114 Madderfs Travels in Turkey, $-c. 



presents of the condition of mankind in that extensive region 

 which owns the sway of the Grand Signior. The author en- 

 gages in the task with no ordinary claims upon our confidence. 

 His was no rapid survey of a country, taken with pen in hand, 

 where impressions are noted down as they first arise, un- 

 checked and uncorrected — where much is trusted to second- 

 hand information — where matters are treated of, foreign to the 

 author's usual habits of observation and thinking. We have, 

 in the instance before us, a gentleman, bred to the profession 

 of physic, and though not yet possessed of its highest honours, 

 well skilled in the knowledge which entitles him to them, so- 

 journing for four years in the country which he professes to 

 describe, with an ardent love of information, a good under- 

 standing, an unprejudiced judgment, and abundant opportuni- 

 ties of exercising all his faculties of observation and research. 

 Such a man can hardly have failed of producing a book cre- 

 ditable at least to himself, and useful to others ; but Mr. 

 Madden's volumes have the additional merit of a high degree 

 of literary polish. His style is easy and flowing. His graver 

 reflections on literature and science are pleasingly mixed up 

 with playful anecdotes, descriptions of scenery, and the little 

 incidents of his own journey. It is impossible to read the work 

 without feeling an interest for its author. His accuracy is 

 unquestionable. His good humour never deserts him. This 

 is all for which he takes credit. Apologizing, with much mo- 

 desty, for his literary qualifications ; acknowledging that he did 

 not carry in his head Herodotus and Hamilton, Pococke and 

 Pausanias, affecting not to be a learned traveller, he lays claim 

 only to some share of patience and philosophy. An unruffled 

 temper and a cheerful demeanour he has found to be the best 

 passports to Turkish confidence. A mild manner and quiet 

 deportment will, he says, carry a traveller through difficulties, 

 which peevishness and pride (the too frequent qualities of an 

 English traveller) would have rendered intolerable. The fero- 

 city and fanaticism of the most obstinate Turk may be subdued, 

 as it would appear, by good humour. 



The volumes before us contain a vast fund of information 

 respecting the present political and social condition of the 

 inhabitants of the various provinces of Turkey, — .European, 

 Asiatic, and African. These, however, we do not propose to 

 analyse at present. An ample field of observation remains in 

 the medical and philosophical parts of Mr. Madden's travels. 

 As a medical man, Mr. Madden had ample opportunities of 

 ascertaining the state of literature, and more especially of me- 



