undertakes to examine what was the condition of the Protestants in France under the government of the Kings; what it is, and what it ought to be, under the constitutional charter.

The author hints at the first ages of Chris. tianity, under the form of Allegory, and introduces the early christians as first op pressed and persecuted, then gradually advancing to power and honours. The most exalted among them by station, the Bishop of Rome, in order to establish abuses which he had introduced into the christian church, became the oppressor of his brethren The pians of reform meditated in France and in Germany, were stifled for the time by the massacre of the

Vaudois and the Albigenses, and by the execution of John Huss and Jerome of Prague; nevertheless, the principles of reform had extended their roots in the northern countries, in Germany and in SwitzerJand. Luther and Calvin promoted their powers and appearance. The progress of this persuasion alarmed Francis 1. who began the series of edicts issued in France against religionaries, by the edict of Romorantin. This law, in its execution was distinguished by excessive rigour, by severe punishments, from the guilt of which it is not possible to relieve the memory of this sovereign, since he sanctioned some of them by his presence. But, as it always happens, persecution doubled the fervor of mind, and the number also of the Protestauts, under Henry II. whose fanaticism was not tempered like that of his father, by Lively wit and amiable qualities. The torrent of the Reformation broke through all opposition. The synods held in 1559 and the following years, as the author judiciously observes, established the organization of the Reformed Churches in France, and are still the rules by which they are (nominally) governed; except on some articles which have been thought too rigorous -which were, perhaps, suitable to the difficulties of the time; but which the abatement of the persecution has suffered to sink into oblivion. Henry II. still further augmented the severities exercised against the Protestants, by the execution of several among them, especially of the virtuous Anne Dubourg; and by the establishment of the Inquisition. In vain did several Presidents of the parliaments, and leading men in civil stations, or in the establishments of the law, even in the bosom of the parliaments themselves, though those bodies were generally devoted to the cause of Catholicism, remonstrate, and continue their efforts to obtain redress, when Providence raised up one of those men of

which humanity may boast, the Chancellor de l'Hôpital. This patron of toleration did not limit his endeavours to the destruction of the Inquisition, in its adolescence, by the edict of 1560, whose violence he banished

beyond the Pyrenees, by his address in of pronouncing capital, or even infamous divesting ecclesiastical judges of the power sentences, in cases of heresy; but he also drew from the council by the power of his all-commanding eloquence, the memorable edict of Jaunary, 1561, by which the reformed obtained permission to conduct their worship in their own way, with the right mode of raising the salaries of their ministo agree among themselves on the proper ters, and funds for relieving their own poor; together with the privilege of assembling in meetings and in synods, under the superintendance of a Commissary appointed by the King.

That the Protestants afterwards suffered under the most atrocious deceptions-the infamous perjuries of Catherine de Medicis

the massacre of Vassy-that of the most destructive and horrible St. Bartholomew, and others, is well known. The reign of Henry IV. afforded an interval of safety; and to that the author hastens, as to a period of repose. What evils have afflicted France, in consequence of the violations of the famous edict of Nantz, dated in April 1598, and of its revocation, form a subsequeut division of his enquiry.

Degenerate state of Novel-writing.

The French journalists have lately taken occasion to observe, that the present race of novels which issue from the press, with here and there only, an exception, prove to what a state of decay the art of novel writing is reduced, since the deaths of Mesdames Riccoboni, Cottin, and de Stael;— since Mad. Souza (formerly Flahaut) has ceased to write; since Mad. de Gentis bas, apparently, abandoned this branch of literature:-the art, say they, is absolutely degenerated, and this they seem to attribute to the lead taken by female writers: into whose hands it has fallen, for the only writers of the other sex, of late, have been the Abbé Prevost, Le Sage, and Marivaux. They observe, indeed, that if the talent of the French lady-writers suffers an eclipse little short of total, yet female powers continue in their full brilliancy in England:This they infer from the numerous and extremely popular translations, which every day presents them, from their own presses.

Whether it were wise or candid, or po. lite to hint at the possibility of the same, causes producing the same effects in England as in France, we have not leisure to enquire; but it should seem to be far from

impossible; and when the same degenera- | tion has taken place among us to what new country shall the European race of novel readers betake themselves, for a due supply of what habit has induced them to reckon among necessaries.

GERMANY.

Mammoth Bones found fossil. Since the discovery in America of the bones of that huge animal, which we have agreed to call the Mammoth, considerable attention has been paid to such accumulations of fossil bones as chance has brought to light. Our pages have recorded several instances of such: and, in many parts of Europe, remains of animals, now natives of distant (and hotter) climates, have been disinterred: those of the elephant, and of the rhinoceros, are among them. In the Annalen der Physik, &c. Annals of Natural History, published at Leipsick, by L. G. Gilbert, for November and December, 1817, among other articles is a notice of the fossil bones of elephants and rhinoceros's, found in the territory of Brunswick; and another, of a layer of Mammoth's bones, found fossil, near Canstatt, in the territory of Wirtemburgh. By these repeated discoveries, it may rationally be hoped, that we may at length obtain complete skeletons of this, and of other enor mous quadrupeds, supposed to have disappeared from the face of our globe.

swered by some one who is favoured with access to the treasures of Spanish documents. The prize is fifty ducats.

For 1819 (July) the Society has proposed a prize for the best discovery of a practical and popular method for employing steam, instead of wood, or other combustibles, for the purposes of rural and domestic economy. of adopting it will not be lost on a country Should this idea succeed, the opportunity abounding in coal; as our own island.

ITALY.

Intended rarities for Bibliomaniacs. The Biblomaniac disposition is not with out its partizans in Italy. Alvisopoli at Venice announces a new and elegant edition of Ossian, translated into Italian: the price on white paper to be 5 fr., on sky-blue paper, double price. These sky-blue copies, we presume, are intended to be rarities; and, who knows what a sky blue Ossian may fetch at a public sale a hundred years hence?

Extensive Literary undertaking.

The Typographical Society of Italian Classic Authors, at Milan, have shewn no want of courage, in proposing lately to publish a Collection of the Works of the Italian Classics of the eighteenth century, in one hundred volumes, octavo. The mode that is to say, about two pence per sheet; of valuing this publication is by the piece, and the portraits at about five pence each.

Trevisa, Academy or Atheneum.

Prize Questions proposed. The Royal Society of Sciences at Gottingen had proposed a prize question for a memoir, Among the articles included in the treating on "the State of the Fine Arts in Scientific and Literary Memoirs of the Greece and Syria, after the dominion of Atheneum of Trevisa, tom. I. 1817, is a the Selucidæ, to the third century of the history of this institution, by Giambattista Christian Era." No memoir has been for- Marzari; in which the author attributes warded: in fact, the subject is by no means the foundation of it to Bartolomeo Alviano, easy to treat, since few are the perform who organizea the Accademia Liviana, ances of art, in those countries, which have about the year 1500. But, others insist come down to us (especially in Syria) în a that it was previously founded at Pordestate to warrant a judgment on their merits; none, or at Noale, and that it was removed, and nothing can be more uncertain than after the death of Alviano, to Pordenone, the descriptions of writers. It is, never- and finally to Trevisa. Subsequently, this theless, to be wished, that some informa-institution continued to subsist under diffetion on the subject were obtained; as M. Seroux d'Agincourt's work on antiquities of the kind alluded to, does not, properly, begin till the fourth century, and does not include Greece or Syria.

The Society has proposed for the year 1820, a subject, that probably will fare little better than the former:-To give a critical and comparative view of the ancient monuments of all kinds, hitherto discovered in America, with those of Asia, Egypt, and the eastern parts of the globe. The extent of reading demanded by this question, is very great: It can only be an

rent names, until its entire re organization in 1810; on which occasion it took the name of Atheueum. Sig. Marzari annexes the rules of the establishment, and a view of the labours of its members. The first memoir relates the cession of the city of Trevisa to the Venetian government.-The second describes the agriculture of the district-The third treats on the liberty granted to Italian elocution by the memhers of the academy della Crusca: this is by Francesco Amalteo; who complains, not without reason, of the authority as sumed by a company of Academicians over

the language of a whole people: he shews Among the works on the Belles Lettres that many members of that Academy, itself, are several grammars and vocabularies: as were in absolute opposition to its determi-a Tuscan Grammar, explained in the Arme. nations; and maintained that authorized nian and Turkish languages, by Father usage is the only efficient director of living Avedichian. An Italian Dictionary, exlanguages. plained in the Armenian and Turkish languages, by Father Ciacciak. An Armenian and French Dictionary, by Father Pasquali Aucher.

p.

Armenian College, and Works. We mentioned in a late number 786, that a work of some consequence was about to be executed by a learned Armenian, M. Zohrab, in association with the well-known Angelo Maio: as the literary resources and establishments of the Armeniaus are very little known, it may be agreeable to our readers to insert some information respecting the Armenian College of the Mechitarists of St. Lawrence at Venice. It will be recollected, that the Armenians are a people very much scattered throughout the east, as merchants and agents; they maintain a considerable traffic in all parts, with much intelligence and intercourse among

themselves and their connexious.

It

The College of Armenian monks of the Congregation of St. Ann, was founded by the Abbot Mechitar, probably about the beginning of the eighteenth century. comprises, among other means of learning, a printing office, which, since the year 1721, has published many original works in the Armenian language, or works translated from the Latin into the Armenian:

among which not a few were productions of the Abbot Mechitar himself; and of other learned and distinguished Armenians. It may also be remarked, that some of these were executed in the learned language of their nation; others in the common, or vulgar dialect.

It might be expected, in an institution of monks, that theology, whether dogmatic or polemic, would form a principal object of their attention: accordingly, the major part of these works has reference to the opinions of the Armenian Church, to the explication of the Gospels, and other commentaries: a second branch includes works

of piety and devotion, rules of rigid life and manners, &c.; and a third class comprehends works of instruction and erudition; history, sacred and profane; the sciences, philology, the belles lettres, &c.

The works on Theology, might, perhaps, afford to those who could study them, new, and possibly correct, views of certain things in Scripture, which are best understood on the spot, as the Armenians have the opportunity, if they have also the disposition, to become acquainted with many places, and many people. Those works which are of a more ascetic cast, would possess little attraction among our countrymen.

The works on Instruction present elementary treatises on arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, navigation, geography, philoUniversal History in Armenian, from the sophy, and history, Among the latter is a creation to the eighteenth century, by Father Michael Ciarmician, in 3 vols. 4to. published from 1784 to 1786. History, by Father Giovanni Zorab, was published in 1803.

A Sacred

Since 1785, have been published, among other works, the History of the Air Bal loon, by Father Eudasian. 1785.-The History of Thamas Kuli Khan, in Turkish, 1800.-Elements of Miniature Painting, &c.

Au Armenian Almanack is published every year, with notices, by Father Luca Ingigin.--The Telescopo Byzantino, which is a kind of political gazette or journal, appears in one sheet, every fortnight, under the conduct of Father Matthia Piusghiulgian. As many Armenians are settled in Persia, and sonte among our stations in India, there can be no doubt, but what a gazette of this description has its influence and its use, in conveying intelligence, &c. &c.

The same Congregation has also published Maps of the Four parts of the World,-hemispheres, &c. Also, separate maps of Armenia, of Palestine, of the Black

Sea, of the Sea of Marmora, the Strait of Constantinople, and of the Ottoman Empire.

Many other works are preparing for press; and it may be hoped, that the learning and liberality of Europe will have its effect on this institution; that a judicious selection of works will be made, and that the labours of the learned editors, and of their press, will continue to do honour to letters and to themselves for ages to come.

Any person wishing further information may obtain it of Messrs. Treuttel and Wurtz, at London.

PRUSSIA.

Novel founded on Deliverance from Slavery at Algiers.

We are somewhat surprised at the remissuess of our ingenious novelists, who deal in stories "founded ou fact;" how could they suffer so favourable an opportunity as the delivery of a number of Christian slaves from the dungeons of Algiers, to

the Improvement and Encouragement of Female Servants; by Annual and other Rewards. Instituted 1813.

This Report states that the Committee have distributed in the course of the last year seventy-six BIBLES, and two large

pass unappropriated? Among so many hundreds some might have furnished adventures of no common interest; and either the captivity itself-or the engagements of heart and conscience previous to captivity -or the recollections (on either side, or on both sides on both sides, is preferable) dur-Testaments, to seventy-eight Servants, who ing the captivity;-the release, with its unexpected means; and the return, equally unexpected, from captivity, would have in sured at once novelty and pathos. The palm is wrested from our own writers by a Prussian! At Berlin has appeared Theodore Quitte, or the History of a Slave at Algiers, delivered by Lord Exmouth. By Julius de Voss. 2 vols. 8vo. 1818. This is another tribute to British valour and magnanimity.

Artificial Noses, organically replaced. Our readers may remember an account from India of a method of restoring the form, at least, of a nose to a face that had been deprived of its natural organ. A portrait of a person who had undergone the operation was published, and is still on sale. The method employed in that operation was, by taking from the forehead a part of its skin, and converting it into an artificial nose; it took root under proper management, and greatly diminished the deformity. Whether the same method is employed by a Dr. C. F. Graefe, who has lately published on the subject, we do not know. His work is entitled Rhinoplastik, &c. Rhinoplastica, or the Art of replacing in au organic manner, the loss of the Nose; illustrated by experience, and perfected by new methods. It forms one volume in quarto, with six plates in folio. Berlin, 1818. The despots of India deprive their unhappy victims of this part of the "human face divine," as a punishment-a brutal punishment! there are other causes which in Europe produce the same disfigurement: they too are punishments, not for crimes, but for vices; not inflicted by tyrants, but by the sufferer on himself: we do not say, therefore they deserve no alleviation; and if an improvement in appearance, only, be produced by Rhinoplasties, they may merit the attention of Physicians and patients.

HINTS, PLANS, and PROCEEDINGS

OF

Benevolence.

Homo sum:
Humanum nihil a me alienum puto.

had each previously completed a year's service after her NOMINATION at the registry by the Subscriber with whom she lived. In this way 229 Bibles and large Testaments have been given since, the commencement of the Society. The Committee hope by this distribution of Bibles, that a disposition to learn the will of God has been excited, where it did not previously exist; and where it did, it is presumed, that the books of Holy Scripture, received under such circumstances, will be read by Servants with especial gratitude to Godto their employers-and to the Society.

At the latter part of the last year thirteen thousand copies of the Society's Tract, called "FRIENDLY HINTS TO FEMALE SERVANTS," had been printed by the Society. Part of these were sold to the public, and the rest gratuitously disposed of to applicants at the Registry. A FOURTH edition of this tract has been lately printed by the Committee, consisting of four thousand copies. And a fifth has since been struck off at the request of a society lately instituted at Bath, for the Improvement and Eucouragement of Servants. In order that these FRIENDLY HINTS may be implanted in the memory, so as daily and hourly to direct the conduct; at the conclusion of them it is recommended, that they be frequently read over in the intervals of the Sabbath; and it is hoped, they may, by the blessing of God, instruct, correct, reprove, and warn.

A short summary of these HINTS, entitled, "MAXIMS OF PRUDENCE," continue to be distributed in various forms, and in very considerable quantities. These have been reprinted in large numbers, by several individuals in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Bath, and Deal. A private individual bas, from time to time, given for distribution to Servants only, through the medium of the Society's Registry, nearly seven thousand religious and moral tracts. The Committee of the St. Swithin's Associ| ation have also made a donation of three hundred tracts for the same benevolent purpose.

By these means a sort of summary of the precepts and principles of the Holy Scripture, as far as relates to the tempers, and demeanor, and moral safety of domestics, has been furnished, in the whole, since Fifth Report of the London Society, for the establishment of the Society, to per

haps twenty thousand servants, and it is These, she regretted, she had not so muck hoped, that these endeavors, though si-valued, or made so good a use of, as she

lently, are successfully operating in promoting discretion, usefulness, and piety. The subject next to be adverted to is that of the REGISTRY-a branch of the Society's labours for the mutual accommo dation of Subscribers and of Servants. That this part of its endeavours has already been the occasion of much real good to very many, the Committee have sufficient proof. And from the increasing preponderance of the good, they anticipate, that, as the benevolent views of the Society to improve the morals of Servants, AND THEREBY to promote their happiness, become more generally known; and as selfish considerations are put more out of the question, the Subscribers to the Institution will be both numerous and select.

On the rapidly increasing prospect of of these desiderata, the Committee look with peculiar pleasure; especially as these things are necessary to make the most favourable impression on the minds of truly virtuous and worthy servants, and to inspire with confidence a competent number of such in their application to the Society's Registry, who would dread to commit themselves to the references of an ordinary Register Office. To be merely the managers of an office for hiring servants on the dry calculation of the exclusive benefit of selection, and separate from an especial endeavour really to befriend and protect the Servants who resort to it, the Committee would feel themselves acting but a very unworthy part.

Through the medium of the Registry much becomes known that is highly satis factory. One subordinate use of it is, that it enables the Committee to communicate correct information on topics relative to female service, through the medium of their Annual Reports, which it is judged may not be without interest to the Subscribers at large.

Two young women nominated at the Society's Registry, it has come within the knowledge of the Committee, have lately left this transitory, and to them, this dangerous world! One of them departed this life at the age of 25, in consequence of a disease of the spine, occasioned by a sudden exertion to please the children of whom she had the care. This Servant had received a Bible, and the first pecuniary reward. Only two or three days before her death, she expressed her gratitude for the existence of our Society, as she had been blessed by its means with two very kind mistresses-a Bible-some religious tracts -and opportunities to hear God's word,

ought to have done-a confession, that those who judge themselves by the word of God, will always feel but too much oc casion to make. Through the kindness of the mistress, whom she last served, she was well cared for, 'till it pleased God to remove her spirit, we hope to the heavenly world. The Committce had voted some little pecuniary assistance to alleviate, as it was expected, a lingering illness; but death made so rapid a progress, as to supercede the necessity of its appropriation.

The other instauce of the brevity of human life, is that of a respectable young woman, who obtained a situation through the Society's means. As she had not been before in service, her application was instantly rejected by several ladies to whom, as a very deserving person, she was sent; and her spirits became almost broken, by an anxious solicitude of six weeks' attendance at the Registry. At length it pleased God to induce a benevolent subscriber to take her into her service, by which she found not only a home, but a friend. Her faithful services were considered, as an ample requital for the many kindnesses, which the servant on her part gratefully acknowledged she had received.

In this mutual goodwill the very max. imum of the Society's design became realized. In this family she bad very regular opportunities of attending public worship, and the benefit of much Christian advice and example. It pleased the Divine Disposer, that she should become the subject of a fatal pulmonary disease; and her im mortal spirit was transferred at the age of twenty-one to where "wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary rest."

And here the Committee would suggest with deference, and for the benefit of those Subscribers, whose residence is at a considerable distance from the Registry, the propriety of the most explicit and detailed account being sent of the sort of Servants they may want, and the age, or other occasionally-occurring circumstances, against which they should see right absolutely to object. In two instances, in the case of the young woman last referred to, and whose appearance is said to have been rather prepossessing, she had walked in the winter of 1816 to a distance of three, and on another day, of four miles, in snow and rain, returned wet and weary to the registry, complaining that through the unkindness of the Servants, (as the Committee suppose) she had no opportunity offered her, even to sit down, from her leaving the office to her return; and she was better disposed