the univerfe. Attila and Charlemagne have been masters of almost all Europe.Polybius obferves, that the Romans, in lefs than eighty-three years, rendered themfelves matters of the world. Bonaparte, in a very short space of time, has realized in fome degree the gigantic projects of Louis XIV. and will most probably avail himself of the genius and powers of the French to fubjugate all Europe, if its fovereigns do not, ere too late, counteract him with fpirit and energy. Alexander and Cæfar were not fatisfied with their for tune; nor is Bonaparte ambition is unbounded in its wishes; it derives no enjoyment but from itself, and is never fatiared or contented. * : The plan of revolutionizing all Europe would be to much the more execrable, as its execution is a system of deftruction, rather than of conquest, of ruin, rather than acquifition. Mark the progrefs of the French armies during the late war; it would feem that the Furies, and all the inhabitan's of the infernal regions, march in their train, to scatter terror, difcord, deftruction, and defpair. It is impoffible to make a just appreciation of the population that fupplied the Roman armies; but Polybius gives us fufficient means to compare the forces of the Romans with hote of the French. He fays, book ii. f. 24, the number of tho e capable of bearing arms was 7,000,000 foot and 70,000 horie. Before her onion with other countries, France reckoned four millions of active citizens; fuppofing that only half of thefe fhould be counted as capable of bearing arms, the number would be two millions. In France no perfon can be an active citizen till he is twenty-one years of age, and yet he is able to bear arms at feventeen. Bonaparte does not only command thirty millions of French, old or new, in the united departments, but rules over ten millions of fubjects in Italy, Switzerland, and Holland. Spam is his ally, in the fame manner that the ftood connected with the Romans. We may therefore calculate, (and still be under the mark) that he has us der his orders four times the number of men capable of bearing arms *Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Spain, and let us add (England excepted, for neither Auftria, Pruflia, nor Rufha, can be faid to be free from the influence of Bonaparte's ambition) all Europe, and indeed more than half the known world, bear teftimony to the juft mefs of this observation. that Rome had at the æra of the Punic war: indeed, at the battle o næ (a period when they most wanted the Romans had not more than 2 men on foot. France, before her a tions and conquests, had, bona fide 7 to 800,000 men in arms, without oning her national.guards (who w tionary) and her moving columns. confcriptions are managed in France fame manner as they were at Rom may therefore reckon, according fecond account, that the population fupplied the Roman armies was, moit, not a quarter of that of Fran her allies, without taking Spain in number. The forces of the Romans in with their victories; they fo mana to fecure to themselves partizans in Greece, and Afia, under the prete bringing liberty and relief to the f the French have on their fide the Ja all the turbulent and covetous, all t minal and revolutionary, of every co The Romans understood that art, wh French have carried to fuch extent a fection, of difguifing their atrocit der their oppofite denominations, colouring their rapacity with the a ance of philanthropy. But lying, dence, and perfidy, have been redu the French into a more extenfive.and fyftem, than ever they had been be The love of pillage and renow ambition of places and power, are r powerful incentives to the French rals, than the love of their country the Romans. They are not lefs of to their chefs, than the Romans w voted to their country. Pride and dity inflamed the minds of Brune, fena, and Augereau, as much as t of their country did that of Camill Cincinnatus. A comparative view of the forc means of the Romans and French p that the armies of the latter are, ar be more numerous, than those of th mer. After this comparison come of their means of refiftance. It is ceffary to examine whether Cartha lefs powerful than England, wheth lip had more confiderable armies tha tria, or whether the Parthians wer formidable than the Ruffians. forces and means of the French are numerous, they can of course surm proportionate refifting power. W not, however, in this place, balar forces of Europe on the other hand. French have had to contend, by land, only with the House of Austria and her allies, whom the had treated either with dif. guft or disdain. The French and their allies, for eight years past, have experienced nothing but loffes and defeats at fea. Carthage was no less fovereign of the feas at the period of the fift Punc war, than England is at prefent. The power and policy of Carl thage were not to be compared with thofe of England; but the fhores of Italy were at a much greater diftance from Africa, than Calais i from Dover. Amilcar and Hannibal yielded to none of the Romans in point of ability; but the fortune of Car hage yielded to that of Rome. The French, like the Romans, make partial peaces, and mislead the weak by fear and promises. The Romans did not deftroy Carthage till after the third Punic war, and after many armistices, the conditions of which gave them the means of conquering their rivals with greater cer. tainty. They fufpended the war again't the Carthaginians, after the battle of Za ma, because they were in hafte to transfer it into Iuyria and Greece. But the vef. fels, the talents, and poffeffions, of which they deprived Carthage, left her at their difcretion. Bonaparte has made feven or eight armiftices, which have given him the fortreffes of Germany and Italy, and the pillage of all of them. He concluded a truce with Auftria at Campo Formio and Luneville, in order to unite all his forces against England. If he fucceeds, with the athitance of the other Powers, in making an advantageous peace with England, ur in deftroying her, he may then at chieve the revolutionizing of the continent, in the fame manner that the Romans, be tween the first and second, and second and third Punic wars, conquered Upper Italy, Spain, Greece, luyria, and part of Afia. Like the Romans, he reckons as much on his negotiations as on his arms, and more on a peace that may divide, lull to fleep, er difarm his enemies, than upon a war which may fubdue them. We find in the decrees of the Roman Senate, relative to the cities of Greece, the model of Bona. parte's decree, which at once fanctions a tresty, comprehending, in a general form, a dozen of German Princes, claffed by Au. gereau according to the quota of their contributions. • It is needless to remark, that this was written before the conclufion of the late MONTHLY MAG. No. 104. The Romans deftroyed the cities, took poffeffion of the fhipping and arms, and carried off the matter-pieces of the arts from among their enemies, to exnibit them in their capital; and some of thefe very fpols are now at Paris. They perfecuted, took i hostage, or banished thof, who had given them offence. It is unneceffary to ftop, in order to remark the fimilitude of conduct, in every refpect, on the part of the French. They den olish the strong places, that they may referve to themfelves a facility of again entering those countries, which they evacuate only for the moment. Peace, war, and truces, all tend to the final object in view. To finish the parallel, nothing more is left than to compare the fortune of the French and the Romans. Plutarch, after having exa mined whether virtue (and this word includ ed courage, patriotism, and talents)had con tributed more to the grandeur of the Ro mans, than fortune, decides in favour of the latter. Let us reflect on the good for tune of Bonaparte, who in three years and a half has cleared the immeasurable dif. tance between a state of obscurity and the throne of France; who fucceeded in ex tinguishing civil war, and rendering all parties fubmiffive. When we reflect on thefe refults, aftonishing from their gran deur, and efpecially from their apparent incompatibility, we cannot entertain a doubt that the good fortune of Bonaparte is more extraordinary than any thing of which history preferves the record. Alexander was born with an hereditary title to a throne; he was heir to the re nown, the power, and the armies of Phi lip. Cæfar appeared, when Rome could no longer do without a master; he came after Marius, Sylla, and Pompey; his eminent talents, and the greatness of his character, fecured to him the rank to which his birth enabled him to afpire. He em ployed fifty years of his life in the attain. ment of his object; and Napoleon Bonaparte, born at an obfcure village in Corfi ca, is become, in the space of three years and a half, the fovereign of France, and the arbitrator of the greatest part of Eu rope! If we examine what he has already been able to do, and the means he poffeffes towards profecuting the plan of fubjugating Europe, we fhali find that the greatest dif ficulties are furmounted. The more we attribute to his talents and genius, the greater is the danger; for in that cafe his fucceffors will be lefs dependent on that good fortune, which might abandon him; F in in fortune he has furpaffed Alexander and Cæfar. In the fpace of ten years France has gone through five ages of the Roman his tory, dating from the expulfion of the Tarquins. She began with the latest periods of Roman corruption. The Romans, corrupt and degraded as they became, continued to be fuccefsful, by extending their conquests, and subjugating other nations. The influence of France as founded on the real fuperiority of her forces. Whatever repugnance the French may have for foreign war, fo apprehenfive are they of civil wars, that they readily fubinit to a Government which will, by whatever means, prevent them: they will no longer find, that this ftate of lethargy has been too dea:ly purchafed by the blood of their children, and at the expence A On the other fide, if we reftrict a u fity to be merely a fchool of inftru we run the rifque of feeing inftructio come a fort of trade, to the great of the feiences, and to the extermin of inftruction itself. If diftinguish terati are not employed in inftruction method of conveying it will be onl perficial. Some universities have been cried up for poffeffing certain part branches of human knowledge. S this idea, however, come to be gen adopted, it is to be feared that it have the most difadvantageous quences for the ftudents and the inftit The fciences have all a mutual coher the bond which unites them is ft than is generally fuppofed to be. that I am for cultivating all the fci at once; feldom is it that encyclope who have fuperficially learned man ences, are worth a man thoroughl ftructed in his particular part; b branch of the fciences is diftinguifhe characters to decided, that it will n quire, in one who would udy it thor ly, at leaft elementary knowledge in parts. The well-informed theologian example, ought to know hiftory, the l ed and oriental languages. The la alfo has occafion for the fuccours o tory and the learned languages. fame feiences are of equal importanc the physician, and likewife for the ralift. A common refidence with lef men in all the fciences, engages man improve themselves in parts to which do not devote themselves exclufive Göttingen affords many proofs of th The profeffors, therefore, themfelves rive confiderable advantages from UNIVERSITY, at the prefent time, with our cultivation and our knowledge, to merit its name, fhould accomplish a double defign. It should unite an assemblage of diftinguished men of learning in most of the fciences. Thefe learned men are bound to preferve the depofit of knowledge, to diffufe and to tranfaffemblage in one and the fame place mit it to pofterity, augmented, if it is poffible. It ought, in the fecond place, to be an infti ution in which profeffors and expert mafiers inftruct young perfons in the elements of the fciences, the liberal ar S, and gymnaltic exercites. If fuccefs be not obtained in there two points of view, the univerfity does not realize the idea that we ufually attach to it, and it is not what it ought to be. If we would only have an affemblage of learned men as a depofit of human knowledge, we have then only a fort of fociety of fciences. This article is partly a tranflation from a pamphlet, entitled, Sur Etat actuel de l'Univerfité de Goitingue, by E. Brandes, Coanfellor of Commerce at Hanover. this affemblage is fill more ufeful young perfons. How many are there only at the univerfity fix upon the c without lofing time, from one tud they mean to purfue, and who may another, which they may judge more ag able or more convenient? How n young perfons, whofe head was well o nized, have acquired new ideas from fons which did not properly belong to ftudies? Every one to h's trade, it is t but he who defignates himself to any cular branch of bufinefs, ought he n have other knowledge than fuch as ne farily belongs to that branch? The idea of the divifion of the inf tions of inftruction, has its fource in oretical ideas of perfection, which are founded on practical and just observat This principle of an exact divifion of labour, a principle which has been often abuled in political economy, has only for its object a greater perfection in mechanical arts; but when the queftion relates to the cultivation of the human mind, this divifion, were it realized, would introduce a fyltem prejudicial to the culture of the fciences. Experience proves this afferti. n. Moft of thefe partial inftitutions are fallen to the ground, and their utility has not been found roportioned to what they colt. There are fome branches of human know ledge, it is true, which require a fixed fput, and practical experiments often repeated, in order to apprehend them perfely. By confequence, fome intitutions of initiuction for thefe fciences are very important for the ftates that have need of them; fuch as the exploitation, or working of mines, the fuperintendance of forests, &c. &c. The author, after having thus declared against fpecial fchools, neither would have univerfities to be inftitutons of educations, properly fo call ed: they ought, he fays, to be inftitutions of instruction in the elements of the fciences. As the mode of inftruction in fchools ought to be different from that of univerfities, in like manner, and fill more, a univerfity ought to differ from an inftitute of education. This difference is founded on human nature, on the differ ence of age which must neceffarily take place between ftudents and scholars, and on the more or lefs of culture and of intellectual force refulting from that difference. We may command and forbid many more thing to children, than to young perfons already formed. A unive fity hould have an inspection and a difcipline peculiar to itself. We cannot fubject tudents to the ordinary roles of the civil law; if to, order and difcipline would be quickly banished from the university. There come to univerfities a great number of young perfons, who find themfelves for the first time ditembarraffed from the infection of their relations, and the reftraint et f.hools, at an age when the paffions are impetuous, and reafon has little force to manage them. The municipal, or Common-law, would judge or punish with too much lenity or too much feverity, young perfons, whofe manners are often rude, and whole minds are not yet for med. On the other hand, to introduce into our univerfities the restraint and domestic inspection of choots, would be to ask too much, as the young man, no longer a child, should now learn to walk alone, to at for himself, and anfwer for his own ac tions. Some follies he will doubtlefs flide into; but let thofe full-grown fages who never commit any, caft the first stone at young perfons. The author next proceeds to expatiate on another idea, which is, that an university should not only be an institution of national intruction for the subjects of the country, but fhould be an 'inftitu tion forined on a large feale, and calculat ed for all nations. This was the idea entertained by the founder of the university of Göttingen. M. Munchausen perceived, that if the establishment was only for the country, the inftruction would be only fu perficial. He wished to form for the country first rate theologians, lawyers, phyficians, financiers, and men of bufinefs; and that to be able to form them, it was neceffary to eftablish a vaft plan, and to orga mizè inftruction, as it were, for all na tions, in a ftate that of itfelf contained near a million of inhabitants. On any other plan, M. Munchaufen might have formed certain preachers, judges, phyficians, whofe fervices might be used when wanted-the inftitutions would have been pitiful-the profeffors indifferent-In fact, the idea of making Göttingen a literary inftitution for all nations, was nothing lefs than new. Such were Bologna, Paris, Salerno, Leyden, even fo low as the first half of the last century. All the German univerfities have more or lefs of this character; but among them all, Göttingen is the most diftinguifhed, having always had the greatest number of foreign ftudents, who generally form about twothirds of its academical population; an inftitution, fays the author, very proper to banish national prejudices, and to introduce what he calls the cofmopolite-fpirit, i. e. the liberal fentiments of a citizen of the world. In his choice of cities, the author declares against thofe where there is a Court, and againft great commercial cities. He gives the preference to a moderate city, where the profeffers ought to form the fit clafs of the fociety. In Courts and commercial cities, objects of comparison would, perhaps, excite difguft. After thefe general remarks, the author proceeds to a particular examination of what has been done at Gottingen in respect to the most important purples of an univerfity. Every thing, he fays, has been done, which was poffible for the curious to per form, with the means they had in their hands, to ameliorate the condition of the profeffors. At the head of the public inftitutions is, doubtlefs, the rich library, contifting of about two hundred thou and volumes, and arranged in fuch a manner as to be, perhaps, the most useful establish F 2 ment ment of the kind in Europe. A great number of foreigners come to Göttingen merely to make use of it, which they are allowed to do, more than two hundred books paffing every day out of the library. It moreover contains a fine collection of engravings and plafters after the most beautiful remains of antiquity. The lying on-hofpital is one of the fin.ft foundations of this kind in all Germany. The botanical and economical-gardens, the chymical-laboratory, the mufcum, the cabinet of natural hiftory, the obfervatory, furnished with a telescope of Herchel's, fourteen feet long, are all public inflitu tions of the first-rate magnitude. Three other establishments, more or lefs connected with the university, merit a particular notice here. The firft is the Royal So. ciety of Sciences, divided into three claffes, mathematics, physics, and history. This fociety diftributes every year a prize of the value of fifty ducats, on fome quel tion propofed alternately by the members of the three claffes. Each clafs diftributes allo two other prizes of twelve ducats, for the best work on fome queftion of economy, police, or finance. The fecond elta. blishment is the Literary Gazette of Gortingen, which appears under the authority of the univerfity. The third etta blishment is the Faculty of Jurifprudence, or Court of Justice, giving confultations, and judging civil and criminal causes sub. mitted to its decifions. This Court is compofed of profeffois in the law, of the univerfity, and though properly (peaking it has no lot of connection with the ftuden s, it yields an important resource for both profeffo s and students, for combin ing theoretical knowledge with practical. There is a .other establishment formed for the maintenance of the families of the profeffors. Every widow receives a penfion of fix hundred livres, and the fix oldeft have an augmentation of fity livres. This money may even be expended out of the country. Every member who contributes to the widow's cheft, pays two louis a-year; and when a profeffor only leaves children, the penfion is paid to them until the youngest has attained the age of twenty years. When the capital of this cheft shall be augmented, each pension is to be augmented with forty livres. For the encouragement of the students, four prizes have been founded by the King, one for each faculty, of the value of twenty-five ducats. These prizes may furnish an opportunity to young men, on finishing their studies, of making themselves advantageouflyknown on their entrance into more public life. There are other encouragements calculated to facilitate their studies, fuch as exhibitions, gratuitous tables, and certain fupplies of money, which the cu rators give as gratifications. MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. He was born in the year 1749, in Sneefiaelds Naes, one of the pleasantest spots" in all Iceland. The inhabitants of this fruitful promontory were formerly famed for their hofpitality; and at this day the traveller is fure of a night's lodging, a hearty fupper, and a good bed, if he can tell a story, fing a fong, or touch the harp with melodious finger. If Mr. Thorkelin is not defcended from one of the richest families in his native country, he is certainly fprung from one of the oldeft. His father had received an education that enabled him to place a due value on the cultivation of the human mind ; and as he faw that his son had difcovered an early paffion for letters, he fent him at the expence of his purfe and his pillow to one of the best schools in the island. His object throughout was, that his fon fhould receive a virtuous, rather than a learned, education. In the first he would |