depression. It will appear, from the following Invitation to the gold coast, that this shrewd and industrious power is not unmindful of those maxims of colonial policy, the observance of which, in former times, contributed so materially to uphold her commercial and naval re nown. “As the maintaining of a Dutch settlement on the coast of Guinea has for its object, not only to benefit trade, but also to derive all possible advantage from the fruitful soil of Africa, for the cultivation of colonial produce, and to make use of it for the mother country, it may not be unimportant to the public to be informed, that all persons or families, who are not wholly without resources of their own, and who may be inclined to settle on the gold coast, in the neighbourhood of d' Elmina, will receive every possible facility on the part of government. The European colonists may advantageously employ their knowledge and their industry in the cultivation of that fertile country; and the colonization of this Netherland possession, which, as well as the trade to those parts, will receive every encouragement from the state. The department of trade and colonies affords more particular information to all such as desire it." The eye to trade, so significant in this paragraph, still is the distinguishing characteristic, and probably ever will be, of Dutchmen; and if to this be added, profound views in political economy, such as gave a lasting name to the great De Witt and his followers, in the annals of their country, we may regard them as sure prognostics of returning prosperity. In proof of the increase of Dutch commerce, it is sufficient to state that, by a careful enumeration made on the 19th September last, seven hundred and nine vessels were ascertained to be lying before the city of Amsterdam alone. Contrasting this with a period when, under the reign of despotism, grass was literally growing on its exchange, what an important improvement has been effected, happily for the interests of the nation, in all the departments of active life! in navigation, in foreign adventure, in manufactures, (to supply it and home consumption) in the employ for population, always attracted by demand, nourished and maintained by trade! That the government of the Netherlands views these matters in a proper light, we are disposed to infer from another circumstance. Several linen manufacturers of the district of Cambray (where the fine cambrics are made,) having represented that many of the thread looms were unemployed, for want of means to purchase thread, the king, on the report of the minister of the interior, ordered that the sun of 100,000 Dutch florins should be advanced to those manufacturers. The latest advices from Great Britain bring nothing of consequence to require our notice. Of Spain and South America, it is our intention to treat at large, on some early occasion, among the leading articles of a future number, to which opportunity we postpone our farther observations. ART. XIII.-Notoria; or Miscellaneous Articles of Philosophy, Literature, &c. USEFUL ARTS. Mr. Smeaton, the celebrated engineer, made use of the following composition, as a cement in building the Eddystone Light House, near Plymouth, viz. A mixture of Lime of blue Lyas, and Puzzolana in equal quantities. Ed. One of the public societies in the Netherlands has proposed the following as a prize question-which might well deserve the imitation of such Institutions here. What are the faults with which certain kinds of bricks made in this country are chargeable? By what means may they be rendered more perfect? What are the materials and the processes used, for the fabrication of New oats from Russia.-This variety has been sown in the south west of Scotland, during the last and present year, and found to be earlier than any other oat sown in the same neighbourhood; in 1816 it was a fortnight before the Sun oat, which is more forward than the potatoe oat. It will probably gain ground in rich but late soils; and in lands rather coarser and more exposed than what is suitable for the latter, for it is not so liable to shake, though in appearance and habit it is somewhat like it. The Sun oat has become a fa Oil cakes, given to Milch cows, add considerably to the quantity and richness of their yield, without affecting its flavour. That distinguished agriculturist, Mr. J. C. Curwen, in his reports to the Workington Society for the Improvement of Agriculture, states that, in the course of his successful experiments, he finds the best mode of administering the oil cake, to be that of grinding it, mixing it in layers, and boiling it with the chaff, by which means, half the quantity answers better than as much more given in the cake. Oil cake has long been used with success, as the best method of fattening oxen, speedily, for the knife. FINE ARTS. The Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts will be opened in the commencement of May next, and continue six weeks. The objects in view being to display the progress of Painting in the U. States, to assist public judgment, and improve native artists by a comparison of their works, it is confidently hoped that the artists will aid such important purpo ses, by forwarding to the academy some of their works for exhibition, where they will be received with thanks, and preserved with care; if intended for sale, they will please to give their instructions to the academy, addressed to Mr. Francis Hopkinson, secretary to the institution. Female Influence. When Haydn was in England, one of the princes commissioned sir Joshua Reynolds to take bis portrait. Haydn went to the painter's house, and sat to him, but soon grew tired. Sir Joshua, careful of his reputation, would not paint a man of acknowledged genius with a stupid countenance; and deferred the sitting till another day. The same weariness and want of expression occurring at the next attempt, Reynolds went to the prince and informed him of the circumstance, who contrived a stratagem. He sent to the painter's house a pretty German girl in the service of the queen. Haydn took his seat for the third time, and as soon as the conversation began to flag, a curtain rose, and the fair German addressed him in his native language, with a most elegant compliment. Haydn, delighted, overwhelmed the enchantress with questions; his countenance recovered its animation, and sir Joshua rapidly seized its traits. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. Wm. Winston, Esq. late judge advocate of the United States army, has ready for the press a treatise on martial law, and courts martial-in 2 vols. octavo. This compilation is adapted to the army and navy of the United States, with precedents of decisions of courts martial in the United States as well as Great Britain; and the general rules of evidence, alike applicable to courts martial, as the courts of Law, with appendix containing the rules and articles for the government of the army and navy of the United States, and the several laws of congress regulating either. THE ANALECTIC MAGAZINE. APRIL, 1818. ART. I.-Rob Roy, by the author of "Waverley," "Guy Manner ing," and "the Antiquary." 2 vols. 12mo. M. Thomas. Second Philadelphia Edition, with a Glossary. For why? Because the good old rule Sufficeth them; the simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can. Rob Roy's Grave.-WORDSWORTH. THE labours of a powerful intellect applied to works of fiction, confer a value even upon our lighter recreations. Profiting by that eventful novelty of incident, which is calculated to engage while it leads the attention, instruction selects new images in administering its lessons, and contrives to ally the mind by fresh charms to what is generous and great in sentiment, correct and praiseworthy in action. Such may be the uses of these popular works, if guided by reason and sound principle; and it is only to their abuse that we are to attribute unfavourable consequences to the minds and welfare of those who peruse them. A class of writing has of late sprung up from the union of historical fact with the offspring of the imagination, and formed by the masterly hand of a genius that might adorn any path of letters, has established a rank in all the intrinsic properties of good sense and good writing, with the highest walks of the understanding. Since the days of Swift, of Smollett, and of Johnson who, by his Rasselas, shewed that he did not deem this species of composition unworthy of his grave abilities, we have seen no parallel to the searching satire, the humorous descriptions, the morality and pathos, combined indeed in the work before us, but for which we look in each of these writers separately. If La Fontaine, Marmontel, and Le Sage in France derived from their enchanting tales a literary immortality, if upon a like foundation, Goldsmith, Fielding and Richardson have raised the pillars of a lasting fame, the merit of that felicitous combination is as pre-eminent as it is durable, which seems to attain the various excellence we admire in these. It is the distinguishing character of the standards in this line which have survived the test of time, that their portraits, drawn from the life, were not overcharged in the colouring. If we investigate the cause of our satisfaction in dwelling upon them, it is because they seized the weak and the strong points of our nature, placed them in unaffected attitudes, and if not precisely copying actual beings, at least they embodied faithful delineations of their composition. If we look farther, and seek their more solid distinctions, we shall find them in this, that beside rejecting supernatural interferences, banishing tales of wonder, and reducing amour and intrigue within reasonable bounds, they upheld the dignity by establishing the moral, of their fascinating creations. It was for an adherence to these few plain canons of criticism, and a happy skill to "Catch the manners living as they rise" that we could not but remark traits in Waverley of an extraordinary pen. It was a work abounding in those exquisite reaches of thought that belong only to a mind of the highest order. It touched the responsive chords of the heart. The same pursuance of classical manner, of wholesome aims, and instructive attainments, has since continued to produce the effect desired on public feeling. Of all this author's works, Rob Roy has excited the liveliest interest. A belief that the well known talents of Walter Scott were enlisted in the composition, the previous celebrity of the author, whoever he might be, the value of the copy-right,* and, by inference, the sense of its merits entertained by the publisher, influenced, as is reasonable to conclude, by that of the Edinburgh critics-all these circumstances had raised curiosity to the very tiptoe of breathless expectation. It was difficult, no doubt, to satisfy this large demand of interest; a vigorous imagination, deep and extensive reading, profound knowledge of men and manners, fertility of invention a towering faculty, commanding and moulding every resource to the purpose, could alone have inspired a consciousness and ability to meet it; but notwithstanding the local application of some of the incidents, the recourse had occasionally to a Scottish dialect, now lapsing fast into disuse, and, though appropriate enough in the scenes introduced, yet scarcely recommended to a majority of readers here, the fame of Rob Roy has exceeded that of all cotemporaries, and left its merits to be settled with the most distinguished of predecessors. Of the author of such a work we are naturally desirous to know the name and condition, and it is but reasonable to endeavour to discover to whom we are under obligation for instruction and amusement. On this point curiosity remains ungratified, for, in the advertisement to the reader, we recognize the same studied desire of concealment so equivocally expressed in the later editions of Waverley, and which continued and now repeated, * 3000 guineas, or 14,000 dollars. induce the suspicion that some object must exist to influence a mind so independent of either praise or censure, to elude the search of inquiry. This object, we have reason to believe, is altogether unconnected with the merits of the work, for there is in it, as well as the other productions of the same writer, every thing to admire, and nothing morally, or circumstantially, to blame. Neither are there allusions which can excite displeasure, nor, as in the case of Junius provoke personal resentment. But, like Junius, stat nominis umbra. The editor of the following volumes might shelter himself under the plea, that every anonymous writer is, like the celebrated Junius, only a phantom, and that therefore, although an apparition of a more benign, as well as much meaner description, he cannot be bound to plead to a charge of inconsistency in appearing again before the public, when, about two years since in the work called "The Antiquary" he announced that he was, for the last time, intruding in his present capacity.' As if to shift an imputation that might be inconvenient if attached in the main, the humble character of "Editor" seems purposely assumed, and in support of this disguise, the credit of the narrative appears intentionally divided with a supposed unknown hand who supplied its materials. 'It is now about six months since the author, through the medium of his respectable publishers, received a parcel of papers, containing the outlines of this narrative, with a permission, or rather with a request, couched in highly flattering terms, that they might be given to the public, with such alterations as should be found suitable. These were of course so numerous, that, besides the suppression of names, and of incidents approaching too much to reality, the work may in a great measure be said to be new written. Several anachronisms have probably crept in during the course of these changes; and the mottos for the chapters have been selected without any reference to the supposed date of the incidents. For these, of course, the editor is responsible. Some others occurred in the original materials, but they are of little consequence. In point of minute accuracy, it may be stated that, the bridge over the Forth, near the hamlet of Aberfoil, had not an existence thirty years ago. It does not, however, become the editor to be the first to point out these errors; and he takes this public opportunity to thank the unknown and nameless correspondent, to whom the reader will owe the principal share of any amusement which he may derive from the following pages.' We have quoted this introduction with a view to show the ingenuity displayed in leading the mind of the reader to some unfixed and uncertain point where it is left to rest, and diverted from too intense a gaze at the nearer object; as also the desire to have attributed not to himself, but to the unknown and nameless correspondent, the principal share of the work. The motives to this proceeding it is believed are too cogent to weaken its probability. The tale of Rob Roy is unfolded in a narrative of Frank Osbaldistone, the son of an eminent merchant in the city of London, addressed to his friend Will Tresham, detailing an account of his |