Orientalis Clementini-Vaticana. To those, who, like ourselves, are strongly interested in every thing which concerns the history of the East, we do not hesitate to recommend the little work before us, which contains among other things the following: I. Fata Nestorianismi in Persia. II. Eliæ Episcopi Mukanensis Memorabilia. III. Sabarjesu Damasceni Scholarum in Persia reformatio. IV. Imperium Arabicum sub primis Caliphis propagatum. V. Martyrum Homeritarum Historia. VI. Jacobi cujusdam carmen de Alexandro Magno, metro Jacobitico conscriptum. M. Knös gives, in his Preface, the following account of his undertaking: "Carmina ad apographa Parisiensia accurate exprimenda curavimus, non nisi manifestis erroribus sublatis. Puncta ad finem versuum addita non omisimus, quamvis non semper indicent sensum esse finitum. Conservavimus etiam vocalium signa quamvis ea interdum sensui repugnare viderentur; diligenter caventes, ne quid temere mutaretur. Quæ vero incuria librarii forte fuerint omissa aut mutata, iis emendandis operam dabimus in libello, qui tum versionem latinam particularum ineditarum, tum notas criticas et philologicas continebit." (Præfat. p. iv. v.) M. Knös recommends to his readers the Syriac Grammar published by Professor Adler at Altona in 1784: here we confess that we cannot entirely agree with him. Adler was certainly an eminent scholar; and his work on the Syriac Versions is by far the most valuable treatise we have on the subject: but still the very reason, which induces M. Knös to recommend his Grammar, is the most powerful argument against it. It is very short, and contains scarcely any thing except the paradigms: but Michaelis in the preface to his own Grammar has shown, that a jejune grammar considerably retards the advancement of the pupil; and he makes it pretty plain that in six or even five months, a very respectable knowledge of Syriac may be gained by a student, modo copiosam habeat et divitem grammaticam." We conceive it may be useful to give the following list of Syriac Chrestomathiæ : J. D. Michaelis Syrische Chrestomathie, annexed to his Abhandlung über die Syrische Sprache. 8vo. Göttingen. 1783. Selecta e Scriptoribus Syris, at the end of Adler's Grammatica Syriaca, Altonæ, 1784. 8vo. Præf. ad Grammat. Syr. p. 1. 4to. Halæ. 1784. G. G. Kirsch Chrestomathia Syriaca, small 8vo. Hofz, 1789. Selecta e Scriptoribus Syris, annexed to Tychsen's Grammatica Syriaca, Rostochii, 8vo. 1793. Whoever possesses the above, with the one now before us, will have a very complete and valuable collection. Several copies of Michaelis' Syrische Chrestomathie have been lately imported by Priestley in Holborn, and some of Knös by Boosey, near the Royal Exchange. ART. VII.-A Classical Tour through Italy, exhibiting a View of its Scenery, its Antiquities, and its Monuments; with an account of the present state of its Cities and Towns, and occasional observations on the recent Spoliations of the French. By the Rev. JOHN CHETWODE EUSTACE. 4 Vols. 8vo. Third Edit. Mawman. 1815. WE consider some apology due to our readers for this tardy notice of a work so important as the present: for who does not feel his appetite for information sharpened by reading the title of "A Classical Tour through Italy"-that land of poesy and arts -the bare mention of which always awakens so many pleasing recollections? The epithet Classical sufficiently points out the character, and the object of the work-which is, to trace the resemblance between modern and ancient Italy, and to take for guides and companions in the beginning of the nineteenth century, the writers that preceded or adorned the first century of our æra. The author has, of course, made a free use of the incidents of ancient history; and has dwelt with complacency on the finer poetical descriptions. The severity of criticism might, perhaps, be disposed to censure his citations from the Latin poets and historians as too profuse; but it must be allowed that they are made judiciously, and seem to spring spontaneously from the soil he is treading. In a Preliminary Discourse he offers a variety of interesting observations on architecture, medals, sculpture, painting, music, &c. chiefly intended for the information of young and inexperienced travellers. We cannot forbear an extract. "Nations, like individuals, have their characteristic qualities, and these, like the features of the face, are more prominent and conspicuous in southern countries: and in these countries perhaps the traveller may stand in more need of vigilance and circumspection to guard him against the treachery of his own passions, and the snares of external seduction. Miserable indeed will he be, if he shall use the liberty of a traveller as the means of vicious indulgence, abandon himself to the delicious immorality (for so it has been called) of some luxurious capital, and forgetful of what he owes to himself, to his friends, and to his country, drop one by one, as he advances, the virtues of his education, and of his native land, and pick up in their stead the follies and vices of every cliinate which he may traverse. When such a wanderer has left his innocence and his health at Naples; when he has resigned his faith and his principles at Paris; he will find the loss of such inestimable blessings poorly repaid by the languages which he may have learned, the antiques which he may have purchased, and the accomplishments he may have acquired in his journey." The Tour opens with the author's departure from Vienna with Lord Brownlow (with whom he was travelling) and some other gentlemen. The reader is conducted from Munich to Saltzburgh, and after a view of the celebrated salt mines at this latter place, is led through a defile of the Alps to Inspruch. The passage of the Alps, in the way to Trent, affords Mr. Eustace an opportunity to display his powers of description, which, as the reader will have frequent opportunities of judging, are of no mean kind. In the second chapter we find the author at Verona, and with his description of this celebrated place, we will introduce him to our readers. "Verona is beautifully situated on the Adige, partly on the declivity of a hill, which forms the last swell of the Alps, and partly on the skirts of an immense plain, extending from these mountains to the Appennines. The hills behind are adorned with villas and gardens, where the graceful cypress and tall poplar predominate over the bushy ilex and spreading bay tree. The plains before the city are streaked with rows of mulberry trees, and shaded with vines climbing from branch to branch, and spreading in garlands from tree to tree. The devastation of war had not a little disfigured this scenery, by stripping several villas, levelling many a grove, and rooting up whole rows of vines and mulberry trees. But the hand of industry had already begun to repair these ravages, and to restore to the neighbouring hills and fields their beauty and fertility. The interior of the town is worthy of its situation. It is divided into two unequal parts by the Adige, which sweeps through it in a bold curve, and forms a peninsula, within which the whole of the ancient, and the greater part of the modern city, is enclosed. The river is wide and rapid, the streets, as in almost all continental towns, are narrower than ours, but long, strait, well built, and frequently presenting in the form of the doors and windows, and in the ornaments of their cases, fine proportions and beautiful workmanship. But besides these advantages, which Verona enjoys in common with many other towns, it can boast of possessing one of the noblest monuments of Roman magnificence now existing; I mean its amphitheatre, inferior in size, but equal in materials and solidity to the Coliseum..... As it is not my intention to give an architectural account of this celebrated edifice, I shall merely inform the reader, in order to give him a general idea of its vastness, that the out ward circumference is 1290 feet, the length of the arena 218, and its breadth 129; the seats are capable of containing 22,000 spectators." After passing through Padua, of whose public buildings and celebrated University an accurate description is given, our travellers embark on the Brenta, and arrive at Venice. "The city was then faintly illuminated by the rays of the setting sun, and, rising from the waters, with its numberless domes and towers, attended, if I may be allowed the expression, by several lesser islands, each crowned by its spires and pinnacles, presented the appearance of a vast city, rising out of the very bosom of the ocean." After enlarging on the beauty, the magnificence, and the glories of Venice, our author very feelingly laments, that liberty which raised these pompous edifices in a swampy marsh is now no more; that the bold independence, which filled a few lonely islands, the abode of sea-mews and cormorants, with commerce and an overflowing population, is at length bowed down into slavery. The cruelty of destroying a republic so respectable in history, he attributes to Bonaparte; and he inveighs with bitterness against the rapacity of the French, not only in robbing it of the most splendid monuments, but in breaking or disfiguring what they could not carry away. "Highwaymen," exclaims Mr. Eustace with honest indignation, "highwaymen spare a seal, a ring, a trinket to indulge the feelings of the owner; housebreakers refrain from damaging furniture which they cannot carry away, yet such is the peculiar cast of this people, that their armies at Venice, in every town in Italy, and indeed in almost every country they have overrun, have uniformly added insult to rapacity, and have wounded the feelings, while they plundered the property, of the inhabitants." Our author returned to Padua by the Brenta, and made an excursion to the tomb of Petrarcha at Arquato, a village situated among the Euganean mountains. "His body lies in the churchyard of the village, in a stone sarcophagus, raised on four pillars, and surmounted with a bust. As we stood and contemplated the tomb by the pale light of the moon, we indulged the caprice of the moment; and twining a branch of laurel into the form of a crown, placed it on the head of the bust, and hailed the manes of the Tuscan poet in the words of his admirer: 'Deh pioggia, o venti rio non faccia scorno ALESS. PICEOLOMINI. Several of the inhabitants who had gathered round us during this singular ceremony, seemed not a little pleased with the whim, and cheered us with repeated Viva's as we passed through the village, and descended the hill." pro Lago di Garda or Benacus, the river Mincius, and the montory of Sirmio, are described with a classical enthusiasm peculiar to Mr. Eustace. Passing through Mantua, a name sacred to poetic recollection, our travellers pursue a circuitous route through Cremona, Placentia, Parma, and Modena, and reach Loretto. In the way thither a thousand beautiful passages of the Poets are happily illustrated by reference to the scenery of the spot. Mr. Eustace treats the legend of the Santa Casa at Loretto, with the contempt it justly merits; and when it is known that he is a Catholic clergyman, this mark of the liberality of his mind will entitle him to some admiration. Indeed the same unfettered spirit breathes throughout the whole work; and though he views every thing Catholic with enthusiasm, this enthusiasm never leads him into extremes, but imparts a character of warmth and earnestness which is every way desirable. The neighbourhood of Placentia and the celebrated falls of the Velino furnish abundant matter for interesting description. But Rome is the promised land which is to repay our Author for all the toils of his peregrination; and we are induced to pass over much that might delight, between the Alps and this city, that we may expatiate amidst the monuments of ancient and modern renown by which it has been and is distinguished. At a few miles distance from Ostricoli, the Tiber first bursts upon the view of the travellers; and on the heights above Baccano the postillions stop, and, pointing to a pinnacle that appears between two hills, exclaim" Roma!" That pinnacle is the cross of St. Peter's the stately ornament of the Eternal City. Our limits do not allow us to follow Mr. Eustace through the extensive range which he takes among the ancient ruins, as well as among the modern edifices, of Rome. He descends to the minutest particulars, so that to those who shall visit those memorable scenes, this work must prove invaluable. We cannot pass St. Peter's unnoticed-to do so would be impious. "Alighting, we instantly hastened to St. Peter's, traversed its superb court, contemplated in silence its obelisk, its fountains, its colonnade, walked up its lengthening nave, and before its altar offered up our grateful acknowledgments in the noblest temple that human skill ever raised to the honour of the Creator. Next morning we renewed our visit, and examined it more in detail: the preceding day it had been somewhat veiled by the dimness of the evening; it was now lighted up by the splendours of the morning sun. The rich marbles that compose its pavement and line its walls, the paintings that adorn its cupolas, the bronze that enriches its altars and railings, the gilding that lines the pannels of its vault, the mosaics that rise one above the other in brilliant succession up its dome, shone forth in all their varied colours. Its nave, its aisles, its transepts, expanded their vistas, and hailed the spectator wherever he |