upon the moft legitimate of all foundations-a fenfe of pre-eminent merit and a body of illuftrious annals.

"Whatever may be the reprefentations of thofe who, with little knowledge of facts, and still lefs foundnefs or impartiality of judgment,affect to deplore the condition of England,-it is nevertheless, true, that there does not exist, and never has existed elsewhere,-fo beautiful and perfect a model of public and private profperity;-fo magnificent, and at the fame time, fo folid a fabric of focial happiness and national grandeur. I pay this juft tribute of admiration with the more pleafure, as it is to me in the light of an atonement for the errors and prejudices, under which I laboured, on this fubject, before I enjoyed the advantage of a perfonal experience. A refidence of nearly two years in that country, during which period, I vifited and ftudied almost every part of it, with no other view or purfuit than that of obtain ing correct information, and I may add, with previous ftudies well fitted to promote my object,-convinced me that I had been egregiously deceived.

"I faw no inftances of individual oppreffion, and fcarcely any individual mifery but that which belongs, under any circumftances of our being, to the infirmity of all human inftitutions.→→ I witneffed no fymptom of declining trade or of general difcontent. On the contrary-I found there every indication of a ftate engaged in a rapid career of advancement. I found the art and fpirit of commercial induftry at their acmé;-a metropolis opulent and liberal beyond example :-a cheerful peafantry, well fed and commodiously lodged,-an ardent attachment to the conftitution in all claffes, and a full reliance on the national resources.

I found the utmost activity in agricultural and manufacturing labours;-in the construction of works of embellishment and uti lity-in enlarging and beautifying the provincial cities. I heard but few well-founded complaints of the amount,-and none concerning the collection, of the taxes. The demands of the ftate create no impediment to confumption or difcouragement to in. duftry. I could difcover no inftance in which they have operated to the ferious diftrefs or ruin of individuals." P. 179.

Having afforded this fpecimen of the author's ftyle, and of his fentiments refpecting this country, we will only add, that the remainder of his defcription of British profperity is equally beautiful and interefting; that he confiders it as "no lels than impious, to defire the ruin of fuch a people;" that he most ftrikingly, and from his own obfervation, contrafts their virtues and their bleflings with the profligacy and mifery of France; that he paints in the moft vivid colours the profligate policy of Bonaparte, which dictates the retaining of the lower orders in a flate of impoverishment; his hatred of the commercial character, and his deteftation of

2

Great

Great Britain and America, not only as free ftates, but as commercial nations *. This laft point the author preffes moft forcibly on his countrymen by arguments which appear to us irrefiftible, and on the ground of facts, which (as we . believe he is well known in America, and must be a man of confideration as well as ability,) cannot, we think, fail to produce in all but the moft inveterately prejudiced uninds the cleareft conviction.

In America, we truft, the most beneficial effects have already arifen from this publication. In our own country it may produce almoft equal benefit, by confounding the fill unblushing apologifts of our inveterate foe, and blafting the hopes of that defperate faction, which would represent our ftate as fo corrupted as to render it unworthy of defence; and our happy people as fo oppreffed as willingly to fubmit to a yoke, the moft galling perhaps that was ever imposed upon the nations of the earth.

ART. II. Memoirs of British Quadrupeds, illuftrative principally of their Habits of Life, Inftincts, Sagacity, and Ufes to Mankind, arranged according to the Syftem of Linnæus. By the Rev. W. Bingley, A. M. Fellow of the Linnaan Soeiety, and late of Peterhoufe, Cambridge. With Engravings from original Drawings, chiefly executed by Mr. Samuel Howitt. In two Parts. 8vo. 641 pages, and 71 Engravings. Common Paper 18s. Royal Paper 35s. and Imperial Paper, with the Plates coloured, 31. 15s. 6d. Darton and Harvey. 1809.

IT is at all times gratifying to us to announce the publication of works which in any degree tend either to the promotion or illuftration of religion and morality, whether directly or indirectly. In our review of the Animal Biography of this author we gave him commendation for having abftained from all fubjects which might be dangerous to the

"The British," this author fays, "he hates-and dreads— and refpects. The people of this country (America) he detefts and defpifes. He detefts us as the progeny of the British-and as the citizens of a free government. He defpifes us as a body of traders, according to his view,-without national fame, or national character,-without military ftrength or military vir tues." P. 225.

His general hatred of commerce is alfo a point very amply proved and illuftrated by this author, and with great ability.

innocence

innocence of the youthful mind, particularly the female; and fated that in this refpect we confidered that work as "more valuable than the writings of Buffon and his followers, among whom a contrary proceeding is fo confpicueus." The fame commendation we can, with equal juftice, befow upon the prefent volume, in which Mr. Bingley fays it has been his defign" to inculcate only the pureft principles of natural religion, and to exhibit, as far as was confiftent with the plan of his undertaking, the wisdom of God in the works of creation." It is in this refpe&t, indeed, that we confider the Britifh Naturalifts, in general, as greatly excelling thofe of the continent; and none more remarkably than our unrivalled Zoologift, Dr. Shaw, throughout the whole of whofe volumes only the fentiments and expreffions of the ftri&teft delicacy are to be found.

In its flyle as well as in its fubject matter we find the prefent publication not only perfectly diftinct from, but cerainly a great improvement upon, Animal Biography. The title may poffibly have been fuggefted by De Geer's highly and defervedly celebrated work," Memoires pour fervir à Hiftoire des Infectes," and is evidently meant to exprefs the intention of the author to illuftrate, chiefly, the instincts and economy of the animals of which he treats. This volume is announced as the commencement of a new Syftem of British Zoology, on a plan of arrangement that has not before been attempted. The defcriptive parts and the fynonyms are feparated from the hiftory and anecdotes of the animals; and inferted, in fmaller characters, in a Synopfis, at the end of the volume. By this feparation the author fays " he cannot but hope that he shall have rendered an acceptable fervice not only to the general reader, but alfo to the fcientific Naturalift." He ftates, that although he has ever entertained the higheft fentiments of refpect and efteem for the memory, as well as for the talents, of the late Mr. Pennant, " yet he has long felt that the indifcriminate mixture of defeription. and anecdote throughout that gentleman's work on British Zoology is attended with numerous inconveniences." In a popular view he confiders it objectionable, becaufe, he says, it derogates from the intereft that otherwife would be exsited; and becaufe to perfons defirous of examining the animals from his (Mr. Pennant's) defcription, it is occafionally very troublefome." Whether Mr. Bingley's plan is or is not preferable to that which has been ufually adopted, we fhall not attempt to decide. But our readers will be enabled

66

See Brit. Crit. Vol, xx11. p. 189.

to

to form their own judgment by our inferting one entire at ticle, the hiftory of the Harveft Moufe, with its defcription; the one taken from the Synopfis, p. 45, and the other from the body of the work, p. 266.

"THE HARVEST MOUSE. Tail long, and flightly hairy: ears fomewhat longer than the fur of the head; body ferragi. nous, brown above, white below. Mus mefforius. Share.

66

Length, to the origin of the tail, feldom more than 2 inches; and of the tail about 2 inches. Weight, about the fixth part of an ounce. Much fmaller and more flender than the Field Moufe, to which it has a confiderable alliance both in colour and appearance; ears by no means fo large in proportion as those of that animal; and eyes lefs prominent.

"The colour of the head and upper parts of the body is like. wife a much fuller red, being nearly the fame as that of the Squirrel or Dormoufe. Belly white, and the divifion of the colours of the upper and under parts fo abrupt, as to appear almost

like a line. W. B.

"In corn-fields, corn-ricks, and barns, in Hampshire, Suffex, Wiltshire, and Dorfetthire.

"Mus Sylvaticus, var. B. Harvest Rat. Linn. Syft. Nat. Gmel. i. p. 129.

"Mus fubra ferrugineus, fubtus albus, cauda longâ fubpilsa, auriculis vellere longioribus. Mus mefforius. Shaw's Gen. Zool. ii. p. 62.

"Mus meffarius. Harvest Moufe. Turton, i. p. 81.-Kerr.

P. 230.

i,

"Harvest Moufe. Penn. Quadr. 2. p. 185.-Penn. Brit. Zool. i. p. 121.-Shaw's Gen. Zool. ii. p. 62. frontifp.—Bing. Anim. Biog. 3d. edit. i. p. 443.

"Harvest Rat. Firit and fecond editions of Pennant's Quadru peds.

66 THE HARVEST MOUSE.

"This Moufe, which is the finalleft of all the British quadru. peds, feldom exceeds the fixth part of an ounce in weight. It was first discovered in Hampshire, by the late Rev. Mr. White, of Selborne, about the year 1767; and it is not hitherto known to inhabit any part of the world, except fome of the fouthern coun ties of England.

"Like the Field Moufe, it does not enter dwelling-houses; but it is often carried in fheaves of corn, out of the fields, into corn-ricks; and as the females produce their offspring in the autumn, it often happens that a hundred, or more, are found in a fingle rick, when pulled down to be housed. Those that are not thus carried away in the fheaves, fhelter themselves, during the

There is a reference to the defcription in the Synopfis. Edit.

winter,

winter, under the furface of the ground in fome deep burrow; at the bottom of which they form a warm and comfortable bed of grafs, and other fofter fubftances.

"About the middle of September, 1804, I had a female Harveft Mouse given to me by Mrs. Campbell, of Cherfton-Houfe, Hants. It had been put into a Dormoufe cage, immediately when caught, and a few days afterwards produced eight young ones. I entertained fome hopes that the little animal would have nurfed these, and brought them up; but having been disturbed in her removal, about four miles, from the country, she began to defroy them, and I took them from her. The young ones, at the time I received them, (not more than two or three days old,) must have been at least equal in weight to the mother.

"After they were removed, fhe foon became reconciled to her fituation; and, when there was no noife, would venture to come out of her hiding place, at the extremity of the cage, and climb about the wires of the open part, before me. In doing this, I remarked that her tail was, in fome measure, prehenfile; and that, to render her hold the more fecure, the generally coiled the extremity of it round one of the wires. The toes of all the feet were particularly long and flexile, and fhe could grafp the wires very firmly with any of them. She frequently refled on her hind feet, fomewhat in the manner of the Jerboa, for the purpose of looking about her; and, in this attitude, could extend her body, at fuch an angle, as at firft greatly furprised me. She was a beau. tiful little animal; and her various attitudes in cleanfing her face, head, and body, with her paws, were peculiarly graceful and elegant.

In a few days after I received this Moufe, I neglected to give it any water; but when I afterwards put fome into the cage, the lapped it with great eagernefs. After lapping, fhe always raifed herself, on her hind feet, and cleaned her head with her paws. She continued, even till the time of her death, exceedingly Thy and timid; but whenever I put into the cage any favourite food, fuch as grains of wheat or maize, fhe would eat them be fore me. On the leaft noife or motion, however, fhe immediately ran off, with the grain in her mouth, to her hiding place.

"One evening, as I was fitting at my writing-defk, and the animal was playing about in the open part of its cage, a large blue fly happened to buz against the wires. The little creature, although at twice or thrice the diftance of her own length from it, forang along the wires with the greatest agility, and would certainly have feized it had the fpaces betwixt the wires been fufficiently wide to have admitted her teeth or paws to reach it. I was furprised at this occurrence, as I had been led to believe that the Harveft Moufe was merely a granivorous animal. I caught the fly, and made it buz in my fingers against the wires. The Moufe, though ufually fhy and timid, immediately came out of her hiding place, and running to the fpot, feized and de