ART. VI. A Journal of the Forces which failed from the Downs in April, 1800, on a fecret Expedition, under the Command of Lieutenant-General Pigot, till their Arrival at Minorca; and continued through all the fubfequent Tranfactions of the Army, under the Command of the Right Honourable General Sir Ralph Abercromby, K. B. in the Mediterranean and Egypt; and the latter Operations under the Command of Lieutenant-General Lord Hutchinfon, K. B. to the Surrender of Alexandria; with a particular Account of Malta, during the Time it was fubject to the British Government. By Eneas Anderfon, Lieutenant 40th Regiment. Illuftrated by Engravings. 4to. 21. 25. Debrett. 1802.

THE public have been indulged with different descriptions

of the glorious Expedition to Egypt, by men of rank and talents who perfonally fhared its difficulties and dangers. The prefent account might have been spared. With refpect to the Egyptian campaign, it tells little or nothing which we did not know before and a very large proportion of the book, indeed too large, is filled with general orders and official papers, which have been printed and circulated again and again.

The author himself accompanied the expedition no further than Malta; all beyond this is given from the journals of officers who accompanied the Commander in Chief. The account of Malta, therefore, is the part of this publication which principally claims attention, and this may be perused with amusement, and feems entitled to confiderable praife. The plan of its harbours and fortified places, the author tells us, is a correct copy of that which was taken by the French General Vaubois, by order of Bonaparte. The other drawings of Malta were taken on the fpot, and may therefore be confidered as faithful illuftrations of the defcriptions which accompany them. From this part of the work we fhall felect a fpecimen.

"The hiftory of Malta, which muft naturally involve all those events that finally ended in the fingular inftitution whereby it was governed, till it was traitorously furrendered to the French, would itlelf employ a volume, and does not come within the defign of this work. Its ancient government was then overturned, and, when the English took poffeffion of the Ifland, it continued to remain in a ftate of fufpenfion.

"In this kind of interregnum the means of obferving the manners or cuftoms of the people were very much curtailed. It ought however to be noticed, and with fome degree of exultation on our part,

that,

that, on the departure of the French, whom the Maltese execrated and abhorred, and whom, from their spirit of pillage, oppreffion, and tyranny, they had ample reafon to execrate and abhor, they found themfelves fo happy under the juft and benevolent government of Great Britain, and were treated with such a contrafted mildness and generofity by a British garrifon, that they foon recovered from the painful fubmiffion and despair, which they had fo long fuffered, and returned to those habits and occupations of domestic life, which can alone be happily enjoyed or followed in a flate of real fecurity and protection. Nor did their wishes, as will hereafter appear, ever look to a change of their condition under the benign fway of the British government.

"They found, indeed, a new state of things, immediately on the evacuation of their country by the French. Their new conquerors came not to rob, to plunder, or destroy; to add infolence to oppreffion, er facrilege to injustice; but to fave, to confole, and to protect; to heal the wounds which they had received; to indulge them in their native habits; to allow their ancient cuftoms; to give full fcope to the exercife of their religion, in all its ceremonies and fuperftitions; and even to renew thofe acts of folemn rejoicing, which had been allowed to dignify the devotions under the government of the Order. The difcharge of artillery was again ordered to accompany, as at that period, the folemnization of their principal feftivals.

"To relate the proceedings of their religious folemnities; the proceffions by day and the illuminations by night, with the fplendid fire, works that enlivened the pious joy of their facred anniversaries; to defcribe their faftings and acts of penitence, and represent the groups of devotees, who, at certain feafons, were feen dragging their voluntary chains, and inflicting voluntary punishments, in order to obtain remiffion of their fins; would be little more than an hiftory of thofe fuperftitions, which Popery, in its prefent enlightened ftate, has ceafed to encourage.

"During the time that I had the honour of ferving in the garrifon of Malta, thofe objects, which were more particularly calculated to attract the notice of a stranger, had been greatly diminished from the previous circumstances, in which it had been involved. The curious and fingular government was no more; its Grand Mafter and its Knights had either fled, or were scattered abroad; in fhort, its pecu liar manners, and ancient customs were, in a great measure, passed away and diffolved; and we lived at Malta as in any other distant fortress. I fhall not, however, refrain from relating fome particulars of the manners and habits of the Maltese people, as they prelented themfelves to my observation.

"Of the domeftic life and private manners of the higher orders of the Maltele, I thall not attempt to give a particular defcription, as our communications with them were confined to public affemblies, We were continually invited to balls during the winter, when dancing, with a profufion of confectionary and Sicilian wines, compofed the entertainment. To their dinners or fuppers we were never invited, which did not, however, appear to proceed from an inhofpitable dif pofition, but arofe more probably from the narrow state of their

finances,

finances, as an income equal to four hundred pounds fterling was the largest in the Ifland, except that of the Bishop.

"The Maltese are a very induftrious people, being educated to labout and active employment from their cradles: nor are they ever feen in a ftare of inactivity, but when they are engaged in the duties of their religion, which, however, muft appear to the more enlightened. profeffors of Chriftianity, to occupy too large a portion of their time.

"The staple manufacture of Malta is the cotton, which it produces. It is both white and of a dingy yellow; but principally of the latter colour. Of this material they weave a narrow cloth of about half an ell wide, which has no variety but of plain and striped.

"The number of people which are employed in this fabric is very confiderable, as almost every houfe contains a loom, and every loom is The women, as well as the men, are emin continual occupation. ployed in its feveral branches, from teafing of the cotton to the completion of the piece. They may, indeed, be frequently feen alternately engaged in teafing, fpinning, and weaving. They fpin both with the fpindle and the wheel, and the female manufacturers are generally heard to cheer their toil with airs of a pleafing and fprightly melody.

"The rearing of poultry forms no inconfiderable branch or trade among the middling and lower claffes of the people. The quantity of fowls and eggs, which this domeftic commerce produces, is incredible. At almost every door a large wicker basket contains a cackling family, which is only for a fhort time of the day permitted to range in liberty as they are accustomed to this ftate of confinement from the time that they are hatched, they feel an attachment to it, and a kind of chirping noife from their owners calls them back with eager hafte to their wicker habitations. This ufeful traffic does not interfere with, and adds its profits to, thofe of other occupations.

"The wood-cutters form a peculiar defcription of hardy and ufeful labourers. The only fuel in this ifland is wood, which is brought from Sicily and Naples: and as it is of very hard contexture, it becomes an act of neceffity to fplit or cut into fmall pieces for firing. These men, who are more numerous than may be imagined, are armed with an axe and a faw, with a chiffel and a wedge; and thus equipped, they pafs through the streets, making known their want of employment to the inhabitants by a certain kind of cry peculiar to their occupation. It is a long and laborious exertion of their art, which gains them a fum equal to eight-pence of our money.

66

The fishery alfo employs a confiderable number of this induftrious people. The Maltese are also very expert both with the net and the line, as it appears from the plenty as well as of variety of fish, with which the markets abound.

"There is another occupation, which gives bread to a great number of the Maltese, and is that of felling goat's milk and butter. In the morning and evening the milkmen drive their goats through the Areets, and ftop to milk them at the houses of their refpective cuf Of this useful animal there are great numbers in every part of Malta; and, like the poultry already mentioned, are feen as living attendants at the doors of the houses.

tomers.

66 The

The fcripture image of the Ox that treadeth out the corn is téalized in this Ifland. It is a practice, which probably derives its origin from the Arabs, who formed a principal part of its former inhabitants, and an intermixture of whofe language is ftill perceptible in the vulgar tongue of Malta. The ears of grain being strewed on a flat piece of ground, cattle are then introduced yoked together, who are led to and fro till the grain is feparated from the hufk.

"There is, perhaps, no country in the world where its inhabitants have fuch an uprigh: carriage of their figure as thofe of Malta. This graceful circumftance proceeds from the peculiar manner in which they direct the fhape of their infant children. No fooner is a child born, than it is placed between two pieces of board, which reach from the feet to the neck, and are attached to the body of the infant with rollers of linen, but in fuch a manner as not to produce pain or impede the circulation. In this manner the Maltese children are univerfally treated till they are able to walk; and thus they acquire that erect gait, which never forfakes them.” P. 175. _ ·

The author of this publication is well known as having accompanied Lord Macartney to China, and more fo for having anticipated Sir George Staunton's account of that embaffy. He has also produced other works of a fimilar defcription. The engravings which accompany this volume may be entitled to the praise of fidelity, but they are of mean and very inferior execution; and when we confider, that in the Expedition which is intended to bear the most prominent feature in the piece, the author himself was not prefent, that a large part of his work is filled with the general orders and official papers, it feems a compilation put together for temporary purpofes, rather than a laudable exertion of talent to acquire or fecure a permanent reputation.

ART. VII. The Poetical Works of the late Thomas Warton, B. D. Fellow of Trinity-College, Oxford; and Poet Laureat. Fifth Edition, corrected and enlarged. To which are now added, Infcriptionum Romanarum Delectus, and an Inaugural Speech as Camden Profeffor of Hiftory, never before publifhed. Together with Memoirs of his Life and Writings; and Notes, critical and explanatory. By Richard Mant, M.A. Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. Two Volumes. 8vo. 14s. Hanwell and J. Parker, Oxford; F. and C. Rivingtons, London. 1802.

THOUGH the late Laureate will never rank, as a poet, in

the first Class of British authors, his productions have fufficient merit to entitle them to the compliment here paid,

of

of a complete and illuftrative edition. That the talk of producing it fhould have devolved upon a gentleman neither perfonally acquainted with the author, nor connected with him by relationship, might seem extraordinary, did it not appear from the Preface, that the editor was encouraged by the approbation, and affifted by the communications of the nearest furvivors of the family. To the principal perfons from whom he derived affiftance, Mr. Mant thus makes his acknowledgments.

"Mr. Phil. Smyth, of New College, fupplied me with two or three curious particulars:-to Mr. Price, of the Bodleian Library, I return my hearty thanks, not only for the zeal which he fhewed in giving me fuch oral intelligence as might be ferviceable, but also for favouring me with what he poffeffed of Mr. Warton's correfpondence:-nor muft I, in acknowledging the unfolicited communications of Dr. Huntingford, the prefent Bishop of Gloucester and Wat den of Winchester College, omit to mention how much their value was enhanced by the manner in which they were made.

"In endeavouring to do honour to my author, 1 am happy to have formed an acquaintance with fome of his relations, whofe affiftance I mention with peculiar fatisfaction. His filter will, I hope, believe me, when I fay, that her contributions are doubly valuable as coming from her; and much as I prize Mr. John Warton's communications upon their own account, fill more do I efteem them as teftimonies of the very friendly regard, which I have experienced under his hofpitable roof.

"It should be noticed, that, in addition to thefe private aids, I have derived affistance from the lives of Mr. Warton, in Anderson's edition of the British Poets, and in the 15th volume of the Biographical Dictionary: though I have found more than one occafion to correct an error in the former. From the latter, which I have reason to believe was drawn up by a friend of Mr. Warton, I have extracted the account of his Oxford habits and manners." P. iv.

The volumes are adorned by a well-executed head of the author, from the picture of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and prefenting a likenefs ftrikingly characteristic and not unfavourable. In the first volume, the Life and critique on the author's works extends from p. ix. to p. cxlii. then follow the works them. felves, thus divided into claffes: . Mifcellaneous Pieces, 2. Infcriptions. 3. Tranflations and Paraphrafes. 4. Odes, The second volume begins with the continuations of the Odes, including nine which he wrote in his office of Laureate, 5. Sonnets. 6. Humorous Pieces. Then follow his Latin Poems. 7. Poemata Hexametra. 8. Epigrammata. 9. Græca atque Anglica quædam, Latinè reddita. The collection concludes with two articles, which, though they do not properly belong to it, many readers will be pleafed to fee, fubjoined: namely, 10. Infcriptionum Romanarum metricarum Delectus,

a col