of the language. On the whole, we are of opinion that not students only, but masters may derive advantage from a perusal of this performance. Masters will, however, as is but natural, give the preference to their own modes of teaching; and whether Dr. Montucci will convert them, may be more than doubted. From several hints which occur in this work and the following, we recommend to parents to watch very narrowly the sentiments, principles, maxims, and allusions contained in the grainmars, &c. of foreign languages: and we urge this attention on masters with increased solicitude, because they must know that their very bread may fuil them, in consequence of incautious, or inconsiderate offences against good manners, loyalty, or the established ordinances of our church. Italian Extracts; or a supplement to Galignani's Lectures: consisting of an extensive selection from the best classic and modern Italian authors; preceded by a copious vocabulary, with familiar phrases and dialogues. By Antonio Montucci, Sanese, LLD. 8vo. pp 376. price 7s. Edinburgh, for Boosey, London. 1806. In this volume which is a companion to the former, Dr. Montucci appears in the character of an original author, or rather compiler. His work opens with melancholy account of the decline of Tuscan literature, which we conceive is little calculated to encourage students of the Italian language. Shortly follows rather a condemnation than an examination of Veneroni's dialogues, whose grammar Dr. M. recommends to the proper notice of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. After this, we have an extensive vocabulary taken from the Ortografia Italiana of Facciolata: we think this a useful article. We have next familiar phrases, and easy dialogues, which "the reader may be assured are accurate specimens of the modern colloquial style now used in Italy," though the author acknowledges they would not stand the test of critical enquiry, instituted with Della Crusca's Vocabolario in hand." But the greater part of this volume is occupied by a collection of fables, anecdotes, witticisms, and other selections, illustrative of the modern stile of compopisen, by which is principally intended that of the last sixty or seventy years, during which the Italian language has been enriched say some, degraded say others, with Dr. M. among them, by new phrases and combinations of expressions. In the concluding selection, which exemplifies the classic style, Boccace, Ariosto, and Tasso, as might be expected stand forward, as chiefs: Dante also is conspicuous. A few others are honoured with the character of classics. Dr. We have not read this book with scrupulous attention: but from what we have seen of it, we think the contents valuable; and should recommend it to those advanced in Italian literature. M. professes to have consulted the interest of morals as well as of letters in this compendium; and assures us that he has carefully excluded the most remote allusion to improprieties of every kind. We commend his delicacy, and repeat our call on the attention of both parents and teachers to this consideration. The rising generation is the hope of the state; the preservation of its integrity in every kind of laudable principles, is of the utmost consequence, not only to the individual, but to the common wealth, and indeed, to the future character, if not existence, of the British nation. Dr M. professes, also to have corrected very many instances of imperfect English style, which disfigured the former edition of Galignani: yet we must be allowed to wish that both volumes had been revised by some competent English critic. Pesth, &c. 1. Directory for the Town of Pesth in Hungary, for the year 1805. 2. An Alphabetical Description of all the Streets, Markets, Places, Churches, public Buildings, and other objects of notice in Pesth; being an appendix to the directory, with a plan. By Paul Ruth, M. D. No. 1, is introduced by a brief history of Pesth, which certainly requires much improvement and many additions; but from which we learn that the present town was first raised from its ruins in 1686 And that having by fire and devastation lost its ancient archives, neither the period of its fortification, nor that of its being made an imperial free city, can now be ascertained. Its improvement and increase have been very rapid since 1787, at which period were enumerated 22,417 inhabitants, and 2909 houses. Buda is expected from M. Von Lipsky. The suburbs Leopoldstadt, and Francisstadt, were added in 1790. The lighting of the town only commenced in 1790. It is however of importance for Hungary that Pesth is making improvements in municipal police, as it is a pattern for others, especially for the southern cities. A public city teacher of drawing instructs the pupils in all professions dependent on drawing. Here is no general public hospital, although the great building which Joseph II. proposed to assign to this purpose stands complete. Subjoined is a catalogue of magistrates, eity officers, clergy of all sects, lawyers, physicians, merchants, manufacturers, &c. from which we infer, that in general, three orders of society principally influence the inhabitants of Pesth the numerous order of merchants: the decasterial order of the imperial tribunals, with the considerable body of lawyers and jurists; and lastly the literati, whose principal support is the royal university. The varied influence of these orders in producing the sum of morals and mental culture, if described by an impartial observer must be interesting. At times, the influence of the literati seems to be of little importance. Pesth and Buda are sometimes the seat of a Diet (Reichstug) a circumstance which operates powerfully on the opinions, morals, and culture of a town. The great number of lawyers is striking; on the contrary, we find noticed only three wholesale dealers in the productions of the country; four booksellers, three printers, three copper-plate engravers; two dealers in articles of art, and three sculptors. Many statistic results might be deduced by the inquisitive from the proportion of one trade to another. The warehouses and shops of inland manufactures, deserve a separate chapter: for instance, the Galez cloth manufacture, the Hollitch porcelaine manufacture, &c. also the four annual fairs. No. 2. in part supplies what is wanting in No. 1. The plan is drawn on a large scale, by Anton von Balta, county engineer, and reduced by Rudolph Witch, engineer to Count Bathyany; it is divided into squares of 10,000 squares fathoms each; that by the help of reference, figures and letters, every street may be found in the alphabetical index. A more complete and detailed plan of Pesth and Viewed from the heights of Buda, on the other side of the Danube, Pesth much resembles the sandy environs of Berlin; there are few public places of amusement; the rather distant garden of Orchzy, the town forest, and the stone quarry are the only ones. The editor rightly observes, that a systematic perseverance may pro duce refreshing shades, and green turf even in sandy wastes. The banks of the Danube, the environs of Buda, the islands in the Danube are the principal places of resort to the friends of nature, here. The literati of Pesth have not less than four libraries at hand; that of the university, that of the Count Szechenycsche, the imrial, the Cornidessische Telcheihe, and lastly that of Nicolus Janhovics, the general use of the two last might be mademuch easier by a readièr admittance. L'Historien de la Jeunesse, &c. The Historian for Youth, or a selection of memorable events taken from history, ancient and modern, adapted to adorn the minds of youth, to form their manners, and to inculcate good principles, and noble and virtuous sentiments. Crown. 8vo. pp. 372. Paris, Bertin. 1805. Price 6s. Dulau and Co. London. A principal use of history is, precedent and example; and though it be true, that history for the most part presents examples to be avoided, yet it is but fair, that such actions and characters as she has recorded, which are adapted for the benefit of mankind, should be allowed their full power and importance. Times are never so bad, as to be wholly destitute of great and noble minds, whose virtues shine with the greater lustre in proportion to the darkness with which they are surrounded; according to the expression of Shakspeare; How far that little candle throws its beams 1. So shines a good deed in a naughty world. We are therefore favourable to attempts like the present: which combine exam. ple and renown; and interest the mind, of youth especially, with the compound power of striking incident and celebrated character. The little volume before us, appears to be as proper for youth as any French work of the kind we have seen. The incidents are drawn from ancient as well as modern times; and the characters include various ranks and conditions of lite. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PERSONS INCLUDED * IN THE PROPHECY OF M. DE CAZOTTE. [Continued from page 541.] CHRETIEN GUILLAUME DE LAMOIGNON Was born at Paris the 16th of December 1721; he was descended from a family distinguished both for its ancient nobility, and for the eminent services it had rendered to the kingdom. His father was chancellor of France. Malesherbes, destined for the highest offices of the state, applied himself with enthusiasm to the study of the laws, and in his father he possessed an admirable master, a tender friend, and indeed an example of every shining quality. With the intention of preparing him to exercise with dignity the august functions of magistracy, his father appointed him deputy solicitor general, and afterwards counsellor to the parliament of Paris, although he was only 24 years of age-and he succeeded his father as first president of the Court of Aids in December 1750, which office he filled for 25 years. He likewise had the inspection of the press. In 1768 his father was disgraced, and Malesherbes resigned his situation as director of the press, which threw all the literati into despair, as he had been upon all occasions their zealous friend. In 1771, in consequence of his expostulations relative to the conduct of Maupeou and his party, he was banished to his country seat. Here, withdrawu from the stage of public affairs, he passed his days in serenity and retirement; dividing his time between his family, his books, and the cultivation of his gardens. He had written a vast number of valuable remarks on the political condition of France, on the administration of justice, on agriculture, and natural history. These observations, which he designed to arrange, and which were afterwards carried off by the revolutionary barbarians, breathed the spirit of an enlarged philanthrophy, an enthusiastic love of his native land, and a lofty and valorous inde; endence. Every hour of his day was marked by benevolent actions or useful discoveries. Rising before the dawn, he took delight in digging the ground; and never forsook his task, il, exhausted by fatigue, he would retire to repose himself under the shade of trees which his own hand had planted. His mansion was furnished in the most unostentations style; for he found more pleasure in giving bread to a hundred poor persons, than in squandering immense sums *Panorama, pages 64 to 70, Review of M. de la Harpe's works. on costly decorations. His place was laid out upon the principles of the old gothic manner; accordingly, people of taste advised him to throw all down, and rebuild upon a modern plan-but he had inherited the edifice; all his ancestors had lived in it, and he preserved it as a family-piece; a sacred monument of his attachment and respect to his forefathers. His table was economically supplied, and his domestics few, although his annual expense was considerable; but his wealth was employed for the gratification and advantage of his dependents: canals carefully formed, meadows reclaimed, marshes drained, the roads in his neighbourhood skilfully made, dykes opposed to the violence of the torrents, umbrageous walks, and picturesque plantations, were the objects on which Malesherbes expended his income. To facilitate the communication with different parts of the country, he constructed several bridges of solid masonry. The inhabitants loved him as a parent; and under his influence every one enjoyed a degree of respectable ease. The children received instruction, the aged were held in honour; and the peasant who had cultivated his fields with most care, and managed his flocks or herds to the greatest advantage, obtained a premium, which gave birth to a virtuous emulation, and tended highly to the improvement of agriculture. He was plain in his dress and manner of living, and disliked those grand entertain ments and dinners of ceremony, where the majority of persons in power waste the time they should devote to their duties. He often passed whole nights without sleeping; and, in his latter years, lay down with half his clothes on, that he might be the sooner ready for business when he rose. While this venerable philosopher forgot, in the bosom of tranquillity, the shameful manœuvres of court intrigue, the disgraceful traffic of corruption, and the arbitrary acts of despotic power, Lewis XV. wore out among his mistresses the remnant of a despicable life; and his perfidious counsellors continued, day after day, to dig still deeper that abyss which ere long was destined to ingulph the antique colossus of the monarchy. On the accession of Louis XVI. he was recalled from his banishment and took his place as president of the Court of Aids as usual, and in 1775 was appointed minister of state--which he resigned in May 1776. He travelled into Switzerland and Holland, and after several years returned to his country seat, where he was received by the inhabi tants with the utmost joy. He was again called to the kings councils in 1786, but finding all his endeavours ineffectual to prevent the storm that was coming on he again retired from the court, to pass his days in the bosom of his family, where he remained until the king was dethroned; when hearing of the decree of the convention for his trial, he set off for Paris, and wrote the following letter to the president. volume of Tacitus, which lay open before him on a little table, and took me in his arms: tears started into his eyes, and he said to me, this sacrifice of yourself is the more generous, as you have thereby exposed your own life, and will not be able to save mine." "Citizen President: I know not if the na-After sentence of death had been decreed, tional convention will allow Lewis XVI. M. de Malesherbes, says Clery, came to the counsel to defend him, or whether he will be permitted to choose any; if so, I desire Temple: "It was Thursday the 17th of Lewis may be informed, that, should he January, about nine o'clock in the mornI make choice of me for that office, I ain readying when he entered our apartment. to undertake it. I do not ask you to disclose my proposal to the convention; for I am far from thinking myself a person of such importance as to attract its notice; but I was twice called to the councils of him who was my master, in times when that station was an object of ambition to all; I owe him the same service when, in the opinion of many, the post is one of some danger. "Did I possess any possible method of acquainting him with my inclinations, I should not take the liberty of addressing myself to you. "It occurs to me, that, from the situa tion you hold, you may have a better opportunity than any one else of giving him this information. 1 am, with respect," &c. This letter deserves to occupy a conspicuous page in the annals of virtue; as an everlasting monument of courage, of modesty, and greatness of mind nor can ancient or anodern times afford a brighter instance of exalted generosity. Here we behold Malesherbes; and history will inscribe amidst its fairest records, this sublime act of a man of seventy, who, at the moment when terror chilled the ardour of the bravest, stepped forward to solicit, as the most signal favour, permission to defend a king, bereft of his crown, and treated as the lowest criminal. The 14th of December, 1792, Malesherbes was introduced at the Temple: the king, running to meet him, threw his arms round him, and Malesherbes burst into tears. It is easy to conceive that the interview was extremely affecting! How poignant must have been the reflections of this great and good old man, on discovering in a dismal prison the king, whom he had beheld seated on the proudest throne of the carth; on recollecting, that, when last admitted to his councils, his will could have decided the fate of Europe! but that now he had come to try to rescue from the vilest death a prince who had but the other day governed twenty-four millions of men. Let us hear him speak for himself in the words of an historical fragment found among his papers. "The moment I obtained leave to enter the king's apartment, I hastened thither, and scarcely had he seen me, when he quitted a ran to meet him: "All is lost!" said he, "the king is condemned!" His majesty, who saw him come in, rose to receive him. The venerable man fell at his feet, he was almost suffocated with grief, and remained some moments before he could utter a word. The king raised him up, and affectionately embraced him. He then informed his majesty of the decree which sentenced him to death. The monarch did not betray the least emotion or surprise; he seemed only affected with extreme grief for his respectable old friend and minister, and endeavoured even to comfort him! "Sire, you do not want courage, said Malesherbes, your fatal sentence is decreed !""1 all along expected it." replied Lewis, with a calm and tranquil look: "In God's name, dear Malesherbes, do not weep: we shall meet again in a happier world." The monsters of terror never forgave him for his attachment to his master, and therefore made a most terrible example of him. One day, when, with a spade in his hand, he was walking in his grounds, he saw approaching him four ghastly locking nien, with lank hair and livid complexions: he thought he observed these people take the direct road to his dwelling: a violent terror seized him; his knees bent under him, and it was with the utmost difficulty he was able to reach the house. These were four members of the revolutionary committee of the section of Bondy, who came to arrest Madame LepelletierRosambo, the daughter of Malesherbes, and her husband, once first president of the parliament of Paris. It is hardly possible to conceive the misery of the old man, when he saw himself tori from the arms of his much loved daughter! He struck his forehead-uttored loud lamentations, and flung himself at the feet of the barbarians, beseeching them, in pity, to take him with his children. Can a picture of greater affliction than this be imagined! Young Rosambo, and M. and Madaine de Chateaubrian, the grandchildren of Malesherbes, beheld themselves severed from their excellent parents, and were obliged to find consolation for their venerable grandfather, when they were themselves the victims of the deepest despair! 2B4 At last, they were forced asunder; and Malesherbes was enabled to bid them farewell, only by the hope of following his family to prison on the next day. That idea even served to restore his courage: to him time seemed to move slowly; he waited with impatience for the morrow, nor was ever a day of festivity more eagerly longed for. His dreadful wish was but too well complied with the hired ruffians of the revolution were always men of their words when they promised to afflict. Malesherbes and his grandchildren were arrested, and his papers sealed. The report of his arrest spre through the village, and all the inhabitants ran forth in tears to bid him adieu! Neither a dread of the revolutionary murderers, nor the presence of an armed force, could repress their murmurs at the tyrannic act which took their friend and father from among them. One exclaimed, that to him he owed his little fortune; another, that he had rescued him from destruction, by assisting him when 1 distress; a third, that he had rebuilt his house consumed by fire; others that he had bestowed the bread of industry on their children-all proclaimed aloud his benevolence and his virtues; and poured upbraidings and curses on his persecutors. The municipality immediately assembled, and resolving that he should not be escorted by the soldiers of the police, like the meanest malefactor, unanimously decreed to convey him safely; and four of the members had the gallantry to accompany him to Paris, that he might be spared the mortification of travelling with hired assassins. Malesherbes had hoped to be reunited with all his family but this expectation was cruelly disappointed! His enemies determined he should drink the last drop in the cup of bitterness; and the ferocious revolutionists took the barbarous precaution of dispersing his children in different places of confinement. His grandson, the young Lepelletier-Rosambo was the only one shut up with him in the prison of Les Madelonettes. The ingenuous simplicity of the child frequently made him smile with pleasure: he was charmed at discerning in his young heart the germ of a noble nature; and delighted to assist its growth by instilling liberal precepts, and the lessons of wisdom. As soon as he reached Port-Libre, he wrote a letter to one of his friends, describing his situation. He says, "I expect the worst; they will never forgive me for defending the hapless Lewis XVI.! Nevertheless I solemnly protest, that I glory in sacrificing my life for him; and, far from repenting that act, would again do the same, were it again to be done." Malesherbes heard unmoved his own sen tence; but the condemnation of his daughter and grand-daughter rent his heart. The thought of seeing two weak and helpless creatures perish, whose very sex should have saved them from proscription, shook his fortitude. Being taken back to the Conciergerie, his courage returned and he exhorted his children to prepare for death, When the fatal bell rung, Malesherbes recovered all his wonted cheerfulness. Having paid to nature the tribute of feeling, he desired to give his children an example of magnanimity; his looks exhibited the sublime serenity of virtue and innocence, and taught them to view death undismayed. In crossing the court of the Conciergerie, from feebleness, he struck his foot rudely against a stone-" Oh," said Malesherbes to the person next him," that is what they term an unlucky presage-now, a Roman in my place would have gone back; "—and he proceeded smiling. When he ascended the cart, he conversed with his family, unaffected by the clamours of the ferocious populace; and, on arriving at the foot of the scaffold, took a last and solemn farewell of his children: immediately His daughter, Madame Lepelletier Rosambo, whose husband had been guillotined a few days before, on receiving her sentence of condemnation, immediately went to Mlle. Sombreuil who was in the same prison, and thus addressed her: "You, Madam, have "had the glory of saving your father's life, " and I have now the consolation, at least, of dying with mine, with my chil "dren, and of following my poor husband." Mile. Sombreuil saved her father's life at the massacre of the prisons, Sept. 2, 1792 ; the same night that M. Cazotte was saved by his daughter, and at the same prison. Notwithstanding the heroic conduct of this young lady, her father was guillotined afterwards by the revolutionary tribunal at the age of 74; he was marsha! of France, and governor of the Invalides; he was sent to the scaffold in a red shirt. She lost likewise both her brothers; the eldest was guillotined: the other, after he had capitulated, was shot by Tallien's orders, for his loyalty to his sovereign, in the market place of Vannes, Jouis de ton triomphe, o moderne Antigone, |