as his life was so replete with great events that it was impossible to compress his biography within a narrower compass; but we have concluded our memoir at the period of his gaining the imperial throne, as his feats and his policy since that era are too well known to need a regular or lengthened detail; but it is our intention, by way of a conclusion to our memoir, to give to our readers, in our next number, a selection from the works of Las Cases of the most interesting anecdotes concerning Napoleon, of such anecdotes as will form a commentary of his life, and prove an elucidation of many of those great events by which Napoleon so long held the greater part of Europe under his absolute and unlimited control.

It is pleasurable to see the name of this lady again in print, as it recalls to our imagination the older times, when her talents were a pass. port for her into the society of Johnson, Goldsmith, and the literary host of that memorable period; who does not recollect Boswell's anecdote of the Doctor's complimentary reception of this lady after the appearance of her Ode to Liberty? Her merit won the esteem even of that prejudiced critic, although her fine principles of liberty were, of all others, calculated to inflame his passions and excite his animosity.

The volume, now before us, contains thirty introductory pages, elegant, and glowing with all the warmth of poetry. If there be any difference of opinion as to the merit of the poems, nobody can hesitate to acknowledge that beauty which this lady's compositions in prose derive from the dignity and consistency of her sentiments, and from the animation and vivacity of her manner. In the introduction to the present volume, Miss Williams enters a warm protest against what she calls the opinions which have gone forth in England, respecting the present degenerate state of

science and literature in France." For our parts, we are not aware of any such opinion being at all prevalent amongst our countrymen. We recollect such doctrines having appeared in the pages of a quarterly publication of great merit (the Edinburgh Review), but we believe they made little or no impression upon persons at all competent to form any judgment on the subject. On the contrary, the general opinion of this country is, that the French are preeminent in science, although we impugn their taste in some of the branches of the arts,and claim for ourselves a decided preference in literature. Indeed it is known that the French, since the commencement of the revolution, have neglected literature for the sake of science; and although Mr. Gibbon and a few others entered warm and able protests against such preference, there are many persons of eminence in this country, as well as in other parts of Europe, that justify the choice. We must confess, that hitherto an attention almost exclusive has been given to literature in many schools of Europe, but we do not see why the reaction should be an exclusive des votion to science. It is true that philosophy and the sciences and arts may be more conducive to human happiness than literature, but a perfect state of society requires the acquisition and reunion of all; and we believe that they will flourish best where they mutually support each other. In France, the abstract mathematics, astronomy, geography, comparative anatomy, natural his tory, and botany, have made surprising progress within the last fifty years, whilst the English are immeasurably superior in chemistry, and greatly excel in literature, in metaphysics, and in many branches of the mixed mathematics. The fair author pays a just tribute to the noble conduct of Condorcet and Rabaut St. Etienne, during the revolution. Her epithets applied to the different Savans of France are forcible and well chosen, and she gives several ingenious reflections on the three leading French poets, and traces the effects of liberty on the poetic temperament in general, and upon the genius of these three individuals in particular. Miss

Williams's sentiments upon public liberty have been justly praised by most eminent writers, but in her enmity to Napoleon, for sacrificing the cause of freedom to his military mania and personal ambition, she appears to us to do too little homage to the surprising talents of that stupendous character,, nor does she give a just consideration of the extraordinary circumstances in which he was placed, Miss Williams gives a few tokens of her poetic taste, having been a little affected by her long residence in France. In one of her quotations of a French quatrain from Loyson, the second line is "De Ducis de Dellile, il entend le silence." To hear silence, is an expression which no English reader could tolerate, much less quote.

There is a note in the same page which reflects great dishonour on the French painters, for we trust the fact it records is no trait in the human character in general. During the ascendency of Napoleon, Miss Williams relates, that the exhibitions at the Louvre were full to overflow ing with battle scenes, in which Napoleon was always conspicuously placed on the canvas, but since the restoration of the Bourbons not a painting of a battle has been exhibited; but the walls are crowded with Madonas, processions, and with endless representations of Henry IV. Would not a few facts of this description justify Napoleon's bad opinion of human nature? On the whole, we have seldom read thirty more amusing pages than the introduction to this volume.

豐

The poems are very numerous, and the greater part of a lighter description. Many of them have before appeared in print, and we have no doubt that several of them will be recognised by her readers. The Ode to Peace is remarkably fine, and re plete with the rapture and nobleness of thought, which characterise this species of poem. Some of the sonnets are ingenious and elegant, that to Hope is new in its ideas. The sonnet to Burns' Mountain Daisy is forcible, whilst those to Twilight and to the Moon are elegant and tinged with a shade of melancholy, to express which the sonnet is peculiarly adapted. The highest species of composition in the volume are the Peru

vian Tales, occupying about sixty pages. These contain passages of fire and of pathos, and may be read with pleasure and improvement, We think the volume a very acceptable offering to the public; and it will be valued by many as a reminiscence of a lady whose name was once so familiar to our studies, but whose pen has latterly kept no pace with the promise of her earlier productions.

The Lucubrations of Humphrey Ravelin, Esq. 8vo. pp. 414. London, 1823.

The reader will perceive by this Sobriquet of Ravelin, that the author of the volume we are about to review is a military gentleman; and the volume itself will further convice him of the fact, for it abounds in sketches of the military service, of the military character, habits, and dispositions, and it contains a few amusing chapters of but slight connection with the military profession of the author. Major Humphrey Ravelin and his valet, Havresack, are of the family of my uncle Toby and the corporal, and although not exactly equal to the great "Stock and honour of their race," they bear evident marks of the family resemblance, and display a naivete, a readiness, and a good nature, which will make the reader happy to pursue with them their lucubrations. The volume is written in a gentlemanly style, and several of the chapters are of considerable interest; whilst others, without containing much of positive information, impart the same sort of satisfaction that we receive from a perusal of a chapter of the Sketch-Book, or from one of those, minor but elegant papers of the Spectator, in which every reader will perceive the " Materiem supera, bat opus." The chapter upon the West India services, and that upon the East Indians, at Cheltenham, contain many sound reflections, and much of fact which will suggest re flections to those who have any local or personal knowledge upon the subject. One of the most interesting parts of the volume is that relating to the Indian Tribes in America, and to Tecumthe and his brave warriors allied to the British armies.

The work has afforded us several pleasurable hours in our study, and we recommend it as a source of elegant recreation to our readers.

Letters to Sir Walter Scott, Bart, on the Moral and Political Character and Effects of the Visit to Scotland of King George IV. 8vo. pp. 170. Edinburgh, 1822.

We are likely to have our judg ment conciliated by any work emanating from a desire to diffuse loyal sentiments, and to create a respect for the throne, but we much fear that the author now before us is not possessed of talents sufficient to give dignity, or even plausibility to the loyal views and sentiments which he has embodied in this work; and we must hint to him, that the cause of true and rational loyalty is more likely to be injured than benefited by a work of extravagant ultraism, espe cially if it be destitute both of sound reflections and of literary elegance. For our parts, we cannot trace any of the great moral and political effects, which the author would attribute to our Monarch's visit to the North, nor can we follow our author in tracing any analogy between the King's visit to Scotland, and Lord Rodney's defeat of the French fleet; nor agree with him, that in a serious work, relating to royalty, the heads of chapters should bear such sentences as "The King on the Half-moon Battery of the Castle," his health drunk, and reply made amidst the report of cannon, "Man a King-making animal," &c. &c. The indiscretion of such a work is palpable, and its tendency is to make royalty the object of jest and ridicule. Zeal without knowledge is dangerous to any cause. As the work before us is extravagant in its sentiments, and destitute of information and of any new or useful reflections, the utmost that we can do, consistently with the purity of our critical functions, is to acknowledge the author's laudable object of increasing the attachment to the Sovereign, and to praise him for his good intentions towards a cause which his work is, however, calcu

lated to injure in a ratio to its extent of circulation.

A concise System of Mensuration, adapted to the use of Schools, Containing Algebra, with Fluxions; Practical Geometry, Trigonometry, Mensuration, Superficies and Solids, Land Surveying, Guaging. &c. By Alexander Ingram, 12mo. Edinburgh, 1822, pp. 323.

Mr. Ingram is known, we believe, as the editor of one or two useful books of mathematics, and particularly of an edition of Euclid, in which he has added precision and accuracy to many minor parts, where Dr. Simpson had expressed himself with circumlocution, and a want of method and clearness. We believe few things would be more perplexing to a teacher, or to a man of higher scientific attainments, than to determine the relative pretensions of the numerous, we had almost said, innumerable works upon every branch of elementary instruction; each has some points of superiority, and others of inferiority to its rivals, and all have parts so nearly similar, that to balance the aggregate merits of such rival publications, would be a most perplexing office. In the work before us 84 pages are devoted to algebra, although we thought Bonnycastle's treatise or introduc tion had superceded the necessity of any elementary work on this science. Thirty pages follow of geometry, logarithms, and trigonometry, all of which appear to us neither better nor worse than what we may find in Bonnycastle, in Robertson, and in other eminent preceding writers on such subjects. The character of the whole work is that of clearness, and as it contains a compilation of the elements of so many useful and connected sciences, it is better as a school book than so many separate introductions upon each science, provided at least that the scholar is intended for a profession which requires geometry, trigonometry, algebra and logarithms, to be followed by mensuration, surveying, guaging and measuring the works of artificers.

A Concise History of Ancient Institutions, Inventions and Discoveries, abridged and translated from the German of Professor Beckmann, with various important additions. . 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 805. London, 1823.

We believe there are few persons of observation who have not had occasion to remark, or who have not heard others remark, the very little information possessed even by people of intelligence upon the origin and progress of some of the most useful and even common inventions and discoveries. So little attention has been paid to such subjects in this country, that we believe we have fewer books of the nature of those now before us than perhaps of any other description whatever; this is the more remarkable, as the origin and state of institutions, of inventions and discoveries, elucidate the page of history, are explanatory of the manners and habits of a people at any particular era, and independant of this, are in themselves objects of the most pleasing study. The work before us is therefore of a nature so decidedly acceptable, that it remains for us to speak only of its execution; of part of it we have scarcely any occasion to speak, for being a translation of the celebrated work of Professor Beckmann, the public approbation may be considered as already passed upon it, and we have therefore only to judge of the fidelity of that translation, of the merit of the new matter which has been added to the original, and whether the whole be compiled with judgment and accu

racy.

The original German work was exceedingly voluminous, and without order or arrangement; the matter of the present volumes is alphabetically arranged, and the materials are condensed to a compass which contains the necessary information

without fatiguing the reader, and the subjects both in their relation to the ancients and moderns are stated with great perspicuity, and are often accompanied by useful and moral observations. Much error now prevalent in the world upon common points will be cleared up by some of the chapters in this volume; for instance, with respect to the Tulipmania in Holland, there are many, we believe, who fancy that the extraordinary sums, stated to have been paid for individual plants of the several species of this flower, were actually given in barter, that the flower was transferred upon the payment of the money, and that the enormous price arose from an admiration of the tulip. In the chapter upon this subject these tales are explained to have been fictitious, and adopted as a mode of a species of gambling similar to what we now call stock-jobbing. The author, however, might have entered into the consideration of how the tulip became selected as the medium of such gambling speculations, and the extent to which the admiration of that flower among the Dutch had really carried the price of an individual root, in bona fide transac tions. Some of his observations are occasionally careless; for instance, in the chapter we are now speaking of, he observes in the tulipmania, that at first nearly all who gambled were gainers, and that at the conclusion very few escaped without loss. We believe it may be stated, as an abstract principle, that in all stages of gambling transactions, precisely as much must be gained as lost; and it is a truth equally clear that upon the aggregate, the transfer of money in gam ing is from the pockets of gentlemen into those of sharpers or professional players. However we refer the reader to the work itself, as a source of much amusement as well as of useful knowledge.

AFRICA.

Captain Laing, of the Royal African light infantry regiment, returned on the 29th of October last from his journey into the interior. He had been commissioned by the governor, Sir Charles Macarthy, to repair to the King of Soulimana. He set out on his journey on the 6th April, 1822, with a caravan fitted out by English merchants, for the purpose of opening commercial relations with the countries through which he might pass. Having succeeded in his mission, he left Talaba, the capital of Soulimana, on the 17th September, and returned by the banks of the Rockelle by a commodious route, which would afford a safe and lucrative channel for English trade. In passing through the southern Kourankos, Captain Laing was presented to Ballansama and obtained from him permission for the people of Sangara to travel through his territories, for the purposes of commerce. Having been prevented approaching the sea, they had hitherto been obliged to trade with the Europeans in the kingdoms of Soulimana and Foulah. The king sent one of his sons and his only brother, to assure Sir Charles Macarthy of the desire, which the prince and all the people of Kourankos had to establish friendly relations between themselves and the English. A son of the King of Soulimana, and several inhabitants likewise, accompanied the caravan on its return, in order to express a similar desire.

The whole course of the principal branch of the Rockelle is now accurately known. Captain Laing places its Source in latitude 9o 45′ S. and longitude 1005 W. This river would be navigable to within thirty miles of its source but for the obstruction of a vast number of rocks. Captain Laing made many observations upon the source of the Niger, which, in these regions, is called the Tremble. Mount Loma, from which its waters flow, forms the commencement of a chain of mountains, and is situated in latitude 9o 15′ S. and longitude 9° 36′ W. The river divides Sangara from Soulimana, having the first on its right bank, and the second on its left. The river Camaranca has its source two days march to the east of the Niger, and, after approaching within two or three miles of the Rockelle, it Rows to the west through the country of the Kourankos. Captain Laing also

speaks of the river Mungo, which falls into the ocean, uniting its mouth with that of the Scarcies. But the Mungo is the larger river,taking its rise near Beila, a city of the Foulahs, two days journey from Timbo, the capital of the Foulahs.

In the country called Limba, the Mungo receives the Kabba, which is about 100 yards broad, and which rises twenty miles south of Timbo. Captain Laing places that city in latitude 100 52′ S. and in longitude 100 34′ W. Such are the particulars already known of this gentleman's expedition, an account of which, perhaps, the public will have from his own pen. It is probable that Captain Laing will be engaged to trace the source of the Niger, and to ascertain its course from its origin or spring to the spot to which it is now known.

AMERICA.

Dr. Phebus, of New York, has invented a horizontal wheel, to be put in motion by the wind. The principle of it is very simple. There are eight horizontal spokes attached to a perpendicular nave, each of the spokes has a small sail, which may be furled or spread with the same facility as the sail of a boat. Each sail, running from right to left, is hooked to that which immediately follows it, and they are all of a size, sufficient to receive the necessary impulse from the wind. This invention is inore difficult to describe than to conceive, but it is thought that it may be applied with great advantage in many manufactories.

The printers and booksellers of Philadelphia have held a meeting for the purpose of nominating a deputation to assist at the fourth centurinal anniversary of the invention of the art of printing. This anniversary will also be held during the present year, at Haerlen, in Holland.

An artist at New York, named James Finlayson, has published a prospectus of a map of Scotland, designed as an illustration of the works of Sir Walter Scott and of Burns. The chart will be coloured and adapted to fold in a book, the price being one dollar. Every place really existing, which is mentioned in these works, will be marked down, so that their relation to those which are only imaginary may be easily conceived. For instance, for Waverley there will be marked Ben Lawers, and a lake to the east, which will recal the meeting of Waverley