hostilities with Denmark; and this regret has originated from feelings that do them the highest honour. Without entering

into an unnecessary discussion by saying either that I do or do not fully agree with them in these laudable sentiments, I must observe, that from whatever cause any one nation may be engaged in a contest with another, it ought never to make war by halves. Although a man may be the first to give provocation in a private quarrel, no one will applaud him, if he allows himself to be murdered, when the matter comes to blows, instead of doing any thing in his power to disarm his exasperated ad

versary.

"After the sword was once drawn against Denmark, it is evident that we neither made our cause more nor less just, by evacuating Zealand, instead of keeping it, as we kept little Heligoland, and all the little Danish West India Islands. The conquest of Zealand, by which we should completely command the navigation of the North, and deprive the enemy of one of his most important places of arms for the future invasion of England, would have been highly advantageous, not only to us, but to its natives, whom we should have been fully able to protect against Buonaparte: although he (their present master) would not be able to protect them one moment against us, if we acted with a due and dignified sense of our own strength.By conquering the Zealanders we should have been their best friends; by leaving them nominally independent we are their bitterest enemies. Who can say that they may not, at this very moment, ascribe our not having conquered them to our own base and selfish views as traders; for by so doing, we should have been obliged to protect their commerce, their wealth, and prosperity; which by the principles of the laws of nations, of which we profess ourselves such zealous advocates, we now have the privilege of destroying for ever."

The subjoined little extract, and the note annexed, present us with a curious piece of intelligence:

"We have never condescended to purchase a peace of our enemies; but we have often done something very like it: for example, at the commencement of the present war, when Naples became tributary to France, instead of declaring war against that Power, as a vassal of our enemy, we

(at least, so it was generally understood) agreed to pay it a subsidy, in order to enable it to make good the demands of Buonaparte; so that we were actually sub

sidizing France to make war against ourselves; which, I fear, may, by posterity, who will judge of measures by their results, not by their secret motives, be considered as the most absurd act that was ever committed by a civilized nation *.”

24. Lieut.-col. Wilks's Historical Sketches of the South of India. (Continued from p. 150.)

:

WE are informed, that the fifth chapter of this work was written at the earliest period of the undertaking, in order that the information it contains might be rendered as correct as possible; for which purpose the Author submitted it to the test of several friends, most of whom held offices of high trust under the Govern ment of Fort St. George. Mr. Ellis was of particular service on this occasion. This profound and ingenious Orientalist had in contemplation a work of great labour and public utility; namely, the Translation, into modern Tamul and English, of the Sanscrit text of the antient Law tract most esteemed in the South, named Vignyan Ishwar, with notes shewing the variations of doctrine exhibited in the more modern work of Videyarannea; of which some notices will be found in the fifth chapter of this work and I advert to the design," continues Mr W. "in the hope that it may attract the attention of those who ought to patronise and promote it." Another source of information was the records of the Government of Fort St. George; to which the Author had free access through Earl Powis, under whom he held confidential situations; to which was added the obliging permission of Lord William Bentinck. The results, he laments, are less satisfactory than he could have wished, as the earlier records are very defective. "Of the labour itself, Mr. Orme has correctly observed, that it probably exceeds the conception of any of his readers, excepting the Keeper of the Records." The official records of the Dynasty of Mysoor were removed from Seringapatam to Calcutta, which occurrence deprived Mr. W. of much valuable matter. He had hoped, that through

the

the interposition of a friend, and the permission of Sir George Barlow, when Governor-General, which the latter readily granted, that the removal would not have operated to his disadvantage; " but," he adds, “I am aware that the labour is greater than can be expected from Gentlemen fully Occupied by their official duties, on whom I have no personal claims." The hopes he had formed were finally extinguished; and though severe indisposition compelled him to leave India sooner than the plan he had formed permitted, he has contrived by other means to authenticate most of the facts, for which he was desirous to refer to those authorities; and, since his arrival in England, he received from Col. William Kirkpatrick, a gentleman who long filled important situations with distinguished abilities in India, "some unexpected lights on the subject of a portion of these records, which will demand a more particular acknowledgment in the second volume, to which they chiefly apply." Mr. W. declares, it would require space for a long list of names, were he to give those to whom he has been indebted for assistance, at length he, however, particularises Col. Close, Col. Agnew, Mr. Hodgson, Mr. Thackery, and Mr. Hurdis, each holding important public offices. He doubts how far he was at liberty to include the name of Sir James Mackintosh, but he expresses a hope that he shall be forgiven for thus declaring his gratitude to that Gentleman, for perusing detached portions of the work in India. Mr. W. employed Abbas Ali, the field secretary of the late Hyder Ali Khan, to consult the most antient and intelligent officers of the late Dynasty, in two distinct assemblies; and from their written memoirs, and oral testimony, the above Abbas compiled two military histories in the Persian language, descriptive of events within their knowledge. "Over one of these presided Budder u Zeman Khan, an old Officer of distinguished talents and cultivated understanding, well known to the troops of Bombay by his respectable defence of Darwar." The second meeting was under the direction of Luft Aly Beg, who had been one of Tippoo Sultaun's Ambassadors to Constantinople in 1785, and the defender of Nundidroog in 1791, till death terminated the

labours of this venerable chief, after which the task was transferred to Jehan Khan, "the Officer who repulsed the flower of Sir Eyre Coote's army from the fortified Pagoda of Chillumbrum in June 1781, and was desperately wounded in the breach of Seringapatam in 1799; a plain unlettered old soldier, of clear and distinct understanding, and a niemory uncommonly retentive and correct."

The present Raja of Coory wrote a history of that place, which is used upon this occasion; and the Author observes, that though the Raja has small pretensions to profound historical research, "his romantic charac-ter and adventures are well known in India;" and it is valuable for " some characteristic traits of the Mountaineers of the West part of India, which are singularly curious." The last document mentioned, is a Work written under the immediate direction and inspection of the late Tippoo Sultaun; and, as so singular a circumstance must necessarily excite curiosity, the Author gives the following account of it. The title is Sultaun u Towareekh; or, the King of Histories. The facts were dictated by Tippoo, and the arrangement belongs to Zein-ul-ab-uDeen Shusteree, who was brother to Meer Aalum, late minister at Hyderabad.

It is written in the Persian language, and furnishes a proof of the false taste introduced by modern writers. But, however faulty it may be in this respect, "it is the style of a person well skilled in that sort of composition, and accomplished in the literature of Persia." The commence. ment, as usual, is devoted to the praises of the divinity Mahomet, and the approved associates and dependants of the latter; yet they are so contrived as to hold a middle course between the faith of the Sultaun and his Secretary, who were of different sects of the Mahommedan religion. A dissertation succeeds, founded on the gradations of creation, which the Writer traces in the inequality of men's minds and the variations of their exterior appearance, observable even in the Apostles sent to enlighten mankind. "It exists also, says the brother of Meer Aalum (whose long name prevents our repeating it), among the inferior orders of men: government is requisite for the protection of man-` kind, and Kings have existed in every

age:

age: the same distinctions are observable in the relative characters of Kings, as among the Apostles above them, and the mass of mankind below them; and the proof of this relative superiority of one King over another is exemplified in the superiority of Tippoo Sultaun over ull Kings antient and modern." Not contented with this elevation, the Sultaun is compared with the Sun, Moon, Planets, and inferior Stars, Prophets, Apostles, Kings, and Philosophers, "in a style of accomplished extravagance and absurdity." Such was the Sultaun who is offered for the example and imitation of his descendants, as the Author of incomparable regulations and inventions; and if any other Sovereign should adopt by stealth any of these inventions, he must necessarily be classed among the said descendants;" that is to say, according to the gross and obscene dialect of this court, hereafter to be noticed, observes Mr. W. of which the Sultaun could not divest himself even in his literary pursuits, "Tippoo Sultaun must be considered have embraced the mother of the supposed imitator." Although the Secretary had the authority of his master for the introduction of similar sentences, he appears to have possessed a sense of modesty foreign to the nature of the Sultaun; and accordingly declares in the sentence following the above, in terms particularly inflated, as if to conceal his purpose, "that many passages of the work are of the express dictation of the Sultaun himself." The first of the two Volumes proposed by the Sultaun and his Secretary, proceeds to the early youth of Hyder, which is followed by a blank; and the second commences with the accession of Tippoo in 1783. Proceeding till 1789, other blank leaves occur; then proceeds a second edition of the genealogy. Both of them, adds Mr. W. are equally remote from the truth; but the narrative of those of his military operations which were successful, are given with precision and clearness. "Those in which his arms were unfortunate, can scarcely be recognized in the turgid and fabulous shape which the Sultaun has assigned to them." The English, when mentioned as not immediately opposed to him, are termed Nazarenes; on other occasions they are GENT. MAG. March, 1811.

The

called rascally infidels, a race of runaways, of dæmons; and in their attacks, they are compared to wounded wild boars. "Madras has the honourable name of the city of Hermaphrodites; and the Nabob Moham med Ali Khan, the contemptuous designation of the Christian." French do not escape the spleen of the Sultaun, who declares the Nation fundamentally faithless. The character of the Sultaun's literary taste is eminently conspicuous throughout the work, in which there occurs a most curious selection of terms, and much incorrect orthography of names, not through ignorance, but design, "for the purpose of giving them a contemptuous or obscene meaning. A few examples, to explain this species of wit, and illustrate the usual phraseology of the Sultaun, are thrown into shade at the bottom of the page;" where we shall let them remain, feeling as we do the utmost abhorrence for all indecency, and at the same time expressing our approbation of the delicate manner in which the Author confines his information to the Latinist. Mr. W. further declares the impossibility of giving a just idea of the contents of these volumes, as descriptive of the manners of the court, or, indeed, in speaking of them himself, without hazarding some offence against propriety. He then gives a specimen of the King of Histories, part of which, we suppose, will be an acceptable present to our readers; and this relates to a supposed proposal from General Macleod, on his second appearance before Mangalore, to decide the fate of the contest, by a combat of an equal number of soldiers of each nation; and the purport of the whole is, to establish the exclusive right of the Sultaun, by descent from the Prophet, to bravery, heroism, holy war, and the destruction of infidels. "But," he observes, " 'your Apostle, the holy Messiah, according to universal admission, was not invested by the Almighty with the power of the sword, and never did undertake a holy war. It is evident, moreover, from authentic books, that you falsely arrogate to yourselves the religion of the Messiah; that you support the doctrine of the Trinity, absolutely associating other Persons with God, and thereby enroll yourselves with

idolaters;

idolaters; and that you perpetrate forbidden things, such as drinking wine, eating swine's flesh, gaming, usury, and every other act which, by the universal consent of mankind, is held to be a vice. Therefore God, and the Apostle of God, that is, the Messiah, and all his elect, abominate and abhor you, and you have incurred the wrath of the throne of God."

In concluding his preface, Mr. W. acknowledges his obligations to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, for admission to their records, and the library at the India House, where he received every attention from the officers employed in their preservation and care. In recurring to what we have written as the substance of the Preface, we find that we have already given cogent reasons for the encouragement of this Work, not by assertions of our own, drawn from a hasty perusal of the contents of the two volumes, but by affording our Readers the means of judging for themselves whether it is possible so many authentic records can have been consulted, and their contents compressed, to no important purpose. For ourselves, we confess that we experienced great pleasure in the reflection, that we were reading the labours of a Gentleman, who has proved that he has had every assistance from the best of sources which could be expected in a History of Mysoor.

25. The due Observance of the Sabbath-Day; a Sermon. By the Rev. Thomas Jee, M. A. late of Pembroke-hall, Cambridge, Vicar of Thaxted, and one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Essex. 8vo. Stanes, Chelmsford. 1809. THE Commandment, Exod. xx. 8. "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy," is in this Discourse plainly, but energetically, enforced.

"Prayer, both private and public, hearing, reading, and meditating on the word of God, are the particular parts of our duty on the Sabbath. If we begin the day with prayer to God, we may expect that it will end well. We may hope to obtain the blessing and the grace of God; and we may hope to obtain assistance and comfort in the performance of our duty. In the next place, the public worship of God requires

our attention; and we should be very careful not to absent ourselves from it for frivolous reasons and vain excuses."......" To visit the sick, to

comfort the afflicted, to relieve the distressed, to instruct the ignorant, to correct the erroneous, and to reclaim the vicious, are pleasing to him who hath declared that acts both lawful in themselves, and well

'he will have mercy, and not sacrifice." -By works of necessity, we are to understand whatever is unavoidable. The cattle must be supplied with food, and taken care of; our health and safety must be consulted, and moderate refreshment must be provided for our families: but it is neither lawful nor right to make our cattle labour at their usual work, nor to detain our servants from the worship of God, by ordinary employments on the Sabbath-day."

After observing that

"God hath blessed the seventh day,' and hath promised to bestow his blessing on that day, in an especial manuer, on those who duly observe it,"

Mr. Jee enforces his argument by the following quotation from a letter of Lord Chief Justice Hale:

"I have, by long and sound experience, found, that the due observance of this day, and of the duties of it, have been of singular comfort and advantage to me, and doubt, not but it will prove so to you. God Almighty is the Lord of our time, and lends it to us and as it is but just that we should consecrate this part of that time to him, so I have found, by a strict and diligent observation, that a due attention to the duty of this day hath ever had joined to it a blessing upon the rest of my time, and the week that hath so begun hath been blessed and prosperous to me. And, on the other side, when I have been negligent of the duties of this day, the rest of the week hath been unsuccessful and unhappy to my own secular employments; so that I could early make an estimate of my successes in my own secular engagements in the week following, by the manner of my passing of this day: and this I do not write lightly or inconsiderately, but upon a long and sound observation and experience."

26. An Enquiry into the best System of Female Education; or Boarding School and Home Education attentively considered. By J. L. Chirol, one of His Majesty's Chaplains at the French Royal Chapel, St. James's Palace. 8vo. pp: 363.Cadell and Davies. 1809.

SO many books have been written on the subject of Female Education, that we are not surprised Mr. Chirol should think it necessary to apologize for adding to the number. But he observes that those publications which either treat of the advantages of education,

cation, or afford excellent materials for parents to work upon, are not calculated to answer the question, "which is best for Females, a School or Home education?" And where they treat of the general immorality of the age, he is of opinion they have not traced the evil to its source, which is boarding-school education. "To supply this great deficiency is the object of the present work; which as it not only points out the evil itself, but indicates its origin and prescribes the remedy, may be considered as possessing a species of novelty." As the Author, however, professes himself superior to the vanity of introducing nothing but what is absolutely new, he has not scrupled to avail himself of the labours of others who have the same object in view. To him "it has been constantly matter of the greatest astonishment, that a nation so renowned for good sense and sensibility, should have adopted a plan of female education diametrically opposite to both," i. e. the boarding-school plan.

With respect to his arguments on this important subject, he assures us that they are derived "from the most minute investigation, the most respectable authorities, and an aggregation of incontrovertible facts, collected in more than five hundred schools, of every rate and description, from one end of the empire to the other ;" and although he has scrupulously abstained from local or personal allusions, he has no hesitation in expressing his firm, unshaken opinion, that the best of them is good for nothing. As this will no doubt appear a harsh sentence, our Author qualifies it in the following manner: Be it remarked, that I pretend not to affirm positively, that there is no exception whatever, for many schools must certainly have escaped my notice; what mean is, that I am not acquainted with one which is good for any thing. It would, however, be a very singular circumstance, if, notwithstanding all my trouble, inquiries, expence, and impartiality, those schools which have been unintentionally overlooked were ali precisely such as form honourable exceptions." In this we cordially agree with our Author, and must acknowledge that if we had instituted such an inquiry, and found five hundred schools good for nothing, we should not have been inclined to go another step in the pursuit.

In handling the subject of this volume, the purpose of which our Readers may perceive is to put them out of conceit with female boarding schools, our Author begins with some "clear and incontestable" principles for female education. He then demonstrates the "serious evils inseparable from boarding-school education," with respect, 1. To the health of the body: 2. To the cultivation of the mind: and 3. To the improvement of the heart. He proves at the same time that these evils cannot exist in domestic education, answers the objections made to it, and lastly points out how domestic education may be carried on so as to produce the best effects.

In the Chapter on the "Principles for Female Education," the Author remarks that there are two things more especially to be adopted as fixed principles in the education, of girls. 1. Their constitution: 2. Their general destination. We do not mean to follow him step by step in what he offers in explanation of these principles, because, although we find some things expressed perhaps rather incautiously, there is much more which we can recommend to the serious attention of parents, and his chief arguments are certainly incontrovertible. When, however, we say that some things are expressed incautiously, our meaning must not be supposed to go farther than a gentle intimation that his female Readers may think him inclined to undervalue the sex. He observes, for instance, that "woman is physically less strong and robust than man, that her frame is more delicate, and the structure of her body more feeble; hence the almost incessant infirmities under which she labours." This, in our opinion, is not consistent with fact. Women do not labour under "almost incessant infirmities;" and although we allow that they are less robust than men, we really believe that, taken collectively, they exhibit as many remarkable examples of health and longevity as men, and that, too, among the poorer and more laborious classes. But this difference of opinion is of less consequence than what follows-—~

"It is also generally allowed, that her intellectual powers are as different from his, as her physical properties : hence her incapacity for intense appli

cation,