The publications of the day, sent to her from England, are the subjects of remark in many of her letters. Of Johnson's Rambler, she thus speaks: The Rambler is certainly a strong misnomer; he always plods in the beaten road of his predecessors, following the Spectator (with the same pace a pack horse would do a hunter) in the style that is proper to lengthen a paper. These writers may, perhaps, be of service to the public, which is saying a great deal in their favour. There are numbers of both sexes who never read any thing but such productions, and cannot spare time, from doing nothing, to go through a sixpenny pamphlet. Such gentle readers may be improved by a moral hint, which, though repeated over and over, from generation to generation, they never heard in their lives. I should be glad to know the name of this laborious author.' She read Novels, but she perceived their evil-tendency, which she thus reprobates: All this sort of books have the same fault, which I cannot easily pardon, being very mischievous. They place a merit in extravagant passions, and encourage young people to hope for impossible events, to draw them out of the misery they choose to plunge themselves into, expecting legacies from unknown relations, and generous benefactors to distressed virtue, as much out of nature as fairy treasures.' The works of Fielding and Smollett were great favorites with her Ladyship, in this line of reading. Female beauties should study Lady M. W. Montagu, in order to learn how to grow old with a grace. When she was 66 years of age, she thus writes to her daughter: There is a quiet after the abandoning of pursuits, something like the rest that follows a laborious day. I tell you this for your comfort. It was formerly a terrifying view to me, that I should one day be an old woman. I now find that nature has provided pleasures for every state. Those are only unhappy who will not be contented with what she gives, but strive to break through her laws, by affecting a perpe. tuity of youth, which appears to me as little desirable at present as the babies do to you, that were the delight of your infancy. I am at the end of my paper, which shortens the sermon.' In her poetic pieces, Lady Mary was very careless of her rhimes, and consequently interrupts the satisfaction which we should otherwise receive from the effusions of her Muse; yet her poems have been and will continue to be admired. The public are acquainted with so many of them inserted in Dodsley's Collection, that we shall here add only two short compositions: AN ANSWER TO A LADY, Who advised Lady M. W. MONTAGU to retire. You little know the heart that you advise, 1 view this various scene with equal eyes; In Written at Louvere, October 1736. The pious farmer, who ne'er misses pray'rs, He blesses Heav'n for what its bounty spares, But spite of sermons, farmers would blaspheme, If a star fell to set their thatch on flame.' The Essays consist of a Letter from the other world, to a Lady, by her former husband-Essay in a Paper called "the Nonsense of Common Sense," published Jan. 24, 1738;-a fragment of a fairy tale, in French, entitled Carabosse ;-and Remarks on Rochefoucault's Maxim that "there are convenient but no happy marriages;" in which Lady Mary undertakes to defend Marriage against this severe reflection. This state, no doubt, frequently occasions disappointment; yet the remark of Dr. Johnson ought to be recollected by complaining wives and husbands, that "marriage is no otherwise unhappy than human life is unhappy." As an editor, Mr. Dallaway has not officiously obtruded himself; though he has corrected the little inaccuracies of the former edition, and has subjoined short notes, by which the value of the work is augmented. With the letter-press are given fac-similes of the correspondence of Pope, Addison, Young, Fielding, &c. as well as of Lady Mary, and two portraits of her. Thus Lady Mary Wortley Montagu appears fully before the public as an author; and that critic must be frigid and unjust who, after such ample evidences of her brilliant mind, remains insensible to her merit, and reluctant to award her the fullest commendation. Moy. ART. ART. V. Bonaparte, and the French People under his Consulate. Translated from the German. 8vo. PP. 379. 78. Boards. Tipper and Richards. 1804. THE accounts hitherto, laid before the public, respecting the extraordinary person who is the subject of this work, have been for the most part scanty, jejune, and of dubious credit; while, according to the bias of the writer, they have either dealt out the most bitter invectives, or have teemed with the most fulsome praises. The author before us, whether he be German or English, (we should suspect him to be the latter, if he did not discover a tincture of a philosophy which is more generally followed on the Continent than in our island,) claims a considerable superiority over all those who have preceded him in the same course; since he appears to have had favourable opportunities of observing his hero, and to have diligently availed himself of them. In the estimate which he forms of him, as well in a private as a public character, he displays a great compass of information, considerable judgment and discrimination, and very respectable descriptive talents. His dispassionate manner and studied impartiality also deserve great praise. A friend to rational liberty and human amelioration, he does not conceal his aversion from the plans and views of the First Consul, for such was his designation when this book was penned; and when he arraigns and exposes them, he does this by analyzing them, and setting forth their real tendency. He abstains from harsh epithets and virulent language, and leaves facts to speak for themselves. He readily admits the claims of Bonaparte to the highest military renown, to unrivalled activity, and to unparalleled dexterity in pursuing his schemes; and no attempt is made to conceal the obligations which he has conferred on the nation over which he rules. If he be exhibited as a dark, designing, crafty, merciless tyrant, who pursues solely the aggrandizement of his power, the picture is. composed by displaying the particulars of his conduct, by developing his plans, and by placing his measures in open view. The outlines of his policy are sketched in a masterly manner, his public acts are ably discussed, and the aims which he studies to conceal are made to appear from facts not generally known, and from circumstances which had been unobserved by others. The work presents equal attractions to those who read for pastime, and to those who seek instruction in the important science which weighs and regulates the interest of states. and empires. We shall exhibit some of the most remarkable features of the hero's infant days. Having informed us that Bonaparte was born on the 15th of August 1769, at Ajaccio, in Corsica; that his father was a lawyer; and that General Marboeuf, who finished the conquest of the island, and who remained there as its governor, became his patron, and placed him, when ten years old, at the military college of Brienne, whence his superior attainments procured him an admission into the military school at Paris; the writer relates that, at this tender age, The deliverance of his native land from the French yoke was his favourite theme; and his expressions, in that respect, often betrayed in him a belief of its being his destiny happily to accomplish the plans, in which Paoli, who was then the idol of his heart, had proved unsuccessful His school-fellows could not provoke his anger more, than by calling him a vassal of France. He had sworn eternal hatred to the Genoese, by whom Corsica was sold to that power. One day, when a young Corsican, newly arrived, was presented to him as a Genoese, he instantly seized him by the hair, and would have killed him, if some stronger boys had not parted them. For several weeks after, his rage always rekindled, when by chance he met this young student. He likewise signalized himself from his school-fellows, by a religious cast of mind, to the great satisfaction of his spiritual teachers. The mode of instruction in this college, being chiefly calculated for improvement in military art, coincided best with his inclination. Bonaparte did not profit much by the general instructions at the beginning, but soon devoted himself exclusively to the study of mathematics. He cared little about the knowledge of classic or modern languages, and still less for an acquaintance with the liberal arts and sciences; even the mechanical proficiencies of youth, as writing, riding, &c. were little regarded by him: hence he still writes a bad, illegible hand, and is but an indifferent horseman His greatest delight was in read. ing Plutarch, and the life of the Marshal Prince of Saxony, which he chose as a recreation after the regular hours of close study in mathematics. The first friend he selected among his school fellows was Faucelet de Bourienne, like him a student in mathematics, and a youth who by his mild temper and pleasing bashfulness, had gained the good will of all the other boys. This Bourienne became, and always continued, first private secretary to Bonaparte, till the present year. His moroseness, and rough behaviour, to most of his school-fellows, exposed him to continual quarrels and battles. in which he generally suffered, being the weakest; yet he would never lodge a complaint with his rigid schoolmasters against them. He was generally their speaker and advocate in their little insurrections, and was usually singled out and punished as the leader, when the other boys would cringe for fear of being flogged; yet the most severe chastisement could not draw a single complaint from his lips.' We are here informed that it was his brother Lucien, who found means, by way of England, to transmit to him in Egypt an account of the disasters with which France had been vi sited; and it is suggested that the English were not unap. prized of his intentions to depart, though they were remiss in obstructing the execution of them, under the notion that the fall of the colony would speedily follow, when no longer cherished and protected by its founder. The author thus describes the situation of Bonaparte on his attainment of the Consulship: He had now reached the plenitude of power; thirty millions of his fellow-creatures obeyed him : he was uncontrolled and secure; all parties pressed forward to join him; tired with their long continued strifes and numberless disorders, all looked up to him, in the hopes of security and happiness; all confided in the republican hero, who had even attempted to disseminate knowledge and freedom through the deserts of Africa. It was a happy moment: no hero, no legislator, in ancient or modern history, had ever been so successful. All was prepared; the materials of a glorious constitution for mankind were at hand-ready at the disposal of a truly great man, who, forgetful of his own interest, only studied the good of mankind: but Bonaparte was not this great man -his was not this noble aim. Whether he was actuated by that thirst of power, by which men of strong minds and uncontrollable activity are usually impelled; or by his conviction of the French being incapable of freedom; Bonaparte was only courageous; having no other view than to establish himself sole ruler. A new constitution, as it was called, by which all public functions were to be subordinate to him, was introduced on the 15th of December; by it all authority was vested in the hands of one single man. And this same constitution was but a tool, which he might lay aside whenever he chose: a legislative body, without the power of imposing laws: a tribunate, with full powers to make complaints, which the government had a right to disregard: a senate, incapable of enforcing its decrees-these were the bulwarks against the despotism of a man, in whose hands all executive power was lodged, who could propose laws and even annihilate at once the constitution altogether.' Bonaparte made it his particular study from the beginning, to gain the good opinion of all men of genius; certain, that by securing their voice, he would have the suffrage of all. Being himself one of the most extraordinary men, the darling of good fortune, at the head of a people, ever prone to excess in adulation, and proud of their rulers, it was no wonder that fulsome praises and exultations resounded from all quarters. Foreigners, taking the newspapers and journals as the general interpreters of public opinion, were often led to think the enthusiasm for Bonaparte was universal; but a short residence at Paris, and the visiting public places of resort, or mixed societies, would soon convince them of their errer. Bonaparte is by no means popular.He is cold and reserved- he knows not how to inspire affection; a formal, carefully regulated deference and respect are shewn him; and he stands the more firm on that very account. He is not one of those idols raised by the voice of the people, commonly trampled upon with as little and as unexpected ceremony, as whea first raised to unlimited power: he owes his rise to himself alone, and appears, for that very reason, |