"It may, perhaps be said," says M. Thurot, "that France is infinitely more opulent in original productions of supereminent merit, than Germany, and then asked, what we would gain, since our native literature is already superior to that of the rest of Europe, by giving greater activity at home to the culture of the ancient languages and of erudition."

"To this objection, we may answer, that it is not for those who are endowed by nature with a happy genius or extraordinary talents, that a general system of public instruction is principally necessary, but for the bulk of the individuals to whom it is to be applied. The former, either by the impetus of their own nature, or the particular interest which they inspire, will always find the means of developing the rare faculties with which they are blessed, while the crowd of ordinary minds will languish in ignorance, for want of systematic aid, and means of instruction both numerous and extensive. The literary chefs-d'œuvre which constitute the glory of a nation, are not, therefore, in themselves, a proof of the superiority of her public instruction, or her knowledge. And, as it is not the class of superior artists, those who are able to give the highest degree of finish and perfection to the products of their industry, that contribute to the wealth of a state, but rather, the body of manufacturing establishments in which a sensible superiority is given to articles of common consumption, over those of the same sort manufactured by rival nations, thus likewise, it is not the works of a certain number of geniuses of the first order, which entitle a people to claim pre-eminence over their neighbours in point of general and extensive knowledge, but, chiefly and properly, the plurality of schools where the elements of sound literature, and of the sciences, are taught by able professors, and after the most approved methods. Doubtless it must be superfluous to insist further on these obvious truths. Moreover, in the age in which we live, it cannot, I imagine, be necessary to demonstrate by any long process of reasoning, to sensible and candid men, that every benefit is to be expected, and no inconvenience whatever to be apprehended, from the diffusion among the mass of the citizens of a great empire, of the greatest possible quantum of light and learning."

At the conclusion of his survey of the progress of philology, M. Visconti points out certain means of reviving and sustaining "good studies," (les bonnes etudes) throughout "the great empire." Among these means are the publication of new and cheap editions of the ancients, the establishment of professorships liberally endowed, in the great cities, &c. He recom

mends likewise the encouragement of literary travels, and the association of learned men to the foreign embassies of France. These last are points that merit the attention of our own government, which hitherto seems to have overlooked altogether the important objects, of giving eclat to the country, and of making their legations popular abroad, by attaching to them men of an inquisitive character and of liberal studies.-The remarks of M. Visconti may furnish some useful hints.

"Literary travels performed by young philologists who had given proofs of their learning, and whose object it should be, to visit the principal libraries of Europe and the East, to examine the Greek and Latin works printed and manuscript, and the neglected port folios of a great number of men of letters, in order to collect the literary and historical anecdotes which might be scattered through them, would be an excellent means of reanimating in France the study of ancient literature, and of history. There can be no doubt but that travels for the purpose of discovering monuments and inscriptions, such as those of the English savans, Chandler and Stuart, undertaken at the expense of a private society, would be productive of great benefits to historical erudition, as well as to philology and criticism, which are, as it were, the interpreters of history."

"A state will never want for able men in any department of human knowledge, if those men are sure of being employed in useful and honourable offices."

"Men distinguished for their erudition and their historical acquirements, might be called to serve in the diplomatic career. It would not be without advantage if there were uniformly attached to each legation of an enlightened and powerful people, some individual well versed in the history and antiquities, and capable of appreciating the literature, of the country to which the legation might be destined. This would be an additional means of conciliating foreign nations."

The second section of the report is devoted to " antiquities," a subject which can be but of little interest for our readers. We shall therefore merely remark on this section, that it is much too long for its relative importance, and filled up almost exclusively with the history of the French antiquarian labours. The next treats of the literature and languages of the East, and is the work of M. Silvestre de Sacy, who is at the head of the French orientalists. The writer has made the most of the achievements of his countrymen in this important study, but is at the same time compelled to acknowledge,-reluctantly enough however, and with as many grains of allowance

as possible, the superior value of the labours of the British in several branches;-in biblical literature, comprising the Hebrew, the Syriac, the Chaldaic, &c., and in the Persian, Sanscrit, and Indian or Hindu languages generally.

M. de Sacy claims, as may be seen in an extract which we have already made from this part of the Report, Chinese literature as the peculiar domain of the French savans. He states also, with what truth we are not competent precisely to determine, that France can boast of having done as much for Arabian literature, since the year 1789, as all the rest of Europe put together. It has been admitted without hesitation in England and elsewhere, that the most important elucidations of Chinese literature, existing at the period at which M. de Sacy wrote, were due to France; but we are inclined to doubt whether even in this way, she has given any thing to the world, as valuable as two English works recently published, the translation of the Ta Tsingleu Lee, or Penal Code of China, by Sir George Staunton, and Marshman's Dissertation on the Chinese language. With respect to the character and institutions, social and political, of the Chinese, their customs, &c. the history of lord Macartney's Embassy, by Staunton, and the Travels of Homes and Barrow have yielded a new and abundant stock of information. The superficial account of M. de Guignes the younger, published in 1809, under the title of Voyages à Peking, Manille, &c. can bear no comparison with these.

We regret that our limits do not allow us to lay before our readers, an abstract of the interesting narrative which M. de Sacy gives, of his own labours and of those of some of his countrymen in Arabian literature. We must be content with referring the curious to the Report itself.-In the course of his statement he mentions an instance of literary imposition of too singular a nature to be passed over in silence, and which even surpasses in hardihood, the celebrated frauds of Ireland and Chatterton. "The Canon Gregorio of Palermo," says M. de Sacy, "published in that city about the year 1792, in the Arabic and Latin, a compilation of whatever was to be found in the Arabian writers concerning the history of Sicily, with an explanation of the inscriptions which embellish several monuments constructed by the Arabs, during their residence in that island. The success which attended the work of Gregorio, having augmented the desire of the learned to draw from the Arabian writers, further détails concerning the history of Sicily, from the time the island fell into the power of the Arabs of Africa, until it was conquered

by the Norman kings, an individual of an enterprising character, but not possessed in a sufficient degree, of the knowledge necessary for the execution of his arduous plan, conceived the project of supplying the deficiency of authentic materials, by fabricating a very copious correspondence between the governors of Sicily, and the Arabian monarchs of Africa, on whom they depended. The scheme succeeded beyond all probability. The author of it, the Abbé Vella, whose knowledge of the Arabian extended no further, than the ability to speak the Maltese idiom, published at first in Italian only, with the aid of the government of the two Sicilies, six volumes in quarto, under the title Codice Diplomatico de Sicilia, and afterwards a volume in folio, under the title of Libro del Consiglio d'Egitto. He did not however mean to stop there; but was printing a second volume at the expense of the Sicilian government, when suspicions conceived and suggested by some of the learned, reached the ears of the king. Mr. Hager who was then at Naples, was commissioned to inquire into the affair, and his report having opened the eyes of the government, the impostor received the reward which he merited."

We shall now pass to the section of history, which opens a wider field for remark and reprehension than any of the rest, and merits a much more ample discussion than our limits will admit.-It is written in a spirit of the grossest egotism, and of the most servile partiality, claiming for the historians of France a monopoly of excellence, and censuring indiscriminately, in such of them as have written since the revolution, whatever is adverse to the genius or supposed preferences of the present government. The authors unmindful of the ostensible scope of the Report, which promises only a survey of the progress of history, since the year 1789, dedicate several pages to a chronological enumeration of the historians of France from the earliest period, accompanied by a suitable panegyric on each, in order to show that France retained at all times "the palm of history."

We have already spoken of the invidious comparison instituted in this section, between their own and the English historians. It may not be without interest for our readers to have before them, the list of those whom they oppose so confidently to the Humes, the Robertsons, the Gibbons, the Clarendons, the Middletons, the Henrys, and the Fergusons. In enumerating their worthies, the Institute are compelled to acknowledge defects in some of them, which, together with others of a more serious nature not suggested, have in fact degraded their works

to a secondary rank, in the estimation of all impartial critics both at home and abroad.

"It was in the eighteenth century," says the Report, "that history was most assiduously cultivated in France, and that our writers distinguished themselves most conspicuously in this department. They have, in general, attracted their readers, by the merit of style, and have displayed more respect for truth, than the majority of their predecessors. We may cite from the number,-without speaking of Montesquieu* and Voltaire, who enjoy so much celebrity for their success in other departments of writing;-Pere Daniel, so estimable under many points of view, notwithstanding the censures which have been so deservedly pronounced upon him;-Velly and his continuators who have excelled Pere Daniel, principally because they were not Jesuits, and because they enjoyed assistance of which he was deprived;-the judicious Abbé Fleury whose work the king of Prussia, Frederick II. did not himself disdain to abridge;-Rapin de Thoiras who made Europe acquainted with the history of England, when the English had no historians of their own;-Pere du Halde, the historian of the Chinese, who is accused, perhaps without reason, of having flattered them;-Rollin, a good writer, but rather, too diffuse, and who is sometimes deficient in discrimination; -Dubos and Mably, who took such opposite views of the first ages of the French monarchy;-the Abbe de la Bléterie, who is guilty of some little affectation in his style, and le Beau, who is rather turgid;-de Guignes, who, in his history of the Huns, the fruit of immense labour, has comprised in great part, that of the East and the West;-Raynal, who has spoiled his work by unseasonable beauties, by rash conceptions, and by an almost continual affectation of philosophy;-Désormeaux, more to be commended for his "Abridgment of the History of Spain," than for his history of the House of Bourbon, in which all the princes of that house are metamorphosed into great men;-Mallet de Geneve, the author of a good history of Denmark, preceded by a very useful introduction concerning the history of the ancient people of the North, and particularly the Francs;-Hénault, Pfeffel, Don Clément, historical chronologists;-the Abbé de Condillac, whose "Cours d'Histoire," is so rich in thought;-the Abbé Millot, who succeeded so happily in the art of abridging; and others besides,

• We know not upon what ground it is that Montesquieu can be classed among the historians. As well might the same title be given to Adam Smith or to Warburton.

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