from the impetuofity of the torrent, we cautiously picked our fleps, and, at length, after a four hours moft unspeakable fatigue, arrived at about three hundred yards beyond the spot, where the fubterranean paffage we had the day before explored, was expected to find an entrance into this dreadful place. Here then we were obliged to ftop, a fall into a yawning gulph, in which I was providentially faved by a corner of a rock catching me by the knee, had hitherto given me an inconceivable degree of pain; but I had not fpoke; it now became fcarce bearable; out Bowever I was to crawl, and that too upon this tortured limb. The retreat accordingly began; but no anguish could furpass the excess of torment I was in. Often did I wish to remain where I was; no fuccour or affiftance could be given me: every man was painfully bufied in the charge of his own fafety. At length, having almoft worn out the other knee, and torn both my fides and back by forcing myfelf in thofe pofitions, I was compelled to call out for help, as we happily came to the firft opening where I could be raised. Languor and faintnefs from what I had fuffered, had totally deprived me of my ftrength: I was accordingly fcated on a rock, but in a few minutes, having collected my felf as much as poffible, I tottered through the reft of the cavern, helped where afiftance could be given me, and in that manner got to the bleffed funshine of the day. All the reft, however, were tolerably well, excepting two of our guides, one of whom had received a violent contufion on his head from a rock; and another feveral bruifes from a fall, in his climbing up the last aperture. Altogether, the depth we had defcended was about one hundred and forty fathom, or nine hundred and eighty feet, and the length about three miles, according to the miners calculation. Neither at this diftance were we at the end; a paffage ftill continued, but fo filled with water, and fo full of peril, that the miners themfelves were averfe to further trial. And here, my friend, I will take my leave of you for the prefent. The pains in my limbs are ftill excruciating, but a little time will fet all to rights again; all I have to fay is, that I never with even the greatest enemy I have in the world to be fo unpardonably led by curiosity as to tempt deftruction, where, independent of the dangers of the place, the falling of a fingle tone might bury him in eternity for ever.? We have copied this under-ground excurfion at length, because we look upon it as a curiofity; no defcription of this three-mile cavern having, that we recollect, been given by preceding writers. Many other entertaining extracts might be made, from various parts of this itinerary; but we have not room to enlarge. We must not, however, bid adieu to this agreeable roadcompanion, without hinting to him a particular correction or two, befide thofe which are pointed out by our Correfpondent, in the note. Thefe may prove to be of fome ufe to him, in cafe of a fecond edition; and thould a new impreffion be called for, the name of the Author affixed would certainly be of advantage, with regard to the reception which the Public might then give to to the work. Anonymous productions have feldom an equal chance of fuccefs: they have nothing to depend on, but real intrinfic merit; and even that may chance to be over-looked, in the crowd of unowned publications. The paffages we have marked for the Author's reconfideration, in the work before us, are the following: P. 11, line 4. She, loved girl, was almost equally as fenfelefs.'-P. 21, 1. 14. His incitements to virtue are equally as ftrong. P. 23. Speaking of Cliefden Houfe, and Buckingham Houfe in St. James's Park, our Author miftakenly fays, they were both built by George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. We believe, that the first mentioned ftructure was raised by the celebrated Villiers, but the latter, now called the Queen's Palace, was undoubtedly built by John Sheffield, Duke of Bucks. P. 30, 1. 10. Within a small distance are fome tolerable coalpits: we are at a lofs to guess in what refpects a coal-pit can be deemed tolerable or intolerable. P. 33. The windows of the chapel in Wells Cathedral are faid to be too much darkened by the profufion of glass: this is an effect which we apprehend few readers of thefe Obfervations will be able to conceive, without fome explanation. P. 36, 1. 21, 'hung pendant': here is an explanation of one word by another, which was not wanted. P. 40, 1. 12, the number of travellers have [for hath] of late years decreased.' P. 42. Speaking of the Glaftonbury thorn, we are told, that this tree is of a remarkable fpecies in this country; but that it is common to a degree in the Levant and Afia Minor. This cant phrafe gives us no idea to what degree the tree in question is common in the Levant, &c. P. 91, The counties of Somerfet and Gloucestershire. P. 93, The profpect from Clifton-hill romantic and delightful to a degree.' We recollect no inftance of small talk looking well in print, but in the volume of Swift's Polite Converfation. P. 101, we read of a small room erected by itself.' By this, no doubt, we are only to understand that no other buildings were very near. P. 118, The infide of Gloucefter cathedral is clumfy to a degree. P. 125, 1. 18, for pairing, fhould we not read pareing? P. 140, Birmingham, it is faid, was, a few years ago, but an inconfiderable dirty village.' Camden would have told our Author, that, two hundred years ago, "Bremicham was fwarming with inhabitants, and echoing with anvils, &c." Our Author adds, that its fituation in Warwickshire, and on the borders of Staffordshire, gives it confiderable advantages;' but of what kind those advantages are, we are left to guess, without the smallest clue to guide us. P. 149, for Akover, read Okeover: by the country people pronounced Oker. P. 152, Proceeded on to Buxton, through a country as barren and defolate as one can well be conceived.'-Perhaps fome of the above are mere flips of the prefs. ART. V. An Effay on Hiftory; in Three Epiftles to Edward Gibbon, Efq. By William Hayley, Efq. With Notes. 4to. 7 s. 6d. Dodfley. WE 1780. E are happy to find this new ftar in the poetical hemifphere, whofe appearance we noted with so much pleafure, continues to fhine, if poffible, with increafing fplendor. The province of literature affords hardly any fubject of critical difcuffion that is of higher dignity and importance than that to which Mr. Hayley has now directed his attention. Simple and obvious as the rules of hiftory may appear to a fuperficial obferver, there are difficulties in the application of them that are in a great measure infurmountable; otherwife a perfect hiftorian would not have been fo long confidered as a literary prodigy. It will be found, however, if the matter be minutely examined into, that to be qualified for the compofition of hiftory will require talents and accomplishments that rarely are united there is fcarcely, indeed, any quality by which the human mind can be dignified or adorned, any excellence intellectual or moral, but will in fome degree, either immediately or remotely, be requifite in the man who fhall afpire to the title of a complete hiftorian. To delineate this character, and to point out the rules and precepts of his art, is the bufinefs of this admirable didactic Effay. : The firft Épiftle opens, after a few introductory lines applicable to the gentleman to whom it is addreffed, with the connection between hiftory and poetry. The fubject of the prefent poem, he obferves, has been but flightly touched by the ancients; Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus and the inimitable Lucian being the only writers who have profeffedly treated of it. Having remarked the importance and advantage of hiftory, he then traces its origin and progrefs from Egypt into Greece. In his account of the Pyramids he has adopted, as he acknowledges in a note, the idea of Mr. Bryant; but the fublime and magnificent imagery, in which he has clothed it, is his own. But in the center of thofe vast abodes, adore: For For in the myftic web was every charm And, fhewing the fair Nymph in nature's pride, And paint immortal fcenes of Grecian ftrife.' At the clofe of this Epiftle, the hiftorians of Italy and Greece are characterized with fingular fpirit and difcernment. Of these, the laft whom he mentions is Anna Comnena, eldest daughter of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus and the Empress Irene, who flourished at the latter end of the eleventh century. She wrote the Hiftory of her Father in 15 books, first published in 1610, and afterwards reprinted in the collection of the Byzantine hiftorians. As this fair hiftorian, who, Mr. Hayley obferves, may justly be regarded as a fingular phenomenon in the literary world, is not generally known, we shall subjoin the compliment which he has here paid to her memory. But while Monaftic Night, with gathering fhades, While, pent in CONSTANTINE's ill-fated walls, While favage Turks, or the fierce fons of Thor, Th' Historian's duty in the Daughter's pride! Tho' Tho' bafe Oblivion long with envious hand And fees, on Glory's ftage, thy graceful mien The Preface to her Hiftory, in which "fhe feelingly displays the misfortunes of her life, and the character of her mind," is truly curious and valuable. Of this Mr. Hayley has given a tranflation in his Notes. The fecond Epiftle is chiefly appropriated to the moderns. After confidering our obligations to the more rational of the Monkish hiftorians, and the indulgence due to writers of the dark ages, he contemplates the twilight of knowledge during the period of chivalry and romance, of which the principal luminary was Froiffart. He then adverts to the revival of ancient learning, the day-break of literature, under Leo X. The characters that now come in review are Machiavel, Guiccardin, Davila, Father Paul, the claffical Portuguese Bishop Oforius, the Spanish hiftorian Mariana, the Prefident De Thou, and Voltaire, whose portrait we shall exhibit. Delighted Nature faw, with partial care, On the wide fea of letters 'twas thy boast From the long annals of the world thy art, *It may not be foreign to remark, that a copious and wellwritten hiftory of the Revival of Letters would be a valuable acquifition to English literature, To |