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We would gladly have given our extracts rather from the body of the work, but as all the quotations are given in the original languages, which must be intelligible only to a small part comparatively of our readers, we must deny ourselves that pleasure till our Author in a future edition, as we hope, will favour the Public with a translation.

XXVI. HISTORICAL and POLITICAL MEMOIRS of the Reign of LEWIS XVI. from his Marriage to kis Death: founded on a Variety of authentic Documents, furnished to the Author, before the Revolution, by many eminent Statefmen and Ministers, and on the Secret Papers discovered, after the 10th of August 1792, in the Closets of the King at Versailles and the Tuileries. By JOHN LEWIS SOULAVIE, the elder, Compiler of the Memoirs of Marshal Duke of Richlien, and of the Memoirs of the Duke of St. Simon. Translated from the French. In Six Volumes. Accompanied with Explanatory Tables and 113 Portraits. pp. 2566, 6 vols. 8vo. boards. 21. 8s. Robinsons.

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VOL. I. To this volume is prefixed, on one quarto leaf, 19 miniature etchings of the following portraits Lewis XVI. Maria Antonietta. The Dauphin. Madam, the king's daughter. Monsieur. Count d'Artois. Madame Elizabeth, the King's Sister. The King's Aunts. Madame Louisa. Duke of Orleans, the father. Prince of Condé, Prince of Conty. Ganganelli, Pope Clement XIV. Braschi, Pope Pius VI. Queen of Hungary. Emperor Joseph 11.

This volume concludes with the death of Lewis XV. and contains nineteen chapters, with observations upon some important events in the politics of France.

Chap. I. is introduced with the state of France and Austria; before the marriage of Lewis XVI. with Maria Antoinetta of Austria; and a political sketch of the aggrandisement of France under the dynasty of the Bourbons, and the relative decline of the House of Austria, extracted from the papers of the Dauphin, preserved in the port-folios of Lewis XVI. This sketch is continued to the marriage of Lewis XVI. by the

author of these Memoirs. In this chapter are shewn the consequences of introducing the political prínciples of Austria into the cabinet of the King of France, and of a French opposition averse to these foreign politics. That the preponderance of either of these principles has produced glorious or disastrous reigns of the kings of France, is proved by historical facts, in the anti-Austrian politics of Henry III. who had an Austrian and Spanish league against him; Lewis XIII. also maintains the same system in his government, notwithstanding the opposition of the queen-mother, and the queen-consort; and Lewis XIV. pursues the same measures with great success in producing the silence and submission of all oppositions, and in obtaining brilliant conquests from the Austrians. The House of Austria no longer reigns in Spain, but is succeeded by the Bourbons. Upon the demise of Lewis XIV. the Duke of Orleans is appointed regent; he forms an alliance with the House of Austria, and is opposed by the Spaniards, who raise a confederacy against him. Under Cardinal de Fleury, France returned to its ancient system, and deprived Austria of Naples, Lorraine, and Silesia. Maria Theresa, distracted by her losses, resolved to form a union with a monarchy so successful in its plans of destruction. By her ambassador, and the influence of Madame de Pompadour, one of the mistresses of Louis XV. she effects a revolution in the politics of France, and forms a treaty and alliance, offensive and defensive, between France and Austria. The Dauphin, father to Lewis XVI. opposes this alliance, his party is secretly joined by the King of Prussia, in the opposition. Lewis XV. is assassinated, and the Duke of Choiseul persuades him that this blow was concerted between the Dauphin, the King of Prussia, and the Jesuits, on which account Louis XV. is greatly alarmed, and easily influenced to throw himself into the arms of the Court of Vienna. The organization of the Austrian party at the court and in the cabinet of Versailles is succeeded by the portraits of the Duke of Choiseul, and of the Duke of Aiguillon, enemy of the former, and secret agent of the Dauphin. Choiseul concludes a second treaty with the House of Austria, in which he

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engages to furnish Maria Theresa with men and money to dethrone Frederic II. which distracts the Dauphin. Chap. II. informs us of the Duke of Choiseul's reasons for the destruction of the society of Jesus, and all the Jesuits, as agents of the Dauphin. Lewis XV. receives warning of a second assassination. Choiseul's reasons for disgracing in the Parliament, by a legal act, the Duke of Aiguillon, chief of the Anti-Austrian party. The Jesuits accused of poisonings and assassinations, executed or attempted. The Duke of Choiseul instigates Voltaire to write against them, and effects their abolition in 1762.

Chap. III. The Dauphin grieves at the ruin of the Jesuits; he loses his partizans, and is with his consort poisoned, it is supposed by the order of the Duke of Choiseul. The Queen dies in the same manner as her son and daughter-in-law. These things produce murmurs in France.

Chap. IV. contains reflections on the punishment of General Lally.

Chap. V. explains the motives of the Duke of Choiseul for ruining the Duke of Aiguillon, and the means he adopted. The origin of the affairs that annihilated the Parliaments. The contest between the Duke of Aiguillon and the two Chalotais. The insurrection of the Parliament. The critical situations of the Dukes of Choiseul and Aiguillon. The latter acquires the favour of Madame du Barry; the former negotiates the marriage of the Dauphin, afterwards Lewis XVI. with an Archduchess, in order to maintain the Austrian system, and the Abbé Vermont is sent to Vienna to instruct her in the customs of France. Our author writes, that this Abbé, instead of informing Maria Antoinetta that the queens of France were happy in the two last reigns, by contenting themselves with living piously and pleasing their husbands, gave her lessons of inconsistency and dissimulation, and some say of immorality. Her mother gave her lessons to regulate her conduct, from which she never deviated, and recommended to her by name such persons as were in the interest of Austria for her favourites, designing by these means to sway the cabinet of Versailles. The marriage of Louis XVI. and Maria Antoinetta was celebrated with great pomp, expensive feasting, and brilliant fire

works. The author writes, no description can convey an adequate idea of their magnificence. The most celebrated feasts of Louis XIV. were not to be compared with those of the young Dauphin's wedding. At a second display of fireworks was an awful massacre of twelve hundred persons, supposed to be the effect of party rage. The following observation was found among the King's papers; that the vexation of those who had thrown obstacles in the way of his marriage, broke out into rage on the day of the rejoicing; and that it was of essential importance to cover what passed on that day with an impenetrable veil, and not to suggest the least hint of the dreadful acts 'intended, but not accomplished.'

This marriage highly displeased the party of the late Dauphin; and the Jesuits, who were well skilled in intrigue, and even amid the ruin of their colleges were formidable, excited opposition against the Duke of Choiseul, who on his part, seeing the moment of a final crisis approach, redoubled his exertions against the party of the Jesuits, the Archbishop of Paris, and Aiguillon. The last, by the influence of Madame du Barry, eventually rises into power, and the Duke of Choiseul is, by a lettre de cachet, banished to his country seat, accompanied with a threat of worse treatment in case of any further misconduct.

Chap. VI. Portrait of the Duke of Choiseul, written by Lewis XVI. with a review of his administration, and the result of his proceedings.

Chap. VII. Portraits of the Dauphin and Lewis XV. written by Choiseul during his exile at Chanteloup.

Chap. VIII. After the exile of Choiseul, his system of administration is destroyed, together with the ma. gistracy of the kingdom. Madame du Barry, a profligate woman, and the King's mistress, is employed to influence the King.

Chap. IX. describes the ministry of Aiguillon, who resolves to follow the ancient political plan of the cabinet of France, and of the late Dayphin, whose principles are extracted from the papers of his son Lewis XVI. Aiguillon accelerates a revolution in Sweden in favour of the King and the French party, adopting the maxims of the late Dauphin, Assist and protect the weak; humble the strong.

Chap. X. represents the principal causes of the first partition of Poland. The conduct of Catherine II. towards Poland. Russia quits alliance with France and Vienna, and attaches herself to the King of Prussia; Austria being alarmed, seeks also the friendship of the court of Berlin. The three courts unite against Poland, and divide it. The cabinet of France expresses its resentment against Austria; and the Duke of Aiguillon presents a memoir to the king's council, tending to break with that court.

Chap. XI. Upon the partition of Poland, the party of the Duke of Choiseul attribute that event to the negligence of the Duke of Aiguillon, who resents this conduct by analyzing the ministry of the Duke of Choiseul, of which he proves the partition of Poland to be the result.

Chap. XII. Choiseul in exile employs his pen to injure the character of his rival and successor, the Duke of Aiguillon, accusing him, and exculpating himself from the charge of designing his ruin.

Chap. XIII. describes the state maxims of the two Dukes, with the characters of their wives.

Chap. XIV. The termination of the reign of Lewis XV. whose death was occasioned by his connection with a young girl, who had just taken the small-pox, which disorder she communicated to the King at the Parc aux Cerfs, a place not only countenanced, but frequented by that prince. The King being laid upon a bed of sickness, it is observed: "All that remained for this prince, during his shocking and mortal distemper, was to shew some signs of repentance, in order to excite respect for a few minutes; but the views of the factions which dis

tracted the state were obstacles to these demonstrations of repentance required by the religion of Louis XV. As the King could not receive the sacraments without confession, and degradation of Madame du Barry, those who had used her influence to raise themselves into power, objected to the King's receiving it; but such as had been driven from power were earnest in enforcing it: at last the King, finding he had the small-pox, remembering he had the same disorder before, and convinced of his danger, sent for Madame du Barry, and addressed her in the following words: My dear, I have the small

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pox, and my situation is very criti'cal on account of my age and other distempers: I must not forget that I am the MOST CHRISTIAN KING, and the OLDEST SON OF THE CHURCH: I am in my sixty-fourth year; in a very short time, perhaps, we must be separated for . Tell the Duke of 'Aiguillon what I say to you, that should my disorder increase, he may concur with you in such measures as may enable us to part without scandal and publicity."" vol. i. 144.

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The dreadful end of this monarch is thus described : "During the eighth and ninth day the disorder increased: the King saw every part of his body falling to pieces, or in a state of putrefaction. Forsaken by his friends, and by the crowd of courtiers who had so long cringed before him, he found no consolation but in the filial piety of his daughters. . . . . . . . The King, naturally of a religious turn, and fearful of the judgment of God, expressed his terror at the idea of his fate in another world. At times, his language was that of hope; but it was succeeded by the avowals of fear and horror, which aggravated the dreadful symptoms of his distemper. Death, then, became his only prospect; and he talked of nothing but the abyss of fire, which, he exclaimed, was on the point of being opened, as à punishment for a life that, from first to last, had been luxurious in the extreme. He lived to contemplate the dissolution of his most handsome frame. His arms and thighs were converted into purulent matter: .. yet on some occasions, he still expressed his hope in God: but soon he was chilled with fear at the remembrance of his habitual vices; and vowed anew to edify his subjects, should his health be restored: vows similar to those he had made at Metz. He was seen to beat his breast; was heard to call for a crucifix and for holy water, which he sprinkled on himself and on his bed, to expel from it imaginary demons. He sent money to the churches of St. Sulpice, Notre-Dame, and the Capuchins, for masses to be celebrated for the recovery of his health; and he every day caused the shrine of the patroness of Paris to be opened. He had lived in perpetual alterna

tives of libertinism and devotion; and death seized him in the cruel alternative of hope and despair.

"Before the king expired, the two diseases jointly had changed his body

to an infectious carcase. The stench that exhaled from it proved fatal to the servants who performed the last duties. None but the nightmen of Versailles had the courage to place him in a leaden coffin, without balm or aromatics. It was necessary to wrap up this coffin in bran, and to enclose the whole in a double wooden case; then to carry off the whole by stealth, and to seal the front stone or entrance to the tomb of St. Denis. Such was the disease, and such the end of Lewis XV. the last king of the Bourbon race who has been allowed to die in his bed." p. 149

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Chap. XV. presents to us the character of Lewis XV. in which we learn, that notwithstanding the subsequent debaucheries of this prince, when the Cardinal wished to give him, as a mistress, the Countess of Mailly, in order to enslave a prince in whom he had no confidence, such was his love and esteem for the Queen, that Mailly was under the necessity of throwing out every lure. This historian reports, he used frequently to say to Madame de Pompadour; Limpose on my own conscience;' and she, lest he should slip through her hands, removed from his library the sermons of Massillon and Bourdaloue, in the perusal of which he took much delight. This is followed by a retrospect of his reign and his political principles. For his conduct towards his protestant subjects, he assigned as a reason that they cherished republican principles, and were enemies to the hierarchy and maxims of the French monarchy. The remaining contents of this chapter relate his amours, the characters of his five titled mistresses, and his opinion of mankind. He observed, that the race of mankind is a noxious race. "I have not yet met with one man who united refinement with integrity," was his reply when questioned upon the subject by a courtier.

Chap. XVI. represents the influence of women on revolutions and the general affairs of Europe, instanced particularly in the influence of the mistresses of Lewis XV. who

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gave audiences to ambassadors, and received respects from the courts whose interests they espoused. Frederic II. speaking on this subject some months before his death, said, At 40, my brother Lewis, after the example of his predecessors, will no longer sleep with his wife, as she will then be fretful and old. He will have a mistress; but depend upon it, this Pompadour will not be an Austrian; from inclination and 'manners she will be warlike, and a Prussian. On this occasion, it will be my successor's turn to become 'the most useful ally of the mistress of the most Christian king.'

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Chap. XVII. briefly describes the licentious characters of the court, low state of the finances, and weak condition of the kingdom at the death of Lewis XV.

Chap. XVIII. details the state of the clergy, and religious opinions ; of polite literature, arts, and sciences; and of morals and the national character. In this chapter the negligence, and in many instances the debaucheries of the clergy, are related; the prevalence of the new philosophy, and disregard to religious worship, are represented as prevailing universally in France.

Chap. XIX. contains remonstrances of the clergy to Lewis XV. for the suppression of infidel publications, and the worship of the Protestants, as inimical to order and happiness.

The remaining pages contain state papers and observations illustrative of the subjects specified in the chap

ters.

VOLUME II. is embellished with etched portraits, on one sheet, of the following persons, Emperor Leopold. Francis. Don Carlos, King of Spain. Charles IV. Ferdinand IV. King of Naples. Christian VII. King of Denmark. George III. King of England. Washington. Catherine II. Empress of Russia. Paul I. son of Peter III. Emperor. Stanislaus, King of Poland. Frederic II. King of Prussia. Frederic William II. Gustavus III. King of Sweden. Gustavus Adolphus. Joseph I. King of Portugal. Maria, Queen of Portugal. William, Stadtholder. Victor-Amadeus-Maria of Savoy, King of Sardinia. Charles Emanuel. Don Ferdinand, Duke of Parma; and his son, King of Etruria.

This volume commences with a preliminary discourse, containing a statement of events during the reign of Lewis XVI.

Chap. I. states the character of the dynasty of the Bourbons, from Henry IV. to Lewis XVI, and what advantages were produced by its influence

in

XXVII. OBSERVATIONS, the Result of a TOUR through almost the whole of England, and a considerable Part of Scotland, in a Series of Letters. By MR. DIBDIN. 4to Part I. 5s. Goulding and Co. Walker.

a civilization, and extending know of these parts, making toledge to the mass of the nation. The MR. D. proposes publishing four

virtues and courage of the princes, with their defects.

Chap. II. describes the natural history of the House of Bourbon, and attributes the imbecility of mind and character, and its degeneracy, to intermarrying exclusively with those of their own family and religion.

Chap. III. gives the character and portrait of Lewis XVI. who is described devoting his whole attention to the welfare of the people; and regulating the public measures by humanity; for under his predecessors the French were sent to the Bastile in crowds; but he, in 1789, set open the state-prisons, in which were found eleven prisoners, whom he wished to save from punishment; he abolished vassalage, and the inhuman punishment of the torture, and with paternal solicitude penetrated even into the hospitals and public prisons, to explore and assuage, as much as possible, the misery of the distressed.

From the time of Henry IV. the cottages had never been visited by any of our crowned heads; a motive of humanity led Lewis XVI. thither. To discover a virtuous and indigent family, he considered as a fortunate incident,' and he never failed to relieve it.

He was an exception to his predecessors in conjugal affection and fidelity; this historian writes, he never loved any but his consort.

He was not fond of flattery, as appears from his prohibiting the publication of a work, entitled Panegyric on Lewis XVI. composed by a man of letters on whom he had bestowed a favour; and in another instance: Lewis XIV. tore out the preface to the Numismatical History of his Reign, because it comprised an encomium on the engraver and designer, annexed to that on the King; and Lewis XVI. restored the encomium in a manner the most honourable to the artists.

(To be continued.).

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gether two handsome volumes, embellished with forty plates, in aquatinta, from pictures in oil, painted by himself. This first part contains three views, viz. Rochester Castle, the approach to Hastings, and Dartmouth Harbour, and two vignettes, representing Children going to be confirmed, and Bakers at the Victualling-office, Plymouth-the two last by Miss Dibdin.

This part contains some introductory letters, with our traveller's account of Kent, and some part of Sussex. As the work, being published in parts, will not admit of analysis, we can only give an extract, which we shall take from the latter part of the fifth letter, and consider it as fair a specimen as we can offer to the public.

"Sandwich is a mile and a half from the sea, eight miles from Margate, twelve from Canterbury, ten from Dover, and five from Deal. As to the conjectures concerning this place anciently, I shall for the above reasons let them entirely alone, and only mention what occurred to me as its characteristic, when I visited it; and as light and shade constitute the effect of a picture,-so nothing could display a more striking contrast than Margate and Sandwich.

"One appeared to me all dissipation, the other all sobriety; and upon enquiry I found the cause to be this: Margate is composed of inhabitants, who, like members of a gaming-house, after they have made their markets of others, are obliged to look warily after one another; and thus distrust occupying the place of confidence, good fellowship makes no part of their character. Sandwich, though I believe, for my duty is to be faithful, it derived in a great measure its opulence from smuggling, is inhabited by a set of people, the members of whose families have so often intermarried, that the town is not only one community, but, as far as the law can aufthorize it, they are all relations; there

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