advanced, they are of course obliged to return home, and always by a different road, from that by which they advanced. It is a certain rule, from which a general ought never to depart, to shorten continually as he advances his line of operation, by forming new depots behind him on that very line, and no where elfe, otherwise he cannot move at all, for if he do form fuch depots, if they are not placed on his line, the enemy will destroy them, and put an end to his operations. When the line of operation is determined, (and it always is, or may be fo,) why are depots formed any where elfe? why difperfed all round the country, as if intended to be given up to the enemy? unless to enable the commiflary and contractors to make up a good account. The Auftrians always loft many of their great depots. In every campaign Prince Ferdinand loft more than he ought to have done, which not only wafted immenfe fums, but what is more effential. retarded the operations of the army, and very often defeated fome well laid project, or enabled the enemy to execute what otherwise he would not have attempted. Time is every thing in war, and nothing makes you lofe it fo much as delays, in receiving the neceflary fupplies; the reader will forgive this digreflion on account of its very great importance. Secondly, the extreme length of the Ruffian line, makes it impoffible for them to carry with them artillery, ftores, and provifions for an army deftined to execute a capital enterprife, which reduces all their operations to meer excursions, and they are stopped by the moft inconfiderable fortrefs: every attempt they made mifcarried in Turkey, excepting Bender, an old infignificant place, defended without knowledge, and without valour. Chotzim, Ibrahilou, and Georgewa, were attempted, but in vain ; the Ruffians were repulfed with great lofs by the Turks, and afterwards abandoned them for want of heavy artillery, flores, and provifions; they like the Tartars are forced to flop, change their route, or recur to violent and defperate means in attempting places; without any breach or force to make any, they attempt to ftorm walled towns; to facilitate which they begin with putting them on fire if they can, which fometimes fucceeds; when they meet men void of honour, ignorant, or timorous; but nine times out of tea they fail, which exafperates them, and renders them more cruel and unmerciful towards thofe unhappy people who fall into their hands. The Ruffian army has many of the customs and manners of the Tartars without their velocity; they are maffive like the Europeans, but much flower, and undoubtedly lefs fcientific. Though I muft confefs that the men are excellent, and among the generals there are many who would do honour to any army in Europe. Marshal Romanzow is a man of great merit, and among his many good qualities as a general, he ftudies and knows the genius and character of his enemy. Prince Repnin will acquire honour if ever he commands an army; fo will Kamenfkoi and Soworow, and many more I could mention, for the reasons above stated.' The continual improvements that are making in the art of war, require every ftep and measure to be fo duly weighed, and every precaution to be fo artfully taken, that where there is room to act, and counteract, few generals now catch each other at fuch a fault as to venture on decifive engagements. Hence the operations of armies will, more and more, be con fined to marching, counter-marching, and fkirmishing, to wait for advantages which each commander understands his bufinefs too well to afford, unlefs on occafions when, as our author admits, a general's operations are not always to be tried merely by ftrict principles of tactics; other reafons of war, and powerful ones too, totally independent of those, will often operate irrefiftibly.' Independently of fuch incidental ir fluences, grand armies, after maneuvering against each other for whole campaigns, frequently retire, exhausted by hardships more than by encounters, leaving the country which they vifited, stripped, if not defolated, as if by fwarms of locufts:-fo that, perfection in the art of war will, it may be hoped, fome time or other, teach princes to feel, if not to understand, their own true interefts well enough, to decline the fruitless practice; and the fooner this happens, the better. ART. XVIII. Lettres fur divers Endroit. de l'Europe, de l'Afie, c. i. e. Letters written from different Places in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Years 1788 and 1789. By Alexander Bifani. 8vo. pp. 259. 5s. Boards. Jeffery. 1791. THE places, fo generally indicated in the above title-page, are Palermo and Agrigentum, in Sicily; Malta, Salonica, Athens, Smyrna, Conftantinople, Mycona, Gibraltar, Tunis, Carthage, Tripoli, Toulon, Leghorn, and Sardinia. From this lift of names, the reader will be enabled to judge what fort of entertainment he has to expect from a traveller on claffic ground, who is not unacquainted with the ancient hiftory of the countries which he vifited, who had access to the best modern nurseries of information, and who has embellifhed his narrative by the fprightly graces of an ealy unaffected diction. M. Bifani's work may be confidered as a fupplement to the performances of our most agreeable travellers. His portraits are drawn from the life; and, like every copier of nature, he throws a fprinkling of novelty and variety over the tritenefs of his fubject. His account of Malta proves how little connection there is between the diftinction of a noble birth, and the far more honourable diftinctions of an ufeful life. The Knights never awake from their lethargy of indolence, but to difpute fiercely with each other concerning their perfonal or national advantages. The antipathy between the French and Italians is the fource of innumerable quarrels, which commonly terminate in duels, notwithstanding the fevere punishments that, agreeably to the rules of the order, ought to be inflicted on the ag Hh 4 greffor. greffor. For the labours of war, are now fubflituted the pleasures of the gaming-table, to which the greater part of the Knights are immoderately addicted; and by which many are ruined; that is, many of those whofe fortunes were not before defperate.' M. Bifani thinks this order, the appendage of vanity, poverty, and fuperftition, will not long fubfift; and that, its revenues being continually diminished by the revolutions likely to take place in manners and politics, the order must finally perifh, without any external fhock, merely through its own innate debility. ART. XIX. Poems: By Mrs. Robinson. 8vo. Pp. 223. One THIS HIS ingenious and celebrated lady has attracted the attention of the public, both by her perfonal charms, and her mental accomplishments; and who can withstand the united powers of beauty and of wit? To the FIRST every man bows, a willing flave; and to the enlivening fpirit of the LATTER, few, (it is to be hoped,) who enjoy the advantages of cultivated fociety, are wholly infenfible: the poor Savage is out of the question. The fair writer of thefe poems has been, for fome time past, known to the literary world under the affumed names of LAURA, LAURA MARIA, and OBERON*; and, in the 4th volume of our New Series, p. 223, we had the honour of commending, though not with unlimited praife, that remarkable effufion of FREEDOM, which the entitled, Ainfi va le Monde, though it was an English poem. Many of the readers of that animated compliment to the genius of Mr. Merry looked on it, we doubt not, as a pleafing fpecimen of Mrs. R's talents for poetical compofition: but if people of tafte and judgment were impreffed with a favourable idea of the poetefs, from the merits of that performance, (joined to thofe of the other productions, juft mentioned,) they will deem yet higher of our English SAPPHO, after the perufal of the prefent volume; in which are fome pieces, equal, perhaps, to the beft productions [fo far as the knowlege of them is come down to us,] of the Lesbian Dame, in point of tendernefs, feeling, poetic imagery, warmth, elegance, and above all, DELICACY OF EXPRESSION, in which our ingenious countrywoman far excels all that we know of the works of the Grecian SAPPHO.-We fhall tranfcribe her Lines, addreffed To him who will understand them: Thou art no more my bofom's FRIEND; * Signatures to poems published in the ORACLE. That That charm'd my fenfes many a year, BRITAIN, FAREWELL! I quit thy fhore, My native country charms no more; I'll weep her woes-FOR THEY ARE MINE. The howling tempeft docm'd to brave, Shall bid remembrance PICTURE THEE. 1 Yes; I fhall view thee in each FLOW'R, That changes with the tranfient hour; Thy wandering fancy I fhall find Borne on the wings of every WIND; Thy wild impetuous paffions trace O'er the white wave's tempeftuous space; An emblem of thy wav'ring LOVE. Torn from my country, friends, and you, The world lies open to my view; New New objects fhall my mind engage; In foft-link'd notes her woods among; Upon the blue hill's mifty fide, Thro' tracklefs deferts, wafle and wide, O'er craggy rocks, whofe torrents flow Upon the filver fands below. Sweet land of MELODY! 'tis thine Thy myrtle groves, thy melting ftrains, Plunge the clear ftream, new health exhale And drink OBLIVION to my woes.' The fplendid lift of fubfcribers to this very elegant volume, [printed by Bell, in his beft ftyle of neatnefs,] fufficiently indicates the particular attention paid to this lady, and to the productions of her elegant pen, in the world of taste and fashion.-A beautiful print of the fair authorefs, from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, is given by way of frontispiece. MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For DECEMBER, 1791. MEDICAL. Art. 20. Fætús extra Uterum Hiftoria, &c. The History of a Cafe of Extra-uterine Conception, with Inductions and Queries. Illuftrated with Engravings and Explanatory Outlines. By Henry Krohn, M. D. &c. Folio. pp. 20. 11. Is. Nicol. 1791. THIS is a fplendid publication: the types, paper, and engravings, are particularly beautiful. * Should it not have been inbale? |