668 Retrospect of French, &c. 
mother country, has, on the contrary, 
proved highly advantageous. He con- 
tends that Spain was never depopulated 
by emigration to her colonies, and that, 
instead of being impoverished by them, 
she has derived very extraordinary ad- 
vantages within the last hundred years. 
He describes the inhabitants as uniting 
great vivacity of character, with asto- 
nishing slowness in point of action. 
They awaken, we are told, from their 
constitutional apathy, the moment that 
their pride is nritated, their anger pro- 
voked, or their generosity stimulated. 
We are astonished at the mild man- 
ner in which the author treats of the In- 
quisition ; and his justification of the 
punishment of the poor Moors and Jews, 
by committing them to the flames, is 
calculated to excite indignation in every 
generous bosom. 
“ Recueil de Lettres et Dissertations 
sur l’ Agriculture, &c.” A Collection of 
Letters, and Dissertations, relative to 
Agriculture, the advantages derived from 
the folding of sheep, the best means of 
increasing the production of corn, and 
fruits ot every kind. Here also are to 
be found, remedies for the most dan- 
gerous disorders, together with a va- 
riety of other mteresting matters; to 
which are added a few specimens of 
poetry; by D. L. J. R. De Scevole, a 
learned proprietor, and cultivator at 
Argenton, in the department of Indre. 
2 vols. 12mo.* 
— 
Pater ipse colendi 
Haud facilem esse viam voluit, primusque 
per artem 
Movit agros, curis acuens, mortalia corda. 
Virg. Georg. lib. ii. 
The title-page of this work is given at 
full length, and we ‘shall notice several 
of the subjects, by way of exhibiting the 
humble efforts of a French practical 
agriculturist. In one chapter we have 
-a dissertation on the means of raising 
silk-worms in the open air, and on the 
mulberry tree. We are told, however, 
after the experiment had been. fairly 
tried, that the silk-breeding insects were 
all devoured by birds, lizards, and large 
“ flies,” the last of which is a tribe of in- 
sects incapable of similar depredations, 
at least in England. We are next pre- 
sented with a remedy for the cure of 
the effects produced by the bite of 
vipers; he prescribes the expressed 
juice of the craisette (cruciata hir- 
suta), mingled with an equal quantity 
* Imported by Mr. De Boffe, Nassau- 
street, Soho-square. 
thers. seated in this manner. 
Literature—Miscellaneous. 
of wine, which is to be swallowed by the 
patient, while the refuse of the plant is 
applied as a cataplasm.to the wound. 
A whole letter is occupied with the 
description of a Jey, for seed-corn, 
and a recommendation to be careful of 
diminishing the quantity.usually sown 
one half. Another is occupied with an 
‘eulogy on the potatoe, which appears 
still to be a rarity in some parts of 
France. The author boasts of being 
able to dress it in a hundred different 
modes, and even prefers this root to 
butcher’s meat, fowls, and game! The 
potatoes are sometimes roasted whole in 
the ashes; sometimes peeled and served 
with a rich gravy; at other timés stewed, _ 
introduced into ragouts, baulettes, bei- 
gnets, and what is still more extraordi+ 
nary, into salads! His tarts, which are 
more healthy, light, and pleasant, than 
those made of almonds, are’ always 
formed out: of this vegetable, and in time 
of scarcity; by the help of rye or barley- 
meal, it is converted into bread. 
Perhaps the proposition to obtain oil 
from the acorn, may contain agood hint; 
it is recommended for the use of paint- 
ers, the preparation of varnish, &c. We 
are next presented with a letter on the 
method of feeding bees during the win- 
ter; and a composition of water and 
wine, mixed in equal parts with honey, 
is recommended. rat 
The following passage, although, like the 
greater part of the work, it has sothmyg 
to do with agriculture, yet contains 
much good sense. By ‘way of introduc- 
tion toa very simple receipt, for pre- 
venting the bad effects of verdigrease, 
litharge, and white lead, the author ob- 
serves: “ That our ancestors were gene=_ 
rally stronger, more vigorous, and more — 
healthy, than ourselves, and exhibited 
fewer pale faces and consumptive lungs, 
than.we do.” “ The reason.is,” adds he, 
“‘ because they did not inhabit little, 
narrow, close chambers, finely pamted, 
and varnished; they did not sleep in 
dark alcoves, with double curtains 
to their beds, and double glasses to 
their windows. The whole of a family 
assembled in one large apartment, where 
they warmed themselves, not by means 
of the suffocating heat of a stove, but at 
a chimney, large in proportion to the 
room in which they assembled. The 
air, which is the principle of life, eircu< 
lated freely around our fathers and mo- 
If they 
went out, they either rode or walked; 
they were never enclosed like so many 
