That your petitioner having been in France before the laft war, and at the breaking out thereof, he, in the year 1761, found out and difcovered, that very great preparations had been, for a long time before, and were then actually making and carrying on, with the utmoft diligence, by that court, at millions of expence, for invading this kingdom, with a defign, if poffible, to deprive his majesty of his crown and dominions, and to place the pretender on the throne of these realms, to the ruin of this nation, and of his majefty's most faithful and confiderable fubjects, as well as his people in general. That, previous to the year aforefaid, the French minifter, by inftructions for that purpofe fully given, directed one captain Dumont of Dunkirk, to examine that part of the coaft of England where the intended defcent was to be made; and to take the foundings, landing places, harbours, and ports; likewife to form an exact chart thereof, with this precaution, that in cafe of being attacked by the enemy, to throw his faid inAtructions and papers overboard, that the objects thereof might not be difcovered. That faid Dumont having proceeded to fea on the execution of faid commiffion, he compleatly satisfied the objects of his faid inftructions; defcribed the towns and places, with their proximity and convenience for landing the French troops and artillery by the flat-bottom'd boats, and formed a chart of the faid coaft and towns, deftined for their debarkment, as by the copy of faid inftructions and anfwer annexed, more fully appear. That in June 1761, the faid Dumont being again fent for to Verfailles, he was there privately lodged, in the hotel of the duke de Penthievre, grand admiral of France, to facilitate his attendances and conferences; and to conceal as much as poffible his interviews with the minifters; for which purpose he had a mafter-key to go in and out by a private door of the garden, at fuch hours as were appointed for him to attend them. That your petitioner, by his conduct, industry, and addrefs, got into his hands the faid original inftructions, answer, and chart; and not only at the hazard of his life, fecretly copied the faid instructions and answer, but also got the faid chart privately drawn and copied, and then concealed the fame in the best manner he could, with intent to come to England, as foon as he could find an opportunity, to lay them before his majefty and his minifters, to defeat the faid formidable, dangerous defign; and render the troops fo to be embarked, together with the faid flat-bottom'd boats, the victim of the enterprize, as hereafter purpofed; not doubting but that the French Cz would 20 would be thereby obliged to beg a peace on their knees, but That your petitioner, on the ift of October, 1761, being put in prifon, (by ordre du roi) where he remained feveral months, tho' free from every species of crime, but that of dif pleafing, as hereafter mentioned, took fome time before the best precautions he could to preserve the faid papers, as he apprehended a ftorm gathering against him, and as he had been refufed paffports to return from France; wherefore fending for a perfon, in whom he thought he could confide, to come to him to the faid prifon, called Fort l'Evêque, early next morning, he informed faid perfon that he had fome papers that concerned his life and fortune, and the lives and fortunes of thoufands befides to put into this faid perfon's hands, fecretly to keep and preferve for him; but that in cafe he should (as he daily expected) be transferred to the Baftile or other prifon, to be no more heard of; that then this fame perfon fhould come off to England, and deliver the faid papers to his majefty or his minifters, when receiving all affurances of truft and fidelity, he confided said papers. That in February following, having obtained his faid liberty, by the follicitation of a lady at court, he arrived in the month of March following at the Hague; where he duly received the faid inftructions, anfwer, and chart, according to the directions he had for that purpose given, to the perfon aforefaid, at the time of his departure from Paris. "That on his faid arrival at the Hague, he did himself the Jhonour to write to his excellency Sir JY a letter, dated March the 26th, 1762; whereby he purpofed, on peril of his life, to give fuch lights, and make fuch difcoveries, as would render this formidable project of the court of France abortive, and the troops the victim, whenever the enterprize fhould be attempted; not doubting, as he mentioned in his faid letter, but from his majefty's bounty to receive twenty thousand pounds, and a penfion of two thousand pounds per year, as a recompence for fo important a fervice: which letter was immediately tranfinitted by his excellency to lord B, at that time one of his majefty's principal fecretaries of ftate. That in answer to faid letter, his excellency ordered Mr. Delaval to write to your petitioner a letter, dated the 31ft of March, 1762, whereby he fays, your petitioner is not to doubt in the leaft of the liberality and generofity of the king and his minifters in his recompence; to which letter your petitioner replied, by another wrote next morning, the original being in the the fecretary's office; and having had the honour afterwards of feveral conferences with his excellency, he always affured him, that if he performed what he mentioned, or gave fuch lights as he hinted at, he would be generously and liberally rewarded; tho' your petitioner did not in any wife difclose to his excellency, the fecret or particulars of the faid important difcoveries. That in fome time after, his excellency having fent to your petitioner to acquaint him, that bis majesty had done him the honour to fend for him, and that he had received orders from lord B, to fend him over and pay his expences at the Hague; he reprefented the neceflity of bringing away the perfon above-mentioned from Paris, who had ftill fome papers in keeping, which could not with safety be conveyed by the post; and that it would be neceffary to have one hundred pounds remitted for that purpose, and the expences aforefaid. That his excellency having thereupon wrote again to Lon 'don, as he had no order but for the faid expences, did your petitioner the honour to write him a letter, dated the 18th of May, 1762, who on the faid letter and affurances which his 'excellency gave him, offered to come off in an open boat, if 'he pleased, before any money arrived; but as the above letter was gone, it was thought proper to wait for an answer. That lord B- having concurred in, and agreed to your petitioner's faid propofals, and the faid fum of one hundred pounds being arrived the ft of June after, the faid Mr. Delaval fent in the evening for your petitioner, and paid it to him; whereupon he went directly to his excellency's banker, and paid him fifty guineas to remit to Paris, to bring away the faid perfon with the rest of the faid papers; and after clearing his own expences, with the remainder he fet out next morning at four o'clock for Helvoetfluys, and arrived at Harwich the 4th; where he was received by a person who had waited for him by lord B's order, and who complimented him in his name, and accompanied him to town; fo that your petitioner, who stopped not at Harwich but to get a post-chaise, went poft all night, and arrived at London the 5th of June aforefaid, about five o'clock in the morning.' We fhould not have troubled our readers with fo large an extract from this performance, had it not been to give them at once a specimen of our author's uncommon modefty, and the moderation of his majesty's minifters, who gave him a patient hearing. Every one knows that the French marine, at the time mentioned, was in no condition to execute any ftroke against Great Britain, and that the negotiations for a peace with France were then far advanced. Mr. C 3 Dumont Dumont very poffibly had the inftructions which Mr. Mac Allefter mentions; but what then?-Were they of any confequence? How does it appear that our author was not himself a dupe to Dumont; and that the whole was a farce contrived to amufe the British ministry at a very critical time, when the negotiations for peace had failed, and when some show of an invafion might be thought neceffary for renewing them? Admitting the utmoft extent of Mac Allefter's fervices, it is certain, even by his own account, that all danger to Great Britain was blown over, not only before he made his difcovery, but before he received his information.-As to the ftile and manner in which thefe letters are written, they are illiberal and contemptible beyond expreffion, IV. The Hiftory of Greenland; containing a Description of the Country, and its Inhabitants: and particularly, a Relation of the Miffion, carried on for above thefe thirty Years by the Unitas Fratrum, at New Herrnhuth and Lichtenfels, in that Country. By David Crantz. Tranflated from the High-Dutch, and illuftrated with Maps and other Copper-plates. In 2 Vols. 8v0. Pr. 12. Dodfley. TH HIS is a Mezentian kind of production, as the living may be faid to be coupled with the dead. However, we are inclined to believe, that the natural history of Greenland, fo little known in Great Britain, is very faithfully related by the editor of this performance. Neither have we any reafon to question the authenticity of his annals of the country, miferable and unimportant as it is. It feems very probable, that the Greenlanders and the Efquimaux Americans are originally the fame people; and the natural philofopher may find very agreeable entertainment in these volumes. Even our commercial interefts may be ferved by this publication, as it contains a better account than any other which has hitherto appeared, of the whale-fifhery, and the other commodities peculiar to Greenland. On the other hand, the rational reader will be amazed at the enthufiafm and wildnefs which employs the last five hundred and fixty-three pages of these two volumes, and may perhaps be puzzled to find fuch a collection of abfurdities in any other work, An earneft defire for the converfion of the Greenlanders had feized the late count Zinzendorf, and communicated itself between the years 1713 and 1714, to five perfons at the Pædagogium at Halle. This was the original of the miffion for the Converfion of the Greenlanders. The reader is not to expect that Greenland is one of thofe workshops of nations, officina gentium, that poured forth the fwarms of barbarians which over-ran the Roman empire; for the moft ftated account we have of its inhabitants amounts only to nine hundred and fifty-. feven fouls. Our author indeed does not include in this computation the roving Southlanders of Greenland, whom a factor (or trader) well acquainted with the country fuppofed might amount to about feven thousand. Though this profpect afforded poor encouragement to the labourers in the vineyard of. converfion, yet their zeal was unremitting; but by their own relation their progrefs was not very fuccefsful. The reader from the following defcription may form fome idea of the disadvantages which they encountered from the air and the feafons. As this country is covered in most places with everlasting ice and fnow, it is eafy to imagine, that it must be very cold and raw. In thofe places where the inhabitants enjoy the vifits of the fun, for an hour or two in a day, in winter, the cold is bearable; though even their strong liquors will freeze out of the warm rooms, nay fometimes in them. But where the fun entirely forefakes the horizon, while people are drinking tea, the emptied cup, when depofited, will freeze to the table. Mr. Paul Egede in his journal of Jan. 7, 1738, records the following amazing effects of the cold at Difko: "The ice and hoar-froft reaches thro' the chimney to the stove's mouth, without being thawed by the fire in the day-time. Over the chimney is an arch of froft with little holes, through which. the fmoke discharges itself. The door and walls are as if they. were plaistered over with froft, and, which is fcarce credible, beds are often froze to the bed-ftead. The linen is frozen in the drawers. The upper eider-down-bed and the pillows are quite stiff with froft an inch thick from the breath. The fleshbarrels must be hewn in pieces to get out the meat; when it is thawed in fnow-water, and fet over the fire, the outside is boiled fufficiently before the infide can be pierced with a knife." In Hudfon's-bay, where Ellis wintered in 1746, in lat. 57, the bay was frozen over on the 8th of October. The ink. froze by the fire, and the bottled beer, tho' wrapped up in tow, froze in the warm room, All strong drinks froze to ice, and burft the bottles or veffels. Brandy and even fpirits of wine thickened like congealed oil. The damps fettled on the walls of the warm room like fnow, and the bed-cloaths froze. faft. But he alfo obferved that the fharp cold and cutting air lafted only four or five days at a time, and then changed alternately to thawing weather, |