tion, he returned to Switzerland, where he propofed to have fpent the remainder of his life in ftudy and retirement. About three years fince, he paid a vifit to his friends in London; and, lately, gave a proof of the goodnefs of his heart in facrificing every confideration, and quitting his elegant abode, folely to adminifter every confolation in his power to a friend who had lost his lady, one of the most amiable women in England.

He had lately undergone the palliative operation for the hydrocele: but the immediate caufe of his death was the gout in his ftomach. His fufferings were fhort, he enjoyed his ufual flow of fpirits, and converfed with as much gaeity as he writes, the night before his death, remarking, that he thought there was a probability of his enjoying thirteen or fourteen more years of life; but he had not been long in bed before he was feized with excruciating pains. He endeavoured to fwallow fome brandy, but in vain: he then made a fignal for his valet to leave the room, and in a few minutes expired. On the 23d ult. his remains were carried out of town to be depofited in the mafoleum of Lord Sheffield's family in Suffex. Mr Gibbon poffeffed uncommon ftrength of memory, and a mind better stored with knowledge and anecdote, than perhaps any man of the age. His converfation was lively and entertaining in an eminent degree, and will never be forgotten by his friends.

He has left behind him, at his charming houfe at Laufanne, a library, which is one of the beft that was ever felected by an individual; and which he has given, with every thing else indifcriminately, to a young Swifs gentleman, to whom he was remarkably attached.

We are informed that Mr Gibbon has not left any new work for publication; but we hear that among his papers feveral sketches are found, in which are introduced the most eminent characters in Europe, and many interefting circumftances of the times, but in a very imperfect and unfinished state. It is hoped, that his friend Lord Sheffield, who was fo well acquainted with every thought of this extraordinary perfon, and with every cir

Mr Gibbon was of the Literary Club, originally founded by Sir Joshua Reyno's and Dr Johefon, and which has now fubfifted for 30 years.

Of Mr Gibbon's ftyle, and manner of writing it is not poffible to fpeak, without entering into a field far too extenfive for our limits. It is a fubject on which much criticifin has been spent, and much has been written In general, it feems to be allowed, that Mr Gibbon has been accurate both in his chronology and geography, two particulars fo eflential, that they have been called, emphatically, the eyes of hiftory; his geographical defcriptions, indeed, are richand admirable, and often give life to the dry page of detail. Two faults have been found to his style; 1ft, that it is artificial and pompous; 2dly, that it is obfcure and incorrect. The former of thefe, if true, will certainly involve the latter; and to a certain degree the English reader feels the charge. It is to be remembered, that Mr Gibbon's ftyle could not mifs to be invigorated by his daily intercourfe with the most celebrated writers of Greece and Rome; and his refidence abroad, and his intimate acquaintance with the more refined languages of modern Europe, are mentioned as reafons for the alledged pompofity of his language. His obfcurity is attributed, chiefly, to his love of variety, which engages him, in order to avoid the repetition of names, to be too lavish in circumlocution; and to his ftudied attention to unvaried elegance, that has induced him frequently to employ turns of expreffion, which, however forcible, beautiful, and harmonious, are not fufficiently justified by the practice of English Claffics. For the fake of elevation or harmony, he often rejects the common expreffion which naturally prefents itself, and subtitutes one lefs familiar and lefs intelligible. His doctrines and opinions have been fully refuted, upon the principles of true philofophy and enlightened criticifm; they are fuch as every Chriftian, must treat with contempt and indignation.

RE

The Hiflory, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the Weft Indies. By Bryan Edwards, Efq; of the Iland of Jamaica.

AFTER our learned author has treated of the ancient state of the Weft Indies, and their original inhabitants, he proceeds to local hiftory, and the civil concerns of Jamaica, Barbadoes, Grenada, St Vincent's, Dominica, and the feveral Leeward Islands. This concludes the first volume. The fecond volume treats at large of the manners, difpofi tions, and genius, of the prefent inhabitants, black and white; including an hiftorical account of Africa, flavery, and the flave-trade. The latter part of this volume relates wholly to the fyftem of Weft Indian agriculture (an extenfive field, and hitherto unexplored); and the conclufion is appropriated to government and commerce.

The following delineation of the character of the enflaved Negroes, in the 4th book, is drawn with a very masterly hand:

pathy, from the remembrance of mutual affliction.

"But their benevolence, with a very few exceptions, extends no farther. The fofter virtues are feldom found in the bofom of the enflaved African. Give him fufficient authority, and he becomes the most remorfelefs of tyrants. Of all the degrees of wretchednefs endured by the fons of men, the greateft, affuredly, is the mifery which is felt by those who are unhappily doomed to be the flaves of flaves; a moft unnatural relation, which fometimes takes place in the fugar plantations, as, for inftance, when it is found neceffary to inftruct young Negroes in certain trades or handicraft employments. In those cafes it is ufual to place them in a fort of apprenticeship to fuch of the old Negroes as are competent to give them inftruction; but the harfhnefs with which thefe people enforce their authority is extreme; and it ferves, in fome degree, to leffen the indignation which a good mind neceffarily feels at the abuses

"It is no eafy matter, I confefs, to difcriminate thofe circumftances, which are the refult of proximate causes, from thofe which are the effects of national cuftoms and early habits in favage life; but I am afraid that cowardice and diffimulation have been the properties of flavery in all ages, and will continue to be fo to the end of the world. It is a fituation that neceffarily fuppreffes many of the best affections of the human heart. If it calls forth any latent virtues, they are thofe of fympathy and compaflion towards perfons in the fame condition of life; aud accordingly we find that the Negroes in general are frongly attached to their countrymen, but above all to fuch of their companions as came in the fame fhip with them from Africa. This is a striking circumstance: the term ship-mate is understood among them as fignifying a relationship of the moft endearing nature; perhaps recalling the time when the fufferers were cut off together from their common country and kindred, and awakening reciprocal fym VOL. LVI.

of power by the Whites, to obferve that the Negroes themselves, when invefted with command, give full play to their revengeful paffions, and exercise all the wantonnefs of cruelty without restraint or remorse.

"The fame obfervation may be made concerning their conduct towards the animal creation. Their treatment of cattle under their direction is brutal beyond belief. Even the useful and focial qualities of the dog fecure to him no kind ufage from an African mafter. Although there is fcarce a Negro that is not attended by one, they feem to maintain thefe poor animals folely for the purpose of having an object whereon to exercife their caprice and cruelty. And, by the way, it is a fingular circumitance, and not the lefs true for being fomewhat ludicrous, that the animal itfelf, when the property of a Negro, trays at first fight to whom he belongs; for, lofing his playful propenfities, he feems to feel the inferiority of his condition, and actually crouches before fuch of his own fpecies as are used to better company. With

M

the

the manners, he acquires alfo the cowardly, thievith, and fullen difpofition of his African tyrant.

66

But, notwithstanding what has been related of the selfish and unrelenting temper of the enslaved Africans, they are faid to be highly fufceptible of the paffion of love. It has ever been fuppofed that they are more fubject to, and fenfible of its impreffion, than the natives of colder climates. "The Negro (fays Dr Robertfon) glows with all the warmth of defire natural to his climate." "The tender paffion (fays another writer) is the most ardent one in the breast of the enslaved African.-It is the only fource of his joys, and his only folace in affliction." Monfieur de Chanvalon (the hiftorian of Martinico) expatiates on the fame idea with great eloquence. "Love, (fays he), the child of Nature, to whom the entrusts her own prefervation; whofe progrefs no difficulties can retard, and who triumphs even in chains; that principle of life, as neceffary to the harmony of the univerfe, as the air which we breathe, infpires and invigorates all the thoughts and purposes of the Negro, and lightens the yoke of his flavery. No perils can abate, nor impending punifaments restrain the ardour of his paffion.He leaves his master's habitation, and traverfing the wildernefs by night, difregarding its noxious inhabitants, feeks refuge from his forrows in the bofom of his faithful and affectionate mistress."

centious and diffolute manners, by introducing the marriage-ceremony among them, as is frenuously recommended by many perfons in Great Britain, would be utterly impracticable to any good purpofe. Perhaps it may be thought that the Negroes are not altogether reduced to fo deplorable a state of flavery as is commonly reprefented, when it is known that they boldly claim and exercife a right of difpofing of themselves in this refpect, according to their own will and pleafure, without any controul from their mafter.

"That paffion, therefore, to which (dignified by the name of love) is af cribed the power of foftening all the miferies of flavery, is mere animal defire, implanted by the great Author of all things for the prefervation of the species. This the Negroes, without doubt, poffefs in common with the reft of the animal creation, and they indulge it, as inclination prompts, in an almoft promifcuous intercourfe with the other fex; or at leaft in temporary connections, which they form without ceremony, and dif folve without reluctance. When age, indeed, begins to mitigate the ardour, and leffen the fickleness of youth, many of them form attachments, which, (trengthened by habit, and endeared by the confcioufnefs of mutual imbecility, produce an union for life. It is not uncommon to behold a venerable couple of this ftamp, who, tottering under the load of years, contribute to each other's comfort, with a chearful affiduity, which is at once amiable and affecting.

(To be continued.)

Argentum or, the Adventures of a Shilling:

THIS is the entertaining performance, probably of a young, but certainly of an ingenious writer. The idea is the fame as that already fuccefsfully prefented in Chryfal, or the Adventures of a Guinea; which may always be made productive of novelty of defcription, incident, and anecdote, according to the taste and abilities of the author; whether it be the hiftory of a guinea, a crown,