Retrofpee of French Literature.—Hiftory. 
fo ** Flim Flams ;? which is as incompre- 
henfible as the advertifements of Martin 
Van Butchel! 
‘* Harvef? Home; confilling of Sup- 
plementary Gleanings in various Parts of 
England, particularly in Hampfhire and 
Warwickhhire ; conjaining Original Views 
of, Society and of the State of the Poor in 
the great Manuiadturing Towns of Bir- 
mingham, Manchefter, and Shefheld. By 
S. J. Prarr, Elq. Including alfo 
Three Original Dramas of the Author ; 
and One Volume of Original Poetry, with 
Contributions by Mr. Pre, the Poet 
Laureat, Mifs Pye, Dr. Mavor, Dr. 
Woxcor, &c. &c. To which is fub- 
joined a new and enlarged Selection of 
the Poem of ‘* Sympathy.” . 
Whoever has derived pleafure and re- 
ceived inftruétion from the volumes of 
** Gleanings,”’ will experience, in the 
perufal of ‘* Harveft Home,” at leaft an 
“equal degree of Satisfaction. 
The reader who can accompany this 
writer in his wanderings through the 
«« New Foreft,”’ and yet does not feel his 
heart glow within him as he proceeds, 
is indeed an object of pity. Nor is the 
man of feeling alone acdreffed in. thele 
pages; fince even men all head may find, . 
661 
in the accounts of the manufaSures of. 
Birmingham and other places, fuch ftate- 
ments of faéts as are no where elfe to be 
met with relative to that important fub. 
ject. The fecond of thefe volumes con- 
tains Three Original Dramas, all of 
which will be found highly entertaining ; 
and one of which, ‘© Hail Fellow well met,” 
is fo replete with excellent political fatire, 
that its publication cannot fail to be ate 
tended with very beneficial effects. The 
third volume is devoted entirely'to poetry. 
The tributes tothe author are at once 
elegant {pecimens of the art, and erati- 
fying inftances of that refpect which true 
genius is ever ready to beftow on fellow 
genius. ‘Ihe whole is concluded with an 
enlarged and correéted edition of the ad- 
mirable Poem of «« Sympathy.” 
‘<4 fhort Account of the Caufe of the 
Difeafe in Corn, called by Farmers the 
Blight, the Mildew, and the Ruff ;”’ with 
two Plates. By the Right Hon. Sir Jo- 
SEPH BaNKs. 
It was our intention to have taken am- 
ple notice of thistra&, but, with regret, 
we find ourfelves compelled, by the want 
of room, to decline the tafk. Perhaps 
fome other opportunity may prefent. it- 
felf. : 
HALF-YEARLY RETROSPECT OF FRENCH ‘LITERATURE, 
— 
HISTORY. 
ee Recast Sacetapinachig hiftoriques 
fur Empire de la Mer, chez les 
anciens & les modernes.’’—Hiftorical Re- 
marks relative to the Empire of the Sea, 
in ancient and modern Times. 
At the very period that the French are 
fitting out fleets and conceiting diftant 
expeditions, they endeavour to depreciate 
the importance arifing out of the empire 
of the feas, which at once conftitutes the 
ftrength and the fecurity of their rivals, 
The author of the work now before us 
infifts, <* that thofe nations who attain a 
fuperiority by means of commerce, are, 
of all others, the moft avariciaus and the 
molt unjuft: this,’? continues he, ** is an 
hiftorical fa&t, which experience has uni- 
formly taught us. Among a trading 
people, the habit of acquiring gain be- 
comes daily more inordinate, and every 
private citizen aids the public injuftice, 
by which his own fpeculations are aug- 
mented.” 
In addition to this, we are told that 
nothing is more uncertain than maritime 
greatne/s; and we icarn, by a quotation 
from Ifocrates, ‘* that all the nations of 
Greece who have poflcfled, or even afpired 
to the empire of the fea, were afterwards 
precipitated into a frightful aby{s of dif- 
afters and calamity. This domination,” 
continues he, ** is not natural; it isa 
chimera which intoxicates to fuch a de- 
gree, as to bereave ail thofe actuated by 
it of common fenfe, and they foon attract 
fo many, and fuch powerful enemies, 
that it is found impoflible to refit them 
for any confiderabie period. The inha- 
bitants of the continent, the inhabitants 
of the iflands, the neighbouring as well 
as the diitant powers, all armagainft thofe 
who have uiurped the émpire of the 
ocean, and become the tyrants of the hu- 
man race.” 
As the queftion is here obvious, ‘ whe- 
ther the conquerors by land are not ftill — 
more ferocious and immoral than the con- 
querors by fea?” the author takes care ta 
~ infinuate, 
/ 
