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278 Advantages of Russia in the present Contest with France.

author. He has introduced into the present edition, some account of the protomartyr Stephen, and the apostle Paul, which form suitable links in the catena of religious biography, between holy men of the Old Testament and those of the Christian Church. We think it possible that he might also have adopted our hint respecting Peter and John, if a mistake of the press had not made nonsense of that part of the article. It was their perseverance" under persecution, not their "preservation," that was designed to be suggested as a striking instance of the " power of religion on

the mind."

Beside the addition above mentioned, we observe, that the venerable Bede, and Bernard Gilpin, have been newly inserted in the author's catalogue of Christian worthies; and that his sketches of Lord Bacon, Judge Hale, and some others, have been enlarged. An alphabetical Index to all the characters described, is also very properly supplied.

Art. XXVI. Reading Exercises for the Use of Schools; being a Sequel to Mavor's Spelling Book, and an Introduction to the Class Book, Speaker, Reader, and Pleasing Instructor. By the Rev. David Blair. 12mo. pp 211. Price 28. 6d. bound. Phillips. 1806.

MANY of the lessons in this book may be profitably read by children;

and we do not perceive any that can be deemed of injurious tendency. The plan of prefixing to each lesson a list of difficult words, properly divided, after the imanner of Brown's Testament, appears to us judicious. Of the original poetry, if avowed plagiaries can be so called, we need only say that it is harmless. The lessons on Natural History are illustrated with wood cuts, some of which are well executed. The volume is closed with a short dialogue on the Festivals and Saints' Days of the English Church, extracted from the well-known works of Robert Nelson.

Art. XXVII. A Letter to Samuel Whitbread, Esq. M.P. Containing some Remarks on the Poor Laws, leading to a Description of the peculiar poor Situation of the Hamlet of Mile-End New-Town, Stepney. By the Rev. John Cottingham, 8vo. pp. 30. 1807.

WE heartily wish Mr. Whitbread may have humanity enough to read

these pages without disgust, and sagacity enough to understand them. The only service they appear capable of performing, is that of hinting to him that the hamlet in question is in great distress, and exciting him to make inquiries concerning it; for the amount of information is extremely inconsiderable, and, little as it is, must be laboriously distilled from some of the crudest and most ungrammatical sentences that we ever happened to meet with.

We have great pleasure in observing, that Mr. Whitbread is preparing to bring the whole system of the Poor Laws before Parliament, and that the education of the young forms a prominent feature in his proposed reform..

Art. XXVIII. Advantages of Russia in the present Contest with France, with a short Description of the Cozacks. 8vo. pp. 65. Price 2s. Jordan and Maxwell. 1807.

WE

E understand this small pamphlet to be the production of a Russian gentleman resident in this country; its execution bespeaks considerable proficiency in our language; but we wish it had contained a little

more information, and a little less rhetoric. Having celebrated the praises and victories of Suwarow in rapturous strains, charged the Austrian Cabinet with treachery toward that Great Destroyer in Switzerland, blamed the Emperor for his folly and panic in signing an armistice on the field of Austerlitz, and vindicated the honour of the Russian standard, he states. that the Commander of that army is absolute, and the soldiers are loyal, incorruptible, physically superior to the French, and from religious principles of duty, incapable of yielding; ergo, they will beat the French. His speculations are cheering enough, and just at this crisis will probably. find readers.

GERMAN LITERATURE.

Art. XXIX. Sketch of Literature in Germany. Translated from the Letter of a learned Professor.

CLASSICAL literature apparently continues to be cultivated here in Germany, with the same ardour as formerly. Every Leipzic fair still produces at least twenty editions of ancient Greek and Roman writers, some containing all the works, others only select pieces of the respective authors. Whether these are destined merely to answer the purpose of fashionable furniture for our book-shelves, or whether they are actually read in the original languages, by those who purchase them, (since the practice which formerly prevailed of printing the Latin version at the side of the Greek text, is now entirely out of fashion among us) I am not able to decide. But this, however, is certain ;-that no country in Europe possesses so many schools in which the ancient languages are faught; that no country contains such a multitude of head-masters, undermasters, and ushers of academies, as Germany. This alone may serve, in, some degree, to account for the sale of so great a number of editions of ancient classics, as appear at every fair. But, besides, I will presume to believe, that this species of literature is actually diffused among us, more widely than the mere supply of scholastic demands would suppose. Our principal Gymnasium has generally near a hundred pupils, of whom at least two thirds have learnt Greek, and all of them Latin; even in these higher classes, they continue to prosecute the study of both these languages by reading the ancient authors. All the scholars who are designed to study divinity, law, or physic, persevere in their Greek ́and Latin studies at the university; many also who are intended for the mercantile professions, have begun of late to pursue both languages beyond the mere acquisition of their elementary principles.

Voss, the poet, still proceeds in his translation of the Ancient Poets into German; or, to speak more correctly, into his own language; for the idiom which he uses is scarcely to be called German, in the inflections, which he forces upon it, however classical in its individual words. His Horace is execrable; so entirely has he defaced the characteristic urbanity and sweetness of the Roman poet, by his uncouth phraseology. The harmony of the German versification, as Voss manages it, is unique. His translation of Hesiod has the appearance of a burlesque-the unassuming simplicity of that ancient poet is metamorphosed into such a bombastical composition of Old-German and Un-German phrases, intertwisted into those distortions of language, in which Voss so greatly delights.

Two translations of Tacitus into the German have been offered to the public. One of them is by Mr. Wolkmann; but to judge from the spe cimens which he has exhibited, he certainly does not understand the Latinity of Tacitus; and he has even incurred the suspicion of not understanding Latin at all. The specimen of the second translation affords room to hope for something better. It expresses the sense of the original more accurately, and in a much purer style, than that of Mr. Wolkmann, who does not hesitate to use such violence with the language, that a German will scarcely recognize it for his own.

Art. XXX. Phadri Fabularum Æsopiarum Libri Quinque. Varias Lectiones Commentarium perpetuum adjecit J. G. S. Schwabe. Accedunt Romuli fabularum Æsopiaruni libri quatuor. 2 vols. 4to. Brunsviga. 1806, HIS publication properly answers the purpose of a complete Bibliotheque for the literary history of Phædrus, which is still so much involved in uncertainty; it also determines accurately what is still capable of elucidation with respect to this history, and what certainly must remain undecided, at least till other authorities, at present entirely unknown to us, shall be discovered. The same author published, several years ago, an edition of Phædrus; and since that time, he has, with great diligence and critical acumen, collected, arranged, and appreciated, every thing relating to Phædrus, which came to his knowledge in the intermediate period. This work, the result of his labours, cannot fail to be an acceptable addition to the classical library.

Art. XXXI. Homeri Hymni et Epigrammata: Edidit Godofredus Hermannus, royal 8vo. Lipsia. 1806.

THIS is a work of much learning and ingenuity. Some years ago, Messrs. Ilgen and Matthæi employed themselves in the verbal, and, in some measure, also in the rhetorical criticism of these poems; the former having published a bulky edition of the text, with notes; the latter, a considerable volume of critical and philological annotations on the Hymns. But the want of connection in the greater Hymns, the frequently abrupt transition from one mythus of the divinity celebrated in the poem, to another mythus of the same divinity (apparently even discordant, on some occasions, with the main design and plan of the whole poem) have in general been either passed over unnoticed, or at least have been very unsatisfactorily explained by these authors. Now Professor Hermann considers these greater Hymns according to a new hypothesis, which, we believe, is entirely his own. He supposes each of the greater Hymns to be an aggregate of a number of different smaller ones, written by separate authors in praise of one and the same divinity; and that the poet, or rhapsodist, of each smaller Hymn, prefixed to his own Ode, celebrating only one particular mythus, that Exordium which he found ready composed and prefixed to some other Hymns. These numerous detached Hymns having each the same initial verses, the copyists were induced to write out this Exordium only once, and then to insert under it all the Hymns, to which, in their detached state, it had been distinctly prefixed, just in the order in which they had happened to occur. This hypothesis is certainly ingenious, and, in the application which Mr. H. has made of it to the different examples, appears very satisfactory.

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ART. XXXII. SELECT LITERARY INFORMATION.

Gentlemen and Publishers who have works in the press, will oblige the Conductors of the ECLECTIC REVIEW, by sending information (post paid) of the subject, extent, and probable price of such works; which they may depend on being communicated to the public, if consistent with its plan.

Lo

GREAT BRITAIN.

ORD Valentia, the eldest son of the Earl of Mount Norris, repaired a few years since to India, with a view to contribute to the extension of Science, and to gratify bis own curiosity. After his arrival in Calcutta, he repaired overland to Lucknow, and having accepted an invitation from Mr. Paull, an eminent merchant there, he resided at his house during several months, when the rainy season commenced: he was accompanied by that gentleman down the stream of the Ganges; and they had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with whatever related to a river so famous in the annals and religious rites of the eastern world. In the course of several years residence abroad, Lord Valentia has visited and examined a large portion of Asia, and has seen parts of Africa. Being of a curious and inquisitive turn, he has made a very valuable collection of whatever is rare or worthy of notice and we are informed that the public will be speedily gratified with an account of his extensive travels, printed at the expense of his lordship; the exact size and extent of the work are not precisely ascertained, but it is supposed that it will consist of two or three volumes in quarto, with a folio volume of engraving these travels, and those of Dr. Buchanan (announced some time ago) will bring us better acquainted with the vast possessions of Britain in Asia.

Sir John Carr will speedily gratify the public with an account of his recent excursion into Holland, and up the Rhine as far as Mentz. These countries have long been objects of considerable curiosity on account of the great political changes which they have undergone, and the events of which they have been the scene, since they were last visited by Dr. Cogan, and Mrs. Radcliffe. This volume, like the other popular travels of Sir John Carr, will be decorated with numerous views of the places which he visited.

Some Account of a Voyage round the World, in the Antelope packet, Captain Wilson, which was wrecked at the Pelew VOL. IIL.

Islands, is in the press; it will be illustrated by engravings of the scenery and natives of Pelew, Patagonia, and Terra del Fuego, from drawings made on the several spots by A. W. Devis.

Mr. Semple, author of Walks and Sketches at the Cape of Good Hope, has in the press, (to be published early in next month,) "A Journey from Lisbon, through Spain and Italy to Naples, and thence to Smyrna, and Constantinople," comprising a description of the principal places in that route, and observations on the present Natural and Political state of those countries.

Dr. Bardsley, Physician to the Manchester Infirmary, has been some time preparing for the Press, and will speedily publish, a Selection of Medical Reports of Cases, Observations, and Experiments, chiefly derived from hospital practice; including, among others, clinical histories of Diabetes, Chronic Rheumatism, and Hydrophobia.

Dr. P. A. Wilson, of Worcester, has nearly ready for publication, an Essay on the Nature of Fever.

Speedily will be published the Modern Practise of Physic, which points out the Characters, Causes, Symptoms, Prognos. tics, Morbid Appearances, and improved method of treating the diseases of all climates, by Robert Thomas, M. D. the second edition, revised, altered, and enlarged.

Mr. Lawrence, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, has in the press, a translation from the German of Blumenbach's Comparative Anatomy, with numerous additional notes.

A new work is nearly ready, by Dr. Barclay, of Edinburgh, on Muscular Motion.

A new edition of Dr. Lind on the Diseases of Hot Climates is in the press, and will be published in the course of the spring.

Mr. Parkinson will shortly publish a new and enlarged edition of his Experienced Farmer.

The London Booksellers are engaged in

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bringing out a translation of Cicero's works, which will be sold separately, as well as collectively.

The Rev. Mr. Crutwell, of Bath, has, for several years past, devoted his whole time to preparing a new edition of his General Gazetteer, which is now in the press.

The Rev. Dr. Mant, is printing a small Volume of Lectures on the Occurrences of the Passion Week.

The Rev. G. S. Faber, author of a Dissertation on the Prophecies, is preparing for the press a work on the Restoration of Israel and the Destruction of Antichrist.

In the press, and in a few days will be published, a Collection of Debates in Parliament, on the Act of Navigation, on the Trade between Great Britain and the United States of America, and the Intercourse between the latter and the British WestIndia Islands, on the Tortola Free Port Bill, &c. from 1733 to 1807, both inclusive; with notes and an appendix, containing a variety of important documents illustrative of these interesting subjects.

- Mr. Beloe is arranging materials for two more volumes of his Anecdotes of Literature.

Mr. Gifford's edition of Ben Jonson is ready for the press; he has been assisted greatly by some manuscripts of the late Mr. Whalley,

G. Dyer begs leave, through the medium of the Eclectic Review, to apprize his friends and the public, that he is proceeding with the "Inquiry into the State of the Public Libraries of this kingdom," which was announced by him some time ago. He has had free access to various public libraries in different parts of England, and has visited every one of those in Scotland: and he proposes, in proportion to his encouragement and opportunities, to pursue his researches, till he has completed his design. The Inquiry will make three vohimes, and is intended to comprehend a short account of every public library, of a particular description, in the Island, together with such biographical sketches, and literary observations, as will be naturally connected with such a work.

Mr. Banks has a little volume in the press, entitled a Manual of Nobility.

A fourth volume of the Loungers Commonplace Book, is in preparation.

New and enlarged editions of the Rev. Mr. Daniel's Rural Sports, are in great forwardness.

Mr. Bryant's celebrated work on Heathen Mythology is reprinting.

Mr. Southey's Specimens of English

Poetry, in continuation of Mr. Ellis's much admired works, will appear this

month.

A new translation of the Epistles of Ovid, is in the press, from the pen of the late Rev. Mr. Fitzthomas.

Partonepex de Blois, a poem in three books, with notes from the French of M. le Grand, by William Stewart Rose, Esq. will appear very soon from the press of Ballantyne of Edinburgh. This work will be enriched with fine engravings from paintings by Smirke, Esq. Jun. in which the costume of the time has been an object of uncommon attention.

Mr. Nathaniel Howard, of Plymouth, has completed a translation, in blank verse, of the Inferno of Dante, with notes.

A new edition of Warton's valuable History of English Poetry is preparing for the press; it will be continued to the time of Pope by an editor of celebrity.

Dr. Percy, of St. John's College, nephew to the Bishop of Dromore, is preparing, with his approbation, a fourth volume of the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.

Wm. Wordsworth, Esq. author of Lyrical Ballads, has nearly ready for publication the Orchard Pathway, a collection of Poems.

Mr. Northmore has been for a considerable time engaged in writing an Epic Poem, to be completed in ten books, entitled Washington, or Liberty Restored: the basis of the work, exclusive of the imagery, · will rest solely upon historie truth.

In the press, a Translation of Witsius's Conciliatory Animadversions, by the late Rev. Thomas Bell of Glasgow, accompanied with his notes, and recommended by the Revd. John Dick, A. M. Author of the Essay on the Inspiration of the Seriptures, and by other Evangelical Ministers.

Dr. Toulmin, of Birmingham, is preparing for the press a new edition of a scarce and valuable tract, entitled the Student and Pastor, by the Rev. John Mason, A. M. the author of the celebrated treatise on Seif Knowledge; to this edition it is intended to add the author's Letter to a Young Minister, with some notes and enlargements, particularly au Essay on Catechising, by; the Editor.

Mr. Kidd has co lected all the scattered remains of that eminent critic Ruhnkenius, and is about to publish them under the title of Opuscula Ruhnkeniana.

The Musical Essays by Dr. Callcott, are in great forwardness, and will be published in the course of the year.

Mr. Edward Orme will publish by sub

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