pointed commander of the allied forces, published, on the twentyfifth of July, that imprudent and sanguinary manifesto which operated as a warrant for the destruction of Louis XVI. Petitions were now daily presented, praying for the suspension of the executive power in the king; and to procure a decree of the forfeiture of the crown was the general aim of the popular faction. The acquittal of La Fayette had enflamed the mob with the most implacable resentment, and, determined to gain their point, they prepared to have recourse to insurrection and revolt.

The friends of the king, with means far disproportioned, laboured for his defence. Mandat, commander of the national guard, was firm and loyal; the fidelity of the Swiss guard was highly and justly appreciated, and many of the royalists assembled, armed with swords and pistols, and swore to spend the last drop of their blood in defence of their sovereign.

At midnight, on the 10th of August, the tocsin gave the signal of insurrection, the générale beat to arms, and the agents of faction hastily collecting in the sections, voted the dismission of all the municipality and commune, except Petion, Danton, and Manuel; and elected in their stead one hundred and ninety-two commissioners, from among the most desperate of their own body. The resources of the palace had been weakened by a groundless jealousy between the National and the Swiss guards; Mandat had been sent for by the new commune, and barbarously murdered; and a considerable part of a reinforcement of troops, detached for its defence, being devoted to the revolutionary faction, retreated with their cannon, and Santerre, who had been appointed their commander, after the murder of Mandat, took care to dispose of the remainder in such a manner, as fully to prevent their exertions being effectual. The king, queen, and family at length were compelled to seek for refuge in the assembly, and after remaining for two days in the Loge du Logographe (a narrow box separated from the hall by a railing, and appropriated to the reporters for that newspaper) in hourly expectation of being assassinated, were committed to, and closely confined in, the temple. The assembly pronounced a decree for suspending the royal functions. Roland, Claviere and Servan were recalled, and, with Danton, Monge, and Le Brun, invested, pro tempore, with the executive power.

When the king left the Thuilleries, he unfortunately forgot to order it to be immediately surrendered. A desperate contest ensued between the Marseillois and the Swiss guards, who performed prodigies of valour, till they received an order from the king to lay

down their arms. Their corps was wholly exterminated, and the mob, when masters of the palace, inhumanly butchered all they found; door-keepers, porters, and even the lowest menial servants. The whole number slaughtered on both sides in the course of the day, is estimated at between four and five thousand; and Mr. Adolphus, for the credit of human nature, regrets that the fidelity of an historian obliges him to add, that "some of these bodies werè roasted and devoured, and draughts of human blood quaffed by the people."

The massacres of the second and third of September, were yet more dreadful. At Paris alone eight thousand were slain, and between the fourth and sixteenth, Orleans, Meaux, and Lyons, had each its separate massacre to relate. The dismal scene was closed with the state prisoners from Orleans, who were waylaid at Versailles, in their road to Paris, and all put to death,

Thus, amid anarchy, turbulence, and every species of horror, the legislative assembly terminated its career. The members of the national convention which succeeded it, were yet more infamous; and the presence of the invading armies, which might have put a check to their proceedings, was no longer regarded with terror. Dumourier, who had succeeded to the command, abdicated by the flight of La Fayette, had compelled the allied army to retreat, and the success of the French arms still continued to be every where conspicuous.

The issue of the king's trial is too well known to need repetition. Sentence of death was awarded by a majority of eleven, and ordered to be put in execution in twenty-four hours. The unfortunate monarch was guillotined on the twenty-first of January, 1793, on a scaffold erected between the pedestal which had supported the statue of Louis XV. and the Champs Elisées. His body was thrown, without funeral ceremony, into a space in the church yard of Saint Mary Magdalen, which was filled with quick-lime, carefully guarded till the body was supposed to be consumed, and then levelled with the circumjacent ground, that every trace of the spot where it was deposited, might be effectually obliterated.,

"Such," says Mr. Adolphus, "was the tragical end of the last acknowledged king of France. His character has been descanted upon in the most glowing terms, by his affectionate subjects; no part of their eulogies are deficient in foundation; and most of his enemies, in the midst of a studied system of calumny, have been obliged, at some periods, to acknowledge his virtues. Want of firmness, and active courage, is the fault most generally attributed to him; but his whole conduct proves that he had no fear for himself,

his only terror arose from the probability of shedding the blood of his subjects in civil war. His conduct from the time his trial commenced, till the moment which terminated his existence, forms a picture of excellence, almost surpassing humanity, and demonstrates the transcendant benefit of that religious purity, which takes the sense of shame from premeditated infamy, which deprives cruelty of its venom, and death of its sting."

We shall embrace the earliest opportunity of resuming our ac count of this interesting and accurate production.

St. Clair, or the Heiress of Desmond. By S. O. 8vo. pp. 248. Highley.

NOVELS are so generally resorted to, and so eagerly perused by the rising generation of both sexes, that it becomes more peculiarly the duty of the novelist to endeavour to blend instruction with amusement, and to please the head without corrupting the heart.

St. Clair is evidently the production of a man of distinguished abilities; and although many of its sentiments may, perhaps, be justly considered as exceptionable, it affords, upon the whole, a most useful lesson to those, who, vanquished by the sophistry of reasoning vice, nourish a criminal passion under the guise of sentiment, and " pervert the faculties of reason to sanction the errors of inclination.".

The Catastrophe, a Tale, founded on Facts. From the French of the Chevalier de St. Aubigné. By T. Byerly. 8vo. pp. 230. 6s. 6d. Highley.

MR. BYERLY presents the "Catastrophe" to the public as a "free translation of the select parts of a correspondence between the friends of a German officer of distinction," and affects to consider it as never intended to receive aid from the embellishments of fiction.

Although, generally speaking, we by no means approve of such desultory and unconnected publications, the tale before us, we must own, is pleasing and probable, and may serve to afford a leisure half hour an innocent and delightful recreation,

Swiftiana, 2 Vols. Phillips.

THE volumes before us are the third of the series of Anas, published on the plan announced in a former review, and are happily calculated to rescue from oblivion a variety of those ingenious and valuable observations which fell from a man who truly had, as Cardinal Polignac expresses, L'Esprit Createur.

E-VOL. XVII.

The preface, comprising an accurate history of these pleasing productions, (chiefly taken from the preface to the Casauboniana, by Wolfius) should have been prefixed to the first of the series, as the observations it contains are by no means peculiar to the present volumes, but may be rather considered as forming a general introducItion to the whole.

The Poetical Magazine, Nos. 1, 2, 3, Price 1s, each, to be continued Monthly. Vernor and Hood.

WE are highly pleased with this laudable effort to perpetuate the poetical effusions of contemporary genius, and have not a doubt but that the real merit of the pieces it preserves, joined to the neatness of its type, and the elegance of its embellishments, will secure this pleasing publication that patronage and applause to which we consider it so justly entitled.

Invasion, a descriptive and satirical Poem, by J. Amphlett. Longman and Rees. 8vo. pp. 79.

AN animated and interesting effusion of patriotism and poetry. The Royal Soldier, a Sermon, preached at the Parish Church of St. Lawrence and St. Mary Magdalen, Milk Street, before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Recorder, and Sheriffs of the City of London, by Wm. Best, D. D. &c. Robinsons.

THE original sermon from which this is published was produced in January 1745-6, and has been reprinted by Mr. Pocock, the editor, as applicable to the present times, and calculated to promote that spirit of zeal and loyalty which hitherto has, and, we trust, will still preserve our liberties and laws, in spite of the proud threats of the despot who would subvert them.

Two Sermons delivered at the Church of Renfrew, on Thursday, October 20th, 1803, being the Day appointed for a general Fast; to which is (are) added a particular Address to the People, adapted to the present eventful Period, by the Rev. Thomas Barns. Vernor and Hood.

Prous and patriotic.

The Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius, translated into English Verse. With Notes, critical, historical, and explanatory, and Dissertations. By William Preston, Esq. M. R. I. A. in 3 Vols. 12mo. 10s. 6d. Dublin, printed for the Author. 1803.

THIS beautiful poet, to whom Virgil, Camoens, and many other authors, have been silently indebted, is already known to the Eng

lish reader, in a version by Fawkes; over whom we do not hesitate to say that the present translator has repeatedly a decided superi-> ority. The non contemnendum opus of Quintilian, and the awlwros of Longinus, which Fawkes justly observes implies that Apollonius is no where elevated, as well as signifies that he no where sinks, will: never change in us the high opinion which we always entertained of the merit of the pupil of Callimachus, whom we are well pleased to see thus judiciously and learnedly attended by the critical labours of Mr. Preston. The errors of the press are very numerous," but we hope soon to meet with them corrected in a new edition, which we shall be glad to find in a form more suited to the dignity of the subject.

Bible Stories. Memorable Acts of the ancient Patriarchs, Judges, and Kings; extracted from the original Historians. By William Scolfield, 2 Vols. 4s. Phillips. 1803.

It is a vulgar saying, that the devil can quote scripture to answer his purpose. And Mr. Scolfield can, it seems, form “Bible stories" to answer his. This work should be consigned to oblivion. Buonaparte in the West Indies; or the History of Toussaint Louverture, the African Hero. In 3 Parts. 8vo. 9d. Hatchard.

THE apotheosis of Toussaint Louverture.

Poems. By Mrs. G. Sewell, Relict of the Rev. George Sewell, Rector of Byfleet, Surry. 3s. 6d. 12mo. Longman and Rees. 1803. We take up "poems" by ladies-ay, and by gentlemen too! with, in general, a most despairing countenance, and hoping for nothing, are seldom disappointed. In the present instance, howe ver, we have been most agreeably surprised by some very elegant, beautiful, and animated poetry. The merit of Mrs, Sewell will ensure her praise, but we trust that this will not be her only reward. Sermons, selected and abridged chiefly from Minor Authors, from Advent to Whitsunday inclusive; adapted generally to the Epistles, Gospels, or first Lessons, or to the several Seasons of the Year; for the Use of Families. Price 9s. 6d. large 8vo, 639 pages. Vernor and Hood. By the Rev. S. Clapham, M. A. Vicar of Christ Church, Hants; of Great Ouseborne, Yorkshire; and Editor of the Abridgment of the Lord Bishop of Lincoln's Elements, of Christian Theology. Vol. I. The second Edition.

WE recommend this volume of sermons to the notice and to the purchase of our readers, as a duty we owe them, because it is