an intention of undertaking the task; and reflecting on the judgment, temper, and views with which the considerations. before us have been written, we much wish that nothing may occur to make him relinquish an attempt for which he has shewn that he possesses a number of the requisite qualifications.

A list of the men of science and letters, both French and foreigners, whom Louis pensioned, together with the sums assigned to each, forms an addition to the first volume of this collection which the curious will prize. It is taken from the MSS. of Colbert; and the measure was adopted in 1663. In this account, the great Corneille is styled the first dramatic poet in the world, and the sum of two thousand livres stands opposite to his name: some other literati have as much as four thousand, while the exquisite Racine has only eight hundred.

When M. de Gain-Montagnac and the present editors tread over the same ground, the latter, by having recourse to different MSS. have brought to light many articles which are not to be found in the volume of the former; and that they are not all of inferior moment will appear from the two succeeding short extracts, which are not unimportant whether we consider the fame of the monarch or the gratification of the reader, while they form strong presumptions in favour of that sound sense which none of his detractors deny to have belonged to Louis XIV.

In giving his reasons for employing himself in composing these historical memoirs, the monarch uses these expressions:

I think that I can render you and my subjects as much service in this line as any person, be he whom he may for though others may excel me in ability and experience, they will not have reigned, nor have reigned in France; and I am not afraid to declare to you, that the more elevated any situation is, the more objects are there which can only be seen and known by occupying it.'

Admirable reflections occur in the part in which the Royal Parent enjoins it on his son not to decline the toils of governIn the course of them, he observes;

ment.

• Much of this labour is highly agreeable; for what is it, but to have your eyes open on the rest of the world: to learn incessantly the news of all the provinces and of all nations; the secrets of all courts; the turn of mind and weak side of princes and their ministers; to learn a great many things of which we are supposed to be ignorant; to discover in those who are about us, that which they attempt most carefully to conceal from us; to penetrate the views of our own courtiers, and to discern their interests and the objects of their aim? I scarcely know any pleasure which we should not saAPP. REV. VOL, LI. crifice,

I i

crifice, in order to become acquainted with these matters, were enri osity alone concerned.'

The political memoirs composed by Louis XIV. occupy two volumes in this edition, and the military papers fill two more. They have been edited in a very superior style by General Grimoard; whose observations, summaries, notes, and correc tions, exceedingly enhance the value of the collection. In a letter prefixed to this division of the royal productions, he remarks that these memoirs contain correct statements of facts, and accurate details, which are no where else to be found;' and he observes that this part of the monarch's works are all written with his own hand, and never underwent the correction of Pelisson.

In the same letter, the General very concisely states the advantageous circumstances under which Louis began to go. vern. His army was the most numerous, the best constituted, and the best managed and disciplined of any in Europe; at its head were Condé and Turenne; next to them stood the Marshals de Grammont, de Práslin, and d'Aumont; Crequi, Schomberg, and Luxembourg had given promise of what they one day would become; while a score of Lieutenant Generals and other officers, among whom were Catinat, Vendôme, and Villars, had distinguished themselves in their respective stations. In the civil administration of his kingdom, he had the assistance of Lyonne, le Tellier, Colbert, and Louvois. To account for the figure which he made, we must consider the extent, the population, and the riches of his kingdom; the industry of its inhabitants; the multitude of great men of all kinds whom it contained; and the produce of the administration and establishments of the immortal Richelieu, who contributed more than has been generally believed to the grandeur of the age to which the name of Louis XIV. has been given. How much this monarch was indebted, in the beginning of his reign, to the selections of men of merit by Mazarin, is rendered evident by the many instances of unhappy choice made by himself in the war of 1701.

It is observed by the General that nothing so much depreciates Louis XIV. as his affecting in his military memoirs to speak of Condé and Turenne as his Lieutenants, who only carried into effect his plans; and his treating Crequi, Schomberg, Luxembourg and Vauban, at a later period, in the same manner. It is very satisfactorily shewn that Louis never was master of the military art, or had any genius of that kind. His knowlege of it did not reach beyond the mere elements, while he always remained a stranger to its grand combina

tions. In coincidence with the statements of M. Grouvelle, (see page 478. of this article,) the pretensions of the vain Prince are here subjected to a rigid examination, and reduced to their true size.

A happy specimen of the royal author's comprehensiveness of statement occurs in the preamble to his memoirs of the campaign of 1672.

Having taken all necessary precautions in respect to alliances, levies of troops, magazines, ships, and financial resources, I entered into treaties with England, the Elector of Cologne, and the Bishop of Munster, for the purpose of attacking the Dutch; I engaged Sweden to hold Germany in check, and I stipulated with the Dukes of Hanover and Neubourg, and the Emperor, that they should take no part in the approaching contest. Although I have been obliged to expend immense sums in this war, as well previously as in the course of it, I have been very fortunate in having made due preparations for it; nothing of this kind has been found wanting in the course of my enterprizes; and I may boast that I demonstrated, in carrying it on, all that France was capable of effecting alone. Millions have been expended on my allies, I have exhausted abundant treasures, and I am still in a condition to make my enemies fear me, to excite astonishment in my neighbours, and despair in those who are envious of my fortunes. My subjects seconded me with all their power, as well in the armies by their valour as in the interior by their zeal, and as in foreign countries by their industry and capa city to sum up all, the French nation has shewn how much she appears to advantage when compared with others.'

The two latter volumes which complete this edition consist of letters, miscellaneous pieces, and papers which elucidate the memoirs and the history of the monarch's reign. The letters are arranged in chronological order; and the editor says that, in the selection of them, he gave a preference to those which were interesting in point of matter, or which contained traits characteristic of the royal writer: while he judged it expedient to insert some that might be deemed insignificant, rather than to reject any which might be regarded as importThe series is complete from 1661 to 1678, but in the remaining part there are several gaps. Most of these letters having appeared in different collections, we abstain from making extracts from them.

art.

Louis XIV. had too royal a mind to set up pretensions as a bel esprit and here he had the advantage over the great Richelieu. The trick which he played on the Maréchal de Gramment, and which Madame de Sevigné characterizes as the most cruel that ever happened to an old courtier, few of our readers can have forgotten. The monarch one day shewed the Marshal a copy of verses, passing them off as the production of

1i2

another

another person; when the veteran having been very free in his observations on them, the king informed him that they were his own.

The accessary papers have various degrees of relative importance, with little of intrinsic value.

Too much praise cannot be bestowed on the editors for the pains which they have taken in completing and correcting these royal productions, and in rendering them in every respect inviting, and worthy of the splendid name which they bear. The fac similies of letters written by Louis, and above twenty of the most celebrated men of his time, will much increase the gratification of every reader.-In fine, these papers, elucidated as they are here, throw a vast body of light on the transactions of this brilliant period, and will afford very material aid to the future historians of the far-famed monarch from whose pen they proceeded; while they give a deeper insight into his personal character than any other monuments of the period which it has happened to us to peruse.

ART. V. Essais sur l'Enseignement, &c. i. e. Essays on Instruction in general, and particularly with respect to the Mathematics. By S. F. LA CROIX. 8vo. Paris. 1805. London, De Boffe. 7s. sewed.

IT

Tis scarcely necessary to observe, so generally have the facts been mentioned, that classical Literature in France is now in its wane, that the French possess at present few scholars, and that they have no proper nurseries for future worshippers at Olympus. The attention and ambition of their youth are directed towards Natural History, Chemistry, the Mathematical Sciences, and the Military Art. Of their present plan of education, and of its merit compared with the antient system, it is the intention of M. LA CROIX to speak; and it is our duty to hear him: but we do not, on this subject, expect from him the most rigorous impartiality, since we recollect, within a few years, to have exercised our critical functions on three ponderous quartos and two octavos, all on the abstruse sciences, the produce of his pen.

The author takes a rapid survey of the change effected in philosophy by Descartes, Bacon, and Newton. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, he says, an opinion became prevalent, that the antient system of education at the Colleges was not the fittest for mental and moral improvement; that it contained in its construction too much of the

old

old scholastic philosophy, and much unmeaning and uninstructive discipline; that too large a portion of time was devoted to the dead languages; and that scarcely any was set apart for the language of the country, or for the cultivation of natural philosophy and the mathematics. It must now be a matter of uninteresting doubt whether opinion could have sapped the foundations of the old edifice, for the revolution came, and in an instant battered it down. Much that was good and much that was bad, diamonds and rubbish, were buried under the same ruin. The general conflagration,' says M. LA CROIX (with a small confusion in his imagery,) consumed an edifice which ought rather to have been repaired than thrown down; but, after this misfortune, shall the edifice be constructed in its pristine fashion and on its old plan? and from respect to its antiquity, from an horror of the scourge that afflicted it, shall we interdict changes proved to be necessary, even whilst it existed.' Instead of the restoration of the old system, a perfectly new one was proposed, which has been long known. to our readers. It may not, however, be equally familiar to them that, of three parts of the proposed system of national instruction, one only, that of the central schools, has been properly established: of this M. LA CROIX speaks, and he defends its plan and mode of instruction. In its constitution, among twenty other professors, we observe a professor of antient languages: but we shall not be much surprised if, in some future alteration and arrangement, that office should be abolished: for the author argues, that in order to write well, we need not know Latin; which is indeed true, even if M. LA CROIX had not quoted authorities in favour of his assertion. Again, we are told that, in the translations of classical authors which now abound, we may meet with historical facts, metaphysical disquisitions, and moral precepts. That this is partly true must also be conceded: but the argument has been urged before, and has been ably and acutely opposed. It is not now our purpose to enter into the question: but our readers must perceive that the tendency of the French anticlassical opinion and system is to leave France without a single good scholar.

Much is here said, and said with considerable dullness, concerning the human mind, and the means of aiding its progress, the duties of professors, and those of scholars, &c. The author was commanded to write this work, and we have been obliged to peruse it: what effect it may produce on French readers we know not: but to us it has proved most wonder. fully uninteresting and uninstructive.