of being a companion to the firft of their nobility, and the king's ftranger and guett; which is there a character, as it was with eaftern nations of old,' to which a certain fort of confideration is due. It was in vain to compare myself with them in any kind of learning, as they have none; mufic they have as little; in eating and drinking they were indeed infinitely my fuperiors; but in one accomplishment that came naturally into comparifon, which was horsemanhip, I ftudiously established my fuperiority.

6

My long refidence among the Arabs had given me more than ordinary facility in managing the horfe; I had brought my own faddle and bridle with me, and, as the reader will find, bought my horfe of the Eaharnagafh in the first days of my journey; fuch a one as was neceffary to carry me; and him I trained carefully, and studied from the beginning. The Abyffinians, as the reader will hereafter fee, are the worst horfemen in the world. Their horfes are bad, not equal to our Welsh or our Scotch galloways. Their furniture is worfe. They know not the use of fire-arms on horseback ; they had never seen a double-barrelled gun, nor did they know that its effect was limited to two difcharges, but that it might have been fired on to infinity. All this gave me an evident fuperiority.

To this I may add, that, being in the prime of life, of no ungracious figure, having an accidental knack, which is not a trifle, of putting on the drefs, and speaking the language eafily and gracefully, I cultivated with the utmost affiduity the friendship of the fair fex, by the most modeft, refpectful diftant attendance and obfequiousness in public, abating juft as much of that in private as fuited their humour and inclinations. I foon acquired, a great fupport from thefe at court; jealousy is not a paffion of the Abyffinians, who are in the contrary extreme, even to indifference.

• Befides the money I had with me, I had a credit of 400l. upon Youfef Cabil, governor of Jidda. I had another upon a Turkish merchant there. I had ftrong and general recommendations, if I fhould want fupplies, upon Metical Aga, firft minifter to the fherriffe of Mecca. This, well managed, was enough; but when I met my countrymen, the captains of the Englifh fhips from India, they added additional ftrength to my finances; they would have poured gold upon me to facilitate a journey they fo much defired upon feveral accounts. Captain Thornhill of the Bengal Merchant, and Captain Thomas Price of the Lion, took the conduct of my money affairs under their direction. Their Saraf, or broker, had in his hands all the commerce that produced the revenues of Abyffinia, together with great part of the correfpondence of the Eaft; and, by a lucky accident for me, Captain Price staid all winter with the Lion at Jidda; nay, fo kind and anxious was he as to fend over a fervant from Jidda on purpose, upon a report having been raised that I was flain by the ufurper Socinios, though it was only one of my fervants, and the fervant of Metical Aga, who were murdered by that monfer, as is faid, with his own hand. Twice he fent over filver to me when I had plenty of gold, and wanted that metal only to apply it in furniture and workmanship. I do not pretend to fay but fometimes these supplies failed me, often by my negligence in not applying

in proper time, fometimes by the abfence of merchants, who were all Mahometans, conftantly engaged in bufinefs and in journies, and more especially on the king's retiring to Tigré, after the battle of Limjour, when I was abandoned during the ufurpation of the unworthy Socinios. It was then I had recourfe to Petros and the Greeks; but more for their convenience than my own, and very seldom from neceffity. This opulence enabled me to treat upon equal footing, to do favours as well as to receive them.

• Every mountebank trick was a great accomplishment there; fuch as making fquibs, crackers, and rockets. There was no station in the country to which, by thefe accomplishments, I might not have pretended, had I been mad enough to have ever directed my thoughts that way; and I am certain that in vain I might have folicited leave to return, had not a melancholy defpondency, the amor patriæ, seized me, and my health fo far declined as apparently to threaten death; but I was not even then permitted to leave Abyffinia till under a very folemn oath I promised to return.

This manner of conducting myself had likewife its difadvantages. The reader will fee the times, without their being pointed out to him, in the course of the narrative. It had very near occafioned me to be murdered at Mafuah; but it was the means of preferving me at Gondar, by putting me above being infulted or queftioned by priets, the fatal rock upon which all other European travellers had Split: it would have occafioned my death at Sennaar, had I not been fo prudent as to difguife and lay afide the independent carriage in time. Why fhould I not now fpeak as I really think; or why be guilty of ingratitude which my heart disclaims? I escaped by the providence and protection of heaven; and fo little ftore do I fet upon the advantage of my own experience, that I am fatisfied, were I to attempt the fame journey again, it would not avail me a straw, or hinder me from perishing miferably, as others have done, though perhaps a different way.'

By the foregoing obfervations we flatter ourselves that we have not only fatisfied the reader as to the general authenticity of the narrative, but prepared him, in other refpects, either to follow our abridgment, or the author's more ample detail, with advantage. Of a work fo fingular in its principal subject, and which we fear will continue fo for a long period, the public curiofity will require at our hands information more than ufually full. In the next number we shall proceed to indulge this curiofity. Meanwhile we hope it will appear, as much from the nature of our abstract as from our proteftations, that we do not rank among the private friends or enemies of this author; and certainly have no fhare in thofe plots of defamation to which he alludes. The only queftion with us is, how far he has illuftrated geography and natural fcience, and added to our knowledge of mankind. A book of travels may indeed entertain, when it relates more to the perfon of the traveller than the

countries

countries and people he vifits; but this is a very inferior merit, and we fhould be forry if we fhould be obliged to reft here the chief claim of these volumes to public approbation.

[To be continued. ]

ART. VIII. A Treatise on Gun-powder; a Treatife on Fire-arms; and a Treatife on the Service of Artillery in Time of War. Tranflated from the Italian of Alejandro Vittorio Papacino D'Antoni, Major-General in the Sardinian Army, and Chief Director of the Royal Military Academies of Artillery and Fortification at Turin. By Captain Thomjon, of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. 8vo. boards. 8s. Egerton. London, 1789.

O the glory of England, while fhe has cultivated the arts of peace, almoft beyond the example of any nation, she has like wife given to the world fome of the moft valuable productions on the deftructive, indeed, but important and neceffary fcience of war. It was the fublime and penetrating genius of Newton that explored the laws which govern the system of nature; and the celebrated Robins, actuated with the fame fpirit of philofophical inquiry, first established the theory of projectiles on any certain foundation; in which he has been followed with great abilities by Dr. Hutton, the prefent profeffor of the royal academy at Woolwich. Amongst the foreigners who have cultivated this art, the most confpicuous is M. D'Antoni, the author of the treatise now before us. The works of this eminent Italian confift of thirteen volumes in octavo, of which we shall give a fhort account, The first of his productions was on the examination of powder. The author, confidering fire as the bafis of all experiments upon gunpowder, fets out with giving a definition of that element; and, after inveftigating its effects on bodies, and pointing out the feveral modifications to which it is liable, he proceeds to an analyfis of fulphur, charcoal, and faltpetre; the properties of which he confiders, both individually and collectively, as in the manufacture of gun-powder, of which he defcribes the various forts. He next deduces a theory of the inflammation of powder, with a number of practical inferences, which, in general, coincide with the refults of experiments made in this country. In the fecond part, after expatiating upon the difficulty of measuring the force of ignited gun-powder, and thence inferring the impoffibility of determining it with precifion in military operations, he investigates the initial velocity of projectiles, with the law of their impulfion, and concludes his inquiry with experiments on the resistance of

the air.

In the fecond treatise, relative to fire-arms, the author applies to practice the principles which he had established in the former, He begins with obfervations on the refiftance of fire-arms; ex amining the hardness and tenacity of the metals employed in their conftruction, and giving at the fame time the method of refining and fufing them, with remarks on the feveral proportions în which they are to be combined. Making afterwards fome obfervations on the windage, figure, length, and cafting, of brafs guns and mortars, he points out the inconveniences arising from the running at the vent,' and concludes with the feveral methods of proving and examining new guns. The fecond part of the treatife relates to projectiles. Here he explains the duty of an artillery-officer, both on battery and in the field, as far as regards the initial velocity of fhot, the path of the fhot's flight, and its effects upon works; calculating the number of men that may be killed or wounded in action, both by round and cafe-fhot, fired from guns of different calibres, at various pofitions of the enemy. He draws a comparison between the effects of the howitzers and field-pieces, and finishes with a chapter on fhells projected from mortars.

The author, proceeding in the natural order of investigation, treats, in the third work, of the fervice of artillery in time of war, and begins with the attack of places. He first developes the difpofitions for laying fiege to a fortified town, and determines the proportion of guns and ftores for the attack of fortreffes. He next treats of the precautions neceffary to be taken for infuring the fafety of the convoys; the fituation of the park; the conftruction of the first, second, and third batteries; the attack of the countermines, and the furrender of the place; diftinguishing the feveral kinds of fieges, and giving directions for difmantling and blowing up the works of a reduced fortrefs. The fecond part comprehends the whole fcience of defence; enlarging particularly on the subject of mining, and delivering rules for the defence of a place constructed on a system of demolition. The third part treats of the field-fervice of artillery. The author, in order to give artillery-officers an adequate idea of this effential branch of their profeffion, takes a view of the formation of an army, and the fyftem of tactics; laying down, at the fame time, difpofitions for the march and encampments of armies, and for parking the artillery. He afterwards delineates the method of difpofing the artillery in the day of action and explains its ufe in the attack and defence of field-works, with the principles, of their conftruction, either for covering a country or entrenching an army; and concludes with the duties to be performed in cantonments and winter quarters.

The three treatifes above mentioned form the fubject of the present work, which contains a complete fyftem of artillery and engineering. In this art, as in every other province of human inquiry, there will always be a diverfity of opinions; and future experiments alone can determine with refpect to their comparative juftness. The principles of M. D'Antoni fometimes militate against the conclufions of the ingenious and learned Dr. Hutton but we would not, on that account, confider the tranflation of the Italian work as fuperfluous; fince the points on which thofe eminent men agree may be regarded as fixed axioms, and thofe in which they differ may prove the means of exciting farther inveftigation. Dr. Hutton, for instance, affirms that no ftress whatever is to be laid on the wadding of guns, with respect to increafing the force of the charge. D'Antoni, however, afferts the contrary; and in this he is supported by Colonel Thomson, who has favoured the world with several ingenious papers on gunnery. We fhall lay before our readers a few obfervations on this fubject, taken from the tranflator's preface:

There are fome points in which M. D'Antoni differs widely from the commonly received opinions: in his proportion of ordnance and ftores for the attack and defence of places, he omits howitzers and includes a large proportion of mortars. It is doubtlefs an object highly worthy the attention of profeffional men to investigate, how far mortars can, in moft cafes, fupply the place of howitzers. The abfurd idea of fixing them in their beds at a certain elevation, is at length, to the credit of the prefent day, in a fair way of being exploded: the adoption of Captain Lawfon's mode of elevation, which feems, at once to unite ftrength and fimplicity, the two leading features in military mechanics, will go far toward the completion of this object. The field-howitzer, notwithstanding the apparent fairnefs of M. D'Antoni's comparifon, will ftill maintain its ground it is true, as he afferts, that the moral effects of howitzer-fhells cannot be calculated; yet, fuch is the conftitution of human nature, that though we cannot ascertain to mathematical precifion the force of terror, we are nevertheless certain that it works wonderful effects on the most stupid as well as on the most enlightened minds. His general condemnation of light fhort guns is deduced from the faireft of all principles: the only true criterion to judge of the efficacy of field artillery, is their relative effects when compared with mufquets; whenever the fire of artillery can only produce an effect a little greater than a few miles of mufqueteers can, no man who confiders impartially the advantages and disadvantages attending the use of each fire-arm will hefitate to declare that the artillery fhould be difufed. In faying this there is no reafon to dread that artillery will lofe any of its credit; profeffional men will ever know how to eftimate its confequence; it is only by bringing forward guns that cannot produce the effect expected from them, that the fervice of artillery can be brought into disrepute.'

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