longer than was neceffary to awaken the precipitant ardour with which victorious troops often blindly pursue a flying enemy. And the Ro man line being bent, and fronting inwards to the centre of its con cave, the legions purfued where the enemy led them. Hurrying from the flanks to share in the victory, they narrowed their space as they advanced, and the men who were accustomed to have a fquare of fix feet clear for wielding their arms, being now preffed together, fo as to prevent entirely the ufe of their fwords, found themfelves ftruggling against each other for space, in an inextricable and hop lefs confufion. Hannibal, who had waited for this event, ordered a general charge of his cavalry, on the rear of the German legions, and, at the fame time, an attack from his African infantry on both their flanks; by thefe difpofitions and joint operations, without any confiderable lofs to himself, he effected an almoft incredible flaughter of his ene. mies. With the lofs of no more than four thoufand, and thefe chiefly of the Spanish and Gaulith infantry, he put fifty thousand of the Romans to the fword. (V. C. 537.) "The conful Emilius Paulus had been wounded in the fhock of the cavalry; but when he faw the condition in which the infantry were engaged, he refused to be carried off and was flain.* The confuls of the preceding year, with others of the fame rank, were likewife killed. Of fix thoufand horfe, only feventy troopers efcaped with Varro. Of the infantry three thoufand fled from the carnage that took place on the field of battle, and ten thousand, who had been pof. ted to guard the camp, were taken. "The unfortunate conful, with fuch of the stragglers as joined him in his retreat, took poft at Venufia; and, with a noble confi. dence in his own integrity, and in the refources of his country, put himself, even with fo fmall a force, in a pofture to refit the enemy, till he could have instructions and re-inforcements from Kome." (To be continued.) ART. VIII. The Step-Mother: a domeftic Tale, from real Life. By Helena Wells. 8vo. Pp. 391. Price 6s. and Creech, Edinburgh. THIS The fecond Edition. 2 Vols. Longman and Rees, London; 1799 HIS little domeftic Tale is profeffedly written," to counteract the pernicious tendency of modern philo fophy, and to check the taste for the marvellous and horrible, which carries the imagination to— Charnels and the houfe of woe; To Gothic churches, vaults, and tom's! * He has received from the poet, the following honourable "Arimæque magnæ Prodigum, pœno fuperante paulum," grave: HOR. CAR. LIB, I. ODE XII. Ec3 For For the attempt only to effect this very laudable purpose, the authorefs of this novel is entitled to our best commendations; for, in our opinion, fuch productions as have lately iffued from the prefs, ftuffed with German hobgoblinifm, Italian ghoits, monks, and inquifitors, are, in no way whatever, calculated either to amend the heart, or to improve the understanding. The fuperficial glare of elegant and picturefque defcription, aided by all the force of a fertile imagination, and clothed in eafy and fafcinating language, fhall never preferve from our reprobation the poifon that rankles. within. A fimple narrative of domeftic conduct, by which the young mind might be led to the purfuit of what is virtuous and honourable, and, by ftriking examples, be deterred from the practice of irreligion and immorality, is become almost a stranger to the literature of the day.-Nothing is now acceptable but high-feasoned dishes; our palates are too refined for whole fome food. The heroine of the piece must be a heroine, indeed-either defpifing all the restraints of religion, law, morality, and chastity; or one who can pursue, with invincible courage, the difcovery of fome horrible fecret, "though the earth itfelf fhould yawn and bid her stay."-Not on fuch frippery, flimfy, and shadowy foundations, ftands the fame of Fielding, Richardfon, Smollett, Cumberland, D'Arblay.-No; their works, though obfcured, for the prefent, by the meretricious blaze of Godwin, Holcroft, Hays, Williams, Smith, Plumptre, &c. &c-fhall remain as long as our country fhall pride itfelf on excellence; while the latter fhall perifh like the noxious weeds on the dunghill, engendered only by the excefs of putrefaction. -- This novel of Helena Wells has much in it to praife, and very little to condemn; it is plain and unaffected in its language, natural in its conftruction, and moral in its tendency. We think we difcover in it fomething of a faint outline of the juftly celebrated work of Mrs. Sheridan, entitled, "Sidney Biddulph."-" The Step-Mother" herself refembles the Sidney Biddulph of Mrs. S. both in her general conduct, and in her particular treatment of Edward Glanville, whofe fate alfo is ftrongly fimilar to that of Falkland. -We mention not this as any detraction from the merit of the work; for almost every natural character has been fo long -- In this charge we do not mean to include the whole of Mrs. Smith's productions; we fpeak of her only when the facrifices her own native tafte, found understanding, and excellent difcrimination of character, to the wicked propenfities and principles of the times. fince delineated, that the chief excellence now-feems to be, to defcribe fomething that never exifted, either "in Heaven above, in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth;" and the more monstrous the more meritorious.-If the au thorefs of this novel fhould again write for the public, we recommend her to adhere to the line the has chofen; and not to facrifice truth, fimplicity, nature, and fterling worth of character, for the unnatural eccentricities and vicious abfurdities of the latter class of writers beforementioned. ART. IX. Iconographia Scotica; or, Portraits of Illuftrious Perfons of Scotland, engraved from the most authentic Paintings, &c. with their Lives, compiled from the Works of the beft informed and modern Writers extant, manufcript as well as printed; containing many curious Biographical Anecdotes and Particulars never before published. The Whole uuthenticated with Notes, References, and Obfervations. By John Smith, of the Inner Temple. Royal 4to. Pp. 56, with 20 Engravings. Wilkinton, London... 1798. THIS HIS work exhibits the portraits of twenty illuftrious perfonages of Scotland-James the Firit, Cardinal Innes, Cardinal Beaton, John Knox the Reformer, *John Knox the Younger, Mary, Queen of Scotland, *Lord Chancellor Thirleftone, the Right Honourable George Earl Mare, chal, James Erskine, Earl of Buchan, Sir Robert Ayton, Knight, John Johnstone, M. D. Sir Robert Gordon, of Stra loch, Earl of Traquair, *Prefident Gilmore, the Reverend Robert Traile, David Erskine, fecond Lord Cardrofs, John Hamilton, fecond Lord Belhaven, *Andrew Fletcher, Lord Juftice Clerk and Keeper of his Majefty's Signet in Scotland, Dr. Arbuthnot, and *Colin Maclaurin, the mathematician. There is a biographical history of the perfons whofe names are diftinguithed by an afterifk, which appears to have been collected from the beft fources, and manifeftly proves the diligence and laborious inveftigation of the writer. As there were two John Knoxes, in Scotland, both of the clerical profeflion; the one, the great fanatic, and ferocious reformer; the other, the author of The Hiftory of the Reformation of Religion, within the Realm of Scotland," whom hiftorians have generally confounded, Mr. Smith has endeavoured to feparate and diftinguish them in thefe memoirs, and certainly has given us fatisfactory information on the fubject. " The life of Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoun, is delineated in different colours from thofe with which his noble biographer had Ee 4. clothed clothed him. The Earl of Buchan, Belfham, and Seward have reprefented him as an upright patriot, an excellent man, who far outfhone in luftre those with whom he lived, and will continue to shine more and more unto the perfect day." We here find this upright patriot, together with the executed rebel, Robert Baillie, of Jervifwood, concerting measures with the friends of freedom, Lord William Ruffel's council of fix; afterwards in Monmouth's rebellion, when the Mayor of Lynn had brought a great body of men to join their party, Fletcher, the prototype of a Gallic patriot, not being furnished with a horfe, and imagining all things to be in common, feized and mounted the Mayor's horfe, who, in the language of the noble Earl, being a rough and ill-bred man, reproached him in contumelious terms, on which this laft of the Scots and Earl Buchan's countryman, whofe religion was a divine philofophy in the foul (Theophilanthropifm) whofe model was Marcus Brutus," difcharged his piftol at the Mayor he had robbed, and fhot him dead. For this murder he fled to Spain, where he was committed to prifon as a felon, and on application of the English minifter at Madrid, was ordered to be delivered as a Scotch traitor, rebel, and affaffin, and not as a patriot, on whofe exertions the liberties of Britain depended, The portraits in this collection are chiefly engraved by Trotter, and are well executed. The head of Cardinal In nes, from an original in the poffeffion of the Society of Antiquaries, Edinburgh, dated 1412, is a very spirited production; and the engraving from a caft of Mary, Queen of Scotland, by Schiavonetti, is delicate and elegant. Of the language of Mr. Smith we cannot fpeak in high terms. It is inaccurate and ungrammatical, and there are frequent blunders in the Latin quotations, * Buchan's, M. S, ART. X. Domesday; or, an Actual Survey of South Britain, by the Commiffioners of William the Conqueror, completed in the Year 1086, on the Evidence of Jurors of Hundreds, fanctioned by the Authority of the County Jurors, faithfully tranflated, with an Introduction, Notes, and Illustrations. By Samuel Henfhall, Clerk, M. A. Fellow of BrazenNofe College, Oxford, and John Wilkinson, M. D. F. R. S. and S. A. This Number comprehends the Counties of Kent, Suffex, and Surrey; Number I, and ten fimilar Numbers, will contain both Volumes of the Original. 4to. Pp. 268. Price 12s. Fine Paper 145. Nicol. White. London. 1799. WE WE reviewed E lately reviewed Mr. Henfhall's "Specimens and Parts of South Britain," and we have the fatisfaction to find him actively engaged in his laborious career of antiquarian research and illuftration. The motives that incited him to join in this tranflation will be found in the fubfequent ftrong, manly, and bold “ Temporary Introduction:”— "There is not an English antiquary or hiftorian, that has not defcanted on the value of thefe records, tha has not given pretended extracts from thefe Autographs, and enlarged on the accuracy or the report, which is enregistered in thefe volumes. It is univerfally allowed, that no nation in Europe poffeffes documents of equal au thenticity, antiquity, and accuracy; but, ftrange as it may appear, we affert, without fear of contradiction, that there never exifted books or manufcripts fo little unde:stood, that there never was found a record fo inaccurately illuftrated, or a fyftem to regulate judicial decifions, on which the common law of a great and polished kingdom depends, that has been fo little inveftiga ed. "The government of this realm has, indeed, attempted to give fatisfactory information to the ftatefman, the lawyer, the antiquary, and hiftorian, relative to thefe official repor s of the Norman commilioners in the reign of William. A faithful copy of the original record has been printed, at a great expence. But before men can read, they must acquire a knowledge of letters; before men can afcertain the contractions and abbreviations of the eleventh century, they must be acquainted with the language, customs, and dialect of the middle ages. This work has been accurately edited, as a facfimile, under the fuperintendance of the late Dr. Moreton, but with "all its imperfections on its head;" the tranfcriber, Mr. Abraham Farley, was an excellent copyift, but could not interpret the words that he prepared for the prefs; fo that this invaluable Survey of South Britain has been truly decyphered, but, to the generality of Englishmen, or even Latin fcholars, it is ftill ufelefs and unin telligible, from the peculiarities of its style, and the number of its contractions. "It was the tranflators original intention to have given the substance of the Book of Domefday in Maps of each County, Topographical Tables, arranged according to hundreds, rapes, or manois, and an appropriate History of every City, Borough, or Town, as itated in this Autograph, with collateral, historic, and legal information, derived from other authentic fources, to the reign of Edward Ift. But, in conformity with the request of fome refpectable and learned friends, this fpecimen is published, as a preparatory, and, perhaps, neceffary, introduction to an intended general tranflation. To give a literal verbatim rendering, was never de igned, (for then no one would have read it ;) but to give a faithful, accurate, though occa fionally liberal tranflation, where customs and manners are delineated. To Noblemen, Gentlemen of Landed Property, Clergymen, Lawyers, and |