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work : delineation is the only medium by which a faithful descrip tion can be given of sensible images; the pencil is narrative to the eye; and however minute in its relations, can scarcely become tedious; its representations are not liable to the omissions of memory,. or the misconceptions of fancy; whatever it communicates is a transcript from nature.'

Nothing is required to be added to this explanatory preface ; and we shall therefore proceed to mention the subjects of most of the engravings, and to give a few specimens of the illustrations. Perhaps the plates representing Gravesend and the pas sing of Beechy-head might have been omitted, and the views intitled Madeira and Off Madeira have commenced the series: but, by an error of the press (no doubt), the artists have given a strange representation of the temperature of this beautiful island, when they say that the thermometer is never higher than 25 in the shade,' instead of 75.- Crossing the Line next occurs, and the letter-press accompanying this plate is explanatory of the humorous nautical ceremony which takes place on this occasion, and which the drawing represents. Next succeed Gale off the Cape of Good Hope,-A man overboard, (the seaman represented in this plate unfortunately perished,) Cape of Good Hope, (here the Table-mountain, which is 3316 feet high, is exhibited in a beautiful point of view, rising above Capetown,)-The Albatross, or Diomedia exultans,- Java Head,Malay Prows and Canoes, -and Anjere Point, Straits of Sunda. The letter-press appended to this last mentioned plate contains the following account:

'Anjere Point is on the Java side, half way up the Straits of Sunda it opens on a range of mountains, some of them rising abruptly in double ridges from the ocean, and others stretching out to the eastern boundary of the horizon. At the distance of some miles from Anjere Point are two small islands called the Cap and Button, which are usually visited by voyagers; unlike the Coralline isles they present steep precipitous banks, and from other circumstances in their configuration are supposed to be of volcanic origin. In the Cap are two caverns open to the sea, constantly frequented by those grey swallows, whose delicate nests form a favourite article of Chinese luxury, and a profitable branch of Javanese commerce. These curi

ous little fabrics are of an oval shape, arranged in regular rows, composed of fine filaments, cemented together by viscous matter.--These nests, when white and transparent, are said to be worth their weight in silver.'

The Dutch Residence at Anjere Point is a plate containing much picturesque beauty; and the same may be asserted of the next, the Watering Place at Anjere Point. This spot is not far distant from the city of Batavia, in the vicinity of which grow the nutmeg-tree, the olive, the cinnamon, the camphor

tree,

tree, the pepper-plant, a species of vine whose pungent leaf is the betel, so universally used in the east, and the areca nut-tree, the smallest of the palms, representing a beautiful miniature of the gigantic cabbage-tree, often the object of admiration in the West Indies.' Of Batavia, the writers observe that it suggests the melancholy idea of a garden blooming on a grave; the earth teems with delicious fruits, but the air is loaded with pestilential vapours, and vegetation seems to flourish at the expence of human life.'

Of the pleasing view of a Malay-village, the text gives us this account:

access.

The Malay Doosoons or villages are frequently situated on the borders of a lake, and generally command an eminence difficult of Their houses are raised from the ground on posts or standards, in the manner of the granaries in England; the frames are of wood; the flooring consists of layers of bamboo, over which is a lath of bamboo split thin, and tied down with the filaments of the rattan. This elastic floor is covered with mats of various kinds. The sides of the house are closed in with paloopo, which is the bamboo half split, opened, and rendered flat, by notching the circular joints within side, laying it to dry in the sun, pressed down with weights. The houses are commonly covered with the altass, a species of palm-leaf; the larger houses have three pitches in the roof; the middle one, under which the door is placed, being much lower than the other two; in smaller houses there are but two pitches, and the entrance is in the smaller which covers a kind of hall or cookingroom. The ascent to these dwellings is by a light scaling ladder of notched bamboo, which is seldom fastened to the timbers, and is sometimes taken in at night, to guard against the sudden incursions of ferocious animals. The furniture is simple as the edifice; the bed is no other than a fine mat; with pillows embellished with some shewy material resembling foil; a canopy composed of party-coloured cloth is suspended over the head; neither chairs nor tables are necessary articles to the Javanese, who sit on the floor reclining on the left side, supported on the left hand. With the use of knives and spoons they are wholly unacquainted; they use salvers called the doolong, which move on feet; on these are placed the cross waiters, and in them are the cups containing their curry and rice, which at their meals is always taken up between the right thumb and fingers. The houses have not the convenience of chimneys; the fire-places are formed of loose bricks or stones arranged on the landing place before the door.'

Then follow delineations of Malay Prows,-Malays of Java, -Chinese trading and fishing Vessels,-Macao, China,-a Chinese Husbandman*,-Hotun, on the Canton river, where for the first

time

In describing this plate, it is mentioned that Danes Island, whence the view is taken, is an islet of small extent, not far from Whampoa,

time the pagoda is introduced, and we are told that the Pagoda is an object familiar in Chinese landscapes, though it does not appear that these religious-looking edifices are consecrated to either public or private worship.'--Chinese Vessels. Here again we must pause to transcribe:

The Chinese are equally ignorant of geography and navigation; they have no methods for discovering the latitude and longitude of different places, and always, if possible, keep close to the shore. The vessels exhibited in the plate are evidently ill adapted to a long voyage; nor is the three-masted junk, presented in a preceding plate, of a structure to contend with the tremendous gales so frequently experienced in the Chinese seas. The hull of these junks is of a curved form; the fore part, instead of being round, as is usual with European vessels, is square and flat like the stern, and both are elevated far above the deck; it is without a keel, and the diameter of the mainmast is sometimes equal to that of an English man of war, of sixty guns. The sails are wrought from the fibres of the bamboo, and are often furled and unfurled like a fan; the rudder is placed in an opening of the stern, and is usually taken up in sands and shallows. It frequently happens that one of these junks is the common concern of a hundred merchants, whose goods are lodged in separate compartments. A ship of the largest size carries one thousand tons and five hundred men, each of whom has his humble birth, containing a mat and a pillow. The compass is placed before an altar, on which burns a taper, composed of wax, tallow, and sandal-wood-dust, and divided into twelve equal divisions; which are intended to measure out the progress of the hours. Numbers of these vessels sail every season from Canton on commercial expeditions; and it is computed that ten thousand seamen perish annually in the Chinese seas. one embarks on this perilous enterprize without taking a solemn farewell of his family and friends; and should it be his fate to return, his restoration is joyfully celebrated as a resurrection from death. It would perhaps be impossible to discover a man, who, like Sindbad, had made a seventh voyage. In one or two passages to Batavia, the adventurer makes his fortune; the only object sufficiently stimulating to draw him from his native home.'

Chinese Tomb, Chinese Gentleman and Lady,

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Scene on the Canton River,-A Chinese Fort,-South-west view of Canton, Chinese Junks, Chinese Pavilion, An offering to the God of Fire. An explanation of the ceremony represented in this plate is thus given:

Some years since at Canton, when some junks had been accidentally burnt in the river, it was deemed expedient to offer a pro

Whampoa, chiefly remarkable for being the rendezvous of European gentlemen who have concerns of honour to discuss: a circumstance so well understood, that at Canton the laconic style of a challenge is, "Danes Island, Sir !"

pitiatory

pitiatory sacrifice to the genius of fire. The scene is on the banks of the Tigris. On the shore is placed a large tray, in which are ar ranged the cups and saucers containing the sacred oblations; above it is suspended a large lanthorn, to which many smaller ones are at tached the smoke is produced by the combustion of paper; the persons bending before the tray, in an attitude of supplication, are merchants solicitous to appease the vindictive deity; behind them is a group, composed of six priests clothed in red, attended by musi cians, playing on the patterra, and the gong, or loo. At the conclu sion of the ceremony, the tea, rice, and sweetmeats, contained in the cups, are consumed. The Chinese have no religious assemblies, nor any stated seasons for public or private worship. They repair to the temples, which are always open, as often as they are prompted by hope or fear to invoke the favour of their respective deities.'

In the account of a Chinese Gentleman,' it is remarked that Literature is seldom cultivated for amusement; and authors are said to be more numerous than readers.'

Coast of Cochin China,-Pedro Branco, -Cape Ricardo, Straits of Malacca,-Fowl Island, Bay of Bengal,-(Ava is erroneously called, in the explanation of this plate, the Bisman instead of the Birman empire.)-Scene near Ganwancolly on the HooghlyView of Calcutta from the Garden reach of the Hooghly river,-Old Fort Gaut, Calcutta, within the walls of which is the Black Hole, so mournfully eternized by the sufferings of Mr. Hol well and his ill-fated companions in 1756.

We have not transcribed the titles of all the plates ? but our enumeration is sufliciently complete, and our extracts from the letter-press are perhaps sufficiently ample, to enable the purchasers of works of this kind to form an idea of the entertainment which they may expect from this splendid volume. We recollect to have heard our ingenious friend Mr. de Loutherbourg, recently deceased, speak in terms of the warmest commendation of the delineations of Eastern scenery by the pencils of the Messrs. Daniells; and had he been alive, he would have derived pleasure from the praise which we have here bestowed on them: but, since this volume has been lying on our table, he has been taken from that world of which he so glowingly delineated the striking features; and before this article can be printed, his ashes will occupy the same church-yard which contains those of Hogarth. The arts will certainly mourn over his tomb; though he will not, perhaps, be so fortunate as to have another Garrick, to write for it an epitaph so beautiful and appropriate as that which was inscribed on the monument of the "Great painter of man

kind."

To facilitate consultation, a list of the plates should have been given, and they should have been numbered.

ART.

ART. VIII. Mr. Bentham on the Theory of Punishments and Rewards, translated into French by M. Dumont.

TH

[Article concluded from p. 186.]

HOUGH the subject of Punishments was a beaten topic, which required the vigorous genius of Mr. Bentham to give it interest, the case is different with that of Rewards, which may be considered as untrodden ground. The work of Dragonetti, his Trattato delle Virtu e de' Premii, praised as it was for a time, compared even to Beccaria, translated into various languages, and passing through several editions, is now almost forgotten, and scarcely calls on us to qualify the ob

servation.

In his second volume, Mr. Bentham's plan is the same with that of the preceding; and the one is, if we may so express it, a counterpart of the other. Analogy continues to be the author's guide. He examines the different sources whence rewards may be drawn, the qualities which they ought to possess, and the proportions which they ought to bear to services; he points out such as become injurious and such as are superfluous; and he instructs us how to economize those that are beneficial. He proposes to establish a public remuneratory process, which should be performed before any reward is adjudged; and as we have a public accuser to prosecute crimes, he would have a public officer whose duty it should be to examine the titles of candidates for rewards. How much will many of the newly created lords, whom that grand distributer of rewards, Mr. Pitt, raised to the peerage, regret that this ingenious idea had not been realized previously to their exaltation! How brightly would the private virtues and public. services of numbers of them have shone in the reports of the proposed investigating ofhcer!-Mr. B. illustrates his idea by stating a well-known usage which prevailed heretofore in the court of Rome. Before', says he, any person was canonized as a saint, an advocate was appointed to plead against him, who was usually denominated the Devil's Advocate. If this counsel had been always faithful to his client, the Roman Calendar. would be somewhat less crowded. The idea is excellent, and is one which policy ought to borrow from religion.' — In Sweden, the King, until very lately, we are informed, was obliged, when he granted a pension or a title, to state in the patent the service in respect of which the benefit was bestowed or the honour conferred,

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It is also observed by Mr. Bentham that, in our own country, in every case of a claim made to a dormant Peerage, the Attorney-General is charged to examine all evidence that tends REV. MARCH, 1812. X

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