thods of exciting emulation, the author proposes to substitute in the place of that multiplicity of fpectacles and of other paftimes which corrupt the morals of the provincials, feftivities in celebration of fome diftinguished characters; and that these should be held in the places of their nativity; and that the fovereign should occafionally honour them with his prefence.

From the general outlines of the two effays before us, our readers will obferve, in many points, a coincidence of fentiment, where their respective attachments to the different governments under which the competitors live, have not, through the influence of happy prejudice, induced each to prefer his own. But with refpect to metaphyfical acumen, beauty of style, and energy of expreffion, M. MATHON DE LA COUR has certainly left his MeermanTival far behind. M. DE LA Cour treats the subject with the cool inveftigation of one whofe general philanthropy and good fenfe dictate what is defirable and proper to be done in a fate, with which he has no immediate connection; M. DE MEERMAN is manifeftly animated with the warmth of a man who hopes to be a fpectator, a participator of the good in contemplation. But juf tice cannot be done to this fuperiority of manner, without giving the reader larger fpecimens than our limits will permit.

la four

It is obfervable that the ideas of both these writers are directed and confined to the form of monarchical government established in France: where the legislative power being depofited in the bands of the fovereign as well as the executive, the hopes of all men must be directed toward him alone for every species of reform. Queftions of this nature muft, therefore, prefuppofe a difpofition in the monarch to promote the happinefs of his fubjects, and that his ardent with is to be made acquainted with the means. Without this difpofition, the moft rational plans muft prove inefficacious. But under fuch a government as that of Great Bri tain, where the right of propofing laws is centered in the people, a queftion like this before us might give rise to numberless plans, which, not being under the arbitrary control of an individual, would meet with lefs oppofition to their execution. With us, power, and difpofitions, are to be looked for among the people; and thefe, united with a knowlege of the proper means, would render the road to general profperity plain, easy, and certain.

ART. IX.

Caufe, cur Jofephus Cædem Puerorum Bethlemeticorum (Matth. ii. 16.) narratam Silentio præterierit. By Proteffor VOLBORTH. 4to. Gotungen.

I

T appears ftrange to many, that Jofephus, who flourished a little after the period of this remarkable tranfaction, fhould have paffed it over in total filence. Scaliger and others have reprelented this fingularity in a manner injurious to the character of

Matthew,

Matthew, and to the authenticity of facred hiftory. The sportive Voltaire found it too delicious a morfel of criticism to fuffer it to escape his notice. Dr. Lardner, Hoffman, and others, have endeavoured to account for this filence of the prophane hiftorian: but the German Profeffor thinks that they have not done that juftice to the argument of which it is fufceptible. What he ad. vances on the fubject may be reduced to the following particu lars. 1. No hiftorian whatever, even an annalist, can be expected to record every event which happened within the period. of which he writes. 2. Contemporary hiftorians do not relate the fame facts. Suetonius tells us many things which Tacitus has omitted, and Dio Caffius fupplies the deficiencies of both. 3. The cruelty of the deed agrees very well with the known character of Herod. 4. It is unreasonable to make the filence of, the prophane writer an objection to the credibility of the facred, while there is equal, and even fuperior reafon to confide in the fidelity of the latter. 5. Herod would naturally he difpofed to take fuch precautions as he might think neceffary, without being fcrupulous concerning the means. 6. Macrobius, and other Chriftian writers, in an early age of the church, refer to the event. 7. The laughter could not have been fo great as our adverfaries have reprefented. Voltaire and others treat the fact as stated by the poet Marius, who exaggerates the number of the flain to 15,000. Now thefe being only males two years old and under, it is obvious by the fairest calculation, that accord ing to this statement, more children must be born annually in the village of Bethlehem, than there are either in Paris or in London.

ART. X.

Cog

Voyage en Suede, &c. i. e. Travels through Sweden, comprehending a circumftantial Account of the Population, Agriculture, Commerce and Finances of the Country: To which is annexed an Abridgment of the Hiftory of the Kingdom, and of its different Forms of Government, from Guftavus I. in the Year 1553, to 1786, inclufively: With fome Particulars relative to the Hiftory of Denmark. By a Dutch Officer. Large Octavo. 518 Pages. Hague. 1789.

T

HE title of this publication is fufficiently ample to give the reader fome general ideas of its contents. As we have perufed it with much pleafure, we could not help feeling fome degree of regret, that its intelligent Author fhould chufe to conceal his name, as that would have been, in fome degree, a voucher for the truth of the facts. Sweden, lying far out of the circle of the grand tour, and not poffeffing pleafurable charms enough to make the moft excentric traveller deviate from that

circle,

circle, is configned over to the merely accidental attention of the philofophical traveller. Nor will a small share of philofophy be fufficient to furmount the difficulties which attend vifiting diftant places, feparated from each other by craggy rocks, extenfive forefts, or defert plains; where the exhaufted traveller muft be contented with knikkebroë, miferable beverage, instead of a hot fowl and Sherry; and repofe his wearied limbs in a fpecies of crib, inftead of enjoying the luxuries of a featherbed. Sweden, as our author obferves, is not, either from its locality or climate, formed to become the rendezvous of a great number of ftrangers, nor the paffage for many travellers. A ftranger who vifits the country from mere curiofity, is himself a curiofity. It cannot be a subject of wonder therefore, that the information received concerning this country is fo imperfect and fuperficial. The harveft is much greater than the number of labourers; and many fubjects are left for fubfequent obfervers, It does not appear in the course of these Letters (for the ac count of the journey is given in an epiftolary form) that our Traveller was vefted with any public character, nor had he any other object in view than that of fatisfying a laudable curiofity. He was alfo unacquainted with the Swedish language; but he was richly furnished with letters of introduction to perfons of the first rank; whofe fituations enabled them to give him the defired information; and of whofe civilities and hofpitality, as well as that of the whole Swedish nation, he fpeaks in the higheft terms of praife.

This volume is printed in fo ceconomical a form, that a more fashionable edition might eafily fpread itfelf into three volumes; and it contains much entertaining and ufeful information concerning the various fubjects announced in the title page.

The firft fixteen letters are tranfcripts of his journal; from which it is obvious that he permitted nothing to efcape his at tention. Towns, caftles, ports, mines, garrisons, arfenals, public buildings, academies, libraries, and canals, operas, manners, &c. &c. are defcribed with a minutenefs which is only excufable in a country, the remote parts of which are fo little known. The picturefque fcenes, though delineated in a lively manner, become rather tedious from their fameness. They are to be confidered at best, but as mufic between the acts,

* Knikkebroë, or Kakebroë, is the bread eaten by the common people. It is made of a mixture of barley and rye. It is round and flat, about the fize of a common plate, with a hole in the middle, and about three-fourths of an inch in thicknefs. They make it once, of at moft, twice, in the year, and running a string through the centre, they hang up large quantities of thefe cakes to dry in their huts.

H

which, however pleafing at first, we hear with impatience, if it continues too long.

We shall select the account of the Author's defcent into the copper mine of Fahlun, as a fpecimen of his defcriptive talents.

During the four hours that I wandered in the bowels of Kopparberg, as I defcended from gallery to gallery, fometimes by ladders, and fometimes by ftairs, my aftonishment increased at every step. At first I went down by zigzag ftairs, tolerably commodious, into a large cavity, about 300 feet deep, and 2000 paces in circumference. At the extremity of the cave, I faw, in a corner, a hut built of wood, fix or seven feet in height; at the door of which, flood two figures, half naked, and as black as ink. I took them for the pages of Pluto. Each had a lighted torch in his hand. In this hut, is one of the entries into the fubterraneous regions, and it is the most commodious of the four which communicated with the cave. I and my fervant were immediately prefented with a black drefs; a precaution that is generally taken to preferve the clothes of the inquifitive from being spoiled in the narrow paffages of the galleries. This mournful apparel, together with a prayer uttered by my guides, imploring the divine aid, that we might escape unhurt from thefe regions, intimidated my fervant, who was a young Frieze, in fuch a manner, that he would fcarcely fubmit to be dreffed en Scaramouche, much lefs defcend into the mine. Paffing, at one time, through alleys propped up by timber, at another, under vaults that fupported themfelves, we came to immenfe large halls, the height or extremities of which could not be reached by the feeble lights that we carried. In fome of these are forges, where the different tools ufed in working the mines are made or repaired. It was here fo exceffively hot, that the workmen were entirely naked. Other halls ferved either for magazines of gunpowder, or cordage, and other utenfils, neceffary for their operations. Thefe communicate by means of the galleries; and thefe galleries communicate with each other by ladders or fteps. There are alfo apertures made from the upper furface, in a perpendicular line to the loweft gallery, without any interruption. Thefe ferve at once to convey fresh air, and for the paffage of any burdens, which being placed in large veffels, are moved upward and downward by means of pullies, that are in continual motion during the whole time of labour. The pullies are kept in motion by horfes on the top of the mountain. The veffels are attached to chains of iron, common ropes being fubject to fpeedy erofion by the vitriolic vapours which afcend from the mines. The irons themfelves will not endure for a long space of time, and therefore ropes of cows hair, or of hogs briftles, are often made to fupply their place.

The

*This remark would have been, in fome measure, obviated, if the author could have accomplished his plan: which was, to prefent the public with fome of the most romantic views both of Sweden and Denmark. The drawings taken on the fpot are now in the hands of the celebrated artist †, who published the beautiful fcenes in Switzerland, in a feries of coloured prints; and will be given out with all proper expedition.

APP. Rev. vOL. LXXX.

† Mr. Hentzy.

1

apertures are not only convenient for the purposes above mentioned, and give vent to a peftilential atmosphere; but co-operating with the heat, proceeding from the forge, and other phyfical caufes, they excite, even in the deepest parts, fuch exceffive draughts of air, that they resemble the most violent hurricanes. The roofs that are not fupported by art afford, in many places, a very fingular appearance. The vitriol diftilling through the rocks, cryftallizes on their furface, and forms prifms of different figures. Thefe are fufpended from a thoufand places, ten, twelve, twenty feet in length, and of a moft beautiful green. The reflection of the light from their various furfaces, and from the minerals that furround the walls, produces an¦ effect more cafy to be conceived than defcribed. In one of the paffages, upward of feven hundred feet below the furface of the earth, the vitriol is diffolved, and it is pumped out of the mine by means of a curious hydraulic machine. The water which fprings up at this depth very copioufly, is fet in motion by horfes, diffolves the vitriol, and conveys it into a refervoir which contains a quantity of old iron. Twenty-four of thefe horses have ftables in the gallery; their mangers being cut out of the rock. This work continues night and day; horfes and men being relieved every fix hours. Thefe animals are hoifted up through the openings, once in a year, to undergo a general review. Curiofity induced me to defcend to about eleven hundred feet under the earth, to the loweft gallery, where the principal explofion is made. Notwithstanding the exceffive cold of this place, the men who were occupied in cleaving the rock, were not only naked, but in profufe fweats. The obfcurity of these regions, the diftant fires spreading a vifible gloom, naked men dark as the mine. rals which they work, furrounded by the fparks that fly from their hammers; the horrid noise of their labour, and of the wheels of the hydraulic machines, joined with the tremendous figures which we met, from time to time, with lighted torches in their hands, made me doubt whether I was not really in Tartarus.

Having at length arrived at a kind of hall, the roofs of which were fupported by pillars hewn out of the rock, and furrounded with feats of the fame nature, my guides defired me to repofe myself, and listen to fome mufic that would amufe me. On my enquiring of what kind they answered it was the noife which proceeded from blowing up the rocks, to facilitate their labour. I confented, on condition that they fhould remain with me. They readily agreed, as this was the only place totally free from danger. One of them went out for a moment to give the necesary directions, and, returning, fat by my fide. After waiting about a quarter of an hour, trembling with cold, and my patience exhaufted, I threatened to renounce the mufic, if they were not more expeditious. While I was speaking, the explofion began. My ears had hitherto been ftrangers to the like. The whole extent of these fubterraneous regions, as far as our fight could reach, was inftantly illuminated, and we were immediately left in total darkness; for the preffure of the air had extinguished our torches. This obfcurity was only interrupted by a new explofion on the right and left, accompanied with fudden flashes of light. Echoes redoubled the ftrokes with thundering noife, The vaults feemed to fplit over our heads, the ground trembled, and

Our