influence of this revived glow, resumed it that very day, making some additions to it for several days in succession ;* and on my reaching the retired and quiet mansion, which I subsequently purchased and still possess, I so zealously continued the work, and so soon completed it, that I can hardly myself review my efforts without amaze

ment.

Returning thence to the Sorga, and my residence beyond the Alps, I left behind me my four-and-thirtieth year, having every where, thank God, during my long abode at Parma and Verona, been treated with a degree of kindness far beyond my deserts. After a considerable interval, my reputation attracted the notice of the excellent James de Carrara the younger, of all my great friends the most accomplished; and for many years, by messengers and letters, which sought me beyond the Alps, and followed me through Italy wherever I chanced to reside, I was so earnestly urged and importuned to accept his friendship, that though I hoped for nothing, I resolved to pay him a visit, and ascertain what all these pressing solicita tions of the illustrious stranger meant. Accordingly, at a late period of my life, I went to Padua, and was received by him with such transports of unparalleled esteem and affection (almost, indeed, like a beatified spirit in heaven), that language can convey no idea of their extravagance. Among other favours, knowing that I had been a clerk from my youth, with a view of binding me more closely both to himself and his country, he bestowed upon me a canonry of Padua; and had he fortunately been indulged with longer life, here would have terminated all my wanderings. But such, alas! is the transitory nature of every thing mortal, and so surely is sweet succeeded by bitter,-within two years

God took him to himself. And though his son and successor, a man of great discretion, in pursuance of his father's attachment, always favoured me with his regard, yet upon the loss of one so much more suitable to me (particularly in point of age), I determined, in my restlessness, to revisit France, not so much from a desire to see over again what I had seen a thousand times before, as to sooth my sufferings, like the tossing sick, by a change of place.

*

*

*

THE first part of this little volume consists entirely of tables, of which the largest serves to point out the value of any number of articles, at any rate from a farthing to a pound; and it may be easily accommodated to any higher price. Such a table ought to be in every person's hands; for few men live a week without finding it requisite to ascertain the value of goods. He who buys or sells,—who pays or receives wages, or who is employed in any similar transactions, may, by only inspecting such a table as this, determine with certainty and ease the amount of his engagement. The less expert calculator is raised by it, so far as concerns prices, to a par with the most acute; and even the skilful arithmetician will often find it useful for saving the expense of time. It is necessary that tables of this kind be above all suspicion of inaccuracy, and therefore we have examined the table with all the attention in our power. We could not indeed afford the time necessary for calculating every number separately. This would have subjected us to all the labour of the author. We took a shorter, but, we think, a very effectual method. We marked all the quanti

* The British Ready Reckoner, and Universal Cambist, for the use of Bankers, Merchants, Farmers, Tradesmen, and Men of Business in general; compiled from the most Authentic Sources; by William Stenhouse, Accountant in Edinburgh, Author of the Tables of Interest, &c. Third edition, greatly enlarged and improved. 32mo, pp. 276. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh; Law & Whittaker, London.

ties and rates which produced the same value, and then examined the table whether this value was affixed to each of them; for example, we found that £1, 6s. 3d. ought to be the value of each of the six following quantities and rates, viz. of 45 at 7d, of 63 at 5d, of 35 at 9d, of 9 at 2s. 11d., of 7 at 3s. 9d., and of 5 at 5s. 3d.; and we inspected the table to see if this was the case. By proceeding in this manner with other values, we examined considerably more than half the table. We then reduced the values into parcels, and compared their sums and differences with other values in the table; and we used a variety of other ways of comparing the values, so as to make the table, by cross-examinations carried on through its whole extent, to bear testimony for or against itself. We acknowledge, that the detection of error was our immediate object in this examination; and if we had discovered in it either numerous or important errors, our respect for the author would not have prevented us from condemning the work as an imposition on the public. But we were not successful in discovering a single error, and have, in consequence, been led to express a high degree of confidence in its accuracy. It is a matter of extreme difficulty to print arithmetical tables, of such extent, without the smallest omission or mistake, and on that account we do not venture to assert that there is not a wrong figure in the whole table, but we are certain, that if there be any, they must be very few and of minor importance.

There are three other tables in this part of the work, one of them for finding the interest of money for any number of days, and the other two for reducing Scotch land-measure into English, and English land-measure into Scotch. The first of these tables will be found of great use in calculating interest, at all the usual rates per cent.: the other two, though perhaps not so generally requisite, will nevertheless be of essential utility to the land-sur

portion of it which can be called obscure. In describing the monies, weights, and measures, of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Mr Stenhouse is more copious than he is in explaining those of foreign nations; but here also he is very short, considering the multiplicity of weights and measures which are in common use among the different parts of these kingdoms. When pointing out the legal measures of length_in Scotland, the author has adverted to a mistaken opinion which has prevailed among us, that the standard Scotch ell is equal to 37.2 English inches. And he prefers Mr Troughton's measurement, which makes it only 37.069 English inches; this length of the ell has been lately confirmed by an experiment of Professor Copland of Aberdeen. We have, in this part of the performance, a particular account of the local measures of corn in all the counties of Scotland, and a method is explained, of checking and of equalizing these measures, by means of the weight of water contained in the standard pint jug of Stirling, compared with its content in cubical inches; from which it is shown, that a single weight for each of our standard measures would be sufficient for regulating the whole; whereas no vessels made by coopers, to prescribed forms, can be depended upon.

Mr S. has also explained the principle upon which the bill, brought into Parliament in the year 1816, for equalizing the weights and measures of the kingdom, was founded; and his remarks upon the system contained in that bill are very candid and judicious. The reader will find them in the 195th page of the work, to which we beg leave to refer him.

In settling the intrinsic value of foreign coin, the author has given us the weight of the pure gold or silver in a piece, and has expressed their weight in English troy grains, from which the value of the piece in sterling money is then deduced. On this part Mr S. appears to have bestowed a great deal of care. He informs us, in his preface, that he has consulted all the most eminent writers on commercial subjects, and has extracted whatever was most valuable in their works; and the list of his authorities, both British and Foreign, is highly respectable. Many of them had access to information superior to that of the generality of writers, and they were well

qualified for making the most advantageous use of it. A knowledge of the relation of foreign money to that of Britain, might be of great and permanent utility to the commercial world, if the coins of different nations were constantly to retain the same intrinsic worth. But though the variation cannot be very great in a century, yet we know that it has been the practice of governments, at all times, to alter, in some degree, either the weight or the fineness of their coin; and it appears, from the volume before us, that the same practice is still continued. We shall notice only the monies of Spain and Portugal, because several of the coins of these nations are current in Britain. In the days of Sir Isaac Newton, the crusado of Portugal was found to be worth 34.31 pence sterling, which makes the milree equal to 71.46 pence sterling; but the crusado of the year 1802, is worth only 27.886 pence sterling, and of course the milree is only equal to 58.094 pence sterling. Again, a Mexican dollar ought, according to law, to be worth 4s. 6d. sterling nearly; but it is now found, by actual assays at the mint, to be scarcely worth 4s. 4d. And a similar depreciation has taken place in their gold coins. Of the same nature with these changes, is the alteration which has taken place last year in the weight of our silver coinage. Instead of 62s. being coined out of a troy pound of standard silver, as was done formerly, 66 of the new shillings have been coined from the same weight, which makes the new coin about 6 per cent. less valuable than the old. We do not stay to discuss the policy or the advantages of such a measure, we only mention the circumstance on account of its effect in altering the relation which our money formerly bore to those of other nations. It makes an apparent rise in the value of foreign coin in the same ratio in which our money has been depressed. In the work which we are reviewing, the relation of foreign money to our old coin appears to be estimated with great precision, but the performance was prepared for the press before the issue of the new coinage, and therefore the alteration which has taken place could not be introduced into the body of the work. But the author has prefixed a short table, which will be found at the end of the preface, by

which the value of any foreign piece may be converted from the old to the new standard with great ease, in many cases by inspection only, and in every case by a simple addition.

The weights of foreign nations are all valued by reducing them to English troy grains, and their measures of length are reduced to English inches. Their measures of capacity, both liquid and dry, are first reduced to English cubical inches, and then compared with our wine gallon, or with the Winchester bushel. But the author himself has given a very plain, and, as appears to us, a very faithful account of all these reductions in his Preface, to which we refer the reader who wishes fuller information.

It has been the opinion of many eminent men, that instead of making use of measures of capacity, which can never be managed so as to secure perfect accuracy, it would be not only more equitable, but also equally convenient, to buy and sell liquids, as well as dry goods, by weight only. This, Mr S. informs us, is the general practice in Persia, where commerce has been long carried on, and, in some periods, to a great extent. With regard to dry goods, our own experience ought long ago to have convinced every person in this country of the expediency, and even of the necessity, of valuing them by weight only. Several experiments have also been made upon liquids, with every appearance of success. Indeed, the only objection in this case is, some inconvenience in the way of using the weights; if this were got over, and the method generally adopted in any nation, the people would soon be familiarized with it, and its equity and utility would recommend it to their approbation. At any rate, the uniformity and simplicity of the plan entitles it to a fuller consideration than it has yet obtained.

To facilitate the reduction of the money of one country into that of another, and to shew the nature of exchange, Mr S. has annexed ten tables to the work, of which the Arst nine serve for pointing out the sterling money equal to any sum of the money of Scotland, Ireland, Isle of Man, and of the different parts of North America and the West Indies, and also the value of Sterling money expressed in the money of these coun