attend upon its ordinances, than those who have received no religious culture. The sentiment, it seems, appeared full of heterodoxy to some northern critics, who attacked it violently, in a periodical work of that day. To that absurd and auncandid criticism, the Doctor seems to allude, when he says, p. 198, I am sorry to find that some zealous contenders for this doctrine furnish too fair a pretence for such conclusions, by alledging that there is no more reason to hope for the salvation of those who are trained up to attend the means of grace, than of those who cast off equally the fear of God and of man." The first of the discourses before us, appears to have been intended to support the author's former sentiments, and the others to demonstrate the consistency of these sentiments with the sovereignty of grace, and the necessity of Divine agency in the conversion of sinners. In these discourses, the author very clearly proves, that, whatever appearances of religion may be found in natural men, there can be nothing of the reality but by a Divine influence, and that the operations of the Spirit of God depend not upon the actions of men. At the same time, he shews that there are means of salvation which every sinner is bound to use, and that, by the use of them, his salvation becomes the more probable; that men are likewise bound to exert themselves for the salvation of their neighbours, and are encouraged to hope for success.

But we must recommend it to our readers to peruse these discourses for themselves, being persuaded that every person will find in them some useful instruction. We cannot take our leave of this volume without noticing that the paper is very indifferent, and the printing still worse. It is vexatious to see so much good sense presented in such a form, as to intimate that it is intended only for the very lowest class of readers. Instruction otight doubtless to be rendered as cheap as possible, but we know that, in these times of elegance, a reader of taste would be ashamed to be caught reading a shabby duodecimo with coarse paper and a worn out type:

We owe an apology to the worthy author for neglecting this volume so long. The delay has been involuntary, and we shall endeavour to make amends, by noticing, as soon as possible,the lectures which he has recently published on the history of Joseph.

Art. III. Browne's Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria, concluded from 373.

HAVING given a geographical sketch of Darfur from Mr. B'.s information, we shall follow him in his journey. He joined the caravan for Darfur, at Assiut, and accompanied it through El-aah, the greater Oasis, of which he gives scarcely

any account, except that Charje, its principal village, lies in 26° 25' N. Lat. 29° 40' E. Long. and Mughess, its southern extremity, in 25° 18' N. Lat. 29° 34' E. Long. The Beys of Southern Egypt have two officers residing in El-wah. Selimé, a small verdant (but uninhabited) spot, amidst the desert, is placed in 22° 15' N. Lat. 30° 15' E. Long. The track thus far, is the same with that which the caravans between Cairo and Sennaar formerly passed to Moscho, Dongola, and Korti; of which a brief account was given by Poncet, at the close of the seventeenth century. Our traveller, proceeding over a vast remaining desert, reached Sweini in Darfur, 23d June 1793, just after the commencement of the periodical rains, and two months after his departure from Cairo. Here he received orders from Sultan Abd-el-rachman, to repair to Cobbé, and to remain there, till permission for his removal should be given. This restraint greatly disappointed Mr. B.; and distressed him so much as to induce a month's illness. He expected, as a stranger, to have been immediately admitted to an audience with the Sultan, although unprovided with any other introduction than a present; and he attributed his retention at Cobbé, to the machinations of an Egyptian, whom he had hired to manage his barter for necessaries in Darfur, there being no artificial medium of exchange. This man, behaving insolently on the road, had been menaced with death by our traveller; although unhappily dependent on so unworthy an agent. The late Sultan Teraub was said to have been attentive to foreigners in general, but Abd-el-rachman seemed to entertain as much contempt for a Frank, as might have been expected from any other Mahometan. In short, we see nothing wonderful in Mr. B.'s reception in Darfur, but that he should not have used stronger precautions against exposing himself to it. When recovered he repaired to El Fasher, which we supposed to have been a town, from his narrative; but as the Sultan is always said to be at El Fasher, and was seen by Mr. B. in three different parts of the country, we conclude this name to be that of his moveable court. At first, our author could only gain access to one of the Sultan's ministers; who seized what he chose of Mr. B.'s property, and returned for it what he thought proper, but incomparably less than the owner judged to be so. With this additional vexation, our traveller returned to Cobbé; where he passed the winter of 1793. Three months of the ensuing summer were spent by him in the vicinity of the court, without obtaining an audience of Abd-el-rachman: but having, by an indiscretion, exposed himself to the malice of his agent and others, he was at length called before that monarch; who shewed every disposition to render him justice, and afterwards made him some compensation for the pro

perty of which he had been plundered. To receive a part of this, he repaired to Gidid, which was the farthest extent of his travels in Darfur.

Mr. B. laboured to obtain permission to go eastward to Sennaar, westward to Bergoo, or southward, with any party that was employed in procuring slaves: but each request was denied, and apparently on reasonable grounds. During two more years, he was chiefly occupied in medical attendance on persons belonging to the court; but still usually resided under the same roof with his treacherous agent, and even his food was prepared by slaves which the latter had acquired by robbing him. This appears more unaccountable, than that he narrowly escaped being destroyed by poison mixed with his victuals; the slave who brought it, betraying her master's villainy, at the hazard of her own life. At length, after renewing his application to the Sultan, for leave to pass through Kordofan to Seunaar, Mr. B. joined the first caravan which had set out for Egypt, from the time of his arrival in Darfur; although, two days before his departure, he was informed, that he might proceed to Sennaar. He suspected that mischief was couched under this unexpected permission: but without that discouragement to avail himself of it, it cannot be thought strange that he declined the journey; as it appears, that his whole exchangeable property, on quitting Darfur, amounted only to eight piastres.

M. B.'s disappointment of crossing Kordofan, seems to us less to be regretted, than that he should have had so little opportunity of exploring the country in which he so long resided. That he collected numerous particulars respecting it, is evinced by the abstract which we have given; and only such as are chiefly geographical, are included in our epitome: but so little does the southern part of Darfur seem to be known by him, that, although it is said to be much more fertile than the northern territory, every town that he has named, is situated in the latter. Could he have reached Sennaar or even Abyssinia, little addition would probably have been made to our information of that country, more than the changes which have occurred in them, since Bruce's departure thence in 1772. The intercourse of the latter with the rest of the Globe seems to have been almost totally suspended. The Coptic patriarch at Alexandria had not heard of his Abyssinian disciples since the year 1787; nor the Roman Propagandists much (if any) later, from a missionary of their society, who resided at Gondar as a physician. An Egyptian priest, of that communion, penetrated to Sennaar, during Mr. B.'s abode in Darfur; but is said to have been assassinated between that city and Teawa. An Englishman named Robarts, in 1788, attempted entering

Abyssinia by Massuah; and being disappointed, went from Mocha to Hindustan, whence he returned to Alexandria, and died in the Franciscan convent at that place.

The caravan with which Mr. B. returned, is stated to have been long detained by the Sultan, that he might dispose with greater profit, of articles which he had, in the mean time, dispatched to the market of Cairo, by two parties of his own servants. Our traveller left Cobbé, 3d March 1796; and after tedious delays in the outset, returned safely to Cairo, by the same route that he had travelled before. He finally left that city early in the following December; and passed from Damietta to Jaffa, whence he paid a visit to Jerusalem. A correction in his present edition, induces us to pause at this stage of his journey. He remarks, that

A very considerable part of the inhabitants is Christian, between whom and the Muslims there exists implacable hatred. Each party being firmly persuaded, that he is asserting the cause of the Deity, against his enemies; and that to obtain a victory so laudable, all means are allowable." p. 415.

The following note is subjoined.

The author having understood, that this passage, as it was printed in the first edition, had been received as conveying more than a just censure on the blind zeal and want of charity, in the votaries of each re ligion, has made an alteration in the present. If moderate men were of fended at the sentiment, they will allow for the feelings of the writer, ope rated on by witnessing the frantic malevolence of ignorant enthusiastics to each other. Many passages were taken from his journal in the same words in which they were written on the spot. And, in general, it was designed to transfuse into the narrative the feelings of the occasion to which hẹ alludes.

Of bigoted persons he neither seeks the praise nor deprecates the censure. He disclaims the idea of attempting to wrest from a large portion of mankind, the columns which uphold their felicity and peace of mind. Nevertheless, it seems difficult to deny, that the confidence of being supported by divine authority, as such, has a tendency to produce acts of hostility toward those who are of a different persuasion.' p. 415.

In his former edition, our author had spoken of the infernal hatred which two divinely inspired religions could alone inspire.' We could not have recalled this truly infernal insinuation, had he renounced the sentiment, instead of merely clothing it in a more specious garb. Much previous knowledge is requisite to enable travellers to form a right judgement of what they meet with in various parts of the world; and it is greatly to be regretted that Mr. B. had not acquired some knowledge of the evidences, and the contents of the New Testament, before he left his native country. In no instance does he sink lower, when compared with Bruce, than in his ignorance on these important subjects. Had he not been

grossly uninformed respecting Christianity, he would have known, that instead of a confidence of its divine authority having a tendency to produce acts of hostility toward those who are of a different persuasion,' such acts are utterly incompatible with the belief of what Jesus did and taught.

Mr. B. proceeded through Naplus, and Nazareth, to Akka. Here he expected to have found his baggage, which had been intrusted to a boat at Jaffa; but he learned that this had been wrecked, on the passage, near Cæsarea and on repairing to the spot, he could only collect such articles as the neighbouring Arabs had not deemed worth the removal. The obscure manner in which the author hints, in his preface, at repeated losses of valuable papers, leaves us uncertain, whether the casualty just mentioned involved this kind of damage. A vocabulary of the language of Darfur, compiled by Mr. B., is enumerated among the articles missing. This privation, surely, could not render it impossible for him to have given some account of a language in which he had conversed nearly three years: and it should rather have stimulated him to the exertion. Afterwards, our traveller visited Tyre and Sidon; Kesrawan and Mount Libanus; Berytus and Tripoli; Laodicea, Aleppo, Antioch, Seleucia, Damascus, and Balbec. He informs us, that Malula and Mara, small towns on the road between the two last mentioned, are the only places where the Syriac language is still spoken, having been preserved there without the use of books. Returning to Damascus and Aleppo, Mr. B. proceeded through Aintab, Angora, Kostabea, Yeywa, and Ismit (Nicomedia) to Scutari and Constantinople; where he arrived, 9th December, 1797, twelvemonths after his departure from Cairo. The close of his travels cannot be more concisely described, than by the last paragraph of his narrative.

Proceeding through Wallachia to Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Leipsic, Potsdam, Berlin, and Hamburg, I arrived in London on 16th of September, 1798, after an absence of nearly seven years.' p. 508.

Beside the detail of his movements, and the description of Darfur, Mr. B.'s volume contains an abstract, of 26 pages, from Cardonne's IIistoire de l'Afrique sous la domination des Arabes; a comparative View of Life and Happiness in the East and in Europe; and an Appendix, in nine articles, several of which are merely extracts. The more valuable are, his illus trations of two maps which accompany his work, one of Darfur, the other of routes which are commonly passed between that and the adjacent countries; numerous itineraries of these routes, including the bearings and days journeys, with a few descriptive remarks; and a meteorological table kept in Darfur.

Having already extended this article beyond the length that