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the few who met him, that he cherished a spirit perpetually at variance with the adversity of his circumstances,

Our author, in a narrative perfixed to his work, is the proud historian of his own injured feelings; he smiled in bitterness on his contemporaries, confident it was a tale reserved for posterity.

After having written the work whose systematic principles refuted those political notions which prevailed at the era of the American Revolution,― and whose truth has been so fatally demonstrated in our own times, in two great revolutions, which have shown all the defects and all the mischief of nations rushing into a state of freedom, before they are worthy of it-the author candidly acknowledges he counted on some sort of encouragement, and little expected to find the mere publication had drawn him into great incon.

venience.

"When my enlarged English edition was ready for the press, had I acquainted Ministers that I was preparing to boil my tea-kettle with it, for want of being able to afford the expenses of printing it;” Ministers, it seems, would not have considered that he was lighting his fire with "myrrh, and cassia, and precious ointment."

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In defect of encouragement from great men, and even from booksellers, De Lolme had recourse to a subscription; and by the manner he was recei ved, and the indignities he endured, all which are narrated with great simplicity, it showed that whatever his knowledge of our constitution might be, "his knowledge of the country was, at that time, very incomplete." At length, when he shared the profits of his work with the booksellers, these were "but scanty and slow." After all, our author sarcastically, in congratulating himself, seems pleased that, however, he "was allowed to carry on the above business of selling my book, without any objection being formed against me, from my not having served a regular apprenticeship, and without being molested by the inquisition.' And further he adds, “Several authors have chosen to relate, in writings published after death, the personal advantages by which their performances had been followed; as for me, I have thought otherwise-and to see it printed while I am yet living."

This, indeed, is the language of irritation! and De Lolme degrades himself in the loudness of his complaint. But if the philosopher lost his temper, that misfortune will not, however, take away the dishonour of the occasion that produced it. The country's shame is not lessened because that author who had raised its glory throughout Europe, and instructed the nation in its best lesson, grew indignant at the ingratitude of his pupil. De Lolme ought not` to have congratulated himself that he had been allowed the liberty of the press unharrassed by an inquisition-this sarcasm is senseless! or his book is a mere fiction.

M. DE STAEL ON WASHINGTON'S EULOGIUM.

MR. OLDSCHOOL,

Ir the following compliment to our country be deemed worthy of insertion, I shall not regret the trouble of transcribing it. It is from the work on the Influence of Literature, by Madame de Stael, who, in speaking of the style proper for magistrates, proceeds thus:

THE noble and simple beauties of certain expressions command respect even from those who pronounce them: and among other woes attached to selfcontempt, we must also add the loss of this language, which causes the most exalted and pure emotions to those who are worthy of using it.

This style of the mind (if I may thus express myself) is one of the greatest supports of a free government; it arises from such a train of sentiments as must be in concordance with those of every honest man, and from such a confidence and respect for the public opinion, that it is a certain proof of much present happiness, and a sure guarantee of much happiness to come.

When an American, in announcing the death of general Washington, said, " Divine Providence hath been pleased to withdraw from the midst of us this man, the first in war, the first in peace, and the first in the affections of his country!" what sentiments, what ideas are recalled to the mind by those expressions! Does not this acknowledgment of a Divine Providence indicate, that, in this enlightened country, no ridicule is thrown upon religious ideas, nor on those regrets expressed in the tenderness of the heart? This simple encomium on a great man, and the gradation which gives for the last term of his glory," the affections of his country," conveys to the heart a deep and tender emotion.

How many virtues, in fact, are comprehended in the love of a free nation for their first legislator! for a man who, after twenty years of unblemished reputation in a public character, became, by his own choice, a private individual! It appears as if he had only traversed the fields of power, in the journey of life, as a road that led to retirement; a retirement honoured by the most noble, elevating, and pleasing recollections!

Never, in any crisis of the French revolution, was there to be found a man who could have spoken the language of which I

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have recited the above few remarkable words; but in every report that hath reached us of the connexion that subsisted between the American legislators and the citizens, there are to be found this purity and grandeur of style, which can only be inspired by the conscience of an honest man.

S.

THE FINE ARTS-FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

THE annexed engraving is from one of David's most distinguished paintings, The Passage of the Alps, which is in the Hospital of the Invalids at Paris.

NOTES OF A DESULTORY READER.-FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

It is thus that Silius Italicus in the 8th book of his epic poem on the Punic war, introduces his hero, Fabius, to the reader:

Primus Agenoridum cedentia terga videre

Eneadis dederat Fabius: Romana parentem

Solum castra vocant, solum vocat Hannibal hostem.

The sense of which lines, may be thus given in English:

First of the Roman chiefs whose martial might

Caus'd Punic bands to show their backs in flight,
Was Fabius: by his troops a father deem'd,

By Hannibal, sole worthy of his arms esteem'd.

To the historian we are indebted for the faithful recital of past and passing events, but more particularly to the poet, for the established decision of the world on these historical representations; and, in this view, in the merited praise bestowed on Fabius by his countrymen, how great the implied eulogium on the military talents of Hannibal!

There can be little doubt, that the prose style of a nation, is, in no inconsiderable degree fashioned by that of its poetry; and

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