fentiment. The Poems are fucceeded by Letters to fir Thomas Lyttelton, his lordship's father, from the year 1728, to the year' 1747, never before publifhed. They abound in general with good fenfe, with the ftrongeft indications of a virtuous difpofition, and with remarkable filial piety. The fol lowing confolatory letter was probably never furpaffed by any youth at the age in which it was written. It is dated from Luneville, August 18, 1728. • Dear Sir, I wrote to you laft poft, and have fince received yours of the 20th: : your complaints pierce my heart. Alas, fir, what pain mult it give me to think that my improvement puts you to any degree of inconvenience; and perhaps, after all, I may return and not anfwer your expectations. This thought gives me fo much uneafiness, that I am ready to wifh you would recall me, and fave the charge of travelling: but, no; the world would judge perversely, and blame you for it: I must go on, and you must support me like your fon. ፡ I have obferved with extreme affliction how much your temper is altered of late, and your chearfulness of mind impaired. My heart has asked within me, when I have feen you giving yourself up to a melancholy diffidence, which makes you fear the worst in every thing, and feldom indulge thofe pleafing hopes which fupport and nourish us. O, my dear fir, how happy fhall I be, if I am able to restore you to your former gaiety! People that knew you fome years ago fay, that you was the most chearful man alive. How much beyond the poffeffion of any miftrefs will be the pleasure I fhall experience, if, by marrying well, I can make you fuch once nore. This is my wifh, my ambition, the prayer I make to heaven as often as I think on my future life. But, alas! I hope for it in vain if you fuffer your cares and inquietudes to destroy your health what will avail my good intentions, if they are frustrated by your death? You will leave this world without ever knowing whether the promises of your fon were the language of a grateful heart, or the lying protestations of a hypocrite: God in heaven forbid it should be fot may he preferve your health and prolong your days, to receive a thousand proofs of the lafting love and duty of the moft obliged of children! We are all bound to you, fir, and will, I trust, repay it in love and honour of you. Let this fupport and comfort you, that you are the father of ten children, among whom there feems to be but one foul of love and obedience to you. This is a folid, real good, which you will feel and enjoy when other pleasures have loft their taste: your heart will be warmed by it in old age, and you will find yourself richer in thefe treasures than in the poffeffion of all you have fpent upon us. I talk, fir, from the fullness of my heart, and it is not the ftyle of a diffembler. Do not, my dear fir, fuffer melancholy to gain too far upon you think lefs of thofe circumftances which difquiet you, and rejoice in the many others which ought to gladden you: confider the reputation you have acquired, the glorious reputation of integrity, fo uncommon in this age! imagine that your pofterity will look upon it as the nobleft fortune you can leave them, and that your children's children will be incited to virtue by your example. I don't know, fir, whether you feel this; I am fure I B 3 do, do, and glory in it. Are you not happy in my dear mother? was ever wife fo virtuous, fo dutiful, fo fond? There is no fatisfaction beyond this, and I know you have a perfect fenfe of it. All these advantages, well weighed, will make your misfortunes light; and, I hope, the pleature arifing from them will difpel that cloud which hangs upon you and finks your spirits. I am, dear fir, G. L.' The volume concludes with Two Letters from his lordship to Mr. Bower, giving an account of a journey into Wales; from the first of which we fhall present our readers with the following extract.. After having feen the Velino, we lay that night at the houfe of a gentleman who had the care of lord Powis's lead mines; it ftands in a valley, which feems the abode of quiet and fecurity, furrounded with very high mountains on all fides; but in itself airy, foft, and agreeable. If a man was difpofed to forget the world, and be forgotten by it, he could not find a more proper place. In fome of thofe mountains are veins of lead ore, which have been fo rich as to produce in time paft 20,000l. per annum, to the old duke of Powis, but they are not near fo valuable now. Perhaps, holy father, you will object, that the idea of wealth dug up in this place does not confift with that of retirement. I agree it does not; but, all the wealth being hid under ground, the eye fees nothing there but peace and tranquillity. The next morning we afcended the mountain of Berwin, one of the highest in Wales; and when we came to the top of it, a profpect opened to us, which ftruck the mind with awful aftonishment. Nature is in all her majefty there; but it is the majefty of a tyrant, frowning over the ruins and defolation of a country. The enormous mountains, or rather rocks, of Merionethfhire inclofed us all around. There is not upon these mountains a tree or fhrub, or a blade of grafs; nor did we fee any marks of habitations or culture in the whole space. Between them is a folitude fit for defpair to inhabit; whereas all we had feen before in Wales feemed formed to infpire the meditations of love. We were fome hours in croffing this defart, and then had the view of a fine woody vale, but narrow and deep, through which a rivulet ran as clear and rapid as your Scotch burns, winding in very agreeable forms, with a very pretty cafcade. On the edge of this valley we travelled on foot, for the fteepnefs of the road would not allow us to ride without fome danger; and in about half an hour we came to a more open country, though ftill inclofed with hills, in which we faw the town of Bala with its beautiful lake. The town is fmall and ill built; but the lake is a fine object: it is about three miles in length, and one in breadth, the water of it is clear, and of a bright filver colour. The river Dee runs through very rich meadows; at the other end are high towering mountains; on the fides are graffy hills, but not fo well wooded as I could with them to be there is alfo a bridge of ftone built over the river, and a gentleman's houfe which embellishes the profpect. But what Bala is moft famous for is the beauty of its women, and indeed I there faw fome of the prettiest girls I ever beheld. The lake produces very fine trout, trout, and a fifh called whiting, peculiar to itself, and of fo delicate a tafte, that I believe you would prefer the flavour of it to the lips of the fair maids at Bala. After we left the banks of the lake, where we had an agreeable day, we got again into the defart; but lefs horrid than I have already defcribed, the vale being more fertile, and feeding fome cattle. Nothing remarkable occurred in our ride, until we came to Festiniog, a village in Merionethshire, the vale before which is the most perfectly beautiful of all we had feen. From the height of this village you have a view of the fea. The hills are green, and well shaded with wood. There is a lovely rivulet, which winds through the bottom; on each fide are meadows, and above are corn-fields along the fides of the hills; at each end are high mountains, which feemed placed there to guard this charming retreat against any invaders. With the woman one loves, with the friend of one's heart, and a good ftudy of books, one might pafs an age there, and think it a day. If you have a mind to live long, and renew your youth, come with Mrs. Bower, and fettle at Feltiniog. Not long ago there died in that neighbourhood an honeft Welsh farmer, who was 105 years of age; by his first wife he had 30 chil dren, 10 by his fecond, 4 by his third, and 7 by two concubines; his youngest fon was 81 years younger than his eldeft, and 800 perfons defcended from his body attended his funeral. had skirted this happy vale an hour or two, we came to a narrow branch of the fea, which is dry at low water, As we paffed over the fands, we were furprised to fee that all the cattle preferred that barren place to the meadows. The guide faid, it was to avoid a fly, which in the heat of the day came out of the woods, and infefted them in the valleys. The view of the faid fands are terrible, as they are hemmed in on each fide with very high hills, but broken into a thoufand irregular fhapes. At one end is the ocean, at the other the formidable mountains of Snowdon, black and naked rocks, which feemed to be piled one above the other. The fummits of fome of them are covered with clouds, and cannot be afcended. They do altogether strongly excite the idea of Burnet, of their being the fragment of a demolished world. The rain which was falling when I began to write this letter did not laft long; it cleared up after dinner, and gave us a fine evening, which employed us in riding along the fea coaft, which is here very cold. When we The grandeur of the ocean, correfponding with that of the mountain, formed a majestic and folemn scene; ideas of immensity fwelled and exalted our mind at the fight; all leffer objects appeared mean and trifling, fo that we could hardly do juftice to the ruins of an old caftle, fituated upon the top of a conical hill, the foot of which is washed by the fea, and which has every feature that can give a romantic appearance. In the various lights of a critic, a hiftorian, a poet, and a ftatefman, and in the feveral relations of a fon, a husband, and a friend, in which the character of lord Lyttelton may be confidered in this work, he appears with fingular advantage, and is juftly entitled to that veneration which is due to a good and great man. His poetical compofitions difcover a lively and correct imagination, with a heart fufceptible of every tender impreffion; and his profe writings are replete with judicious, virtuous, and refined fentiments. He may juftly be ranked among those few perfonages who have adorned titulary honours with a diftin&tion more fplendid, and more refpectable in the eyes of pofterity than the poffeffion of a coronet. II. A Defeription of Patagonia, and the adjoining Parts of South America: illuftrated with a new Map of the Southern Parts of America. By Thomas Falkner, who refided near Forty Years in thofe Parts. 410. 73. 6d. boards. T. Lewis. THE THE interior parts of South America are fo little known, that curiofity is naturally excited by the publication of a work in which they are minutely delineated. When we reflect on the prodigious extent of thofe countries, and the impoffibility of their being accurately furveyed by any fingle perfon, with the extreme difficulty of procuring a faithful account of their fituation from auricular authority, it becomes a matter of doubt, what degree of credit is due to narratives of this kind, admitting the veracity of the relator to be entirely unquestionable. Mr. Falkner, the author of this defcription, is faid to have refided near forty years in those parts. We wish he had informed us in what places he chiefly took up his abode, and which are the tracts of that extenfive continent that were actually furveyed by him in perfon. By the knowledge of thefe particulars, we fhould be better enabled to determine the accuracy of the topographical delineation, and could feparate his own authority from the less fatisfactory evidence of others, whofe information he relates. We have no inclination, however, to invalidate the general fidelity of the decription on account of this defect, especially as we meet with no relations of a fabulous or doubtful nature. The first chapter treats of the foil and produce of the most fouthern part of America; the latter confifting chiefly in fruittrees, cattle, fheep, and horfes, falt petre, and medicinal drugs, Mr. Falkner, who we are told was of the medical profeffion, informs us, that he has known the tea which grows in this country excite a good appetite, and promote digeftion, after other medicines had failed; that in thefe cafes it far excels the tea of China; and that in the parts where this plant grows, there is the fame kind of ftone as that of which the China ware is made. The fecond chapter contains a defcription of the Indian country, with its vales, mountains, rivers, &c. Great River, La Plata, with its branches, fish, and ports. • This This country affords little for exportation to Europe, except bull and cow hides, and fome tobacco, which grows very well in Paraguay; but it is of the greatest importance to the Spaniards, becaufe all the mules, or the greatest part of them, which are used in Peru, come from Buenos-Ayres and Cordova, and fome few from Mendoza; without which they would be totally difabled from carrying on any traffic, or having any communication with the neighbouring countries; as the high and rugged mountains of Peru are impaffible but by mules, and in that country they cannot breed thefe animals. Those alfo which go thither are in general fhort-lived, on account of their hard la bour, the badnefs of the roads, and the want of paftures. So that the lofs of this country might draw after it the lofs of Peru and Chili. The road from Buenos-Ayres to Salta is fit for wheel carriages: but the mules, which are driven from that place and Cordova, are obliged, after fo long a journey, to rest a year in Salta, before they can pafs to Potofi, Lipes, or Cufco. The people of thefe countries are very indifferent foldiers, and fo difpleafed with the Spanish government, lofs of trade, the dearness of all European goods, and, above all, fo many exorbitant taxes, &c. that they would be glad to be fubject to any other nation, who would deliver them from their present oppreffion. Yet, notwithstanding, all this country is without any other guard, than a few regular troops in Buenos-Ayres and Montevideo; and if these two places were once taken, the taking of the reft might be accomplished by only marching over it; in which any enemy would be affifted by the natives of the country. The lofs of thefe two places would deprive the Spaniards of the only ports they have in thefe feas, where their fhips, which are to país Cape Horn to the South Seas, can receive any fuccour. Before the expulfion of the Jefuits from the miffions of Paraguay, they might have had very confiderable fuccours from the Indian Guaranies, who were armed and difciplined, and who helped to fubject the rebellious infurgents of Paraguay, and to drive the Portuguefe out of the colony of Saint Sacrament, and were the greatest defence of this important country.' The hills in this country, we are informed, produce very large and lofty pine-trees, whofe wood is more folid and durable than thofe of Europe. It is faid to make excellent mafts, as well as other materials for fhip-building; and we are told, that fhips made of it often laft forty years.-We meet with the following account of an animal hitherto not defcribed. In my first voyage to cut timber, in the year 1752, up the Parana, being near the bank, the Indians fhouted yaquaru, and looking, I faw a great animal, at the time it plunged into the water from the bank; but the time was too short, to examine it with any degree of precision. |