the inspection of Dr. Fell, Dean of Chrift Church, and published in 1674, in folio, under the title of Hiftoria et Antiquitates Univerfitatis Oxonienfis, duobus voluminibus comprehenfa.

Mr. Wood was greatly difpleafed with this tranflation, as appears from many paffages in his Athen. Oxon. where he makes heavy complaints of the injury done to his book (Vid. vol. 2d. Col. 853. 2d edition). The Editors of the Biographia Britannica give a remarkable inftance of the tranflators wilful mifreprefentation of the Author's meaning. (Vid. vol. v. p. 3403. Note P.)

Seeing this Latin edition fo very faulty, he began in August 1676 to revife the whole of his English copy, continuing the General Hiftory, or firft Part, down to the year 1660; and the fecond Part down to 1695. This copy, fairly transcribed in two very ample volumes folio, he bequeathed to the University of Oxford; and they are now depofited in the Bodleian Library.

The fecond article,' fays the Preface to this publication, of the 2d part of this manufcript, or the Hiftory of the Colleges and Halls, is here given to the public. And as the Editor, by the obliging affiftance of his friends in these focieties, has been enabled to continue their hiftory down to the prefent times, and fometimes to correct the Author's mistakes, many additions have been made, and much new matter inferted. But all fuch additions are inclosed in crotchets, and never intermixed or confounded with Wood's text, which is exhibited with all poffible fidelity.

If this fpecimen fhould be favourably received, the Editor propofes to publish all that remains, confiftently with his health, and his frequent avocations.'

As to the manner in which Mr. Gutch has executed his office as an Editor, we can only say that there is no reason to fufpect his fidelity in giving a true copy of the original: the additional matter is on the fame plan with that of Mr. Wood, and feems to be accurate. The annotations and references with which he has enriched the original text, must also be highly ac ceptable to those antiquaries who may have occafion to confult the work. R...m.

ART. X. Philofophical and Mifcellaneous Papers, lately written by B. Franklin, LL. D. &c. &c. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Dilly. 1787.

WOST of the Papers which compofe this volume have already paffed under our notice.

The firft, fecond, third, and fourth, on Smokey Chimneys; the fifth, A Defcription of a new Stove for burning Pitcoal and confuming all the Smoke; the feventh, on Hygrometers; and the eighth, containing fundry maritime Obfervations; were published in the

14

fecond

fecond volume of the Tranfactions of the American Philofophical Society. Of the fe our Readers will find an account in our late Review of that publication,

The fixth Paper contains feveral meteorological conjectures: it is dated at Paffy (near Paris), in May 1784.

The ninth, intitled, Information to those who would remove to America; and the tenth, Remarks on the Savages of North America, were publifhed together in London in 1784, and we gave an account of them in our Review, vol. lxxi. p. 146.

The eleventh is On the internal State of America. It is written in the ufual ftyle of its great Author. It is fimple, plain, juft, and forcible. The true interefts of America are fhewn in a full point of view; and the people are exhorted to maintain and improve the bleffings which they now may enjoy. Speaking of the difcords at prefent fubfifting in America, our Author fays:

It is true, that in fome of the States there are parties and difcords; but let us look back, and afk if we were ever without them? Such will exift wherever there is liberty; and perhaps they help to preserve it. By the collifion of different fentiments, fparks of truth are ftruck out, and political light is obtained. The different factions which at prefent divide us, aim all at the public good; the differences are only about the various modes. of promoting it. Things, actions, measures, and objects of all kinds, prefent themfelves to the minds of men in fuch a variety of lights, that it is not poffible we fhould all think alike at the fame time on every fubject, when hardly the fame man retains at all times the fame idea of it. Parties are therefore the common lot of humanity; and ours are by no means more mischievous or lefs beneficial than thofe of other countries, nations, and ages, enjoying in the fame degree the great bleffing of political liberty.'

The principal fources of the increafing wealth of America are, in our Author's opinion, agriculture, and fisheries. To thefe he advises the Americans to be peculiarly attentive, and then,' fays he, the power of rivals, with all their reftraining and prohibiting acts, cannot much hurt us.'

The twelfth and laft piece in this collection is A Letter to B-V- Efq. on criminal laws, and the practice of privateering. It contains chiefly an examination of two pamphlets, Thoughts on Executive Juftice; and, Obfervations concernant l'Exécution de l'Article II. de la Déclaration fur le Vol. The former,. which recommends the hanging of all thieves, is disapproved; while the latter, which is for proportioning punishments to offences, is praifed by our Author.

Privateering is feverely cenfured, as being totally contrary to the principles of equity and morality. The practice is altogether robbery, and is as much a violation of justice as any other fpecies of theft or plunder whatever. The States of Americá have alREV. Oct. 1787.

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ready

ready put in practice the benevolent principles of our Author for abolishing privateering, by offering in all their treaties with other powers, an article, that in cafe of a future war, no privateer fhall be commiffioned on either fide. This laudable and generous propofition has already been received, much to the honour of the parties, by Pruffia, of which our Readers will fee an account in our Review for October laft, p. 309. Would it were univerfally adopted by all nations on the earth! R-m.

ART. XI. Conclufion of our Account of Dr. Forster's Hiftory of the Voyages and Discoveries made in the North. See our laft Appen

dix.

THE

HE third Book "Of the Voyages and Difcoveries made in the North, in modern Times," fets out with relating the voyages made by the Portuguese along the coaft of Africa: in the course of which the Canary Ifles, thofe of Cape Verde, the Azores, Madeira, and Porto Sancto, were difcovered; and the Author fubjoins fome general remarks on the fate of navigation, and the government of Europe, toward the end of the fifteenth century. The remaining part of this Book is fubdivided into feven chapters, on the difcoveries of the English, the Dutch, the French, the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the Danes, and the Ruffians; all in the North.

The English voyages, here recorded, make but a small part of what might have been given, if the Author had thought proper, as any perfon may fee, who will be at the trouble of confulting the Collections of Hackluyt and Purchase; and yet they fill twice the space that is occupied by the other fix chapters, all together. They confift of those which follow:

I. The voyage of John Cabot and his fons to the coaft of North America, in 1496.

II. The voyage performed by Mr. Hore and others to Newfoundland and Cape Breton, 1536.

III. The unfortunate voyage of Sir Hugh Willoughby round the North Cape of Europe, 1553.

IV. The voyage of Mr. Richard Chancelor to the White Sea,

1555. The voyage of Stephen Bourough to Nova Zembla and

V.

the Straits of Waigatz, 1556.

VI. Martin Frobisher's three voyages for the difcovery of a North-west Paffage, 1576, 1577, and 1578.

VII. A voyage made by Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman, in 1580, in fearch of a North-eaft paffage to China and the Eaft Indies; and in which they paffed the Straits of Waigatz, but were not able to proceed farther on account of the ice.

* Our Author has it 1567; but we fufpect it to be an error of the prefs. The voyage was certainly made in 1576.

VIII. The

VIII. The voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and others, for eftablishing colonies in North America, under a grant from Queen Elizabeth, 1583.

IX. The three voyages of Capt. John Davis, 1585, 1586, and 1587, for difcovering a North-weft paffage to the Pacific Ocean.

X. The voyage of George Waymouth to Davis's Straits, and the coaft of Labrador, 1602.

XI. The voyage of John Knight to the weftward, 1606. The Doctor has abridged the account of this voyage in fuch a manner, that if he had not, accidentally, mentioned Newfoundland, in their return home, we fhould not have been able to determine what quarter of the world it was made to, without confulting Purchase, from whom it is taken.

XII. The voyage of James Hall to Weft Greenland, in 1612; where he was flain by one of the natives, in revenge, as is fuppofed, for his having taken fome of them away with him in a former voyage, which he made in the fervice of the King of Denmark. This voyage is remarkable on account of the first practical attempt being made in it for determining the longitude, by obfervation, that is to be met with on record; for although much had been written on the fubject before that time, nothing, as far as we know, had been done in it. For the honour of England, alfo, let it be known, that the attempt was made by an Englishman, and an Englifhman who had not been in any foreign fervice: for, notwithstanding Dr. Forfter afcribes it to Hall, who had been in the fervice of the King of Denmark, it is manifeft, from the manner in which it is narrated, that the operator was William Baffin, who wrote the account which we have of this voyage, and who has alfo recorded two other attempts of the fame nature, made by himself, in his voyage with Robert Bylot, in 1615.

XIII. The three voyages which were made by Henry Hudson, for finding a paffage into the Pacific Ocean; firft by failing directly toward the North in 1607, then toward the North-eaft in 1608; and laftly toward the North-weft in 1610 in the laft of which his crew mutinied, and put him, with eight other perfons, into a fmall boat, and turned them adrift, in confequence of which they were never heard of afterward.

XIV. Several voyages to Spitzbergen, and the iflands which Jie in its neighbourhood, between the years 1603 and 1612.

XV. The voyage of Sir Thomas Button, to Hudfon's Bay, partly in fearch of a North-weft paffage, and partly to look for Hudfon and the men who were expofed with him. This voyage was undertaken in the year 1612, and the crew returned to England in 1613, having wintered in a river in Hudfon's Bay, called Nelfon's River, after Mr. Nelfon,- Button's firft mate, who died

X 2

and

and was buried there. Button's journal was never published, and all we know of the voyage is gathered from fome extracts which were given by Sir Thomas Roe to Capt. Luke Fox, for his inftruction when he went on his voyage for the discovery of a North-weft paffage in 1631; and were inferted by him in his introduction to the narrative of his own voyage. From the unconnected extracts which we are in poffeffion of, there is undoubtedly great reafon to believe that Button's journal contained many very important obfervations relative to the tides, and other objects of natural history, in that part of the world; feveral of which may, poffibly, never have occurred to, or been noticed by those who have followed him thither: and, on this account, we cannot help lamenting, with Dr. Forfter, that his journal has never been published, and that it is now, probably, loft for ever. XVI. A voyage to the coaft of Labrador, in 1614, by Capt. Gibbons, a friend and companion of Sir Thomas Button's.

XVII. A voyage made by Fotherby and Baffin to Spitzbergen, 1614, partly on difcoveries, and partly to fish.

XVIII. Another voyage, by Fotherby, to the fame parts, 1615.

XIX. A voyage by Robert Bylot and William Baffin, to Hudfon's Bay, in the fame year.

XX. The celebrated voyage made by the fame two perfons, in 1616, in which they difcovered and coafted all round Baffin's Bay: a work which no navigator has been able to effect fince!

XXI. Account of a voyage, faid to have been made some time between the years 1613 and 1631, to Hudfon's Bay, by Capt. Hawkridge, who was an officer in Sir Thomas Button's expedition.

XXII. The voyage of Capt. Luke Fox to Hudson's Bay, 1631, for the discovery of a North-weft paffage into the Pacific Ocean.

XXIII. The voyage made by Capt. Thomas James to Hudfon's Bay, in the years 1631 and 1632, for the fame purpose.

XXIV. Capt. Zach. Guillam's voyage to Hudíon's Bay, for the purpose of settling a colony there. Dr. Forfter has annexed to the account of this voyage, fome remarks on the Hudson's Bay Company, the state of their factories, and their commerce to that part of the world, collected from Dobbs, Ellis, and other writers on that fide of the queftion; in which he has retailed all the abfurd ftories, whimfical reveries, and extravagant opinions, with which thefe Authors have endeavoured to mislead their readers; and which, from our own perfonal knowledge, we can affirm are what we now reprefent them. At the fame time he appears to have overlooked all later information, which, as it comes through a channel where felf-intereft and the violence of party are out of the queftion, may, with more reafon, be de

pended