634 
_thefe very amufing volumes: they con- 
tain fome good-natured {atire on certain 
manners, cuftoms, and opinions; they 
make us {mile and they make us weep ;_ 
they excite our beft feclings and affec- 
tions s; and, laftly, they contain fome 
fpecimens of beautifu! poetry. 
It is very rarely that we have to con- 
gratulate our readers on the appearance 
of a novel equal in merit to the ¢* Letters 
of Mifs Riverfdale;” they are written 
by fome one perfectly. converfant with 
foreign manners and cuftoms, who has 
feen a great deal of the world, and pro- 
fitted by his opportunities. He is maf- 
ter of the French language, and writes 
it with facility. and elegance. Thefe 
letters are addreffed by Mifs Riverfdale 
to her abfent brother, giving an account 
of her daily occupations, the charac- 
ters the is introduced to, and the fo- 
ciety into which fhe is thrown. The 
ftory itfelf is extremely fimpie, and the 
fuperiority of this novel confifts in the 
fpirited manner in which its characters 
are drawn, and in the brilliancy of its’ 
converfations. Thefe !atter, indeed, fo 
dificult to be managed, are executed 
by the hand of a matter. 
“‘ Thaddeus of Warfaw,” by Mifs 
PoRTER, is a novel of confiderable me- 
rit. In the charaéter of her hero, Milfs P. 
has reprefented the moft perfect magna- 
nimity; that magnanimity which is nei- 
ther intoxicated in profperity, nor hum- 
bled in adverfity. Count Thaddeus So- 
biefki isthe grand child of Conftantine 
Sobiefki, the palatine of Mafovia. The 
old heroand the young one are called to 
arms on the invafion of their country by 
the Ruffian forces in 1792. The prodigies 
of valour which were accomplithed by 
the Polith patriots, are too well known 
and admired to be obliterated from any 
bofom which is not utterly dead to 
every feeling of honor, and all fenfe 
of independence. Hiftoric truth is here 
brought in as the handmaid of fiction; 
and the brief narrative of the dying” 
ftruggles of Poland for her liberty un. 
der Sobiefki, Kofcinf{zko, and Ponia- 
towfki, is, in its main features, correct. 
But, alas! the early fuccefs of the Polith 
arms. was followed by moft difaftrous 
| defeats, and the hopes of that ill-fated 
country to preferve her independence 
were too foon deftroyed by thofe *‘tyran- 
nous breathings of the North,’? which 
blafted them in the bud. The ftyle of 
Mifs Porter is manly and energetic, 
and, when fhe pleafes, affecting. 
funeral of the oid Count Sobietki 
The | 
mond” is very good. 
Retrofpee? of Domeftic Literature—Novels and Romances. 
brought to our remembrance the ‘des 
{cription which Sir Robert Wilfon has 
given of General Kleber’s funeral, in| 
his Hiftory of the Campaign in Egypt, 
which we confider as a fine (pecimen of 
fimple and pathetic eloquence. We 
could not read it without emotion. 
“© Leopold, or the Baftard,” isa work 
of fuperior merit ; the ftory is fkilfully 
conceived, and well told; the charac- 
ters are drawn with ability and difcri« 
mination ;. and life and manners are 
delineated with confiderable vivacity 
and accuracy. . 
“© Lionel, or the-Emigrant; an Hifto- 
vical Novel, tranflated from the French 
of Louts de Bruno, a Native of the Banks 
of the Ganges."—An interefting and pa- 
thetic tale, relating events which are 
faid aétually to have happened. 
“* Kerwald Caftle” is alfo a tranflation 
from the French of the Marquis de 
SOLANGES.—The tranflation is fo bad, 
and the typographical errors fo nume- 
rous, that it 1s {carcely fair to give an- 
opinion of the merits of the original. 
‘* The Vale of Conway” is a pleafing . 
and interefting little tale, 
Mr. PickERSGALE, in his romance 
of ** The Three Brothers,” has difplayed 
an extravagant unregulated imagina- 
tion, which in maturer years may pro- 
duce fome work lefs exceptionable than 
the prefent, which difplays genius, 
but violates every principle of tafte, 
judgment, and of epic unity. 
** The Three Monks!!! From the 
French, by H. J. SARRETT.” 
Thefe volumes are very properly de- 
dicated to Mr. Lewis ; and if that gen- 
tleman has any feeling and ‘fenfe o 
propriety, he muft be keenly affected 
that his own volumes fhould, as it 
were, have given birth to fuch excei- 
five lewdnefs and impiety as pervade 
the profligate pages now before us, 
“ The Village-Paftor and his Curate,” 
Is a tranflation from the German of LA 
Fontaine. The tale is fimple and 
interefting: the adventures natural, 
though fingular; and the fentiments 
unexceptionable. The author indeed 
fhowed his tafte and his judgment in 
felecting fo chafte a model as the Vicar 
of Wakefield. iolag 
The author of * Peregrine, or the Fool 
of Fortune,’ had Smollett’s Peregrine 
Pickle in view when he wrote it. The 
two works will not bear a comparifon 
—hand paffibus equis } 
The advice contained in “ Lucy Of- — 
“66 The 
