Into the land of reft:, that happy land,
Once his but loft, o'er whose fast-bolted gate
Infulted Juftice waves her fiery fword

And fwears no foul fhall enter. Yet there was
One entrance left, left by that gracious God
Who made the heavens and this revolving earth,
Who fpake and it was done. He gave the key
To mercy, mercy was for man.'

In defcription the author is peculiarly happy. The fcenery, particularly towards the conclufion of our next quotation, is taken from nature, and extremely fublime, Gilbert, embarking on board a small fishing veffel,

With utmost joy he faw the wood recede,
Beheld his cottage dwindled to a speck,
Obferv'd the fnow-white cliffs to right and left
Unfolding their wide barrier to his view,
And felt the boat bound gaily o'er the waves
Light as a cork. He took the helm rejoic'd,
And right before the wind held on his courfe
Unheeding. 'Twas in vain his bufy friends.
Advis'd a diff'rent courfe, to gain with ease
The shore he left. He carelessly went on,
And never dream'd of danger and delay
Never experienc'd. Faft into the waves
Sinks the far diftant fhore. The lefty cliff
Stoops to the water, and his hoary brow
At ev'ry wave feems buried in the flood.
And now the gloomy clouds collect. A ftorm
Comes mutt'ring o'er the deep, and hides the fun,
Hufh'd is the breeze, and the high-lifted wave,
Portending speedy danger, to the fhore
In lurid filence rolls. In tenfold gloom
The ftormy fouth is wrapt, and his grim frown
Imparts unufual horror to the deep.

Now to the fhore too late young Gilbert turns.
The breeze is funk, and o'er the mounting waves
Labours the bark in vain. To the ftout oar
The fisher and his fon repair, and pull,
Alarm'd for fafety, till the flowing brows
Trickle with dew. And oft the anxious youth
Looks back amaz'd, and fees the lightning play,
And hears the thunder, and beholds a fea
Ready to burst upon him. Oft he thinks
Of Anna and Sophia, and of thee
Much-lov'd Maria, and thy aged fire,
Never perhaps again to walk with you,
To hear you fpeak, to live upon your fmiles.
Ye hapless pair, what fhall become of you,
No brother to defend you, and no farther?

• But

• But faft the storm increases. The strong flash
Inceffant gleams upon the curling wave.
Round his dark throne in awful majefty
The thunder marches; his imperious roar

Shakes the proud arch of heav'n. And now the fhow'r
Begins to drop, and the unfeady guft

Sweep to the fhore, and steeps the flying boat
E'en to the brink. Small diflance then, my friends,
'Twixt life and death; a mere hair's breadth. And yet
Far, very far, appears the with'd-for port.
And lo! between yon rocks now feen, now loft
Buried in foam, and high the milky furge
Rolls its proud cataract along the fhore
Accefs denying. To the frowning cliff
Approach not. Mark the firong recoiling wave
Een to the base of the high precipice
It plunges headlong, and the stediast hill
Wears with eternal battery. No bark
Of forty times your strength in such a sea
Could live a moment. 'Twere enough to wreck
A British navy, and her ftoutest oak

Shiver to atoms.'

The fame poetic fire and energy of diction pervades feveral other paffages, in which the continuance of the tempeft and its effects are described. We fhall conclude our extracts with the fhort but admirable account of its fubfiding; and, with some reluctance, take leave of an author, whofe failings and beauties, particularly the latter, are of no common kind.

At length the ftorm abates. The furious wind
No longer howls. The lightning faintly gleams,
And the retiring thunder tcarce is heard.
The fhower ceases, and the glowing fun

Bursts from the cloud and hangs the wood with pearls
Fast falling to the ground. On the dark cloud
His wat'ry ray imprefs'd, in brilliant hues
Paints the gay rainbow. All is calm and clear.
The blackbird fings, and nothing of the form
Is heard, fave the grand furge whofe heavy fall
Sounds awful tho' remote, and as as it finks
With harsh concuffion rakes the flinty beach.'

Travels in various Parts of Europe, Afia, and Africa, during a Series of thirty Years and upwards. By John Macdonald, a Cadet of the Family of Keppoch, in Inverness-Shire. Sve. 45. Boards. Forbes.

WE

7E have been greatly entertained by this plain fimple narrative of travels, almoft wholly in Europe and Afia. John Macdonald was un beau garçon; and his difcretion is as confpi

cuous

cuous as his good fortune. After various adventures by flood and field,' he at laft fits down quietly with a Spanish wife in Toledo.

Many parts of this work will appear uninteresting: we confefs that our entertainment sometimes arofe from fome unexpected connections, and from our having visited the fcenes, or known the people whom our author describes. From all that we can difcover, we think his accounts are faithful. His defcription of Mr. Sterne's death, we shall tranfcribe: to witnefs the last moments of Yorick, to have been in the chair of Eugenius, to have administered ease, at that moment, when forrow was almoft no more, the laft ftruggle of departing life, would have been a feaft to the foul that delights in pleafing melancholy. John defcribes it with fang froid; yet, as he faw it, his account must be preferved.

One day my mafter, Mr. Crawford of Errol, had company to dinner, who were fpeaking about him; the duke of Roxburgh, the earl of March, the earl of Offory, the duke of Grafton, Mr. Garrick, Mr. Hume, and a Mr. James. John, faid my mafter, go and enquire how Mr. Sterne is to-day. I went, returned, and faid, I went to Mr. Sterne's lodging; the mistress opened the door; I enquired how he did? She told me to go up to the nurse. I went into the room, and he was just a dying. I waited ten minutes; but in five he said, "Now it is come." He put up his hand, as if to stop a blow, and died in a minute. The gentlemen were all very forry, and lamented him very much."

The Offianic ftyle of col. Dow's Hiftory of Indoftan has been often noticed; and we can trace it from John's narrative to his connection with Mr. Macpherson. They are represented as very intimate. The events which occur during our author's refidence in India, are the most fingular; and his account of the appearance of the country and the manners of the Gentoos are the most particular, and feemingly the moft faithful, of any that we have Teen. One circumftance is new, and almoft too fingular to be believed.

A great many of the gentlemen Gentoos came from the city of Mar, and amongst them one very rich, and a great and good man. He had been married years, and had no children. I was told prayers had been put up by the Bramins in the pagodas; at laft he had an only fon. In return, he publicly goes through a torment in honour of his Creator, and the pure and undefiled Gentoo religion; and his name is handed down to pofterity amongst the worthy as a faint, and his family respected,

When the operation was to begin, he was feated on a table, under one of the ends of the crofs pole: an incifion is made in VOL. LXX. Dec. 1790. Z z

each

each fide, under his ribs, to let in each hole a smooth iron hook, like thofe that let down a but of beer to a cellar in London, with a fring from the rope that draws him up, round the breath, to keep him from pitching forward, and to keep him in the fame polition. With the irons in his fide, he is drawn up in a moment with a pulley. When he is up, there is one over him, who crofles a rope to hold him there. His hands and feet are tied that he cannot flir. But take notice, there are weights on the other end of the crofs pole, to balance the person who is drawn up, and he who fixes him. So the mufic is playing, fome are crying, others praying for him to get through his mifery. At the other end of the pole a rope is fixed, which a man takes hold of, and runs him round three times. Whenever he came to the fame place, they gave him a cheer; fo he had three cheers when he had gone round three times. He was taken down in a moment, a cordial given him, his wounds were dreffed, and he was carried home in triumph, with bea ing of drums, and mufic playing. Thole who remain behind dance in different companies.'

But we must now leave honeft John, recommending to cur fair readers a perufal of this work, instead of a fentimental novel. They have a chance of a little more information from thefe Travels, than even from the Letters of Colonel Belville, or Mifs Beverley.

A Picturefque Tour through Holland, Brabant, and Part of France, made in the Autumn of 1789. Illuftrated with Copper-Plates in Aqua Tinta, from Drarvings made on the Spot. By Samuel Ireland. 2 Vols 8vo. 21.125.6d. Beards. Egertons. HESE fplendid volumes have entertained us very highly.

To defcribe and to delineate the characteristic appearances of countries, which fedentary critics can never visit, to enable them to travel, without leaving their eafy-chairs, is a favour for which they ought to exprefs the most lively grati.tude. In thefe volumes, we travel with the affiftance of the eye. The plates are numerous, and the defcriptions plain and artlefs; the author evidently trusting to his tinted etchings for the information which the best accounts could not fo effectually give. Another great object of the Tour was to describe such paintings as appeared to him beft worthy of the attention of a connoiffeur;' to which he has added fome anecdotes, procured on the spot, and a biographical account of the most dif tinguished artists, elected from foreign works only. Thefe parts, however, are lefsi nterefting: much is copied that was known before and wnati s new is not always of importance. Our author embarked at Harwich, and landed at Helvoet

Luys:

uys he proceeded to Rotterdam, the Hague, Leyden, Utrecht, Breda, Antwerp, Bruffels, Valenciennes, Paris, Amiens, Boulogne, and Dover. The merit of this work, we have faid, depends principally on the beauty of the tinted etchings, which are executed with much foftnefs and effect. If that they are not more beautiful, as plates, is owing to the country which they reprefent; a flat, unvaried, uninterefling fcene, where Itrait canals, rows of trees and pyramidal houses, are the chief objects it is creditable to the artift, that he has not facrificed truth of reprefentation to the beauty of his picture. The printing and paper are excellent. We fhal! felect a fpeciinen or two, and shall first tranfcribe the defcription of Helvoet, chiefly to remark, that in this and a few other places, the effect is not fufficiently preferved in the plate, chiefly, as it appears from the view being taken in an unfavourable fituation.

We landed here about ten this morning, after a very fine paffage of about eighteen hours. In approaching the coast of Holland, the island of Scouwen first appears, joining a ridge of bleak rocks, which added to a multitude of fhoals, renders the paffage fometimes rather dangerous.-Helvoet, a league diftant, appears a wretched little fishing village, but, on a nearer approach, picturefque and beautiful. The novelty added not a I tile to the feenery. The drawing was made jult at the entrance of the harbour, the guardship appearing in the diftance, is con-. ftantly stationed there to ex mine the tips paffing to Rotterdam and the Maes.

Helvoet is furrounded with a deep foffé, and well fortified by a frong rampart faced with brick, which is equally a defence against the irruptions of the fea or the attack of an enemy.

The harbour runs through the middle of the town, and projects a contiderable distance into the fea. The entrance is between two large piers, fupported by immenfe piles, one hundred and ten feet in length, and driven near forty feet into the fhore. Dutch indulry and perfeverance alone could have ac cempiifhed such an undertaking; it is divided from the baion (which generally contains twelve or fifteen men of war, lying in perfect fafety) by a pair of flood-ga es, over which is a bridge of a curious conftruction, opening in the middle by means of bafs-wheels turning on an axle, which is moved with great tacility. The dock and admiralty magazine are well worth attention; and a walk round the ramparts will not prove unplea

fant.

The houfes are built on a fingular conftruction ; they are all pyramidical, wh ch renders the upper rooms very small, and almoft ufelefs; exemplifying the proverbial fatisfaction of the Dutch with old habits, and their inditpolition to novelty, eit ef in objects of convenience, or tafte. The fronts are painted at Icafionce a year, their neatuels, and variegated colours have a