The Retrospective Review (Volume 3) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: another, what their immediate predecessors had in the same way borrowed; and to none is this observation more applicable than to a late historian of Mahometanism. From the excellence of the work we allude to, as a convenient, and in many respects elegant digest of popular materials, we would by no means detract; but we are very much inclined to believe that a diligent inquirer, properly qualified for the task, might, at this time of day, with all the opportunities which are now within the reach of one who knew how to avail himself of them, present the world with a work which should really be one of research into the literature of the Saracens, and should not content itself with retailing the observations of others; passing over, for instance, the Moorish dynasty in Spain, the most splendid and interesting portion of the inquiry, one that well deserves and would richly repay the pains it would require, in three or four pages of pompous, historical common-places, as if it were all perfectly familiar to the author, but was unworthy of detailed consideration. Art. II. The Voyage of France; or, a Compleat Journey through France; with the Character of the People, and the Description of the chief Towns, Fortresses, Churches, Monasteries, Universities, Palaces, and Antiquities; as, also, of the Interest, Government, Riches, $c. by Peter Heylin, D.D. Land. 1679. We are incessantly reminded, in our excursions into the bye-paths and obscure corners of literature, of the delusions of authorship, and the " high fantastical" desire of fame. In the breasts of some, indeed, it glows with an intense and purifying flame, which may serve, like the pillar of fire to the children of Israel, to guide them through the wilderness of life with safety and honor. But fame hangs upon the balance of ...