It will be therefore necessary to survey them at one view, which we can do with advantage when the whole is before us. The best naturalists have hitherto failed in this part; and even Block's system is imperfect; for he has not comprised all the species known at this time; and many others are added by our author. Of the seventeen genera which constitute this groupe only five are noticed in the present volume; and the fourth, as we have said, is not yet published.

VII.-Néologie, ou Vocabulaire de Mots Nouveaux, &c. Paris. Neology, or a Vocabulary of new Words-Words to be renewed or to be taken in new Acceptations. By L. S. Mercier, Member of the National Institute of France. 2 Vols. 8vo. Imported by De Boffe. 1801.

To these volumes is prefixed a smirking portrait, which Lavater might safely pronounce to indicate decided fatuity and petulance in the author; while the puffing inscription at the bottom. is in strict harmony with it. Yet Mercier has published works which have attracted some notice, from a kind of scatter-brained genius and eccentricity, sometimes wise and sometimes foolish. How he came to be born at Paris we cannot conceive, as he is certainly by birth a Gascon, of a pert dull liveliness, and perpetual fanfaronade. This book is another Night-cap, full of his own head and of himself;-mais sa tête est trop proche de son bonnet.

There is nothing illaudable in the attempt to introduce new words into the French language, or to renew strong and emphatic expressions which have become antiquated; for the tame academy in the time of Lewis XIV., by a pretended purification, only shackled the language, and, by their preposterous bandages, rendered it almost lifeless. Hence there was neither force nor soul left sufficient to constitute an epic poem, or any grand production in blank verse. But, in any attempt of this kind, more taste and judgement, and particularly more good sense, were requisite, than have fallen to the lot of Mercier, whose ideas are uncommonly wild and gigantic. The latter quality of good sense, though abundantly displayed in their scientific productions, yet seems particularly scarce in France, in many things that relate to politics, and what are called works of genius. The vanity and fatuity of many late French novels, memoirs, &c. which have deeply impressed us not only with the absence of good sense, but even with the negation of common sense, the chief objects aimed at, appear to us to be what are called esprit, and a kind of elocution which we believe was first introduced by Rousseau, and was rendered fashionable by the

women whose feelings he was artful enough to court, but of which whole pages may be read without learning any thing. We heartily wish that an academy of good sense were instituted in France, which is more necessary than any other institution whatever. We daily see issued from the press works of history, and other branches of science, without any references to the authorities; so that the whole becomes a romance, and the reputation expires with the author. Thus Raynal's History of the East and West Indies was at first received as a grand and important production, but has since sunk into disesteem, because, upon recurring to the proper authorities which must have been used, it is found to swarm with a thousand errors. This fate might have been avoided, if he had marked his authorities at the bottom of his page, as usual in the classical productions of other countries-a practice which, by its very nature, would have taught him solidity and veracity, and have secured to his book a lasting foundation. In like manner even the eloquence of Buffon begins to yield and fade away, because every page has its errors, because he is full of ridiculous prejudices and absurd theories, and because an author, who gravely asserts that black cattle shed their horns every three years, must have been a total stranger to that practical knowledge which is the chief requisite in treating natural history.

To return: our author begins with a preface of seventy-six pages, for he has an eternal flux of the mouth, and of course sometimes blunders upon good things, which are fortunately remembered, while the rest are forgotten. He informs us, p. xli. that the French language has neither turns, constructions, nor periods, because the words cannot be arranged as one pleases! At this rate there are neither turns, constructions, nor periods in any language, as they wholly depend upon the idiom, We must whisper to Mercier, that he is grossly ignorant; and, such is the fate of France, that the literary character seems, with a few exceptions, to be confined to eloquence without knowledge, and to knowledge without eloquence! The ancient philosophers were men of profound learning, who often dedicated their lives to acquire solid and practical knowledge of certain topics; while the modern, and the French in particular, with Rousseau at their head, are disgraced by the grossest ignorance which they attempt to disguise by the varnish of eloquence. In the same page our author promises an universal dictionary of the French language, for which he is just as qualified as the learned pig. We should be glad to see a new French and English dictionary; for the best we have wants about four thousand words. Our author proceeds to tell us, that he published, a long time ago, a novel called L'Homme Sauvage, which bears the character of a writer created to impose silence on the whole crowd of foolish critics with whom France

abounds. We wish that Bonaparte would erect two temples at Paris-one dedicated to good sense, and the other to modesty; but we are afraid that the worshippers would be few. The author's detestation of atheism we highly approve, though we look upon Mercier as rather a distorted pillar of the temple of religion.

'I have, besides, a singular quality in my eye, which is inborn. When I hear a man speak in public, unfold his learning, raise trophies upon what he has said, speak of his own genius, and his own taste, I see around his chair a multitude of little infantine faces which laugh maliciously, point to the quack, jeer at his words, and exhibit every mark of compassion. These are certainly the generation about to be born which I thus perceive.'

All this so completely applies to our author, that we think we see him in his arm-chair, speaking, as he does in the present work, of his own wonderful productions, while the little faces of posterity are convulsed with laughter.

The preface ends, and the work begins, with an attack upon sír Isaac Newton, against whom our author has repeatedly declared his enmity. To speak in the veterinary language, we suppose that he has taken a scare at Newton, whose writings must infinitely surpass his comprehension. It is besides natural that a wrong-headed and eccentric writer should have a mortal hatred to solid judgement and laborious investigation.

The work itself consists of an alphabetical arrangement of words, accompanied with remarks-sometimes just, but more frequently ignorant and petulant. As they often turn upon mere shades of a foreign language, it cannot be supposed to interest the English reader. A very few specimens must suffice.

'ALARMIST. The astronomer Lalande was a great alarmist about thirty years ago, on account of a memoir read to the Academy of Sciences, in which he admitted the possibility of a comet striking the earth. Versailles was frightened, and threatened the alarmist with the Bastile if he had any relapse.

AMPHORES. Set on my table these two amphores of crystal, and pour in the red wine: nothing is more pleasant to the eye. I wish to banish the ignoble word bottle.'

The author had far better adopted the English word decanter. But his deplorable ignorance shines even here-for two amphora would crush his table to pieces, and probably break the shins of the etymologist. A similar learning appears, vol. i. p. 90, where he gravely informs us that the emperor Maximilian I. who aspired to be pope, was one of the successors of Charles V. Is it necessary to tell M. Mercier that Maximilian was the grandfather of Charles V.? A more consummate ignorance of the commonest points of modern history never was displayed; and we could easily mention the names

of thirty very great modern French philosophers, who have unhappily the talent of writing without having read any thing, and who in England or Scotland would not be thought qualified to teach in a country school. A dissertation on ignorant philo sophy, with a catalogue of ignorant philosophers, would form a most interesting work, and of the most solid and lasting advantage to society: for experience has sufficiently proved, that nothing can be more dangerous to any country, than for men to pretend to teach who have not themselves learned.

DESCRIBER. All those who are candid will allow that Homer, who is regarded as a gigantic genius, has only a few excellent passages; that his naps are long and frequent; and that, in spite of his fifteen hundred commentators and translators, he is monotonous, verbose, and a describer even to satiety.'

It was natural that he who attacks Newton should also attack Homer. But we must inform our author, that he is only as good a judge of both as a blind man is of colours.

'PHANTASMAGORIA. A play of optics, which displays all the multiplied and delicate conflicts of light and shade, and which reveals at the same time the ancient tricks of priests. These moving phantoms, created at will, these false appearances, amuse the vulgar, and make the philosopher think. What is the spectre of the mirror, or in the mirror? Does it exist, or does it not exist? What a prodigious tenuity of coloured rays! What an astonishing medium between matter which we feel, and spirit which we cannot touch! O spectre! O spectre figurability! what art thou? It has not yet been discovered how to form a large spectacle of these curious and surprising experi ments. Instead of these puerile illuminations, this uniform, miserable, and confined repetition, command the ingenious Ro bertson to show us, dancing on the roofs of the houses, impalpa ble beings as tall as the towers of Notre Dame. These extraordinary and marvellous spectacles would form naturalists and admirers of nature, which would be better than mad purchasers of paintings, against whom I prepare a good article.'

The article Genius might in like manner be selected as ano◄ ther specimen of absurdity; but we are already tired and disgusted with this strange monument of ignorance and self-im portance. At the end, Mercier advertises a work of 400 pages, on the physical impossibility of the system of Copernicus, and of the chimera called the Newtonian attraction!

ART. VIII.-Géographie Moderne et Universelle, &c. Paris.

Modern and Universal Geography, preceded by a Treatise on the Sphere, and an Abstract of Astronomy, &c. By Nicolle de la Croix. A new Edition, &c. By Victor Comeiras. 2 Vols. 8va. Imported by De Boffe.

THE Geography of La Croix is well known as the best abridgment in the French language; and it has in consequence passed through a great number of editions. We know nothing of Comeiras the present editor; but can safely pronounce, upon an inspection of various parts, that he is wholly unqualified for the task he has undertaken, and, instead of pretending to teach geography, should himself go to school. His assertion, that Guthrie, or rather his late editors, have been greatly indebted to La Croix, is very true; but certainly no author will ever be indebted to Victor Comeiras. The few maps are of 1781, and are already antiquated by more recent discoveries.

The book of La Croix, having been composed about a century ago, must naturally have received many additions and improvements by different editors: the manner is tedious and confused, and not adapted to the progress and precision of modern information. Many of the topics have also long since ceased to interest the public. As to the present editor, he has left all the errors as he found them, and has added many others of his own. We have only to refer the geographical student to the general account of rivers (vol. i. p. 80), in which almost every thing is erroneous, and very few of the names are even rightly spelled. It would be beneath the dignity of science to point out errors so completely puerile. We shall merely observe, that the whole chapter is the most complete and risible piece of ignorance that we have met with in any book published within a century. Upon turning to the edition of La Croix, Paris, 1786, we find that he has been contented (vol. i. p. 53) with a bare enumeration of the names of the chief rivers; so that to his wonderful editor Comeiras alone, are we indebted for a series of blunders that would disgrace the twelfth century-such as the vast rivers Menamion and Sinderoias, neither of which exist in nature. Amidst such fables, the error (p. 82) in confounding the Niger with the Senegal becomes nothing, though of it. self sufficiently portentous at the present day. To our readers who wish to indulge their risible faculties we may recommend the perusal of the entire chapter, which is to us wholly unaccountable; except that the editor, in the true spirit of quackery, thought his dreams or inventions would be gravely received