fectious. Befides, by their being at liberty, they are enabled to take a part in the bufinefs of the world; to manage domestic affairs, which are there regarded as their peculiar province; and to bear an almost equal part in the adventures of life; and thus to render themselves objects of esteem, when their personal attractions are no more. • Another circumftance highly favourable to the influence of the fair fex, in moderate climates, is, that in them their beauty and understanding accompany each other; fo that a woman is at the fame time an object of paffion and of refpect. This circumftance, joined to that of their being but one object, (polygamy not being practifed) and of confequence the hopes of offfpring depending on her only, inhances much their confequencein fociety and of courfe tends to render the manners of the other fex fuch as are agreeable to them; that is, attentive, polished, and elegant. : In Afia, the cafe is directly the reverfe; the women are there fecluded from converfation with the other fex, and are regarded chiefly in the light of an object for the gratification of paffion; and even this regard is divided among a humber. Their beauty is tranfient, their manners difpofed to be profligate, and their minds uncultivated; they bear no part in the affairs of life, and are esteemed to be in an inferior station in point of rank; confequently, they can neither be objects of refpect, esteem, or rational attachment. No wonder then, that the other fex fhould be little difpofed to cultivate a mode of behaviour adapted to their inclinations. In very cold countries, the fair fex, though under no restraint in point of perfonal confinement, are, as I have before remarked, but little refpected; and of confequence their intercourse with the other fex has but little effect upon the manners. In Ruffia, until of late years, they were held to be scarcely fuperior to domestic fervants; were accustomed to be beaten, at the pleasure of their husbands; and even the fign of efpoufal itfelf, was an inftrument of chastisement. By communication with other nations, this brutality is in a great measure worn off; and Ruffia, in confequence, rifes in the esteem and refpect of Europe: enough, however, is yet left to fhew the natural difpofition of the people. Some refpectable writers have attributed this fituation of the female fex in cold climates, to the rude state of the people, but without reason. Our ancestors, the ancient Germans, whofe country, though cold, was not extreme in degree, held the fair fex in the higheft eftimation, and even veneration; and the fame is the cafe with the favage nations in fome of the more temperate climates of America.' Dr. Falconer afterwards confiders the influence of climate upon the intellectual faculties; and treats first of a hot climate; beginning with obfervations on literature. He obferves, that the fame caufes which influence, the difpofition and manners, have also a proportionable effect upon the intel lects. lects. The great characteristic of the inhabitants of hot climates is fenfibility; the influence of which extends to the mental powers. Hence, our author obferves, the fruits of fancy and imagination have always abounded moft in the South; in fupport of which remark, he produces several authorities but that the feverer ftudies, and fuch as require diligence and perfeverance, as well as genius and fenfibility, have been lefs fuccessful in hot climates. : The author next examines the effects of a hot climate on the intellectual faculties, with respect to inventions and arts. The fenfibility and vivid imagination of hot climates, he remarks, have been favourable to fuggefting difcoveries; and this he endeavours to evince by a variety of examples. In the fubfequent chapter, Dr. Falconer traces the effect of a cold climate on the intellectual faculties, in regard to literature and the arts; and in the fixteenth, he purfues the fame enquiry, relative to a temperate climate. He obferves, that the inhabitants of temperate climates, of Europe especially, have far excelled the reft of the world in almost every article of literature; and that, though we allow to hot climates the priority in most inventions, yet, that the application and improvement of difcoveries is due in a much fuperior degree to temperate climates. In the fix chapters immediately fucceeding, Dr. Falconer confiders the influence of climate upon laws, cuftoms, the form of government, and religion; in accounting for the various modifications of all which, he has recourse to the different degrees of fenfibility, that diftinguish the inhabitants of hot, of cold, and of temperate climates. After treating of those subjects, the author mentions the in-. fluence of the properties and qualities of the air, which he had hitherto only confidered in refpect of its temperature. But he obferves that the air may affect us by other means, viz. by its weight, and peculiar impregnations. Of the latter, however, our knowlege is too imperfect to admit of much obfervation. In the second book, confifting of four chapters, the author treats of the influence of fituation and extent of a country; which, as well as its climate, is fuppofed to have some effect in feveral of the refpects above mentioned. The third book, containing five chapters, is employed in explaining the influence of the nature of the country itself; and the fourth book, comprehending two chapters, is devoted to the influence of population. The author endeavours to fhew, that the greater or fmaller number of inhabitants in a country, in proportion to its extent, is an active caufe in influencing the people. But not being guided in this enquiry by fuch fixed and determinate principles, as admit of a clear and fyftematic elucidation, we must refer our readers, for what the author advances on this fubject, to the work itfelf. fifth book, containing likewife two chapters, is employed on the influence of diet. From this book, we shall select what the author advances relative to the use of tea. The Tea appears, from the beft experiments, to produce fedative effects upon the nerves, diminishing their energy, and the tone of the mufcular fibres, and inducing a confiderable degree, both of fenfibility and irritability, upon the whole fyftem. It alfo promotes the thinner evacuations very powerfully, and diminishes the flesh and bulk of those who use it. Thefe effects tend to impair the ftrength, and promote the other confequences of it upon the nervous fyftem above described. Hence the ufe of tea has been found very agreeable to the ftudious, especially thofe engaged in the compofition of works of genius and imagination, and hence is emphatically ftyled the poet's friend. But, on the other hand, I believe that, at least with us, it has had the effect of enfeebling and enervating the bodies of our people, and of introducing feveral diforders that arife from laxity and debility; and has been of flill more confequence in making way for the use of fpirituous liquors, which are often taken to relieve that depreffion which tea occafions. From thefe effects of tea, I cannot but think that its confequences, on the whole, have been highly prejudicial. It evidently injures the health, and, by the confequences last mentioned, tends to corrupt the morals of the people: and, in my opinion, by the effects it produces upon the nerves, contributes to abate courage, vigour, and fteadiness of mind: circumftances furely of themselves fufficient to difcredit its use, with those who are engaged in any fituation of life that requires exertion and refolution. Perhaps, however, in the hot climates of China and India, the ufe of this liquor may not be fo prejudicial as in the colder ones; it may there tend to abate the wearinefs occafioned by heat, and, as a grateful diluent, promote the thinner evacuations; which poffibly may, by caufing it to pafs off quickly, counteract, in foine measure, its bad effects. But the noxious qualities of this plant are not unknown even in its native countries. The Japanese are fubject to the diabetes, and to confumptive diforders refembling the atrophy, from its ufe; and the Chinese, it is faid, are fo fenfible of these confequences, that they rarely drink green tea at all, which is the most remarkable for thefe effects. Perhaps the diminutive ftature, and cowardly, and at the fame time acute and tricking difpofition of the Chinese, may be owing, in no fmall degree, to the use of this vegetable.' The fubject of the fixth book, which occupies almost the half of the volume, is the influence of way of life. In treat ing iug of this fubject, the author confines himself, in general, to the various degrees of civilifation among mankind; adding, however, fome remarks on the different occupations and modes of living, that ufually occur in the progrefs of improvement. The first chapter treats of the influence of a favage state; the fecond, of the influence of a barbarous state, or way of life, upon mankind. The latter ftate the author diftinguishes from the former by fome particular circumftances, which it is unnecessary for us to mention. The third chapter delineates the effects of a life of agriculture upon mankind; the fourth, the effects of a commercial life; the fifth, the effects of literature and science; and the fixth, the effects of luxury and refinement. On a theory fo extenfive as that which Dr. Falconer has attempted to elucidate, many are the arguments fupported by fatisfactory obfervations; but numerous, likewife, must be thofe which are entirely conjectural, and are indebted for their origin only to the ingenuity of the writer. He has, however, treated this curious fubject, of the influence of climate, with great plaufibility; and, though we cannot always agree with him in opinion, in refpect to the efficacy of the causes which he affigns, we acknowlege that he, in general, applies with judgment the various facts collected for the establish`ment of his doctrines; and he difcovers an extent of enquiry, which must place his industry in the most favourable point of view. The Beauties of Spring. A Poem. 4to. 35. Nicoll. E do not know a more unfortunate circumftance for a WE young author, especially an anonymous one, than an injudicious title to his performance. If the greatest genius of the prefent age should produce a very excellent epic poem, and name it Paradife Loft, he would not perhaps receive more for the copy than Milton did for his immortal work on the fame fubject; and the dramatift who fhould write a good tra gedy on the ftory of Lear, or Macbeth, would hardly obtain a third night.-We are much afraid that the author of the Poem before us has taken a great deal of pains to very little purpofe. The beauties of fpring have already been fo amply defcribed, and fo nobly treated by Thomfon, that few readers will bring themselves to imagine that any other writer can treat this fubject with equal force, elegance, and propriety.The poem, notwithstanding, though it is too long, has many fine paffages, and is, undoubtedly, the work of a very able writer. The language throughout is pure, the fenti ments ments natural, and the numbers harmonious. The following defcription, from the ancient and well-known monarchy of the bees, is full of fine imagery, and is written fo much in the ftyle and manner of the author of the Seasons, that it might, perhaps, without injustice, be ascribed to him. Thrice noble race! who in fmall room poffefs Heaven's own inftinctive fpirit! fure, from man, Your lives and treasures, you may justly claim The fun's effulgence; on the fuburb plank, Its branches with the hawthorn. Each purfues Of curious texture. Part more wife thro' age, En |