ART. 62.

Hermes unmasked; or the Art of Speech founded on the Aljo ciation of Words and Ideas. With en Anfwer to Dr. Vincent's Hypothefts of the Greek Verb. By Capt. Thomas Gunter Brown.

128 P. 2s. 6d.

Payne. 1795.

12mo.

ART. 53. Hermes unmasked, Letters III. and IV. Containing the Mysteries of Metaphyfics. With an Aufwer to M. le President de Braffes's Syftem of imitative Sound. 12mo. 72 PP. Is. 6d. Ridgway. 1796.

2

Thefe two little tracts appear to confift merely of what the French call badinage, the Irish botheration; but for which our language affords perhaps no more dignified term than fun. If they are intended to convey any ferious pofition, it is this: Any object, of any fort, may ferve to make a part of fpeech of any kind." Part I. p. 55. The fublimity and ufefulnefs of which will easily be perceived. Thus, inftead of deriving language from nouns and verbs, this author contends that all words were originally nouns; though, from his own arguments, they must rather have been interjections. But, let them have originated as they would, verbs do now exift, and the question with Dr. Vincent (whom he pretends to anfwer) was, how thofe which are most intricate may be fuppofed to have been formed: in tracing which, this author will afford no great affiitance. The jefts in this fingular attempt at humourous grammar and metaphyfics, are not very good; that on Billy and Silly, in part. i. p. 49, is too nonfenfical even for the author's favourite, the nursery. But they are aimed against learning, kings, governments, bishops, and Christianity; confequently they will be relished, however bad, by perfons who, having run out their fortunes, are become democratical, or, having mislaid their morals, are become deifical. The'publifher has very properly been changed, in the fecond part, from Payne to Ridgway.

ART. 64. Obfervations on the Genus Mefembryanthemum, in Two Parts; containing fcientific Defcriptions of above One Hundred and Thirty Species, about Fifty of which are new; Directions for their Management; new Arrangements of the Species; References to Authors; and a great Variety of critical, philofophical, and explanatory Remarks. By Adrian Hardy Harworth, late of Cottingham, Yorkshire, now of Little Chelsea. 8vo. 480 pp. 6s. 1794.

A whole volume on one genus of plants was rather formidable, and two years have therefore elapfed before we could conquer it. The beft defence for the author's prolixity is in the homely proverb, " ftore is no fore," though perhaps this may be doubted, when the ftore is to be paid for. Mr. H. feems to be a good gardener.

ART. 65. A practical Treatife on Planting, and the Management of Woods and Coppices, by S. H. Efq. M. R. I. A. and Member of the Committee of Agriculture of the Dublin Society, &c. &c. Crown 8vo. 189 pp. 6s. Sleater, Dublin. Allen and Weft, London. 1794. To a foreign vifitor, and one fo elegant, we certainly should have paid an earlier attention, had he not unfortunately fallen into bad com

pany,

pany, and been forgotten, among authors" of iefs mark and likelihocd." No book of the kind could lefs deferve to be forgotten. It appears to us to be as ufeful as it is neat in its decorations, which is not a little for every break has a vignette, well engraved on copper; and the prints required for illuftration are alfo executed in a pleafing manner. Mr. Hayes of Avondale, for fuch we understand to be the author's name and defcription, wrote in confequence of the exprefs defire of many refpectable members of the Dublin Society, and treats on the enclosure of ground; on the nursery; on pruning at the time of tranfplanting; on planting; on the management of woods; the value of oak at different periods of growth; lofs from premature felling; advantages of the law in favour of tenants planting and inclofing, and the bounties offered; dire ions for various compofitions for healing wounds in trees; the magnitude of feveral trees in Ireland, and fome in England; their rapid growth in particular fituations in Ireland; and the bounties pad by the Dublin Society for various circumftances in the propagation and file of trees. At p. 67, the vignette exhibits a view of a wood-houfe at Avondale, in which, as well as in many other parts of the book, the taste of the author appears to advantage. One of the most remarkable accounts is that of an oak, on the Shillela eftate, the planks of which, exclufive of two mil-fharts, were fold for 250l. It was a tree forked from the ground, and had, Mr. H thinks, proceeded from the root of a tree which had once been felled, though, in all probability, at no advanced age. It is not yet too late to recommend this little book to all perfons curious in thefe fubjects, which we do very fincerely.

ART. 66. The Wanderer; or, A Collection of Anecdotes and Incidents, with Reflections, political and religious, during tre Excurfims in 1791 and 1793, in France, Germany, and Italy. By J Jhua Lucock Wilkinfon, of Gray's Inn. 2 Vols. 12mo. 75. Jordan. 1795.

If it be any merit in a book, that the contents correfpond to the title, Mr. Wilkinfon's volumes have indifputably this merit, for a more complete wanderer has feldom appeared before an intelligent public. The author affumes a manner to which his talents are by no means equal, and jumbles together a mafs of reflections and anecdotes, upon which the moft fubtle commentator would find a difficulty in putting any reasonable conftruction. As deviations from common sense ought always to be repaid by fome luminous exchange, we have been a little difappointed, in tracing throughout thefe travelling lucubrations, fo fmall a portion of embellishment and fiction. We have found gravity without fenfe, fentiment without character, and the attempt at wit, but without point. It would be ufelefs to detail the incongruities which occur in thefe volumes of The Wanderer. The author profeffes to have derived from his tour a confiderable acceffion to his bodily vigour; we anxiously hope that the tour he projects (for he has not yet done wandering) may operate with equal advantage upon the maladies of his mind. Should this expedient fail, we fhall feel ourselves bound to recommend Mr. W. to the caution of the public, and the vigilance of his friends.

ART.

ART. 67. Brooke's general Gazetteer abridged. Containing a grogra phical Defcription of the Countries, Cities, Towns, Forts, Seas, Rivers, Lakes, Mountains, Capes, c. in the known World; with the Longitude and Latitude, Bearings and Distances from Remarkable Places; and the Events by which they have been diftinguished. Illuftrated with Maps. 12mo. About 28 Sheets. 5s. Law, and the chief Bookfellers of London. 1796.

That a book intended for the purposes to which gazetteers were originally deftined, fhould be portable and convenient in fize, is perfectly clear. The public has now the choice fairly offered, between the copioufnefs of information contained in the larger work, and the compactnefs of utility promifed by this. We doubt not that the fale will quickly prove the latter qualities to be held in no fmall eftimation.

ART. 68. Defcriptions and Explanations of fome Remains of Roman Antiquities, dug up in the City of Bath, in the Year 1790, with an Engraving, from Drawings made on the Spot. By Governor Pownall. 4to. 29 pp. 2s. 6d. Cruttwell, Bath; Dilly, London. 1795.

This account of the architectural fragments found at Bath, was fent to the Society of Antiquaries in February, 1791, and there read, but under exprefs ftipulation, that it fhould not be copied in their mi nutes, or inferted in their Archeologia :. because the author was unwilling to interfere with the defign of Mr. Baldwin, an architect at Bath, who then profeffed an intention to publifh drawings which he had made from the fame remains. Mr. B. has never published, and therefore Governor Pownall, at the date of this tract, thought it fair to wave the delicacy by which he had been fo long reftrained. Drawings by Sir H. Englefield, from thefe antiquities, were published in the Archæologia for 1791, but the prefent delineations are formed by exact measurement, upon a fcale of half an inch to a foot, by Governor Pownall himself. The illuftrations of the Governor, in which much learning is difplayed, tend to this conclufion: "That this curious piece of antiquity (the principal piece) is a fragment of a temple of Se, and the caput pinnatum crowned with the ferpentine diadem, is the cherubic emblem of Sol, placed in the tympanum of the pediment." And further that the "circumfcribing ciyic crown denotes that the temple was dedicated to Sol, fpecifically as the civic patron God of the Aqua Solis (or Bath) facred to him." The author has also, both learnedly and ingenioufly, aimed at completing the broken infcription found at the fame place; and endeavoured to afcertain the architecture of the temple. As thefe fragments of genuine antiquity are justly objects of curiofity to thofe who vifit Bath, this tract will be highly acceptable to all whofe curiofity goes beyond the mere unreflecting gratification of the eye.

ART.

ART. 69. A new Book of Intereft, containing aliquot Tables, truly proportioned to any given Rate, compiled for the Ufe of the Merchant, Banker, Public Offices, and all other Perfons concerned in interest Accounts. Wherein is demonftrated, by various arithmetical Calculations, that the Tables in all the common intereft Books, conftantly make the In. tereft less than the true Amount, and that a Perfeverance in their Use, or calculating by the Pen, on the Principles they are compofed, will, in all inftances, prove injurious to the Bank of England, to Commerce, to funded Property, to public Companies, to the Individual, and to the Nation in General. By William Wallace, commercial Accountant.

Small 4to. 132 pp.

Ios. 6d. Stockdale. 1794.

The great objection of this author to the prefent books of intereft is, that they calculate the intereft for days, by a divifor of 365, which makes them inconfiftent with themselves; for inftance, if you calculate by them the intereft on eleven months, and on the number of days in eleven months, the accounts will not tally. He maintains that 336 is the right divifor to find the intereft on days proportionable to the yearly or half-yearly intereft, and not 365: and his tables are conftructed accordingly. This appears a found and important dif, tinction. We cannot enter into the particulars of this work, but recommend it to the confideration of merchants.

ART. 70. A new, correct, and much improved Hiftory of the Isle of Wight, from the earliest Times of authentic Information to the prefent Period, comprehending whatever is curious or worthy of Attention in natural Hiftory, with its civil, eccl fiaftical, and military State in the various Ages, both ancient and modern, &c. &c. To the whole is prefixed a new and very elegant Map of the land, c. c. 8vo. 666 PP. 8s. Albin, Newport; Scatcherd and Whitaker, Lon

don, 1795.

The editor of this volume lives upon the charming and romantic ifland, which he here defcribes, and has taken confiderable pains to authenticate the facts which are interspersed in his performance. The . introduction ftates alfo that he has had various communications from the gentlemen of the island, and it is obvious that the map is upon a large and improved scale, and we believe one of the most accurate which has yet been published, Mr. Albin is confequendly entitled to the thanks of the public, and we doubt not but he will receive a proper remuneration in a large and extenfive fale of his important and entertaining performance,

ART. 71. The Hiftory of the Isle of Wight, military, ecclefiaftical, civil, and natural; to which is added a View of its Agriculture, by the Rev. Richard Warren. 8vo, 311 pp. 6s. Cadell and Davies. 1795.

This publication is no lefs entitled to our commendation than the preceding, and though lefs extenfive, contains information equally authentic

authentic and equally fatisfactory, with refpet to the real history and prefent condition of the island. The map, however, is much inferior.

ART. 72. Smithfield Market, an Essay, including a Plan for the better Regulation of Drovers, the Sale of live Stock in the London Markets, and for the abolishing the Trade of a wholefale Butcher; with a Reply to the Report of the Committee of wholefale Butchers, by Henry King and F. Edmunds. The Second Edition, corrected and enlarged, with a Poftfcript, fhoring the Power of the People to reduce the Price of butcher's Meat in the Metropolis and its Environs. 8vo. 25. Bingley. 1796.

100 PP.

This well-meaning writer thinks, among other things, that the mode for lowering the price of butcher's meat, would be, firft, that all falefmen for cattle fhall be appointed by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and that no falefman fhall exercife the occupation of a cutting butcher. 2dly. that no perfon fhall purchase on one market day more than eight head of beaft, forty fheep, and the fame number of lambs. 3dly, that returns of all live-flock from the country intended for the Smithfield market, fhall be made to the clerk of the market. The writer gives fome very pointed and fenfible reafons to fhow that fuch regulations would be of the greatest utility. Mr. Bingley ftrongly oppofes the arguments of the committee of wholefale butchers, who, as he thinks, have impofed upon Mr. Pitt and the nation. He fhrewdly analyfes their report, and his obfervations well deferve the attention of the public. If what he alledges concerning the article of veal be accurate, the high price of that article feems fairly imputable to a kind of monopoly. It is well known," fays Mr. Bingley," that three carcafe butchers kill one thousand calves per week, which is more than is flaughtered by all the cutting butchers in London, in the fame space of time." The author, in what he fays of wild beafts, fuffers his zeal to tranfport him too far. He thinks, wildly enough, "that if the throats of all the wild beafts in the Tower, &c. &c. were cut, it would fave many thousand pounds a year in the pocket of the people."

ART. 3. Pleafant Paftime for a Christmas Evening; of Cofmopolitus Occultarius Philanthropos Forefight. out Permion, to the Hon. Richard Keppel Craven. Is. 6d. Robinfons. 1795.

or the Predictions Dedicated, with12mo. 83 PP.

A book of fortune-telling questions and anfwers for children: dedicated to a young gentleman, in or under his teens.

FOREIGN