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With figured Prints; by E. P. VENTENAT, of the National Institute, and one of the Trustees of the Library of the Pantheon; 1 vol. folio."

The avowed object of this work is the publication of the coloured plates, and a defcription of the fine collection of plants, belonging to M. Cels, of the National Institute. This naturalift has been occupied during the fpace of the last thirty years, in procuring rare foreign trees, as well as fuch fhrubs as are hardy enough to live in the open air in France. In addition to thefe, he alfo poffeffes feveral others confined to his hot-house and orangeries His collection is conftantly augmenting, either by means of exchanges with others, or the correlpondence of travelling naturalists, who frequently fend him feeds.

As Mr. Cels is principally occupied with the cultivation of plants, he has not been hitherto able to find time for a defcription of his vegetable treafures; he has therefore entrusted this task to the care of M. Ventenat, his colleague in the National Inftitute; a botanist who has already rendered himself celebrated by the publication of feveral much esteemed treatifes.

The work confifts of ten fafciculæ, each compofed of ten plants, all of which have been defigned by M. Redontè, a man of avowed talents, and engraved by M. Sellier, one of the best artists in France. Of this colle&ion, twenty plants are already known, but defcribed in an incomplete manner. Eighteen more, inaccurately defignated heretofore, are here elucidated in a more complete manner, and denominated anew. Sixty-two fpecies are absolutely new, and consequently confer extraordinary value on this work. They, of courfe, prefent a varied organization, as the author, in his feries, is obliged to recur to about forty-five famibies of plants.

In the course of this purfuit, he has acquired fix new genera, which are added to the long feries already known.

1. The caladium, which appertains to the family of the aroides, and differs in general refpe&ts from the arum.

2. The lubinia, which approaches to the genus lyfimachia, and is diftinguished by an irregular corolla, as well as by a fruit which never opens.

3. The chaptalia, which bears fome re femblance to the perdicium.

4. The oliveria, which differs from the aftrantia, by means of flowers, all of which are fertile.

5. The redutea, which poffeffes conderable affinity to the fugiofa; and, MONTHLY MAG. Nɔ. 117.

6. The bofia, the diftinguishing characteristic of which is its compreffed pod.

"Fables, par J. J. F. BOISARD; faisant Suite aux deux Volumes publiés en 1773 and 1777.-Fables, by J. J. F. Boifard; being a Continuation of two Volumes, published by him in 1773 and 1777; I vol. 12mo.

Artists have painted after Raphael, and executed works of fculpture after Pandias; it is not blameable, therefore, to compose fables in imitation of La Fontaine. Here follows two or three fpecimens of the manner and talents of the author:

LA BOULE ET LES QUILLES.

Elle a le diable au corps cette boule maudite,

nous !

Difoit les quilles! rien ne réfifte à fes coups!
Sans qu'on puiffe jamais favoir ce qui l'irrite,
Elle est toujours en l'air pour le jetter fur
Du fracas que je fais, moi-même je m'étonne,
Dit la boule; fans pied ni main.
Sans aucun mouvement que celui qu'on me
donne,

A qui fe trouve en mon chemia

Sins colère contre perfonne. Indifférente à tout, tout autant qu'il fe peut, Je fais, fans le vouloir, tout le mal que l'on

veut.

L'ANE ET LES PASSANS,

Je ne fais par quelle aventure, beau chemin d'ailleurs, une âne dans un

trou

En
S'étant mis, y restoit enfoncé jusqu'au cou.
Chaque paffant, fans foin ni cure,
fottife toute pure,

par

Et
S'en approchoit, le regarduit,

Et tous ne manquoit pas de dire, Mais pour s'être mis là, comment donc a-t-il fait ?

Meffieurs, répondit le baudet,
Apprenex-moi comme on s'en tire,
Je vous dirai comme on s'y met.

LA VACHE ET SON VEAU, "La vache, en regardant fon veau, Difoit à la jument de chaffe:

Mais voyez donc fauter mon veau!
Ne trouvez-vous pas que mon veau
Galoppe avec tout plein de grâce?
Moi, je vous dirai qu'à mon veau,
Je trouve toujours, quoi qu'il faff,
Un je ne fais quoi qui me paffe,
Et que n'a point tout autre veau.
A quoi la jument un peu laffe
De ce rabachage de veau,
Répondit enfin je vous passe
Votre engouement pour votre veau
Je veux bien croire votre veau
Un veau de la première claffe;
Mais après tout, ma chère, un veau.
Ne peut jamais être qu'up veau,"

4 Y

"Influence

policy of Egypt, were in a continual illufion on this fubject, the origin of which it is not difficult to difcover, as it now clearly appears, that the Greek authors have confounded thofe laws which they obterved there, with thofe which they did not oblerve, and which exifted in books alone. This, however, is the cafe, mcre or lefs, in all countries, as custom, vio. lence, and injustice, frequently fuperfede the written code; and although the ancient institutions might have been violated by the tyranny of the voluptuous and tyrannical Pharoahs, yet it remains an eternal monument of the wifdom of the nation, that they prescribed the conduct and duties of fociety, by means of a body of regulations drawn up with talents and ability. On this fubject, however, many of the modern writers are divided, although Gogurt (vol. i. page 107) has borne ample teltimony to the justice of the foregoing remark.

It must be owned, on the other hand, that the divifion of the people into claffes, and the corn with which thofe who laboured for the pelt were treated, cannot be too feverely cenfured. This alone was fufficient to produce the downfall of the nation; for the most numerous portion of the people exhibited none of that love for their country, or were ever swayed on great and critical occafions with that noble darig, which may be faid to conftitute the foul and fupport of a flate.

On the whole, this Lilfertation is written with talents and difcrimination: the ftyle is clear and fimple, and no finall portion of erudition is displayed in the courfe of

the work.

Effai fur le Perfectionnement des Beaux Arts, par les Sciences Exactes," -An Effay on the Means of Perfesting the Fine Arts, by Means of the Exact Sciences; or, Calculations and Hypothefes relative to Poetry, Painting, and Music; by M R. S. C. Member of leveral learned and literary Societies, 2 vols. 8vo.

It is the opinion of this author, that laws and regulations may be established for the fine arts, and that what are termed the exact sciences in France, ate alone capable of conferring them; he accordingly extends his researches to poetry, painting, and mufic.

1. He thinks that nature, and nature alone, ought to be recurred to for images equally true and brilliant; as well as al legories, which are at once agreeable and inftructive. He defires the poet to recol. lett, that Homer was the most learned

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man, as well as the greatest bard of his age; and like him, to appropriate his fic. tions to the progrefs of the fciences. The mechanism of verfe being in a great meafure arbitrary, and often in oppofition to the natural expreffion of thought, M. R. S. C. is defirous to establish a particular language, which is to ferve as a type to all others, and be to calculated by its profody and harmony, as to attain a more perfect fyltem of poetry and verfification. An enterprise fuch as this, is however equally brilliant and chimerical; for dialects may be considered as the daughters of time and of neceffity, and own no other origin. It is allowed, however, that even the French tongue affords confiderable facility in the modes of expreffion; and the four last lines of Racine's Phèdre have been quoted as an example :

"Déjà je ne vois plus qu'à travers un nuage Et le ciel et l'époux que ma préfence outrage; Et la mort à mes yeux dérobant la clarté, Rend au jour qu'ils fouilloient toute fa pureté."

In addition to the plan already noticed, the author wishes to affimulate every propofition to an algebraic equation, and by this mode, not only to verify the justness of an idea, but also to become acquainted with all the modificaiions of which a phrafe is fufceptible, as well as whatever can be required in refpect to concifeness of style, or clearness of expreffion.

2. After a definition of mufic, he propofes, by means of vifible figns, to determine the exact value of a note in any com→ position deftined to the defcription of an image: an idea which feems to have been thought of before by Rouffeau. His refearches on this fubject incline him to think, that the caloric is the agent in the fenfe of hearing, as light is in that of fight; and the analogy to be discovered between thefe, points out to him the numerous affinities between the feven colours of the prifm and the feven tones of mufic. Similar conformities were formerly com municated by Father Caftel, but M. R. S. C. fupports them by means of a decifive experiment, for on ftriking a piece of feel rendered red hot by means of the fire, he obtained the feven tones of the gamut, which followed each other in pro ceffion, as the metal paffed from an intenfe red through the other fix fhades of the prifm. Hence he concluded, that founds must be more acute, or more grave, in proportion to the more or less of internal caloric.

3. Poetry has always recognized the laws of a fevere logic and a primitive grammar.

grammar. Mulic, in refpect to the theory of compofition and accompaniment, is lighted, we are told, by the taper of calculation, while the laws of mechanics affift in the conftruction of inftruments. But painting, if we except the rules of perfpective, is not in the leaft indebted to the fciences: "Nature is before her, and to multiply her creatures, there is occafion for nothing more than to fee and to feel." He, however, reproaches the artifts of this description with the most outrageous violation of her precepts; fuch, for infance, as the affemblage of objects, the union of which is impoffible. "Organif. ed nature," we are told, prefcribes the ufe of the most extensive acquifitions. It has been fuppofed, that the origin of the different orders of architecture was difcovered by viewing the construction of a cabin, fupported by trees; but the author, on the contrary, difcovers the diftin&tion of the orders to have arifen our of the different fpecies of trees. In all he beholds columns: the roots, although frequently concealed by earth, conftitute the bafe; the trunk is the fhaft; the branches and the foliage conftitute the capital, and alfo a part of the entablature. The laws of proportion, which diverfify the orders of architecture, are alfo to be found in the different fpecies of trees, affimilated to each of these, and ought to guide the pen, cil of the artift in the conception of the primitive type, which he may afterwards vary by means of all the accidents which nature prefents.

After this, our author recurs to the human figure, and infifts that the painter ought, above all things, to excel in depict. ing man and the paffions; but this, according to him, can only be obtained by obferving "mathematical and phyfiog nomonical principles." In confequence of a critical examination of the offeous part of the head, M. R. S. C. lays it down as a pofition, that the caloric, modified into light, heat, and the electrical or Galvanic Auid, is the univerfal agent of fenfations,

whether it does not affect the brain until it has been reflected from the interior vault of the cranium, or, acting in the first intance on the cranium, it doubles its powerful action by means of that reflection, the existence of which it is difficult

to contest.

While treating on the qualities affignable to the different fexes, he characterifes the male by tieng h, intelligence, and kindnes, while the female is defignated by intelligence, affection, a d voluptuouf

nefs. The calculations deftined to regulate the happy art of diftributing and reflecting the light on objects, in imitation of nature herself, are not fufceptible of analyfis. They tend, however, to prove, that thofe magic effects of light, which of themselves have conftituted the reputation of feveral pictures, and which the inspiration of genius feems alone to have produced, may be difcovered and verified by means of a mathematical theory.

In respect to the form of folids, the more they are fimple and regular, the more is the eye calculated to feize on them with pleasure and facility. Accord ingly, the forms of a pyramid and a cone are admirably fuited to fimple fubjects, in which one fimple and majestic object attracts the whole effect: this is exemplified in the Parnaffus of Raphael, and the Affumption of Rubens. Pouffin, above all others, is cited as an artift capable of forming the tafte; and the Adultress by him, as well as St. Jerome by Domini chino, are quoted, as admirably calculated to exhibit the happy effect of throwing all the intereft into the figure of the principal perfonage.

"Nouveaux Principes de Géologie, Mineralogie, Géographie Physique," &c.

New Principles of Geology, Mineralogy, Phyfical Geography, &c. compared and oppofed to thofe of the Philofophers, Ancient and Modern, until the Time of J. C. DEL AMETHERIE, who has analyfed them all in his Theory of the Earth. To which is added, a New Geology, by P. BERTRAND, Inspector General of Bridges and Causeways, revifed and augmented.

This is a new edition of a work which appears to have had many readers in France. The author attempts to prove, that all other theories of the earth have hitherto been erroneous, and his scheme appears to depend entirely on the extenfion of the principle of cryftallisation. It is to this, and this alone, that the globe, according to him, is indebted for is conftitution, as well internal as extermal It is alfo maintained as an incontrovertible fact, that on the retreat of the ocean, the firit continents which made their appearance, were entirely compofed of primitive earths. In chapter vi. he treats of volcanic ftanes, and reckons five d t claffes of them, from fuch as, experiencing the frongest degree of igni tion, are reduced to glafs. to thofe which have been enveloped, without being fenfibly warmed. 422

"Atlas

"Atlas Hiftorique et Géograph." An H ftorical and Geographical Atlas, by M. A. LESAGE.

This, like all the great works in France, fufceptible of periodical diftribu tion, is published in numbers, three of which only have as yet appeared.

The fit confits of a general chart of France, containing a genealogical and chronological ferics of the Capetian Kings. We are also prefented with a fyftem of its geography, conta ned in two maps; the one exhibiting the phyfical geography, aid the other, the increase of the French territories, from the time of Hugh Capet, until the peace of Luneville. A genealogical and geographical chart of England is executed according to the fame plan.

The fecond number confifts of a general defcription of ancient hillory, from the creation of the world, until the time of Jefus Chrift; alfo, a general defcription of modern hiftory from the latter pericd until the prefent, as well as the geography of history divided into two tables; the one containing the first ten ages of the Chriftian æra, and the other a continuation of the fame fubject until the year

1800.

The third contains a genealogical chart of Savoy; a phyfico-geographical and political chart of Italy, together with ge. nealogical and geographical charts of the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal.

It is the intention of the author, in the courfe of the present work, to addrefs himself to the eye, as well as to the underftanding, and it must be allowed that his Jabours have been followed by a confiderable degree of fuccefs.

Confiderations fur les Finances de la France, par M. DE GUER."— Confiderations on the French Finances, by M. de Guer, 1 vol. 8vo.

It is now pretty generally acknowledged, that the derangement experienced in the French finances gave the first mortal blow to royalty, and finally produced the overthrow of the throne; but, on the other hand, it is here very juftly remarked, that the re-establishment of order in this effential branch of public adminiftration would prove the most efficacious means of affording ability to the prefent government. To achieve this, exactness in refpect to payments, added to a religious refpect for the rights of property, are the fove political expedients recommended for the restoration of public confidence; while, on the other hand, the calls of war and the cravings of either an unexpected or a dil

proportionate expenditure, are confidered as alone fufficient to produce doubt, hefitation, and at length bankruptcy.

It is not a little remarkable that France, for the two laft centuries, has usually been confidered as the richeft ftate in Europe; and yet, from her feemingly molt profperous epoch, her finances have been in one, continual ftate of diforder; for the fage administration of Colbert prefents only a temporary calm, amidft an uninterrupted feries of diforders. Three different caules, if we are to believe M. de Guer, have contributed to produce this melancholy refult.

1. A blind attachment to usage.
2. A fpirit of fyftem; and,

3. A conftant repugnance on the part of the nation to pay the impofts.

In refpect to the first of thefe, it is obferved, that it has operated fo as conftantly to induce a commercial and manufactur ing state to perpetuate a plan for the revenues, that originated with and is alone adapted to an agricultural people. As to the fpirit of fyftem, this fucceeded to the blind forms of custom. The fect of economists, indeed, is no longer openly fup. ported by its partizans, but the principles originally profeffed by them, are ftill to be difcovered in all the new works now published, in all the statistical memorials, as well as in all the reports to the Council, the Tribunate, and the Legislative Body: they are allo evident in the con ftruction of the prefent plan of public con tribution.

M. de Guer not only undertakes to combat the pofition of the Economists, but what is ftill more difficult, to overcome the antipathy uniformly exhibited by his countrymen to every fpecies of tax whatfoever! He tells them, that the nation which does not pay any contribution, mut of course be the moft miferable nation in the world; a tax not being a tribute, but an affeffment to the common expences of the nation. Of this there are two kinds, one deftined to the prefervation, the neceffity of which is obvious, the other to the amelioration, of a state, which involves an object of prime import ance.

They are further told, that the deficit of 1789, originated in the blind repugnance exhibited by the nation to every thing in the shape of an impoft; and that this deficit produced a revolution and affignats. The fum of fifty millions additional revenues, granted to the state at the commencement of the la century, if it had not prevented entirely, would at

leaft

least have procraftinated the misfortunes of the reigns of Louis XV. and XVI.; while the avoiding of fo flight a burden, has coft the people enormous fums, ge neral and partial bankruptcies, the miferies attendant on a feven years war, the ruin of commerce, the loffes experienced on three millions of Law's notes, and thirteen millions of affignats. In short, it is not for the intereft of the treafury, but of the nation," that the author contends.

After this, M. de Guer proceeds to correct the vices that have crept into the administration of the finances; he alfo Foints out the propriety of diminishing the most onerous of the taxes; he, at the fame time, prefents a plan for the fimplification of the whole; and he propofes that no fum fhould be borrowed, without affigning certain specific taxes for the payment of it.

We are affured, that the general contribution for the expences of the ftate, as well as for the departments and communes, the repairing of the great roads, &c. &c. amounted in 1784 to 577,500,000 livres. Since that period France, by her conquefts, has acquired an increase of full one-fifth; and yet, notwithstanding this, the general contribution is at this prefent day only 578,000,000, with this effential difference, that, whereas in the former cafe, the people did not confider themfelves as aggrieved; yet, in the latter in ftance, a prodigious number believe them felves oppreffed.

To relieve the French people from their prefent fituation, the author proposes a war tax, fomewhat in the manner of that raised on property in England; to increase the direct taxes to the amount of twenty millions; to add confiderably to the duties on consumption; and, in particular, to raise the impost on tobacco to 25 per cent. The following is the general fcale:

1. An augmentation of fifty millions on the public revenues in time of peace.

2. An extraordinary fubfidy of one hundred millions in time of war.

3. A referved fund of 75 millions for the payment of intereft, and partly for the gradual annihilation of whatever may be borrowed during hostilities.

We have been the more particular in giving an account of this work, because the profperity of every government is intimately connected with the state of its finances; and also, because this publication is likely to occafion a confiderable fenfation in France, as it is not only pa

tronifed by the Conful Cambacères, but is the refult of a memoir prefented to the council of ftate, and printed by order of the government.

"Lettres d'un Mameluque; ou, Ta bleau Moral et Critique de quelques Parties des Moeurs de Paris," &c.-Letters of a Mameluke; or, a Moral and Critical Picture of the Manners of Paris; by JoSEPH LAVALLEE, of the Philotechnical Society, &c. &c. r vol. 8vo.

A Mameluke, of the name of Giéfid, having arrived at Paris, in confequence of the memorable events which configued Egypt, during two whole years, to the management of the French, he immedi ately enters into a correfpondence with his friend Giafar. This curious ftranger is continually contrasting all the new objects that occur in the metropolis of France, with the images fo familiar to him at Alexandria and Grand Cairo'; but he at times interfperfes his remarks with quotations from hiftory, not at all adapted either to the station or the acquirements of his Egyptian friend. In short, the character of a Mameluke is not uniformly preserved.

The theatres form an ample fource of criticism, and the coftume, on which the managers now pique themfelves so much, does not escape animadverfion. "I have lately beheld (fays he) the tragedy of Brutus, the vanquisher of the Tarquins. He himself appeared to reside in a magnificent palace while, at the fame epoch, his colleague Valerius infpired diftruft, in confequence of a paltry cottage, which happened to be a little too prominent. I have beheld Virginia in the midst of a public fquare, furrounded by triumphal arches, temples of porphyry, and Co rinthian columns, while Auguftus boafted five hundred years after this period, that he had found Rome brick, and left it marble. I have feen King Agamemnon affaffinated at the foot of a column, which Callimachus did not invent until 640 years pofterior. I have viewed Bayard giving audience in one of thofe cafemates for which we are indebted to Vauban; be fides a thoufand other things of a fimilar nature, equally ill-timed and ill placed."

Upon the whole, this little volume, of which we have already a tranflation in our own language, is written with confiderable wit and tafte.

Eclairciffemens fur plufieurs Points concernant la Théorie des Operations et des Facultés Intellectuels."-Information relative to leveral Points concerning the

Theory

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