to other nations. Junius Brutus had, indeed, been deputed by Tarquin to the oracle of Delphi, soon after the expulsion of Hippias; and perhaps he then acquired his hostility to kings. The revolution of France seems likely to terminate, without forming any other regicide than Ankarstrom. The first Part of this work is terminated by a chapter of detached reflections, in which the author ascribes to the moral corruption of this age the chief influence in accelerating the revolution. Philosophers, (says he,) with hearts of executioners, have deprived us of the hopes of a better life. What wonder, if man thus insulated in the universe, having no object to feed his hopes but the amelioration of this speck and shoal of time,should pursue the first earthly phantom that promised him some visionary reward? The author himself is, however, no ardent believer, and has consecrated four chapters to a summary of objections against Christianity. In style, he more resembles Bernardin de Saint Pierre than any other late French writer. In Part II. of this volume, the author is occupied in contrasting the intellectual character of the philosophic ages of Alexander with that of our own times. The Syracusan revolution accomplished by Dion, which originated in the opinions of a caballing sect of philosophers, is analyzed. The misfortunes of the exiled Dionysius were severer than those of the Bourbons. A long list of unfortunate sovereigns is given, all marshalled in melancholy array,-Oedipus, Orestes, Idomeneus, Demara'us, Hippias. Pausanias II. of Sparta, Darius flying before Alexander and murdered by his courtiers, Cleomenes crucified in Egypt, Antiochus Hierax imprisoned by Ptolemy, Antiochus X. a vagabond in Parthia, and Mithri dates self-poison'd. Among the moderns, are enumerated Gelimer, Lamberg, Pietro de' Medici, the emperor Henry IV. the Count of Flanders expelled by Artavelle, Charles V. and VII. of France, Henry VI. Edward IV. and Richard II. of England, and Stanislaus of Poland. An elaborate collation of the fortunes and formal condemnations of Agis. of Sparta, Charles I, of England, and Louis XVI. of France, occupies many chapters the English monarch appears to the author to have deserved punishment more than the other two. The account of the subdivisions of the Greek sects of philosophy, which is illustrated by a table, is very unsatisfactorily executed. As the author frequently quotes the German writers, and has translated a fragment of Klopstock, he would have done well to consult in this department the recent work of M. Titan (see Rev. vol, xx. p. 573, and vol. xxi. p. 504.) Cf the Trench school of metaphysics, he speaks with be coming disparagement : the Encyclopedists were rather priests of philosophy than philosophers; the diffusers, not the inventers, of their unprincipled principles. Helvetius has the strongest claim to originality of mind. It is well observed that the philosophers of Greece, born in republics, and experienced in all the inconveniences of democratic factions, mostly favoured a monarchical constitution of government, and thus gave birth to a willing submission to the Macedonian arms: whereas our philosophers, familiar only with the practical inconveniences of monarchy, have favoured in their speculations a republican constitution of government, and thus assisted the extension of French influence. A dissertation on the relative character of religions, as prevalent in the antient and in the modern world, next occurs. Polytheism amused the people and catered for their pleasures, but was ill calculated to withstand either the arguments of Epicurus or the jests of Lucian. The following chapters treat of Christianity, and predict its downfal, as a religion in its wane. P. 633. In England (says our author) Christianity will expire with the profoundest indifference. The cause of this lukewarmness in religious matters, so conspicuous in Great Britain, is twofold-the mode of worship, and the clergy. The worship wants pomp and effect. This is the common imperfection of all the reformed churches. Their rites are too few. The temples are shut all the week, and a few short prayers compose the whole Sunday observance*. Johnson laments this. The clergyman is rich, a man of the world, scarcely known to his parishioners, and never to the populace. He is a non-resident, and employs a substitute, who gallops from church to church through three or four parishes on Sunday, and then replunges for six days into the tainted atmosphere of the town in which he dwells. The philosopher may admire the urbane manners and enviable leisure of the English priest: but the religionist must feel that it accelerates the decease of Christianity. The astonishment of a foreigner is hardly conceivable, when he is told that these men in black, who receive women at their houses, who dance at balls, who empty their bottle; in a word, who live like other men are the clergy. The erudition, the generosity, the hospitality, which I have witnessed in priests of the English church, make me deplore from the bottom of my heart that ruin to which I behold them hastening. I cannot think their manners compatible with their revenues: those are their own, but these belong to the people. If I speak freely, I crave excuse: it is from gratitude for virtues to which I am indebted, that I would warn the clergy to provide against the approaching catastrophe of their fortunes.' * Our readers will easily detect this misrepresentation; as well as the want of qualification in some of the subsequent assertions. APP. REV. VOL. XXII. Pp The The author then proceeds to inquire (in the LVth chapter) what religion will supplant Christianity? P. 649. Interesting (says he) as this question may be, it is scarcely to be resolved from extant data. Christianity sickens every day; yet we behold no hidden sect silently circulating in Europe, and encroaching on the antient religion. Jupiter will hardly revive. The doctrine of Swedenborgh and his illuminated followers is but lccally successful, and is unlikely to become a prevailing superstition. The few may plausibly pretend to inspiration, but not the crowd. A moral worship, which should personify the virtues, and ordain allegoric rites to Courage, to Truth, and to Justice, is too absurd and cold to last. Theism has still less chance. It may suit the sage, but not the vulgar. A God, an immortal soul, an impending retribution, can never find, in the sophisms of metaphysicians, a proof which would impress the multitude. Will some new Mahomet, bursting from the East, that womb of impostors, with fire and steel in his hands, overrun Europe, and institute a novel idolatry? Or will a prophet of our own arise, when Christianity shall have fallen into absolute discredit, and preach some original enthusiasm, with a persuasive eloquence which shall be able to combat the religious torpor of corrupt societies? Alas! cloquence is no longer a solitary talent, nor imposture practicable: he would dwindle, like Swedenborgh, into contempt. Yet some religion we must have, or society will perish. The more we contemplate the question, the more reasons do we find for alarm. All Europe seems on the brink of a dissolution, of which the desolation of France is but the harbinger.' In this whole speculation, we cannot help viewing the author as the dupe of his infidel prejudices. He confounds Religion with the church, and Christianity with established modes. The necessities of government may one day confiscate, here, as in France, the revenues of an opulent priesthood: but, in this case, (if we do not misunderstand the drift of recent publications,) it is to very evangelical Christians that the popularization of the measure would be entrusted. Where does Great Britain offer a single symptom of the decay of Christianity? Our Sunday schools have taught the catechism to every child, and led the way to a religious rather than to an irreligious fanaticism. Is it to the devout riots of Birmingham, to the rising convents of the papists, or to the crowded conventicles of methodism, that the author would point for his proofs of decaying piety? Are not numerous associations, composed of men high In rank and consequence, really acquiring applause by acting as committees of inquisition to prosecute the writings of an infidel? Has the author never heard of the meritorious exertions of Mrs. Hannah Moore and her imitators? If Christianity were forsaken by the men, it would be preserved and extended by the women of England. A change of spirit may indeed be traced in our zealots: in the time of Charles I. the earlier were more studied studied than the later scriptures: the reverse is now the case. During the late controversy, Bp. Watson's Apology was received with less gratitude by the People than Mr. Paley's Evidences. The writings of Agricola have proved that Christianity can wholly spare the support of the Jewish sacred books. Were we to indulge a conjecture as to the future religion of the people, we should expect that philosophers may succeed in banishing the Mosaic miracles, but will be inefficacious in their attacks on the resurrection of Jesus. To conclude: This whole volume deserves to excite notice, and to obtain perusal. In nothing does it resemble that crowd of ephemeral common-place works, which every week hatches. from the mud of the revolution. Much peculiarity and novelty of view, and information very comprehensive, distinguish the. author. He quotes even to pedantry, when he is examining a beaten topic, and his style swells into eloquence, when he can snatch himself from the men of history and society, to describe his excursions into Canada and his passion for savagism. He is apparently an emigrant, though closely allied in opinion to the present rulers of France. We should expect that a work so honourable to his talents, and so consonant with the views of his country, will be a sufficient title to secure his return. ART. XV. SALOMON GESSNER von I. I. HOTTINGER: i. e. The 1 WHATEVER title to "deathless fame," or whatever merit, Tay. the celebrated writers of modern times may possess, the admiration of their works is generally bounded by the frontiers of the country which gave them birth; and distant nations hear but a faint echo of the loudest encomiums bestowed on authors in their natale solum. The languages of the more polished nations, indeed, are familiar to the learned and to the well-educated classes of society throughout Europe: but how few attain to such intimate acquaintance with any foreign tongue, as not only to think but also to feel with the author who is writing in it! Translations, too, though very useful when made even with tolerable accuracy from scientific works, or mere relations of facts, become uninteresting and frequently insipid, when attempted from productions of wit and genius; in which, manner and style, often inimitable on account of their peculiarity, are such distinguishing features. Some writers, however, most conspicuously favoured by nature, are so faithful in their representations, so happy in their manner, and so simple in their expressions, that they seem to belong to no country Pp 2 exclusively, exclusively, and to lose little through the medium of even indifferent translations. Homer, the Arabian Nights, Cervantes, Ossian, and the Bard whose life we now announce to our readers, prove the justice of this remark beyond all doubt, and shew that truth, good sense, and wit, though they strike most forcibly on the mind when conveyed in proper terms, will shine with much lustre through any version or language. This is particularly the case with regard to Gessner. His Pastorals, Daphnis, and the Death of Abel, are translated not only into the more polite languages of Europe, but also into those of the Sclavonian Stock, e.g the Hungarian. In England, his works have been generally read ever since their appearance; and there is scarcely a book-stall in the metropolis which does not exhibit some part of his poetry for sale. We are therefore inclined to believe that many of our readers will be pleased with some particulars of this writer's life, as given by his present biographer. M. HOTTINGER, it appears, lived on terms of intimacy with Gessner; and, for this reason, and on account of his eminent literary character, he was requested by the family of his deceased friend to publish the present memoirs. Solomon Gessner was born at Zurich in the year 1730. His family had always been distinguished as producing men of letters; and so early as in the 16th century, Conrad Gessner acquired such fame for his knowlege in natural history and philosophy, that he was called the German Pliny. Among his descendants, John Gessner, a contemporary and friend of the great Haller, shone conspicuous in natural science, especially in botany; yet not more than his brother James did in the study of antiquities and coins. As to our amiable poet, whose father was a senator, no one suspected, in the more early years of his life, that he would ever become the favourite of Europe, and that he would revive, in our times, the rural strains of Theocritus. A very preposterous method of teaching the classics prevailed at that time in Switzerland, which was precisely calculated to give disgust to boys of quick parts. Instead, therefore, of attending to his tutors, during the hours of instruction, he misemployed his time in modelling was figures; thus manifesting his early partiality for the arts of design, in which he afterward attained to an uncommon degree of skill. Happening, also, to meet with a translation of Robinson Crusoe, the romantic story of that adventurer took such hold on his imagination, that he composed a number of similar tales, replete with the most fantastic flights of genius. The result was, that he remained utterly ignorant of the rudiments of |