Various particulars respecting these islands are added by the translator, from information obtained since they came into our possession. If we retain them, it is to be hoped that a more just and generous system of management will be adopted, than that to which they have hitherto been subjected. After the author's return to Batavia, his ship was ordered to Surat; and he gives an account of the state of the European factories, when he visited at that place. He complains greatly of the conduct of the English towards the Dutch, not only at Surat, but at other parts of the Malabar coast; and he gives an account of the manner in which they made themselves masters of Surat, less to the credit of our countrymen than the account published by themselves. We cannot pretend to determine which relation is the most correct: but it may be naturally conjectured that the English should give the transaction as good a colouring as it would bear; and, on the contrary, that an officer zealous in the service of the Dutch EastIndia Company would be little inclined to favour the English. Certain it is that the English and Dutch have never been well inclined towards each other in the East Indies. Among the curiosities described at Surat, we find several remarkable instances of the extreme solicitude of the Gentoos.to avoid injuring animals, or even the smallest insect. Several wore pieces of gauze before their mouth, lest, by their breathing, any little creature might be deprived of life. An hospital was erected more than a century ago, to provide for the welfare of animals, which is maintained by contributions from the Banians and Gentoos; and it is said that, to maintain vermin with the choice diet' to which they have been used, a man is occasionally hired to lodge, during the whole night, in the cot or bed in which the vermin are put. The author gives many particulars respecting the manner of ship-building at Surat. He mentions a vessel which was known by the appellation of the Holy Ship, the age of which was not ascertained any farther than that, in a letter written by the Dutch director at Surat in the year 1702, it was then called the Old Ship; and from that time to the year 1770, it performed an annual voyage to the Red Sea. This ship, however, while the author was in India, got on shore near Surat; after which she was not thought capable of being repaired so as to be again made serviceable. In another part of the voyage, the Captain has described a Chinese junk on board of which he went:-its length was 140 feet :-the interior of the hull was separated into as many different divisions as there were merchants on board; each having a distinct place for the stowage of his commodities;-and exactly in the middle of the vessel L 2 was 1 was a kind of chapel, in which their joss or idol was placed. At the end of every voyage, the idol is brought on shore and deposited in one of their temples, and a new one is taken into the ship. They never, at any place, begin to land any part of the cargo, until the image of this idol, which is made of gold, and is about four inches high, has been sent on shore out of the junk. From the coast of Malabar, the Ouwerkerk returned to Batavia, and was again sent to Surat. In the latter part of the year 1777, she was appointed to return to Europe; and the author sailed homewards, in company with several other ships. As a proof of the opinion which they entertained of the sailing instructions given by the Company, we find that, though their orders were that, from the island Ascension, the course steered shall be N. W.; yet, on a consultation among the commanders, it was agreed to steer a N. W. by N. course, but that the course should be noted down in the ship's journals N. W.-On the 13th of July 1778, the author arrived at Flushing. The foregoing account will convince the reader that, besides the entertainment which the perusal of this work affords, it is replete with useful knowlege collected from authentic documents. The author appears to have been a man of veracity, and of diligent observation; and the notes of the translator, which add greatly to the value of the work, are evidently the result of much study and information on the subject. Several particulars in the manners of various people, however, are related by the author with a grossness which the translator should not have contented himself with softening :-they might have been wholly omitted. In an Appendix, are contained many particulars of regulations respecting the Company's servants; accounts of ships employed, dividends on India stock, returns, and many other statements relative to the Company's affairs, from the establishment of it in 1602 to the year 1780-with an abstract of the Herbarius Vivus, or Herbal of Henry Bernard Oldelard, superintendant of the Company's garden at the Cape of Good Hope, in the year 1695; and a sketch of the life of Reinier de Klerk, late Governor General for the Dutch Company in India, from Huyser's life of that officer, published in Amsterdam, 1788. ART. ART. III. A Vocabulary of such Words in the English Language as are of dubious or unsettled Accentuation; in which the Pronunciation of Sheridan, Walker, and other Orthoepists, is compared. 8vo. 4s. Boards. Rivingtons, &c. 1797. WHEN general practice has established any given manner of writing or uttering a word, this usage, even if inconsistent with analogy or internal etymology, ought perhaps to be considered as the binding law, and as ascertaining the orthography or orthoepy of such word; because uniformity in language is of more value than propriety :-but, when the prac tice of distinguished writers and speakers, of popular and of learned authorities, is at variance, it becomes of importance for grammarians to discuss on theoretical principles the best mode of speaking and spelling a word, in order that future usage may favour improvement, and may ultimately station every equivocal term in the ranks of regular phraseology. Our vocabularies are crowded enough with an undisciplined rabble of anomalies and solecisms. Pronunciation is much more fluctuating than spelling. In proportion as the taste for reading gains ground, literature dictates to conversation, and utterance approximates more and more to the written forms of our language: thus we now pronounce almond, not amond, although the ought never to have intruded itself among the component letters. In proportion as the knowlege of foreign languages gains ground, a more distinct vowel enunciation is cultivated, and we no longer articulate as rhimes, beard-berd, beard-bird, absurd—gourd. Formerly, all our accentuation was accomplished by emphasis alone: now we are gradually admitting differences of quantity. A habit of producing the sound of those accented vowels which terminate syllables, and of attracting by prolongation that preference of attention which has hitherto been secured by stress, has travelled from the theatre to the church, and begins to be expected in solemn recitation. An actor, a preacher, a barrister, a demagogue, of popularity, is speedily aped by the lip of fashion; and his example suffices to naturalize a colony of new modulations. In these circumstances, it is more important to indicate those general rules of analogy which ought to subject progressively the refractory words, (as has been done by Mr. Nares,) than to chronicle those casual aberrations from them of which the vocabularly now before us offers a catalogue. We have no hesitation in preferring acceptable, commendable, consistory, convénticle, dissyllable, excavate, &c. to the cacophonous and heteroclite practice here recommended. In polysyllables, our language L 3 language tends very strongly to the antepenult accent. Ini like manner we prefer sounding the in alms, calm, palin, qualm, to the inarticulate vulgarity, the calf's blate of those speakers, who drawl out their adm, caẩm, paâm, quaâm, as if denied the power of sounding'well the most mellifluent of the liquid letters. Environs, if already naturalized, as we conceive it to be, should have the accent on the first syllable; if yet an alien, it should be expressed in our author's literal notation by ong-vý-rongz: the same remark holds good respecting envelope. In short, we observe every where more of caprice than of system in our author's decision. The cases by him collected are avowedly all pending and unsettled: he ought, then, to have directed us towards analogy, derivation, or euphony; or towards an imitation of the orthography, instead of authorising the provincialism sometimes of a Cockney, sometimes of a Scot, and sometimes of an Irishman, without stating any adequate motive of choice. The letter K will afford a sufficient specimen. • Håt; hate; håll. Bet; bear; beer. Fit; fight; field. Not; note; noose.. But; bush; blue. Love-ly; lye. Thin; THIS. To KEELHALE, kel-hal. V. A. [keel and bale.] To punish in the seaman's way, by dragging the criminal under water on one side of the ship and up again on the other. I have marked this word like Mr. Sheridan; Mr. Walker, though he marks it keel-håle, observes afterward, "This word is more ge nerally, and more properly, pronounced Keel-hawl." The latter is the same as Mr. Sheridan, and undoubtedly the best usage. See To Hale. 6 KEY, kẻ. [coeg, Sax.] An instrument formed with cavities correspondent to the wards of a lock; an instrument by which something is screwed or turned; an explanation of any thing difficult; the parts of a musical instrument which are struck with the fingers; in musick, is a certain tone whereto every composition, whether long or short, ought to be fixed. II. A bank raised perpendicular for the ease of lading and unlading ships. “Now turn'd adrift, with humbler face, CHURCHILL Mr. Walker pronounces this word as I have marked it above, whether it signifies the latter or the former sense. Mr. Sheridan sounds it the same when it means the former; but when the latter he marks it kå; and this I take to be the best usage. KNOWLEDGE, nol-lidzh. S. [from cnapan, Saxon.] Certain perception; learning, illumination of the mind; skill in any thing; acquaintance with any fact or person; cognizance, notice information, power of knowing. If "If rudeness be the effect of knowledge, My son shall never see a college." SWIFT. I have sounded this word like Mr. Sheridan, who is supported by Dr. Kenrick, Mr. Nares, and Mr. Scott. Mr. Walker marks it nol-ledge, or no-ledje, and observes, that scarcely any word has occasioned more altercation among verbal critics than this. He seems, however, to favour the pronunciation of Mr. Sheridan, as does also Mr. Perry, who gives both ways of sounding it likewise, Mr. W. Johnson, and Mr. Buchanan pronounce it no-lédje.' Of these three articles, the first would authorise a vicious spelling, hale for hawl; which last is most convenient; as well on account of the sound, as in order to distinguish it from hale, healthy. The second erroneously supposes Churchill to use key for quay, a wharf; which word is now sounded as in French. The third encourages a defective and negligent pronunciation of the short e as if it were a short i. Right pronunciation is in our opinion a work of reason, not of instinct to be decided in questionable cases by argument, not by the ear even of an orator. Cicero, however, is of a contrary sentiment; and, for our author's consolation, we shall transcribe his opinion. Et tamen omnium longitudinum ac brevitatum in sonis sicut acutarum graviumque vocum judicium ipsa natura in auribus nostris collocavit.-Aures enim, vel animus aurium nuntio naturalem quandam in se continet vocum omnium mensionem. Orator. §. 51-53. ART. IV. Don Carlos, Prince Royal of Spain: an Historical Drama, from the German of Frederick Schiller. By the Translators of Fiesco *. 8vo. pp. 327. 58. Boards. Miller. 1798. ART. V. Don Carlos; a Tragedy. Translated from the German of Frederick Schiller. 8vo. pp. 320. 5s. Boards. Richardson, &c. 1798. A T length the English public possesses all the tragedies of Schiller, which he has thought it proper to complete. In the Robbers+, his force; in Fiescst, his discrimination and range. of character; in Cabal and Love ||, his feeling; and in Don Carlos, his dramatic art; are excellently displayed. Two translations of the latter into English now demand our attention. Otway has written a tragedy in rhime on the story of Don Carlos. With him the love of the Prince for his step-mother * The Preface is subscribed by G. H. Noehden and J. Stoddart. † M. Rev. vol. ix. N. S. P. 266. xxii. p. 204. || xxiv. p. 150, |