THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. APRIL & JULY, 1814. VOL. XI. LONDON PRINTED. NEW YORK: REPRINTED BY EASTBURN, KIRK & CO. Corner of Wall and Nassau-Streets. SOLD BY WM. WELLS, BOSTON; E. F. BACKUS, ALBANY; A. SEWARD UTICA; E. Printed by Abraham Paul. CONTENTS OF NO. XXI. ART. I. 1. Histoire Littéraire d'Italie, par P. L. Ginguené, Membre 2. De la Littérature du Midi de l'Europe, par J. C. L. II. The Tragedies of Maddelen, Agamemnon, Lady Mac- beth, Antonia, and Clytemnestra. By John Galt. III 1. Théorie de la double Réfraction de la Lumière. Par 2. Mémoire sur de nouveaux Rapports entre la Réflexion et la Polarisation de la Lumière. Par M. Biot. 3. Versuche über Spiegelung und Brechung. Experi- ments on the Reflection and Refraction of Light. By 4. A Treatise on new Philosophical Instruments, with Experiments on Light and Colours. By David Brew- ster, LL. D. IV. Letters on the Nicobar Islands. V. The Letters of Lord Nelson to Lady Hamilton; with a Supplement of Interesting Letters, by distinguished Personages. VI. The World before the Flood, a Poem, in ten Cantos; with other occasional Pieces; by James Montgomery, Author of the Wanderer of Switzerland, the West VII. The Nature of Things, a Didascalic Poem, translated from the Latin of Titus Lucretius Carus, accompanied with Commentaries, comparative, illustrative and sci- entific, and the Life of Epicurus. By Thomas Busby, VIII. 1. A Picturesque Journey to the North Cape. By A. F. Skioldebrand; translated from the French. 2. Travels through Norway and Lapland during the years 1806, 1807, and 1808. By Leopold Von Buch, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin. Translated from the original German, by John Black, with Notes and Illustrations chiefly Mineralogical, and some Account of the Author, by Robert Jameson, F. R. S. E. F. L. S. &c. Professor of Natural History 3. Voyages dans le Nord de l'Europe consistant princi- palement de Promenades en Norwège, et de quelques Courses en Suède dans l'année 1807. Suivi d'un Ap- pendice contenant des Remarques historiques et phy- siques, &c. &c. &c. Par A. Lamotte. X. Sermons, by the late Rev. Walter Blake Kirwan, Dean of Killala. With a sketch of his Life. XI. Hitoire de France, pendant le Dix-huitième Siècle, XII. The Remorse. A Tragedy. By S. T. Coleridge. Se- XIII. History of the Aozres, or Western Islands; containing an Account of the Government, Laws, and Religion; the Manners, Ceremonies, and Character of the Inha- XIV. Experimental Researches concerning the Philosophy of permanent Colours, and the best Means of producing XV. 1 Remarks on the Calumnies published in the Quar- terly Review, on the English Ship-builders. 2. Substance of the Speech of William Harrison, Esq. before the Select Committee of the House of Com- mons, on East India-built shipping. 3. Minutes of the Evidence taken before the Select Com- mittee to whom the several Petitions of the Ship- builders and others interested in the Building and Equipment of Ships built in the East Indies, were referred, &c. Ordered, by the House of Commons, to 4. The Substance of the Speech of John Adolphus, Esq. THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. APRIL, 1814. ART. 1. 1. Histoire Littéraire d'Italie, par P. L. Ginguené, Membre de l'Institut de France, &c. 2. De la Littérature du Midi de l'Europe, par J. C. L. Simonde de Sismondi, &c. Paris, 1813. WE E have placed together the titles of two works which, though every way deserving of distinct commemoration, are yet so nearly allied by their subjects, that it would in some measure be an injury to both to consider them separately. In their origin and design this affinity is further remarkable. The first was undertaken in 1802, for the Athenæum at Paris, as the first was commence ment of a series which should embrace the whole range of modern literary history. The extent of this plan may be estimated from that of the portion before us; which, in six volumes,distributed into two parts, comprehends the annals of Italian literature, to the end of the sixteenth century. Its history during the seventeenth and eighteenth, is to be the subject of a third division. It is not surprising that the vastness of the original plan excluded, by degrees, all hope of its accomplishment; and that the author abandoned to others the remainder of a task, undertaken in favour of that nation' with which he is best acquainted, and which, perhaps, is the object of his warmest affection.' Of M. Sismondi's work, two volumes only are yet before us. They are the substance of public lectures, delivered by him at Geneva, and comprise the sketches, rather than the details, of the literary history of the Arabs, the Provençaux, the writers in the Langue Romane,' and the Italians. In two more we are to be conducted through Spain and Portugal. This author, like the former, had proposed to himself a plan of much greater magnitude than he has since found it convenient to execute. extended, he says, to the whole of Europe, and indeed, if we understand him rightly, it is not to be considered even now as absolutely abandoned. The name of M. Sismondi has long. ranked very high in our estimation, and being taught not to expect any immediate continuation of his work on the Italian Republics, we were not a little gratified to find that his attention had It |