ART. 43. Letters written by Henry Haldane, Efq. Captain of the Royal Invalid Engineers, and a Brevet Lieutenant Colonel in His Majefty's Army, to the Right Honourable the Earl of Chatham, K. G. Lieutenant-General in His Majefty's Army, and Mafter General of His Majefty's Ordnance, Sc. Sc. c. 8vo. 76 pp. Is. 6d. Debrett. 1804. Thefe Letters relate entirely to a claim made by the author for brevet promotion; to which he thought his fituation, as an Invalid Officer of Engineers, intitled him. His military fuperior was of a different opinion; and against that decifion Colonel Haldane now makes a public appeal. It is not for us to decide on a queftion of military regulation; but we are perfectly convinced from the character of the Noble Lord here addreffe, that his fentiments on the point in question were not dictated by partiality, prejudice, or other improper motive. ART. 44. A new Compendium of Geography: containing its general Principles, and an Account of all the Countries of the Earth, their Divifions, Tawns, Rivers, Lakes, Moutains, Bays, Straits, Copes, Islands, with an Appendix: confifting of Tables of Latitude and Longitud, Population of Countries, Towns, &c. Intended chiefly for the Use of Schools. By William Scott, Teacher of Elcution and Geography in Edinburgh. Second Edition, greatly enlarged and improved, and illuftrated by a Set of beautiful Maps, incluing the latest Difcoveries. 8vo. 248 pp. Hill, Edinburgh; Cadell and Davies, London. 1804. The first edition of this elementary reatife, by fome means efcaped our notice. Of the second, we can only fay ti at it feems to be well adapted to the ufe of fchools; and that, though the account which it prof fles to give of all the countries of the earth is neceffarily meagre, it ma yer he occafionally ufeful to the gentleman and man of bufinefs who will fometimes find in its tables, what has perhaps escaped their memory. It is therefore a cheap purchase at five fhillings. FRENCH, PUBLISHED HERE. ART. 45. Effai fur le principe de la Suverainete, par un Grand Vi caire. Dulau and Co. Soho-Square. 1804. This work deferves to fix the attention of the public. The author difcovers for himfelt a new path, and proceeds in it, guided by the double light of reafon and of Revelation. He had oblerved the defects of fy items founded on a chimerical state of nature, anterior to the establishment of focieties, where man, independent of all authority, would have been abandoned to himself without any defence against his paffions. He proves that this hypothefis, which has no folid foundation, is confuted by the whole tenor of hiftorical facts, being contrary alike to revealed truth and to the light of reafon. Man, fince his fall, is a being at the fame time fociable and corrupted. His natural natural ftate has then always been that of fociety, governed by an authority proportioned to its wants. God has not permitted him to fall naturally into a state of anarchy, in which his p. ion, should be fub. ject to no controul. It is for want of having attended to this double relation that publicists have reprefented the tate of nature as different from the state of fociety; that they have, as it were, mutilated primitive man, to make io pais through fucceffive ftates, where there is, in reality, no fucceffion. This firit Part deftroys the bafis which had ferved as a fupport to the an i-ocial dogma of the fovereignty of the people. To the eyes of e.cry religious man, the doctrine inculcated here will appear demonstrated, and will even be very striking, if confic red under a relation purely natural, In the fecond Part, the author establishes his theory, and goes back to the origina fources of Sovereignty. Here we obferve that unity of principle, fo defirable in argumentative works, which throws an equal light on all questions belonging to the fame fubject. A first authority, proceeding from God himfelf, the Patriarchal power, governed the world in its infancy. This truth had been perceived, but mifunderstood, by a writer of little judgment; and Locke had attacked it with all the advantage which the bad logic of his adversary had given him. The author does not fuffer himself to be intimidated by the authority, however commanding, of this great philofopher. He refutes his reafonings with equal juftnefs and precifion. He fhows, in a fimple and natural manner, how political governments were organifed in he bofom of the government of nature. Ceafing itself to be fovereign, this first authority, which was the cause of all the reft, ftill remains the depofitary of the most valuable interests of civil fo ciery, and conftantly keeps up, through the advantage of education, that principal of civil life, without which no itate can fupport itself. Still fubfifting, alter the revolutions which change the order of the world, it again undertakes, on the old foundations, the restoration of the edifice which the paffions of men had overturned, and the powers with which it is invefted fhow how a government acquires, by long poffeffion, rights which it could not obtain by force, nor by all that fuccefs with which actions in themselves highly criminal are fometimes attended. In a criticism of this kind, we can only give a very incomplete idea of a work in which the author's regard for method and perfpicuity of ftyle has never made him lofe fight of a due dependence of confequences on their principle; in which the proceffes of nature have been fo clofely followed, that the impartial reader will recognife in it the train of his own thoughts. This work will be found of great utility to all governments, whatever may be their forms. Sanctioning their rights by the feal of divine authority, it preferves to focial man all its dignity, and offers no violence to that liberty which he enjoys in a well-conftituted state. French writers are now beginning to difcover that which has long been known in England. See more particularly Whitaker's Origin of Government, FOREIGN FOREIGN CATALOGUE. FRANCE. ART. 46. Les Métamorphofes d'Ovide, en vers français; par M. de Saint Ange; nouvelle édition, revue et corrigée. 1 Vol. 12mo. of 500 pp. Pr. 3 fr. 75 cent. Paris, 1804. Ovid is fo varied in his ftyle, his defcriptions differ fo much from one another, that to reproduce them, talents are required which rarely fall to the share of one man. Mr. de St. A. however, adapts himself with a fingular flexibility to this variety in his model. For instance, does Ovid borrow the mafculine and energetic touch of Homer? It is likewife found in his interpreter. Read, for example, the paffage where Hercules, ready to offer a facrifice on mount ta, puts on the poifoned cloak. "Ignorant les dangers du tiffo qu'il déploie, 66 Induiturque humeris Lernææ virus Echidna." Could this be better translated than by the two first verses? The two next are likewife a faithful copy of these : "Thura dabat primis et verba precantia flammis Another example of the heroic kind may be taken from the fame fable: "At tu Jovis inclyta proles, Arboribus cæfis, quas ardua gefferat Ete, Inque pyram ftrutis, arcus, pharetramque capacem, Ferre jubes Pacante fatum: quo flamma miniftro Subdita. Dumque avidis comprenditur ignibus agger, Sternis; et imposîtâ clavæ cervice, recumbis, Haud alio vultu quam fi conviva jaceres Inter plena meri redimitus pocula fertis. "Toi, fils de Jupiter, ton grand destin s'achève. Et ces traits qu' Ilion devait craindre deux fois. Qui la voit, la méprife, et la fouffre en repos." Does Ovid exprefs the complaints and regrets of love? The French verfe appears to figh and complain. Cephalus thus describes the laft moments of his beloved Procris: We "Elle dit, et je vois, trop tard pour mon malheur, Avec moins de regrets dans mes bras elle expire.” may likewife cite this paffage from the Letter by Biblis to her brother: "Je fuis vaincue: hélas! Mon deftin l'a voulu. Il dépend de toi feul; fois mon juge abfolu. Choifis, et que ta haine ou ta pitié décid. Songe au moins avant tout; fonge au moins qui je fuis. Es-tu mon ennemi quand je fuis ton amante?" When Ovid plays upon words, his tranflator fometimes disguises the faults of his model, as in the following paffage, taken from the fable of Narciffus, when he speaks to his own image: "Ifte ego fum, fenfi; nec me mea fallit imago: Uror amore mei; flammas moveoque feroque. Quid faciam? Roger, anne rogem? Quid deinde rogabo? "Ah! trop tard je le voi, Je fuis, je fuis celui que je retrouve en toi: Qui Qui fuis je? Que ferai-je, et que dois je efpérer? Que demander? Je fuis le bien que je demande. . . . ART. 47. Science de l'Hiftoire, contenant le fyfième général des connoiffances à acquerir avant d'étudier l'hiftoire, et la méthode à furore quand on fe livre à ce genre d'étude, développé par tableaux fynoptiques; par P. N. Chantreau, profur d'histoire près l'école spéciale militaire, établie à Fontainebleau, membre de plufieurs focié és littéraires, traducteur et continuateur des Tables chronologiques de John Blair; dedié au premier de conjul de la république francafe. Partie notion naire. Tome Ier. Chronologie, 1. 4to. of 600 pp. Pr. 31 fr. papier vélin, 72 fr. Paris. According to the plan which the author has laid down for himself, it is eafy to fee that he will have given to this ftudy all the extent of which it is fufceptible, when he fhall have completed this interefting production. Mr. Ch. divides the ftudy of history into what he calls the notionary, and the methodical parts. The former is to contain a Courfe of Chronology, of Geography, and of Civil Organisation. In this first volume, we are prefented with the Courfe of Chronology, which is itself fubdivided into four parts: 1°. that which the author calls mathematical, giving an account of the divifion of time for different ufes, as well civil as religious, among different people; 2°. that denominated documentary, which comes in fupport of the facts; 3°. the comparative part, fhowing the relations which the eras of different nations have to each other; 4°. laftly, the Chronology of facts, comprising the principal events of history, both ancient and modern. This laft part, without doubt the most interesting of all, begins with the known origin of the world, and ends with the treaty of Amiens. It is divided into epochs. The author, that he might leave nothing incomplete, in his work, has added the Nomenclature of the celebrated perfonages who have flourished on the theatre of the world, which is generally accompanied by a concife notice of the opinion entertained of them by pofterity. He never neglects to point out the historical fources from which any further information concerning them may be derived. Ibid. ART. 48. Nouveaux principes de géologie, minéralogie, géographie, phy fique, &c. comparés et oppofés à ceux des philofophes anciens et modernes, jufqu'à J. C. Délamé Lerie, qui les a tous analyfés da fa Théorie de la terre; avec un abrégé de gélogie tout nouvelle; par P. Bertrand, infpecteur général des ponts et chauffées: fconde édition, revue et angmentée. i vol. in 8vo. of 560 pp. Paris. 1803. However ftrange the opinions of a writer may appear, one cannot be altogether inattentive to them, when he expreffes himself, in the outlet of his work, as the prefent author does. Si j'entreprends", fay's M. Bertrand, d'établir toute la géologie fur de nouveaux principes, ce n'eft qu'après avoir très-long-tems ob |