des Délits et des Peines, traduit de l'Italien de Beccaria en Grec moderne, avec des notes, 1802, 8vo." He was likewise the editor of la Bibliothèque Hellenique, or a collection of Greek works, with notes; eleven volumes of which in 8vo. first appeared, printed in Paris at the expence of the brothers Zosima, Greek merchants. They contain the works of Isocrates, in 2 vols., and Plutarch's Lives in 6 vols.; also, under the title of Prodromus, the different histories. of Ælian, and the fragments of Nicolas Damascenus and of Heraclides; - and, under the title of Parerga, the Fables of Esop, and the Stratagems of Polyænus. The remainder is continued at the expence of the Gymnasium of Chios. This collection is destined for circulation in Greece, and forms a proper sequel to the hopes expressed by M. Coray in his Mémoire sur l'état actuel de la Civilisation en Grèce, Paris, 1803, 8vo.

Codrika, (Panagiotis,) an Athenian, came to Paris about the year 1800, with the title of secretary and interpreter to the Ottoman embassy. When removed from this situation by his court, he remained in France, where the government granted him a pension of 250l. a-year, which he has since continued to enjoy. He has published, 1. A translation into modern Greek of Fontenelle's Plurality

of Worlds, 1794. 2. Observations on the Opinions of some Hellenists on the Subject of Modern Greek, 1803, 8vo. 3. Observations on Bartholday's Voyage in Greece, in the Magazin Encyclopédique.'

We are sorry to be under the necessity of adding that here these philologists do not exhibit a pattern of harmony; Codrika having recently attacked his elder countryman in a Greek pamphlet, composed with a degree of vehemence that recalls all the indecorum of antient combatants.

Italians. The present is not the golden age of Italy, and here the biographer finds a very limited number of either Generals or Artists to put on record. We shall accordingly confine ourselves to the notice of one whose reputation is known to almost all the cognoscenti of Europe, and who had lately occasion to pay a visit to our shores.

'Canova, the celebrated sculptor, was born in 1757 at Passagno, a village of the Venetian States, in the diocese of Treviso; and he executed, at the early age of seventeen, a half-length Eurydice, in soft marble. He then removed from the sculptor with whom he lived in Bassano, to the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where he gained several prizes. His group of Daedalus and Icarus brought him a pension of three hundred ducats, granted by the Senate of Venice on their sending him to Rome in 1779. Among other performances, he completed in that city in 1809 the model of Perseus holding the head of Medusa, which he executed in marble in the following year, and which some persons have not hesitated to place on a level with the Apollo Belvidere, both for the perfection of the work and the symmetry of the shape. The genius of Canova was brought to perfection by his study

of

of the exquisite models of antiquity, aided by that of the best antient authors, whom he still causes to be read aloud' to him while engaged on his labours. Originality, ease, and richness of fancy are his leading characteristics.'

We conclude our extracts with the notice of a person, whose name has been associated with the defence of stateprisoners in France almost ever since the beginning of the Revolution, and who has lately received distinguished rewards at the hands of Louis XVIII.

Chauveau Lagarde was born at Chartres about the year 1765, and is one of the most distinguished barristers in Paris." He is remarkable for having frequently given his assistance to persons brought before the fatal revolutionary tribunals and courts-martial; the most celebrated among his clients having been General Miranda, Brissot, and, above all, Marie Antoinette, whose defence he was ordered by the tribunal to conduct with Tronçon de Coudray. When sentence was pronounced on the Queen, they were both arrested, to undergo an examination respecting the secrets which that Princess might have confided to them: but this strange abuse of power produced nothing against them, and they were set at liberty. Having been directed by the govern ment of 1793 to defend the cause of Charlotte Corday, M. Chauveau Lagarde received the following note from that courageous woman, after her sentence: "You conducted my defence in the most generous and delicate manner: it was the only one that could have suited my cause; I thank you for it, and I will give you a proof of my esteem. I have just been informed that my property is confiscated; I owe a small matter to the jailor, and I leave it to you to discharge the debt."-In 1816, he was appointed to defend General Bonnaire, in which he acquitted himself with his usual zeal. Though unwell at the time, he was carried into court, and pleaded the cause with great warmth and ability.'

We have observed, in the course of our examination of these volumes, sundry errors in the orthography of proper names; and occasionally (as in the instance of General Carteaux) the ludicrous mistake of inserting among the hommes vivans the names of persons who departed from this world some time since. It is a more serious charge to allege the partiality of the work, not only in insertions but in omissions: the writers or editors having ventured, in the case of favoured individuals, to keep out certain political mementos which would have ill squared with the present situation of the parties. Yet, whatever may be objected to the book in point of politics, its literary impartiality is undoubted; and its pages contain many very convenient lists of the writings of the age. On the whole, therefore, though its execution' often bears marks of haste, we repeat that it may be safely recommended as a repertory of the transactions of existing public personages.

APP. REV. VOL. LXXXIII. LI

ART.

ART. VII. Abrégé des Mémoires, &c.; i. e. An Abridgement of the Memoirs of the Marquis de Dangeau, taken from the original MS., and containing many Anecdotes of Louis XIV. and his Court; with Notes historical and critical, and a Sketch of the Regency of the Duke of Orleans, by Madame DE GENLIS. 4 Vols. 8vo. Paris, Treuttel and Wurtz; London, Colburn. Price 11. 11s. 6d. sewed.

THE

THE name of Dangeau is so little known to the public either in France or England, that, on turning to the volumes before us, the attention of almost every reader will be directed to the labours of Madame DE GENLIS. That lady has long been distinguished in the world, but her literary fame has partaken in no small degree of the fluctuation of her political opinions; her later works having by no means supported the reputation of those which she wrote when acting as governess in the family of Orleans. Whatever may be the cause of this unfortunate inequality, or whether it be owing (as some allege) to her having been indebted to the assistance of others for a portion of her early fame, we do not pretend to decide: but it is perfectly evident that the performance before us will in no degree contribute to the redemption of her celebrity. The supplementary parts, written by herself, are marked by no particular display of vigour or imagination; and the choice of so poor a collection for the honours of the press is certainly not calculated to do credit to her judgment. We are, we confess, much more disposed to pass a severe sentence on an attempt to impose a worthless book on the public, than on the political tergiversation with which it is common to charge Madame DE G.; the latter fault having been so frequent on the other side of the Channel, and prompted of late years by such extraordinary vicissitudes, that female constancy could scarcely be expected to withstand the temptation. In fact, these changes have been carried to such a point in France, that the almost total défaut de patriotisme is one of the first admissions that our neighbours are ready to make on conversing with a foreigner respecting the unfortunate state of their country.

The main part of this book consists of the Memoirs or rather of the Diary of the Marquis de Dangeau, extending from the year 1684 to 1720: but the minor pieces, forming a fourth of the whole, are from the pen of Madame DE GENLIS, and consist of a sketch of the life of Dangeau, a prefatory essay, and a brief narrative of the regency of the Duke of Orleans. Postponing for the present our notice of the contributions of the fair editor, we shall, for a few minutes, point the attention of our readers to the Memoirs :' which

are

are little more than a daily record of circumstances that occurred at court, and greatly inferior to the well known Diary of our Lord Melcombe, Bubb Doddington; who not only entertained his readers with the reflections which passed in his own mind, but occasionally with information of some interest respecting the course of public transactions. Nothing, on the other hand, can be more trifling or insipid than most parts of the French nobleman's diary. Ex. gra.

9th July, 1684. Guénégault, Colonel of the regiment of Poitou, passing on horseback over the bridge, fell into the Rhine, but saved his life, an instance of extraordinary good fortune.

• Wednesday, 12.

and three o'clock.

A visible eclipse took place between two

· Monday, 17.—The Prince of Conti returned from the army, and the King bestowed much praise on him for his conduct during the campaign.

Saturday, 19.- The King, on retiring to rest, called Monsieur de la Trémouille, and told him to give orders to the officers in attendance to allow M. le Duc du Maine to have the same liberty of access to him as the gentlemen of the bed-chamber. This is what is termed having les grandes entrées.

Wednesday, 23. The Duke d'Elbeuf came this morning to ask the King's permission to marry Mademoiselle de Navaille. His Majesty represented to him that he was upwards of sixtyfour years of age, and that he had children by two previous marriages, - but added that the Duke had his leave to act in this business as he judged proper.

Saturday, 26. This morning, the King resolved in council to reduce the taxes two millions two hundred thousand francs (100,000l. sterling), besides the million which he had already taken off.

Sunday, 27.-During the last week, 10,000l. sterling were expended on the improvements at Versailles: twenty-two thousand men and six thousand horses being daily employed in this work.

Wednesday, 30. At eight o'clock, the King's apartments were thrown open; and the ladies of honour of the Dauphiness and of Madame, of Madame de Nevers, and of Madame de Choiseul, were present, to the number in all of twenty-eight. The King made them play at a game by which they could not lose, and they won each four lots of gold stuffs, or beautiful ribbons; the game was followed by supper.'

This specimen is more than a fair one; it is a very favourable sample of the work, for we have taken pains to strike out even from these few sentences several circumstances which were too trifling to be laid before our readers. What would they say to a journalist who gravely records that, on such a day, Monseigneur amused himself with hunting a weasel

L12

with

with terriers in a garret;' and that the King, when walking in his garden, had the condescension to allow the ladies and gentlemen who followed him to pick and eat fruit!' Yet the book is made up of these petty details, with long descriptions of fêtes, hunting parties, quarrels about precedency, and other matters of equal moment. Those, however, who attach consequence to the mode of admitting ambassadors at court, or to the etiquette of receiving and returning public visits, will be not a little gratified with these volumes, and will find in the Marquis a writer who outstrips even Lord Valentia in the minuteness of his descriptions. In one passage, (vol. iv. p. 101.) our ambassador, Lord Stair, is represented as giving serious offence to the Prince of Conti by not coming to meet him au bas de l'escalier; an act of attention which his Lordship gravely maintained was not due to his Royal Highness. It is said that Bonaparte, when he had assumed the Imperial dignity, and was desirous of re-establishing the etiquette of the old court, applied to Madame DE GENLIS; who is reported to have answered that "she had forgotten every thing but the bounties of her sovereign." How unlucky it was that she did not think of transmitting to the Imperial cabinet the MS. of the Memoirs now before us! which would have put the courtiers of the day in full possession of all the minutiae of etiquette, and might by some lucky consequence have saved us the very irksome task of travelling through it in its printed form.

Louis XIV. is the prominent character in these Memoirs, and seems to absorb the admiration not only of the Marquis, whom we should forgive for being dazzled by a luminary so near to him, but of Madame DE GENLIS, although contemplating his splendours at the distance of more than a hundred years. This lady takes great pains to persuade her readers, in the notes, that Louis was not the proud ostentatious prince that he has been so long considered: but unsupported assertions, or even insulated facts, will not be sufficient to outweigh the general impression, founded, as it is, on such a mass of historical evidence. She does not chuse to blame le grand monarque either for the repeal of the edict of Nantes or for the misfortunes of the latter years of his reign; and still less will she allow that the feelings engendered in this æra of ambition were instrumental to the subsequent disasters of France: which were, in her opinion, entirely owing to the Regent, and to the bad education given to Louis XV. In like manner, the Marquis de Dangeau expatiates largely on the kindness and liberality of his master to the family of our abdicated sovereign: but he makes no allowance for the share which policy bore in this apparent generosity.

Though