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On the 12th of November the Oroolong failed for China. Abba Thulle accompanied them until they were near the reef, when he took his last farewell of his fon, and a most tender and affecting one of Captain W. and his people. But what was this to the parting with their firft, their faft, and conftant friend Raa Kook! who would ftay on board until he faw them safe over the reef; and when that was paffed, he remained filent and penfive for fome time, fo that the veffel had got a confiderable way before he could prevail on himself to leave them. And when, at length, he was obliged to do it, he was unable to speak, but pointed to his heart, as much as to fay, here it is I feel the pain of bidding you farewell. He addreffed his nephew, Lee Boo, by name, and spoke a few words to him, but being unable to proceed, he haftened into the boat which waited along fide for him, and, as it dropped aftern, gave them a laft and most affectionate look.

This excellent man appeared to be turned of forty years of age, was of a middling ftature, rather inclined to be lufty. His countenance was expreffive of much fenfibility and good nature. He was firm and determined, yet full of humanity. Steady and perfevering in whatever he undertook; he gave his orders with great mildness, but would be obeyed; and the people appeared to ferve him with ardour and affection. He was not of fo ferious a caft as the King; nor had he that turn for humour and mimicry which his brother Arra Kooker had. He poff ffed an eager fpirit of enquiry, and an ardent defire to examine the causes and reasons of every effect which he faw produced; he had a mind strong and active; was wonderfully quick in comprehending whatever was defcribed to him, and poffeffed fo nice a fense of honour, that he was always much hurt when the natives, by any of their little thefts, had violated, as he thought, the laws of hofpitality, which he held facred, and was impatient until he had made them restore what they had taken away. He beheld all duplicity with indignation; and publicly treated the Malay with contempt, notwithstanding he was a great favourite of the King, because he thought he had been guilty of it. Such is the character of this great and good man; both of which he must have been, in a very high degree, if a juft regard was paid to truth by those who drew it.

On the 25th they paffed the Bafhee islands, and on the 30th arrived fafe at Macao, without any occurrence happening, worthy of notice.

The book concludes with a general idea of the Pelew islands, their extent and progrefs, the manners and cuftoms of the inhabitants, particularly their mode of living, their religion, marriages, funerals, &c. &c. but having given fo long a narrative, as we have done, of this well-written and entertaining publication,

we

we must refer our Readers to the work itself for farther information, and doubt not but they will find themfelves highly gratified by the perufal of it. It is decorated by a number of maps, charts, views, portraits of the natives, and figures of weapons, implements, furniture, and ornaments, from drawings taken on the fpot, or from the things themselves which were brought home by Capt. Wilfon.

We are rather apprehenfive that fome people will blame the Captain for entering fo readily into the quarrels of the natives. Indeed we think, ourselves, that it ought to have been avoided, if it could have been done with fafety, and without occafioning quarrels between the natives and the English. Of this, however, we are by no means proper judges: those only are fuch who were on the fpot; because many little circumstances may have been seen, and felt likewife, by them at the time, which would have great weight then, but which do not strike us in the narrative. Many others muft undoubtedly have elcaped their memory when the tranfactions of the voyage were to be recorded; and many, important at the time when they happened, may afterward have appeared too minute and trifling to be handed to the Public and if there were any fubftantial grounds for fupposing that a refufal would have brought on a quarrel between the natives and the English, we must confefs that we, for our part, think Capt. Willon perfectly juftified in acting as he did. For befide the greater risk of having more of his own men killed in the latter cafe than in the former, and an almost total certainty of their being all cut off if they were overcome, the havock which must have been made among the natives before either party could have been mastered, would, moft probably, have been prodigiously greater than that which was occafioned by their affifting the natives of Pelew against thofe of Artingall. On the other hand, those who adopt the ideas which are entertained of the natives of the Pelew Ilands by the writer of the narrative, will not be eafily perfuaded that there was any caufe for appre henfions of this kind; but will be ready to attribute the eafinefs with which this affiftance was obtained, to that horrid difpofition with which Dr. Forfter and fome others (we fincerely hope, without caufe) have endeavoured to ftigmatize seamen, viz. the taking a pleasure in dipping their hands in the blood of their fellow creatures. On this account, and this only, we fincerely regret that Capt. Wilfon ever confented to aid the King of Pelew against his enemies; for we are fo far from thinking that the affiftance of the English occafioned more blood to be fpilt, that we question whether it might not leffen the carnage, by fhortening the contest between the two nations. Nor are we unwilling to acknowlege that the argument which may be drawn from the character of the natives of the Pelew Ifles against Capt. W.

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as it ftands in his own publication, does not weigh fo much with us as might be expected; because, granting the juftnefs of that character in its fullest extent, the Captain could not be fo thoroughly apprized of it at the time when he granted the affiftance, as he was when the narrative was drawn up; and he might think that he had caufe for fufpicion then, which he has fince found to be groundlefs. Befide, there is nothing uncharitable in fuppofing that the behaviour of thefe people may have rifen in bis eftimation fince he left them, from his reafoning on the events as they turned out: and, poffibly too, the portraiture of the Pelew iflanders has not fuffered by the pencil of Mr. Keate. Not enly the general character of that gentleman, which is philanthropy itfelf, but the very face of the publication, feems to intimate a partiality for the fubject. And who, that is capable of making the obfervation, does not fee, daily, in what various points of view the difpofitions of different relators will place the fame tranfactions, without entertaining the leaft defign of mifreprefenting it; nay, even the fluctuating temper of the same man, at different times, will caufe him to put conftructions on the fame action, or the fame words, as oppofite as can well be imagined. Mr. Keate's own narrative informs us that feveral of the people faw the actions of the natives, at the time, in a very different light from that in which he has exhibited them; and we know that fome had not altered their opinions of them, even after they arrived in England, notwithstanding the favourable termination of the business, but were inclined to attribute more to the great care and circumfpection of the English, than to the good intentions of the natives. It is, moreover, obvious, that with the beft intentions, it is almoft impoffible for one man to convey precifely the ideas of another; and for this reason we would rather peruse a mere common journal (provided it was written daily, as the tranfactions occurred, and on the fpot, by an intelligent perfon) than the most elegant compofition, drawn up by one who was not prefent at the tranfactions which he records. Who, now, looks on the narrative of Lord Anfon's Voyage, as drawn up by Robins (under the name of Walter), otherwife than as a moft elegantly written romance, in which the leading circumstances only are to be depended on? And it is well known that Capt. Cook was greatly diffatisfied with the account of his firft voyage as drawn up by Dr. Hawkefworth; and that he conftantly declared that many of the tranfactions in which he was concerned, were incorrectly flated: and yet we are far from fuppofing that either of thefe compilers was guilty of wilful mifreprefentation; but we fear they were more attentive to the introduction of fine thoughts, and elegant language, than to exprefs the ideas of their authors with correctness and precifion.

Let

Let it not be imagined that the foregoing general observation on works of this kind is intended to glance, in the smallest degree, toward Mr. Keate's execution of the task of preparing Capt. W.'s papers for the prefs. We have not the malleft doubt of his fidelity, or his judgment. We respect his abilities as a writer, and bis character as a man; and we think his readers are truly obliged to him for the information and entertainment afforded them, by a work, highly interefting in its fubject, and pleafing, with respect to the form and drefs in which it is prefented to the Public.

ART. II. The Tranfactions of the Royal Irish Academy, for 1787. 4to. 16s. Boards. Elmfley. 1788.

HAD

TAD we no other proofs of the advancing ftate of science and literature in Europe, the numerous inftitutions for, the promotion of univerfal knowlege, that have been formed within this century, clearly fhew that almost all its civilized nations are infpired with a defire of cultivating the arts, and diffufing a general tafte for polite literature.

From the fhort Preface which is given with this volume we learn, that as early as the year 1683, a fociety was formed in Dublin, fimilar to the Royal Society in London. Of this inftitution much might have been expected, had the diftracted ftate of the kingdom, at that time, been propitious to the cultivation of philosophy, and the purfuits of the learned.

About the beginning of the prefent century, the plan being refumed, the Earl of Pembroke, then Lord Lieutenant, prefided in a philofophical fociety established in Dublin College. In the year 1740, a Phyfico-Hiftorical Society was inftituted, of which two volumes of minutes are ftill extant; and under the patronage of this fociety, the ingenious Mr. Smith published his hiftories of Waterford and Cork *. That gentleman was engaged to write the hiftory of other counties in Ireland; but this Society foon declined, and Mr. Smith published his Hiftory of Kerry in 1756 t, after they had difcontinued their meetings. In 1772, the ancient ftate of Ireland re-attracted the attention of the Dublin Society, who appointed a Committee for ́the express purpose of inveftigating Irish Antiquities. The meetings of this Committee, however, ceafed in about two years; but the zeal of a few of its members has fince produced fome valuable works. About the year 1782, another Society was eftablished, confifting of an indefinite number of gentlemen, moft of them belonging to the University; who, at weekly meetings, read effays in turn. Anxious to make their labours

See Rev. vol, v. p. 257. 265,

+ See Rev. vol. xvii. p. 506. redound

redound to the honour and advantage of their country, they formed a more extenfive plan, and, admitting fuch aditional names only as might add dignity to their new inftitution, they became the founders of the ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY: an Inftitution in which the advancement of science is united with the hiftory of mankind, and of polite literature; and which, by embracing all objects of rational enquiry, makes provifion for the capricious variations of literary pursuits.

The prefent volume is divided into three parts, comprehending SCIENCE, POLITE LITERATURE, and ANTIQUITIES. The SCIENTIFIC PAPERS, in this the Society's first publication, are,

1. Account of the Obfervatory belonging to Trinity College, Dublin. By the Rev. H. Ufsher, D.D. M. R. I. A. and F. R.S.

The late Dr. Francis Andrews, Provoft of the College, be-.. queathed a confiderable fum of money toward building an obfervatory, and furnishing it with proper inftruments; this fum was to arife from an accumulation of a part of his property, to commence on a contingency in his family as foon as this happened, the College, with a diftinguifhed liberality, and a true zeal for the promotion of science, determined not to lose time by waiting for the accumulation; but, in order to haften the execution of the plan, advanced, from their own funds, a greater fum than the original bequeft. They elected Dr. Ufsher, Profeffor, and committed to him the fuperintendence of the building, with the choice and arrangement of the inftruments.

The prefent memoir contains a minute defcription of this Obfervatory, with its ground-plan and elevation; but the most valuable parts of it are thofe in which the learned Profeffor delivers his reafons for the peculiar ftructure and fituation of the building. Stability, and a convenient difpofition of the inftruments, form, in buildings appropriated to aftronomical obfervations, the architect's great object; and in these respects, the Obfervatory here defcribed, though by no means deficient in ornament and architectural elegance, is greatly fuperior to many others in Europe. As any defcription would be imperfect without the plan, we fhall only abridge the account of its fituation. It ftands on a high ground, about four miles N. W. of Dublin. The foundation is a folid lime-ftone rock, of feveral miles extent, which, near the Obfervatory, rifes to within fix inches of the furface, and fo hard as to require blafting with gunpowder for the ordinary uses of the farmer. The foil is compofed of loam, and a fpecies of calcareous gravel, that is highly abforbent. The horizon is remarkably extenfive, without the fmalleft interruption on any fide, except on the fouth, where

We fuppofe, Member of the Royal Irish Academy.

the

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