father of epic poetry; one Ariftotle, who, though occafionally clouded and obfcure, poffeffed univerfal knowledge; and one Epicurus, to whom, to do justice, a commentator like Newton was neceffary. The Romans have furnished us with one Cicero, whofe eloquence equalled that of Demosthenes, and whole erudition was vaft; and one Virgil, whom I regard as the greatest of poets. A prodigious gap fucceeded, till the age of Bayle, Leibnitz, Newton, and Voltaire. For an infinite number of wits and men of talents have lived, who cannot be ranked among this first class. Nature perhaps is obliged to make efforts to bring forth genius fo fublime; perhaps many are stifled by the accidents of birth and the fports of fortune, which turn them from their proper path, and perhaps feme years are as barren in the production of mind, as others are in the produc tion of corn, wine, and oil. France, as you fay, shows tokens of this fterility; talents are there difcovered, but not much ge nius; and though her neighbours perceive the dearth, they themselves are but little better provided. England and Italy are in a languishing ftate. Hume and Metaftafio muft not be compared either with lord Bolingbroke or even with Arioflo; and we Germans have twenty dialects, but no fixed language: this effential inftrument being wanting, the cultivation of letters is injured. A tafte for found criticifm is not yet become fufficiently familiar to us. I endeavour to correct the schools in the effential part of the belles-lettres; but perhaps I am among the one-eyed, who point out the road to the blind.. We do not want experimental philofophers nor mechanics, but we have not yet acquired a taffe for mathematics. In vain do I tell my countrymen Leibnitz ought to have fucceffors; none are to be found. When men of genius arife, thefe difcoveries will all be made; and this chance I think fuperior to your calculation. We must leave nature, who is free in her operations, freely to act; we, poor creatures, can neither forward nor prevent her efforts, when the fhall be difpofed to make them, for the production of thofe highly defirable beings. We ftill have men of learning; yet would you believe that I am obliged to encourage the ftudy of the Greek language, which, were it not for my cares, would be entirely lost ?' The following paragraphs carry their own apology, as they relate to one of the most glorious events in the English marine, and to the fucceffor of Catherine, who already verges to her western radiance. We are here informed of the defeat of the comte de Graffe, who fhewed great valour during the battle, which to him was fo unfuccessful. The marine of England appears greatly fuperior in manœuvring to that of France. Your countrymen want exercife and experience, by the aid of which they might arrive at perfection, were they encouraged to apply themiclves, and were They thus bufied in time of peace. • Į per I perceive with pleafure you were fatisfied with the grand duke, and with the vifit which he paid you. He is a prince who poffeffes great and good qualities. He is inclined to be grave, which is a part of his character; but this character is really excellent.' The miscellaneous letters are added at the end of the twelfth volume of the Berlin edition. They are addreffed to M. Fontenelle, M. Rollin, count Algarotti, M. Condorcet, the fucceffor of M. d'Alembert in the king's literary negociations, M. Grimm, in the fervice of Ruffia, and a friend of M. d'Alembert, and to M. d'Arget. These letters are difperfed in the English edition, and the anfwers are fubjoined. We are forry to perceive from M. Condorcet's letters, that the last moments of d'Alembert were fo idly employed. He attended to the enigmas in the Mercure; this may be philo fophical, but the Chriftian will naturally fuppofe, that, deriving no confolation from his own reflections, he was willing to escape from them, and to fill the moments with every thing that would facilitate his efcape. The folly and fanaticism of the clergy after his death cannot, however, be excufed. We do not perceive in the Berlin edition the letters of M. d'Arget added to the miscellaneous ones of the eleventh volume. He was one of the most unprincipled of Frederic's agents and correfpondents. In general, the letters of different correspondents fupport and explain each other; and from them together, the king's real opinions may be drawn. He may be often convicted of infincerity, but found judgment and extenfive knowledge frequently appear in his remarks, mixed with indecent farcafms, improper levities, and undeserved flattery. In the English edition, the letters are more carefully arranged, more full, as well as more numerous, than in that of Berlin. One volume remains, which Mr. Holcroft properly obferves, has never yet been tranflated: it is the correfpondence between the king and the prince of Pruffia, to which are added the correspondence between general Fouquet and Frederic, and two or three miscellaneous pieces, which have been published feparately, and generally attributed to the king. Frederic has been greatly blamed for his conduct to the prince royal, his brother. It was undoubtedly fevere, but we dare fcarcely call it unjuft. It is impoffible in this place to engage in the military details of this correfpondence. It is evident, however, that the king wished to divide the attention of the Auftrian army, to distract the general's opinions and operations by two different corps, to defend Berlin without pushing too far into Silefia, where his army would have been diftreffed for want of provifions: in its prefent state the Supply fupply was precarious and often fcanty. We think the prince might have gathered this plan from the general directions, but Frederic fhould certainly have spoken with more plainnefs and more confidentially. The army of the prince may, as has been faid on a more recent occafion, have been devoted, and Frederic chofe to keep its commander in the dark what feems more inexcufable is, his placing general Winterfeld as a fpy on his brother, with whom he correfponded fecretly, but who had no apparent influence, and certainly no refponfibility. The prince, on his fide, was inexcufable for quitting his camp at Neufchlofs, contrary to the exprefs command of the king, though it is faid to have been by the advice of Winterfeld. If we allow the prince to have acted wrong in fuch an important bufinefs, the king's reproaches must certainly have been confidered as flight, though to a man who often in vain requelled pofitive orders, perhaps reproaches were improperly applied. We shall tranfcribe the king's letter on this occafron : My dear Brother, • Your ill conduct has very much injured my affairs. It is not the enemy, but your ill concerted measures, that have done me wrong. My generals cannot ftand excufed, fince they have either given you ill council, or have fuffered you to take improper fteps. Your ears are accustomed only to liften to the difcourfe of paralites; but Daun has not flattered you, and you fee the confequences. In this diftreffed fituation, nothing remains for me but to proceed to extremities. I must fight; and if we do not know the road to conqueft, we will at least all find the road to death. I do not complain of your heart, but much of your incapacity, and your want of judgment in choofing the best means. Whoever has but a few days to live has no motive for diffimulation. I wish you better fortune than I have had, and that the ills and mifadventures which you have met with may teach you to treat important affairs with greater care, reason, and fortitude. The majority of the misfortunes which I foresee originate wholly in you, but their confequences will alight rather on you and your children, than on me. Be perfuaded, however, I have always loved you, and that in these fentiments I fhall die.' The correfpondence with Fouquet is chiefly on militaryfubjects; but Frederic feems to have loved Fouquet with all his heart. Every attention which the warmest, the most active friendship could dictate, the general experienced; his wishes were prevented, his defires gratified, more than gratified, in every inftance. How pleasing must it have been to fee these veterans feeding on their foup and fpinage in Branden burgh! burgh! Yet Fouquet, it has been faid, was not an able general: he certainly was not a fuccefsful one; but he was the old tried friend of Frederic, and while these letters remain, it will be evinced that Frederic had a heart. The effay on German literature contains many acute and lively remarks; but it is brilliant rather than judicious. Frederic affumes a knowledge which he does not poffefs. The effay is, however, fufficiently known. The moral dialogue is another of the mifcellaneous pieces, and it truly deserves its character: we know of nothing more perfpicuous or more juft. The laft piece is the eulogium on Voltaire, the amende honorable for all the feverities, all the farcafms, all the indignation, with which the poet had been treated after having left Berlin. Frederic warred not with the dead: he admits nothing but what is good, nothing but what is true: unfortunately it is not the whole truth; and it is truth in the fairest light and the brighteft colours. Such are the pofthumuous works of Frederic; of the king, the warrior, the philofopher, and the poet; who without excelling, without rifing above every other in either capacity, yet attained in each a rank fo elevated, as to excite admiration and command applaufe. As a king, it may be said that he was generally hafty, fometimes unjust, and always inflexible; as a general, rafh, intemperate, and unyielding; as a philo. fopher, eager and prejudiced; and as a poet, timid and profaic. All this is true; but his faults were tempered by fo much merit, his excellencies fo often, and his faults fo rarely, met our view, that, like spots in the fun, they did not obfcure his radiance. His mind was one of thofe few which could fubmit to the dull routine of official bufinefs, the minuteness of a fecretary's office, while it was capable of foaring to the fublimeft heights of intellectual refinement. He only was never without refources in adverfity, or incautiously infolent in profperity; and it should be remembered, that in the fituation in which he was placed, his faults were often his best prefervers. As an author, we have followed him with care, and we need not repeat in what works he excelled, where he fometimes merited a difapproving frown, or where he excited indignant reprehenfion. With all his faults, he is generally an improving, and very often a pleafing author. It is with real pleasure that we see his best works made our own in this translation. We ought not to difmifs this article without fome notice of the translator: it is an arduous attempt, and the firft of critics has allowed Opere in longo fas eft obrepere fomnum. We We had defigned to have examined the tranflation particu larly, and hinted in our first article that intention, as well as fome difapprobation of the parts which we had then examined. The two first volumes are certainly executed with lefs accuracy than the fubfequent ones. Gallicifms are not uncommon, and in fome inftances we think Mr. Holcroft has miftaken the fenfe. Our criticism has, however, been fo extensive, that we cannot engage in long difcuffions on this subject; and we think it lefs neceffary, as no very important errors seem to have been admitted, and these are compenfated by the particular care with which the other volumes appear to have been executed. In a future edition we would recommend a little additional attention, particularly to the Hiftory of my Own Times. Letters from the late Emperor Jofeph II. to General D'Alion. Written between December 1787 and November 1789. Tranflated from the Original French. 8vo. 35. fewed. Robinfons. AT this moment, when the crifis of the Belgic government is approaching, it may be perhaps ufeful again to confider the conduct of the late emperor, so far as it affected thefe more diftant ftates, and to examine whether they really gained any thing by a revolution, which, if it freed them from the tyranny of a king, fubjected them to defpotifm of a different kind, a hierarchy and an ariftocracy. The original conftitution of Belgia, for fuch has lately been its title, was excellent. The joyeuse entrée fecured all the more important privileges of free men, while the diftant and often feeble hand of its monarch did not greatly difturb their domestic repose. The population of the country was, however, checked by the commercial defpotifm of its neighbours; its riches were diminished by the neceffity they were under to adminifter to the wants, to the ambition, to the fplendor of their king. Jofeph, who was enterprifing for the good of his fubjects in the early part of his reign, and indulgent before he grew ambitious of conqueft, endeavoured to alleviate their burthens and extend their commerce. He failed in this, as in every other attempt of his life, by having only taken a partial view, and eagerly grafping at the advantages that offered, forgot that there were other fides which oppofed infurmountable impediments. He leffened, however, the defpotifm of the clergy, checked their intolerance, and feized on their accumulated riches, This rafh step, which was fatal to Peter III. and has been a dangerous one even to the most powerful and determined fovereigns, lay the foundation of the revolution: his hafty invafion of their privileges |