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an addition to English literature will be welcomed, not merely in his own country, but here; less because it contains unknown truth, than because it tells use ful truth unaffectedly. One reads an American book with a feeling of refreshment; as one quits the metropolitan saloons and opera-houses in June to seek the fragrance of the country in blooming apple-orchards, or meadows of tedded hay. The distilled perfume of the bookmaker's style, which bemusks and becivets every London composition, and which is become as necessary to us, as his snuff to the idier, is here not sprinkled over every page, and vialled in every sentence. The author is content to write as he learned to speak, without substituting the technical jargon of acquirement to the honest voice of nature. He judges of men and things with none of the enthusiasm of taste, or the doxy of philosophy, but with good sense; and wins his easy way to the reader's sympathy and approval exactly by the straight-forwardness of his course. The damask table-cloths of Silesia are still an article of luxury which the manufacturers of this country have not learned to rival. These beautiful wares are made at Hirschberg and Schmiedeberg. The fourteenth letter supplies particulars of the state of this manufactory.

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"Upon our arrival here, I hastened, immediately, to deliver a letter I had for a Mr. Hoffman, the clergyman of the place. Unfortunately for us, he was obliged to go early yesterday morning to Hirschberg. He, however, requested his friend, Mr. Frederica, to shew us the objects deserving a stranger's curiosity here, which he has accordingly done. They consist, principally, of linen manufactures, of various kinds; a business which, in proportion to the size of the place, is carried on with more activity here than at Hirchberg. The town contains, at most, five thousand inhabitants; and their exportations amount to about a million dollars annually.

"One of the principal merchants of this town is a Mr. Waldkirch, who is at this time employed in erecting buildings, sufficient for bleaching from twenty to twenty-five thousand pieces of linen, yearly. For this purpose, he has one large house, in which he hangs up the linen which has passed through the bleaching-tubs, instead of stretching it, as is usual elsewhere, upon a grass-plot. He gains, by this, the advantage of being able to perform the process of drying, the whole year round, and is no longer dependent upon the season and the weather. He is likewise introducing, from Ireland, the use of oxygepated muriatic acid (I am not chemist enough

to know precisely what it is), to whiten the linen the better. Here, likewise, we saw the process of dressing the linen, by passing through a tub of starch; the object of which is, to give it stiffness, and a gloss to the eye, here, and which they say, perhaps with truth, but which they have not been accustomed to is rather injurious than beneficial to the linen. "Another large manufactory is that of white tape, belonging to Mr. Gebauer, which is likewise a recent establishment here. It is a linen manufactory in miniature, the whole process of making it being exactly the same. This however, is more properly a manufactory; as the weaving, as well as the bleachbetween thirty and forty looms at work; and ing and dressing, is done here. There are in each loom, from fifteen to thirty-six pieces of tape are made, in proportion to the width, which varies from about three inches, to a quarter of an inch. The machine, by which so many shuttles are set in motion by one loom, is an English invention, as is without exception, every contrivance for the abridgethis province. ment of labour which we have yet seen in

"The weaving is likewise performed in the manufactories of printed linens and cottons, and of damask table linen. The printed linens are principally handkerchiefs and shawls; the figures upon which are partly printed by women, and partly made by wooden moulds, the surface of which is first then applied to the linen. In cotton they laid upon the colours, ready prepared, and work very little; and what they make is very much inferior to the English. The tablelinen is inferior in quality, and higher in price, than that made in Saxony. This manufactory does not thrive here, and would soon go entirely to ruin, but for the particular encouragement of the government. The damask is made either of linen altogether, or with a mixture of silk, of which they make a sort of table-cloth, much used within the country but not exported elsewhere.

"Another article of manufacture, that we have met here, is what they call creas, a and bleached before it is wove. The distinesort of linen, made of yarn instead of thread, tion between yarn and thread is not owing to the difference of the article from which they thread is twisted in spinning; yarn is spun are spun, but to the manner of spinning; out, simply, and consists only of one part. This name of Creas is Spanish, as are those of Platilles, and Estopilles, by which the different sorts of linen and lawn are designated. Some of the pieces, too, are called Bretagnes, and they are rolled up à la Morlaix, because the Spaniards were formerly furnished with those articles from manufactories established at Morlaix, in the province of Britanny. The Bretagnes are small pieces of linen, contain ing just enough to make two shirts, and done up in flat squares, much as you have been used to see cambrics, in our shops. Mr. Waldkirch told me they were obliged to send

them in such pieces, because the Spaniard
is so lazy, that he must even have his linen
cut out for him, before he will buy it. The
pieces à la Morlaix are of sixty Silesian ells,
and rolled up very close, as round as a spindle.
What they call Platilles royales are done up
much like Irish linen; folded, and tied round
with hands of stiff paper, ornamented with a
red ribband, at one end stamped figures upon
silver plating, to make it very showy: the
love of finery being as strong in the common
Spaniard, as his laziness. This saine dispo-
silion, of judging every thing by the eye,
makes it necessary to give the linens, like
wise, a fine gloss; and various inventions are
used for the purpose: among which, a ma-
chine used by Mr. Gentsch, another princi-
pal merchant of Schmiedeberg, most attract-
ed our attention. It is put in motion by the
means of wheels, which are turned by water,
like a common water-mill, and four thick
plates of glass, of a circular form, and round
edges, are made to pass backwards and for-
wards, over as many pieces of linen, which
by the same process, are made to unroll and
pass under them. They really give it a beau-
tiful gloss; but from the extreme pressure
they apply to it, must be hurtful to the arti-
cle itself. Undoubtedly the linen is in its
most perfect condition, as it comes from the
peasant's hands, when the flax has undergone
the operations of spinning and weaving-If
nothing further were done to it, there can be
no doubt but it would last double the time.
The whole business of bleaching, fulling,
mangling, and glossing, is but a continued
effort to make the article look fairer, and, at
the same time, to rend its texture: it is the
art of a prostitute, who paints the deeper, the
more she is racked with disease."

From the etymology of the technical terms in use, it appears that the make of linen began in Spain, then migrated to Flanders and its neighbourhood, and next penetrated to Germany. Another paragraph, which will appear curious to commercial readers, shall be extracted from the xviiith letter.

"Mr. Jopfer asked me if I could recommend any mercantile houses to him in New York, Philadelphia, or Baltimore, as perfectly enre houses, to whom he could safely consigu mens; and the same question has been asked me by other merchants in these towns; but I have ventured only to name Mr. -, at Boston, and that without knowing whether it would be agreeable to him. I will thank you to send me one or two other names of merchants in each of those towns who do business upon consignments, and who enjoy the most firmly-established credit. But let them be genuine, solid merchants, whose credit is founded upon their character for homety, and not, as is too common in our country, upon the extravagant extent of their

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enterprises. I shall likewise be obliged to
you to make some enquiries what was the
situation, in point of pecuniary circumstances,
of South Carolina, when he
of Mr.
died; for he owed about four thousand
pounds sterling to Mr. Hasenelever, who ne
ver could obtain the payment of it in his life-
time, and whose daughter has been equally
unsuccessful in her application for it since his
decease."

We incline to think that this method of advertising the complaints of injured merchants against their correspondents may be rendered conducive to mercantile probity. It is but too true that the interests of very remote and distant connexions are sometimes overlooked by those, who are very careful to merit the good word of neighbours and acquaintance. Merchants are every where great readers, especially of the living languages; and if a few commercial tourists have the information and the courage to denounce the remarkable instances of capitals detained and charges accumu lated unjustly, they may found among traders a solicitude for character of the large scale, for cosmopolitical reputation, analogous in its effect to the pursuit of the good opinion of one's neighbours.

The xviith letter describes a festival novel by its very antiqueness of taste.

"The shortness of my paper and of my time, yesterday abridged my description of the natural ruins at Alersbach, one of the most

curious objects we havs yet viewed upon this journey. As I was closing my leter, the king and queen passed under our windows, on their way to Fürstenstein: there a double entertainment, combining the fashionable amusements of ancient and modern times, a carousal and a masquerade, was prepared for them.

"The carousal was in a style of great splendour and magnificence. The sixteen knights, the herald, and the banneret, were clad, not in armour, but in the fashionable full dress of the age of Charles V. and Francis I. The ceremonies were performed with rigorous accuracy, according to the usages of chivalry. The exercises of the knights were, in themselves, nothing at all. The highest proof of skill was to take a ring from the hand of a statue, with the point of a spear, upon a horse at full gallop even this very few of them succeeded in doing. At any riding amphitheatre in Europe, or America, may be seen for half a crown the same things performed with infinitely more skill and address. But the close adherence to the forms usual in the times when knighthood was in its glory; the pomp and solemnity of the representation,

the contrast between the grandeur of the spectacle and the old ruined walls, the relics of five centuries; and between the romantic wildness of the extensive prospect around, and the crowded thousands who were present to see the show; all contributed to produce a pleasing effect. The four most successful knights received medals of different value, proportioned to the degree of the prize they obtained. The queen hung the medals upon their necks. It was expected that after the names of the victors had been proclaimed, and the herald had thrice called out to ask if any knight were yet disposed to dispute the prízes adjudged, a strange knight would appear, and enter the lists to renew the contest for the first medal; but this expectation was disappointed.

The masked ball was given in the house where the count now resides, an elegaut and richly furnished modern building, which was illuminated upon the occasion. There were scarcely any masks in character, and no attempt was made by those that were to support it: upon the whole it was very dull. The principal company consisted of the knights, who had performed at the carousal, and their ladies: three quarters of these, to say the least, were dissatisfied at the issue of the day, in which, as is very common on such occasions, the race was not to the swift, or the battle to the strong; for it was supposed, that the very best riders of the company, failed in obtaining any one of the prizes. Thus the countenances in shade, and the multitude of black dominos, with unmeaning or hideous masks, gave the whole rather the appearance of a funeral procession than of a high festivity. We stayed not more than half an hour, and a little after midnight returned to our inn at Waldenburg."

In the account of the public library at Breslaw, the following fact, very interesting to the British antiquary, is stated.

plicity fill the first half of this volume: the second half is occupied by a geogra phical, statistical and historical sketch of Silesia. The account of its learned men will most interest our readers.

"Of the three chief worthies, whose names deserve above the rest to be recorded, Opitz, Wolff, and Garve, that of the second only has been much heard of beyond the bounds of Germany.

"Martin Opitz may truly be considered as the father of German poetry. He was born at Bunzlaw in 1597, and died at Dantzig in 1639. He wrote in verse and in prose, in Latin and in German; original translations, and imitations. His original poems consist of an Eulogium upon the God of War ; a Description of Mount Vesuvius; Verses in Praise of Bacchus; Panegyrics upon distinguished Persons, his cotemporaries; Epithalamiums, Funeral Songs, Elegies, Odes, Sonnets, Epigrams, &c. His translations, of tragedies from Sophocles and Seneca; of the Psalms, Solomon's Song, and the Lamenta tions; of Cato's Distichs, and from sundry other classics. He likewise put the Treatise of Grotius, upon the Truth of the Christian Religion, into German verse. He published, in prose, a Treatise upon German Prosody; and although the poets of the present age have introduced a greater variety of measures, with all the forms of the Latin and Lyric epic and lyric verse, as well as the English blank verse; yet, for the great essentials of poe tical genius and harmonious numbers, it is said by competent judges that he has been surpassed by none of the German poets of the present age. His most common measure of verse is the alexandrine, which in his age was much used by the English poets; though afterwards, with reason, abandoned by them,

as too formal and monotonous: it is the measure of Drayton's Polyolbion.

"Christian Wolff, one of the most eminent moral philosophers of the last century, was born at Breslaw in 1679, and received his early education at the Magdalen school in that town, as Opitz had done before. Being the son of a poor, though reputable tanner, he had not the means of pursuing his studies to the extent which his inclinations urged; but it is the peculiar prerogative of genius, not only to burst through all restraints of this nature, but often to turn them to the greatest account. Wolff happened to be the owner of a single book which was Euclid's Elements, with a comment by Clavius; this, for the want of others from which to satiate his thirst of knowledge, he was obliged to study incessantly. When this hed fixed the application of his mind to geometry, he procured, by frequenting the public library, the means of studying a system of algebra by the same Clavius. While he was thus employed, his curiosity often induced his atten Twenty-nine letters of agreeable sim- dance at the public disputations held in the

"It contains, besides many large and costly compilations in print, a number of valuable manuscripts, among which is a copy of Froissart's Chronicle, in four large folio volumes, written upon parchment, and adorned with a great number of coloured drawings, executed in the best manner of the age when it was written. Its date is of 1468, and it contains about one third more matter than the printed edition of Froissart, whose editor thought it expedient to omit every thing which he thought would not redound to the honour of the nation. I asked Mr. Scheibal, the present librarian, why he did not publish an edition of the book from this genuine monuscript. He said that such things could be undertaken at this time only in England, and that the work in Germany would not pay the expence of the publication."

catholic colleges, and his taking a part in them. He says himself that the concurrence of these circumstances first led him to the idea, that geometrical demonstration was no more than a series of duly connected syliogists, such as he was in the habit of using to support his theses at the disputations. This one idea was the foundation of all his fame, and the origin of the method which he always pursued in his philosophical works--that of adopting the forms of geometrical reasoning to the subjects of moral philosophy. With some difficulty, and by pecuniary assist ance from the magistrates of his native place, he succeeded in procuring the advantage of instruction at the university Jena, and afterwards that of Leipzig. His first publication was a probationary dissertation to obtain the degree of master of arts. In this treatise he unfolded his system of applying mathematics to moral pholosophy; a system to which he adhered in all his subsequent voluminous writings. At Leipzig he became acquainted with Leibnitz, and adopted his theory, so much celebrated and so much ridiculed, of the pre-established harmony. In 1707, Wolff became professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Halle, where, by the superior splendor of his repu tation, and weight of influence, he excited the malevolence and envy of two professors, his colleagues, named Lange and Gundling. They attacked, and procured others to attack Iris writings; but finding themselves unsuccessful in that field, they tried another with happier effect. They had appealed to the king of Prussia, Frederick William I, father of the great Frederick, and protector of the niversity, stating the necessity of suppressing Wolff's doctrine of pre-established harmony, which they contended was tantamount to fatalism. The king, who knew as little about one as the other, and thought it only a dispate concerning hard words, favoured Wolff the most, as the most profitable professor, and prohibited all further attack against him. Lange and Gandling, however, by working with the logic of a sort of court buffoon, who was likewise president of the Academy of Sciences, upon the sagacity of two generals, at length succeeded in making the king comprehend, that pre-established harmony made an a mere machine, and of course made it perfectly a blameless action in a soldier to de

To confirm this ingenious theory, the two generals complained, that since the promalation of those pernicious doctrines, the desertion among the troops had actually inercased to an alarming degree. There is no Lentration so acute, no address so well aphed, as that of dulness, inspired by malice at eary, and working for the ruin of genius. The rivals of Wolff had touched the true string to the king's heart. He was now sure the pre-established harmony meant atheism, or high treason, or both, and instantly dised Wolff from his professorship, with Avs. Rev. VOL. IIJ.

an order to withdraw from Halle within 24 hours, and from the Prussian territories within two days, upon pain of death. The ba nished philosopher found, however, a new patron in the king of Sweden, then landgrave of Hesse Cassel, who gave him a professorship at Marburg, with the same rights and distinctions he had enjoyed at Halle. The Prussian university was deserted by most of its students; and Frederick William began to doubt of the pernicious tendency of pre-establised harmony. At this stage of the business, in the true spirit of despotism, hang first and then try, he ordered tour ecclesiastics of Berlin to examine and make report upon the writings of Wolff. The report was altogether favourable; and the king, at two different periods, in 1733 and 1739, made advances and proposals to draw back the professor to Halle, which he with proper spirit and dignity rejected. At the invitation of Frede rick II. however, upon his accession, and with the king of Sweden's consent, he returned, and was reinstated at Halle, with a handsome salary, the title of privy counsellor, and the liberty of lecturing as he should think proper, without limitation. He afterwards was appointed chancellor of the university, and, in 1745, was created a baron by the elector of Bavaria. His fame and his doctrines we e now triumphant in every part of the learne world; but found, before his death, more formidable enemies in Maupertus and Voltai e than Lange and Gundling had been. He died in 1754. The credit of his philosophy began already to decline; and at this day thousands and thousands of readers, perfectly familiar with Voltaire's ridicule of preestablished harmony, know not that it was pointed more at Wolff than against Leibnitz,

"Christian Garve was born at Breslau in 1742, and educated at the universities of Halle and Leipzig, where he was for some time professor of moral philosophy. The latter part of his life he spent in his native city, where he died in the year 1799, His works are numerous, originals and translations; but almost wholly upon ethical subjects. His translation and comment upon Cicero's Offices, done at the request of Frederick II.is said to be such as if it had been die tated by the very genius of the Roman philosopher. His review of Mendelssohn's Phadon, and his remarks upon Ferguson's Moral Philosophy, these writers declare they would rather have written than the books, themselves. Anong his most celebrated prodoctions is a Treatise upon the Agreement between Morals and Politics. The last work he published was Anecdotes of Frederick 11. and of his Conversations with him. He is certainly to be esteemed one of the first names in German literature."

To characterize a book executed with propriety (the 259th page ought howe ver to have been struck out at the print/

E

ing office) is less easy, than where the features are marked, or the manner original. Not considering the author as one whose right it is, uncensured, to be dull; we do not wish to be so civil as to prove unjust. We have derived some amuse

ment if not delight from his narrative, and some information if not instruction from his facts and in general we have noticed his style with content, his materials with satisfaction, and his reflexions with acquiesence.

ART. IX. A Tour through the British West Indies in the Years 1802 and 1803, giving a particular Account of the Bahama Isles. By DANIEL M'KINNEN, Esq. Svo. pp. 272.

FEW literary travellers have of late years visited our colonial possessions, either in the east or in the west. The spirit of enterprise which supplies them with new adventurers is rarely connected with the love of letters, and for curiosity they are too distant, the climate too hazardous, and the objects themselves not sufficiently inviting. This is more particularly true of the West than of the East Indies: the original islanders have long since been extirpated, their language has perished with them, and they were in too rude a state of society to have left any monuments of art or power. Having extirpated these unhappy and unoffending people by cruelties that will for ever remain the foul reproach of their history, the Europeans continue to supply their place and keep up a forced and scanty population by means as atrocious as the first depopulation. Mantherefore presents nothing to tempt the traveller, for to the philosopher these islands offer nothing but what is humiliating and melancholy, either in their past history, their present state, or their future prospects. The beauties of nature are indeed unequalled there, but that inducement is more than counteracted by the dreadful pestilence, which seems destined to root out a race that has for so many generations so wantonly and wickedly abused its power, and defied the judgment of Almighty

God.

We feel therefore obliged to Mr. M Kinnen for the volume now before us : he who communicates information to the public is entitled to their grati tude, and from such writers we are wil. ling and glad to learn.

This gentleman left England in the summer of 1802. During the passage, though the air in the lower regions ge. nerally came from the east, he observed an upper stratum of thin clouds continually moving from the westward. A remarkable instance of the exhilarating effects of climate is mentioned; a young

person labouring under a severe pulmonic affection, which had confined him all the early part of the passage to his bed, on approaching the tropic, appeared, as it were, suddenly to wake from a painful dream, and with extravagant signs of joy ran about the deck, exclaiming, that an oppressive load had been taken from his head. Invalids who have themselves experienced the delightful feelings induced by a genial atmosphere, will readily believe this statement.

Our traveller, or rather voyager, first landed at Barbadoes.

"The present appearance of the town I must confess disappointed and displeased me very much on landing. As few nations can be put in the least competition with the English for cleanliness, and all the external signs of comfort about their habitations, I was sensibly struck with the disagreeable aspect of a place of so much consequence in the West Indies as Bridge Town. Its streets in a great measure unpaved; the decayed and warped figure of the wooden houses; the dirty and unfinished fronts of the brick dwellings, with smutty timbers and staggering piazzas, excite at first an idea that the national character was totally vitiated or lost in this torrid climate. But a little reflection satisfied me that it might be ascribed altogether to the influence of causes which do not in the least derogate from the colonial taste for cleanliness and comfort. The perpetual heat, interrupted only by occasional showers of heavy rain, suceceded by an immediate blaze of sunshine, cannot fail to penetrate and consume any substance constantly exposed to the wea ther. Hence the crumbling and dilapidated appearance of all the buildings,-particularly about their roofs and basements, which are more severely affected by the heat and damps. The strong exhalations also and mingled odours of the streets, which immediately follow the rain, are not a little disagreeable to a new-comer; for an intelligent nose may analyze the essences of rum, sugar, and melasses, blending with the fragrance of fruits and vegetables, and the fetid effluvia of mud considered, that most of the principal inha and negro population. It is further to be bitants of the towns intend their dwellings merely as places of temporary residence, till

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