6lS 



RetrofpeH of Damejlic Literature.'— llifcellanies. 



was agitated in the academy of Plato. 

 It is a work which unqueftionably difplays 

 Ihoiig powers of mind ; but it is an at- 

 tack upon ahnoft every fyftem of philo- 

 fophy and everv philofopher, from the days 

 of Ariit. tie to ProfefTor Kant. 



Mr. Knight's work on the " Prin- 

 ciples of Tajfe," iwnin^es ar-undant mat- 

 ter for curi'us examination. The col- 

 lateral lubjt-fls ot his inquir are multi- 

 farious ; and unproduftive as the title of 

 the book may probably leem to fome 

 r.'adus, the perufal of it will be found 

 jboth entertaining and inl'ruflive. On the 

 arts of elcgJincc Mr. Knight's obferva 

 tior.s conve) a in' le than ordinary (hire 

 of int<.reft ; anri o G it.iic archiieflure 

 they aie, for the moft part, nfw. He 

 confidert what we call tliu cathedral or 

 monaftic got'nic as a maniftft corruption 

 of the facrcd architefture cf the Greeks 

 and Romans, by a mixture of the Morrilh 

 or Saracenefqiie, formed, according to his 

 ideas, cut ot a combii ation of the Egyp- 

 tian, PerHan, and Hindoo; and the 

 pointed arch, which we call the gothic, 

 he at laft determines lo be the primitive 

 arch. In a m 'ral point of vica-, ht.w- 

 ever, the principles of Mr. Knight's 'n- 

 qury feem more lax tlian thole of Mr. 

 Allifon. 



Of importance to the aading, perhapsj 

 more than to the legal part cf the cim 

 nunity, are " The LaiMs of Hamburgh 

 concerning Bills of Exchange, carefully 

 copied from the Original in the Archi-xus 

 of the Senate of Hnmburgh, and tranjlated 

 into EngUjh.^^ Thefe hws, it appeals, 

 were firll enafted on the 2id of January, 

 .17 11, in a convoca.ion of the fennle and 

 citizens, and wt re ordered to be printed 

 for the benefit of foreign nations. In all 

 Jaw proceedings the Hamburght-rs have 

 been invariably guided by them to the 

 pre'ent time. At the end is a notice of a 

 variation in the a+th and 25th articles, 

 agreed on by the I'enate and burghtrs, 

 June i4ih, 1798. 



" The lV::rks of Ed\>/ard D.aye,s" 

 contain an excurliiin tiiroiigh the prir.cipal 

 parts cf Dcrb\ (hire and YorkHiire, ibme 

 effays on Painting, and piofcfilonal 

 fketches of mi:dtrn artiOs. The lat;er 

 written in fomc cafes with confiderable 

 acrimonv. Th; elTays on paint ii'g had 

 been [irtvioiifly publ.fhed in the Piiilofi- 

 phical Magazinr. The work was given 

 to the wor.df Icly for liis wii'ow's benefit. 

 li) this clafs t(!0 «e fli;Ul piare ihe firit 

 part of the " Philofophical TranfaSIions 

 of the Ro^al Society of London, for 1805. 

 It contains eight papers : among the 



principal we reckon " The Croonian Lec- 

 ture on Mufcular Motion," by Antho- 

 ny Car lisle, Efq. "An Account of 

 fome Analytical Experiments on a Mi- 

 neral Prodii6tion from DerbylTiire, confift- 

 ing principally of Aiumine and Water," 

 by Humphrey Davy, Efq. is kTs fa- 

 tisfaftory tnan we expefted. At the end 

 we h»ve the ufual meteorological jjurnal 

 for the p cding year. 



Out of its proper clafs, but with too 

 much merit to be omitted, comes " The 

 Northern Summer,'''' by Mr. Carf, or 

 Travels round the Baltic, through Den- 

 ma k, Sweden, RufTia, Pruffia, and part of 

 G<-rmanv, in the Year 1804. A work, 

 which, belides affording a copious tuiid 

 both of new and curious materials, is 

 highly honourable to the writer's feelings. 

 Our review of it was miflaid when that 

 part of the Retrofpefl was printed which 

 reht s to voyages and travels. Having 

 landed in the neig!ib>uihood of Hulum, 

 he proceeds, in the third chapter, to Co- 

 penhagen ; where, among objefls too nu- 

 merous to give even an abridged detail of 

 heie, \\f. Carr defcrib?s the national 

 tomb of the Danilh heroes who fell in the 

 memorable battle of Copenhagen-roads, 

 on the ad of April, 1801. ft is a pyra- 

 midal hilKick, he lays, neatly turfed, and 

 planted with fapling poplars, correfpond- 

 ing wiih the num'ier of officers who ft 11. 

 At the bafe of the principal front are 

 tomh-ftones recording the names of each 

 of thele officeis, and their refpeftive fliips. 

 A liitleab.ve is an obelifkof grey N.^rth- 

 ern marble, raifed upon a ptdellal ot ora- 

 nit?, bearing thi,s inicription, " To the 

 Memory ofihofe -Mho fell for their C'luntry, 

 their grateful Tcllovj Citizens raife this 

 Monument, April i, 1801," And be- 

 neath, on a wh te marble tablet, under a 

 wieatn of laurel, ojk, and cyprefs, hound 

 tocjeiher, is infcnbed, " The Ifreath 

 ivhich ihe Country hejlo-ivs never tvithers 

 over the Graire of the falkn Warrior.'''' \ 

 Having del'cribed ihe-baiile, he cloCes 

 what relates to Denmark in another chap- 

 ter with /ome afFeiSting anedi tes of the J 

 unfoitunate Matilda. The firit place of | 

 confequence which .Mr. Cair defcrihts in ' 

 Sweden, is Stockholm j where Guiiavus 

 III. occupies a large rtiaie of defeived 

 panegyiic. At Upiala he preferves ihe 

 following plain Infcription on a monu- 

 ment of Sviedifli poiphjiy tc the memory . 

 of Linnaeus: — j 



Cabolo a Ltnne I 



Bofnicorum 

 Principi 

 Ainici et difcipuli, 



1758. Having 



