Atlas EthnograpMque du Globe. 401 



partisans of Scandinavianism, M. Balbi must permit us to 

 retain the opinion which appears to us best founded, and 

 which is also that of the Germans themselves. 



The Dutch language is also, we think, treated too lightly, 

 considering its great literary importance in the seventeenth 

 century. Instead of the Metrical Chronicle of Nicolas Colyn, 

 now no longer doubted to have been composed in the seven- 

 teenth century, the author of the Atlas might have cited the 

 extensive historical collection of Jacob van Maerlant, known 

 under the title of the Spegel Historiael ; the battle of fVoriU' 

 gen of Jan von Helm, an historical poem of great merit ; 

 and some others, of sufficient importance to have required 

 notice, in following, in respect to the language of the Nether- 

 lands, the plan adopted in the other languages. Here, also, 

 we must again remark, that our criticism does not apply so 

 much to the author of the Atlas, as to the learned philologist 

 by whom the article relative to that particular language was 

 supplied. 



Other critical remarks, of the same nature, have occurred 

 to us : we might also point out omissions ; some inad- 

 vertencies ; some opinions ventured, as it appears to us, 

 without sufficient ground ; fewer, indeed, in the work of the 

 author himself, than in the articles supplied by the many 

 persons by whom he has been assisted : but we abstain ; 

 because, having carefully examined, we are assured that the 

 faults are few in number, of very minor importance, and that 

 several find their correction in the work itself. We must 

 not omit to praise the typographical accuracy, which is the 

 more meritorious, considering the immense number of foreign 

 words which almost every page of the text contains, and 

 which, in the Tables, amount to upwards of 16,000. 



The Tableau physique^ moral et politique des cinq parties 

 du rnonde, which is in the press, and of which we have seen 

 the manuscript, compresses in fewer pages than we had 

 thought it possible, the principal details of physical and 

 political geography arranged and methodised. 



We shall conclude this article by observing, that the Atlas 

 Ethnographique du Globe, by the extent of its plan, and the 

 distinguished names which have co-operated in its execution, 

 must be regarded as a classic work in the science of lan- 

 guages ; as the most natural introduction to the study of 

 geography and general history ; and as deserving a place by 

 the side of the Art de verifier les Dates ^ and the Tableau's; 

 historiques de VAsie of M. Klaproth. 



