"This edition [of the _Elements of navigation_] is also enriched with the history of the art of navigation; for with the author's leave, I have published the following dissertation on that subject, written by Dr. Wilson, believing it would afford the most ample satisfaction on that subject."--John ROBERTSON, 1764. "My enquiries into these matters [navigation] induced the late learned Dr. James Wilson to review and complete his observations on the subject, and produced his _Dissertation_ on the history of the art of navigation, which he was pleased to give me leave to publish with the second edition of this work.... The second edition of these _Elements_ having also been well received by the public, Dr. Wilson took the pains to revise his _Dissertation_, which he improved in many particulars."--John ROBERTSON, Nov. 1, 1772. "This _Dissertation_, written at first by desire, is now reprinted with alterations. Though I may be thought to have dwelt too long on some particulars, not directly relating to the subject; yet I hope that what is so delivered, will not be altogether unentertaining to the candid reader. As to any apology for having handled a matter quite foreign to my way of life, I shall only plead, that very young, living in a sea-port town, I was eager to be acquainted with an art that could enable the mariner to arrive across the wide and pathless ocean at his desired harbour." London. James WILSON, 1771? The united libraries of Henry Pemberton, M.D., F.R.S., and James Wilson, M.D., were sold in 1772. The sale occupied eighteen evenings, and produced 701_l._ 17_s._ 6_d._ The learned writers, who were intimate friends, died within seven months of each other in 1771. BOLTON CORNEY. _History of Commerce_ (Vol. v., p. 276.).--As a learned and lucid account of the early commercial intercourse between Europe and the eastern countries, I believe there is no work comparable to that entitled _Histoire du commerce entre le Levant et l'Europe depuis les croisades jusqu'à la fondation des colonies d'Amérique_, par G. B. Depping. Paris, 1830. 8vo. 2 vols. This subject was proposed in 1826, as a prize essay, by the Académie royale des inscriptions et belles-lettres, and M. Depping was the successful competitor. The prize, a gold medal of the value of 1500 francs, was awarded in 1828. M. le baron Silvestre de Sacy, whose profound acquaintance with oriental history and literature enabled him to detect some slight errors in the work, thus concludes his review of it in the _Journal des savants_: "Mais ces légères critiques ne m'empêchent pas de rendre toute justice à un travail véritablement estimable, et digne de l'honneur qu'il a obtenu de l'Académie des belles-lettres." BOLTON CORNEY.