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xxviii but little known or examined by English readers. The articles on New Granada, Mexico, and Peru, may be particularly mentioned, as furnishing a very instructive and interesting view of those magnificent regions.

Several articles have been given on those parts of Asia and its Islands, as to which any new information of importance has been laid before the Public. Of these, the only one requiring particular notice is the account of China, by Mr Barrow. Notwithstanding the voluminous publications of the Jesuits, the era of accurate information concerning this vast Empire, can only be said to have commenced with Lord Macartney’s embassy to Pekin. It was only then, in particular, that correct ideas begun to be formed of the structure of its extraordinary language; of which, the knowledge that has been since acquired by several of our countrymen, has enabled them to sift its mysterious literature, and to dispel many illusions which had hitherto prevailed. One of the most curious and valuable portions of the present article, is that employed in explaining the nature of this language, and the construction of its written character; but the author has taken a comprehensive view of the whole field of inquiry included in his subject; illuminating every part of it with the information derived from a thorough knowledge of all the published authorities, enlarged and rectified by personal observation.

With the exception of a general survey of the Barbary States, by Mr Murray, the only African country forming a separate article is Egypt. This article comprises the substance of what is to be found in the latest publications concerning that country; but is far more remarkable, from containing, besides other learned inquiries, the rudiments of a Hieroglyphical Vocabulary; founded upon the analysis of the famous triple inscription on the stone of Rosetta, now deposited, among some other precious remains of ancient Egypt, in the British Museum. It was in this article, indeed, that Dr Young first gave to the Public an extended view of the results of his successful interpretation of the hieroglyphical characters used in that inscription; unquestionably one of the most remarkable achievements of modern scholarship, and which has furnished a key to the mysteries of Egyptian literature, sought for in vain by the learned of the ancient world.

The additions made to have been limited to accounts