Geneva, and over Mount Cenis to Turin, Modena, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Padua, Venice, Verona, Mantua, Milan, Geneva, Lausanne, Berne and the other principal cities of Switzerland; from which country she returns to France, and travels through Marseilles, Toulon, Avignon, Montpellier, Bourdeaux, again south to Bayonne, thence to Paris by way of Orleans. It is obvious that a rout so very extensive, and including so many cities and objects of importance to every class of readers, cannot fail to make Mrs. Colston's Travels of general interest. Descriptive Travels from France to Italy, and from Italy to Switzerland, and thence to France, are to be found in various volumes, but we know not that any one work of travels, published since the peace, combines the advantage of containing a full and detailed description of these three separate routs. Our fair traveller seems to have been stimulated by what many might be inclined to call female curiosity, but what our gallantry would designate by the better name of a thirst for knowledge. She appears to have been indefatigable in her researches, and she has given us descriptions of every object in her route which was worthy of the smallest notice, so that her volumes will be a great acquisition to future tourists, as well as a fund of information and of amusement to stay-at-home travellers. There is one species of information which these volumes, as well as every other Tour that has fallen within our knowledge, totally neglects. We mean the value of money at different places, information on which point would be extremely useful to the vast numbers who are obliged to resort to the continent, from motives that would induce them to direct their course to where moderate comforts could be acquired at the most moderate cost. From the very general neglect of this species of information observable in travels, we imagine that travellers must be a more wealthy class of individuals than critics, aud mere literary gentlemen; but for our parts, dignified and important as we hold our functions, we cannot but acknowledge the necessity of

attending to the “res angusta domi,” and there is such a pleasure, or, perhaps, such a malevolence, in a community of misery, that we would fain flatter ourselves that the necessity of a similar attention to such low cares exists in other classes than our own, and that information of the expense of living in the differ-. ent cities of the continent would be far from decreasing the value of any work of travels, whether in pompous quarto or in more humble eights.

We fully acknowledge the great utility as well as amusement that must be derived from Mrs. Colston's works, but a critic, like a schoolmaster, never conceives his dignity well maintained, unless he exhibits his acumen in detecting errors, and in reproving faults. We must, therefore, suggest that some passages of these volumes exhibit a masculine coarseness, and that they are not altogether free from vulgarisms, or always in a tone consistent with the elegance of feminine manners in the higher circles. We must observe also, that we disapprove of Mrs. Colston's propensity to contrast different religions. Living in Florence, she tells us, that the religion of the people (those who were courteous and kind to her included) "appears to Protestants more adapted to children than to persons of maturer age. I cannot help contrasting the dignifying, ennobling influence of our faith, with the puerilities of theirs." Now it is hardly candid or equitable in any comparison to balance the "dignifying and ennobling" parts of any thing against the " puerilities" of another; but we object to this throwing of stones against our neighbours, especially when we have no safeguard against the lex talionis, and no unerring standard to ascertain whether our own house be built on a rock or on a sand bank. It is surely both mischievous and contrary to the mild spirit of Christianity to be marshalling creeds in hostile array, or to be putting them at all in contact, and at a time when infidelity is making such rapid advances amongst those educated classes, which must eventually influence the rest of the community; it would be

prudent to arrest the torrent by uniting all denominations of Christians in one social and family compact, the maxim of which might be as to dogmas of faith, that his can't be wrong whose life is in the right." Mrs. Colston is sadly disposed to a contrary tone of feeling, and we find her in page 68, vol. I., comparing the church service of the Catholics to a country dance, and in numerous other places sneering at them, ridiculing them, or at least speaking of them with disrespect. Our traveller is not always very clear in her ideas on subjects of art. For instance, speaking of the church of the Hospital des Invalides at Paris, she tells us that the architecture is " grand and rich in the highest degree," and a few lines after talks of the "simple grandeur" of the building. Now simplicity and grandeur, or grandeur and richness, in architecture are consistent, but we can form no idea of a building at once grand, simple and rich. But the lady tells us that this building is "grand and rich in the highest degree notwithstanding the mixture of orders contained in it, the first tier of columns being doric, the second corinthian, and the third composite." Now this multiplication of columns is a mere copy from the Romans, being a constituent of grandeur; the word "notwithstanding" in the above sentence, is to us unintelligible, and, moreover, the triple tier of columns and gilded roof of the building she is speaking of are in a most rich and florid style, and cannot form what she afterwards calls "the simple grandeur" of the building. We have a very fair description of Havre-deGrace and of Rouen, but her descriptions of some of the cities in the North of Italy are not sufficiently detailed. Florence she describes fully, and her chapters on Rome and its vicinity will be found instructive and amusing, and we can pass the same praise on her pages, descriptive of Venice and Milan. With her descriptions of Switzerland we are satisfied, as far as they represent the towns and the appearance of the country, with the mode of travelling; but we feel rather vexed, occasionally, that she hurries

on her journey with so much precipitancy that she has no opportunity of giving us any representation of the manners, habits, and customs of the different ranks of Swiss society, of the condition of the poorer classes, of their sentiments and opinions, and of the degree of information circulated amongst them by their rulers. But Mrs. Colston could not pass through Yverdun without mentioning M. Pestalozzi and his academy; and she gives a pretty intelligible account of the outline of M. Pestalozzi's great principles of communicating knowledge, and makes some comparison between his plan and that of M. Fellenberg; but she unfortunately terminates her pages on the subject, by expressing the vulgar apprehension that society may be injured by the diffusion of knowledge amongst the lower orders of mankind. It would be hardly fair in us to reprove a lady for an erroneous opinion on a subject so far removed from the range of female studies, but we must suggest to Mrs. Colston, that, without her entering into systems and theories, if she had only reflected a little upon history, or on the passing scene of life, she must have come to the conclusion, that knowledge and not ignorance is the bond of civil society, and that, in all barbarous or semi-barbarous states, revolutions and civil commotions of every description are of frequent occurrence, whilst in states where knowledge is extensively diffused amongst the people the order of society is seldom disturbed, or, if disturbed, it is soon restored, and the disturbance is unaccompanied by any excess of atrocity. The lower people of America were better informed than the lower orders of society in Europe; and, in their revolution against Great Britain, they preserved the general principles of property and of civil subordination to the newly constituted authorities. In France the revolution was most sanguinary, because the people had been purposely kept in a state of brutal ignorance by the priesthood. It seems to us little less than impiety to assert that God has made his creatures, so that society can be secure only by sacrificing one-half of mankind at the shrine of ignorance. A

century ago, statesmen would have thought the degree of knowledge, now possessed by the middle and lower orders, incompatible with the subordination of society; and yet we find society to be now more free from turbulence and danger than it was then. The knowledge that Mrs. Colston would now keep from persons below her would, a century ago, on the same principle, have been kept from the rank to which it is her lot to belong. Messrs. Pestalozzi, Bell, and Lancaster, are great benefactors of their fellow-creatures, and every intelligent and truly pious person must be anxious to extend the blessings of knowledge and education to the poor, with a view of moralizing them, and rescuing them from the animal vices which are the offspring of ignorance. We apprehend that our fair traveller on some subjects is not in the habit of think. ing for herself, but takes her notions at second-hand from those who have gone before her in the journey of life; she is, therefore, a proof of the great benefit likely to accrue from M. Pestalozzi's system, the object of which is to teach the mind to think originally and profoundly, and not to make it merely a receptacle of data without the habit, and almost without the power of reflection.

Having stated our objections to what we think erroneous in these volumes, it is but justice that we should bear testimony to their merits, and allow Mrs. Colston her full meed of praise, for her diligence and judg, ment in collecting such a vast fund of information as the reader will find in her journal. The plan of her work renders it almost impossible to present any thing new upon many of its divisions; for instance, what can possibly be said upon the buildings of Rome, or upon the amuse ments of Paris that is not to be found in preceding travels? but the great utility of these volumes is that the

reader may be confident to find, collected under every such name, all that can be useful for him to know on the subjects. Persons going to Paris, for instance,might save themselves the trouble of wading through the numerous descriptions given by travellers of that capital, as they would find the substance of all they could wish to learn, or that could be necessary to guide their search after amusement or knowledge in that city, collected within as small a compass in the present volumes as is consistent with accuracy. Some of the poetic effusions in these volumes are far from indifferent, but Mrs. Colston uses the word sonnet in the sense of a small poem, although custom has attached it solely to the poem of fourteen lines; but even her sonnets of fourteen lines are not legitimate in their versification. In the legitimate sonnet, the fifth line ought to rhyme with the first and fourth, and the sixth line ought to answer to the second and third; this arrangement of the first eight lines of the sonnet Mrs. Colston entirely neglects, and her division is into three quatrains, and a termination by a couplet, an ar rangement monotonous, and in every respect inferior to the established distribution of the fourteen lines of the sonnet. The work is accom panied by a separate folio of fifty lithographic prints, of which the subjects comprise some remarkable fine views, and are in general well chosen and as well executed. We are great advocates for the intellec tual employment of ladies, and we have great pleasure in assuring Mrs. Colston, that her Journal bears the stamp of higher merit than seve ral of the Tours and Travels that have been given to the public by the other sex, since the continent was thrown open to English tra vellers.

AMERICA.

There is a plant in the Tenessy State, which, it is said, renders the flesh and milk of cows poisonous. All who drink of this milk soon feel the usual effects of poison, vomiting, fever, confused vision, &c. and die in six or seven days. Dogs and cats that eat of the flesh of those cows become very ill. The same also grows in the Ohio State, and pro

duces the same effects.

The following novel and singular ferry-boat has been established at Troy, on the Hudson river, 166 miles from its mouth, the river being 900 feet broad. A boat is entirely covered by a platform or floor, on which is placed a massive horizontal wheel, occupying the whole breadth of the boat. This wheel, by a peculiar contrivance, is turned by the hoofs of two horses, and it communicates its action by means of teeth to two vertical wheels attached to the sides of the vessel, in a manner similar to those of a steam-boat.

It appears by the report made to the Director of Education, by Mr. Gideon Hawley, Superintendant of the Secondary Schools of the province of New York, that, in 1819, the forty-seven committees, managing 555 districts, had under their care 5,763 primary schools, on which the State of New York, out of the fund voted for public instruction, has bestowed 117,151 dollars, for the year 1819. These 5,763 schools educate 271,877 children. The total number of children from five to fifteen years of age in the 555 districts being 302,703.

There are at New York fifty churches of different sects, all living in a perfect state of harmony; of these churches seven are Catholics, five Reformed Churches, one German Reformed Cal vinist, one German Lutheran, seven Presbyterians, one Reformed Presbyterian, three Associated Reformed Presbyterian, two Seceders, six Baptists, one Gallic Welch, one Ebenezer, seven Methodist, one Moravian, one of Universalists, one of St. Peter's, one Cathedral of St. Patrick, one ancient and one modern Assembly of Friends, one Synagogue, and one of African Baptists; in all fifty.

Some workmen at Lockport, near Niagara, have found in a small cavity of a rock, a toad, which, on being exEur. Mag. June, 1823.

posed to the air, gave signs of life' although it died in a few minutes. The cavity was barely large enough to hold the body, and was at its nearest point at least six inches from the surface. SOUTH AMERICA.

M. Gomez, assisted by some Chinese gardeners, cultivates the tea-plant in Brazil with great success.

The last gazettes from Columbia afford evidence, that the Republic is active in improving its laws and institutions, and the government appears zealous in promoting the education of the people. There are two Lancasterian Schools in the capital, which supply tutors for the provincial schools as they are successively established. The scholars are instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, the elements of geography and of short-hand, with the rights and duties of citizenship. The last meetings have afforded proofs of the great improvements made in these seminaries, which are supported by the revenue of the suppressed monasteries. The zeal of the government in diffusing knowledge amongst the lower orders has been caught by many individuals; and society is making a rapid progress since the establishment of general liberty. According to an official report in 1822, in the preceding nine months, there had been sailing under the Republican flag, two corvettes, six brigs, twelve galeots, and two cutters; and these had increased in the succeeding months. The amelioration of the blacks has been equally an object of public solicitude. A Mr. Camilo Manrique has lately liberated nine of his slaves, and a Mr. Fernandez Soto treats all his slaves as free labourers, giving them regular wages. Such men as these deserve to be celebrated, and a society must rapidly advance where its elements are composed of such enlightened individuals.

At Rio de Janeiro the press is now free, and there are actually twelve ga zettes already published.

Joseph Bonaparte has founded in the United States a city called La Ville de Joseph. There are already 3,000 inhabitants, mostly French.

ASIA.

Several of the merchants and storekeepers, of Calcutta, have, since 1820, lighted their premises by hydrogen gas.

K

In the sitting of 22nd April, 1822, the Asiatic Society of Calcutta received an application to print a grammar of the Pali language, an ancient dialect used in the Country of Boudha, and which is now known at Ceylon, and in India, beyond the Ganges, as the Latin is in Europe. Lieut. Low transmitted an Essay upon the Thai or Siamese language, containing several valuable affinities between that language and the Manderine language of China. In the sitting of the 29th August was read, an Essay of Major Harriot upon the Zingari or Gipseys, accompanied by a vocabulary, in which the language of that people is compared with the Hiudi, the Persian, and the Sanscrit. This Essay contains several curious details relative to the tribes of these people scattered over Asia; the author is of opinion that they did not appear in Europe until about the year 1400.

Ceylon.-Extract of a letter dated the 25th August, 1822. "Mr. Rask, the celebrated Danish traveller, whose arrival in this country has been announced, having in his last voyage been shipwrecked upon thesouth side of this Island, repaired to Colombo, and employed the time, that he saw he should be obliged to pass there, in printing in Danish a short Dissertation upon the reading of Cingalese and Pati, a Dissertation that could be printed no where but at Colombo, it being the only city in which can be found the characters of the two languages. This work at the same time is to afford a specimen of the Indo-Latin orthography, which Mr. Rask has invented for the companion of the Indian languages, with those of Europe, and which has given such general satisfaction at Ceylon, that new types have already been founded, (Roman letters accented) and it is purposed to introduce in the schools this new method of writing, which is much more simple than that of the Cingalese language.

HAITI.

The latest newspapers (the Telegraph and the Propagator) arrived from Haiti contain the public speeches pronounced by the civil and military authorities, in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of their liberties. These discourses are well composed, and chiefly dwell upon recommending a union amongst the citizens, and the practice of the moral virtues, and of sentiments of gratitude towards the Deity. The ceremony was closed by singing the Te deum. At the CapeTown,

Lancasterian Schools are forming, and there is a school of anatomy and surgery under the care of a Mr. Andrew Stewart. At Port-au-Prince there is an academy for teaching every branch of medicine, jurisprudence, and of literature, with astronomy, &c.This establishment is under the direction of Dr. Fournier Pescay, a learned physician, well known in France as one of the contributors to the Dictionary of the medical sciences..

RUSSIA:

M. Martinof, the able translator of several ancient and modern works, has just issued a prospectus of a prose translation of the following works:The Illiad, the first canto to be accompanied by a literal translation; the tragedies of Sophocles; and the hymns of Callimachus, with philological remarks on the Fables of Esop. M. Martinof is the first who has attempted to transfuse the beauties of the Greek classics into the Russian language, and his undertaking, even in this point of view, merits encouragement.

PRUSSIA.

According to the Literary Gazette of Jena, the current coin of Prussia is debased by one-quarter of alloy, whilst the standards of England, Portugal, and Italy admit of only one-twelfth of alloy; and the silver coin of France has only one-tenth. By official documents it appears, that in Prussia, since 1764, there have been coined seventy millions of crowns, and the total coinage in that period has been equal in value to 134 millions of crowns. A general system or equalization of coins for all Germany has been recommended, and it is calculated that the total circulation is 900 millions of florins; the whole might be recoined in three years, at an expense of seven and a half millions of Florins. By the means of the invention of Ulihorn, an ingenious peasant of Oldenburgh, the mint at Dusseldorf daily coins 24,000 drams of silver. Ulihorn invented his machine supposing that the principle must have been known in England; his invention has been adopted in the low countries.

Professor Wadreck died at Berlin on the 2d of March. He conceived the first design of his charitable institution during a severe winter, where he had found seventeen families in a miserable barn, and several others living in stables. Not being able to relieve the whole of them he took charge of the children, and in the first instance brought them up in private houses. Soon after