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VOL. I. NO. III. MARCH, 1820.

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THE

ANALECTIC MAGAZINE.

MARCH, 1820.

ART. I. An Essay on the Life, Writings, and Opinions of Mr. de Malesherbes; addressed to my children: by the Count de Boissy d'Anglas, peer of France, member of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-lettres, and grand officer of the Royal order of the legion of honour, 2 vols. Paris and London.

octavo.

[Translated from La Revue Encyclopedique.] FEW works merit more than this to fix the attention, whether we consider the subject, or the author. We have displayed to us, the life and writings of an illustrious philosopher, by a writer respectable for talents, character, and rank. We were not wholly ignorant of the life of Mr. de Malesherbes, for it forms a part of history: but those, who, with different abilities, but with one applauding pen, have recorded it, have not so closely examined his writings and opinions, as to exhibit him in one harmonious view, as a citizen, philosopher, author, and public character. The count Boissy d'Anglas has, we think, successfully undertaken this. He has not rejected the known and characteristic anecdotes of his hero; but has added others, which his intimacy with Mr. de Malesherbes enabled him to collect. He has not confined himself to a single portrait, but has displayed,

around his principal personage, other remarkable men who have played a part in the scenes of the drama, of which a vast empire has, recently, been the theatre. He has therefore composed a truly historical painting.

In uniting an account of the events in the life of an eminent man, to that of the principal political occurrences of France, during nearly half a century, he has certainly not wanted opportunities of entering on questions of the highest public interest; and he has, on all occasions, examined these questions with noble candour, and rare honesty. We need scarcely add, that the reflections which he has advanced on these important subjects, are all favourable to philosophy, justice and liberty.

Mr. Boissy d'Anglas gives us the following portrait of Mr. de Malesherbes, one of those men of whose acquaintance and esteem he is proudest.'

'He was,' says Mr. Boissy d'Anglas, 'intimately acquainted with many branches of human learning, and had a partial knowledge of almost all of them. We behold in him an eloquent orator, a writer of distinction, a man of polite literature replete with information and taste, a profound statesman, an able legislator, a magistrate full of sagacity and firmness. In private life, he preserved a uniform course of goodness, simplicity, and modesty; we saw him endued with the greatest moderation, and exercising the utmost indulgence; in manners, mild, and easily accessible by all. He was truly a good natured man; not in the style of la Fontaine; silly, diverting, eccentric, and whimsical; but by a certain charm which was found in him alone.'

We follow Mr. Boissy d'Anglas to his delineation of Mr. de Malesherbes in public life, in his different situations as president of the court of aids, director of the library, and minister of state. We always find him the sensible man, the defender of every kind of liberty, the undaunted supporter of the oppressed.