lefs abfolute at Stockholm, than the French monarch at Verfailles, and the Grand Signor at Conftantinople," he thews, by a review of the prefent conftitution, that his Swedith Majefly, though now poffeffed of very great prerogatives, is yet in many important inftances, a limited monarch.

Here we muft obferve, that Mr. Coxe, although he proves that the King of Sweden is not a mere defpot, does not, however, altogether invalidate the pofition of Mr. Sheridan. The two great features," fays he," which effentially distinguifh an arbitrary from a limited monarch, are the uncontrouled right of enacting and repealing laws, and the impofition of taxes, without the consent of the fubject; neither of which are exercifed by the King of Sweden." We may venture to affirm, that neither would the Grand Signor hazard his authority, by repealing laws, or an by arbitrary impofition of taxes.

The fame of the celebrated Linnæus will naturally intereft many of Mr. Coxe's readers in the biographical memoirs which he has collected of that celebrated naturalift.-Of thefe the following, which defcribe the early bent of his mind, and the circumftances that urged him forward in his favourité purfuit, are a fpecimen :

"Carl Von Linné, or, as he is more known to foreigners, Linnæus, the eldeft fon of Nils Linnæus, a Swedish divine, was born on the 24th of May, 1707, at Ræfhult, in the province of Smoland. His inclination for the ftudies, in which he afterwards made fo wonderful a progrefs, commenced at a very early period of his life, and took its rife from the following circumftance :-His father ufed to amufe himself in the garden of his parfonage, with the cultivation of plants and flowers. Linnæus, while an infant, was foon led to take a fhare in this entertainment; and, before he was fcarcely able to walk, expreffed extreme fatisfaction when he was permitted to accompany him into the garden. As his strength increafed, he delighted in digging and planting; and afterwards obtained for his own ufe a fmall portion of ground, which was called Charles's garden. He foon learned to diffinguish the different flowers; and, before he had attained the tenth year of his age, made fmail excurfions into the neighbourhood of Rafhult, and brought many indigenous plants into his little garden,

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Being fent in 1717 to fchool at Wexio, under the tuition of Lanatius, by whom he was indulged with the permiffion of conti nuing his excurfions, he paffed his whole time in collecting plants, talking of them, and making himself acquainted with their names and qualities. He was fo abforbed in this favourite purfuit, as totally to difregard his other ftudies; and made fuch an inconfiderable progrefs, that upon his removal, in 1724, to the gymnafium in the fame town, his new mafter repeatedly complained of his idlenefs. Urged by these remonftrances, his father conceived his for to have no tafe for literature, and propofed to bind him apprentice to a fhoe-maker; and this defination would have taken place, if a

neigh

neighbouring phyfician, whofe name was Rothman, ftruck with the boy's great genius, had not predicted, that he would, in time, be come deeply fkilled in a fcience, to which he feemed naturally inclined. This fagacious obferver, having prevailed upon the father of Linnæus to continue his fon's education, took the boy into his houfe, fupplied him with botanical books, and inftructed him in the first rudiments of phyfic, in which he foon made a confiderable progrefs. When his father had affented to this advice, he had defigned him for the church; and was not, without great difficulty, induced to agree that he fhould apply himself to the study of botany and phyfic.

"In 1717 he was fent to the univerfity of Lund, where he acquired, under the celebrated Stobæus, the firft fyftematic principles of natural hiftory. Being lodged in that profeffor's houfe, he enjoyed many opportunities of improvement; and particularly from a curious collection of foffils, fhells, birds, and plants. At this place he began to form an herbarium, collecting plants from all quarters, making repeated obfervations upon them, and comparing them with the descriptions of Tournefort, whofe works he had received as a prefent from Dr. Rothman.

“ During his refidence at Lund, he profecuted his ftudies with fuch unremitted attention, that he frequently continued them dur ing great part of the night, in order to enjoy the ufe of feveral books, which he fecretly obtained from the profeffor's library.Once in particular, Stoboeus fufpecting that he had company at a very late hour, ftole unobferved into his apartment, and was aftonifhed at finding him employed in confulting the works of those great botanists, Cæfalpinus, Bauhin, and Tournefort. Pleafed with this inftance of his indefatigable zeal for fcience, the profeffor allowed him unrestrained accefs to his library and collections, and readily affifted him with advice and information.

"Linnæus did not confine himfelf to botany, but turned also his attention to the inferior orders of the animal kingdom; a branch of knowledge in which he eminently excelled, and which he was. led to profecute from a circumftance that would have damped the ardour of a lefs zealous inquirer. In endeavouring to form a collection of infects, he was ftung by the furia infernalis in fo ter-> rible a manner, that his life was endangered. This event incited his. refearches to difcover the nature and qualities of that venomous worm; which led him to develope and explain thofe numerous tribe of infects and worms, that had been but imperfectly described by preceding naturalifts; and afterwards to throw new light upon the whole animal kingdom."

Mr. Coxe, during his progrefs through Sweden, could not avoid being ftruck with a surprising resemblance between the English and Swedish languages, not only in fingle words, but in whole phrafes; fo that a quick English ear may comprehend many expreffions in common converfation. "Among other inftances of this kind," fays our traveller, heard the poftilions cry out, Come, let us go;'-let us fee;stand still; hold your tongue; go on." I naturally inquired

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their

their meaning of my interpreter, and found that they had the fame fignification as in our own language. They are for the most part, pronounced more like the Scottish than the English accent; and in deed, in general, the Swedes appeared to me as if they were talking broad Scotch. Nor is this any matter of wonder; for it is probable, that the Scottish mode of fpeaking is the fame as was formerly ufed in England; and that, while we have gradually foftened our pronunciation, the Scots have retained it."

Our author, on his entrance, defcribes the paffage of the Sound, Elfinoor, and the Caftle and Palace of Cronborg, the prison of the late unfortunate Queen Matilda.

"This princefs, during her confinement, inhabited the governor's apartment, and had permiffion to walk upon the fide batteries, or upon the leads of the tower. She was uncertain of the fate that awaited her; and had great reafon to apprehend, that the party which had occafioned her arrest, meditated still more violent meafures. When the English minifter at Copenhagen brough an order for her enlargement, which he had obtained by his fpirited conduct, fhe was fo furprized with the unexpected intelligence, that the inftantly burst into a flood of tears, embraced him in a transport of joy, and called him her deliverer. After a fhort conference, the minifter propofed, that her Majefty fhould immediately embark on board of a fhip that was waiting to carry her from a kingdom, in which the had experienced fuch a train of misfortunes. But, however anxious fhe was to depart, one circumstance checked the excess of her joy: a few months before her imprisonment, she bad been delivered of a princefs, whom the fuckled herfelf. The rearing of this child had been her only comfort; and fhe had conceived a more than parental attachment to it, from its having been the conftant companion of her mifery. The infant was at that period afflicted with the meafles; and, having nurfed it with unceafing folicitude, fhe was defirous of continuing her attention and care.All these circumstances had fo endeared the child to her, rendered more fucceptable of tendernefs in a prifon than in a court, that when an order for detaining the young princefs was intimated to her, the testified the strongest emotions of grief, and could not, for fome time, be prevailed upon to bid a final adieu. At length, after beflowing repeated careffes upon this darling object of her affection, the retired to the veffel in an agony of defpair. She remained upon deck, her eyes immoveably directed towards the palace of Cronborg, which contained her child that had been fo long her only comfort, until darknefs intercepted the view. The vefiel having made but little way during the night, at day-break fhe obferved with fond fatisfaction, that the palace was ftill vifible; and could not be perfuaded to enter the cabin as long as fhe could discover the fainteft glimpfe of the battlements.

"It is well known, that her Majefty refided at Zell, where the was carried off, by a fcarlet fever, in the fixteenth day of her illnefs."

Mr. Coxe proceeds to give an account of the garden of Hamlet, and the hiftory of Hamlet, from Saxo Grammati

cus.

cas. He defcribes Copenhagen, and his reception at the court. He traces the form of government anciently established in Denmark; the caufes and events which preceded and affected the Revolution of 1660, when the conftitution was changed from an elective and limited, to an hereditary and abfolute monarchy. In his tour into this country, he makes various remarks on its population, finances, the army and navy, literature and religion, Departing from Copenhagen, he purfues his journey, through Zealand and Holstein. At Odenfee, the feat of a Bishop, he finds the fepulchre of John King of Denmark, and of his fon Christian II. from whence he takes occafion to give a sketch of the lives and fortunes of thefe princes.

During his progrefs through Sweden and Denmark, our traveller remarked, with attentive curiofity, many of thofe regular circles of ftones which are fo frequently scattered, not only over the face of thefe countries, but of our own -On thele monuments he obferves, that they do not all appear to have had the fame original deftination. Some were raised as memorials of material events; others, as fepulchres; but the greatest part were probably places or objects of facred worship.

Of this performance it may be faid, in general, that it is a work of labour and underftanding, but utterly devoid of taste or originality. The best part of it is compiled from the writings of other authors, which, it is but juftice to obferve, Mr. Coxe candidly acknowledges.

ART. V. Obfervations on the Animal Oeconomy, and on the Caufes and Cure of Difcafes. By John Gardiner, M. D. President of the Royal College of Phyficians, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Svo. 6s. boards. Edinburgh. Creech. THIS Work is divided into fections; and thofe into paragraphs numerically arranged; in the firft fection the Author treats of the living principle in animals. After a hort introduction explaining the utility and neceffity of the fubject, Dr. Gardiner gives a definition of the living principle in animals, in the following words.

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By the living principle is understood, that power which, in an animal, actuates it's whole fyftem, or from which is derived fenfation, motion, and life; it is the caufe of the prefervation of the body from diffolution, and is capable of exifting for fome time under a fufpenfion of all its actions."

Having given this definition in the Writer's own words, we fhall now prefent our readers in a cursory manner with all he fays on the living principle.

The chief feat of the living principle, though it be ex

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tended

tended to every part of the body, feems to be in the brain, cerebellum, and fpinal marrow. This opinion confirmed by quotation from Dr. Alexander Monro's work on the Structure and Functions of the Nervous Syftem. The brain may do the office of a gland to furnish a fluid for its growth and nourishment, and for moistening the contents of the encephalon, but he cannot admit the idea of an animal spirit being feparated from the blood, and circulated through the brain for the purposes of motion, fenfation, and life. This, he very judiciously obferves, would be a fecretion of the living principle itfelf, which is an abfurdity. The nerves originating from the brain, cerebellum, and fpinal marrow, are the medium of conveyance to the living principle; the power and quantity of which feems to be more confiderable in certain conditions of the brain and nerves; an inexplicable phæno

menon.

A degree of heat from 96 to 98, of Farenheit's thermometer is neceffary to fupport the living principle; which poffeffes to a certain degree the power of refifting the effects of heat and cold.

The principle of life exifts from the time of conception, though the first vital motion obfervable in the chick, is the punctum faliens, or beginning of the heart's motion. Analogy leads us to conclude, that it is the fame in the human foetus.

Sympathy between the heart and lungs, though feemingly not exifting in the foetus, is fo remarkable as foon as the child is born, that it appears the action of either cannot exift feparately. Hence the recovery of perfons apparently drowned, by blowing air into the lungs, and other phænomena of the fame kind accounted for. Refpiration, the circulation, and heat, appear therefore to be the chief bonds by which the union of the living principle with the body is maintained. Arguments in favour of Mr. John Hunter's opinion, that part of the living principle is inherent in the blood-debility from repeated bleeding-lofs of strength, and even death from fudden and violent hæmorrhages. Blood in circulation undergoing no change at one hundred degrees of heat, while with the fame heat out of the body, it could not be preferved a few hours from putrefaction.

Living principle must be acted upon by the nerves, otherwife it lofes its vigour, and becomes at last extinct. Remains however in the body fome time after the vital functions are deftroyed-May be fufpended and ftimulated into action again-inftance, recovery of perfons apparently drowned. Senfibility of the nerves, and their faculty of conducting the powers of the living principle, greatest during the growth of the body:-hence the gradual declenfion

of