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sometimes with a boorish rudeness which startles even reviewers. Bernard de Jussieu, on the contrary, writes like a gentleman. In congratulating Linné on his appointment to the professorship of botany at Upsal, you may, now,' he says, devote yourself entirely to the service of Flora, and lay open more completely the path you have pointed out, so as at length to bring to perfection a natural method of classification, which is what all lovers of botany wish and expect."' The editor subjoins, in a note; in the face of this testimony, we trust it will hardly be asserted in future, that Linnæus owed his ideas of natural orders to the excellent writer of the above letter.'

Gronovius never loses sight of good sense and polite manners: but he is somewhat too laconic, and labors perhaps under the constraint of one who communicates his ideas in a foreign idiom.

By putting into an English dress the epistolary intercourse between Linné and Haller, Sir James Smith has rendered an important service to some of his readers; and the perusal of the whole has conjured up the fond reminiscences of early days but sober reflection excites the regret that peevishness and spleen should have ever mingled in the laborious and elegant studies of the Swiss professor.

Among the miscellaneous letters, we remark one from Linné to the Marquis de Grimaldi, recommending Loefling as a fit person for exploring the kingdom of Spain under the auspices of the government, which deserves to be noticed as a literary curiosity. It is gravely stated that Mr. Peter Lofling, among other minor duties, will collect every species of plants and trees, not neglecting even the smallest mosses; as well as observe all animals, birds, fishes, insects, and the minutest worms. He will also investigate all kinds of stones, minerals, fossils, and earths, which the surface of the ground He will describe, or define, these several promay afford. ductions, for which he is well qualified, noting down the names given them by authors as well as by the natives of the country where they are found. He will record where every specimen was gathered; its use in medicine, dyeing, or any other respect; not omitting the advantages or mischiefs which may arise from the superabundance of any particular species,' &c.

The slight sketch which the editor has given of the amiable character of Mutis, and the excellent spirit of modest yet diligent investigation which breathes in his letters, induce a desire for more intimate acquaintance with the life and pursuits of such an ornament to his species.

The

The solitary epistle from that excentric but eloquent being, J.J. Rousseau, we shall transcribe in the original; for the compositions of few individuals are so insusceptible of adequate translation.

A Paris, le 21 Septembre, 1771. Recevez avec bonté, Monsieur, l'hommage d'un très ignare mais très zélé disciple de vos disciples, qui doit en grande partie à la méditation de vos écrits la tranquillité dont il jouit, au milieu d'une persécution d'autant plus cruelle qu'elle est plus cachée, et qu'elle couvre du masque de la bienveillance et de l'amitié la plus terrible haine que l'enfer excitá jamais. Seul avec la nature et vous, je passe dans mes promenades champêtres des heures délicieuses, et je tire un profit plus réel de votre Philosophia Botanica que de tous les livres de morale. J'apprends avec joye que je ne vous suis pas tout à fait inconnu, et que vous voulez bien même me destiner quelques unes de vos productions. Soyez persuadé, Monsieur, qu'elles feront ma lecture chérie, et que ce plaisir deviendra plus vif encore par celui de les tenir de vous. J'amuse ma vieille enfance à faire une petite collection de fruits et de graines. Si parmi vos tresors en ce genre il se trouvoit quelques rebuts dont vous voulussiez faire un heureux, daignez songer à moi; je les recevrois, Monsieur, avec une reconnoissance, seul retour que je puisse vous offrir, mais que le cœur dont elle part ne rend de vous. indigne pas Adieu, Monsieur, continuez d'ouvrir et d'interpréter aux hommes le livre de la nature. Pour moi, content d'en déchifrer quelques mots à votre suite dans le feüillet du regne végétal; je vous lis, je vous étudie, je vous médite, je vous honore et vous aime de tout mon cœur.

'J. J. ROUSSEAU.'

We cannot withhold from our readers the editor's feeling and animated commentary on a letter addressed to himself by the late Sir Joseph Banks, which closes the collection of this learned and interesting correspondence.

The last letter, coming from a man of such distinguished talents and experience, is so valuable a commentary on several leading subjects of the present volume, that the editor could not withhold it from the public. He must rely on the favour of his readers, not to attribute to a foolish vanity this exposure of what gives an important sanction to his own sentiments, while it displays at once the knowledge, the indulgence, and the unassuming candour of the writer. The hand that traced these lines is no longer held out to welcome and encourage every lover of science; and the homage of the motley crowd, of which science formed but the livery, has passed away. The lasting monument of botanical fame, of whose judicious and classical plan so interesting a memorial is left us, in the first of Sir Joseph Banks's letters to the younger Linnæus, has been sacrificed to the duties incumbent, for almost half a century, on the active and truly efficient President of the Royal Society. Its loss would ill have been supplied by ever so stately a mausoleum of marble; and even this mausoleum

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has been suffered to crumble, in embryo, into dust! The names of Banks and of Newton are, indeed, alike independent of an abortive or a mutilated monument; and inscriptions on brass or on marble now resign their importance and their authority to the more faithful records of history and science, perpetuated for ever, if they deserve it, by the phoenix-like immortality of the press.'

Various fac-simile plates of the hand-writing of some of the most eminent personages who figure in these volumes are occasionally introduced, and can scarcely fail to gratify a subordinate though not unnatural curiosity.

To

ART. IV. Memoirs of the Rebellion in 1745 and 1746. By the Chevalier de Johnstone, Aid-de-Camp to Lord George Murray, General of the Rebel Army, Assistant Aid-de-Camp to Prince Charles Edward, Captain in the Duke of Perth's Regiment, and afterwards an Officer in the French Service. Containing a Narrative of the Progress of the Rebellion, from its Commencement to the Battle of Culloden; the Characters of the principal Persons engaged in it, and Anecdotes respecting them; and various important Particulars relating to that Contest, hitherto either unknown or imperfectly understood. With an Account of the Sufferings and Privations experienced by the Author after the Battle of Culloden, before he effected his Escape to the Continent, &c. &c. Translated from a French MS. originally deposited in the Scots College at Paris, and now in the Hands of the Publishers. 4to. pp. 348. 21. 2s. Boards. Longman and Co. o favor our readers with something like a truism, we may remark that there is a considerable difference between a work which is absolutely useless, and one that is absolutely necessary; and to apply this observation, we must add that the narrative now before us might have still slumbered in the chest from which, thanks to the indefatigable researches of modern book-making, it Kas just emerged, without causing us to feel a lamentable hiatus in historical knowlege. The Rebellion of 1745, the last of the ill-fated struggles for the restoration of the Stuart princes, occupies too wide a space in the hearts and understandings of Englishmen, who are accustomed to appreciate the blessings which that restoration would have endangered, to have long remained without ample commentary and illustration. To this part of our domestic history, we think that Home has rendered, on the whole, adequate justice. His materials are diligently collected, and well arranged; and wanting as he is in the animation which imparts vividness and freshness to the historic canvass, his accuracy has never, we believe, been called into question. We have also several cotemporary writings, illustra

tive of that page of our annals: many of them indeed composed during those recent animosities, which Tacitus enumerates among the impediments to uncorrupt history; yet contributing to the general elucidation of the events which they record, when they have undergone the sifting process that is so requisite to details written in the heats and perturbations of the day of contest.

Yet it would be unfair to say that these Memoirs are of no value; for they hold a place, though a humble one, in that important class of writings which connects biography with history, as they interweave the personal adventures of the author with the public transactions of the period, and give the interest of romance to the narrative without impairing its credibility. If he chances to err in point of historical strictness, but little harm is done, for our knowlege of facts so notorious will immediately set him right, and correct the bias of faction or prejudice which drew him aside; — while a thousand traits of the character, feelings, and passions of the times, which are not within the scope and would retard the progress of a formal history, fall naturally under the personal observation of an individual, who was himself an actor in the scenes which he describes.

In another respect, also, we conceive that these details will not be unprofitably read. We have had more than one occasion of stating our objections to historical novels, which mingle real events and fictitious personages, actual personages and fabulous events, so as to break up our accurate and settled recollections of past transactions; and we have applied those objections to more than one of the ingenious productions of the school of Waverley. Indeed, the alliance of history and romance must be always forced and unnatural. Even romance gains by it but little; for the incredulity with which readers tolerably conversant in authentic history must peruse facts with which they are familiar, when distorted, and clipped, and pruned to suit the purposes of the novel-writer, accompanies them into the fiction, which is his rightful domain and property. We have, therefore, uniformly disapproved the fashion of pulling down the consecrated edifice of real history to furnish bricks and timber for modern romances; considering it as a sort of profanation, like that of dilapidating the sacred pile of the Coliseum to supply materials for the Barberini palace. We have never turned even to the fiction of Waverley, (a soothing and delightful recreation,) without deriving fresh confirmation of our objection from the lively but fanciful colouring thrown over the character of Charles Edward, and the romantic aspect which has been imparted to

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his ill-considered but worse-conducted enterprize. We allude more particularly to the battle of Preston Pans, or Gladsmuir; the result of which, contrary to all reasonable calculation, gave the Pretender complete possession of Scotland. The Chevalier Johnstone, in his account of the battle, puts to flight a great part of the error which it is next to impossible that the admirers of this charming romance should not have imbibed, respecting the operations of that eventful day; and his statement tends to sober down, by a testimony which must be deemed unexceptionable, the glowing delineations of romance to the real state of the transaction.

That the British cabinet suffered the Prince, with a force almost contemptible, to take possession of Edinburgh, we have always regarded as a culpable instance of want of providence and activity in our national councils: but this circumstance, and the aukward situation in which Sir John Cope was left, (who had repeatedly though ineffectually urged the necessity of putting the north of the island into an adequate state of defence,) diminish considerably the heroic part of the enterprize, which has been so much the theme of unreflecting admiration. He was without troops, money, and provisions, when the news of Charles's landing reached Edinburgh, on the 17th of August; and it is well known that he was obliged to begin his march through a poor country, without any store of food. In consequence of the destitute state of his army, his progress was necessarily impeded, and the enemy had time to take possession of Corryarrak, a mountainous defile, which it was impossible to force without the inevitable sacrifice of his men. Cope, therefore, could neither advance nor remain stationary without supplies; and his resolution to turn towards Inverness was forced on him by the necessities of his situation, although the road to the capital was thus opened to the rebels, He had returned by sea, by the time that the Highlanders were in possession of Edinburgh; and he chose his ground, according to the present author, with great judgment. On his right, he had two inclosures surrounded by stone walls, between which a road led to the village of Preston Pans; with another inclosure before him, surrounded by a deep ditch full of water, twelve feet in breadth. On his left was a marsh, and behind him the sea. Thus fortified, he could have been attacked only by a regular siege. The rebels then took a new position opposite to the marsh; and Cope also formed a new front, having on his right the ditch and on his left the sea. The Prince, however, having received information that the marsh was fordable at a particular place, passed during the night through the spot in question;

and