at Paris in the nights of the Feftival of St. Bartholomew, attended with circumstances of the most horrid cruelty, was perpetrated, and by her means extended throughout the kingdom, whereby 70,000 innocent perfons fell victims to the bigotry and vengeance of this wretched woman; does fuch a character deserve a confiderable portion in a Volume of female Biography,

compofed for the improvement of the minds of British ladies? An antwer mutt be given in the negative, by all well difpofed readers. The remainder, nearly one third of this Volume, and a part of the third, are devoted to the long life of Catharine II. the late Emprefs of Ruffia, which will be further noticed in our next.

(To be continued in our next.)

BEFO EFORE we refume the pleafing and very interesting task of reviewing this work of uncommon merit and originality, we think it neceffary to inform our readers, that the size of the volume before us exceeds what, in the prevailing mode of making books of late years, might have been fpread into three. The quantity and value of the materials being fully fufficient for that purpose; if the Author had followed the example of fome hiftorians, his predeceffors, of high renown in the annals of modern British literature. We therefore think it no more than a duty incumbent on us, and we hope our brother Reviewers will be of the fame opinion, thus publicly to commend the liberality which appears in the arrangement of this publication; the volume confifting of no lels than 984 pages, of which more than one half, including the numerous notes, are closely printed from a fmall type. The well-founded complaint of foreigners of the dearnefs of our most ufeful books, is in this inftance removed.

We have another object in view, in making this preliminary oblervation, which is, to justify the continuance of our review through another month, fince we do not remember to have found more ample materials to gratify curiofity, and, at the fame time, to convey ufeful information to their readers, in any fimilar work extended to three volumes, than in this first divifion of our Author's comprehenfive plan.

The fubjects of our prefent review are, first, Illustrations of Modern Commercial History to the Beginning of the Fifteenth Century, connected with the Progrefs of Maritime Difcovery.

Secondly, Confideration of the Rise and Progrels of Maritime Interefts, as cherished by the different Monarchs of Portugal, to the Reign of John I., Father of the illuftrious Prince Henry, Duke of Vifco, the great Patron of Discovery. This portion of the hif tory is comprifed in Chapter I. and fubdivided into two Sections.

The firft Section opens with the fol lowing reflections: "To illuftrate the courfe of the renovated spirit for Maritime Difcovery, which, during the more remote periods of modern history that preceded the fifteenth century, cheered the gloom that had chilled or overthadowed the commercial genius of Europe, is the arduous task I shall next perform. Looking forward with a becoming diffidence of my own abilities, and feeling a refpectful anxiety for the fuffrage, or gratified perufal, of my readers. We have contemplated the progrefs of Maritime Discovery from the remoteft ages; and having beheld its devious or uncertain courfe, ftruggling with furrounding obitacles in the confined limits of the ancient world, which the fuperior mind of Alexander first attempted to pafs; have feen its benign fpirit fink amidst the more than Egyptian darkness into which the irruption of the Northern hordes plunged the nations both of Europe and Asia. The rude and deftructive clans that poured in from Scandinavia and the Cimbrian Cherfonefus, came, like the vifitation of Divine wrath at Babel, to confound the language of all the earth, and to fcatter its different nations. Human pride and vanity were thus arrested in their career; but at the fame inftant,

:

an awful paufe was formed in the hif tory of mankind: these were times, fays Rymer, in the dedication of his third volume of the Federa, of great struggle and difør der all over Europe, and the dark eft period of times.-Perhaps it was an interval of repofe, which infinite wif dom had decreed for the reftlefs mind of man like the long, dreary night of winter, it preceded discoveries of the molt momentous confequence, which the enfuing day of fcience has difplayed. The compafs encouraged the mariner to leave the fhore, and truit his fpreading canvas to the wind: aftronomy taught him to detect its variations, to determine the correct fituation of countries that were hitherto but imperfectly known; and by what courfe the expectation of hope, as it led him onward through unfre quented feas, might be gratified with the fairest profpect of aggrandifement

or renown.

Our Author then takes a curfory view of the maritime States of Europe at the beginning of the fifteenth century, and finds that Conftantinople took the lead; that city, above all places, was well adapted, by its fituation, to preferve or renew, during more than two centuries, the commercial intercourfe which fubfifted between Exrope and Afia, after the port of Alexandria had been thut to the Europeans by the Arabs. The factors who fupplied the Greeks having purchafed their goods of the caravans that travelled from India through Candahar into Perba, expofed them for tale at the great fairs on the frontiers of the two empires; a confiderable part, alfo, of the Indian commerce, carried on by the Northern routes, and the Cafpian Sea, found its way to Conftantinople. The Italians alto, particuJarly thofe of Amalthi and Venice, eftablished an intercourfe with the Greek cities for the fpices of India, and were foon imitated by the inhabitants of Marfeilles: thus the lucrative trade of India centered, for a confiderable time, in the Conftantinopolitan or Greek empire; until the Venetians, finding the afcendancy which the Genoefe had obtained at Conftantinople, obtained the fanction of the Pope to conclude a treaty of com'merce with the infidel fubduers of Egypt; and thus fanctioned, they Teforted to Alexandria, which the Sol

dan of the Mamelukes had rendered a free port, under certain refiictions.

"Conftantinople affords a memora ble instance of the gradual decline of the firft emporium in the world, through a neglect of cherishing and maintaining her naval power. Venice, and afterwards Genoa, fucceeded in eftablishing a maritime force; and in the year 1453 Mahomet the Second befieged Conftantinople with an army of 300,000 men, and established the feat of the Turkish empire in that city; by which means an intercourfe with the Eaft reverted entirely to Venice, through the port of Alexandria. It is fingular, that in this downfall of the great mart of Indian trade, and in the late overthrow of the tyrant of Myfore, who made fuch powerful exertions to injure the more modern fyftem of European intercourfe with the Eaft, circum ftances occur that have a striking fimiJarity with each other: Conftantino. ple, like Seringapatam, was taken by ftorm, after a moit bloody refiftance; and the Greek Emperor, who, like Tippoo Sultan, refolved not to furvive his empire, was found under one of the gates, trampled to death by the multitude. The maritime power, extenfive territory, and great commerce, of the Genoefe, are traced to the commencement in ro64, and its progreffive advancement during the whole of the thirteenth, and part of the fourteenth centuries, when they held the balance of power in Europe: after fubduing Smyr na and Pifa, clearing the Mediterranean of pirates, and overcoming the combined fleets of Venice, Arragon, and the Greek Emperor John Cantacuzene, the profperity of Genoa gradually declined towards the year 1390, owing to inteftine commotions.

That extensive territory which in general is ftyled the Low Countries, or Nether-lands, from their fituation in refpect to Germany, came under the dominion of the house of Burgundy in 1433. Its commerce was of fuch a magnitude, that, according to an anonymous author of the Annales Flandria, no lefs than one hundred and fifty merchant fhips were feen, in the year 1468, arriving at once at the port of Sluys, which was then the harbour of Bruges.

Of the prefent famous city of Amfterdam we have the following curious hiftorical memoir: "It was originally,

in 1203, a small caftle named Amftel, from the river whofe banks it de. fended. Some peafants, induced by the liberality of Gibert, Lord of the Castle, to build their cottages near its walls, began a confiderable traffic by means of their fifhery. Thefe labours being crowned with fuccefs, the rifing hamlet, which had cheered the gloom of the castle, foon loft all traces of its former poverty; the fishing-boats were turned into merchant-fhips, and the fishermen into merchants. The new town was soon surrounded with bridges and a dyke, when the term Dam was added to that of Amftel, fince corruptly turned into Amfterdam. In the year 1469, the Netherlands had at tained to fuch a pitch of maritime trength, that the Duke of Burgundy poffeffed the most formidable naval power in Europe.

Of the maritime power, difcoveries, piracies, and invafions, of the Northern countries called Scandinavia, more particularly of Denmark, old England had the most melancholy proofs, as the early periods of her history record; fuffice it then to notice, that the Danish Chronicle declares the country called Groneland, or Greenland, to have been discovered about the year of Chrift 770, by Norwegian navigators.

It is remarkable that the genius of France appeared late, when compared with other nations, in the progrefs of maritime discovery; and for this reafon, fays our Author, "because a maritime character was never congenial with the habits and employments of its inhabitants: their minds were too volatile, and too fond of military parade, to find any charms in the plain manners and patient abiding of the mariner. The inftitution of a Naval Order in France, called the Ship and the fcallop Shell, or, as it was fometimes ftiled, the Order of the Ship and Double Crefcent, was celebrated by St. Louis the founder in the year 1269; yet even this had little effect in creating a maritime fpirit, or in rewarding what had appeared: molt writers are of opinion, that the Order did not furvive the founder *.

A very confiderable increase of ftrength, however, was given to the maritime power of France in the fifteenth century; for in the year 1453,

Charles VII. took Bourdeaux from the English, alfo the duchy of Normandy, and Aquitaine or Galcony. In three months, the expence of blood and treasure which the English had lavished for a century was rendered of no avail; their only acquifition that remained was the town of Calais, and the adjacent town and country of Guines. In 1457, the French even ventured to turn the miferies of invafion on their enemies; and diftreffed their trade, by burning the confiderable town of Sandwich in Kent, and that of Fowey in Cornwall; but we hear no more of their maritime exploits during the period comprised in this divifion of Mr. Clarke's stupendous work.

The firit dawn of maritime enterprize in England, in the reign of Alfred the Great, is the next fubject of confideration, and its progrefs is accurately carried on from authentic documents. This portion of our history includes the foundation of the ports and cities of London, Bristol, Hull, and Newcaftle; and the valuable teftimony of that ancient English hiftorian William the Monk of Malmbury, in favour of the high character of English failors, fo early as the year 1315, the reign of Edward II. English fhips vifit every coaft, and English failors excel all others, both in the arts of navigation and in fight. ing: and how nobly they have maintained this character, even to our own time, the nearly annihilated naval power of France and Spain, at this hour, "are confirmations ftrong as proofs of holy writ!"

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the commerce of England was fo much increased, that in 1413 feveral merchant-ships failed from London to Morocco; and about the fame era, the English first began to indulge an ambi tion of haring the Sovereignty of the Seas, though then furpaffed by other kingdoms in maritime enterprize. A fingular curiofity towards the clofe of this fection is, a poem by an anonymess author in the year 1433, termed, The Prologue of the Proceffe of the Libel of English Policie; exhorting all England to keepe the Sea, and namely the Narrow Sea: fhewing what Profite commeth thereof, and also what Worship and Saluation to England and to all Englishmen. Our

Author

Author gives feveral extracts from the quaint rhymes of this commercial prologue, as applicable to his fubject; what the poet means by the Libel of English Policie, appears by the title of one part of it, which is called, Woful Complaint of Lacke of Navie if need come; and the exhortation thews that the policy of the troublesome and unfortunate reign of Henry VI. tended to the dimi. nution, instead of an increafe, of naval ftrength. This poem is preferved in Hakluyt's Voyages, black letter, Vol. I. from whom the extracts are made.

We now enter upon Section II. which relates the rife of the maritime kingdom of Portugal, and all the oc.

currences of the naval and commercial history of the Portuguese previous to the reign of John I. with which our prefent review will conclude. It is very extraordinary, as our Author justly obferves, that no English writer of eminence has hitherto illuftrated a fubject of fo much importance to a maritime kingdom as the rife and fall of this commercial power:" he likewife quotes the following paffage from Mickle's introduction to his tranflation of Camoen's celebrated Portuguese poem on commerce, entitled, the Lufiad: "No leffon can be of greater national importance than the Liftory of the rife and fall of a commercial empire. The view of what advantages were acquired; and what might have been fill added; the means by which fuch empire might have continued, and the errors by which it was loft; are as particularly confpicuous in the naval and commercial history of Portugal, as if Providence had intended to give a lafting example to mankind and let us add, there never was a time more favourable than the prefent for filling up this vacuum in our historical fcience, fince the prefent degradation of Portugal mult impiets the leflon

with double force.

"The fertile banks of the rivers Minho and Duero were the boundaries of a province of Caftile, whence the kingdom of Portugal gradually alofe to give laws to the fubmiffive realms of India, and to direct the course of its European commerce. On the variety of rich historical treasure contained in this fection, we forbear to enlarge, it being our intention to recommend, not to purloin from, works of diringuithed merit; it only remains, therefore, to point out the principal contents, viz.

the origin of the name of the kingdom

the adventures and marriage of Count Henry, a Portuguese Nobleman, with the daughter of Alphonfo the Sixth, King of Leon and Caftile, from whom he obtained, as her dower, the frontier province to the fouth of the Minho; with the privilege of enlarging the narrow boundaries of his domain by the further expulfion of the Moors. The Count had fought gallantly under the banners of Alphonfo: thus did the infant kingdom of Portugal receive from chivalry its first Governor.

Camoens, as he must have had access to many authorities now loft, or not generally known, our Author obferves, is justly entitled to the confidence of the hiftorian, and on this account he often introduces him to his readers, gives in a note an affecting abridgement of his life, and thinks it would be well worthy of our Eaft India Company, or the Board of Controul, to give a new and elegant edition of their commercial poet, and his elegant tranflator.

Alphonfo Henry, the worthy fucceffor of the Count his father, was the firft King, having received that title from his victorious foldiers on the field of battle, in extending his dominions, and was crowned at Lamego A. D. 1145. During his reign, the first information relative to the eastern parts of Afia was communicated to him by Rabbi Benjamin, a Jew of Tudela, a town in Navarre, whole travels are circumftantially detailed. The travels of John de Plano Cafpini, a Francifcan friar, at the head of a million of monks fent by Pope Innocent the IVth to arrest the alarming fucceffes of the Tartars, proved ultimately beneficial to Europe, as it tended to procure information respecting the remote provinces of Afia, and to further the progress of maritime difcovery, very properly fall in with this part of its history in the reign of Sancho the IId, King of Portugal, about the year 1223. Further difcoveries by the travels of Friar William de Rubruquis, under the patronage of Louis the 1Xth, King of France,

called the mercantile attention to the diftant provinces of Afia, and first infpired that paífion for discoveries which has fince produced fuch mighty effects." From him Portugal, as well as the reft of Europe, received the faft certain accounts of China, and were informed that fuch a place as Japan existed:

they

they are therefore introduced under the reign of Alphonfo the IIId, King of Portugal, about the year 1253. Denis the Magnificent, his fon, fucceeded him in 1279, and acquired the nobler appellation of the Father of his Country. The attention of this King to the augmentation and difcipline of his Navy gave a new character to his fubjects, and infured them the Sovereignty of the Sea; and the mercantile intereft hailed their beloved Mo narch, as the Protector of Commerce. The eastern travels of Marco Polo the Venetian, and his relations Nicolo and Maffio, for the fpace of twenty-fix years, attracted, during the long reign of Denis, a confiderable and lafting attention," they advanced towards the Eaft, beyond the track of any preceding European, actually traded on the Indian Ocean, vifiting the Islands of Java, Sumatra, and Ceylon, and the coaft of Malabar to the gulf of Cambay.

Alphonfo the IVth fucceeded his father in 1325, and during the twelve years of war with Caftile fultained a powerful maritime force; he was the father of Pedro the Juft, whofe attach ment to Inez de Caftro, and its fatal

Cowper illuftrated, by a feries of Views in or near the Park of Wefton Underwood, Bucks, accompanied with copious Defcriptions, and a brief Sketch of the Poet's Life. 4to. and 8vo.

THIS Work, the performance of two artifts, Meffrs. James Storer, and John Greig, will be very acceptable to the admirers of the poet it illuftrates, and does credit to the undertakers. The fame of Cowper will live for ever, and pofterity will enquire after, and visit the places by time rendered claffic ground. where he meditated on, and composed that enchanting poem, THE TASK. To keep alive the remembrance of these scenes, the work before us will be a useful vade mecum, and will ferve as a memorial, after time and fathion may have altered the face of the country, or destroyed what is perishable of the now exifting objects. The engravings are thirteen in number, and confift of Cowper's Summer House. The Peafant's Neft. The Ruftic Bridge. The Alcove. View from the Alcove. The Wilderness. The Temple in the Wil. derness. Wefton Lodge. Welton VOL. XLIII. JUNE 1803.

confequences, has formed the fubject of three tragedies; one in English, called Elvira. The melancholy story is given at length by our Author, introductory to the reign of Pedro; the unfortunate Lady was put to death by Alphonfo, but not till the had born four children to Pedro; Alphonfo, who died young, John, Denis, and Beatrix. "The national character under the aufpices of Pedro was raised even beyond the height to which it had been elevated by Denis. From this renowned Monarch arose the illustrious John the Firit, father of Henry Duke of Vifco. With the inglorious reign of Ferdinand, furnamed the Careless, the degenerate fon of Pedro, by his first wife Donna Conftance Emmanuel, and a short notice of the change that took place on his demife by the acceffion of John the Ift, the Section closes.

To affift any Englishman of literary genius who may be difpofed to compofe a complete hiftory of Portugal, a concife account is fubjoined of their most diftinguished writers, including those who have confidered Portuguese Afia and America,

(To be concluded in our next.)

M.

Houfe. The Elms. The Shrubbery. Olney Church and Olney Bridge: and all of them do honour to the profef fional talents of the artists. The defcriptions which accompany the plates, are neatly written, and the life of the Author appears with commendable delicacy refpecting the occafional unhappy ftate of the poet's mind.

Glafgor, a Poem by John Mayne. 8vo.

Local defcriptive poetry lofes much of its beauty to those who are unac quainted with the fcenes prefented to them, and that is the cafe with the poem before us, which we doubt not will be perufed with more fatisfaction in the north than in London. In its travels fouth, it however has not loft all its effect; it may be ftill read with pleafure, even by thofe who are a ftrangers to Glafgow. The author profeffes himfelf to be an admirer and imitator of the Mute of Burns; and it must be confefled, has followed his matter with fuccefs. At a future time he intimates an intention of taking a ftride "To Leven Water's bowry Nnn fide,