142 Mon Voyage en Espagne, par M. Le Marquis de Langle. Lui qui devroit fans ceffe adorer la Fortune, Qui, contre tout espoir, lui fit en trouver une ! Pour fuivre un vain caprice, & fans honte infulter After the account of the plot and characters already given, it is almost needless to add, that, to the great fatisfaction of Xantippe, Euclid is difcovered to be a man, and that Alcibiades and Myrto are reconciled: A marriage is the neccflary confe quence, and the play concludes with thefe lines, fpoken by Alcibiades. • Devant l'Etre inconnu, mais qui connoit le cœur, Venez que je vous jure un eternel ardeur' We infert them only for the purpose of remarking that the firft line contains a jeu de mots; which, confidering the temper of mind and circumftances of the fpeaker, and that God is the being spoken of, is improper, puerile, and contrary to every principle of good taste. Several manufcript corrections appear in the copy now be fore us; many of the declamatory paffages are expunged, and the play in other refpects much altered, with a view we fuppofe to fit it for the ftage. We have fome idea that it has been acted, but of this we cannot fpeak with any certainty. ART. XIX. Mon Voyage en Espagne par, M. Le Marquis de Langle. 2 tom. Chez. Favre, a Neuchatel. My journey into Spain. THE author of these travels is as eccentric and egarè, as any difciple of the Shandean fchool. But the vivacity of a Frenchman is as different from that of an Englishman, as the climate of Paris from that of London. The intention of the author is not to defcribe the fcenes or paint the manners of Spain, much lefs to confine himfelf within the bounds of truth and nature, but to obtain the character of an homme d'efprit, and to fay brilliant things on all occafions; in which however he very feldom fucceeds. The following obfervation on the English character will appear new as well as amufing to the reader. Having had occafion to remark on that natural though abfurd prejudice in manners, by which children are expofed to fhame for the crimes of their fathers, he thus proceeds: • In In what code of laws is it written, that shame fhall be hereditary, and that the crimes of parents fhall be imputed to their children? fhall we punish the innocent even before they are born? Let us break this odious, this ridiculous compact, which we have made with opinion, and re-establish the unfortunate in the rights of humanity, and in the esteem of the universe. Our neighbours the English have no occafion to blush at this barbarous prejudice. In England, where a Lord Mayor or a Viceroy of England would elpoufe without reluctance the daughter or the niece of Malagrida: In England, where I could fay without a blush "Cartouch is my father, Dr. Dedd is my uncle;" in England, where crimes are perfonal, the fame cart frequently drags to Tyburn a baronet and a butcher, a lord and a scavenger, and next day at the Exchange, at the court or the theatre, they pay compliments of congratulation to the friends and relations of thofe criminals who have been hanged for the good of their country.' The Marquis de Langle fpeaks very freely concerning men of letters. M. de Paw is the firft hiftorian, the greatest political writer, and without exception the most ingenious man of his age. Without exception! Yes, without exception. The admirers of M. Raynal will raife a cry of injuftice against me; but thefe cries will not justify that hiftorian for being diffufe, a plagiary, unfaithful in his narration, partial, unjust, and ill informed; but thefe cries will make nobody forget, that as foon as he approaches to Mount Sinai, to the burningbuth, to the lightnings and the thunder, the Abbe de Raynal feems to come from the prefence of God; the Abbe de Raynal feems to fay with Mofes "Give ear, O heavens, and attend O earth!" and all thofe who liften to him hear nothing but tales, anecdotes, and differtations on fugar and coffee, indigo and tobacco. Plutarch advifes the boasters of his time only to keep company with perfons above them, that their prefence may constrain them to filence, or at leaft to fpeak to the purpole. The receipt of Plutarch is excellent, but will not always fuffice. When Prince Henry paffed through Laufanne, the Abbe de Raynal dined with the prince, whom he interrupted every moment, to fatigue him with idle tales. In vain were figns made for him to hold his tongue; the Abbe faw nothing, and felt nothing; he talked, he talked, he talked.' From these extracts the reader will fee that the Marquis de Langle is a lively and amufing writer. ART. XX. Frederic le Grand; or, precious Anecdotes of the prefent King of Pruffia, and his Friends and Enemies. Amsterdam. THIS collection is intended as a fupplement to Voltaire's Memoirs of the King of Pruffia; and is fuch a fequel to that celebrated work, as night is to day. The most remarkable anecdotes which we find here concerning his Pruffian Majefty are, that the found of his voice is pleafant, efpecially when, he he fwears, which he does as frequently and familiarly as a dra goon; that he fhaves his own beard, and dreffes his own hair; that he neither wears a night-cap nor a night-gown; that he always walks in boots, and that the upper part of his waistcoat is generally covered with fnuff. For the ENGLISH REVIEW. LITER A R Y NE W S. ART. XXI. From the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Petersburgh. THE HE first conception, or view of any defign or object, is that which forms and determines its features and character. Before the times of Peter the Great, the vast domains of the Muscovites were funk in barbarism and floth: The maxims that governed the court, were no other than those that regulate the conduct of an Afiatic defpot, or that of the chief of a Tartar hord: Princes rather nominally than really fubordinate, while they lorded it over their own vaffals with a tyran nic fway, difputed the authority of the crown, in frequent infurrections and rebellions. Thus the vaft Ruffian empire was unwieldy and disjointed; and, as the Roman empire, according to the elegant expreffion of Livy, tottered under its own weight, in an advanced ftate of its existence, fo the Ruffian empire, feebly cemented, and benumbed by ignorance ftill more than the rigour of climate, was inert in its infancy, except when it was roufed by war, infurrection, and fedition. An energetic and controlling mind was wanting to move and regulate the mighty body. The fpirit of the immortal Czar brooded over the incoherent mafs; and, infufing his own great ideas into a well-digested plan for new-moulding and improving his fubjects, merited, more justly than ever mortal did, the appellation of FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY. This prince, in the year 1697, formed a resolution to visit foreign nations; which he fulfilled, attended by a great number of young men, and of noblemen, whom he carried with him as hoftages, or pledges for the tranquillity of his dominions. The Czar himfelf, wherever he came, vifited the princes and their minifters; and fent his moft ingenious young men to the proper places for learning the arts, fciences, language, and manners of different countries. Having returned from his travels, he taught the Ruffians the principles of government; inftructed them in the military difcipline of the moft civilized European nations, and established feminaries for the liberal liberal and useful arts; and by divers laws and inftitutions laid the foundation of an empire, which will one day eclipfe all other governments in the world. The auguft princefs who now fways the Ruffian fceptre, treads with dignity and glory in the fteps of her great predeceffor, and makes it her conftant aim to accomplish the schemes which he defigned. Her efforts to introduce, into her dominions, liberty, with all her train, though far from being fruitless, have yet been refifted with too great fuccefs by the defpotic ideas of the Ruffian princes and nobles. But by the light of literature the advances, though with flow yet fure fteps, to difpel barbarifm, and to prepare her, fubjects for the introduction of such laws as shall nourish, together with freedom, all the arts and bleffings of life. The Imperial Academy of Sciences at Petersburgh, has been diftinguished by feveral illuftrious genuifes, particularly the great Euler, the first geometrician of his age, and producedfeveral curious and important difcoveries in fcience. Subjects, themes, or questions in fcience, are annually given out by this refpectable body, on which the learned and ingenious of all nations are invited to exercise their talents. To the beft difcourfe or effay on each of these fubjects is given a premium of one hundred golden crowns, or Flemish ducats + a mode of reward, which, uniting advantage with honour, is exceedingly well fuited at once to the circumstances and the predominant paffion of moft literary men. While this reward is bestowed on the beft effay on each of the queftions propofed, other effays that have merit are honourably mentioned and diftinguished. The affairs of this academy, under the auspices of CATHERINE II. who is juftly ftiled, THE GREATEST PROTECTRESS OF LITERATURE AND THE ARTS ‡, are conducted by the illuftrious princefs DASCHKAW, a lady of the bedchamber, and adorned with the order of St. Catherine, who acts in the character of principal, or directress of the academy; an appointment which is very proper in a female reign, and which adds, in fome degree, the principle of gallantry to the other incitements, by which the great Czarina promotes the cultivation of science. A member of the imperial academy has communicated to us a publication, written in the Latin language, from which we learn these particulars; it recites the fubject for the prize for the year 1785, and fpecifies the effay that obtained it, with other eflays of great merit; it announces the subject ↑ Aureorum fcutatorum, value each 9s. 3d. ENG. REV. Vol. VI, Feb. 1786, K for for 1786, the current year; together with fome necessary di rections for the candidates. The choice of the fubjects fhews the learning and the genius of the academy, and how perfectly they keep pace with the most advanced progrefs of the fciences. The fubftance of the question for 1785 was, "To invent or lay down an accurate and natural method, that is, a fyftem or claffification of the ftones which form the cruft* of the earth, according to their genera or kinds, their species, and their varieties or differences, in fuch a manner as that not only the fingle ftones, whether in a state of conglomeration or mechanical mixture, that are found either in beds, on plains, or on the mountains, may be more eafily and certainly distinguished from one another, than heretofore by fure criteria, or marks both external and chemical, or internal; and by fixed and appropriated names (care being taken to avoid all unneceffary innovation in language, which tends to confufion); but also in fuch a manner, that their different origins and ages, according as they are produced fooner or later, by the different operations of nature and revolutions of the earth, may be referred to certain claffes; and that notice be alto taken of the particular metals which are moft commonly found in the different rocks and ftones as in their matrix: mineralogical obfervations of undoubted accuracy and credibility, being alfo added for the purpose of juftifying and confirming the divifions or claffes that are made, and other particulars advanced as matters of fact. Of the different differtations which were tranfmitted to the academy on this fubject, one written in the German language, diftinguished by the motto, A vulfa faxis faxa diftinéta, and the number IV. gave the higheft fatisfaction to the judges, and came the neareft to the fcope and drift of the question: Wherefore the academy, affembled on the anniversary of the 27th of December, adjudged the palm of victory to its author, with the appointed premium of one hundred Flemish ducats. On opening the fealed paper, annexed to this differtation, there appeared the name of the author, CHARLES HAIDINGER, of the Imperial Mufeum of Natural Productions at Vienna. The fecond honours, after thofe conferred on this victorious differtation, were decreed to a paper written in the French lan guage, which contained a very complete arrangement or claffification of ftones, both fimple and mixed. This differtation is di ftinguifhed by the number III. and the following fentiments from *The Latin word is very happy, corticem telluris. Claffificationes. Seneca |