skin of those climates are united with the advantages of the south, pro ducing as it were the most beautiful works of nature. "From this charming fubject I am obliged to pass to the uncleanlinefs of the Portugueze. On leaving England and entering France, every fpecies of uncleanlinefs becomes greater and greater in proportion as we travel fouthward. The apartments grow conftantly more dirty, the privies are more horrible, or totally difappear, and a hoft of vermin of all kinds fwarm round the traveller in his fleep. The removal of many of these inconveniencies has been attempted in the new German and English inns at Lisbon; and in this refpect that city is preferable to Madid. It is neceffary to fpeak of lice, because too much has already been faid of them by others; as, that they serve the foldiers inftead of cards; that they are commonly bitten between the teeth, &c. It is certain, however, that perfons of condition are not afhamed openly to kill them, or fuffer others to do it. It is faid that the wife of a minifter of ftate does this not unfrequently at cards, in very large companies. This indeed I did not fee; but at Caldas in Gerez, a place reforted to for its warm baths, I saw the fifter of the bishop, and of the governor of Oporto, a charming young widow of an ancient noble family, in an afternoon, before her door, laying her head in the lap of her waiting-woman to be loufed; and I-know for certain that young ladies, when they vifit each other, reciprocally perform this office by way of paftime." P. 207. The laft circumftance is fo little honourable to the Portugueze, that if the author had not faid he jaw it, we fhould have doubted the fact; and even as it is, we fhould not have been forry to have it fuppreffed. As to his contradiction of Mr. Murphy, on the fubject of giving the left hand, we can pofitively fay that, unless a fingular and very improbable change of customs has taken place within a very few years, Mr. Murphy is right, and the prefent author completely wrong. As a fpecimen of another kind, in which philofophical research is more concerned, we fhall give the Profeffor's account of the baths at Caldas. "A league from Obidos is the small town of Caldas, much frequented for its fulphureous waters. The town is fmall, being built in an irregular quadrangular form; but is continually increafing. The houfes are small, generally confifting merely of a ground floor, and only a few have windows. The flooring is very bad almost throughout, and those who would have other furniture, than bad wooden tables and chairs, must bring them. As to beds, table cloths, and other conveniences, they are wholly wanting; in fhort every article of furniture must be provided. The inn will accommodate but few people, and would be called wretched in England or France, though here it paffes for tolerable. The company who come to bathe always live in private houses. Such are the accommodations prepared for the rich merchants and principal nobility of Lisbon, who vifit Caldas twice a year; namely, in May and September. As to balls, concerts, plays, and fuch amufements, they are not to be expected here, and thofe who feck feek thefe enjoyments in places reforted to for pleasure in Portugal, muft themselves form them. The company however vifit, give teaparties, play, and at moft make fmall parties to vifit fome neighbouring place. Thefe are their only amufements. It is however the fashion to go to Caldas. The rich pass the hot season at Cintra, and travel from thence to Caldas; for which reafon the company are frequently more brilliant in autumn than in fpring. "In the middle of this place over the warm fpring, is a spacious and handfome bathing houfe, founded in the reign of the late king, and close to it a hospital for poor patients. Befides the spring used for drinking, three others fupply four baths; that for the men is thirty-fix feet long by nine broad, and two feet eight inches deep. The foil is covered with a white clay and wathed fand. The company undress behind a curtain, put on bathing cloaths, and fit upon the ground in the bath, fo that the water reaches their neck. There are frequently twelve patients in the bath at the fame time, and though the water is conftantly flowing, it is unpleafant to be obliged to bathe in company, efpecially to thofe who come laft, to whom the water arrives after washing the reft. It is alfo unpleafant that ftrangers are admitted. Nothing however is paid for bathing, except a small present to the attendants. The poor are not fuffered to bathe till about noon, when the other company are gone. The reft of the baths, even those appropriated to the ladies, are regulated in a fimilar manner, except that the water in the bath for men is the hottest and of the ftrongest quality, being from 92° to 93° of Fahrenheit (from 26° to 27° of Réaumur). The water from all the fprings joins and turns a mill near the bathing house. "On entering this houfe the company come to a large floor, which ferves for a promenade after bathing, and is generally full of people running to and fro with great violence. Here alfo is an apothecary's fhop, and in the back ground the fpring used for drinking, the warmth of which is 91° of Fahrenheit. "The country round is well cultivated, but fandy and full of pinewoods. The place itfelf is fituated on the western brow of hills very much flattened, confifting of a foft brownifh fand-ftone containing iron, and probably covering coal, from the combustion of which the heat of the water may arife. The fea is only three leagues diftant, and the lake or lagoa de Obidos one league. This vicinity to the fea and the flatness of the country are the caufes of the ftrong and cold winds, which prevail here, particularly in fpring, and of changeable. weather. The heat alfo in fummer is uncommonly great. Every where are feen Berlengas, islands which resemble much the two islands of Helgoland and form hills in the middle of the fea. Except a quinta, there is no promenade at Caldas, "We have a fhort treatife on the use and abuse of the baths of the Caldas, by Tavares, formerly profeffor and dean of the medicinal faculty at Coimbra, under the title of Advertencias fobre os abufos e Jegitimo ufo das aguas mineraes das Caldas da raynha, por Fr. Tavares. Lifboa, 1791, 4to. but it is very fingular that the author fhould fay it is of little ufe to know the conftituent parts of mineral waters. Mr. Tavares fhould recollect that even to render rules for the afe of the water practicable, it is neceffary to analyse it; without which it cannot even be claffed among medicinal fprings. Like many ignorant phyficians in Germany, he imagines certain effects are expected to arife from the analysis, whereas its ufe is merely to complete the knowledge of the physician, who ought to know whether the water belongs to the carbonic-acid, or fulphureous clafs. He complains of the great minutenefs of chemical analyses, and does not reflect that they are expected from every writer on objects of chemical enquiry. He juftly blames excefs in the ufe of thefe waters, the filly running to and fro after bathing, the leaving off the Portugueze cuftom of conftantly wearing a cloak of cloth, and fubftituting the light English drefs, which is not adapted to a hot climate. In this we cannot but fully agree with the author. The Portugueze, inftructed by experience, wears his cloak in the hotteft fummer, but is almoft undreft beneath it, fo that he can wrap himself up from every cold breeze. In hot weather the fkin is always covered with perfpiration; and every current of air, by favouring evaporation, produces a degree of cold, which the air itself will not affect. "But there is another more important treatife on this fubject, by a well-known learned Englishman, named Withering, with a chemical analyfis of the water, published at Lisbon in 1795, in Portugueze and English, under the title of analyfe chemica da agua das Caldas da raynha, por Guilherme Withering. (A chemical analyfis of the water at Caldas da raynha, by William Withering, fixty-one pages, 4to.) The analyfis is good, as might be expected from so skilful an author; but the bad apparatus he was obliged to employ renders the most important of the results doubtful; as for inftance the proportions of the various kinds of air. In 128 ounces he found of Fixed air, Calx aerata, Magnefia, Ferrum hepatis alum, Argillaceous earth, Magnefia falita, Selenitic falts, Common falt, Siliceous earth,` Glauber's falt, The iron might as well be diffolved in the carbonic acid, as in the fulphurated hydrogen; but I pafs over the remarks that might be made on the proportions of the conftituent parts, in which, as the author himself fays, the analyfis could not be exact. It is enough that he has contributed fomething to this object, for which he deferves the thanks of the world." P. 269. Another celebrated place for bathing is the Caldas de Gerez in the province of Entre Douro e Minho. See p. 340. We shall now make a few remarks, of a more particular kind, refpecting the original author, and then fubjoin some which affect only the tranflator. The following accounts, feem + feem rather contradictory. In p. 18, he tells us, "London. as a city, in far fuperior to Paris;" and, after pursuing the comparison, he adds: "the greater part is well paved, clean, and furnished with broad causeways; and the streets being spacious and ftraight, give it a guy and fmiling appearance." In p. 20, alfo, he fays, to the fame effect," London is adorned with a vast number of Squares, fo called from their regular form, and decorated with a circular or oval inclosure, planted with rofe-trees and other fhrubs, which give the whole a moft charming and interefting appearance." Yet all this praife is flatly contradicted at p. 22, where the author fays, "London itself is wanting in all that is attractive to the eye; for, as a whole, it is monotonous and dull." This is certainly blowing hot and cold with the fame mouth. "In Spain and Portugal, fingle travellers are often accompanied by a fervant, who fometimes rides on an afs, but more frequently runs on foot; and I know that these runners go eleven or twelve miles in this manner." P. 129. Here the information is rather defective, for the author neither informs us what kind of miles these are, nor in what time they are travelled; nor does he tell us why this meffenger is fent. He is employed, in fact, by the owner of the hired mule, to bring it back: and the miles intended are probably German miles*, which makes the effort confiderable. p. 202, we have the following curious passage: At "Nor muft the reader be furprised if I fhould relate much evil of Dom Diogo (Ignacio de Pina Manique) his unjuft imprisonments, and the wretched manner in which he feeds the prifoners; but this I will relate in few words to fhow that Dom Diogo is by no means beloved, though a traveller ought to be very cautious and moderate in forming his judgment," After this paffage, the reader will probably be moft furprised to find, that Dom Diogo is never mentioned again, and that neither good nor evil is related of him, except what this single fentence contains. Can this be from any fault in the tranflation, or is it a careleffnefs of the original author? "Had not men collected infcriptions from old monuments, mofs would not now be fought there; nor would Dr. Black have difcovered oxygen gas, had he not doubted the categories as well as the elements or the Stagyrite." P. 301. There is a good deal of that common figure of fpeech called nonfenfe in this paffage; but the worit miftake for a philofo *The shortest German mile is more than three miles and a half English. pher pher is the affertion, that Dr. Black difcovered oxygen gas, which should have been attributed to Dr. Priestley. "The trade of Oporto, which is well known to be chiefly in wine, has fuffered much in confequence of the war." P. 323. A grofs mistake. We happen to know, for certain, that the wine-trade of Oporto was increased rather than diminished during the war. The author adds, that the French privateers conftantly hovering near the coaft have occafioned the ruin of many houfes in Oporto; which is fo far from true, that we know not (with the belt opportunities of information) a single house that has been fo ruined. The Guimareen plumbs*, he fays, p. 357, are small and bad; whereas most people in England, who know them by the name of Portugal plumbs, can fufficiently affert, that they are both large and good. At p. 477, we have the following curious affertion. "The Inquifition was never very powerful in Portugal. During the laft reign it was quite infignificant, being confined to diforderly monks. The temper of the Queen certainly increased their power, and rendered them particularly formidable to an author." Of these three fentences, the firft is falfe; and the fecond and third are not very intelligible. The following paffage alfo requires notice. With the following obfervation we confefs ourselves rather puzzled. "Nor does Camoens ftand alone, though he fo far eclipfes all the reft, that these are feldom named in foreign countries. The Uliffipo, by De Soufa Macedo, may still be confidered as equal to Ercilla's Araucane." P. 480. • We never heard of the poem, or the author here mentioned. There is an Epic Poem, called Ulyffea, by Gabriel Pereira de Caftro, which many fenfible Portugueze think at least equal to the Lufiad of Camoens. If there is no mistake here, it seems extraordinary that the Portugueze fhould have two good Epic Poems on the fame fubject. We fhall now add fome obfervations, which feem to apply exclufively to the tranflator. The author, whofe fkill in natural history is unquestionable, has very properly given the scientific names of the various plants, &c. mentioned in the courfe of the work. These the tranflator would have done well to have left as he found them; but unfortunately he has attempted to turn them into English, and has thereby furnished a ftrong * From the ancient town of Guimaraens. inftance |