amufement, it is to be expected that the diverfions should be infinitely varied. In the capital, theatrical reprefentations bear the chief fway, and every evening about twenty theatres are open and full. Yet these 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 amusements to the people may frequently fave them from finding their own amufements in drunkennefs 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 firft, preferve them from drunkenness, would, we think, at laft, have the infallible effect of eradicating all the habits of industry, (which is the guardian of good morals,) and of plunging them into thofe of inveterate idleness, and of its conftant concomitant, unbridled licentioufnefs.

We are happy to contemplate, in Mr. P.'s mirror, the yet impofing power and refources of Auftria. Its hereditary dominions," he fays, "entitle it to rank among the chief European powers, being of wide extent, and great importance, and boafting a population of not lefs than 20,000,000, more concentrated than the diffufe population of Ruffia, and perhaps the next power to France, not in arms only, but on the broad and deep-rooted basis 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 afcribed to him, though many align it to his chaplain, he may be confidered as the father of Auftrian literature, as well as of Auftrian greatnefs. 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 course 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 profe fors, and the abject tone of flavery and flattery, which pervades even the little folid literature that is known. For, at Vienna, the Emperor is condered 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 relpectable as King of Bohemia and Hungary. In the medical branch, Van Swieten, Storck, and others, have acquired deferved celebrity; but though Vienna swarm [warms] with pretended literati, or men who can talk and write nonfenfe in Latin, there are a few who have acquired a fhadow of reputation, fuch as Hell, Martini, Denis, and Sonnerfels; yet the firft was a Silefian, and Denis from Bavaria. In antiquities

antiquities occur the names of Froelich, and [of] one or two other numifmatic writers, who compose vaft volumes upon fmail fubjects.

"Bohemia and Hungary haye no ancient claims to literature. Cofmas of Prague, a venerable hiftorian, flourified 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 Boninius 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 uled 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 arife partly from the coarfenefs 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 ftate; 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 afcribed 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 thefe 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 muft doubtless extend to authors who introduce into fcientific productions their political dogmata, and vifionary views of focial perfection, with attacks upon established forms of worthip 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 perfonal reputation and the laws, tends to deftroy 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.

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wonderful phenomenon; and, as Mr. P.'s notice of it is fhort, we fhall 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 island 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, being ftyled the Herodotus of the north: and the Landnama, or book of the origins of Iceland, is à 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 fubject, we fhall exhibit what he says 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 poffeflions, when they were defeated by Marius. Yet the Cherfonese continued to retain their name; and Tacitus mentions, that in his time there exifted a fmall ftate 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 gave appellation to England, and who appear to have refided in the eaftern part of Slefwick, where there is ftill the province of Anglen. The original poffellors 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 conquefts; and the Norwegians ftill retain the mufcular frame, blooming countenance, and yellow hair of the Normans, so well known in France, Italy, and England." (p. 488.)

Our readers, we are certain, would be highly gratified by Mr. P.'s defcription of the Laplanders, which is extracted from Leems, a Danish 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 richest, most curious, and moft elaborate compartments of Mr. P.'s fyftem, is that which contains his obferva

tions on mountains, thofe great and ftriking features of countries. In those on the celebrated chain of the Alps, their direction, heighth, and internal conftitution, the lover of nature, and the ftudent of g»0= logy, will find an ample fund of entertainment. We have room for no more but a beautiful, though general, fketch, which rivals, we think, the fubject itself in fublimity.

"It was referved for this age of enterprise to disclose the secret wonders of the fuperior Alps. The enormous ridges, clothed with a depth of perpetual fnow, often crowned with harp obelisks of granite, ftyled by the Swifs horns or needles; the dreadful chafms of fome thousand feet in perpendicular height, over which the dauntless traveller fometimes ftands on a thelf of frozen fnow; the glaciers or feas of ice, fometimes exceeding thirty or forty miles in length; the facred filence of the scenes before unvifited, except by the chamois and goat of the rocks; the clouds, and fometimes the thunder-ftorm, paffing at a great diftance below; the extenfive prospects, which reduce kingdoms as it were to a map; the pure elafticity of the air, exciting a kind of incorporeal fenfation; are all novelties in the hiftory of human adventure." (p. 583.)

With the following more extended defcription, in no degree, we think, inferior to that which we have juft now given, we are under the neceffity of difmiffing the first volume of this great and valuable work. On the fecond volume, which is fingularly important, our remarks must be referved for another number.

To enumerate the natural curiofities of Swifferland would be to defcribe the country. The Alps, the glaciers, the vaft precipices, the descending torrents, the fources of the rivers, the beautiful lakes and cataracts, are all natural curiofities of the greateft fingularity, and moft fublime descrip tion. Of late the glaciers have attracted particular attention; but thofe feas of ice, interfected with numerous deep fi ures, owing to ludden cracks which refound like thunder, muit yield in fublimity to the tupendous fummits clothed with ice and fnow, the latter often defcending in what are called avalanches, or prodigious balis, which, gathering as they roll, fometimes overwhelm travellers, and even villages. Nay, the mountains themfelves will fometimes burft, and overwhelm whole towns, as happened in the memorable inftance of Pleurs near Chiavana, in which thou ands perithed, and not a veftige of a building was left; nor are recent inftances, though lefs tremendous, wholly unknown. The vaft refervoirs of ice and frow give birth to many important rivers, whole fources deeply intereft curiosity. As an example, the account which Bourrit gives of that of the Rhone may be felected. At length we perceived through the trees a mountain of ice as fplendid as the fun, and flailing a fimilar Ight on the environs. This first afpect of the glacier of the Rhone infpired us with great expectation. A moment afterwards this enormous mass of ice having diappeared behind thick pines, it foon after met our fight between two vaft blocks of rock, which formed a kind of portico. Surprised at the magnificence of this ipectacle, and at its admirable contrafts, we beheld it with rapture. At length we reached this beautiful portico, beyond which we were to difcover ill the glacier. We arrived: at this fight one would fuppose one's self in another world, fo much is the imagination imp.etled with the nature and immensity of the objects. To form an idea of this fuperb fpectacle, figure in your

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mind

mind a fcaffolding of transparent ice, filling a space of two miles, rifing to the clouds, and darting flashes of light like the fun. Nor were the feveral parts lefs magnificent and furp ifing. One might fee as it were the streets and buildings of a city, erected in the form of an amphitheatre, and embellithed with pieces of water, cafcades and torrents. The effects were as prodigious as the immensity and the height; the most beautiful azure, the most fplendid white, the regular appearance of a thoufand pyramids of ice, are more eafy to be imagined than defcribed. Such is the alpect of the glacier of the Rhone, reared by nature on a plan which the alone can execute: we admire the majestic courfe of a river without fufpecting that which gives it birth, and maintains its waters, may be ftill more majeltic and magnificent.' (Bourrit, iii. 163.) He afterwards defcribes the river as illuing from a vault of ice, as tranfparent as crystal, and illuminated by streams of funthine darting through apertures in the roof." (Pp. 589, 590.)

(To be continued.)

Military Memoirs, relating to campaigns, battles, and fratagems of war, ancient and modern. Extracted from the best authorities. With occafional remarks. By the Author of the War in Afia, from 1778 to 1784; of the Hiftory of Europe, in Dodfley's Annual Regifter, continued from 1791 to 1801, both inclufive, (1793 excepted;) and the tranflator of Mr. Cunningham's MSS. Hiftory of Great Britain, in Latin, from the time of Cromwell, to the acceffion of George I. I vol. 8vo. Pr. 588. Price 10s. 6d. Johnfon. 1804.

FRO

ROM the works mentioned in the title-page, our readers will perceive, that the author is Dr. William Thomfon; and a dedication to the Duke of York is fubfcribed by the name of that gentleman. The leading object of the performance is to exhibit military operations and events in fuch a manner as to fhew the causes by which the refults were determined. "The event of war," fays the preface, generally depends on the fuperiority of talents in those who form and execute military plans. Here lies the ftrength of armies more than in their numbers, or even their veteran difcipline. Hiftory, both ancient and modern, abundantly proves that victory has not fo often turned upon the comparative maffes of oppofite numbers, as on the quantum of matter, to borrow a phrafe from the mathematicians, multiplied into its velocity, and both, by skilful evolutions, ably and dextroufly directed." That, in the great majority of cafes, victory has followed fuperior genius, wisdom and felf-poffeffion, is the leflon that the author of thefe memoirs feeks to inculcate; and in his execution of his task, he has very fteadily kept in view UNITY OF DESIGN. Taking a general view of the qualifications of a leader of armies, our author obferves, that one of the most important attainments is to know the character of mankind, and particularly the character of the enemy. Julius Cæfar, he obferves, in his campaigns against the Gauls, Germans, and Britons, was careful in the first place, not only to learn the na

ture