36 
merit in the Flemnifh diaic&. It has, for 
many years, been giving place to the 
French, which ‘now bids fair to ex- 
tinguifh it. The language of Lifle is be- 
come the language of Bruffels; and, in 
half a century more, perhaps, there will 
be no other dialeét {poken on this fide the 
Rhine. 
It might be expeéted that we fhould 
fay fomething of Polifh and Ruffian lite- 
ature: but we confefs we are little ac- 
guainted with either, except through the 
medium of German Reviews. We 
know only that the Ruffian language has 
been improved in latter times, and is 
faid to be copious and harmonious: if 
any works of great importance fhall ap- 
pear in it, we will endeavour to get an 
account of them. We have feen fome 
Polith publications, but their number is 
not great; and now, we imagine, that 
unfortunate nation will be taught to lifp 
in the refpective languages of its new 
matters. 
Great BritAIN. 
Having thus made the grand tour as 
rapidly as moft of our modern travellers, 
we return with pleafure to our native 
foil; and are happy in the thoughr that 
it has not been lefs produétive of every 
fort of knowledge, than climes that 
enjoy a warmer fun. Montefquieu was 
wont to fay, “ That England was a 
country to think in ;’” and this conceffion 
from a French writer is no {mall eulogy. 
In fa&, we are athinking, more than an 
Ingenious, natien: we have feldom been 
guilty of invention; but we are bold 
and perfevering imitators, and have ge- 
nerally perfeéted what had been invent- 
ed by others: of this our various ma- 
nufaétures are a fenfible and ftriking 
proof. “ Vos machines font mieux montécs,”” 
faid to us an intelligent Frenchman, 
whom we met fome years ago at Bir- 
mingham ; and this is puretruth. The 
employers of our artifts fpare no cof; 
and our artifts, patient and well paid, 
feave nothing unfinifhed in their various 
operations, from the mill that grinds the 
fugar-cane, to the ferew that draws a 
cork. Hence the great demand for our 
Wares all over the globe. 
If our learning and fcience had but 
kept pace with our mechanics, we thould 
have been the moft learned and enlighten- 
ed people under the fun: as it is, we 
have no reafon to bluth. Let us fee what 
we have done in the lapfe of a hundred 
CALS. 
: In the firft place, we have confide- 
rably polifhed, and, at the fame time, 
Hisfiory of Literature. 
[Feb. 
perhaps, enervated our language; we 
write more grammatically, but not more 
forcibly nor eloquently ; we have a good 
Diétionary of our language, but far from 
being a perfeét one, or even equal to 
thofe of fome other nations, though 
we 2re fometimes apt to boaft the con- 
trary. Its defeéts are great and nu- 
merous: and we cannot but lament, that 
a gentleman*, who has long laboured to 
improve it, and fupply its deficiencies, 
has not met with that encouragement to 
which he had a claim; and withoue 
which he could not carry on fo expenfive 
an undertaking. 
On oratory and elocution, feveral ufe- 
ful traéts and le€tures have appeared, but 
there is very little new in them. Dr. 
Campbell’s Philofophy of Rhetoric, and 
Mr. J. Walker’s Melody of Speaking deli- 
neated, are the only works of the kind 
that poffefs originality; yet they have 
been little read 
Hiftory has had a better fate. We 
have many good hiftorians; but Hume 
fhines among them like the moon among 
inferior ftars. 
From hiftory to novels, the tranfition 
is fhort: and here, if number prevail, 
we are invincible. Since the fertile pen 
of Richardfon poured forth its fentimen- 
tal torrent, a thoufand ftreamlets have 
emulated its courfe, and purled away, 
with an uniform fimilarity, through the 
enchanted plains. 
An inundation of frefty poetry has 
alfo deluged the land: but the grand, the 
fublime, the Shakfpearean, and the Mil- 
tonic, feem beyond the grafp of modern 
bards. Two or three good comedies 
have graced the ftage; but the Tragic 
Mufe has been in a deep lethargy for 
many years. 
Natural hiftory and experimental phi- 
lofophy, more efpecially botany and che- 
miftry, have made great progrefs among 
us; but the Swedes and Germans led the 
way. 
The chair of Newton has not been 
refilled; and this 1s no matter of afto- 
nifhment, fince academical honours have 
been made the reward and badge of a 
party. 
Polities have been cultivated with 
uncommon ardour, efpecially fince the 
French Revolution; and fome new in- 
genious fyftems have been broached, 
which: have not yet received the fanétion 
of public approbation. We avoid mem- 

* Mr. Herbert Croft. 
tioning 
