tion but the antiquity of their fashion, and the variety of their tatters. The art of divination, or foretelling future events, belongs among them, as it generally does among ourfelves, to the women; who feldom, however, pretend to be thus fupernaturally gifted till wifdom, in the form of wrinkles, has begun to cover their brows. Admift all this rudeness and barbarifm, even the Giplies find it neceffary to have a form of government among themfelves; and for this purpose they have their leaders or chiefs, whom they diftinguish by the Sclavonian title, Waywode. To this dignity every perfon is eligible who is of a family defcended from a former Waywode; but the preference is generally given to thofe who have the belt clothes, and the most wealth-who are of a large ftature, and not past the meridian of life. Of religion, however, they have no fenfe, though, with their ufual cunning and hypocrify, they profefs the established faith of every country in which they live. In the fecond part of the work, the author treats of the origin of the Gipfies; whom in contradiction to the general opinion, which has prevailed ever fince they made their appearance in Europe, he denies to be of Egyptian extraction. With great ingenuity he fhews, that their language differs entirely from the Coptic; that their manners and cuftoms are very much unlike those of the Egyptians; and that though they are to be found in Egypt, yet even there they wander about as flrangers, and, as in other countries, form in every respect a diftinct people. This being evidently the cafe, Mr. Grellmann endeavours to prove, that they originally came from Hindoitan; and for this purpofe he not only gives a vocabulary of Gipley and Hindoitan words, &tually demonitrative, in our opinion, that the languages are fundamentally the fame, but produces fundry collateral evidences, which evince a ftriking affinity in the cuftoms of the two nations at this very hour, and even goes so far as conjecturally to afcertain the precife period. of their migration from that country; namely, the war of Timur Beg, in the years 1408 and 1409, when that cruel conqueror ravaged India, and drove num bers of the terrified inhabitants into fo. reign countries, where they might be safe from his fury. We have not yet had the pleafure of feeing this interefting work in its original German garb; but we have every reason to think that the tranflation before us is executed with fidelity, though we cannot, confiftently with truth, fpeak highly of its grammatical elegance. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to the End of the Year 1783. Vol. I. 4to. 11. 1s. boards. Adams and Nourse, Boston. THE volume before us has a very ftrong claim to public attention. It is the first production of the first inftitution of the kind in our quondamtranfatlantic dominions. But what tends to excite in us a degree of wonder, ad ded to attention, is, that the work confifts chiefly of papers written in the midst of a defolating war. No fuch Academy, we understand, existed there till the year 1779, when it formally became an incorporated Society-not, how. As proofs of their ignorance and impiety, the following anecdotes are recorded.-One of the more civilized Gipfies of Tranfylvania having obtained Chriftian burial for a deceafed friend, the Priest took occafion to enquire whether he believed that his departed companion fhould arife at the laft day?" Certainly not," replied the Gipfey---“ I might as well expect the refurrection of the barfe that I flayed yesterday."---In like manner, on their expreffing to an Hungarian lady that they could not love God because he killed them, The repl we hebat a happy death was one of the greatest benefits God could confer upon mankind,rdon which they burst into a general laugh, saying, “what they bad was SOMETHING, it when they died ALL WAS GONE." From this rooment, bluth, ye philofopbifing infidels, to find that your own feutiments are the very fentiments of the rude, unlettered GIPSIES!In our opinion, the facts above mentioned ought alone to be fufficient to put religious scepticism out of fashion- -out of faflion, at leaft, in the polite circles. ---Continue, then, on your part, ye free-thinking and free writing SAGES, to ridicule your God, while, by your words, if not by your actions, you fet at defiance his laws; but while, under the fpecious mafk of LEARNING---of PHILOSOPHY, forfooth!--you prefume to deride every thing that man ought to hold facred, blame not us, gentlemen, if we prefume to deride you as mere PHILOSOPHERS OF THE GIPSEY SCHOOL." exer ever, under the patronage of a KING, Waving, however, all collateral cir- -- In the first paper, we are prefented with a method of finding the altitude and longitude of the nonagefimal degree of the ecliptic; to which are added calculations, from aftronomical obfervations, for determining the difference of meridians between Harvard-Hall, in the University of Cambridge (which belongs to the province of Massachusetts) and the Royal Obfervatories of Greenwich and Paris. This article is the production of the Rev. Jofeph Willard, Prefident of the University, and correfponding Secretary of the Academy. It is addreffed in the form of a letter to the Prefident of the Academy, James Bowdoin, L.L.D.-The calculations of Mr. Willard feem, upon the whole, to be juft; and strongly do they incline us to think, that in his endeavours to afcertain the difference of meridians between Greenwich and Cambridge, as much conclufive evidence is given as the nature of the subject will admit. For the fecond article we are indebted to the ingenious labours of Samuel Williams, F. A. A. Hollis Profeffor of Mathematicks and Natural Philofophy in the University of Cambridge; of which it is the author's object clearly to afcertain the latitude. From the obfervations of this gentleman upon the magnetic needle, it appears, that the variation commonly encreafes from the hour of 7 or 8 A. M. till about the hour of 2 or 3 P. M. It then generally decreases till 7 or 8 the next morning. According to Mr. Williams, it appears, that the inclination, or (as it is more technically ftill expreffed) the dip is fubject to greater diurnal alterations than the variation; and that, notwithstanding, they are lefs regular in their changes. The leaft inclination our author ever obferved was 68° 21'; the greateft 70° 56'. Article the third exhibits a table of the equations to equal altitudes for the latitude of the Univerfity of Cambridge, 42° 23′ 28′′.-This paper is the production of the Rev. Prefident of the University; and though we find little Profeffor Williams. It confifts merely Article the fourth is the production of the State of Maffachusetts, relating of Aftronomical Obfervations, made in the fun and moon in the years 1761 and chiefly, if not altogether, to eclipfes of 1764, and to thofe from the year 1770 to the year 1784. its predeceffors, relates alfo to folar and Article the fifth, aftronomical like Phillips Payfon, F. A. A. and has, uplunar eclipfes. It is written by the Rev. on the whole, a tendency to confirm the geographical knowledge of America (even general opinion, that all our boafted called our own) remains in a woeful state that America which once we proudly of deficiency. difpofed ftill) we have from the pen of the firft and third articles, is alfo the Mr. Prefident Willard, the author of author of the feventh, which contains obfervations of a folar eclipfe, October eclipfe, March 29, 1782; of a folar 27, 1780, made at Beverley; of a lunar of Mercury over the fun's difk, Noeclipfe, April 12; as alfo of the tranfit fervation was made by the author at his vember 12, the fame year; which obown houfe in Cambridge. Article the eighth exhibits a letter from Mr. Jof. Peters to Caleb Gannett, ing an observation of a folar eclipfe, A. M. Rec. Sec. Amer. Acad. containIfland, by Meffrs. Clarke and Wright. October 27, 1780, made at St. John's In article the ninth we have obferva- Jofeph Brown, Efq. and contains an ob- tions of the folar eclipfe of the 27th of cated by the Rev. Prefident Willard. Article Article the twelfth, which is alfo communicated by the Rev. Prefident Willard, gives an account of the obfervations made in Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, of the cclipfe of the fun, which happened the 23d day of April, 1781, by Benjamin Weft, Efq. F. A. A. In article the thirteenth, we have an account of the tranfit of Mercury, ob ferved at Cambridge, November 12, 1782, by James Winthorp, Efq. F.A.A. Article the fourteenth is by the author of article the 6th, the Rev. Manaffeh Cutler, F. A. A. and contains obfervations of an eclipfe of the moon, March 29, 1782; as alfo of an eclipfe of the fun on the 12th of April following, at Ipfwich, latitude 42° 38′ 30′′. Article the fifteenth contains a wellpenued judicious Letter to Mr. Caleb Gannett from Benj. Weft, Efq. on the extraction of roots. Article the fixteenth exhibits a method, comprifed under two rules, of computing intereft at fx per cent. per annum, by Philomath; for a full explanation of which, though it has both novelty and concifenefs to recommend it, we must refer our readers to the work itfelf. In article the feventeenth we are prefented with feveral ingenious ways of determining what fum is to be infured on an adventure, that the whole intereft may be recovered, by Mercator.To gentlemen in the commercial line, this article will be found truly curious, as well as important; but, in order to form a competent idea of it, they alfo muft have recourfe to the book. Having thus, at fome length, though with as much brevity as poflible, gone through the first part of the work, we muft neceffarily defer till our next an account of the fecond, which contains a variety of very interefting papers upon phyfical fubjects. [To be continued. ] Letters to and from the late Samuel Johnfon, LL. D. To which are added fome Poems, never before printed. Publifhed from the Original MSS. in her Poffeffion, by Hefter Lynch Piozzi. 2 vols. 8vo. 12S. Cadell. INour laft Review of these Letters * we promifed a few extracts, and which we have accordingly introduced into the mifcellaneous department of our Magazine t. The following letters are the last that paffed between Doctor Johnfon and Madame Piozzi;-and as we think them curious, we fhall with them conclude this article. Mrs. PIOZZI to Dr. JOHNSON. Bath, June 30th, 1784. "My Dear Sir, "THE enclosed is a circular let ter which I have fent to all the guardians, but our friendship demands fomewhat more; it requires that I thould beg your pardon for concealing from you a connexion which you must have heard of by many, but I fuppofe never believed. Indeed, my dear Sir, it was concealed only to fave us both needlefs pain; I could not have borne to reject that counfel it would have killed me to take, and I only tell it you now because all is irrevocably fettled and out of your power to prevent. I will fay, however, that the dread of your difapprobation has given me fome anxious moments; and though, perhaps, I am become by * See page 168, many privations the moft independent woman in the world, I feel as if acting without a parent's confent till you write kindly to "Your faithful fervant." To Mrs. PIOZZI. "Dear Madam, "What you have done, however I may lament it, I have no tence to refent it, as it has not been in pre jurious to me: I therefore breathe out one figh more of tenderness, perhaps ufelefs, but at least fincere. "I with that God may grant you every bleffing; that you may be happy in this world for its fhort continuance, and eternally happy in a better state; and whatever I can contribute to your hap pinefs I am ready to repay, for that kindnefs which footbed twenty years of a life radically wretched. "Do not think flightly of the advice which I now prefume to offer. Prevail upon Mr. Piozzi to fettle in England, You may live here with more dignity than in Italy, and with more fecurity: Your rank will be higher, and your fo tune more under your own eye. I defire not to detail all my reasons, but See page 282, and 367. every every argument of prudence and interest s for England, and only fome phantoms of imagination feduce you to Italy. "I am afraid, however, that my counfel is vain, yet I have eafed my heart by giving it. When Queen Mary took the refolution of theltering herfelf in England, the Archbishop of St. Andrew's attempting to diffuade her, attended on her journey; and when they came to the irremeable ftream that feparated the two kingdoms, walked by her fide into the water, in the middle of which he feized her bridle, and with earnestness proportioned to her danger and his own The affection preffed her to return. Queen went forward. If the parallel reaches thus far, may it go no farther.The tears ftand in my eyes. "I am going into Derbyshire, and hope to be followed by your good wishes, for I am, with great affection, "Yours, &c. "Any letters that come for me hither will be fent me." On the whole, had one-fourth of this correfpondence been published, the fame of Johnfon had been lefs injured; but even as it is, the time which may be spent in the perufal of thefe volumes, will not be unprofitably employed. The Heetopades of Vehnoo-Sarma: In a Series of connected Fables, interspersed with moral, prudential, and political Maxims. Translated from an ancient Manufcript in the Sanfkreet Language. With explanatory Notes. By Charles Wilkins. 8vo. 5s. boards. Marthall, Bath. Nourfe, London. FROM the opinion of Sir William Jones (and on every thing that relates to Afiatic literature, we know no opinion to which more credit is due) as delivered by him at a late meeting of the Society for enquiring into the hiftory, antiquities, arts, fciences, and literature of Afia, it appears, that the fables of Vefhnoo Sarma, whom we ridiculously call Pilpay, are the most ancient, if not the most beautiful, collection of apologues in the world; and that they were firft tranflated from the Sanfkreet in the fixth century, by Buzerchumihir, the chief physician, and afterwards the Vizier of the great Amuthirwan, and are extant, under various names, in more than twenty languages. Be this as it may, we farther learn, that for the production of thefe fables the world is primarily indebted to the paternal folicitude of a Rajah, called Soodarfana, who lived in the city of Patna, on the banks of the Ganges; and who, as the belt method he could devife for the inftruction of his children, convened a council of Pandeets, whom he addreffed in the following words: "Is there a man to be found who fhall, by precepts drawn from Neetee-Saftras (fyltems of morality and policy) be able to perfect the birth of my fons, who are yet uninformed, and conftantly wandering in the paths of error! For as a piece of glafs, from the vicinity of gold, acquireth the colour of a topaz, fo a fool may derive fome confequence from the prefence of wife men.”—In this affembly there happened to be a great Pandeet, by n me Vefhnoo-Sarma, who replied, "Thefe young princes, O mighty Rajah! being the offspring of an illuftri ous race, are capable of being inftructed in the Neetee-Saftras; and I will engage that in the fpace of fix months, I fhall render thy fons acquainted with the doctrines of morality and policy." Such, according to tradition, was the origin of the pieces that compofe the work before us, which is divided under four heads:--The Acquifition of a Friend; The Separation of a Favourite; Of Difputing; Of Making Peace;-and which certainly, with all its faults, is to be confidered as a confiderable acquifition to the stock of European literature. Poems on several Subjects. By the Reverend A. Freston, A. M. 8vo. Wilkie. WE have of late been more frequently difpofed to laugh than to cry at the productions of our bards; and yet, thought we, seriously eyeing the frontifpiece to the work before us, cry we now certainly muft; for lo! in that frontispiece we behold all the horrors that can be engraved upon the heartaye, a heart hard as copper itself-by the exhibition of a skeleton, and a death'shead*. But we were mistaken. The author is Modeftly, pe haps, intended to denote, that, as a Poet, the author, skeleton-like, is without fubftance, and that in his verses we shall find nothing but a caput mortuum. one one of the "funnieft rogues" alive; and fo our readers will fay, when they have explored the beauties of the following ftanza, addreffed to the fair part of the creation, which was the firft paffage in the volume that caught our attention : "With punch and smallbeer, And fuch vapourish geer, Let fops ftrive to mend their complexion; Drink ale! never fear, 'Twill make both your nofe and your neck fhine." Often have we feen the nofe of an orthodox parfon fhine from the effects of orthodox ale; but our reverend author The Humours of Brighthelmfton. is the firft of the tribe, we believe, who recommended it as an embellisher of the nefes of the ladies. He is very kind, however, in thus prefenting for the ufe of others, what he feems to like fo well him felf; though, perhaps, his Muse would have been more indebted to him, had he paid lefs homage to ALE, and more to the waters of HELICON. Thefe, and thefe only, are the fource of poetical_infpiration. To what University Mr. Fretton is indebted for his degree of Mafter of Arts, we know not; but this we know, that to the art of poetry he is a ftranger, and that, in attempting to fing, he rather refembles the Goofe than the Swan. By J. Weft. 4to. is. Scatcherd and Co. MR. WEST is really a very pretty kind of a poet, of the namby-pamby order. Whether he actually does or does not belong to the facetious family of ANSTY, we prefume not to fay; but positively we aver, that he would not difcredit the name of a bard fuperior to the author of the Bath Guide. Brighton is now in its glory. Then, hey! for Brighton; and under the aufpices of the PRINCE, may you, good Mr. Weft, be the envied LAUREAT of the feafon !---What more can we say?--Nay, for the prefent, what more would the reader know? A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave Trade. Humbly infcribed to the Right Honourable and Right Reverend Frederick Earl of Bristol, Bishop of Derry, &c. By Ann Yearsley. 4to. 2s. Robinfons. IN our Review for March, p. 166, we noticed, but noticed with little pleafure, a poem on the fame fubject by Mifs Hannah More, the quondam patronefs of the humble, though respectable and refpected poetels of Bristol, Each of thefe ingenious females feems to be deeply impreffed with a fenfe of the abominations of flavery, thote in particular which are infeparable from the very exiftence of a SLAVE TRADE, reprobated as it now generally is, but by those who from "fuch vile traffic have their gains ...their SORDID GAINS!"---The fub ject, while it has truth for its outlines, is highly fufceptible of that fiitious colouring in which the " Mufe of HORROR" delights; and yet in her defcriptions Mrs. Yearfley, like Mifs More, has--fo to exprefs it--funk beneath herfelf.The piece certainly is not without beauties; but they are beauties which, we fear, will add little fresh luftre to her laurels. Before, we have feen her shine in rhyme; and now, we fee her obfcure herself in BLANK VERSE.-Mrs. Inchbald proverbially tells us, "Such Things Are;" but from Mrs. Ann Yeardley Such Things should not be, nor, we hope, will be again.-Every thing confidered, however, the claims our admiration as a woman of nice fenfibility, fettered perhaps by poverty, if not by oppreffion herself, yet nobly contemning in others all the enjoyments that flow from ufurped power, and from ill-gotten wealth. An Addrefs to the Public. By the Hon. Lady Hill. Setting forth the Confequences of the late Sir John Hill's Acquaintance with the Earl of Bute, 4to. 2s 6d. Bell. THERE feems too often to be an unpropitious fatality in even the most indefatigable exertions of literary genius, through which, per fas aut nefas, thofe exertions---inftead of being, like efforts of plodding indufry, or even (as it is termed) plodding ingenuity, in the hum bler fpheres of life, a fource of riches... are, in fact, a fource---an endless fource-of pecuniary diftrefs to the hapless authors of them. We all know that the late Sir John Hill was one of the most eccentric be. ings that ever existed in the world of li terature |