like this, impatiently expected by the public, must lay claim to a very inferior degree of merit.

A few notes have been occasionally thrown in by the translator, which he has not the vanity to suppose of any great importance; but as they do not in general occupy much room, and as they served to amuse him in the course of the work, he hopes if they do not meet with the reader's approbation, they will, at least, meet with his indulgence. In one of them, vol. i. p. 47. he observes that he has completely misunderstood the author, a circumstance certainly not the more justifiable, because it is by no means unusual with commentators.

The translator has been at some pains in ascertaining the value of the different foreign measures, weights, and monies, used by the author, and converting them into

those of our own country. The omission of this is but too frequent in translations, though it is essential to any work which aims at being generally understood. These conversions, however, appear only in the notes, the original having undergone no alteration.

The orthography of the names has been preserved in the translation with few exceptions. The Spanish names of persons and places have never been touched, but in a few names of Indian nations, such as Azteques, Tolteques, &c. the ques has been converted into cs, the corresponding termination in our own language. Clavigero uses the same freedom in the Italian, writing these words Aztecchi, Toltecchi, &c. This liberty is perhaps justifiable, though it might not be advisable to go all the length recommended by Volney, in whose work on North America we can with diffi

culty recognize the names most familiar to us. Who, for instance, could find out Washington in Ouachinnetone? The various sounds given to the same letters by the different European nations occasion a good deal of perplexity. The same name assumes quite a distinct appearance in the works of a French and an English traveller. Another source of perplexity peculiar to the Spaniards and Germans is the indiscriminate use of certain letters. The Spaniard, for example, confounds the band the v; the c and the z; the j, the g, and the a; and they write the same word sometimes with one of these letters and sometimes with another. It is necessary to give this caution to the reader, who, were he to meet with Xuan de Grixalba in one place, and Juan de Grijalva in another, might not at first perceive the identity. M. Pinkerton, who seems to plume himself not a little on

his orthography, observes, that the Spanish, French, and Italian writers, write Motezuma; the English alone Montezuma ; and he of course must follow the Spanish, French and Italian writers. Why the English are bound to follow the orthography of these nations it is not so easy to conceive, any more than that they should follow the English, the proper orthography being neither Motezuma nor Montezuma, but Moteuczoma. M. de Humboldt sometimes inserts the n and sometimes leaves it out.

A considerable part of the Essay on New Spain has not yet arrived in this country, but, when it does arrive, no time will be lost in communicating it to the public, if the portion now presented shall meet with a favourable reception. The most important of the maps and drawings in the part which we have received appear in the pre

sent publication, but on a more economical scale. Of the maps and physical sections it is sufficient to say, that they have been executed under the care of Mr. Lowry, whose well known taste and skill so justly entitle him to the public confidence. It would have been foolish to attempt to imitate the magnificence of the original; but it will be found that nothing of essential importance has been omitted. The publishers wished to spare no necessary expense in the present publication; but they were averse from increasing the price of a book intended for general circulation by an ostentatious and injudicious splendour.