the elements of civil society. The second contains an analysis of his principles upon community and the equality of property. The third examines the opinions of different philosophers and other celebrated writers of antiquity upon the ancient republics. We cannot follow our author with any sort of detail through the whole of this extensive paper, occupying not less than 128 pages. It is sufficient to observe, that M. Bitaubé has studied his subject with a very creditable application; and has introduced a variety of remarks, many of which, if carried into practice, will assuredly prove advantageous to the welfare of his country. The whole paper is obviously designed for the meridian of the French republic, and the present epoch of its constitution.

'XIV. On Gladiators, and two antique Statues known by the Name of Gladiators. By M. Mongez.'

Of these statues, the first is the gladiator of the Villa Borghese, dug up from the ruins of the ancient Antium, now Porto d'Anzio, during the pontificate of Paul V. which extended from 1605 to 1621. The second is generally denominated, from the anguish represented in the muscles of his countenance, the dying gladiator. It formerly embellished the gardens of the Villa Ludovisi; and an engraving of it was given to the world by Nerrier in 1638, under the denomination of the dying Mirmillo. These are both among the Italian spoils of Bonaparte, and decorate, at the present hour, the Muscum of Paris. M. Mongez, in this memoir, follows closely the steps of the learned and, upon the whole, accurate Winkelman; and only differs from him in points in which he is completely supported by historical facts and characteristic sculptures or engravings. It is impossible that both these statues can be designed as representations of gladiators; for nothing can be more unlike than the one to the other. That of the Villa Borghese, is one of the most beautiful of antiquity; the hair is short, and elegantly curled over the head, according to the Greek costume; the face is without either beard, whiskers, or mustachios; every muscle preserves the most perfect tranquillity; and the general result gives us the idea rather of a god or deified hero than of a man. The countenance of the supposed gladiator of the Villa Ludovisi is, on the contrary, ferocious in the highest degree: every muscle is diagnostic of extreme pain; the upper lip is surmounted with a broad and savage mustachio; and the hair of the head much longer than in the former statue, and falling in disorderly curls over the ears and eye-brows. Winkelman, who admitted that the first might have been a gladiator, and had no objection to the name of Bato, by which it was commonly designated, denied that this last delineated the same profession, and rather believed it to have been the statue of a Grecian herald, and to have represented either Polyphontes, who was slain by Edipus, together with his master Laius, king of Thebes; or Copreas, the herald

of Eurysthes, who was murdered by the Athenians. M. Mongez denies that they were either of them gladiators, or even heralds. The introduction of his memoir is intended to prove that the former were universally selected, both among the Greeks and Romans, from slaves, or the lowest and most despicable of the people; that they were at all times held in utter contempt; and that we have no proof whatever of the existence of a single sculp ture in honour of any of them: and he concludes, without any individual appropriation of either of these statues, that the first represents an unknown Grecian hero or gymnastic, whose pro fession was as much honoured as that of the gladiator was vilified; and the second, a slave or barbarian in the act of dying. He has added three plates, illustrative of his subject and opinion. 'XV. Ossian's last Hymn.. By M. Chenier.'

The character of M. Chenier as a poet is well known from his former productions; and it will not be impaired by the present effusion, which is in fluent but irregular verse; carefully manufactured, but deficient in sublimity and characteristic ab

ruptness.

XVI. Project with respect to several Alterations by which Catalogues of Libraries may be rendered more durable (plus constitutionnels); with Observations on the Character, Qualities, and Functions of a true Librarian. By M. Ameilhon.'

We have formerly noticed a memoir on the same subject by M. Camus, inserted in the antecedent volume. The present was written and read to the Institute prior to M. Camus's produc tion, to which in reality it gave birth, and which in some measure was designed as an answer to it. This of M. Ameilhon was intended--and, in point of regularity, the intention should have been executed-to have preceded the other in the list of memoirs, but not having been sent to the Institute time enough for appearing in its proper place, the class, to whom it was addressed consented to insert it where it now exists. The plan proposed contains many excellent regulations; and we entirely agree with our author, that the office of a public librarian should be highly honoured and respected, and that the care and protection of public libraries should only be confided to literati of the first degree of merit.

XVII. Man and his Conscience, a Dialogue. By M. Collin Harleville.'

This colloquy is a verse production, in which the passions, predominant inclinations, and actions of the man, are severely questioned by the vicegerent of his bosom. The advice given. by the latter, whether relative to religion or morals, is altogether unexceptionable: the former engages to follow it; and they eventually part in perfect friendship.

XVIII. On the different Kinds of Spartium spoken of by the Ancients. By M. Ameilhon.'

Spartum or spartium, though now properly confined by botanists to the plant called Spanish-broom, was formerly extended to the genista, or common-broom of the heath. Prior to the use of flax and hemp, it was generally employed in the manufacture of ropes and cordage, whence spartum has been derived by many etymologists from σπείρω, or σπεραω, to roll or wind round. M. Ameilhon dislikes the common derivation, and offers another in its stead. Originally, the Greeks denominated the genista or broom ovos, which, in consequence, became shortly afterwards a common term for a band or cord; as, from juncus in Latin, which is another name for the genista, was perhaps derived the term jungo, jungere, to tie or join together. He endeavours to prove that the spot most celebrated for the growth and manufacture of the exovos, or broom, was Sparta and its vicinity; and that this Spartan cordage, or exows, was hence, in process of time, designated by the name of the place whence it was chiefly vended, as well as the plant of which it was manufactured; in like manner as we now denominate many of our hempen cloths Russias, and our linens Irishes. There is no end to etymologies; but the present may at least stand till a better take its place.

XIX. The Siren and the Voyager. By M. Selis.'

Another short colloquy in rhyme, which we have seen inserted in several of our own newspapers; for which it seems much better calculated, as a mere jeu d'esprit, than for its present position among grave and critical memoirs.

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. XX. Antiquities of the Town of Treves. By M. Peyre.' Treves is one of the most ancient towns of Gaul; and it becomes more interesting still by the immense number of ancient monuments which it yet exhibits, by its vast extent, and its situation on the Moselle, a powerful river, which, after meandering through a valley embellished on either side with the most beautiful hillocks, unites its waters with those of the Rhine, at Coblentz, at the distance of about twenty leagues. Hither Constantine frequently resorted, as to an asylum from concerns of state; and in earlier periods still it was the Elysium of the Romans. At the present day, its numerous vestiges of antique monuments, its superb Gothic buildings, its magnificent palaces, its modern churches, enriched with invaluable paintings, and ornamented with marble pillars, the beauty of its streets, and the clear abundant waters that enliven them, its variety of public places, embellished with perpetual fountains, groupes of statues, and other sculptures in bronze and marble, cannot fail to afford infinite entertainment to the young traveler who occasionally makes it his residence. The principal object of M. Peyre, however, is to prove that the extensive range of ruins upon which one of the gates of the town as well as one of the churches are erected, was formerly a bathing-pa

lace. If this be true, it must have been elevated upon a'prodigious scale indeedan observation, nevertheless, which by no means opposes the idea; for many of the warm baths of the ancients were constructed upon the most grand and luxurious plan imaginable. Those of Dioclesian, for example, if we may credit the testimony of Pietro Rossini, were so immense, that not less than three thousand two hundred persons were able to bathe at the same time without seeing each other. The author has subjoined seven plates, illustrative of his conjecture.

XXI. Ode. By M. Lebrun.'

With this paper the volume closes. M. Lebrun's Ode is a paraphrase on the 'Exegi monumentum ære perennius' of Horace, in which he takes care to assure himself of at least as large a portion of immortality as the Roman bard. A note, suppended to the first page of the poem, informs us that this piece, as is obvious, is intended to terminate the volume of M. Lebrun's Odes.' This information is highly necessary; for, in its present position, we could not avoid thinking, as we began to read it, that it had a direct and entire reference to the present volume of the Memoirs of the National Institute: and it still seems to us to answer a kind of double purpose. As to the Odes of M. Lebrun himself, we know but little of them; yet the present will not save him from the perdition he seems so much to despise.

To the Memoirs is added an Appendix, comprising a notice of a book printed at Bamberg in 1462 by Albert Pfister, and contained in a volume presented to the National Library in the month of Pluviose, year 7. By M. Camus. The book here particularised is an imprinted missal in small folio, and in the German tongue. It consists of three parts: the first being a dialogue between Death and a person who has lost several beloved friends by his ravages-here entitled Complaints against Death, but by M. Heineche, who has also described the same book, an Allegory on Death. The second part comprehends the four histories; to wit, of Joseph, Daniel, Judith, and Esther.! The third is a Biblia: Pauperum, or Poor Man's Bible; by' which denomination is meant extracts from the Bible collected about the ninth century, for the use of those whose poverty prevented them from purchasing the Bible at large, or whose constant routine of labour from perusing it. M. Camus contends that the present is the only copy extant of this vers early publication, and that it is the identical volume announced! by M. Steiner, in Meusel's Historical, Literary, and Bibliogra phical Magazine, printed at Chemnitz in 1792, to have been then just discovered. The chief use of the book, so far at least! as it appears to us, is to prove that the art of printing was known at an æra somewhat earlier than that to which its invention is ordinarily attributed.. 1. cool cor

We have now finished our review of the second volume published by each of the three classes into which the National Institute is divided; and are in consequence enabled in some measure to appreciate the talents of its contributors, and the utility of their labours. Having already offered a few observations upon the papers afforded us by the Physical and Mathematical department, we shall here confine ourselves to the two classes whose memoirs are alone noticed in the present article: and the first extraordinary fact that strikes us, is the paucity of those who have contributed to the publication. Upon the average, every class consists of about one hundred members, each of whom ought to have contributed, in turn, something worthy of public inspection. The first volume, however, of the class of Moral and Political Sciences consists but of seventeen memoirs, and these the production of eleven members alone. This want of variety in the first volume we were ready to suppose originated from the actual state of France, and the infancy of the establishment itself; and we had no doubt that it would be amply compensated in the volume which was to succeed. Our readers will, however, be astonished to find, on a re-perusal of our analysis, that the second volume of the same class comprises not more than twelve memoirs, which are the joint production of only five contributors out of very nearly one hundred members, of whom this class consists. The class of Literature and Polite Arts, as embracing a greater variety of subjects, presents us, undoubtedly, with a greater variety of writers; but our readers will think the same observation applicable, when, on a retrospect, they calculate for themselves that the first volume of this department contains not more than twenty-nine memoirs, composed by twenty-one members, several of which are short poetical effusions; and that the second comprises only twenty memoirs, of which thirteen are the production of five members, alone. Is it that the great body of the Institute are indolent or incapable, that the entire task of composition is thus devolved on a handful of the more active and industrious? or that, as sometimes unfortunately occurs in other public societies, it requires no small degree of personal interest to obtain an introduction to the public eye? Be this as it may, the want of a sufficient variety both of writers and subjects cannot but be felt by every one who critically peruses the labours of the Institute, and is the unquestionable cause, why complete treatises on particular topics, amounting occasionally to upwards of 200 pages, and constituting each of them a bulky volume of itself, are thrust into the present publication under the misapplied name of Memoirs. As to the style of the writers here presented to us, we may say of all of them in general, that it is too loose and diffuse; that, in many instances, no clear idea

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