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M. DE C. shines much less in argument than in power of description; his reasoning being frequently abrupt, while his choice of expression is almost always impressive. In some passages, as (p. 50.) when treating of the executive power, his views appear fanciful; in others, they are not always sufficiently defined; and on one occasion (p. 115.) we can scarcely forbear a smile on finding it gravely asserted that, for a century past, none but enlightened men have been returned in our parliamentary elections. A rigid examination has the effect, it must be admitted, of obliging the readers of M. DE CONSTANT'S work to retract a portion of the admiration which they are at first led to bestow on the eloquence of his diction: but enough still remains to compensate for the task of analyzing and studying these pages. Though attached to the Bourbons, and to a limited monarchy, M. DE C. discovers (p. 159.) a very proper distrust of those who would discountenance the establishment of a definite constitution in France, and would advise a recurrence to the unascertained state of things previously to the Revolution. It enters,' he adds, into the nature of Frenchmen to forget all that has not happened during the age in which they live. England has her Bill of Rights, her Habeas Corpus, and a mass of well known precedents; France, on the other hand, has little else than traditions of doubtful authority; and to confine us to these, in our legislative labours, would be scarcely better than desiring us to take up our abode amid a pile of ruins haunted by the spirits of darkness.'

ART. IV. Bathilde, &c.;. i. e. Bathilda, Queen of the Franks, an Historical Romance. By Madame SIMONS-CANDEILLE. 2 Vols. 8vo. Paris. 1814. Imported by De Boffe. Price 18s.

MARCHANGY's Poetic Gaul, of which we gave an account in our lxxist Vol., N. S., p. 519., has not been published in vain; since to the antient annals of their country the heroic novelists of France now turn in search of themes, and abandon Sethos and Belisarius for Dagobert and Bathilda. An Ossianic prose, full of vague pictures and sonorous sublimities, is the prevalent form of narration here adopted. The manners, the superstitions, the customs, the pursuits, and the amusements, of an heroic age, are impressively taught in the natural progress of the story, and are more authoritatively explained in the subjoined antiquarian notes: while a still subsisting conflict between the ritual of Celtic paganism, and the incipient Christianity of the Catholic missionaries, supplies picturesque contrasts of hostile superstitions. The Martyrs of Chateaubriand had

drawn

drawn attention to this resource of epic art with perhaps more impressive effect.

We translate a scene:

nature.

The bells of the metropolis were announcing the eighth hour of the greatest festival of the year, that of the Resurrection and of Premature heat had forwarded the spring, which seemed born anew, and adorned with her fairest colours, only to celebrate the triumph of Christ. Children, birds, and all creatures, were uniting their voices to hymn the son of Mary. The lamb, proud of being his emblem, bounds out of the pool in which he had been washed, in splendid whiteness; and the humble inhabitant of the neighbouring villages comes to enjoy, in the dwelling-place of his sovereign, this week of peace and joy, consecrated to the rites of a mild religion, which permits and prescribes so many innocent pleasures. A full court is announced for Easter Sunday. Strangers, merchants, and boatmen, come from the extremities of the kingdom; and their croud, mingled with that of the Parisians, overflows the streets, the temples, and the quays. Old Christians meet each other, embrace, and, greeting with a holy kiss, exclaim, "The Lord is risen." All strife is suspended. Even the criminal in his dark dungeon is allowed to hope, secure that some act of clemency will mark the day; and this day, by the care of Archambault, was to become the feast of Bathilda, and of all Frenchmen.

• Radiant and pure as the morning sun which was about to shine on her felicity, Bathilda quitted the house of the Count. A long veil concealed her features from the curious glances of the throng; and she walked, another Esther, attended by her young companions. Ahasuerus awaited her in the temple, where pious duties had called him early. Under the pretext of affording a great example, he chose to stay, surrounded by a part of his courtiers, and to witness the com munion of these timid and pious virgins. Archambault was not uneasy: he knew too well what would be the effect of a glance from Bathilda: but that glance she would not bestow on her king when she was about to adore her God.

Neither the novelty of the surrounding objects nor the magnificence of the temple, not yet the brilliancy of the altars adorned for this double festival, nor the beauty of the Ambrosian chaunt, repeated by a hundred voices, whose majestic unison resounds through the choirs and ailes, and back from the vaults of the cathedral, can withdraw Bathilda's soul from the religious duties which press on it. The priest begins the service. How still is the attention of the innumerable croud! Eloi officiates; he whose persuasive eloquence can implant in their young hearts a confidence or a fear alike salutary. At the signal given by the two assistant bishops, Bathilda and her companions advance, each holding in her hand a taper adorned with rib.. bands and flowers. All kneel. The prelate, bowing down a fore head which the cares of sixty years had furrowed, presents to them the holy wafer, and with a faultering voice promises to these daughters of Eve the everlasting rewards of a spotless purity. O mystery of Divine love, a God has passed into their bosoms! Their veils are thrown

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thrown back, and their joined and trembling hands now serve to support their bending foreheads, as they walk away to their places. Some sit down beside their mothers. Bathilda, who had no mother, sat down under the wing of her Saviour.

The awful impression of the present, and the fearful complexion of the future, contributed to agitate her. The bishop elevated his voice. it was to be the last time that the faithful should listen to his paternal counsel and divine unction. How striking the beginning, how artful the progress, how pathetic the close of his discourse; while the tears flowed that interrupted his farewell!

Bathilda, while the bishop spoke, was seen slowly to lift her charming head, gently to push back her veil, and to follow with her eyes the motions of the prelate. At the moment when he was pro nouncing, in the name of the young professors, the oath to persevere in the ways of the Lord, she was seen with fervour to cross her hands on her breast, and to repeat in silence the words of the bishop; while her look on high, beaming with hope, seemed already fixing on her place in heaven. Clovis beheld her. His companion, his spouse, is chosen; and he turns towards Count Archambault to express his rapturous admiration. Archambault, concealing his own, makes a sign to the king to suppress his impatient emotion.

Eloi, whom nothing escapes, was willing to give the young king a new mark of that spirit of conciliation, which knows how to ally the interests of heaven and those of earth. The offices being terminated, the bishop cast his eyes on Bathilda, and encouraged her to approach him. Soon afterward, she sees him talking with one of the youngest and handsomest of the surrounding princes. Eloi whispers to her that this is the king. She was come to ask the prelate whether the vow of her noviciate to the holy Virgin was irrevocable; and whether she must for ever renounce the world. A blush overspreads the countenance of the conscientious inquirer. The bishop reflects, and smiles kindly. Go, said he, wait for me in the king's passage, his clemency shall pronounce.

Bathilda and her companions now walk slowly to the outer porch. Heralds at arms come to disperse the croud, but suffer the petitioners to stay. The king prepares to quit the church, and

marches at the head of his martial train down the middle aile. He stops under the portico with his comrades, opposite to Bathilda; his stately groupe contrasting with that of the humble petitioners. The maidens have covered themselves with their veils; and the bishop and the clergy are placing themselves between the king and the subjects.This noble stranger, said Eloi, presenting Bathilda to the king, gives you the opportunity of exercising a royal privilege, that of dispensing with premature vows. In her infancy, she engaged to take the veil: no longer now, as it was then presumed, a vassal of the church, but of free and noble birth, she sollicits from your clemency the liberty of returning into the world. Is it your royal pleasure to award her matrimony or the cloister?

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Matrimony, answered Clovis. - Matrimony, repeated the cour tiers. Bathilda, covering herself with her veil, sank down at the feet of the bishop; who, lifting her up, gave her in token of the

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dissolved obligation a silver penny. Bathilda, supported by her companions, carries to the feet of her master the token. Clovis gave her his ring to kiss, and then kissed it himself. Bathilda, supposing it to be the usage, said, "Long live the king!" Long live the king and Bathilda! repeated the surrounding observers. Long live the king and Bathilda ! re-echoed the shouts of the croud.'

Picturesque incidents of this kind frequently adorn the story; which, in its general character, resembles the old romances of chivalry. Indeed, in the exposure of the infant Bathilda we remark specific imitations of Amadis of Gaul. To revive a taste for the adventures of the earlier heroes of Europe, and to describe them in a manner strictly consistent with the state of civilization in the dark ages, will prepare for the poet a new and welcome field of exploit. The fair author of these volumes is perhaps not antiquated enough in her tone of narration; and, while some passages swell into bombast, others rush into the rapidity of the modern style: but, with an imagination so inventive, the arts of execution will speedily be acquired.

ART. V. Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales, &c.; i.e. A Dictionary of the Medical Sciences. By a Society of Physicians and Surgeons. Vols. I. and II. 8vo. Paris. 1812. Imported by De Boffe. Price zl.

Ο NE

NE of the most remarkable dissonances between the English and the French literati consists in the greater tendency of the latter to associate themselves into bodies, for the purposes either of honour or of emolument, in order to promote science at large, or to accomplish any particular literary object. Within the last few years, London and Edinburgh have each produced a Medical Dictionary, both of them possessing considerable merit, one of which was the work of a single individual, and the other was the joint produce of no more than two. In Paris, however, the case is very different. A medical dictionary having been deemed necessary, thirty-three persons associated themselves for the undertaking; among whom we find many of the most distinguished physicians and surgeons of France. This plan of combination naturally creates a considerable dissimilarity between the English and the French produc tions, which profess to have the same object in view, and to be constructed on the same model. The former generally aim at completing their design in a moderately short compass, and comprizing the subject within tolerably narrow limits; whereas the French seem, on all occasions, disposed to say every thing that can be said on every subject, to branch out into all possible

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ramifi

ramifications, and to leave no part unexplored. Independently, also, of any accidental causes of dissimilarity which may be attributed to a difference in national character, or to some peculiarity in national habits, there are some points in which a work executed by one hand must necessarily vary from that which is conducted by the labours of several. Each has indeed its advantages and disadvantages. In the former, we may expect more homogeneity, and a more perfect correspondence of the several parts with each other; and it is probable that no part will be entirely omitted, that each will bear a proper relation to the others, that there will be no repetitions and no discrepancies. On the French plan, the contrary to all this may be supposed to take place. The different talents of the various writers will cause some articles to be written much better than others; repetitions are almost unavoidable; it will be very difficult to prevent some objects from being entirely omitted; and it is scarcely possible that, among so great a number of individuals, who are treating on subjects that refer to the same science and are intimately connected together, some parts should not be in complete contradiction to others. As a counterbalance to all these disadvantages, one obvious source of superiority must be remarked; viz. the greater degree of ability which must be presumed to exist in the concentration of talents, when each individual undertakes that part only which is the most suited to his genius or his acquirements.

After these preliminary observations, we must endeavour to give our readers some idea of the execution of the Dictionary before us. We have already mentioned that not fewer than thirty-three persons are engaged in the scheme; among whom the following names will be known to our readers: ALIBERT, CHAUSSIER, CUVIER, GALL, HALLÉ, ITARD, NYSTEN, PINEL, RENAULDIN, RICHERAND, SAVARY, and VIREY. To the end of each article, the name of the writer is affixed. In the selection of articles, the authors seem to have erred more in excess than in defect; since we find a great number of terms which, in this country at least, would be considered as obsolete. Provided, however, that the inferior articles are kept very brief, so as to consist of little more than the mere explanation of the terms, it is better that all words should be retained which may occur to the student in his medical reading. We must also remember that many medical terms are still commonly used in France, which have been long discarded in this country. As to the number or selection of the articles, we shall afford the reader an opportunity of judging for himself, by transcribing the titles of a few of them as they stand at the beginning of the second volume: Amulette, Amygdales, Ana, Anabrochisme, Anabrose,

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