He should now alarm the fuperftitious by defcanting on the divine authority of kings, and the inherent piety of priests: he fhould footh the feeble into pity, and, while he dwells with exaggeration on the miferies which individuals have suffered from the fury of a fenfelefs rabble, he should forget the oppreffion under which millions have laboured from the tyranny of a few he fhould filence the poor man, opprefied with taxes, by infifting on the fplendor in which, by the contributions of himfelf and his fellow-wretches, a court is fuftained; and while he laments over the deftruction of tilts and tournaments, and all the loft honours of chivalry, he fhould fervently implore that our remaining follies, rendered fo acceptable by their age and magnitude, fhould be fpared, and that time fhould be allowed to increase our veneration for the tottering pile of national inconfiftencies. Under the banners of fuch a leader, the author of the prefent work might be proud to enlift; and no favourer of the privileged orders could retufe to enroll one, who has fpent so many years and fo much labour in raking together all that can be collected concerning nobility for the last eighteen centuries. For ten years, (fays he,) I had to ftruggle against the prejudices which are fo prevalent in France, that all the memorials of thofe ages, in which a regular pay was established for the troops, are either loft or fhut up in the Tower of London.' However, after immenfe researches, a fortunate chance procured him, in 1780, the fight of one hundred of thefe precious originals, and enabled him to complete his account of the Proceres, Optimates, Magnates, Illuftri, of the Duc, Comte, Centenier, Dixainiers &c. &c. M. DE BEVY maintains the antiquity of nobility against the opinions of Meffrs. Du Bos, Henault, Velly, and Mably, and all the proneurs d'égalité,' who trace its origin no farther than to the eighth or tenth century. In order to prove his position, he quotes whatever has been faid by Cæfar or Tacitus concerning the chiefs of the Germans or Gauls; and if, with him, we tranflate principes, princes; and dux, duke; and fo on; we must allow that he feems to have established his point: but, as yet, we have feen no reason to conclude that dux in Cæfar's time was an hereditary title, conveying certain privileges and immunities, fimilar to what was lately understood by duc in France; or to what is at prefent meant by duke in England. Till this circumftance be afcertained, all the quotations, which are introduced, are rather oftentatious than initructive. In the compofition of the prefent work, the learned Abbé does not confine himself very ftrictly to order. He divides his book into chapters; and the principal fubjects, which are difcuffed, cuffed, are as follows: On the origin of the Gauls and Germans; of their nobility, kings, princes, or chiefs.-On the origin of the Franks, and of their chiefs and kings.-On the kings and princes of the Gauls and Franks, and of their nobility. Under this head, we have a long lift of all the kings and princes of the Gauls and Germans, who are mentioned by Cafar and Tacitus; as likewife an abridged account of the kings, chiefs, and princes, of the Franks, who exifted fince that period and prior to the time of Clovis. To this is added a lift of fuch Franks as were admitted to principal dignities among the Romans. In the following chapter, we have fome remarks on republics, monarchies, and nobility. Thefe obfervations are defultory, and appear to be introduced without any evident connexion with what immediately precedes or follows. Chap. 6. contains a warm panegyric on nobility. Chap. 7. On Freemen, and on that clafs of people called Letes' or Læti.'Chap. 8. On flaves.-Chap. 9. On the hereditary fucceffion of the kings of France, and of their rights from the time of Clovis to the prefent day --Chap. 10. Of the antruftions.' This word antruftion, (fays the Abbé,) is peculiar to our hiftory, and means, one whom the king has especially taken under his protection, in trufte regis.'-On the privileges, &c. of the nobles. -On ecclefiaftical poffeffions.-On the bishops and clergy.On the order of knighthood.-On the principal caufes of the decline of the nobles, and of the means of re-establishing them.— On ancient titles, dignities, &c. compared with thofe of the prefent day. On the mode of levying troops, &c.-On revoJutions and their caufes.-Under this head, the prefent revolution in France is confidered, and, to our great furprize, we found, that this had been brought about by animal magnetism, M. Mefiner, and Cagliostro! -- Such are the general contents of M. DE BEVY's work, which, on the whole, feems to be correctly executed, and which may be useful as a book of reference to those who are searching into the early periods of French history. 0. ART. XV. Antiquités Nationales, &c. i. e. National Antiquities, er a Collection of Monuments, &c. in the Kingdom of France. By AUBIN-LOUIS MILLIN. 3 Vols. 4to. Printed at Paris, in the 2d, 3d, and 4th Years of Liberty, 1790-1792. THIS curious and entertaining work, as we are informed, has been prefented to the National Affembly, and met with a favourable * A livraison, or number, of this work, appears monthly, and fix numbers make a volume. The price of fubtcription (at M. de Boffe's, Gerard favourable reception. Its defign is to provide us with fuch an account of tombs, inferiptions, ftatues, paintings on glafs, &c. drawn from abbeys, monafteries, caftles, and other places within the French domain, as may prove a kind of general and particular hiftory of the empire. The intention is refpectable, and worthy of encouragement; a performance of this nature, at the fame time that it entertains the reader, is likely alfo to afford him confiderable information. This publication is in a progreffive fate: the three volumes, which are completed, confift of thirty-three articles; and feveral other livraisons (deliveries,) or numbers, are published, though few of them have yet come under our notice. The city of Paris chiefly furnishes the fubjects of these volumes. From the curfory view which we have now been able to take of them, we are perfuaded that the proprietor has employed great exertion and well-judged attention to render them pleafing and useful to the public. The collection opens with La Baftile. We fhould,' fays the writer, be inexcufable, were we to commence a hiftory of the antiquities of the French empire by a defcription of any other monument. No object is more important than the Baftile, both on account of the terror which its existence inspired, and the univerfal joy which was excited by its fall.'-Accordingly, he proceeds to give the hiftory of this famous, or rather infamous fortress, and to delineate its plan, elevation, and ftatues; with fome other particulars. We remark, en poffant, the following lines-We firmly believe, with M. Charpentier, that the man in the iron mafk can have been no other than an elder brother of Lewis XIV. the fruit of the gallantries of the amorous Anne of Auftria, with the Duke of Buckingham, or fome other of her male favourites.' After his death, adds our author, every care was employed to have the fecret buried with him: few were the perfons who had any acquaintance with it: Madame de Pompadour knew it; Lewis XVI. might poffibly be ignorant of it.' It will be eafily imagined that an account of the deftruction of this fortrefs is not here omitted: It is impoffible to exprefs, (fays this writer,) the eagerness of every clafs of citizens to trample, with the foot of freedom, on the ruins of this refidence of griefs and horrors.' We are forry that our prefent engagements will allow us to do little more than announce this publication. We fhould Gerard-ftreet, Scho,) is 51. per annum, if the numbers are delivered by the poit, as they are published. If the work is. ferved in vo lumes at the year's end, the tubicription for the two annual volumes will be only 41. 45. willingly willingly have prefented the reader with feveral felections, which might at once affift his judgment concerning the volumes, and contribute to his amufement and inftruction. prefent, we must reft satisfied with a fhort extract or two. Among the defcriptions of the numerous monuments which the church of the Celeftins in Paris prefents to our notice, we have the following account: Near the tomb of Philip Chabot, facing the altar, in the midst of thofe Gothic ftatues which recal the memory of barbarous times, or of thofe fuperb fepulchres which cannot be farveyed without mingling with fentiments of admiration for the artift, melancholy reflections on the brevity of human life,- -we perceive a pedestal richly ornamented, and fupported by three young females of the greatest beauty: Are they virgins, who were martyrs? No:-they are the Graces! We take no farther notice of the funereal images with which we are furrounded in this gloomy and melancholy chapel we think ourselves tranfported into a temple of goddeffes. Thefe three Graces are of marble, and of one fingle block; they hold each other's hands, according to the manner in which the ancients have defcribed them.-They are the decent Graces; not entirely clothed, but they are not naked; their proportions are fo juft, their heads fo fine, that we cannot call our attention from them. Had the Greeks poffeffed this precious monument, it would have been celebrated by all their writers as one of the glories of their temples: yet the inhabitants of Paris know little of the existence of this chefd'œuvre. Thefe Graces fupport an urn of bronze, furmounted by a fleur de lis. It might be imagined that this urn is a depofitory of the afhes of fome young virgin, cut off in the flower of her age. We approach it with emotions both of grief and tenderness: we read the infcriptions, and we ftart back on learning from them, that this vafe contains the bafe and perfidious hearts, of the weak Henry II., of the extravagant (bizarre) and feditious Francis, Duke of Anjou, and finally of Charles IX. that butcher of his fubjects. Catherine de Medicis ordered this monument (which ranks first among the works of Germain Pilon,) as a receptacle for the hearts of her husband and her children. It is difficult to find a more finished piece of fculpture than this monument: for its noble fimplicity, the correctnefs of defign, the elegance of form and contour, the lightnefs and excellence of the drapery, it well deferves a place in the mufeum which is hereafter to be prepared.' No reader, who is acquainted with hiftory, will cenfure this author for the contempt and execration with which the perfons, to whose memory this beautiful monument is dedicated, are mentioned. Catherine de Medicis her felf, in the minds of all the fober friends of truth and liberty, will be configned over to the fame infamy with them, whatever flattery or elegance may appear on their tombs. We We fhall not lengthen our prefent article by farther extracts, unless it be just to lead the reader back to a fhort paffage which occurs before the detail of the final demolition of that horrid abyfs, the Baftile: complaints and remontrances relative to this and to other royal prifons had feveral times been made by the parliaments; and, adds this writer, Lewis XVI. had himself perceived the iniquity of fuch imprifonments; this prince, who had abolished the torture, fubftituted, in the room of thefe infectious dungeons, more healthy places of confinement, and had faid, in a declaration on the 30th day of Auguft 1780, "Thefe concealed fufferings and punishments inflicted in obfcurity, at the fame time that they cannot contribute, by their publicity and example, to the prefervation of order, become ufelefs alfo in respect to the juftice of our government."--Nevertheless, the ministry, the people in power, and all others who confidered the Batile as a proper inftrument for the gratification of their paffions and their refeniments, found means to render his good intentions void.' Whatever tribute of refpe&t we may be difpofed to pay to the good temper of Lewis XVI. the reader will probably infer, from the above hint, as well as from other circumftances, that the infufferable evils, under which the people groaned, would never have been remedied, had they not refolutely exerted themfelves for their removal. Haughty defpots, ariftocrates, courtiers, &c. will never recede but by force; and whatever may be their pretended fubmiffions and their promifes, they will renew, if poffible, every kind of oppreffion and mifery, if not vigilantly watched and powerfully restrained. The engravings attending thefe volumes are very numerous: fifty-three in the firft volume; in the fecond, forty-nine; and in the third, forty-four: they appear to us, for the chief part, to be well executed: if there be any failure in this refpect, we apprehend it may be in fome of the firit numbers: but whatever little exceptions may be made, the plates are, on the whole, very pleafing, and contribute to render the work highly agreeable and valuable. At fome future time, we hope to be able to allow it a greater fhare of our attention. Hi...s. ART. XVI. Relations de plufieurs Voyages, &c. i. e. An Account of feveral Voyages to the Coast of Africa, to Morocco, Senegal, Goree, Galam, &c. extracted from the Papers of M. SAUGNIER; to which is added, a Map of the Country, by M. DE LA BORDE. 8vo. pp. 341. Paris. 1791. Imported by De Boffe, London. THIS HIS hiftory is introduced to the public by M. DE LA BORDE. He obferves that, through the whole of the narration, the most scrupulous attention is paid to facts; and that |