corporation with England, brought forth any fruits worthy of the tree into which they have been ingrafted. This is certainly a fact; but our author, either in complaifance to the Welsh nation, or from inattention, has neglected to mention this fact, or to enquire into its caufe.

It was anciently the cuftom of European kings and conquerors to make a partition of their dominions among their children, or other defcendants and favourites. The great Charlemagne made a partition of his extenfive empire. The great Roderic therefore might, without forfeiting all title to that appellation, make a divifion of his dominions. This divifion he in fact made; and it was, as our author obferves, "the fource of civil diffenfions and natural weakness, and was foon the cause of a decline in patriotifm, and of a striking barbarity in manners; a series of evils, which at length occafioned the ruin of the ftate, and fcarcely ended with the conqueft of the Welfh, and the lofs of their political exiftence."

[To be continued. ]

ART. II. The Night Cap. By Mr. Mercier, 2 vols. 12mo. 6s. Hookham, 1785. London.

IT is perhaps contrary to rule to give a diffufive account of a tranflation, after having reviewed the original. The following article is however from a different member of our corps; and it may perhaps be entertaining to the reader, to compare fentiments formed independently of each other, refpecting the work of fo celebrated an author.

The merits of Mr. Mercier are generally known. The bold delineator of manners and police, who has ventured to unfold the miferies of defpotifm in the very centre of their reign, and to point out with equal spirit and energy the unequi vocal bleffings of freedom, is entitled to the patronage and regard of mankind. The volumes before us bear evident marks of the fame hand. Under a title fingular and ludicrous, they prefent us with the fpeculations of their author upon a thoufand fubjects. His mifcellany is formed upon the most comprehenfive plan. Paftorals, fables, vifions, tales, fpeculations and criticifm, conftitute fome part of the variety of this anomalous publication. Willing to enable the reader to judge for himself of the entertainment he will derive from its perufal, 'we will present him with a few examples. The panegyric made by

our

1

our author, upon the country life, affords us as unequivocal marks of the fenfibility of his mind, as the defcriptive powers of his imagination.

It is only the powerful and fecret charm of the country, which has a conftant and univerfal influence over the heart of man; the increase of luxury vainly attempts to ufurp this power; toilfome preparatives, brilliant, yet dull, imperfect in their confequences, they leave a void behind them, a fomething to be wished for, after the combined endeavours of artifts. The country, plain, but magnificent, has more inexhauftible attractions; its fmiling features are reproduced as we view them; its advantages multiplying according to the knowledge we acquire of them; and the mind, whofe expectations were not fatisfied with the pomp of courts, the bustle of entertainments and artificial decorations, deliciously repofes in the beautiful and folitary retreats of nature.

It is there man can filently contemplate on himself, enjoy himself, fet a true value on his time and existence, fill up days that would be 1pent elsewhere with foolish prodigality. Difburdened of the troublefome weight of bufinefs, removed from the constraint and folicitude of focieties, he is no longer troubled with the inward difquietude which preys on ambition, purfuing that phantom fortune in the putrid air of cities; he experiences the ferenity, the tranquil, folid repofe, the offsfpring of free nature. It is by this he finds affluence in eafe, wifdom in moderation, the bleffings of time in his occupation, and, in a word, enjoyment without fubfequent repentance.

Unhappy is the man who, corrupted by the hurry of cities, thinks the country dull and filent! certainly the feeds of good are fmothered in his breaft. The country fpeaks eloquently to the found mind; it appears animated to the feeling heart; it preferves peace of mind, and even reftores it when difturbed; it diffipates mean and haughty paffions, the torments of men in the bustle of life, and calms the violent convulfions concupifcence infpires. The country is the parent of virtuous fentiments; and, independent of the natural advantages it procures, fuch as wholefome food, tranquillity, pure air, which reftore or improve health, it has many remarkable moral advantages; the more Thameful vices avoid of themselves that afylum where the woods, the grafly verdure, the fields, the blooming hedges, feem formed for fimple tatte and peaceful virtue.

The country! the poets have fung it, the painters have tranfmitted it on canvas, philofophers have extolled it! more happy the man who, enamoured with its attractions, contemplates it, knows how to enjoy its various treasures, and preferve his morals pure, refpiring the balfamic fragrant air, and every morning treading the odoriferous plants.

Who has not felt the neceflity of vifiting the country, at least on the return of fine weather, when the tender green turf, the early melody of birds, the active rays of the fun haften vegetation, and call upon the most indifferent being to admire the hidden hand that spreads the tuited grafs, unfolds the hoots, furnishes the trees with buds impatient

to

to be opened, and which will foon adorn the leaves with fruit and flowers?

• Enchanting picture! O fpectacle, more interefting than all which art can offer! How pleafing it is to gather the first banquet of violets by the fide of a ferpentine rivulet, gently watering the moffy ground; and to have the foot moiftened with the fresh and fparkling dew at the dawn of a fine day in spring, and the series of fine days that are to come to perpetuate the innocent pleasures of man!

It is in the country that writers acquire more elevated and fublime ideas, become more energetic and moving; it is there that generous works are compofed, that is to fay, thofe relative to the plan of public happiness. In the country our thoughts are neceffarily led to the largeft portion of the human race; they are vifible, they are prefent before our eyes, bending under the yoke, and labouring at the firft works of neceffity, thofe primitive works, which ever awaken and recal fimple ideas, productive of great ones; whilft in cities the arts, perhaps too refined in our time, pursue the niceties of form, to attract and please, for a moment, the forrowful eye of the wealthy.

In populous cities they write voluptuous romances, light elegant verfes, and comedies in an affected ftile; but the Natural Hiftory, the Hiftory of the Commerce of both the Indies, and all thofe grand compofitions, which do honour to the prefent age, feem to be produced under the happy influence of hamlets, and the waving fhade of forefts.

Could cities furnish, in their narrow bounds, thofe ravishing feenes which are fo bountiful to the poet's pen, and more fo to the philofopher's meditations, when the ruddy clouds melt and embrace the lofty circular heads of the talleft trees, when the fparkling rays difplay, by their prodigious refrangibility, all the dazzling pomp of the fun; when the light, increafing its ardent fire, fwiftly transforms one landscape into another, by the ardent vigour of its tints; when meadows, in those rapid moments, are metamorphofed even to the proprietor's eye, who ftands aftonifhed, and fcarcely recognises the place the foft mild ray of dawn enlightened; fo forcibly is the magic of thofe ftriking lively colours, fuch a magnificent and no less admirable diverfity does it imprint on the fame objects!

And at night, when the tranquil lake reflects the filver face of the moon and brilliant ftars; when the light clouds that furround it pafs like moving images, on the clear furface of the waters beneath the contemplator's feet; when he hears the lengthened cry of the night bird; then he fees the fmooth but trembling lake reproduce the fresh landfcape around him; where could he meet fuch complete repofe, fuch foft tranquillity? where can he fo well feel the voluptuous fentiment of an indefinite reverie ?

In the morning, when the atmosphere is clear, when the filver clouds are fcattered over the horizon, like woolly fleeces, he fees the labourer already in the field preffing the plough fare, breaking the clod, and marking out the deep and ftraight furrow from whence the golden harvest is to rife; he fmiles with joy at the feeds of fertility, confided to the maternal bofom of the earth.

Tell

Tell the blind infenfate, that this husbandman, by daily renewing his labour, gains the nobleft conquefts over nature, aud contributes more than any other to the fplendour, profperity, vigour, and life of the ftate, by producing the principal objects of neceffity and yet he is depreffed by idle and infolent arrogance; his laborious hands, that fteer the plough and wield the nourishing fpade, are debafed and banished to the very loweft clafs of fociety. Were it not for those callous hands, dearth, poverty, famine, and forrow, would devour the great in their fumptuous palaces. But fuch is the incredible injuftice, fuch the abfurdity of man, that to be useful to him is to be unworthy in his fight,

• Manual labour, the firft exercife of man, the facred employment of the ancient patriarchs, ordained by the Almighty himself; labour, the only power on earth that can vivify and put idle matter in motion, is looked upon as a difgraceful employment in our degenerate days; while the unjuft financier, the cruel foldier, the indolent citizen, dares to take precedency over the man who, by giving the first motion to the fap, has more juft obfervations in his head, and more hofpitable virtues in his heart, than those who view him with difdain: a difdain which can only here be repaid with contempt; for that kind of disdain ought to be confidered with the greatest juftice, as the latt ftage of human frenzy. The husbandman, who affects only an equality, does not go to the door of a courtier to beg an employment, nor expofe himfelf to the infulting ridicule of a clerk in office, the infidious difpenfer of favours he has purchased by the meanest acts; he knows the earth will fupply his wants, and he is attached to her all-nourishing bofom. -Alas! what will the vain and haughty beings, who, decorated with the livery of luxury, and are its perpetual flaves, fet up in oppofition! do they dare think themselves fuperior to him: what, alas! will they fet up? Too well we learn from experience, idleness, vice, and crimes.

Philofophical writers have never been guilty of arrogant disdain, the crime of opulence; they have all unanimously exclaimed, immortal bonour to facred agriculture! They have always revered it in their writings; the plough has been a hallowed object with them. They have celebrated princes that handled it with pomp and folemnity on certain annual feftivals. Virgil, even in the court of Auguftus, has defcribed the harrow, the mattock, the fpade, the rake, the plough which lays the earth equally on both fides; and all the writers, whom I ftile munificent, have preferred the implements of ruftic fimplicity to all the ornaments of luxury and favour, that the corruption of morals and the arts could offer.

Thofe judicious interpreters of the public voice will be held in greater efteem as the world becomes more enlightened; they had the courage to celebrate, with all their powers, the labours of agriculture; they who have restored dignity to the grey-headed man, who during fixty years procured raiment and fubfiftence to his equals, and, as an additional benefit, has given his country his own children for hardy and tractable foldiers-Muft not this countryman appear to be, in the view of a philofopher, after fo many facrifices, labours and

fatigues,

fatigues, the real atlas, fupporting the whole weight of the globe on his truly laborious shoulders ?'

Several of the pieces in these volumes are much shorter than that we have given, and feem rather intended to contain the materials of thought, or the fubftratum of more elaborate compofition. Such is the paper of our author upon facility, which exhibits a confiderable portion of tafte in a few lines.

I like an eafy genius. The ftile of fuch has a gracefulness, a freedom, a certain ftriking, but an animated air. They do not laboriously confume their time confined to a clofet; they look around them, mix with the world, and there imbibe fubjects for reflection. The moft effential matters furnish a crowd of ideas to their minds; they are not diffufive on extraneous fubjects, they hit rapidly on what fhould please, they have the inftinct of the art; and thofe indefatigable labourers, who put the work twenty times in the loom, are patient workmen, to whom time, at length, brings fome lucky chance, whilst the others have the exterior eafe and brilliancy of men of quality. La Fontaine and Voltaire's verfes, and Fenelon's profe, resemble a clear and copious ftream, which flows with cafe. What just reflection does not produce in an inftant, it will not be able to effect in months; it is luminous and rapid; it compares and combines fpeedily, or remains funk in the clouds that obfcure it.'

The qualities of M. Mercier, which we have already enumerated, his imagination, his fenfibility, and his taste, so far as it is the offspring of fenfibility, will be denied him by no reader capable of relishing thefe departments of excellence. The intrepid and erect turn of his mind has added grace and ornament to his native powers, and which render his performances the favourite amufement of the friend of virtue and humanity. But we are by no means inclined to acquit him of every blemish. The characteristic of the truly great writer is to refpect the public and himself, and to intrude nothing upon the world that has not been the fruit of accurate inveftigation, or of protracted improvement. The inferior author, on the contrary, publishes every thing indifcriminately, and imagines his moft crude reflections worthy of the curious eye of literature, or the untainted mind of innocence. If these maxims be true, M. Mercier can by no means be admitted to rank in the very firft clafs. The prefent performance, we are informed, is the collection of his daily effufions, and they feem to have been obtruded upon the prefs without any difcrimination. If fome of his papers are replete with ingenious thinking, accurate reflection, and fpirited beauties, there are others empty and frivolous beyond any thing that can be imagined. His tafte, as we have already hinted, is partial; and in that fpecies of tafte, which originates in the more delicate lines of the understanding,