WRITINGS OF FRAN9OIS BERNIER         xli

[Short, but correct as far as it extends. In the second edition of
Eloy, Mons, 177^) 4 vols. 4to, this notice is much extended, and in it
will be found the earliest exact mention of Bernier's birthplace, ' Jouar
presde Gonnord en Anjou.' M. Eloy concludes by a kindly reference to
Bernier's observations on the medical science of the 'Brachmanes,'
which he styles the earliest account of any philosophical value.]

5.   Francois Bernier; In the 'Biographic Universelle,' vol. iv. pp.
304-306.    Paris, 1811, 8°.

[Signed W[alckenae]r.    A valuable article, based upon No. 3.]

6.   In The Edinburgh Review for October 18151 in an article on
certain accounts of parts of Western Asia, Elphinstone's Account of the
Kingdom of Caubtil, then just published, is criticised. The Reviewer
characterises that work as being more of a treatise on the country visited,
than a narrative of travels, and, quoting Elphinstone's eulogium on
M. Volney's book ou Syria and Egypt says (p. 417) ; ' But though the
systematic fulness and method with which information is conveyed be
an indisputable advantage of that mode of writing chosen by M. Volney
and imposed upon Mr. Elphinstone by his situation, yet the reader
must regret the absence of the picturesque and dramatic qualities of
narrative, which, combined with the greatest accuracy and extent of
knowledge, render Bernier the first of travellers, and which, without
these substantial merits, bestow a powerful interest on the romantic
adventures and relations of Bruce.'

7.   Review of the ' Voyages of Fran9ois Bernier,' in The Retrospec¬
tive Review, vol. i., sec. ser., London 1827, pp. 245-268. [The
Amsterdam editions of 1699 and 1710 are those reviewed. Extracts
are given from Brock's translation, which is characterised as ' very good
. . . Although we could have wished that more copious notes had
brought the work to a level with the Oriental knowledge of the present
day.']

8.   In The Quarterly Review for January 1828, in an article on
Bishop Heber's Indian Journals, etc., mention is made in a foot¬
note, pp. 126-7, of Mr. Brock's translation of Bernier's Travels in the
Mogol Empire, which is styled ' good.' The writer of the article further
states that, ' If any of our readers are unacquainted with this excellent
old traveller, we beg leave to tell them that his account of India is the
most picturesque of all that have preceded Heber's ; nor can we imagine
anything more interesting than to compare his descriptions of the
barbaric splendour of the court of Aurengzebe with the Bishop's
account of his visit to his descendant, the present pageant-king of Dehli.
We are sorry our limits prevent us from quoting the parallel passages.
The mutabihty of human fortunes was never more strikingly pourtrayed.'