prefent year, we fhall not be wanting in our utmoft endeavour, to execute this branch of our undertaking, in the best and most inftructive manner poffible; and, from time to time, oblige the public, not only with impartial accounts of the most valua ble works that shall be, in like manner, from time to time, publifhed in foreign parts, but fhall alfo take every opportunity the nature of an extenfive correspondence will allow, to mention fuch works of learning as are expected from men of diftinguished reputation, and which are preparing for, or are already in the prefs.

We fhall be likewife attentive to fuch literary anecdotes as may occafionally steal abroad, and to the memoirs of fuch celebrated Writers as are already deceafed, or as may happen to decease in the courfe of the year; and also pay a due regard to fuch literary controverfies as may arife, on fubjects that are truly interefting, and where the difputes may be of confequence towards the fettling facts of any importance, or may conduce to the. explaining any point of real utility. At prefent, instead of adding any farther promifes, we will proceed to perform those already made, as far as the materials in our hands will permit.

Reizen door een gedeelte van Europa, Klein Afien, verfcheide Eilanden van de Archipel, Syrien, Paleftina of het H Land, Egypten, den Berg Sinai, &c. In den beginne van deze Eeuw jedaan door wylen den Hoog-Edelen weljebooren Heer Johan Egidius van Egmond van der Nyenburg, &c. En den HoogEerwaarden, Hoog-Geleerden Heer Johannes Heyman, &c. Alles uit beider eigenhandige nagelaten Schriften op gemaakt, in een goede order gebragt, Briefs-gewyze zamengeftelt en behoorlyk ter Druk perfe bezargt door Johannes Wilhelmus Heyman, Med, Doct, Eerfte Deel. That is,

The Voyages of Meffrs. Vander Nyenburg and J. Heyman, through a part of Europe, Afia Minor, and many of the Inlands of the Archipelago, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Mount Sinai, &c. digefted in their proper order, and published in the form of Letters. By Dr. John-William Heyman. vol. I. 4to. pages 412. 1757.

Both thefe Travellers were perfons of diftinction, and both had the fame object in view, viz. to make themfelves perfectly acquainted with the Manners and Customs of the Eaftern Nations, and to acquire a thorough knowlege of the Oriental Tongues. Mr. Vander Nyenburg was a respectable Magiftrate of the town of Leyden, and Envoy Extraordinary from the States, to the King of the two Sicilies. He fpent four years in his travels, i. e. from 1720 to 1723. Mr.

J. Hey

J. Heyman was Profeffor of the Oriental Languages at Leyden, and Ipent about nine years in his travels, viz. from the year 1700 to 1709, The Editor is the nephew of the Profeffor, and received the papers of Mr. Nyenburg from his heir.

The method he has taken in the publishing them is very fingular, for having thrown them into the form of Letters, according to the geographical order of the places through which they had travelled, the Reader finds an eafy, natural, and correct relation; free from contradictions, or repetitions. But being made up of what was written by diftinct perfons, at different times, he can never tell to whom he is obliged for his information, or collect, otherwife than from circumitances, at what pe riod of time thefe obfervations were made.

Such as have attentively read the travels of Maundrell, Thevenot, Sandys, Le Brun, Dapper, Shaw, Tournefort, Spon, and Wheler, will not meet with many things new in these Letters. On the other hand, thofe who are not acquainted with thofe books, will here find almost all they contain, delivered in a very agreeable manner. It were to be wifhed, that Travellers would acquaint themselves perfectly with what has been already written with relation to the countries they vifit, and make it a rule not to dwell on what has been already faid.

Hiftoire de la Ville de la Rochelle, & du Pays d' Aulnis, composée d'apres les Auteurs & les Titres originaux, & enrichie de divers Plans. Par Monf. Arcere de l'Oratoire, l'Académie Royale des Belles-Lettres de cette Ville. A la Rochelle, chez René Jacab Defbordes, Imprimeur des Fermes Générales du Roi; & Je vend á Paris, chez Durand, rue St. Jacques. 1756. Tom. I. pag. 660, fans la Preface, &c. That is,

The Hiftory of Rochelle and the Country of Aulnis, extracted from original Authors and Records, adorned with copperplates.

This is a work that has been long expected, and has coft much attention, and great labour. It is a very full and compleat Hiftory of one of the fmalleft provinces in France, by a native; one perfectly well informed in every refpect, and who had spent many years in collecting, and digefting, the materials out of which this ftructure has been raifed, as a monument to the glory of his country. There is a large and accurate map prefixed; the whole is ranged in a very exact and elegant method; the Natural and Civil Hiftory are treated with great ability and precifion; and the defign of the Author is, in every refpect, executed to the utmoft, Perhaps those who are not equally in

terefted

terefted in favour of this country, or who have no relish for long and laboured difcuffions, may think him prolix; and it is not impoffible that he may, by fuch, be thought too highly prepoffelled in favour of his country, and of his countrymen. But after all, without a certain tincture of enthusiasm of this kind, perhaps it is impoffible to wade through fuch a multitude of dry and tedious pieces, as he found it neceffary to confult, in order to bring a work of this kind to perfection.

Thefe particular hiftories are of very great utility. They enable an inquifitive inhabitant to become perfectly well acquainted, in a fhort time, with what is naturally the first object of a mind properly turned to science, the knowlege of that spot to which he is particularly attached by Providence. They are no less acceptable to foreigners, who have any occafion to enquire into the circumstances of a particular province, which it would be almost impoffible for them to accomplish by collecting the scattered paffages that relate to it in different Authors. They ferve to correct many things that are not only imperfectly, but falfly fet down in general descriptions; and alfo afford a proper opportunity of fetting in a clear light, an infinity of fubjects relating to agriculture, mines, manufactures, and trade, which are things of the greatest confequence to mankind in general; fo that descriptions of this fort afford, in their different parts, amusement to fome, inftruction to others, and very frequently furnish the most profitable lights to thofe who turn their thoughts to the improving, by art, the valuable commodities which almost every country receives from nature; and which too frequently, but for works of this kind, would be overlooked and neglected.

Introduction a la Mineralogie, ou Connoiffance des Eaux, des Sucs terreftres, des Sels, des Terres, des Pierres, des Mineraux, & des Metaux. Avec une defcription abrégée, des opérations de métallurgie; ouvrage pofthume de Mr. J. F. Henckel, publié fous le titre de "Henckelius in mineralogia redivivus," & traduit de l'Allemand, 2 vol. in 8vo. A Paris chez Guillaume Cavelier, 1756. Tom. I. pag. 204. Tom. II. pag. 371. That is, An Introduction to Mineralogy, or the Knowlege of waters, terreftial juices, falts, earths, ftones, minerals, and metals. With a concife description of the operations of Metallurgy; a posthumous work of Mr. J. F. Henckel, published under the Latin title of, Henckelius in Mineralogia redivivus,' and translated from the German.

This gentleman, Dr. John Frederic Henckel, for under that name he has been always known to us, acquired a great and juft reputation, by many excellent pieces, in natural history and che'miftry, which he publifhed in his life time. He was born at

Fry

Fryberg, in Mifnia, in 1679. He applied himself, in the for mer part of his life, to phyfic; but quitted practice, to dedicate himself entirely to these favourite ftudies. The place of his birth put it in his power to fatisfy his prevailing paffion, and opened an unbounded field to his refearches. Fryberg is fituated amongst those mountains which have been rendered famous by their mines, and which have been wrought with success, through a long course of ages. Dr. Henckel, therefore, had the most favourable opportunity of ftudying nature; which he did with fuch affiduity and fuccefs, that his fuperior skill foon gained him fo high, and fo extensive a reputation, that his lectures were not only attended by perfons who came from all parts of Germany, but he had alfo difciples who reforted to him from Sweden and Ruffia. Auguftus the Second, King of Poland, and Elector of Saxony, made him counsellor in the council of mines at Fryberg, and it was under his direction, that the porcelane manufacture was brought to perfection, which has rendered the town of Meiffen fo famous. He died in 1744, in the place where he had lived, and where he was born. His fine cabinet of natural rarities was purchased by Mr. Demidoff, a man of fortune at Petersburgh, whose fon has made a prefent of it to the University of Moscow.

This performance was published at Drefden, in German, in 1747, by Mr. Stephani, the worthy difciple of an excellent mafter. A French tranflation had long been wifhed, and has at length appeared, faid to be performed with great accuracy and judgment, and not without fome very confiderable improvements. As the character of this great man is thoroughly known, and eftablifhed here; and as a work of his has been lately published, and well received, we may reasonably hope to fee this alfo in our own language, as there is no country in Europe where this kind of knowlege ought to be more cultivated, because there is none in which it can be better rewarded.

Memoires Hiftoriques & Phyfiques fur les Tremblement de Terre. Par Mr. Elie Bertrand, Premier Pafteur de l'Eglife Françoife de Berne, des Academies de Berlin, Göttingue, Leipfic, & Mayence. A la Haye chez Pierre Goffe, Junior, Libraire de S. A. R. 1757. I vol. in 8vo. pag. 326. That is, Hiftorical and Physical Me moirs upon Earthquakes. By Mr. Elias Bertrand, Minifter of the French Church at Berne, and Member of the Academy at Berlin, Gottingen, Leipfic, and Mentz.

About two years ago, this gentleman published a differtation and four fermons upon this fubject, which were very well received, and occafioned his being folicited to review what he had written, and reduce it into the form of a fyftem. This he has complied with, and having firft divided his original differtation

into five, has added to thefe, three more, which make up the volume before us. This gentleman appears to be a perfon of extenfive learning, and great fagacity. He has taken infinite pains to fatisfy himlelf, as to the circumftances that attended, and the confequences produced by, earthquakes, in his own country, in 1755. He has collected and confidered the different fentiments of antient and modern philofophers; he states them fairly, examines them freely, enquires how far each of them is founded in, or can be fupported by facts, and from thence labours to diftinguish what is true, what is falfe, and what is doubtful or uncertain.

The importance of this fubject has occafioned it to be so often treated, either exprefly or incidentally, by the most able men in all ages, and in all languages, that it is not easy to find another, upon which so much has been faid. Yet it must be allowed, that our Author has treated it in a manner and in a method fo perfpicuous and pleafing, that it may very well ferve as a compendium of all that has been advanced, with any ground of reafon or probability, upon fo intricate a topic; the causes of which are as remote from human observation, as the consequences are near them. As he treats what other Writers have advanced upon this head with much candor, fo he delivers his own fentiments with the utmoft modefty and moderation, adopting whatever appears to him probable, fupported by facts, and confiftent with found philofophy; and then adds what to him seems requifite to render the folution perfect. He observes, that not only a variety, but a diversity of circumftances, have attended different earthquakes; which induces him to affign different causes, or at least different modifications of the fame caufe: which he takes to be fubterraneous heat, or fermentation, as neceffary to produce fuch a variety of events. But as, fooner or later, there is good reason to fuppofe, that we fhall fee a tranflation of Mr. Bertrand's performance in our own language, we are unwilling to anticipate the pleasure that will refult from reading the whole, by entering into a more circumftantial detail of the several particulars contained in each of thefe differtations.

L'Abrege Chronologique de l'Hiftoire Ecclefiaftique, contenant l'hiftoire des eglifes d'Orient & d'Occident, les conciles generaux & particuliers, les auteurs ecclefiaftiques, les fchifmes, les herefies, les inftitutions des ordres monaftiques, &c. depuis la naissance de J. Č. jufqu' a l'anne 1700. 2 vols. in 8vo. Paris. That is, A Chronological Abridgment of the Ecclefiaftical Hiftory; containing a detail of the great events relative to the Eaftern and Western churches, general and particular councils, ecclefiaftical