bright ornaments of our country, the philofopher, and the poet : vivida vis animi pervicit, & extra Proceffit longè flammantia mænia mundi, Atque omne immenfum peragravit mente animoque. The work now under our confideration is a ftriking proof of the truth of these observations. The poets of France have, at different times, given tranflations of detached scenes and speeches from the plays of the great father of our drama; but the Comte de Catuelan and his ingenious coadjutors *, have had the courage to undertake a complete tranflation of the works of Shakefpeare of which they have now published a specimen, by ren. dering Othello, The Tempest, and Julius Cæfar, into French. It is difficult for any critic, not a native of France, to speak decifively of the effect of this undertaking. To us, we must declare, the " Mufe of Fire" lofes much of her ardour and fpirit in the experiment; nor can we conceive that foreign readers can form an adequate idea of the theatre of Shakespeare, a theatre abounding with every variety of ftyle, from the feveral plays that compofe it being uniformly tranflated into profe. Dacier, it is true, rendered Homer and Terence in the fame manner; but the epic fublimity and comic elegance were loft in the transfufion. To give an animated verfion of the works of Shakespeare feems almoft to require a genius as vaft and flexible as that of the original Author. No writer, indeed, refolved into plain pole retains more marks of the disjeɛi membra poetæ ; but tho' we admire the mutilated fragment, as ftatuaries ftill contemplate the ftudy of Michael Angelo, yet we cannot help wishing to have feen the figure entire. In a task, however, fo arduous and difficult, we cannot but applaud the spirit of the undertaking; and we readily confefs that the fenfe of the poet is, in general, very faithfully given, and that the Tranflators * M. le Tourneur and M. Fountaine Malherbe. It is not only pardonable that they fhould have fallen into fome errors, but rather furprising that they thould not have been betrayed On this principle we are not inclined to pass any very heavy cenfure on the following paffage of the Tempeft: into more. "As wicked dew, as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholefome fen, Tombe Jur vous deux le ferein le plus contagieufe, tel que fur un marais infeel ma mère en amassa jamais avec la plume d'un HIBOU! Here Shakespeare's raven is, by the Tranflators, unfortunately metamorphofed into an owl. They have also been led, by our public prints, into a few mistakes in their pompous account of the Jubilee at Stratford, which was not quite fo important a national concern as they have reprefented it, nor celebrated by Mr. Foote in a piece called, The Stratford Jubilee. feem feem fully to have conceived the beauties of his drama, however unequally they may have copied or reflected them. They have alfo added every note and comment neceffary to illuftrate their Author; and, at the conclufion of the account of his life, have hazarded fome very ingenious reflections on the caufes of originality of compofition in general, confining it almost entirely to the earliest writers of every nation. They have likewife refcued Shakespeare from the mifrepresentations of Marmontel; and fpoken with great juftice of the many feeble and injudicious efforts to improve and refine the plays of Shakespeare. Some wits of the next age, Dryden and Davenant (fay they, speaking of the Tempeft) thought to make the fable more perfect by doubling the prodigy; but they blurred the graces of the work, and extinguifhed the probability and nature.' They have concluded their remarks on this occafion with the following paragraph, the confideration of which we strongly recommend to the modernizers and alterers of the plays of Shakespeare. Such has, in general, been the fate of those who have taken up the chiffel to retouch and to embellish the ftatues of this immortal Phidias; and we have fpoken more at large of this piece [the Tempeft] in order to enable the Public to judge of the fuccefs and merit of these boafted corrections of Shakefpeare! The truth is, that thefe changes relate only to epifodes, added or rejected, without taking from the mass or texture of the piece; the characters and bafis of the drama have always remained; or the innovators have been punished with contempt and indignation for their temerity.' On the whole, to an English reader this work is at leaft a matter of curiofity, and to foreigners it will certainly convey much information, and lay before them the rude materials of our drama. ART. XI. Mémoires Critiques et Hiftoriques fur plufieurs points d'antiquités militaires, &c. Critical and Hiftorical Memoirs, &c. By Charles Guifchard, called Quintus Icilius, Colonel in the King of Pruffia's Service, and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres at Berlin. See the Title more at large in our Review for September laft, p. 255. ALTHOUGH we gave a brief advertisement of these curious memoirs, in the Review above referred to, yet, we imagine, fome farther particulars of a work fo fingular, and fo elegant, will be very acceptable to our Readers. C. Few military gentlemen, in the prefent age, have fo honourably diftinguifhed themfelves in the republic of letters, as did the late M. Guifchard. His military memoirs concerning the Greeks and Romans, published in 1758, in two volumes in 4to, are well known, and contain the most evident proofs of extenfive learning, and of an intimate acquaintance with every thing in the hiftories of Greece and Rome, relating to the art of war, war. The work now before us will add confiderably to the Author's reputation; it fhews great accuracy of obfervation, folidity of judgment, and a very uncommon fhare of learning. The two first volumes contain a very full and circumftantial account of Cæfar's campaign in Spain againft Afranius and Petreius, Pompey's lieutenants.-This campaign, fays our Author, is admired by the ancients, who confider it as a master-piece in the art of The moderns, fubfcribing to this opinion, have contented themselves with fpeaking of it in the highest terms, but none of them have entered into a minute examination of the manoeuvres of this great Captain, nor pointed out the true reafons of his fuccefs. I do not even except the judicious marshal Puyfegur, whofe reflections upon this war are well known. Imagining that he faw a ftriking resemblance between Cæfar's campaign, and that of marshal Turenne against the duke of Lorrain, in 1653, he was prejudiced in favour of his parallel, and has given a falfe colouring to the whole picture. The judgment which he paffes upon it, though that of a man of confummate knowledge in the art of war, fhews, however, that fome very material circumstances of this event had escaped his fagacity. When I gave an analysis of Cæfar's campaign in Africa, in my Military Memoirs, concerning the Greeks and Romans, I availed myfelf of the lights that are thrown upon that part of the world, in Shaw's Travels. This affiftance, though not very confiderable, enabled me to clear up feveral facts, which Hirtius defcribes fometimes very obfcurely; and to give the military Reader a much more circumstantial and accurate account of the operations of the two armies, than had ever been given before. During the war, of which I fhall give an account, the generals performed their several manœuvres, in the environs of Lerida, in a country of fmall extent, of which we can much more eafily have maps, than we can of Africa. Accordingly, this advantage has enabled me to fupport the truth of my account, by the present state of that country, which, notwithftanding the lapfe of fo many ages, has not undergone any fuch change as to make us mistake the description which Cæfar him, felf gives of it. If it is of ufe to every Writer, who undertakes to give an account of the wars of the Greeks and Romans, to be acquainted with the country which was the theatre of them, it is of no lefs importance to him to know the true fenfe and meaning of what what ancient Authors fay concerning them. Before the invention of printing, thofe who were employed in transcribing books, being often ignorant and inattentive, muft neceffarily have committed a great many mistakes. Accordingly, thofe learned men, who published the first editions of ancient Authors from manufcripts, employed the whole of their erudition in correcting fuch mistakes, and in drawing from different readings fuch as they thought correfponded beft with the thread of the narration, and the genius of the language. This kind of labour being looked upon as of great importance, the Public was furnished with pretty correct editions of all the ancient Authors that have reached us, But thefe Editors, how learned foever, were, for the most part, ignorant of almoft every thing relating to the art of war; and hence it is that we fo frequently meet with confused paffages, and fuch as are evidently corrupted in the accounts of military operations, where the knowledge of the fubject should have directed the critics. The Commentaries of Cæfar and of Hirtius, have many fuch paffages, as well as the other monuments of antiquity, notwithstanding the pains taken by men of eminence in the republic of letters, who have given us feveral editions of them. Let any one, for example, read that part of the history of the African war, which gives us the order of battle of the two armies of Cæfar and Scipio, near Uzita, and he will find it confufed and unintelligible; whereas, if the text is corrected by manufcripts, in the way I have done, it will become very clear, and will give us ajuft idea of the manner in which the Romans drew up their legions in order of battle. I have proved, that a like mistake of the tranfcribers has thrown obfcurity into the account which Hirtius gives of the battle of Thapfus, and it would be eafy for me to produce other examples. Maximus Planudes, about four centuries ago, tranflated the feven books of Cæfar's wars in Gaul into Greek: this tranflation is ftill extant, and one needs only compare it with the text, to discover marks of good readings, which were preserved in the copy which the translator made use of.' This is part of what our Author fays in a long and fenfible Preface, to which we refer fuch of our Readers as are defirous of being acquainted with the Roman art of war. Such gentlemen of the army, as are scholars, will find their account in an attentive perufal of it. M. Guifchard's obfervations on the ancient and modern manner of conducting military operations, are pertinent and judicious, and equally inftructive and entertaining. The hiftory of Cæfar's campaign in Spain is divided into eight fections, and the Author has thrown into notes, at the end of each fection, the proofs of the principal facts contained in the history, history, and obfervations on a great variety of fubjects relating to the tactics of the Romans; their marches, the manner of fortifying their camps, their bridges, the officers of their legions, and the order of their promotion, their manner of retreating, their Prætorian cohorts, their military tribunes, their drefs, the quantity of corn which each foldier received daily, &c. &c, Many of thefe fubjects are treated at full length, and with great accuracy. The ninth fection, which clofes the fecond volume, contains an account of Cæfar's first campaign in Spain, the country where he begun and finished his military career. Of this campaign, though diftinguished by great events, we have no particular account tranfmitted to us, which is the more to be regretted, as it was in this campaign that Cæfar firft fhewed his abilities as a foldier. Perhaps, as our Author obferves, the great and memorable actions which he performed afterwards, and which raised him fo very high, effaced the remembrance of his firft exploits. Be this as it may, the Public is much obliged to M. Guilchard, for the judicious and interefting account he has given of this part of Cæfar's life, from materials collected from Dion Cafus, Appian, Plutarch, and other ancient writers. In one of the notes annexed to this fection, he inquires into the reasons which fo long retarded the conquest of Spain. This country, he obferves, coft the Romans more men, more time, and more trouble, than all thofe which compofed their extenfive empire. The frequent defeats of their armies, however, did not difcourage them; from year to year they fent confiderable reinforcements into Spain, which was to the Roman foldiers, what Italy, in modern times, has been to the French, and Hungary to the Germans. When Lucullus wanted to raise troops to be fent into Spain, nobody would enlift; and nothing less than the example of a Scipio was neceflary to prevent the Romans from abandoning the enterprize. The gold and filver mines of Boetica and Andalufia, of which Strabo gives us fo interefting and particular an account, appear to our Author to have been the principal motives that induced the Romans to purfue the conqueft of Spain with fo much obftinacy; for avarice, he tells us, had always as large a thare as ambition in the Roman conquefts. Their cruelty, their perfidy, their injuftice, during their wars in Spain, it is faid, are unparalleled; and their avarice, a vice fo fatal to the execution of great enterprizes, was fometimes productive of calamities which all the valour and ail the virtue of the Scipios were unable either to prevent or remedy. Julius Cæfar, continues our Author, conquered Gaul in eight years; and Gaul was, at leaft, as populous and as war |