Sa main qu'il tient encor doucement se dégage ; Ou quelque ange des cieux les apporta peut-être. p. 33-4. If further fpecimen of Mr De Lille's fuccefs in this tranflation were wanting, we might refer to the fequel of this beautiful paffage as it ftands in the original and in the prefent verfion; or, indeed, we might refer fo generally to the whole of the work, that we fhould have fome difliculty in felecting many paffages as exceptions to the general cenfure we have been compelled to pafs upon it. Perhaps the following extract is one of the parts which have been the best executed. Beautiful as it is in the original, it differs, in fome refpects, from Milton's general ftyle of compofition; and perhaps, for this very reafon, Mr De Lille has been more fuccefsful in his tranflation of it, though many of the faults we have noticed are very perceptible even here. The original is in the Fourth Book • With thee converfing I forget all time,' &c, down to • Or glittering flar-light, without thee is freet,' Et nos prés et nos fleurs, et nos fruits et nos plantes; J'aime à voir fur le fein de la terre arrosće Des Des oifeaux réveillés le concert matinal, Et la pluie humectant la campagne arrosée, Le Ses innombrables feux, fes légions d'étoiles, Et tous ces diamans dont elle orne fes voiles, O charme de mon cœur! que feroient-ils fans toi?' p. 52-3. If we had not already exceeded the limits prefcribed to a cri ticism of this nature, it was our intention to have pointed out feveral extraordinary inftances of Mr De Lille's ufe of the note of interrogation, and of the periphrafis. The latter, indeed, is fo frequent, that we believe there are few inftances throughout the whole where he has tranflated fuch nouns as the fun, moon, poem, or even man, by a fingle word. We had alfo wifhed to have commented on several paffages, where he has defcended fo infinitely below the dignity of epic poetry, as almost to burlesque the original; fuch, for inftance, as when, in the beginning of the Fifth Book, after Such whispering waked her, he interpolates, • Eve les yeux troublés en furfaut fe releve; or where he tranflates Ministered naked. Meanwhile, at table, Eve Eve chaftement nue Satisfaifant ensemble et le gout, et la vue.' We truft, however, that from the extracts we have made, our readers will be able to form an accurate idea of the real merits of this work. They cannot, we think, fail to perceive, that, of all authors, Mr De Lille has departed the fartheft from the rule he laid down on a former occafion, viz. that the tranflator of a whole work was bound to preferve the thoughts and expreffions of his prototype, and to attend even to his coftume.' In the cafe before us, it is in vain that we search for the original; neither the person, the dress, nor the manners, are the fame. Prefented in this form, Milton can only appear, even to those who are most intimately acquainted with him, as the excefs of glory obfcur ed,' or As when the fun new rifen Looks through the horizontal mifty air Shorn of his beams; or from behind the moon, In dim eclipfe, disastrous twilight fheds.' Book I. 1. 593. We will not apologize to our readers for the length of the extracts we have made. Our object has been, rather to lay before them paffages which would of themselves fuggest matter for criticifm, than to criticife, ourselves. Accordingly, we have chiefly felected felected those which must be familiar to every one who is at all verfed in English literature. Thofe who know how to feel and appreciate their excellences, cannot but experience delight whenever they are recalled to their recollection; thofe (if any fuck there be) who are not yet acquainted with them, cannot but rejoice at their discovery. ART. XV. An Inquiry into the State of the Nation at the Com mencement of the prefent Adminiftration. pp. 238. 8vo. London. Ridgeway 1806. Third Edition. THE HE fudden diffolution of the last miniftry prevented the Parliament from inquiring into the measures which produced the late continental war, and led to the prefent calamitous fituation of affairs. The object of the tract now before us, is to fupply this defect, and to exhibit fuch an account of the state of the nation as might have been derived from the parliamentary difcuffion of the fubject, and may lead, not only to a fair eftimate of our prefent profpects, but to the remedies, if any yet remain, for our paft errors. The work has obtained a very unusual fhare of the public attention; and we are now reviewing a third edition, though the first has not been published a week. It is understood, indeed, to fpeak the fentiments of the Government upon fome of the most important fubjects of difcuffion; its merits are, in our opinion, of the very highest order; and we haften to lay an account of its contents before our readers, with fome fpecimens of its execution, that the found and wholefome principles which it appears to us to inculcate, may have a new chance of becoming as extenfively known as they deferve. The fubject of the tract is, an Inquiry into the State of the Nation with refpect to its Foreign Affairs; it is intended to exhibit a full view of the causes which have led to the late difafters of the Continent, and of the present state of Europe. There remain two other branches of the fubject to be difcuffed-the State of our Colonial, and of our Domeftic Policy ;-thefe points are omitted, for the prefent, as of lefs urgent importance, and only alluded to in the relation which they bear to the immediate object of the inquiry. This inquiry is divided into three branches. In the first, the caufes of the late difafters on the Continent are inveftigated at great length, and the errors of the allied powers, efpecially of England, are fully detailed. In the fecond part, a sketch is given of the confequences of that impolicy, and its effects upon the ftate of Europe. In the third, a view is taken of the other particulars in the state of Europe, which cannot be directly referred to the late coalition against France. The work concludes with the general inferences to which the previous difcuffion had led, respecting the line of policy to be adopted by this country in her foreign relations. I. In reviewing the hiftory of the late continental league, as detailed by the documents laid before Parliament, our attention is arrested by so many capital errors of primary importance committed by the allies, particularly by England the mover of the confederacy, that it is only difficult to chufe where we fhall begin, and to fay when our expofition fhall end. It may be proper juft to notice the heads under which the work before us arranges those errors, and to prefent a fummary of the argument, upon the most striking of them. The league was arranged in a mammer altogether hostile to France, from the very beginning. No attempts were made at pacific overtures, although France had lately fhewn a defire to negotiate, and the Government of England had fome time before pledged itself to feek the mediation of Ruffia. A war was the grand object from the firft; and then this war was entered upon without any precife or definite object. The treaties enumerate, indeed, feveral purposes which the com bined powers affect to have in view, fuch as the independence of Holland, the liberation of Italy, the freedom of Switzerland and others. But the work before us enters into a minute examination of all these propofed objects, and clearly proves that they are mere words of no meaning; that nothing fhort of the conqueft of France could fecure the real independence of countries neceffarily expofed to her power, like Holland and Piedmont; that the removal of French troops from these provinces is a nugatory demand, fince France would withdraw them at any rate during peace, and must retain the power of replacing them as foon as war is renewed, i. e. as foon as it is her intereft to replace them; that the liberation of the Continent from French influence or tyranny, was not to be attempted by plunging it in war, but muft refult from changes which no hoftilities can bring about. For the illuftration of thefe and other pofitions of the fame tendency, we must refer our readers to the work itself ;-on this part of the question, it abounds in argument and in details, which are extremely inftructive. Having thus expofed the groundwork of the late fyftem, this division of the reasoning is fummed up as follows. A league, then, of unparalleled expenfe and vaft rifk is concerted, without any precife object but that of beginning a war; without any view view more fpecific than a vague defire of curbing the power of France; without a plan more comprehenfive than that of freeing from momentary oppreffion, a few detached parts of the French dependencies; with no preconcerted scheme for fecuring their independence, or for carrying into effect the general with that has been formed to check French ufurpation. But, it may be asked, is the fituation of Europe fo hopeless that no means can be devised for accomplishing the grand objects which we have been rapidly furveying? Muft Holland be united in fate with Belgium, and the Cifalpine decide the deftinies of the South ?-The confideration of these matters belongs to a future ftage of this inquiry. At prefent it is enough to have shewn that thofe objects bear no relation to the mere act of commencing a hoftile coalition; that the fortune of war might drive the French troops out of Holland and Naples, without rendering thofe ftates lefs dependent on France; that the emancipa tion of Europe could only be obtained from a war of this defcription, in the most improbable event of its leading to the entire conquest of France; and that the choice of inftant hoftilities, without giving any reasonable profpect of fuccefs, in profecuting the general fcheme, precluded all chance of paving the way to better times, by a gradual and peaceable arrangement. The only fpecific object of the coalition, then, was to make war upon France, and try the event. Let us next inquire, whether this object was prosecuted with such a degree of wisdom, as bestowed any title to expect that the event would be profperous. P. 21-23. We cannot follow this important part of the queftion as minutely as its difcuffion deferves; it confifts chiefly of reafonings from facts and circumftances contained in the official papers, and enters neceffarily into much detail. The whole fubftance of the argument against the late alliance, drawn from a view of the ftate of Europe at the time, is given with great force and correctnefs in the following sketch of the relative fituation of France and Auftria at the breaking out of the war. Such, then, was the unwillingness of Auftria, and fuch the means employed to bring her into the late ruinous conteft.—And, truly, when we reflect on the exhausted state in which the laft war had left her; when we confider the lofs of her ancient provinces, beft fituated for offenfive operations, and the various difficulties which opposed themselvės to any attempt at calling forth the refources of her new acquifitions; when we furvey her finances, involved in unexampled embarrassment, and her cumbrous adminiftration checking in every quarter the development of her natural ftrength; when, above all, we think of the univerfal dread of a new war, which prevailed through every rank of her people, difpirited by a recollection of the laft, and impreffed with a firm belief in the afcendant of France; when, to all this, we oppofe the fignal advantages of her enemy in every particular;—a compact and powerful territory, impregnable to attack, and commanding its neighbours from the excellence of its offenfive pofitions; an army inured to war and to conftant |