following fentence: "Hell is but the chimera of priests, to bubble idiots and cowards." It may be fo; but as another philofopher replied, to a certain young fceptic, "fuppofe this fhould be a mistake of your's, what then?" We will not fay what fuch an author merits for his prefumption. The dialogue with his fon is infinitely affecting; we fhould be inclined to give the whole of it, but that its length excludes it, and we do not think we fhould act fairly in curtailing it. In the midst of this fcene of mifery and ruin, Marguerite arrives fuddenly in Paris; led thither, as it appears, by St. Leon's long ftay, and interrupted correfpondence. Their meeting is affectionate in the extreme. He, feeling a temporary happiness at the unexpected interview; and the, rejoiced to find his heart not eftranged from her, by a new and adulterous attachment. But this joy is of fhort duration; he quits her that fame evening to attend a gambling engagement, whence he does not return, until after an abfence of twenty-four hours, having loft the whole of his property. In this fituation he reaches home, and falls motionlefs in his own hall. The mind of his wife, rifing in adverfity, foars fuperior to her fate. She arranges every thing with his creditors to the laft demand; and, during the ftupor and infenfibility of St. Leon, removes with her husband and family, two fervants, and the remains of their fortune, to a fmall cottage in the Canton of Soleure, in Switzerland ;-and there, adapting her drefs and manners to her reduced fituation, fhe lives in poverty and refignation. St. Leon, in the mean time, a prey to remorfe, to wounded pride, and defpair, is incapable of any exertion. Wandering alone, difconfolate, and heart-broken, he approaches the borders of lunacy, and requires an attendant. Marguerite, on the contrary, acts the part of father and of mother; her children are reconciled by her example, and fupported by her fortitude; fhe is, in fhort, in this, as in all other fituations, a perfect example to be followed. She reminds us of the expreffion in Tom Harvey's Letter to Sir Thomas Hanmer; when fpeaking of Lady H "She was," fays he, "fent into the world to fhew women what they ought to be, and refumed for want of copiers." We quote from memory. St. Leon ftill, with only the natural variations of his diforder, continued in the fame melancholy, notwithstanding all the affectonate attentions of his wife. We are forry to find her, among other arguments, to induce him to throw off his lethargy, and be again himself, thus fpeaking-" Alas, Reginald, it is I fear, too true, that the fplendour in which we lately lived, has its bafis in oppreffion; and that the fuperfluities of the rich are a boon extorted from the hunger and mifery of the poor."-This, however, we have to say in defence of the philofopher, in the novel before us, that the ravings of infidelity, and the hypocritical cant of opppreffion are always uttered when the fpeaker has loft his reafon by his own wickedness, or the mind is weakened by affliction. This is the beft excufe that can be offered for the paffages which we have quoted to this purpose, and others that will be found hereafter. In this obfcurity they remain, until, by the effects of a violent and deftructiye ftorm, which is elaborately, and, indeed, fublimely defcribed, the whole of their property, in common with that of the other inhabitants of the valley, is deftroyedin confequence of this circumftance, great demands are made upon Government for affiftance to the fufferers; but St. Leon and his family, being strangers, are ordered to quit the country within a certain time. In this diftrefs they find a friend, in a Swifs gentleman, who affords them, as well temporary relief, as the means of retiring to another country; and undertakes to difpofe of their little eftate, and remit to them the produce. They proceed to the Lake of Conftance; where having fixed upon a fpot which was to be fold, they amufe themfelves with making excurfions on the water, until they receive from their friend the means of compleating their purchafe. In this, they are disappointed by the death of their benefactor, and the fucceffion of his nephew a Monf. Grimfeld, who pretends ignorance of their demand on the effects of his Uncle. By this ftroke of adverfity, they are reduced to a fituation of the direft diftrefs; and every forrow that can arise from the extreme of penury affails them by turns,→ During the whole of thefe difficulties, Marguerite is confiftently admirable. When the whole family is on the point of death, from the want of food, they are fuddenly relieved by receiving a hundred crowns, from an old fervant.-With part of this fupply, St. Leon returns to the valley, and after fome difficulties, recovers from Grimfeld the money that was due to him. The purchase of the cottage is now effected, and in this place, they are again completely happy for a period of fix years. (To be continued.) ART. V. Obfervations on the Western Parts of England, relative chiefly to Picturefque Beauty. To which are added, a few Remarks on the Picturefque Beauties of the Isle of Wight. By William Gilpin, M. A. Prebendary of Salisbury; and Vicar of Boldre, in New Foreft, near Lymington. 8vo. Pp. 359. Plates. 18. Price 11. 5s. in Boards. Cadell and Davis. 1798. ART. VI. An Effay on the Picturefque as compared with the Sublime and the Beautiful, and, on the Ufe of Studying Pictures, for the Purpose of improving the Landscape. By Uvedale Price, Efq. 8vo. 2 Vols. PP. 846. Robfon. 1796, 1798. "HE acute and elegant critic of Halicarnaffus perceived, that in literary compofition, there exifted two grand principles of excellence-the SUBLIME and THE BEAUTI FUL, and, with the fame view to compofition, "the great Longinus" produced his treatise on the Sublime. In our days, Mr. Burke, who feems to have united in himself the genius and the talents of those writers of antiquity, confidered the principles of the Sublime and the Beautiful in a more enlarged fenfe, and extended them, without limitation, to the objects of nature and of art. Yet, it has lately appeared, either to the eye of tafte or of faftidious refinement, that there were nume. rous objects both of nature and of art, by no means reducible to these two principles, and nevertheless extremely interesting. It was conceived, therefore, that there exifted fome inter mediate principle, to which those objects ought to be re ferred. And, in a late publication, entitled "An Essay on the Picturefque, as compared with the Sublime and Beautiful; and on the Ufe of Studying Pictures, for the Purpose of improv ing real Landscapes ;"-Mr. Price informs us, that he has difcovered this principle, and gives it the name of the Pic TURESQUE. Whether this be a real, or a fanciful, difcovery, may poffibly be determined by an examination of Mr. Price's ideas on the fubject, as compared or contrafted with those of the author before us. Mr. Price thus defcants on THE PICTURESQUE: "The PICTURESQUE holds a middle ftation between BEAUTY and SUBLIMITY, and is, on that account, perhaps, more frequently and happily blended with them both, than they are with each other." "The Picturefque is perfectly diftinct from the Beautiful; the one being founded on fmoothnefs, the other on roughness; the one on gradual, * And much more: this conveys no character of the MIND of BURKE. But to attempt to fupply the deficiency in a note, will be to difgrace a fubject more important than that which occupies the context. the the other on fudden variation; the one on ideas of youth and freshnefs; the other on thofe of age and decay."" Roughness, angu. larity, and hardness are connected with the PICTURESQUE." "Deformity (it feems) borders on the Picturesque; and may be rendered picturefque, by a little judicious foftening."-" Where intricacy, variety, roughnefs, and abruptnefs, go beyond the degree which is required for infenfible transition, to produce beauty, they pafs then into the distinct and marked character of the Picturefque." Mr. Gilpin defines the Picturefque as follows: "Picturesque beauty is a phrafe but little unde:ftood. We precifely mean by it, that kind of beauty, which would look well in a picture. Neither grounds laid out by art, nor improved by agriculture are of this kind."—"Of all fpecies of cultivation, corn lands are the most unpicturefque. The regularity of corn fiel's difgufts; and the colour of corn, efpecially near harveft, is out of tune with every thing else. Yet thefe manufactured fcenes are commonly thought to be picturefque. You rarely meet (with) a defcription of the beauties of the country, in which fome of its artificial appendages do not make a part of the landscape. And in poetry, al thefe circumstances appear with advantage. Sometimes walking not unfeen, By hedge-row elms, on Hillocks green; And the mower whets his fcythe. But, however pleafing all this may be in poetry; on canvafs, hedgerow elms, furrowed lands, meadows, adorned with milk-maids, and hay fields adorned with mowers, have a bad effect.” In what manner thefe writers have exemplified and illuf trated their general pofitions, will be seen in their defcriptions of the wild or cultured fcenes of nature; the cottage or the village; the Grecian and the Gothic ftructure; the avenue; and the garden, with its fountains and its architectural decorations For the wild cultured fcenery of nature," Mr. Price's Obfervations on Painfhill, may furnish a fpecimen: "Among many circumftances of more ftriking effect, I was highly pleafed with a walk which leads through a bottom, fkirted with wood: and I was pleafed with it, not from what had, but from what had not, been * We shall confine ourselves to Gilpin's "Obfervations." To extrast parallel paffages from the former works of our ingenious author, would be to extend our article to an unreasonable length. done: done: It had no edges, no borders, no diftinct lines of feparation; nothing was done, except keeping the ground properly neat, and the communication free from any obftruction. The eye and the footsteps were equally unconfined: and if it is an high commendation to a writer or a painter, that he knows when to leave off, it is not lefs fo to an improver. Mr. Gilpin, in his voyages up the Tamar, thus defcribes that river and its scenery : ance. "The Hamoaz is esteemed, after Portsmouth, the best station for ships of war upon the British coaft. This grand bay, which was the first scene we inveftigated on the Tamar, is about a mile in breadth, and feven miles in length. Its banks on each fide, though rather low, are by no means flat. They are generally cultivated; and the shore is finished by a narrow edging of rock. The opening towards St. Germans is a creek about three leagues in length. Saltafh, which ftands high, affords no very picturefque appearance. The next scene, was the opening of the Tavey into the Tamar.-The first scene, which, in any degree engaged our attention, was compofed of the woods of. Pentilley on the Cornifh fide. The houfe, too, is a good object; and a building at the bottom of the bank, has a picturefque appear The back-ground of the fcenery of Pentilley is a lofty bank, adorned with a tower.---As we failed farther up the river, we came in view of the rocks and woods of Cotcil, which are ftill on the Cornish fide, and afford fome beautiful fcenery. Here we had grand fweeping hills covered with wool... We had now failed a confiderable way up the Tamar, and had been almoft folely obliged to the Cornifh fhores for amufement. But the Devonshire coaft, burst out upon us at Calftock, in a grander difplay of lofty banks, adorned with wood and rock, than any we have yet feen.--- With the views of Calstock, we finished our voyage up the river; and, if you ask what we faw, we can only fay, in general, that we faw rocks, trees, groves, and woods. In short, the whole is amufing, but not picturefque it is not fufficiently divided into portions adapted to the pencil." We must haften to "the Cottage Scenery" of Price. "Cottages appear to repofe under the fhade of trees, to be protected, fometimes fupported, by them and they, on the other hand, hang over and embrace the cottage with their branches."--" For climbing plants, it would be difficult to contrive fuch a variety of fupports of different characters, as may be found in a village. But what I principally alluded to are porches. Whenever honey-fuckles, vines, jeffamines, grow over them, they attract and please every eye. It might not, perhaps, be expected, that a lover of painting and of picturefque circumftances, fhould speak of trees nailed close to a wall, and fill lefs of clipped hedges as objects pleafing to the eye. It is certain, however, that both of them do give pleafure. The fact is, that neatnefs and regularity are fo connected with the habitation of man, |