remonstrance or reproach, his eye was invariably fixed upon the improvement of his fellow-creatures; while with one hand he planted the banners of religious reformation, with the other he brake the fetters with which despotism would have chained and degraded his countrymen. The political and religious sentiments of the elegant and profound historian of England, have led him uniformly to speak of this distinguished reformer with asperity or contempt; and writers infinitely inferior have adopted the unfounded aspersions which he sanctioned. But let not literary fame succeed in hiding what ought not to be concealed, and what ought for ever to be recollected with gratitude; that to what has been branded as the sedition of Knox, we owe the first improvement of the science of government; that to what has been condemned as his fanaticism, we are indebted for that emancipation from spiritual oppression, from which so much that is good has happily resulted. That he was occasionally in error, that he often apprehended danger where it did not exist, that he frequently acted with a vehemence which he ought to have checked, that his zeal was sometimes mingled with enthusiasm, it is impossible to deny. But although he was not perfect, he should still be contemplated as one of the most illustrious of men. His opinions upon government, upon morals, upon religion, display a vigour of mind, an acuteness of penetration, a soundness of understanding, which, for the period at which he lived, are astonishing; and if they who have banished ignorance, promoted intellectual cultivation, and disseminated the inestimable blessings of civil and religious liberty, ought to be revered, an attentive examination of his conduct warrants us to ascribe to him a high place amongst the benefactors of mankind, One delightful circumstance connected with the reformation in Scotland, must have struck all who have attended to its advancement. It was a revolution unstained by blood, unsullied by the cruelty of active persecution. That its establishment was too much connected with intolerance, that the antipathy to popery, and the nature of the opposition made to it were illiberal, cannot be doubted. All this, however, was the fault of the times, The human mind, even in its utmost energy, cannot at once free itself from prejudices which ages have confirmed; and candour re quires, that, in estimating the merit of the Reformers, this should not be forgotten. But their principles, both with respect to doctrine and to discipline, tended to cherish liberality of sentiment. These principles, after every attempt to pervert or to eradicate them, are now gaining ground; and the most enlightened friends of religion in Scotland, while they profess the faith of their fathers, and value as they ought the liberty of professing it, extend indulgence to those who differ from them, mingling what never should be separated, zeal for what is believed to be true, with the patience of forbearance and the mildness of charity.' Before we take our leave of Dr. Cook, we must farther re mark that he seems to have spared no pains in consulting the best authorities, and in arranging his materials; and that the perusal perusal of his volumes will be very satisfactory to those who are desirous of information on the important subject which they were intended to elucidate. ART. V. Biographie Moderne. Lives of remarkable Characters, who have distinguished themselves from the Commencement of the French Revolution, to the present Time. From the French. 8vo. 3 Vols. pp. 1113. 11. 11s. 6d. Boards. Longman and Co. COMPR OMPREHENSIVE as is this work, we cannot help remarking that its title is too general for the mode of its execution. 'The portion of biography unconnected with the French Revolution, which it contains, is too small to justify the designation of Biographie Moderne; and we are to look for the adoption of so vague an appellation in the peculiar circumstances attendant on its publication, or rather on its composition. So long ago as the year 1800, a biographical dictionary of the French revolutionists was prepared for the press at Paris, but was suppressed by the police in consequence of the severity with which it exposed the original misconduct of many persons to whom Bonaparte had found it politic to give employment. Some years afterward, the writers of that work composed and even printed a book in a less offensive form, excluding almost all comments, and confining themselves to a plain enumeration of facts. Still it was not deemed advisable to permit the circulation of these mitigated details; and the publication was again suppressed by order of the French government. A copy, however, was secreted, and found its way to this country, where a translation of it was quickly executed. The chief difference between this version and the original consists in the exclusion, from the . former, of the articles of foreign biography; which appear to have been very scanty in comparison with the others, and to have been introduced, as we have observed, merely to excuse the adoption of a title of so general a nature as apparently to blunt the edge of reproach to the French revolutionists. The authorities, from which the accounts have been compiled, seem to have been the journals of the legislative bodies, the columns of the Moniteur, and other documents of a character superior to ordinary memoirs. These have been ransacked with great assiduity; and the dictionary-form, into which the whole has been thrown, is evidently best calculated for the exhibition of so miscellaneous a mass. On considering the labour bestowed on such extensive collections, and the apparent accuracy with which the task has in many respects been performed, we we account it fortunate that the work has been placed beyond the reach of a tyrannical police by the impression of the present version; and the objections, which it will be incumbent on us to state before we close the article, will be found to relate more to the translation than to the original. In forming an estimate of the latter, the great difficulty consists in making a selection out of so large a stock of materials; since the accumulation of narratives in these closely printed volumes, when considered with the unparalleled events which are connected with them, suggests an overflow of reflections which can with difficulty be confined within limits of much greater extent than those of a critical notice. We shall therefore content ourselves with briefly adverting to a few of the prominent features and passages of the book; such as I. The political Sentiments of the Authors or Compilers. IV. The military Men ;-a department in which our notice shall be very brief, because the writers of this work, however attentive to accuracy and even to impartiality, in their details, discover no capacity for comprehensive views on the subject of tactics. I. With regard to political feeling, we find nothing equivocal in the Biographie Moderne.' The authors are decided royalists, and had no scruple in avowing their predilections on a variety of occasions, though they wrote before the restoration of the Bourbon race. Speaking of the Bastile, (Vol. ii. p. 260.) they say explicitly that of twenty persons who were imprisoned in it during the whole reign of Louis XVI. nineteen deserved it, and had thus, by the influence of their families, been saved from the galleys or the fatal gibbet.' Again, when mentioning the fate of the unfortunate Delauney, the last governor of the Bastile, who was massacred by the people on 14th July 1789, the writer adds, If he did not deserve to die by the hands of the people, he deserved to die by those of justice, for not having defended that fortress; but all was then weakness on the part of government.' In consequence of the royalism of the present authors, the Girondists are mentioned with little appro bation. Many people have been pleased,' (say they, Vol. iii. p. 180.) we do not well know why, to consider the Girondists in the light of moderatists.' A more gratifying evidence of the effect of political feeling is afforded in the admiration expressed in the biographical notice of Madame Elizabeth, the pious sister of Louis XVI. She was born in 1764, and discovered from an early age a turn for reading and reflection, coupled with great indifference to the the dazzling pleasures of a court. In a country-house purchased for her by the King, she passed the happiest moments of her life in rural occupations, and in the exercise of benevolence. The Revolution came and changed these peaceful and happy occupations. Elisabeth saw with terror the convocation of the Statesgeneral; but, when they had begun their operations, she devoted herself to consoling her brother, and alleviating to him all the distresses with which he was successively loaded. On the 6th of October she went to his chamber, and inspired him with the firmness he displayed, and the next day accompanied him to Paris. She then wrote to one of her friends," we have been brought back to the Tuileries, where nothing is ready, but we slept from excessive fatigue. It is certain we are prisoners here, my brother does not believe it, but time will teach him that it is so. Our friends think like me, that we are lost. We have no hope left but in God, who does not abandon those whom he loves. My brother is perfectly resigned to his fate; his piety increases with his misfortunes." When the aunts of Louis XVI. left France, Madame Elisabeth was at first to accompany them; but, at the sight of the dangers which surrounded the royal family, she hesitated; and when Marie-Antoinette said to her, "And do you too abandon us?" she vowed to her to share her fate, and she kept her word. In vain were endeavours made to prevail on her to retire to Turin to her sister. "A woman," answered she, "has only cares and consolations to offer; I owe them to those who are in need of them." It was she, indeed, who became the consoler of her friends; it was she whose gentle, but inflexible courage, often supported theirs in the midst of those long trials calculated to overcome the steadiest virtue. The enemies of her family were not dis armed by her virtues, and she was condemned to death on the 10th of May, 1794. The evening before, she was forced from the Temple at seven o'clock in the evening, to be conducted to the Conciergerie, where she was interrogated for form's sake by Deliège, Vice-president of the Tribunal. The next day she was sent to the scaffold with twenty-four other victims whom she did not know. She ascended it with calmness and resignation, did not utter a single complaint, and seemed happy to go and rejoin, in another life, those whom she had loved so much in this.' The account of Louis XVI. is replete with similar effusions of attachment to the Bourbons, and to the cause of royalty, Louis, say these writers, possessed all the private virtues, but he reigned in an age of depravity, in which these virtues were despised, and became the cause of his misfortunes. "Son cœur ne sut qu' aimer, pardonner, et mourir ; In conformity with the monarchical feelings of the writers, the Vendéeans are mentioned in terms of approbation and cor diality; which is particularly exemplified in the account of one of of their principal leaders, D'Elbée. This officer had received a regular military education, and, being forty years of age at the time of the commencement of the troubles, possessed much more knowlege and combination than the majority of the commanders in the revolutionary war. After having repeatedly overcome the republicans in the course of 1793, he was appointed generalissimo of the Vendéeans: but he was always ill obeyed. His followers were little accustomed to the perseverance which is necessary in war; and the other chiefs were more disposed to run hazards for the sake of individual aggrandizement, than to consult the benefit of the common cause by acquiescing in the direction of a superior. D'Elbée was wounded in battle in the autumn of 1793; and, taking very little care of the wound, apprehensions were entertained of its becoming mortal. He was not, however, allowed the chance of benefit from time and attention, but, immediately on the capture of Noirmoutier by the republicans, he was condemned to death, and, being so weak that he was carried to the place of execution, he was shot in his arm-chair at the foot of the tree of liberty. The same disposition, which actuates the present writers in regard to the adherents of the Bourbons, is evinced in treating of the campaigns with Austria. General Beaulieu was the first military opponent of Bonaparte, and was defeated by him in three successive battles; yet, in the work before us, the failure of the Austrian commander is ascribed more to the fault of his military assistants than to a display of talents on the part of his antagonist. II. Literary Characters. Of all the men of letters who fell victims to the Revolution, none were more deservedly regretted than Bailly. He was born in 1736, and directed his chief attention to the study of astronomy. The Revolution found him a retired and modest student: but, when persuaded to come forwards, he took a more decided part against the court than we might have expected from his previous habits. When, in the capacity of mayor of Paris, he received the King at the town-hall in July 1789, he said, "Henry IV. conquered his people; here it is the people who have reconquered their king." As the Revolution advanced in horror, Bailly determined to withdraw from active life; but the agents of Robespierre discovered him in his solitude, and carried him to the scaffold in November 1793. He had been brought some months before as a witness on the Queen's trial, and had the courage to declare that the facts related in the act of accusation were false and forged. Of this philosopher and politician, however, the most interesting particulars have already been given to the public, |