importance for those who cultivate the study of philosophy, or who wish for a review of the chief points of contest between the German philosophers. Hoijer avows himself a supporter of the doctrine of transcendental idealism, and thus ranks among those who are inclined towards the system of Fichte; which, however, does not prevent him from pointing out the great philosophical errors of that eminent thinker. Our limits do not admit of our quoting even the titles of Hoijer's several dissertations. The first, however, in the first volume, contains a short and spirited review of the results of the principal philosophical systems from the Greek philosophers down to the time of Kant. The first essay of the second volume (almost the only one which is complete) contains a very elaborate analysis of philosophical construction. It is written in a style, combining the acuteness of Hegel, with the firm demonstration of Fichte, and the elegant simplicity of Schelling. The discussions on the character of objectiveness, of freedom and necessity, are written with great force of argument, and are intended to supply the deficiencies of Kant's treatise, Kritik der Reinen Vernunft. The author's attempts to prove the possibility of an unerring scientific construction in philosophy are well-drawn. His fifth essay in the first volume, and the two essays in the third volume, On the Philosophy of the Fine Arts,' and Ideas on the History of the Fine Arts,' though they are only sketches, yet drawing, as they do, a strong line of comparison between ancient and modern art, deserve to be ranked with the æsthetical essays of Schelling, Schlegel, St. Paul, and Bouterweck. It is the intention of the editors to follow up the present edition of Hoijer's works by three additional volumes, containing the remainder of his posthumous writings. We cannot conclude without expressing our admiration of the successful skill with which the abstruse and abbreviated manuscript of Hoijer has been deciphered by the editors. We understand that the learned Dr. Grubbe, Professor of Philosophy at Upsala, is one of them, and we imagine that it is to his profound philosophical knowledge that we are indebted for the manner in which the mutilated passages have been supplied. Poésies, par Mde. Amable Tastu. Paris. 1827. Ir is a singular fact, that a nation whose earliest associations are so romantic and so poetical; which was the birth-place of the Troubadours; and in after-times, not only the most civilized, but, indeed, the most forward in literary progress,-should possess no poetry. Setting the drama aside as involving too much of old dispute, and, moreover, conceiving a tragedy may be very effective without being poetical, we must again repeat our assertion, that there is no poetry, properly so called, in France. Spain, Italy, Germany, and England, are the most poetical countries in Europe; the poetry of Spain is the stirring memory of her ancient chivalry, veined with the rich passion and imagery which the Moors have left, like the ruins of the Alhambra, as their trace behind them; that of Italy is the inspiration of the fairest earth and heaven, that ever made beauty the element of man's fancy. In Germany and England there is less of ostensible cause; there is no reason of climate or association why they should be more poetical than France, yet no one will deny that they are so. But the wonder of those who examine the character of the French will soon cease; their philosophers were wits, their poets epigrammatists, their lovers men of gallantry, all lived with the fear of ridicule, like the sword of Damocles, for ever before their eyes; their feelings were scenes, their enthusiasm a fashion, and their very intrigues a feather for their cap or a step to their preferment: but the insincerity that prevailed amongst them was a yet greater greater barrier to the attainment of poetical eminence. Everything was doubted, nothing believed; sceptics in morals as well as in religion, there was nothing whereon to ground belief, and poetry, like religion, asks faith. Destroy its credence in the finer sympathies, the higher and holier impulses of our nature, and we destroy its existence. The compliment was elegantly turned, the satire was keenly pointed; so much for the higher ranks and as for the lower, no peasant poet ever made his native valley vocal with his songs, till nature, borne on the wings of music, like Psyche wafted by the zephyrs, found her way even into palaces. The degraded state of the peasantry made this impossible: the wildest tribe that ever roamed the desert may be poetical, the civilized savage never. Where, in such a state of society, were the excitements or the materials of poetry? for, though devout believers in the original existence of genius, separate and self-supported, as the fire of the volcano, yet we also think there must be a peculiar state of atmosphere to call forth the liquid flame. To take a moment's glance at the list of French poets, as their names occur, we have the Abbé de Lille's Jardins,' whose pastoral and rural sketches are about as natural as the pictures when it was the fashion for ladies to be drawn as shepherdesses; their ideas of Arcadia being composed of a nosegay, a crook, a large straw hat, and a long green sash; and where, in the odes of J. B. Rousseau, (save only that Pindaric address to Fortune,) shall we look for the exquisite imagery of Collins, the classical power of Gray, or the reflective philosophy of Wordsworth? Perhaps a few words on the Henriade will show the defects of French poetry; they may be principally comprised under three heads; its being made the vehicle of courtly flattery, its adherence to mythological imagery, and its utter ignorance of natural beauty. The gods of Ethnic faith are too awkward and too senseless for worship in the present day; for poetry must, to a certain degree, be truth. Their magnificent deities, their lovely goddesses, their graceful train of nymphs, nereids, &c., were beautiful and efficient in the hands of the Grecians, for they believed in their existence. Such was the state of the more imaginative parts of literature previous to the Revolution. That has indeed effected a mighty change; freedom, like pure air, has cleared and lightened wherever it past, and nowhere are its effects more felt than in the mind. It is not in the midst of terrible events that people lie down to meditate upon them, but in the after-hours of tranquillity. France is more likely to produce fine poetry now than ever; men's thoughts and feelings have received a new stimulus, old prejudices have been forcibly trodden down, old customs shown to be of no avail, foreign models contemplated, and a new standard of taste introduced. In every work which now issues from the French press, the influence of this renovated spirit is felt. As yet indeed, no master minstrel has arisen to give his own tone to minor writers (for though we do full justice to the talents of Messrs. Delavigne and Delamartine, yet they are not men who stamp the character of a language); but we do firmly believe there is more of imagination and taste at this present moment in French literature, than would have served the whole Siècle de Louis XIV. Perhaps the volume which suggested these remarks will illustrate, as well as any, the change which we hold to have taken place. It is a little book full of simple and natural feeling, with veins of that melancholy whose very existence is poetry. Les poésies' of Mde. Amable Tastu consist of some very graceful translations from Moore, and many short original pieces whose sadness and tenderness appear to be what the inspiration of the minstrel should ever be, from the heart. In translating two or three of our favourite pieces, we shall endeavour rather to follow the meaning than the the measure: for example, in the following stanzas we have given the more recitative part of the ode in blank verse, and we shall only have recourse to rhyme, where either the nature of the poem requires it, or where such a style being peculiar to both languages, the metre will not interfere with the turn of a single idea. Song of Sappho at the Pyre of Erinna. We will pass over the next two stanzas as too mythological, and leave the jealousy of Plutus, and the anger of Venus, for the following exquisite cluster of images alluding to the death of Erinna. The following is in a lighter vein, imitated from one of Thibaud's, The King of Navarre. Greeting lovely ladies all, Who have welcomed me in hall, One! that well to you belongs, Of his noble master's songs, Tears in each dark eye may swell, While the death of love I tell. "Tis not love which liveth now, He hath died of broken vow, Please you all for true love pray. Sweet where true love's smiles and sighs, Morning's light was in his eyes, One of you may say mine own,' To the portrait I have shown; I will not the truth betray, But, perchance, his blushes may. 'Tis not, &c. All too soon the weight of age Came, despite youth's hour of charms; Amorous scroll, vows false and fair, In a little lonely wood, There is laid love's funeral stone; 'Tis not, &c. Passing near the haunted place, One beautiful simile, alluding to herself and the remembrance she leaves behind in song, and we have done. As in a vale some solitary flower Fades, and then dies, leaving for memory Some odorous breathings, and a few light leaves, Frail playthings for the wind. We have now only a few words of praise and welcome to the fair lyrist whose music we have been endeavouring to catch. There is a delicate tone of feminine feeling which pervades the whole, and, if report speaks truly in saying that she is collecting materials for a volume of legends, from the olden times of France, we congratulate both herself and her readers. Essai Historique sur la République de San-Marino: par Auger-SaintHippolite. Paris. Librairie de Delaforest, 1827. TEN miles from Remini, on the summit of a mountain called by the Ancients Mount Titan, and at present named Mount della Guaja, is situated the town of San Marino, the Capital of the Republic of the same name. In the time of the Emperor Diocletian, this territory, then an uninhabited waste belonging to a rich Pagan Lady, named Felicita, was chosen for a place of solitary retirement by one Marinus, a pious Christian mason, whom Diocletian had sent to restore the walls of Remini. From his seclusion he frequently descended to the vallies, in order to collect the scattered Christians, and to convert the heathens to the pure faith of Christianity. Among the number of the latter who became his disciples was Felicita, who with her two sons and fifty of her dependants, embraced the Christian faith. So great was the influence of his preaching, that the inhabitants of the surrounding villages left their homes and followed the hermit to his solitude on the Mount, where they formed themselves into a Christian community, under his direction. They supported themselves and their families by cultivating the lands, and other industrious employments. Felicita, at her death, left Marinus sole heir to this property. He continued, however, to live among his followers, and instituted among them a system of perfect equality, so that all was in common among the brethren. The laws were passed in the full assembly of the people, held in the church; and their magistrates, to whom they paid implicit deference, were chosen at the same public meetings. Before his death, Marinus had the satisfaction of beholding a town and cultivated country, where he had found a wilderness, and also of witnessing the flourishing state of the Institutions which he had established. When he found his end approaching, he assembled the people in the church; and, after admonishing them to live peaceably and piously under the laws which he had given them, he bequeathed to the Community the Mountain, with all the properties thereto belonging. In testimony of their gratitude, his disciples dedicated a church to his memory, and worshipped him as a Saint; but the best worship which they did, or could pay him, was their invariable adherence to the principles of fraternal love and Christian liberty which he had inculcated. In progress of time, as their numbers increased, they purchased additions to their territory; and in order to secure themselves against the disturbances of the Middle Ages, they fortified their chief town with three towers. During the unfortunate struggles between the Guelphs and Ghibelins they maintained a strict neutrality, which was only interrupted on one occasion, when they took arms in favour of the Ghibelins. They, however, soon withdrew withdrew from the contest, and acted on the defensive against both parties. About this time, the constitution of San Marino received that form which it preserves to the present day. The sovereignty of the people is vested in its general assembly, which elects a supreme council of sixty citizens, chosen for life. This council, called Consilio Principe,' is the legislative body, and appoints to the magistracy. The executive power is intrusted to two Capitani, elected every six months; and for the administration of justice, there are two judges of peace, six of appeal, and twelve of revision. Every citizen, capable of bearing arms, is a soldier. They pay no taxes, the estates belonging to the community being fully adequate to meet the government expenses. Pope Gregory the Seventh extended his ambitious views even to this solitary republic. His legate at Pentapole was instructed to demand from the inhabitants of San Marino the payment of a small tribute, which they unequivocally refused; and, tenacious of their independence, sent ambassadors to Rome. Gregory, astonished at the boldness with which they maintained their rights, sent a commissioner empowered to investigate the point between them and the legate. The documents relating to this mission are preserved in the Archives of San Marino, and have been published by Delfico, in his excellent history of this republic. On being asked by the papal messenger, what they understood by the terms liberty and exemption, they replied, "The not acknowledging any dominion whatever, paying no tribute, and performing no act of homage, as they owed an account to none but to the Lord their Saviour." Similar attempts, made by other Popes and Princes of Italy to subject this people, met with similar success; and the few internal disturbances were speedily quelled. Simplicity of manners, virtue, and wise legislation, have always kept the spark of liberty alive among this people; and when the destruction of the Bastile proclaimed to Europe the morning dawn of regeneration-when the sun of victory, leading his glorious host of warriors, descended the Alpine rocks, and freedom's voice resounded through all Italy, San Marino enjoyed, in peace, those high advantages which not the force of arms, nor the tide of human blood, but the pure principles of Christianity had given. Its existence, fraternally saluted by the French republic, was respected by the French usurper; and it remained unmoved amidst the storms of revolution and continental war. All the important facts and documents relative to this interesting Republic, the only one in the world which owes its origin to Christian principles, have been collected by Melchiore Delfico, in his admirable work called Memorie Storiche della Republica di San Marino, on which the volume before us is founded. Vie Politique et Militaire de Napoléon, par lui-même au tribunal de César, d'Alexandre et de Frederic. 4 vol. Paris, 1827. THE name of General Jomini is already sufficiently known among the military writers of France-more particularly by his Traité des Grandes Opérations Militaires,' and by the supplement to that work, under the title of Histoire critique et militaire des Campagnes de la Révolution,' and his translation into French of the Principles of Strategy, attributed to the Archduke Charles. In the present work he shows us Napoleon as General, Consul, and Emperor, and critically discusses all his actions. He commences with a rapid sketch of the General's life, but he enters only into detail from the period of the Directory-when, indeed, Buonaparte achieved his great exploits in Italy, and so cunningly and opportunely absconded from Egypt. He proceeds with the transactions of the Con sulship, |