Retrofpedt of Domeftic Literature.—Vayages, Sc. 
toncife Vocabulary of familiar Phrafes, 
&c, in German and Englifh, for the Ufe 
of Travellers, by the Rev. Dr. RENDER.” 
This tour will not vindicate the Germans 
from the character which they have fo la- 
borioufly earned, of prolixity and dullnefs. 
It can lay but little claim to novelty: the 
remarks which Dr. Rendcr makes are fre- 
quently trifling and infignificant, and the 
information which he pretends to’ give is 
oftentimes grofsly incorrect. 
*¢ A general Acconnt of all the Rivers 
of Note in Great Britain; with their fe- 
veral Courfes, their peculiar Charaéters, 
the Countries through which they flow, 
and the entire Sea-coalk of our Ifland; 
concluding with a minute Deicription of 
the Thames, and its various auxiliary 
Streams, by Henry Sxrine, Efq. 
LL.B.” This is a ufeful and entertain- 
ing work: but had Mr. Skrine been bet- 
ter acquainted with natural and civil hif- 
tory, he certainly would have rendered it 
much more uleful and more entertaining 
than it is at prefent. Mr. Skrine intro- 
duced himfelf to the public by his * Suc- 
ceflive Tours;”’ the nature of hisremarks, 
and his flyle of writing, are pretty well 
known. ‘These is no reafon to queftion 
his accuracy on the prefent occafion, and 
he is entitled to our beft thanks for the 
labour and fatigue which the materials 
for the prefent yolume mutt have coft 
him. To each chapter a fmall map of 
the rivers mentioned in it is prefixed : 
Mr. Skrine proceeds from the mouth of 
the Thames to the northern extremity of 
Scotland, whence he returns by the weftern 
and fouthern coat. 
‘¢A Tour through part of North 
Wales, in the Year 1798, and at other 
‘Times; principally undertaken with a 
View to Botanical Refearches in that Al- 
pine Country: interfperfed with Obferva- 
tions on its-Scenery, Agriculture, Ma- 
nufactures, Cufloms, Hidory, and Anti- 
quities, by the Rev. J. Evans, B.A, 
&ce.” This work ought not to have re- 
mained fo long unnoticed. Mr. Evans 
travelled through Wales as a naturalift ; 
he was defirous of ttudying the native 
produstions of her hills and of her vallies, 
with a view of collefling a Flora. He is 
a man of tafte as well as f{cience—his de- 
{criptions are animated, picturefque, and 
adiflinft—his fenfibility,: however, fome- 
times borders on affectation. When he 
wanders into the field of hiflory, or anti- 
quity, he does nct tire his readers with 
the length of his excurfion, and after- 
wards, as is very commonly the cate, 
prefent them with fome infignificant ob- 
Monrury Mag, No, 89. 
653. 
ject as a reward for their patience. Mr. 
Evans unites entertainment with inftruc- 
tion, and has mixed the volatile and the 
dull in very happy proportions. His ac- 
count of the cuftoms, language, and fu- 
perftition of the Welfh, however inte- 
refting, has not much novelty. 
‘© A Tranflation has appeared from the 
French of M. Sonnini’s Travels in 
Greece and Turkey, undertaken by Order 
of Louis XVI. and with the Authority of 
the Ottoman Court.”? M. Sonnini’s Tra~ 
vels through Upper and Lower Egypt 
had a reception which fo far exceeded his 
moft fanguine expectations, that he has 
not hefitated in fulfilling, as foon as pof- 
fible, his engagement to give an account 
of the other countries which he vifited 
after his Egyptian expedition. The pub- 
lic will certainly not be difappointed in 
whatever hopes it may indulge of the 
amufement and information to be found 
in thefe volumes; they difplay the fame 
accuracy of obfervation, folidity ot judg- 
ment, and brilliancy of imagination, 
which ftamped fo high a value on the 
former production of this intelligent tra- 
veller. . M. Sonnini draws a more fa- 
vourable portrait of the modern Greeks 
than moft travellers have done; de- 
bafed as the people of Greece are by the 
grinding defpotifm of the infolent and 
haughty Muflulman, ftill when M. Son~ 
nini makes a comparifon, or rather 2 
contraft, between this people and the 
gloomy, treacherous, and dull natives 
of Egypt, we are charmed with the 
character which we have been taught 
to defpife. There is a very ftriking cor-- 
re{pondence between the account given of 
the inftabilityof the Ottoman Government, 
by Mr. Eton and by our prefent traveller, 
who fays, ‘¢ that the exittence of that val 
and monftrous empire of the Turks can-~ 
not be of long duration; its imcoherent 
paris fhake, and are on the point of falling 
to pieces; on every fide rebellion waves 
her flandards ; the authority of the chief 
of the empire difowned and infulted with~ 
out, fcarcely extends beyond the walls of 
Conftantinople; a domination, eftablifhed 
on ignorance, cannot refift the contaé&t of 
knowledge; it will be annihilated with 
the fuperttitious barbarifm to which it 
owes its origin; and the mof cruel and 
moft improvident tyranny will no longer 
leave any other traces than that by which 
the life of all tyrants is followed, the ex- 
ecration of pofterity.” Notwithftanding 
this readinefs among the Greeks to break 
their chains oa the heads of their op- 
piiiws, M. Sopnini fays, that their fla- 
4P very 
