naciously retains the inflexibility of his ancestors, whilst the other readily assimilates with the character of the neighbouring provinces.'

New Castile has no peculiar dialect. The Castilian, now called the Spanish, is the only language in use there. It is, in fact, that province of Spain where the purest Castilian is spoken, especially in that part belonging to the ancient kingdom of Toledo.'

We shall now offer a few remarks on the general topics discussed in the last two volumes. In the Introduction, M. Laborde makes an acknowlegement that Spain was perhaps at no time more populous than it is at present; yet, when he comes to treat specifically of the question of population, he enters very deliberately into a calculation of its progressive decrease since the time of the Romans and of the Moors. Among other singular propositions, he gravely admits a statement that the number of inhabitants in the city of Tarragona was formerly two millions and a half. Those who thus reason discover their ignorance of the principle of population, which is of too powerful operation to be diverted from its accustomed course of progressive increase by temporary causes. The expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, and that of the Moors in 1614, are alleged in support of the vulgar belief of the decline of Spanish population: but the number of exiles has been greatly exaggerated; and their banishment was not more likely to effect a permanent diminution of inhabitants in Spain, than was the revocation of the edict of Nantes in France. No doubt, a certain decrease was produced by these cruel and and impolitic measures: but the radical cause of the deficiency of Spanish population is to be found in the long continuance of intestine wars during former ages, in bad government, and in that which is the consequence of bad government - the want of individual industry.

M. Laborde's Introduction bears evidence of having been written after Bonaparte's usurpation of the crown of Spain; and he is not sparing of argument on the subject of those reforms which may be accomplished by a vigorous dynasty. He laments that the Spanish nobles should waste their time at court instead of improving their estates; and he asserts that scarcely a modern villa exists in the whole kingdom, the few edifices occupied as country-residences consisting of old castles. Yet the absentees, together with the religious corporations, absorb the greater proportion of the lands; the pernicious custom of entail is general; leases are unknown; and it is a matter of great difficulty to effect a purchase in land. The price of provisions is high; at which we need not wonder when we consider that the folly of government has laid a heavy tax, on the labour of workmen, and that goods of all

kinds pay a duty as often as they change their owner! Even the improvement of the ground by the simple expedient of planting meets with obstacles in Spanish prejudice. It is believed that lands which do not produce elms and poplars are unfit for the growth of other trees; and that planting is to be discouraged as tending to the too great multiplication of birds, by the cover which it affords.

The horses of Spain were celebrated so long since as the time of the Romans; and the Arabs, always famous for these animals, appear to have contributed to their improvement. The strongest horses are bred in Asturia; the handsomest in Andalusia; yet the number of good horses has greatly decreased in Spain. An absurd law prohibits their exportation, and cuts off the foreign market; while at home a preference is given to mules for domestic and agricultural purposes.

The antiquated prejudices which operate so detrimentally on the trade and revenue of Spain are permitted to reign in the Universities, and to repress the beneficient tendency of education. The Spanish seminaries have professors of botany without botanical gardens, chemical classes without any chemical apparatus, and teachers of medicine who are bound by law to read lectures, at this day, from Boerhaave. Amid such ignorance on the part of the present generation, it is not surprizing that the existing remains of antient works should be regarded as proofs of the superiority of their ancestors. The most striking, as well as the most useful, of these monuments consist in bridges. The bridge over the Tagus at Alcantara, a work of the Romans, is 212 feet above the bed of the river, and consists of six arches; and that of Almarez, built in the sixteenth century, is 134 feet high, and one of its arches is 150 feet wide. The old bridge over the Guadayra, at Ronda, having fallen to ruin, has been replaced by a modern structure, which is raised to the enormous height of 277 feet above the river.

One of the best-written parts of M. Laborde's book is the chapter in the fifth volume on the national character and manners. On this topic, however, our limits do not permit us to enlarge; which we regret the less, because, from the extracts which we have already made, our readers have been enabled to form an idea of the various and often different habits of the several provinces of Spain.-While we bear testimony to the utility of the substance of this work, we cannot extend our praise to the manner of its execution. The greater part is evidently a compilation from other writers; and M. Laborde appears to be mindful of this circumstance in seldom using the first person, or asserting things on the authority of his own. observation.

observation. With such freedom does he avail himself of the labours of others, that he introduces in one place (Vol. IV.) the whole of Jovellano's celebrated memoir on agriculture; a work of sufficient length to form by itself a comely octavo. In this case he acknowleges his author: but in general he has been less candid; and his concealment subjects him to the charge of inconsistency on account of the remarkable discrepancy between the Introduction and the sequel of the book. The solution of this mystery is evidently that the sentiments of the Introduction are his own, while those which follow are borrowed from other writers, and borrowed in too great haste to be fashioned to a resemblance with those which he himself entertains. He makes, in this Introduction, an apology for precipitancy, and acknowleges that his delineations are not digested with all the pains he might have taken had he been less eager for their appearance: but he preferred publishing them, such as they were, at a moment when they might be of the greatest utility? This is the same thing as if he had told us that "the bookseller was impatient to publish while the war in Spain created a selling-season, and that therefore he went to press at once, to gratify a temporary purpose, instead of taking time to compose a work of permanent utility."

With these impressions, we cannot be supposed to believe in a statement of the English editor, who, in a pompous advertisement, ventures to calculate M. Laborde's travelling expences in Spain at 20,000l. sterling.-The translation seems to partake in some degree of the haste and inaccuracy of the parent-work, and probably for the same reason.

We have been amused with an example in M. Laborde of that national vanity which seems to be inseparable from a Frenchman. A great resemblance prevails between the Catalan dialect and the Provençal, formerly the language of the south of France; and the Catalans maintain that the language originated with them, and was afterward adopted by their northerir neighbours: but this docs not suit M. Laborde's creed. His "mind's eye" must contemplate the Frenchmen of all ages in the magnificent character of conquerors and law-givers. It is much more natural,' says he, (Vol. v. p. 226.) to believe that the French, having become masters of Catalonia, carried their own language into that conquered country, and caused it to be adopted by the vanquished people.'

ART.

ART. II. Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb; or a Theoretical and Practical View of the Means by which they are taught to speak and understand a Language; containing Hints for the Correc tion of Impediments in Speech; together with a Vocabulary illustrated by numerous Copper plates, representing the most common Objects necessary to be named by Beginners. By joseph Watson, LL. D. 2 Vols. 8vo. 15s. Boards. Darton and Harvey. 1809.

DID

IDEROT, in his lively though excursive letter sur les Sourds et Muets, recommends it to the philosopher, who is desirous of investigating the formation of speech, to observe among the deaf and dumb the slowly successive steps by which language is acquired. These steps are at last recorded in the work now before us; and with so penetrating an intuition of the pupil's mind, that the theory of language in fact derives from the statement all the light which Diderot expected. Dr. Watson has therefore rendered an important service, not only to those who assist in the instruction of the deaf and dumb, but to every student of grammatical philosophy.

About one hundred and fifty years ago, our excellent grammarian Dr. John Wallis undertook "to teach a dumb and deaf person to speak and understand the language ;" and having succeeded in the attempt, he communicated to Mr. Robert Boyle, in considerable detail, the process by which this object had been effected. At Amsterdam also, in 1692, John Conrade Amman engaged in this employment, and published his method in two treatises intitled Surdus Loquens and De Loquelá. The first person, however, who exercised as a regular profession in this country the instruction of the deaf and dumb, was the late Mr. Thomas Braidwood, formerly of Edinburgh, and latterly of Hackney, where he died in 1806. To Braidwood's academy Dr. Watson was introduced in 1784, and he determined in consequence to devote himself to that line of tuition. In 1792, at the suggestion of the Reverend John Townsend, a charitable undertaking was begun, which succeeded in opening the present Asylum for the deaf and dumb. The direction of this school was confided to Dr. Watson, who has now for eighteen years continued to superintend the institution with a care and a skill which are honourable to his heart and to his head.

Under the direction of Professor Ernst Adolf Eschke, a Taubstummen Institut flourishes at Berlin; of the management of which an instructive account* was given in 1806 by the excellent con

* Eschke has also published Kleine Bemerkungen über die Taubheit, 1806. Among the causes of deafness which have come most under REV. OCT. 1810.

K

his

ductor. He receives pupils at the age of six, and retains them to the age of twenty. They are divided into four classes, to each of which an appropriate and distinct course of instruction is given, called (1.) evolutionary, (2.) elementary, (3.) universal, and (4.) personal.

During the evolutionary tuition, corporal punishments are allowed but the methods are curiously detailed by which the love of praise, the fear of shame, and all the shades of ambition are gradually generated, so as to superinduce first politeness, and then virtue, and to transform the savage into the civilized creature. Much of the characteristics of the ape prevails in human nature. Foreigners, by their freer use of pantomime in common life than is usual with Englishmen, can more easily exert the language of gesture. With every natural gesticulation, certain internal trains of idea correspond, which arise in the mind of the imitator; and thus many things can be made intelligible before they can be translated into words.

The elementary tuition of Eschke coincides nearly with that branch of instruction which is superintended by Dr. Watson, and consists principally in teaching the use of language. Articulation is considered as of inferior importance to verbality; and to be able to use words with the fingers and the pen is found to be of more value than to use them orally.

Every

The universal instruction comprehends manners. pupil gives on his birth-day a feast in turn: but those are excluded from it who deserve ill of the tutor, or of the collective society. The art of travelling is taught. Eschke accompanies into villages, or along the canal, two or three of his pupils; and the objects visited are laboriously explained. In this way, all the sorts of management which independent existence requires are progressively inculcated. Temperance and sedentary habits are deemed especially essential, application with little interruption being the ultimate destination of the civilized man; and the use of money and the duty of frugality are wisely taught.

his notice were (1.) a relaxation of the tympanum, which was relieved by residence in a mill; (2.) improper secretion of the earwax, which was relieved by syringing with warm water, or aluminous water 3) organic imperfection of the spiral cavities, which in one instance favoured the perception of grave sounds only, and in another favoured the perception of acute sounds only; for this no remedy availed; yet, by the industrious variation of contiguous sounds, the range of perception was increased. The deaf seem more conscious of tonic vibration through the feet than through the hands.

The