E begin, as in our domestic retrospect, with the labours of the literary societies. The activity of the French National Institute appears to be in some measure impeded by the renewal of hostilities. We have already entered into a brief statement of its constitution, and division into three classes, of physical and mathematical, moral and political, literary and polite. Without entering into a catalogue of the different articles contained in the volume for the year, before us, published by each of these departments, we shall only observe, that two of the most entertaining or important appear to us to be the Memoir presented by a committee of the first class, consisting of M. M. La Place, Rochon, and Levesque, containing "Observations important to be made on the tides, in the different parts of the Republic;" and that presented by M. Le Breton, perpetual secretary of the third class, containing a general "Notice of its Labours."

The very able contributors to the "Annales de Chymie" have pub. lished their forty-seventh volume, which extends to No. 150; many of the articles are of peculiar importance: the best, as it appears to us, are those by M. Klaproth and M. Parmentier.

The Emulative Medical Society of Paris (Societé Médicale d'Emulation) has published the fifth volume of its labours, which, instead of being directed to medical subjects alone, strictly so called, embraces a much ampler field, and pursues every branch of science that is in the remotest degree connected with it. There are four excellent

memoirs in it on the climate of the Antilles belonging to France, by M. Cassan, and a valuable let ter, one of the last of his writings, by M. Fontana, on the disease of corn, denominated l'ergot, as also on the tremella.

The annual volume of the Berlin society for natural history (Ge selschaft Naturforschender) has made its appearance, being the fourth in a regular series; but exhibits nothing that needs particular enumeration. The papers on Galvanism are of some importance towards this rising branch of mo dern experimental philosophy.

The Swedish academy (Svenska Academiens) has begun a republication of its labours in an octavo instead of a quarto form, for the sake of easier portability, and diminished expense. The first part of this new edition is the whole that has yet reached us: it con tains the memoirs of the year 1786, the era of its foundation. Whilst in this quarter of the continent, we will wander a few steps from our direct route to notice, that the in defatigable M. Olof, of Lindenburg, has at length published in quarto the first volume of his elaborate " Antiquitets Lexicon," "Dictionary of Antiquities," which is to contain a full account of the history, manners, institutions, religion, geography, coins, &c. of Greece and Rome. It will extend to at least five or six volumes, when completed.

The American philosophical so ciety at Philadelphia has published the first part of the sixth volume of its "Transactions." A wide field is before it in the department of natural history and local geogra

phy,

phy, to which we trust it will turn its attention, rather than to subjects which have been satisfactorily discussed before, or may be, with rerhaps better success, investigated by other societies. The historical society of the state of Massachusetts, has also published an additional volume, being the ninth, of its" Collections." It has now long set an example which we should like to see copied by other states of the American republic, as well in industry and judgment as in object of pursuit.

Without quitting this continent, we perceive, in the department of biography, several articles entitled to our attention. Of these, the first is "The Life of George Washing ton, Commander in Chief of the American Forces, &c. by John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States." General Washington's papers have been intrusted for this purpose to the hands of Mr. Marshall very nearly from the period of his decease, and consequently the work before us has been long expected by the public. It is not, however, such as we could have exactly wished for. It is rather a history of the republic from its earliest rise than the biography of an individual. We well know the difficulty of separating the political transactions of the American states from the private life of its illustrious founder: it is necessary indeed that they should, to a certain extent, be associated: but what we object to, is the introduction of large masses of state papers and acts of congress, which might have been referred to alone, without being blended in the body of the work before us. To what extent a biography thus conducted may pul

lulate we know not: two volumes are only yet before us, and they merely bring down the life of the general and the history of the republic to the year 1776.-" The Life of General Hamilton" has been cursorily given by a variety of biographers, and in a variety of shapes: of these loges, Dr. Mason's appears to be the most accurate and elegant that has hitherto fallen into our hands. "The Life and Military Achievements of Toussaint Louverture, late General in Chief of the Island of St. Domingo," has also been published anonymously upon a small scale, but in strong impressive language, and with a view of exposing the deep criminality and perfidy of the French government. We believe it to be chiefly compiled from a similar work printed about three years since in our own country.

The late venerable and 'unfortu. nate chief pontiff has found an able biographer in S. Farrari, who had antecedently proved his abilities for this line of composition in his Lives of the Popes Clement XIII. and XIV., as also in various memoirs of the literati of the university at Padua. The work before us is in one volume, quarto, in the Latin language; and is designed as a continuation of Sandini's Lives of the Popes: it is however composed in far purer diction,-a diction indeed which may be truly styled classical. M. Moneron, already known to the world as an ardent admirer of English poetry, by his version of Paradise Lost, has now evinced a still stronger attachment to it by a "Life of its Immortal Author." The work is, for the most part, a judicious abridgment of Mr. Hayley's Biography. The eventful" Life of

the

the Countess de Barré;" whose beauty and debauchery contributed so much to the general immorality of the court of Lewis XV., who from a workhouse became all but a queen, and died upon the scaffold for theft, has been detailed at considerable length by M. Favrolle, and occupies four volumes in twelves: while M. Fortunée Briquet, of the society of belles lettres and the athenæum of arts at Paris, has compressed into one volume, octavo, entitled "Dictionnaire Historique, Litteraire, et Bibliographique," "The Lives of all the French Women, as well as of Foreign Females naturalized in France, who have become cele brated by their Writings, or by the Patronage they have afforded to Men of Letters, from the Establishment of the Monarchy to the present Times." It is a sprightly sketch, and may be conveniently as well as pleasantly referred to.

B. Kant has been biographized, if we may be allowed the term, by various of his friends and pupils, and in a manner not often attempted among ourselves. Borowsky, Jachman, Woskiansky, and Kelch, have all tried their rival powers upon the same subject; while the last, with a view of triumphing over all his competitors in minuteness of detail, has given an analysis of his skull, upon the cranioscopic theory of Dr. Gall. M. Reuss, librarian of the Göttingen university, has followed up his "Gelehrtes England," or, "Literary England," by a supplement, in two volumes, entitled" Alphabetical Register of all the Authors in Great Britain and in the United Provinces of North America, with a Catalogue of their Works." M. Schlichte groll still continues his "Necrolo

gy and Biography:" the former is now nearly completed, extending to the close of the nineteenth century; while the latter, which comprises the more eminent or select characters alone, and is not designed to extend higher than to the beginning of the seventeenth century, has received about half its finish. M. Meusel has published a supplementary volume to his "Gelehrtes Deutchland," or "Literary Germany," including the living writers, and an account of their works; as also two additional velumes, making the fourth and fifth, of his " Lexicon of German Wri ters who died between the Middle of the Eighteenth and the Close of the Nineteenth Century."

Hungary, though not much en riched within the period of our lucubrations by individual biographies, is neither altogether deficient in this branch of literature, nor in its sister classes of antiquity and philology. M. M. Thibolt and Denis, in their "Catalogus Bibliothece," &c. "Catalogue of the Hungarian Library of Francis Count Szechenyr," of which only the first two parts of the first volume of this very extensive work are yet published, propose to give notices of all the Hungarian writers, as well as of all the works that even briefly or remotely relate to this kingdom. The preface to the vo lume before us, drawn up exclusively by M. Denis, is written with sin gular excellence and precision. M. Schedius, in his "Zeitschafft von und für Ungarn," "Journal of Hungary," has opened a miscellaneous work of great talent as well as of a very extensive field, so far as we can judge from the first two volumes, which are the whole that has yet reached us. It is for the

most

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most part, however, confined to Hungarian literature, although it allows to this its utmost latitude. A periodical work for speculative literary opinions has been opened by M. Sandor, of Raab, under the title of "Sokfell Iras egybe szede Sandor Istoan:" from the merit of the first eight numbers we hope it will prove successful. M. Scheenwiesner, in his "Notitia Hungaricæ," &c. "Dissertation on Hungarian Coins and Medals from the earliest Period of the History of the Country to the present Time," has rendered an essential service to the numismatic antiquary:-the work is full and recondite. We perceive that a translation of the Lælius of Cicero; or Book on Friendship, has been ably translated into the Hungarian language by M. Virag, of Pest: who has also attempted the Horatius Poetikaga,' "Poetics of Horace," with a spirit and classical attention to the true rhythm of the Hungarian tongue, which cannot but induce us to wish that this elegant poet would add to the art of poetry, the Odes, Satires, and Epistles of the same exquisite writer. We will here mention, as we have omitted to do so in their proper place, that M. Horvath has published an able work, at Presburg, on the "Statistics of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Countries annexed:" M. Schwandter, a valuable "Introduction to the Diplomatic Transactions, principally Hungarian, of the Middle Age" and M. Winterl, of Buda, an" Introduction to the Chemistry of the Nineteenth Century;" which evinces a competent knowledge of the improvements which have of late years been introduced into this science.

While in this quarter of the Eu1801.

ropean continent, we will notice also, that M. Stall, of Ofen, has at length published the first part of his Latin, Italian, and Illyrian Dictionary, which has occupied in its preparation not less than forty years of his life; that the work is printing at the expense of the university of Ofen; and that the author, who is now at Vienna, has been fortunate enough to obtain a pension from the Emperor. The dictionary follows the Illyrian language through its various dialects of Servia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Crontia, Sclavonia, Carniola, and the Windisch: but does not at all times sufficiently discriminate. Neither ought we to omit observing, that in his "Musa se Slowenskych," "Muse of the Sclavonian Mountains," the author, M. Palkovitz, has begun a work which we trust he will be induced to continue. His poetry is truly pleasing and euphonous: and the dialect employed being equally related to the Bohemian and Sclavonian, it may be perused with equal ease by both countries.

Returning to Germany, we perceive that, in the mixt branches of philology and antiquity, M. Gräter, of Leipsic, under the title of " Bragur," has commenced a valuable periodical work, containing the mythology and philological antiquities of the Gothic nations. M. Kaiseren has produced a "History of Chivalry," which cannot fail of ffording entertainment and instruction: a second volume has been added to the "Mythological Dictionary" of M. M. Böthjer and Majer: M. Schleyermacher, professor at Halle, has commenced a translation of the entire works of Plato. M. Böttiger, in a work entitled "Sabina, oder MorgenscheBb

nen