wrought will certainly allow. I sincerely confess that I am an indifferent artist; but talents far more exalted than mine, would fail to delight those imaginations, which have a coldness in them, like a frost in spring."

The author has, in our opinion, very injudiciously expunged the Poem on Romance. He has, however, inserted a modern romance of great beauty and interest, from which we lament we have not space enough to permit an extract.

The Sorrows of Werter, translated from the German of Baron Goëthe. By William Render, D. D. 45. 12mo. Phillips. 1801.

DR. RENDER'S abilities as a translator have had the tribute of ou approbation in a former number. Perhaps there was no necessity for a new translation of this work; and we are afraid much good is not done to society by the diffusion of a book, the morality of which is at least questionable, to say no worse of it. Dr. Render, however, has published an appendix, which communicates some particulars of an interview had with Werter a little before his death. This addition is not interesting, and it hardly affords an excuse for offering another edition of Goethe's novel to the public.

Travels in Portugal, through France and Spain. With a Dissertation on the Literature of Portugal. And the Spanish and Portuguese Languages By Henry Frederick Link; Professor at the University of Bostock, and Member of various learned Societies. Translated from the German by John Hinckley, Esq. with Notes by the Translator. 75. Boards. Longman and Rees. 1801.

PROFESSOR Link is a traveller, who has done honour to his country by his various scientific discourses; it is, therefore, a circumstance of high commendation in Mr. Hinckley, to make us familiar with this ingenious philosopher, by rendering this valuable work into our own language. During the last few years, innumerable works of travels, descriptive of Portugal, have issued from the press, but it does appear to us that half they have set down is so big with exaggeration, especially in what relates to the natural history of that extraordinary country, that we have no doubt this indefatigable naturalist was timulated by the desire of rectifying the errors of others, rather than the hope of literary fame in the publication before us. The preface is so admirably descriptive of the writer's object, that we are induced to extract it.

"That zealous and active patron of natural history, the Count of Hoffmannsegg, who is himself so great a proficient in the science, being desirous of a companion in his Travels to Portugal not wholly unexperienced in Botany and Mineralogy, I had the honour to be chosen to that important post.

We embarked at Hamburg in the summer of 1797, and being obliged by contrary winds and storms to cast anchor off Romney, quitted the ship and landed at Dover; from which place we pursued our journey through France and Spain to Portugal, for the purpose of travelling over that country more minutely. In this we employed the greater part of the year 1798, but in 1799 my affairs obliging me to leave that country, 1 embarked on board the packet for Falmouth, and, crossing England by London and Yarmouth, returned to Hamburgh. The Count still remains in Portugal, where, with indefatigable assiduity, he is investigating the natural history of that country.

Such was the origin of a journey, undertaken in order to collect materials for a Fauna and Flora Lusitanicæ, and I hope the Count of Hoffmannsegg will not fail, in conjunction with professor Hedwig, of Brunswick, both excellent entomologists, to publish the Fauna as soon as possible.

For the Flora we prepared the manuscript while in Portugal, and it is still continually receiving additions through the exertions of the Count, who has drawn all the new and u. known plants, in a manner that proves his intimate knowledge of botany, and the great talents with which he pursues that science.

At that time we had no idea of publishing an account of our travels as such; our chief attention was directed to investigating the works of nature, especially the botanical riches of the country, with an activity and enthusiasm, of which none but the true lovers of that charming science can form an adequate idea.

On my return I read all the accounts I could procure of travels in Portugal, and found that no one had seen so much of that country as ourselves. I also perceived that most of the authors of these works were grossly ignorant of the language, and gave many false accounts, or such as were only applicable to the inhabitants of the metropolis, but which they erroneously extended to the whole kingdom. In short, I read of nothing but complaints against the lazy, bigotted, and thievish Portuguese, and saw, with grief, that no one had described the delightful vales through which the Minho flows, the cultivation of which vies with that of England herself; that no one had bestowed due praise on the tolerant spirit of the common people, of which I had many pleasing proofs, (I speak not of priests, who have a character of their own, and are alike in all countries where the government favours them); that no one had proclaimed the security enjoyed in a country, where, in my botanical excursions, I laid myself down by the road-side, in unknown spots, and, exhausted by the heat of the day, slept without care or apprehension.

Thus I seized the pen to defend my friends the Portuguese, determining im❤ partially to pourtray their character, their mode of life, and their agriculture, with which last my occupations rendered me intimately acquainted; till thus a mere apology grew into a book of travels. It being often needful to draw a comparison between the Portuguese and their neighbours the Spaniards, I added a short account of our journey through Spain, and France is too important an

object of public attention to omit the few observations I have prefixed, more particularly on provinces through which travellers have of late very rarely passed.

In this point of view then I hope the candid reader will consider the follow ing work. Relative to France and Spain I shall confine myself to a few cursory remarks, partly because those countries are already pretty generally known, and partly because we passed more rapidly through them to Portugal, which was the grand object of our journey. Many readers may, perhaps, desire more ample statistical accounts of that kingdom that I have given. On the constitution I have, interspersed a few remarks, much fewer indeed than I had actually written, but I reduced them to avoid prolixness, as I had formed an intention of writing a sepasate work on the constitution, literature, and language, for which it is now probable I may not find leisure. Of the population, I have given as accurate an account as could be drawn from the materials I was able to procure. A more minute description of the trade of Portugal, especially with the colonies, would have required more time than was possible for me to bestow. But on the other hand, I here, perhaps, present the reader with a more accurate picture of the general state of the country, than he will find in any book of travels hitherto published.

In this picture I have endeavoured as much as possible to avoid every thing obscure, though I should be suspected of being less accurate. For I possess not the talent of many writers, to bring forward with great labour and difficulty, as of the utmost importance, and with all the incumbrances of a heavy and diffusive style, some slight remark which scarcely deserves to be made at all. I prefer carelessly to throw out what has cost me, perhaps, great labour and much time to investigate and discover."

Contentment; or Hints to Servants on the present Scarcity. A poetical Epistle. s. 4to. Cadell and Davies. 1800.

THE author of this poem, who states himself to be "half starved," has no doubt experienced the virtue of contentment, and may, therefore, be permitted to recommend the system of economy he has himself observed to the adoption of other persons. At this moment every attempt of the present kind should be encouraged; but though the poetry of our author is not despicable, we think his arguments would have been better understood, and consequently more substantially applied, if he had condescended to address his readers in humble prose. To say the truth, we have read a pamphlet much more germane to the matter," written by a respectable and -well-informed gentleman, who submitted to the public some "Thoughts on the best means of carrying into effect his Majesty's Proclamation," a most immediately after the royal recommendation appeared, and which conveyed the most judicious and salutary advice for the governance of servants during the season of scarcity. Thank heaven, our apprehensions on this score are removed, and the jobs of millers and monopolizers will, we hope, soon be at an end.

The Laws relating to the Poor. By Francis Const, Esq. of the Middle Temple, Barrister at Law. 4th Edition, in which the Statutes and Cases to Hilary Term 1801, including the Collection originally made upon this Subject, by Edmund Bott, Esq. are arranged under their respective Heads; and the whole System of the Poor Laws, together with many Cases never before published, placed in a clear and perspicuous point of View. 8vo. 3 Vols. Butterworth. 1800..

Mr. Bott's work appeared in the year 1771, and was enriched with cases from manuscript collections of John Ford, Esq. and Justice Foster. From alteration in the law, many of these cases are rendered inapplicable, and the insertion of others has become necessary. Mr. Const, than whom an abler man does not exist at the bar, has therefore omitted in this edition all that is now superfluous in the former ones, and supplied the information that is to be gathered from the subsequent acts of parliament, and the decisions of our courts of law.

To the profession this work must be invaluable, and it should also find a place in the library of every gentleman, who, from circumstance or situation, may possess any influence upon occasions where the rights of the poor are concerned.

The cases are arranged with great judgment and perspicuity.

Old Nick; a Satirical Story, in three Volumes. By the Author of a Piece of Family Biography, &c. 12mo. 3 Vols. Murray and Highly. 1801.

[Concluded from p. 186, vol. XI.]

highly ingenious and The general character

THE Continuation of our review of this amusing work has been too long delayed. we have given of it, in a former number, must now be supported by examples from the volumes themselves; and here, from the multiplicity of passages which invite our attention, we find ourselves in the situation of the Epicure, who, surrounded by all the delicacies of the season, hardly knows what to select first.

The reader will often be reminded of Fielding, in the course of this story. The author, with perhaps equal powers of humour, discovers a stronger vein of satire in his descriptions, and particularly in his delineations of character. The extravagancies of Mrs. Pawlet rival those of Parson Adams, though the parties are very distinct from each other. The parson's eccentricities are the result of an amiable simplicity of manners, and spring from an unaffected relish

VOL. XII.

of the beauties of his favourite schylus. Mrs. Pawlet has no agreeable qualities, and her misapplied education renders her pedantic, dogmatic, ridiculous, and perverse. A learned female has been introduced to our acquaintance in Roderick Random, but certainly not with half so much humour and effect as is done by the whimsical author of Old Nick. This LIVING Encyclopædia is thus described.

"Mrs. Pawlet was the daughter of a dean, who, despising the common style of educating women, had brought her up with all the austerity of school discipline, instructed her in the dead languages, particularly in Hebrew; and, in a word, reared her as if he intended she should vie with the fathers, put all the scholiasts on ancient authors, both sacred and profane, to the blush, and snatch the bays from the male, and place it on the female brow. She had studied, with little inclination and great coercion, for a long time, but not without success. The end, however, of this mode of education was, that she became insufferably affected and dogmatical; held every one she knew, relations or friends, but especially her father, whom she soon found to be a weak, superficial man, in sovereign contempt, and consequently rendered her whole family truly miserable.

"She was all skin and bone, tall, with a pale, thin, haggard face, and little grey eyes, which were so advantageously placed in her head as to command both the left and the right at the same moment. The strangeness of her dress added to the grotesqueness of her figure.

"To tell all her whims and vagaries would be an endless task; however, I shall notice a few.

"Having gone the whole round of sciences in a very cursory way, she talks of all, and exceedingly loves to be called a LIVING ENCYCLOPÆDIA. She is always reading or writing, let her be wherever she will. Takes snuff immoderately. Talks with precision. Never suffers any one to pronounce or use a word improperly. Always explains the figure she uses, and reasons logically, that is, tediously and foolishly. Has dipped in Euclid. Is full of solids, angles, parallelograms, logarithms, &c. The same of geography. Never hears of a place but she tells you on which side of the equator it is, north or south, and in what latitude or longitude. In like manner of astronomy. Then there being no apothecary in the village, she has studied the whole materia medica for the benefit of the family. Can read a physician's precription as well as an apothecary. She physics all the servants to such a degree, on the slightest indisposition, that, when they are really ill, they sham well for fear of being dosed.

"She has her own library, which is crowded with books of all descriptions, but principally in the dead languages. She prides herself on the correctness of a barometer she hangs out of the window, which, by the bye, is none of the best. However, if it indicates that the weather is fair, she will contend it is so, although it should rain in torrents. Often too, when people are sick, she will give them a thousand reasons why they should not be sick, and make a man's head ache ten times more than it did, in proving to him that there is no cause for its aching.