Speaking of the Lodifan, presently afterward, he fays, In making the cheese, I found very little variation in the practice from that already described." The following remark, among a thoufand other facts, fhews the folly even unto madness of falt duties, in any country which is in a state of civilization and agriculture: The attention of giving falt to cattle and fheep here, as in every other part of Italy, is regular: they even confider a plenty of falt as fomewhat effential to having proper stocks of those animals; and gave me an inftance, which is remarkable. In the Courti di Monchio, a valley in which the bishop is the fovereign, there is no gabelle on falt, and therefore given much more plentifully to cattle and sheep; the confequence is, that the numbers of both are much greater, proporother district.' tionally to all other circumstances, than in any On the political economy of Lombardy, Mr. Young treats very copiously. The following obfervations on the poor of the Milanefe are circumftantial, and ferve to fhew the impolicy of drawing off the attention of labourers from induftry, to a lefs' certain fource of fubfiftence; befides the mischief of throwing into a state of mean cultivation lands which would otherwise be of twice the value to the community : • Mozzata. -The labourers here work in fummer thirteen hours. Breakfast one hour; dinner two hours; merenda one hour; fupper They are not in a good fituation. I was one hour; fleep fix hours. not contented to take the general defcription, but went early in a morning, with the Marquis Vifconti and Sig. Amoretti, into feveral In this village they are all cabins, to fee and converfe with them. little farmers: I asked if there were a family in the parish without a cow, and was answered exprefsly there was not one, for all have land. The poorest we saw had two cows and 20 pertiche; for which fpace he paid five moggio of grain, one-third wheat, one-third rye, and one-third maiz. Another, for 140 pertiche, paid 35 moggio, in thirds alfo. The poor never drink any thing but water; and are well contented if they can manage always to have bread or polenta; on Sunday they make a foup, into which goes perhaps, but not always, a little lard; their children would not be reared, if it were not for the cow. They are miferably clad; have in general no fhoes or stockings, even in this rainy feafon of the year, when their feet are never dry; the other parts of their dress very bad. Their furniture but ordinary, and looks much worfe from the hideous darkness from fmoke, that reigns throughout; yet every cabin has a chimney. They have tolerable kettles, and a little pewter; but the general aspect miferable. Fuel, in a country that has neither forefts nor coal-pits, must be a matter of difficulty, though not in the mountains. They were heating their kettles, with the ears of maiz, with fome heath and broom. In the cold weather, during winter, they always live in the ftable with their cattle, for warmth, till midnight or bed-time. For day labour they are paid 10. a day in winter, and 12. in fummer. For a house of two rooms, one over the other, the farmer of 20 pertiche pays 24 liv. 24 liv. a year; that is to fay, he works fo much out with his landlord, keeping the account, as in Ireland, with a tally, a fplit stick notched. They are not, upon the whole, in a fituation that would allow any one to approve of the fyftem of the poor being occupiers of land; and are apparently in much more uneafy circumstances, than the day labourers in the rich watered plain, where all the land is in the hands of the great dairy farmers. I drew the fame conclufion from the state of the poor in France; these in the Milanefe ftrongly confirm the doctrine; and unite in forming a perfect contraft, with the fituation of the poor in England, without land, but with great comforts.' The fhort account here given of the SPANISH husbandry is confined chiefly to CATALONIA; the vale of Aran being the principal diftrict of obfervation. Had we not already made fuch ample extracts from this volume, we fhould not want a fufficiency of interefting materials for that purpofe in the author's account of Spain. He is lavish in his praifes of the climate of Catalonia; and we can only regret that we are debarred from indulging our readers with the pleasure of travelling through this favoured country with fo entertaining a companion. We are perfuaded that those who take up the volume itself, on the ftrength of our recommendation, will thank us for the hint. To ART. XII. Travels through the Maritime Alps from Italy to Lyons, acrofs the Col de Tende by the Way of Nice, Provence, Languedoc, &c. with topographical and hiftorical Defcriptions. which are added fome philofophical Obfervations on various Appearances in Mineralogy found in thofe Countries. By Albanis Beaumont, Author of the Rhætian Alps, &c. &c. &c. Folio. 51. 5s. Boards. Edwards. Pall Mall. 1795. AT T the conclufion of Mr. Beaumont's Travels through the Rhætian Alps, (fee M. R. New Series, vol. xii. p. 303.) he mentions a defign of offering to the public the refult of his travels from Italy to France by the way of the Col de Tende*, and it gives us pleasure to find that he has been encouraged to carry this purpose into effect; for he is not an every-day traveller nor could his obfervations on this mountainous region, and the many elegant and finifhed views which accompany them, have been made without patient inveftigation and unremitting labour. He feems to have devoted his attention as much to the Alps, as Sir William Hamilton has done to Vol. canos; and, in point of taste and elegant execution, he appears defirous of furnishing a work which fhall not be unworthy of a place on the fame fhelf with Sir William's fplendid publi The highest peak of the Maritime Alps. cation entitled "Campi Phlegræi*. We have feen a coloured copy which was truly fuperb. To gratify the wifh of the British nation, Mr. B. was induced, at the beginning of the last year, to give as a separate publication what properly would have made the conclufion of the prefent work. When we obtained poffeffion of Toulon, and fent a ftrong force into the Mediterranean, it was probable that the feat of war would be in the fouth of France, and of course that gazettes and other vehicles of intelligence would direct the general attention to that quarter; Mr. B. therefore, published "Select Views in the South of France," (fee our Review for June 1794, p. 183,) containing, among other things, views and plans of the principal harbours of France in the Mediterranean, with topographical and hiftorical defcriptions. These comprehend the route from Antibes to Lyons, while the prefent work includes that from Coni in Piedmont to Antibes; fo that it is neceffary to add the "Select Views" to thefe Travels, in order to complete the journey from Italy to Lyons, as mentioned in the title-page. Born in Savoy,-accuftomed, as he informs us, from his youth to the ftudy of natural hiftory, of which he was an enthufiaftic admirer,-and occupying the fituation of engineer to his Sardinian majefty, Mr. B. poffeffed fingular advantages for executing the arduous task which he has undertaken. What he calls Travels in the Alps are more properly Rambles; for his obfervations on the formation of thefe mountains are not the refult of one traverfe, but of many in different directions and out of the beaten tract,-from which he laments that Naturalifts do not more generally deviate. The Maritime Alps, which our author here describes, and various parts of which he delineates, are a ridge of mountains, about fix hundred miles in extent. The highest peak, as we have obferved in a preceding note, is the Colt de Tende; over which is one of the three grand paffages to Italy. Before, however, this philofophic traveller afcends thefe mountains, he prefents the reader with a preliminary difcourfe, containing fome general obfervations on the formation of the plains of Lombardy and Piedmont, He diftinguishes valleys into primary and fecondary, the firft formed by the fea, the See M. Rev. vol. lvi. p. 380. A Col is defcribed to be a mountain which has no plain at the top, but which terminates in a ridge, which is no fooner reached than the defcent takes place on the other fide. Monts St. Bernard, Cenis, St. Gothard, &c. have extenfive plains on their top, with a small lake in their centre. other other by torrents or rivers. The nature of the foil, the poftion of the ftrata, and the confufion in which rocks and mineral fubftances lie, are to him proofs of the prefence of the fea, and of its action and re-action in its retreat. He traces also the fubfequent operation of the Pô in the valley of Lombardy. The city of Coni, the terminus à quo of thefe Travels, is the fubject of the first chapter of this work. To the hiftory of its origin an affecting narrative belongs, while that of its recent ftate contains an account of a gentleman, Monfieur Berando, who in the year 1777 was imprifoned, and loft his appointment as director of the Obfervatory, for having placed an electrical conductor at the top of it. The former obtrudes a reflection on the effects of tyranny, the latter on those of ignorance and barbarifm. The fucceeding chapter narrates the paffage of the Col de Tende, accompanied with views of the eaftern and fouthern fides of this tremendous mountain, which can never be croffed without much difficulty, and at times not without imminent danger. The cold of this Col is more intense than it is on Mount Cenis, though the latter is more elevated above the level of the fea; for which our author accounts by fhewing that the degree of cold, experienced on the tops of mountains, is lefs in proportion to their abfolute elevation than to their height above the furrounding valleys. Owing to this extreme relative height of the Col de Tende, an intenfity of cold is produced occafioning vaft accumulations of fnow, which fometimes, detaching themselves from the fides of the mountain, sweep all before them. We are forry that our limits will not permit us minutely to follow this philofopher of the Alps in his inquiries into the various mineral fubftances, of which these gigantic maffes are composed; nor to detail his ingenious obfervations on them. There is no foffil nor plant that escapes his notice; and, though he enlivens his journal with every interefting event that occurs during his excurfions, (of which fee a remarkableinftance, p.58,) and difcovers a mind alive to all the fenfibilities of genuine humanity, he profeffes here to write rather as a fcientific traveller than for general amusement. His account of the roads conftructed, for miles, on arches through narrow defiles, on the edges of vaft precipices, and impending over frightful and impetuous torrents, does credit to the king of Sardinia; by whofe order and at whofe expence these vaft works have been undertaken and executed, for the accommodation of his fubjects. The attention of the curious traveller is, however, particularly recommended to that part of the road over the Col de Braus near the village of Tuet; it being, as it were, wonderfully fupported for about 9 about two miles on arcades thrown here and there on the projecting peaks of the lateral rocks, hanging over a tremendous precipice at least fifteen hundred feet deep.' As this book, from its elegance and price, can only find its way into the libraries of men of fortune, we fhould have been happy in making our readers participate in the pleasure which it has afforded us: but we muft pafs over the defcription of the valleys of St. Pons and of Paglion, of Nice and its environs, of Villa Franca, Turbia, Monaco, Vintimiglia, &c. in order to .exhibit at one view the author's recapitulation of deductions and obfervations arifing from the principal facts ftated in the preceding chapters: Thinking that fome general deductions from the principal facts, or phenomena, mentioned in the courfe of this work may be expected of me, especially with refpect to the theory of the formation of the irregular furface of the earth, at leaft of that wonderful part of it which I have fo repeatedly explored, I have ventured to annex a few obfervations, which appear to me to merit the particular attention of philofophers, as likewife the confequences which I think might be drawn from them. • I do not, however, mean to speak of what relates to the first and great revolution experienced by our globe at the formation of its continents; that is, at the epocha when the waters covered it above two thousand four hundred and fifty toifes, and which is nearly the prefent elevation of fome of the granitic peaks of the Alps, as Mont Blanc, Mont Rofe, &c. In short, of the time when they were totally fubmerged by that element, and formed themfelves under that fluid, either by effect of cryftallization or precipitation. I therefore only intend to touch on the phænomena which relate to the last immerfion experienced by our continent, and which appears to have been partial. I. From the immenfe atterriffements, or land-accumulations, already formed, and which are continually increafing at the mouth of the Po; from the extreme variation or great variety exifting in the different ftrata of fand, pebbles, and vegetable earth, which now form the banks of that wonderful river; from the number of beds of maritime and fluviatiles, or river fhells, which lie in fome places diftinct or feparated, and in others confufedly mixed together, from Cremona to the fea in fine, from the progreffive diminution which the velocity of the waters of the Pô experience, in proportion as the lower valley of Lombardy enlarges and gets nearer the fea: I conclude or deduce the following confequences. 1. That that part of the valley, which lies eastward of Cremona, cannot owe its origin or increafe but to the quantities of earthy matter continually brought down and depofited by this river, which, to all appearances, were formerly infinitely more confiderable than at prefent. 2. That the fea once covered this fertile plain; and that the greatest part of Lombardy may be confidered as an encroachment made on that element by a quantity of fragments detached from the primordial and fecondary |