
Half-yearly Retrofpec? of Britifh Literature. 
and abounds with poetic and hiftorical 
quotation. 
TOPOGRAPHY. 
Dr. J. A. GrauHam’s ‘ Defcriptive 
Sketch of the prefent State of Vermont’ is 
written in a ftyle of fuch uniform pane- 
yric, that, in order to derive much va- 
Pale information, it muft be read with 
confiderable caution ; with fuch caution, 
however, it may be carefully perufed. 
_ Mr, PoLwue te has publithed a part of. 
the firft volume of his ‘“Hi/fory of Devon- 
Shire; it is fomewhat fingular, that this 
elaborate work was introduced to the 
public by a fecond volume, which ap- 
peared fome three or four years fince; 
the part juft publifhed contains what Mr. 
P. modeftly calls a ‘ /etch of natural 
hiftory.”” After a general defcription of 
the province, fucceed many curious at- 
mofpherical remarks ; Mr. P. has invef- 
tigated the fources of a great variety of 
rivers, and the qualities of a great variety 
of {prings; he oppotes the hypothefis of 
Dr. Walley, that {pring are produced by 
vapour, and feems to coincide with thofe 
philofophers who confider them derived 
trom the fea, “¢ by cavities running thence 
through the bowels of the earth like veins 
or arteries of the human body, and that 
the fea aéts like an hydraulic machine, 
to force and protrude thofe cavities to a 
confiderable inland diftance:’? Mr. P. 
conjectures, in addition, with great pro- 
bability, that a depofition of {alts is ogca~ 
fioned by the filtration of fea-water in its 
paflage through the earth: the water be- 
comes lighter in proportion to the fub- 
fidence of its falts; it rifes, therefore, 
through the pores of the earth, above the 
level it would otherwife preferve, even to 
the tops of the hills. ‘Though a work, 
by no means exclufively topographical, 
we may, without impropriety, arrange in 
this divifon, Mr. MurPuHy’s ‘“* General 
View of the State of Portugal.” ‘The plan 
of Mr. Murpuy, indeed, embraces an 
extenfive variety of topics, all of which 
he has treated in a concife and intelli- 
gible manner, communicating a true idea 
of the hiftory and national character of 
the Portuguele. The agriculture of Por- 
tugal is afubject of diftiné& confideration ; 
_ the caufes of its former declenfion, and 
thofe which itill impede its advancement, 
are traced with much {kill and ingenuity : 
the vine, of courfe, continues to be cul- 
tivated in preference to grain, becaufe it 
has been proved to be four times as lu- 
crative. Having, in a feriés ef chapters, 
given an account of the revenue, the mi- 
litary and marine departments, the con- 
493 
quefts, and the coinage among the Por-- 
_tuguefe, Mr. M. offers fome lively and 
ftriking fketches of their domeftic man- 
ners. ‘This curious and amufing work, 
which includes ‘¢ an account of the phy- 
fical and moral ftate of the kingdom of 
Portugal, together with obfervations on — 
the animal, vegetable, and mineral pro- 
duéctions of its colonies,” is compiled from 
the beft Portuguefe writers, and from no- 
tices obtained in the country. 
We proceed to an interefting and ufeful 
department of literature, namely, 
BIOGRAPHY, 
which is cultivated to a confiderable ex. 
tent. §* The Life of Sir Charles Linneus,” 
has been tranflated from the German of 
M. STOEVER, by Mr. JOSEPH TRAPP. 
The general outlines of the biography 
of this great naturalift have long fince 
been known; they are now filled up, 
however, with particulars of his private 
life, which are new and interefting. A 
copious lift of his works is added, to- 
gether with a ‘ biographical fketch of 
the life of his fon,’’ whofe character and 
attainments Dr. STOEVER has reprelented 
in a favourable light. It is impoflible 
not to mention, in terms of fevere difap- 
probation, the clumfy ungrammatical 
tranflation, which this valuable work has 
undergone in the hands of Mr. TRappPs 
it reflects difgrace, not only on him- 
{elf, but in fome meafure on the Linnzan 
fociety, for not having taken precaution 
to prevent it. ‘The death of a woman, 
renowned for talent and eccentricity, has 
been fucceeded by an interefting narra- 
tive of her life: in the vigour of age, 
and in the bloom of beauty, Providence 
has fummoned away Mary Wollftone- 
craft Godwin. Her widower has pub- 
lifhed the * Memozrs’? and ‘* Pofihumous 
Works’ of this contefted character; the 
former are fomewhat meagre, perhaps, 
but they are written with much fimplici- 
ty, and, we have no doubt, with truth : 
every exceptionable circumftance of her 
life is narrated in the fame ungarnithed 
language which is employed in the enu- 
meration of her many meritorious aét.ons, 
It is not for us to vindicate Mary God- 
win from the charge of multiplied im- 
morality, which is brought againft her 
by the candid as well as, the cen{orious ; 
hy the fagacious as well as the fuperfi- | 
cial obferver: her character, in our efti< 
nation, is rar from being entitled to un- 
qualified praife; fhe had many faults ; 
fhe had many tranfeénugnt virtues. Bat 
fhe is now dead, and we fall 
2.9 3 Noe 
