Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

"We are not sure that we have perused any book, since the commencement of our critical career, that has afforded us more entertainment than those little volumes. The narrative is, upon the whole, so gay and airy, the tone of sentiment so miid and unassuming, and the living pictures with which the busiest part of the scene is crowded, so full of delicacy, truth, and vivacity, that it is impossible not to be charmed with the greater part of the performance"-Edinburgh Review, January 1807.

To this translation is prefixed, a rapid sketch of French manners, particularly those of the literary and fashionable circles, in which this celebrated author spent most part of his life. As those manners differ grea y from such as prevail in Britain, the reader will thus be enabled to understand some passages which might otherwise appear unaccountable. This sketch, with the notes which are added, relative to some characters and occurrences not generally known, will render the narrative on the whole still more interesting.

With regard to the translation itself, every attention has been paid, not only to render it correct and faithful, but also to preserve, as much as possible, the spirit and beauty of the admired original.

9.

The MISCELLANEOUS WORKS of TOBIAS SMOLLETT, M. D. with Memoirs of his Life and Writings, by Robert Anderson, M. D.-containing,

The Adventures of Roderick Random, 1
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle,

Plays and Poems,

The Adventures of Ferdinand Count Fathom,

An Account of the Expedition against Carthagena,

The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves,

Travels through France and Italy,

The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, and
The Adventures of an Atom,

6 vols. 8vo, printed on a wove paper, hot-pressed, third edit. embelli hed with a head of the AuthorPrice 21. 14s. boards.

[ocr errors]

10.

The FABLE of the BEES; or, PRIVATE VICES, PUBLIC BENEFITS: With an ESSAY ON CHARITY and CHARITY SCHOOLS, and a Search into the NATURE of SOCIETY. Also, a Vindication of the Book from the Aspersions contained in a Presentment of the Grand Jury of Middlesex, and an abusive Letter to Lord C

"It was Dr. Mandeville who seems to have been at the bottom of all that has been written on this subject, (National Economy, either by Dr. Smith or the French Economists:-That national wealth consists in industry, excited by necessity, natural or luxurious; that the value and perfection of all the subjects of industry depend chiefly on the division of labour; that certain labours or employments are productive, and others unproductive; that it is mechanics or ploughmen that are demanded for national wealth, not men addicted to books, who often tend to make the poorer classes idle, vain, and discontented; that the value of articles depends on their scarcity and plenty. These are the leading principles in Dr. Mandeville's Fable of the Bees. Let any man of candour and common understanding peruse the Fable of the Bees, and the innumerable publications of the Economists, and then say, whether it be not almost certain, that the way was prepared for the inquiries and conclusions of the latter by those of the former. The introduction of the Fable of the Bees into France coincides with the time when the Economists received the impressions of education. As the just mode of investigation in natural philosophy was invented by Englishmen, so also the just mode of investiga tion in political economy, how to make a people powerful and happy the most important of all the subjects of reasoning, was also first pointed out by an Englishman. Bacon and Newton were the fathers of legitimate inquiry in natural, and Mandeville in political philosophy. It is not a little astonishing, that the honour due, on this score, to Mandeville, has not been reclaimed before by his countrymen."-Anti-Jacobin Review, Dec. 1805.

11.

OBSERVATIONS on the NATURE and TENDENCY of the DOCTRINE of Mr. HUME, concerning the RELATION of CAUSE and EFFECT, by Thomas Brown, M. D. second edition enlarged.--Price 5s. in boards.

"It would de honour to the most penetrating metaphysician of the age to have avowed this Essay."Edin. Review, Oct. 1805,

12.

An INQUIRY into the NATURE and CAUSES of the WEALTH of NATIONS, by Adam Smith, L. L. D. F. R. S. with a Life of the Author, 3 vols. 8vo. 11. 1s. boards.

For this edition an Account of the Life of the Author has been drawn up; and although it cannot be said that any facts relating to that truly great man are given, in addition to those which have already appeared, yet a more satisfactory account, it is presumed, will now be found of his Studies and Doctrines, than has been perfixed to any other edition of the Wealth of Nations.

There are likewise perfixed, a Comparative View of the Doctrines of Smith and the French Economists, and a method of facilitating the Study of Mr. Smith's Inquiry, by Germain Garnier, of the National Institute, translator of this work into the French language.

The advantage of some directions to the readers of this immortal work, as it has justly been called, particularly to those who have not previously made the science of Political Economy their study, has been generally acknowledged. The following Observations are extracted from a review of Garnier's Translation.

"M. Garnier, in order to facilitate the understanding of his author, has laid down the heads of the work in the order in which he conceives they ought to have been treated; and, no doubt, had the course now sketched been followed by Dr. Smith, his book would have been read with more pleasure and interest, and his doctrines would have been more easily apprehended. We are of opinion, therefore, that the arrangement here given, or something on the same plan, might be advantageously perfixed to a future edition of the original."-App, to Monthly Review, 1802.

13.

The THEORY of MORAL SENTIMENTS; or, An ESSAY towards an Analysis of the Principles by which men naturally judge concerning the conduct and character, first of their neighbours, and afterwards of themselves. To which is added, a dissertation on the origin of languages. By Adam Smith, L. L. D. F. R. s. in 2 vols. 8vo. Price 14s. boards.

14.

OP

FERGUSON'S LECTURES on SELECT SUBJECTS, in MECHANICS, HYDROSTATICS, HYDRAULICS, PNEUMATICS, TICS, GEOGRAPHY, ASTRONOMY, and DIALING, with Notes and an Appendix, adapted to the present state of the Arts and Sciences, by David Brewster, L. L. D. the second edition, corrected and enlarged, 2 vols. 8vo. with a volume of plates. -11. 5s, boards.

The following commendations of the first edition of this work are respectfully submitted to the Public.

"The Author of the Lectures, of which a corrected and enlarged edition is now offered to the Public, has obtained a deserved reputation for composing familiar treatises on Philosophical and Mechanical topics, in a manly, though artless style. This improved edition, of one of his most esteemed performances, is undertaken by a gentleman, who, to Ferguson's talents for plain distinct description, has added such a competent share of mathematical acquirements, as is likely to keep him from erroneous principles or inaccurate results."

"Mr. Brewster's Appendix contains much useful information under the different heads of Mechanics, Hydraulics, Optics, Dialing, and Astronomy. Nearly one hundred pages are devoted to the subject of Water-mills and Wind-mills, in which many of Mr. Brewster's rules and observations cannot fail to be beneficial to the Mill-wright.

"There are three articles in this Appendix which it would be unjust not to mention with commendation: they treat of the Steam Engine, the method of grinding and polishing Lenses, and the method of casting, grinding, and polishing, the mirrors of Reflecting Telescopes. The description of Watt's Steam Engine, though concise, is very perspicuous; the engraved representation of this Steam Engine, with the latest improvements. will be found highly useful, and conveys a better idea of the Engine as a whole, than any thing we have yet met with.

[ocr errors]

Altogether this work may be safely recommended as presenting many judicious and useful additions to a book of established reputation."-Literary Journal, March 1806.

"Mr. Ferguson's Lectures stand not in need of our encomium; for, having been long before the public, and universally read and admired, their merit has been fully appreciated and established; and the useful information which they afford in the Arts, will always render them very valuable to the public."-British Critic,

15.

A SUMMARY VIEW of HERALDRY, in reference to the Usages of Chivalry, and the General Economy of the Feudal System. With an Appendix, respecting such Distinctions of Rank as have place in the British Constitution, by Thomas Brydson, F. A. s. 1 vol. royal 8vo.-Price 10s. 6d. boards.

"It may perhaps be but justice to declare, that the ingenious author of this work has comprised, in the space of an octavo volume, all that is worthy of general promulgation on the subject of Heraldry. To those superficial students of the science, who mean to content themselves with blazoning arms and sketching pedigrees, his book will be useless. It will neither enable them to detect the owner of a single coach, nor will it add one alliance to their store of geneological information: But the Historian and the Poet, nay, the Lawyer and the Politician, will peruse it with pleasure; while the more careless reader, who, pursuing none of the regular paths of literature, steps occasionally into all, will be equally gratified and surprised, when he finds that Heraldry has some relation to all sciences, is connected with every branch of civil polity, and influences, in a considerable degree, the general manners of society.

"It is a pleasing circumstance to find elegance and liberal information thus happily connected with a science usually perplexed, as Heraldry is, by technical terms, and grotesque figures. Mr. Brydson's book may be recommended, as we have already hinted, to intelligent readers of all descriptions, who will find in it much that is amusing and instructive, without any unpleasant mixture." .British Critic, March 1796.

"Those who will take the trouble of perusing the present volume, will find in it more than it promises, and will be sufficiently paid for their pains. The Author has studied the subject with attention, and has condensed his matter with care and taste; so that his details are never tedious, but are for the most part entertaining. The language is clear and appropriate; and if it be not always purely classical, it is never vulgar and turgid.

« Mr. Brydson gives a neat Summary Account of the Distinctions of Rank included in the British Constitution, with their different privileges and precedency. This is a well digested abridge. ment of our best writers on the subject. On the whole, as we have read the volume with pleasure, we cannot help recommend ing it to all who wish to have, at small cost, a proper idea of He, raldry, Ranks, and Privileges, especially of those which are pecu liarly our own.' Monthly Review, Sept. 1796.

« ZurückWeiter »