experience and success in theatrical concerns give great weight to his opinions.

Having now arrived at the end of the first volume, we must suspend our remarks on this interesting publication.

[To be continued.]

ART. II. De la Littérature, &c. i. e. On Literature, considered in its Relation to social Institutions. By Madame DE STAEL HOLSTEIN. 8vo. 2 Vols. pp. 400 and 300. Paris. 1800. Imported by De Boffe, London. Price 12s.

IT is perhaps scarcely necessary to observe to our readers, that the writer of the present work is the daughter of the celebrated M. Necker: but it may be information to them to be told that the object of it is, to analyse the moral and political causes which affect the spirit of literature; to point out the gradual developement of the human faculties, the slow but continued progress of the mind in philosophy, and its rapid but interrupted success in the arts; and to inquire into the influence which the revolution has already had on the literature of France, with the probable effects that may result from it, if ever order and liberty, morality and republican independence, should be united and established.

The first part of the work contains a moral and philosophical analysis of Greek and Latin literature; reflections on the consequences which have resulted to the human mind from the irruptions of the northern nations, from the establishment of Christianity, and from the revival of learning; and a rapid sketch of the distinguishing features of modern literature: with some more detailed observations on the most celebrated works in the Italian, German, English, and French languages, considered chiefly with a view to the relations which subsist between the political state of a country, and the prevailing spirit of its literature.-The second part relates to the actual state of learning in France since the revolution, and to its future probable progress.

Madame DE STAEL excludes the physical sciences from her definition of literature; comprehending within it, only poetry, eloquence, history, and moral philosophy. Her favourite doctrine is that of the progressive improvement of mankind in the philosophical parts of literature, or those which principally relate to a knowlege of the moral character of man; and which she conceives to be capable of an almost indefinite degree of improvement, while the works of imagination have their prescribed limits of perfection. In support of her opinion, she instances the successive productions of Greek literature, from

Homer

Homer to the age of Aristotle; and she attempts also to shew that, throughout the annals of Roman learning, whatever changes the arts may have undergone, philosophy has maintained. a continued and uninterrupted progress. If we have no objection to admit these positions, the boldness of the following somewhat startles us; namely, that even the irruption of the barbarians, which trampled under foot all that was valuable in art and science, and spred a darkness over the land for the space of ten ages,—even this calamitous event contributed to the propagation of knowlege. We shall give an extract, to shew the point of view under which the fair writer considers this part of the subject.

It appears to me that the study of history must convince us that all important events tend to the same result, to universal civilization. We see that, in every age, the advantages of social order have been extended to some new people; and that war, notwithstanding all its evils, has often increased the dominion of knowlege. The Romans civilized the world which they subdued. It was necessary that the light of instruction should first break from some bright point, and appear in a country of small extent, like Greece; and it was necessary that, a few centuries afterward, a nation of warriors should bind a part of the world under the same laws, in order to civilize while they conquered. The nations of the north, even in terminating for a time the reign of letters and of arts in the south, acquired some rays of that illumination which had been imparted to the vanquished; and the inhabitants of more than one half of Europe, who till then had been strangers to a state of civilization, became partakers of its blessings. Thus, time discovers to us a settled plan in the consequences of events which, at first, appeared to be the mere effect of chance; and one idea, which is invariably the same, arises from the abyss of centuries and of facts.

:

Undoubtedly, the incursions of the barbarians was a great misfortune for those nations which were contemporaneous with that revolution but this event itself tended to the propagation of knowlege. The enervated natives of the south, mingling with the northern race, derived from them that degree of vigour, and communicated to them that sort of pliability, which should combine for the perfection of the intellectual faculties.'

As a confirmation of the truth of her opinion, that human reason continued to develope itself during the darkness of the middle ages, Madame DE STAEL adduces the example of Bacon, Machiavel, and Montaignes authors who have far surpassed in moral and political philosophy, and in the sciences, the most celebrated men of antiquity; and who appeared almost immediately after that long interval, and at the period of the revival of letters. To render this argument conclusive, she has recourse to a principle, the propriety of which may perhaps be reasonably doubted; viz. that a man of genius

Hh 2

excels

excels his contemporaries by a few degrees only. There is nothing in the character of genius itself which will justify this supposition; for, if genius be the possession of some or all of the faculties of the mind, in a high degree of perfection; and if a man of genius be that man whose perception is most acute, whose memory is most comprehensive and ready, whose imagination is most prolific, whose taste is most delicate, and whose judgment is most discriminating; there is no reason for concluding that genius may not rise far above the level of the average intellect of a country. Though perseverance and industry may be necessary for a successful exertion of the faculties of the mind; and though the importance of their effects may be increased by the quantity and excellence of the materials already collected, on which they may have to work; yet it appears as rational to suppose that mental vigour necessarily springs from the existence of contemporary knowlege, as that the bow of Ulysses was the cause of his strength, or that the weight of the ox invigorated the muscles of Milo. We conceive, however, that there is an intrinsic and original difference in the mental faculties of different men, which does not depend altogether on the circumstances of education: but which, whether we consider the mind as material, or as " a portion of the breath divine," proceeds from a greater or less degree of perfection in the organs by which it acts. Neither does the principle above mentioned seem justified by any appeal to fact; for what contemporary productions approach with any appearance of gradation to the philosophical works of Bacon, to the paintings of Michael Angelo, to the Principia of Sir Isaac Newton, to the epic poetry of Milton, or to the genius of Shakspeare? As a Messiah was necessary for the elevation of the moral world, notwithstanding the fancied natural progress of human reason in improvement; so it would appear that human knowlege would also keep nearly the same level, if some superior genius did not now and then arise, and discover a point on which to raise the intellectual world. Whether or not the human mind has, in fact, continued uninterruptedly and gradually to develope itself, it may be asked whether the establishment of Christianity has not promoted the civilization of mankind more powerfully than the natural progress of reason?

It would carry us much beyond our limits, were we to follow the fair author while she is investigating, throughout the first part of this work, the various characters which different governments impart to eloquence; the moral ideas which this or that religion excites and unfolds in the human mind; the effects which are produced on the imagination by

the

the credulity of a people; the degree of civilization most favorable to the influence and improvement of literature; the different changes produced both in the writings and the manners of a country, by the state of female existence, both before and since the establishment of christianity; and, in a word, the universal progress of knowlege as the simple effort of the succession of time. We shall therefore content ourselves with remarking, that Madame DE STAEL appears to be peculiarly attached to that refined species of philosophy which is so prevalent in German literature, and which seems to have attracted the attention and guided the pens of some modern authors of our own nation;-a philosophy which boasts of attaining a profound knowlege of the secrets of the human heart; which, according to this lady, elevates the moderns so far above the antients; and which gives to the poetry of the former more sensibility and interest, a greater power of persuasion to their eloquence, and a more dignified, energetic, and scientific character to their history. Another favorite idea, very frequently recurring in the pages of this work, is that this species of philosophy is fostered and promoted by melancholy and sorrow, more than by any other cause. Madame DE STAEL is under the influence of these opinions, we do not wonder at the terms of praise and admiration in which she speaks of the celebrated Werter of Goethe; which she considers as le livre par excellence' among the Germans, and as ranking with the chefs-d'œuvres of other languages.

As

In the Second Part of this work, after having briefly pointed out the injurious effects of the Revolution on the manners, the literature, and the philosophy of France, the author proceeds to inquire what modifications and ameliorations may be expected in these points, if liberty and political equality should be established. Among the causes which are said to have impeded the progress of literature since the revolution, are, the prevalence of a most revolting vulgarity of manners, the domination of a depraved and immoral taste, and 'the absence of all literary emulation. The fair writer next considers what effects will be produced by republican institutions and manners, on works of imagination, and more particularly on theatrical productions. In this part, she appears to us to refine too much in her observations on the effects which the antient regime, and its social institutions, had on the comic taste and the turn for ridicule which were so conspicuous among the French.

In the remaining chapters of the work, relative to philosophy, literary women, the style of writers and magistrates, and eloquence, we have met with nothing that is strikingly new or worthy of observation. We shall therefore

Hh 3

conclude

conclude our notice of these volumes with a few general ob

servations.

We were disappointed in not finding a more detailed and particular account of the literary and moral state of France. Prudential reasons may perhaps have restrained the author's pen: but the work would certainly have been rendered more entertaining and instructive by such an insertion, than it can possibly be by • a slight sketch of actual circumstances; and by an amplification, however ingeniously executed, of arguments and opinions which are become almost common place; or of imaginary results from events which may never exist, and of supposed effects of combinations which may never arise. In general, the subject is treated with considerable ingenuity, but without much display of novelty. Madame DE STAEL appears to labor to attain an antithetical and pointed mode of expression; blending, according to her own ideas of the perfection of style, addresses to reason with appeals to sentiment, and with sallies of imagination.

ART. III. L'Homme des Champs; ou les Géorgiques Françoises: i. e. The Country Gentleman, or French Georgics. By JAMES DELILLE. 8vo. PP. 300. Basle. 1800. Imported by Debrett, London.

THE

HE booksellers on the continent had such entire confidence in the reputation of the author of this poem, and in the public eagerness to peruse it, that, as soon as the MS. was procured, fifteen editions were printed at once in Paris, from very high to very low prices, and 30,000 copies were sold in less than a fortnight! Though the Abbé DELILLE is an emigrant, a voluntary exile, and has remained a firm friend to the antient religion and government of his country, all parties in France are equally desirous of reading his pro-` ductions; and they are in few things so unanimous, as in pronouncing that he is the best poet of whom France can at present boast, or perhaps ever possessed, in heroic verse. No poetry in a foreign language approaches the compositions of Mr. Pope so much as that of the Abbé DELILLE, who has confessedly made the English bard his model; and who resembles him in every respect which the different structure of. French verse will permit in smoothness, accuracy, and good taste; we dare not say in force, which perhaps the genius of his language will not admit. Pope never scrupled to borrow a good thought wherever he could meet with it, in prose or in verse: but he borrowed always to polish and to improve. If

* Various editions, in 12mo. 8vo. &c. are imported in London.

he