to ourselves. After this discovery, our next enquiry will naturally be, in what particulars have we erred, and what are the proper remedies? On this head I shall speak almost without reserve, and certainly without apology, which ought not to be required from him, who ma king a sincere use of such information as he has been able to obtain, has no other object or view than the public good. I apprehend then that all the inconveniences and public losses, from a scarcity of the first necessaries, which have been, at various periods, sustained by this country, are to be attributed purely to the injudicious restraints upon agriculture and commerce, both domestic and foreign, arising from that notable branch of legislative superstition, fashionably styled THE POLICE OF CORN; and from certain other errors, still more prominent, the particularization of which I must beg leave to decline: for the evil, judging from reason and analogy, and the invariable experience throughout all times, and in all countries, of the benumbing effect of restraints on human commerce, there seems to be no remedy worthy of adoption, short of absolute freedom. Nor can I discover any legitimate reason for those excessive distresses of the labouring poor of this country, during a scarcity, by which certain ranks above them, even profit, and for which there exists an obvious, just, and easy remedy.'

With a thorough conviction of the importance of commerce to our prosperity, this writer is disposed to think that we have allowed it an undue advantage over agriculture; and he laments that a part of the national capital, which has been vested in foreign colonization, was not employed in the culture of our own soil, where it would have been safer, have excited less jealousy in rival states, and have been ultimately more advantageous. We will not say, with him, that to talk of famine is to talk of nonsense:' but we are persuaded that the serious apprehension of famine, whenever it arises, must be the result of our own impolicy and mismanagement.

After some general remarks, we come to the immediate subject of the work; viz. to delineate the characters and qua. lifications of Stewards, and to assist them in the discharge of their duties. Stewardships are divided into three orders or classes, viz. the Superintendant or Comptrolling Agent, the Land Steward or Agent properly so called, and the House Steward. With the last the author is not concerned, but the qualifications of the first and second are fully displayed:

To be properly qualified for chief agent to a great estate, a man should have attained that thorough knowledge of the business of life, that tried experience in men and things, which ought not to be expected earlier than at the middle age No material part of his attention must be engrossed by his own private concerns, for in such case, he will evidently either neglect his own, or the business of his lord; and it would be paying human nature too great a compliment, to suppose the former. To an ample share of the agricultural know

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ledge

ledge of the common steward, in this officer, ought to be joined, a thorough insight into the nature of every improvement, of which an estate may be capable, whether upon, or beneath the surface; or from its local situation, whether inland or upon the sea-coast. His studies must be directed to the needful sciences of political economy, and political arithmetic, for there is a strict and happy coincidence between public and private wealth. He should be well qualified to superintend the culture of wastes, the disposal of timber, the eradication, or planting of woods; irrigation and warping, drainage, embankment, and the recovery of land from the sea, the cutting of canals, the laying out and repair of roads, the construction of bridges, mills, and engines, and should possess a considerable skill in rural architecture of every species. Nor is it less necessary that he thoroughly comprehend the nature of all the various methods, in which money business is transacted, together with the advantages of bargaining in the purchase or sale of estates. His intelligence ought to be universal, and extend to the valuable inventions and improvements of other countries, as well as our own; which, whether in the mechanic or agricultural relation, he should use his means to introduce and fairly experiment upon the estates under his care, with the honourable and patriotic views both of private and national benefit. In fine, with an honest heart, a mind amply replenished, a cool, deliberative, and calculating head, a quick discernment, he should lay hold on every occasion, as it springs, to enhance the worth, the reputation, the embellishment, of the property committed to his charge.'

It is indispensably necessary, that the ACTING LAND STEWARD do possess a practical skill in all the material branches of agriculture, in the management of cattle, and in the common outlines, at least of rural architecture, as far as regards repairs, or ordinary new erections, that he be thoroughly master of common accounts, and able to describe, or correspond by letter, intelligibly and decently. A man so qualified, may make a very capable and respectable steward: he would however not be the less cligible, for a decent portion of mathematical and mechanical knowledge, and the practical habits of mensuration, both of timber and land; but a defect of these branches of science, ought not to operate to the rejection of a man otherwise well qualified; since they are acquired by a very moderate application to study and practice, and since there are always at hand, professional men in these sciences, whose services, perhaps, after all, are most eligible.'

Following Laurence and others, the writer condemns the practice of employing Attorneys as Land Stewards; and he is of opinion that the sons of farmers, with a good common education, would be better adapted to the situation: but this advice must be taken with great restriction. Among our Attorneys we find many very able men, enlightened in the topics of rural economy as well as in the business of their profession; and when such men superintend estates, they cannot be fairly represented as bars to improvement. It must be admitted, however, as the

author

author remarks, that to form an accomplished Steward, it is requisite that theory and practice go hand in hand;' and if an attorney be ignorant of agricultural practice, he is unfit for the office, though he may know how to hold a court and draw up

Govenants.

For the benefit of the Steward, a Category of his Duties, general and particular, is given. His line of conduct on entering on his office is traced, with suitable directions for letting and leasing farms, keeping the office accounts, &c. Detached information is also subjoined respecting various articles of rural science; such as the division of lands,-fences,-draining,-tillage, roads, and rail-ways,-brick and tile making,wells and fish ponds,-planting,- felling timber,-barking,charcoal making,-preserving timber, &c.

The directions for planting include a catalogue of forest trees and shrubs, in which we observe some errors. In p. 340, the author says of the Larix or Larch, that it bears leaves like the fir, from which it is thus distinguished, that when the new leaf puts forth, the old one is thrust off:' but the fact is that the Larch is deciduous, and does not wait for the new leaf to thrust off the old one. Again, in p. 350, the Ilex is mentioned as synonymous with the Scarlet Oak, for which we should read the Holly or Ever-green Oak.

On the whole, however, good information is afforded; and if one omission could be supplied, the work would be "dogcheap" at double its present price; we mean an infallible recipe for making an honest Steward.

ART. XII. The Stranger in France: or, A Tour from Devonshire to Paris: Illustrated by twelve Engravings in Aqua Tinta, of Sketches taken on the Spot. By John Carr, Esq. 4to. pp. 261. Il. Is. Boards. Johnson. 1803.

TRA

RAVELLERS are mostly disposed to be narrative; and good nature as well as vanity may often contribute to the indulgence of this propensity: since amusement creates a desire to amuse, and the heart expands when curiosity is gratified and the mind exhilarated. Hence we endeavour benevolently to account for tourists becoming authors, and for the numerous delineations of the same route by various travellers. Had the peace continued for a few years, we might possibly have been furnished with as many books of travels in France as would have composed a moderate library, and even for the short period of its duration, our descriptive countrymen have not been idle:-but the war has now stopped their career; and we must be contented at present to

view the opposite shores through the medium of their representations. We shall be happy, therefore, to attend this Stranger. in France, exempted from all risk of being made prisoners, and forced to be Strangers against our will.

This excursion to the French coast was taken immediately after the exchange of the ratifications of the late transient peace, and was partly performed in the last ship of war remaining of the vast naval armament, which for so many years had rendezvoused in Torbay. Mr. Carr regarded it as the last attendant in the train of retiring war; and when he commented on this incident as peculiarly pleasant to his feelings, how little did he think that this scourge of nations was destined so soon to revisit us; or that what he denominated peace was only the slumbering of war!

From Torr Abbey, the seat of Mr. Cary, the tourist proceeded in company with a friend in the Megæra fire ship, to Portsmouth, in order to obtain a French packet: but, experiencing some disappointment here, they went to Southampton, from which port they sailed for Havre-de-grace. As part of the crew consisted of French Emigrants who were returning, after ten years of exile, to their native country, their past and present situation naturally attracted Mr. Carr's notice; and the mild conduct of the English revenue officers, who were appointed to examine their baggage, draws from him this liberal reflection: They, who brought nothing into a country but the recollection of their miseries, were not very likely to carry much. out of it, but the remembrance of its generosity.'

Before we transport the reader across the channel in company with Mr. Carr, it is proper to remark that his narrative will be found to consist of "such stuff as tours are made of,” viz. incidents, descriptions, anecdotes, and reflections. His circuit is not extensive, nor are his details tedious. If he takes us where we have been before, he finds something to repay us for the trouble. He is sprightly, and disposed to be pleased: he was fortunate in the French families to which he was recommended; and he appears to have made a good use of every opportunity for observation.

No dates occur in this journal (except that, in p. 234, the 21st of Prairial is mentioned), and we know not therefore the day when Mr. Carr made the French coast; which, within a league of Havre, is high, rugged, and rocky, looking, to use a marine expression, iron-bound all along the shore.' The first object which struck him on landing, and entering the streets of Havre, was the appearance of the women; which he describes with a comparative remark, the humour of which may not be relished by our fellow-subjects in the North:

The women were habited in a coarse red camlet jacket, with a high apron before, long flying lappets to their caps, and were mounted upon large heavy wooden shoes, upon each of which a worsted tuft was fixed, in rude imitation of a rose. The appearance and clatter of these sabots, as they are called, leave upon the mind an impression of extreme poverty and wretchedness.

They are, however, more favoured than the lower order of females in Scotland. Upon a brisk sprightly chambermaid entering my room one day at an inn in Glasgow, I heard a sound which resembled the pattering of some web-footed bird, when in the act of climbing up the miry side of a pond. I looked down upon the feet of this bonny lassie, and found that their only covering was procured from the mud of the high street-adieu! to the tender eulogies of the pastoral reed! I have never thought of a shepherdess since with pleasure.'

The inn at Havre is not delineated with less felicity; and if the author seems to have as little fancy for the French waiting maid as for the Glasgow chambermaid, it is for a very different

reason:

Upon our arrival, we were ushered up a large dirty staircase into a lofty room, upon the first floor, all the windows of which were open, divided, as they always are in France, in the middle, like folding doors; the floor was tiled, a deal table, some common rush chairs, two very fine pier glasses, and chandeliers to correspond, composed our motley furniture. I found it to be a good specimen of French inns, in general. We were followed by our hostess, the porter, two cooks, with caps on their heads, which had once been white, and large knives in their hands, who were succeeded by two chamber-maids, all looking in the greatest hurry and confusion, and all talking together, with a velocity, and vehemence, which rendered the faculty of hearing almost a misfortune. They appeared highly delighted to see us, talked of our dress, Sir Sidney Smith, the blockade, the noble English, the peace, and a train of etceteras. At length we obtained a little cessation, of which we immediately seized the advantage, by directing them to show us to our bed-rooms, to procure abundance of water hot and cold, to get us a good breakfast as soon as possible, and to prepare a good dinner for us at four o'clock. Amidst a peal of tongues, this clamorous procession retired.

After we had performed our necessary ablutions, and had enjoyed the luxury of fresh linen, we sat down to some excellent coffee, accompanied with boiled milk, long, delicious rolls, and tolerably good butter, but found no knives upon the table; which, by the by, every traveller in France is presumed to carry with him : having mislaid my own, I requested the maid to bring me one. The person of this damsel would certainly have suffered by a comparison with those fragrant flowers, to which young poets resemble their beloved mistresses: as soon as I had preferred my prayer, she very deliberately drew from her pocket a large clasp knife, which, after she had wiped on her apron, she presented to me, with a " voila, monsieur." I re