knight companion of the order of the Bath; and received in 1774, as a further reward for his services, the appointment of governor and constable of the castle and fortress of Toome. In December 1775, we find him appointed captain general and governor of the southern Caribbee Islands of Grenada, the Grenadines, and Tobago; and on June 10, 1776, advanced to the peerage of Ireland, by the title of Lord Macartney, Baron of Lissanoure, in the county of Antrim. His administration at the Caribbees, gave general satisfaction: and it contributed in no small degice to that gallant resolution with which the island of Grenada was afterwards defended, when attacked and subdued by a superior force under Count d'Estaing in 1779, Lord Macartney was now sent a close prisoner to France; his private fortune was materially injured by the capture; and he had the still further misfortune to lose not only his papers and accounts, but also the mass of observations and materials which he had gathered while travelling through the different states of Europe; and by the accidental firing of a vessel in which Lady Macartney had embarked for Europe, even the duplicates of such as he had thought most worthy preservation. His lordship remained but a short time as a prisoner of war at Limoges, before he was permitted to return to England; and was almost immediately after sent upon a confidential mission to Ireland. Toward the close of 1780 the distracted state of the presidency of Madras led the Court of Directors of the East India Coinpany to name him as the person most proper in their opinion for promoting the tranquillity of the settlement, and the prosperity of their affairs on the coast of Coromandel. On the 21st of June 1781, he arrived before Pondicherry, and the following day landed at Madras, opened his commission, and took possession of his government. He found the situation of affairs on the coast in a more deplorable condition than he could well have imagined. Hyder Ali was in the midst of a victorious career. His successes had enabled him to spread his numerous horse over all the Carnatic. Parties approached daily to the very gates of Madras: and the nabob of Arcot and his family were obliged to take refuge in the town. Under Lord Macartney's direction, confidence in the government was not only revived to individuals, but the troops both in camp and garrison acquired fresh spirit from the marks of attention which were shewn to their demands; and they soon after gave the strongest proofs of ther bravery, discipline, and attachment, in the defeat of Hyder, under Sir Eyre Coote, at Porto Novo. state, however, of the affairs of India, The critical fully justified Lord Macartney's efforts to bring about a general reconciliation with the native powers. The peace with the Mahrattas, was followed by a second, and even a third defeat of Hyder's any; the capture of the Dutch settlements of Sadras, Pulicat, Madepollam, Policat, Jaggernautporam, Bimlipatam, and Negapatam, dissolved the connection which had been formed between that power and Hyder; and the assignment of the reve nues of the Carnatic from the Nabob of Arcot, to Lord Macartney, for the use of the company rendered the termination of 1781 auspicious to the company's affairs. Toward its close Hyder Ali was succee led The next year, however, was calamitous. in his government by Tippoo Salieh; with whom it is more than probable an early peace might have been concluded, could Lord Macartney have acted as be wished. In the account of this part of Lord Macartney's life, Mr. Barrow has entered minutely into the conduct of Gen. Stuart, who was seized by Mr. Staunton, under Lord Macartney's direction, and sent to England as a prisoner. A peace was now concluded with Tippoo. The undue interference of the supreme council at Bengal with the presidency of Madras, however, became a great mortification to Lord Macartney; which only ended with the removal of Mr. Hastings from his government; almost immediately after which, in consequence of the premature restitution which was ordered from England, of the assignment of the Carnatic revenues, Lord Macart ney himself retired from Madras. Previous to his departure, he entered an affidavit and a declaration on the records of the council; the first declaring that from the day of his arrival he had never by himself, or by any other person for hin, directly or indirectly accepted or received for his own benefit, from any person or persons whomsoever, a present or presents of any kind, except two pipes of Madeira wine from two particulae friends, a few bottles of Champagne and Burgundy, and some fruits and provisions of very trifling value. Further that he had confined himself solely to the company's allowances, which were 40,000 pagodás per annum, and the commission and consulage un coral, which, during Source of his government had produced on an average 1000 pagodas per annuu. Thit he had never embezzled or misappropriated any of the company's effects, but had observed his covenants, and acted in all things for their honour and interest. The Declaration stated the exact increase of his property, amounting to 81,796 pagodas. Soon after his return to Europe, Lord Macartney was offered the governinent of Bengal; but making a British peerage the sine qua non of his accepting it, and this not being consonant to the principles in regard to Indian appointments which Mr. Pitt and Mr. Dundas had laid down, the appointment was bestow ed on Lord Cornwallis. After this he retired for six years to Ireland, where he engaged himself principally in the improvement of his paternal estate. In 1792, a more equal and at the same time a more creditable intercourse than had been hitherto kept up, was determined on with China. On this occasion the Court of Directors of the East India Company entered with becoming spirit into the views of Mr. Dundas; and Lord Macartney was looked upon as the only person capable of undertaking the mission with any probability of success. On the 3d of May, 1792, he received his appointment as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary from the king of Great Britain to the emperor of China, and in the month of September set out upon a voyage, the details of which may be found in Sir George Staunton's Authentic Account of the Embassy. On the 5th of September 1791, Lord Macartney landed at Portsmouth, where he had the gratification to find he had not been forgotten by his sovereign, who by patent at Dublin, dated the 1st of March 1794, had been pleased to advance him to the title of Earl Macartney, in the county of Antrim. The winter which immediately followed his return from China, he was permitted to pass at his ease with his friends; but in June 1795, he was again called upon to undertake an important mission to Italy of adelicate and confidential nature From Italy, he returned through Germany, a , and reached England in May 1796: soon after which his Majesty was further pleased to create him a Brush peer, under the title of Baron Macartney, of Parkhurst in Surry. In 1797, he sailed from Portsmouth to take upon him the government of the Cape of Good Hope, which had been conferred, entirely on the ground of fitness. But his health being materially affected, he only stopped there till the 20th of November, 1798; leaving behind him a declaration on record, similar to that which had been left in India. He arrived in England in the month of January, 1799, with a determination to retire wholly from public life. The returns of the gout, to which he had been accustomed for some years, were now quicker and severer than ever; and he felt himself unequal to continual hurry and bustle. He now passed a few years entirely in the society of his friends. During the greater part of the year 1805, the gout continued to hang about him, without advancing to a decided fit; and he continued in a languishing reduced state till the evening of the 31st of March, 1806, when, while reclining his head on his hand, as if dropping into a slumber, he sunk into the arms of death without a sigh, and without a struggle. Such are the particulars minutely detailed by Mr. Barrow; and it must be owned that he has done no ordinary justice to the disinterestedness and unsullied integrity of Lord Macartney. Lord Macartney's character and general characteristics form a sort of corollary at the close, followed by an Appendix of original Letters and documents. The second volume of the Life is formed of the three only writings of Lord Macartney, which appear to have been digested into any thing like the regular shape of Treatises. The first consists of "Extracts from an Account of Russia, 1767." The second contains, "A short Sketch of the Political State of Ireland;" and the third, is "The Journal of his Embassy to China." Of these, the last affords the greatest share of entertainment. To abridge it in an analysis here, would be impossible. One of its most curious articles relates to the population and revenues of that vast country, as they exist within the great wall. The former, stated to Lord Macartney in detail by a Mandarin of high rank, amounted to no less than $38,000,000, the latter are rated in China at two hundred millions of taels, or 66,066,6661. Of Tartary, Lord Macartncy observes, the Chinese are almost as ignorant as we are: scarcely any of them having ever seen it, except a few officers sent on military duty, and persons banished to it for crimes. The Chinese talk of Tartary, as of a country half as big as the rest of the world be siles, but their conceptions of its limits are very dark and confused. Another valuable work, in the class of Biography, has appeared in the late 2 Dr. Dr. HILL'S" Account of the Life and Writings of Dr. Blair." Dr. Hill undertook the task at the express request of his venerable friend; but before he could present the world with the fruit of his labours, he was himself summoned to the grave. Under such circumstances criticism would be disarmed, even did the execution of the task excite severity: but in this instance, we have only to bestow our praise. The work is an honourable memorial of the piety and affection of a grateful pupil, to the memory of a beloved and venerable master. In another Retrospect, we shall give a full detail of its contents. Here also may be noticed the octavo edition of "Isaac Walton's Lives of Dr. Donne, Herbert, Hooker, Sir Henry Wotton, and Bishop Sunderson, with Notes, and a Life of the Author," by Dr. ZOUCH. The price of this work, in the quarto form, was too high to allow of a general circulation. It is now reduced, and we hope its success will be proportionate to its real value. VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. Under this head the number of works we have to mention is but small. One of the most valuable is the "Journal of a Tour in Ireland," in 1806, by Sir RICHARD COLT HOARE, Bart. In the Introduction, which occupies no less than a hundred and nine pages, we are presented with a summary of such authentic particulars as relate to the early periods of Irish History; and more especially to the English affairs in Ireland, in the twelfth century, as related by Giraldus de Barri. Closing with the civil and ecclesiastical divisions of the country. To follow the Journal itself minutely, is unnecessary: Sir Richard Hoare appears to have crossed in the usual way from Holyhead to Dublin; making first a Southern, and afterwards a Northern tour. The accounts of the more interesting curiosities are not confined to mere description, but are accompanied by references and quotations which evince both the learning and researches of the author. As a fair specimen we shall quote the description of the "GIANTS' CAUSEWAY." "Sunday, August 17.-Our intended plans and high expectations were considerably deranged, by the very unfavourable appearance of the morning. Our curiosity to see this far-famed wonder of the North was great and urgent; and the very idea of moping within our dell quarters at Coleraine, was too much for us to support: we proceeded therefore on our journey to the Causeway, which is distant from Coleraine eight long miles. No one object on this tract intervenes, either to amuse the eye, or divert the altention; they must feed by anticipation on the natural curiosities they have in view. Passing by the shell of a large church in ruins, we came to the little village of Bush Mills, situated on the river Bush, which falls over a weir new the bridge; we stopped at a cottage, not far distant from the Causeway, where we found a room for ourselves, and stabling for our horses. "About twelve o'clock the clouds dis persed, and the heavens seem disposed to favour our expedition. Of things so much talked of, we are too apt to form exaggerated ideas; for omne ignotum pro magnifico est, and I know of none, whose praises have been so much vaunted as the Lake of Killarney and the Giants' Causeway; the Southern and Northern wonders of Ireland. When such gigantic epithets are applied to objects, we of course expect to see nature decked in her grandest and most horrid attire; and the idea which my imagination had formed concerning the Causeway, was that of a high and extensive range of basaltic columns, stretching forth boldly into the sea like a stately pier; but from its flatness, the Causeway is totally overlooked, until pointed out by your guide; its detail, however, when examined on the spot, is extremely curious. The surrounding mountains, though rather on a large scale, are not sufficiently varied to give them a beautiful appearance, or columnar enough to give them an impo sing one: in short, the whole of this scenery will prove more satisfactory to the natural philosopher and mineralogist. than to the artist. Having never studied mineralogy, I feel totally incompetent to give either a just or adequate description of this great natural curiosity; but my readers will have no cause to lament my inability, when I lay before them aa account of the Causeway and its basaltes, drawn up by the Rev. Wiliam Hamilton, in his Letters concerning the Norther Coast of Antrim. "The Causeway itself is generally described as a mole or quay, projecting from the base of a steep promontory, some hundred feet into the sea, and is formed of perpendicular pillars of be saltes, which stand in contact with each other other, exhibiting a sort of polygon pavement, somewhat resembling the appearance of a solid honeycomb. The pillars are irregular prisms, of various denominations, from three to eight sides; but the hexagonal columns are as numerous as all the others together. "On a minute inspection, each pillar is found to be separable into several joints, whose articulation is neat and compact beyond expression; the convex termination of one joint always meeting a concave socket in the next; besides. which, the angles of one frequently shoot over those of the other, so that they are completely locked together, and can rarely be separated without a fracture of these parts. "The sides of each column are unequal amongst themselves, but the contiguous sides of adjoining columns are always of equal dimensions, so as to touch in all their parts, "Though the angles be of various magnitudes, yet the sum of the contiguous angles of adjoining pillars, always make up four right ones; so that there are no void spaces among the basaltes, the surface of the Causeway exhibiting to view a regular and compact paveinent of polygon stones. "The outside covering is soft, and of a brown colour, being the earthy parts of the stone, nearly deprived of its metallic principle by the action of the air and of the marine acid which it receives from the sea. "Having spent a few hours in examining the Causeway, we visited a cavern in a little bay to the westward, and not far from the cottage where we had left our chaise. Here the artist will find a grand subject for his pencil, which I was prevented from taking, by a violent and dangerous fall in getting into the cavern. This subterraneous grotto, into which the sea roars with great violence, is certainly worth notice; its entrance has been shut up (and I have reason to think, unlawfully) in order to claim from strangers an admission-fee." Subjoined to the Journal, we have a collection of "General Remarks." The first division of these is appropriated to such objects as lay claim to the most remote antiquity, particularly the rude pillars and cromlechs, supposed to have been erected by the first inhabitants of Ireland. From these Sir Richard Hoare proceeds to the Oratories, Chapels, and round Towers of a period of time less distant: following them with other obMONTHLY MAG. 159. a servations on the Stone Crosses, Earth Works, and Religious Buildings. In regard to "the modern prospect which the capital and its provinces present to the Stranger in Ireland," we cannot but confess that Sir Richard Hoare has drawn most distressing picture. In the "Conclusion" of his work we heartily agree. "If we look to the temperature of the Irish climate, the fertility of its soil, the bays, estuaries, and rivers, with which its provinces are intersected; in short, if we consider the numerous and great advantages which nature has profusely lavished upon this Island, although we must at present lament the want of industry and activity in improving them, yet every one must view with secret satisfaction the latent riches and succour which the mother country may in future times derive from the daughter." A work of a different, and to those who love adventures, certainly of a more striking nature will be found, in "Travels in the Year 1806, from Italy to England, through the Tyrol, Styria, Bohemia, Gullicia, Poland, and Liconia; containing the Particulars of the Liberation of Mrs. Spencer Smith from the Hands of the French Police, and of her subsequent Flight through the Countries above mentioned; effected and written by the MARQUIS DE SALVO. Fastidious critics may possibly express surprise at receiving another quarto from the pen of SIR JOHN CARR SO soon. But we can assure our readers, they will find a source of curious entertainment in the "Tour through Holland, along the right and left Banks of the Rhine, to the South of Germany, made in the Summer and Autumn of 1806." It is inferior to none of his former productions. Sir John Carr opens it with a confession. It was during Lord Lauderdale's negociation that, the war preventing a regular intercourse between this country and Holland, he borrowed a passport from an American friend, and having reached Maesland-sluys, on the other side the Maes, proceeded in a fast-sailing fishing boat to Rotterdam. The stratagem, he says, if not perfectly blameless, was at least an inoffensive one, as he went not to investigate the nakedness of the land, but to view its natives in their ordinary habits, to glide upon their liquid roads, to saunter in their green avenues and flourishing gardens, and trace the wonderful results of that daring and indefatigable ingenuity, which has raised the permanent babitation of man in the 4 N ocean, ocean, and made successful inroads upon the physical order of the universe. Although the deception, he adds, gave no pang to his conscience, it did not escape the lash of many a petty inconvenience, and subjected him more than once to dilemmas that were even perilous. To accompany Sir John Carr minutely, through his travels here, would be impossible; though we cannot help noticing a few of the pictures he has occasionally drawn. One of the most prominent occurs in the character of the King of Holland. The leading features in the constitution of that country, he observes, are the guarantee of the payment of the national debt; the free and unqualified exercise of religion; the predominant authority vested in the king, the establishment of the salique law, for ever excluding females from the throne; the declaration that the minority of any future king shall expire upon his attaining his eighteenth year; that only natives shall be eligible to any offices under the state, exclusive of those immediately appertaining to the king's household; that the yearly revenue of the king shall be two millions of florins, and that the royal residences shall be the palaces of the Hague, in the Wood, and at Soestdyke. "The King," adds Sir John Carr, "has given general satisfaction by the choice he has made of the persons he has nominated to fill the public offices; and if the wishes of one who trespassed a little irregularly upon their shores can avail, the brave, frugal, and indefatigable Hollanders will derive happiness, and, when peace is restored to Europe, prosperity under their new government." Having visited the principal towns in the country, Sir John Carr proceeded from Utrecht to Arnheim, about four miles from which, after passing a bridge of boats at Sevenhal, he entered a small town, at the end of which is the first barrier of the new territories of Prince Joachim, Grand Admiral of France and Duke of Berg. Thence, through Wesel, he pursued his route to Dusseldorf. Cologne, and more particularly Bonn, afford some interesting anecdotes. The wildness of the scenery, however, appears to improve at Andernach and Ehrenbreitstein. But in this part of the work we no longer read, as in Holland, of the content and merriment of the inhabitants, but of the sad reduction of their cities, not only in strength and splendour, but in population. At Coblentz, it is stated, that the inhabitants, canvas awnings: including the garrison and the vale of |