Moorish coat, made of a certain ftuff, interwoven with gold, which is manufactured at Surat, and is called foesjes. This hung down almost to his feet. The fleeves, which were loofe and wide above the elbow, fet close to the lower part of the arm, where they were faftened by a row of fmall gold buttons. Under this coat, he wore a white fhirt, and a pair of drawers, that reached down to his heels, of the fame ftuff as the coat. On his feet he had Turkifh fhoes drawn on flip-fhod, the forepart of which was turned upwards; and white stockings on his legs. His head was covered by a round, and fomewhat fharppointed cap, of a violet colour, laced with filves. Behind his chair Rood one of his female lifeguards, who was relieved from time to time, armed with a large gold kris, in a fheath of maffy gold, which the continually kept raised on high; and which the king, when he flood up to conduct us out, took from her, and put under his arm. Two female flaves, one on each fide, were feated next to him on the ground. One of thefe held his tobacco-box and his betel box, both of which were made of gold, and of a pretty large fize. When he wanted either the one or the other, it was handed to him, wrapped up in a filk handkerchief. The other female attendant, had a golden fpitting-pot in her hand, which the handed from time to time to his majefty, as he food in need of this utenfil.

"As foon as we were feated, pipes and tobacco were prefented to as; after which the commandant Reinouts and Mr. Van Tets entered into converfation with the king, on indifferent fubjects, in the Malay language. Hereupon the king called the pangorang, or prince, prime minifter, who, as I have before mentioned, was fitting at the lower end of the hall, at the head of the nobles, to come to him. He accordingly erept along the floor, till he came near the king's chair, where he remained fitting on the ground, anfwering the queftions which the king put to him. He often replied with the word inghi, which is the Javanefe affirmative, yes; but as I understood little of the language which was fpoken, I was neither edified nor entertained by the dialogue.

About half paft eleven o'clock, the cloth, which confifted in a white piece of cotton, was laid upon the table; and in a moment it was provided with a number of fmall difhes, filled with all kinds of Indian food, dreffed in various manners. The chief ingredients of moft of them were, however, fish and poultry, varied by numerous fauces, according to the custom of the country, of fugar, vinegar, or tamarinds. A fquare fearlet woollen cloth, was laid upon the table before the king, and upon this, the dishes were placed which were defigned folely for his ufe, and of which he ate heartily. With regard to myfelf, it was only with the greatest difficulty, I could fwallow a part of what was fet before me, which was fifh preferved in fugar, and which indeed I fhould not have touched at all, if politenefs had not required that I fhould rafte of fomething. Mr. Reinouts had taken care to provide himfelf with a few bottles of wine and beer, which it would else, have been in vain, to have looked for, at the king's table, and we could therefore, now and then, indulge in a glafs of thofe liquors, during the dinner.

The king frequently broke wind upwards, during his meal, and Ais example was affiduouily followed by all the gentlemen in company, wlach

hich afforded matter of no little furprize to me. But I afterwards was informed, that this cuftom, fo contrary to European notions of, decency, was an etiquette of the court of Bantam, and was affected, in order to fhew that one's apperite was good, and the victuals rateful, which was very pleafing to the king.

After this courfe was taken away, three large dishes of confectionary and pastry were put upon the table; and these were more to my liking than what had preceded; but neither the king, nor his queens, feemed to care much about them.

!

"In the mean timè, fome large china bowls with boiled rice, and fome dishes of fish, which came from our table, were fet before the nobles, who were at the end of the hall, and who fpeedily emptied them, with continual eructations, which echoed through the hall; after which, they again fat down as before, upon their heels, each according to his rank. On their righthand, but feparate from them, fat the second Ton of the king, who feemed to be a youth of about feventeen or eighteen years of age, of a good countenance, but fquinting a little. T was told, that he poffeffed a good judgment, and more understanding and abilities than the heir apparent. This prince had his victuals brought him, at the fame time with the nobles, but feparately; and he was at tended by a female flave, who fat by him.

"About two o'clock, we rofe from table, and took our leave of the king, who conducted us out, in the fame manner as he had led us in, as far as the gate of the fort, followed by the prince, his fon, who led the counsellor Meyer by the hand; the whole accompanied by the continued performance of mufic, by the gomgoms, trumpets, &c. Without the gate, the king took his leave, and returned to his palace, and we went over the efplanade, and the drawbridge, to the fame coaches in which we had come, and which carried us back to Fort Speelwyk." P.75.

It seems ridiculous enough to have given the title of King to a mere puppet of the Dutch government, who, we are afterwards informed, has not the power of nominating his fucceffor. The form in which the perfon whom the Company choofes is nominated to the fovereignty, is too peculiar to be omitted.

"His excellency the governor general, and the honourable the council of India, having thought fit and refolved, to appoint me, as their commiffary plenipotentiary to the court of Bantam, in order, at the request of the king, to propofe and appoint, his majesty's eldest fon Pangorang (prince) Guiti, as hereditary prince, and fucceffor to the empire of Bantam; and, this defirable period being now arrived, in confequence, I, the commiffary aforefaid, in the name and behalf of the general East-India Company of the Netherlands, appoint the faid pangorang, to be pangerang ratoo, or hereditary prince, and heir to the crown and the whole empire of Bantam, by the title of Abdul Mofagir Mohamed Ali Joudeen.

The commiffary expects, that the faid pangorang rata will, at all times, confider this, his important promotion, as a peculiar favour, and a great benefit conferred upon him by the honourable Company; being adopted

M m 2

adopted from this moment, as the grand fon of the Eaft-India Company of the Netherlands; and that he will henceforward, on all occafions, and in all times, behave with integrity and gratitude towards them, obeying the commands of the honourable Company, and of the king his father, during his whole life." P. 214.

With respect to the fituation, circumftances, and characters of the English, who, when the author visited Bengal, were in poffeffion of the military and civil authority, M. Stavorinus appears to have been exceedingly ignorant and ill-informed. Lord Clive in particular, one of the braveft men who ever lived, is accused of the groffeft perfonal cowardice. This miftake is, however, candidly rectified by the tranflator, in a pertinent note, and ample juftice is done to Lord Clive's memory, by a quotation from Orme's Hiftory of the Military Tranfactions of Indoftan. The remaining part of the first volume is occupied by the defcription of the Cape of Good Hope. We defer our obfervations on the two laft volumes till next month.

(To be continued.)

ART. VIII. The Works of the late John Maclaurin, Efq. of Dreghorn: One of the Senators of the College of Justice, and F. R. S. Edinburgh. In Two Volumes. 8vo. 189 and 391 pp. 9s. Bell and Bradfute. 1798.

TO what caufe it may be afcribed we will not pretend to determine, but of late years efpecially, many more writings of a miscellaneous nature have flowed from the pens of practising lawyers and learned judges in the northern than in the fouthern part of Great Britain. To the names of those whofe genius has overleaped the bounds of profeffional literature, may be added that of Lord Dreghorn, whofe talents, however, though alike excurfive, do not, as we conceive, deferve, in other refpects, to be ranked with thofe of a Kaimes, a Hailes, or a Monboddo.

Prefixed to the volumes before us, is a Life of the Author, from which it appears, that he was the eldest fon of the cele brated Colin Maclaurin, Profeffor of Mathematics in the Uni verfity of Edinburgh, and was born in that city, in the year 174; that he was educated at the High School, and afterwards at the Univerfity of Edinburgh; that, in 1756, he was admitted a Member of the Faculty of Advocates; that, after having many years practifed at the Scotch Bar with affiduity and fuccefs, he was, in 1788, promoted to the Bench, through

the intereft of his friend the Right Hon. Henry Dundas, and took his feat under the title of Lord Dreghorn; and that he died in December, 1796.

The first of these volumes contains fpecimens of the writer's poetry, to which it feems he had an early inclination. But inclination and talent are not always fynonymous terms; and impartiality obliges us to confefs, that, except in a few of his lighter pieces (which have fome natural humour) there is little in the compofitions of Lord Dreghorn which intitle him to the name of poet. We have selected one of the best.

"Nor Hammond's love, nor Shenftone's was fincere,

For, they, though poor, to high-born maids laid claim;
A handfome houfe-maid caufes my defpair,
And Nelly, not Ne-era, is her name.

What though, devoid of all coquettish care,
Bare-footed fhe, except on Sundays, goes,
To wash her hands forgets, and comb her hair,
Nor with her fingers fcorns to blow her nose.
On ev'ry feature, and on ev'ry limb,

Beauty and strength have lavish'd all their care;
A food too rich is fkim-milk cheese, for him
That would with her the city-flirt compare.
In vain, to win her, proffer'd oft have I
The gaudy ribbon, and the curious lace;
In vain difplay'd, to her relentless eye,
The guinea's feldom unfuccefsful face.
Repuls'd, I often have indignant fworn;

Some freedoms often ftruggl'd hard to force;
But foon, too foon, feverely check'd foreborn,
She, more enrag'd, and my reception worse.
The brimful milking-pail, the empty can,
Th' unwieldy befom, big with prickly fate;
The naufeous mop, and hiffing frying pan,
Have fall'n, vindictive, on my guardless pate.

Yet I, infatuate! purfue her ftill;

Happy to lurk, infidious, and unfeen,
Among the willows, nurflings of the rill,

That fweetly flows harmonious, through the green;

For there, with forcible alternate tread,
From the foak'd linen ev'ry ftain to press,
The tub-inclos'd, and unfufpecting maid,
Furls, unafham'd, th' impediments of drefs.
This fcene augments my ardour to proceed,
Nor from the heart her cruelty to me;
Nay, fhe acknowledg'd once it did proceed,
Not from diflike, but diff'rence of degree.

'Tis true; for, tho' fhe fpurns my fond addrefs,
Yet to her equals is no coynefs fhown;

She, unconstrain'd, will Tom the gard'ner kifs;

Toy, romp, and wanton with the ploughman John," P. 33. The conclufion is not written with equal fpirit. The long ftory from the Arabian Nights (from p. 64 to 98) is not, upon the whole, ill-verfified; and the lines defigned to ridicule the many uncommon words in Johnfon's Dictionary (in p. 29) have fome humour. On the ferious poems in this volume, we are under the neceffity of paffing an alinoft unqualified cenfure. The author feems to have confidered all rhymes as verfe, and all verfes as poetry, and to have little regarded novelty of thought, harmony of rhymes, or elegance of expreflion. These poems are alfo ftrongly tinctured with the writer's political principles; which (ftrange to tell, of a learned judge, connected as he was!) inclined much to the revolutionary doctrines of France. That we may not appear to have formed this opinion rafhly, we fhall give a few fpecimens from two poems, which feem to have been written con amore, and which, from the nature of the fubject, admitted, and indeed required, the highest graces of poetry. The first is an Ode to War, defigned to trip the God of War of his fplendid trappings, and show him in all his native deformity. This might have been done poetically let us fee how it is executed by the writer before us. The firft ftanza is fpirited, though not very new. In the fe cond, a ludicrous idea is fuggefted, by calling War "a monster in mafquerade." The third, however, beggars defcription We will give it in the author's own words.

In vain a helmet, large and tight,
Attempts to fhelter from the night
Thy brutal length of jaw:
Nor can thy fabre's bajket bilt,

Though ribbon-weaved, and double gilt,
Conceal the tyger paw.

Several of the ftanzas which fucceed, are nearly of the fame amp. Mars is called the offspring of Satan," who "flroaks his cur," and makes a fpeech to him; which is rather unmerciful in length. We will not repeat any more of this profe run mad," but haften to the "Addrefs to the Powers at War;" which alfo bears the form of a lyric poem. Here we have all the modern revolutionary doctrines put into verfe, or rather rhyme. It is affumed that every power at war with France is an aggreffor; that the ftruggles of that nation are for liberty; and that peace, a fecure peace, might be had at any time, by permitting her