Notices respecting New Books. 133 
_ witty, but often tainted by illiberal reflections, the consequences 
of long feuds. It was quite a new, and by far more interesting 
point of view, to consider all the changes wrought, the wonders 
performed during the course of twenty- ~five years, by the efforts 
of industry, the improvement of the arts, the concurrence and 
activity of a whole nation animated by the same spirit. Such 
is the true aspect under which the author of the book before us. 
has viewed Great Britain in his journeys during the years 1816, 
1817 and 1818. In this extensive display of the results of Eng- 
lish industry, the author was of course obliged to limit his views; 
and he par ticularly confined himself to exhibiting the industry of 
the nation in the applications to three branches of public ser- 
vice ; viz. hydraulic works, and military and naval constructions. 
In the field though thus limited there was still a rich harvest 
to gather; buc the task was not without its difficulties. It re- 
quired a varied knowledge in the arts of construction and other 
public services ; an eagerness and perseverance that should over- 
come all the olistacles which, in a foreign country, incessantly 
impede the traveller; a great talent of observation ; and finally, 
such introductions and connexions as might shield him from the 
consequences of national jealousy. Such were the qualifications 
requisite to bring the undertaking to a successful completion: 
and the book before us shows that in none of them has the au- 
thor been deficient. Bred in a school* out of which no sound 
mind can come without being imbued with valuable information 
respecting the various public services ; a fellow of several learned 
societies, which he has enriched with his memoirs; and favoured 
by a happy combination of circumstances,—the laboratory of the 
artist, the port -folio of the engineer, and the closet of tle learned, 
have all laid open their treasures to his inspection. Such ad- 
vantages lead us to place much confidence upon the results which 
he has offered to the learned world. 
‘The memoirs now published comprehend but a succinct ac- 
count, divested of all scientific and abstracted particulars, of one 
of the three subjects of his journey; that which treats of the 
publie works in England. The one which relates to artillery and 
militaryengineering has been appreciated in a way high!v honour- 
able for the author, in a Report made to the Academy of Sciences, 
by a judge whose opinion in all that regards military science 
must always command respect—the Marshal Duke de Ragusa. 
In the memoirs which are a compendium of both his journeys 
in Great Britain, the author first treats of that city which the. 
national parti: lity has distinguished (as Rome anciently was) by 
the emphatic appellation of the town. He takes a view of Lon- 
* The Polytechnick school. 
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