whofe government, equally rapacious and prodigal, is subject to no restraint whatever in the impofition of taxes, and poffeffes at the fame time the means of enforcing the collection of fuch as neceffity or caprice may dictate.'

After fome ftriking remarks refpecting the luxury (equally devoid of tafte and generofity) of the army contractors, court bankers, and others, who have been enriched under the prefent fyftem, the author proceeds to contraft with the oppreffions and corruptions of France the very different state of our country.

"In England," he remarks, "the great hereditary and acquired fortunes pervade and replenish the whole capillary fyftem of the ftate. By means of a diffufive circulation, they quicken the emulation and reward the labours of every branch of industry. They are expended in the cultivation of the foil and in the production of the folid materials of national wealth :-in the erection and endowment of charitable inkitutions and public monuments, which fofter the moral qualities and elevate the character. The Spirit of beneficence and of patriotifm which diftinguishes the opulent individuals of that country,-and of which the fame clafs in France is wholly deftitute,-returns to the needy the fums which they contribute to the exchequer, and corrects the inequalitics of the divifions of property.

"The traveller in England has occafion to remark,—in all the departments of labour,-the beneficial influence of the example of the upper claffes, and of that luxury which has for its object the productive toil and ingenuity of man. The quick and equable tranfmiffion of wealth in the body politic is compared by a great writer * to the motion and agency of the blood, as it centers in the heart, and is thrown out by new pulfations. The aptitude of this illuftration is particularly ftriking in his own country, where the rapid circulation of wealth, the regular vibration of demand and labour, and the fpirit of industry, animate the whole frame of fociety with an elafticity and vigour, fuch as belong to the human frame in its higheft ftate of perfection. A peculiarly mafculine character, and the utmoft energy of feeling are communicated to all orders of men,-by the abundance which prevails fo univerfally,-the confcioufnefs of equal rights,-the fulness of power and fame to which the nation has attained,—and the beauty and robuftnefs of the fpecies, under a climate highly favourable to the animal economy. The dignity of the rich is without infolence,-the fubordination of the poor without fervility. Their freedom is well guarded both from the dangers of popular licentioufefs, and from the encroachments of authority. Their national pride leads to national fympathy, and is built

Sir James Steuart.

upon

upon the moft legitimate of all foundations-a sense of pre-eminent merit and a body of illuftrious annals.

"Whatever may be the reprefentations of thofe who, with little knowledge of facts, and still lefs foundnefs or impartiality of judgment, affect to deplore the condition of England,—it is nevertheless, true, that there does not exiit, and never has exifted elfewhere,-fo beautiful and perfect a model of public and private profperity;-fo magnificent, and at the fame time, fo folid a fabric of focial happiness and national grandeur. I pay this just tribute of admiration with the more pleafure, as it is to me in the light of an atonement for the errors and prejudices, under which I laboured, on this fubject, before I enjoyed the advantage of a perfonal experience. A refidence of nearly two years in that country, during which period, I vifited and ftudied almost every part of it, with no other view or purfuit than that of obtaining correct information, and I may add, with previous ftudies well fitted to promote my object,-convinced me that I had been egregiously deceived.

"I faw no inftances of individual oppreffion, and fearely any individual mifery but that which belongs, under any circumftances of our being, to the infirmity of all human inftitutions.I witneffed no fymptom of declining trade or of general difcontent. On the contrary-I found there every indication of a ftate engaged in a rapid career of advancement. I found the art and fpirit of commercial induftry at their acmé;-a metropolis opulent and liberal beyond example:-a cheerful peafantry, well fed and commodiously lodged,-an ardent attachment to the conftitution in all claffes, and a full reliance on the national refources. -I found the utmoft activity in agricultural and manufacturing labours ;-in the conftruction of works of embellishment and utility;-in enlarging and beautifying the proyincial cities.-I heard but few well-founded complaints of the amount,-and none concerning the collection, of the taxes. The demands of the state create no impediment to confumption or difcouragement to in. duitry. I could difcover no inftance in which they have operated to the serious diftrefs or ruin of individuals." P. 179.

Having afforded this fpecimen of the author's ftyle, and of his fentiments refpecting this country, we will only add, that the remainder of his defcription of Britifh profperity is equally beautiful and interesting; that he confiders it as "no lefs than impious, to defire the ruin of fuch a people;" that he most frikingly, and from his own obfervation, contrafts their virtues and their bleflings with the profligacy and mifery of France; that he paints in the most vivid colours the profligate policy of Bonaparte, which dictates the retain ing of the lower orders in a ftate of impoverishment; his hatred of the commercial character, and his deteftation of

2

Great

Great Britain and America, not only as free ftates, but as commercial nations *. This laft point the author preffes moft forcibly on his countrymen by arguments which appear to us irrefiftible, and on the ground of facts, which (as we believe he is well known in America, and must be a man of confideration as well as ability,) cannot, we think, fail to pro duce in all but the most inveterately prejudiced minds the cleareft conviction.

In America, we trust, the most beneficial effects have already arifen from this publication. In our own country it may produce almoft equal benefit, by confounding the fill unblushing apologifts of our inveterate foe, and blafting the hopes of that defperate faction, which would represent our ftate as fo corrupted as to render it unworthy of defence; and our happy people as fo oppreffed as willingly to fubmit to a yoke, the most galling perhaps that was ever imposed upon the nations of the earth.

ART. II. Memoirs of British Quadrupeds, illuftrative principally of their Habits of Life, Inftincts, Sagacity, and Uses to Mankind, arranged according to the Syftem of Linnæus. By the Rev. W. Bingley, A. M. Fellow of the Linnæan Society, and late of Peterhoufe, Cambridge. With Engravings from original Drawings, chiefly executed by Mr. Samuel Howitt. In two Parts. 8vo. 641 pages, and 71 Engravings. Common Paper 18s. Royal Paper 35s. and Imperial Paper, with the Plates coloured, 31. 13s. 6d. Darton and Harvey. 1809.

IT is at all times gratifying to us to announce the publication of works which in any degree tend either to the promotion or illuflration of religion and morality, whether directly or indirectly. In our review of the Animal Biography of this author we gave him commendation for having abftained from all fubjects which might be dangerous to the

"The British," this author fays, "he hates-and dreads— and refpects. The people of this country (America) he detefts and defpifes. He detefts us as the progeny of the British-and as the citizens of a free government. He defpifes us as a body of traders, according to his view, without national fame, or national character,-without military ftrength or military vir P. 225

tues."

His general hatred of commerce is alfo a point very amply proved and illuftrated by this author, and with great ability,

innocence

innocence of the youthful mind, particularly the female; and ftated that in this refpect we confidered that work as

more valuable than the writings of Buffon and his followers, among whom a contrary proceeding is fo confpicu eus." The fame commendation we can, with equal justice, bestow upon the prefent volume, in which Mr. Bingley fays it has been his defign" to inculcate only the pureft principles of natural religion, and to exhibit, as far as was confiftent with the plan of his undertaking, the wifdom of God in the works of creation." It is in this refpect, indeed, that we confider the British Naturalifts, in general, as greatly excelling thofe of the continent; and none more remarkably than our unrivalled Zoologift, Dr. Shaw, throughout the whole of whofe volumes only the fentiments and expreffions of the ftrictest delicacy are to be found.

In its style as well as in its fubject matter we find the prefent publication not only perfectly diftinct from, but certainly a great improvement upon, Animal Biography. The title may poffibly have been fuggefted by De Geer's highly and defervedly celebrated work, "Memoires pour fervir à 'Hiftoire des Infectes," and is evidently meant to express the intention of the author to illuftrate, chiefly, the instincts and economy of the animals of which he treats. This volume is announced as the commencement of a new Syftem of British Zoology, on a plan of arrangement that has not be fore been attempted. The defcriptive parts and the fynonyms are feparated from the hiftory and anecdotes of the animals; and inferted, in fmaller characters, in a Synopfis, at the end of the volume. By this feparation the author fays "he cannot but hope that he fhall have rendered an acceptable service not only to the general reader, but alfo to the fcientific Naturalift." He states, that although he has ever entertained the higheft fentiments of refpect and efteem for the memory, as well as for the talents, of the late Mr. Pennant," yet he has long felt that the indifcriminate mixture of defcription and anecdote throughout that gentleman's work on British Zoology is attended with numerous inconveniences." In a popular view he confiders it objectionable, becaufe, he says, it" derogates from the intereft that otherwife would be exited; and because to perfons defirous of examining the anime's from his (Mr. Pennant's) defcription, it is occafionally very troublefome." Whether Mr. Bingley's plan is or is not preferable to that which has been ufually adopted, we shall not attempt to decide. But our readers will be enabled

See Brit. Crit. Vol, xx11. p. 189.

to

to form their own judgment by our inferting one entire article, the hiftory of the Harvest Moufe, with its description; the one taken from the Synopfis, p. 45, and the other from the body of the work, p. 266.

"THE HARVEST MOUSE. Tail long, and flightly hairy: ears fomewhat longer than the fur of the head; body ferrugi nous, brown above, white below. Mus messorius. Shaw.

"Length, to the origin of the tail, feldom more than 2 inches; and of the tail about 2 inches. Weight, about the fixth part of an ounce. Much smaller and more flender than the Field Moufe, to which it has a confiderable alliance both in colour and appearance; ears by no means fo large in proportion as those of that animal; and eyes lefs prominent.

"The colour of the head and upper parts of the body is likewife a much fuller red, being nearly the fame as that of the Squirrel or Dormouse. Belly white, and the divifion of the colours of the upper and under parts fo abrupt, as to appear almost like a line. W. B.

"In eorn-fields, corn-ricks, and barns, in Hampshire, Suffex, Wiltshire, and Dorfetfhire,

"Mus Sylvaticus, var, B. Harveft Rat. Linn. Syft. Nat. Gmel. i. p. 129.

"Mus fupra ferrugineus, fubtus albus, cauda longâ fubpilosa, auriculis vellere longioribus. Mus mefforius. Shaw's Gen. Zool, ii. p. 62.

Mus mefforius. Harvest Moufe. Turton, i. p. 81.-Kerr. p. 230.

"Harvest Moufe. Penn. Quadr. 2. p. 185.-Penn. Brit. Zool. i. p. 121.-Shaw's Gen. Zool. ii. p. 62, frontifp.-Bing. Anim. Biog. 3d. edit. i. p. 443.

"Harveft Rat. First and second editions of Pennant's Quadru peds.

THE HARVEST MOUSE *.

"This Moufe, which is the fmallest of all the British quadru. peds, feldom exceeds the fixth part of an ounce in weight. It was first discovered in Hampshire, by the late Rev. Mr. White, of Selborne, about the year 1767; and it is not hitherto known to inhabit any part of the world, except fome of the southern coun. ties of England.

"Like the Field Moufe, it does not enter dwelling-houfes ; but it is often carried in fheaves of corn, out of the fields, into corn-ricks; and as the females produce their offspring in the autumn, it often happens that a hundred, or more, are found in a fingle rick, when pulled down to be houfed. Thofe that are not thus carried away in the fheaves, fhelter themselves, during the

* There is a reference to the defcription in the Synopfis. Edit.

winter,