pofed from fuch well-known materials: we shall therefore prefent the hero with his fword of fupreme power, flightly touch on the military and naval events of his reign, and contemplate him chiefly in the fhades of his private life, and in his more amiable character of legiflator and reformer of his country; which glorious titles he fo juftly claims, from his works, his genius, and his judgment." P. 481.

Pursuing the mode of inveftigation thus propofed, the author has exhibited the character of Peter, and the effects of his sway on the Ruffian empire, with uncommon spirit and effect. It was difficult to exalt the eftimation in which this great man was held, without violating hiftorical truth; yet Mr. Card, even while difplaying the vices which, from the defect of education, fullied the hero, has made his general portrait a theme for the applause and veneration of mankind. Much has been written in commemoration of Peter the Great; but fo judiciously has Mr. Card revifed, felected, and arranged the geperal refult of the documents he has confulted, that those who were moft acquainted with the works of preceding authors will find, in his judicious and animated production, new grounds for admiring the firmness, valour, and fortitude of Peter; and for regretting, that a more complete fyftem of education had not cleared him from many grofs and unfeemly faults; yet for thefe the author makes, in the paragraph which concludes his work, a philofophical and humane apology.

"After the untimely death of the heroic Le Fort, who alone undertook the dangerous office of curbing the fury of his paflions, the fallies of his rage became fo inftantaneous and terrible, that his cour tiers and favourites might be juftified perhaps in following the fceptical conduct of the Perfian nobleman, Ruftan Kan, who never departed from the prefence of his dread fovereign, without affuring himself in his glafs, when he returned to his home, that his head was ftill left on his houlders: yet when the calmer moments of reflection fucceeded, the repentant monarch would then break out into this fincere acknowledgment of his imperfections: "Alas! I have reformed an empire, yet the more arduous task of my own reformation ftill remains incomplete!" The effects of these ebullitions of his temper, however formidable they were, ftill only reached a small number of his fubjects, who found, perhaps, fome compenfation for all their dangers in high and lucrative employments; while the millions of an immenfe empire ftill lived in happy obfcurity, to enjoy the fruits of his multifarious labours, and ages yet unborn fhall applaud the deliverer of Ruffia, whofe untutored wifdom could burft the chains of ignorance, and breathe into his fubjects that happy fpirit of union and improvement which gradually led them to the love and cultivation of every civilized virtue." P. 688.

From this copious detail, and the extracts with which it is accompanied, our readers will be enabled to difcern the scope,

and

and to appreciate, in a general view, the execution of the work. It may perhaps be doubted, whether the term Revolutions is happily chofen, as a denomination for fome of thofe gradations in religion and politics which the author has defcribed; but whatever difpute may be maintained on this point, we readily admit the apology made in the Preface, that it is a name well calculated to arreft attention, and excite curiofity; and when curiofity and attention are fo well gratified, complaint on fo flight a fubject would be frivolous, if not unjust.

Mr. Card prepoffeffes the reader in favour of his impartiality, by the following declaration:

"Attached to no Ruffian party, and too far removed to be infected by their fears or their prejudices, I have prefumed, in deducing the Revolution of Peter the Great, as indeed in every other Revolution, where a freedom of opinion could be fafely admitted, to decide for myself, without fervilely tranfcribing the exaggerated malevolence of one writer, or the indifcriminate partiality of another."

This we do not conceive to have been a difficult task; it appears rather a matter of wonder, that an English hiftorian fhould ever, in treating of Ruffia, feel a party-fpirit, than that he fhould reftrain or fupprefs it. To tranfcribe without referve the effufions of malevolence or fycophantifm, would argue indolence rather than partiality; and in relating events fo far removed from our own times, and interfering so little with our own paflions and prejudices, it does not feem natural that party-fpirit fhould ftrongly bias the pen. The French writers who meddle with modern hiftory, have uniformly adopted a fyftem of party, arifing from the extravagant pretenfions always maintained by their nation; but if English writers fall into the fame error, with refpect to Ruffia, it can only be through indolence, or the defire of fignalizing themselves as difputants in a caufe, without intereft, either national or perfonal, in the event.

The praife of industry muft, in the most unqualified terms, be allowed to the author of the Revolutions of Ruffia; nor ought fimilar applaufes to be withheld from the fagacity with which he has felected, and the fidelity with which he has cited his authorities. But as the fruit of a candid and liberal dispofition, we notice with peculiar pleafure the frank and generous applaufe, and the honeft deference with which Mr. Card treats his contemporaries. It must be gratifying in the highest degree, to fuch writers as Mr. Coxe and Mr. Tooke, to find that their fteps are followed by a gentleman, who feems happy at every proper opportunity to acknowledge, and to repay with gentle and decent commendation, the advantages derived from their labours.

The

The ftyle of Mr. Card is, in general, vigorous and claffical, its defects originate in the defire which is naturally felt by a young author to claim diftinction. Hence we frequently find words used in an uncommon, if not unlicensed sense; epithets multiplied; and facts, which would have been beft related in the most plain and fimple language, introduced with a needlefs parade of preliminary reflection, or overloaded with redundant epithets. "The prince devolved his whole authority on others." P. 76. "The will of Vaffili devolved the fceptre to Ivan." P. 181. "They commiffioned Korela to tend to him their grateful homage." P. 358. Mikhail appeared in open rebellion of his brother-in-law." P. 132. "His pride and ambition viewed with a diffatisfactory eye the kingdom of Kazan." P. 134. "This eventful and turbinating period." P. 97. All these, and a few others of the fame kind, appear to us erroneous, licentious, or affected expreffions, which the judgment of the author, if appealed to by any candid friend, while in MS. would have led him to reform; perhaps too a little confideration would have made him reject the French word appanage (pp. 97, 134), or at least print it in italics, and explain it by a note. The following fentence is a fpecimen of the fault of ufing too many epithets. "This prince had fled with the rapid fpeed of fear, to the court, when his eldest brother Mamotiack had mounted the throne of Kazan polluted with the ftain of parricidal murder." P. 116. To fay that "women of the most exquifite beauty were first difhonoured by the luft of the Tartars, and then welcomed with a fentence of death," (p. 83), appears almoft ludicrous. The fimple facts, that Peter the Great formed dry docks and projected a canal, furnish out the following collection of tame reflections and tumified phrases.

"The Emperor alfo directed several dry docks to be formed at Cronstadt, where his fleet might have thofe damages repaired they recerved, either from the inclemency of the weather, or from the courage of the foe.-Ever grafping at the most gigantic schemes for the public benefit, and familiar with all enterprizes which required any extraordinary efforts of human labour, this author of a great Empire displayed all the diligence of an individual, and the munificence of a fovereign in his earnest endeavours to unite the Don with the Volga, and thus to have opened an intercourse between the Euxine, the Caspian, and the Baltic." P, 608.

Thefe, however, are the blemishes, and not the characteriftics of Mr. Card's performance. Thefe a careful perufal would enable him to eradicate, and leave a work in which there fhould be almoft nothing to reprehend. He has promifed, "fhould the public opinion prove aufpicious to his

prefent

prefent attempt, to add the modern Revolution of the fecond Catharine, as the laft link of the chain." We earneftly hope that no motive may be wanting, which can impel fo diligent and intelligent an author to complete his task.

ART. V. The Repertory of Arts and Manufactures, confifting of original Communications, Specifications of Patent Inventions, and Selections of useful and practical Papers from the Tranfactions of the Philofophical Societies of all Nations, &c. &c. Volume VII to XVII. 8vo, 9s. each Volume. Sold by the Proprietors, No. 182; Fleet-Street. 1798-1802.

OF

F this very useful and valuable work, we have already traced the progrefs as far as the fixth volume*; and having now fufpended our notice of it for a longer period than usual, we shall make amends by giving an account fome, thing more in detail.

As the fpecifications of patents form a very important object in this publication, we fhall premise a few obfervations on that mode of rewarding invention. The principle on which a patent is founded, is certainly that of a compact between the public and an individual, in which the emolument arifing from an invention is exclufively fecured by law, to the inventor, on confideration that, after the expiration of a determinate period, the benefit of the invention may become the property of the public. For this purpofe the fpecification is given on oath, and undoubtedly ought, in all cafes, to be fo clear and explicit, as to leave no doubt or difficulty refpecting the preparation or execution of the fubject of it. The prefent work will afford many instances, where the fpecification by no means answers this purpofe; but either from the ignorance of the writer, or more frequently from intentional obfcurity, little or no information can be collected from it. This cannot happen without injury to the public, and in the latter cafe, perjury in the patentee. The moft ftriking and important cafe in point, is that of Dr. James's Powder, which, notwithflanding the fpecification, is now as much a fecret in the hands of the proprietors, as it ever was in thofe of the Doctor. Though this is connived at in the general ufage of patents, yet when Govern

See Brit. Crit, vol. v. p. 534; vii. 93; x. 88.

ment

ment have made any fpecific remunerations for discoveries, they have acted with much more caution. Harrifon's TimeKeepers were fubmitted to a committee of workmen; and their certificate, that he had explained the principles of them to their fatisfaction, was required to entitle him to the reward. So it was in the cafe of Ward; when the fecrets of his famous Medicines were purchased by Parliament, three practical chemifts were appointed, who were to receive fuch inftructions from him, as to enable them to prepare his medicines, so that they might be precifely the fame as what Ward himself had fold. In juftice to the public, fuch precautions as these are certainly neceflary in every cafe of patent. The fpecification ought to be fo worded, as fully to answer its intention; and, when it relates to fcientific or technical fubjects, it ought to be fubmitted to the infpection, and receive the approbation, of perfons whofe ftudies or habits have rendered them moft competent to the fubject, before the exclufive privilege fhould be granted.

We shall now briefly notice, throughout these volumes, the Papers which appear to us most worthy of notice. Vol. VII. No. 1. Mr. Pratt's Paper on Stucco, promifes much, as there can be no doubt, but a union of fome of the new cements or fluccos, with the hardett kinds of gravelly fubitances, may produce a compofition at least equal to the beft ftone which is now used for mills. No. xxIII. is worthy of attention, as a curious inftance of felf-deception, under the influence of which alone Meffrs. Steevins and Blydefteyn, must have procured the Patent for Perpetual Motion; an experiment by model must at once have removed it. No. xxxvII. the public are certainly indebted to Mr. Hazard for his communication on Butter and Cheese, as it seems to make it clear that it must be owing to improper management alone, that all good land does not produce good butter and cheese, which certainly is not at present the fact. To the merit of Mr. Salmon's Chaff-cutter, No. LV.

give teftimony from our own obfervation. It feems better calculated for its purpofe (particularly on a larger fcale) than any other that we have feen, and is as fimple as can be expected. In Vol. VIII. Mr. Scott's Mole Plough, No. XLV. deferves attention. Experience confirms the utility of it, and it is now much used in North Wilts, and the adjoining part of Gloucefterfhire. A power is there applied to it, exceeding that which can be conveniently procured from horfes. It is warped on by means of moveable capftans or crabs. No. XLVIII. is fuch a fpecimen of ingenuity and mechanical economy, as might be expected from Mr. Whitehurst. Nothing is more fatisfactory than the application of thofe powers which accident fometimes produces, and which would be otherwife ufe

lefs