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The grand Contest deliberately considered; or a View of the Causes and probable Consequences of the threatened Invasion of Great Britain, with a Sketch of the Life and Actions of the First Consul; particularly since the Peace of 1802, Addressed to Britons. By Francis Blagdon, Esq. To which are subjoined, Notes historical and explanatory, and a British War Song, set to Music for the Piano Forte, by the Author. 1s. 6d. and is. Vernor and Hood. 1803.

AMONG the numerous addresses to the sense and spirit of the country, which the present alarming crisis has produced, the one now before us is entitled to no ordinary rank. It is very aptly prefaced by Dr. Valpy's energetic lines, introduced into his alteration of King John, which have been so rapturously applauded on the stage. -Mr. Blagdon takes a comprehensive, and, we think, also̟a correct view of the conduct of the French consul, from his first sanguinary exploit at Toulon, down to the murder of the Turks at Jaffa. We have not room to follow the author through his various observations; but we can recommend the pamphlet as a very eloquent and animating appeal to the patriotic feelings of Englishmen, accompanied by some cautionary hints respecting the French residents in London, the propriety of which government has acknowledged, by recommending the late proclamations respecting aliens.

The Stranger in France: or, a Tour from Devonshire to Paris. Illustrated by Engravings in Aqua Tinta, of Sketches taken on the Spot. By John Carr, Esq. 4to. 17. 1s. Od. Large Paper 17. 11s. 6d. Johnson. London, 1803. (Continued from Page 192.)

On his way to St. Catherine's Mount, near Rouen, Mr. Carr received a very interesting recital from one of the parties who had been a sufferer in the transaction related. The French revolution, so productive of barbarity and slaughter, was also signalized by numerous instances of heroic magnanimity;-the human character, under this great political convulsion, appeared alternately in its best and worst point of view; it sometimes reached its highest possible exaltation, as it was too often sunk to the lowest pitch of depravity.

In the following extract we present our readers with a most amiable portrait of filial piety.

"I have before had occasion to mention the humane conduct of Madame Gtowards the persecuted abbé; she soon afterwards, with the principal ladies of the city, fell under the displeasure of Robespierre, and his agents.-

Their only crime was wealth, honourably acquired. A committee, composed of the most worthless people of Rouen, was formed, who, in the name of, and for the use of the nation, seized upon the valuable stock of Messrs. G——, who were natives of France. In one night, by torch-light, their extensive warehouses were sacked, and all their stores were forcibly sold, in the public marketplace, to the best bidder: the plundered merchants were paid the amount of the sale in assignats, in a paper currency which then bore an enormous discount, and shortly afterwards retained only the value of the paper upon which the national note was written. In short, in a few hours, an honourable family, nobly allied, were despoiled of property to the amount of £.25,000 sterling. Other merchants shared the same fate. This act of robbery was followed by an act of cruelty. Madame G-, the mother, who was born in England, and who married a French gentleman of large fortune, whom she survived, of a delicate frame, and advanced in years, was committed to prison, where, with many other fe male sufferers, she was closely confined for eleven months, during which time she was compelled to endure all sorts of privations. After the committee of rapine had settled their black account, and had remitted the guilty balance to their employers, the latter, in a letter of friendly collusion, and fraudulent familiarity,' after passing a few revolutionary jokes upon what had occurred, observed that the Gs seemed to bleed very freely, and that, as it was likely they must have credit with many persons to a large amount, directed their obedient and active banditti to order these devoted gentlemen to draw, and to deliver to them their draughts, upon all such persons who stood indebted to their extensive concern. In the words of a celebrated orator,* Though they had shaken the tree till nothing remained upon the leafless branches, yet a new flight was on the wing, to watch the first buddings of its prosperity, and to nip every hope of future foliage and fruit.'

The Gs expected this visit, and, by an ingenious and justified expedient, prevented their perdition from becoming decisive.

"Soon after the gates of the prison were closed upon Madame G-, her eldest son, a man of commanding person, and eloquent address, in defiance of every friendly, and of every affectionate entreaty, flew to Paris,

"It was in the evening of the last winter which beheld its snows crimsoned with revolutionary carnage, when he presented himself, undismayed, before that committee, whose horrible nature will be better described by merely relating the names of its members, then sitting, than by the most animated and elaborate delineations of all its deadly deeds of rapine and of blood. At a table, covered with green cloth, shabbily lighted, in one of the committee rooms of the national assembly, were seated Robespierre, Collot d'Herbois, Carnot, and David.They were occupied in filling up the lists for the permanent guillotine, erected very near them, in la Place de la Reyolution, which the executioners were then clearing of its gore, and preparing for the next day's butchery, In this devoted capital, more blood had, during that day, streamed upon the scaffold, than on any one day during the revolution.

"The terrified inhabitants, in darkness, in remote recesses of their desolate houses, were silently offering up a prayer to the great God of Mercy to release

* Vide Sheridan's oration against Hastings upon the Begum charge.

them, in a way most suitable to his wisdom, from such scenes of deep dismay and remorseless slaughter.

"Robespierre, as usual, was dressed with great neatness and gaiety; the Savage was generally scented, whilst his associates were habited, en Jacobin, in the squalid filthy fashion of that era of the revolution, in the dress of blackguards.

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"Mr. G bowed, and addressed them very respectfully. I am come, citizens, before you,' said this amiable son, to implore the release of my mother; she is pining in the prisons of Rouen, without having committed any offence; she is in years; and if her confinement continues, her children, whose fortunes have been placed at the disposal of the national exigencies, will have to lament her death; grant the prayer of her son; restore, I conjure you, by all the rights of nature, restore her to her afflicted family,' Robespierre looked obliquely at him, and, with his accustomed sharpness, interrupted him from proceeding further, by exclaiming what right have you to appear before us, miscreant? you are an agent of Pitt and Cobourg (the then common phrase of reproach) you shall be sent to the guillotine-Why are you not at the frontiers ?" Monsieur G➖➖, unappalled, replied, 'Give me my mother, and I will be there to-morrow; I am ready instantly to spill my blood, if it must be the price of her discharge.' Robespierre, whose savage soul was occasionally moved by sights of heroic virtue, seemed impressed with this brave and unusual address.He paused, and after whispering a few words to his associates, wrote the discharge, and handing it over to a soldier, for the successful petitioner, he fiercely told him to retire.

"Mr. G-instantly set out for Rouen, where, after a long and severe journey, he arrived, exhausted with fatigue and agitation of mind; without refreshment, this excellent man flew to the gates of the prison, which contained his mother, and presented the discharge to the gaoler, who drily, with a brutal grin, informed him that a trick had been played off upon him, that he had just received a counter order, which he held in his hand, and refused to release her!!!

"It turned out, that immediately after Mr. G- had left the committee room, the relenting disposition which he had momentarily awakened in the barbarous breast of Robespierre had subsided,

"The generous sentiment was of short and sickly growth, and withered under the gloomy fatal shade of his sanguinary nature. A chasseur had been dispatched with the counter order, who passed the exulting but deluded G- on the road.

"A short time after this, and a few days before Madame Ġ- and her unhappy companions were to have perished on the scaffold, the gates of their pri son flew open---the world was released from a monster---Robespierre was no more,"

This affecting narrative is followed by an anecdote respecting Madame Phillope, the hostess of the Hotel de Poitiers, which places her character in a most amiable light. By such easy stages our amusing traveller carries us along with him to Paris, where, on his arrival, he took up his abode at the Hôtel de Rouen. Mr. Carr gives a minute description of the consular guard, and the gardens

of the Thuilleries, with Bonaparte's improvements, whose taste for the arts Mr. C. always mentions with great respect. He examined, also, the celebrated Sabine picture, by David, and had an interview with M. Perregaud, the rich banker, of whose history we are presented with some interesting particulars. To this gentleman, so well known for his generous attention to the natives of this country, Mr. Carr expresses his obligations for a most liberal offer of pecuniary accommodation. The present dress of the Parisienne belles, after the antique, is attributed to David, the celebrated painter, and though the exposure is inconsistent both with health and modesty, it certainly may be considered as a most graceful assistant to the loveliness of nature. Mr. Carr poetically compares the airy effect produced by it to " the mist of incense, undulating over a display of beauty and symmetry, only to be rivalled by those exquisite models of Grecian taste which first furnished these, new ideas of personal decoration."

Flowers of Literature for 1801 and 1802: or characteristic Sketches

of Human Nature and modern Manners. To which is added, a general View of Literature during that Period. With Notes, historical, critical, and explanatory. By the Rev. T. Prevost and F. Blagdon, Esq. Vol. I. to be continued annually. 12mo. 5s. pp. 462. Crosby. 1803.

"THERE are, in the republic of letters, heavy, undiscerning, and tasteless transcribers, who, like the dull and unfruitful drone, despoil the treasure by which they exist; but there are also judicious and spirited compilers, who endeavour to combine the useful with the agreeable." We have no hesitation in allowing to the editors of this agreeable collection the credit which belongs to the latter description. In rambling through the fields of literature, they have culled in general nothing but flowers, and in this employment they have further shewn their taste by selecting such as afford the greatest variety of hue, and yield the most delicious odours. The works from which they have made their extracts are most of them productions of real merit. From Old Nick, in particular, the editors have had the discernment to make very copious selections; and even in publications of inferior worth, and little popularity, they have discovered some striking passages, which deserved to be detached from the mass of dullness with which they were incorporated.

In the Introduction, which exhibits a general view of literature for 1801 and 1802, and in the notes, which are numerous and well written, the writers have manifested a very intimate acquaintance

with the various publications, foreign and domestic, that were produced within those periods.

With respect to the contents of this volume, in point of tendency, the editors shall speak for themselves.

"We can safely assure our readers, that no fragments have been admitted into this volume, but such as are calculated to support and preserve, inviolable, the civil and religious establishments of our country, and such as will tend to maintain the character of its inhabitants pure in its taste, correct in its judgment, and honest in its intellects. In short, we have endeavoured to provide both for the juvenile and the superficial reader, such wholesome food as will at once afford pleasure, and supply nourishment to the mind, as well as strengthen it against the attacks of its most inveterate and most dangerous enemies, immorality and impiety."

We lately commended a work published by the present editors under the title of Mooriana. This volume is on a plan nearly similar, but we understand is not to interfere with the series of ana which they announced in their preface. They are both very pleasing and instructive compilations, and, under such able conductors, are likely to meet with great encouragement from the public. English Parsing, comprising the Rules of Syntax, exemplified by appropriate Lessons under each Rule; with an Index containing all the Parts of Speech in the different Lessons unparsed. For the Use of Schools, private Teachers, and elder Students. By James Giles, Master of the Free-School, Gravesend. 12mo, pp. 136. Robinsons, &c. 1803.

THIS appears to be one of the most useful books of its kind which has ever fallen under our notice: the rules are very simple, and adapted to the meanest capacity. As Mr. Giles uses Lindley Murray's grammar and English exercises, he has taken all the rules from his syntax, with as little variation as possible; and has likewise followed his mode of parsing, as closely as the nature of the work would allow; these lessons being intended as an introduction from his grammar to his English exercises.

We need only observe, to recommend this work to those for whom it has been expressly written, that without a right knowledge of parsing, no person is fitly qualified to teach the English language with grammatical precision, and that Mr. Giles has completely succeeded in rendering that knowledge of easy acquisition, by putting his rules into the most familiar and methodical shape.

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