frequent than in other countries, they may more juftly be afcribed to our. potations of heavy malt liquor, which defervedly ftrike foreigners as a fingularity in English diet. Even our lighteft liquors of that fort have not escaped their remark; for a late French traveller has obferved, that the English commonly drink at their meals a fort of medical ptifan, which they call small beer. Our ancestors prided themselves in the variety and richness of their ales; and old writers enumerate many forts, as Cock, Stepney, Stitchback, Hull, Derby, Northdown, Nottingham, Sandback, Betony, Scurvy-grafs, Sage-ale, College-ale, China-ale, Butler's-ale, &c.; nor even at pretent do we refule praife to the various qualities of our Burton, Dorchester, Taunton, Scottish, and other ales. But the moft peculiar malt beverage is porter, which ought to be folely composed of brown or high-dried malt, hops, liquorice, and fugar, but is fometimes debased by other ingredients: that of London is particularly famous, and is an article of exportation, being esteemed a luxury on the banks of the Delaware, and [of] the Ganges. Punch was another national liquor, compofed of fpirits, water, acids, and fugar, but its ufe is now in the decline, though the late Dr. Cullen efteemed it a falutary potation in a moist and variable climate. The prodigious confumption of tea is another peculiar feature, the use of that plant being rare in other European countries; to phlegmatic conftitutions may be beneficial, but, among the common claffes, its enervating powers are often attempted to be corrected by the ufe of fpirituous liquors. The latter bane has been long known in Ruffia, and other northern kingdoms, but in the milder climes of Great Britain and Ireland, is deftructive of the health and morals of the people. The legislature has been often forced to interpofe to prevent the growth of drunkenness, wretchedness, and vice; and it is to be wished that a late committee of the House of Commons had fanctioned a motion that was made to reftrict fpirituous liquors to their ancient boundaries, the fhops of the chymifts.

it

"The fimplicity of the English cookery ftrikes foreigners as much as that of the drefs, which, even among the great, is very plain, except on the days of court-gala. A Frenchman drinks his wine during dinner; but the late Mr. Gibbon has remarked, that the luxury of a daily table in England permits a gentleman to tafte half a dozen sorts of wine during dinner, and to drink his bottle of claret afterwards. The red wine of Portugal is, however, a greater favourite than that of France, as its aftringent and antifeptic qualities are found highly falutary in a moist climate. A late French traveller (St. Fond) has remarked, that the English know not the proper use of coffee, but will fwallow feveral cups of a brown water, inftead of one cup of the real ftrong coffee drunk in other countries.

"The houfes in England are peculiarly commodious, neat, and cleanly; and domestic architecture feems here arrived at its greateft perfection. The dress, as has been before obferved, is rather plain and neat, than splendid; a praife which alfo applies to that of the ladies, who have now abandoned the tight form, fo prejudicial to health, and have affumed much of the Grecian cafe and elegance.

"The amufements of the theatre and of the field, and various games of fkill or [of] chance, are common to most nations. The baiting of bulls and bears is, it is believed, nearly difcontinued. One of the most peculiar amusements of the common people is the ringing of long peals with many changes, which deafen thofe who are fo unhappy as to live in the neighbourhood of the church. (Vol. i. Pp. 63, 64.)

The

The following picture of the French character is painted with a mafterly pencil :

"The manners and customs of the French have been so often delineated, ́ that the theme has become trivial and familiar. The moft pleating parts of the portrait are vivacity, gaiety, politeness, a fingular difpofition towards Vocial enjoyments, and that savoir vivre which enables the adept to dispose of his occupations and pleasures in an agreeable fucceffion, free from liftle/sne's or fatigue. In general, Frenchmen regard care as a mortal poilon, and ftudy, if poffible, to avoid its most distant approach. On the other hand, ancient and recent events confpire to fix a fanguinary ftain on the national character, which one would little expect amid fo much gaiety and feeming benevolence. The caufes of this incongruity might afford an ample subject for philofophical inquiry. Even the violent changes which have taken place feem to have little affected their characteristic gaiety, and Paris continues to be one of the happiest cities in the world: while the fcreams of massacre refounded in fome parts of the city, in others the theatres were crowded, and nothing was heard but founds of pleasure.

"The ancient and rooted enmity between France and England nourished many prejudices against the French character, which have fince difappeared in the reports of more candid authors. Yet, with travellers accuítomed to the elegance of English life, many of the French manners and cuftoms cannot be reconciled to ideas of phyfical purity; and the example of the perfonal and domeftic cleanliness of the English muft still be recommended to imitation. The laws and decencies of marriage are alfo frequently facrificed; and the loofenefs of the French morals, in regard to the fex, has become proverbial. A republican form of government has not fuperinduced republican manners, nor has the liberty of divorce proved any bond of chaltity. As every thing continues to be ruled by fashion, it is not unreafonable to hope that even virtue may become faflionable.

"While fome phyficians have attempted, to account for English melaneholy from the quantities confumed of animal food, it appears, on the contrary, that a Frenchman will confume as much as two Englishmen, disguifed, indeed, and modified, so as to beguile and stimulate the appetite to larger indulgence. In the difference of climate, therefore, and in the use of light wines, muft be fought the chief phyfical caufes of this discrepancy. The houses of the French often difplay a ftrange mixture of magnificence and naftinefs; and while even a cottage in England will fhew attention to the comforts, conveniencies, feelings, and infirmities of human nature, in France the nofe may be affailed, while the eyes are enraptured. France has long afforded models of drefs to all Europe; nor have the fashions of Paris yet totally loft their fantaftic authority. In the frequent and ridiculous alluGons to the ancient republics, none of which bore the moft diftant refemblance of modern France, it was natural that the Grecian and Roman dres fhould afford models of imitation, and an infallible confequence that the drefs would become more elegant. In a country where life itself is `an

It is here proper to obferve that Mr. P. confiders the prefent government of France as republican in form only: for he elfewhere defcribes it as it really is, A MILITARY DESPOTISM, 66 THE DESPOTISM OF FREEDOM.'

(Pp. 254, and 291.)

amufement,

amusement, it is to be expected that the diverfions fhould be infinitely varied. In the capital, theatrical representations bear the chief fway, and every evening about twenty theatres are open and full. Yet thefe republicans do not rival their favourite Greeks and Romans, in opening theatres and amphitheatres at the expence of government; an inftitution worthy of modern imitation, as to afford amufements to the people may frequently fave them from finding their own amusements in drunkennels and other low vices." (Pp. 257, 258.)

Of the wisdom or propriety of this laft fentiment we are by no means convinced. To furnish, in any ftate, the people with amufements at the public expence, though, in fome degree, it might, at first, preferve them from drunkennefs, would, we think, at laft, have the infallible effect of eradicating all the habits of induftry, (which is the guardian of good morals,) and of plunging them into thofe of inveterate idleness, and of its conftant concomitant, unbridled licentiousnefs.

We are happy to contemplate, in Mr. P.'s mirror, the yet impofing power and refources of Auftria." Its hereditary dominions," he says, "entitle it to rank among the chief European powers, being of wide extent, and great importance, and boasting a population of not lefs than 20,000,000, more concentrated than the diffuse population of Ruffia, and perhaps the next power to France, not in arms only, but on the broad and deep-rooted bafis of compact numbers of inhabitants." (p. 334.) The following account of Auftrian literature we infert, as both curious in itself, and accompanied with reflections of confiderable moment:

"Exclufive of the Italian provinces, the literary history of the Auftrian dominions cannot afcend to a remote period. That of Auftria proper, in particular, is little interefting; and even the chronicles and lives of faints are comparatively recent. If the Emperor Maximilian, grandfather of Charles V., be the author of an eccentric poem, alluding to the events of his own life, and usually ascribed to him, though many affign it to his chaplain, he may be confidered as the father of Auftrian literature, as well as of Auftrian greatness. But the fucceffion of authors is interrupted; and many of those who flourished at Vienna were aliens. Wolfgangus Lazius is but a dreaming antiquary; and in the fame century Cufpinian has ridiculed Hafelbach, the profeffor of divinity, who having begun a courfe of lectures on Ifaiah, had not, in twenty-one years, finished the first chapter. The like perversity of tafte continues to [in] modern times; and Riefbeck has depicted in, warm colours the metaphyfical abfurdities of the Auftrian profeffors, and the abject tone of flavery and flattery, which pervades even the little folid literature that is known. For, at Vienna, the Emperor is confidered as the fucceffor of Auguftus, as abfolute monarch of Germany; while, in the other provinces of that wide region, he is more juftly regarded as a nominal head, though highly refpectable as King of Bohemia and Hungary. In the medical branch, Van Swieten, Storck, and others, have acquired deferved celebrity; but though Vienna swarm [fwarms] with pretended literati, or men who can talk and write nonfenfe in Latin, there are a few who have acquired a shadow of reputation, fuch as Hell, Martini, Denis, and Sonnerfels; yet the first was a Silefian, and Denis from Bavaria. In antiquities

antiquities occur the names of Froelich, and [of] one or two other numifmatic writers, who compofe valt volumes upon small subjects. "Bohemia and Hungary have no ancient claims to literature. Cofmas of Prague, a venerable hiftorian, flourished about the year 1130; and Hungary has a cotemporary [contemporary] father of hiftory in the anonymous notary of King Bela. Yet the encouragement given to writers by the celebrated Mathias Corvinus little ftimulated native literature; for Bonfinius was an Italian. Nor is there any Hungarian writer particularly celebrated among the modern Latin claffics; nor the native language yet known by any work commanding celebrity. Baron du Born, a native of Tranfylvania, has written many able works in natural hiftory; but he used the Latin and French languages. An inquiry into the caufes which have retarded the progrefs of letters and philofophy in the Auftrian dominions, would be more uteful than the bare enumeration of a few names. They would be found to arise partly from the coarfenels of the German dialect, and the abfence of the Slavonic and Hungarian from the learned languages of Europe; partly from numerous wars of ambition, which fometimes endanger the very existence of the fiate; in yet greater measure from the military education of the nobility, or rather indeed from their ignorance, for many confummate officers have been men of letters: but above all, this defect must be a cribed to that metaphyfical bigotry which perverts their rational powers, and blights every bud of genius and folid knowledge. The books prohibited at Vienna probably exceed in number those of the Index Expurgatorius; and though the government have [has] no doubt a right to watch over thofe of a political tendency, yet this jealoufy needs not be extended to works of mere fcience written by heretics. On the other hand, fome blame must doubtless extend to authors who introduce into fcientific productions their political dogmata, and vifionary views of social perfection, with attacks upon established forms of worship and government, totally unlike the procedure of the ancient philofophers, who were teachers of content and moderation. Yet a government thould felect the happy mean between that fanatic bigotry, which alike freezes literature and every branch of industry; and that licentiousness of the prefs, which, by wantonly fapping perional reputation and the laws, tends to destroy every habit of virtue, and can only lead [lead only] to anarchy." (Pp. 350,-352.)

This sketch is well executed. Yet we cannot help obferving, that the chilling influence which our ingenious author attributes to the bigotry of the Auftrian government is probably much over-rated. Narrow as the notions of that government may be, we have never heard that the fentiments of the government of Spain have been fuppofed more liberal. Yet the literature of Spain, by our author's own account of it, is highly refpectable and rich, though little known in the other countries of Europe. His view of it, did our limits permit, we would willingly infert, as affording a contraft of a confolatory nature to the melancholy dearth of Auftrian genius.. We may mention, however, as honourable to Spain, that "an elegant tranflation of Salluft has been publifhed by the heir-apparent, to the monarchy." (p. 420.) Of Spanish learning in general a good account may be found, by the mere English reader, in Baretti's travels. The eminent fuccefs with which letters were formerly cultivated in Iceland is a wonderful

NO. LXXI, VOL. XVIII.

C

wonderful phenomenon; and, as Mr. P.'s notice of it is fhort, we Ifhall here transcribe it.

"It is a truly fingular circumftance, in the hiftory of European literature, that letters highly flourished in the remote republic of Iceland, from the eleventh to the fourteenth century; and, independent of the fabulous Sagas, which might be counted by hundreds, the folid and valuable works then produced in that ifland might fill a confiderable catalogue. From Iceland we derived the Edda, and our knowledge of the ancient Gothic mythology. From Iceland the Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, and Orcadians, draw their chief intelligence concerning their ancient hiftory; Snorro, in particular, be ng ftyled the Herodotus of the north and the Landnama, or book of the origins of Iceland, is a unique work, displaying the names and property of all the original fettlers, and the circumftances attending the diftribution of a barbaric colony." (p. 503.)

Mr. P. has been minutely attentive to trace, as far as it could be traced, the primitive population of every country on the face of the globe. As a fair and concife fpecimen of the manner in which he treats this engaging fubje&, we fhall exhibit what he fays of the first inhabitants of Denmark, with whom our connection is intimate and close.

"The original population of Denmark appears to have confifted of Cimbri, or Northern Celts, the ancestors of our Welth, and who [dele and] in particular, held the Cimbric Cherfonefe, or modern Jutland and Slefwick. On the progrefs of the Goths from the N. and E., the Cimbri were expelled; and being joined by part of the Teutones, or more fouthern Germans, they were in queft of other poffeffions, when they were defeated by Marius. Yet the Cherfonefe continued to retain their name; and Tacitus mentions, that in his time there exifted a small state of the Cimbri, probably near the mouth of the Elbe, while the remainder of the Cherfonefe was poffeffed by feven Gothic tribes, among which he names the Angli, who afterwards appellation to England, and who appear to have refided in the eastern part of Sle wick, where there is ftill the province of Anglen. The original poffelfors of Norway, which, with Sweden, conftitutes the ancient Scandinavia, appear to have been the Fins and the Laps, who were driven to the northern extremities by the Gothic invafion, allegorically faid to have been conducted by Odin, the god of war. The population has fince continued pure and unmixed by foreign conquefis; and the Norwegians ftill retain the mufcular frame, blooming countenance, and yellow hair of the Normans, fo well known in France, Italy, and England." (p. 488.)

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Our readers, we are certain, would be highly gratified by Mr. P.'s defcription of the Laplanders, which is extracted from Leems, a Danifh miffionary, long refident in their bleak and dreary region. Indeed, his account of the northern nations is, altogether, exceedingly captivating. So is that of Switzerland, at all times an interefting country, but doubly, of late, endeared to every feeling mind, on account of the deep calamities inflicted on it by the great unprincipled DESTROYER. One of the richeft, moft curious, and moft elaborate compartments of Mr. P.'s fyftem, is that which contains his obferva