55. Jac. Langebeck Intimatio de Colle&tione Latina Scriptorum Rerum Danicarum Medii evi Hafniæ proditura. 4to.

This work is a plan for printing a collection of the Latin writers on the Danifh hiftory; to which is added, a Catalogue of the papers that are to make part of this Collection, and contain 209 writers. As the ancient Danish hiftory is fo much connected with ours, the intimation of fuch a collection cannot but be agreeable and interefting to the lovers and promoters of British antiquities. 56. Plan de Varfovie, par Rizzi Zannoni.

The plan of Warfaw was done by order of count Bielinsky, the grand marthal of the crown, and is well executed upon a plate of twenty inches, on a fcale of one line to twenty French toifes. To this plan will foon be added a large and accurate map of Poland, in twenty-five folio fheets, by the fame author, whofe merit in geography is well known, and is next in rank to that of the great Mr. Danville.

57. Le Bret's Hiftory of the Republic of Venice, Leipzig. 4to. with Maps. Vol. I.

This work is by far the beft Hiftory of the Republic of Venice; profefior Le Bret having refided a confiderable time in that city, and ftudied the manners and character of the nation; having been admitted to the intimacy of many learned and ingenious nobili, and having collected every publication fubfervient to his purpofe, and favoured with the most curious manufcripts relative to feveral tranfactions of this republic, he is certainly better qualified for this task than any of his anteceffors.

58. Everardus Scheidius edidit Abubecri Mohammedis ebn Hofein poëmation. Harderwick. 8vo.

The author is poffeffed of a fine collection of Arabic and Oriental manufcripts, from which he has felected and published this small Arabic poem: and he gives us room to expect a complete Arabic Dictionary of his compilation; a work very much wanted, as that of Golius is very fcarce.

59.

1

CORRESPONDENCE.

A Well-wifter, who gives us previous notice of the publication of a book, and points out the particular paffages in it which he approves, means furely to bias our judgment in its favour: but we muft infift upon a right to judge for ourselves; our employment might otherwife foon prove a finecure, as either the authors, or their friends, would undoubtedly review all books that may be published, would we fubmit to it; the confequence of which would be that every book would be recommended to the public, and the credit of our work, which we endeavour by impartiality to fupport, would be quickly lost.

"

We are forry our correfpondent fhould be fo much deceived as to think that the principles of an author can influence us in de-, termining his merit as a writer; on the contrary, we hope we have fo far diverted ourfelves of prejudice in favour of any particular religious fect, as to be able to hold the fcale fairly between writers of all parties; we fhould otherwise, in our own opinion, be very ill qualified for the task we are engaged in.

ERRATUM.-P. 336. Art. 52. for Les Secrets du Philofophe, read Les Confidences Philofophiques.

THE

CRITICAL REVIEW.

For the Month of June, 1772.

ARTICLE I.

A Tour to London; or, New Obfervations on England, and its Inhabitants. By M. Grolley, F. R. S. Tranflated from the French by Thomas Nugent, LL. D. Two Vols. 8.00. 85. Jewed. L. Davis.

N

O compofitions are, in general, farther removed from perfection than books of travels. To give fuch an account of a foreign country as may be able to fuftain a strict and critical examination, there feems to be required a variety of advantages which are very rarely united in one person. It is not fufficient that the traveller be free from that blind prejudice, and that rooted antipathy, which diftinguish the vulgar of contending nations; he must even diveft himself of that predilection which it is natural to conceive in favour of objects and manners to which we have been long habituated; a predilection which steals infenfibly upon the moft candid and philofophic minds. He muft alfo poffefs a perfect knowledge of the language fpoken in the country he pretends to defcribe; he must have an extenfive acquaintance with its inhabitants, in every station of life; and his refidence must be of confiderable length, that he, may be able to obtain full and deliberate information upon the infinitely various points that may be worthy of enquiry, and that he may have an opportunity to confirm, to correct, or to efface thofe hafty impreffions which he must have received upon his first arrival.

If the author, whose work is the subject of our prefent confideration, is tried by this criterion, he will be found to fall VOL. XXXIII. June, 1772. F f

greatly

greatly fhort of the ftandard we have fixed. M. Grofley was totally ignorant of the English language, and made no attempts to acquire any knowledge of it. His stay in this country was exceedingly fhort; the information he receivedwas imperfect, erroneous, and frequently misunderstood by him. Though he appears, to be in a great measure void of national rancour and averfion, though his pages are not stained with thofe illiberal invectives with which the English have been loaded by former French obfervators, and which, indeed, have been answered by equally grofs abufe on the fide of our own countrymen; yet he cannot be entirely acquitted of prejudice. In fome inftances, he relates things fimply as he faw them, and makes thofe obfervations which naturally arife from the fubject, ingenuously, frankly, and without affectation. In other cafes he feems to have fet out with a pre-conceived opinion, imbibed from former writers on the fame topics; and in order to fupport a favourite fyftem, obfervations are multiplied, facs are twifted and mifapplied, reafons are invented, with a degree of obftinate perfeverance which cannot fail to give difguft.

By defcending to particulars, we fhall furnish the reader with fpecimens of the work, and with proofs of the juftness of our criticisms upon it.

In the account the author gives of his journey from Dover to London, we find the following paffage.

The farm houfes, which are fituated on the fide of the highroads, or near them, being built of brick, and covered with tiles, have glass windows that are kept in the most exact order. The barns are likewife built of brick, there are only a few miferable ones thatched. The appearance is as comfortable within as without. We met a confiderable number of carriages loaded with corn and hay, which were going to the ports. Each of the drivers (who were all either labourers or husbandmen) dreffed in good cloth, a warm great coat upon his back, and good boots on his legs, rode upon a little nag; he had a long whip in his hand to drive his team; the horses were vigorous and in good plight, and drew with trong chains, instead of traces. England, however, has no per. fons, who are by profeffion occupied for the good of the ftate: the wealth of the country-people is the refult of their own induftry. Public authority deems it fufficient to animate and encourage it the magiftrates would think they limited industry, if they undertook to direct it.'

The towns, continues he, and villages upon the road, have excellent inns, but fomewhat dear; at these an English lord is as well ferved as at his own houfe, and with a cleanliness much to bę wished for in most of the best houfes in France.'

Thefe obfervations may feem of finall importance, and they convey very little instruction to a native of this country. But fich are the objects which naturally ftrike a foreigner upon his

first arrival. They become deferving of notice by being con trafted with thofe of a fimilar nature in other countries; and there is no fall degree of merit in beftowing due praife upon things fo widely different from thofe with which we have been familiarifed from our infancy..

We fhall with pleasure give a number of other inftances of the fame impartiality. Where a tranfient glance was fufficient to acquire the knowledge of any point, where no favourite theory was concerned, we generally find the author's obferva. tions candid, judicious, and entertaining.

From Rochester to London, purfues he, in a profpect modes rately distant, is to be feen, on the right, the Thames, whose banks, covered with the moft florid verdure, are planted in an irregular manner with very high trees. Sloops, merchant-ships, and firit-rate men of war, afcend and defcend in a majestic manner upon the river, their mafts and fails being agreably confounded with the boughs of trees along the fhore.

I arrived in London towards the clofe of day. Though the fun was ftill above the horizon the lamps were already lighted upon Westminster-bridge, and upon the road and streets that lead to it. Thefe streets are broad, regular, and lined with high houfes, forming the most beautiful quarter of London. The river, covered with boats of different fizes, the road, the bridge, and the ftreets filled with coaches, their broad foot-paths crowded with people, offered to my eye fuch a fight as Paris would prefent, if I were to enter it by the fineft ftreets of the Fauxbourg St. Germain, or of the Place Vendome, fuppofing thofe quarters of the town to be as much frequented by the common people, as by perfons of quality.

The chief ornament which London derives from the Thames it is indebted for to nature alone: human industry, far from contributing to increase or fhow it to advantage, feems to exert itself only to destroy or conceal it. I am speaking of quays, which have been wanting ever fince the building of London. All poffible meafures have been taken to conceal the profpect of this fine river, and the paffages that lead to it: in a word, throughout the whole metropolis of London, the Thames, as much confined as the Seine. was formerly at Paris, and as it is ftill between the bridge of Notre Dame and the Change bridge, has no other communication with the city, for the loading and unloading of goods but by ftairs or wharfs, which are regularly thut except they are at work, which remain fhut both Sundays and holidays, and which, in fine, form fo many gutters to carry off the waters and filth of the city.

The fpacious canal formed by the Thames might prefent us with as noble and ftriking an object as the great canal of Venice, lined with palaces of the most fumptuous magnificence, and the most pleafing variety, and which have upon that canal their principal front: but the banks of the Thames are occupied by tanners, ayers, and other manufacturers, who there have an opportunity of eafily fapplying themselves with water. The fstreets where thefe manufactures are carried on are the dirtielt in the city in fine, the bridges have no profpect of the river, except through a balustrade of tone, with a rail of modillions three feet high, very maffy, and faftened clofe to each other; the whole terminated by a very heavy

cor.

cornice, and forming a pile of building of about ten feet in height. -I could not have a full view of the Thames, either on the fide of the city or on that of Southwark, unless I entered the houses and manufactories which stand close to the river.'

: These complaints, with regard to the ftate of this noble river are far from being new; but the objects of them, while they fill a stranger with difguft, are apt to become familiar and indifferent to the inhabitants of London. Complaints, therefore, cannot be too often repeated till the defects that give rife to them are entirely remedied.

The pains taken to ornament the shops of the metropolis do not escape the notice of our traveller.

The fhops, fays he, in the Strand, Fleet-Street, Cheapfide, &c. are the most striking objects that London can offer to the eye of a tranger. They are all enclosed with great glass doors; all adorned on the outfide with pieces of ancient architecture,-all brilliant and gay, as well on account of the things fold in them as the exact order in which they are kept; fo that they make a most splendid fhow, greatly fuperior to any thing of the kind at Paris.'

He is much ftruck with the bad effects of the smoke of feacoal upon the capital. After having mentioned the dark and gloomy air which London receives from it, he proceeds:

But it is not enough for this fmoke to wrap up and stifle London, and its inhabitants: it brings upon them immediately and of itfelf a thousand inconveniencies, no lefs pernicious than disagreeable: inconveniencies which will augment, in proportion to the increafe that London every day acquires.

The vapours, fogs, and rains with which the atmosphere of London is loaded, drag with them in their fall the heaviest particles of the fmoke: this forms black rains, and produces all the ill effects that may justly be expected from it upon the clothes of those who are expofed to it. Their effect is the more certain and unavoidable, as it is a rule with the people of London not to ufe, or fuffer foreigners to ufe, our umbrellas of taffeta or waxed filk: for this reafon, London fwarms with fhops of fcourers, bufied in fcouring, repairing, and new furbishing the cloaths that are smoked in this manner. This fcouring is perpetual.

Even the buildings themfelves feel the effects of the smoke, and nothing can prevent their being injured by it. The muft confiderable, to begin with St. Paul's, being built with Portland tone, which bears a great refemblance to the Pierre de Tonnere in the whiteness and fineness of the grain, feems to be built with coal, and the more fo as the parts more expofed to the rain retain fome degree of their first whiteness.

The fad and gloomy air which smoke gives to buildings is one of the leaft injuries it does them: its corrofive particles act upon the ftone, eat it away and deftroy it.-Somerset-houfe is an inftance of the great effect which the ruft depofited by exhalations from feacoal fires have upon buildings. The ftones of that palace, which appears to have been built with the utmost care, are in filigreen work, reduced to the ftate of metal unequally corroded by aqua fortis.'

After