works are not comprised in it. The principal merit of his travels through Italy confifts in the political and hiftorical obfervations with which they are interfperfed, in which it is easy to recognize the writer of the Mémoires Secrets. The work contains likewife fome of those prophetic declarations, which were at the time confidered as para doxical, but which, having been fulfilled, bear teftimony at once to the fagacity and found judgment of the author. It is remarkable that M. Duclos is in thefe travels perfectly filent on the works of art with which the country vifited by him fo much abounds; which may, indeed, be done without impropriety by a man who is confcious that he has a province more immediately his own. The Oeuvres galentes confifts of tre novels; Mémoires fur les mœurs de le fiécle; Confeffions du Comte de ***; a fairy tales Acajou et Zirphile; Hiftoire de Madame de Luz; Anecdotes du regne de Henri IV. The novels, as indeed the title of the firit expreffes, prefent a defcription of the great Parifian world, drawn partly from the author's own participation in its follies, and partly from obfervation only. There is certainly nothing feductive in thefe pieces: Duclos, who was peculiarly deficient in point of imagination, was entirely unable to rife to invention, and was therefore fatisfied with delineating characters as they were. Acajou and Zirphile is undoubtedly as entertaining as a story can be, which, being entirely devoid of fancy, is recommended only by an extraordinary portion of wit, The most valuable part of this collection are unquestionably the Confiderations fur les mœurs de ce fiècle, which form the firft v lume. Here Mr. D. exhibits himself to the greatest advantage, and the preponderance of his understanding over the other powers of his mind has here, by excluding all foreign embellishments, contributed to render his reprefentations of perfons and events concife, perfpicuous, and exact. Both here and in the Memoires, one is often led to wonder how fuch a court could have chofen for its hiftoriographer a man fo well qualified to write its true hiftory. The titles of the chapters are C. I. Sur les mœurs en général. C. II. Sur l'education et fur les préjugés. C. III. Sur la politeffe et fur les louanges. C. IV. Sur la pro buté, la vertu, et l'honneur. C. V. Sur la reputation, la cétebrité, la renommée et la confideration. C. VI. Sur les grands feigneurs. C. V.I. Sur le crédit. C. VIII. Sur les gens à la mode. C. IX. Sur le ridicule, la fingularité, et l'affectation. C. X. Sur les gens de fortune. C. XI. Sur les gens de lettres. C. XII. Sur la manie du bel esprit. C. XIII. Sur le rapport de l'esprit et du caractere. C. XIV. Sur l'eftime et le refpect. C. XV. Sur le prife réel des chofes. C. XVI. Sur la reconnoiffance et l'ingratitude. Though Duclos, in imitation of fome other writers of his country, maintains that all moral ideas are to be deduced from what he calls l'interet bien entendu; he feels himself, however, obliged, in fome inftances, to acknowledge their independance on this principle; fuch contradictions are more inftructive and honourable than the logical inferences of profeffed philofophers. ART. ART. 66. Vie de Julius Agricola par Tacite. Traduction nouvelle par Des ***. Paris. 1797. 172 pp. I 2mo. "Two years," fays the author in his preface, have I been employed in this tranflation; five times have I tranfcribed and given it an entirely new form; men of undifputed erudition and tafte have communicated to ine their free and impartial obfervations on it; I have availed myfelf alike of the excellences and defects of former verfions; for whole months have I fometimes hunted after the terms beft adapted to render a fingle expreffion, confining my felf, in fpite of the obftinacy of our language, as much as poffible to literal tranflation. And, notwithstanding all the pains which I have taken, the reader will molt probably very feldom fay; Tacitus has expreffed himself in exactly the fame manner; it is to be hoped, however, that he will fay in regard, at leaft, to certain paffages; the tranflator has entered into the fpirit of his original." Such a ftrong fenfe of the difficulties of his undertaking, and of his own inability to do juftice to the original, together with the complaints made against his own language; all this feems directly contrary to the character of a Frenchman, though it is, at the fame time, calculated to prepoffefs us in favour of the work; and, upon a nearer examination of it, we do not fcruple to declare, that the verfion is, on the whole, as perfect as the nature of the language, or, perhaps, that of any modern language, would allow. The author's countrymen may indeed fay, that, in a few cafes, he appears to have done violence to that language; for example, where he reforts to the ufe of participial conftructions for the purpofe of approaching more clofely to the text, as in p. 15. Non fane alias exercitatior magifque in ambiguo Britannia fuit; trucidat eveterani, incenfæ coloniæ, intercepti exercitus, &c. which is thus rendered: Jamais la Bretagne, ne fut plus agitée qu'alors, ni moins affurée pour nous. Nos vétérans égorgés, nos colonies embrafees, nos armées interceptées, &c. In other places, that he may not impair the ftrength of the original, he puts the accufative at the head of the period; as in p. 27. La célébrité même il ne la rechercha ni par des vertus d'oftentation, ni par intrigues. Notwithstanding all these endeavours to comprefs the fenfe in the tranflation as much as poffible, it unavoidably occupies twice as much space as the text. At the fame time almoft every page will prefent inftances in which the author appears to exprefs himself in his own genuine manner. Such are the following: Tacitus tells us, c. 2. that two Romans paid for their eulogium of Patus Thrafea and Prifcus with their lives, and that that panegyric was burnt in the open forum: "Scilicet," adds he, " illo igne vocem populi Romani, et libertatem fenatus, et confcientiam generis humani aboleri arbitrabantur: in the tranflation: ils penfoient done que dans ces flammes s'anéantiroient aufi, et la voix du peuple Romain, et la liberté du senat, et la conviction du genre humain. Still more beautiful is the paffage in the third chapter, where Tacitus reprefents the advantage of living under a Nerva and a Trajan, lamenting, however, that, cependant par la nature de la foibleffe, humaine, l'effet des remedes eft plus tardif que le mal: et, comme c'eft avec lenteur que les corps croiffent et dans un inftant qu'ils périffent, périssent, de même on étouffe bien plus aisément le génie et l'emulation qu'on ne parvient à les ranimercar : la pareffe auffi a un charme qui nous pénétre infenfiblement, et l'inaction, d'abord infupportable, finit par fe faire aimer. The original then proceeds: Pauci, et ut ita dixerim, non modo aliarum, fed etiam noftri fuperftites fumus, exemplis è media vita tot annis, quibus juvenes ad fene&tutem, fenes prope ad ipfos exactæ ætatis terminos per filentium venimus; the latter part of which is thus fomewhat imperfectly tranflated: puisqu'il faut bien retrancher de la durée de notre vie tant d'années pendant lefquelles nous sommes parvenus en filence jeunes à la vielle, vieux aux derniers monens de notre existence. Tacitus does not mean to fay that thefe years are to be cut off from their lives, they were already cut off, and to be confidered as nothing, in confequence of the filence which had been imposed on them for fuch a feries of years. The tranflation is accompanied by the original, which is correctly printed. In the notes at the end of the book, Mr. D. points out fome difficulties in the text, and accounts for his own tranflation of particular paffages. It is evident that of that in c. 12. fcilicet extrema & plana terrarum, &c. he understood as little as former commentators, though it is, in reality, fufficiently intelligible, according to the fyftem of geography which then prevailed. GERMANY. ART. 67. Beyträge zur enklärang des fogenannton hohenlieds, koheletbs, und der Klaglieder.-Contributions towards an explanation of the Song of Solomon, the Book of Ecclefiaftes, and the Lamentations, by Prof. Gaab Täbingen. 122 pp. 8vo. If we compare the obfervations of this author in the Song of Solamen with thofe of the other numerous modern expofitors of the fame piece, fuch as, Hezel, Hender, Döderlein, Hafnagel, Paulus, Velthufen, Ammon, Staudlin, Beyer, though we should not uniformly adopt his opinions, we muft certainly allow that the fubject was not exhaufted, and that the remarks of the prefent author are not inferior to those of his predeceffors. Like most of them, he does not believe that the canticles were intended to conftitute any one perfect whole, but that they con.. fift of fmall poems, entirely unconnected with, and independent on, cach other. In c. 3, 10, the Prof. by a different punctuation, reads "the King loves her." But the boldeft alteration, fuggefed by him, occurs in c. 8, 5, where the author excludes the ,ahabah אהבה from the text, conceiving that they may מי זאת עלה מן המדבר words have been introduced from c. 3, 6, where exactly the fame words Occur. The following words naa by npaan he confiders as the fuperfcription or title of the next fmall piece, as he does likewife thofe in c. 8, 13, 2 to be the title of that to which they are prefixed. The obfervations on the Book of Ecclefiaftes, and the Lamentations, prefent alfo many ingenious hints, and deferve to be read with attention. Jena ALZ. ART. ART. 68. Caroli Traugott Gottlob Schönemann, reg. Bibl. Acad. Götting. a Secretis, Bibliotheca hiftorico-literario Patrum Latinorum a Tertulliano principe ufque ad Gregorium Magnum et Ifidorum Hifpalenfem, ad Bibliothecam Fabricii latinam accommodata. Tom. II, 1076 pp. in l. 8vo. (Pr. 2 Rixd. 20 gr.) Leipzig. This continuation of a very valuable and highly efteemed patristical repertory, may be faid to be executed even with greater care than the former volume. Like that, it contains well-written and fufficiently circumftantial lives of the different Latin Fathers, which ferve to throw confiderable light on their works; an accurate and judicious account of all which, including those which are loft, and distinguishing their genuine writings from fuch as have been falfely afcribed to them, is here given; as also an appropriation of the comparative merit of the different editions, and fome notices of the improvements which have from time to time been made in them. The account of the writings of St. Auguftine only extends from p. 8 to p. 363. Ibid. ART. 69. Scriptores de plantis Hifpanicis, Lufitanicis, Brefilienfibus, adornavit, et recudi curavit J. J. Römer, M. D. cum tabulis aen. (VIII) Nüremberg; 184 pp. A correct and neat re-impreffion of the following scarce works: Enumeratio ftirpium in Arragonia noviter detectarum from the Introductio in Orytographiam et Zoologiam Arragonia, 1774; Dom Vandellii de arbore Draconis S. Dratana Differtatio, 1762; Fafciculas plantarum cum novis generibus et fpeciebus, by the fame, 1771; Flora Lufitanica et Brafiliana fpecimen, by the fame, from the Diccionario dos Termos Technicos de Hiftoria natural extrahidos das Obras de Linneo, etc.; memeria fobre a utilidade dos Jardins botanicos que oferece a Reynha, D. M. J. Ja Senora Domingos Vandelli, &c. 1788, including likewife 22 letters of Linnéus. Ibid. ART. 70. Lebenfbefchreibungen, berühmter Männer von G. F. Palm. Drottes Bändchen.-Lives of eminent Men, by G. F. Palm. Vol. III. Hannover. In this new volume of a work already advantageously known from the former number, we are prefented with the lives of 1. Guftavus Vafa; 2. Luther; 3. Menzikoff; 4. T. Massaniello; 5. Cr. J. Agricola ; 6. St. Anfgarius; 7. J. J. Barthelemy; 3. Haller; 9. Linnéus; 10. Boileau Defpreaux; and 11. Handel. Ibid. ART. 71. Frid. Aud. Gril. Wenckii Codex juris gentium recentissimi. Lipfiac. 3 vols. in 8vo. ART. 72. 2. Recueil des principaux traités d'alliance, de paix, Sc. conclus par les puissances de l'Europe; par M. de Martens. Göttin gen.5 vols. in 8vo. ARTA ART. 73. 3. Abrégé de l'hiftoire des traités de paix entre les puiffances de l'Europe, depuis la paix de Weftphalie; par M. Koch. Bafle, 1796-7. 2 Vols. in 8vo. M. Wenck is Profeffor of Hiftory in the University of Leipzig. The object of his work was to prefent a continuation of the great Collections, which, in general, reach only to the year 1730. Rouffet has, indeed, in his fupplement to the Collection of Dumont, inferted acts, the date of which defcends to 1738, but his collection can by no means be regarded as complete. That of Mr. Wenck commences with the year 1735, and his intention was to continue it to the prefent time. He had conceived that three volumes would have been fuffi cient for the completion of his plan, and promifed, in the year 1781, that the whole of the collection fhould appear within a fhort time. The fecond volume, however, was not publifhed till the year 1788; nor the third, containing acts which do not extend beyond the year 1772, till 1795: the work is therefore not yet terminated, and the Leipzig Catalogue, for Michaelmas, 1796, mentions a fourth volume, as foon to be published. The fecond and third contain fome fupple ments to the preceding volumes. The motive by which Mr. Martens, Profeffor of the Law of Nature and Nations, was induced to undertake his collection, was the flow progrefs of that entered upon by Mr. Wench; but as two volumes of that had already appeared, Mr. Martens begins his collection with the Treaty of Fontainebleau, of the 3d of November, 1762. The fourth volume confifts entirely of fupplements. The fifth extends to the Treaty paffed the 19th of April, 1794, between the King of Great Britain, the States of the United Provinces, and the King of Pruffia. This volume contains likewife three Tables; the first, that' of the principal Treaties concluded from 1731 to 1761, with the indication of the books in which they are to be found; the second, that of all the different Treaties comprized in the five volumes, arranged according to chronological order, and pointing out thofe likewife, with the existence of which Mr. M. was acquainted, but which he was not able to procure; whilst the third is a Table of the Treaties from 1731 to 1794, according to the alphabetical order of the powers whom they concern. It is the intention of Mr. Koch, who is already known by feveral valuable works on History and on Public Law, and, among others, by his Tableau des revolutions de l'Europe dans le moyen age (Strasburg, 1790, 2 vols, in 8vo.) to develop the fundamental treaties which ferve as a bafis for the actual fyftem of politics in Europe. The Treaties. of which he gives an account begin, in regard to the South and Weft of Europe, with the epoch of the peace of Weftphalia, in 1648, and conclude with that of Verfailles in 1783; for the North, with the peace of Oliva, in 1660, to the divifion of Poland in 1773; for the treaties paffed between the Chriftian princes and the Turks, from the peace of Carlowitz, in 1699, to that of Kaiduargi, in 1774. The two volumes which are now prefented to the public, contain only the treaties between the powers of the South and West of Europe. This work bears a near refemblance to that of Mably, and may indeed be confidered as a neceffary fupplement to it, inasmuch as the extracts: made by Mably terminate with the peace of Paris, in 1763, after the |