from this again into the depth of the rock, excavated in the same way, domed and pillared. Its style is superior to the other, and bears the appearance of having been left unfinished, many red lines being drawn on the smooth stone, as if intended to mark where pilasters, arches, and fret-work were yet to be formed. In this sanctum sanctorum, a large altar is hewn standing within a recess on elevated ground, and approached by a flight of steps. All this part, where finished, was profusely covered with the usual sacred emblems, Armenian characters, &c.

On repassing all these chapels, and regaining the entrance, we proceeded a little onward by the rocky wall on the outside of the church; and then ascended the cliff a short way, in the side of which we found a door, leading into another excavated holy place, domed like the former, but much more spacious. This measured a square of thirty-five feet, divided by four massy columns, and received light from above by a large round aperture in the dome. The natives who went over the scene with me, spoke confidently of the manner in which the excavations had been made; and described the process as having been begun with the opening of the round holes at the top of the rock, whence the workmen dug downwards. Above this fifth chapel, ranges of small cells are cut in the side of the cliff, apparently for the residence of monks; and on each side of the gate leading out of the great church court into the valley, two very large rooms appear. Beyond the walls, and in various parts of the rocky acclivities, huge natural caverns exist, besides other excavations, with doorways and openings for admitting light; but the paths to them were now too broken and precipitous to allow of our ascending. My guides told me, that some of these places had been the stationary habitations of certain devout hermits; while others were the labour of holy pilgrims, who, for shorter seasons inhabiting the caves of St. Gregory, assisted in the good work of preparing similar abodes for more numerous visitants to the same blessed shrines.' pp. 631-4.

Where, on the wide surface of the globe, shall we find the elaborate work of art, which is not, at the same time, the monument of human wickedness or human folly? From the days of the builders of Shinar, downwards, what pyramid, or mausoleum, or temple, or fortress, or castle, or abbey, now remains to excite the admiration of these degenerate days, but owes its origin either to superstition or to violence? Ambition and idolatry have ever been the two great master-masons, whose works of terrible or melancholy magnificence cover the earth; their chief use, to serve as the landmarks of history, or to point a moral lesson; and their chief interest arising from their being monuments and symbols of what can please only by virtue of being past. The lesson which forces itself upon us amid the shapeless piles of Babylon, still meets us in the caves of St. Gregory. They were Babel-builders all.

Here we must take leave of our Author, with sincere ac

knowledgements of respect, thanking him for the abundant materials he has collected for our information and amusement. If he is not entitled to rank in the highest class of scientific travellers, his enterprise, his general intelligence, and the good use he has made of his pencil, together with the peculiarly interesting character of the countries he has traversed, render his work a valuable addition to our literature. His observations on the present military and commercial relations of Persia, on the policy and growing dominion of its formidable neighbour, and the enlightened views of Abbas Mirza, the prince royal, are highly deserving of attention. But it is a topic on which we cannot now enter. It is but just to add, that Sir Robert loses no opportunity of throwing light on sacred geography, or of illustrating the holy Scriptures.

Art. II. Memorial de Sainte Hélène. Journal of the private Life and Conversations of the Emperor Napoleon at Saint Helena. By the Count de Las Cases. Parts III. and IV. 8vo. pp. 754. London,

1823.

M. DE LAS CASES does not gain ground upon us.

It

requires talent of no inferior kind, to keep up the interest of series after series of loose and gossipping conversations, without having the air of colouring or retouching; and this species of dexterity does not seem to be possessed by the Count in any very high degree of perfection. The impression produced upon our minds by these memoranda, amounts to a strong suspicion, that an understanding, more or less explicit, existed between Napoleon and his Memorialist. These memoirs, in fact, all tend to one point; the Ex-emperor is continually on his defence. The different events of his career, as they pass in review, are exhibited in the most favourable light, and no opportunity is lost of endeavouring to disprove or to neutralize the representations of his enemies. We meet with but little of that fair confession and exposure of personal error, which is to be found in other works of the same kind. On the contrary, there is something rather annoying in the perpetual recurrence of panegyric or extenuation. Even the campaigns of Russia and Germany, those enormous and impolitic hazards, are vindicated as master-pieces of military enterprise and combination. Amid all this exaggeration and diminution, there is one assertion of such apparent singularity, that, even on the supposition of its correctness, it should in policy have been suppressed. In the different official statements published by the French Commander, relating to his Italian campaigns, the disproportion between his means and his successes, is so

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excessive as to excite a strong suspicion that the first are greatly under-rated, and the latter much over-estimated. We are, however, told in these memoirs, that the reverse was the case; and sundry reasons, not always satisfactory, are assigned for the unusual and unsuspected practice of giving a diminished calculation of the enemies' strength and loss. For instance, in the details of the brilliant manœuvres connected with the battle of Castiglione, we learn that, instead of 20,000, as stated in the report, Marshal Wurmser had brought with him a reinforcement of 30,000 men; and it is intimated in explanation, that the inequality of strength between the two armies was always so great, that the French general, in his reports, frequently thought it necessary to diminish the number of the enemy, lest he should discourage his own army.' We can perfectly understand the expediency of doing this in general orders,' issued during marches, or on the eve of battle; but the necessity for thus falsifying' reports' drawn up after victories obtained and dangers dissipated, escapes our comprehension. It is, indeed, quite clear to us, that either with Napoleon or with his Biographer, or with both, there was a prevailing anxiety to represent every thing in the most favourable point of view; and this conviction has materially abated the gratification which we might have otherwise derived from the perusal of this journal. But, after making the necessary deductions for all these as well as for other defects, enough will remain to command attention. If these memoirs do not give us the truth simple and unadorned, at least they contain much that tends to illustrate the character of the conspicuous individual to whom they relate; and we shall now proceed to select from their various and desultory contents, such particulars as appear to us most deserving of notice.

Las Cases having referred to the report that Napoleon commonly wore a shirt of mail under his exterior vestments, the observation led to the mention of a number of little circumstances connected with the private and personal habits of the Emperor. I was perhaps,' he observed, the only sovereign in Europe who dispensed with a body guard.' Free access was given, and petitions were delivered into his own hands by conspirators against his life. Georges was supposed to have obtained admission to his presence, and his person was in extreme danger from the desperate resolution of Cerachi the sculptor, to whom he sat for his bust, and from the fanatic of Schoenbrunn.' He attributed his safety, in a great degree, to his unsettled habits. His occupations kept him much in his cabinet; he never dined out, was seldom at the theatres, and usually made his appearance at unexpected times and places.

Napoleon seems to have regretted that, after the battle of Waterloo, he did not venture on the bold step of dissolving the Legislative Body, and assuming the Dictature. When he was asked whether, with the concurrence of the Senate, he could have saved France, he rapidly traced the following plan, which, romantic as it appears, might, in his hands, have been realised with full success.

"In less than a fortnight," continued he," that is to say, before any considerable mass of the allied force could have assembled before Paris, I should have completed my fortifications, and have collected before the walls of the city, and out of the wrecks of the army, upwards of eighty thousand good troops, and three hundred pieces of horsed artillery. After a few days firing, the national guard, the federal troops, and the inhabitants of Paris, would have sufficed to defend the entrenchments, I should have had eighty thousand dişposable troops at my command. It is well known how advantageously I was capable of employing this force. The achievements of 1814 were still fresh in remembrance. Champaubert, Montmirail, Craone, and Montereau, were still present in the imagination of our enemies; the same scenes would have revived the recollection of the prodigies of the preceding year. I was then surnamed the hundred thousand men. The rapidity and decision of our successes gave rise to this name. The conduct of the French troops was most admirable. Never did a handful of brave men accomplish so many miracles. If their high achievements have never been publicly known, owing to the circumstances which attended our disasters, they have at least been duly appreciated by our enemies, who counted the number of our attacks by our victories. We were truly the heroes of fable."

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"Paris," he added, "would in a few days have become impregnable. The appeal to the nation, the magnitude of the danger, the excitation of the public mind, the grandeur of the spectacle, would have drawn multitudes to the capital. I could undoubtedly have assembled upwards of four hundred thousand men, and I imagine the allied force did not exceed five hundred thousand. Thus the affair would have been brought to a single combat, in which the enemy would have had as much to fear as ourselves. He would have hesitated, and thus I should have regained the confidence of the majority. Meanwhile I should have surrounded myself with a national senate or junta, selected from among the members of the Legislative Body; men distinguished by national names, and worthy of general confidence. I should have fortified my military Dictatorship, with all the strength of civil opinion." Part III. pp. 21--23.

Fouché was described by his old master as an incurable intriguant. It was to him a necessary of life; and he was perpetually on the alert for opportunities of gratifying his propensity to underhand dealings. The misfortunes of Napoleon in 1815 are, in a considerable degree, imputed to his mischiev

ous practices. Talleyrand makes a better, though not a very respectable figure.

"M. de T......," said the Emperor, "waited two days and nights at Vienna for full powers to treat for peace in my name; but I should have been ashamed to have thus prostituted my policy; and yet perhaps my conduct in this instance has purchased my exile to St. Helena; for I cannot but allow that T......... is a man of singular talent, and capable at all times of throwing great weight into the scale."

• Napoleon observed, that a celebrated actress (Mademoiselle Raucourt) had described him with great truth. "If you ask him a question," said she, "he is an iron chest from whence you cannot extract a syllable; but if you ask him nothing, you will soon be unable to stop his mouth-he will become a regular gossip." This was a foible which, at the outset, destroyed the confidence of the Emperor, and made him waver in his opinion of T.......... "I had entrusted him," said Napoleon, "with a very important affair, and a few hours after, Josephine related it to me word for word. I instantly sent for the minister to inform him that I had just learned from the Empress a circumstance which I had told in confidence to himself alone. The story had already passed through four or five intermediate channels."

• "T.........'s countenance," added the Emperor, "is so immoveable, that nothing can ever be read in it. Lannes and Murat used jokingly to say of him, that, if while he was speaking to you, some one should come behind him and give him a kick, his countenance would betray no indication of the affront."

M. de T......... is mild and even endearing in his domestic habits. His servants, and the individuals in his employment, are attached and devoted to him. Among his intimate friends, he willingly and good-humouredly speaks of his ecclesiastic profession He one day expressed his dislike of a tune which was played in his hearing. He said, he had a great horror of it; it recalled to his recollection the time when he was obliged to practise church music, and to sing at the desk. On another occasion, one of his intimate friends was telling a story during supper, while M. de T......... was engaged in thought, and seemed inattentive to the conversation. In the course of the story, the speaker happened to say in a lively manner of some one whom he had named, "That fellow is a comical rogue; he is a married priest." T., roused by these words, seized a spoon, plunged it hastily into the dish before him, and with a threatening aspect called out to him, "Mr. Such-a-one, will you have some spinage?" The person who was telling the story, was confounded, and all the party burst into a fit of laughter, M. de T......... as well as the rest.

The Emperor at the time of the Concordat, wished to have M. de T......... made a Cardinal, and to place him at the head of ecclesiastical affairs. He told him, that his proper destiny was to return to the bosom of the church, to refresh his memory, and to stop the mouths of the declaimers. T........., however, would never