The gratitude of M. de Talleyrand for the great and serviceable attentions which he had received in the United States, did not operate sufficiently to induce him to further Mr. Trumbull's interests when he required a passport to leave Paris; and finding it impossible to succeed without powerful assistance, he endeavoured to recollect all the persons whom he had formerly known, in order to find some one among them who might lend his aid in this emergency.

"The name of David flashed upon my mind. His intimate connexion with Robespierre in the most horrid period of the Revolution, had hitherto deterred me from making any attempt to renew my former acquaintance with him; but now my situation appeared to be desperate, and he the only person of my acquaintance in France from whom I could flatter myself with any hope of assistance. I therefore went to his apartments in the Louvre, found him at home, was instantly recognised and very cordially received, although many years had elapsed since we had met. He immediately inquired about my picture of Bunker's Hill, M. Müller, and the engraving. I told him I had been at Stutgard, that the plate was finished to my entire satisfaction, that I had both plate and painting with me, and was on my way to London for the purpose of printing and publication; but found very unexpected difficulty in obtaining a passport to proceed, and asked him if he knew the Minister of Police, and could give me any assistance. He replied that he did not know the present minister; 'but I know his secretary, and that may do as well. Go to your hotel, my friend, get the picture, and return with it. In the mean time I will change my dress, and go with you to the police, et nous verrons : ce tableau là vaut bien des passeports.'

"I did so, returned, and he entered the carriage with me. In our short drive the conversation turned, naturally, upon the strange events which had occurred in Paris since our first acquaintance. 'True,' said he, much blood has been shed; but it would have been well for the republic if 500,000 more heads had passed under the guillotine.' I shuddered; and this, thought I, is the only man on earth to whom I can now look for assistance in a case, which involves the question of imprisonment or death.

"We arrived at the police; and, anxious as I was, I could not but be struck with the ludicrous effect produced upon the crowd of clerks, to whom by this time I was well known, when they saw me again enter, the bon citoyen David leaning familiarly upon my arm: he had broken the tendo Achillis, and was lame of one leg.

"He asked, in the tone of a master, for the secretary's room; we were shown in, and he immediately entered upon my cause. 'I have known Mr. Trumbull these ten years: I know him to be an American, and opposed to the English in their war. Je vous en réponds, il est bon révolutionaire tout comme nous autres,'—horrid encomium from such lips. Il est grand artiste, et on fait mal de le retenir

dans ses occupations actuellement paisibles des arts.' This plea from the Sieur David was irresistible; the secretary looked at the painting-admired it; regretted that my character had been so misrepresented and misunderstood.-I should have a passport immediately. But, sir, I must present you to the minister; he will be pleased to be undeceived,-to see you and your picture.'

6

"We were shown into the minister's room, and presented to him. The same eulogy from David, the same approbation of the painting, and an immediate order for the passport; the minister adding, with a most courteous smile, 'I am half disposed, however, to use the power which I possess, and to retain in the service of the republic an artist of so much talent.' The passport was immediately prepared, and I left the office of police in triumph; returned the most sincere thanks to my friend David, took leave of him and his family, ordered post-horses, and was instantly upon the road for London.

"Here let me pause a moment upon the character of the man from whom I had just received such an inestimable service. David was naturally a kind and warm-hearted man, but ardent, sometimes even violent in his feelings; an enthusiastic admirer of the Roman republic; and, of all the illustrious characters of Rome, he most admired the elder Brutus, who had sacrificed his two sons for the good of his country. He had painted a fine picture of this subject, and had wrought up his own feelings to the belief, that all which was otherwise dear must be sacrificed to our country. When the Revolution commenced in France he took the popular side, devoted all the energy of his character to the establishment of a republic, (that favourite phantom of the age,) and had brought himself to the full belief that, the blood of individuals was of no more value than water, in comparison with the success of his favourite theory. This gave to his public life the imprint of a ferocious monster, while, as a private individual, his primitive character of kindliness resumed its sway. No man could be more kind and amiable in his family; no man could have taken a deeper or more ardent interest in the dangers of another than he had in mine, although not otherwise connected with me than as an acquaintance and a brother-artist." (pp. 227–9.)

Notwithstanding the panegyric of Mr. Trumbull, however, we still hold David to have been a brutal, sanguinary, and reckless ruffian, who cared not where the blow fell, so that it were not upon him or his; and we take leave to doubt whether, had his "brother-artist" been a loyalist instead of a rebel, he would have exerted the slightest influence to assist him. It is needless to say that, under such protection, Mr. Trumbull met with no further obstacle, but quietly pursued his way to England. In May 1840, the commission of which he was a member finally closed, and with it Mr. Trumbull's political career. In the April of the same year he embarked for New York, and endeavoured to establish himself as an artist at Boston, but found the ground already

occupied; and returned to the capital where he procured immediate employment. Nevertheless, for some unexplained reason, he again returned to England in 1808, and exercised his profession in London with considerable success, although it was not sufficiently decided to enable him to compete with the attendant expenses; and he had just resolved to give up the struggle and return home definitively, when the United States declared war against Great Britain, and all mutual intercourse was at an end. On the restoration of peace, he carried his intention into effect; and from that period until the year 1841, in which his biography closes, he steadily pursued his art, constantly employed by the government in adorning the capitol, and securing to himself the honourable distinction of being the great historical painter of his country. One incident alone paralysed for a time his honourable industry, and thus he feelingly makes allusion to it:

"The last picture, 'Resignation of General Washington,' was scarcely finished in April 1824, when I had the misfortune to lose my wife, who had been the faithful and beloved companion of all the vicissitudes of twenty-four years. She was the perfect impersonification of truth and sincerity, wise to counsel, kind to console; by far the more important and moral half of me, and withal beautiful beyond the usual beauty of women!" (p. 276.)

Pecuniary embarrassments had long harassed the mind and spirits of Mr. Trumbull; and, after his paintings were placed in the capitol, he tells us :

"My debts were paid, but I had the world before me to begin anew. I had passed the term of threescore years and ten, the allotted period of human life. My best friend was removed from me, and I had no child. A sense of loneliness began to creep over my mind, yet my hand was steady, and my sight good; and I felt the vis vitæ strong within me." (p. 287.)

Mr. Trumbull's final arrangement was to make over, by contract, to Yale College in New Haven, all his paintings still unsold, and to receive in return a life-annuity; to which he annexed the condition, that after his decease the proceeds of the exhibition should be for ever applied in aid of the education of the indigent students of that college. A handsome fire-proof building was erected for their reception; and the Trumbull Gallery is now the distinguishing feature of the Institution. Interesting to strangers from its intrinsic merits, it is no less useful to students, both as a model for imitation and an incentive to exertion; the source of subsistence to struggling talent, and the memorial of its founder's benevolent sympathy in the trials and difficulties of others.

VOL. VIII.NO. II.

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ART. X.-The Occult Sciences. The Philosophy of Magic, Prodigies, and apparent Miracles. From the French of Eusèbe Salverte with Notes, illustrative, explanatory, and critical. By Anthony Todd Thompson, M.D., F.L.S. In 2 vols. Bentley: London, 1846.

THE work from which the above translation has been made, though published long since, has been known only to a few of the literary world. The present form is far more valuable than the original, from much objectionable matter having been removed, and from the philosophical knowledge of the well-known translator, which he has thrown into notices as exact, as judicious. Eusèbe Salverte was born in Paris in 1771. His father held a high situation in the Finance department, and destined his son for the profession of the law. Salverte, after a brilliant career of study, became an "avocat du roi." Unhappily for him (for we cannot share in the revolutionary sentiments of even M. Arago), the French revolution led him away by its meteor light from the proper path of his legal duties. He however soon became disgusted with the glories of the empire, and devoted himself to studies in languages, science, and political economy, during the whole course of its garish splendour. In 1828, however, he had the honour of representing one of the electoral districts of Paris, in the Chamber of Deputies. For eleven years he continued in the honourable discharge of his legislative functions. After the three "immortal" days, (we use the language of M. Arago,) which were the death of the elder branch of the Bourbon dynasty, Salverte refused the office of Director-general of the Posts. At a later period he was tendered a ministerial appointment, but he coupled his acceptance of it with conditions so stringent and liberal, that it was almost necessarily refused. To him, however, the public are indebted to a great extent for the suppression of those dens of infamy, the gaming-houses of Paris, a moral trophy of no mean value. Such was the career of this child of science, exhibiting, like that of many of our scientific men, a singular combination of liberalism and science. The learned editor of the work has of course had to deal with some of the errors of the period in which Salverte wrote, and has very properly expunged them from the present work. This is candidly stated at the commencement of the book, in the following words :—

"For the above reasons, in undertaking the task of editing these volumes, I have felt it my duty to expunge from their pages every pas

sage referring to the Sacred Volume; and, at the same time, to change somewhat the title of the work, by substituting the words "apparent miracles,' for the word 'miracles.' This has not been done without due consideration, and from a conviction that the author had no correct idea of miracles, and consequently could not be supposed to regard those of the Bible as objects of belief. I consider it necessary, however, after this assertion, to lay before the reader my own opinions of the distinction between real and apparent miracles. But before doing so, I must disown my belief in an opinion often put forth, that the indulgence of a certain degree of scepticism tends to improve argumentative acuteness; on the contrary, in clouding with a doubtful light both truth and error, it creates a tendency to make error as worthy of assent as truth." (p. xvii.)

The editor next, and most justly, defines a real miracle to be a new and extraordinary circumstance added to the course of events, certainly no violation of the laws of nature, but Deity operating on the usual phenomena of the universe. He then indicates the Deluge as illustrative of his opinion, and confutes the absurd theories of Burnet and Whiston. The latter, however confirmed by the singular Egyptian analogy, which expresses Comet, Deluge, and Evil Spirit by the word Typhon, is satisfactorily refuted from two out of three principles adduced by our author, for to the second we somewhat demur. 1st. That the axis of the earth has undergone no change. 2dly. The present state of geological deposits. 3dly. The united authority of La Grange and La Place, confirming the conjecture of Newton, that though great irregularities may occur in the action of one planet on another, yet they are counterbalanced by the period of every planet's revolution and its mean distance from the sun being unassailable by change. After a very clear distinction between the supernatural and the lying frauds of Romish superstition, dealing in passing some powerful blows on mesmerism, he proceeds to investigate the second sight, and such physical phenomena as have been artfully applied by impostors to give themselves a miraculous authority. We shall for the present pass the editor's remarks on these points, and proceed to the body of the work of Salverte himself, who deals in the first instance with the prodigies recorded in antiquity. Justly does he class the marvellous as the portion of the ignorant. We candidly own, however, we agree with neither Salverte nor his editor, in rejecting Dion Cassius's account of a shower of quicksilver. Dr. Thompson meets the question by the fact, that the condensation of mercury in the atmosphere, which must have been absorbed in vapour, is a matter of utter impossibility. We have seen with our own eyes such extraordinary showers, as to make us pause at rejecting this. The sheet iron