monarchs, which will not produce this fentiment in men of virtuous principles and benevolent difpofitions; who, instead of wondering that the people have at last thrown off the yoke, will be aftonished that they bore it fo long.

After a fhort hiftorical introduction, the work commences. with the life of Enguerrand de Marigny, Count de Longueville, who was fuperintendent of the finances under Philip IV. Finding the royal treasury exhausted by the wars, in which this monarch was engaged, he was obliged to exert all his power to procure immediate fupplies: but the oppreffive taxes levied for this purpose, and, above all, the debafement of the current coin, drew on him the hatred of the people; while the wealth which he amaffed, and the haughtiness of his difpofition, provoked the jealoufy and refentment of the princes of the blood. Charles of Valois, brother to the King, became his implacable enemy, from a fufpicion that his advice had induced the King to imprifon the Count of Flanders, thereby violating that promife of perfonal freedom and fafety, under which Charles had perfuaded the Count to come to Paris, in order to negociate a peace. This enmity was afterward aggravated by feveral circumftances, in which the defigns of the prince were oppofed by Marigny, and terminated in the ruin of the minifter; who, in the fucceeding reign, was accufed of having embezzled the public money, and was afterward hanged for the pretended crime of witchcraft. It is faid, that remorfe for this unjust perfecution rendered Charles miferable during the remainder of his life; and that, in conformity with the fuperftitious notions of the age, he endeavoured, to atone for his guilt, by appointing maffes to be faid for the foul of him whom his cruelty had destroyed.

This life is followed by thofe of feveral wretches, the prefervation of whofe names only tends to perpetuate their infamy. Amid the difgufting furvey of their crimes, it is fome fatisfaction to reflect that they fuffered the punishment due to their guilt, and that most of them died by the hand of the executioner.

From thefe difagreeable scenes, we find a fhort reljef in perufing the life of Jacques Coeur, a native of Bourges, the moft wealthy and intelligent merchant of his age, and one of those few French financiers who were at once wife and honeft; and whofe aim was to enrich their country without plundering their fellow-fubjects. Affected with deep concern for the diftreffes in which the nation was involved, he generously made an offer of his wealth to Charles VII. who borrowed large fums of him, and, in return, made him fuperintendent of the finances. Unaltered by thefe honours, he continued to apply

himfelf

himself to trade, and, by his own exertions, as well as by
thofe to which his example induced others, he contributed
much to extend the commerce of his country. It is faid that
he had no fewer than three hundred clerks, or factors, in the
several parts of the Levant; and that his employment of them
firft fuggefted the idea of appointing national confuls in foreign
commercial towns. The fums, with which his
The fums, with which his great wealth
enabled him occafionally to fupply his royal mafter, were prodi-
gious: it was to his liberal affiftance that the King was indebted
for the power of conquering Normandy; and of this Charles
was fo fenfible, that, when he made his triumphal entry into
Rouen, he ordered Jacques Coeur to ride with the general,
Dunois, in the proceffion. By means of his commercial con-
nections, he negociated a peace between the Knights of
Rhodes and the Sultan of Egypt;-and he was afterward em-
ployed by the King to perfuade Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, to
refign the triple crown, which had been conferred on him by the
council of Bafil:-but neither his excellent character, nor the
fervices which he had rendered, could fecure the gratitude of the
King, nor protect him from the malignity of courtiers, envious
of his merit, and jealous of his greatnefs. He was faid to
have contributed to alienate the affections of the King from
Agnes Sorel: but that he was either convinced of the falfe-
hood of the charge, or was cordially reconciled to him, is
evident from her conference with him after her removal from
court, and from the confidence which fhe repofed in him by
appointing him her executor. His enemies, however, taking
advantage of this report, accufed him of having poisoned her;
and, when, by the cleareft proof of his innocence, they were
difappointed in this attempt to deftroy him, they laid other
crimes to his charge, which feem to have been equally void of
foundation. For these he was condemned to die: but, in con-
fideration of his former services, the King changed the sentence
to a fine of four hundred thoufand crowns and banishment for
life. Instead, however, of being exiled from the kingdom, he
was ordered to retire to a convent of Cordeliers at Beaucaire.
Hence he found means to escape; and, collecting the remains
of his fortune, he fettled in the island of Cyprus; where, by the
affiftance of fixty of the factors who had enriched themselves in
his fervice, he renewed his commercial operations, and acquired
a much greater property than he had before poffeffed. Here he
married his fecond wife, by whom he had two daughters; to
each of these he left an hundred and fifty thousand crowns, and
bequeathed very large fortunes to his children by a former
marriage. He built an hospital, and a magnificent convent
for Carmelites, in the city of Famagoufta.

Among

1

Among those whofe tragical end illuftrates the uncertainty of worldly grandeur, and fhews the little dependence that is to be placed on royal gratitude, the Baron de Semblançai has a peculiar claim to compaffion; for, though the fervant of an extravagant monarch, to gratify whofe expenfive vanity and ambition. he was obliged to lay heavy burdens on the people, it does not appear that he was wantonly oppreffive, or that his reputation was fullied by unworthy actions. The weakness and ingratitude of Francis, in facrificing him to the revenge of the abandoned Louifa of Savoy, leaves a ftain on his character, which no fplendid accomplishments can efface. This vile woman, after feizing the money deftined to pay the troops of Lautrec, and feducing the minifter's fecretary to rob his master of the receipts which he had given him, accufed him of having converted this fum to his own ufe; and, after a mock trial, fhe perfuaded the King to order him to be hanged. He met death with fo much calmnefs and fortitude, as to give occafion to the following epigram by Clement Marot, who contrafts him with Maillard, the judge that fuperintended his execution: "Maillard fembloit homme que mort va prendre,

Et Semblançai fut fi ferme vieillard,

Que l'on cuidoit, pour vrai, qu'il menoit pendre
A Montfaucon le lieutenant Maillard."

Gilbert Bayard was another victim to female revenge; he died in prifon, where he had been confined by Henry II. in conféquence of his having offended Diana de Poitiers, the miftrefs of this monarch, by fome imprudent jokes on her want of youth and beauty.

The life of the defervedly celebrated Sully takes up a great part of the 1ft and of the 2d volume. With this great and good man, most of our readers are already fufficiently acquainted.

As the author approaches nearer to the prefent age, he dwells lefs on hiftorical and biographical anecdotes, and confines himself to the detail of operations of finance: a particular account of these, as practifed in the French government, is neither entertaining nor inftructive; for they can be confidered in no other light than as various modes of extortion, in order to gratify the fplendid prodigality of the prince, and the rapacity of his worthlefs miftreffes and minions. In creating expedients for immediate fupplies of money, many of thefe minifters difplayed great fertility of invention: but very few paid that attention to the prefervation of the fources of national wealth, which, it might be fuppofed, political prudence would have recommended even to those who were deftitute of better principles. From this odious lift, we must except Colbert, who had a much better right, than his mafter, to the title of Great;

he

he had the welfare of his country at heart, and promoted it as far as the prodigality of Lewis would allow.

--This work is written in an eafy ftyle, and is compiled with impartiality from the hiftorical memoirs of the periods to which it relates. The obfervations which it contains are juft, though fuperficial; for we meet with none of thofe deep reflections and extenfive views, which indicate the true philofophical politician: fome, however, of the author's remarks deferve attention. Of the mode of raifing money by annuities, he fays, that, though apparently the leaft onerous, yet, in proportion to the prevalence of luxury, it is detrimental to national profperity, as it contributes to deftroy habits of virtue and induftry, and to corrupt the manners of a people. Thefe confequences refult, not only from the encouragement which it adminifters to celibacy and idleness, but alfo from the temptation which it holds forth to worthlefs parents, to facrifice, to their love of fplendour, that provifion which would otherwife fecure the independence of their children; who, being thrown on the world without the means of continuing that expenfive mode of life to which they have been accuftomed, are but too prone to deem every other confideration of lefs importance than the gratification of those artificial wants, which education and the habits of early life have rendered neceffary to their happiness.

Among the anecdotes, which are related in thefe volumes, we are told of an accident productive of an unexpected but very feasonable fupply of wealth to the King of Spain. On board a fhip belonging to the flotilla, which arrived at Cadiz toward the latter end of the year 1709, were found eight very large cheits of chocolate, fhipped on account of the Reverend Father General of the Jefuits. Thefe chefts were so remarkably heavy, that to remove them out of the fhip into the warehouses required more than double the ufual number of hands. This circumftance excited the curiofity of the officers, who opened them, and saw that, apparently, they contained nothing except large cakes of chocolate, the uncommon weight of which greatly furprized them. On farther examination, they difcovered that each of these cakes was an ingot of the pureft gold, concealed beneath a coating of chocolate, about an inch thick. This being reported at court, the Jefuits were queftioned; who declared that they were entirely ignorant of the chefts and their contents; which, being thus unclaimed, reverted to the King.

Thefe volumes clofe with the life of the Abbé Terray; of whom it is no more than juftice to fay, that, amid a great number of bad characters, he stands confpicuously marked as one of the worst. Sow.. ART.

ART. VII. La Sainte Bible, &c. i. e. The Holy Bible, or the Old and New Teftament, with a Commentary, confifting of felect Notes taken from several English Authors. Vol. VII. and Vol. VIII. containing the two Books of Chronicles, and those of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Efther. 4to. The former containing 500, the latter 300 Pages. Utrecht. 1790.

THE

HE former parts of this judicious and inftructive work were fome years ago announced in our Review*. We then gave it the character which it well deferved, by representing it as replete with extenfive and interesting information, felected with judgment, and arranged in a clear and luminous manner. This character is equally applicable to the volumes before us, which complete the commentary on the hiftorical books of the Old Teftament, and with which their learned and venerable author, the Rev. CHARLES CHAIS, had determined to close the labours of a long and ufeful life: but though he finished the commentary, death, at the advanced age of eightyfeven years, prevented his writing the preliminary differtations: these were therefore compofed by the editor, the Rev. Dr. MACLAINE, of the Hague, and are, in every refpect, worthy of the work to which they are prefixed. The Doctor has not only given a very comprehenfive and clear view of the opinions of the learned concerning the books to which these prefaces relate, but has also enriched them with valuable obfervations of his own. His introduction to the book of Efther deferves particular praife, as an elegant fpecimen of moral and critical difquifition.

The eighth volume is introduced with a short account of the life of M. CHAIS, who was a citizen of Geneva, and, during fixty years, paftor of the French church at the Hague: befide the work before us, he was the author of Historical and Dogmatical Letters on Jubilies and Indulgences, which were published in 1751, and are highly esteemed; he alfo wrote fome ufeful tracts intended for the benefit of the younger part of his congregation, and was a confiderable contributor to feveral periodical publications relative to fcience, literature, and criticism. To this account, are added two fketches of his character, the one taken from M. Sennebier's Literary Hiftory of Geneva, the other from the fermon on his death by the Rev. M. De La Sauffaye. Thefe gentlemen exprefs their high sense of his worth, with that modeft fimplicity which diftinguishes the genuine dictates of rational efteem from the exaggerating language of ftudied panegyric. Sow!