concerning his own grandfather by the mother's fide *. That one, who was a bookish man and an author, whose conftitution was naturally very weak and delicate, and who had been pofitively doomed to an early death by his phyfician, fhould elude the prognostic for no lefs a term than ninety-five years, is an encouraging circumftance to literary men and valetudinarians. For their benefit I fend it. J. BOERHADEM. "Quantum huc [fcil. ad longævitatem] conferat animus femper fibi. fimilis, nullifque paffionibus in tranfvorfum raptus, effari nequeo. "Avus meus maternus D. Thomas, Finckius (priori feculo libris, geometria rotundi, horofcopia, &c. hoc feculo liberis clarus; numeravit enim liberos, nepotes, pronepotes, abnepotes 97.) annum ingreffus erat nonagefimum-fextum hâc animi conftantiâ, & diutius vitam in fenio vegetam protraxiffet, nifi febris filum abrupiffet. Per totum vitæ curfum a fe pompam removit, & ufu rerum ornamenta metiebatur. Teneram ætatem ægritudinibus habuit obnoxiam, ut Medicus curæ illius præfectus fpoponderit parentibus, omnes itinerum vias quas emenfurus effet, auro fe obdu&turum. Cæterum a longâ peregrinatione redux, prognofticum elufit temperantiâ & morum facilitate. Coercuit luxuriam, gulam temperavit, cui tamen neceffaria fuggeffit etiam durioris fubftantiæ, quæ libentius avidiufque appetebat, quam cupedias; divitias aequis oculis afpexit, frugalitatem coluit, & animum metu vel gaudio affectum fub vinculis habuit, iracundiam lenivit, adverfitates fprevit, & quanquam liberorum, generum, nepotum, abnepotum, affinium, amicorumque fæpius funera audiverit, & inter tot vitæ grandævæ moleftias verfaretur, conftanti tamen animo omnia perpeffus nunquam lachrymas fudit nifi defunctae uxoris & hibliothecæ vulcano confumptæ memoriâ re currente." For the benefit of the English reader, the above account is thus tranflated: "It is inexpreffible how much equability of temper unruffled by paffion contributes to long life. My maternal grandfather, Thomas Fink, (who in the preceding century was as diftinguished by his learning, his skill in geometry, the horofcope, &c. as in the Vide Tho. Bartholini Hiftoriarum Anatem. Cent. quint. prefent by the number of his defcendents, for he had children, grandchildren, great grand-children, and great great grand-children, to the number of 97,) had by this uniformity of temper attained to his 96th year, and might have reached to a vigorous old age, had not a fever fhortened his days. He ftudiously through life, avoided fhow, meafuring ornament by ufe. His tender age was fubject to illness, fo that the phyfician who had the care of his health promised his parents that he would engage to cover every road he travelled with gold: he returned, however, from a long ́ journey, having by temperance and eafinefs of temper eluded the prognoftication. He checked all tendency to luxury, and reftrained his appetite, frequently eating coarfer food, and that too with greater eagerness than dainties. He looked on wealth without coveting it; for he ftudied frugality, and kept under due controul every motion of joy or fear; mafter of his anger, fuperior to difappointment; and, though he loft by death many of his children, grand children, great grand-children, relations and friends, and in to long a life must be prefumed to have met with many troubles, he bore them all with great conftancy, and never was known to fhed a tear, except when he recollected the death of his wife, and the lofs of his library by fire." In our account of Mr. Thickneffe's Valetudinarian's Bath Guide, p. 136, we omitted to obferve, that his method of prolonging health and life by the breath of young women is no new difcovery, but feems borrowed from the practice of the Jewish phyficians in the laft illness of King David, and has been of late years detailed with much ferious humour by Dr. Campbell, in his Hermippus Redivivus: 1746, 8vo. enlarged 1749, 8vo. tranflated into Italian, and printed at Leghorn, 1756,4to. 39. The Travels of Reafon in Europe. Tranflated from the French of the Marquis Caraccioli. 8vo. Macgowan. WHATEVER falls from the pen of the editor, if not author, of the Letters of Ganganelli, must be worth reading. This performance has much of the lively fpirit of Voltaire, without any of his indecency or profanenefs. Reason, under the name and difguife of Lucidor, an amiable philofopher, is the traveller and obferver. He is fuppofed to vifit Europe in the year 1769. Beginning with Turkey, he proceeds through Ruffia, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Pruffia, Germany, and the Netherlands; from whence he vifits England, of which he gives the following account, part of it applicable to our late commotions: "England, according to the custom of the country, was all in an uproar. The difpute was about fomething relative to Mr. Wilkes, which in any other country would have made no noife, but which there railed a flame in the minds of all.-It is in fome countries as in the fky, where the fmalleft cloud fometimes brings on a ftorm. "There is not a man in London who has it not in his power to form a party, and excite a fedition, by bawling out, that" the laws are violated, and must be restored." "This is what the English call liberty, but it appeared to Lucidor an unbounded licentioufnefs. He could not conceive that the unhappy power of exciting a revolt could be confidered as an advantage, and that the brutish behaviour of an infolent populace fhould be neceffary to preferve the pri vileges of the nation.-There are phanomena in politics, as well as in nature. "He conferred on this fubject with feveral lords and gentlemen, and what they faid was very fenfible, though they were carried away with the torrent of opinion like the reft.-No tree takes fuch deep root as prejudice. "After spending feveral days in the examination of the conftitution of the kingdom, he observed that in some circumstances the King had too much authority, in others not enough; that vice was the fource of almolt all the debates; that the people confound. ed licentioufnefs with liberty, as being totally uninftructed with regard to fo effential a point; that the great ones often affected to confider as patriotism what was merely the effect of a spirit of cabal, and a love of fome perfona intereft. But he was greatly pleased to fee that the taxes never rofe above the abilities of thofe on whom they were levied, and that every citizen was respected. He often dined with the English: they love eating and drinking, and during their meals (which laft, at least, three hours, and are very humiliating, when the foul speaks not a word) he difcourfed on the manners and customs of the country.-A man of knowledge turns every circumftance to his advantage. "London, notwithstanding the pompous elogium its inhabitants bestow upon it, did not appear to our philofopher worthy to be compared with Paris. He faw nothing but houses that made no appearance, and rural walks without ornament. Whether it was his phyfiognomy, equally mild and majestic, or the plainnefs of his drefs, that impofed on the people, he was not infulted by the mob; he even received marks of refpect-The common people fometimes fee pretty right*. "He was carried to St. Paul's, which nothing but enthusiasm or ig norance can compare to St. Peter's at Rome, though it be justly esteemed one of the finest buildings in Europe. "England was no longer plentifully furnished with men of learning, as heretofore; they were to be fought out: this gave Lucidor concern. He wanted to know the cause of this, and thought he difcovered it in the foft and fenfual mode of life, which at prefent swallows up the generality of men, and degrades their being. Intemperance is the greatest enemy to fcience and genius. When people fit down to table in the morning, the foul keeps abftinence the whole day. "With a defign to oblige our philofopher, he was brought acquainted with a person, who was faid to be a man of great ftrength of reasoning. He fifted him to the bottom, and, after a thorough examination, he found nothing in him but a deal of emptinefs. The human mind has certain bounds which it cannot pafs; but unbelievers imagine that a man always thinks justly, when he thinks freely. "The academies, univerfities, libraries, feemed to be in the centre of their own sphere, when placed, as they are, in the very heart of England. They recalled to his remembrance a • Interdum vulgus rectum videt. number number of great men, who have rendered that kingdom famous, and whose reputation will last while the fciences themselves fubfift. "Lucidor was preffed to go to the play, but he had not the courage to ftay to the end of any one piece. Their tragedy had fomething too fhocking in it.-A perfon of the leaft delicacy does not like to fee the paffions in an undrefs. "The women in England, whose knowledge is greater than that of the fex any where elfe, often captivated his attention. They do not appear made for the spleen, they are fo lively and talkative. The education which the mothers give their daughters contributes to this. They are brought up in great freedom, nor is the prudence of their conduct impaired by it. "He knew himself again in these fentiments of honour and probity, which characterise the English, and make them flaves to their word; but he wifhed thofe qualifications had been accompanied with a gracious and pleasing manner of conversation, without which the most refpectable virtues lofe a part of their lustre. "As they are particularly fond of a frank, open difpofition, it gave them no uneafinefs when he told them, "that it appeared to him a meannefs in a nation, that had naturally an elevation of thought, to defpife almost all other nations; fometimes to engage in war more through hatred than neceffity; to allow a free circulation to a number of works full of invectives against the ministers and private individuals." "He added, "that they were too dependent on the common people ever to be free, which ought to convince them, that there is no government in the whole world without its inconveniences."-But when men have once adopted a fyftem, they do not eafily yield to evidence. "He was fhewn fome country-feats really enchanting, where, to imitate the ruins of fome of the ancient cities of Greece and Italy, buildings had been erected, which were afterwards blown up with gunpowder. Our traveller faw the famous Mr. Pitt (now Earl of Chatham) as an old friend, and they had a long difcourfe together on the prefent ftate of Europe. The converfation must have been interesting: it was a difcourfe between Reafon and one of her most zealous difciples. "There was in company a nobleman of great knowledge and amiability, who was very merry on his own country. "We are as inconstant,” faid he," as the element that furrounds us; we have nothing settled and permanent in us, but a fund of taciturnity, of which we diveft ourselves with difficulty. We come to a city with a defign to stay there fix months, and we leave it the next day. This proceeds from a natural inquietude which torments us, and of which we are not masters, notwithstanding we are fanatically fond of liberty. We were formerly beloved for the fake of our money; but we have been so often cheated, that our œconomy is now equal to our distrust. "We would always be travelling, and yet in our excurfions we generally fee none but English: a ridiculous practice, which arifes from the prepoffeffion we have in favour of ourfelves, and from our fear of converfing with others. We love France, but we hate the French; we are at the trouble of learning their language, never to speak it. We value no country but our own, and can never stay in it; the women themselves go in queft of other regions, and quit their native foil. We are never worfe than our word to others, though we are always on the watch left others fhould be fo to us. We leave no debts or caufes of complaint behind us; yet nobody regrets us when we are gone. Our partings are as dry as meetings; and we leave to the other sex the care of the tender feelings. "We talk little, because we are continually told that women were made to chatter, and men to think. We take pleasure in reading, but both in our reading and our manners we give the preference to what is fingular. "We are humane only from a taste for heroifm; and we love pleasure without knowing how to relish it. We feldom approve of any thing, except what has a refemblance to our own laws and manners; but we make no difficulty of conforming to the practices of other countries, though till with a defire that, either by the cut of our coat, or our manner of prefenting ourselves, we fhould be known to the English. "We are feldom flattered, when praised: elogiums in our eyes have always fomething mean in them. Patriotifm is our paffion, liberty our our element;, and we are looked on as enthusiasts in thefe two points, folely because we cannot bring others over to our way of thinking. There is ever fomething auftere in us, which diminishes the merit of our fentiments and taftes. "We are capable of the fublime fciences, though too much flaves to our own writers. "We continue our friendship to the laft period of life, but not till we are fure of a friend from a long fucceffion of years; fo that he often dies before he has gained our confidence." "Lucidor acknowledged the exactnefs of the picture in several strokes, and left not London till he had done justice to the qualities of the inhabitants, who carry both virtue and vice to extremes." He afterwards vifits Scotland and Ire land, and then proceeds to Portugal, Spain, Corfica, Sicily, Malta, the Ïtalian States, Switzerland, Savoy, Tyrol, and France, which he traverses from Alface to Dauphinè, interfperfing a large account of Paris and its inhabitants. The remarks are in general new and friking; and, to give our opinion of the work in the words of the approbation prefixed, " it is a fuccinct reprefentation of the mannersof Europe; it hath the advantage of exhibiting the great principles of Reaton and found Policy with a decent criticifm, free from all bitterness, and is therefore properly calculated to inftruct and correct without giving offence." We with it had fallen into the hands of a better tranflator. 40 Eays on Friendship and Old- Age. By the Marchiones de Lambert. Tranf lared from the French, by a Lady. With an Introductory Letter to William Melmoth, Efq. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Dodley. THERE was a time when the critick who fat down to pafs fentence on the production of a female pen, had - reafon to apprehend his talk would not be executed without previous ftruggles between the duties of his office and the bent of his inclinations. The imagined graces of the writer have fometimes been fufficiently powerful to abate the rigours of criticism; but fometimes its ruthlefs eye has been blind to the attractions of the charmer, and the whiteness of Polyxena's bofom could not arreft the poniard of the unfeeling Greek. In this age, however, when the triumphs of the face are confirmed by the accomplishments of the mind, the ladies who write have little reason to tremble for the reception of their per formances. Their education at length has placed them almoft on a level with the fex which had long engroffed the treasures of literature; and we now engage in the perufal of a female tranflation, or original work, with undiffembled hopes of entertainment, and have no previous reafon to fup, pofe it will be neceffary for us to exert an adventitious tenderness at the expence of that fcrupulous juftice which the nature of our undertaking demands. The translation before us is alike diftinguished by the merits of fidelity and elegance; and we cannot help confidering it as the earliest blossom of a plant which hereafter will produce a crop of the fairest fruit. We would willingly indulge our readers with fome fpecimen cf the work under confideration, but the narrow limits af figned to our review of books denies that privilege, which we should exercife with more than common delight on the prefent occafion. The very fenfible introductory epifle by our fair authorefs, as well as the ftanzas that follow it, claim alike our warmest recommendation to the publick. MR. Lochée's high character for knowledge in military fcience is already well known, and this work cannot fail to confirm it. His Syftem of Military Mathematics gave a recent proof of his talents, and of the easy method by which he communicates his knowledge to thofe who are dif pofed to profit by his inftructions; and it ought not to be forgotten on this occafion, as well for the honour of his Majesty, the profeffed patron of genius and fcience, as for the credit of Mr. Lochée, that, for the encouragement of his inftitution, an annual pension for life has been fettled upon him by his Majefty's order. It should feem in grateful acknowledgement of the royal munificence that the laborious and expenfive work from which this fhort fpecimen is extracted has been undertaken and compleated, "the defign of which, the the author informs us, is to communicate to young ftudents precife and adequate ideas of the important art of fortification; to explain the principles of the forms and pofition of the different works, and to exemplify the rules by which they are conftructed and applied; and, fo far as refpects the author himself, to give a new proof of his infuppreffible zeal for the improvement of the fervice." Add to this, that gentlemen, not in the military line, may from this work, with very little attention, learn the terms and diftinctions of fortify'd places, and qualify themfelves to judge of their excellencies and defects; an accomplishment without which no man can travel abroad with pleasure to himfelf or fervice to his country. Churches, buildings, aqueducts, natural and artificial conveniences, are local advantages which chiefly concern the inhabitants; but in the fortifications of a place, all Europe have an intereft either for example or in case of war. The facility with which the principal lines and parts of a fortification are to be attained, may be judged of by the following extract. The parts of a fortification are, Rampart, bastion, curtain, flanks ftraight and concave, orillon, brizure, counterbrizure, cavalier, retrenchment, ditch, couvette, covertway, glacis. The rampart is a maffy bank of earth furrounding the place, on which the foldiers are ranged, for whose defence a parapet is raifed commonly -made of earth, in which openings are cut at certain distances, called embragures. The infide of the rampart is -made floping, and that flope is called interior talus. The outfide of the parapet is likewife made floping outwards, and that is called the superior talus. At the foot of the parapet is a ftep about three feet broad, called banquette, defigned to raise the men when they fire upon the enemy. The space between the banquette and the interior talusis called the terreplein. At the outer extremities of the rampart, to fupport the earth from flipping at the bafe, a wall is built, and that is called revêtement, and the outer flope is called the fearp. When the part, or that which anfwers to the parapet, has a revelement, it is commonly a vertical wall of brick crowned with a fquare tone called a tablet e, and a circular one below called cordon. See all these delineated in the plate. upper The buttreffes to strengthen the rampart are called counterforts. Bastions mostly consist of two faces, two flanks, and an opening towards the center of the place. See B MXG K. fig. 2. Flanks are the lines MX and KG. Orillon. The bastion is called an orillon baftion, when the angle K is rounded off. Brizure is that part of the orillon bastion which joins the flank to the curtain. It is not here reprefented, but may be fuppofed; and that part of the fame bastion which joins the orillon to the flank, is called counterbrizure, This is defended by the rounding off the orillon, and ferves for an opening for the men to defcend into the lower works. Cavalier retrenchments are works thrown up on the bastions for the last defence in cafes of storming. Ditch wants no explanation. Couvette is a drain for carrying off the water from the ditch. Covertway, counterfcarp, and glacis, are fufficiently reprefented on the plate. The principal lines are A B, Fig. 2 the exterior line of the polygon. CD the interior. AC and BD the capital lines of the bastion. GX the line of the gorge of the baftion. GH the curtain. AI, BH, BO, lines of defence. ALHGKB MX form the faces, flanks, and curtains. This is called the magiftral line, because it determines the lines and angles of the circumference of the place, and is the line by which all plans are begun. For further inftruction the reader is referred to the work itself, where, with a very flender acquaintance with geometry, and fome ability to apply it, he may foon become a proficient in the art of fortification, at leaft fo far as to enable him to view fortified places with an artift's eye. There are 20 plates, reprefenting every minutie of fortification; and the different fyftems of all the capital mafters are compared, and their different merits examined and illuftrated. In fhort, there seems nothing wanting in this work, unless the practical part of building the feveral works may be thought fo, on which Mr. Muller has placed his chief attention. 42. Hymns |