extract from the leaves and stalk of the poppy, and with gum of the mimosa; other foreign admixtures have been conjectured, such as cow dung, gums, and resins, of various sorts, and parched rice.

The facility of adulterating opium, and the consequent necessity of precautions against such frauds, are circumstances which would justify the monopoly, were it even objectionable on other considerations. In a free commerce, the quality might probably be more debased to the injury of the export-trade.'

Hints which appear to us not unworthy of notice are offered in the conclusion of the work, for the improvement of the internal commerce of Bengal; for enlarging our trade to the East in the articles of sugar, cotton, silk, indigo, and saltpetre; and for encouraging the importation thence of cotton-yarn instead of cotton-wool, of starch, liquorice, ginger, arnotto, and various other articles. The author would even attempt the culture of tea in British India. It is impossible for us to decide how far these speculations are founded: but men of experience will appreciate their value. Much, no doubt, is capable of being effected; and they deserve well of their country, who endeavour by judicious advice to call forth the energies of every department of our extensive empire.

The new orthography of proper names, here introduced, the author justifies by his critical knowlege of the Sanscrit.

ART. VII. Travels after the Peace of Amiens, through Parts of France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. By J. G. Lemaistre, Esq., Author of "a Rough Sketch of Modern Paris." 3 Vols. 8vo. 11. 48. Boards. Johnson. 1806.

TH

HESE volumes may be regarded as the sequel of the Sketch of Paris, reported in the 40th volume of our New Series, p. 377.; since they contain an account of the author's pere. grinations from the day on which he quitted the French capital, till his arrival in England.-With the view of sparing many unpleasant repetitions, and of apologizing for the apparent brevity of our notice, we beg leave to offer a few general strictures, which will apply to nearly the whole of the publication.

With greater ingenuity and acuteness than seem to have fallen to his share, the author might certainly have exhibited a more striking view of the state of manners and society, and have appreciated with more distinctness and effect the beneficial and mischievous results of the great political agitations. which had just convulsed the government of Europe. His observations are generally impartial, and conveyed in the plain language of a man of good sense: but, when they touch on REV. OCT. 1806.

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recent events, they seldom rise above the tone of a newspaper, and when they assume a more general complexion, they are not only deficient in sprightliness, but usually so trite and undisputed, as to add to the intrinsic heaviness of the narrative. Mr. Lemaistre, moreover, borrows and quotes, with unwearied perseverance, from authors of established popularity. Lalande and Addison contribute frequent notifications in the first and part of the second volume; and Lumesden's Antiquities of Rome enter into the composition of the greatest part of the third. Some sentences from Gibbon are occasionally_introduced by way of variety, and even Goldsmith's Roman History is not wholly overlooked. Many pages, too, are devoted to dry catalogues of paintings and statues; and not a few to the hackneyed topics of uncomfortable accommodation, imposing innkeepers, intractable postillions, and dangerous roads. To these we may add Mrs. Lemaistre's terrors of the sea, of a dark night, or of a hilly road, which obtain their due share of tender commemoration. In vindication of the prolixity of his details on the antiquities and productions of art in Rome, the author reminds us that they cost him much trouble, and that they are the principal objects which attract travellers to that celebrated city. In reply, we have only to observe that a writer may give himself a great deal of trouble without procuring much ease or entertainment for his reader; that the task of enumerating and describing the master-pieces of sculpture and design had been already performed by able hands; and that such compilations, as those through which we have waded in the present third volume, may be executed with tolerable accuracy within the precincts of a well appointed library at home. We wish not to insinuate that this traveller is incapable of exciting interest but he appears to have been more ambitious of spreading his materials over three volumes than of condensing them into one, or of moulding the mass into a duly attempered compound of precision and variety.

We shall now rapidly accompany him on the map; extracte ing, as we proceed, a few of those passages which are most calculated to gratify the general reader.

The first journey is by the way of Fontainebleau, Sens, and Dijon, to Lyons. From the heavy and cruel losses which the last mentioned city sustained, in consequence of its resistance to the new order of things, its inhabitants still retain a decided hatred to the name of republic.

Mr. Lemaistre's visit to Ferney is related with considerable interest: but we pass it over, to make room for the en-uing notices of some other distinguished particulars:

Soon after Mr.Gibbon became an inhabitant of Lausanne, a lady of beauty and talents made such an impression on the heart of the historian, that he could not resist the impulse of love; and, falling on his knees, he declared his passion. The object of his affection heard unmoved his petition, and, in spite of the eloquence of her lover, was deaf to his entreaties. The disappointed Damon, attempted to rise he tried in vain his weighty person, unaccustomed to such a position, was not so easily restored to its proper balance. The lady, fearing that some person might discover her admirer in this awkward situation. forget her anger, and endeavoured with all her might to raise him from the ground: her strength was unequal to the task; and, after several ineffectual struggles both in the author and the lady, the latter was ob liged to ring the bell, and to order her astonished servant to raise the prostrate scholar. The story, as might be expected became public the following morning, and entertained for some days the gossiping circles of this little town.

'But, notwithstanding the general esteem which Mr. Gibbon entertained for the fair sex, and notwithstanding this striking proof of daring gallantry, I have been assured by a person who enjoyed the confidence of that distinguished man, that the historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, though he has frequently described in glowing colours, and perhaps in some pages with lascivious freedom, the passion of love, was a stranger to its pleasures, and that he passed his life in a state of singular and rigid chastity.

Another story, though of a different kind, is equally characteristic. Mr. Gibbon. finding himself indisposed, sent for a physician. The doctor, judging from the appearance of his patient that his illness, which was but slight, simply arose from repletion, recommended abstinence. Three days afterwards he received a letter from the his torian, couched in pressing terms, but still in well rounded sentences, requiring his immediate presence at his house. On his arrival there he found Mr. Gibbon dreadfully altered: his cheeks, usually plump, had now fallen, his complexion was sallow, and his person emaciated. The physician anxiously inquired the cause of this sudden and unexpected change. "Sir," said his learned patient, "to follow with religious exactitude the ordinances of him whom I consult as my medical adviser, is a principle from which I have never yet ventured to depart; but at this instant I am the victim of obedience, and of a doctrine which I still believe to be generally salutary. You will recollect, sir, that when last I had the honor of seeing you, you admonished me to abstain from animal food. Three days have elapsed since I received your injunctions, and during that period the only food which has passed these lips has been a beverage of watergruel: I have consequently become languid; and am now desirous of a more nutritious aliment; but, presuming not to interfere in a science which I do not understand, and having placed the direction of my health under the guidance of your professional skill, I have awaited, I will not say without impatience, the repetition of your visit: I now attend your orders." The physician, who had not called during this interval simply because he conceived Mr. Gibbon had no occasion for further advice, now rang the bell, and, instead of writing a prescription, or

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dered dinner to be instantly served. A good bouillon and a bottle of Burgundy soon restored the historian to health and spirits.

The same physician advised Mr. Gibbon to take occasionally a dose of medicine. The obedient scholar, adopting with literal precision the system recommended, wrote immediately a Latin letter to his apothecary, directing that on the first of every month such a draught should be sent him as Dr. — should direct: and accordingly, at each stated period during the rest of his life, whether he were well or ill, he received and swallowed the accustomed dose.'

'M. Necker's estate is much diminished by the loss of his feudal rights. His present property of Coppet does not afford him a revenue of more than one hundred pounds sterling per annum. I had the honor of dining at his house, and consequently saw the interior of his family. He lives in a plain gentlemanlike manner, without parade or ostentation. His table is plentiful, but not extravagant, and his servants, though sufficient for all purposes of real use, are far from numerous. his legs are increased to a great size from the effects of the gout. He In his person, he is tall and corpulent ; and still wears mourning for madame Necker, whose death he has never ceased to deplore: it is even said that he daily opens, and reads, one of a collection of letters which she left, sealed, and addressed to her husband. His manners are grave and unaffected: his conversation has nothing very peculiar to distinguish it. Had I been taken to his house without knowing that it belonged to Mons. Necker, I certainly should not have suspected, either from the establishment, the language, or the appearance of the proprietor, that I had visited ■ person who in his day filled one of the most important situations of Europe, and whose name, praised by some and censured by others, must live as long as the history of France.

His daughter, madame la barronne de Staël, on the contrary, cannot be seen, or rather heard, unnoticed. Besides a general fund of good humor, wit, and information, she possesses a talent of conversation peculiarly her own. At Paris I have frequently been asked to suppers, to hear her talk;" and I certainly never did so without receiving much pleasure and amusement. Generally speaking, I am far from admiring this kind of society to listen to the good things of any one individual, however splendid, is certainly a very dull way of passing one's time: but there is in the expressions of madame de Staël a charm which is irresistible.

To meet two such characters as these in the country, and in a quiet private manner, was to me no trifling gratification: and the polite hospitality which we experienced added to the agrément of the day.

I proceed to speak of madame de Montolieu. About six English miles from Lausanne, in the retired village of Bussigni, approached by a road which runs through an extensive wood, and on a commanding eminence, stand, side by side, two houses, not large enough to deserve the name of châteaux, nor yet so small as to be ranked with the other buildings of the hamlet. In these houses live madame la baronne de Montolieu, and her sister, mademoiselle de Bottens. Their habitations communicate with each other by means of their re

spective

spective gardens, which are laid out with much taste, and are only separated by a wicker gate. -Each sister has her separate residence; but they often dine or drink tea together; and their place of meeting during the summer months is a bower in one of these delightful gardens. Each house is furnished with much taste, yet great simplicity; and each house possesses its little library, its little salon, and its balcony, with a veranda filled with the choicest flowers. The windows of both houses enjoy the same prospect - a prospect of singular beauty; and a small rustic church, which seems placed there on pur pose, stands at the bottom of their gardens, and completes the view. Whoever has read Caroline de Lichtfeld (and who has not read that interesting novel?) will remember the description of the village in which Caroline resided. This is the village-and so picturesque, that I could scarcely bring myself to believe that the scene was real.

When Mrs. L. and myself waited on these ladies for the first time, accompanied by a gentleman of Lausanne who had the goodness to introduce us, we were informed by the female servant of madame de Montolieu, who led us through the house of her mistress (for every thing here is in character), that the latter was in the garden of her sister. We followed; and, having passed the little gate which marks the limits of their grounds, found ourselves in one of those bowers which I have before mentioned as their favorite place of rendezvous. Here, seated at a table covered with tea, coffee, and the fruits of the season, we were received by two females, who, though no longer young, had the remains of beauty, with all the marks of dig. nity, accompanied by those manners which an early intercourse with good company can alone produce.

'They welcomed us with much cordial warmth; and, desiring us to partake of their gouter, entered into a lively and interesting conversation. Genius, at the age of fifty, still sparkles in the countenance of madame de Montolieu; and it is impossible to be in her society without discovering that she is an extraordinary woman. Mademoiselle de Bottens is less known in the world; but her talents and her knowledge may vie with those of her sister. Their dispositions, their pursuits, and their opinions coincide so happily, that they live in this elegant retreat in the most peaceable and enviable manner; and though the greater part of their time is passed together, they yet wisely prevent the possibility of ennui, by having each a separate residence, to which, when tired of conversation, they can retire, and where an excellent collection of the best authors affords materials for present amusement and future discussion.

Never did I spend an hour more agreeably than in the company of these ladies, who, though retired from the world, retain all the polish of early good breeding; to which, lively imaginations, and a perfect acquaintance with the best French, English and German writers, add so many charms, that it is impossible not to be delighted with their society. Their hospitality, too, is unbounded; had we been their oldest friends we could not have experienced a more hearty welcome. Whenever I have called at their peaceful mansions, or whenever I have led there such of my countrymen as deserved their

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notice,