whose inhabitants felt it no shock to their sensibilities to be called on to laugh at those images of sorrow, at which their tears had hardly ceased to flow. The tragedy of the Eumenides had assembled all those terrible descriptions of a future state, with which the sublime imagination of Eschylus supplied him; and the performance we know was exhibited with every terrific accompaniment. This scene Aristophanes has travestied in his picture of the infernal regions: and Bacchus, whom, at these festivals, the Athenians pretended to worship, was made the laughing-stock of every mechanic and rustic. Disobedience (p. 72.) and adultery (p. 83.) are justified by the example of Jupiter, and Phidippides urges the argument, afterwards so famous in the mouth of Terence's Cheræa,

Ego homuncio hoc non facerem.

The inert deities of Epicurus were surely greater blessings to society than such contagious examples invested with the radi ance of divinity. In the Plutus and Clouds they are represented as descending to earth to implore a continuance of the sacrifices, lest a famine should be felt in heaven. We have the story of Bel's priests pilfering the offerings in a slightly altered form in the Plutus (p. 214).

The attacks on public men were as indecent as the mamer was pusillanimous. Euripides is incessantly reproached for the meanness of his parentage; and the opprobrious and malicious treat ment of Cleon, however it may display the wit, does little credit to the disposition of our comic poet. But the exorbitance of such sarcastic drollery was, in some measure, its own remedy. "The multitude laughed at the expence of Cleon (says Barthelemi), as in other pieces of the same author they had laughed at the expence of Hercules and Bacchus; but when they left the theatre they ran to prostrate themselves before Bacchus, Hercules, and Cleon."

The remaining play in this volume is the Birds, translated by a member of one of the universities, in what he calls a comicoprosaic style. Comic it may be for its rusticity and meanness, and prosaic we believe no one will deny it to be, even to the extreme of baldness. We confess we cannot summon nerve enough to attempt an abstract of this play: it has always been considered the most tedious, as it is the longest of its author, but the English dress it now wears renders it irresistibly repulsive. The translator professes to be a member of one of the universities: it would be but justice to that to which he does not belong, to let it be known to which he does. His attic words and phrases, "bang up," "work us," "tip you,” “dash

it," "I am dished," and others of this tribe are, we presume, the proper specimens of what he pleasantly calls his comicoprosaic style. We shall detain our readers no longer by our observations on the performance. We really feel ourselves in low company. To decide upon the correctness of the version, we must leave to those who possess phlegm enough to compare it with the original throughout. Besides the spiritless and imperfect representation of the author's meaning, we think few critics will allow the translator the raw merit of literal fidelity who will take the trouble of comparing the translation with the original through the four or five first pages.

We shall conclude these very hasty strictures with expressing a hope that we may shortly be called upon to examine a version of the plays of Aristophanes, still untranslated, including the Birds, by a member of the university to whom we can conscientiously offer the humble meed of our applause.

ART. XXIV-The Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies, containing an entire Trans lation of the Spanish Work of Colonel Don Antonio de Alcedo, Captain of the Royal Spanish Guards, and Member of the Royal Academy of History, with large Additions and Compilations from modern Voyages and Travels, and from original and authentic Information. By G. A. Thompson, Esq. In five Vols. Printed for the Author, and published by James Carpenter, Bond-street. London. 1812.

THE revolutions of the 19th century, so frequent in occurrence and so vast in their consequences, are acknowledged to have exceeded the bounds of the most sanguine calculation. Which of our readers, when we lately drew his attention to a partial consideration of the great changes taking place in the new world, had anticipated the great success of the avengers of oppressed liberty in the old? The sword which has been drawn against despotism seems to be drawn for the last time, and the cause of man appears at length to be that in which some, at least, of the rulers of mankind are sincerely engaged.

In this awful and interesting moment of suspense, we shall again bestow a few pages of observation on the continent of America; which, from the time of its first discovery to the pre

sent moment, has never presented an attitude so striking, or a character so worthy of attention. The progressive civilization of that vast continent, as involving the fate of so large a portion of the human species, is sufficient of itself to rivet our regard; but the late revolutions of the parent country have in a manner approximated those distant realms, and made their politics a part of our own. Long before the artifice and perfidy of the French cabinet had succeeded in trepanning the royal family of Spain, Spanish America had been the object of its enterprising schemes. Had the navy of France been triumphant, neither the rights of nations, nor moral ties, would have restrained her from seizing on the riches and territories which invited her cupidity. But the noble and forbearing policy of the English cabinet, like the Christian spirit which bears meekly and dares greatly, suffered the opportunity of aggrandizement at the expence of honour and justice to pass unheeded, while her protecting arm was raised in defence of the peace, the liberties, and the happiness of mankind. Spain exists but in her American possessions: England has at least negatively guaranteed them to her. The Spanish hierarchy was threatened to be destroyed by the armies of France: England has spilt her best blood in protecting it from their outrage. This has been her honest and upright policy; and whatever may be the impression it has made on the Spanish nation, it is of no small importance to the maintenance of her national vigour, to rank high and stand clear in her own estimation. Her sacrifice of treasure and life in the support of the Spanish monarchy will deserve something, her forbearance more; because when it overcomes the temptations of power, it is the most costly present which a nation has to bestow. In return for such forbearance, to find herself at the restoration of the monarch shut out from those colonies; from the very fields on which she has won these victories over herself, and raised such chaste memorials to her honour, would tend greatly to banish from the intercourse of nations those principles of fairness and justice which are as incumbent on man in his collective and corporate as in his social and individual character. In South America we are sure her magnanimity must be felt and honoured, and will be remembered with admiration, when a temporary pressure and the influence of a crisis shall have ceased to dictate.

The remarkable scantiness of connected information on American statistics till within the last twenty years every man has lamented who has been sensible of the importance of the subject. One grand attempt, indeed, was made in the year 1786, to break through the system adopted by the Spanish government, of en

veloping in mystery and darkness every thing that related to her transatlantic possessions.

Whether the intention of Alcedo's work was not rightly understood, when he claimed and actually received so many important communications from that government on the subject he was illustrating, or the danger of promulgating such information was only distinctly felt after the publication of his book, we are not able fully to determine; though, judging from circumstances, the latter seemed the more probable case, as the entire suppression of the work was enjoined almost as soon as it appeared: one thing is sure, that the literary world is much indebted to the liberal and enlightened views of Alcedo. But for his exertions, sufficient information concerning those countries would still be wanting as a foundation for any such superstructure as that projected by the translator; and but for the solicitude with which the emissaries (if we may so call them) of the French government have investigated the resources of the Spanish colonies, he would not have been enabled to have procured the new materials which were necessary for the perfection and symmetry of the design.

The plan of Alcedo's dictionary was, it seems, to collect all the information relative to those countries down to the time of its appearance in the year 1786, and it appears to be the intention of the present publication to add to it, in its English dress, whatever may have appeared worthy of being recorded since that period down to the present day. In its Spanish form it was certainly not free from many gross errors, some original*, and others arising from the numerous political changes that had taken place since the date of its publication: but it was still the best digest of whatever related to America, and constituted, as we know, the vade-mecum of an eminent character †, all the objects of whose life were invariably blended with the concerns of that continent.

Alcedo was by birth an American, and had risen to the rank of colonel in the Spanish guards when his book first made its appearance. We regret that we are not enabled to gather from

*The original errors were almost all geographical. We are informed that the whole of the translation has undergone the review of Mr. Arrowsmith, so that it is to be hoped the English work will be rendered perfect in this respect. We learn also from the advertisement, that Mr. A. who has likewise corrected and added to his maps from the Dictionary as it issued from the press, is forming an Atlas, which will constitute an useful supplement to the work.

General Miranda.

his preface any clue to his own biography. It is an extremely modest production, and well calculated to disarm the critic of all superfluous severity. We know nothing of his military prowess, but of his industry and perseverance in literary pursuits we have sufficient evidence. His dictionary was, as we have observed, published in 1786: he had been, according to his own statement, engaged in its compilation during a period of twenty years.

When Joseph Buonaparte first entered Madrid, Alcedo declared himself, it is believed, without any reserve, a friend to the French party; and we have good reason for thinking, that he is now enjoying a considerable confidential agency under the French government. The fact, if true (for we do not vouch for it), is of importance, as it makes for the authenticity of his work more than any encomium that we might be inclined to bestow upon it. But, if our opinion might be offered on the subject, we should say, that he was of all men the most likely to ingratiate himself with the French cabinet, because of all men the best enabled from his industry and experience to give the fullest and most authentic information. The talent and industry mani, fested in the execution of his design were likely to have exhibited themselves to greater advantage in any country than in Spain, and the intriguing and watchful policy of France was early in discovering an engine so calculated to scatter the seeds of revolution over the soil of America.

To say nothing of the morals of those characters who set up the complicated machinery of the French revolution, or of those who have since directed its application with such pernicious suc cess, it is pretty generally acknowledged that they have, with few exceptions, been men of very industrious habits and leading abilities; and who, probably not finding a field for fair and honourable exertion, have under the flimsy and audacious pretexts of rescuing mankind from slavery, and breaking the chains of tyranny and superstition, made war against the principles of morality, society, and humanity, the happiness of this world and the hopes of futurity.

We cannot be the friend of Alcedo if Alcedo was the friend of this detestable system. Let him, however, have the benefit of the palliation as far as it may extend, arising from his experience of the mis-government of Spain under its former rulers, and of whose ill-treatment he may have had just reason to complain.

That it has been the ardent wish of Buonaparte to revolutionize the Spanish colonies of America, or, in other words, to bring them under his own system, we have seen enough to convince us. Let us consider some of the steps he has already