engage in the rash schemes of Monmouth or Argyle, held it to be their interest to interfere as little as possible in public affairs, and by no means to obtrude upon unwilling hearers, opinions and sentiments, which, ever since the dissolution of the Oxford parliament in 1681, had been generally discountenanced, and of which the peaceable, or rather triumphant accession of James to the throne, was supposed to seal the condemnation."

The third chapter relates to the desperate and unfortunate expeditions, which Mr. Fox calls ،، attempts," of Argyle and Monmouth, an account of their followers, and their own condemnation and death. The account of Argyle's deportment, from the time of his capture to that of his execution, is extremely interesting, and the mildness and magnanimity of his resignation is described with kindred feelings by his generous historian.*

Mr. Fox, in a letter to Mr. Laing, published by lord Holland in his Address to the Reader, makes the following severe stric. tures on the character and conduct of Ossian Macpherson:-"I have now ascertained beyond all doubt, that there were, in the Scotch College at Paris, two distinct MISS. one in James's own hand, consisting of papers of different sizes bound up together; and the other

a sort of historical narrative, drawn up from the former. I doubt whe ther Carte ever saw the original journal; but I learn, from un. doubted authority, that Macpherson never did. And yet, to read his preface, page 6 and 7, (which pray advert to), one would have supposed not only that he had in. spected it accurately, but that all his extracts at least, if not Carte's also, were taken from it. Mac. pherson's impudence in attempting such an imposition, at a time when almost any man could have detected him, would have been in another man incredible, if the internal evidence of the extracts themselves against him, were not corroborated by the testimony of the principal persons of the college. In another part of his letter, Mr. Fox says

This imposture is as impudent as Ossian itself"-" Neither was Mr. Fox satisfied with the manuer in which sir John Dalrymple explained and conducted his publi cations. His complaints of both these authors were frequent; and the more he examined and studied their books, the more he perceived the necessity of making some further researches. + Mr. Fox makes also many strictures, though without any direct impeachment of their probity, on the historians, Rapin, Mr. Hume, Mr. Echard, bishop Kennet, and Mr. Ralph.

Account

Account of the Life and Writings of James Bruce, of Kinnaird, Esq. F.R.S. Author of Travels to discover the Source of the Nile, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. By Alexander Murray, F.A.S.E. and Secretary for Foreign Correspondence, in 504 pages, 4to. with Engravings.

IT may be said of Mr. Bruce's

Travels, published in five pon derous volumes quarto, that there never was so huge a book of travels, containing so little information either important, or anywise interesting. He travelled over many and various regions with his eyes, or visual orbs-

out comes Mr. Bruce, in 1790. In the title-page of his work appears an engraving of a medal, representing on one side the discoverer, on the other the detected head of the divinity of the Nile, from which Apollo lifts the veil. The inscription is

Nec contigit ulli Iloc vidisse caput

This sign, hung out at the head of the door, is a very just emblem or index of the general style and fashion of the goods within. Mr. Bruce himself fills his own eye more than any other of the objects be contemplates. He is the great hero of his tale. He compliments himself on his own achievements. He is anxious to let us know, that

urbes.

But what a difference in point of both amusement and instruction, between Mr. Bruce's Travels to discover the Source of the Nile, and the Voyages of Ulysses in the Mediterranean! After the lapse of full sixteen years, after the return of Mr. Bruce, during which time the curiosity of the public had been powerfully excited, its patience exercised, and the hope of the learned and inquisitive, of every nation nearly changed into despair,

* Quint. Horat. Flac. Epist. 11.

man. He introduces us to a thousand barbarous wretches, and tells us all about them, for no other reason than that they were his acquaintance, and that, perhaps, they executed some little commission for him; yet, even here, he is less ridiculous and disgusting than in his observations on the miraculous passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea; and his ravings about the descendants of Cush, grandson of Noah; the Abyssinian literature; and the chronicles of Abys nian kings, from the son of the queen

Q 2

Sheba,

Sheba, by Solomon, and even 700 years before, to the king who reigned in Abyssinia when he was there. If, as Milton says, "the skirmishes, of kites and crows are not less worthy of being recorded than the encounters of the English kings during the heptarchy," they are certainly not less worthy of notice than those of the Abyssinian kings. But though we are extremely fatigued with Mr. Bruce's prolix details of barbarous and savage, and, in many instances, no doubt, legendary or fictitious kings, and still more, if possible, with the disjointed, inconclusive, and insufferably tedious processes of his inquiries and speculations-though it were to be wished that he had wholly omitted his discussions, and shortened the details of his own adventures, as well as those of the Abyssinian kings, it must be ad. mitted that not a little pure ore is to be found amidst this huge mass of dross. Mr. Bruce has contri. buted not a little to the improvement of geography and natural history, particularly meteorology, and suggested some useful hints to navigators, merchants, and above all to the East India company. That he really visited Abyssinia, and all the other places of which he speaks, there cannot be a doubt. The doubts that were very generally entertained at first, founded merely in ignorance, have been completely dispelled by subsequent testimonies. Indeed, the moral character of Mr. Bruce was alone sufficient to give credit to his narrative; yet, while we are fully convinced that Mr. Bruce really visited Abyssinia, we cannot but observe, that though the outines be true, the general style of his colouring is

altogether deficient in that chasteness and fidelity, which is manifest in every drawing taken exactly from nature.

His own adventures

appear to be heightened, for the purpose of making his readers stare; for the purpose of exciting vulgar admiration. Besides all this, we may be permitted to doubt the truth of many of his reports, without impeaching his veracity; for he has not been at the least pains, by any critical examination, to establish the documents on which he makes his reports. We can easily conceive the union of strict veracity with credulity, and a propensity to believe and a desire to spread the belief of whatever is astonishing and bordering on the miraculous. It would have been well, if Mr. Bruce, in imitation of an antient traveller on the banks of the Nile, Herodotus, had told us what he had seen, and what he reported on hearsay.

It seemed proper to introduce our account of the present volume about, and in a great measure by, Mr. Bruce, with a brief review of the preceding five volumes. First, let the author, Mr. Murray, speak for himself:

"The following Account of the Life and Writings of Mr. Bruce was prefixed to the second edition of his Travels, published in 1805. It is now reprinted in the quarto form, with considerable additions and emendations, for the use of those who possess only the first edition of his work, or may desire to know something of the personal history of a man, who obtained celebrity by exposing his life for the particular advancement of use. ful knowledge. As no European, however adventurous, has hitherto,

during a period of thirty years, traced his steps, or penetrated into. Abyssinia, the value of the information contained in his work must remain undiminished, until some fortunate accident open that country to the rest of the world, and the public owe to circumstances not to be foreseen, what has been denied to scientific curiosity.

"The merits of Mr. Bruce's work may now be considered as sufliciently well known, but they can be estimated in detail only by the light of future discovery. Its imperfections must be finally ascertained from the same source; but, when criticism and envy have both exhausted their severity, the author will occupy a place far above the ordinary description of travellers.

"The appendix to this volume consists partly of a selection from Mr. Bruce's correspondence with a variety of persons, eminent in lite rature, and in public life. Some letters have been admitted, not on account of their intrinsic value, but because they contain additional notices and illustrations; others have been inserted, as characteris. tic of their authors. Those written from Algiers, particularly, display the indignant spirit with which Mr. Bruce was accustomed to resent every attack on the honour, the privileges, and welfare, of his country.

"The notices of the Ethiopic MSS. will, it is hoped, be acceptable to such as intend to examine Abyssinian history, or the sources from which Mr. Bruce extracted his account of it. The description of the Abyssinian customs and provinces, however imperfect, has not been compiled without more labour than it may be altogether prudent

to confess. An ordinary acquaintance with oriental literature is, in this country, seldom reckoned either useful or profitable. The study of the Ethiopic and Amharic may therefore possibly be judged such a misapplication of time, as ought to be corrected by more than ne. gative discouragement,

"In No. XLVI. Part I. the reader will find an abstract of the transac tions in Abyssinia immediately preceding Mr. Bruce's entry; of the history of Ras Michael, a leading character in the Travels, compiled from Ethiopic MSS.; and likewise an extract from Mr. Bruce's Jour. nal, written at Gondar, in March 1770, containing an account of his own reception and first occupation at court. These are followed by the most important parts of his Journals, in Italian and English, relating to his journey into Agow. midre to visit the sources of the river.

"In the same number, Parts IT. and III. is arranged all the mis. cellaneous information concerning Habbesh, Atbara, and Sennaar, which could be found amongst Mr. Bruce's papers. It is hoped that this will supply the want of minute explanatory notices in some parts of his work; in many instances confirm the reports of other travellers; and shew, that his inquiries respecting the interior of Africa

were extensive and indefa

nian languages contained in Volume I. of Mr. Bruce's own edition, and engraved in a more correct state for that of 1805, are annexed to this account of his life, along with vocabularies extracted from a MS. compiled for him at Gondar. These may probably be of considerable use to future travellers: and it is evident, that, if a distinct classification of the African tribes be ever attempted, it must be formed chief ly from their languages, the only permanent monument of nations that have no written records."

The additions and emendations of which Mr. Murray speaks, to the life of Bruce, may perhaps appear interesting to those who entertain the same exalted opinion of him as he does. It is superfluous to observe, after what we have just stated to be our opinion of Mr. Bruce, that we cannot, by any means, agree with Mr. Murray in thinking that he "will ever occupy a place far above the ordinary description of travellers."

"Notices of the Ethiopian MSS. will (it is hoped by Mr. Murray) be acceptable to such as intend to examine Abyssinian history."Perhaps they may. But the number of those persons who intend to examine Abyssinian history, we presume, must be very small. Neither can the history of Ras Mi. chael, though a leading character

in the Travels, appear either inte resting or instructive to any intelligent European reader, who re. flects that life is infinitely too short to read every thing that is printed; and that the first attentions are due to the best books and the greatest and best men. As to the study of the Ethiopic and Amharic, thinking far differently from what Mr. Murray appears to do, of the science of etymology,* which we consider as vague and uncertain, we should think it, indeed, "a misapplication of time."

Of the numerous letters contained in this volume, to and from Mr. Bruce, the far greater part will appear to be extremely trivial, except to such enthusiastic admirers of that traveller and hero, if indeed there be any such, now that his works have been long published, as Mr. Murray. Of the insipidity. and we may say inanity, of most of these, the following is a specimen :

"Letter from Bajerund Janni at

Adowa to Mr. Bruce at Gondar, giving him notice of the arrival of a box and some articles from Captain Price at Jidda.

"After salutation: There has arrived here Hagi Jawher, attending the Abuna, who has delivered 10 our people a box with letters in it, informing you of its contents, which, when you shall receive from