His habits were originally formed in the merchant-service, which he quitted to defend his country in the navy. It was in the war of the succession (1702) that he chiefly became distinguished. When all Europe seemed combined against France, and when the arms of Louis XIV. experienced a succession of reverses, Duguay Trouin succeeded in raising the trophy of victory on the coasts of the new world. His exploits at Rio Janeiro (in 1711) afford an ample theme of exultation for Frenchmen. Difficulties seemed only to exalt his courage and his resources; he braved a fleet, an army, and a fortress; he stripped Brazil of her treasures, and returned in triumph to the ports of France. Valour alone could not have accomplished so much; he had long studied the principles of naval tactics, and knew how to render the winds and waves instrumental in his operations; his observation had become remarkably quick and accurate; he might be said to plan with so much care as to leave nothing to valour, and to execute with so much courage as to need no aid from arrangement. Though loaded with his sovereign's favours, he continued plain and modest; he spoke as if he had performed nothing, and derived his chief satisfaction from the humanity which he had shewn to his enemies in the hour of their defeat.

During the regency of the Duke of Orleans, he made use of peace to heal the wounds of war and to renovate the marine of France. Placed at the head of the Council of the Indies, he communicated the ardour of his mind to every branch of the naval service. His tall stature and manly features announced a hero. He spoke little; his look seemed melancholy; and the habit of meditating on scenes of warlike exertion made him comparatively indifferent to all that failed to excite ardent emotions.'

• Cardinal Alberoni*. Born at Placentia, Alberoni was the son of a labourer, and was brought up to the church. He held the place of almoner in the family of Count Roucovieri, at the time (1704) when that nobleman acted for the Duke of Parma in various negotiations with the Duke de Vendôme. Alberoni accompanied his master; and having succeeded in exciting attention, he became Secretary to the Duke, and followed him in all his campaigns. When the unfavourable state of affairs in Spain called for the presence of the Duke, Alberoni went with him, and found means to insinuate himself at the Spanish court, particularly with the Princess Orsini, the Queen's favourite. After the death of the Queen, he persuaded the Princess to recommend Elizabeth Farnese to the throne of Spain, and to appoint him the agent for the conclusion of this alliance: but no sooner was the marriage effected, than he stimulated the new Queen to banish the Princess, and managed to render himself the prime mover of the Spanish counsels. In this situation, he displayed abilities which rank him with the most eminent statesmen. He exerted himself to repair to Spain the evils of a ruinous war, to re-establish her marine, and to renovate her commerce. Happy, had he stopped here, and not permitted the success of his first efforts to excite him to romantic undertakings.

See also M. Rev. Vol. lvii. N, S. p. 288.

L13

The

The projects formed by Alberoni implied an extraordinary share of boldness. He aimed at rendering Spain the leading power in Europe, at acquiring the sovereignty of the ocean, and at obtaining the restitution of Italy from the House of Austria, Three great powers stood in the way of his ambition, Austria, England, and France. Austria he proposed to occupy by exciting the Turks to war; England, by favouring an invasion in behalf of the Stuarts; and France, by intestine commotions. Full of these magnificent schemes, Alberoni adopted every secret method to promote them, and became the main-spring of the most complicated movements; but, at the moment when all appeared to be ripe for execution, the pillars of his edifice gave way; the Turks, exhausted, refused to renew the war; Charles XII., the intended champion of the Stuarts, was killed; and the Parisian conspiracy was discovered. Things now underwent a total change. The cabinets of Vienna, Paris, and London, subscribed a triple alliance, and directed their conjunct forces against a court which had ventured to have recourse to plots and conspiracies. The brilliant hopes of Spain were now exchanged for dreadful reverses, The English destroyed her shipping; the French seized St. Sebastian and Fontarabia; the Austrians poured 50,000 men into Italy; and the ill-starred Alberoni was termed a conspirator, and obliged to withdraw from the Spanish dominions. His only place of refuge was Genoa; he set out for it, but in his journey over the Pyrenees his servants were robbed and murdered; and the man who had hoped to govern Europe was obliged to travel a dreary length of way on foot and in disguise. Arrived at Genoa, he passed several years in distress from the threats of his enemies and the chagrin of personal disappointment; and it was not until the death of the reigning Pope that he durst venture to remove to Rome, and spend his old age among the friends of his youth. In this tranquil retreat, he attained the age of eighty-seven, and died in 1752. After time had soothed his political vexations, his vivacity returned, and he formed the charm of every circle that he frequented. His recollections were keen, his memory was strong, and impressions of his political career were inde libly engraven on his mind. He had seen Louis XIV. in his ad. vanced years, the Duke of Orleans in his splendour, Vendôme in the midst of battles, and the Princess Orsini at the height of favour. He spoke of these persons and of many others with inconceivable vivacity, and made his hearers believe themselves present at scenes that were long past. His voice, his eye, his gestures, were all in unison with his language; and however long he might continue to speak, his friends listened with avidity, and were eager to return to such attractive con. versations.'-

• Marshall Villars. When Villars reached the age of eighty, (in 1732) he was almost the only survivor of the warriors of Friedlingen and Blenheim. Their exploits were recorded by monumental stone, but the living witnesses were departed, and the age of Louis XIV., with its triumphs and its sorrows, had passed away. Villars had been present at battles fought fifty years before he distinguished himaclf at Senef, and had personally conversed with Turenne, Condé, and Luxemburg. He commenced the war of the Succession with emi

nest

nent advantage, but he was removed by court-intrigue from the Danube to the Cevennes. The arms of the allies had nearly overthrown the power of France, when, towards the close of the war, Villars revived the spirit of his countrymen by the victory of Denain. Though the Austrians were strongly intrenched, and elated with former victories, the French attacked with the bayonet and drove them from their strong holds: but they were repulsed in turn. This alternation of success was three times repeated; till at last the skill of Villars was triumphant, and made his countrymen forget ten years of misfortune. Peace being re-established, the lapse of time gradually healed the wounds of France, and Villars was passing a happy old age in retirement, when he was roused, in his eighty-first year, by the alarm of war. Italy was the scene of contest between France and Austria, and thither he proceeded. He made a rapid conquest of the Milanese, and saved the King of Sardinia from capture by heading a charge of cavalry against a vast superiority of numbers. When congratulated on his vigour, he replied, "These are the last sparks of a decaying flame; let me seek death in that manner which every commander should desire." His wish, however, was not attained; and when, confined by his last illness at Turin, he was told that the Duke of Berwick had ended his career in the field of battle, "Ah," said he, "I always deemed him more fortunate than I was.” '

The arrangement of these biographical notices is regulated not by the profession of the individuals, nor by their relative consequence in the eye of the historian, but by the unenviable distinction of priority of decease. Three of the characters, Condé, Sobieski, and Queen Christina, should belong, by this rule, to the preceding century; though the time of their death approached so nearly to the succeeding æra, that the irregularity scarcely deserves animadversion. Exclusive of these three, the number of personages described amounts to not fewer than seventy; and the selection must be pronounced to be judicious, with the exception of a few: such as Admiral Byng, who is introduced merely for the sake of pathos; and a very different character, Ankerstrom, the assassin of Gustavus, whose name forms a most unsuitable termination to a list of worthies. With regard to style, M. MIÉVILLE's chief trespass consists in diffuse amplification; accompanied at times by an example of that unfortunate antithesis which we noticed in his Travels. What, for instance, can be more at variance with good taste than to say of Sir Isaac Newton, He who breathed fire (enflammoit) into his age is now frozen by the cold hand of death?'-One of the chief circumstances in the author's descriptive pictures is the manner in which the various individuals behaved on their death-beds; and it is remarkable that several, such as Madame de Pompadour, acted with more constancy and resignation than their former habits gave reason to expect. In these, as well as other passages, the writer is in general animated and impressive. The result

on the whole is to leave us better pleased both with the subject and the execution, the former particularly, than we were in the case of his Travels. We cannot help thinking, however, that the book would have been more generally esteemed, if it had been published in the plain shape of biographical sketches, and divested of the unmeaning parade of tombs, dreams, and subterraneous conductors. An infusion of sentiment and poetic imagery is acceptable, we are aware, to the majority of French readers: but these attractions might have been retained, although the veil intended to convey the impression of mystery and solemnity had been withdrawn.

We conclude this article with an extract relative to the amiable author of the "Revolutions of Rome:"

Vertot. Few historians have written with more feeling, elegance, and force, or have directed their attention to more dignified subjects. The political crisis which agitated nations seemed to give energy to his style. His "Revolutions of Portugal" present brilliant colouring, animated descriptions, and strongly drawn characters. Father Bouhours, who was so good a judge of style, dwelt with eulogium on this work, and the approbation of it was general throughout France. The "Revolutions of Sweden" bring to mind the pen of Quintus Curtius. A fugitive prince wandering in the mountains of Dalecarlia kindles the patriotic enthusiasm of the rude inhabitants, vaz quishes at their head the regular army of their oppressors, regains the throne of his ancestors, and restores his country to happiness and to glory. The history of this revolution, by the pen of Vertet, excited the admiration of Europe. The court of Stockholm comm'ssioned its ambassador in France to become acquainted with the author, and to prevail on him to undertake a general history of Sweden. The project, however,failed; the Swedish envoy looked down with contempt on the curate of a village in Normandy; and his pride was the cause of depriving the public of a valuable historical composition. But the "Revolutions of Rome" were the Abbé's chef d'auvre: Never did he carry farther the accuracy of language and the dignity of thought. In reading it, we fancy ourselves transported to the Campus Martius, and to the midst of that senate which dictated laws to the universe.

His last work was the "History of Malta;" it was finished at the age of seventy. We continue to find an equal charm in the nar rative, but in other respects we trace the effects of age. His imagination shines with diminished lustre, and his style partakes of langu Yet none of his works procured for him more flattering notice. The Grand Master of Malta appointed him Historiographer to the Order, and bestowed on him even a commandery. În society, Perist was a warm and obliging friend. His conversation was lively; but the infirmities of his latter years debarred him from company, and made his time pass on in tedium and sorrow. He died in 1735, at the age of eighty-one.

ART.

ART. X. Melanges de Littérature, d'Histoire, &c. &c. i. e. Miscel, laneous Essays on Literature, History, Morals, and Philosophy. By FRANCIS LOUIS Comte D'ESCHERNY, formerly Chaimberlain to the King of Wirtemberg. 12mo. 3 Vols. Paris. 1811. Imported by De Boffe. Price 18s. sewed.

IT must be admitted that the French greatly excel us in works of this description. However superficial in philosophical or literary speculations the majority of their writers may be, yet they contrive to mingle a large portion of instruction with the amusement which they never fail to afford; and they have a general liveliness of manner about them, which goes a great way towards recompensing the occasional deficiency of matter. The present writer, as a contemporary with the brilliant wits of the latter half of the last century in France, nay more, as the friend of some among them, and the acquaintance of all, demands a share of our attention. Indeed, if we may perfectly trust his own account, no person seems to have had a better opportunity than he enjoyed, of appreciating the different merits of the extraordinary characters who composed that constellation of genius. In order to introduce our readers at once to the most interesting part of the present miscellany,namely, that which relates to the author and his literary circle, we shall begin by some translations from a chapter in the third volume of the work, in which we are favoured with a sketch of Paris in the year 1762.

I arrived at Paris,' says M. D'ESCHERNY, in 1762, just as Rousseau was leaving it ;-when, protected by the great, surrounded by glory, and possessing the favour of the people, he withdrew himself by flight from persecutions more apparent than real. All those who have excited so much attention in the present times* were then unborn, or in infancy; then were flourishing the great men who gave such éclat to the age of Louis the XVth., Voltaire, Rousseau, Buffon, D'Alembert, Diderot, Helvetius, Thomas, Marmontel, Raynal, La Harpe, and some others. What a city was Paris at this epoch, and during the twenty years which followed it! What a proud and imposing spectacle did it offer to the eye of the observer! Theatres, academies, learned men, and artists, attracted strangers to Paris; thither every nation flocked in crowds; there they sought for instruction, taste, pleasure, urbanity:- Paris was the resort of a large portion of the civilized globe : — it was even more. Within the bosom of an absolute monarchy, this city inclosed a republic by no means bounded to that circle, but one which extended over all Europe, as far as Europe thought and reflected; which dispersed an invisible power, namely, that of opinion; a power which at length compels every other to submit. The sittings of this power were

Many of these essays were written several years ago. the author has attended to the precepts of Horace.

So far

permanent;