- 
586 —- Retrofpel of Dameftic LiteratureOriental Literature. . 
ér fedition: but, fays’ he, drawings, or 
even verbal defcriptions, of thefe, would 
be committing an indecorous violence on 
the feelings, and inducing us to arraign 
the temperance and witdom fo univerfally 
acknowledged in the government of Chi- 
na. Suppoiing the prelent reprefentations 
to be corre&t, whoever cafts his eye over 
them, will doubtlefs have a high idea of 
the temperance and wifdom of the Chinefe 
government, and give the editor credit for 
infinité delicacy towards the feelings of 
his countryinen ! 
«¢ An’ Inguiry into the Elementary 
Principles of Beauty in the Works of Na- 
ture and Art, ky WiLLiam Tomson.” 
This is, a pofthumous publication. Its 
author was a painter by profeflion, and a 
native of Dublin. ‘His work carries with 
it marks of an ingenious and f{peculative 
mind... An Introduory Difcourfe “oy 
Tafte, which fills almoft half the Yolume, 
contains a new and ftriking theory on this 
fubject. We were particularly ‘ftruck 
with the author’s manner of accounting 
for the total abfence of tafte for mufic in 
Pope and Johnfon, both of whom, parti- 
cularly the former, wrote fuch mutfical 
numbers; but, itisobferyed of the latter, 
that he was fever known. to repeat a 
verfe,either-of his own orof any other poet, 
in which he did not effcétuaily, by his 
bare recital, defiroy every particle of har- 
mony it might contain. Cur author folves 
the difficulty, by obferving, that verfe 
may be repeated mentally to the zzterzal 
fenfe of tafte, without being conveyed to 
it by the ear from without. 
fon confiders beau‘y. to be the refult of fix 
different accidents or elementary principles, 
each of which, is a diftinét beauty in itfelf, 
and confequently communicates that pe- 
culiar beauty to every object to which it 
is joined ; all created beings, as well ina- 
Nimate as animate, he fuppofes to poffefs 
one or more of thefe fix beauties; and 
each of thefe elementary principles which 
is added after the fr/?, namely proportion 
or fitnefs—which, sn oppefition to Mr, 
Burke, he contends, is the firft and chief 
principle of beauty in ali bodies—fo’ far 
increafes its beauty, by the addition of 
fuch element ; and thcrefore the creature 
or objeét, which poffeffes a/lthe elementary 
principles, is moit or perfeétly. beautiful 
in its kind, “That creature or object—if 
any fuch there be—which poflefies zoxe of 
thefe elementary principles, muft neceffa- 
rily be ugly, deformed, and monftrous. 
The following is a lift of thefe elementary 
principles: 1. Phe beauty of proportion 
ox fitnefs, 2. The beauty of fliape, or the 
Mr. Thom-: 
conic form, 3. The beauty of fines, 
4. The beauty of colours.’ 5. Phe beaw- 
ty of variety. And 6, The beauty of 
fmoothnefs. However viincrable is the 
theory of Mr. Thomfan’ 54 many refpects, 
the conftruétion of it, 4 mus be acknow- 
ledged, is ingenious,_From the fubject . 
of Fine Arts, we ‘proceed to that of — ” 
, ORIENTAL LITERATURE, 
which, we ave happy to find, is not fo 
much negle&ed as at one time, from the 
paucity of publications connected with it, 
we ha: reafon to apprehend. | 
_ In our aft Retrofpe@, we gave an out- 
line of the plan upon which “© The A fatic 
Annual Regifter’? was conduéted: a fe- 
cond volume of that compilation, from the 
Calcutta newlpapers, has made its ap- 
pearance, difplaying the fame induftry, 
which, in the former volume, gave us fo 
favourable an anticipation of its ‘future 
condust. The only deviation which we 
remark, is in the hiftorical part, the bre- 
vity of which will be generally regretted ; 
the writer of that portion, of the preceding 
volume took a general view of the fate of 
ancient India, from the earlieft periods of 
authentic hiftory, to the clofe of the fix._ 
teenth century ; and he fated it te kaye 
been his intention, in this “feeond volume, 
to have given a concife account of the 
Britifh pofléfficns in that quarter of the 
globe; he has found it neceflary, however, 
to take a more wide and comprehenfive 
range. ‘The writer has accordingly given 
an account of the general connection 
which has fubfifted between India and Eu- 
rope, from the firft formation of fettle- 
ments by Europeans in Hindoftan; in the 
courfe of which, he has traced to their 
origin che eftablifhments of other powers 
befides Great Britain: the fecond hiftori- 
cal chapter therefore gives ** A View of 
the Commercial Intercourfe between In- 
dia and Europe, previous to the Difcovery 
of the Paflage of the Cape of Good Hope.”” 
It is well known, that the Marquis of 
Wellefley, among other important fervices 
which he has rendered to the Eaft India 
Company} founded a college at Fort Wil- , 
liam, in Bengal, for the better inflruction 
of the junior civil fervants of the Compa- 
ny in fuch branches of literature, {cience, 
and knowledge, as may be deemed necef- 
fary to qualify them for the difcharge of 
the duties of the different ‘offices confti- 
tuted for the edminiftration of the govern- 
ment of the Britith pofieffions in the Eaff 
indies: it is by no means fo generally 
known, however, what thofe branches are, 
and on how very extenfive a bafis the efta- 
blifhment is founded. Onthe Mere 
fay oe ERG 
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