commending it to the notice and cordial support of our readers.

Palestine has very properly been selected as the first country to be noticed; and when we inform our readers, that in the present part of the Modern Traveller, and that which will be published on the same day with our journal, -supposing it executed with equal spirit and fidelity as his specimen, as we have no reason to doubt that it will be,they will have an account of the Holy Land, comprising all that is most curious, and generally interesting, in the travels of Maundrell, Pococke, Sandys, Hasselquist, Volney, Brown, Dr. Clarke, the pseudo Ali Bey, Chateaubriand, Burckhardt, Joliffe, Dr. Richardson, Buckingham, Irby Mangles, Sir F. Henniker, and others, through this most attractive region of the earth, at least in a Christian's eye, in a neat pocket volume, of between three and four hundred closely printed pages, at the low price of five shillings, we feel assured, that they will soon enable themselves to judge of the justice of our encomiums, which, though somewhat warmer perhaps than is our wont, have been excited by the uncommon merits of what we consider a bijoux in the literary world. Yet warm as that commendation has been, and as we intended that it should be, it would be a gross injustice to close this review without noticing, in terms of the highest praise, the very superior merit of the typographical department of this work, which is from the very accurate press of Mr. Moyes, and in a style of neatness which we have seldom seen surpassed, even in the most expensive works. It is also illustrated by a very well executed view of Jerusalem, and a small but accurate map of Palestine, embellishments which we are happy to learn that it is the intention of the publisher to continue throughout the series, at the rate of a plate at the least to every part, and occasionally of more.

To the continuation of the series, we shall hereafter direct the attention of our readers, satisfied as we are, that if executed with the taste and spirit which has marked its commencement, it will be decidedly the best and most useful of those cabinet and pocket compilations, on which so much attention has been bestowed of late years by the booksellers, and so large a portion of patronage by the public. If, in that patronage, the Modern Traveller, so long as it is conducted as it is begun, does not very largely participate, the fault will be with the public, upon whose taste we shall consider the neglect of its very superior claims no light imputation.

A Letter to the Editor of the British Review, occasioned by the Notice of "No Fiction," and "Martha," in the last Number of that Work. By Andrew Reed. 8vo. London, 1824. Westley. pp. 80.

In our early attention to this Pamphlet, it is by no means our purpose to enter into the merits of the case between the author and our brethren of the British Review, the latter of whom we leave to fight their own battles, as we doubt not that they are quite able to do, though we say not with what success against an antagonist like Mr. Reed, who has advanced very serious charges of misrepresentation and prejudice against them, supported by evidence, which, to say the least of it, makes out a very strong prima facie case on his behalf. Nor shall we touch upon that part of his address which relates to the second of his publications, as we have not yet had leisure to notice "Martha," although we hope it will not long lay amongst the heap of neglected books, which have for some time, though unavoidably, accumulated on our table. But we do think i due, in justice to Mr. Reed, to our readers, and to ourselves, not to defer to a more convenient opportunity, an examination of the charges which have long been in general circulation against him, for the publication of "No Fiction," a work which appearing anonymously at first, was very properly avowed by its author, the moment that avowal seemed likely to involve him in danger and difficulty. Those charges have been divided with sufficient accuracy for our purpose, into the following heads:-1st. That the credulity of the public has been imposed upon; 2dly. That Mr. Barnett, (the hero of the tale) has been injured; and 3dly. That the author has sought to eulogize himself and family.

The first of the charges imputes to Mr. Reed, the imposition upon the public, as a "narrative founded on recent and interesting facts;" of a collection of fictions, and gross distortions, and exaggerations, for which there was but slender foundation in the real occurrences, whence its author professed to draw his materials. To this Mr. Reed opposes the following statement, on the correctness of which, as well from our knowledge of his character, as the acquaintance we have elsewhere obtained, with the principal facts to which he appeals, we place the firmest reliance.

"It is true, that the acquaintance between Lefevre and Douglas began as is described. It is true, that their friendship was car

ried forward by means and incidents similar to those introduced. It is true, that they made an excursion to a distant part of the country on a visit to Mrs. Lefevre, who was what she is represented to be. It is true, that Lefevre held a place in an office in London, and resided with Mr. and Mrs. Russell; and that he was happy while he continued in the paths of usefulness and religion. It is true, that he and Douglas separated; and that afterwards he began to decline from his former pursuits and pleasures. It is true, that the Russells and Douglases often remonstrated as they are represented; and that the correspondence from Plymouth on an alleged impropriety' really existed. It is true, that Lefevre contended with many resolves to retrace his steps, but that he overcame them, forsook his religious connexions, and was gradually drawn into the paths of worldly pleasure. It is true, that he became entangled in debt; the conversation on this subject is almost literally given: and it is true, though he never knew it, that Douglas became bound, in word and honour, for the largest amount he ever owed. It is true, that Lefevre left the Russells similarly to the way described, and very much for the reasons given. It is true, that he formed an attachment, that it had a beneficial influence on his mind and conduct, and that he sought his friend Douglas, and made him acquainted with his prospects. It is true, that when Douglas was expecting to hear of his settlement, and to see its good effects, he was aroused at midnight to receive Lefevre in the state described; that he voluntarily confessed, that what he had formerly denied was actually true; that he had been subject to rebuke in one office, that his accounts had been unexpectedly called for elsewhere, and he was not then prepared to render them; and that the connexion to which he had been looking, was broken off for ever. It is true, that Douglas did every thing to tranquillize him; and in the morning awakened him, and induced him to say he would return to his duties; but that he went home, and remained in a similar state of mind for some time. It is true, that he eloped from his friends; rambled in a state of mental desperation in the environs of Rochester, was advertised, and at last found, and brought home by Mr. Perry. It is true, that his mother and Douglas found him as described, that he remained in this state till he again forsook his home, and was not heard of, after the most anxious inquiry. It is true, that he wandered far away, enlisted in the army, and went over to Canada; that he became the subject of reflection; that he fell in with an excellent missionary, who was of great use to him; and that he wrote home to his friends penitential and pleasing letters. It is true, that his relative procured his discharge, that he returned home, and though differently received by his different friends, he was joyfully received by them all. It is true, that Wilson was influenced by Lefevre's example, and that his state of mind, in his last affliction, was similar to what is given.

"Much, very much besides what this hasty sketch includes, is equally true. The letters and conversations, though not literally rendered, are, with few exceptions, substantially true; while the contents of a letter have sometimes been thrown into a dialogue, and the body of many conversations reduced to a letter. The spirit is generally true, where the form of representation is most affected by variety. Even the sketches from nature are mostly from memory; and those few parts of the work, which are of the nature of episode, are commonly real incidents, though first founded in union with other circumstances." [pp. 13-16.]

To every candid mind, this statement must present an abundantly sufficient refutation of the charge of imposition on the public credulity, though it does not by any means free its author from the more tenable, and more important ones, of improperly publishing facts relating to another, which he ought not in prudence or delicacy to have so used; and that is the charge to which, in our notice of his work, we distinctly alluded, as a very serious one, extending even to the honour and honesty of the author, though in favour of them, we then decided, on the strength of the assurance contained in his advertisement to the third edition of this work, that the true key to it was then in his possession that it had never been in the power of any other person and that it never should be, while the existing reasons continued for withholding it." A more minute statement of those facts is now published, and we are therefore anxious to review a judgment pronounced upon partial evidence, which we are now fully in possession of the means of confirming, modifying, or reversing, as full and authentic admissions and testimony upon the subject, may call upon us to do.

66

It now stands admitted on all hands, that Lefevre, the hero of "No Fiction," is Mr. Barnett, once an intimate friend of Mr. Reed, who performed towards him, in its general outline, the kind part attributed, in the narrative, to Douglas; that between them the correspondence inserted in, or interwoven with, the work, substantially took place, though the letters are not exactly copied, or always used even in the epistolary form;-that the work was published without Mr. Barnett's consent, or any application to him for it, though substantially containing the chief incidents of his eventful history, and his correspondence with the author, who believed him at that time to be residing within two hundred miles from him. Now, upon this plain statement of Vol. ii. p. 359.

admitted facts, we should apprehend, that not even the most prejudiced friend of Mr. Reed can conscientiously acquit him of indelicacy and imprudence.

To these charges he pleads, 1st, that the narrative, though unquestionably founded on facts, and substantially true in all its principal details, was purposely so altered in dates, places, and minor connecting circumstances, as to secure his design of concealing from the public the real hero of the piece. That he intended this course to produce the effect he states, we do not for a moment doubt; yet,-where some of the leading facts must have been known to many besides himself, being of public notoriety in the circle. in which the then friendly, but now contending parties, moved, how he could so deceive himself as to believe he should succeed in his object, is to us a matter of unfeigned astonishment. Nor could he long remain in so unaccountable a delusion, as the book had scarcely issued from the press, ere the key to its interpretation was furnished to every one who associated with the religious part of the population of the metropolis, whence it spread in a very short time to the same class of persons in the larger towns of the kingdom. To this natural, yet, as the author assures us, to him most unlooked-for event, many circumstances, speedily to be noticed, contributed; though the one just stated would, in our estimation, have been quite enough to produce it, in a degree sufficiently injurious alike to the author and his hero.

"

The second plea upon the record is, that before he determined upon publishing, he sought a conference with the latter, but failed in procuring it. How and why he so failed, he has not informed us, but we conclude it must have been merely from his not being able to meet with Mr. Barnett; for, if any degree of coldness between him and Mr. Reed prevented the interview, the publication of this narrative under such circumstances, was unjustifiable and unpardonable in the extreme; as, in our view of the subject, nothing can be offered in palliation of the want, not only of caution, but of proper feeling, exhibited in giving to the world the details of a confidential friendship of a peculiarly delicate nature, without the full consent of all parties concerned in it, than the honest conviction of the individual who so published it, that its appearance would not at least be disagreeable to his friend; and that Mr. Reed himself must, at one time, have been of this latter opinion, his mere intention to apply for permission to print his narrative very