the neighbourhood of Affouan, our author exhaufted fell into a ftupor, but he was brought to the Aga and obtained fome refreshment: he reached Cairo, and embarked at Alexandria in a French vefiel for Marseilles, having returned to the wilderness and recovered his baggage uninjured; for in the defert, we may repeat thefe awful words, is neither worm nor fly, nor any thing that has the breath of life. The mean height of the barometer in Abyffinia is about 21 inches; its range during fixteen months scarcely more than an inch, and its changes neither fudden nor frequent. The range of the thermometer is from 85 to 54; more commenly from 60 to 70. The hotteft months are February, March, and April; the coldest July, Auguft, and September, chiefly from the rains. The tropical fun is ufually tempered by clouds. The quantity of rain is not measured. The laf volume is on the Natural History of Abyssinia; but before we engage with our author's descriptions of natural objects, as we have followed him with care in this dangerous route, we may ftop a little and examine Mr. Bruce's merits as a traveller, an antiquary, and a philofopher it is now time to enquire how far his defcriptions may be credited, or how far our labours have been mifapplied. Mr. Bruce's credit has more than once been questioned; and these travels have been openly called the fictions of a lively imagination, a tale built on report, a building raised on the foundation of fome neglected publications, and accounts collected at Alexandria, Cairo, and Algiers. Thofe who dared not proceed fo far, have attacked his style, his reafoning, and his opinions, and even doubted whether he has yet feen the head of the Nile, the object of his travels and the fubject of his boat. With the work in our hands we have patiently examined every objection, we have followed fome difpated paffages which our own obfervation has pointed out, and with every publication relating to Abyffinia before us, we have examined the whole question. It is needlefs to be minute on every particular paffage; we fhall prefer giving the refult of our enquiries. That many of the events and obfervations in the hiftory of Mr. Bruce's travels are new and furprising, we need not wonder at. He travelled in an almoft undiscovered country, in a country from whence few have returned, and ftill fewer have visited with enlarged views, with minds capable of extenfive obfervation, and advantages which in different ways our prefent traveller had obtained, and availed himfelf of with fuccefs. It remains then to examine, whether any of thefe furprifing events are inconfiftent with the operations of nature, or the narratives of other travellers; we cannot discover any inconfiftencies or contradictions of either kind; and we have little hesitation in faying that, in general, this work is entitled to credit and applaufe. It contains a particular account of countries little known, of manners of life and a state of society of which we have few examples, and of natural phænomena of which there has scarcely hitherto been a competent witnefs. That Mr. Bruce has really feen the head of the Nile may fill admit of fome doubts. In this refpect too, we shall give in a comprehenfive manner the refult of many tedious inveftigations. It is evident that the Nile must have, in one fenfe, many heads. Streams from many fources muft unite to form fo vaft, fo fingular a river; and cuftom, or in this inftance more probably, fuperftition, muft determine which is really the fountain. It is well known that the reputed fource either of the Rhone or Danube is not that of the largest stream which contributes to form the river. We have before observed, that Paez, if he had not feen the head of the Nile, received probably information from those who had been on the spot; for his defcriptions are too particular to have been derived from traditionary information, and too incorrect to have been the immediate refult of obfervation. From his account, and the more general defcription of the other Jefuits, it is evident that one fpot was confidered as the fource of this river, and this fpot was defcribed by each with fufficient minuteness to enable us to afcertain that they meant the fame. We have, therefore, the traditionary information, or the more particalar defcription of different æras and different perfons to afcertain the reputed fource, and this fource Mr. Bruce has certainly feen; confirming the other accounts by actual obfervation of the various fuperalitious of an early uncultivated age; the veneration of this wonderful river at its genuine unpolluted fountains.-D'Anville has rendered it highly probable, that another stream is added to the Nile from a fource farther to the weit; but we do not perceive that this takes from the honour of our author's labours. Among the merits of Mr. Bruce's work, we think the style ought to be mentioned, though it has been common to decry it, and to give the advantage to the affectedly fentimental productions of fome authors of the prefent æra. To as it appears to be bold, manly, and vigorous; like the fturdy peafant, with fome native roughnefs, fome uncouth irregularities, it pleafes by its mafculine energy, expreffive boldness, and original force. The maps and other illuftrations, though not without faults and errors, are very useful and interefting. We mult, however, turn to the other fide of the picture, and point out the imperfections of our author; and it will be acknowledged that his merits must be great to give the balance to to his fide under the load of fo many faults. The narrative, it may be obferved, is fometimes unreafonably diffuse, and the work is greatly enlarged by repetitions, by opinions being feparated from the arguments destined to fupport them, and by illuftrations at a distance from the objects they are defigned to explain. The Abyffinian annals, a narrative of fucceffive' treafons, treacheries, fratagems, depofitions, and murder; relations which concern a people with whom we are not then acquainted, and whofe manners have not been defcribed, are tedious and uninterefting, or difguiting. If they had been much reduced, they would have introduced us advantageously to those whofe adventures were afterwards purfued, and might have contained every paffage which is really ufeful, or neceffary to the understanding of the future narrative. The various converfations with the Arabs, though always highly interefting, feem to us alfo to militate against the great. accuracy and fidelity of which our author boafts. Every language and every diale& feems to be the fame; the molt complex ideas, the moll minute diftinctions, feem to be conveyed in each, with fcarcely an inftance of either being mifunderftood. This may arife from the univerfality of the Arabic and the peculiar nature of that language; but we own it requires an explanation from our author. The plates alfo, which we have praifed in the general, and the maps, which, on the whole, greatly illuftrate the defcription, require fome reprehenfion. Thofe which are defigned as reprefentations of the paintings in the Thebaid, differ greatly from the defcriptions; and the tracks on the maps, and the latitudes, are not always thofe pointed out in the narrative. Mr. Bruce ought also to have told us, that the rout of Solomon's fhips to Tarfish has already been explained; and that the particulars of the defcription, owing to the variation of the trade-winds, are only his own. There are fome fimilar. inftances of apparent diningenuity, but which we cannot confider as faults, unless we were certain that Mr. Bruce was acquainted with all the works of his predeceffors. A few errors of quotation and fome mistakes of pallages in ancient authors, we should have particularly pointed out if our limits would have allowed us to examine his difquifitions with more attention. On the whole, we have been highly gratified in the perufal of this author's travels, and we have endeavoured to convey the pleafure and the inftruction to our readers, in a feries of extenfive articles. It remains to examine our author's merit as a natural historian; but we would only beg leave to hint, before we leave the narrative, that Mr. Bruce, if he meant to deceive, has been too minute; if he meant to mislead, he has been too exact in his defcriptions of places, of cbjects, and of himself. (To be continued.) Adriano : Adriano; or, the First of June, a Poem. By the Author of the F the Village Curate we spoke with approbation in our LXVIIth volume, p. 431. nor can we withold it, confiftent with juftice, from many paffages in the prefent work; of which, confidered as a whole, we cannot speak fo highly as we would wish. The fame beauties and characterific features which marked the former poem, may be traced in this: the fame faults are likewife, too obvious. The foil, as we before obferved, appears to be fufficiently fertile and luxuriant, but the pruning-hook and weeding-iron, which we then recommended, have not been fufficiently employed. The flory is of the familiar and domestic kind, yet the incidents are not always attended with a fufficient degree of probability; and fome of them, intended evidently to be extremely ferious and pathetic, have rather a ludicrous effect: of which, our following quotation may be confidered as an inftance. A young man, perceiving a pretty girl afleep under a poplar's fhade,' attempts fome rudenefs, for which he is defervedly thrashed by a lover of her's, who, fome hours before, had gone . on a morning's cruife for fish ;' and was fuppofed to have been loft in a form that immediately fucceeded. He gives an account of his efcape, and exchanging, with a fisherman, his cloaths All dripping wet. Soon as the tempeft ceas'd I left the hut thus clad, and tow'rds the wood We know not who is meant above by thy friend.' No one was prefent at the fcene but the lady and the two pugilifts. Ronfart, who attempts violence, and then defends it by an infamous falfhood, is, very improperly, foon afterwards confoled by Adriano, who was acquainted with the whole tranfaction, and addreffed with the appellation of honeft youth.' A few paffages occur that cannot well be reconciled to grammatical construction. < They faw A little rais'd above them one who stood With With and who are improperly omitted, or inftead of the verbs, the participles infolding and regarding should have been substituted. The following lines are fo aukwardly interwoven, that we know not how to reconcile them to any grammatical arrangement. "With him I left my fteed, to the white hore And fortune promifing to crown my hopes Equally inexplicable is the fecond of these lines. Each in his chaife with looks of gladness fat: Did the horse drive, or the driver lead, or did the driver both drive and lead? The narrative is often marked by a pleafing fimplicity of ftyle, but it sometimes degenerates into an affected familiarity, and an inelegance that approximates to vulgarity. An elevation of diction is not always to be expected or defired in a poem like the present, defcriptive of real life and manners, yet fuch expreffions as these might certainly have been avoided. Many of them are, indeed, in common ufe, and may be styled natural; but it is not nature dreffed to advantage.— To work they went 'tis all a lie-ran at my life-died by inches-dear foul-harfh finger-fign-poft daub-friend in need -brews the tea-every tongue was gib-flouncing furge-a complete eftate-youths of towardness-Gilbert was marching, &c. Scriptural inftructions receive no additional force, no embellishment from fuch lines as these. Who sheds another's blood, is guilty murder; No matter what the cause, for hear the law. Who fheds another's blood, by man his blood be shed, Who kills his neighbor, be it with defign, Whether they strive or not, he surely dies. Strike with a stone, with iron, or with wood, 'Tis death. The land defil'd by blood, is cleans'd The whole episode of Toby, it is luckily not a long one, is nearly as profaic as our laft quotation, and debafed with many vulgar expreffions like thofe we inftanced above. His father, we are told, at parting, Gave him good advice Blefs'd him, and bade hin profper. With warm heart Pour'd in the young fier's palm. Away, he cries, Go |