internal organ, the neceffary effect for perfect hearing.

IX. Experiments and obfervations on the light which is fpontaneously emitted, with fome degree of permanency, from various bodies; by Nathanael Hulme. Thefe are, marine animals, both living and dead, the flesh of quadrupeds, feveral infects, and rotten wood. Light is incorporated with the whole fubfiance of marine fishes. Some bodies or fubftances have a power of extinguithing fpontaneous light, others of preferving it, when applied to them; when it is extinguished it is not loft, but may be revived by the moft fimple means. It is rendered more vivid by motion; is not accompanied by any degree of fenfible heat, difcoverable by a thermometer; cold diminishes it; heat increafes and gradually extinguishes it.

X. Account of a ferics of experiments undertaken with a view of decompofing muriatic acid; by Mr. William Henry.

XI. Edward Howard, efq. on a new fulminating mercury.

PART II.

XII. Dr. William Hyde Wollafton on double images caufed by atmofpherical refraction.

XIII. Dr. Herfchel's inveftigation of the powers of prifmatic colours to heat and illuminate objects, with remarks that prove the different refrangibility of radiant heat; to which is added, an enquiry into the method of viewing the fan advertently with telefcopes of large apertures and high magnifying powers. XIV. His experiments on the refrangibility of the invifible rays of the fun.

XV. His experiments on the folar and terrestrial rays that occafion heat, with a comparative view of the laws to which light and heat, or rather the rays which occafion them, are fubject, in order to determine whether they are the fame or different.

XVI. Chemical experiments on zoophytes, with fome obfervations on the component parts of membrane; by Charles Hatchett, efq.

XVII. On the electricity excited by the mere contact of conducting fubftances of different kinds; in a letter from Mr. Alexander Volta, profeflor of natural history in the University of Pavia, to Sir Jofeph Banks.

XVIII. Some obfervations on the head of the Ornitherynchus paradoxus,

by Everard Home. An aquatic quadruped, with a beak like a duck, and 2 grinding teeth.

A IIId part is announced, to com- ** plete the volume.

145. The Hiflory of Bath.

By the Rev. Richard Warner, AT the head of his work appears the head of its author; not the pedestrian traveller we have accompanied through the wilds and faftneffes of Wales, but the fmart jemmy Bath preacher, who puts himfelf under the protection of the Prince of Wales, and forgets the fubfcribers who enabled him to bring forth this hiftory, not uninforming nor unpleaking, if we except certain peculiarities of ftyle, fuch as the prefence of a Roman burying-place at Walcot. At any rate this Hiftory of Bath is more to the purpofe than the Hiftory of Briftol, which was calcu lated only to under-prop the RowleioChattertonian fictions, and muft by this time have died with its author, as the legend of Brute and Bladud fhould have become extinct with Mr. Wood; but, as it helps out a joke or a page, e'en let it ftand.

The British or Belgic hiftory of Bath being difpatched in 16 pages, we come to the Roman part of the ftory, which, except what we glean from Solinus, muft fpeak for itfelf in what Antiquaries call fupellex nummaria et lapidea, coins and inferiptions, and the interefting foundations of the Roman baths, which after a few weeks expofure gave way to modern buildings; but there are here introduced, with a few common obfervations daintily difhed up; and of a temple of Minerva, afcribed to Agricola because Domitian was childishly devoted to the worship of that goddefs. We fhould have liked to know who is the present poffeffer of that female buft found in Bath, engraved by Mufgrave and Horfley. (p. 29.) Luna, we are told (p. 32) was a favourite intelligence with the Romans. To a vigorous imagination the upper half of an equeftrian flatue will exhibit Geta: and the name Aqua Solis, in Antonine's Itinerary, inplies a folemn dedication of thefe waters to Apollo Medicus, and an altar with the figures of Jupiter and Hercules Bibar reprefent Dioclefian and Maximian, who affumed the names of thefe deities, but without any epithet, and fuch a faculty will even introduce Caraufius, in his Chlamys,

with the rude and fcarcely diftinguifhed carving at the bafe of the pediment miftaken for a dolphin, but more probably the ornament common in fuch places. Peregrinus on another infcription does not mean a ftranger, but a proper name.

Of the Saxon and Danifh period we have more hiftoric certainty. "The military history of Bath to the 14th century" occupies fect: VI. but with a hafty leap from Edward III. to James I. and another greater firide, from the Revolution to 1715 and 1798. The infeription and relief mentioned p. 63, engraved pl. III. 3, is probably fepulchral, and feems to convey a different reading. John de Villula's tomb would be rather in his cathedral at Wells, where he is expreffly faid to have been buried. (p. 112.) Strongly tainted with Jacobite principles, a numerous junto, which fubfifted at Bath in the early part of the prefent century, fecretly befriended the caufe of the Pretender, and, when the rebellion burit out in 1715, took very active measures to aid the infurrection that was then fomenting in the Weftern counties. We are concerned to relate, that a well-known literary character, who blended the merits of an elaborate hiftorian with the profeffion of a divine, made a confpicuous figure in this confederacy; Mr. Carte, the minifter at that time of the parish of St. Peter and St. Paul. With his privity, and probably under his direction, an extenfive plot had been hatched and matured, and a quantity of arms collected in the houfe of one Ferguson, of Bath; but the vigilance of Governinent detected this neft of vipers before their machinations could be carried into execution; and Mr. C. was content to fave his neck, and efcape from thofe who were fent to apprehend the confpirators, by leaping out of a window dreffed in his canonicals." (p. 98.) From Dr. Harrington.

Sect. III. contains the ecclefiaftical hiftory of Bath; the abbey and bihoprick. Sect. IV. the civil hiftory to the reign of Elizabeth, who granted the prefent charter. The city was reprefented in parliament in that of Edward I. Sect. V. contains the modern hiftory of Bath, with a plan of the city, 1717, and another later, undated; account of the three parishes and the out-parish of Walcot; the four sity chapels, and the poor's church at

Walcot: ch. IV. hofpitals and charitable inftitutions; ch. V. the public baths. Sect. II. c. V. treats of the corporation, courts of judicature, police, and internal state of Bath: ch. II. the amufements of Bath. Sect. III. ch. I. Natural hiftory of Bath and its environ's. A lift of publications on the waters amounts to 39, from 1520 to 1800. (p. 377-880). Ch. II. Mine ralogy and foililogy.

The work concludes with an appendix of original deeds, &c. with a plate of fac-fimiles of fome of them.

The plates are, three plans; a gene ral view of Bath; view of the Royal Crefcent; Weft end of the abbey church; the baths as in 1676; Pumproom; Guildhall; fac-finiles; two plates of Roman antiquities.

The Roman antiquities of Bath, by the fame author, are reviewed in our vol. LXIX. p. 319.

145. A Journey into Cornwall, through the Counties of Southampton, Wilts, Dorfer, Somerlet, and Devon; intersperfed with Remarks, moral, biftorical, literary, and political. By George Lipscombe.

IN the rage for journeying over our native country we "fee men as trees walking." This traveller's preliminary chapter, "an effay on defcriptive wri ting, eloquence, learning, wit," affords a fpecimen of what we are to expect from this journey, which begins at Portfmouth and ends in London, and is interfperfed with the fevereft ftrictures on all ranks and claffes of perfons and buildings. The country-feats in the environs of London are "ill conftructed, ridiculous habitations, miferably ftuck together by narrow-minded citizens. Among them we meet with all the nonfenfe and abfurdity which unbounded folly, aided by the affiftance of wealth, can poffibly have contrived-efforts even difgraceful to the vulgar heads which gave them birth." (p. 356.) The poor in fome parts of the country are branded with "brutal ignorance," and "the narrowminded boor," with "almost inexterminable ftupidity;" and the church at Ringwood is only remarkable for "the illiterate nonfenfe that abounds on the grave-stones." After this, have not we a right to expect the correcteft language and moft polifhed ftyle? Inftead of which, we hear of

turf verdant as eternal fpring" (p. 79); and, for funfet, "the glorious

Jurinary

from the Roman gladiators. (pp. 96, 97.) Perhaps one of Mr. L.'s most just reinarks is the total want of correfpondence of the houfe at Milton abbey with the fine Gothic remains of the abbey contiguous. "It has no refemblance to that kind of architecture, except in the form of the windows" (p. 111), and thefe are of the very latest ftyle; nor is the chapel the remaining body of the abbey (p. 116), but all that remains of the abbey-church; and we doubt if the prefent altar was the mo nument of an abbot discovered a few years ago. (p. 116.) The painted figure of a woman with a bird was not King Athelstan's mother, but his queenconfort. Qu. if the Scriptures were fir tranflated into the Saxton language in that king's reign? (p. 118) and if the village of Durwick fhould not be Durwefion? Sherborne church, fe far from falling infinitely thort of what its external appearance feems to promife" (p. 126), that it is one of the most beautiful and beft kept buildings of is kind; and the two brothers ou one monument were neither Harcey nor perhaps D'Arcy, but Horfey, an antient family in thefe parts; nor is there any more truth in the mortification faid to have been expreffed in the red vein of Lord Digby's marble ftatue, than in the prick of a pin in Lady Ruffel's finger in Weftminier abbey. Here is a

luminary of day defcended with aweful, filent grandeur, till, on a fudden, refting, as it were, for a moment, on the bofom of the mighty waters, it embraced the tremendous deep, and entered into the vast palace of darkness." If we feek for hiftorical information, we fhall find ourselves milled by the monument of Wolley among other bifhops, in Winchelier cathedral, in their full habits. Thele great men, as well as Wykeham, Eddington, Fox, and Gardner, lie on marble tombs, in fine oratories, ornamented with Gothic fpire-work, reaching up to the roof of the church. The fkeleton of Alfred was fuppofed to be found in the ruins of Hyde abbey, nearly entire, with a brafs buckle and ring. (See Archæol. XIII. 309, and our vol. LXX. p. 1068.) Mr. Millner, a Roman Catholic prie, has made a very interefting collection of coins and antique curiofities difcovered in the neighbourhood. In Salisbury cathedral are monuments of Knights Templars, who fell in the time of the Crufades." (p. 59.) "There is a brown marble in memory of Lord Stourton." (p. 60.) Among other improvements three finall chapels have been added to the choir." (p. 62.) One has been added, and two taken away. "In the Council-houfe is a picture of Sir Thomas White, founder of St. John's college, Oxford." (p. 65.) Wolfey's first preferment was Ly-inomument of the Fitz-James's family; mington, to which he was prefented by the Marquis of Dorfehire." (p. 79.) "There is a monument, in a nich of the South wall of Wimborne church, of fome eccentric perfon, who was determined, as tradition fays, to be interred neither in the church nor out of it. He certainly took the only method of accomplishing his wimfical defign, by being buried in the fituation in which his tomb ftands." (p. 92.) A good fory for a fexton to tell to a flippant traveller; fuch forms of monuments are not unfrequent. Mr. L. wants to be informed that Dacorum is as cominon as Danorum; and that Lord Fitz Peters, a general who served and died in France, defired to be buried near his royal mafter, was neither contemporary with, nor fervant to, Ethel red. It must therefore pafs as "only á conjecture of the writer's own." (p. 95.)

John de Beaufort was not marquis of Dorfetfhire, nor were the atchievements or trophies over tombs derived

and in the fame chapel the figure of an altot. At Hinton St. George Mr. L. noticed neither the manfion fpoiled by modern improvement, nor the capital feries of family-portraits, which feem to have efcaped moft of our tourifis, At Exeter our author first makes the difcovery of a lion couchant at the feet of a knight, which muft," fays he, "have been his creft" (p. 157); and he adopts the filly tradition of Sir Peter Carew having had seventeen wives, becaufe "there certainly are feventeen coats of arms affixed to his tomb." (p. 157.) Thus does the credulity which he cenfures in the "narrow-minded boor and untutored ruftick" take poffeffion of him in thefe inftances; and in none, perhaps, fo firongly as Cheritun crofs, whofe ufe and age he cannot for his life afcertain. (p. 163), He feems to have juft efpied the grooves for the portcullis at Trematon cafile (p. 205); and he miftakes the buildings on Roch rock, which were a chapel or hermitage, for a lighthouse, or place

of fecurity, to overlook the country. In
the grounds at Mount Edgecumbe is
this infeription to the famous pig:
"Porco fidiffima Cupidiai,
Hic tumulus inferibitur."
And in a temple, along with the bufts
of Homer, Virgil, and Milton, "a fine
imitation of bronze, in the ftatue of a
negro." (p. 220.) Mr. L. has, how-
ever, given the firft defeription in print
of Lord Camelford's feat at Boconnoc,
and a lift of the family-pictures, and of
the fteam-engines to carry off the water
from the tin-mines at Mevagiley. It
coft 20,000l.; requires 72 buthels of
coals in 24 hours; raifes 63 gallons of
water at every firoke, and performs 14
of thefe notions every minute.

In the house at Port Eliot is a fine
collection of old paintings, which were
found in the abbey of St. Germain's, at
the Reformation. They are on Scrip-
ture fubjects, and in good prefervation.
(p. 284.) In the faloon is the only
original painting now in England, and
perhaps extant, of the celebrated John
Hampden*, dated 1649. In the ac-
count of Cornwall and the Weftern
parts of Devon Mr. L. is more parti-
cular than any other traveller who has
fallen in our way. His "Conclufion"
defies the feverity of Criticifm; and he
"refigns his pen with a confcioufhef's
that not a line which he has written
can wound the feelings of the moft de-
licately fenfible."-It is time for us to
take leave of Mr. L. whom we fhall
have occafion to review in his profel-
fional character, and who threatened
the corporation of Warwick with de-
tecting their abufe of their charter-
but gave up his defign for want of en-
Couragement to pursue it.

147. The Hiftory of Helvetia; containing the
Rife und Progress of the Helvetic Republicks
to the Middle of the Fifteenth Century By
Francis Hare Naylor, Efq. In Two Vo-
·lumes.

pearance of that work before he finally decided upon the deftiny of his own. Finding, however, that Mr. P's view of things differed materially from his, and that they frequently confidered the fame object in an oppofite light, he faw no reafon to abandon his plan. He has felected the moft brilliant æra of the Helvetic hittory. Much remains. to be faid. The Burgundian and Ita lian wars, the progrefs of the Reforma tion, the triumph of truth, and the decay of patriotifin, afford an ample field for the hiftorian, even fhould he de cline to enter upon that aweful period when the Alpine valleys ceafed-perhaps for ever to be the abode of Freedom and Happiness. With re fpect to his future intentions, the publick may poffibly look for fome information, but he is as yet unable to give it. By their decifion he will regulate his own. Should he, however, difcontinue his purfuit, it will not be from want of materials. A long refidence on the Continent afforded him an opportunity of following the revolutions of Switzerland and Italy through all their maze of horrors. Papers too of the utmost importance are probably within his reach. Yet he fearce knows how to truft his feelings; nor does he think the prefent moment the moft proper to treat fo delicate a fubject. He would with to be thought impartial; but in what he undertakes he is refolved to be just."

IN his preface Mr. N. tells us, the
greater part of this publication was
ready for the prefs before he was ap-
prized of Mr. Planta's intention of
treating the fame fubject, being written
during his refidence in Italy; but no
fooner did he fee his "Helvetic Confe-
deracy" advertised than he laid down
his
pen, determined to wait for the ap

* It we believe Mr. Granger, there is
no authentic picture of Ham. den, though
there are engravings from two which pals
for fuch.

Mr. N. writes in an agreeable, unaffeeted ftyle, not overcharging his details with characters or reflections.

Chap. I. gives a view of Helvetia before the time of Cæfar, and after it was fubdued by the Romans, and overrun by the Burgundians and Alemanni.

Chap. II. Charlemagne's fketch of manners during the 8th and 9th centuries. Salic and Ripuarian codes.

Chap. III. Carlovingian race. Helvetia united to the German empire. Chap. IV. View of fociety during the 13th century.

Chap. V. Rodolphus of Hapfburg, Albert, his unpopular government, William Tell. The Auftrian govern,

ment overturned.

Chap. VI. Affaffination of Albert, Battle of Morgarten. Truce with. Auß tria. Death of Leopold. Affairs of Italy.

Chap. VII. General spirit of dif content. Confederacy. League of the

pobles, Battle of Laupen. Chap