ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



949 



clouds : in our countries the heavy 

 summer clouds are from five hun- 

 dred and fifty to six liundred fa- 

 thoms high. 



" The height of the plain of the 

 Castiles has an effect upon its tem- 

 perature. We are astonished at 

 not finding oranges in the open air 

 in the latitude of forty, the same 

 as that of Tarentum, part of Cala- 

 bria, Thessalie, and Asia Minor. 

 The mean temperature of Madrid 

 appears to be fifty-nine degrees of 

 Fahrenheit, while that of Feters- 

 burgh is thirty-nine degrees fifty- 

 two minutes and thirtyseconds; tiiat 

 of Berlin forty-six degrees fifty- 

 seven minutes and thirty seconds ; 

 that ofParis fifty-three degrees fifty- 

 six minutes and fifteen seconds 

 that of Marseilles fifty-eight degrees 

 thirty-three minutes ; that of Tou- 

 lon sixty-one degrees fifteen mi- 

 nutes; that of Naples sixty-three 

 degrees thirty minutes ; and that of 

 the countries situated under the 

 equator and on the level of the 

 ocean from seventy-nine to eighty- 

 one degrees. Genoa is four de- 

 grees more to the north than Ma- 

 drid, and yet the temperature of 

 Genoa raises the glass almost two 

 degrees higher than that of the ca- 

 pital of Spain. Such is the influ- 

 ence of local causes, of the eleva- 

 tion of site, the proximity to the 

 sea, a chain of mountains which 

 keeps off the cold northerly winds, 

 and a great number of little cir- 

 cumstances, the combination of 

 which moderates the temperature 

 of places. 



" Rome, which is two degrees 

 thirty-two minutes to the south of 

 Genoa, but one degree twenty- 

 nine minutes to the north of Ma- 



drid, has almost the same mean 

 temperature as the latter town. It 

 is between sixty degrees seven mi- 

 nutes and thirty seconds, and sixty- 

 one degrees fifteen minutes of Fah- 

 renheit's according to a great num- 

 ber of very exact observations 

 made by M. Calandrelli and the 

 elder M'. de Humboldt, minister of 

 the king of Prussia in Italy." 



Histoire des Detti Derneires 

 Hois de la Maison de Stuart, 

 rar. Ch. J. Fox. Suivies de 

 Pieces originates et justifica- 

 tive. Ouvrage traduit de 

 L'Anglois ; auquel on a joint 

 une Notice sur la Vie de L^Au- 

 teur, 2 Tomes, Paris, 1809. 



In our last volume we gave a 

 place amongMiscellaneous Essays,* 

 to extracts from the French of Mr. 

 de Bonald (a writer in very high 

 estimation, we understand, at pre- 

 sent, in France), on the Manner of 

 ■writing History ; and from his 

 Legislation Primitive. The chief 

 reason, we stated, for introducing 

 these was, that they furnished a 

 most conspicuous proof and ex- 

 ample of the debasing influence of 

 military governments on literature. 

 In the writings of Bonald, it was 

 observed, very fine parts were em- 

 ployed in order to reconcile France 

 and other nations to a system of 

 despotism. We are induced by 

 the same reason to introduce into 

 our present volume the French 

 translation of Mr. Fox's History ; 

 of which it may be said, in gene- 

 ral, that it is an exhibition or dis- 

 play of constitutional principles, 



founded 



• Pp. 164. 1785. 



