Other things are of a piece. The inhabitants are squalid, and in rags. Frequently, the house is half full of the wretched peasants and peasant women, getting drunk upon schnaaps (a sort of whiskey)." "Even at the first hotels in Warsaw, and in other large towns, the traveller is frequently shewn into a room, entirely without furniture, except perhaps a small couch in one of the corners, and on which he is to spread his own bedding. Sometimes not even a couch is found, in which case the bedding is spread on the floor. An ordinary chair and table are also brought him; and this is at once his eating and his sleeping room, and that in which he receives visitors. Even noblemen often sleep, at these places, in the same rooms which they occupy during the day."

The territory of Poland is in the hands of the nobility, many of whom have estates of prodigious extent the Count Zamoyski (in whose family Mr. Burnett resided) with his father-in-law Prince Czartoryski, possess estates equal in extent to at least one half of Great Britain, and their united quota of troops, during the times of the republic, amounted to about 30,000 men. These great estates are subdivided into parcels, or farms, containing several thousand acres each; or rather containing one or more villages; for the value of a farm is estimated, not by its extent, but by the number of peasants by which it is inhabited. As an instance of the average rental of land, Mr. B. mentions, that the territory of a particular nobleman amounts to about 5000 square miles, and yields a revenue of about 50,000 pounds sterling per annum. With respect to the price of land, it is stated, that a parchase was made by a manufacturer, of a farm of about 2000 acres (half of which was forest) with a good house upon it, for about 2000 pounds sterling.

That the agriculture of Poland is in a very imperfect state, when compared with that of more civilized. countries, we are well convinced;

but Mr. Burnett's suggestion to send some young Poles into Norfolk to learn farming, and the scheme of his patron Count Zaof English farmers on his own moyski to import and settle a colony estate, are both equally absurd and inadequate to the production of any favourable change in this respect. The gradual melioration of the state of the peasants, the increased power and authority of equal laws, and the establishment of privileged and corporate towns on the banks of the great rivers, are the only means by which Poland can attain to the power and dignity of a civilized nation.

The 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15th chapters describe the manners and domestic economy of the Poles ; and as these subjects comprehend nearly the whole of what Mr. B. from the circumstances in which he was placed, had an opportunity of learning from personal observation, we expected from them a considerable degree of amusement and instruction. We are sorry to say that this hope has not been realized. The dimensions, the forms, and the colours of the stoves and fire-places are described with most tedious and minute prolixity; the account of the different coloured washes with which the walls of the rooms are stained; such as" plain white," "light yellow," "delicate reddish," &c. might delight a plaisterer and whitewasher; as the description of the tables and chairs, chests of drawers, and wash-hand stands may be acceptable to the cabinet-maker. In the same spirit of frivolous minuteness, the author tells us, in the chapter on diet, that

"The butter at the breakfast-table is

excellent, though that which is sometimes brought to the private rooms is very indif. ferent. Many people, however, eat no butter at all, and merely sop their bread in the coffee."

The 16th chapter, entitled "Lan

society," Chastity, even in married women, is considered as ridiculous, and an unlimited latitude is admitted on both sides." Our author's remarks on this subject assume a tone of levity which we are sorry to

observe.

IT is the custom of some of our contemporary journals to insert an account of all discoveries and improvements in arts, manufactures, &c., a species of intelligence, which is obviously of great importance to the public. For once, and in strict conformity to the nature of our of fice, we have intelligence of this kind to impart; the work now before us being the first specimen which has yet reached us of an improvement in the art and mystery of book-making. The first volume contains 247 pages; the second, 270; the third, only 128. The discovery consists in the method of stuffing this third, which is successfully accomplished, by giving the contents of each chapter at a most unmerciful length, and repeating all the contents in the last volume. Still its leanness would be too apparent; it is therefore larded with three indices, one to each volume, in which the name of every person, place, or thing, mentioned in the work, is catalogued in abcdarian order with a degree of minuteness equally to ANN. REV. VOL. VI.

be desired in works where such assistances are necessary, and to be reprobated in this. We will give the reader a sample of this delectable half-crown's worth index. Rome, 3. refers us to a sentence wherein Mr. Beckford of Fonthill is said to have purchased two celebrated landscapes which formerly adorned the palace Altieri at Rome, to which said sentence we are also referred under the various heads of Beckford, Fonthill, and Altieri. It is evident, that this improvement may be carried still farther, by making the index verbal. We all know the essential use of verbal indices to the classics, and of course, these will be equally useful, in works of the present generation, in days to come, when time shall have made them the copper othos of literature.

This work we are informed, is a selected translation from five volumes in the original; and the author in his dedication says, he has endea voured to give what appeared to him a faithful sketch of the character

I

and manners of Englishmen. The following short passages will suffice, we apprehend, to satisfy our readers as to the accomplishment of the object proposed, and the author's ability to accomplish it.

"In other countries plausible sophis try or well-directed declamation may turn the heads of a weak auditory; but in England the finest periods, the most brilliant tropes, cannot cheat an unlettered plebeian out of the exercise of his own judgment, or lull him into a state of supineness at any moment of critical importance. Hence the astonishment of foreigners at witnessing the correctness and perspicuity with which individuals of the lowest class in England judge of the relative situation of things, and point out the strong and weak sides of their most eminent politi

cal leaders."

Another paragraph will give us some insight into our traveller's talents for observation, and his notions about manners.

"By refined manners, the English do not mean that artificial system of civility which prevails in French society. An

English gentleman is distinguished by a dignified deportment, wholly devoid of supercilious consequence; with a mind open, feeling, and ingenuous. Wit and humour are certainly agreeable additions to the composition, but by no means indispensable."

this is an extremely superficial and It were superfluous to add that trifling book. It displays no tact for the observation of manners, no power of appreciating character, no mind to penetrate the causes of moral phenomena. We are much inclined to think, that our traveller has never crossed the German Ocean, though we believe him to be still in England. The work before us bears strong, if not decisive, marks of being a manufacture of this renowned metropolis, so fertile in productions of a similar kind. It is dedicated to Sir John Carr, a well-known traveller; and the dedicator in his last sentence remarks,

In every point of view I am persuaded, the Stranger in England will be benefited by being introduced to your acquaintance.'

with the theory (for alas! little was known of its vital power) of these most important of subjects, among many other judicious observations, which has now escaped the memory of the writer.

"He expressed his veneration for the Bible, which he considered the only written book of God, and alone pointing out the way to attain lasting happiness; his suspicions of the truth of the Mahomedan religion, that his mind was impressed with the prospect of its fall, and the necessity of their being taught the true religion; a desire to be instructed more fully on the subject, and a wish for the more general instruction of his ignorant countrymen, many of the most intelligent of which were of similar sentiments.

"At the time these conversations took place, scarce one of his hearers paid more than common attention to them, and the author must, with shame, include himself

in this number: but there was something 80 serious and extraordinary, in his manner of delivering his sentiments, as tended to fix the attention even of this too careless company.

"The writer would humbly submit these hints to the consideration of Mission

ary Societies, who are engaged in the god-like plan of diffusing light and happiness throughout the dark and miserable abodes of violence and cruelty.

"On Great Britain, especially, the inhabitants of these once favoured countries, appear to have peculiar claims. Their connections by commerce, &c. open channels of communication.

"Their desire for the Bible, (many mutilated parts of which are to be found in their Alcoran), points out the desirableness of giving them a translation of its genuine contents, in the Turkish language; also their doubts of the truth of many parts of their Alcoran, and that desire, so prevalent in many of them to attain true knowledge of God."

It is a pleasing consideration to Christians, that by the late events in making Egypt the seat of war, the knowledge of salvation, by the Lord Jesus, hath been in a wonderful manner conveyed to that memorable spot. An anecdote which I had from that faithful and zealous minister of the Gospel, Dr. Hawker of Plymouth, and which I have my venerable friend's authority to insert in this work, confirms this satisfactorily.

"A pious soldier, who attended the Doctor's ministry while at Plymouth, was drafted among other men of the regiment, to form a part in the expedition which was

In the history of religious opinions, it will generally be found that the most absurd doctrine has become the established one, till established doctrines have attained to such perfection of absurdity, that some great revolution takes place Moin favour of common sense. hammedanism is not yet made absurd enough, nor Christianity reasonable enough for such a revolution as this to be effected. Yet were the bible translated into good Arabic, so as that the language should in any degree bear comparison with that of the koran, the beauty of the historical part of the old testament, the morals of the new, and the poetry of the prophets and the psalmist, would give it a decided and undeniable advantage over that miserable book which the Moslem hold to be the best in the world; only because we do not produce a better to convince them of their error.

Mr. John Campbell, who seems to be a methodist preacher, wrote the preface to this volume, and recommends it as a suitable

present to officers in the navy, and seamen in general. He tells us, he was favoured with a perusal of the work in manuscript. It would have been doing a friendly part to the author, had he corrected some of his false concords.

MR. WILLIAMS is one of the many who visited France during the last peace, and who were made prisoners at the commercement of the present war. He is remarkable for being liberated by Bonaparte, at the request of Dr. Jenner; the Emperor of France declaring that he could refuse nothing to a man who had conferred so signal a benefit on the world -Mr. Williams sails from Southampton, lands at Havre, passes through Rouen, and arrives at Paris. He complains that travelling produces such confusion of mind, as to make him unable to write a letter collectedly. Every traveller has felt this obscurity of thought. To talk, or to write, requires attention to

internal ideas, which is always interrupted by external impressions of unusual energy. A man's own bookroom is the best place for study; where the surrounding objects are so familiar, that they attract no notice. When we enter a strange place, the face of the country, the appearance of the houses, the form and pavement of the streets, the public buildings, the shop windows, even the dress and faces of the inhabitants, pr. sent something new, which continually call the attention outwardly external impressions are then so strong as to eclipse the internal, and we feel that inability to collect and contemplate our thoughts, which is commonly called, being unsettled. If we remain long in the place, the surrounding objects become familiar by degrees, the lively sensations which they at first excited fade to the usual degree of dulness, and we experience a return of the power of reflection. Old travellers retain collectedness of

min, even during a constant succession of unusual scenes; because novelty has stimulated them so often, that it loses its power of distracting the attention.

Mr. Williams stops at Paris, and visits the buildings, and other public spectacles; which he describes in a manner not more minute, interesting, or instructive, than others who have visited the French metropolis. since the Revolution. Among other remarkable sights, he examines the celebrated collection of Pictures and Statues, the fruit of the tasteful rapacity of the conqueror of Europe, When he was at Paris, the Venus de Medicis had not arrived, and the chief pieces of sculpture which he

saw

A

were the Apollo, the dying Gladiator, the Laocoon, and Venus leaving the bath. Mr. Williams, like a young man, preferred the latter. The sexual feelings have no inconsiderable share of the effects produced upon the spectators by works of art; so that a picture, or statue, which acts on this part of our nature, will produce greater pleasure than another which displays as much of taste, contrivance, minute observation, and art. song sung by a beautiful woman owes half its effect to the charms of the performer. The swarms of paltry love songs which retain their popularity so tenaciously, would never be heard if they had nothing to support them but the skill of the poet or the musician. The sexual feeling is one of the simple principles contained in those complex and various emotions which are comprehended by the word Beauty, This, like the other ingredients of beauty, will produce different effects on different persons. It will