ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



1021 



law was the beucdiction of heaven 

 — a long life and a numerous pos- 

 terity." 



Upon the •whole, we gladly re- 

 coinmend this book to every class of 

 our readers, as one Mhich opens 

 fresh and extraordinary views of so- 

 ciety and the natural world, in 

 climes to which we have hitherto 

 been entire strangers. If some dis- 

 gust should arise from the order of 

 arrangement, or from the style of 

 the translator and editor, the mat- 

 ter, we are satisfied, will more than 

 compensate the evil. 



Ixtttrs from Paraguay^ i^c. -with the 

 Planners, Customs^ and religious 

 Cere7noiiies, (iyc. of the Inliabitaut:-. 

 Written during a Residence of 

 Seventeen Months in that Country. 

 By John Constance Davicj Esq. 8vo. 



The same causes which deter- 

 mined us in a preferential notice of 

 the last article, operate in the pre- 

 sent instance, and lead us to con- 

 sider that now under our consi- 

 deration with peculiar attention. — 

 The advertisement to the volume 

 gives the following account of thg 

 author. 



" The writer of the following let- 

 tere, a gentleman of liberal educa- 

 tion and considerable property, 

 having been disappointed in his 

 hopes of happiness with a beloved 

 female, to relieve the distress of his 

 Itiind, resolved to travel ; and leav- 

 ing this country for New ^ork, on 

 his anival commenced a correspon- 

 dence with his most intimate friend 

 Yorke, esq. of Tan n ton-Dean, 



in the county of Somerset, his half 

 brother. After remaining at New 

 York a short time, he suddenly 

 formed the resolutioo of embarking 



on a trading voyage to Botany Bay 

 — with which these letters begin, 



" Soon alter they had sailed, a tre- 

 mendous storm obliged the caplaia 

 to alter his course, and make for 

 the river Plata. They safely reach- 

 ed Monte Video, and afterwards 

 went up to Buenos Ayres, to repair 

 the vessel : where Mr. Davie was 

 seized with a dangerous disorder, 

 which usually attacks Europeans 

 upon their first landing in that coun- 

 try ; and the captain, having re- 

 paired his damages and completed 

 his stock of provisions, was under 

 the disagreeable necessity of leaving 

 him in the care of the fathers of the 

 content of St. Dominic, by whose 

 unremitted attention he recovered 

 in about three months. 



"The jealousy of the Spanish go- 

 vernment causitig him, upon his re- 

 covery, to be confined to the limits 

 of the convent, he, to obtain more 

 liberty, took the dre.ss of a novi- 

 ciate : and, in consequence, after a 

 short time, was permitted to vLsitin 

 the town, and soon after to attend 

 father Ilernandra on a visit to some 

 of tiie presidenccs in the interior of 

 the province of Paraguay, which 

 were understood to be in an un- 

 settled state : this enabled him to 

 make many observations, m liich he 

 took every opportunily of com- 

 municating to his friend in this coun- 

 try, through his agent at Kevr 

 York, by means of the American 

 captains trading to South America. 



" After his return tpBuenosAy res, 

 it is certain that he went to Con. 

 ception, in Chili ; as he was last 

 heard of from that place, in the year 

 1803: but whether he lost his lite in 

 any insurrection of the natives, or 

 was imprisoned by the government 

 in consequence of his correspon- 

 dence being detected, is unknown." 



We 



