944 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



justify the notice here taken of 

 him. It is rather a singular phe- 

 nomenon. It is a remarkable effect 

 of the universality of the French 

 language, that the probable circu- 

 lation of a book shall induce a 

 banker to betake himself to the 

 business of authorship and book- 

 selling. Mr. Laborde, too, has been 

 at great pains and expense to seek, 

 and lias had opportunities of being 

 well acquainted with Spain and the 

 Spaniards ; he has had the aid of 

 many books little known, and of 

 others which few can either pur- 

 chase, or have access to otherwise; 

 and the subjects of his compilation 

 are, at the present moment, parti- 

 cularly interesting. 



Mr. de Laborde is editor of an 

 expensiveand splendid publication, 

 intituled " Voyage Pittoresque de 

 I'Espagne," which was under- 

 taken by the banking-house of 

 Laborde, at Paris, in which Alex- 

 ander has a share, as a commercial 

 speculation, to be executed by ar- 

 tists paid and employed under its 

 direction. During the slow pro- 

 gress of this work, which was to 

 derive its principal value, not from 

 written narration or description, 

 but from the arts of drawing and 

 engraving, Mr. Laborde had lei- 

 sure, collaterally with the "Voyage 

 Pittoresque," to carry on the work 

 before us, the object of which is 

 thus briefly set forth by the au- 

 thor : 



" It is with pain I repeat, that 

 I have dared to present to the 

 public a work written and printed 

 with such haste ; I have left it 

 nearly as it was committed to paper 

 on the very spots where it was writ- 

 ten ; but the cause of its faults 

 may be an excuse for them. It 

 would have taken rae three years 



to execute this work tolerably, 

 which it was necessary to finish in 

 a few months. If I had delayed it, 

 it would have been of no use. 

 The works which relate to the 

 laws, customs, and even manners 

 of Spain will soon be to that 

 country what the ancient ordi- 

 nances of war, the arrets of parlia- 

 ment, and of the chamber of ac- 

 counts, the liberties of the Gallic 

 church, <S:c. are now to the French. 

 Whatever may happen, bounds are 

 now fixed between the past history 

 of this country, and the future un- 

 known events to which it is des- 

 tined ; and as the * Picturesque 

 Travels through Spain' will de- 

 scribe the monuments, such as they 

 have been, preserved to this time, 

 so I have endeavoured, in this 

 work, to ascertain the slate of the 

 legislation and of the industry of 

 the country before they experi- 

 enced any change whatever. My 

 design is, that these two works 

 should illustrate each other, and 

 that neither should encroach too 

 much on what belongs to the other. 

 Thus the details in the Itinerary of 

 the public edifices, of the arts, 

 sciences, and literature, will be 

 little more than a simple nomen- 

 clature in comparison to the ex- 

 pansion they will receive in the 

 other work ; whereas, all that re- 

 lates to political economy, will ap- 

 pear simply as a sketch in the 

 * Voyage Pittoresque.' " 



Mr. Laborde's •♦ View of Spain " 

 consists of an Introduction, which 

 occupies about one-fourth part of 

 the first volume; of short direc- 

 tions for travelling in Spain, which 

 are taken chiefly from Fischer ; of 

 observations on the climate and 

 physical geography of Spain, by 

 the baron de Humboldt ; of a de- 

 scriptive 



