614 aye 
writers had not remarked, or had applied 
toa different purpofe: the fubjeéts chiefly 
touched upon in thefe defultory rcflec- 
tions are the Ancient ftate of women in 
Scotland —Mazners. in time of war 
Commerce — Navigation — Barbaritin ‘of 
England, and caufes, of Scottifh borba- 
“rifm—Feudal law — Royal minorities— 
Slavery — Clergy — Titles of honoar — 
Officers of State, and Scottifh mufic. The 
sdiary of Robert Birrel may be ufeful for 
its chronological exaétnefs, and ferves to 
illufrate the temper of the times in which 
it was written, The accounts of the tivo 
‘ éxpeditions into Scotland are reprinted with 
“exaét copies of the old plates from .pam- 
‘phlets which the auchor aflerts to be ex- 
tremely rare and of high price. 
We cannot fpeak in very commendatory 
ferms of the Rev. EBENEZER MEAR- 
“SHALL’s “© Hiftory of the Union of Scot- 
“and and Engtand ;” it bears ftrong marks 
-of being a mere party product‘on, intend- 
ed to reconcile the Irifh to their Union 
with this country. Mir. M. in ftating the 
-eircumftances which brought that event 
‘to a conclufion, and the advantages which 
‘yefulted from it ro the Scots, afferts that 
‘they are indebted to it for the vaft in- 
vereafe of their commerce ;—this is a rath 
vanfupported affertion: we have often 
been told from the ‘higheft authority in 
she Houfe of Commons, that the com- 
merce of England is daily and hourly ex- 
tending itfelf: will the author contend 
‘that this extent of ozr commerce is attri- 
-butable to the conneétion of this king- 
.dom with that of Scotland? The afler- 
‘tion is as eafy, and the proof perhaps as 
difficalt in the one cafe as it isin the 
-other : the commerce of Scotland thas in- 
ereafed, no doubt, fince the @ra of the 
Union, but the-laft hundred years have 
worked a change in the commercial cha- 
-ragter of Europe ; ahd before Mr. Mar- 
fhall can eftablifh the fact which he has 
“afferted, it is incutnbent-on him to ffate 
-what peculiar commercial advantage Scot- 
Jand has enjoyed fince her corinection with 
'England which fhe might not have en- 
~joyed without it. 
2) Mr. Turner has publifhed “ The 
Hiftory-of the Anglo-Saxons from thetr 
» fir Appearance above the Elbe, to the 
-Death of Egbert; with a Map of their 
- Ancient Territory.” The curious por- 
> tion of our hiftory which is here treated 
of demanded a far more patient inveftiga- 
‘tion than the author of the prefent vo- 
“fume has beflowed on it: Mr. T. appears 
-to have been very infufficiently qualified 
> for the tafk he undertook; im his autho« 
"y at 
£ : 
— 
Retrofpe of Domeflic Literature——Hilborye 
rities are confufed the good, the bad, and 
the fufpicious—he quotes with equal con- 
fidence all three. To throw light upon any 
portion of early hiftory, requires various 
knowledge, meture judgment, and acute 
penetration, Mr. Turner's knowledge, 
however refpectable, is too confined for 
the occafion. Though writing a hiftory 
of the Anglo-Saxons, he feems to be 
utterly unacquainted with their language, 
their monuments, and ccins: as-to Mr. 
Turner’s wantof judgment and penetra- 
tion, it is perpetually rendered confpi- 
cuous by his rafh and indifcriminate cre- 
dulity. 
mM. Berrranp pe MoreviEte, 
whofe ‘ Private Memoirs of the Laft 
Years of Louis XVI,” have been fo gene- 
rally read, has permitted Mr. DALLAS to 
tranflate and publith, from his original ma- 
nufcript, ¢ Annals of the French Revolu- 
tion, or a Chronological Account of its 
principal Events, with a Variety of Anec- 
dotes and Characters hitherto unpublifh- 
ed.’ The high official firvation of M. 
MoLeEVIELE, as minifter of ftate, made 
him neceffarily take am active part in the 
vents of the French revolution, and gave 
him an opportunity of being as thoroughly 
acquainted with the characters who con- 
tributed to promote it as any one could 
be; he is a man of intelligence and deep 
penetration, and loft not the opportunities 
which were prefented. Strongly preju--- 
diced in favor of royalty, and perfonally 
attached to the King, his narratives are 
not to be read without fome caution: fill, 
however, as a man of honor and re- 
fpectabrlity, the general truth of his ftate- 
ments is, we believe, liable to no impeach- 
ment. The prefemt, we underttand, 1s 
not to be confidered as a fequel™to the 
minifter’s former publication, but is'rather 
the chief work from whieh the chapters 
that form thofe * Private Memoirs” are 
extraéted: the Annals, it is added, ina 
preliminary note, contain a faithful ac- 
count of the principal events of the 
French ,revolution, and form with the 
Memoirs a complete hiftory from its com- 
mencement to the death of the King:-— 
We have had numerous anecdotes evinc- 
ing the humanity of the King of France's 
di{pofition ; in the prefent volumes are 
enumerated many others, equally - il- 
luftrative of bis firmnefs and prefence of 
mind in cafes of danger. The name of 
the Baftile never palied the lips of an 
‘Englifhman without horror ; and his ima- 
gination ‘pi€tured the loathfome dungeons 
~s ever crowded with victims, of whofe 
myfterious deftiny ne ong knew. M. Ber- 
byte ay ht: trang 
