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like children, when you have purchased one thing, repine that you do not poffefs another which you did not purchase.”

Thefe general obfervations are, with great eloquence and judgment, applied to the defire of riches, of knowledge, &c. and we can recommend the perufal of this Effay to all our Readers who are, in any measure, a prey to difcontent.

The Canal and the Brook, a reverie, is written, we fuppofe, by Mr. Aikin; who is not fo lively and bold in his movements as his fifter. This little piece, however, is executed with tafte, and will give pleafure to thofe who have feen the improvements made in the Northern and other parts of the kingdom, by navigable canals.

The next piece, on Monaftic Inftitutions, is written in the true fpirit of philofophic benevolence. Ye are fallen, faid I, ye dark and gloomy manfions of mistaken zeal, where the proud prieft and lazy monk, fattened upon the riches of the land, and crept like vermin from their cells, to fpread their poisonous doctrines through the nation, and difturb the peace of kings.Such were, for a while, my meditations; but it is cruel to infult a fallen enemy; and I gradually fell into a different train of thought. I began to confider whether fomething might not be offered in favour of thefe inftitutions during the barbarous ages in which they flourished; and though they have been productive of much mischief and fuperftition, whether they might not have fpread the glimmering of a feeble ray of knowledge through that thick night which once involved the western hemifphere.'

This thought does great honour to the mind of the fair Writer, and the purfues it as far as it will very well go. She points out the advantages flowing from thefe inftitutions; their having preferved the remains of ancient learning; given education (fuch as it was) to youth; cultivated the arts, in fome degree; and furnished an afylum for the peaceable and unfortutunate. The whole of this piece will give pleasure to those of our Readers who are not too much affrighted at the word papist. We come next to the pleasure derived from the objects of Terror; with Sir Bertrand, a fragment.'. The difquifition is fenfible, but is not a mafter-piece of writing; and the fragment, though a wonderful tale, lofes its effect; because the Author, like fome injudicious ftory-tellers, informs us, beforehand, of the good things we are to hear.

Mr. A,'s effay to revive a regard to the heroic poem of Gondibert, is very commendable; but we fear he will not be fuccefsful, for the very reasons which he affigns, himfelf, viz. Sir W. D'Avenant's fentiments are frequently far-fetched and affected, and his expreffions quaint and obfcure; and thefe faults, together with the want of harmony in verfification, will fuffi

ciently

ciently account for the neglect into which the work is fallen, though interefting in its ftory, and thick-fown with beauties."

The last piece is an enquiry into thofe kinds of distress which excite agreeable fenfations. It contains feveral ingenious thoughts, which if not wholly new, are yet placed by the fair Writer in a striking light. We do not, however, so much admire her in a difquifition of this kind, as in a poetic tale or a vifion. Indeed we must admit her general principle, and we think that he has the advantage of Lord Kaims and others; but there are readers who, perhaps, may difpute feveral of her fecondary pofitions. She fays, that poverty, if truly reprefented, trikes our nicer feelings;' yet it may be contended, that rags and dirt, and a fqualid appearance, never offend the genuine feelings of nature; and they heighten our compaffion, when they are not confidered as the effects of vice. What the fays of novels and romances, may be very useful to the younger part of her fex, who are enervating both their bodies* and minds by ftudying them. Her general pofition, however, that fenfibility does not increase with exercife,' may admit of doubt. Senfibility, like all other difpofitions, feems, to us, to increase with proper exercife; but we believe it is wafted and loft, in the common method of reading novels. Perhaps this point remains yet to be adjusted by fome perfon who looks further into the human mind than even Mifs Aikin: but we dare fay he will not be able to tell fuch a Tale as the following: which the Reader may take as an epitome of this ingenious effay.

A TALE.

In the happy period of the golden age, when all the celeftial inhabitants defcended on the earth, and converfed familiarly with mortals, among the moft cherished of the heavenly powers were twins, the offspring of Jupiter, Love and Joy. Whereever they appeared, the flowers fprung up beneath their feet, the fun fhone with a brighter radiance, and all nature feemed embellifhed by their prefence. They were infeparable companions, and their growing attachment was favoured by Jupiter, who had decreed that a lafting union should be folemnized between them fo foon + as they were arrived at maturer years. But in the mean time, the fons of men deviated from their native innocence; vice and ruin over-ran the earth with giant ftrides; and Aftrea, with her train of celestial vifitants, forfook their polluted abode. Love alone remained, having been ftolen away

• See this point phyfically confidered, in the Appendix to our last volume. p. 547•

+ This fo foon we apprehend to be a Scotticism; and we are at a lofs to imagine how it came to be tranfplanted inso the foil of Lanca

fire.

by

by Hope, who was his nurfe, and conveyed by her to the forefts of Arcadia, where he was brought up among the fhepherds. But Jupiter affigned him a different partner, and commanded him to efpoufe Sorrow, the daughter of Até. He complied with reluctance; for her features were harsh and difagreeable, her eyes funk, her forehead contracted into perpetual wrinkles, and her temples were covered with a wreath of cypress and wormwood. From this union fprung a virgin, in whom might be traced a ftrong refemblance to both her parents; but the fulJen and unamiable features of her mother were fo mixed and blended with the fweetness of her father, that her countenance, though mournful, was highly pleafing. The maids and fhepherds of the neighbouring plains gathered round, and called her PITY. A red-breaft was obferved to build in the cabin where the was born; and while he was yet an infant, a dove, purfued by a hawk, flew into her bofom. This nymph had a dejected appearance, but fo foft and gentle a mien, that she was beloved to a degree of enthufiafm. Her voice was low and plaintive, but inexpreffibly fweet; and fhe loved to lie for hours together on the banks of fome wild and melancholy ftream, finging to her lute. She taught men to weep; for the took a frange delight in tears; and often when the virgins of the hamlet were affembled at their evening sports, fhe would heal in among them, and captivate their hearts by her tales full of a charming fadnefs. She wore on her head a garland compofed of her father's myrtles twifted with her mother's cyprefs. One day, as fhe fat mufing by the waters of Helicon, her tears by chance fell into the fountain; and ever fince, the Mules? fpring has retained a ftrong taste of the infufion. Pity was commanded by Jupiter to follow the fteps of her mother through the world, dropping balm into the wounds fhe made, and binding up the hearts the had broken. She follows, with her hair loofe, her bofom bare and throbbing, her garments torn by the briars, and her feet bleeding with the roughness of the path. The nymph is mortal, for her mother is fo; and when the has fulfilled her deftined courfe upon the earth, they fhall both expire together, and Love be again united to y, his immortal and long-betrothed bride.'

On the whole, we have read thefe mifcellaneous pieces with great pleasure. They bear the marks of confiderable talents, and even of learning; and they are written for the most part with uncommon taffe and clegance.

They have drawn from us a few animadverfions, because we thought it our duty to note what we apprehended to be defects as well as beauties in this publication; and because the reputation of the writers may admit of fuch small deductions, without any material injury.

W.

ART.

ART. XI. CONCLUSION of Dr. Hawkefwerth's Account of the Voyages undertaken for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, c. [From our laft Review, p. 355.1

WE

E now enter on the hiftory of the last and most com→ plete of the late voyages in the fouthern hemisphere, and which wholly occupies the 2d and 3d volumes of this compilation. The account there given of this nautical and philofophical expedition is diftinguished from thofe that preceded it, by feveral particularities that concur to render the relation ftill more interefting and important.

The globe had certainly never before been circumnavigated by fo felect a party as that which embarked on board the Endeavour, on this expedition; or for purpofes fo favourable to the promotion of science and of the arts. That veffel was commanded by an officer of undoubted abilities in aftronomy and navigation,' whofe primary object, at least in the order of time, was the obfervation of the then approaching tranfit of Venus, in fome convenient fituation in the South fea. To this last mentioned service he was appointed by his Majefty, on the recommendation, or with the concurrence, of the Royal Society, in conjunction with Mr. Green; who had long been an affiftant to Dr. Bradley, at the Royal Obfervatory at Greerwich. On board this veffel likewife embarked Mr. Banks, a gentleman poffeffed of a confiderable fortune, and of an ardent and commendable defire to employ it in the acquifition and promotion of natural knowledge; to whom the public are indebted for a large part of the information and entertainment they will meet with in the account of this voyage. He was accompanied by Dr. Solander, a difciple of the celebrated Linnæus, and whofe merits, particularly as a naturalift, are well known. They were attended by two draughtimen ; Mr. Buchan, a painter of landscapes and figures; and Mr. Parkinfon, a young man well qualified to delineate fuch new and fingular objects of natural history as muft neceffarily fall under their notice in the courfe of fuch an expedition. After making the particular aftronomical obfervation above-mentioned, Captain Cook was directed to proceed in the profecution of geographical difcoveries in the fouthern hemifphere.

The abstract which we fhall give of this voyage, however copious, muft, on account of the abundance and variety of the matter, be neceffarily, in many refpects, defultory and incomplete. We fhall, nevertheless, defcribe the great or general outlines of the course purfued by our philofophical adventurers, and relate their principal geographical difcoveries; occafionally interperfing fuch incidents, obfervations on natural history, and on'

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men and manners, as have most attracted our attention in the perufal of these two volumes,

On the 26th of Auguft 1768, about three months after Captain Wallis's return from his circumnavigation of the globe, in the Dolphin, our voyagers fet fail from Plymouth Sound, in the Endeavour.

Not 20 leagues from the coaft of Spain, our inquifitive philofophers difcovered fome very fingular marine animals, which, though the fea abounds with them in these parts, no naturalift had yet defcribed, or perhaps obferved. The obfervation was made in the first week of their voyage, and furnishes us with a juft fufpicion, if not a proof, that numerous natural curiofities may, even near home, lie hid on the very surface of the great deep, and may there remain perfectly unnoticed, through the want of perfons willing, and qualified, barely to open their eyes, and obferve them. Perfons thus qualified, it fhould feem, have not yet made their appearance on the coasts of Galicia *.

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On the 12th of September they arrived at Madeira, the whole of which island, our naturaliffs think there is great reafon to fuppofe, has been, at fome remote period, thrown up out of the fea, by the explosion of fubterraneous fire: as every stone they faw upon it, whether whole, or in fragments, appeared to have been burnt, and even the fand itself to be nothing more than ashes.'

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On November 13 they anchored in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, where they were permitted to procure refreshments, and take in water for the fhip, which was however conftantly watched by a guard-boat, during the three weeks they staid here. Through the rigour of a jealous and ignorant Viceroy, neither Mr. Banks nor Dr. Solander were fuffered once to leave the ship; though the inoffenfive nature of their pursuits was repeatedly explained and urged to him. And although Captain Cook endeavoured to obviate every cause of diftruft, which he might entertain concerning this equipment, by informing him that its principal object was the obfervation of the Tranfit of Venus, he was not believed, or rather not understood; for of the Tranfit of Venus our enlightened Viceroy could form no other conception, than that, to ufe his own words, as they

* We shall here take occasion, once for all, to remark that of the various new objects of natural history observed by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander in the courfe of this voyage, a few only are particularly defcribed in this journal; and of these a brief and popular account only is in general here given. A fcientific and complete defcription of their numerous and interefting obfervations in this branch of science will, doubtlefs, form the fubject of a future and feparate publication.

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