The British Artists will doubtless be preferred in this Work; but we shall frequently give OUTLINES of the most celebrated Paintings of the ANCIENT MASTERS,—especially when they are confined to British COLLECTIONS; and more particularly when they are of a super-eminent reputation, and can be given in COMPLETE SETS; of which a Specimen is now laid before the Public, in the SEVEN CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL IN THE PRESENT NUMBER This will be sufficient to give a taste and knowledge of the Plan of OUTLINE ENGRAVINGS. The next Number will contain a correct and vigorous Outline of the celebrated Picture of the Death of General Wolfe, by B. WEST, Esq. President of the Royal Academy; copied from the original Picture in his own possession, and under his special superintendance. Every succeeding Number of the Magazine will contain an OUTLINE, executed in a similar manner, of soine distinguished Historical Picture of a modern Artist; and the succeeding Supplements will contain WHOLE Sets of Engravings, either of ancient or deceased British Masters. A Set of Hogarth's Marriage A-la-Mode is now in hand for the next Supple. ment; and it is intended to comprehend all the Works of that celebrated Artist in this Magazine; in order that every thing introduced may be complete, and not left in an unbroken series. It is trusted that, this will be esteemed an additional Embellishment of no ordinary value. It is necdless to say that a Periodical Work, of a similar sort with this, has recret attempted any decoration of the like kind. It is intended, noveover, to introduce another material improvement in this Work, viz. COSTUMES OF EVERY NATION IN THE WORLD. They will be given in addition to the usual Fashions; and it is trusted their value will be sufficiently understood, when it is known what immense sums are daily demanded for publications of a similar kind, of which the Plates are not so well executed as those which will be given (as the Additional and Extraordinary Embellishments) in this Magazine. INDEX BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF ILLUS- Essay on good Travellers, 314 - ou Knotting, 319 -- on Anger, 321 - on Printing, 310 Female Sex, history of, 302 Former Times, a tale, 35, 86 Hamburgh and Bremen, a description of, 71 History of a Russian young lady, 183 - of Paulina, 2324 Husband, how to tame a turbulent one, 82 Ladies' Toilette ; or Encyclopædia of Beauty, Melai's Dog, 304 Physioguomy; a tale, 244 Play-bill, singular one, 208 Robbery, a singular one, 246 Royal Eclipse; or Delicate Facts, 185 Sabina, or morning scenes in the dressing-room of a Roman Lady, 30 Singular fashions, s6 Somphronimos; a Grecian tale, 252 Spain in its present state, 23 Statistical Survey of Prussia in 1806, 144 Sweden, an original account of, The way to become a Marshal, 148 Tour through Holland by Sir John Carr, 12 in Zealand, 155, 196 habitants, 91 Vicar's tale, 247 War, a dream, 271, 299 FAMILIAR LECTURES ON USEFUL SCIENCES. Culinary researches, 44, 101, 215, 333 Magnetism, 328 Physiognomy, 45, 91, 214 POETRY. Advice to husbands and wives, 276 Administration of 1906, 277 Address to the Guardian Spirits, 163 on returning a ring, 107 to Childhood, 217 The Swallow, 49 PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. - 'on the new Performers at Drury- - on the Stage, 279, 339 'EMBELLISHMENTS IN VOL. III. Portraits Songs by Fushions & Patlerne, Four Ditto. Four Ditto. Corri. Four Ditto. Five Ditto. TO THE THIRD VOLUME OF Bell's MAGAZINE, CONTAINING A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED WORKS OF LITERATURE FOR THE LAST SIX MONTHS. HISTORY, TRAVELS, AND BIOGRAPHY. A DESCRIPTION OF CEYLON. ARTICLE I.- A Description of Ceylon ; containing an Account of the Country, Inhabitants, and natural productions, with narratives of a Tour round the Island in 1800, the Campaign in Candy in 1803, and a Journey to Ramisseram in 1804. By the Rev. James Cordiner, A. M. late Chaplain to the Garrison of Columbo. In Two Vols. 4to. with Twenty-five Plates. Longman and Co. 1807. This work is very properly and At the end is a useful Glossary of a handsomely dedicated to the Honourable hundred technical terms. Frederick North, late Governor of the We have attentively perused this work, British settlements in the island of Ceylon. and with great pleasure acknowledge we The first volume (44.5 pages) contains a || have never met with any book of travels sketch of the island, a plan of Columbo, l with which we have been more gratified. three plates of the costume of the country, It abounds in curious information upon a a talipot tree, a banyan tree, a branch and variety of subjects in a country on which flower of the cinnamon tree, Cingalese and no traveller has written since the year 1681; Malabar alphabets, view of an elephant and the most perfect reliance may be placed snare, and eleven plates of views of temples, on the truth of the whole narrative; which forts, and striking scenes in the island, all circumstance stamps an inestimable value (except the map, plan, and dresses,) 'ex-l on the whole work. tremely well engraven in mezzotinto, from It has been said that the business of rethe elegant drawings of the author, made viewing critics may be divided into three on the spot. branches; these are, information, correcThe second volume (300 pages) contains tion, and addition. This performance refour engravings in mezzotinto, being views quires no correction, being written in a of a pagoda, of a temple, of the Governor's pure and elegant style, free from repetitions, house, and of a curious hanging bridge. blunders, deficiencies, and grammatical Near half this volume consists of the his- errors. Additions to such an unique motory of the Candian warfare ; extracts from dern book of travels cannot be made here; the medical reports of the troops serving in so that we have nothing left but to select Ceylon in April 1803; the embassy from such passages as may afford delight as well Columbo to the Court of Candy in 1800; | as instruction; these extracts shall be more and Knox's account of the King and go- || copious than what we think necessary to vernment of Candy in 1081. "make from the numberless travels in Supplement-Vol. III. B Europe. The unconnected quotations wili, : have, in a great measure, prevented the reas we flatter ourselves, excite the curiosity 4. searches of travellers. Exceptiog tbe lines of of our readers and interest them so as to three or four different rugged paths to Candy, induce them to peruse the whole work. our acquaintance with the nature of the inland The author in his Preface says, “The district is extremely limited. “ The highest mountain in the island is manner of ensnaring and taming the wild Adam's Peak, lying sixty miles from Columbo; elephants, the mode of diving for the pearl no European subject of Great Britain has ever oysters, the stripping of the cinnamon-bark, visited it. and the process of collecting natural salt, “The heat of the climate is not so intense as are all described from actual observation might be expected in a situation so near the and authentic documents.” He resided in equator. In general, it is more temperate and Ceylon from 1799 to 1801. uniform than in any part of the neighbouring This island, shaped like a pear, is situate peninsula. No climate in the world is more between six and ten degrees of north lati salubrious than that of Columbo; and a pertude, and is two hundred and eighty miles son who remains within doors while the sun is in length, and one hundred and fifty in powerful, never wishes to experience one more breadth. Our countryman, Sir J. Maun temperate. Thair is at all times pure and devile, visited this country in the thirteenth healthy, and its temperature uncommonly uni form. Fahrenheit's thermometer usually fuccentury. tuates in the shade about the point of 80°. It “ After the Portuguese reached the shores seldom ranges more than five degrees in a day, of Ceylon in 1505, they maintained a superio and only thirteen through the whole year, 86! rity in the island for one hundred and fifty-three being the highest and 73° the lowest point at years, during which time they were engaged which it has been seen any season. In the in constant struggles with the natives, and month of May 1804, at Madras, the thermolatterly with the Dutch, who succeeded in ex meter was at 109° pelling them in the year 1658. The dominion « The days and nights are nearly equal of the States-General continued, with little throughout the year; the atinosphere is almost interruption, until the year 1795 and 1796, always serene; the moonlight is clearer than when the coasts of Ceylon were finally taken in England, and the sun may be seen to rise possession of by the British arnis. and set almost every day in his brightest “ The territory which now belongs to Great lustre. Britain forms a belt round the island, extend “ Precious stones are plentiful, and found ing, in some places, not more than six, in of upwards of twenty different sorts, but the others thirty, and on the northern side even greater part of them are of an inferior quality. sixty miles into the interior country. The There is no real diamond in the island. The inland provinces, cut off from all cominunicatiou with the sea, and occupying the greater gems of greatest value are the cat's-eye and the emerald. A perfect cat's-eye of the size of part of the island, are still retained by the a hazel nut is worth one hundred and fifty King of Candy, whose capital is situate in the pounds sterling. It is a pseudo-opal; a white centre of his dominions. ray runs across its diaineter on one side, and, “ Almost the whole circumference of the nuoving from one end to the other, meets the coast is lined with a sandy beach, and a broad eye in which ever way it is turned. border of cocoa-nut trees, behind which are “ Strictly speaking, there are no roads in seen double and treble ranges of lofty moun Il Ceylon; and wheel carriages can only be used tains covered with wood. The northern parts | in the neighbourhood of the larger European of the island are flat, and frequently indented settlements, which are all situated on the with shallow inlets of the sea." sea coast. A person travels here in a wild « The interior, or Candian territories, con- llaud woody region destitute of roads, and his tain many hundreds of mountains, some of jouraey may be compared to an excursion in a which, as well as the extensive plains between | large garden or park where there are no arti. thein, are highly cultivated. ficial walks. « Access to the country is difficult on ac “The revenue of Ceylon, although much count of its natural barriers, and the greater greater than under the Dutch administration, part of it continues still to be very imperfectly is not sufficient to defray the expence of the known. The insalubrity of the climate, and various establishments placed there by the the almost constant hostilities of the Portu- || British government. The annual income does guese, Dutch, and English with the natives, not at present exceed £. 226,600. While the |