accuracy of definition should never be sacrificed to brevity, yet this is unquestionably the case in several instances that might be pointed out: thus the answer to "What is meant by the diameter of the earth," is "Its thickness." In answer to "What is the cause of night?" we read "As any particular place goes farther round, it turns from the sun." This is certainly very bad, and was so put merely to save a few words, which words would have abundantly compensated the trouble of learning. Again "How many miles are there in a degree? A. Sixty;" but their measure varies, when near the poles, in longitude. The idea conveyed in this answer is exceedingly faulty, if it can be said to convey any idea. The geographical part, properly so called, is liable to the same objection. Thus of Lapland,the only thing mention. ed is, that it is divided into three parts; and no notice is taken of those parts in the description of the countries to which they may be said to belong. Of the United kingdoms of Great-Britain and heland we have little more than a bare enumeration of the counties, and their chief towns; enough indeed to burden and harass the memory, without any facts to amuse or interest the learner. The correspondence between ancient and modern geography is a very good idea, and exceedingly useful in schools, in which the classics are read; but the parallel in p. 40, 41, is too scanty, and in some places inaccurately expressed: see the art. Cyclades among others. The introduction to the Use of the Globes is too short, but as far as it goes may answer the purpose very well. There are likewise several miscellaneous articles, calculated to instruct and amuse young people, as the remarks, p. 49, 53; and the geographical paradoxes which have been repeated in a hundred other introductory treatises on geography. ART. III. A Concise Gazetteer of the most remarkable Places in the World; with brief Notices of the principal historical Events, and most celebrated Persons connected with them; to which are annexed, References to Books of History, Voyages, Travels, &c. ; intended to promote the Improvement of Youth in Geography, History, and Biography. By THOMAS BOURN, Teacher of Writing and Geography. 8vo. Mawman. ART. IV. Exercises on the Globes; interspersed with some historical, biographical, chronological, mythological, and miscellaneous Information; on a new Plan: to which are added, Questions for Examination: designed for the Use of young Ladies. By WILLIAM BUTLER. 12mo. THE latter of these volumes has already experienced a favourable reception with the public,and the reader is now presented with a new edition (the fourth): it was, however, thought right to introduce both works in our present volume, and by the side of one another, because the authors, highly respectable men, we are informed, and very useful writers, have thought proper to recommend each other's labours, in terms not the most modest, and which, with the discerning, are more likely, we should imagine, to diminish than inspire public confidence. It ought however to be mentioned by way of apology that, if our information be correct, these gentlemen stand in the near relationship of father and son-in-law. With respect to Mr. Bourn, therefore, the principle of gratitude operating on a generous and ardent mind may be allowed, without reproach, to carry him beyond the limits of moderation, in the applause of the disinterested benevolence of a parent; but we cannot find an equally good excuse for Mr. But ler, when he assumes to dictate in the following language: "If in the course of a steady and extensive practice of 40 years as a teacher of geography, Mr. Butler may be supposed to have acquired any degree of reputation, he is not afraid thus publicly to pledge himself and his reputation to the assertion, that in his heart and consci ence he considers Mr. Bourn's Gazetteer as better calculated for an initiatory book of instruction for youth in geography, than any, or all, other works of the kind in our language." We are willing to give Mr. Bourn due praise, but cannot at once raise him higher than all his predecessors in this department of instruction in his own way, and upon his own plan he has done much, but surely Mr. Butler errs, we had nearly said egregiously, in recommending the Gazetteer of his son-in-law as the best initiatory book in geography. Its use and superior advantages must be derived from its connection with some other introduction to this science. When young persons have learned what geography is, and are familiar with the terms connected with it; when they understand the use of maps or the terrestrial globe, and can point out on one or the other, the boundaries of countries, the courses of rivers, the situation of mountains, &c. then the Gazetteer before us may most advantageously be brought into action, then they may be required daily, or at other stated periods to point out on their maps the places which Mr. Bourn has enumerated, and also be required to give an account of whatever is attached to them that is remarkable, and that has been noted as deserving of recollection. To shew the manner in which Mr. B. has composed his work, and how well he has blended amusement and interesting facts with instruction we shall quote two or three passages from the work itself. "FRIENDLY ISLANDSA cluster of islands of the Polynesia, South Pacific ocean, so named by Capt. Cook, in 1773, on account of the friendship that appeared to subsist among the inhabitants, and their courteous behaviour to strangers. Tasman,the celebrated Dutch navigator, first touched here in 1643, and gave the consist of New Am and Middleburg, to three of the princi names of New Amsterdam, Rotterdam the whole cluster, which he found to pal islands. Captain Cook explored than sixty. more sterdam is the largest. It is intersected by straight and pleasant roads, with fruit trees on each side, which provide shade from the scorching heat of the sun. Middleburg is called Eooa by the natives, who have given the names of Annamooka, Tongataboo, Hapaee, and Lefooga, to the other principal islands. The general appearance of these islands conveys an idea of the most exuberant fertility: the surface, at a distance, seems sizes, some of which are very large, parentirely clothed with trees of various ticularly the tall cocoa-palm, and a species of fig with narrow-pointed leaves. It is almost wholly laid out in plantations in which are some of the richest productions of nature; such as bread-fruit, cocoa-nut trees, plantains,yams, sugar-cane, and a fruit like a nectarine. Their stock of quadrupeds is as scanty as that at the Society Islands; but they received from the animal and vegetable kingdom. Captain Cook valuable additions both to Their domestic fowls are as large as those of Europe. Among the birds are parrots and parroquets of various sorts, which furnish the red feathers so much esteemed in the Society Isles. numerous reefs and shoals afford shelter for an endless variety of shell-fish. Agriculture, architecture, boat-building, and fishing, are the employments of the men; to the women is confined the manufactween 170° and 180° w. long. and 20° ture of their cloth. These islands lie beand 23° s. lat." The "PALESTINE, country of Turkey in Asia, so called from the Philistines, who inhabited its sea-coast: It is also called Judæa, from the patriarch Judah; and the Holy Land, from its having been the scene of the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. In the sacred scriptures it is styled the Land of Canaan, and the Promised Land. It is divided from Syria, on the N. by Mount Libanus, or Lebanon; from Arabia Deserta on the E. by the mountains of Seir; and it has the deserts of Arabia Petræa on the s. and the Mediterranean on the w. It is, in general, a fertile country, abounding, where cultivated, with corn, wine, and oil; and it might supply the neighbouring country with all these, as it anciently did, were the present inhabitants equally industrious. The parts about Jerusalem, its capital, are the most mountainous and rocky; but they feed numerous herds and flocks, and yield plenty of honey, with excellent wine and oil; and the vallies produce large crops of corn." To these we shall add his account of "PANCRAS, a village of Middlesex. It has a church dedicated to St. Pancras ; and the church-yard is remarkable for being the principal place of interment for the Roman Catholics. At a publichouse near the church-yard is a medicinal spring. Here is an hospital for inoculation; also the Veterinary College, a new and singular institution in this country, established in 1791, under the auspices of persons of the first rank and fortune, and intended for the improvement of farriery, and the treatment of cattle in general." Mr. Bourn, in his description, has fallen into a small mistake, no cattle but horses are admitted into this establishment. In addition also to the other facts we will inform Mr. B. and our readers why the church-yard of St. Pancras is so celebrated as the burial-place of Catholics: It is the only remaining church that was consecrated by a Romish bishop ;-it was the church in which mass was last performed, previously to the reformation; and in France, very many years since, a liberal bequest was made, of which the interest is annually paid, to three parish priests, who shall Of Mr. Butler's Exercises, it may be affirmed that it would be difficult to fix upon any book of equal size, that contains so much interesting matter, collected from various sources, on almost every subject; and always illustrative of some historical fact; or of some important invention; or devoted to the celebration of heroic deeds in antient and modern times. readers may judge of the whole Our from a paragraph, which we shall transcribe, on the clock : "Horologium, the clock. A clock is a kind of movement, or machine, serving to measure and strike time. The invention of clocks with wheels, is, by some, referred to Pacificus, archdeacon of Verona, who lived in the ninth century; others ascribe the discovery to Boëthius, about the year 510; but from the numerous testimonies which are adduced in that incomparable work, the New Edition of Dr.Rees's Encyclopædia, respecting the origin of a clock, the fair conclusion to be drawn is, that this machine is neither of so ancient a date as some writers suppose, nor yet among those more recent inventions which are placed in the last is not certainly known. which is the most ancient clock whereof * Beckmann styles him Charles de Wic. Street, London. In Grose's antiquities it is said that this clock, considered as an astronomical clock, was invented by Tompion: but this account cannot be true, because that famous artist lived a century and a half after the original construction; he may in all probability have been employed in making some of the altera tions either in the astronomical or going part, which circumstance has given rise to this erroneous statement." clock of note, is in a turret of the royal palace at Hampton, constructed in the year 1540, which was in the reign of Henry VIII. by a maker whose initials are N. Q. It shews the time of the day, and the motion of the sun and moon, through all the degrees of the zodiac, together with the matters depending thereon, as the day of the month, the sun's and moon's places in the zodiac, moon's southing, &c. &c. This curious machine was repaired in 1711, by L. Bradly, a skilful artist of FenchurchART. IV. The New Universal Gazetteer: or Geographical Dictionary: containing a Description of all the Empires, Kingdoms, States, Provinces, Cities, Towns, Forts, Seas, Harbours, Rivers, Lakes, Mountains, and Capes, in the known World; with the Government, Customs, Manners, and Religion of the Inhabitants, &c. with Twenty-eight whole Sheet Maps. By the Rev. CLEMENT CRUTTWELL. Second Edition. 4 vols. 8vo. IN the useful and liberal science of Geography, this work will be found to afford a much greater degree of information than any other in the English language. Since its first appearance, indeed, the map of Europe has changed its aspect. Powerful, and at the same time independent, monarchies have almost lost their political existence; while new empires, kingdoms, and principalities have been created. These revolutions, which it is unnecessary farther to describe, and which could not be anticipated, may have occasioned some inaccuracies in a work, the very extent and magnitude of which must make it at all times more or less inseparable from error. Care and minuteness in revision, however, have not not been spared; and it is with pleasure we find the addition of more than thirty thousand fresh articles, evincing the author's desire of rendering the present edition deserving of public approbation. The account of Erfurt may be quoted as a specimen of the manner in which the larger towns of the world are described. "Erfurt or Erfort, a city of Germany, in the circle of the Lower Rhine, founded in the fifth century; lately belonging to the Elector of Mentz, who governed it by a Stadtholder. It had an ecclesiasti cal, a civil, and criminal tribunal, and a made to the Elector. The municipality regency, from whence appeals might be is composed of an equal number of Catho lics and Lutherans. The town is large, but not populous, the buildings in general in the Gothic style; situated on the Gera, fortified, and defended by two castles, with a garrison of imperial and electoral troops. It contains, besides a college, a mitred abbey, and seven others, four parish Catholics, and eleven churches for Lu churches, and three chapels for the Roman therans, and an academy instituted for useful science; a well-furnished library in which are several manuscript bibles in the Hebrew character; and an university, composed of five colleges, whose professors are Roman Catholics and Lutherans. The territory of Erfurt is fertile, but wants wood; it contains, besides the capital, two towns, and seventy-three villages. In 1802, the city and district were given among the indemnities to the King of Prussia 110 m. W. Dresden, 160 E. Cologne. Long. 11. 6. E. Lat. 51 N." ANN. REV. Vol. VII. CHAPTER III. FOREIGN TOPOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIES. ART. I. The Geography and Antiquities of Ithaca. Dedicated by Permission to the King. By WILLIAM GELL, Esq. M. A. F. R. S. F. S. A. and Member of the Society of Dilettanti. 410. IN an age of investigation and research like the present, says Mr. Gell, it is remarkable, that while the Iliad and the scene of its battles have excited such particular attention, little or no recent information has been offered to the public on the subject of Ithaca, the theatre of the principal action of the Odyssey and the kingdom of its hero. It may perhaps be necessary, he adds, to mention the principal authors who have written on the subject of Ithaca in modern times. Sir GeorgeWheeler mentions the island, and pretends that the town was called Dolichia, in which he says the opinion of Strabo agrees with his own. He affirms that Theachi is Dolichium, for it is too large for the island mentioned by Strabo, which was eighty stadia in circuit, and supposes the rock of Aotaco to be the true Ithaca, without recol. lecting that Aotace has not half the magnitude which Strabo assigns to that island. His account is evidently taken from another person, and he does not even hint at an excursion to Ithaca. M. de Chevalier has also given a long poetical description of the island, which, as he did not touch at Bathi, he has put into the mouth of a Greek sailor, whose account, even supposing it possible that a native could have delivered it, is absolutely too absurd to require refutation. Among other circumstances, the Greek relates that he has frequently stood on the ruins of the palace of Ulys-. ses, while his eye ranged over the island of Zante. Unfortunately a very lofty mountain in Cephalonia, totally excludes the whole of Zante from the ruins. The views also must have been made by the bookseller, for they do not bear even the most distant resemblance to the place, and it is wonderful that M. le Chevalier should have suffered a work of such merit to have been disgraced by the introduction of such fabrications. The Venetian geographers, we are told, have in a great degree contributed to raise those doubts which have existed on the identity of the modern with the ancient Ithaca, by giving, in their charts, the name of Val di Compare to the island: a name totally unknown in the country, where the isle is invariably called Ithaca by the upper ranks, and Theaki by the lower, In the spring of the year 1806, Mr. Gell set out with two gentlemen from the coast of the Morea, for the purpose of visiting Ithaca, and satisfying himself if possible by a very particular examination of the veracity or falshood of the relations of Homer on the localities of the island. The morning of the 11th of April discovered the shore, rocky, but clothed with a profusion of flowering shrubs. Having landed, the party proceeded directly toward a beautiful semicircular precipice, now known by the name of Korax or Koraka |