604 Retrofpee? of Domeltic Literature.—Voyages, Travels, Se. 
And — the works of Mr. R. P. 
Knight, his lat and beft, <* An Analy- 
tical Enquiry into the Principles of 
‘Fafte,”” is omicted. 
They who delight in anecdotes of ava- 
rie, may per haps be amufed by “ The 
Lif; and Hiftory of Betty Bolaine,” a par- 
fimonious female of Canterbury. | For 
ourfelves, we know of little good which 
publ cations of this kind are likely to pro- 
duce. The more fordid paffions are tuff. 
ciently hateful of themfeives : they do not 
want perpetuating. In the prefent work, 
part is told in profe, end part in verle. 
It is. the produGtion cf a female at whole 
houfe Betty B laine appears to have taken 
occafiona) dinners: her greateft crime, 
however, feems to have been that fhe dif- 
poled cf an accumulated fortune in a man- 
ner which evidently difappointed thofe 
who principally cherifhed her acquaint- 
ance, 
‘© The Life of Erafmus, reduced from ' 
the larger work of Dr. Fortin,” by Mr. 
Laycey, ferms a uleful volume in oétavo. 
The more important materials have been 
comprefled, and many of the notes, which 
formed { large a portionof the work in 
Its original ftate, emitted. The head 
and antograph of Erafmus are prefixed to 
if. 
Nor muft we leave the different “* Me- 
moirs of Lord Neifon’s Life unnoticed: 
though at preleni we fhali name but two, 
Mr. Wuire’s and Mr. CHARNOCK’s. 
‘Thefe compilations are of courfe formed 
of fimilar materia!s, and detail more of 
his lordfhip’s public than his private life. 
Mr. Charnock’s is certainly the beft ; and 
contains many letters, which prove Lord 
Nelfon not only to have been a great, but 
an accomplifhed and an amiable man. 
The * Life of Thomas Dermody,” by 
Mr. RayMOND, is the Jite of another Sa- 
vage, of lower birth and greater protiigacy. 
Like his father. he feems to have been a 
good icholar and a great drunkard ; bis 
early acquirements might perhaps have 
been confidersble, but they were over- 
powered by habits of brutal debauchery. 
He died at the age of 27, the viétim of 
depraved excefs. The merit that brought 
him into notice was a vein of poetry, 
which appears to have been as good at 
ten years of ave as at any {ubfequent pe- 
riod of his life ; and it was to the encou- 
ragemient of it by injudicious friends that 
he feems, in !ome meat bres to have owed 
hisruin. This accouot of his Jiteis alto- 
Eve) au intereiting performance, 
Mrs CUMBERLAND ’s * Life,” written 
by himlelf, is pechaps a more entertaining 
~ 
fpecimen of biography than any we have 
mentioned. It is referved, with Dr. 
BEATTI1E’s, for a full cas fdeeaeial at the 
clofe of the next half year. 
VOYAGES, TRAVES, &e. 
‘« Letters from France, written in the 
Years 1803 and 1804; including a partt- 
cular Account of Verdun, and ihe. Situa- 
tion of the Britto Captives in that City.” 
By James Forbes, F.R.S. &c. 2 vols. 
A confiderable portion of the pages of 
this work defcribe what has already been 
the fubje& of frequent defcription ; and 
the journey through Holland, which oc- 
cupies a large fhare of the firft volume, 
will, perhaps, excite but It'e intereft 
with the reader. ‘The moit valuable part 
of it is that in which the Moravians and 
their relictous tenets are defcribed. ‘The 
Batavian. Republic, he obierves himfelf, 
is foon feen, ard as eafily remembered ; 
its monutony faves the trouble Be tetals 
leftion. I fhall take my leave, he adds, 
of thissingular conning in the words of 
Sr William Temple, which exhibit a 
briet but faithful piéture of it. ‘* Hol- 
land is a country where the earth is better 
than the air, and profit more in requclt 
-than honour ; where there is more fenfe 
than wit, more good-nature than good- 
humour, and more wealth than pleaiure. 
Where a man would choofe rather to tra- 
vel than to live; will find more things to 
obferve than admire ; and more perfons to 
efteem than to love.”” From Utrecht Mr, 
Forbes procceded to B-uff-lls, and thence 
(with the language of Holland lofing its 
neat and cleanly charaéter) through Mons, 
Cambray,Peronne, and Miaucourt, to Paris, 
where he unfortunately arrived May 24, 
1803, the very day after all the Englith 
gentlemen refident in that city had been 
made prifoners of war. Luckily for Mr. 
Forbes, his appearance befpeakirg him to 
be rapidly approaching fixty, he was re- 
giftered of that age in his paffport of 
fafety ; and was thus, for a time at leaft,, 
allowed to vilit the capital and its envi- 
rons. The local defcriptions be has given 
feem very faithiuily drawn, but they are 
of objects sufficiently known already. 
The National Mufeoum, Verfailles, the 
Trianons, the prifon of the Conciergerie, 
and the Hotei de Ja Rochefoucalt, have 
been defcribed by almoft every traveller. 
Though on the manners of Paris, and 
the ftate of its inhabitants, his remarks 
are highly interefting. The executions, 
however, of the late Queen of pMsde, 
Madame de Barré, Madame Elizabeth, 
and Madame Roland, need hardly have 
been repeated.> Having defcribed ie 
well. 
_—— 
