has also been published. Though we do not believe that the sale has been remarkably extensive, few modern works of the kind have obtained a more general notoriety, which has by no means been confined to our own country. A translation into French by M. Roujeux was, under the late government, used, as the standard history of England, in all the colleges of France. It would be unjust to suppose that the motive which will probably suggest itself was the sole cause of this preference. The merits of Dr. Lingard are of a high class. He generally discusses controverted facts with candour, (except on one subject,) acuteness, and perspicuity. He selects, in general, judiciously, arranges naturally, relates without prolixity or confusion. Abstaining from any comprehensive views of society, and from any profound remarks on human character, and thus certainly falling short of the first rank among historians, he at least avoids by this the habit of verbose declamation on these topics, which the minor Italian historians, and even Guicciardini, have practised, and of which abundant instances may be found in the writings of M. Sismondi, and, still more, of Mr. Godwin. His style, which in earlier volumes was somewhat too much constructed after that of Gibbon, has become more easy and spirited by practice, and though not free from small blemishes, nor rising into eloquence, may be considered as good, from its conciseness and perspicuity.

It is impossible to deny that the celebrity of this work has been in some measure owing to the hostility it was calculated, or perhaps designed, to excite. In the first three volumes, though Dr. Lingard was known to be a Catholic priest, little was found that provoked much controversy; nor indeed were they very much read before the publication of the fourth. It might be observed that he disposed of the story of Edwy and Elgiva, and of the dispute between Henry II. and Becket, rather differently from most of his Protestant predecessors; but such matters have been reckoned open ground, and not very important to the Established Church. It was quite otherwise, when, in descending to the Tudor dynasty, he exhibited the fathers of the Anglican reformation, and all the circumstances of that great revolution in the laws and opinions of England, so unfavourably, and yet to all appearance so dispassionately, and with so perpetual an appeal to authority, that, while many were startled to find their antient prejudices disturbed without much power of resistance, the champions of orthodox Protestantism were quick to take up the gauntlet, and expose, if they could, the misrepresentation and sophistry which was dimming the lustre of its historical glory. The time drew more than usual attention to such a contest. The great question, since so happily terminated, had begun to assume far more the character of a religious dispute, than it had done at the outset ; an activity in proselytism was perceived, or strongly suspected on both sides; and though no rational and cool-headed men were disposed to rest the merits either of Catholic Emancipation, as a political measure, or of the Reformation, as a theological one, on the personal characters of Mary and Elizabeth, of Pole and Cranmer, yet it is certain, that nothing is more common than to measure the truth of doctrines by the honesty of their professors; nor had any argument been more efficacious, in the seventeenth century, to withdraw members of the Anglican Church from its tenets, than to raise unfavourable notions of those who, in the preceding age, had established it. Even the writings of its professed friends, when tinctured with the strong leaven of hierarchical principles, such as prevailed in the

reigns of the two first Stuarts, tended to alienate their readers from the protestant theory of lay-judgment in religion, and reform of the church by the temporal power; and thus James II. has mentioned Heylin's History of the Reformation as one of the two books which satisfied his mind, that the truth had been lost by those who seceded from the Church of Rome. The manner of Dr. Lingard's attack on the northern heresy, as established in these kingdoms, was conducive to his success. No angry expression, no arrogance or indignation betrays the writer's intention; a placid neutrality, and almost an affected indifference to the whole subject, seems to guide his pen: aware of the propensity of mankind, and perhaps of the greater ease of the undertaking, he prefers lowering his adversaries to exalting his friends; and if he can degrade the memory of Cranmer, or taint the fame of Anne Boleyn, or darken a shade in the character of Elizabeth, is not comparatively solicitous to interest us for the virtues of Gardiner, or to palliate the cruelties of Bonner. Whatever, indeed, is done either way-for much is done in the way of defence, though more in that of accusation-is executed with consummate dexterity; the conclusions are always left for the reader, while the facts seem related with so much simplicity and fairness, that when they are unfairly represented, it is not a slight acquaintance with authentic history which enables us to detect their fallaciousness.

L'arte che tutto fa, nulla si scuopre.

It was not, however, to be expected that any misrepresentations of importance would escape detection in an age when historical criticism is vigilant, and when public libraries are universally accessible. For several years Dr. Lingard's want of candour in relating the history of the English Reformation was the theme of periodical criticism, sometimes also of more extended animadversion. Many attacked him with increased animosity on account of the pending Catholic question; a few, probably, defended him chiefly on the same account. Upon the whole, perhaps, each party came off with nearly an equal number of wounds in the controversy. If on the one hand, Dr. Lingard rendered it abundantly clear that Burnet, and those who have written the annals of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. in the same spirit, had somewhat overcharged the faults of the ancient church, and considerably disguised the injustice and intolerance which accompanied its overthrow; if he was successful in vindicating the English Catholics under Elizabeth from many aspersions, and held out to just indignation the persecuting laws which so long had passed for necessary safeguards against conspiracy; it is not less certain, on the other hand, that he was convicted of frequently going beyond the meaning of the authorities which he vouches, and of still more frequent suppression of the truth.

We have the less scruple, if indeed any scruple on such a topic could be felt by critics, in alluding to the faults of Dr. Lingard in a portion of his history published some years ago, because we can bestow upon him the high and not very usual commendation, of having corrected, in a great degree, that propensity to carry a party spirit into the narrative of past times, from which writers of his profession are seldom exempt. Historical unfairness is indeed the besetting sin of the Roman Catholic advocates; and the name of Bossuet, in this respect, hardly reaches higher than that of Maimbourg. Even the soft and moderate Mr. Charles Butler, who might pass for an exception, has sometimes brought to our remembrance the malicious Greek epigram,

Λεριοι κακοι· εχ ὁ μὲν, ὡς δ ̓ κ·

Παντες, πλην Προκλέας· και Προκλεης Λεροις.

which Porson very unjustly adapted to the following epigram on a scholar very little inferior to himself:

"The Germans in Greek

Are sadly to seek;

Not five in five score,
But ninety-five more;
All, all except Herman,

And Herman's a German."

But be this as it may, we sincerely congratulate our author, as well as the public, on the manifest signs of increased candour and impartiality which distinguish his three quarto volumes on the reigns of the four Stuarts in England, especially the two latter. Not that we never detect prisca vestigia fraudis; but the objections we could raise on this score are much less frequent. One of the most remarkable proofs of this is, that the fortunes of the Catholics, which occupied a most disproportionate share in the history of Elizabeth, those of the Puritans, though far more important in their political consequences, being reduced into small compass, and many interesting events of the Maiden Queen's story slurred over with very slight notice, are less and less prominent as we advance, till the Popish Plot, and the designs of James II. to restore his religion, bring them naturally into the foreground.

Of the three quarto volumes to which we have alluded, the first comes down to the death of Charles I., the next to the year 1673, and the last to the Reformation. They are consequently on a sufficient scale to permit the development of facts, with their causes and circumstances, and even some degree of critical examination of them. We have found, however, that partly perhaps from some habitual indisposition to circumstantial narrative, the civil war between Charles and his Parliament is more briefly related than may be satisfactory to the general reader, considering the copiousness of materials, and the consequent accummulation of records and events; nor do we think Dr. Lingard is always full enough on the still more interesting conflicts of party within the walls of Parliament. These defects are more than compensated by a rigorous impartiality, which he uniformly displays on political questions, and which stand in a singular contrast with the bias he, at one time at least, used to manifest as to the interests of his church.

COMPARATIVE STATE OF LITERATURE IN ENGLAND AND

FRANCE.*

Chenier's account of French literature since 1789 is interesting, for the very reason that it is drawn up by a person initiated in its worst mysteries. It may, in some measure, be regarded as a continuation of the Tableau which Lacretelle has given of the literature of the eighteenth century, in his History of France, during that period.

* 1. Tableau Historique de l'Etat et des Progrès de la Littérature Française depuis 1789. Par Marie-Joseph de Chenier. 1 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1816. 2. Fragment d'un Cours de Littérature fait à l'Athenée de Paris en 1806 et 1807, par M. J. de Chenier; Suivis d'autres Morceaux littéraires du même Auteur. I vol. 8vo. Paris, 1818.-Vol. xxxv. page 160. March, 1821.

The epocha which Chénier had to discuss was a much more ungrateful season than that which Lacretelle had examined; neither has he shown the same talent in treating it; so that, upon the whole, his work is inferior, in interest and execution, to that of the historian. Being destined, however, to form a distinct treatise, the method he has adopted is preferable. Each branch of literature has its separate chapter-grammar, moral and political philosophy, eloquence, history, poetry, etc.-forming, in all, twelve heads, under which the whole subject is comprised; and we shall follow the same order in giving an account of his work.

The first chapter is upon Grammar, in which are comprised, not merely the rules of speech, but the whole art of thinking. Bacon, says M. Chénier, was the first person who made the due distinction between positive and philosophical grammar. Fifty years after him, Launcelot, directed by Arnault, one of the most celebrated among the society of the Port-Royal, produced the grammar which has been the foundation of that science in France. Arnault had indeed been preceded by Robert and Henry Estienne, under Henry II., as he was followed, since the establishment of the French Academy, by Vaugelas, T. Corneille, Patru, Ménage, Bouhours, and Dangeau. In the beginning of the last century, Desmarais published his French Grammar; and Gérard, taking advantage of an idea first started by Fénélon, his Synonymes. About the same time, Dumarsais published his Treatise on Figurative Language, which was but a part of a much larger work; some of which has been scattered in different articles in the Encyclopédie. At length Condillac produced the most complete work upon Philosophical Grammar that has ever appeared, says M. Chénier, in any country; beginning with the first generation of our ideas, by means of our senses, and thence deducing many luminous consequences. Among contemporaries, he mentions Domergue, whose speculations are just, but complicated, therefore we conceive useless in practice; and the Abbé Sicard, whose grammar, some say, is too clear, that is to say, too full of unnecessary illustrations, and thence too long. But they who make this objection, do not recollect that Sicard wrote under the strong impression of his daily task; that of stimulating into action the faculties which the privation of one powerful sense had left in a state of indolence in his afflicted pupils. A little redundancy of elucidation must rather be pleasing, when it calls to our minds a life of uninterrupted benevolence.

M.Thurot has translated Harris's Hermes, and added a history of the science, since the schools of Athens and Alexandria, down to Condillac. Other modern names are Lemare, Marmontel, Garat, Rivarol, Butet, Volney. The latter speaks in favour of a universal alphabet, which might be so devised as to be applicable even to Asiatic languages. This project has at least the merit of being of more easy execution than a universal dialect; and of much more importance than a universal system of weights and measures.

In the analysis of the understanding, every thing may be traced back to Bacon; and after him comes Hobbes. Descartes was the founder of true logic in France; though, in metaphysics, he often erred, by deviating from his own rules; and the Logique du Port-Royal soon followed. Malebranche pointed out the fallacy of our senses, and the illusions of our imagination, as fertile sources of error. Locke was translated; but the ideas he had refuted, though exploded in England, continued to be received in France until the middle of the last century, when Condillac published his various works, and gave general currency to the doctrines of our countryman. The Psy

chologie of Bonnet, "l'Esprit" by Helvetius, were remarkable at the same epocha. In the first organization of the Institute, the class of Moral and Political Sciences proposed the following as a prize question :-"To determine the influence of signs in acquiring ideas and knowledge; together with the influence which the improvement of signs is likely to have upon the future progress of the human mind." The prize was won by M. de Gerando. In his Mémoire he treats many collateral questions; among others, this very important one: Natural signs can awaken in us only sensible ideas; while all our abstract ideas must be obtained by means of artificial signs; that is to say, by language. He examines the influence of signs, and the modes by which artificial symbols may be improved, in such a manner as to compose a truly philosophic language; and adopts the opinion of Leibnitz, that the most direct method is not to invent new idioms, but more firmly to fix and know the value of old and current expressions. He is fully persuaded of their competence. To the same class M. Maine-Biran presented a Mémoire "on the influence of habit on the faculty of thought; " and M. Laromiguiere two Mémoires, one on the words Analyse des Sensations, and another on the word Idées. Marmontel also published a Logique, vastly inferior to that of the Port-Royal; and in which he declares himself a partisan of innate ideas, and bitterly reproves the new doctors, forgetting that, in the number, are comprised all philosophers prior to Descartes, and posterior to Locke: nay, even his great master, Voltaire himself, was among the scoffers of innate ideas. Yet Marmontel was one of the perpetual secretaries of the French Academy. But the writer to whom Chénier gives the palm is Mons. de Tracy. The first volume of this author is entirely given up to ideology. To think, to feel, being, in as far as we are interested, the same thing as to be, he explains, from that assumption, the elementary faculties of the entire man; and, after considering them, he considers their signs, written and articulated. Hence originates general grammar, which is the object of his second volume. In this, he resolves language into its first elements, and inquires what may be requisite in an idiom to make it logically perfect. To do this question justice, it is indispensable to determine what is to be understood by logic; and such is the subject of his third volume. Logic, he says, is nothing more than an exact and complete examination of the relations which our different sensations bear to each other; and he shows the uselessness of syllogistic forms, in all such inquiries. This is the work which gives the best idea of the present state of the science in France. It is dedicated to Cabanis, a physician, and one of the first French ideologists of his time. In twelve mémoires read to the Institute, and since collected into two volumes, on the relation of the physical to the moral natures of human creatures, Cabanis discusses many bold and curious points relating to man, in the different epochas and circumstances of his life, to which he is inevitably subjected by nature. In the Leçons des Ecoles Normales, M. Garat exposes a variety of luminous doctrines upon our senses and upon our sensations; in which he demonstrates, 18t, that language is necessary, not merely to communicate, but to acquire ideas; and, 2d, that the first types of artificial signs, and hence of alphabetic language, were suggested by the signs which, in the human countenance, express our sensations. The hundred pages of M. Garat contain, says our author, more just and profound views than all the volumes of the old schools; and the author has practically resolved a question propounded by himself, "Whether philosophical language can be at once exact and eloquent?" This science, which