perhaps not known to the general class of readers; giving abstracts from their works, or from reports in which they have had occasion to state their opinions on this subject. Such authorities, relative to the advantages of shells as weapons of destruction, ought certainly to prevent us from forming too hastily a contrary opinion, merely from the circumstance that we have found solid balls sufficient for our purposes in the successful and brilliant naval actions which we sustained during the late wars. The work, however, is wholly French, is particularly addressed to the French Minister of Marine, and of course only demands ameliorations in the naval materiel of that power; which, whether the present plan be adopted or not, appears by the following queries, if there be any ground for them, to stand much in want of reformation. After having pointed out various defects, the author says; Would it not be at least useful to get rid of many inconsistencies which may be remarked in the existing artillery? Why, for instance, have we, for throwing 36 pound balls, pieces weighing only two thousand five hundred pounds, while our 12 pounders weigh three thousand pounds? Why do we see, in the same vessel, batteries of 18 and 24 pounders placed between two batteries of 36 pounders; or, in frigates, a battery of 36 pounders placed above one of 18 pounders? Why, in the same ship, employ many different calibres to produce that destruction which must be the same object with all? Why are the weights of our different carronades expressed by the series of 67, 68, 66, 64, and 74 times the weight of their respective balls? a series neither ascending nor descending,' &c. It cannot be questioned that many of the above inconsistencies, from which the English artillery is not wholly free, might be advantageously abolished by an uniform system: but whether it ought to be supplanted by the particular one recommended by M. PAIXHANS we are not prepared to say. He, indeed, like most other inventors and projectors, forms the most sanguine expectations from the adoption of the system which he recommends; and we have no doubt that a part of it is intitled, if not to immediate adoption, at least to a candid and impartial trial. The ordinary armament of a French ship of the line, nominally of 74 guns, is actually composed of 86 pieces of the following description; viz. 28 guns, 36 pounders, 14 ditto, 8 pounders, 14 carronades, 36 pounders; and and the total weight of balls which the ship can project from the 86 pieces is 2250 lbs. According to the system proposed, the same vessel would be thus armed: 28 of the ordinary 36 pounders, re-bored to carry 48 lbs. shells; or 28 new howitzer cannon, for throwing the same shells, and having the usual weight of the present 18 and 24 pounders. 30 howitzer cannons, of 48 lbs. shells, having the weight of the present 18 pounders. 28 carronades for shells of 48 lbs., having the weight of the common 36 lbs. carronade. These pieces, each throwing 48 lbs.* shells, weighing 35 lbs., would project from all the battery 35 x 86 3010 lbs.; which is one-third more of real weight than at present. This the author considers as a gain of power to that amount: but the greatest advantage, he conceives, will arise from the explosion of the shells when imbedded in the sides of the enemy's vessel. The superiority of the proposed armament, great as it is for 74 guns ships, will be proportionally greater for ships of three decks; because a vessel of this description, which now carries 126 guns, can only project from the whole of her guns and carronades 3000 lbs. weight of metal; whereas, when armed according to the new principle, she would throw 4400 lbs. of shells of the calibre of 48 lbs. Finally, what superiority may not be farther derived from this new armament, if we add what is far from being impracticable, mortar-cannon of the calibre of 80 or even of 200 lbs.' The present armament of a French frigate, designed for 24 pounders, according to the regulations of 1807, is 50 pieces of ordnance; viz. 30 guns, 24 pounders, 8 carronades, 36 pounders: the total weight of metal from all the guns amounting to 1200 lbs. Instead of this, according to the proposed system there would be, 30 howitzer-cannons of the weight of 24 pounders, but carrying shells of a calibre equal to a 48 pounder. 20 carronades of the same calibre, having only the actual weight of the carronades of 36 pounders: the total weight of metal from all the guns amounting to 1750 pounds, being nearly one half greater than at present. * This would be the weight of the solid ball of the same diameter. For For a frigate designed for 18 pounders, the usual number of pieces of all calibres is 44; viz. 28 guns, 18 pounders, 2 ditto, 8 pounders, 14 carronades, 24 pounders; the whole weight of metal being 890 lbs. from all the guns. This armament, according to the system proposed, would be: 28 howitzer cannon, equal in weight to 18 pounders, but carrying shells of the calibre of 48 pounders, 2 shell carronades, ditto, 14 ditto, carrying shells of the calibre of 36 pounders ; the total weight of the projectiles from all the pieces being 1490 lbs., instead of 890 lbs. It is difficult, perhaps, without actual experiment, for the best artillerists to state decidedly what advantages, or whether any, would be gained by the change here proposed. The ranges of the shells would, we conceive, be necessarily less than at present: but, at an actionable distance, it is highly probable that much mischief might be done to an enemy with this species of arms. The author does not appear to have performed any experiments, but he has suggested several, which might be made at an inconsiderable expence, considering the national importance of the inquiry. We have principally confined our remarks to that part of the work which treats of the proposed innovation in the nature, number, and calibre of the ordnance: but the writer carries his inquiries respecting the naval materiel to a considerable length; examining the forms and appointments of vessels, and the probable advantages of steam-navigation; on which latter subject he has collected a mass of very useful and interesting information. He estimates, apparently from well-established data, the velocities of a great variety of steam-vessels, and hence infers the probable velocity that might be given to steam-frigates and larger ships. On the whole, with a great number of imaginary schemes and sanguine expectations, little likely perhaps ever to be submitted to experiment, and still less to suceeed to the full expectations of the author, the work manifests also a considerable share of bold conception and originality of idea; which, as we have before observed, ought not to be rejected as altogether impracticable and visionary. On the subject of Congreve-rockets, M. PAIXHANs does not shew the same spirit of impartial examination that marks most other parts of his book; for, though the value of this weapon may be over-rated in the English service, it is far from being the mere bug-bear that the author represents. He APP. REV. VOL. CII. LI states states that, of 1000 rockets thrown at the siege of Dantzic, (on the 10th of October, 1813,) 990 never entered within the limits of the town. On this point, we shall content ourselves with observing that we have witnessed the rocket-practice in the marshes below Woolwich; and that the accuracy with which they were directed to the target, at 1200 yards' distance, was far beyond what could possibly be imagined by a person who had never seen them employed, and little inferior to the best howitzer-practice. As to their power, which M. PAIXHANS likewise professes to despise, we can say that there is in the model-room, at the Royal Arsenal of Woolwich, a remarkable instance of their terrible effects when they strike their object, in a solid post of oak about 18 inches square, which was penetrated by a 32 pounder rocket at the distance of 1800 yards from the point of discharge, the case being still imbedded in the oak; and which, in a bombardment, could scarcely have failed to involve in flames any building that it had entered. Perhaps, it is not necessary for us to go more at length into the contents of this publication: for, although it certainly treats on a subject of great national importance, in its present form it is merely speculative, and of little interest to the general class of readers; who will feel themselves wholly incompetent to form an opinion of the advantages or disadvantages of the proposed innovations. We would, however, seriously recommend the work to the attention of those who are best able to form a judgment of its merits or demerits, and who possess also the means of submitting some of the author's ideas to the test of experiment. ART. IX. Sylla, &c. ; i. e. Sylla; a Tragedy: in Five Acts. By E. Jouy, Member of the Institute. 8vo. Paris. 1822. Im ported by Treuttel and Co. Price 6s. ART. X. Régulus, &c.; i. e. Regulus; a Tragedy: in Three Acts. By M. LUCIEN ARNAULT, Son of the Author of "Marius" and of " Germanicus." 8vo. Paris. 1822. Imported by Treuttel and Co. Price 6s. T would be difficult to find a more accurate standard of the intellectual progress of a country, than that which is furnished by its drama: for no invention of man more clearly reflects the variety of his powers, the dignity and grandeur of his genius, the extent and subtlety of his understanding. It is the mirror which exhibits, in living and substantial forms, all the complex operations of the mind; and it presents to our view the world of sensible images, which poesy lends to serious and and philosophical thinking, clothed in such colors and linked in such combinations, as are most certain of exciting sym pathies equal in force and degree to those that are produced by the contemplation of real events and sufferings. Intrinsically, 'it is neither more nor less than a view of the general principles of human action, embodied in peculiar individuals under the influence of certain predominating passions; and it is obvious that these principles, and the workings of these pas sions, must be uniform, and prevail as much in one country or province as in another. Still, however, the dramatic art, even among nations which have made nearly the same advances in the other arts and institutions of life, seldom exhibits a steady or unvarying analogy. Social man is nearly the same in every polished community: but the drama, which is his moral portrait, is varied ad infinitum. 3 Whence has this variety arisen? The elements of the art must be found in universal nature, and must therefore be the same: but, in some countries, the despotism of fashion, usurp ing the place and superseding the rights of nature, has erected an arbitrary legislation for the theatre, and moulded the form of dramatic fiction by artificial rules and conventions. have only to cross a streight, or a river, or a ridge of moun We tains, to find an entirely new dramatic system. The distinctions between the English and the French dramatic schools might lead us into an interminable dis cussion: but we must pause a little on the subject. Whatever be the sources of that influence which Shakspeare has so long preserved over the hearts and affections of his countrymen, the characteristics of his drama are marked and striking. They consist chiefly of a certain animation and rapidity, of sudden strokes and transitions of fortune, for which it would be vain to look in the French theatre. His agents are not exclusively taken from the palaces of the great, or the circles of the polite, but seem to have been selected at random from the living repertories of nature; where high and low, princes and peasants, courtiers and buffoons, jostle each other in endless contrast and unexhausted variety. In the mingled chaos of events and passions; in the strife of purposes and projects with the accidents which retard and defeat them, of emotions which exalt us to the highest elevation of our nature, and of crimes and vices which deface the characters of our high destinations, and degrade us into merely animal existin sources which lie far beyond the narrow limits of artificial and conventional life, and to which he was guided by the unerring instincts of nature; -he has found the great and shining materials of his drama. From all this, however, ence; -- L12 the |