sacred cause of which was unceasingly invoked, could not have a more fervent friend than the First Consul.

The refusal of Great Britain to treat, we are told, secured to the consulate the public favour, and disposed the French nation to make new sacrifices. The exertions on one side and on the other had the vigor and desperation of last efforts; and it was foreseen that he who could obtain the first victories would dictate the terms of peace.

We are glad to be enabled to announce, because we are sure that our readers will learn with satisfaction, that the author throws out an intimation of favouring the world with a history of the war of the revolution. Those who are ac

quainted with the Précis need not to be told by us what a valuable present this will be; and they will agree with us that such a work will insure to its author fame inferior only to that of the principal actors in the scene described.

Some very curious and elaborate notes add to the interest of these numbers.

ART. XI. La Mort de Robespierre, &c. i. e. The Death of Robespierre, a Tragedy of Three Acts, in Verse: With Notes, containing Particulars hitherto unknown respecting the Transactions of September, and the internal Administration of the Prisons; also an Account of the Treatment of the Abbé Sicard, Anecdotes, &c. The Work is preceded by a Poem on the Anarchy of 1791 and 1792, and followed by 14 Dialogues between Persons of the greatest Celebrity during the Revolution, whether for their Virtues or their Crimes. 8vo. pp. 272. Paris. 1801. London, imported by De Boffe. Price 5s. sewed.

THE

PHE tragedy forms the least valuable part of this volume. Apprehension and anxiety are not called forth while the plot is forming, nor do we look to the dénouement with impatience. The event itself, indeed, is perhaps not well adapted to be the subject of a dramatic composition; and we are too near the period, to allow to fiction the necessary scope in dressing it out for theatrical exhibition. It is altogether a tame, languid, and médiocre performance, betraying a defici ency of strength rather than violating propriety. The sentiments and views, which the different characters profess, are always correct; and the dialogue between Robespierre, Couthon, and Saint Just is very happy :-as is the soliloquy of the former, which immediately follows the conference. Couthon is made to say,

• Craignons de compromettre une cause si belle;
Trois tyrans nous feroient une guerre éternelle,
Le riche, le vieillard, le superbe savant ;
Etranger, au milieu d'un peuple renaissant,
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Adorateur

Adorateur secret de l'esclavage antique,
Et de ses préjugés esclave fanatique,

Le vieillard, quel qu'il soit, est suspect à mes yeux ;
Il est trop loin de nous, trop près de ses aieux;
Du sang de l'indigent, le riche insatiable;
De tous les corrupteurs, est le plus redoutable;
Et du peuple des rois, le savant, vil flatteur,
Eternise pour eux l'ignorance et l'errenr.

Immediately on his two colleagues leaving him, after having settled the plan of their joint reign, Robespierre is introduced, thus exclaiming;

J'ai deviné leur secret; quel délire!

Moi régner avec eux, moi partager l'empire!

Qui, Couthon, jusqu'au troue oser porter ses vœux !
Trois regner à la fois!.... ils périront tous deux.'

He afterward adds:

De traîtres, d'assassins, je suis environné,
Nul ami, nul parent, ne doit être épargné;
En prison j'ai changé la France toute entière;
Dès demain, je n'en fait qu'un vast cimetière.'

The notes which accompany this drama contain particulars highly curious; throwing light on the course of the revolution in parts which it is below the dignity of history, and even of memoirs, to notice. We were much instructed, as well as interested, in perusing the account of the 9th Thermidor, and of the events which led to that memorable day.

Nothing, perhaps, has ever happened more marvellous than the series of dangers and narrow escapes which occur in the narrative of the treatment of the very benevolent, active, and most ingenious Abbé Sicard, the worthy successor of the Abbé l'Epée, on the horrid days of September 1792; and we consider it as a precious little monument, which affords materials to assist us in judging of the men who were conspicuous in the revolution. The life of this most valuable man hung for several days on a most slender thread: the mayor of Paris, Petion, was informed of his situation, but contented himself with observing that the Abbe's case fell not within his department; the legislative assembly was apprized of his danger, and passed decrees which had no effect; while chance, good fortune, and private heroism, were left to protect a life which was justly dear to humanity. Can any man, who is possessed of the common feelings of our nature, refrain from reprobating such criminal and opprobrious inactivity of the magistrates and councils on this occasion? When the persons who might have prevented the massacres of September, but who made no effort to obstruct them, came themselves to suffer, they were

loud in condemning the lawless proceedings against them: but it is impossible to recollect the apathy which they manifested when others, in all respects equally deserving, were butchered in cold blood, without thinking that their own claim to pity is very slender.

The dialogues subjoined to this work are not distinguished either by elegance or by profundity: but they appreciate, with great nicety, the leading characters of the revolution; happily exposing many of the wrong notions which prevailed during the course of it, and displaying a moderation and a love of order which are highly honourable to the author.

ART. XII. Contes, Fables, Chansons, et Vers, &c. i. e. Tales, Fables, Songs, and Verses, by L. P. SEGUR, Senior, Ex-Ambassador, and Member of the Legislative Body. 8vo. pp. 257. Paris. 1801. Imported by De Boffe, London.

TH

HIS agreeable miscellany has afforded us much amusement. Without rising to the first rank of this species of poetry, M. SEGUR writes with a degree of facility and good sense which must interest the most difficult readers. The greater part of his compositions are indeed vers de société; the primary merit of which consists in their gaiety, and the secondary in the ease and perspicuity of their style. We shall give one or two hasty imitations of some of these pieces, with the originals : Epitre à ma moitié.

Se

Je vois la moitié du monde
de l'autre moitié ;
moquer
J'entends la moitié du monde
Se plaindre de l'autre moitié :
On sait que la moitié du monde
Aime et trahit l'autre moitié ;
Et moi, seul au milieu du monde,
Dont je méprise la moitie,
Dédaignant les caquets du monde,
Dont je ne crois pas la moitié ;
Je veus être, en dépit du monde,
Toujours fidèle à ma moitié,

Epistle to my better half.
'I see one half of this great world
Deride and gibe the other half;
I hear one half, too, of this world,
Complaining of the other half;
We know that one half of this world
Loves and betrays the other half :
For me, alone 'mid all this world,
Of which I do disdain one half,

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Scorning

Scorning the scandal of the world,
Of which I don't believe one half;
I'll prove, in spite of all the world,
Still faithful to my better half.'
• Impromptu.

Fait dans le jardin des Tuileries, au moment où Charles et Robert
s'élevèrent, pour la premiere fois, dans les airs.

Quand Charles et Robert, pleins d'une noble audace,
Sur les ailes des vents s'élèvent dans les cieux,

Quels honneurs vout payer leurs efforts glorieux !
Eux-même ils ont marqué leur place,

Entre les hommes et les dieux.

'On the ascent of Messrs. Charles and Robert in a Balloon, for the 1st time, from the garden of the Thuilleries.

When Charles and Robert nobly try

On airy wings to reach the sky,

They mark the place which fits their worth,
Between th' immortals and the earth.'

A considerable part of the volume is occupied by the Two Genii, or False and True Happiness, a dramatic tale, composed in 1781. This is a fairy-tale, written with considerable taste; and in that light, sketching manner which is best adapted to such temporary productions. Several of the verses are happily turned.

We add a paraphrastic translation of the author's lines on Illusion, p. 181, composed for the Society du Vaudeville.

Truth we seek, yet dread to find,
Such is our perversion;

We boast the light she lends the mind,
Yet 'tis our aversion:

We in error take such part,

That we fear her torch;

For the rays that pierce the heart
Oft' are found to scorch.

• Love condemn'd her to a well,
Dreading self-confusion,
In her place he form'd a belle,
Sweet and light Illusion.
Gifted with eternal youth,
In her flow'ry way,
Substitutes for rigid truth,
Hope and Pleasure play.

• With her favours she ensnares
Each unthinking boy,

And 'mid age's wrinkled cares
Plants a sprig of joy :

She

4

She revives the sated kiss,
And th' attractions dying;
And, presenting ev'ry bliss,
Hides its power of flying.
In the heav'ns her magic skill
Places forms divine,
And on the Olympian hill
Collects the Sisters Nine:
She on Fancy's towering rocks
Mem'ry's temple raises,
And in her prismatic box
Tints the hero's praises.
Life assumes, from her effect,
A grace entirely new ;
My friends are all without defect,
My girl is strictly true;
Such are her deceptive powers,
Her visions do so gull us,
I fancy, in my rhyming hours,
I'm equal to Tibullus.'

A political work by M. SEGUR was introduced to the notice of our readers, in p. 234. of this volume of the M. R.

ART. XIII. Beschreibung einer im Sommer 1799, &c. i. e. Travels, from Hamburgh to England, and through that Kingdom, in the Summer of the Year 1799. By P. A. NEMNICH, B. R. Licentiate. Small 8vo. pp. 523. Tubingen. 18co.

I

IN his journey to England, M. NEMNICH informs us, he had: no intention of seeking materials for a book: but, within a few days before his departure, he received a letter from M. COTTA, requesting him to make use of this favourable oppor tunity for collecting some matter for his Allgemeine Zeitung,. or General Newspaper. Having no leisure for reading former travels, he resolved on trusting entirely to himself; and, in-. deed, he deemed it better to use his own eyes than to borrow those of other men.

We shall pass over this traveller's remarks on the places through which he proceeds till he arrives on board the packetboat; as well as his description (which is not without humour) of his voyage from Hamburgh, and the several characters of his fellow-passengers. At length, he lands at Yarmouth; and, as it may be agreeable to see a foreigner's account of our country and the manners of its inhabitants, we shall make a few extracts from his work; which we shall do the more readily, because he is certainly a man of perspicacity, and judges freely from his own discernment.

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• Yar