ART. 44. Communications concerning the Agriculture and Commerce of America; containing Obfervations on the Commerce of Spain with her American Colonies in Time of War. Written by a Spanish Gentleman in Philadelphia, this prefent Year 1800. With fundry other Papers concerning the Spanish Interefts. Edited in London, by William Tatham. 8vo. 120 pp. 45. Ridgway. 1800.

The editor's profeiled defign is, to fhow us what the people of other countries are doing, that we may the better regulate our own concerns. The object of the Spanish author's "obfervations is, the profperity of the Spanish Colonies in America, the advantages arifing therefrom to Old Spain, the increafe of the royal revenue, and of our commerce in general." P. 6. Some "curfory obfervations" fhow the importance of agriculture to be fuperior to that of manufactures, and that of manufactures to that of commerce. Much more ufetul, we think, would have been an endeavour to fhow, how intimately thefe interefts are connected with, and depend upon, each other. Monopolies are then ftrongly condemned; and doubtless thofe eftablished in Spain appear to have been extremely pernicious. But there is fo little in this tract which is applicable to the concerns of Englishmen, and fo little apparent reafon for our relying upon the statements of an anonymous Spanish writer, that we can perceive no valid reafon for its being

edited in London."

ART. 45: A New Effay on Punctuation, being an Attempt to reduce the Practice of Pointing to the Government of diftinct and explicit Rul s,

by which every Point may be accounted for, after the Manner of paufing. By Thomas Stackhoufe. 12mo. 92 PP. 25. bound. Weft and Hughes, 40, Paternofter-Row. 1800.

66

A fmall tract, entitled an Effay on Punctuation, is well-known to the reading world. It was published only a few years back, was the production of an ingenious and learned man*, and was drawn up in a clear and useful manner, The prefent author, though he does not mention his predeceffor or his publication, feems to allude to it, by calling his own" a new Effay," as if to diftinguish it from the former. The authors of the Encyclopædia Britannica (Suppl.) though they repeat the praife of the former Effay from another writer, confels that they have not feen it, but fay, they do not think that the art of punctuation can be taught by rules." In our opinion, from its facility, it can fcarcely require rules, and will always be practifed with fufficient accuracy, by thofe who write fenfibly, under the guidance of one or two very general principles; and, as common fenfe will ufually point well, fo will it cafily difcover the real meaning of fentences, even under the difguife of falfe or inaccurate pointing. For a long time, written bocks had not even the advantage of divifions between the words; and, though dividing and pointing are certainly great improvements, this fact will fufficienly show how much may be

It was anonymous, but is attributed generally to a Mr. Steele.

done

1

done without them. The attempt of Mr. Stackhoufe is to reduce punctuation to rules fo exact, as to remove all doubt in every instance; and the attempt is laudable. In his fynoptical table, and other parts of the book, he evinces great clearness of mind and method; but the beft recommendation of his art is, in our opinion, that it will prove a general praxis, which will fet the whole grammatical machine in mction ;" and this we believe to be true. The author we fuppofe to be the fame who published, some time ago, a very useful fet of comparative maps, of ancient and modern geography. His motto is a

lame one:

"Divide, diftinque, et impera.”

A better might easily have been found. As,

diftinctio fenfum

Anget, et ignavis dant intervalla vigorem.

From Aufonius. Idyll. iv.

from

Collected

ART. 46. Profe on various Occafions, literary and political. the Newspapers. 8vo. 112 pp. 3s. 63. Hurtt. 1801. A fet of ironical Letters, from various Newspapers, in which feveral great names in the critical and political world are treated very ludicrously. They are a good deal in the ftyle of Chalmeriana, and often touch upon the fame topics. The political allufions are generally intended to be hoftile to the adminiftration under which they appeared; but they have, in their ftyle, more of literary fport, than of political feverity. It may not unfairly be objected, that too great a famenefs of humour pervades the collection; but there are many things in it, at which the graveft reader must fmile.

ART. 47. The Statistical Obferver's Pocket Companing: or a fiftemati cal Set of Queries, calculated to effift Travellers, and all inquifitive Mon at large, in their Refearches about the State of Nations. Tranflated from the French of Julia Dutchess of Giovane, Bareness of Understuck, Lady of the Starry Crefs, Honorary Member of the Royal Academies of Berlin and Stockholm, and of the Humane Society, London. 143 pp. Booker, Wright, &c. 1901.

12mo.

Who the lady is, who here appears fo abundant in her questions, and fo magnificent in her titles, we are unfortunate enough not to know; nor which of all the countries in which she is affeciated can claim her as a native. Her queries, however, feem to be judicious, and the book of fome utility. The tranflator informs us this fcreme of enquiry "was originally printed upon an immenfe fheet of paper, and annexed to a large volume." It is now compreffed into the form of a portable almanack, and fitted up in a cafe into which it flides, for the pocket of the traveller. In this fhape it certainly is more convenient for use than in the former ftage of its tranfmigration, and in thefe days of enquiry it will probably obtain a sufficient fale.

ART. 48. An hiftorical Account of the Transactions of Napoleone Buonaparte, First Conful of the French Republic, from the Perid he became Commander in Chief of the French Army in Italy, in Apri!, 1796, until the prefent, of his having compell d the Emperor of Germany, a jecond Time, to make Peace with the French Republic, and acknowledge its Independence, in February, 1801. In this Work is compriz d the Campaigns of Italy in 1796-7, the Command of the French Army on the Coast of France, Flanders, 3e. The Expedition 10 Malia and Egypt in 1798, the Chief Confularship of France, with the Campaigns of Italy and Germany in 1799, 1800, and 1801. By G. Mackereth. 2s. 6d. Printed by Jones, Soho. No Publisher.

8vo.

88 pp. This hiftorian of Bonaparte, who is alfo his panegyrift, wifely fuppreffes his campaign in Paris, against the then exifting conditution of the country. It will be feen, even by his title page, that he cannot write English; and more will not eafily be feen, as the publisher does not choose to be named.

ART. 49. The Sound and Baltic confidered in a political, military, and commercial View, intended to illuftrate the relative Connections and maritime Strength of the Northern Powers; to which are added, Obfervations upon Egypt, and the Trade of India, as connected with he Baltic or Eaft Sea. Travflated from a German Pamphlet, published at Berlin in Aprillaf. 8vo. 3s. Debrett. 1801.

This pamphlet obtained a confiderable popularity in the north of Europe, which it might well be expected to do, as it was obviously written in defence of the Northern Confederacy against this country, and with the intention of keeping up the prejudices which exifted against us. It was understood to have been written under the fanction of the Pruffian government, and its great tendency is to prove the practicability of excluding England from a commercial intercourse with the powers on the continent. It does not appear to merit any other refutation than it has already received from the argumentative powers of Lord Nelfon in the North, and of Sir Ralph Abercromby and our gallant brethren in the Eaft. It is however very plaufibly written, and contains fome facts very well worth the confideration, not only of government, but of thofe of our merchants whofe intereft is involved in our trade with India, as well as with Denmark, Pruffia, Sweden, and Ruffia.

ART. 50. The Elements of Reading, being fele&t and eafy Leffons, in Profe and Verfe, for young Readers of both Sexes. By the Rev. T. Adams, A. M. Author of Lectiones Select, the Elements of useful Knowledge, &c. &c. 12mo. 4s. Law.. 1800.

Thefe introductions to reading have lately multiplied upon us fo faft, that every month we have one or more to notice. That this is at leaft as good as many others fufficiently appears, from its having paffed through three editions. That it will pafs through as many more is

very probable, for the felection feems remarkably well calculated to intereft the curiofity, and improve the minds, of very young readers.

ART. 51. Viridarium Lavinum; or, Recueil des Penfées et Bons Mots, les plus remarquables tirés des plus illuftres Orateurs, Poetes, et autres Ecrivains tant Grecs que Latins, Traduits en Italien, et en François, Article par Article, a Cotés des Originaux. Auquel on a ajouté une collection Anglife de maximes inftructives et amufantes Extraits des Auteurs les plus célebres, le tout destiné à l'avancement des jeunes Perfonnes, qui étudient ces differentes langues, ainfi qu'a l'amujement des Perfonnes d'un age mur. Par Gaetano Ravizzotti, Auteur d'un Grammaire, en Anglois et en Italien; d'une Introduction a la même, en Italien et en Anglois, et d'une Collection de Poefie Espagnole, &c. Dedié a l'Honorable Guillaume Temple. 8vo. 5s. Dulau. 1801.

We have before fpoken favourably of fome of M. Ravizzotti's productions. The prefent felection is made with tafte and judgment, and the tranflations are fufficiently accurate. We are much, however, inclined to doubt whether it will answer the author's purpose, as its use for the object propofed does not feem fufficiently obvious. There are few, if any, extracts from Greek authors.

FOREIGN CATALOGUE.

GERMANY.

ART. 52. Herodis Attici quæ fuperfunt adnotationibus illuftravit Raphael Firillo Bibliothecæ regie Academ. Georg. Auguft. à Secret. Prafiza et Epiftola Chr. G. Heynii ad Auctorem. Lipfia, Sumt. Cafpari Fricht. 8vo. IS01.

Mr. Fiorillo, a difciple of the celebrated Mr. Heyne, prefents here to the public the firft fpecimen of his talents and proficiency in claffical literature. After the perufal of his book, notwithstanding the many con picuous proofs of application it prefents to the reader, we cannot help thinking that the author has not yet made a proper ufe of the precepts of his excellent mater, whofe tafle, wife moderation, and accuracy, we are forry to mifs in a great deal of Mr. Fiorillo's production. As for the two well-known infcriptions, attributed to the famous rhetorician Herodes Atticus (though they feem rather to be the work of one Marcellus) Mr. F. confeffes himself, that he had almoft nothing to add to the commentaries of Salmafius, Vifconti, and others, but that he has made them a vehicle for accidental obfervations and conjectures. By

this method, widely differing from that of Heyne, he has compiled an abundance of notes, rather deterring than inftructing; and as he parts from his author at every opportunity, in order to ramble over the fragments of ancient poets, it frequently happens that, notwithstanding the great number of notes, the reader finds himself difappointed in confulting the commentary at difficult paffages. Would it not have been much more to the advantage of the reader, if Mr. Fiorillo had given an entire tranflation of Visconti's excellent commentary, which has never been publicly fold, and if he had joined to it his own notes and digreffions? Now he has given fhort extracts of fome notes of Vifconti, others he has paffed over entirely; and to the excellent and inftructing differtations of that learned antiquarian, he has fubitituted the thorns and thistles of grammatical obfervations (not very new for the greater part) and of critical conjectures. Among the latter, there are fome which give a favourable opinion of the author's talents for criticism; others are too rafh, and many of them evidently falfe. P. 127, Mr. F. propofes a fragment of Chaeremon, Athen. XIII. p. 609, where he correfis, in the frft verfe, καὶ σώματος μὲν ὄψις κατειργάζετο, which cannot be true, the Senarius being too short (unâ fy liabâ brevior). The true lecture is ava xaтnyábero, as Mr. Herman has proved, in his Notis ad Hecubam, v. 556, p. 130. In a series of fragments, p. 162, &c. which have relation to the famous cotlabos of the ancients, the author has ftumbled feveral times. In a fragment of Dionyfius (Athen. XV. 668, F.) he proposes xxì ngiv inɛiv ov itiv, instead of ; a conjecture which we highly approve but, in the fame paffage, the words εἰς ὅσον αἱ λάταγες χωρίον ἐκτέταται, ought not to be difturbed. In the verfes of Achaeus (Ibid. p. 668. A.) pintovтES, ÈXβάλλοντες, ἀγνύντες, τίμου λένοντες, where Mr. Toup (Emend. in Suid. T. II. P. 470) reads, with great probability, Tivo Aéyorres, our author pro pofes the much inferior conjecture, G'opoù λ. adding these words, Memsrabilis eft ufus verbi izẞaxx, quod de poculis dicitur pofl coenam fractis et abjedis. In this obfervation, we dare fay, Mr. F. is quite miftaken; the word xa defigning here the action of the perfon that flings the cotlabos or the wine, from the cup, towards a certain fcope. He augments this error, when he pretends that, in the paffage of Euripides, Athen. XV. p. 666, πυκνεῖς δ ̓ ἔβαλλον Βακχίου το ζεύματος κάρα γέροντος--the jaculationes Bacchi, Banxiou regeluara, are fragmenta calicis. On comparing this paffage with another of chylus, p. 667, D. C. it will appear that here too the poet understands the cotlabos, the scope of which was the head of fome 'old man. We are perfuaded that the author would have made this obfervation himself, if he had taken the trouble to perufe the whole chapter of Athenatus, inftead of picking up only fome fragments from it. P. 89, we find the conjecture, anλwv Trogfuséwr, where the author pretends that agirogpugiwy must be joined; a tmefis, the poffibility of which it would be difficult to prove by any instance of a fimilar kind. Some other errors, of too great precipitation, we pafs over. Confidering, however, the many inftances of learning, ingenuity, and diffufe reading, Mr. F. gives in this book, we cannot bat exprefs our concern, that he has not been a little more cautious in felecting the mature fruits from those that are crude. Befides the text

of