may be gathered from the following paffage; which we select as a fpecimen of this author's ftile and manner of declamation. "It is painful to a generous mind to obferve how that rancour of Party which I have defcribed, can banish every common sentiment of humanity, and lead a man to encourage animofities between those whofe interefts ought to be firmly united, whofe diffentions must be fatal to this country. Can any thing but this fpirit induce the conciliating Mr. Burke to excite divifions between the English and German Troops, because the latter are Foreigners, and have behaved in a manner deferving every commendation? Is it worthy of your character to infult over the memory of thofe that are fallen in fighting our battles, and who have facrificed their best blood to gain us advantages, which never could affect themselves? Were it probable to suppose that a language fo unbecoming a man of honour could ever reach them, and that they could be weak enough to be affected by it, how fatally might it operate against the interefts of this Country! Were they, refentful of this ufage, to forfake us in the day of battle, and, deferting their ftandards, leave us to the enemy-would it have charms for Mr. Burke, that his Countrymen fhould pay the forfeiture of his mifreprefentations in fufferings and captivity? For the honour of this Nation, I will hope that fuch fentiments will be forgotten; but, fhould they be fo unfortunate as to be remembered, I truft, Sir, that these Germans, however contemptibly you may think of them, will difregard fuch language: that there is a fpirit of real valour amongst them that will lead them to difcharge their duty as foldiers, to acquit themselves like men of honour in the caufe in which they are embarked, and to spread the dignity of the English name over the rebellious Continent of America.

I fhall not take notice of your predicted triumphs over us. If the behaviour of the Americans has fatisfied you, I am filent.——If you think they have fought like men who are fighting for every thing that is dear to them--if you think they have never been ashamed of, or renounced, their caufe--if you think they have preferred death to fubmiffion--be it fo. I fhall never reproach them with cowardice; I am too much a friend to this Country to wish that they may behave better.

You make it a fubject of complaint, Sir, that with these unfortunate, these brave Americans, we war not only with the Sword, but with Laws recently made, and fabricated for the purpose. Could we indeed have foretold that fuch a Rebellion would have exifted; that America, forgetting her dependance on this Country, would have raised her arm against the Parent that fupported her; we might then have been prepared in every way either to prevent or chaftile her ingratitude. Laws can only be made when occation calls them forth. The unfufpecting confidence of England with some reason imagined, that fuch a crime would never have been perpetrated: Like the Law-givers of old, they flattered themselves that an offence fo enormous as that of Parricide would never have exifted in Society. The rapid progrefs, however, of human wickedness convinced them of their mistake;-and it was then found neceffary to enact punishments adequate to the crime. But violent, Sir, as these laws against the Colonies may be in your opinion, their violence will ceafe, when they cease to deferve them. The

gentle

gentle current of Government will foon return to its ferenity. It was the torrent of American Rebellion that forced us to erect banks to refift its impetuofity.

I pafs over your occafional abuses of the prefent Ministry, because, Sir, they are natural to your fituation. It is, however, somewhat unfortunate that Mr. Burke should reprobate all abuse of men merely as Ministers, and then be guilty of what he condemns. It fhews to what we are to attribute thofe affected effufions of Patriotism, which seem to breathe the very spirit of Philanthropy. But fo hard is the temper of thefe times, that we listen to profeffions of this fort with fufpicion; and when once we detect a man deviating from his words, we deem that" POLITICAL truth is not in him.”

Letters from the land of Teneriffe, Brazil, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Eaft Indies. By Mrs. Kinderfley. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Nourse.

Thefe letters, in number fixty-eight, appear to have been written during a voyage to India, a fhort refidence there, and a return to England, within the space of five years; the first bearing date from Santa Cruz, in the Ifle of Teneriffe, June, 1764, and the last from the island of St. Helena, in February, 1769. As the fubjects of them are but little enlivened with perfonal adventure, the reader, who is already acquainted with the relations of the voyagers that have made the fame tour, will find but little novelty in them, and of course the lefs entertainment. To others they will be both inftructive and entertaining; having greatly the advantage of accounts, compiled from books; which, however authentic, do not carry with them the internal evidence of veracity, that feems to flow from the pen of the actual voyager.-This advantage the correfpondence, before us, undoubtedly has; and, tho' we can not compliment the writer with having difplayed the epiftolary talents of a Lady Mary Wortley Montague, her letters are in general not only written with eafe and fpirit, but abound with obfervations that difplay the good fenfe, ingenuity, and judici ous reflection of the author.

Of the circumftances and cuftoms, of the Spaniards at Teneriffe, and the Portuguese at Brazil, Mrs. Kinderfley gives the fame unfavourable account as hath before been given by other writers; and which we can very eafily conclude to be true, from the known fufpicious, gloomy character of a people, purfed in ignorance and fubjected to the impofitions and cruelty of ftate-tyranny and ecclefiaftical inquifition. Our female voyager, however, feems to think a little favourably of the pageantry of popery from its apparent and prefumed effects on the loweft of the vulgar. Speaking of the Brazils, she says,

All

"All the fervants both men and women are flaves, brought from Africa, of the negro kind; by nature difagreeable, but often rendered ftill more fo, by frightful marks on their faces, made by their parents when they are young; they are all made chriftians as foon as bought, and it is amazing to fee the effect the pageantry of the Roman Catholic religion has upon their uninformed minds; they are as devout as the common people in our cities are prophane; conftant at their worship, obedient to their preceptors without fcruple, and infpired with all the enthufiafm of devotion; the gilded pomp, the folemnity of proceffions, the mysterious rites, the fear as well as admiration of their ghostly fathers, all confpire to render them so.

"From the warm and steady devotion of the common people here, it has often occurred to me, that the plain good sense of the proteftant worship, fo well calculated for those who can diftinguish the fubftance from the fhadow, is much wanting in that glare and fhew, which catches the eye, and leads the imagination of the vulgar. Confeffion itfelf, was it not abused, is an excellent inftitution; and were the Roman Catholic priests to take as much care of the morals of their flock, as they do to attach them to the church, they would be the most virtuous common people in the world."

From the Cape of Good Hope, Mrs. Kinderfley gives the following account of the Dutch inhabitants, their fervants and the natives.

"Nothing can be more agreeable to the people of this place, than the arrival of an English fhip, as it caufes a circulation of money, and indeed it is chiefly by the English that most people in the town are fupported; not only by taking the Captains, Pafiengers, &c. to board at their houses, but by furnishing the fhips with provifion. A great many French fhips likewife ftop here, and all the Dutch paffing to and from India; but for the laft they are obliged to provide according to certain prices, ftipulated by the Dutch company; and as neither the Dutch or French fpend their money fo freely as the English, of course they are not fo desirable guests.

The cuftom is to pay a rix-dollar daily for each perfon's board and lodging, for which they are provided with every thing, the tables are plentiful, the houses are clean, and the people obliging, and what makes it extremely comfortable, is, that most of them fpeak English; French is likewife fpoken by many; fo that foreigners find themfelves more at home in this port than can be imagined.”

"The fervants of the Dutch, except a very few Hottentots, are all flaves, brought originally from different parts of the Eaft Indies. What feems extraordinary is, that they do not learn to talk Dutch, but the Dutch people learn their dialect, which is called Portuguefe; and is a corruption of that language. Some of them are called Malays or Malaynefe, brought from the country of Malacca, and the islands to the eastward of India, fubject to the Dutch company. These flaves differ from the others in the flatness of their faces, the length of their eyes, and the distance of the eyes from each other; they are likewife lefs black, but more of a pale yellow. This caft of people are remarkable for the violence of their pallions, and are to the utmoit degree revenge

ful;

ful; a melancholy inftance of their violence has happened lately. One of them, being offended with his mafter, gave himself up to the fury of his paffion, and as the term is, run a muck, a thing which is not unufual. The first step he took was to intoxicate himself with 'opium, then, letting his long hair loofe about him, he fallied out with a knife in his hand, running ftrait forward, to stab every man, woman, child, or animal, which he met with. Fortunately, only one perfon was killed before he was taken; but the execution which followed, was the most cruel that could be invented by the art of man: a lingering death upon the rack, with the application of burning inftruments in a manner too fhocking to repeat.

I have purpofely deferred giving you any account of the natives of this country, the Hottentots, till I could be affured that the strange accounts I heard of them were true; my eyes have convinced me, that fome of them are, and others I have from good authority.

"They are by nature tolerably white, and not unhandfome; but as foon as a child is born, they rub it all all over with oil, and lay it in the fun; this they repeat till it becomes brown: and always break the infant's nofe, fo that it lies close to its face; as they grow up, they continue conftantly to rub themselves with oil or greafe, and by degrees become almost a jet black; this it feems they do to strengthen themselves.

"Their drefs is the fkins of beafts quite undreffed, one they tie over their fhoulders, and another round their wafte by way of an apron; their wrists, ankles, and waftes, are ornamented with glafs-beads, bits of tobacco pipes, pieces of brafs, and fuch kind of trumpery, and fometimes even the dried entrails of beafts.

"Their only riches is in cattle, and their employment feeding them; except the hunting of wild beafts, at which they are exceedingly expert; the fkins they conftantly bring to the town, and barter with the Dutch for trumpery beads, &c. &c. or spirituous liquors, of which they are exceffively fond.

"Drunkenness and gluttony are the vices to which they are most addicted; having no moderation in either eating or drinking, but, whenever, it is in their power, indulge themfelves in either to the greatest excels, devouring as much at a meal, as would be fufficient for days, feldom leaving off while there is any thing left to eat or drink: they then lay down in their hovels till pinched again by hunger.

"They have no fuperiority amongst them but the chiefs which are chofen when they make war, which one nation of Hottentots often does against another, though never against the Dutch; but these chiefs have no diftinction in their manner of living, for they have not the leaft idea of the grandeur, or what all other people esteem the neceffaries, of life.

"It is a doubtful point whether they have any notion of a deity, as nothing like a religious ceremony is ever obferved amongst them: but most of the Dutch are of opinion that they worship the fun; a very natural conjecture, for although they appear hardly a degree above the brute creation, still one must allow they have the faculty of thinking, confequently must attribute the earth, the sky, and all about them, to fome fuperior power. The fun is the most glorious object we behold,

and the most likely to infpire awe and reverence into those who are not informed, that it is only one, of the many wonderful works of the Almighty.

"They have no books or letters of any kind, their language confifting chiefly in figns, nodding the head, and an undiftinct rattling in the throat.

"The cuftom in regard to their old people is truly fhocking: whenever they come to fuch an age as to be unable to fupport themselves, their relations convey them to fome distance, and let them starve to death. In all other respects they are the most quiet inoffenfive people in the world.

They fometimes become fervants to the Dutch, and behave perfectly well; their honefty may be depended upon for any thing but liquor; but they have all, both men and women, fuch a ftrong natural propenfity to intoxication, that it is never to be conquered: thofe who are fervants alter their appearance, and dress like flaves, but fometimes return among their own people and to their own manners.'

It is a picturesque and pleafing defcription which Mrs, Kinderfley gives of the feveral parts of the Eaft Indies fhe vifited, in her way to Calcutta; nor is the narrative of her voyage up the Ganges lefs entertaining. Her accounts of the religion and manners of the different cafts of Indians, accord with the beft authorities. It was natural enough for a lady to be inquifitive about the cuftoms of her own fex, and particularly concerning that very fingular and extraordinary practice of the Hindoo women, in burning themselves, on the decease of their husbands.

The refult of her inquiries, nevertheless, feems to have been but little information.

"The Hindoo women we can know little of, as none but the very lowest are visible; they are almost in their infancy married by the care of their parents to fome of their own caft. Every Hindoo is obliged to marry once and polygamy is allowed, but there is generally one wife who is held as fuperior to the reft. The women have no education given them, they live retired in the zanannahs, and amuse themselves with each other, fmoaking the booker, bathing, and feeing their fervants dance.

"There is one well-known circumftance relative to these women, which is the most extraordinary and aftonishing custom in the world; I mean their burning themselves with the dead bodies of their hufbands this cuftom is not at prefent fo frequent as formerly, they cannot burn without permiffion from the Nabob of the province: and it is much to be hoped, that the English will in future prevent those Nabobs we are in alliance with, from giving any fuch permiffion, but there has been within a very short time at least one inftance.

"I have endeavoured to find out what could give rife (if you'll permit me the expreffion) to such a barbarous exertion of virtue'; but it is difficult to find out the cause of inftitutions of fo antient a date, therefore I do not depend on either of the following reafons, although they have each their advocates, who infist strongly that their opinion is the right one.

"The