the verge of ruin; but they are at prefent a formidable nation. Their government is democratical; they boaft of their liberty, and own no fupremacy but in their prophet. We will add a short account of them from a memoir quoted in this volume.

The Sicques are in general strong and well made; accustomed from their infancy to the most laborious life, and hardest fare, they make marches, and undergo fatigues that really appear aftonishing. In their excurfions they carry no tents or baggage, except, perhaps, a small tent for the principal officer: the rest shelter themselves under blankets, which ferve them alfo in the cold weather to wrap themselves in, and which, on a march, cover their faddles. They have commonly two, fome of them three, horfes each, of the middle fize, ftrong, active, and mild tempered. The provinces of Lahore and Moultan, noted for a breed of the best horses in Hindoftan, afford them an ample fupply; and indeed they take the greatest care to encrease it by all means in their power. Though they make merry on the demife of any of their brethren, they mourn for the death of a horse: thus fhewing their love of an animal fo neceffary to them in their profeffional capacity. The food of the Sicques is of the coarfeft kind, and fuch as the poorest people in Hindoftan ufe from neceffity. Bread, baked in afhes, and foked in a mash made of different forts of pulse, is the best dish, and such as they never indulge in but when at full leisure; otherwise, vetches and tares, haftily parched, is all they care for. They abhor fmoaking tobacco, for what reafon I cannot difcover; but intoxicate themselves freely with fpirits of their own country manufacture. A cup of the last they never fail taking after a fatigue at night. Their drefs is extremely fcanty: a pair of long blue drawers, and a kind of checkered plaid, a part of which is fastened round the waift, and the other thrown over the fhoulder, with a mean turban, form their clothing and equipage. The chiefs are diftinguished by wearing fome heavy gold bracelets on their wrists, and fometimes a chain of the fame metal bound round their turbans, and by being mounted on better horfes: otherwife, no distinction appears amongst them. The chiefs are numerous, fome of whom have the command of ten or twelve thousand ca. valry; but this power is confined to a finall number, the inferior officers maintaining from one to two thoufand, and many not more than twenty or thirty horfes; a certain quota of which is furnished by the chief, the greater part being the individual property of the horsemen.' Vol. i. P. 289.

In April 1783, Mr. Forfter reached Kashmire, the earthly paradife.' Before we attend him in his furvey of that delightful fpot, we will extract his general remarks on the country through which he had paffed.

From Lall Dong to the Ganges, the face of the country

forms a clofe chain of woody mountains, and ́did not one or two miferable hamlets. feebly interpofe, you would pronounce that divifion of Siringnaghur fitted only for the habitation of the beasts of the foreft. Elephants abound there, in numerous herds; but are not to be seen, it is faid, on the west side of the Jumna. In the vicinity of Nhan the country is interfperfed with low hills, and frequently opens into extenfive vallies; which having, perhaps, ever lain wafte, are overgrown with low wood. From thence to Bellafpour, the fcene is changed into piles of lofty mountains, whofe narrow breaks barely ferve to discharge the defcending ftreams. From Bellafpour, fertile vallies, though not wide, extend to Biffouly, where the country is again covered with high hills, which, with little variation, ftretch to the limits of Kafhmire. Vol. i. P. 305.

The road from Lall Dong to Kashmire, as accurately as could be afcertained, from an observation of the fun's course, tended generally to the north-weft, weft-north-weft, and weft by north; except where the deviation is otherwife noted. The fides of the inhabited mountains produce wheat, barley, and a variety of the fmall grains peculiar to India. The cultivated fpaces project from the body of the hill, in feparate flats, in the form of a range of semicircular ftairs with a broad bafe and a narrow fummit. The ground, which is ftrong and productive, has been propelled, it fhould feem, into thefe projections by the action of the rains, which fall among thefe mountains with great violence, from June till October; and is now preserved in this divided and level state by buttreffes of loofe ftones, which bind in the edge of every flat. Rice is alfo cultivated in the narrow vallies, but not in a great quantity; nor is it the ufual food of the inhabitants, who chiefly fubfift on wheat, bread, and peafe made into a thick foup. From Nhan, the northern fides of the hills produce the fir, in great plenty; and in the country between Jumbo and Kashmire, are feen many pines, but I obferved they only grew on the north face of the mountains. I have frequently eat my meal under the shade of a spreading willow, which here, as in Europe, delights in hanging over a ftream. The climate is not favourable to fruits and vegetables, being too hot for the Perfian products, and not sufficiently warm to mature those of India: though the white mulberry must be excepted, which, at Jumbo, is of a large fize, and of an exquifite flavour. The villages of the mountaineers, or rather their hamlets, stand generally on the brow of a hill, and confift of from four to fix or eight small scattered houfes; which are built of rough ftones, laid in a clay loam, and ufually flat roofed: I have alfo feen, though not often, floping roofs of wood. The refinous parts of the fir, cut in flips, fupply the common ufes of the lamp, in all the places where that tree abounds; but the method of extracting its turpentine, or tar, does not feem to be known.

The natives of thefe mountains are compofed of the different claffes of Hindoos, and little other difference of manners exifts between them and thofe of the fouthern quarters of India than is feen amongst a people who occupy the high and low lands of the fame country. The fcarcity of wealth, by depreffing the growth of luxury, has given them a rude fimplicity of character, and has impeded the general advancement of civilization. They have no fpacious buildings for private or public use, nor in the performance of religious offices do they obferve those minuter or refined ceremo→ nies that are practifed by the fouthern Hindoos.' Vol. i. P. 306.

The women of thefe parts have an olive complexion, and are neatly shaped. Their drefs confifts of a petticoat, a close jacket, and a loofe ftomacher. They are free in their manners, but not immodeft or licentious.

(To be continued.)

The New Annual Regifter, or General Repofitory of History, Politics, and Literature, for the Year 1797. To which is prefixed, the Hiftory of Knowledge, Learning, and Tafte, in Great Britain, during the Reign of King Charles II. Part I. 8vo. 10s. 6d. Boards. Robinfons. 1798.

THIS is the eighteenth volume of a work which has been honoured with public approbation, as a faithful record of the events and tranfactions of the times, particularly of thofe which have occurred in Great-Britain. By the increasing importance of its contents, the work has gradually been extended in bulk; and, indeed, the prefent volume is of incon venient magnitude. We are not inclined to admit the neceffity of fuch extraordinary extenfion. A hiftory even of a very remarkable year, fufficiently copious for readers in general, might, without injury to the fubject, be compreffed within moderate limits.

The introductory part treats of the character of Charles II. the conduct of his minifter the earl of Clarendon, and the merits of the theological writers of that period. These are not ill characterifed; and, in the delineation of their portraits, the author has taken an opportunity of cenfuring, with juft feverity, the infidels with whom many of thofe divines fo.ably contended.

After a fhort but pertinent exordium, the writer enters upon the affairs of the new parliament, which affembled in the autumn of 1796. In giving the fubftance of a debate upon the addrefs, he dwells on the eccentric harangue' of earl Fitzwilliam longer than was neceffary, as the proteft of

that nobleman (which is incorporated with the hiftorical detail) amply explains his fentiments. The proceedings of the two houses for the better defence of the kingdom, are concifely related: thofe which regard the pecuniary fupplies are recounted at much greater length. The debates upon the expediency of peace are fufficiently comprehenfive, without being tedious.

There is nothing ftriking or fpirited in the account of the mutiny among the feamen; but the statements appear to be correct.

The chapter which relates to the fufpenfion of pecuniary payment at the bank, is particularly copious. The fubject is introduced with dignity.

While the tranquillity of the nation was difturbed, and its existence endangered by the mutinous difpofition of its most effective defenders, an evil which at first appeared of fcarcely inferior magnitude, threatened at once to overwhelm its financial arrangements, and to bury in one prodigious ruin the pecuniary resources, and even the commerce, of the country. By the continued fanction of public opinion, the bank of England had been long confidered as the palladium of Britain; and the confidence which was attached to this object of national veneration approached, it must be confeffed, to the nature of idolatry. Like other popular fuperftitions, its proceedings were enveloped in mystery; its existence was connected in idea with the existence of the state; its influence on the commercial profperity of the country was highly exaggerated; and its importance, in every point of view, was magnified by the operations of fancy on the bafis of ignorance.

The year 1797, which has been more productive of political wonders than any given period during the prefent century, has added this to the number, that the bank of England has failed to fulfil its engagements, and yet public credit has remained unshaken. At the fame time the veil of mystery which concealed its proceedings from the public is rent in pieces; its powers and its competency are now no longer fecret; and that confidence which before refted on an ideal bafis, is now fupported by legislative fanction, and by a developement of the affairs of this great monied corporation.' P. 124.

Before the writer gives a detail of the concerns of our bank, he traces the origin of fimilar inftitutions.

The rife and progrefs of paper-currency and of banks of depofit in Europe is a fubject deeply interefting to the politician; but it has never been treated with that accuracy of research, and that freedom of inquiry which its importance deferves. If we are not mistaken, the bank of Venice is the oldest of these inftitutions; for it was eftablished fo early as the twelfth century, by an

act of the ftate, as a general depofit or treafury for all the merchants and traders of that opulent and commercial city. The banks of Genoa, Hamburgh, Nuremberg, and Amfterdam, were all, we apprehend, of a date confiderably anterior to that of the bank of England; but that of Amsterdam, which was established in 1609, was the most important of them all, and its circulation the most extenfive. Its object was to counteract the abufes arifing from the clipping and diminishing of the various coins which were then current in Holland. It therefore received both the light foreign coin, and the diminished coin of the country, as its real and intrinsic value in good standard money, deducting only the fum neceffary for its recoinage; and for the fum depofited afrer this deduction a credit was opened with the proprietor in the books of the bank, and the revenues of the city of Amfterdam were made refponfible for the amount. The bills of credit upon the bank thus came to be distinguished by the name of bank money; and effectually to remedy the evils arifing from the defacing of the coin, it was enacted, that all bills of exchange of the value of 600 gilders or upwards were to be paid in bank money; which, as it represented money exactly according to the standard, was always at par, or of equal value with good standard currency. Certain other objects of no inconfiderable moment to commercial men were achieved by means of this establishment. The money thus depofited was fecure from fire, robbery, and other accidents; and large fums could be paid by a fimple transfer, without the trouble of counting, or the risk of counterfeit coin.

In England, after the fatal contefts between the houfes of York and Lancaster were compofed, the opulent citizens were accuftomed to depofit their gold and filver in the royal mint, as a place of fafety, whence they occafionally drew fupplies of current coin, as their neceffities required; but when the unfortunate Charles I. feized the bullion in the Tower, in the year 1640, this fanctuary was violated, and all confidence in the government was at an end. In the course of the civil war, that unnatural state of commotion, which corrupts and depraves even the best of the human race, rendered it unfafe to the merchants and traders to truft their clerks, or apprentices, with the charge of their treafure; and about the year 1645 they began firft to lodge their money in the hands of certain goldfmiths, who undertook to be anfwerable for their payments upon drafts, under the fignature of the refpective principals: and this appears to be the first establishment of regular banks in the city of London.

The inftitution of a bank upon more extenfive and liberal principles was projected by fome merchants and traders of the city of London, foon after the revolution, and was countenanced by the court and ministry; and though, as bishop Burnet informs us, the oppofition to its establishment was confiderable, an act was nevertheless paffed in 1693 for its incorporation, under the name of