the parties, and the old man crowns his blessing with a liberal settlement. The story, such as it is, must impress the reader who will peruse the two volumes, with a very favourable idea of the class of German society which it introduces to his notice. ART. XVI. I. Lusradi del Camoens, recati in ottava Rima. Da A. Briccolini. 16mo. pp. 377. Paris: Firmin Didot. 1826. THE Lusiad is a poem that is known all over the world, because translations of it have appeared in all the modern languages of Europe. Towards the middle of the 17th century, it appeared in Italian, being translated, although feebly, by Charles Paggi. The new translation, by Briccoloni, is worthy of being placed on a level with the noblest undertakings of poetic talent, that have ever appeared in this department of literature. The style of it is pure and noble, the diction animated and picturesque ; and the imagery is preserved with a fidelity that diminishes none of its native beauty. He has frequently introduced into his translation, and with a rare felicity, whole verses, and sometimes hemistichs from the great epic poets of Italy. But he has succeeded, particularly, in those bold descriptions that belong peculiarly to Camoens, and which discover all the energies of genius, with which the bard of Lusitania was gifted. The limits of this article do not permit us to give long quotations; it will be sufficient to transcribe only two or three stanzas, in which Triton, the messenger of Neptune, is described, who, by the sound of his marine shell, assembled all the inferior gods in the crystal palace of the sovereign of the ocean. The originality of the sentiments of the author is rendered, by this able translator, with suitable energy of style : Era giovine, grande, orrido e nero, L'aer d' intorno e tutto il mar rintrona.'-Canto vi. ART. XVII. El Traductor Espanol; or, a new and Practical System for Translating the Spanish Language. By Mariano Cubi y Soler. 8vo. pp. 225. 8s. London: Boosey & Sons. 1826. AMONG the number of works which have been lately published in this country, with the view of facilitating the acquisition of the Spanish language, we think the volume whose title we have here given, deserves a prominent station. It has been the object of the learned author to grapple chiefly with those difficulties, which a foreigner finds most stubborn when he sits down to make himself master of the splendid dialect of the Peninsula. Thus, for example, the Spaniards are in the habit of writing the verb and the pronoun as if both formed only one word; as Hicieronlo—they did it ; Levantóse-he rose up; and we know, from our own experience, that the task of separating the verb from the words with which it is united, is one of the most perplexing obstacles which an Englishman has to get over in learning Spanish. In the lessons which Mr. Cubi y Soler has provided for his pupil, he has marked, in italics, the verb on all such occasions, and thus removes one of the first, and not least important, of his difficulties. Another advantage secured in this little work is this, that most of the words contained in the very excellent lessons which he has selected from the best writers, are translated in a copious vocabulary, which occupies half the volume. The value of this vocabulary will be felt by those who know how exceedingly imperfect are all the Spanish-English dictionaries which we possess, particularly in the explanation of technical terms, and in the names of places. There is no European language, we believe, which abounds more in idioms than that of Spain. Several collections of these idioms have been published, but these are not only difficult to be remembered en masse, they often mislead the student, as the same idiom has often different meanings, according to the occasion upon which it is used, or the place which it occupies in a sentence. In the volume before us, they are explained as they occur in the context, as well as the peculiar niceties of expression, and intricacies of grammar, connected with them. Several other advantages are offered to the student in this work, which we need not enumerate, as those which we have specified, ought to be quite sufficient to recommend it to his attention. ART. XVIII. Storia della Polonia dal tempo dei Sarmati fino a' di nostri, compitata dall' abate S. Ligurti. 2 vols., 12mo. Milano. 1825. It is perhaps not generally known, that considerable intercourse existed, some centuries ago, between Italy and Poland. The communications between these two, however remote countries, on matters of religion, commerce, sciences and arts, were intimate and frequent. The popes exerted, at one time, the greatest influence on the affairs of the kingdom of Poland. Intermarriages also took place between the Polish kings and the sovereign Italian families; among others, Sigismond I. married Bona Sporza, of the family of the Dukes of Milan, of that name. Italian auxiliaries served in the Polish armies, under Sigismond III.; and the Great Sobieski, against their Muscovite and Turkish enemies. At the fall of the Florentine republic, and the elevation of the grand duke Cosmo I., many Tuscan patriots took refuge in Poland, and found there hospitable reception; and there are letters written by the king of Poland to the grand duke, Francis I., to obtain an amnesty for the exiles. The order of Jesuits formed also a great link between the two countries, by means of the numerous Italian members of that community, who resided in, or visited Poland, for the purposes of their institution. Several Italian writers, in the 17th century, published accounts of the affairs of Poland, and partial sketches of its history. Among others, we have the history of the revolutions which took place in the years 1606-7-8, by Cilli, published at Pittoia, in 1627; a history of the civil wars of Poland, by Vimine, published at Venice, in 1671; an account of the holy league entered into by his Polish majesty and the most serene republic of Venice, against the Turks, in 1684,' Venice, 1685; a history of the troubles of Poland, after the death of the empress Elizabeth Petrowna, by Casanova. In the letters of Monsignor Ciampoli, a Florentine prelate, which were published at Florence, in 1650, many accounts are to be found relative to Polish affairs, as well as several letters of king Uladislaus IV. to Ciampoli himself, who had been commissioned by that monarch to write a history of Poland,-a labour which Ciampoli undertook, but which he was prevented by death from completing. Ciampoli's papers, however, were sent to the king, but in the subsequent invasion of the Swedes, they were lost, together with all the memoirs collected for the same purpose by Uladislaus. During the 18th century, the connexion between Italy and Poland, and consequently the interest which the Italians had taken in the affairs of the latter country, diminished, and at last ceased entirely. In 1807, when Napoleon talked of 'changing the destinies of Poland,' and gave out promises which he never realized, Tambroni published a Compendia delle Storie della Polonia,' which, however, only comes down to the reign of Uladislaus IV. Ligurti is therefore the first Italian who has attempted to give a complete history of Poland. However, his performance is far from complete and satisfactory. After a desultory account of the annals of the country, borrowed from other writers, he gives a garbled description of the manners and customs of that gallant people; and speaking, at last, of its erasement from the list of independent nations, in 1794, he shews his political bias, by saying, that the mass of the people, and especially the peasantry, are much better under the dominion of a single and powerful lord, who resides at Petersburg, Vienna, or Berlin, than under a thousand little despots scattered over all the surface of the country, which was the case under their feudal nobility.' 6 Passing over the incorrectness of speaking of one powerful lord, when, in fact, there are three who rule over the fragments of ancient Poland, viz. the king of Prussia, and the emperors of Russia and Austria, it might be asked of Mr. Ligurti, whether this powerful lord is not obliged to trust to hundreds and thousands of subordinate officers, civil and military, for the administration of his distant Polish territories; and whether some of these agents may not, by their arbitrary conduct, add to the abuses of the old native nobility, who still, it must be observed, retain their feudal rights over their vassals, although they have lost their political influence in the state? But another unpardonable fault of Mr. Ligurti is, his omitting to speak of the present kingdom of Poland, as re-modelled by the late emperor, Alexander, since the last general peace, out of the territory of Napoleon's duchy of Warsaw, conquered by Russia. This kingdom, which our historian does not deign even to mention, forms, however, a distinct state, of about three millions of inhabitants; has its own native administration; its senate or representative assembly, or diet; a constitution or charter, given to it by Alexander; a national army of forty thousand men, well disciplined, commanded by the Cesarowitz Constantine; an university erected at Warsaw, in 1817, by the emperor Alexander; a lyceum, a literary society or academy, and a magistracy, stiled commission of worship and public instruction,' which presides over all the schools of the kingdom. This kingdom of Poland is annexed to the crown of the Czars, nearly in the same manner as Hungary is to the Austrian empire, the emperor of Russia styling himself king of Poland. Besides this kingdom, there are Lithuania, and the other Polish provinces, incorporated with the Russian empire, which contain about seven millions of people, Gallicia, which belongs to Austria, and the territories of Posen and Thorne, with the city of Dantzick, which have remained in the hands of Prussia. The city of Cracow, and its district, form a small republic, having a constitution and a senate. All these important, actual arrangements are left out in Mr. Ligurti's history of Poland. We must add, however, that another Italian, better qualified for the task of a historian, Professor Ciampi, of Pittoia, well known in the republic of letters for several works of erudition and research, has announced, some time past, a work under the title of Gl' Italiani in Polonia, in which will be inserted a number of hitherto unpublished letters and curious documents, collected with great labour by the learned professor, and which, in detailing the early and long connexions between the Poles and the Italians, will throw considerable light upon the history of the former nation. ART. XIX. Some Account of the Life, Writings, and Speeches of William Pinkney. By Henry Wheaton. 8vo. pp. 616. Wheaton. 1826. New York. THIS work consists of two parts. The first contains a biographical memoir of Mr. Pinkney, in which the facts are illustrated and explained by different fragments of his correspondence with several distinguished persons, in the United States. In the second part we have his speeches, as well as his opinions, and some dissertations on public matters, in which he was employed. Born at Anapolis, in Maryland, on the 17th of March, 1764, of English parents, who adhered to the cause of the mother-country in the war of independence, the young Pinkney evinced, at an early period of his life, the strongest attachment to the liberties of America. He was educated for the bar, and became distinguished in his profession. In 1790 he was elected a member of Congress, and in 1796 he was sent on a mission to this country, where he resided until 1804. He then returned to America, and resumed his profession for a while, but was again appointed to the English mission in 1801, and he remained here until 1811, chiefly occupied in negociations concerning the grand question of neutrals and the laws of navigation, as they related to maritime and continental blockades. Upon his return he was appointed Attorney General of the United States. He took a very considerable share in the discussions which arose out of the war with this country in 1812; and in 1814 he gave in his resignation. It is a curious instance of the facility with which the Anglo-Americans vary their occupations, that in 1815 we find him commanding a corps of volunteers, embodied for the defence of Washington against the attack made upon it by the British forces. On this occasion he was severely wounded. Upon his recovery he still followed his profession, and was elected to represent the city of Baltimore. In 1816 he was sent as minister plenipotentiary to Petersburg, and on his way, according to the wise economy of the United States, he was instructed to touch at Naples, and to demand an indemnity for the losses sustained by the commerce of America, in conséquence of confiscations, which took place by virtue of the order of Murat. He then proceeded to Russia, and after having remained there two years, he requested to be recalled on account of his bad health. He was next named to the senate by the legislature of Maryland, and was actively engaged in the performance of his duties, when his labours were terminated by death, on the 25th of February, 1822. His speeches are more distinguished for the closeness and shrewdness of argument than for eloquence. Mr. Pinkney was a useful and industrious public character; but he had no claim to that brilliant reputation which his biographer has endeavoured to attach to his memory. ART. XX. Sui vantaggi delle Statistiche, di Melchiorre Gioia. 8vo. pp. 57. Milano. 1826. THE Science of political economy was, at one time, in high estimation in Italy; a collection of the Italian economists was published under Napoleon's reign, by Custodi, in no less than fifty volumes 8vo. The first Italian professorship of political economy was established towards the middle of the last century, in the University of Naples, through the exertions, and at the expense of Bartollomeo Intieri, a Florentine. Genoveli, the first professor, then wrote his "Lectures on Commerce;" and, cotemporarily with him, flourished the celebrated Galiani, Pietro Verri, Mengotti, Carli, and others, whose names are known even beyond the precincts of Italy. From the wisdom of these men, the administration and the people of Italy were beginning to reap practical benefit, when foreign invasion, revolutions, and all the calamities in their train, arrested every useful reform. In Tuscany, however, thanks to the good sense of its government, and the spirit of its citizens, political economy has continued to attract the attention of both rulers and ruled, and the Academia de' Georgofili, at Florence, is still usefully engaged in discussing various important questions connected with the agriculture and the commerce of that country, At Naples, also, De Weltz, has lately published La Magia del credito, 2 vols. 4to, in which he exposes the principles of finances and of public credit; a work which is spoken very highly of. We have already (p. 472) enumerated Gioia's principal works. We omitted his Esercizio logico sugli errori d'ideologia e zoologia' (1824), in which he examines the causes, the nature, and the duration of opinions and errors among men. In the following year (1825), he wrote some reflections on a work of Bonstellen (L'homme du midi et l'homme du Nord), in |