firmly in predestination, and taught to regard certain useless ceremonies, when accompanied by the involuntary, and to them, from their ignorance, necessary act of faith, as sufficient to secure eternal happiness after death, are not likely to regulate their lives by the moral precepts which their religion superadds to those fundamental injunctions. The violent and capricious nature of the government, and the corrupt administration of justice which we have been contemplating, must increase, instead of correcting, the debasement of their character. It is a matter of surprise, indeed, to find any good qualities in this people; and almost all authors seem agreed, in ascribing to them a quick sense of insult, hospitality to strangers, and gratitude for past favours. Their natural talents seem to be less questioned, the more our intercourse with them is extended; but while a contempt for the enlightened nations which surround them, continues a principle of their religion, we can expect nothing short of a violent change in their government, to promote the cultivation of their abilities. In their behaviour, they are graceful, sedate, and courteous; possesing all those qualities which some people in civilized nations prize as the perfection of good manners, Their fondness for warm-baths, smoking, story-telling, sights of dancing and wrestling, the pleasures of the harem, and whatever else contributes to animal gratification without a considerable encroachment upon their habitual indolence, is too well known to require description; the pleasures of intoxication, whether by wine or opium, are not so generally indulged in. The following passage, descriptive of the contrast which the Turkish manners exhibit to our own, in the most minute particulars, is so much better than Mr Thornton's usual style of writing, that we are tempted to believe he has obtained it from some former author.

Every traveller must have noticed, (though Dumont appears to be the firft who has recorded the obfervation,) that the Turkish ufages contraft in a fingular manner with our own. This diffimilitude, which pervades the whole of their habits, is fo general, even in things of ap parent infignificance, as almoft to indicate defign rather than accident. The whole exterior of the oriental is different from ours. The European ftands firm and erect, his head drawn back, his cheft protruded, the point of the foot turned outwards, and the knees ftraight. The attitude of the Turk is lefs remote from nature, and in each of these refpe&s approaches nearer to the models which the ancient ftatuaries appear to have copied. Their robes are large and loofe, entirely concealing the contour of the human form, encumbering motion, and illadapted to manly exercife. Our clofe and fhort dreffes, calculated for promptitude of action, appear in their eyes to be wanting both in dig nity and modelty. They reverence the beard as the fymbol of man

S 3

hood

hood and the token of independence; but they practife depilation of the body from motives of cleanlinefs. In performing their devotions, or on entering a dwelling, they take off their fhoes. In inviting a perfon to approach them, they ufe what with us is confidered as a repulfive motion of the hand. In writing, they trace the lines from right to Jeft. The mafter of a houfe does the honours of his table by ferving himself first from the difh: he drinks without noticing the company, and they with him health when he has finished his draught. They lye down to fleep in their clothes; they affect a grave and phlegmatic exterior; their amufements are all of the tranquil kind: they confound with folly the noify expreffion of gayety; their utterance is flow and deliberate they even feel fatisfaction in filence; they attach the idea of majefty to flowness of motion: they pafs in repofe all the moments of their life which are not occupied in ferious bufiness: they retire early to reft; and they rife before the fun. ' p. 304. 305.

:

It remains to subjoin, in the last place, a few reflections suggested by the situation in which this feeble and extensive empire stands with respect to its more formidable neighbours.

The doctrine, which some adyocates of Russia have maintained, that the seizure of Turkey, and the restoration of the Greek empire, would be an act of strict justice towards the Greeks, and a fair punishment of the Ottomans-is a great deal too absurd to require any discussion. The Turks have the very same right to their dominions, which the Russians themselves have to theirs or which the descendants of the northern nations have to the greater part of Europe. Nor does it appear, from the best accounts which we have of the Greeks, that their character is such as to promise a more deserving race of subjects to the power that should drive the Turks into Asia. Whatever change it may be deemed adviseable to make in the Ottoman empire, must limit itself to the improvement of all classes of the inhabitants, by the equal preservation of their rights; and the amelioration of their political institutions. If any change could be effected in the government, which should secure the regular administration of justice, the establishment of an effective police, and the receipt of the public income, without the extortions of the provincial governors; some revolutionary struggles, or even the introduction of foreign assistance, does not seem too great a price to pay for it. Whatever foreign nation should obtain the ascendant in the affairs of this empire, (and it is evident that some one must speedily do so), would probably begin by improving the army, the first step towards restoring that regu lar government which Turkey itself once possessed. The intercourse with a powerful aily, would certainly tend to weaken the hatred or contempt in which infidels and their institutions

are

are at present held. Nor can it be doubted, that, in every point of view, by their power, their abilities, their manners, and their activity, the French are peculiarly well adapted to work the changes in question. Indeed, were it not for the dangerous consequences of such an event to our own country, we should be justified in wishing well to the progress of the Turks in their new alliance. Certainly, between the Russians and the French, in so far as regards Turkey, there can be no room for hesitating. But who can view, without dismay, the addition of all the coasts and forests of Greece, to the already enormous maritime resources of France in the Mediterranean? Our desire for the improvement of the Turks, must be vehement indeed, if it can lead us to deprecate their having Russian instructors.

But, unhappily, the influence of France in the affairs of the Porte, is no longer a matter of speculation. The ascendant which Russia might have gained in them, had she reserved herself for better opportunities, is now sacrificed to her premature efforts in the cause of the German powers. The subjugation of Austria, and the destruction of Prussia, have brought France and Russia together. Instead of fighting for Germany, or even for Turkey, they are now contending for Petersburg: and this fourth continental war will probably terminate in a peace as dis astrous for Russia, both in the Baltic and the Levant, as the last was for Austria, in Germany and in Italy. These are the dreadful effects of the fourth coalition: and yet this infatuated nation still talks with enthusiasm, of opposing the common enemy by alliances, and subsidies, and expeditions;-receives the news of negociation and of the defeat of its allies with equal dismay ;--and labours incessantly, not to join in any projects of peace-but to increase the number of its enemies ;-too happy, if it can only make out a quarrel with its kindred in America, and its brethren in Ireland!

ART. II. A Tour through Holland along the Right and Left Banks of the Rhine, to the South of Germany, in the Summer and Autumn of 1806. By Sir John Carr, of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple; Author of the Stranger in Ireland; a Northern Summer, &c. &c. 4to.-pp. 484. Twenty Engravings and a Map. London. Phillips. 1807.

OUR

UR readers are acquainted with this author's way of writing books. He goes abroad about the end of summer; visits some count: y in a hasty and superficial manner; returns with his notes; and, by the help of Shakespeare for quotations, Joe Miller

of

for anecdotes, and some of the travelling guides for trifling information; he makes a quarto volume, which is in the shops at the proper period of the ensuing book-season. From his last excursion, he brought indeed something more than his memorandums; for the Duke of Bedford (to whom the book now before us is dedicated) made a knight of him; and he is now Sir John Carr.' But his honours, we are sorry to say, have been accompanied by no improvement in his qualifications as an author. On the contrary, this new work is a great deal emptier than any his former productions, and abounds in still more frequent specimens of the defective taste which we have already pointed out in them. It is, at the same time, as little liable to censure for more serious defects, as his other works. He seems to be an amiable, inoffensive, extremely good-natured man, who has no more right to publish quartos than to govern empires. As, however, he probably differs from us upon this subject, we may expect to see a great number of new volumes, manufactured by him in the same way; and we shall do our endeavour to improve their qua lity, by fairly pointing out some of the faults so conspicuous in the present sample. A person of very moderate talents, and information scarcely proportioned to these, who is resolved every year to visit some foreign country, and publish what he may col lect from his personal observation, cannot indeed be expected to furnish profound or elaborate works; but it will be his own fault, if he does not contribute a valuable portion of information, in times when every thing beyond seas is full of change, and every change is interesting. Let even such a traveller only resolve to be plain, to put a great number of questions wherever he has an opportunity, and give us the answers accurately; let him tell us unaffectedly what he saw and heard; and he will render a considerable service to letters, while he is amusing himself with his journeys, and profiting by his publications.

The public,' says our author, shall be my confessor;' and he makes a clear breast by telling us, that, having no hopes of peace, he, last summer, during the negociations, resolved to visit Holland; and for this purpose, became an American, and, by an act of temporary adoption, fixed upon Baltimore as the place of his nativity.' There is something rather prepossessing, in the frankness with which he makes another confession,-that he repents not having thrown his different Tours into the form of letters, whereby he might have rendered critics more indulgent. But, in truth, the volume before us would have made a sorry collection of epistles, even if the perusal had been confined to those who received them through the post-office.

The Dutch captain imposed upon him, and took thirty-six passengers

sengers on board. They had a tedious voyage; during which the captain prayed a great deal with his family, in a small hole of a kitchen, and chastised his son for being idle at his book. I restored our captain to good humour,' says Sir J. Carr, by relating to him an anecdote of a Dutch sailor;'-which proves to be the hacknied story of a sailor challenging another to stand with his head on the truck, and the other failing upon the deck in making the attempt, crying, Can you do that?' (p. 9.) The captain had some dogs on board, and he was not a little amused at my telling him that,' &c.; which introduces a story of a Newfoundland dog behaving well during an action at sea. (p. 9.) Such is this lively traveller's way of stringing together anecdotes, as he calls them. We speak within compass, when we say, that a third of the book is made up of stories forced in from all quarters, without any pretensions to interest, or wit, or lively narrative, and, for the most part, having as little connexion with the journey of our author, as with any other journey, or indeed any thing else. But they figure in the table of contents, and at the tops of pages, as anecdote' of this or that person; which, we suppose, is found to answer, when people are turning over the leaves of a book in a shop, and making up their minds whether they shall purchase or not. After several more anecdotes, and a quotation from our Hudibrastic Butler,' and a saying of some whimsicality' of the Duke of Alva, our traveller lands at Rotterdam.

we

Here, instead of the information which would have been most interesting and very easily procured, respecting the present state of trade, and the effects of the revolution and the war, have not even a tolerable description of the exterior appearance of the town. But anecdote upon anecdote crowds every page, In his rage for collecting stories, our author falls into frequent scrapes, believing every thing he hears, so it be but a story." How could he be so thoughtless as to credit the tale in p. 31, of king Louis having already, that is, within two months of his accession, effected retrenchments, in the expenditure of the naval department, to the amount of two millions Sterling a year? Perhaps he will quote this as a proof that it is not easy for him to follow our advice, and collect substantial information. But we find him just as ready to be duped in his own department of anecdote. He knew a man in England (p. 21.) so fond of expensive building, and who resided very far from the capital, that

he

*He tells us, indeed, that the exchang both here and at Amfterdam, were quite crowded when he saw them; but this proves little or nothing.