grand arch, very little inferior to that of Boyle and Ballintubber. The foundation of the fpacious cloifters alone remains.

We must refrain from mentioning many magnificent ruins, perhaps equally deferving notice with thofe which we have particularized but we fhall extract the account of MacDermot's Caftle, which will probably gratify those of our readers who are fond of the romantic:

This Caftle ftands in MacDermot's Ifland, in Lough Key, county of Rofcommon: the iland is circular, and fortified with a wall fourteen or fifteen feet thick, fo that there is no landing on the ifle but at a breach in this wall. It contains, with much wood, a fquare caftle, fo covered with ivy that not a stone can be seen on the outside; and the infide is fo ruinous, that no judgment can be formed of the mode of building or workmanship. It obtained its prefent name from one of the antient toparchs of this country, who through jealoufy always confined his wife in this fequestered island while engaged in warlike expeditions: her lover, however, despising every obstacle that fea and walls prefented, fwam frequently from the main land to vifit his infular fair one.'

We must now, for the prefent, take our leave of this interefting and very elegant work; not without expreffing our approbation of it in unqualified terms, and moft fincerely wishing that, in the profecution of this laborious undertaking, those who are concerned in it may meet with the encouragement which the abilities, learning, and ingenuity difplayed in the present volume fo well deferve.

The plates, generally speaking, poffefs great merit, in refpect both of drawing and engraving; and they reflect no difcredit on the juftly admired works of the celebrated Captain Grofe, to whofe primary defign, and actual commencement of the execution, this noble view of the Antiquities of Ireland owes its existence.

We shall close this account with a tranfcript of a paffage relative to the ORIGINAL AUTHOR of the defign; who was interred in the church of Drumcondra, near Dublin, viz. On the 18th of May 1791, were depofited here the remains of the much lamented Francis Grofe, Efquire; whofe mental endowments and focial qualities had long procured him the admiration of the public, and endeared him to a numerous circle of friends. The idea of illuftrating the hiftory and antiquities of the British ifles, by exifting monuments, was noble and magnificent; while it fhewed the vaft capacity of his mind, the execution of it demonftrated that talents only like his were adequate to fo arduous an undertaking. The lovers of the fine arts in Ireland, with a generofity becoming a brave and enlightened people, are about to erect a monument to his memory, and an account of his life and writings is preparing for the public.' Semper honos, nomenque tuum laudefque manebunt."

ART.

ART. VII. Elements of the Art of Dyeing. By M. Berthollet, Doctor of Medicine, of the Faculties of Paris and Turin, &c. &c. Tranflated from the French by William Hamilton, M. D. Physician to the London Hofpital, and Lecturer on Chemistry. In 2 Vols. 8vo. 10s. Boards. Johnson. 1791.

OUR

UR attention has been fo long detained from this publication, by others which the circumftances of the times feemed to render more immediately interefting, that our intended account of it may now with propriety be greatly abridged; especially as another work has been recently advertifed, which muft foon bring the fubject again under our confideration.

M. Berthollet is juftly esteemed one of the best chemists of this or any other age; and an elementary treatife from him, on a fubject fo truly chemical, can scarcely fail of obtaining that general notice to which we think the present work eminently intitled. The author has here explained the abftrufe operations and wonderful effects of this curious art, according to the new fyftem of chemistry; and we think that he has applied its prin-. ciples, with a few exceptions, fagaciously and justly to these objects, so as to afford much useful instruction both to the phi lofopher and the artist who will find many of the effects of different gazes, especially of vital air or oxygene, in producing as well as in varying different colours, clearly and fatisfactorily ftated; though we fufpect that the author muft have been miftaken in afcribing the deftruction and the decays of colours, fo generally as he has done, to a combustion, which he fuppofes the latter of these airs to produce, by combining with the several colouring matters.

M. Berthollet has given a very accurate and fufficiently copious hiftory of the chemical agents employed in dyeing; and he has improved the hiftory of the art itfelf by fome facts which were new to us:-but he must have committed an error in ftating that the first collection of proceffes used in dyeing had been printed at Venice, under the title of " Mariegola del Arte di i Tintori," fo early as the year 1429, because the art of printing was not discovered until fome years afterward.

We feel no hesitation in pronouncing M. Berthollet's work to be greatly fuperior to every thing before published on the fubject; and we think that Dr. Hamilton's tranflation has in general been well executed. It has, befides, the advantage of a copious index, (which the original wants,) together with

* Experimental Researches concerning the Philofophy of Permanent Colours; by Dr. Bancroft. We fhall speedily give an account of this work.

explanations of the new chemical terms employed by the au thor; and alfo a description and drawing of an apparatus, recommended by the tranflator, for diftilling the oxygenated muriatic and other acids.

ART. VIII. Dr. Crumpe's Efay on providing Employment for the People, &c.

T

[Article concluded from p. 298.]

'HE two great sources of employment for man Dr. C. ftates to be commerce and agriculture; and he confiders by what means the fyftem, on which each ought to be conducted, may be rendered moft beneficial to fociety. Under the title COMMERCE, he treats of manufactures, imports, and exports; and he fhews the impolicy of high duties on articles of importation: which, though they may favour a particular branch of trade or manufacture, do not promote general industry, nor increase the general capital of a country.

Speaking of the reftraints laid on the importation of articles from different countries, he most unequivocally condemns the system by which one nation is treated with more favour than another it favours more, he fays, of the petty shopkeeper's practice, "give me your custom and I will give you mine,' than of the wifdom of an enlightened people with enlarged understandings. He thus expreffes himself on the fubject:

Although it were certain, in the first place, that what has been called the balance of trade between any two countries, fuppofing their commerce free from all reflrictions, was in favour of one of them, it by no means follows that the trade with fuch a nation would be unfavourable to the other; or that the general balance of its commerce would be thereby turned more against itself than if the ufual restrictions on importation were adopted. On the contrary, "if the wines of France, for example, are better and cheaper than thofe of Portugal, or its linens than thofe of Germany, it would be more advantageous for Great Britain to purchase both the wine and the foreign linen which it has occafion for, from France, than of Portugal and Germany; though the value of the annual importations from France would be thereby greatly augmented," and the amount of the apparent balance of trade in its favour increased," the value of the whole annual importations" into Great Britain, "would be diminished, in proportion as the French goods of the fame quality were cheaper than thofe of the other two countries;" and of confequence the general capital of Great Britain, the general fund for the employment of its inhabitants, would be increased in proportion to the fum faved by purchafing certain articles cheap in one country rather than dear in another.'

Commerce, with all its advantages and all its manufactures, Dr. C. confiders only as the handmaid of agriculture; it is the

Jatter

latter, he fays, that fets the active powers of a nation in motion, furnishes the greateft fhare of employment to the people, and lays the foundation of that fpecies of wealth which even war itself can scarcely ever deftroy. He illuftrates and supports this doctrine by the following ftatement, which history fhews to be true:

The Netherlands in general, and the province of Flanders in particular, though now cultivated and improved to the utmoft, afforded at one period a very different profpect. The vaft foreft of Ardennes, of which fome fmall but ornamental remains ftill continue, overfpred and rendered useless almost its whole extent. The Counts of Flanders were, on this account, ftiled the Foresters of Flanders. The country was, befide, covered with marshes and ftagnant waters. The Scheld, unrestrained by the hand of man, overflowed its level banks, deluged the neighbouring plains, and rendered them at once both defolate and unhealthy. Agriculture has effected the wonderful change now obfervable: introduced firft by the Monks, and adopted afterwards by the peasants, it made rapid advances to perfection, in proportion as the latter were relieved from the feodal oppreffion, and fecured from the rapacity of their lords. The manufactures afterwards established in the cities of Flanders afforded additional encouragement to the cultivation of the country. They doubly promoted its progrefs to perfection: the hufbandman, fecure of a ready market for his productions, in the rifing confumption of the crowded towns, was invited to increase his exertions; and, by augmenting his capital, was enabled more effectually to execute the neceffary improvements in his farm. The adventurous merchant, not finding fufficient fcope for the employment of his wealth in commerce, or allured by the natural at tractions of the country, exerted the fame spirit in cultivation he did in trade, and, by fecuring his riches in the foil, rendered their benefits permanent to future generations. The princes of Flanders afforded peculiar encouragement to thefe exertions, and judiciously be ftowed premiums on thofe who excelled in the most useful of all occupations. The effects of fo fortunate a combination of circumftances foon became vifible. As early as the twelfth century, the forests of Flanders were extirpated; canals were formed, which at once drained the country, and opened a communication between its most distant districts. The Scheld, reftrained to its proper bed by the neceffary precautions, no longer defolated the country it fhould enrich; the foil was laid open to the beneficial influence of the atmofphere; and Flanders became the most fertile and cultivated portion of Europe.

A variety of well-known caufes, not here neceffary to be enumerated, have deprived those countries of the commerce which they once poffeffed; their agriculture, however, feels no decay, and still affords employment to the numerous inhabitants. The manufactures of Louvain have difappeared; the trade of Antwerp is extinct; and many of its other cities have been depopulated; but the fields of Flanders retain their fertility: their population is augmented almoft beyond parallel, and they afford an irrefragable proof, that agri

Ee 4

culture

culture is the most folid bafis of national profperity. Even the ravages of war are not able to deprive agriculture of the firm poffeffion of the foil which it once obtains. In the fixteenth century, a period the moft unprofperous to thefe provinces, when all their other arts declined or difappeared, the cultivation of the earth retained its native vigour : during the almost continued tranquillity of the prefent, it has progreffively advanced to ftill higher improvement. Their husbandry (if not injured by late commotions) is now unequalled in any part of Europe; their population surpassed by none; their inhabitants feel no want of employment; and their comfortable habitations, wholesome food, and the decent competence they enjoy, exprefs, in ftrongeft terms, to the delighted traveller, that each fhares the plenty which pervades his fields.

The prefent state of Lombardy and Tufcany would lead us to fimilar conclufions. Though the misfortunes of Italy, in the fifteenth and fixteenth century, confiderably injured the commerce and manufactures of their cities, the furrounding country is ftill one of the moft cultivated and populous in Europe.'

In his fecond part, Dr. C. applies his general principles to the cafe of Ireland; and here we fhall discover how invaluable a good government is to a country, by feeing to what a deplorable state a bad one has reduced an island capable of being made highly flourishing both by agriculture and commerce. Placed, as it were, between the new and the old world, poffeffing an eafy communication with the ports of the former, and contiguous to the fhores of the richeft diftricts of the latter, it would feem deftined by nature to enjoy a confiderable portion of that commerce and intercourse between both, which have been the fource of riches, employment, and induftry to fo many nations:' but the bounty and the views of nature have been counteracted by various circumftances, which have contributed to keep Ireland in a fate of abject poverty. Jealoufy, in England, was alarmed left her fifter fhould rival her in trade, and become fo powerful as to break the connection that bound them to one king, and united them in one empire. This jealoufy was feconded by the religious divifions among the Irish themselves, embittered by the reflection that one fet of men poffeffed eftates from which the others had been, as they faid, unjustly ejected; the confideration of their precarious titles made those in posfeffion look to England for fupport; and England, feeling how neceffary fhe was to them, was enabled to dictate the terms of her protection. Thus, that the ins might be kept in, and the outs prevented from getting in, both were deprived of their political liberty and of its confequences; while the kingdom loft its trade and its manufactures, and was confequently deprived of the means of acquiring a share of wealth proportioned to its extent and population. This fyftem, however, about fourteen

years