are fuch Specks?-The truth is (and we mention it only in compliment to our printer), the Monthly Review exhibits a very fingular phenomenon in the literary world. Never, before, was there a work of this kind, written and printed as this has ever been, on the spur of the occafion, the volumes of which, taken together, have afforded to little matter for the tables of Errata. ** How much Cand the author of the letter with that fignature may poffefs, we know not; but had he a moderate share of modefty, or of common fenfe, either of thofe endowments would have faved us the trouble of his letter. Modefty would have induced him 'to pay the potage of it; and common fenfe would have hindered him from requesting us to review a publication thirty-three years old!! Our General Index, too, would have informed him that we did review it, at the time of its appearance. In juftice to Mr. Bidlake, we now ftate to the public, that in a letter which we have received from this gentleman, he acknowleges that the expreffion in his fermon, viz. man is by nature a favage (fee cur laft number) is harsh. He fays that it' was adverted to too late for correction;' but that he only meant by it, that the state of mankind previous to cultivation was barbarous.' Mr. B. adds, You are pleafed to fay, "we hope and believe the fufferings of thefe poor wretches are not fo great as here reprefented." I can only fay, that living in a feaport town, and being a member of the committee established in it, I have too ftrong proofs from the examination of the most authentic and refpectable evidence, to believe alt and more than I have afferted.' If this is really the cafe, we are very forry for it. For the fake of humanity, and for the honour of our countrymen, we expreffed our hope that it was otherwise. ttt G. P. P. may be affured that the book which he mentions was not neglected. The account of it has been written fome time, but has been obliged to wait its turn of infertion. G. P. P. will perceive it in this number. III. T. C. mentions his not being able to find, in the Review for January 1779, the advertisement of Teyler's Society at Haerlem ; from which we fuppofe that the Reviews in which he looked were bound up; for their propofal, being printed on a fingle page, and having been ftitched up with the blue covers, is thrown away by the binder. We have taken out one of thefe advertisements and put it under cover, directed for T. C. at Mr. Becket's, to be left till called for. $55 Mr. Agutter's fermon was reviewed in our number for January laft, p. 95. ¶¶¶ We are forry that M. D. waits with impatience for our account of the work which he mentions; for it certainly must patiently wait its turn of infertion. Due attention, however, will be paid to it. ++ In answer to our correfpondent Birch, we can only reply, that we never heard of any complete edition of Euripides by Brunck; nor do we recollect that he ever announced his intention of undertaking fuch a work. The detached plays which he has published, are Hecuba, Oreftes, Phaniffa, Medea, Hippolitus, Andromacke, and the Baccha. The Euripides lately printed at Leipfig, by Christian Daniel Beck, is merely a republication of Jofhua Barnes's edition, in quarto, and on wretched paper. The fragments, indeed, are copied from Mufgrave's edition, whofe notes are given in a third volume; in which are inferted alfo, Brunck's animadverfions on the plays which he had edited, Prevoft's obfervations, fome new collations of the Hecuba, Oreftes, and Phaniffe, by Matthæus, Zeunius, and Beck, and fuch remarks as the author has gleaned from the works of modern critics. On the whole, we think that this edition might have been fpared. The ftrangely inaccurate and nonfenfical remarks of Barnes did not merit republication in fuch a form. The fragments were not carefully collected by Mufgrave, and the number of them has not been increafed by Beck. The remaining notes of the different editors and critics ought to have been incorporated into one work, with those of Barnes and Mufgrave, and not have been detached and placed in different parts of the volume. Birch's remark on the impropriety of compiling Greek exercifes from Xenophon's Cyropædia, was formerly made in our review of Mr. Huntingford's book. ance. Of Mr. Jofeph Warton's intended Hiftory of Greek, Latin, French, and Italian Poetry, we have heard nothing for a long courie of time. We are happy however, in thus publicly joining our wifhes to thofe of the literary world, that it may fpeedily make its appearYet we are but too certain, that the important station which he fills fo honourably, can leave few vacant hours "to catch the zephyr and to court the mufe!" Why is not Mr. W. removed from an occupation of which the unremitting duties prevent the exertion of fplendid as well as ufeful talents, and enabled to enjoy that otium cum dignitate, to which, by his long and ferviceable labours, he is fo justly entitled ? The plan fuggefted by Birch at the bottom of his letter, will be farther attended to.- We are obliged to him for it. To the MONTHLY REVIEWERS. C.B....y.. 'Chefter Place, Saturday Morning, 4th April. THE Countefs de la Motte prefents her compliments to the Monthly Reviewers, and begs they will accept her fincere and grateful thanks for the honour they have done her Memoirs, by giving fo candid and impartial an account of them. She fhould not deferve that confidence which they have obligingly faid the feems "to merit," did the not endeavour to clear up the circumftance relative to the letters:-it is certainly true that, owing to an overfight, that paffage is not fo fuccinct as she wifhed; it is, however, seen in page 28, in what manner the procured a tranfcript of them from the Queen to the Cardinal The mutual interests that had occafioned her intimacy with the Cardinal, placed her upon fo friendly a footing, that he was in the fituation of a daughter, had access to his apartments, and was acquainted with, and confuited in, almoft all that concerned him; it was, therefore, a matter of no difficulty for her to take copies of fuch as the chofe. The letters were either delivered perfonally by each of the parties, or enclosed under cover to her; in the former cafe, the Cardinal always read them before they were closed; and in the latter, his method was to place a piece of money under the fold of the paper where the feal was placed, to prevent the wax taking hold at the lower part, and as the impreflion was always placed high, it left a fmall portion of the wax below the edge of the fold when the Countess had therefore perused the contents, the with great care put fome wax under the fold, which clofed the letter, and left the feal without injury. She hopes the has fatisfactorily explained the mode by which fhe was empowered to procure the copies; but, as the world at large may have fome fcruples at receiving what would be fufficient to the candid mind, and as cuftom has established a form to ferve as a criterion to establish a truth, fhe has an idea of giving (though reluctantly) that teft, by making an affidavit before the Lord Mayor, and publishing it. Had the paffages been pointed out, which feem to leave the bufinefs of the necklace in the leaft obfcurity, fhe should have been equally folicitous to have given. any further illuftration.' * Our very grateful and conftant reader' wishes for farther information relative to the phofphorated foda invented by Mr. Willis, and introduced into practice by Dr. Pearfon.' In the first place, then, we inform this correfpondent, that Dr. Pearfon was the fole inventor of this new medicine, and that Mr. Willis prepares it; and in the fecond place, to the laft-mentioned gentleman we beg leave to refer our enquirer for the intelligence which he wants. A lover of confiftency' must wait another month, as we have not received any answer from the gentleman to whom his letter was tommunicated. On account of the overflow of our correfpondence, other letters muft remain till next month. 'The continuation of the foreign literature, including our refumed account of the K. of Pruffia's works, will appear in the next num. ber. Some accidents have occafioned the delay of our concluding accounts of the Edinburgh and Dublin tranfactions, and the tranflations of Ariftotle's Poetic; but these articles will be finished as foon as poffible. Lead meilleurs P.334. note, line 1. maniere. THE MONTHLY REVIEW, For MAY, 1789. ART. I. Letters on Greece; being the Sequel of Letters on Egypt: By M. Savary. Tranflated from the French. 8vo. 5s. Boards. Elliot and Co. 1788. ART. II. Letters on Greece; being a Sequel to Letters on Egypt, and containing Travels through Rhodes, Crete, and other Islands of the Archipelago, &c. Tranflated from the French of M. Savary. 8vo. 6s. Boards. Robinsons. 1788. WE E have often had opportunities of admiring M. Sava ry's genius, and of applauding his induftry. The vivacity with which he defcribes thofe objects that fall under his obfervation, and the elucidation of obfcure points in ancient hiftory which his researches enable him to afford, lead us to expect fomething more than usual from a man so much superior to common travellers; the generality of whom (unqualified to make useful remarks) give only an uninterefting detail of trifling incidents. We had every reafon to hope, that a traveller, qualified like the prefent writer, would, in his defcriptions of those iflands which ancient history records as the most famous in the world, communicate much information concerning their prefent ftate, enrich his work with many useful remarks on their former grandeur, and remove the veil which the obfcurity of mythology, and the inaccuracy of hiftorians, has drawn over many parts of the Grecian hiftory. In this expectation we were not deceived; and our countrymen, who cannot read the original, are obliged to the gentlemen who have given it in an English dress. The firft tranflation is introduced by a Preface, which informs us, that M. Savary had fallen the victim of an intemperate application to ftudy. Strongly animated by emulation, and prompted by curiofity, he neglected the care of his health, while he laboured to enrich his mind with new treasures of knowledge; till, at last, the effects of his too eager application prevailed over the * See Rev. vols. lxxiii. p. 378. lxxiv. p. 524. lxxv. p. 298 lxxvii. p. 567. VOL. LXXX. ftrength ftrength of his conftitution, and hurried him prematurely to the grave.' This account contradicts the report that M. Savary's fatal disease was produced by the attack that was made on his veracity and fidelity by M. Volney. We have, however, fome doubts whether intenfe application to ftudy can be admitted as the primary caufe of difeafes. The fedentary life of literary men may indeed have fome influence on the conftitution; but the ill effects, if any, are easily counteracted, and by no means more effectually than by intenfity of thought. We speak from experience, when we fay that we have frequently rifen from the inveftigation of an intricate problem in fublime geometry, or from reading one of Dr. Waring's analytical papers, as much corporeally fatigued as if we had ufed an extraordinary degree of exercise.-But let us proceed with the work before us. Leaving Egypt in Sept. 1779, M. Savary embarked on board a Grecian veflel, bound for the island of Candia, known in ancient history by the name of Crete. Bad weather, contrary winds, and unfkilful failors, none of which are uncommon in the Mediterranean, all contributed to enable the author of these Letters to defcribe many places in the Levant, which he was unexpectedly obliged to vifit: a circumftance that muft doubt. lefs have been attended with inconvenience to M. Savary, but which confiderably increafes the materials of his publication, and cannot fail of affording a greater variety of defcriptions than if the hip had proceeded in her deftined courfe. The miferable ftate of the modern Greek navigation will appear from the following extract of the 6th Letter, written on board the ship: * For seven days, fucceffively, we have never ceafed tacking; but in vain. We are continually lofing way; and, fhould this weather last, we shall make Cyprus, or the coaft of Syria. I am now - convinced our veffel is but an indifferent failer; and the crew extremely ignorant. Our failors are Greeks, who know little of the working of a fhip, and are flow in performing the little they do know. Never have they once been able to put the fhip about with the head to the wind, fo that as often as they change the tack, we lofe more way than we have gained. Nor has the Captain more knowledge; he has not taken one obfervation of the latitude; nor has he on board either sector or quadrant, with the ufe of which he is totally unacquainted. He is equally a ftranger to the ufe of fea charts, or the method of measuring a fhip's way by the log. In fine, he is a genuine boat-mafter, who finds his way in the day, by following the course of the fun; and at night, by obfervation of the ftars. In cloudy weather, he steers as well as he can, by the compafs, of which he knows not even the declination †. I am almost * This extract is from the fecond tranflation, printed for Meffrs. Robinfons. The other tranflator fays variation. tempted |