not bear a date earlier than the latter end of the eleventh century, while the Bodleian Library contains one dated 1049. There is not, indeed, any certain document to prove the precise period when this cotton paper was introduced into this country; but there is abundant circumstantial evidence to prove, that it was known in England sooner than in France, and that it must have been between the eighth and tenth centuries. During that period, the Moors had overrun the greater part of Spain, except Biscay and the Asturias, where the Spaniards had fled to the mountains, and were almost destitute of every kind of provisions, till they received timely supplies from this country, which enabled them to rally, and again recover some of their fertile plains,, then highly cultivated by the Moors. Our connexion at that period with Spain was much more intimate and more friendly than with France, and the English were also as much more esteemed by the Spaniards. The cause of this friendship developes the national characteristics of the three nations. England, always the friend and supporter of the distressed, furnished the Spaniards, gratuitously, with every kind of necessaries: France, it is true, aided them with troops; but these troops, not content with an exorbitant pay, also required power, and assun.ed an authority as if by right of conquest! Hence the ground and origin of the friendly emotions of the Spaniards for this country, and thei aversion from the French, both of which prevail, to a certain degree, even at the present day.

With respect, however, to the origin or discovery of the paper now in use, and made of linen rags, Wehrs ascribes it to Germany. There is some plausibility in this opinion, though it may have been an Italian discovery. The following are the chief reasons for this judgment: "In Italy, no paper made of linen, rags is found before the year 1367; at the same period it was not known in Spain; in England, there are no proofs of it before 1342, and in France, about 1314 On the contrary, Germany possesses documents on rag paper which may be dated certainly from the year 1308." This, however, is not conclusive evidence, as the custom of painting on the margins of manu, scripts in Italy had become so general, that almost all the ancient records are on vellum; paper, whether made of cotton or rags, being unfit for such purposes. This fact might account for the rarity of rag-paper documents in Italy prior to those in Germany.

M. Millin, before concluding this article on paper, takes much pains to persuade his countrymen, that the drawing-paper which they use under the name of English, is really made in France, and sent here, where it is sized, and pressed between polished copper-plates, and then sent back to France! This ridiculous fabrication is told in order to convince the French, that the English cannot make good paper; yet they are allowed the ingenuity of improving that made in France. The author seems not to have known, that this drawingpaper is an English invention; that it is made on moulds wave in a peculiar manner, and the paper afterwards hot-pressed without any size, as he ignorantly supposes. Some recent attempts to introduce the

manu

manufacture of this wove paper in France have been made, but their success has not been very flattering.

The PAYSAGE (landscape) has furnished the editor with an agreeable and interesting subject, which he has treated copiously, by means of the English authors on this familiar, but arduous, branch of the pictorial art. His history of PAINTING details the most of the anecdotes of the ancient painters, the fortune of their pieces, and their relative merit. From an antiquary like our author, we should have expected much more accurate inquiries relative to the origin and progress of this pleasing art; but he evinces but little inclination for claborate research, and his other literary avocations almost prescribe him sufficient time. Of all the English works on painting published within the last fifteen years, except one of the very worst, he seems to be totally ignorant, and it is probable that he really knows nothing of any of them but through the medium of the German. On the po pular subject of PERSPECTIVE we find several judicious remarks, but generally too vague. The following instrument, the principle of which has been known above a century in this country, is falsely as cribed to French invention.

"PHYSIONOTRACE"-(a barbarous and illegitimate combination of a Greek and French word)-"A name given by M. Chretien to a pantographer which he had placed vertically, and to which he had added a moveable visual point attached to a horizontal thread, by which the parting point may be removed to any distance at pleasure, and thereby enabling him to delineate a portrait from nature in a manner infallible, and almost as large as life, Afterwards, this portrait is reduced with the horizontal pantographer, and engraved in any size required. Such a sure means would be extremely useful for taking the effigy of medals and coins, in which we have almost never a resemblance. M. Quenedey was the first who, in 1788, produced this kind of portraits in concert with M. Chretien. that time they only did profiles, and engraved the outlines without sha. dows; but they have since much improved this manner of graving por traits, which has the merit of being prompt, and of seizing the true likeness,"

The following account of POCKETS deserves the attention of those ladies, whose contempt of decorum has induced them to imitate their more abandoned neighbours in adopting a custom of the barbarous ages.

"The ancient writers never make mention of pockets: the girdle sup plied their place, the same as with the people of the East at the present day. From the account of handkerchiefs it will appear, that they would not oblige the women, among the ancients, to wear pockets. Little fillets tied tight round the breast, and sometimes the girdle, served them for keeping every thing precious and secret. It is well known that the girdle sometimes supplied the place of a purse at that period, and that the pick-pockets had then particular address at robbing the girdles in the

Kk 3

mob;

mob: it is for this reason that they were called cut-girdles, as we now call them cut-purses. Nevertheless, it is not probable that this use of cinctures, that is to say, of carrying money in them, was common with the women of antiquity. They were not troubled with carrying money in order to purchase household necessaries: on the contrary, that was under the cognizance of the master of the house, and slaves particularly charged with this employ. It happened much oftener that the ladies wished to conceal in their clothes the ornament of a lover, a tablet, &c. This is the reason why they wore large fillets fastened round the breast, which were an article indispensable to the ladies' toilette at that period. There, also, love-letters sometimes found a place. How I am to be pitied exclaims a lover in a comedy of Turpilius, entitled Philopater, What shall I do? Unfortunate being that I am! I have lost on the road the letter which I had concealed between the tunic and fillet.' Ovid, in his Art of Love, also teaches his scholars to conceal letters in this

manner.

"In the middle ages, the use of large purses obviated the necessity of having pockets in the clothes, as is still the custom among men in the present dress. The ladies, too, for some years, have proscribed the use of pockets; and not being able to dispense without a handkerchief, keys, and purses, like the Greek and Roman woman, whose costume they have imitated, have had recourse to the large purses, or bags, of Gothic times, to which have been given various forms, and different names, such as ridicules, sacs, necessaries, indispensables, &c.”

The account of PORTRAIT PAINTING is perhaps one of the most interesting in this work; and the editor has added a list of the names of the most distinguished portrait painters, from the origin of this art in 1500 to our own times. The importance and superiority of por traits to every other species of painting, is here acknowledged; and the French now begin to perceive, that their reproaches against the English, for their supposed national vanity of preferring portraits, are as irrational as they are false. It is true, more genius is required to execute one good portrait, than twenty Venuses and Cupids; and this, perhaps, is the reason, why the French portraits are so execrable in every respect. The history of SCULPTURE is the most copious, and perhaps the most perfect, of any of our author's sketches. In the list of sculptors, those of Spain are the most conspicuous; and it is certain, that this art, since the barbarous ages, was practised in that country two centuries sooner than in Italy. In 1037, we find, that Ferdinand the Great patronized the arts, particularly sculpture, of which some vestiges still remain. It was not till about the year 1270 in Italy, and 1550 in France, that the art of sculpture began to be restored and cultivated.

We shall only observe, that these three massy volumes contain much curious and interesting information, chiefly extracted, indeed, from the German, and from other scarce and expensive works; but in order to render them a complete Dictionary of the Fine Arts,

it

it is necessary to add the author's other works on Mythology, and French Monuments and Medals. M. Millin is also editor of the Magazin Encyclopedique, one of the best monthly publications of miscellaneous science, literature, and antiquities, in France.

Dictionnaire Historique, Etymologique, &c.

An Historical Dictionary of the celebrated Personages of Antiquity, Princes, Generals, Philosophers, Poets, Artists, Sc.; Gods, fabu lous Heroes, Cities, Rivers, c. &c.: with the Etymology, and the Value of their Names and Surnames. Preceded by an Essay an Proper Names among both the Ancients and the Moderns. By F. Noël, Inspector-General of Public Instruction, &c. &c. PP. 520. 8vo. 12s. Paris. 1806. Imported by Deconchy.

WHEN we consider the influence of words, their power in creating new associations of ideas, and their importance as the vehicles of human knowledge, we shall not be precipitate in condemning any effort to illustrate the meaning of proper names, and their connexion with the progress of the human mind. Etymology is a science of much greater utility, and much more applicable to the study of national manners, than has hitherto been supposed. Much vulgar ridicule, indeed, has been ignorantly thrown upon it; but it should be remembered, that it has been the means of unfolding those principles which have now stood the test of ages, and shall for ever remain a monument of the strength, as well as the nature, of the "Human Understanding," as developed by the immortal Locke. By this science we are enabled to trace the origin, progress, and actual state, of words, or names, as used in the commerce of human life, In every stage they afford us the only certain knowledge of the then state of the human mind. At first, we have short simple names with out inflections, which sufficiently characterize the ideas arising from simple impressions or sensations. Afterwards, the increasing multiplicity of nearly similar objects rendered it necessary to attach au epi thet of some particular quality, or characteristic, of these objects; hence the origin of complex or compound terms, which from habit soon degenerated into arbitrary names. These names, at first perfectly understood, in the course of time became difficult to comprehend and in proportion as the natural increase of society augmented their number, it also impaired the powers of traditional instruction; and the people, as they emerged from the common source of intelligence, forgetting the origin and full import of these terms, confused, abridged, or otherwise changed them: hence the origin of dialects. In this manner we are enabled to trace the real progress of the human mind from ignorance to knowledge. At first, their few simple ideas were distinctly

Kk 4

distinctly expressed by their distinct aspirations, or words; as their ideas became more numerous, their words necessarily became more complex. This opened a field for the diverse genius of men: some were occupied in cultivating their knowledge, and thence became chiefs; while others, more indolent and more ignorant, and, consequently, possessing only weak understandings, but imperfectly comprehended the relation of names with things; and in their diurnal use of terms, mutilated them often to an extent that rendered their origin extremely difficult, if not impossible, to be discovered. Thus, by the general corruption of language, we are able to ascertain, beyond all doubt, the low state of knowledge and civilization in any age or nation. The imperfect conceptions of the vulgar at the present day are likewise evinced, by their mutilating words which they do not perfectly comprehend, or to which they cannot affix a determined idea. Attention to this point would enable us to trace the capacity of the intellectual powers in conjunction with the natural history and progress of language, from simple and relative terms to complex and arbitrary names; from arbitrary names spring mutilated words, and even phrases, that in time become dialects, which finally constitute, with the progress of knowledge, new, and to a certain degree, entire, languages. Hence, too, will appear the utility of training the mind, at an early period, to associate its conceptions, or ideas, with words, and thus, perhaps, in some measure, obviate the dangerous influence of an ardent imagination, and the effects of the violent passions, on the juvenile mind.

But to return to the work of M. Noël we are sorry that he has not always treated the science of etymology in such an enlarged view, and that he has designedly pursued it rather as a litterateur than a philosopher. As a preliminary to this work, the author has given a long "Historical Essay on Proper Names, both Ancient and Modern." It is divided into seventeen chapters, on the Proper Names of the Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and other Ancient Nations; Names among the Moderns; Patronymics; Christian Names; Change of Names; Pseudonymus; Names attached to Sovereign Dignity; Nick-names; Superstitious and Poetical Names; Names of Animals, Cities, &c.; Anagrams and Acrostics; Allusions to Names; Art of Translating them; and Miscellaneous Anecdotes relative to the Distinction and Use of Names. In this Essay, indeed, there are many curious particulars relative to the use and power. of names, or appeilations, in different ages and nations; and if the author seldom discovers much perspicacity, or critical acumen, he as rarely deviates into the regions of imagination and visionary speculation. The following is the author's account of the etymology of the word name:

"The name, in general, according to the definition most commonly received, is the term which we are accustomed to use to designate a person or thing. This definition is founded on the import of the word nomen, which the etymologists derive either from the verb