ly of the crimes that produced them, they are all vitiated by a radical nullity, the want of conftitutional power in the three affemblies wrongly called national, from which they have emanated.' Though the principles which the author of this converfation lays down cannot be palatable in this country, we must allow that he reasons on them with ability; and that, if he infifts on the restoration of the old French conftitution, it is not because he confiders it as a defpotifm, but as calculated to fecure liberty, property, and the empire of law. It is neceffary, alfo, that we fhould obferve that he is an advocate only for the conftitutional authority of the crown; and not for those encroachments which, for more than a century and a half, had enabled the kings to legislate and impose taxes without the concurrence of the States General. THIS Sher... 8vo. pp. 22. ART. XIII. Epitre fur l'Homme, &c. i. e. An Effay on Man; written in Confequence of the French Revolution. Brufiels. 1794. De Boffe, London. Price is. "HIS work confifts of about 312 verses, exclufively of feveral long and judicious notes, and feems to have been formed on the model of Pope's Effay on Man. The author has indeed taken different ground, and, in general, has treated the fubject rather as a chriftian philofopher, than as one who had no other light to guide him than that of human reason, unaffisted by revelation. Ever fince modern philofophy had erected itself into a fect, he fays, it has been the object of its fectaries fyftematically to attack and undermine the doctrines of revealed religion; in oppofition to which they have taught that man is naturally good, that virtue fprings up fpontaneously in his breaft, and that his vices are the effects or confequences of human Jaws and inftitutions. Our author, on the contrary, maintains that, in confequence of the fall of Adam, man is born with propenfities to wickednefs, which develop themfelves with his faculties, and conftantly incline him to evil; and that human. laws, fo far from being the caufes of his vices, are in reality the effects; being framed for the purpofe of reftraining his paffions, and keeping them within bounds. This laft obfervation may be generally true, but it is particularly false; for no man of information and candor will undertake to alert that there are not, in many ftates, inftitutions which, though eftablifhed longè alio intuiter, have a tendency to check the progrefs of virtue, and to give encouragement to the bafeft paffions of the human heart. How many laws are enacted in this country, for the execution of which there is no fecurity, except in the bafe principle of felf-intereft?-Not to dwell on this circumftance, which, we are willing to admit, does not make againft against the main fcope of our author's effay, it being perhaps no more than an exception to his rule,-we muft obferve that, though he relies chiefly on, yet he does not truft folely for fupport to, the authority of revelation; an authority which, he knows, the philofophers whom he attacks would refufe to acknowlege: he alfo calls into his aid the opinions of Horace and other antients; for whom, he alfo knows, his adverfaries. entertain much more respect than for Mofes and the prophets. That Horace confidered man as by nature prone to evil, and laws as made for the purpose of reftraining this propenfity, may be inferred from the 3d Satire of his ift book, in which he fays, Jura inventa metu injufti fateare neceffe eft, It is not for us to fettle the difpute between our author and his adverfaries, nor to declare which fyftem fhould be preferred to the other; it is enough for us to have flated the nature of his plan, and to add that he has executed it in a masterly manner, both with refpect to reafoning and to poetry. In one place, he cenfures Pope for not having fufficiently attended to history: but his very centure contains the highest compliment to our countryman, as it feems to place him above all the other philofophers mentioned on the occafion. The paffage to which we allude is as follows: L'hiftoire: guide jur, elle offre à la raison Ce fil fi precieux que defira Platon, Et que Rouffeau, Leibnitz, Hebbes, Pope lui meme, Sher...n. ART. XIV. Allgemeines Polyglotten Lexicon, &c. i. e. A General Polyglot Lexicon of Natural Hitory. By PH. AND. NEMNICH, J.U.L. Vol 11. 4to. Hamburgh and Leipzic. London, imported by Sewell. T HIS is a fecond volume of the part of the CATHOLICON relating to natural hiftory, which we announced to our readers in the Appendix to our 11th vol. p. 561. It comprizes the letters from C to F, both inclufive; and we can only obferve that it feems to be executed with the fame industry and accuracy that were apparent in the first volume. The progrefs now made enables the author to engage that the whole of this alphabet fhall be completed in the tourth volume; to which, however, will be added a copious index of the names in all the languages introduced in the work. The bulk of the whole will be fuch as to form in the binding three moderatefized volumes. Planta ART. XV. Allgemeines Warterbuch der Marine, &c. i. e. A General T HE first part of this dictionary was reviewed in the Appendix to our 11th vol. p. 563. The fecond has not fallen short of the former in merit: it contains the plates which were neceffary to render intelligible the important differtation on the curvature of anchor-prongs, &c. an English vocabulary of fea-terms, an Italian, a Portuguese, and a Spanish. We prefume that the author has had these vocabularies. revised by some practical navigator, and we therefore fhall not venture to criticize. To judge by Dryden's Annus Mirabilis, and Falconer's Shipwreck, fome of his terms are not claffical. Under the article Ebbe und Fluth, we meet with the combination Floodtide, which, however correct etymologically, does not found like a common phrafe for high water. It is to be hoped that this work, on the whole valuable, will be republished with the English language for its bafis; that the deficiencies will be fupplied from domestic fources, and from the Encyclopedie Methodique; and that a more free introduction will be made of mathematical inveftigations, of which, except in the article Abtreiben, we have not difcerned deep traces; fo that the new work may aflume a more fcientific form. It were perhaps defirable to incorporate in it a gazetteer of fea-ports, and a feries of charts. Tay..r. ART. XVI. Sur les Generations actuelles, &c. i. e. On the exifting THIS HIS dreamer of the Alps paffes in quick review before him all the moft fplendid and important objects of human inquiry. He confiders, 1. the habitation of man, viz. the univerfe, and that part of it with which he is particularly connected; 2. man himself; 3. the furface of the earth as modified by man; 4. the focial ftate of man; 5. general intellectual opinions; 6. particular opinions of different people. Over this immenfe field, his march muft of course be extremely rapid and defultory. In fact, the chief purpofe of the work feems to be to give birth to a number of fentiments of the new philofophy, expreffed in that obfcure, fwollen, and affected phraseology, under which trite and vague notions are fo often difguifed. The tendency of the whole is evidently to thew the follies and abfurdities into which men have fallen, when they have quitted the plain dictates of nature, as referring to their condition I condition in this world, for metaphyfical fubtleties and the vifionary prospects of a future existence. The main part of the pamphlet confifts of an enumeration of the variety of opinions at this day prevailing among mankind, belonging to the different religions which they profefs; and it may be imagined. that whatever there be among them of abfurdity and hurtful tendency is brought into full view, and makes the principal part of the portrait. The Jewish and Chriftian religions are defcribed among the reft, and in a fimilar fpirit. It will not be expected that Chriftianity, painted in the colours of this writer, can wear a very inviting afpect. At the fame time, it muft be confeffed that, if an idea of it be taken from the creeds and articles of the more noted and prevalent forms under which it has hitherto been established, there will be too much reafon for fuch kinds of reprefentations; nor would we haftily charge with malignant intentions thofe who, knowing Divine Truth only under the garb of error, treat her as an enemy. Here is much matter for ferious reflexion; in which, we will venture to fay, the friends of mankind would much better be occupied than in making incongruous alliances between different fyftems, and in contriving artificial fupports for the whole mafs of eftablished opinion,-regarding nothing concerning it but that it is established: its truth or its falfhood thrown out of the question. Aik. ART. XVII. Voyages chez les Peuples Kalmonks & les Tartares. i. e. Travels among the Kalmucks and Tartars. 8vo. PP. 474. Berne, 1792. Imported by De Boffe, London. Price gs. fewed. THE HE introduction to this volume gives an account of the va rious attempts made by the court of Ruffia to obtain a better knowlege of the more remote parts of that vaft empire, which are buried in ignorance and barbarism, and possess languages, customs, and modes of life, widely different from any thing known in the cultivated tracts of European jurifdiction, Peter the Great began thefe inquiries, and, in the year 1719, fent Mefferfchmied, a phyfician of Dantzick, into Siberia, for the purpose of collecting its natural hiftory. He also fitted out expeditions to the White Sea by the way of Archangel, and to the north-eastern coafts of Siberia by way of Kamtfchatka. The Empress Anne carried on these plans, and inftituted a fociety of discovery under the direction of the Imperial Academy of Petersburgh. Bering was employed by fea, and JohnGeorge Gmelin, and Prof. Müller, with proper affociates, by land. In 1760, the Abbé Chappe d' Auteroche was fent to Tobolfk by the court of France to obferve the tranfit of Venus PP 4 and, and, on his return, he published a fplendid account of his ob fervations; of which we gave ample details in our 40th, 41ft, and 44th vols. *. The prefent emprefs, whofe munificent patronage of the arts and fciences forms the most brilliant part of her character, took the occafion of the fecond tranfit in 1763, to fend to various parts of her dominions perfons who were perfectly qualified to carry on all inquiries into the natural and political hiftory of her ftates. Of thefe, Samuel-George Gmelin, Phyfician, of Tubingen, [fee M. Rev. vol. xxxvii. P. 515.] began his travels in 1768; and, taking his route through Mofcow to Woronefch, he proceeded to Azoff, and thence to Aftrakan. From the latter place, he made an excurfion through all the northern provinces of Perfia, during which he was taken prifoner, and he died in captivity in 1772. The greateft part of his writings were with difficulty faved from the hands of barbarians, and three volumes of them have been pub, lifhed. The celebrated naturalift Prof, Pallas, leaving Petersburgh in 1768, paffed through Mufcow to the country between the Sura and Wolga, and thence to the tracts watered by the Jaik. He vifited the coafts and iflands of that part of the Cafpian fea which lay nearest to him; and then, turning northward, paffed by Orenburgh to the Uralian chain, and thence to Catharinenberg; where he examined all the mineral country, and ftretched as far as Tobolfk. He afterward held his courfe along the Irtifh, went to Tomfk, and thence to Krafnojarsk on the Jenifey; thence by Irkutsk to the lake Baikal, and, returning to Krafnojarsk by the Sayan mountains, he finished his tour with Tomfk, Kafan, Aftrakan, Zaritzyn, the Wolga, and Moscow, M. John-Amé Georgi, and Prof. Falk alfo travelled through the country of the Kalmucks, the Uralian mountains, the Altaik chain, and various parts of Siberia. M. Lepechin, befide extenfive travels through the parts adjacent to the Wolga and Jaik, and the fouthern and central parts of Siberia, went to Archangel, and visited the coafts and iflands of the White Sea; and thence, making a tour through the governments of Plefkow and Mohilow, returned to Petersburgh by the fea coaft from Riga and Pernau. Dr. J. Guldenfladt took his courfe by Novogorod to Mofcow, and thence to Zaritzyn and Aftrakan; whence he visited the countries watered by the Tefek, and the north eaft part of Mount Caucafus. He afterward travelled into Georgia, had an audience of Prince He *For farther and more particular references, confult our General Index; clafs, Hiftory, &c, raclius, |
