and profligate in their manners, to come into Scotland, and outrage the moral feelings of the people, for the purpose of regaining freedom. These are alarming consequences, and which ought to induce the Court to refuse to do more than could be done by the courts in England. On these grounds, the Commissaries refused to sustain their jurisdiction in several cases; but the Court of Session, after deliberately reviewing their judgment, remitted the cases, with instructions to the Commissaries to sustain their jurisdiction, and proceed in the divorces. The principles maintained by the Court of Session, in opposition to the views of the Commissaries, seem to have been to the following effect :-Indissolubility is in reality no part of the contract in an English marriage. The English courts give a separation a mensa et thoro, and Parliament gives a divorce. The Parliament acts as a court of law, deciding in a particular form a particular case. The general rule therefore applies, that the state of persons falls to be determined according to the law of the country where they reside, whether it be permanent or temporary. The Scotch courts give effect to the law of the place of contract only in conformity with its own law. The doctrine of comitas does not apply, because, although effect was to be given to the law of the place of contract, it would fall to be controlled by the subsequent offence, which would be judged of according to the law of the place where the offence had been committed. It would be morally injurious to give effect, in a question of this kind, to the law of the place of contract, because it would be putting it in the power of foreigners to live in Scotland, with impunity, in open profligacy. Be sides, this principle of comitas is not of universal application. It does not take place in contracts regarding real estates-nor where the parties had in view at the time the law of another kingdom-nor where it would be attended with injustice-nor where it would be injurious to the interests of civil society. Having thus laid before our readers the opposite arguments of the Inferior and Superior Courts on this great question, we have only to add, that, although we think the Commissaries were, from the unpleasant circumstance that occurred in Lolly's case, called upon to reconsider the question most deliberately, yet, that, after they had become acquainted with the opinions of the Court of Review, they appear to us to have persisted too long in their own views, and to have framed their judgments with by far too much anxiety and caution. Mr Fergusson's Reports form, indeed, an able apology for their conduct; but it does not seem to us to be the duty of a judge to look to the consequences of his decisions; he is merely called upon to declare the law, be the consequences what they may; for it will be difficult to find any general law which may not appear to be attended with evil consequences in particular cases. The question, however, is one of great nicety and difficulty; and we beg again to refer those who wish to study it thoroughly, to the work before us, for the publication of which Mr Fergusson is well entitled to the thanks, both of professional men and of the public at large, Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa, by the late John Leyden, M.D.; enlarged and completed to the present time, with Illustrations of its Geography and Natural History, as well as of the Moral and Social Condition of its Inhabitants. By HUGH MURRAY, Esq. F.R.S.E. 8vo. pp. 512, 536. Edinburgh. Constable and Co. 1817. AN ardent spirit of inquiry after unknown countries, is one of the circumstances by which Britain has been most honourably distinguished during the present reign. The enterprise of scientific curiosity, seconded by the resources of an enlightened government, has included within the limits of geographical knowledge a new portion of the globe; and what is of still greater importance, has caught from its own progress an impulse which is not likely to cease, while any one region of the world remains unknown. When successive voyages of discovery had reduced the fancied Southern Continent, to which geographers had fondly assigned the name of Terra Australis Incognita, to that important group of islands now called Australasia, and had detailed the numerous isles which lie scattered over the bosoms of the Southern and the Pacific Oceans, the views of scientific men were naturally directed towards Africa, where nearly a whole continent remained to be explored. Hitherto the knowledge of Europeans, with regard to that immense continent, extended little beyond its coasts. The northern regions, indeed, were tolerably well known, both from the ample description given of them by Leo Africanus, early in the sixteenth century, and from the intercourse to which their vicinity invited the southern nations of Europe. The Portuguese, who have the glory of being the first modern nation that explored its western and eastern shores, had established many factories, particularly on the rivers in the west; and in their attempts to penetrate into the interior, they became acquainted with several kingdoms and countries, which had never before been heard of by any individual north of the Mediterranean. On the western coast, the kingdoms of Benin, Congo, Angolo, Matamba, and Loan go; on the eastern, Sofala, Mozambique, Quiloa, Mombaza, and Melinda, besides the great Empire of Abys sinia, were first made known to Europeans by the Portuguese, whose missionaries, had they been men of intelligence and science, possessed ample opportunities of collecting information concerning the customs, laws, government, and religion, of these various kingdoms. The Portuguese monarch had assumed the additional title of King of Guinea; and the advantages which he was supposed to derive from his settlements in Africa, would probably have directed to the same quarter the spirit of enterprise and activity which then began to prevail in Europe, had not the doubling of the Cape of Good Hope opened to the merchant more alluring prospects in India; while the recent discovery of America presented a new world to the cupidity, or curiosity, of the adventurer. The profits arising from the detestable traffic in slaves, had induced some of the European States to form settlements on the western coast of Africa. The English, French, and Spaniards had, for this purpose, established factories to the north of the equator; from the equator to the tropic of Capricorn, the Portuguese had imilar establishments, both on the eastern and western shores; and the Dutch had regularly colonized the Cape of Good Hope. But these settlements had introduced Europeans to a very trifling distance from the coast, while they seemed to shut up the interior more closely than ever from European curiosity. By their avarice and oppression, the settlers had excited the natural indignation of the natives against Christians; and the arts of the slave merchant, by increas ing the frequency of their wars,heightened the ferocity of their various tribes, and thus rendered it more dangerous for a white adventurer to appear amongst them. "The geography of Africa," says Leyden, "extended very little within its coasts; lines traced on the margin of the map; a few positions were ascertained, and a few while the interior was a charta rasa, an extended blank of immense size, where every thing was unsettled and uncertain. On this desart space, the geographer, following blindly the steps of Edrisi the Nubian, traced the uncertain course of unexplored rivers, and a few names of towns equally unknown. The course of the Niger, the rise and termination, nay, the separate existence of that stream, were equally undetermined. Since De la Brue and Moore, gal had not been explored beyond the falls half a century had elapsed, but the Seneof Felu; nor the Gambia beyond those of Baraconda." (First Edition, Chap. I.) The scanty knowledge which was obtained of some parts of the interior, had been derived chiefly from the exertions of a few enterprising individuals who had penetrated in different directions these generally forbidding regions. Caffraria, which had been partly traversed by Dr Sparmann between the years 1772-6, and by Mr Paterson 1777-8, was afterwards more fully explored by M. Vaillant, who has described the situation, political state, customs, and manners of various nations, till then unknown to Europeans even by name; though the indulgence which he seems to give to his fancy considerably impairs the authenticity of his narrative. Nubia and Egypt had been visited by Norden, whose picturesque and interesting journey was published in 1755; and Bruce, after a long residence in Abyssinia, published in 1788 his minute but entertaining account of the geography, the government, customs, and man nere, of that singular kingdom. Such was the state of African geography, when a few gentlemen of rank and learning, considering our ignorance of that continent as a reproach to an age distinguished by the suc cess of its researches in the remotest regions of the world, formed themselves into an Association for promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa. Nothing can be more laudable than the zeal with which they have pursued the grand object of their association; yet the obstacles to their success are still so numerous and so formidable, that, aided though they be by government, we dare hardly join Mr Murray in the pleasing anticipation," that, in the course of fifteen or twenty years, Africa will lose its place in the list of unknown regions.' At all events, the progress of discovery in that continent will continue to be an object of peculiar interest to the friends of religion and science; and the humane exertions in its behalf which have succeeded to the atrocities of the slave-trade, will, we may venture to hope, rapidly diffuse over this hitherto unfortunate portion of the globe the blessings of knowledge and civilization. Dr Leyden, entering with the enthusiasm of genius and philanthropy into the views of this benevolent association, undertook to "exhibit the progress of discoveries at this period in North and West Africa, by combining a delineation of the appearance of the country, an account of its native productions, a description of the peculiar manners of the African tribes, with a detail of the adventures of the travel-' lers by whom these researches were accomplished." It was a subject in which his whole mind and soul were engaged; and for which he was peculiarly qualified, not merely by the romantic turn of his imagination, but by his unwearied patience of research, and by a vigour of intellect before which every obstacle gave way. His work, accordingly, soon attracted general admiration, and obtained a wide circulation, not only in this country, but over the continent. It was translated into German, and is enumerated by Eichhorn among the most valuable materials for the African part of his learned work, entitled " History of the Three Last Centuries." It was only to be regretted that his plan was too contracted; and he himself, sen sible of the defect, had undertaken a new edition of his work on a more extended scale, to embrace the whole continent. His departure for India prevented the completion of this design: the task devolved upon Mr Murray, by whom the plan has been still farther extended, so as not only to include the whole of Africa, but to trace the progress of discovery from the earliest ages; and the ability with which he has accomplished this arduous undertaking leaves the public no room to regret that it has fallen into his hands. If Mr Murray's pages do not glow with the same animated eloquence as those of his illustrious predecessor, they never fail to please us by perspicuity of narrative, and ele gance of style. If he do not, with the same kindred enthusiasm, identify himself with the traveller whose adventures he is relating, he relates them with at least a warmth of interest in which his readers very readily sympathize. If his reflections do not always indicate the same comprehensive grasp of mind, they indicate at least a judgment clear, correct, and perfectly well-informed. His work is a most valuable accession to our gecgraphical knowledge, and, if we may decide from the pleasure and information which it has imparted to ourselves, we do not hesitate to pronounce it one of the most agreeable and instructive collections of adventures and discoveries which have, for many years, been presented to the public. "It was his original wish," Mr Murray informs us, to preserve the portion of the narrative composed by Dr Leyden distinct from the additions made to it. On considering, however, the general enlargement which it was necessary to give to the work, it appeared that such a plan would have broken down entirely its unity and connection. It seemed of more importance to the public, to receive a distinctly arranged view of the subject, than to be able to distinguish, at a glance, the contributions of its respective authors. There appeared a necessity, therefore, for taking down, as it were, the parts of Dr Leyden's performance, and arranging thein anew in the more comprehensive plan which is now adopted." In this Mr Murray certainly acted judiciously; at the same time, to gratify the curiosity of his readers, he subjoins a fist, by which they are enabled to trace at once the parts of the work which were composed by Dr Leyden. In the two introductory chapters, Mr Marray traces the progress of discovery in Africa from the earliest ages to the commencement of maritime enterprise in modern Europe. In the first book he follows the progress of modern discovery in the interior; including under this head those parts of the coast by which attempts to penetrate inward have been chiefly made, as Congo, and the banks of the Senegal, and Gambia. The second book exhibits the discoveries in the maritime countries, beginning with Abyssinia, the chief native power, and making thence the circuit of Africa. The third book, which we consider as peculiarly curious and valuable, is occupied with geographical illustrations and views of the present state of Africa. The author judiciously refrains from indulging in conjectures, which the discoveries of a few years would probably supersede; and rather chooses to exhibit, as a branch of the history of science, a view of the progress of speculation and inquiry relative to this continent from the earliest ages. To this part of the work Professor Jameson has contributed a general view of the natural history of Africa, the importance of which cannot fail to be generally recognised. To this book, likewise, are attached historical maps, intended to exhibit the general ideas entertained by geographical inquirers, at these successive periods, of the form and constituent parts of the African con→ tinent. The appendix contains translations of some scarce and curious passages of the early geographers, relating to central Africa, which, though often referred to, are seldom accessible to the general reader. For the use of those who may wish to prosecute farther their researches regarding this continent, he has annexed a list of the best works which illustrate its geography. Such is the outline of Mr Murray's plan; into its details we would now gladly enter, but as the space which we could afford to them would be altogether inadequate to their importance, we must deny ourselves that pleasure till our next Number. ANALYTICAL NOTICES. Supplement to the Encyclopædia Bri tannica, Vol. II. Part II. THE present half-volume yields to none of its predecessors, either in the importance of its subjects, or the ability with which they are treated. Even the minor articles of geography and biography evince, in general, consider able extent of research, and skill in condensation and arrangement, and the leading articles fulfil, in their execution, the expectations which the eminent names annexed to them naturally excited. The first subject of importance which occurs in this Part, is BIBLIOGRAPHY, a branch of knowledge, which, as the author well observes, would be more correctly designated by the word Bibliology. The term originally denoted skill in the perusing and judging of ancient manuscripts, but is now appropriated to the knowledge of books, in reference to their constituent parts, their editions, and different degrees of rareness, their subjects and classes. The importance of Bibliography is very correctly estimated by the author of this article. While he renounces the extravagant pretensions of some of the French Bibliographers, who represent it as the most extensive and universal of all the sciences; he shews, by an enumeration of its chief objects, that it embraces many curious as well as interesting subjects of inquiry, and is calculated to afford very useful aid to every other species of intellectual Occupation. The business of the bibliographer he states to be, to trace the history of books in regard to their forms and all other constituents, and, consequently, to trace the beginnings and progress of typography; to mark the differences of editions, and to indicate that edition of every book, which is esteemed the most correct and valuable; in the case of books published anonymously, or under feigned names, to assign those names, which the discoveries of literary history may have brought to light; to collect all remarkable facts attaching to the history of books, such as the number of their editions, their rareness, their having been condemned to the flames, or suppressed, and to furnish catalogues of the books which have appeared in the various branches of knowledge. The plan which he proposes is, to point out the progress and best sources of information in regard to all those departments of Bibliographical knowledge; and in conformity with this plan, he divides the subject into the following heads: 1. Of the constituent parts of books, and the differences of editions; 2. Of early printed books; 3. Of rare books; 4. Of the classics; Of anonymous and pseudonymous books; 6. Of condemned and prohibited books; 7. Of bibliographical dictionaries and catalogues; 8. Of the classification of books; 9. Of Bibliography in general. Under these heads the author displays an accurate and extensive acquaintance with his subject, and communicates much information, particularly with respect to the books proper to be consulted in the various departments of Bibliography, which cannot fail to be extremely useful to those who wish to pursue this curious line of inquiry. In treating of the first head, the author has refrained, perhaps too scrupulously, from entering into any detail in regard to the various substances used for writing, before the important art of making paper from linen rags had been discovered. He has rendered, however, a greater service to the student of Bibliography, by referring him to the most approved works on this branch of the subject, viz. Horne's Introduction to Bibliography; Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, Tom. I.; and Mr Peignot's Essai sur l'histoire du Parchemin, et du Velin, in the introduction to which is given a complete list of separate works on this subject. He next adverts to the different kinds of writing peculiar to different ages; and on this interesting branch of Bibliography, the books which he recommends are the Nouveau Traité mentioned above, and, in particular, Astle's Origin and Progress of Writing. The office of Transcribers, persons employed to copy books before the invention of printing, next claims attention, and the evils which arose out of their ignorance and carelessness. Petrarch, who flourished in the fourteenth cen tury, complains of these evils in the following remarkable terms:-" How shall we find a remedy for those mischiefs which the ignorance and inattention of the copyists inflict upon us? It is wholly owing to these causes that many men of genius keep their most valuable pieces unpublished, so that they never see the light. Were Cicero, Livy, or Pliny, to rise from the dead, they would scarcely be able to recognise their own writings. In every page they would have occasion to exclaim against the ignorance and the corruptions of these barbarous transcribers." On the invention of printing, these copyists were naturally alarmed by an art which threatened to deprive them of employment, and they endeavoured to obtain from their respective governments the exclusive privilege of multiplying copies of books: but the new art was too evidently beneficial to the interests of literature to be repressed by their ma chinations. The obscurity which hangs over the inventor of this admirable art, and over the place of its origin, is one of the most curious facts in the history of Bibliography. Numberless discussions have taken place on this subject, and the public opinion is still undecided. Were the question to be determined by numbers, the laurel must be placed on the brow of Guttenberg of Mentz; though champions of great ability maintain very keenly the pretensions of Lawrence Coster of Haerlem. Declining to give an opinion in a case of so much uncer tainty, our author contents himself with referring to the following works in which the question is agitated:Mallinkrot, De ortu et progressu artis Typographica, published in 1640; Daunou's Analysis of, the various opinions on this subject, published in the fourth volume of the Memoirs of the Moral and Political Class of the French Institute; Monumenta Typographica of Wolfius; Meerman's Origines Typographica; Prosper Marchand Histoire de l'origine et des premiers progres de l'Imprimerie; a Supplement to which was published by Mercier, |