfical conftitution of the inhabitants of the coun: try? their ufual height? are they fat or lean? 46. What complexion are they of? and what is the colour of their hair? 47. What is their food, and how much do they eat daily? 48. What is their beverage? are they given to intoxication? 49. What are their occupations? are they labourers, or vine-dreffers, or fhepherds, or feamen, or do they inhabit towns? 50 What are their accidental or habitual maladies? 51. What are their characteristic moral qualities? are they lively or dull, witty or phlegmatic? filent or garrulous? 52. What is the total mafs of population? 53. What is that of the towns, compared with that of the country? 54. Do the inhabitants of the country live in villages, or are they dif perfed in feparate farms? Dd 55. What is the ftate of the roads in fummer and winter? Art. 2 Agriculture. N. B. The methods of agriculture being being different, according to the different diftricts, the best way of becoming acquainted with this fubject, is to analyze two or three villages of different kinds; for example, a village in a plain, another on a mountain; one where the vine is cultivated, and another where farming alone is practifed. In each of thefe villages a farm fhould be completely analyzed. 56. In any given village, what may be the amount of the inhabitants, men, women, old men, and children? 57. What are their respective occupations? 58. What quantity of land is cultivated by the village? 59. What are their measures of length and capacity, compared with ours? 60. What is the price of neceffaries, compared with that of labour? 61. Are they labourers, proprieters, or farmers? do they pay in money or kind? 62. How long do their leases run, and what are the principal claufes in them? 63. How many farms are there, dependent on each village? 64. What is the proportion between the good and bad land? 65. Which are the best cultivated, large or small farms? and what quantity is allowed to an acre? 74. What are the periods for fowing and reaping? 75. What is the difference between the produce and the expences of every year? 76. What is the quantity of land in natural and artificial graffes? 77. What quantity of land is requifite for the feeding a cow, ox, mule, horse, sheep, &c.? How much does each consume in a day? 78. What are the animals ufed in agriculture? how are they harnaffed? 79. What are the inftruments of tillage? 80. What is the rent of the farm, compared with its eftimated produce? 81. What is the intereft of money? 82. How are the husbandmen fed? the amount per annum? and the value of the ftock? 83. What is the weight of a fleece, and of the meat under it? 84. What profit is fuppofed to accrue from a fheep? and alfo from an ewe? 85. What kind of manure is ufed' 86. How does the family employ itself in the evenings? and what fpecies of industry does it practise? 87. What is the difference obferv. 66. Do the farms confift of home able between the manners and the or outlying grounds? 67. Are the fields enclosed? and in what manner? 68. Are there any commons? and what do they produce? 69. Is there any right of paffage through private property? Having determined refpecting the details of a farm, you are to enquire, 70. The number of labourers, the mode in which they are lodged, the quantity of land and animals? 71. What is the rotation of crops? 72. How many years in fucceffion are the lands cultivated, and what fallow are they allowed? 73. What grains are fown yearly? improvement of a village where vines are cultivated, and one that produces corn? between a mountain village, and one feated in a plain ? 88. In what manner is the vine cultivated? 89. What are the different kinds of wines how are they kept? what the quality? the fpecies of grape? the produce of an acre? the price of any given quantity? 90. What are the trees cultivated? olives, mulberries, elms, chefnut, &c.? What are the particular modes of rearing them? What is the average produce of each? and of an acre? 91. What are the other products of of the country, either in cotton, indi go, coffee, fugar, tabacco, &c. and the methods used in cultivating them? 92. What new and ufeful article can be introduced? Art. 3. Industry. 93. What are the arts moft tifed in the country? prac 94. Which of these are the most lucrative? 95. What is remarkable in each, on the fcore either of economy or effe&t? 96. What arts and manufactures are most cultivated? 97. Can any others be introduced? and which? 98. Are there any mines? of what kind? how are they worked, efpecially those of iron? Art. 4. Commerce. 99. What are the articles imported and exported? 100. What is the balance of trade? 101. What kind of carriages are ufed for the tranfit of goods? are there any waggons? of what kind are they? how much do they carry? 102. What weight can a horfe, mule, ass, or camel carry? 103. What is the rate of carriage? 104. Of what kind is the internal and external navigation? 105. What are the navigable rivers? are there any canals? can any be cut? 106. What is the ftate of the coaft in general? is it high or low? does the fea encroach on, or leave it? 107. What are the ports, havens, and bays? 108. Is the exportation of grain permitted or denied? 109. What is the intereft of money among commercial men? Art. 5. Government and adminiftra tion. 110. What is the form of the go vernment ? powers, administrative, civil, and judicial? 112. What are the impofts? 113. How are they laid on, affeffed, and received? 114. What is the expence of the receipt? 115. What is the proportion between the taxes and the revenue of the contributors? 16. What is the amount of the impofts of a village, in comparison with its revenue? 117. Is there a clear and precife code of civil laws, or only of cuftoms and usages? 118. Are there many lawsuits? 119. What is the chief caufe of contention in the towns and country? 120. How is the right of property verified? are the title-deeds in the vernacular tongue, and are they eafily read? 121. Are there many lawyers? 122. Do fuitors plead in perfon? minated and paid? are they appoint123. By whom are the judges noed for life? 124. What is the order obferved in refpect to fucceffions and inherit ances? 111. What is the diftribution of Ddz 133. Is 133. Is there a great circulation of perfons and commodities in the country? 135. What, in fhort, are the eftablishments, no matter of what kind,, peculiar to the country, which me 134. Are there any post-houses rit obfervation on account of their and poft horfes ? utility? nected with fuperior or inferior acquaintances. So great is the number of Italian how to behave in the relations conwriters upon all fubjects, that a foreigner, who wishes to acquire a knowledge of the tongue, is expofed to the hazard of making a bad choice, and to entertain, of courfe, the most ftrange prejudices against the books and their writers. The notice of fuch authors as have obtained the approbation of all ages and countries, would be fuperfluous; the names of Dante, Petrarca, Ariofto, Taffo, Guarini, Taffo ni, and Sannazaro, fpeaking fufficient ly for themfelves, as beyond all cen fure or praife. My intention is only to give my ideas concerning fuch as are well known in the republic of letters, but whofe merit has not been as yet exactly appreciated. In this review I fhall moreover limit myself to fuch writers as are of a general intereft, hiftorians, philologifts, poets, &c. and for fufficient reafons I fhall take no notice of any of the prefent century, which is the true term from which the decay of the language has commenced. Monfignor Della Cafa, is, in my opinion, the moft truly correct and elegant of all the Italian writers. His works may be confidered as a model of what is called the didactic flyle. He was archbishop of Benevento in the kingdom of Naples, and one of the greatest men in the golden age of learning. He publifhed, among other things, wo ineftimable tracts on the Civilities of Life" productions which muft endure till the final dif. folution of fociety. One of them is entitled, "Galateo," and contains precepts on the manners of common fociety; the other, intitled, " A Treatise on Common Duties," teaches A rival to the "Galateo" is the Cortegiano, or Accompushed Gentleman," of Count Balthaffar Cattiglione, a Mantuan.-That nobleman was bred in the splendid court of the dukes of Urbino, and was well qualified, in every fense of the word, to write on the duties of courtiers. His ftyle is fprightly, elegant, natural, and eafy. By the Italians, the “Cortegiano" is called a golden book, and certainly the epithet is applied juftly. 1 Cardinal Bembo, a Venetian, was in the court of Leo X what in another illuftrious age the Mæcenafes were in that of Auguftus. He is one of those who have deferved the best of Italian literature. His tyle is admirable for the exquifite choice of words. He is cenfurable, however, for having conformed too much, by a fort of violence, to the genius of the Latin tongue; herein furnishing a bad precedent to the greater part of his cotemporaries. However great be the progrefs of philofophy, and the exact sciences in other parts of Europe, and in fpite of the prefent decay of Italy in hiftory and poetry, the fuperiority of the Italians in history cannot be called in queftion. What is ftill more remarkable is, that the beft and greatest of thofe hiftorians are perfectly pure and elegant writers. Among thefe, Guicciardini and Machiavel take the lead. If the sciences could be appreciated by the judgment of men, like works of imagination, more disputes would have been ftarted in Italy concerning the refpective merits of these twe |