favourable circumftance, for the performance of a march over the fame extent of country in the common courfe of military movements. And we are further informed by the public accounts, that a divifion of the french army was actually fent forward to Suez foon after the arrival of Buonaparte at Cairo.' He next ridicules the oppofition arifing from the power of the turks in Egypt, and relates from Savary, that whenever any of the beys are difpleafed with the viceroy of the grand fignior, their meffengers only pronounce the words Inzil Pacha,' on which he is obliged to flee for fafety. He alfo obferves, that the copts, who may form about one-third of the population, profess christianity, and would doubtlefs join against the mohammedans, their prefent oppreffors. After this he points out the difference between the ftate of the country when invaded by king Lewis and general Buonaparte, and animadverts on the greater difficulties encountered by the former, in confequence of the military talents of Nedjim Ud-deen, and the application of the greek fire,' whence incredible mischief was fuftaired by the firft adventurers. The grand obftacle to the enterprise is here faid to confift in the difficulty of obtaining veffels in the Red Sea, fufficient to transport the army that may be deftined for India. Among the various probable means of accomplishing fuch a bold scheme, the author points out the following: P. 33. First, not by engaging the pachas and beys of Egypt to fummon their navy to Suez, but perhaps by the operations of a french naval commander in that country, who may have fecured all the veffels in the Red Sea, either by purchase or by force*. With respect to the number and defcription of veffels that may be found there, and the adjacent gulfs of Sinde, &c. I fhall not pretend to give any pofitive opinion; but only obferve, that colonel Capper's journal contains an account of veffels of (I think) twelve hundred tons burden being used in the Red Sea to convey pilgrims from Suez to Jedda, the fea-port of Mecca; and I have myself seen very fine fhips, of five, fix, and seven hundred tons burden, carrying on commerce in the indian feas, under arabian colours, and navigated and manned by natives of that country alone (I cannot take upon me to fay to what particular ports they may have belonged). And although it may be objected to this statement, that veffels conftructed like those noticed by colonel Capper are not calculated for diftant navigation in the more open feas, I think it would be rafh to conclude, that, veffels which convey fuch a host of pilgrims the diftance between Suez and Jedda (the mol dangerous part of the navigation, perhaps, with refpect to fhoals, &c.) would [not] be cheerfully embarked on by an army, animated with the profpect of a great and glorious achievement. There may doubtless be a risk attending it; and is there any operation of war that is not attended with fimilar difficulties and Admiral Sercy, with three or four heavy frigates, befides a variety of fmaller veffels fitted out as privateers, is still bufy in the eaftern feas, which he has infested the greater part of the present war.' YOL. XXVIII, Ff dangers, dangers, in a greater or leffer degree? Perhaps, further, agents of the french in that quarter (and there is scarcely a part of the world, I believe, where they have not agents of fome fort) may have formed an alliance with, and fecured the good offices of the therreif of Mecca, who has always evinced a rancorous fpirit of jealoufy and ill-will towards the english nation, excited, amongst other caufes, by the attempts that have been made to establish commercial intercourfe in that quarter. And fecondly, it may be asked, where are the numerous fhips which the french have captured, with fuccefsful impunity, in the indian feas, during the prefent war? Where, but (for the most part, at leaft) in the hands of the french, ready, for aught we know, to co-operate in the very defign in question. Amongst a very numerous lift of captures above alluded to, which I moft fincerely lament, the following ftand prominent in my recollection: the Princefs Royal, the Pigott, the Triton, (whose capture was a tranfaction of the most difgraceful nature that perhaps was ever recorded of Britons,) the Raymond and Woodcote, regular english eaft indiamen; the Fort William country fhip, nearly as large as any of the former; the Thomas, a large extra fhip of last feafon; the Kaunitz, a fhip from Europe under genoefe colours, captured at the mouth of the Calcutta river; a fine arab fhip, with fpecie on board; and a new fhip from Pegue, of about eight hundred tons, captured about the fame time and place with the Kaunitz (the end of 1796 and beginning of 1797); befides many others of different defcriptions, which I will not venture, from memory, to point out. The Triton was fold at the Mauritius, and faid to be bought by an american, and under the colours of that nation fhe infaltingly entered the port of Calcutta a few months after her capture. At all events, the is ftill trading in thofe feas; and I should suppose the owners would have no more objection to be taken up at the Ifle of France, to bring freight from the Red Sea, than from any other port in India. Thirdly; a great number of foreign fhips, especially americans and danes, refort conftantly to the french iflands, and Batavia, and carry thither articles of american and european produce, as well as convey articles of provifion and commerce between those islands and India. • On an occafion like that under difcuffion, fuppofe the governor of the french islands was to engage a number of these ships to bring fupplies from the Red Sea, they poffibly might not refufe; and if they did, the well-known want of ceremony practifed by modern France will not, I think, allow us to hefitate as to the probability of their being put in requifition.' Having thus guced at the mode of conveyance, the author alludes to the powers moft likely to co-operate with the french, and thefe are Tippoo Sultaun, Zemaun Shah, king of Cabul, and perhaps Almafs Ally Khan. In short, this officer, who evinces much liberality and candour, feems to think in the emphatic language of Mr. Haftings, that the fate of India is ftill fufpended "BY A THREAD O FINE, THAT THE TOUCH OF CHANCE MIGHT BREAK, OR LITERARY LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. HISTORY OF ACADEMIES. ART. 1. Amfterdam and the Hague. Verhandeling van het Genootfchap tot Verdediging van den christelyken Godsdienft, &c. Memoirs of the Society for defending Chriftianity, at the Hague. For the Year 1795. 8vo. 306 p. 1798. The publication of the prize effays of this fociety has hitherto been flow, fo that it would have excited no wonder, if the prefent ftate of the Netherlands had put a stop to it entirely but this feems, on the contrary, rather to have operated as a ftimulus on the fociety; for we are informed, in this volume, that the prize effays of 1796 are in the prefs, and will speedily be followed by thofe of 1797. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. BOTANY. ART. II. Hanover. The 4th number of the Sertum Hanoveranum [fee our Rev. Vol. xx111, p. 107] is published by Mr. Wendland alone, without the affiftance of Mr. Schrader, and he intends to continue it under the title of Hortus Herrenhufanus. The plants given in it are not lefs beautiful and interefting than thofe of the preceding numbers. ART. 111. Botanische Beobachtungen, &c. Botanical Obfervations, with fome new Genera and Species, by J. Chrift. Wendland, Superintendant of the Royal Electoral Gardens at Herrenhaufen, &c. Small fol. 64 p. 4 pl. 1798. Mr. W. here gives us, in three fections, feventy-three obfervations on botanical fubjects, and defcriptions of five new genera, and fortythree new fpecies. He likewife promifes us a continuation, which will be unquestionably acceptable to the lovers of botany. GEOGRAPHY. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. ART. IV. Weimar. Allgemeine Geographische Ephemeriden, &c. The univerfal Geographical Ephemeris, &c. Nos IV-VI. MarchJune. p. 275-744, with 4 portraits, 2 charts, and a copious index. 1798. We have already noticed the former two numbers of this interefting publication, conducted by Mr. von Zach [fee our Rev. Vol. xxvII, p. 437]. Among the most valuable papers in the prefent is an account, by Mr. Blumenbach, of the fruitlefs endeavours of the ruffians, under captain Billings, to find a northern paffage from the indian feas to Europe. Part of the fix years spent in this enterprize captain Billings employed in a fix months journey by land through the unexplored country of the thouktfhies, a narrative of which is now printing under the infpection of the academy of Peterburg. The mechanical performances of thefe inhabitants Ffz of of the polar regions, we are affured by Mr. Bl., are inexpreffibly elegant. The needle-work of the women, in particular, is of a very fuperiour kind, bearing an examination with the magnifying glafs better than that of our european ladies. Of the correfpondence the letters of Lalande and Burckhardt from Paris are most interefting. From L. we learn, that 17 fheets of his Hiftoire célefte," Hiftory of the Heavens," are printed; that his Bibliographie Aftronomique, Bibliography of Aftronomy," is preparing for the prefs; and that a hiftory of his own life, begun by Merfais and Dagelet, and brought down to 1798 by himself, is in the hands of Mr. von. Zach. Montucla's Modern Hiftory of Mathematics, the printing of which was begun, is at a stand for want of money: but de Borda's Tables of Sines for the centefimal Divifions of the Quadrant, and for every ten thousandth part of a centefimal degree, are already printed; and the logarithms of thefe fines are in the prefs. Didot's new edition of Virgil in folio is the greatest masterpiece that ever iffued from the prefs, according to Mr. L. The menfuration of an arc of the meridian in France, which has been carried on with wonderful exertion, perfeverance, and precifion, by de Lambre and Mechain in particular, is nearly finished. De Lambre is in every refpect an extraordinary man. Mechain has injured his health by his labours; yet we may expect a grand work from him on the fubject. The aftronomer Piazzi of Palermo is alfo about to measure a degree in Sicily. In praife of Buonaparte, by whom Lalande was flattered with great delicacy, the learned aftronomer cannot fay enough. It was propofed to Dr. Burckhardt, to accompany the learned expedition, which was to vifit Egypt and the East Indies under the aufpices of this general; but this he declined by the advice of Lalande. Buonaparte is accompanied by nineteen men of letters, among whom are Berthollet, Dolomieu, and Nouet the aftronomer; and eighteen geographical engineers from the Polytechnic School. We fhall conclude with two meteorological obfervations of the editor.-In Thuringia a fouthern wind occurs, which, like the firocco, fimoom, and harmattan, deftroys the tranfparency of the unclouded atmosphere, fo that the ftars appear furrounded with a halo, and feems to confift of a peculiar kind of gas.-And,, in a clear sky, a powerfully magnifying tranfit inftrument is a better weather-glafs than the barometer: a certain vacillation of the stars in their tranfit,whether by night or by day, indicating a change of the weather, a whole day before it takes place, with great certainty. Jen. Aug. Lit. Zeit. ART. V. Pet. Statifik des Königreichs Ungarn, &c. Statistics of the Kingdom of Hungary. An Effay by Mart. Schwardtner, Prof. of Diplomatics, &c. 8vo. 606 p. Mr. S. unites to a practical knowledge of public affairs great acuteness of reafoning, his style is clear and pleafing, and he con#tantly endeavours to fupport whatever he advances by proofs, and by pointing out the fources from which it is derived. Indeed he difplays the qualities of his mafter, the celebrated Schlözer; and it is long fince hungarian literature could boast a work like the prefent. According According to Schlözer's method, the ftate of the country is firft defcribed; next it's conftitution, and lastly the administration of it's government. It would trefpafs too much on our room, to extract the various information contained in this work: we shall only observe, therefore, that prof. S. reckons the population of the country to be about eight millions and half, of which number 4135952 are catholics, a million and half calvinists, 800000 lutherans, 1800000 greek diffidents, including the military frontier, and 75000 jews. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zen. POLITICAL ECONOMY. ART. VI. Dortmund and Leipfic. Unterricht über die Cultur der Angorifchen Kaninchen, &c. Inftructions for the Management of the Angora Rabbit, concerning it's Difeafes, and the beft Method of rendering the Animal profitable, by J, C. F. Bährens, Ph. D. &c. 8vo. 48 p. 1796. This is an useful book on the management of the Angora or filky. haired rabbit, which appears to have become an object of confider, able attention in Germany. According to Dr. B., fifty grown rabbits will yield two pounds of wool every fix weeks, or fixteen pounds a year; which, at the lowest price, or 5 r. [16s. 8d.] a pound, will amount to 80 r. [131. 6s. 8d]. Deducting from this the expense of keeping zor. [31. 6s. 8d], the clear annual profit will be 60 r. [101]. The ufes of the wool, and the precautions to be taken to avoid the injurious effects of their effluvia, with others to be observed in their management, conclude the work. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. POETRY. ART. VII. Leipfic. Goefchen is printing a fplendid edition of Klopftock's Works, with plates, fimilar to that of Wieland [fee our Rev. Vol. xv111, p. 360], in four volumes, two of which, containing his odes, are already published. FINE ARTS. ART. VIII. Baron Racknitz has published three numbers of his Representation and Hiftory of the Tafte of the moft diftinguished Countries," Darstellung und Gefchichte des Gefchmacks der vorzüglichften Volker [fee our Rev. Vol. xx111, p. 652]. Each contains fix folio coloured plates of infides of buildings, fix of appropriate furniture, and twelve vignettes. The letter-prefs to the three numbers makes 330 p. 4to. The price of each number is 8 gold frederics [71]. The fubjects are greek, roman, ancient german, modern perfian, english, french, otaheitean, moorish, turkish, ancient french, kamtfchadale, and mexican. The encouragement the work has experienced, notwithstanding the price, which in fact is low compared with it's intrinfic value, and the unfavourable state of the times for expensive undertakings, is a ftrong proof of it's merit: and indeed too much cannot be faid in praise either of the literary department of it, or of the plates. Jen. Allg. Lit. Zeit. |