either side, and one opposite to the portal. The eight fluted columns of white marble, a part of its decoration, are said to have been brought from Nero's golden house. One alone remains entire; the shaft of which, independently of base or capital, is about forty-eight English feet high. It was removed by Paul V. who erected it to support a Madonna before the church of St. Mary, on the Esquiline hill.

The Appendix contains six letters connected with the general subject, as referring to Roman antiquities. Mr. L. commences with the Nasonian sepulchre, which contained the ashes, not of the poet, but of his family. It is cut out of the rock which adjoins the Flaminian way, about three miles from Rome, and was discovered in 1674. Its chief curiosity was a series of painted compartments elegantly finished, representing the state of the dead in the Elysian fields.

The second letter contains a very pleasing account of Tivoli, (the Tibur of Horace,) and of the sumptuous villa of Hadrian, which was once the favoured repository of all that was exquisite in the arts of Greece, and in which many of the most esteemed vestiges have been recovered from long oblivion. To the lovers of vertù, the dissertation on a sarcophagus, with basso relievos which describe with uncommon accuracy the hymeneal ceremonies of the antients, will be an acceptable addition. The plates of them resemble the originals more than those published by Ficorini and other authors.

Although the date of the last letter be so distant as 1750, it affords remarks on Herculaneum which are novel and highly entertaining. Mr. L. points out, with reason, the ineligible mode adopted of clearing these ruins from the incumbent masses thrown on them by mount Vesuvius.

We must acknowlege that the degree of entertainment to be found in this volume will be greatly enhanced to those who have had the happiness of inspecting the remains of dilapidated Rome, of retracing their sites, and of renewing in imagination the pleasure which the first view of them communicated; and the classical anecdotes with which it is replete, bearing so exact a relation to places and circumstances, otherwise obscure, will not convey less valuable information.

From so long an absence, and a probable disuse of his native language, Mr. L. has universally adopted a foreign idiom; which supersedes, in his style, even moderate pretensions to accuracy and elegance. The ore is nevertheless equally valuable, although it may not have been refined to all the perfection of which it is capable.

The plates which embellish this work are few, but well selected, and executed with judgment. The " sublime dreams REV. Nov. 1797.

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of Piranesi," as Horace Walpole emphatically called them, and the happy conjectures of Desgodetz, (lately republished by Mr. Marshall with an English translation *,) may be compared with the accompanying verbal descriptions, and consulted with additional satisfaction.

ART. IX. Secret History of the French Revolution, from the Convocation of the Notables in 1787 to the First of November 1796. Containing a vast Number of Particulars but little known; together with Extracts of the most remarkable Publications on the Revolution, which have appeared in France, Germany, and England. Translated from the French of Francis Pagès. † 8vo. 2 Vols. 148. Boards. Longman. 1797.

WE

E know not why this work should be entitled secret history, for the author does not appear to have been possessed of any important information that was not very generally known to the public. The introductory part contains, in four books, a short and desultory account of the French government, and of the States General under the first three dynasties to the end of the reign of Lewis XV. From that period downwards, the history ought to have been written by the public executioner, being a perpetual repetition of crimes and punishments. The author, professing himself a friend to moderation and true liberty, arraigns with equal severity royal tyrants and republican terrorists. His rage against the former betrays him into contradictions. Thus, p. 22. vol. i. Henry IV. is said to have fallen a victim to the revenge of the duchess of Verneuil, his forsaken mistress: but, p. 32 of the same volume, the death of that prince is ascribed to Mary de Medicis, who is called the assassin of her husband.-In the page last mentioned, the mild and timid Lewis XIII. is said to have avenged the death of his father by parricide.

In p. 31, the soul of Lewis XV. is said to have belonged to vice; and, in a despot, vice is nearly allied to ferocity." After such a remark, it will not appear surprising that M. Pagès should find a second Lewis XI. in the weak and unfortunate, but certainly inoffensive and humane Lewis XVI. This, extraordinary parallel is supported by evidence as ludicrous as the parallel itself is absurd. The late king of France is said, p. 92, to have killed, with his own hand, a cat of which the Princess de Lamballe was very fond, and afterward to have made inquiries of the lady concerning the health of this favourite!

The author's narrative is too vague and general to afford information. It is not a history, but rather a series of reflections * See M. Rev. vol. xxi. N. S. p. 40.

The original is imported by De Boffe, Gerrard-street.

on history; which supposes a previous knowlege of the facts which it pretends to relate. The sentiments are not lofty, but gigantic: the style is not animated, but inflated. Of the author's candour, (and candour has been always considered as one principal merit in an historian,) the following extract will afford a striking specimen:

It seemed as if every day was to present some new obstacle to the progress of the revolution. Scarcely had the five first articles of the decree of the 4th of August been discussed, when M. Necker came to state to the assembly that the public receipt was unequal to its expenditure. Amongst other remedies he proposed to require of each citizen a patriotic contribution of the fourth part of his in come. The assembly was struck with terror at the idea; but Mirabeau, with more than his usual eloquence, with an animation of gesture and countenance, and with a voice of thunder, prevailed on the assembly to decree with confidence the measure proposed by the minister; a measure which, presenting no grandeur of conception, no system of renovation, afforded a standard of his diminutive genius, and annihilated his pretensions to glory. The enemies of the public weal, observing the finances embarrassed, the executive power paralised in all its parts, the tribunals without force, the magistrates without authority, and the whole empire a prey to the violence of the multitude, still nourished the parricidal hope of beholding the nation reduced to a total disorganization; but light suddenly beamed from the midst of darkness, order sprung from the womb of chaos. New bonds of subordination extended themselves from one extremity of the kingdom to the other: each city revived within its walls that municipal government which was esteemed so salutary, so desirable by our ancestors. Necessity, and the desire of a common defence, accelerated the establishment of this paternal administration, which, joined to the formation of the national militia, in a great measure subdued the anarchy, and inspired terror into the banditti and the counter-revolutionists. It is no less true than consoling to observe, that so complete a revolution in the existing manners, laws, and prejudices would probably, in a nation less civilized and less social, have caused greater torrents of blood to flow, and would have been sullied by a greater number of crimes; for those committed at a subsequent period by the decemvirs and their agents were directed against the majority of the nation, and are not to be laid to its charge. We ought not therefore to be astonished that such disorders followed the revolutionary crisis; but that those disorders were not infinitely greater. After eight centuries of oppression, of languor, and of lethargy, the people awoke, and beheld themselves suddenly invested with sovereign power; they used it as a new weapon, which it is impossible to handle without danger; they drank out of the cup of liberty, which was to them as an intoxicating draught to a savage. They abused their power, but there is scarcely another nation which, in the career of victory, would have displayed so much moderation. Consider the conduct of the English when excited by Gordon against the Catholics, even in presence of a

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consolidated and vigorous government! Suppose them placed in the absence of all authority and all law, in the state of anarchy in which we were, and you would see them spill oceans of blood. Remember the barbarous wars which the English carried on in India! Remember, that in America they offered the savages a reward for every American scalp which they should bring in !"

The volumes are not enriched by many original documents: but the address of the unfortunate Bailly, the celebrated author of the history of astronomy, which, we believe, has not before appeared in the English language, will be considered by the future historians of the French revolution as a monument equally interesting on account of its author and of its subject. We cannot refuse to make room for it, with M. Pagès's wellfounded introductory remarks:

We shall have occasion, in the course of this work, to scatter some flowers on the tomb of the celebrated but unfortunate Bailly; and we shall render to his innocence and probity all the justice which they deserve. It is very satisfactory to us to exhibit them in still more striking colours, by means of the irrefragable proofs contained in the following production, which is almost unknown, though printed at the time, under the title of 7. S. Bailly to his FellowCitizens; because this memorial, though written with the most perfect moderation, though it accused no one, and was confined solely .to the defence of a person accused, was not suffered to appear : no bookseller, no newsmen dared to sell it; and this circumstance is one of the most striking proofs of the universal oppression which was exercised over a people who were only free in name. Alas! the. spectre of calumny seats itself but too often on the tomb of a great man. He is persecuted whilst living; he is even pursued after death. We have thought it our duty to repel the attacks which calumny might bring against the memory of one of our most illustrious citizens; of the man whose part in the revolution was most honourable, and whose sufferings were most acute. He sustained all the ferocity of a populace, whose idol he had been, and he was shamefully abandoned by a people whom he never ceased to esteem. He died, like the just man described by Plato, overwhelmed with ignominy. They spat upon him, they burned a flag under his eyes: some hired ruffians even approached to strike him, in spite of his executioners, who themselves were ashamed of such brutality. He was covered with mud; he was detained three hours at the place of execution, and the scaffold of the President of the Tennis Court was erected in the midst of filth and ordure. A chilling rain, which fell in torrents, added to the horrors of his situation. With his hands bound behind his back he sometimes begged for an end to his sufferings; but these words were uttered with a calmness worthy of one of the first philosophers in Europe. To a man, who said to him, "Bailly, you tremble!" he replied, "My friend, it is with cold."

His death recalls to mind that of Condorcet, another most virtuous philosopher, who employed himself, when in chains, on the improvement of the human race; who died with the same calmness

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as Bailly; and who, like him, was one of the victims of those mon sters, hideous with crimes and stained with blood, by whom we were governed.

The following paper is the more valuable, as it throws a great light upon the events which preceded the flight of the king; on the artful, prefidious, and ambitious conduct of M. La Fayette, and on the famous day of the Champ de Mars :

J. S. BAILLY to his Fellow-Citizens.

I was summoned, as a witness, on the trial of Marie-Antoinette: I found myself named and inculpated in the act of accusation directed against her. In the course of my deposition, I was interrogated respecting the events of the 17th of July at the Champ de Mars: I was also questioned respecting my connections with la Fayette and la Rochefoucault. It was suggested that I had had criminal relations with the ci-devant court: and I was asked concerning certain secret meetings, said to have been held at the Castle. My answers, satisfactory as they were, could only be heard by the citi zens present at the trial.

He who has occupied an important post owes to the people an account of his conduct in the exercise of those functions with which they have entrusted him. I am going, therefore, at present to discharge this duty.

The act of accusation against Marie-Antoinette contains the following passage: "It is manifest, from the declarations of Louis Charles Capet, and of the girl Capet, that la Fayette, a favourite, in every sense of the word, of the widow Capet, and Bailly, then mayor, were present at the flight from the palace of the Thuilleries; and that they favoured it with all their power."

It is false that I was at the Thuilleries on the day of the 20th of June. It is false, that I in any manner facilitated the flight of Louis's family. It is true, on the contrary, that I did every thing in my power to prevent it.

Upon being informed of the declaration made by young Louis and his sister, I requested the President of the tribunal to demand of the accused: 1st, At what hour she and Louis left the Thuilleries on the 20th of June? zdly, If I was present? The President replied, that the accused had, in her examination, anticipated my ques tions, by declaring, 1st, That they had set off, between eleven and twelve o'clock at night; and 2dly, That I was not present. Thus the testimony of the mother overthrew that of the children,

For several months it had been rumoured, that the flight of Louis was at hand. I had constantly transmitted to the committee

Any one would conclude from this expression, that la Fayette was very much in the queen's good graces. She could not endure him, and often used to say to her friends, "Must I always have that coxcomb before my eyes?" I have this anecdote from persons of veracity. Recourse was had to la Fayette only because he was commander of the national guard, and might have disconcerted their projects,'