in the least," said she, "I never knew an Englishman that was fond of cleanliness!" "Zounds! madam," cried I," can this be deemed cleanliness which deranges the whole economy of a house, turns topsy turvy things that should never be stirred, and sets at defiance every rule of peace, order, and regularity, besides destroying every article that comes within its reach ?" "Pretty talking truly," retorted the lady, "pray how are the holes and corners to be cleaned, if every thing is not removed into the middle of the room? Why, good God! you English are as dirty as the quimaux." This allusion silenced me immediately: it was a chimax-there was no withstanding it. I therefore quietly ordered a pail of water to be brought me, and began sousing my poor plants as plentifully as the good lady did her house; which operation I was left in perfect security to perform, since nothing can be more acceptable to à North American female, than slopping the pavement with water, provided the walls are not splashed in the execution.'"

We should have been happy to be able to testify with truth, that our author had always confined himself to the description of nature, as he observed her works in the regions which he had traversed, or to anecdotes and occurrences, harmless or amusing as that above quoted. But his notions of the system of the universe and the existence and attributes of a supreme Deity, seem as crude, ill. digested, and often as absurd as can be well imagined to be entertained by any man in the possession of his senses. Because an old and worthless miser, named Don Manuel, dies, leaving an unexpected accumulation of wealth, nothing will serve Mr. Davie but to suspect a very blameable partiality in the distribution of divine favours' With a ridiculous quaintness he harangues to his correspondent on this fancied objection of irrefragable force; and with the most dangerous and weak minded petulance, dares to arraign the distribution of good and evil in the moral world, certainly without appreciating the weight of his own arguments, or possessing any knowledge of the answers which can either greatly diminish or wholly extinguish their power.

My friend,' says Mr. Davie, if there is not a race of beings inferior to the Deity, yet possessing the means of controuling the fortunes of men, then is the Omnipotent either wholly regardless of the creatures he has formed, or cruelly unjust in his treatment of them.' When people set up to instruct others in theology, and to tamper with established and beneficial opinions, the least we can expect is a competent acquaintance with the subject which is treated. But we enter our protest in the strongest manner against all this flimsy and captious declamation, which is calculated

only to disgust the proficient and to entrap the inexperienced and unwary.

After a residence of many months at Buenos Ayres, our author was permitted to accompany his friend and patron, Father Hernandez, on a spiritual mission to the presidency of Rioja Minor, obtaining, by means of this, the opportunity to make his observations on some parts of the interior of Paraguay. In the course of their journey they passed through many of the unsubdued tribes, with some of whom they had interviews for the purposes of barter, and many particulars are related of their manners, and of the natural appearances of the country, in a style of considerable liveli ness. To extract these, however, we have neither room nor inclination, and can only refer the reader to the perusal of the work itself. Father Hernandez narrowly escaped being devoured by a tyger, from which fate he was saved by the exertions of our author; but the health of the reverend monk, before delicate, was wholly destroyed by this accident, and he survived his arrival at Rioja Minor but a short time. Before his death, however, he had left that presidency for that of Nombre de Dios, and afterwards visited several other settlements. But from one of these he was hastily recalled along with our author to Rioja Major, by the military commandant at that place, in consequence of some disturbances having occurred, which appeared to have originated in an attempt of the ecclesiastics and Indians to render themselves independent of the Spanish government altogether. After the death of Father Hernandez, this projected revolt actually happened, and the wild and con verted Indians joined together to massacre the whole of the Spaniards, which they nearly effected; our author only escaped from the general lot by the favour and precaution of an Indian, who interfered in his behalf, and provided him with the signal by which friends were to be distinguished from enemies. The object of this revolution was, on the part of the priests, to obtain the whole management of the government, and to relieve themselves from the arrogance of military superiority; on the part of the Indians, greater freedom was desired, and an exemption from the oppressive draughts which are constantly made from their population, of unfortunate wretches, who are condemned to eternal labour in the mines, or to endless and harassing servitude. Not one of these men is ever known to return to the country of his friends, nor is the nature of his fate ever learned by

them.

Mr. Davie was earnestly solicited by the monks to remain

in their convent, and they assured him of every advantage which he before possessed, with additional immunities and a greater liberty in every respect. But he was not to be tempted by their offers, and succeeded in being sent back to Buenos Ayres, he was packed up among some goods, which are annually sent to that place from the interior settlements, and the communication of intelligence in that country being extremely imperfect, it was supposed that the ordinary commerce might be carried on without any disclosure of the revolt at Rioja Minor. This was accordingly done, and the last bale of goods which was delivered from the vessel, was the person of Mr. John Constanse Davie himself. He of course gave information of the scenes which had taken place in the interior country, and measures were adopted, in consequence, for the reduction of the revolters, but we do not here learn with what success, for at this period the volume before us terminates with some dark hints of the author's intentions to pursue his adventures in the regions of Chili. No farther intelligence, it is stated in the preface, has been received from him, and it is uncertain, we are informed, whether his life has been cut short by the dangers of travel or the mortality of the climate; whether he yet wanders restless and inquisitive amidst the woods and wilds of Spanish America; or whether, his correspondence being detected, he has been condemned to ransack the bowels of the earth for gold, to satisfy the avarice of his inexorable masters. Be which soever of these true, we must now bid him adieu, leaving him to the mercy or the favour of his. readers.

The work, as to composition, though by no means unexceptionably correct, possesses a considerable degree of merit, and the author appears to have some talent of exciting the sensations of the ridiculous. The details of his journeyings, his escapes, and his peregrinations, are for the greater part extremely amusing, and the book is in that sense well adapted for the perusal of the bulk of the readers of travels. It may not perhaps have escaped the observation of those who have lent a close attention to the consideration of this article, that our mind has been infected with a certain degree of scepticism, with regard to the authenticity of the circumstances related in the performance. now before us. It certainly makes its appearance in somewhat of a questionable shape, and it is not easy to divest oneself of some degree of doubt, nor to avoid feeling how singularly romantic is the story of Mr. Davie's voyage to Paraguay, and how unprecedented his intrusion within

the limits of a jealous and watchful government. Impressed with these feelings we proceeded to the perusal of this work, ready to catch at every inconsistency which our portion of critical acumen might enable us to discern, and to pierce the veil of hypocrisy with which our imagination had invested the composition of Mr. Davie. But such either is the fidelity of his narrative, such the dexterity of his art, or such the bluntness of our perception, that we have been unable by these means to discover any error or glaring im probability. On the other hand, it is fair to state that there is little if any thing contained in the whole work, which might not have had its origin in the closet or garret of the composer, if nature had provided him with a lively fancy, and art with a stock of solid information.

ART. VI.—Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical So ciety of Manchester; Second Series. Volume first. 8vo. pp. 442. Bickerstaff. 1805.

THE many respectable appearances which the Memoirs of the Manchester Society have made before the public, can be unknown to none of those devoted to the study or pur suit of any of the branches of the philosophy of nature. And it is a circumstance worthy to be recorded, and highly, deserving at once of praise and imitation, that one of those learned bodies which most considerably augmented the: stores of human knowledge tras arisen and flourished in at mercantile and manufacturing town, unprotected by royal or national influence, unbenefited by the munificence of the wealthy, or the patronage of the great, and that this spark of science has been struck out by the hand of commerce, and excited into flame by the generous love of improvement. The society have now commenced a second series of their works, and have been indeed thus far to alter the. form of their publication, from the united considerations of the difficulty of procuring some of their volumes, which are out of print, and the inexpediency of now republishing any of their physical essays, however valuable these may origirally have been justly esteemed.

Prefixed to the literary and philosophical papers, we ob serve a code of laws for the society, which are copiously minute, and a list of members who are honourably numerous. It was hardly necessary, however, for the legislators of this little association to have published for the information of CRIT. REV. Vol. 7. February, 1996.

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the world, that when a member of their body speaks, he must address the president, and if he cannot get any one to listen to his speech, then it behoves him to stand. We could al'most suspect that our friends in Manchester have forgotten to enact that most celebrated and salutary ordinance for noisy clubs, that no more than three members shall speak at once.'

Sixteen papers are contained in the volume before us, of which the first was read so long ago as in the year 1799: it' treats of the effects of opium on the living bodies of animals, and comes from the pen of Dr. Alexander. Upon the whole, these experiments and observations tend to confirm our former opinions upon the method in which narcotics influence the living system, and it is clearly shown that the Abbé Fontana's theory of the necessary interference of the blood is not tenable. With regard to other points we do not observe a great deal of novelty, though we cannot but commend the activity which proves by positive reference to the test of experiment, every opinion, however respectably supported by authority or arguments. By Dr. Alexander's observations, it appears that opium and alcohol act in a similar way on the human body, and that opium affects the nervous system directly, and not through any supposed intervention of the blood.

The second paper, by the Rev. Mr. George Walker, treats of the machinery of the ancient epic poem. This gentleman has very little respect for the theology of the Greeks and Romans, and labours through many a page to prove what few will deny, that of the pagan divinities, for the greater part, the males were tyrants or rogues, and the females prostitutes; and that the events brought about by their agency or interference might have been equally well and much more agreeably performed by terrestrial means. To our ideas, indeed, nurtured in the schools of chivalry and modern honour, the notion of the magnanimity or bravery of a man vulnerable only in the heel,. does not seem very intelligible, nor is it easy to reconcile our feelings to the dastardly flight of the pious Eneas from the unfortunate Dido.

Mr.Gibson, the author of the third article in this volume, proposes some little alteration in the opinions now held regarding the communication of a red colour to the bones in the living animal body, by the internal exhibition of madder. This singular effect, which, according to Dr. Rutherford, depends on a chemical attraction between the osseous particles and the colouring matter, is here asserted in the