He is in this perfectly consistent with himself; he, of course, does not agree with the plan I am suggesting, because he proposes no peace with France, because he thinks the peace of the world would be sacrificed by its attainment: but if he could once be brought to agree that peace was desirable, I would be contented to stand or fall as he subscribed to what I am proposing. Grant but the premises of his late writings, and all his deductions are full of the same vigour, and lighted up with the same eloquence, which distinguish every thing he has written. It is his false premises only, that lead him astray, and make such havock in the world. But ministers have no sort of excuse for their conduct; they profess to be sincere in desiring peace, yet they refuse to pursue the only methods by which, between man and man, or between nation and nation, it ever was, or ever can be permanently secured." If men illustrious for their talents were always to treat each other with such candour and generosity, they would better consult that common interest which they have in preserving, unimpaired, the veneration of mankind for splendid accomplishments and extraordinary endowments. This lasting interest survives the petty and temporary animosities of controversy and faction; and it is so large as to comprehend every form of mental excellence, wherever it is scattered among the various sects and parties which divide mankind. Men of genius often forget that, in their zeal to inspire the public with contempt for their antagonists, they teach them to despise genius itself; which, notwithstanding its occasional misapplications, is, on account of its general benefit, the natural and reasonable object of the reverence of mankind. The indecent and furious squabbles of men of talents, who disregard their own dignity and that of their opponents; their rage of misrepresentation; their scurrility of invective; their neglect of that decorum with which the consciousness of their superiority, and the elegance of the studies in which they are conversant, ought above all men to inspire them ;-these are the causes which have lowered the dignity of genius, and have damped the admiration which mankind are equally bound and disposed to pay to that which, except virtue, is the best and highest of the gifts of Heaven. Macki ART. XVIII. Fiesco; or the Genoese Conspiracy. A Tragedy. THE "HE modern or Gothic drama (for so the German critics seem agreed to call the form of stage-play which Shakspeare * One of the gentlemen concerned in this translation is by birth a German.-Advertisement. introduced) introduced) chiefly excels the antient or Greek drama by the magnitude of action which it can embrace, in consequence of relinquishing the unities of place and time. (See M. R. yol. xviii. p. 121.) The usurpation and punishment of Macbeth, or the conspiracy of Venice, would have appeared, to the artist of antiquity, subjects of too enlarged and comprehensive a class to be drawn within the limits of a single dramatic representation. It is most difficult, and consequently most meritorious, to excel in this more spacious walk of tragedy; to seize the spirit and bearing of such gigantic events; to delineate them in few and well adapted scenes; and to bring before the spectator, without the aid of narrative, the causes and consequences of such complex enterprizes. The hero of a Greek drama, however important from birth or station, is never known to the audience but as a member of a distressed family while the hero of a Gothic drama, an Egmont or a Fesco, may be introduced as superintending that higher order of interests which involve the fortunes of his country or his kind. The varieties of ethic peculiarity and of conflicting passion proportion themselves to the complication of the business of the scene; and a whole volume of Eschylus or Euripides may be perused without not cing so many well-discriminated characters, or so many truly tragic situations, as are sometimes compressed within a single poem of Shakspeare or Otway, of Goethe or Schiller. The story of the play before us has been taken from Cardinal de Retz's Conjuration de Fiesque, and comprehends the whole conspiracy at Genoa against the hereditary consequence of the Doria family; in which Count Fiesco, the hero of this piece, was engaged probably from ambitious motives, and his coadju tors from democratic views. Some deviation from the real catastrophe of that event, (according to which, the Count was accidentally drowned,) became necessary by the nature of the drama; which does not allow the interposition either of chance or of a particular providence. In other respects, but with the addition of domestic anxieties, the historical outline has been observed in the plot; which it will not therefore be necessary to narrate. Of all the extant tragedies of the class which we have already described, perhaps no one embraces a greater compass of event, no one exhibits a greater variety of character, no one includes situations more pathetic, than the present: but the interest arising from the incidents is not always on the increase; still less the pathos, which is at the highest in the scene between Verrina and Bertha in the first act; and the treatment of Julia is unworthy of an accomplished gentleman, and needlessly P 3 1 energetic unlettered lessly degrading to the hero. The least successful scenes are This tragedy is by no means so extravagant as that of the The translation is faithful, somewhat abridged, smooth, and elegant but we cannot pronounce it altogether worthy of so transcendant an original. In the original, Verrina, in the phrenzy of despair, says to his daughter-Genoa's liberty is lost!- Fiesco is lost!-Do thou turn WHORE!" The unlettered muse of Schiller, like the energetie muse of Shakspeare, disdained to use any but the strongest term, the most expressively appropriate to his apprehension in the moment of such accumulated distress. Our timid translators have substituted— And thou may'st become a prey to dishonour P This may be decent, but it is not TRAGICAL. It destroys the association of the three greatest woes which Verrina could imagine. Similar instances might be produced :—but suffice it to observe, with our translators, whose modesty at least is truly commendable, that it is not easy to do entire justice to such a writer as Schiller,' Tay! MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For FEBRUARY, 1797. HISTORY. Art. 19. A brief History of the Wars and Treaties in which England has been engaged, from the Restoration of King Charles II. to the present Time. With a Sketch of the Causes of the French Revolution, and of the Motives which led to the War between the *"Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore !"-OTHELLO. Confederate Confederate Princes, and the French Nation. 8vo. Is. 6d. Robinsons. 1796. OF PP. 62. F the numerous and important military transactions carried on during the last 130 years, it is impossible, in a small pamphlet like the present, to give more than a very rapid and imperfect sketch; in consequence, the author has confined himself to a specification of the successive increase of public burthens, and a short enumeration of the objects of each war. These he has drawn out and contrasted in a very striking manner. EDUCATION, &c. 1 A Manual, or Little Book for Grown Persons, containing I. Institution of Marriage. II. Duties of Husbands and Wives, III. Of Polygamy, IV. Divorce. V. Parental Authority. VI. Duties of Parents. VII. Of Children. VIII. Of Brethren. IX. Of Sisters. X. Of Masters. XI. Of Servants. XII. On Government. XIII. Power of the Magistrate. XIV, Measures of Submission. XV. Love of our Country. Extracted from the Works of the late learned and Reverend Henry Grove. 12mo, 6d. Smeeton. The ample title-page precludes any observations on this work, The name of Grove is a sufficient recommendation. Art. 21. Sheridan improved. A general Pronouncing and Explana tory Dictionary of the English Language. By Stephen Jones. Second Edition. 16:no. 4s. Boards. Vernor and Hood. Mr. Jones in his preface has noted several provincialisms and omis sions in the late Mr. Sheridan's Dictionary; and these he has corrected. The size of the work renders it very suitable for a schoolbook. For our account of this Dictionary in its primæval state, see Rev, vol. 1x. p, 241. and vol. lxxxi. p. 57,. MATHEMATICS, &. Art. 22. A Practical Introduction to Spherics and Nautical Astronomy; being an Attempt to simplify those useful Sciences. Containing, among other original Matter, the Discovery of a Projection for clearing the Lunar Distances, in order to find the Longitude at Sea; with a new Method of calculating this important Problem. By E. Kelly, Master of Finsbury-square Academy. 8vo. pp. 210. 6s. Boards. Johnson. 1796. This work is not the hasty production of an uninformed and careless writer, who, ambitious of appearing under the character of an author, proposes to avail himself of the credit and advantage which he might thus obtain in the exercise of his profession. Mr. K. is well acquainted with the subjects to which he directs the attention of the reader, and he has applied his knowlege to a very useful purpose. Spherical geometry and trigonometry are undoubtedly of great importance in astronomy and navigation; and the practice of projec tion is a pre-requisite to the solution of many problems that often occur in these branches of mathematical science. Though persons who are much conversant with these subjects will not find any thing very interesting in this volume, they will peruse it with pleasure; and to learners it will be intelligible and useful. P 4 Tho A.Ai. D: Do The principal object of the author was to adapt his instruction to scholars, and particularly to young persons of this description, who have not previously acquired any considerable knowlege of the elements of geometry. If this had not been his obvious and avowed intention, he might have rendered this work more generally acceptable, by introducing a scientific demonstration of the principles of ste, reographic projection, in which is founded the practice that he has so well illustrated. This might have been comprized in a very small compass, and he is well acquainted with those writers who would have aided him in supplying this defect. An acquaintance with the theory of projection would have afforded satisfaction to many persons, who have occasion to recur to the mechanical practice of it; while those, who have neither leisure nor inclination to study the grounds of the operations which they perform, might have omitted the demonstration of the principles, and restricted themselves to the practice, We think that in some parts of his work the author has been needlessly diffuse, and that the defect which we have mentioned will be regretted by many readers. It is not presumed,' (says Mr. K., and thus he anticipates and obviates the objection just stated,) that this work should supersede the use or necessity of those learned systems already published, being rather intended as an introduction to them; but it will be found particularly useful to persons who cannot devote much time to mathematical investigation, and who chiefly want that part of the science which is applied in nautical practice.' This book is divided into two parts. The first comprehends spherics; in which the author, after a great variety of definitions, introduces an account of the construction and use of those lines on Gunter's scale, and on the sector, which are applied in stereographic projection. He then proceeds to the solution of the most important stereographic problems. In those sections that are appropriated to spheric trigonometry, he explains and applies Lord Napier's general rule, founded on the five circular parts, and sometimes denominated the Catholic proposition; and he exemplifies the principles of trigo nometry in the solution of quadrantal triangles and oblique spheric triangles, both with and without a perpendicular, To this part he has annexed improved solutions of certain cases of spheric triangles, that deserve attention; with general remarks on the correction of proportional errors, and two tables exhibiting the solutions of rightangled and oblique spheric triangles. The subject of the second part is nautical astronomy, or the ap plication of spherics to those problems of astronomy which are most useful at sea, such as finding the azimuth, amplitude, time, latitude, longitude, &c. all of which are solved both by projection and calculation.' This part terminates with a comparative view of the most approved methods of working the lunar observations, illustrated by ngues, shewing the principles and rationale upon which those calculations are founded.' The various projections of the sphere are familiarly illustrated and made intelligible to learners, by exhibiting the positions of the globe that correspond to each projection; and astronomical problems, of |