College, Cambridge: the other by the Rev. Matthew Henry, V.D.M. Now first published. With Notes. By J. B. Williams. 8vo. 98. Boards. Conder. 1816.

Matthew Henry is a divine in high repute with a certain class of Christians; and by them the present sermons will be considered as a valuable addition to their evangelical stores. The following brief extract is characteristic of the author's manner: it is taken from the eighth sermon, p. 179.:

"He that would know what sin is, let him behold Christ sweating in the garden; and then he may see, as in a glass, that it is not a thing to be made light of. He could bear as much as another, surely. He bears up heaven and earth, and all that is therein, and never shrinks at it: all the weight thereof never occasioned him one drop of sweat: but when sin came to be charged upon him, then he shrunk with a witness. O that this might be our inference from it! Then by God's grace we shall take heed how we ever make a mock of sin. Sin is an edge-tool, and it is ill jesting with it.

"Fools make a mock at sin.' Shall that make us merry, that made Christ sad,make us laugh, that made him sweat?'

J. G.. is right in supposing that we should make the presumed objection to his communication: but, besides this circumstance, which his second note offers to obviate, he will find that we expressed our sentiments at large respecting the work to which he refers, on its first appearance, by turning to our seventy-ninth volume, p. 410.

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An answer has been left with our publisher for H.T.; though, from the temporary absence of the Editor, it did not arrive in Pall Mall till after the prescribed date.

* Historicus Criticus adds one more to the numerous calls on us to declare that we never accept anonymous contributions.

H.T.N. will perceive by this Number that he has not been overlooked.

The APPENDIX to our last volume was published on the first of October, with the Review for September.

The GENERAL INDEX to Eighty-one Volumes of the New Series of the MONTHLY REVIEW is in forwardness at the press.

THE*

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For NOVEMBER, 1817.

A

ART. I. France, by Lady Morgan,

[Art. concluded from p. 127.]

FTER having in our last number exhibited some very interesting specimens of the composition of Lady Morgan, and accompanied them by certain admonitions on her deficient accuracy, we are now to resume the subject, and to introduce our readers to one of the most interesting parts of the work, relative to

Men of Letters in France.--Lady M. reached Paris in tim to have a final interview with several literary veterans, who since her return have bidden farewell to this transitory scerie. Among them were Suard, the well known translator of Robertson and Hume; and the Abbé Morellet, the friend of Diderot, Marmontel, and Rousseau, who was ninety years old when she visited him. Madame Cottin had expired some time before her arrival; as had also Madame D'Houdetot, who is so well known to the readers of Rousseau, and who had reached the age of eighty-eight. Lady M. had also an opportunity of meeting several public characters who, though descending into the vale of years, are still healthy and vigorous; viz. Lally Tollendal, La Fayette, and the Abbé Gregoire: but her chief opportunity of seeing French literati occurred on the occasion of a public meeting of that great academical body, the Institute. '

The black Brutus-heads of many of this learned body formed a singular contrast with their very fine and very studied dresses; and, from my first view of this assembly, I was struck by a mould and physiognomy to me new and singular. All seemed picturesque or grotesque; I never saw so many fine formed heads, so many marked and intelligent countenances; few were handsome, but the features of all were strongly chiselled, spirited, and animated. There was a sort of general personification of mind, extremely impressive to the stranger's eye; and, on this ocasion, one might almost say, "the body thought." To me, however, all were strangers, for I was only a few days arrived in Paris; and I was indebted to a gentleman who sat near me for the names, and, occasionally, for VOL. LXXXIV.

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some little biographical anecdotes of the various distinguished persons ranged before me. He was a middle-aged man, of a keen sarcastic countenance, and a manner full of caustic pleasantry. He seemed amused by the strong impression made on me by a scene so calculated to interest, and volunteered his services with an air, that convinced me he consulted his own amusement as much as mine. I did not, however, suffer the privilege of asking questions to be idle, and took the first person on the first row of the academical benches, as the object of my inquiry. The countenance of this person was calm and still, as sleeping infancy; his folded hands, and closing eyes, seemed not to belong to the place he occupied. "" Cependant," (said my Cicerone, in reply to an observation of this cast,) "c'est M.Talleyrand, mais jamais visage ne fut moins baromètre !!"

I pointed to another, "Oh pour celui-là; c'est le Comte de Fontanes; toujours grand partisan de ce qui existe."

'I asked the name of a third:

-:

after some hesitation he replied, "C'est, je crois, Baour Lormian-homme et poëte de cir constance, habile à prévoir le jour d'une fête impériale, ou un anniversaire royal."

I was extremely curious to know the name of a person who, like the witches in Macbeth, seemed

seated above the academicians, and distinguished by a dress of blue and silver, covered (as I thought) with imperial bees, but which proved, however, to be royal lilies; more remarkable still by an air of picturesque abstraction, and, though the flattered object of many a lady's eye-glass, apparently self-wrapt and unattending."Ah!" said my informant, brightening up," that is indeed a notable person; the last of the antiques croisés' and noble pilgrims of Europe; the solitary and unrivalled successor of the De Coucys, De Nesles, De Chatillons, and De Montforts. After having made the tour of the Mediterranean, and visited Sparta, and Rhodes, and Jerusalem; Alexandria, and Cairo, and Carthage, and Cordova, and Grenada, and Madrid; and finally saluted the Ebro, he returned to his own country, bringing with him trophies of his piety, and testimonies of that useful spirit of research, which leads men to visit other nations, in order that they may enrich, enlighten, and benefit their own. To use his own words, he returned, with a dozen of pebbles of Sparta, Argos, and Corinth; a chaplet; a little bottle of the waters of Jordan; a phial of the waters of the dead sea; and a few reeds gathered on the banks of the Nile !!"- By this description I recognized M. Chateaubriand, whose " Itinéraire" I had just finished.

His Excellency, the Comte de Vaublanc, opened the sitting, by a discours, which was the genuine oration of a minister of state, proving that "whatever is, is right," and that the present happy position of France is the most favourable to the cultivation of arts, learning, and science.

• He

He was answered by the Duc de Richelieu, as president of the sitting, in the same tone and tendency. On the subject of this reply, there is little to be said; but I could not help observing, that the Duc de Richelieu has prevented his celebrated grandfather from being the last grand Seigneur Français; for high blood and high birth were never more finely represented, than in the fine countenance, the noble aspect, and distinguished air of the present representative of that illustrative house. The Duc de Richelieu is, indeed, the very personification of nobility.' The French, in consequence of the long war and interrupted communication with England, have been, till very recently, strangers to our late poetry, even that of Scott and Lord Byron; while we, in return, are equally unacquainted with the productions of poets of no mean repute among them, such as Parny, Le Gouvé, and Berchoux. We have in Lady M.'s second volume a long account (p. 343.) of Le Mercier, the dramatic writer; and his name is followed by one of greater notoriety, that of Polney; who is said to be closely engaged in a "History of Chronology" on a new and singular plan. Segur, the author of La Politique de tous les Cabinets de l'Europe, entered on public life as à diplomatist under Louis XVI., took a share in the latter part of the Revolution, and preserved his honours on the first restoration of the Bourbons: but, having accepted office on Bonaparte's return from Elba, he is now stripped of his official dignity, and devotes his time to literature and society. Denon, known by his description of Egypt, is also a literary veteran; having been first introduced to the French court above forty years ago, and having filled a diplomatic mission in Italy before the political tempest arose. It was after his return from accompanying Bonaparte to Egypt that he received the appointment of "Director of the Museum," which he found it necessary to resign on the second entry of the Bourbons. Pastoret is another of the comparatively small number who were initiated into public life before the Revolution. Having almost miraculously escaped the sword of the Jacobins, he has since held a mixed career of literature and politics.

Madame de Genlis has of late lived so much in retirement, that Lady M. at first despaired of seeing her: but she was agreeably surprized on receiving an invitation to repair to the convent of the Carmelites, the retreat of Madame de G.

It was said to me in Paris, that Madame de Genlis had retired to the Carmelites, " désabusée des vanités de ce monde, et des chimères de la célébrité." I know not how far this may be true, but it is certain, that if she has done with the vanities of the world, she has by no means relinquished its refinements and tastes, even amidst the coldness and austerity of a convent. Her apartment might Q 2

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have answered equally for the oratory of a saint, or the boudoir of a coquette. Her blue silk draperies, her alabaster vases, her freshgathered flowers, and elegant Grecian couch, breathed still of this world: but the large crucifix, (that image of suffering and humility,) which hung at the foot of that couch; the devotional books that lay mingled with lay-works, and the chaplets and rosaries which hung suspended from a wall, where her lute vibrated, and which her paintings adorned, indicated a vocation before which genius lay subdued, and the graces forgotten.'

' Of Mademoiselle d'Orléans, she spoke with maternal affection; as one in whom every feminine excellence was united. Of the Duke d'Orléans, she spoke not only with admiration, but with evident pride; - and well she might! A character, which has carried off the esteem of every country he has honoured by his residence; and whose intrinsic virtues, superior to the influence of all faction and party, have obtained the universal suffrages and respect of his own, reflects a splendid credit on her, whose precepts had so great a share in his education. "But," said Madame de Genlis," his inherent dispositions were so happy, that he owed almost every thing to nature.'

Madame de Genlis received me with a kindness, a cordiality, that had all the naïveté and freshness of youthful feeling, and youthful vivacity. There was nothing of age in her address or conversation; and vigour, animation, a tone of decision, a rapidity of utterance, spoke the full possession of every feeling and every faculty; and I found her in the midst of occupations and pursuits, which might startle the industry of youth to undertake or to accomplish.

When I entered her apartment, she was painting flowers in a book, which she called her " herbier sacré," in which she was copying all the plants mentioned in the Bible. She showed me another volume, which she had just finished, full of trophies and tasteful devices, which she called l'herbier de reconnaissance. "But I have but little time for such idle amusements," said Madame de Genlis. She was, in fact, then engaged in abridging some ponderous tomes of French Mémoires, in writing her "Journal de la Jeunesse," and in preparing for the press her new novel "Les Battuecas," which she has since given to the world.

Her harp was nevertheless well strung and tuned; her pianoforte covered with new music, and when I gave her her lute, to play for me, it did not require the drawing up a single string. All was energy and occupation. It was impossible not to make some observation on such versatility of talent and variety of pursuits."Oh! this is nothing," (said Madame de Genlis,)" what I pride myself on, is knowing twenty trades, by all of which I could earn my bread."

Lady Morgan never appears to suspect that there was any charlatanisme in the conversation of Madame de Genlis, or in the preparations made for her reception: but her admiration of her fair friend would have been not a little checked, could

she