fhook the lodge.-To add to my grief, the morning light promised no comfort. At length fleep came to my relief; fhort fleep, difturbed by gloomy vifions; but in the morning my fpirits, wearied out, funk in repofe; and I was but just arifen, when Albert returned.'

The gentleman who, in this publication, has amused us in the perfon of Charlotte with agreeable profe, has added to his present two or three copies of verfes interfperfed in the letters. The following, fuppofed to have been written by the maniac, who is a clerk of Charlotte's father, prior to his distraction, gave us fome pleasure, and will we believe be generally acceptable. Returned with a copy of one of Collins's Oriental eclogues, tranflated by Charlotte.

Go, fimple verfe, with Charlotte's matchlefs ftrain,
-The humble daify with the eglantine-
Reveal what artless Henry ftrives to hide:

Reveal the woe that drowns this heart of mine.

Tell her, 'tis not alone the favour'd rose

That drinks the nectar of the morning dew:
The lowly field-flower finks with liquid pearl,
And in the bleffing finds affliction too.
Tell her, the lowlieft of th' admiring throng,
Whose verse her flattering kindnels taught to flow,
By fortune banished from the foothing fmile,
In fecret forrow mufes o'er his woe.

So, when the chorifters of vocal woods

Have fung their amorous fongs the live-long day,
Sad Philomela to the night complains,
And lonely warbles on the cheerless spray.
Sweet forrow-breathing bird! O might my train
In aught but melancholy equal thine,
Then fhould that pity which thy fong infpires,
That pity then should foothe this breaft of mine.
But me no mufes taught with skilful strains

To mock the harmony of heavenly spheres ;
The mufe of melancholy blots my verse,

And brings no other aid than fighs and tears.
On earth no garland grows for this fad brow,-
For me, alas! the fates unkindly wove
The fable cyprefs of confuming grief

With thy fweet rofebuds, hope-deluding love!
A heaven, O Charlotte! is thy matchlefs torm,
Where dwell thofe powers that are more divine:
There the illumin'd star of science glows;-
The graces in a conftellation fhine!

I hear harmonious founds-'tis Charlotte's voice!-
I hear her ftrike the forrow-foothing lyre;

Ah! how perfuafive is that melting air,

That makes my bofom thrill with new defire!

But,

But, O prefumptuous youth! forbear to tell

With what emotions thy fond breaft may glow:-
Hide thee, vain youth, in fome fequefter'd fhade,

Where Walheim's waving willows weep thy woe !*

Were we to criticise these stanzas, we fhould fay, that the fecond line of the antepenultimate is deficient both in harmony and meaning, and that the alliteration, Where Walheim's waving willows weep thy woe, is incogruous, ludicrous, and absurd.

We cannot difmifs this performance, without one word to the preface" by the editor." In this place, the morality of the incomparable Werter is loudly arraigned, and the writer is even charged, very unjustly as we think, with diffeminating principles of infidelity. At the fame time, much credit is taken by the author of the present work, for his fcrupulous delicacy, and the regular purity of his fentiments. If this purity had not been either hypocritical or inconfequent, he must have been aware that it amounted to nothing. What! will this moral and evangelical writer tack his uncontaminated pages to the depravity of Werter? Will he lend the fublimity of his genius to buoy up a mifchief, more pregnant, according to him, than war, or tyranny, or the most atrocious villany? [vide p. viii.] But perhaps he may be difpofed modeftly to disclaim, and fay, that he had no chance for immortality, and therefore only provided an antidote, that at most would not outlast the natural life of the poifon. Has he not then exerted all his abilities? If he has not done better, can we thank him for that? Not to say that books of unequal merit will be admired on other accounts by different claffes of readers, and that Charlotte may prove a favourite where Werter would have been difcarded. We fhould not expect to escape the cenforial judgment of our author, if we were to write a continuation of the woman of pleasure, though it should be as chaste as the hiftory of Jofeph.

But it feems that a young lady, who took refuge in voluntary death, was found with the Sorrows of Werter under her pillow. This the confcientious fcrupulofity of our author has magnified into "the deftruction of individuals, particularly among the other fex." And what authority has the story itself? That of the newspapers and magazines of the day. But, admit it be true, and what then? Cato perused the Phædon of Plato immediately before his fuicide. Who ever brought this as a charge against the great academic? We have read indeed of a philofopher of antiquity, who enlarged fo pathetically upon the miferies of human life, that his fcholars, with one confent, fet out for the fhore to drown themfelves. But the progeny of this man are long fince extinct; and a writer of the prefent day would be extremely puzzled to perfuade either you, or me, by the most eloquent harangue in the world, to the act of suicide! Enlightened

Enlightened Chriftians are now agreed to regard this action, tho' feldom juftifiable, as not including enormous guilt. Indeed, we never heard but of one argument calculated to fet it in that light, and that argument is worthy of the ordinary of Newgate's Calendar; "that it is the only fin of which a man must not expect "to have time enough to repent."

But there was a better reafon, than that affigned by our author, why he should not have written a continuation of the German romance. The Sorrows of Werter is in point of genius, pathos and fublimity, one of the first productions of the present century; and a man of moderate talents confults ill his own reputation, who tacks his production to a work of fo extraordinary eminence. The prefent writer accordingly expreffes himfelf, as we have faid, with eafe and propriety; but when he comes in competition with his original, like a twinkling and uncertain luminary," he hides his diminished head.” În reflec, tions he is equal and amaling, but his dialogue is the most miferably fupported of any we remember to have read.

FOREIGN LITERATUR E.
ART. XIII. Tal om Japanska Nationen, &c.

A Speech concerning the Japanese; delivered before the Royal Academy of
Sciences, by C. P. Thunberg, when he refigned the office of Prefident.
Stockholm.

(Continued.)

THE obfervant traveller proceeds to mention fome other particulars concerning the houfes of the Japanese. Each room has two or more windows, which begin near the ceiling and reach down within a couple of feet of the floor. They confift of light fashes, which can be put in and taken out at pleafure, and flide behind each other in two grooves made for this purpose in the beams above and below. They are divided into rectangular panes, which are fometimes forty in number; on the outfide they are covered with fine white, which is feldom

or

never oiled, and which admits a good deal of light, though it prevents all profpect without. The roof projects far beyond the houfe, and is fometimes lengthened out with a small separate roof, which covers a gallery built without the house and before the windows. From this fmaller, país, inwards and downwards fquare bits of wood, on which mats intended for blinds made of reeds are hung; thefe mats can be rolled up or extended at will; they ferve partly to prevent paffengers from looking into the houfe, but chiefly to freen the paper windows from rain. The windows are never

glazed;

glazed; nor did I ever obferve mother of pearl, or glacies maria ufed for this purpose.

The floor is always covered with mats, made of a fine fort of grafs (a juncus) and stuffed with rice-ftraw to the thickness of three or four inches. They are always of the fame fize, viz. a fathom in length, and half one in breadth. They are adorned along the fides with a thin blue or black band. It was only in the emperor's palace at Japan that I faw mats larger than the common fize. In the meaner houfes there is a part of the room at the further end not covered with mats; it ferves inftead of an antichamber for a place to take the fhoes off. Within, the floor is raised and covered with mats. This is the inhabited part of the house: it may be divided into feveral apartments by boards. The walls within, and the ceil ing, are covered with beautiful thick paper, on which various flowers are imprinted, either of green, yellow, white, or variegated colours, and fometimes with filver and gold intermixed. The pafte they use to fasten it on is made of rice, and, as the fmoke during the winter foils this tapeftry very much, it is renewed every third or fourth year.

The part of the house fronting the street ferves trade smen and mechanics for their fhop, and the back part only is inhabited. In the room which ferves for a kitchen there is no other hearth than a hole in the middle, furrounded with fome ftones, which rife no higher than the furface of the mats furrounding them.

The house is blackened with smoke, for there is no chimney except a hole in the roof, and accidents from fire often happen from the vacuity of the mats.

Every houfe has a small court, which is often adorned with portions of earth thrown up, and various trees, fhrubs, and flower-pots. Every house has also a room for bathing, commonly on one fide of the court. In Jeddo, and fome other cities, every houfe has a ftore-houfe built of stone and fecure from fire, in which they can fave ther property.

Fire-places and ftoves are unknown in the whole country, though the cold is fo fevere that fires must be made in the apartments from October till March. The fire is made in pots of copper with broad projecting edges, the cavity is filled with clay or afhes, and in this is laid well-burned charcoal. This grate is fet in the middle, or at one fide of the room. They either kindle the fire feveral times a day, or keep it up conftantly, according to the ufe which is made of the room. Such fires are however fubject to many inconveniences; the charcoal fometimes fmokes and the room is difcoloured, and the eyes fuffer feverely.

The

The Japanese houfes have not, either in the cities or the country, the convenience or beauty of the European. The rooms are not fo cheerful, nor in the winter so warm, nor fo fecure from fire, nor fo durable. The femi-transparent paperwindows in particular give them both within and without a mean appearance.

The public buildings are more spacious, but in the fame ftile. The roof, which is adorned with a number of towers of a peculiar appearance, conftitutes their chief ornament.

The cities are fome of them very large. They are fome times furrounded with a wall and foffe, efpecially those where any chief holds his court. The capital Jeddo is said to be in circumference twenty-one hours walk, or about twenty-one French leagues. I had an opportunity to furvey from an eminence this fpacious city, which equals if it does not exceed, Pekin in fize. The ftreets are both ftraight and wide; they are divided by gates at certain distances, as in all the other cities; at each gate there is a very high staircase, from the top of which fires, which happen very often, may be easily discovered.

Villages are diftinguished from cities by having only one ftreet, which is of an incredible length, generally exceeding a mile and half, and often fo long, that it requires several hours to traverse them. They lie fometimes fo close to one another, that nothing but a bridge or a brook, and a different name, feparates them.

Correfponding to the fimplicity of the architecture is the fcantinefs of household furniture, which however is fuch as not a little to contribute to convenience, and even to the ornament of the houfe. They have no closets, bureaus, chefts, fofas, beds, tables, chairs, clock, looking-glafs, &c. Moft of thefe articles are neither ufed nor known. The foft mats, which cover the floor, ferve for chairs and beds. At meal-time a little table, a foot fquare, and ten inches high, is fet before each perfon. Upon holidays a foft mattress stopped with cotton is laid upon the mats. Cupboards, chefts, bureaus, and boxes are kept in a separate room. Moft of the East Indian nations fit cross-legged, but the Chinese and Japanese set their feet under their body, and fo make their heels ferve for a chair.

With refpect to the variety of eatables which are found in the Japanese ifles and the furrounding fea, partly the produce of nature, and partly reared or prepared by art, the country of which I am speaking exceeds perhaps all others hitherto difcovered. The Japanese ufe not only whatever is itself wholefome and nourishing, but almoft every article of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, even poifonous things, which are fo prepared as to be fit for ufe. All the difhes are cut into small ENG. REV. Vol. VI. April 1786.

U

pieces,