the country, but with many forms and many difficulties; they were liable to be sent away at any time, and a kind of ostracism, banished even the citizen who deviated from the ancient simplicity. When the former French sovereigns had in contemplation to join the Rhone with the Po, by a canal, which was to have run through Valais, the government of that country refused their consent to the undertaking, saying, the commerce it would introduce would debase the purity of their manners.

Our author's landscapes taken separately, are not totally void of interest; but the too frequent introduction of icy mountains, dreadful precipices, roaring torrents, foaming cataracts, and all the sublime horrors of nature, throw a kind of monotony over the whole. We have chosen the following extract of M. E's. journey to the hospital of Mount St. Bernard, as no unfavourable specimen of his descriptive powers.

We were pursuing our way, endeavouring to discover the hospital of St. Bernard, among the summits of mountains heaped on mountains. We could hear nothing but the whistling of the wind, rushing through winding passages, and beating against the angles of the rocks. A dreadful stillness prevailed around us; in this spot all forms are lost in confusion: no language can afford adequate expressions, no description can convey an idea of the surrounding scenery; it was the chaos of the world. Ancient opinion and fear too well founded, have marked by sinister names every part of this dangerous valley leading to the hospital, and commanded on all sides by impending avalanches. Itself is called the valley of the dead: that peak which raises its head above the hospital is the mountain of the dead: that small building not far from the hospital is the chapel of the dead. At last, we perceived the hospital of St. Bernard: Hail! cried I, sacred mansion, the asylum of the unfortunate! Before we could reach it we had to cross a long way covered with snow several fathoms deep, and to overcome a very steep ascent.

What a pleasure to discover this house after a painful journey! How grateful is the welcome of these respectable men, eager to receive us under their hospitable dome! We were hardly ushered in 'ere fire and refreshments were ready in the room allotted to us. The chapter of the regular canons was then assembled on affairs of the order, and in an instant we were surrounded by those venerable men. Let my gratitude acknowledge here their tender care and courtesy! The business of the

chapter being over, they asked leave to quit us for a moment to go and sing a Te Deum. We followed them to the church. In entering it we were struck by its appearance; sculptures and marbles are its sole ornaments. From the manner in which divine. service was performed, we thought ourselves in a small cathedral. The Te Deum began: the sight of this temple, in the solitude of the wilderness, on one of the most elevated spots of the globe; the ceremonies of religion displayed on this dreary summit; the sight of these men, devoted, amidst the horrors of nature, to the assistance of their fellow creatures; religious worship mingled in this asylum with the attentions of humanity; the sound of bells re-echoed by the rocks; the melodious tones of the organ accompanying the pathetic music of the sacred hymn; these various objects excited emotions too exquisite and too lively to be expressed. Here the soul is exalted, and its refined feelings rise to a delight vainly sought elsewhere. When the service was over we adjourned to the hall, where a frugal meal was waiting for us. It was supper time; novices in their religious garb attended us at table, and a dignified cheerfulness enlivened the entertainment. The monks seemed as easy with the strangers as with their family. At last the fatigues of the day made us hasten the hour of rest.

The interior of the hospital afterwards attracted our attention; it is not on a very large scale, but its extent seems doubled by the judicious distribution of the apartments. Although situated on the most barren spot, where every article must be conveyed by dreadful roads, it contains all that is necessary for the relief of the unfortunate. Every thing in the house announces harmony between the different branches of service; regularity and order in the administration. The exercise of humanity does not interfere with religicus duties: mildness and austerity are blended in the manners of its inhabitants. Men of every religion, of every profession, the poor like the rich, are received in the hospital with equal eagerness. These monks in their promiscuous hospitality act towards mankind as if already in that state of equality which awaits us beyond the grave. During our stay in the convent, we often witnessed the uníformly kind reception of strangers of every description. Relaxation in discipline has destroyed most of the religious orders: that of the great St. Bernard has existed these ten centuries, and is still in all the fervour of its institution. How far above all others is this benevolent establishment! how much exalted above the vulgar of mankind are these men who risk their lives to save that of their fellowcreatures, who lavishing the tenderest care on strangers, impose on themselves all kinds of austerities; who, strangers to ambition, tu

pride, to interest, to all the selfish motives of human action, have no recompense on earth but their virtue, and no witnesses of their meritorious and devoted lives but God!

The new military road, which our author was the first to pass, begins near Brigg, a small town at the extremity of Valais, and leads over Mount Simplon, to Domo Dassola in Italy, through the richest and most romantic scenery in the whole chain of the Alps. Twentytwo bridges, and six tunnels, hewn in the rock, one of which is 600 feet in length, attest the triumph of persevering art over rugged nature. At times, the traveller is lost in gloomy forests of firs, and larch trees: emerging from them, his senses are almost dizzied by the continual and rapid succession of diversified prospects. Secure on this elevated road, he breathes on a fine day a kind of ethereal freshness, and enjoys at the same time the pleasure of contemplating, without danger and even without fear the steep descent of the valleys, and the abrupt precipices over which he passes.

In September, 1805, says our author, the chief engineer invited me to inspect the road in order to ascertain if it was practicable, should occasion oblige us to make use of it. We left Brigg on the 7th, with the grand bailli, or chief magistrate of Valais, to open it with solemnity; our coaches, the first ever seen in this wilderness, excited the wonder of the rude inhabitants of the Alps, and of Domo Dassola. At the sight of the multitude flocking to meet us, at the signs of amazement which our equipage inspired, I beheld in imagination, the wonder of those islanders, who saw for the first time European vessels entering their bays and their harbours.

After a flowery description, from whence we have extracted this account, the author exclaims, perhaps sincerely:

May it, instead of facilitating the passage of armed battalions and of the dreadful implements of war, big with destruction, promote the circulation of peaceful commerce, which enriches nations by exchanging the produce of their arts and of their industry! Through the defiles of Mount Simplon, Koman legions formerly hastened to the conquest of Germany; nay this new road, which will connect Italy with the rest of Europe, increase the means of prosperity of the several nations; it will then deservedly obtain celebrity, and will have answered its true desti

nation.

This work, as the reader may perceive,

affords both instruction and entertainment : but it is far from being free from the defects common to all modern French publications, tautology, overstrained sentiments, incorrect language, and frequent misuse of incoherent metaphors.

Hours of Leisure; or Essays and Characteristics, by George Brewer. 12mo. pp. 366. price 7s. boards. London, Hatchard. 1806.

THIS work consists of papers, and short essays, comprising remarks, characters, anecdotes, descriptions, and criticisms. It is not deficient in variety: and in its very nature is unconfined by order and method. The general tenor of these disquisitions is moral; nor has the author forgotten that the useful should accompany the agreeable. We cannot, however, compliment Mr. B. by ranking him among our best essayists: he is neither a Spectator nor a Rambler. His remarks are neither very uncommon nor very profound; his characters are less the offspring of observation in real life, than of imagination; his style is not classical, nor is it energetic. His names are unhappily chosen. Nevertheless, this volume may fill up a short leisure: if the impression it leaves on the mind be not extremely powerful, yet it will be innocent. We may commend the intention of the writer as favourable to virtue, though his labours do not appear to us to be of that higher description, which the world of letters will regard as calculated to promote in an eminent degree, the interests of general literature.

The following specimen may enable our readers to judge for theinselves.

It may be said, that such are the accidents, the delays, and the cross purposes, to which we are every day liable, that nothing can be be more absurd than to endeavour to establish any certain system for the apportionment of our time. It is nevertheless as true, if a man who may be placed at the point A, should be desirous to go along a given line to the point G, that he may never be able, from interruptions, to reach the point G; but it will be too inuch to say that he may not each the points Dor E, or F, in the scale, and which will certainly bring him nearer to the point G than if he had never moved at all,

It is true that the course laid down by the wise man should vibrate as little from the true one, as the unhappy variation caused by human infirmities, resembling that of a mariner's needle, will permit: like that too, it

should be allowed for by the candid and humane: nor indeed can we tell, when the heavy swells of misfortune, or the strong currents of adversity drive the bark, how soon, with the best of us, the reckoning may be lost. One comfort is, that these storms do not last: that there is a harbour into which, by lowering the topsails of our pride and vanity, we may run, even under bare poles, and bring up in safety. It is true, this harbour has not a very hospitable shore; but it is land-locked, and the vessel may lie there in safety until the wind may be lulled or fair.

There is not, fairly speaking, any but the distressed man who may be said to be in want of time: all other men have, to use a common proverb, the fore horse by the head; all roads and paths are open to them, and it is their own faults if they choose the worst. But he who has got considerably in arrears with time, must not hope to overtake it by violent exertions, or by going cross-roads: if he follow diligently, and pursue the path, incident will perhaps give him a lift on his way, or at any rate he will, by patience, overtake his object.

Let us see what are the great stumbling blocks, and interruptions to a regular plan or distribution of time. First, INDOLENCE, that vis inertia which keeps us just where we are. Next, PLEASURE, that force which moves us easily by her allurements, when we are actually employed, and would not willingly have any thing to say to her but these though the most open enemies of time, are not perhaps so dangerous as those which are concealed under masks of actual occupation. We have, for instance, Pausers, Wiskers, Hopers, and Fretters, each of which, in their different ways, lay waste a portion of tiine. One of your great Pausers is BOB VACANT. Bob is always in a study; Bob weighs every thing, and does nothing; decides, and never moves; makes up his mind, and never acts; is in a great hurry, and never stirs. Vain are all his acquirements of learning, vain his knowledge, vain his skill and judgment. They are to him like the precious hoard of the miser, which he is always looking at, but of which he never touches a guinea.

The WISHER is another sort of being as to the nature of his thoughts, though very much resembling the former as to the consequences of his study.

TOM TELESCOPE is always wishing for something that he has not, or for that which, in the course of things, he is never likely to have. If he hears of an estate, he would like to purchase; of a place, he wishes he could obtain it; of a stranger of note, he wishes that he could see him; or of a prize, he wishes that he could get the TWENTY THOUSAND, though he has no ticket in the VOL. I. [Lit. Pan. Jan. 1806.]

lottery; in short, he is always occupied in wishing for something or other, though in truth the matter very seldom goes any further; for, not to be troublesome to his friends, Tom generally relieves them by wishing for something else just at the moment when they are about to oblige him. Wishing justly denominated by Dr. Young "the fever of fools," occupies a large portion of our time in waste of thought.

The FRETTER is a being who wastes time in a stili more useless and disagreeable manner; since the truth is, that a man seldom begins to fret until it is too late to remedy the mischief; and then he may as well not fret at all. FRETTING is the disease of a little illorganized mind, that hesitates to submit to even what it knows to be irrevocable, and makes a misfortune greater by constantly contemplating its severity. It is said of Dr. Johnson, that on some person telling him of a lady of quality who had died of a broken heart for the loss of a near relation, he made answer," Aye! If she had been a poor woman in a shop, she would not have found time to have broken her heart." And however rude or unfeeling the sentence might appear, it is true, nevertheless, that the poor seldom have opportunities for this shameful waste of time: their daily labours fill up the day, and the business of repose occupies their nights. The folly of fretting may be illustrated by the following story of two gardeners :

Two gardeners, who were neighbours, had their crops of early peas killed by the frost. One of them came to condole with the other on this misfortune. "Ah!" cried he, "how unfortunate we have been, neigbbour! Do you know, that I have done nothing but fret ever since. But, bless me ! you seem to have a fine healthy crop coming up just now. What are these?""These!" cried the other gardener, "why these are what I sowed immediately after my loss.""-"What! coming up already?" cried the Fretter."Yes! While you was fretting, I was working." "What! and don't you fret when you have a loss?"-"Yes! but I always put it off until after I have repaired the mischief."—“ Lord! why then you can have no need to fret at all."-" True!" replied the industrious gar dener; and that's the very reason." In truth, it is very pleasant to have no longer occasion to think of a misfortune; and it is astonishing how many might be repaired by a little alacrity or energy.

66

A Walk round the Walls of the City of Chester. 8vo. pp. 106. Price 3s. 6d. Broster, Chester. A second part, not mentioned in the title page is, a Walk through the City; beginning at p. 51. THOSE who have lived many years in 2 B

upon a level with the rows, and was supposed to have been so planned by the Romans, that the citizens might repel the frequent incursions of the Welsh into the city, by bows and arrows from these elevations, p. 51:

may may be sold at a very moderate this work, it price. The Russian part of it is an abstract, by myself, from my great dictionary completed according to the model of that of the Russian academy at St. Petersburgh. For the French and German I have, for the most part, followed the pocket dictionary, pub

THESE four volumes comprise correspondent dictionaries of the three languages, Russian, French, and German, in reference to each other: but the words of each alternately placed first, and, of course; translated into the other languages respectively. They are folded into the square form, resembling our Entick's Dictionary, and therefore, we presume, are called portatif: yet, in fact, they rather exceed what is conveniently portable. All the four volumes may be considered as forming one work or they may be separated according to the language of the bearer. The public is indebted for them to the labour of M. J. Heym, professor at the University of Moscow. They are published at Riga and Leipsic, 1805, and are sold by Boosey, London. Price £2. 2s. As Mr. Professor Heym appears to us, so far as we have inspected these volumes, to have executed his very useful undertaking with skill and fidelity, we shall translate his modest preface, by which the public will judge of his intention and

his resources.

The want experienced by the public of a Russian, French, and German Dictionary, which without being either voluminous or expensive, should satisfy those who engage in the study of these languages, determined me to accept the proposal of M. Hartmann, bookseller at Riga, to undertake the execution of the present work. To justify the confidence so frankly placed in me, as well as to become useful to the public, and especially to Russian and foreign youth, I have exerted every effort to render this pocket dictionary as perfect as can be expected in M. Hartmann on his works of this nature. part has endeavoured, that, notwithstanding the considerable expences occasioned by the fount of new characters, cut on purpose

for

peared to me to be the most conducive to the end I had in view. If the public should give a favourable reception to this work, it will be the most grateful recompense for the labour it has cost me, for it will be an assurance that I have rendered myself useful. Moscow, 1804.

HEYM.

Of the Russian part of this work, in particular, very good judges, who have more leisure to peruse it than we have, speak with great approbation.

Twenty four Lectures on the Italian Language, by M. Galignani: in which the principles, harmony, and beauties of that language are simplified, and adapted to the meanest capacity, &c. Second edition, enlarged one third with numberless additions and improvements, by the editor, Antonio Montucci, Sanese, LLD. 8vo. pp. 340. Price 7s. boards. Edinburgh, for Boosey, London. 1806.

THIS being a second edition we shall rather register this work than review it: yet we acknowledge that this edition is considerably enlarged and improved. The editor has taken advantage of hints suggested on the work, at its first appearance, and indeed, he seems to be rather fond of his didactic office. His good sense, however, has led him to insert three or four pages of retractions and corrections, which we think much to his honour. Nor should we have thought the less of his learning if he had omitted certain reflections on the labours of others. We are, indeed, desirous that when a language is taught it should be taught in its purity; but there are so many dialects in Italy, and so strong attachments to each of them, that scarcely any two Italians agree what is purity. The Tuscan is usually preferred; but those who speak the best language as to terms, do not pronounce it in the best manner; whence the saying, Lingua Toscana in bocca Romana,

The volume contains a very extensive view of Italian grammar; and the notes by the editor appear to be interesting and valuable: many of them manifest a mind exercised in the niceties and distinctions 2 B 2