her; "Du _heiliger_ Spinoza." Herder, too, has a good
deal to say in defence of him.

ART. III.--_Travels in Kamtchatka and Siberia; with a Narrative of a
Residence in China._ By PETER DOBELL. 2 vols. 12mo. 1830.

Mr. Dobell, the author of these volumes, is an American gentleman, who
formerly resided in the city of Philadelphia, where he was known as an
enterprising and intelligent merchant. Commercial business led him to
make several voyages, beyond the Cape of Good Hope; and circumstances at
length induced him to prolong his residence in Asia. He established
himself at Canton, where he lived for some years, and undertook, from
time to time, trading expeditions to various ports on the shore of the
Pacific Ocean. In the course of these, frequent opportunities were
afforded of noticing the manners, country, and state of society in
China, superior to such as occur to ordinary travellers; and much too of
the remote people of Eastern Russia, who are very little known to those
inhabiting the civilized portions of the world. These voyages were
succeeded by more than one journey across the country to St. Petersburg,
in which he observed, with an attentive eye and inquisitive disposition,
the extensive regions forming the _penetralia_ of that vast empire. His
intelligence and exertions were noticed and rewarded by the confidence
of the government, who conferred on him the office of Consul at some
Eastern port, and he was subsequently raised to the post of "Counsellor
of the court" of his Imperial Majesty, a rank which he still retains,
having probably relinquished the intention of returning to his own
country.

The account of China, which, in the natural order, would form the first
portion of his narrative, is comprised in a sort of supplement to the
travels in Siberia, and contains in a more compendious form, a good
sketch of the manners and state of society in that singular country. The
means of observation, and of obtaining information, are indeed greatly
diminished, by the well known jealousy of the Chinese towards strangers,
and the extreme vanity and exaggeration with which they speak of
themselves and their country; but the pursuits of Mr. Dobell, together
with the recurrence of the opportunities by which he profited, give to
his account a considerable degree of novelty, and certainly entitle it
to more than ordinary confidence.

On his first arrival at Canton, he was struck with the new and
interesting scene