The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-08-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE AND 1111LOSOPHY
Travenol an °Menet, on Nature and the Inhabitants of thr
Mountains in the Canton de Fribourg, and the Fay

By L. M. P. de Lower, veer 12.

....... .
The inimitable Sentimental Journey of Sterne,
has had a great number of imitators; but none have
ttained his excellence, either in originality of taste,
r the elegance of sentiment, which are so peculiarly
tis charafterisric. To accomplish such a work, it is
not sufficient to adopt a certain style of writing ; he
must have received from nature a soul capable of
Coeling. which inspired him with powers to express
',15 s;rassations with simplicity and truth. From this
cause it pa ocesels, that those writers who e ould hare
trodden in the path of the English Moralist, have
universally failed of success ; because they had no
guide, but mere imitation, and the aptness of such
incidents as arose.
The work which we have announced, approaches
to resemblance in some respeds. The intention of
the author appears to be a just representation of the
human heart, by the recital of a variety of semi-
mental scenes, real and imaginary. The wonder.
ful in nature, and the accurate observations of the
chamders of men, have furnished him with mate-
rials for refledion ; and he has endeavoured to paint
them to our imagination by an analysis of the affec-
tions and customs of those by Whom he is sur-
rounded.
M. de Laverne gives us an idea of the spirit in
which it is written by the following : " I have," said
he, " a heart agitated by all those contradidory sen-
sations which can embitter or give charms to life.
I am in the midst of political troubles, whose fatal
influence I have largely shared, but Providence has
permitted that those misfortunes, of which, as a
member of society, I am a partaker, should be
sweetened by those enjoyments which I derive sim-
ply from my faculties as a feeling and thinking
being. I have written as nature inspired use, and
for this reason the learned will find that the entire
of my writing wants connelion. They will say it
is not a work, and will ask what put it • to my head
to print it ?I am obliged to answer, at I have
ith
byielded to a custom so universal, that i is impossi-
le but they must pardon me in favour Ofe num-
ber of my accomplices."
We may think, on the contrary, that thik-is a
weak excuse; that in undertaking a work we oulgist,
to be actuated by other motives, and particularly
ought previously to weigh well our powers and our
means.
It is assuredly not a little task to delineate the
secret movements of a thinking mind, to scrutinise
and examine the phenomena which have arisen at
different periods of this age, under the various
changes of place and incident.
But, supposing that the observer ought to have
been in the utmost tranquillity, and that he has
chosen very ill in seising a moment when he feels
himself agitated by fears and melancholy sensations;
this inclination of the soul most easily gives birth
to sentimental descriptions and dramatic episodes,
but l‘ ill never present men and things in the point
of view in which they are placed by nature, and as
we find them in the usual order of providence and
society.
These Travels of an oOsorver are not, however,
without a depth of philosophy, which does honour
to the author, and proves that, with more time and
velleetion, he had composed a better work. But the
merit of the subjed dispenses nothing from the obli-
gation of ba ing careful of his style ; to write well
and to think well in an author is so closely united,
that we can rarely, if ever, find an exception in fa-
vour of the contrary opinion. Boileau says,

If an author is had in hit language and style,
Though else good he may be, he, a 'lnlet most ails.

It is more especially to the authors of Tra:elr,
that this verse of the Poet may be applied; for
he should never forget that he ought to avoid gram.
rnatical errors in these days, as well as in the days
of Boileau, but also be careful against those abrupt
transitions, those apostrophes, these cold sentimental
exclamations, and all those unconnefled ideas which
have so much prevailed in that species of writing,
particularly dining the last thirty years.
lt is to no put pose that we read such books ; the
instruction they convey cannot sink into the me-
enery ; and, far from assisting us in the knowledge
of men, it rather contributes to throw into disorder
and confusion, any knowledge we might before have
cquired.
We believe that these general reletlions, appro-
priate to this book of M. de Laverne, are pre-
ferable to extraaing passages. on subjefts Area&
known and treated on by approved writers ; such,
for example, are the moral thoughts which Ire in-
spired by the pstaltme elevation of stupendous moun-
tains; the enchanting descriptions of beautiful
places in Switzerland ; a digression on the ;
a dissertation on the taste of women for fanciful
inventions; some reflation; on lave; on Jean
.lacques ; on the eiglueenth century; on the slavery
of negroes ; on the politics of the English, and their
spirit of opposition ; and all those subic.ls which
requite to be treated in a very different frame of
mind from that which is inspired by melancholy
pacing amongst the rocks of the Helvetic and the
country of the Pays de Vaud.

PLeCtitT.

Between four and five o'clock on Sunday morn.
ing, a fire broke out in a house on Bodmin
Cornwall, inhabited by two or three families, si
soon communicated to the adjoining houses, and in
burned the greatest part of four dwel-
lings. The roof, &c. of a fifth habitation being
quickly taken down, prevented it from spreading far-
ther, otherwise one side of the principal street in the
town would have, in all human probability, been
destroyed by the devouring clement. All ranks of
people, men, women. and children, exerted them-
selves in an extraordinary manner. The ruined pre-
mises belong to a person of small property, and by
this fire he is nearly rendered pennyless.
On Tuesday se'nnight. a new gun-brig, for the
service of Government, was launched from Mr.
TAYLOR'S Landing, North Shore, Sunderland, in
presence of a vast nu nber of speSators. The hand
of the Sunderland Volunteer Infantry were on
board, and pla.yed several appropriate tunes. She
is called the Ilrely, and will carry 14 guns.