There is one quality in particular, the cultivation of which is of such importance in a contest like the present, that it ought not to be passed over without distinct notice. I mean a disposition to internal harmony, concord, and co-operation. We should cherish every disposition, feeling and habit, which are favourable to their growth and vigour; remembering that whatever is adverse to their improvement tends to endanger the security of all that is dear and valuable in social life. We confess these ideas are rather gloomy: present trouble, future trouble, perpetual trouble! our author does not "prophesy smooth things," however: yet we indulge a hope, that he, as well as ourselves, will live to see some of those dark clouds dispersed, on which he now bends his anxious eye, and in which his imagination discovers the violence of future hurricanes, the widely spreading devastations of irresistible tornadoes! A third particular in which we agree with Mr. B., is, a strong conviction of the power of good example; and this remedy for our moral diseases is of a nature so pleasant, and adapted to counteract evils so numerous, that we recommend it without the smallest hesitation. Shakespeare's Mercy, It is twice blessed; Like It blesses him that gives, and him that takes, and no man ever did good to any other person by this means, without doing abundantly more to himself. The most general and obvious of those means, is the powerfully attractive force of good example, which has an invariable tendency to exeite men to the love and practice of virine. The desire of happiness, which is the universal principle of action in the human breast, impels mankind to esteem those who evidently contribute to the general felicity. Now the connection between virtue and happiness is so manifest, and the former tends so directly and so invariably to promote the latter, both in individuals and communities, that none but the most abandoned can withhold their admiration from the truly virtuous character; while the captivating model displayed by such a character is wonderfully calculated, by means of the fascinating charm of imitation, not only to reclaim the vicious, but also to animate and assist the virtuous in their struggles with temptation. If such be the beneficial tendency of good example, what imperious motives are suggested by the present awful state of the world, to induce every one, who considers himself enlisted in the cause of virtue, to be more than ordi narily attentive to his deportment? It ought not to satisfy him that his conduct is correct, that it is free from every thing which can have an injurious tendency; he ought to endeayour, to the utmost of his power, to render it exemplary, that it may have the effect of alluring others to the practice of every religious and moral duty. But, for that purpose, he must be careful not to forget that, without humility and meekness, the brightest examples, though they excite admiration, qualities are, indeed, the very key-stone of will ever fail to produce imitation. These virtue, without which, besides being altogether defective as a model, it must also be devoid of strength and stability; insomuch that the good, when destitute of such qua lities, (if, indeed, goodness can exist without them) not only lose all their influence upon the bad, but are destitute of coherence and harmony among themselves; nay, they are even repulsive to one another, and, consequently, incapable of mutual co-operation. in the cause which, individually, they endeavour to serve. We admit, also, without reserve, the right of admonition in those who can ap peal with decorous modesty, to their own deportment: and when benevolence has condescended to precede exhortations and counsels, we believe, the heart is most open to receive them with attention, we might justly say, with affection. Yes, sir, much good has been done, much is still doing, by the kindness of superiors to inferiors, throughout this kingdom; displayed, not in ostentation, nor even in broad day-light, but with a privacy which eludes observation, with a gentleness which descends as silently as the fleecy snow from heaven, with a chearfulness which exhilarates the giver no less than the receiver, with a disinterestedness which awaits its reward when the last echo of human applause shall have ceased its vi bration-But, it shall be rewarded: in what manner, we leave to the gracious disposer of all events; and we appeal to our highly favoured Britain in proof that hitherto our security has kept pace with our benevolence, private and national. The Alexandriad. Being an humble attempt to enumerate in rhyme some of those acts which distinguish the reign of the Emperor Alexander. Royal 4to. pp. 24. Price 2s. 6d Westley, London, 1805. A poem in praise of a crowned herd will always be liable to suspicion of flat $19] Now through the dungeon's gloomy sorrow breaks; tery even truth itself, wears somewhat of a different appearance, than if it were When addressed to a private individual. public measures are commended in an emperor, an Englishman is apt to enquire, what might have been said against them by Opposition?-when private virtues are celebrated, the authorities of the writer, and his means of information, are seldom admitted to pass without enquiry. Such is the unavoidable drawback on poems addressed to princes: independent of every allusion to the words fee or reward. We are so far prejudiced in favour of the Emperor Alexander, as to believe that he discharges the arduous duties of that exalted station in which his birth has placed him, with the most upright intentions, with great readiness, consideration, and firmness; with every ability for government which God and nature, and his country have bestowed on him: and that the general welfare of his extensive dominions is the object of his heart, as it is of his office. Without, therefore, deviating into the enquiry whether this Emperor combines whatever is excellent in the characters of Atrides, Achilles, Nestor, Ulysses, and Eneas, (p. 2) or whether the Empress blends the charms of Cytherea's goddess with those of Minerva, Suada, Alcesta, Hesperia, and Helen, (p. 13) we shall commend the notes as containing information and learning; and shall pre-stored its authority. He suppressed the state insent a specimen of the poetry, in order that the poet may speak for himself. As when the sun first bursting into light, While thus the son, by gentle nature mov'd, Science,+ late fainting 'midst the savage gore, quisition which had been guilty of the greatest tyranny and injustice he gave liberty to the state prisoners arbitrarily confined in the several fortresses recalled the exiles-abolished the insulting ordinances about dress, allowing every one to deck his person agreeable to his fancy; and exonerated the inhabitants of the capital from the troublesome duty of alighting from their carriages at the approach of any of the imperial family. He dismissed from office many persons undeserving the stations they filled, and corrected numerous abuses which had crept into the military as well as the civil department.In short, he did every thing that the most comprehensive judgment, or the most virtuous heart could suggest.Amongst other ukases which were issued on the day succeeding his accession, was one for reviving and confirming all the regulations of the late Empress Catherine for the encouragement of industry and commerce. + Alexander has invited men of genius from every country to settle in his dominions, and afforded them the most liberal protection. Vide Panorama, p. 414, 415, The first acts of Alexander's reign realised the expectations of the world, and exhibited the benevolence of his nature in the most impressive His Majesty has revived the university of manner. His accession to the throne was announced early on the 12th March, 1801. On the Wilna, and has granted 105,000 roubles in silver rlay following, he went to the senate, and re-annually for its support, Mélanges de Physiologie, de Physique et A strange production this, which leaves far behind it, the labours of all former physiologists! The ingenious researches of those gentlemen on the human frame, went no farther, than to ascertain the nature and functions of our organs, the causes and effects of their irritability and sensibility, and the reciprocal influence they exert on each other, and on the general system in the same individual. But our author scorns such contracted limits, and sturdily maintains, that by the sympathetic connexion which exists between the corresponding organs of different individuals, we may, actually, be affected with every sensation of another, even at a great distance, and in spite of our reluctance to submit to it. He then proceeds to apply his doctrine to each particular organ. He affirms, for instance, that by stead. fastly fixing an object, he has made it visible to people far away from it, and completely out of sight of it. The sense of smelling, and that of tasting may likewise, we learn, be gratified by proxy; although the person who is to feast on the second-hand sensation, is himself beyond the reach of the effluvia. Our author insists that this is no fiction, as some ignorant people grossly and arrogantly affirm; however he restricts the distance of sympathetic enjoyment to 300 feet: but then, his only indispensible requisite is, intensity of thought, and profound meditation on the subject to be enjoyed. He observes, very judiciously, that men of letters possess this requisite in perfection; and chears us with the prospect of our participation in a Guildhall dinner, notwithstanding the formidable battalions of porters and beadles, which blockade the avenues. Perhaps, as M. Claude Roucher de Ratte did not write for Englishmen, he had in idea the savoury haut goût which emanates from certain French dishes of extensive celebrity: and these we confess we give him leave ex animo to station immoveably at the most extreme distance admitted by his hypothesis, or to double the interval, if he please: but, if the question concern good roast beef, we beg leave to acquaint him that our blunt feelings can never be brought to enjoy the distant flavour, no, nor gratification by proxy, nor second-hand festivity. Nothing but an absolute approximation and relish will satisfy the characteristic cravings of a British appetite. A sirloin distant 300 feet! No, Sir, one hundredth part of the distance is a misery: and we confidently make our appeal to the approaching festivities of Christmas, when our readers will enjoy repeated opportunities of resolving this question by experiment. Q. E. D. He proceeds afterwards to unfold a still more marvellous discovery; of which we have seen only the forerunners, and which is to carry his name to the most distant climes and generations. We shall give it in his own words: thoughts of another person, and transmit I have discovered that we may know the our own, without the assistance of words, without any motion of the lips, without any signs, and without seeing one another. When we want to know a truth, which we suspect is carefully concealed from us, we have only to press with our fingers the cartilaginous part of the first false ribs, near the heart, towards the sternum, and then, put a categorical question to the person from whom we expect information, at the distance requisite in all sympathetic phenomena (from 30 to 300 feet). be expressed by word of mouth; the It is not necessary that the question should cient. Nor is it necessary that the two thought alone mentally uttered is suffipersons should see each other. fulfilled, the person who is thus interpel"If the requisite conditions have been led, will, if the conjecture be right, experience in the region of the heart, a kind of pricking, like the stinging of ants, which, by a sympathetic affection, will be transmitted to the other. In the contrary case neither will feel any thing!" This wonderful discovery is indeed liable to some inconveniencies; the more so, as our author assures us, for which we give him credit, that it is within the reach of any old woman; and requires only attention, a little practice, and a proportionable quantum of faith. We may, for instance, in spite of ourselves, have the ideas of others insensibly inoculated into our minds. But, says our author, those intruders are easily distinguished from the genuine offspring. And to prevent inquisitive impertinents from prying into our very souls, we have nothing more to do than to put our hand, (either right or left.) on the occiput, while we thinking. are Moralists tell us, and philosophers agree with them, that every good has its evil: even this invaluable discovery itself, appears by the confession of its parent to be attended by evils of moment and magnitude, for, notwithstanding all his precautions, our unfortunate author has suffered most severely from his own discovery. thoughts have been stolen from him, His half formed, which has induced him to hurry the printing of them, in their present undigested state. Nor is this all: his personal cogitations have been maliciously disturbed, by the unwarrantable introduction of other people's thoughts, into his brains; mobs at a distance and out of his sight have surrounded his study, compres sing their occiputs, and tearing their hair, in order to confuse his ideas; wounds have been inflicted on the hearts of dead animals, that he might feel the sympathetic anguish; nay, and shooting pains have been inflicted on his head, exactly in the places from whence sprout the horns in animals, for purposes the very reverse of benevolent! Practice has, at last, enabled him to guard, in some measure, against these persecutions, but the waggish authors of them are the objects of his most bitter execrations. And very deservedly, for most surely there would be no living in peace in this world, if every man who chooses may by pressing his fingers on the cartilaginous part of the first false ribs, put categorical questions and receive categorical answers, before we have time to defend our occiputs: a cunning fellow who has filled both the hands of his adversary, with loaves and fishes, for instance, may contrive effectually to pump the truth out of him before he lets go his hold. His discovery is, nevertheless, as we may well suppose, the most sublime and the most useful which ever blessed mankind. At the end of the first volume, in which it is fully detailed, he seriously proposes new legislative measures, which are to have no other basis. For instance, to bring to justice a debtor against whom the creditor has no proofs, and who denies [524 his debt; to receive the last instructions speech, &c. He proposes also to make use of of a dying man who has lost the use of his this discovery for the administration of police, for the erection of a new kind of sympathetic telegraphs, and for the better obtaining the truth in auricular confession. We are afraid, however, that these laws would be absolutely superfluous: for if perly supposeable) that a statesman should we could suppose (a case indeed not propious confessor, by mere inadvertence, say one thing and mean another; or that a should approximate nearer than sympathetic distance (30 to 300 feet) of his fair penitent, how easily might either exclaim against the ideas which had been infused into him, by some malignant but invisible dæmon, whether human or spiritual, before he had defended himself by clapping either hand on his occiput: and what are the true principles of justice in cases of such extraneous infusions, our author has not condescended to inform us. electricity, in galvanism, and on the magThe second volume contains essays on netic fluid. The expectations of our readers cannot have been much raised by the specimen we have given them of the author's sobriety of thought; not that he is quite so preposterous in his ideas on physics and chemistry, as on physiology: yet his new views on these subjects are mostly either wild combinations of received theories, or new colourings given to abandoned systems. Such is, for instance, the supposed existence of the principle of sulphur, hydrogene, and as the universal principle which he represents as a modification of Macquer, Kirwan, &c. Such is his preof combustion, in fact the phlogiston of gative electricity of Franklin, and others; tended explanation of the positive and neinstead of which, he adopts the appellation of resinous and vitreous, given by Haüy. He then discovers that resinous Grey, Boyle, &c. and more recently by substances are rendered by friction capable of absorbing a greater quantity of electrical fluid; that they do not produce negative electricity, but a privation of positive electricity, in bodies brought into con tact with them; or within their atmos phere. The want of method and of perspicuity so remarkable in this compilation, ing to follow our author, could we have would not have deterred us from attempt rationally expected to gather some useful information by our labour. But whatever appears new in his assertions is wholly unsupported by experiment. Nothing, perhaps has more contributed to retard the progress of real science than such unchecked ebulitions of fancy; and so convinced are we of this, that we prefer to the most brilliant but unsupported system of the most ingenious man, the simple, but well ascertained experiment of the humblest chymist. sider French vanity as a harmless national infirmity, for which every allowance was to be made; but our author thinks the chief defect in the character of his countrymen is too muck modesty! We however, can no longer smile at extravagant pretensions, which inforced by arms and upheld by fraud, threaten the liberties of all other nations, as a devoted race of inferior beings. This, incredible as it may seem, is at present the constant theme of French writers; and not a publication appears, in which the idea is not directly or indirectly conveyed. It has even been roundly asserted, that whenever the French invade a country, they are only re-entering into possession of their own legitimate property. M. Greusé de Lesser, as a courtier, wrote for no other purpose, but to contribute his share of support to this arrogant system; for which he is probably ere now rewarded. He contemptuous as a race hardly worthy of being his master's slaves. The country itself is not more favourably treated and delightful Italy, is pronounced to be scarcely habitable for a Frenchman. Even Sicily which our traveller hardly saw, loses with him her ancient reputation, and her fruitful But we must not part with M. Roucher in so formal a manner; not, at least, without thanking him for his kindness. He has been unwilling that any of the good things he has ever said should escape us. And he has accordingly prefixed at the beginning of his work a most ranting speech, publicly delivered on the glorious 18th of Brumaire. His amenity has also led him besides to intersperse delightful extracts from one of his brother's poems,ly looks down on the unfortunate Italians, for though, says he, in one place, Racine has written on the same subject, yet it is very natural that I should quote my own brother. This reminds us of an anecdote of the French poet, Piron, whose conduct, like his muse, was under no remarkable restraint. He was once brought, for some midnight exploit, before the divi-plains are compared to the dreary wastes sional commissary of police, who, with the stern face of office asked him the usual questions, his name, his profession, "&c. which he no sooner knew, than assuming a most benignant countenance," Come," says he, "we are all friends here; I have a brother who is a poet also." "That may very well be," answered the cynic Piron, for I have also a brother, who is a most confounded blockhead." (landes) of Britanny! It was natural to expect that in a French work of this description, Britain should come in for a more than ordinary share of abuse, however irrelevant to the subject, and many pages of this volume are, accordingly, devoted to that favourite topic. Even our fair country-women could not escape the illiberal malevolence of the writer, but share the fate of the Venus of M. Roucher's brother was one of the Titian, the Aurora of Guido, and the Godparty present at M. de Cazotte's prophe- desses of the Carrachi. We give the folcy.-See pages 67 and 533-but more oflowing passage as a specimen of modern him hereafter. Voyage en Italie et en Sicile, &c. Travels in Italy and Sicily in 1801-1802, by M. Creuzé de Lesser, Paris, Didot, Svo. 1806. Price 8s. pp 372. Dulau and Co. A hasty journey over a beaten track, written after a lapse of time, with the avowed intention of contradicting all former travellers. Indeed, we should have dismissed this work without ceremony, but that it furnishes us with an occasion of cautioning our readers against the systematical deceptions of modern French writers. We have been long accustomed to con French gallantry. "I have never seen women, who could less pretend to beauty than the Italian; except the five hundred English ladies, who came to Paris, after the peace of Amiens, with such a remarkable conti dence, to make us admire their faces, and what is still worse their fashions. This is a new chapter to add to the deceptions of travellers, who for a century past, have agreed with novel-writers in representing the English women as the fairest of the creation, and the men as the wisest. God knows, how we have succeeded in almost S4 |