work, may equally result to Great Britain, if circumstances should render it necessary for her to occupy, either provisorily or permanently, the colonies of her unfortunate ally. The information given by the Bishop of Fernambuco, respecting Brasil especially, may be ranged under the following heads :—1) The nature of the people, and how they should be treated, in order to be made most useful; -2) The climate, soil, extent, and productions of the country. Among these are particularly to be distinguished the finest timber in the world for house and ship building, as well as for other purposes, and hemp. These are, indeed, most essential articles; and in the power of Great Britain, would render her wholly independent of the northern rations of Europe for naval stores an object, in the present conjuncture of public affairs, of the very first importance to the government. 3) Commerce and navigation:-4) Coasts, harbours, and bays.-5) Agriculture and manufactures, which, however, are but shortly noticed. These subjects are treated, by the learned prelate, with much perspicuity and precision.

In another view, also, this work cannot fail to be interesting to the philosopher of every country, as it clearly refutes the celebrated system of the climates, so long implicitly and almost universally received, of the illustrious Montesquieu.'

We present to our readers the picture which the worthy prelate has drawn of the Indian of the Brasils :

Under this heavenly climate lives the savage, uncultivated Indian, without agriculture as without industry. Proud of the strength and nimbleness of his arm, without any other covering but that which nature gave him, he exists, and sleeps quiet, a stranger to the care of making provision for to-morrow. His bow and bis darts are all the wealth be possesses, and to use them all the labour he knows. In this manner, thousands of human creatures, spend their lives, without being obliged to toil for their subsistence, and seem born, as it were, only to enjoy. Here, indeed, the eye is struck with a true picture of that blessed land of promise, streaming with milk and honey.'

The monopoly of the manufacture of salt, which resides in the hands of one individual, is not only the cause of the excessive price of that article, but of an incalculable loss of produce; which leads the author to observe that,

If the salt trade to Brasil were once made free, the superabundance of that charming country would no longer be the prey of tigers, and that of its coasts the food of sea monsters. The fisherman, the herdsman, the husbandman, the merchant, would recipro cally lend a helping hand. They would, in concert, supply Por tugal with meat, fish, bread, cheese, butter, and other necessaries. This trade would pour millions of additional revenue into the royal coffers. And Portugal would possess a mine of inexhaustible trea sure, richer than the mines of Potosi,'

The Bishop makes important observations on the best mode of civilizing the Indians; and he is of opinion that, for those

who are resident on the coasts, and near to large rivers, the fisheries would form the best introductory seminaries.

Speaking of the same people, who, he says, are distinguished by bodily strength, courage, and an impatience of constraint, he enters into a very serious and elaborate confutation of Montesquieu's system with respect to the effect of climate, as mentioned in the translator's preface, for which he thus apologizes:

"I crave my reader's pardon for having so long dwelt on this subject. I thought it my duty to combat a popular opinion, whose fallacy it requires not much reflection to discover. I hope this pardon will be the more readily granted me, that inveterate prejudices, particularly if supported by great and celebrated men, ought not only to be combated, but entirely extirpated, and that the nation, whose defence I undertake, are those invincible Indians, whom my eyes behold every day, with whom I keep up a constant intercourse, and am intimately acquainted.

What will most of all plead my apology is the fact that, owing to the false opinion, which has hitherto passed for a general principle, "that the inhabitants of hot countries are weak and spiritless by nature," all the means have been neglected to make a proper use of so many millions of able and useful hands, produced by a vast country, which issued from the bosom of nature, in a state of the highest perfection.'

With regard to the shape and dimensions of the Portuguese part of South America, we are here told that it forms a triangle, the ground-line of which runs parallel with the equator, and contains, upon the most accurate calculation, one hundred thousand square leagues, reckoning eighteen to every degree of the equator.

The counsels given to the mother country by the worthy prelate appear to be such as, if adopted, would raise it to the eminence and prosperity which once belonged to it. We agree with the translator in his idea of the importance of information with regard to the Portuguese colonies to this country, in the case of France ever carrying into execution her threats against our ally.

This volume is stated to have been printed in London, but is evidently the production of a foreign press; and the language is not wholly free from the peculiarities of foreign idiom,

ART.

1

ART. XVI. A Voyage in the Indian Ocean and to Bengal, undertaken in the Years 1789 and 1790: Containing an Account of the Se chelles Islands and Trincomale; the Character and Arts of the People of India; with some remarkable Religious Rites of the Inhabitants of Bengal. To which is added, A Voyage in the Red Sea; including a Description of Mocha, and of the Trade of the Arabs of Yemen; with some Particulars of their Manners, Customs, &c. Translated from the French of L. de Grandpré, an Officer in the French Marine. With Engravings, and a View of the Citadel of Calcutta. 8vo. 2 Vols. 158. Boards. Robinsons. 1893.

E give an account of the original of this entertaining voyage in the Appendix to our xxxixth Voi, N.S. p. 476. The present translator, as if in imitation of the author, has set his work before the reader without a preface, or any other introductory matter than what is expressed in the title: but to usher literary labours to public notice by some regular pre'face has become a custom so general, and is in many cases sa useful, that a contrary practice may be regarded in the nature of an omission.

The translation is nearly literal, and the language is plain, As a specimen, we shall extract a part of the author's description of Calcutta, for which we could not make room in our former article:

The governor general of the English settlements, east of the Cape of Good Hope, resides at Calcutta. As there is no palace yet built for him, he lives in a house on the esplanade opposite the citadel *. The house is handsome, but by no means equal to what it aught to be for a personage of so much importance. Many private individuals in the town have houses as good; and if the governor were disposed to any extraordinary luxury, he must curb his inclination for want of the necessary accommodation of room. The house of the governor of Pondicherry is much more magnificent.,

As we enter the town, a very extensive square opens before us, with a large piece of water in the middle, for the public use. The pond has a grass plot round it, and the whole is inclosed by a wall breast high, with a railing on the top. The sides of this inclosure are each nearly five hundred yards in length. The square itself is composed of magnificent houses, which render Calcutta not only the handsomest town in Asia, but one of the finest in the world. One side of the square consists of a range of buildings occupied by persons in civil employments under the company, such as writers in the public offices. Part of the side towards the river is taken up by the old fort, which was the first citadel built by the English after their establishment in Bengal. It is an indifferent square with extremely small bastions, that can mount at most but one gun, though the sides are *It is to be remembered that this was written in the year 1790.

pierced for two. The fort is without a ditch, and is no longer tised for a fortification: the ramparts are converted into gardens; and on the bastions and in the inside of the fort, houses have been built for persons in the service of the government, particularly the officers of the custom-house who transact their business there. These fortifications are so much reduced from the scale on which they were originally constructed, that the line of defence is now only a hundred and forty or a hundred and fifty yards in length, and the front not more than two hundred. Though this small fort was much superior to that which the English had built at first at Madras, it could not protect them from the resentment of the nabob of Bengal, Suraja Dowla, with whom they were at war: it was taken, and such of the English troops as escaped fled for safety to Cadjery, where also they were besieged. The conqueror, when he got possession of the fort at Calcutta, had the prisoners which he took there thrust one upon another into a hole, outside the fort, from which those only were fortunate enough to come out alive who happened to be uppermost in the heap; the rest were all suffocated. In remembrance of so flagrant an act of barbarity, the English, who were conquerors in their turn, erected a monument between the old fort and the right wing of the building occupied by the civil officers of the company, on the very spot where the deed was committed. It is a pyramid, truncated at the top, and standing upon a square pedestal, having a design in sculpture on each of its sides, and an inscription in the English and Moorish languages, describing the occasion on which it was erected. It is surrounded with an iron railing to prevent access to it, has shrubs planted about it, and exhibits a mournful appearance, not unsuitable to the event which it is intended

to commemorate.

Close to the old fort is the theatre, which does not accord in appearance with the general beauty of the town, and in which there are seldom dramatic representations, for want of performers.

There are two churches of the English establishment at Calcutta, one of which is built in a superb and regular style of architecture, with a circular range of pillars in front, of the doric order, and beautiful in their proportion; the cornice and architrave, ornamented with the triglyphs, are in the same excellent taste, and the edifice altogether is a model of grandeur and elegance.

There are also, besides these regular establishments, a catholic church belonging to the Portuguese mission, another of the Greek persuasion, in which the service is performed by monks of the order of St. Basil, an Armenian conventicle, a synagogue, several mosques, and a great number of pagodas: so that nearly all the religions in the world are assembled in this capital.

The Black Town is to the north of Calcutta, and contiguous to it it is extremely large; and its population, at the time of my last voyage, was computed at six hundred thousand Indians, women and children included.'

The plates which accompany this translation are good copies of the originals.

MONTHLY

MONTHLY CATALOGUE,

For AUGUST, 1803.

POLITICS.

Art. 17. The Question, Why do we go to War? temperately discussed, according to the Official Correspondence. 8vo. 18. Wallis. THIS question is now superseded by the still more important one,

How are we to get through the War? At a certain period, now passed, the reflections contained in this little pamphlet might have been of some use, since they manifest acuteness and discrimina tion in our present circumstances, however, we are required not to look backwards but forwards. The object of this discussion is to at tach a suspicion of precipitancy on the Minister, and to call in question the validity of the alleged reasons for the war, as given in the Official Papers: but the author cannot expect that such a placid inquiry should be prosecuted amid the din of arms and the tumult of anger; and therefore we shall not detail the particulars of his examination: especially as he disclaims every wish to impede the operations of Government at a season when we must fight or be destroyed.

Art. 18. A Short View of the Causes which led to and justified the War with France. 8vo. IS. Hatchard.

Very different from the preceding, is the view presented in this pamphlet; the author of which regards the reasons assigned for the war as satisfactory, and affording the most complete justification of it. The acts of indignity and insult heaped on this country since the Treaty of Amiens, as well as those of aggrandizement perpetrated. by France, are the subjects of animadversion: but the sheet anchor of the argument is the impracticability of fulfilling that part of the Treaty of Amiens relating to the future settlement of Malta, and the justifiable refusal of attempting to fulfil it, from the intervention of circumstances that have taken place since the commencement of peace.'

Art. 19. Reflections on the Causes of the War, and on the Conduct of His Majesty's Ministers. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Hatchard.

Where does the sin of the present war lie? It is decided by this writer, as well as by the author of the Short View, that it lies at the door of the French Government; who, it is contended, by their bostile mind, and by the change of their system of conduct threatening our national independence, produced a virtual infraction of the Peace. Entering with a pious zeal on our vindication, the author, before he descants on our wrongs, enumerates twelve apostolical reasons' as grounds for the re-commencement of hostilities; all deduced from the statements contained in the Official Papers.

The conduct of Bonaparte, in consequence of the abuse thrown out against him by the British Press, is contrasted with that of Cromwell in the affair of Salmasius. When (says this writer) Salmasius attacked the usurper and commonwealth of England, did our Lord Protector commission his ambassadors at the Court of

Sweden,