.. A forcible appeal to the generosity of the public, in behalf of a society which has for its object the very laudable and charitable purpose of affording relief to those among our fellow-creatures, who, besides the misery of exile from their homes, and the privation of domestic comforts, are enduring the additional grievances of an impoverished and necessitous condition. The discourse has been published at the request of the Directors of the Society; and the profits of the sale are to be applied for the benefit of those in whose behalf it pleads. We trust that it will meet with the circulation which it merits, and produce those good effects which it is truly calculated to promote.

Art. 46. On the Benefits of choosing a heavenly Kingdom in preference to an earthly one; by William Dent Asperne. 12mo. 6d. Asperne.

We are informed that this is entirely the unassisted production of a youth not yet thirteen years of age;' and it affords a flattering indication of future merit. We sympathize entirely with the feelings of the parent, whose partiality and admiration have induced hin to offer to public notice this early promise of the abilities of his child: but we would caution him against encouraging, in any degree, those vain and self-conceited opinions which are too apt to accompany premature distinction, and which never fail to render disgusting that which would otherwise be worthy of the highest panegyric.

CORRESPONDENCE.

We have been favoured with a long letter from the Rev. Dr. Richardson, of Moy, in Ireland, in reference to our notice of his Essays on the Cultivation of Fiorin Grass, in the Papers of the Bath and West of England Society; (see our Number for October last, p. 136.) and we regret that its extent precludes us from inserting it in our Correspondence. Being desirous of communicating to our readers the statements and evidence, with which Dr. R. here confirms his former representations of the astonishing produce and value of this grass, we have attempted to form such an abridgment of his communication as would be admissible into our pages on account of length, and satisfactory in point of substance: but we find even this to be impracticable. It is our intention, therefore, to endeavour to procure a place for this letter in a respectable Magazine for the ensuing month; and, if we succeed, we shall beg leave in our next Number to direct the attention of our readers to it in that situation. The discussion is really important, and the authority on which it rests is amply sufficient to warrant us in bestowing on it adequate respect.

An answer has been sent to B. according to the direction in his note.

Anacharsis will find in this Number an account of the work concerning which he is anxious,

P. Q. will probably be satisfied in our next Review.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For AUGUST, 1816.

ART. I. Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk.

Boards. Longman and Co.

8vo. pp. 468. 128. 1816.

s the intercourse between nations has increased with. A$ the spread of commerce and the arts, and the desire of seeing "men and cities" has augmented with the general diffusion of knowlege, civilization, and luxury, the race of travellers and the publication of their journals have become extremely abundant. In no period has this been the case more remarkably than in late years: yet so amusing and instructive do these tours often prove, that no branch of reading is more generally pursued; and, notwithstanding some trifling productions, we are little inclined to apply to the ardent and inquisitive traveller the indignant address of Juvenal to the ambitious warrior,

"I, demens, et sævas curre per Alpes,

Ut pueris placeas, et declamatio fias;'

39

or to hint to him that all his achievements and peregrinations will finally avail him not, but that at last

"Sarcophago contentus erit."

(Juv. Sat. x.)

Within the narrow limits of the tomb, indeed, he must ultimately rest contented: but, while his rambles gratify his readers, and convey to posterity the benefit which may accrue from them, we are disposed to encourage, rather than to repress, the curiosity and the enterprize which break the bounds of mountains, seas, and deserts.

Considerable expectation was excited by the notice of the volume before us, partly from the interesting nature of a continental tour in the present circumstances of our neighbours, which under this quaint and indefinite title it was understood to relate, but much more from the well known talents of Mr. Walter Scott, the reputed author. When a writer, however, has overcome the formidable difficulties in the way of rising to reputation, his next point is to preserve the fame acquired; a matter that will be found of almost equal difficulty VOL. LXXX.

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with

with the former, the hopes of his readers being regularly heightened by a reference to his past productions. Hence arises the great danger of indulging in hasty and desultory writing; a danger from which many persons may be disposed to think that the writer of these letters has not wholly escaped; and which would, no doubt, have proved somewhat serious, had not the attractions of the subject, and particularly the details of the memorable day of Waterloo, given an additional advantage of great moment to the labours of his pen. His arrange

ment is certainly not good, and his composition is frequently defective; yet we are rewarded for the trouble of perusal by other considerations, especially by the tone of moderation and good sense which is displayed throughout. This feature o

the work has indeed left on us so pleasing an impression, that, though we differ from the writer on several points, we have no hesitation in bearing, on the whole, a favourable testimony to his performance.

Amid other marks of deficient care, the book wants a table of contents: but the several topics treated in it may be thus arranged:

Arrival in Flanders; a few Observations on the Country, and on the Fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom. - Transition to the internal State of France; Causes of the divided State of public Feeling.- Bonaparte's Return in March 1815, and Preparations for the Campaign. - Battles of Ligny and Waterloo, with Explanations from a personal Survey of the Ground. — Farther Observations on Flanders; Journey by Valenciennes, Pont de St. Maxence, and Chantilly, to Paris.Public Buildings; Scientific and Literary Collections; the Louvre; the Monuments of French Statuary; allied Troops in Paris; State of public Feeling; Difficulties in the Way of the BourbonGovernment.

The different letters are written to the persons represented as forming the family-circle in Scotland, of which the author had been a member before he departed on his travels, and which is introduced to us as containing an officer of the rank of Major; a laird or country-gentleman; a politician; a clergyman; and finally a lady, the writer's sister. Particular letters are addressed to the individuals of the party according to the nature of their contents; the details of the battle of Waterloo being communicated to the Major; the observations on the internal state of France, to the politician; the description of the fine sights at Paris, to the Lady; and a smaller portion, on appropriate topics, to the clergyman and the country-landlord.

On

M

On landing in Flanders, this northern traveller takes notice of the resemblance between the Scotish and the Flemish people in the cast of their features, the sound of their language, and, to a certain degree, in their mode of living: a similarity which strikes him particularly in the old-fashioned chateaux or country-seats, consisting of two or three narrow buildings joined together by the gables, with a slender round turret ascending in the centre and containing the stair-case. The chief difference is in the stationary taste of our Belgic neighbours, who seem to have been wholly passive in architectural improvements during the last century; the time in which the most conspicuous ameliorations have taken place both to the north and to the south of the Tweed. In point of comfort, however, the Dutch and the Flemish cottages have certainly the advantage of the Scotish peasant; in consequence both of the longer introduction of habits of industry and of the superior fertility of the country:

• You will forgive the deficiencies of one who, though for fifteen years doomed to be a farmer, has hitherto looked upon his sheep and cows rather as picturesque objects in the pasture, than subjects of profit in the market, and who, by some unaccountable obtuseness of intellect, never could interest himself about his turnips or potatoes, unless they were placed upon the dinner-table. Could I have got an intelligent Flemish farmer to assist me, I have little doubt that I might have sent you some interesting information from that land of Goshen, where the hand of the labourer is never for an instant folded in inactivity upon his bosom, and where the rich soil repays with ready gratitude the pains bestowed in cultivation. Promptitude and regularity, the soul of all agricultural operations, are here in such active exertion, that before the corn is driven out of the field in which it has been reaped, the plough is at work upon the stubble, leaving only the ridges occupied by the shocks. The fertility of the soil is something unequalled, even in our best carse lands, being generally a deep and inexhaustible mould, as favourable for forest-trees as for cultivation. Cheapness is the natural companion of plenty; and Į should suppose that Brussels, considered as a capital, where every luxury can be commanded, is at present one of the economical places of residence in Europe. I began a brief computation, from which it appeared, that I might support myself with those comforts or luxuries which habit has rendered necessary to me, maintaining at the same time decent hospitality, and a respectable appearance, for about the sum of direct taxes which I pay to the public in Scotland. But ere I had time to grumble at my lot, came the comfortable recollection, that my humble home in the north is belted in by the broad sea, and divided from all the convulsions that have threatened the Continent, that no contending armies have decided the fate of the world within ten miles of my dwelling, and that the sound of cannon never broke my rest, unless ás

an early feu-de-joie. These, with the various circumstances of safety and freedom connected with them, and arising out of them, are reasons more than sufficient for determining my preference in favour of my own homely home.' --

The furniture of the Flemings, and, generally speaking, their implements of labour, &c. have a curious correspondence with what we have been accustomed to consider as their national character; being strong and solid, but clumsy and inelegant, and having a great deal more substance employed in constructing them than seems at all necessary. Thus the lever of an ordinary drawwell is generally one long tree; and their waggons and barges are as huge and heavy as the horses which draw them. The same cumbrous solidity which distinguishes the female figures of Rubens, may be traced in the domestic implements and contrivances of his countrymen. None would have entertained you more than the apparatus provided for securing a horse while in the act of being shod, a case in which our Vulcans trust to an ordinary halter and their own address. But a Flemish horse is immured within a wooden erection of about his own size, having a solid roof, supported by four massive posts, such as a British carpenter would use to erect a harbour-crane. The animal's head is fastened between two of these huge columns with as many chains and cords as might have served to bind Baron Trenck; and the foot which is to be shod is secured in a pair of stocks which extend between two of the upright beams.'

We have no objection to these remarks, except in one very material point, the statement of comparative expence between the two countries; and surely the writer of these letters had not conversed with Flemish house-keepes, or he would' never have formed so moderate an estimate of the charges of a family. The difference between Brussels and Edinburgh is not more than a third in favour of the former; a proportion which may be confidently taken as the general rule of comparison between Flanders and Scotland at large.

The succession of topics treated in the volume would lead us, in the next place, to the fields of Ligny and Waterloo: but, however interesting, we are induced to pass by them for the present, with the intention of adverting to the author's report in a circumstantial account, which we design to give in an early Number, of these celebrated battles. We therefore proceed now to that part of the letters which relate to the French capital, and the various objects of natural history, statuary, and painting, that abound in it.

After a description of the Jardin des Plantes, and of the Museum des Monumens Français, we accompany the traveller to a still more splendid assemblage; we mean the grand Gallery of the Louvre, extending nearly a quarter of a mile in length; and lined on both sides, at the time of writing these

letters,