1804.] i 
(ae 
VARIETIES, Literary AND PHILOSOPHICAL; 
Including Notices of Works in Hand, Domefttc and Foreign. 
*.% Authentic Communications for this Article will always be thankfully received. 
—aa 
MONG the literary curiofities of 
the prefent year, the Life, Corre- 
{pondence, and Papers of the late cele- 
brated Joan Witxss, will hold a diftin- 
guifhed place. Mr. JoHN ALMon, au- 
thor of the T.ife of Chatham, and other 
works, many years the publifher and in- 
timate of Wilkes, has obtained from 
his family, and from the executors of 
Mifs Wilkes, all the letters and literary 
remains of that extraordinary man. Thele 
highly curious and interefting papers 
Mr. Almon intends to publith in four or 
five elegant volumes, to which he will pre- 
fix a full and accurate Life of Mr. Wilkes, 
embellifhed with various engravings. 
The managers -and vifitors ;of the 
Roya. INstTirurion have announced a 
PROPOSAL, to raife a fund of goool. in 
order to contribute further towards form- 
ing, and connecting with the Infitution, 
an extenfive and uleful collestion of mi- 
nerals; fo as to eftablith there, on a great 
fcale, an Assay OFFICE, for the improve- 
ment of mineralogy and metallurgy. 
This fund is intended to be applicable, 
under the direction of mineralogifts and 
chemifts, to the following purpofes ; viz. 
the formation of a {cientific collection of 
minerals on fuch a fcale, as to include all 
the latelt difcoveries;—the arrangement 
of the collection in a manner to exhibit 
all the interelting feries of mineralogical 
facks ;—and, the eftablifhment of an Afu 
fay Office, to be exclufively employed for 
the advancement of mineralogy and me- 
tallurgy. To attain this national objed, 
and to encourage contributions to the 
funds for the orivinal eftablifhment of the 
Colleétion and Affay Office, it is propofed 
to give the fub{fcribers fimilar privileges 
to thofe, on which a large fum has been 
recently and rapidly collected for the Li- 
brary of Reference; with only this dif- 
ference, (which the difference of the ob- 
ject appears to warrant) that, in cafe of 
a patron’s fubfcription to this Collection, 
whether a proprietor, a life fubicriber, or 
an annual fubfcriber to the Inttitution, it 
may be competent for him to exercife the 
rights of a patron; and, that a feleét 
committee fhall, from time to time, be 
appointed by the managers from among 
the fub{fcribers, to form and arrange the 
Colleétion, and direct the operations of 
the Afiay Office. With refpect to the 
fybfeription for the Collection, it is pro- 
MontTuLy Mae, No, 118. 
pofed to open it, not only to the propries 
tors and fubfcribers of the Infitutions 
but to the members of the different mi- 
neral companies, and others, in this king. 
dom, and alfo to the members of the 
eftablifhed learned bodies. 
De. Mavor, who is advantageoufly 
known by his publications on natural hif- 
tory, many years ago projected a work, of 
fingular fplendour and intereft, under the 
title of ‘«*A Diétionary of Britifh Bo- 
tany,”’ with coloured plates, for which he 
has long been collecting materials. The 
detail of his plan will probably be an- 
nounced early next {pring ; and fhould it 
obtain fatisfactory patronage, he intends, 
we underftand, to follow it with a **Dic- 
tionary of Britis Zoology,” ona fimilag 
lan. , r 
The fame gentleman has lately in- 
vited the communications of naturalifts, 
in every part of the kingdom, relative to 
the appearance and difappearance of the 
frwallow tribe; and as fome of the hiruz- 
dines will oon retire for the winier, he 
refpectfully requefts the curious obferver 
to favour him with authentic remarks, 
verified by date, place, and name, in the 
time and manner of their difappearance, 
with any other circumftance connected, 
with their hiftory, that can threw new 
licht on this interefting fubject.—Letters 
fhould be addrefled, poft-paid, to Dr. Ma. 
vor, Woodftock, or to the publither of the 
Monthly Magazine, by whom they will 
be carefully forwarded. 
The promifed Memoirs of the late 
GILBERT DV AED LEUD, B.A. in two 
volumes, oftavo, will appear in the courlg 
of this month. 
The manufcript of the fecond volume 
of the Life of General Wathington has 
reached London, and the third may be 
expeéted before Michaelmas. This va- 
juable hiftorical work will be finifhed be- 
jore Chriftmas next. 
Korzesus, having vifited Paris in the 
{pring of the prefent year, has written an 
account of his journey, of which a tran{ 
Jation will foon appear. ia London, Du- 
ring his refidence in the French metro- 
polis, he was treated with the degree of 
pubiic refpect which is due to his genius 5 
and he has narrated the particulars, and 
deferibed French charaéters and manners 
with the livelinefs which diftinguifhes all 
his writings, 
i The 
