having the three-coloured national cockade in his hat, &c.)" P. 33. "Briffotiner, v. a. to briffotine; to empty the pockets or purse after the manner of Briffot. Briffot was driven from Paris for fome tricks of youth, and fought an afylum in London, where he gained a proficiency in an art which he was admirably quali `fied to diftinguith himself by, whether in financial or literary matters. "He began his brilliant career by the publication of a treatise on genteel frauds (fur l'honnêteté des voleries). He did not confine his doctrine to barren arguments à priori, but inftructed the public by weighty proofs of unanfwerable and lucrative experience. This obtained for him the honour of having his name applied to feats of fkill and addrefs in the like way, called after him (brillotiner) brifotining, with the further eulogium of having proved himfelf an adept in the art of knavery (avoir bien mérité de la coquinerie.)" P. 37 "Carmagnole, f. f. a patriotic dance and fong fo called. It owes its rife to the violence which broke out amongft the people, occafioned by the late king's right of veto, the maffacre of the Swifs, and the knights of the poniard. It was called the carmagnole of the royalifts, that is to say, a dance and Jong made to incenfe the royalists. "It is fince become a common phrafe in familiar speech. (On dit que nous danfons la carmagnole partout fur la même air; pour dirc, que les armes des carmagnols ont du fuccès partout. -It is faid that we dance the carmagnole every where to the fame tune; which implies that the carmagnols have every where the fame fuccefs.) "Carmagnole was the name at first given to the particular tune and dance before mentioned; afterwards to a particular kind of coat, and to the foldiers who wore it, or who fung the fong; laftly, the reports made in the National Convention by the framers of them. "The word carmagnole is probably borrowed from the name of a town fo called in Piedmont, from whence came a number of diminutive fellows who served in the capacity of lacqueys in Paris, and, as is ufual, were called after the name of the place from whence they came. "This fong is remarkable because it has given the name of carmagnol to the republican part of the French nation.” P. 40. "Difetteux, eufe, adj. famished; starving; having a scarcity of food. This adjective, which has been marked in the dictionaries heretofore as obfolete or feldom ufed, has been but too much employed during the late dearth of four fucceffive years. (Une année difetteufe, a year of famine.) "It is remarkable that though the Tubstantive disette is used to imply a famine, the adjective difetteux, formed from it, has been always ufed as an expreffion of ridicule, and to mean a poor needy devil; or, in a compaf fionate fenfe, for a diftreffed person. Furetière has faid; The academicians, fo far from rendering the French language rich and copious, have starved and impoverished it (l'ont rendu difetteufe)." P. 91. "S'Embrancher, v. recip. to interweave; to entwine itself. This verb was formerly used only in an active sense, but is now become a reciprocal verb. (Cette question s'embranche avec une foule d'autres: this queftion interweaves itself with a number of others.) A metaphor taken from the interweaving, or entwining of the branches of trees, whether by art or nature. This verb is new." P. 103. Bishop's Palace. Entrance to King John's Hall. Three Plates of Antiquities (outlines). EXTRACTS. OFFERINGS AT THE SHRINE OF ST. DAVID. "IN the year 1085, King William entered Wales, and marched after the manner of pilgrimage as far as St. David's, where he offered and paid his devotion to the fhrine of that celebrated Saint. In 1171 King Henry II. came and paid the fame homage; he was afterwards entertained by the Bishop. November 26th, 1284, King Henry I. and his Queen Eleanor, came here for the fame purpofe, where pilgrims of all defcriptions vifited, and made their offerings. To this receptacle the offerings made at the other chapels were brought and depofited; where, they fay, it was divided every Saturday among the canons and priefts: and tradition fays, that fo great was the offering-money, that it used to be divided by difhfulls; the quantity not allowing them leifure to count it. That the devotion of this church was very great in the Popish times is certain; and how meritorious they accounted it, appears by this old verfe: Roma femel quantum, bis dat Mene via tantum.' "It is a fingular fact, that, in the parish of St. David's, there never was feen a fnake, viper, or any fpecies of thefe reptiles; and that immediately beyond its boundaries, they are found: the lower class endeavours to account for it, by Saint David's being the birthplace of Saint Patrick, the tutelar faint of Ireland; in which country, it is well known, no fuch reptiles exift. "This famed and illuftrious per fonage, Saint Patrick, is faid to have been the fon of Calphuin, a British prieft of noble and good family, by his wife Concha, fifter to Saint Martin of Tours. He is reprefented to have been of an ingenuous and benign difpofition: having received the early part of his education at home, he tra velled into Gaul, and ftudied a confi derable time under the celebrated Saint Germains, Bishop of Arles; 'whence he went to Rome, where, by the greatnefs of his learning, and fanctity of his manners, he gained the esteem and friendship of Cœleftine, then bishop of that city. On his return from the continent, he was taken by pirates, and carried into Ireland; where he remained fome years, being advised to employ his great talents in attempting to inftruct thofe people in the knowledge of the Chriftian religion: and having beheld with compaffion their want of that information, he cheerfully undertook the arduous task of their inftruction and converfion, in which work he employed the remaining years of his life; and his pious and learned labours were crowned with the moft aftonishing fuccefs, for which he was enrolled in their catalogue of faints. In the early part of his life he founded the cathedral church there, and another afterwards at Saint David's. He died in Ireland, Anno Salutis 491, in the 122d year of his age; and lies buried at Down, in that kingdom, together with Saint Bridgett and Columba, as appears by thefe lines: Hi tres in Duno tumulo tumulantur in uno; Brigitta, Patricius, atque Columba pius'." P. 57. RAMSAY ISLAND-MIGRATING SEABIRDS. "THIS ifland is now in the form of a triangle, about two miles long, and one or for fear of the gulls, their greateft enemies. The puffin much resembles the parrot, with an arched red beak; they breed in holes vacated by the rabbits. The vaft number of eggs laid on thefe rocks are, when in feason, the principal fubfiftence of the poorer fort of inhabitants about Saint David's: the eggs are about the fize of a duck's, beautifully spotted and variegated with many colours; all vary much, and they fay there are not two alike." P. 63. one in its extreme breadth in the centre: there formerly was a wall run acrofs it; but its traces, and for what purpose, are not known. Anciently it was called Ptolemeus Lymen; and on it were two chapels, but now no veftige of them is to be feen: one was dedicated to Saint David; and the other, named Ynis Devanog, dedicated to a faint of that name; who with Faganus, was fent by Bishop Elutherius to preach the word of life to the Britons, in the year 186 after the afcenfion of our Saviour Jefus Christ. The laft-mentioned chapel, with great part of the island, has been fwallowed up by the fea, as far as the rocky excrefcences to the weftward of it. The island, it is said, was formerly inhabited by faints; and that no less than 20,000 have been buried there: it keeps many cattle, fheep, and rabbits; but the lat-They are fout sturdy fellows, and ter are nearly extirpated by the rats, that periodically fwim across the found during the fummer. Great part of the foil is fertile, and yields good grain: but this hoft of vermin convert it to their own ufe, denying the benefit of the cultivation to its occupiers. "To this ifland, and the rocks adjoining, yearly refort fuch an immenfe number of migrating fea-birds, of feveral forts, as none but those who have been eye-witneffes thereof can be prevailed upon to believe, the cliffs being nearly covered by them: they chiefly confift of the elyug, the razor-bill, which is the merc of Cornwall; the puffin, which is the arctic duck of Clufius; and a variety of gulls. Here they all come to depofit their eggs, and rear their young, in places fo high and rugged, as to make it almost inacceffible to the foot of plunder or hand of violence: their vifits and returns are very precipitate; for, after the breeding feafon, they depart in the night in the previous evening the tocks are covered, and the next morning not a bird is to be feen: in like manner, on their return in the evening, not a bird will be fcen, and the next morning the rocks will be full of them. They alfo vifit commonly for a week about Christmas, and then finally take their departure until the following breeding-feafon. The elyug and razorbill lay but one egg each, on the bare rock; never leaving it until it is hatched, and their offspring able to follow them, either from instinctive fondness, "North-weft of this ifland are fix rocks, fuppofed to have been formerly part of the fame; they are called the Bishop and Clerks, well known and dreaded by all feamen who pafs St. George's Channel. They are thus spoken of by an author, about the time of the Spanish invafion in 1588: will not budge a foot; are able to refift the King of Spain's great navy, and put her Majefty to no charge at 'all.' One of them, moft to the fouthward, is called Carreg Efcob, or the Bishop's Rock; the fecond, Carreg-yrRoffan; the third, Gwen Carreg, or White Rock; the fourth, Deveck; the fifth, Carreg Hawloe; the fixth, Emfcar. Thefe rocks are watchfully looked after by all paffing this fea, as this bifhop and his clerks preach fuch deadly doctrine to their winter audience.' P. 66. earlieft ages to the period which falls more immediately under our confideration. In this mode only, can govern ment and manners be ftudied to advantage. Such a recapitulation will often be found to explain the caufes of many exifting inftitutions. In illuftrating the progrefs of jurifprudence, we shall have frequent occafions of admiring and obferving how legislation refined, and kept pace with the improvement of the intellectual powers and the moral advancement of nations. To delineate in this manner the spirit of nations, we muft recur to authentic documents, credible and impartial hiftorians; and to determine their relative happiness, we must compare the accounts of their moral ftate, delivered by different writers, living in different ages, yet reprefenting mankind under fimilar fituations. Thus Homer and Offian may be adduced to illuftrate the primitive hiftories of the Bible, and Charlevoix and Lafitau to corroborate the defcriptions of Homer and Offian. In this light, the beautiful art of poetry, which falls principally within the province of imagination, may be rendered fubfervient to the inveftigations of reafon. By the aid of this comparative hiftory, we may collate materials from Hindu laws to elucidate the inftitutions which the human mind has invented in fimilar stages of fociety. The fuccefs of our discoveries on this head, muft depend on the care with which we felect and arrange our materials. Modern compilations afford but little affiftance, and the voluminous chronicles of nations, record frequently nothing but infipid genealogies and unprofitable fables. actions, they neglect all difquifition into laws and manners, as unworthy of remark, or incapable of ornament. Antiquaries have difplayed much cri tical and laborious investigation, but the fpirit of cuftoms ard of laws has alfo efcaped their penetration, They often throw together their materials without arrangement, they are often unable to reafon from them, and, for getting that the human mind advances progreffively, they afcribe to rude ages the ideas and fentiments of their own times. These are all impediments in the way of political examinat, and they have betides the fatal tendency of obliterating for a time our fefe of moral duty and the true interets of nations. Neither are these descriptions the most entertaining portions of torical narration. Scenes of carnage, though dreffed in the pomp of words, may dazzle the eyes for a white, but they cannot ultimately fix the atten tion of mankind. Doth not the inge nious fcholar, who has enlarged and enlightened the faculties of the human mind; the inventive artift, who has increased the comforts and conveni ences of human lite; the adverturous merchant or mariner, who has difcoVered unknown countries, and opened new fources of trade and wealth; deferve a place in the annals of his coun try, and in the grateful remembrance of pofterity, equally with the good prince, the wife politician, or the victorious general? Can we form juft ideas of the characters and circum ftances of our ancestors, by viewing them only in the flames of civil and religious difcord, or in the fields of blood and slaughter; without ever attending to their conduct and condition, in the more permanent and peaceful fcenes of focial life? Have we no curiofity to know at what time, by what degrees, and by whofe means, mankind have been enriched with the treasures of learning, political wisdom, arts and commerce? It is impoffible. Such curiofity is natural, laudable, and ufcful; and it is hoped, that this attempt to gratify it, will be received by the public with fome degree of favour. "Had the generality of hiftorians attended to these important confidera "See Dr. Henry's General Preface to his Hiftory of England. This indefatigable and excellent hiftorian is a marked exception to the preceding obfervation." tions, the labours of moral inquiry would have been abridged, light would have been diffufed over the moft interefting portions of human science, and I should have been enabled to trace the progrefs of fociety from the uncultivated foreft to the polifhed capital, with the utmost exactitude, and without being once compelled to hazard a conjecture. But as these things have not been performed, the fubiect is expofed to difcuffion and to difference of opinion; it will therefore be my duty to inveftigate it in fuch a manner as to convince the minds of my hearers, that laws, government, and manners, have not only a neceffary connexion with hiftory, but with each other. This fact has been unanfwerably demonftrated by Dr. Gilbert Stuart in his mafterly View of Society in Europe,' a work that must immortalize his reputation as one of the moft acute and philofophical inquirers into the dark annals of unlettered ages. Laws and manners, fays he, are commonly understood to be nothing more than collections of ordinances, and matters of fact; and government is too often a foundation for mere fpeculation and metaphyfical refinements. Yet law is only a science, when obferved in its fpirit and hiftory; government cannot be comprehended but by attending to the minute fteps of its rife and progreffion; and the systems of manners which characterize man in all the periods of fociety which pass from rudenefs to civility, cannot be difplayed without the difcrimination of thefe different fituations. It is in the records of hiftory, in the scene of real life, not in the conceits and the abftractions of fancy and philofophy, that human nature is to be ftudied. But, while it is in the hiftorical manner that laws, cuftoms, and government, are to be inquired into, it is obvious, that their dependance and connexion are clofe and intimate. They all tend to the fame point, and to the illuftration of one another. It is from the confideration of them all, and in their union, that we are to explain the complicated forms of civil fociety, and the wisdom and accident which mingle in human affairs." P. 17. XC. The Flowers of Perfian Litera ture: containing Extracts from the VOL. V.-No. LI. EXTRACTS FROM THE PREFACE IN the first part is given an Effay on the Language and Literature of Perfia, exhibiting a concife hiftory thereof, from the earliest accounts to the prefent time; interfperfed with anecdotes of the most celebrated Perfian authors, and the unbounded munificence of the Eaftern fovereigns to the literati, who were invited to refide at their courts; where they were carefully watched, left, in the hour of difcontent, they should make their escape to the capital of fome other monarch. "The second part contains a large felection of entertaining and useful pieces, from different authors, which are given in Perfian and English, so literal, that any perfon who has acquired the rudiments of the language, may, with very little trouble, turn them out of Perfian into English. "The defcription of the Garden of Irim (from the Oriental Collections, vol. iii. p. 32, to which work the editor is greatly indebted for feveral extracts in the following pages), exhibits an account of that imaginary terreftrial paradife, which is fo frequently alluded to by the Afiatic poets. This piece, notwithstanding it be a description of a fabulous garden, cannot fail to be acceptable, fince it shows the fuperftition of the Eastern nations, multitudes of the people implicitly believing that fuch a garden once exifted. "The Geographical Extracts, which follow the above, point out the diftances from one place to another, by which the young Orientalift will be enabled to travel, as it were, from one town to another at a great diftance, with as much facility, as if he had a book of roads placed before him, which will be rendered the more pleafing, fince it is laid down by an Oriental writer of celebrity. The original work 3 T whence |