forth the powers of some of our most eminent Scholars and Divines.

To Mrs. Spence we willingly give the praise of pious feeling, and good

intentions.

13. The Tour of Africa, containing a concise Account of all the Countries in that Quarter of the Globe, hitherto visited by Europeans; with the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants. Selected from the best Authors, and arranged by Catherine Hutton. Baldwin, 2 vols. 8vo. pp. 458, 531.

IN a well-digested plan, Miss Hut. ton offers to the publick a Tour in Africa, very ingeniously selected from the Works of Travellers of note, who have visited those parts. So that in two octavo volumes, the Reader may glean the substance of many elaborate publications, by Authors whose names are given in proof of the veracity of remarks here introduced. In order to encrease the interest of such remarks, the whole is given as the relation of an enterprising Tourist; which fiction we can readily pardon for the amusement derived from the Work. The First volume contains an account of Egypt, Fezzan, Dar Fur, Abyssinia, and Sennaar. The First volume met with so favourable a reception as to encourage Miss Hutton to proceed with a Second, containing an account of a part of Abyssinia, Mozambique, South Africa, Benguela, Angola, Congo, Cacongo, Loanga, Benin, Dahomy, Ashantee, The Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, and Foota Jallon, prefaced by the following observations:

"In pursuance of my plan, I now offer to the Public a continuation of The Tour of Africa; and here repeat my former affirmation, that, though the Traveller be imaginary, all he relates is strictly true, as far as the most accredited Authors can. be relied on."

A third volume, we rejoice to hear, is in some forwardness, which will complete the Tour.

14. The Sharpshooter's Stratagem; or, Love and Reform. A Dramatic Sketch. By "One of the Corps." 12mo, pp. 23. Printed at Glasgow. Sold by Longman and Co.

THIS Bagatelle, the fruits of three hours leisure, on a rainy morning, when the bugle had sung the "Retreat to Blankets," is inscribed by the Author to his Comrades, the Glasgow

Volunteer corps of Gentlemen Sharpshooters; who will doubtless be pleased (as we were) with its sprightly wit and loyalty.

The Characters are,

"Old Boroughmend, a disappointed Deacon, turned Radical Reformer-Henry Thomson, a Merchant's Clerk, betrothed to Eliza; and member of the Corps of Glasgow Gentlemen Sharpshooters-Tom Funlove, Jack Pullicate, Sam Sample, and David Doublentry, brotherClerks, andSharpshooters-Eliza, Boroughmend's Daughter -Grizzy Girnanglour, Boroughmend's Duenna-Katty Carryclaver, Eliza's Maid. -Scene, Glasgow.-Time, Twelve hours."

8vo.

15. John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. An Historic Play, in Five Acts. pp. 65. Longman and Co.

TO those who are conversant in the events of the last years of the reign of Queen Anne, this "Historic collections of facts which actually ocDrama" will bring back many recurred and to the attentive observer of our own times, the parallel of the Heroes of Blenheim and Waterloo will not be uninteresting. The characters are all of eminence,

"The Queen-Duchess of Marlborough -Mrs. Masham.--Marlborough-Shrewsbury-Harley-St. John-Atterbury."

A few lines from Marlborough on his landing at Greenwich will shew the language:

"Safe am I landed on my native soil, If England's safe for me; For thee, my country, have I toil'd and Advancing still thy glory.-Gracious counfought, [try! Haply not ungrateful.

The monster peril, glory has subdu'd, Glory! the sister-born of safety, The bright Bellona of the god of war! Two hideous monsters has she then subdued, [growth.Envy and Faction-of still crescent Sweet is this scene, how welcome to my eyes!

Here peace should dwell, estranged from

camps and courts. (looks around him.) O favour'd isle! if well thou estimat'st heav'n's grace: [cious influence, Nor less under heav'n, and heav'n's auspiThe tenant of thy soil, high fam'd for enterprize;

Others by arms have much achiev'd,

Advancing still thy welfare, state pre-emi

nent.

Thyself, alas! war-vaunted Marlborough, Agitated man, that bear'st a war within thyself,

Fear'd-but still fearing not a foreign force,

But

16. Wortley and the Exile of Scotland; in three vols. cr. 8vo. Lond. Whiteley 1819.

The useful bearing of this Novel is the exhibition of two excellent young people in the Hero and Heroine; and of valuable hints, how the condition of the poor may be improved, at a very trifling expence, by wise and benevolent country gentlemen.

We shall not, however, enter into the usual details of love-stories, however pleasing. Our Readers, we presume, had rather have a dinner than a dessert; and rather take the former at a tavern than at a pastry-cook's or a fruit-shop. We shall, therefore, proceed to more solid diet. The work contains a very savoury dish of America, and we shall give from it an account of the infamous frauds practised concerning the sale of lands, as a luminous explanation of Mr. Birkbeck's auctioneeral puff.

"This iniquitous traffic (land-jobbing) is not confined to sharpers only, but men of exalted situations in society, and who presume to value their reputation, are concerned in it. Specious titles have been made out, and fanciful maps wrought, of portions of lands, described as the most fertile, abounding with large timber-trees, the indices of a good soil, intersected with gentle rivers and creeks, with excellent waterfalls for mills of every description, and in the midst of flourishing settlements: though, on examination, they will be found

to be raw pine sand, that will bear no other crop, or the rocky sides of hills in a North-western aspect, whose tornadoes sweep from their surfaces every fragment of vegetation."

"Oftentimes these estates offered for sale, are of the terra incognita, mapped by mist of a mountain, or vapour of a river, the land-jobber's imagination from the and which never existed upon earth.

"It frequently has occurred, that lands of a good title have been sold three or four times to different persons; and, through the dread of litigation, have been lost to all the purchasers, leaving the prize to the enjoyment of the triumphant villain." Vol. I. p. 215.

Our Author thus describes the oratory of Mr. Maddison:

"His voice was low and hoarse, disagreeably so; his gestures very ungraceful, and confined to his right hand, which he constantly twitched, shaking his shoulders and head. He was a little yellow man, rather muscular; he was brought up to the bar, a class of men that monopolize all the bonours of America." Vol. i. p. 236.

We should have supposed the following Lady's Latin to have been mere typographical errata, if the mistake had not twice occurred. We felt the singular barbarism, somewhat like spraining an intellectual ancle. In p. 262, we have Euloguim for Eulogium; and p. 308, Elysuim for Elysium.

We will, however, give the Author an Euloguim for the following ingenious appellations:

"Ostler-Knight of the Straw and Oats. Farmer-Knight of the Barley-fields. Innkeeper-High Priest of Bacchus. Ditto, loquacious one-Vat Orator. Auctioneer-Willing of the Hammer. Porter-The obsequious vassal of inte

rest."

To our utter astonishment we find (vol. ii. p. 267) that "the vicar was a Pyrotechnist." Now this said vicar was a fellow of a College, generally a stiff and dignified sort of person, not apt to meddle with squibs and skyrockets. This is like a mythological confusion of Saturn with Mercury.

Novel, inculcating good example; Upon the whole, this is a pleasing and besides the interesting account of American manners, before alluded to, contains some curious descriptions of various natural phænomena, attendant upon a voyage in certain latitudes.

LITERARY

By JOANNA BAILLIE, Author of "Plays on the Passions," &c.

The Vision of Judgment, a Poem. By ROBERT SOUTHEY, Esq.

Helen de Tournon, a Novel. By Madame de Souza, Author of "Adèle de Sénange," &c. Translated from the French. Precaution, a Novel.

The Fall of the Crescent; Buccaneer; Rosaliud's Bower; Sacred Melodies, &c.

The Gentleman's Mathematical and Poetical Companion for 1821, containing Answers to the last year's Questions, Enigmas, Charades, Rebuses, &c.; also new ones proposed for the next. whole selected from an extensive Correspondence.

Preparing for Publication.

The

History and Antiquities of several Parishes in the Hundreds of Bullington and Ploughley, Oxfordshire, illustrated by numerous Engravings of Churches, Crosses, and antient Edifices, compiled from original documents in the several parish Archives, the public depositories in London and Oxford, as well as those in the possession of Sir Gregory Osborne Page Turner, bart, and other private collectors. By JOHN DUNKIN, Author of the History and Antiquities of Bicester, &c.

Church of England Theology, in a series of Ten Sermons, separately, and beautifully printed in Manuscript Character. By the Rev. R. WARNER, Rector of Great Chalfield, Wilts, &c. &c.

Compendium of the Evidence of Christianity, with Portraits and Vignettes, to be completed in Six Monthly Volumes. This Publication is designed for that numerous and important class who are equally removed from the sphere of cheap Tracts, and from the ability of purchasing works suited to their growing intelligence. Intimations and Evidences of a future By the Rev. T. Watson.

State.

A Selection of the Correspondence of Linnæus, and other Naturalists, translated from the originals, and never before published. There has lately been discovered, among the papers of a shoemaker in Sweden, a biographical account of Linnæus, written by himself, and since continued to his death. The autograph MS. which is in the Swedish language, has been sent to Upsal, and will speedily be printed.

A new Edition of Blackstone's Commentaries, with Notes and Annotations, and Corrections of the errors and misstatements of the learned and eloquent Judge; as also of his less favoured editors. By J. WILLIAMS.

A Memoir of the Operations of the British Army in India during the Mahratta War of 1817, 1818, and 1819'; illustrated by Maps and Topographical Plans. By

Lieut.-col. BLACKER, Companion of the most Honourable Order of the Bath, and Quarter Master General of the Army of Fort St. George.

Narrative of the Campaign of the left wing of the Allied Army under the Duke of Wellington, from the passage of the Bedasso in 1813, to the end of the war in 1816. Illustrated by a Plan of the theatre of war, and twenty Views of the Scenery in the Pyrenees and South of France. By Capt. BATTY.

An Itinerary of the Rhone, including part of the Southern Coast of France. By JOHN HUGHES, esq. M. A. of Oriel College, Oxford.

An Attempt to analyse the Automaton Chess Player of M. de Kempelin, with an easy Method of imitating the Movements of that celebrated Figure. Illustrated by Plates, and accompanied by a copious Collection of the Knights' Moves over the Chess-board.

Mr. Cooper has issued Proposals for publishing, by subscription, A New Choral Book for the use of the Established Church; containing a Selection of the most valuable and useful Compositions for that service, by the most celebrated German composers of the last four hundred years; enriched by a number of choice Melodies, of the best English masters of the last century.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE *.

His Majesty has intrusted the formation of this Institution to the learned and eminent Dr. Thos. Burgess, Bishop of St. David's. Other branches of the Royal Family have become subscribers; Ministers give their aid; many of the most distinguished among the Clergy concur in promoting the plan; and the leading members of both Universities are among its friends. The funds are already considerable; and his Majesty may be considered as the personal as well as Royal Founder and Patron of the Society. The first Prize Questions to be proposed are as follows;

Premiums for the Years 1821 and 1822.

1. The King's Premium of One Hundred Guineas, for the best Dissertation on the Age, Writings, and Genius of Homer; and on the State of Religion, Society, Learning, and the Arts, during that period, collected from the writings of Homer.

2. The Society's Premium of Fifty Guineas, for the best Poem on Dartmoor.

3. The Society's Premium of Twentyfive Guineas, for the best Essay on the History of the Greek Language; of the present Language of Greece, especially in the Ionian Islands; and on the Difference between Ancient and Modern Greek.

* See vol. XC. ii. 444.

A Berlin

62

He

M. Gau, an Antiquary and Architect of Cologne, is returned from his travels in Palestine, Egypt, and Nubia, where he has ascended to the second cataract. brings a very valuable collection of drawings of remarkable monuments; many of these have been taken for the first time, and others have been executed in a more correct manner. There will be about sixty plates on Nubia, of which there are none in the great French work, and twenty additional plates on Egpyt and Jerusa lem; the explanations to be in French and German. A specimen of five or six plates will appear very shortly, representing buildings and bas-reliefs.

In 1818, a printing press was set up in Hobart's Town, Van Dieman's Land, New

[Jan.

Holland. The first book from this press is the History of a fugitive exile, named Michael Howe, who at the head of twentyeight other run-aways, disturbed the tranquillity of the colony for six years. The work derives importance from the singularity of the circumstances, and from the story.

M. Graner, a Major in the Swedish service, who set out last year to explore in the South Sea, a new route for merchant vessels from Chili to the East Indies, has discovered in that ocean a group of islands hitherto unknown to mariners. To the largest of them he has given the name of Oscar. It is to be regretted that the Swedish journals, from which this intelligence is extracted, furnish no details relative to the position of these islands.

The Museum of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, among other curiosities, contains a bulrush, cut in Nepaul, 84 feet in length, a serpent with two heads, specimens of mosaic from Agra and Golconda, crystals from Nepaul, and sculptures from Persepolis, Java, &c.

LITHOGRAPHY.

The progress which this art has made at Hamburgh exceeds in neatness, elegance, and finish of execution, those of all the other Lithographical establishments in Germany. The artists are liberally encouraged there: without mentioning the great number of maps of every description which they have produced, equal in beauty to those executed on copper, we will merely point out some very superior productions, chiefly by Grogers and Aldenrath. A landscape with cattle, from a painting by Herterich; a Holy Family from another by Haysdorff; a whole-length portrait of Luther; and several landscapes executed in a particular style, and possessing great elegance and force these are by Benedixen, who has employed both lines and dots. Bunsden, of Altona, has produced many subjects of Gothic architecture. But the most admirable of all, are three heads of Christ, one after Carlo Dolce, by Herterich; another by Grogers, from a design of his own; and the third from Albert Durer, by Benedixen.

Mr. Martin, Lithographer, has favoured us with the following remarks on this useful

art:"Stones, both English and foreign, are used, but the latter are preferred; one side of which is polished, or granulated, and made susceptible of receiving on its surface the most delicate traits of Drawings, &c. delineated with chalk, composed of shellac, wax, lamp black, and a coadunition of oleaginous substances. The Writing from prepared paper, and ink, is transferred to the stone by means of a slight pressure occasioned by passing the given subject under the scraper * of the press. The face of the stone on which the wriling or drawing, &c. has been transferred, or executed thereon, is then washed with water mingled with nitric acid, which makes the writing, &c. adhere so firmly, that it cannot be erased but by repolishing the stone. When it is wished to take off an impression, the stone is fixed into the press, and the surface of it wiped with a damp sponge, in consequence of which the lines that constitute the writing or drawing, having been made with grease, reject the wet, and remain perfectly dry. A roller of a cylindrical form, covered with leather, which is blacked with printing ink, composed of oil, lamp black, and indigo, is then passed over the stone: any colour might be used by finding a substitute for lamp black, &c. The wet parts reject the colour, and the greasy ones, that is to say, the writing or drawing,-receive The other parts of the process are

it.