great injury to her glorious caufe, when they have recourse to means of defence, which are only worthy the advocates of falfehood.

ART, VII. Le Pfalmifle; i. e. The Pfalmift; preceded by a preliminary Difcourfe on Sacred Poetry. By M. Jean de Dieu Raimond de Boifgelin, Archbishop of Aix, one of the Forty Members of the French Academy, 8vo. Pp. 150. Dulau. London.

HE illuftrious author of this little work was eminently diftinguished in the higher circles of fashion, in France, by the urbanity of his mind, the mildness of his manners, and the graces of his understanding. His literary talents, ftill more than his high rank in the Church and State, had procured him admiffion into the French Academy. In the Conftituent Affembly, it often fell to his lot to be the organ of the Clergy, and, in the discharge of that painful duty, he conftantly displayed a rich fund of knowledge and of eloquence; and, notwithstanding the known animofity of the revolutionary party against that refpectable order, never did they, whofe rafh pretenfions he oppofed, and whose destructive paradoxes he refuted, depart from that refpect which his perfonal qualities infured to the high dignity with which he was invetted. During the eight years which he has paffed in exile, in this hofpitable land, he has delivered feveral difcourfes on different occafions, in the Roman Catholic chapels of the metropolis, which have afforded additional proofs of his oratorical talents, and his paftoral zeal. The publication before us is of a different defcription, though directed to the fame end, It was, at firft, compofed for a particular occafion; but the learned and pious author has deemed it expedient to adapt it to purposes of more general utility, by offering to all the victims of the French Revolution, the great refources which religion, always keeps in referve for the confolation of the unfortunate, amidst their moft dreadful afflictions. It is in this light (which is truly interefting) rather than in that of its poetical merit, that the Pfalmift should be confidered, in order to enter into the views of the author.

They, however, who wish to form an idea of the prelate's literary talents, will derive both pleasure and advantage from the perufal of the excellent preliminary difcourfe on Sacred Poetry; the origin, progrefs, hiftory, object, and distinguishing characteristics of which are traced with equal tafte and method.

The

The Archbishop's judicious reflections are delivered in an elegant and manly ftyle, well adapted to the fubject: though, perhaps, were we difpofed to criticife the work with that rigour which the production of a French Academician feems to demand, we should object to the too-frequent use of epithets, on the score of affectation; and fhould farther obferve, that the noble fimplicity of the facred text occafionally disappears in the elegant copiousness of the paraphrafe, which does not always give the fenfe of the original.-Thefe trivial defects, however, are, themselves, loft in the general merit of the production.

ART. VIII. Difcours pour la bénédiction, &c. i. e. A Dif courfe for the Benediction of the Chapel in King Street, Portman Square. By M. Jean de Dieu Raimond, de Boifgelin, Archbishop of Aix, &c. 8vo. Pp. 48. Dulau. London. 1799.

THIS

HIS pamphlet is the production of the fame author who wrote the Pfalmift; it contains, befides the discourse mentioned in the title-page, two others, delivered at the fame chapel, one on "the first communion;" and "the other, on << the renewal of the baptifmal vows." The first and last of thefe difcourfes have their diftinctive merits, but the fecond is unquestionably the beft of the three. The difficulty under which the preacher laboured, in rendering his language easy and familiar, fo as to be comprehenfible by the younger part of his congregation, for whofe inftruction it was chiefly intended, without departing from that gravity of style which becomes the pulpit, has been moft fuccefsfully furmounted. Many of the paffages, in this difcourfe, are marked by thoughts not more happily conceived than nobly expressed. We shall extract, as a fpecimen of the Archbishop's style and manner, one paffage, in which he has ingenioufly introduced a tribute of gratitude to the British government, under whose protection the French emigrants have enjoyed that civil and religious freedom, which they would in vain have fought for in their own country.-The laft thought is particularly happy.

"There was a time when religion was united with honour, courage, and glory, and the world faw the fame men whofe heroic minds and glorious atchievements commanded its admiration, repair to the altar to derive their ardour from the facraments of penitence and the eucharist. These warriors, fo bold in the field, fo fierce in battle, were not afhamed to humble themselves on the pave

ment

ment of the fanctuary; they added to their native valour that heavenly strength which is given and supported by the arm of the God of armies.

"When the Chriftians, in the days of the primitive Church (the perfecutions of which we have feen renewed) were preparing for martyrdom, it was, by taking the Sacraments, that they reanimated that faith which no threats could fhake, and which triumphs in the midst of torrents.

And 'twas this fame faith in God, the Creator and Sovereign, which, in former days, infpired that feeling and courageous mother of the Macabbees, when, ftifling her fighs and fuppreffing her tears, fhe faid-O my children, whom I bore nine months in my womb, you whom my affiduous cares have brought up unto this day, 'twas not I who gave you mind, foul, and life; it was not I whofe feeble hands diftilled the blood in your veins, and imparted motion to your limbs. I conjure you to contemplate that Heaven and this carth, and all which they contain. It was the Lord whofe word created Heaven and earth, and all mankind. It is through him that you live, and you will not be afraid to die for him.-May God be propitious to us, answered these generous children, it is not proper for us to abjure the worship and the juftice of the Lord. We will not profane the folemnities of the Temple. We will not utter oaths that will make us perjured. We will die fooner than violate the law of our fathers.

"And it will be better for you, my dear children, to die than ever to violate the pact of your fathers, the inviolable and facred pact of religion and monarchy. You are alike inftructed by our misfortunes, and by our fidelity; your parents had not received, in their early years, thofe leffons which you daily derive from paffing events. They had not seen their fathers, their brothers, their fellow-citizens, fall the victims of revolt and impiety; criminal ufurpers laying their facrilegious hands on the most virtuous of Sovereigns; their Princes in exile, and their lawful King, the neceffary centre of all the interefts of Europe, without any other power than the inalienable power of his talents, his virtues, and his rights; they had not been torn, in their infancy, from the bofom of their country, amidst the ruins of palaces, houses, and temples;-and what would have become of you, or of us, in those days of profcription, if Providence had not marked out an afyulm for us in the bofom of this hofpitable nation, and under the shelter of that Monarch, who is the protector of the stranger and of the citizen, whose perfonal virtues have fufficed to destroy the very germ of revolutions in his own dominions, and whose power, extended to the extremities of the two world, has been rendered, by wisdom, courage, and victory, the council, the defence, and the ftrength of all fovereigns and of all empires. Your parents, tranquil and happy beneath their paternal roofs, and in their native land, had not learnt, by the cruel experience of their early years, what conftituted the indiffoluble union of interefts and duties between the Church and the State. Your education is entirely

founded

founded on the contemplation of great calamities, and the example. of great virtues: the monarchy devoted you to religion on the ruins of the throne; and the love of your Kings is the oath which religion exacts from you on the ruins of the altar.

"Thus is exerciled that heavenly strength, that faith, that supernatural grace of all ages, among the greatest and most terrible events, as in the ordinary occurrences of life. It predominates alike, in fociety, amidst useful occupations and mighty revolutions, : The object is to preferve it, and, in order to preserve it, you must be taught to feel beforehand, if it be possible, the danger and the misfortune of lofing it."

ART. IX. Difcours de Monf. L'Archevêque et Primat de Narbonne, &c. i. e. Difcourfe, by the Archbishop and Primate of Narbonne, Commander of the Order of the Holy Ghoft, &c. &c. delivered on Saturday, April 5, 1800, in the French Chapel, in King Street, Portman Square, at the Service_performed, by Order, and, in the Prefence of, MONSIEUR, BROTHER TO THE KING, for the Repofe of the Soul of MADAME ADELAIDE, OF FRANCE, who died at Trieste, on the 27th of February, 1800. 8vo. Pp. 10. Dulau.

THE

HE venerable author of this discourse held a very diftin-, guifhed place among the higher orders of monarchial France. He was Prefident of the States of Languedoc, by the prerogative of his archiepifcopal See: and he had contracted, in the courfe of a long and brilliant administration, a happy mode of expreffing, with elegance and propriety, the loyal and noble fentiments of his mind. He appears to have preferved in extreme old age (he is now eighty) all the vigour of youth; of which he gave fome ftriking proofs laft year, in at printed difcourfe, delivered from memory, on his bestowal of the nuptial benediction on his niece, Mademoiselle Dillon, who married Sir Thomas Webb. The more mournful cere mony which called forth his pious exertions on the prefent occafion fupplied him with a fresh opportunity, for the display. of that mental energy, which is, at once, an object of furprize and admiration. From this difcourfe, we shall make one extract of a fimilar nature with the paffage which we quoted in the preceding article. And we purpofely felect a paffage of this defcription, as it exhibits the party who beftows and the party who receives the tribute of praise in an equally honourable point of view.

"FRENCHMEN, remember, with gratitude, that if we be now permitted publicly to pay funeral honours to the auguft Adelaide, aunt to your Sovereign, we are indebted for this fad but precious

advantage,

advantage, to the nation fo honourably and fo magnificently hofpitable, which has received us into her bosom, and which, almost the only nation in Europe, affords us an afylum, inaccessible to the perfevering fury of the ufurpers and tyrants of our country. Let us, then, proclaim to the whole world, that to be unfortunate, to be faithful to our God and our King, forms the most powerful claim to the attention, the fenfibility, and the benefactions of this gene. rous nation.

"It is impoffible for me to pass over in filence a species of benefaction, which it belongs more especially to a minister of the gofpel to feel and to appreciate. On opening a new teftament, I read on the first page: Printed from the vulgate edition, under the infpection, and at the expence of, the Univerfity of Oxford, for the ufe of the French Clergy, who have taken refuge in England'. God of concord, and of peace, those prejudices then are foftened, thofe bittereft of all prejudices which fpring from an oppofition of fentiment in religious affairs! It is an illuftrious fociety of learned men, of a different communion from our own, who thought that copious as the bounty of government was, it could not extend to every kind of want: they had read in the fcriptures: Non in folo pane vivit homo, fed in omni verbo quod procedit de ore Dei, and they refolved to enable us eafily, and inceffantly, to confult that holy word, and to dive into that abundant and fertile fource for confolations of a fuperior description to all those which human beneficence can bestow.

"Let us, then, confecrate the memory of this diftinguished tef timony of the interest, which THE CELEBRATED UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD takes in our misfortunes, by the folemn tribute of praise and gratitude, which it prescribes to us, and with which it inspires us!

"Let us form the most ardent wishes, that a nation fo well difpofed to do good, and fo ingenious in the means of doing it, may long enjoy the happiness of poffeffing the CHERISHED AND REVERED MONARCH, whofe perfonal virtues add a new luftre to the glory of the throne, which he fills with fo much splendour. May he, attending to all the dearest interests of juftice, morality, and good order, fulfil THE HIGH DESTINIES to which Providence feems to have called him, and become the equitable pacificator of Europe, after having been her avenger, her rampart, and her support!.

ART. X. Le Dix-huit Brumaire, &c. i. e. The Eighteenth of Brumaire; or a Picture of the events which produced the Revolution of that day; of the fecret means by which it was prepared; of the facts which accompanied, and the confequences which are to refult from it. To which are added, Anecdotes of the principal Perfonages then in power; with authentic Documents, &c. 8vo. Pp. 431. Price 7s. Paris Printed. Imported by De Boffe. 1799.