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Goldoni wished to visit France, and his desire was gratified in the following manner. The applause which his "Harlequin's Child Lost and Found" obtained in Paris at the Comédie - Italienne, determined the first gentlemen of the bed-chamber to the King, to request his attendance in France for the purpose of restoring the former reputation of that theatre. Their honorable proposals were accepted, and he arrived in Paris in 1761. Goldoni had at this time composed one hundred and twenty different pieces. His personal acquirements, as much as his reputation as a poet, obtained for him an introduction to the first society of the capital. The reader to Madame la Dauphine, (second wife of the Dauphin, father of Louis XVI.) whom he was acquainted with, presented him to that princess, who placed him in the service of the daughters of the King in the situation of reader and Italian master. Goldoni, in consequence of this appointment, renounced comedy, and resigned himself to his new functions. He had apartments in the Chateau of Versailles, and was admitted to all the excursions of the Court; and, having but very short lessons to give to his pupils, his dependance was light, and his life pleasant. Some years afterwards, his services were dispensed with, but he preserved his title and pension. He was now settled in Paris, and, being determined to spend the remainder of his life in France, resisted the propositions made to him from Lisbon, London, and Venice, where he was universally regretted. His nephew, whom he had brought with him into France, and whom he tenderly loved, obtained a situation, through the Duc de Choiseul, in the military school, as Italian master, and was afterwards placed in the War Office. Goldoni had, for some time, been desirous of increasing his reputation, by writing a French comedy. The marriage of the Dauphin furnished him with a subject, and he composed one in three acts, the Bourru Bienfaisant, which was acted in Paris with universal applause, on the 4th of November, 1771, and the next day with the same success at Fontainebleau. L'Avare Fustueux acted at Fontaine

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bleau in 1773, had not the same success: it was withdrawn, and neither acted at Paris nor published. His services were required at court in 1775, to give lessons in Italian to Mde Clothilde, the destined wife of the Prince of Piedmont; and he was afterwards charged with the instruction of Mde Elizabeth, sister to Louis XVI ; but he soon obtained permission to retire in favour of his nephew.

At length free from all dependance, he employed himself in writing his memoirs in French, which have been translated into English, by John Black. This work occupied Goldini three years, and was published in 1787; the author having then attained the age of eighty years. The political events which broke out on the 10th of Aug. 1792, occasioned him the loss of his pension by the suppression of the civil list. Deprived of every resourse," and reduced to poverty, he attacked with a dangerous disorder, and died the day after a decrée" passed the convention restoring his salary. Chenier caused a decree to pass, allowing his widow, aged seventy-six, a pension of 1200 francs, with the payment of what was due to her husband.

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In his memoirs he has given extracts from, or analyses of all his plays, and his flexible and productive genius has done this in such a lively manner, that we are sure every one would find an infinite source of pleasure in their perusal. It would then be seen, with what art, what variety, and what superior genius he drew characters, depicted manners, and caused his readers to participate in the different feelings of men of every description.

We cannot conclude this article without again reminding our readers of the just claims, which the illustrious reformer of Italian comedy has to their admiration. Goldoni, like Moliere, reformed the theatre of his country, and introduced manners and characters upon a stage where nothing previously had been represented but farces and buffooneries. He created characters, he observed and depicted with as much ability as force, the manners, the passions, the vexations, and follies of men in every situation of life.

LONDON REVIEW

OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS,

Foreign and Domestic."

· QUID SIT PULCHRUM, QUID TURPE, QUID ‘UTILE, QUID NON.

FOREIGN BOOKS.

Die Wichtigkeit des jetzigen Griechisch Türkischen Kampfes, &c. The importance of the present struggle between the Greeks and the Turks considered, as it affects the physical improvement of the inhabitants of Europe. By Professor Joerg. 1821.

There are already in Germany thirty pamphlets upon the war in Greece, which really is a great thing in a country, where the Austrian Observer proves, that the Turks are good masters and the Greeks rebels; and where they give the professors, who declare in favour of the liberty of the Hellenists, the charitable advice, either to be silent, or give up their situations. Happily, neis ther the tender interest of the dus trian Observer for the Oriental ré gime, nor the weak insinuations of some petty governments, have pre vented public opinion from declaring decidedly for the deliverance of the descendants of Themistocles and Leonidas.

Some of these German advocates of liberty are gone to fight in their ranks, others plead the cause of the appressed in journals and pamphlets. However serious this event may be, it is accompanied by many ridiculous incidents. A Doctor, named Christian Muller, set out in 1821, full of enthusiasm for the sacred eanse of the Hellenists: he went to the Ionian Isles, and joined some English for the purpose of bringing a stronger force to the assistance of the struggling Greeks: they disembarked at a port in Pelops penesus; the Mainotes took them for English spies, stript them of every thing from head to foot, and sent Eur. Mag. Jan. 1823.

them away. Dr. Muller returned to Italy, and sent a book to Germany, in which he proves that the Greeks are not yet ripe for liberty. This book appeared recently at Leipsick; and the official Gazettes of the absolute monarchs immediately cut it into extracts, to prove that they were quite right in slandering the Greeks.

Happily, such a cause does not depend either upon a book or an official gazette; and for one writer who opposes through malice, there are twenty who, with the noblest sentiments, plead for this unhappy people.

Professor Joerg has had recourse to new arguments, to induce the quiescent Cabinets of his country to take up arms against the Turks: it is for the sake of economy and the public welfare that he addresses the princes and their ministers; he justly thinks, perhaps, that their conduct may be more easily swayed by private interests and mercenary consi derations, than by any national cries of suffering man. This is one of the singular arguments made use of by this new defender of the Greeks. The Turks, according to their religi ous system, do nothing to get rid of the plague; the neighbouring Christian powers are obliged to maintainat a great expense cordons sanitaires, in spite of which they are always afraid of the introduction of the plague into their States. Now would it not be better to expel the Turks, that we might have no plague to fear, nor cordons to maintain? Such is the argument of Professor Joerg, which will have just as much effect as any other and no more.

If we could be sure, and we are full of hope, that the Greeks could eventually work out their

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deliverance from Turkish slavery, we should deprecate the interference of foreign powers in their behalf.— A conquest of this kind would only free them from physical to plunge them into moral tyranny. They would exchange Turkish despotism for the more lenient and permanent thraldom of political prejudice and error. Let them expel from their sacred and heroic country the barbarous tyrants that dishonor it, and then may their leaders look far above the petty politics of Europe to the New World, and imitate the brightest ornaments of history, Washington and Bolivar.

ed to give an account of their_respective departments. These different accounts presented a display of immense, national wealth, that no individual, left to himself, could ever have discovered; and, in shewing how greatly a government may contribute to the progress of science, France gave an example which other nations have followed.

It is only from such official documents that an author, who undertakes to give a general description of the resources of a country, can write with certainty; authentic facts are requisite for statistical calculations; approximation often leads to But as things vary gross errors.

Beyträge zur Statistik des Preus- from year to year, from day to day,

sischen Staats.

Statistical Account of the Prussian Dominions, drawn up from official Documents By the Statistical Committee of Berlin. 4to. pp. 130. 1821.

In no country are statisticks cultivated with more attention than in Germany, where this science had its professorship in the universities before any other nation had introduced the word, of German origin, into its Vocabulary.

The really astonishing labours of a Meussel, a Hoeck, a Hassel, a Lichtenstern, a Crome, and others, have greatly enriched this branch of human knowledge, and deserve the more gratitude from the economist, as these indefatigable Germans had no other sources from which they could derive materials for their works than those, if we may use the expression, which they had formed with their own hands. Few states, at that time, cared about knowing in detail the extent of their riches; few governments had made, in this respect, exact and continued researches. By degrees the translations of some of the German authors, we have just mentioned, aroused the torpid governments of other nations. The statistical description of Germany by Hoeck, which Lucien Bonaparte, as Minister of the Interior, caused about twenty years. ago to be translated, contributed, perhaps, to give rise to statistical researches in France; for immediately after, the Prefects were order.

and even from hour to hour, these continual changes ought to be incessantly watched, and collected with the closest attention, in order to form a general and complete exposé of the internal state of a country. This is what the Prussian government for ten years has caused to be executed through a statistical office, established at Berlin, under the direction of M. Hoffman.

All the documents that the administrators of provinces and the different subdivisions send to the government are concentrated in this office, and are published from time to time, as the materials accumulate, properly digested and arranged. The work before us is of this description: it treats, in the first place, of the new division of the Prussian states into government districts, or regencies and circles, similar to the departments and arrondissements of France. It certainly was not easy, in substituting for the ancient chainbers a more regular administrative division, to harmonize so many heterogeneous parts in the narrow space that forms the Prussian state, from the frontiers of Russia to those of France, and which contains a sample of almost all the German nations.

- By the war of 1806, Prussia lost the ninth part of her population; but by the peace of 1815, she recovered a great part of her losses, and aggrandized herself by the acquisition of countries which, situated upon the Rhine, form, with respect to statisticks, a striking contrast to the barren countries beyond the Vistula.

All the Prussian dominions are now divided into ten provinces, subdivided into twenty-seven districts of regency, and into three hundred and thirty-eight circles. The surface, not including the lakes, is about 4,948 German miles, or geographical square miles; equivalent to 13,744 square leagues of 25 to a degree. The population, including the military, amounts to 10,976,252, the number of houses, 1,570,805. There are 1,027 towns which are divided into four classes. Those of the first rank are ten in number, Berlin, Breslau, Dantzick, Cologne, Konigsberg, Magdebourg," Stettin, Aix-la-Chappelle, Elberfield, and Barmen. The towns of the second rank are 133 in number, of which the parts bordering on the Rhine contain twenty-seven, whilst the three large provinces to the East,' namely, Eastern Prussia, Western Prussia, and the province of Posen only contain sixteen. The towns of the third class, 401 in number, are only placed in this rank when the population exceeds the number of 1,500. Amongst the 483 towns of the fourth rank there are 244 which have not less than 1,500 inhabitants, and the other 239 have even less than a thousand. In the whole Prussian state, according to the census of 1819, there are 1,332, 276 horses; 4,275,705 horned beasts; and 9,065,720 sheep. As to the productions arising from land, industry, commerce, and other resources which constitute the riches of the nation, they will be exhibited in subsequent details, ordered to be published by the Prussian government.

The volume we now announce is only a part of the valuable work preparing for publication. The indefatigable researches, the accuracy, the precision, and the extreme care which distinguish this first volume, reflect equal honour on the Prussian government, and the individuals to whom this important task has been intrusted.

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toire des Republiques Italiennes du moyen age," "Litterature du midi de l'Europe," &c. 3 vol. 12mo. 15s.

There exist a great many histotories which in reality only are tales and romances, and he, who would strip Herodotus and Livy of all that is mixed with fable, would preserve but few historical truths.

Good romances; those which deserve their celebrity contain, perhaps, more truth than many histories remarkable for their antiquity, and which we dare not question for they are sacred.

These romances, written by skilful authors, develop in the characters of fictitious personages real passions, which live and reign with the same power, but under different forms, in all ages and in all, coun

tries.

We maintain, then, and we think without a paradox, that philosophy searching for truths will find more in Fielding, Smollet, Fontaine, Le Sage, and Cervantes, than in allthe histories of the East. It is, rare to find however, still more

history and romance proceeding from the same author, and sometimes blended in the same work.

The severe reason, that proudly, holds the pen of history, generally disdains the brilliant pencil of romantic imagination. It was not, therefore, without an unfavourable prejudice that we read a new Romance entituled "Julia Severa,' composed by a justly celebrated French Historian; but this prejudice has been removed by a perusal. of this interesting work.

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In the short space of three little volumes, the author has described so many interesting actions, has painted such a true picture of the manners of the times, and traced. with so original and firm hand such varied characters, that this interesting drama is a complete picture of manners of the fifth century.

The reader will certainly learn from this romance, better than from history itself, the manners of the

Julia Severa; ou l'an quatre cent Germans, the Gauls, the ancient Roquatre-vingt douze, &c.

Julia Severa; or the Year Four Hundred and Ninety-two. By J. C. Simonde de Sismondi, author of "l'Histoire des Francais," "L'his

mans, and the savage court of Clovis; the ambition and policy of the clergy of that period; the vanity, baseness, and luxury of the Roman pa-, the misfortunes of the base, but, tricians, conquered by barbarians. betrayed and oppressed Gauls; and

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Foreign Books.

the ruins of the ancient fanaticism of the Druids, still throwing a ray of light from the dark forests of Helvetia.

"The Romance I now present to the publie," says M. de Sismondi, "is designed to describe the state of the Gauls at the time of the invasion of Clovis: it is the fruit of my researches and labours in providing the materials for the first volumes of The History of the French. The historian is obliged to live, as it were, in the age he intends to describe; which is not required of the writer of romance. If I had had no other intention than to describe the year 492, I should not certainly have read Gregory of Tours' three times over, or grown pale over all the chronicles, all the codes of laws, and all the lives of the saints of that period. An historian only has occasion to acquire that knowledge of ancient times, which enables an author to write a Romance founded on the events of a distant age. The manners and the opinions, which I have drawn, will be aknowledged by a good an tiquary to belong to that age."

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Our narrow limits, will not permit as to give the varied and numerous quotations, necessary to convey a just idea of the many original and diversified descriptions which the author abounds in; such as that of the patrimony of a senator resident in Gaul, at the end of the fifth century; a camp of veterans; one of those dungeons called ergastula; in which the rich patricians shut up their numerous slaves, Wisigoths, Vandals, Francs, Germans, and Burgundians; and all the rich scenes in which is shewn the pride of the higher classes, indulging in vo Juptuousness and luxury, in dreams of past grandeur, and giving them selves up in the midst of ruins, and upon the edge of a fearful precipice, to all the fatal illusions of power and effeminacy. A few examples would be sufficient to prove that the author is not inferior to the most ce lebrated writers of romance in the art of depicting character.

After having introduced Felix Florentius, a Roman worthy, a re lation, pupil, and companion in arms of the famous emperor Majorian; the author follows him in a journey uudertaken to save the Armoricans,

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to preserve them by a prudent negociation from the vengeance of the Francs, and from inevitable destruction. He arrives at the house of Numerianus, Count of Orleans; one of those men whose foolish va nity, raised them to heaven, and who think there can be no change in the world while they possess many flatterers and slaves; a whole century might glide away without being perceived by such men. tres had just been pillaged by the Francs, and the Count of Orleans was still ignorant of it!

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This folly and weakness, when such great dangers were impending, sadly recalled to the memory of Florentius the late catastrophe that befell the inbabitants of Treves, the capital of Gaul, who had been lately surprised by the Francs while they circus. But he vainly endeavoured were enjoying the games at the to call the attention of the Count to this disagreeable intelligence,

Our readers would follow us with pleasure to the cave of the cruel Lamia, priestess of Pan, and witness the nocturnal celebration of the ancient rites of that god in the midst of a desert. Their curiosity would not be less rewarded by transporting themselves with us to the episcopal palace of Volusianus, bishop of Tours: or in reading specimens of the magnificence, the ambition, the daring and the artful policy of the churchmen, who accepted the protection of the pagan Clovis, rather than be governed by the Arian princes: the intrigues of the monks, their false miracles, the ridiculous scenes in which these subaltern ecclesiastics bore a chief part; the mixture of their pedantic learning with the most puerile superstition and the basest flattery, which was but a mask to conceal their vile and perfidious conduct.

We wish we had space for a short description of the court of the young and savage conqueror of Gaul. There we should see a lively contrast between the rusticity and independence of the victorious Francs, and the low pride of the subjugated Romans; and also the able conduct of Clovis displayed, in the treatment of his own followers, to his new subjects.

These quotations, though short, would be sufficient to show the

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