account of the Abbé Mann is perhaps the most interesting of the biographical annotations attached to this year: in the inverse ratio of an author's notoriety, is any communication concerning him appretiated here. This Under 1780 occurs Martin's History of Thetford. learned antiquary owned a house at Palgrave, afterward occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld; and much of his curious library passed into the hands of Sir John Fenn, who married a lady from that neighbourhood. -A pamphlet of Sir William Jones is announced in this year, and references are made to biographical notices concerning him. It ought to have been observed that his ennobled biographer has mistaken the character of his religious opinions, misinterpreting a passage in the remarks on the island of Hinzuan, and overlooking the evidence implied in the correspondence with Michaelis, and else 'where. Of the late Edward King, an account is also given in that year, and he is called a learned and philosophical antiquary. To the appellation learned he may be intitled, as he was a good Greek scholar, and deeply read in classic books: but the appellation philosophic he could scarcely claim. We have, however, frequently introduced him to our readers, and at considerable length. Of his great work, the Muni menta Antiqua, we made our report in N. S. Vols. xxxii. p. 367. ; xlii. p. 364.; liv. p. 113.; and lx. p. 254. He there pursued an interesting inquiry respecting the origin of the Arch, asserting that it was not invented previously to the age of Augustus. A character of Lord Bristol, by Lord Mulgrave, is printed in this year but it includes no anecdotes of a nobleman who imported many good works of art, and adorned this country at Ickworth with a beautiful monument of architecture. In 1781 a set of resolutions by Mr. Tyers are inserted, (p. 82.) which contain many that are new, and many that are good. An epigrammatist might however retort, that the good are not new, and the new are not good. A painphlet of Mr. T. Tyrwhitt, the editor of Chaucer, introduces some private correspondence, but not a sufficient account of that eminent English scholar. 1782. The once celebrated Archæological Epistle, which perhaps owed a part of its popularity to the secrecy of its birth, is here affirmatively given to John Baynes, Esq. the Unitarian barrister; who, with splendid professional prospects, was cut off at the age of 28. Henry Maty's "New Review" is said here to have begun in 1782, and ended in 1784, whereas it continued until 1786: the last number being dated in August of that year. Idiosyncrasy of taste, liberality of N 3 tone, tone, and a predilection for exotic literature, characterized this journal; which, without being profoundly learned, was pervasively interesting. 1783. Tooke's account of Russia occurs among the publi cations of this year, and is perhaps the most important of the prose-works. The number of ambassadors' chaplains, and chaplains to factories, who have visited the Continent at the expence of this country, is very considerable: how few have made so copious a return of instruction and illustration ! 1784. The memoir of Delolme, author of a panegyric of the British constitution, which has acquired great popularity both at home and on the Continent, forms perhaps the most curious biographical excursion attached to the annals of this year; yet the account itself is less than complete or satisfac tory, and ought to invite some person, more favourably circumstanced for intimate knowlege and characteristic delineation, to pourtray at full length an unrestrained and manly though imprudent and irregular being, of whom here we see Only the bust. 1785. The Letters of Literature, published under the pseu donymous designation of Robert Heron, form the most interesting typographical incident of this somewhat barren year. 1786. Vathek, of which the French original was first printed at Paris in 1787, here passes through the press in 1786; so that the translation must have been made from the manuscript-original: the notes are admirable. The Tatler, annotated by the author of these Literary Anecdotes, also ap peared in this year in six volumes octavo. It is a production which has all the characteristics of the present, and announces the same literary virtues and foibles, the same merits and redundancies. With eminent industry, every minute grain or kernel of information respecting the topic undertaken is busily brought together, and seriously arranged and ticketed for apt survey: but the husk is often laid up with the granule, and every where a needless incumbrance of trivial dust is floating. Essays and Illustrations are attached. The printers Lintot, the artist Hussey, the antiquary Willis, the translator Carr, and others, give occasion to valuable notices. Of this supplementary matter, we have 368 pages. Then follow, under the title Cura Posteriores, various additions and corrections to each of the preceding volumes: the author, with almost satirical propriety, applying to himself the motto "Nil actum reputans si quid superesset agendum." Among the most curious additional materials, may be singled out a continuation of the list of periodical publications which was was originally inserted in the fourth volume, and which is here augmented (p. 495.) by an astonishing number of supplementary articles. Some original letters of Mr. Gibbon to Mr. Nichols, which do not appear in Lord Sheffield's life and correspondence, are here given. They refer principally to certain memoirs of the Gibbon family, which Sir Egerton Brydges had inserted in the Gentleman's Magazine. An excessively diffuse and tiresome article is that which re lates to the Reverend Michael Tyson, and which includes a frivolous antiquarian correspondence. It has been said of the German historians of culture, that their fondness for literary merit extended to demerit; and something of this turn of phrase might be applied to the com-. pilation before us. Rather than omit any one, the names of those are perpetuated who would gain by being forgotten; and several are led into the temple of Fame only to be shewn out again in the sight of every body. In the historiography of literature, it is important to observe the law of proportion; and to make the details short which relate to subordinate characters. Quite a sufficient burden for the memory is to be found in the chief incidents and chief sayings of the illus trious: we have little need to load it also with the "Memoirs of P. P. Clerk of this Parish." We exhort our worthy old friend Mr. Nichols to use somewhat more of discrimination in the selection of names to be chronicled, and somewhat more of abbreviation in the selection of facts to be preserved; but we also exhort every biographer to imitate him in the careful collection of authentic documents, in the faithful use of confided information, in the candid estimate of human frailty, and in the zealous display of every form of merit. To clergymen and country-gentlemen, among whom reminiscences of the university are especially valued, this work will be highly gratifying. It is accommodated to a public, numerous in England, who read not so much to acquire knowlege as to have something to say; and who find, in petty anecdotes of their college-acquaintance and early associates, welcome resource for table-talk, ART X. Memoirs, &c. c. of General Moreau; illustrated with a Portrait, a Fac-simile of the General's last Letter to Madame Moreau, and a beautifully engraved Plan of the Siege of Kehl, and passage of the Rhine in 1796. By John Philippart, Esq., Author of the "Northern Campaigns of 1812 and 1813," and of several Pamphlets in "The Pamphleteer." 8vo. pp. 293. 145. Boards. Colburn. 1814. ART. XI. Some Details concerning General Moreau, and his last Moments, followed by a short biographical Memoir. By Paul Svinine, charged to accompany the General on the Continent. Second edition. 12mo. pp. 152. 59. 6d. Boards. Longman and Co. 1814. W WHILE the former of these publications professes to be a comprehensive narrative of the various exploits of General Moreau, the latter is little else than a notice of the events which occurred in the short interval between his return from America and his death on the second of September 1813. The objects of the two writers are evidently different; Mr. Philippart appear ing to have had in view the extension of his volume to a hand. some size, while the Russian narrator aimed at nothing beyond a panegyrical effusion on the character of the lamented General. Neither of them has discovered much discrimination in analyz ing or describing the qualities of the man who obtained so high a military reputation; so that, were we to circumscribe our report according to a rigid estimate of the execution of these compositions, its limits would not be extensive: but the name of Moreau calls for a notice of some length; and it is not impracticable, by retrenching the exaggerations of both writers, to extract from them some particulars which may be useful in illustrating those parts of his history and character that are less. generally known; The family of General Moreau,' says M. Philippart, although not noble, was highly respectable. He was born in the year 1761, in the maritime town of Morlaix, and in a condition of life, which placed him in an intermediate state, that gave sufficient scope for the cultivation of his native talents; being so much above dependance as to allow freedom of thought and action, yet so far below affluence as to require the exertion of industry, energy, and self-control. • General Moreau received a liberal education, which was finished in the French University of Rheims. He was destined to follow the profession of his father, who had practised that of an advocate, with considerable reputation, in his native town: but a predilection for a military life induced the subject of this memoir at a very early age to enter the army as a private soldier. He was, however, redeemed from the ranks by his parent, and he resumed his studies. In the year 1788, Moreau was called to the bar, and he had not practised the profession long, before his brilliant talents, as an orator and and an advocate, in combination with his literary acquirements, and polished manners, obtained for him the honourable distinction of being elected Prevôt de Droit, Provost of Law, in the University where he was educated.' The habits of application and the engaging manners of young. Moreau gave him considerable influence among the students of law; and, when the parliament of Britanny was in opposition to the court, he took, with the ardour natural to a young mind, the side of the provincialists, which led to his receiving in party-pamphlets the designation of "General of the Parliament." He dissolved, however, his connection with this antient body, as soon as he found them oppose the proposition for convoking the Etats Généraux; and he soon afterward received from the court the command of the first battalion of volunteers or militia incorporated in his department. This appointment enabled him to give his whole time to his favourite pursuit, the study of tactics; and, on the breaking out of the war in 1792, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel. next year, he became General of brigade, and, in April 1794, he was honoured with the higher step of General of division; which was due partly to the prevailing rapidity of promotion in those days of revolutionary frenzy, and partly to the direct patronage of Pichegru, who had early appretiated the indefatigable application and sound judgment of Moreau. In the From this time, his military operations belong to history, Pichegru having never hesitated to intrust him with a distinct command, when a diversion or a siege called for a separation of the forces constituting the numerous body known by the name of "Armée du Nord" Moreau commanded the left division of this army throughout the summer of 1794, and directed the operations which led successively to the capture of Menin, Ypres, Ostend, Bruges, Cadsant, and Sluys. During this time, the fury of Jacobinism and the ravage of the guillotine were at their height; even the warriors, who exposed their lives daily in the cause of their country, being destined to experience sufferings of the most poignant nature: It was early in the month of July, that General Moreau first set down before Sluys, at which period he was assailed by an affliction of a domestic nature, dreadful as unexpected. He was on the point of mounting his horse to hazard his life in the service, and for the glory of his degenerate countrymen, when intelligence was brought to him, that his venerable and respected father had suffered by the summary course of republican justice. His parent had undertaken to manage the property of several emigrants, and this furnished his enemies with an excuse to destroy him. He was accused of being an Aristocrat, or a friend of the Aristocrats, and under this charge was led to the scaffold. • General |