them that the Grecians *, who paid much more attention to a decent appearance, graceful attitude, and propriety in dress, than we generally imagine, were so exceedingly nice in putting on the upper garment, that aukwardness in this respect was considered as an infallible mark of rustic manners and want of good-breeding. Cf. Athenæ. I. 18. p. 21. Β.'

For this reason, a person whose deportment manifested the lowness of his extraction was said to be ignorant even of the manner of putting on the cloak, δ ̓ ἐθῆτα διδεν ὡς χρή περιβάλ λεθαι. Lucian. de Hist. Consecr. c. 20. t. ii. p. 28. Nothing was more indecorous than for a man to drag his garment behind; and indeed he was considered as either intoxicated or mad. Vid. Gronov. ad Senecam de Ira. III. Plutarch expressly mentions of Pericles, that, among other advantages which he derived from the company of Anaxagoras, he acquired " an easy deportment, and a decency of dress which no yehemence of action ever could put into disorder." Diogenes Laertius, in the life of almost every philosopher, takes notice of the manner in which they wore their cloaks. The knowlege of this punctilio in dress among the antients becomes interesting, also, to the lover and admirer of the antique, as it throws light on that gracefulness of the drapery, which is so

** Besides the general terms εὐταξιά, εὐρυθμία, ἐμμέλεια, κοσμιότης, &c. the Greeks had also a particular word, εύσχημοσύνη, for gracefulness in wearing the upper garment, which even the Latin language cannot express with one synonimous word. Cicero, in that remarkable passage de Off. I. 36. calls it only decorum in vestitu. In the old Italian idiom of Petrarca, Boccaccio, &c. it is rendered by garbo, di bel garbo. Σχήμα is, properly, the manner of holding the garment, being derived from σχές. It formed the characteristic of the different stations and conditions in life; hence the σχήμα δαλικον, κ.λ. vid. Fabric. ad Sext. Empir. p. 308. Hence also ευσχήμων, εὐσχημονείν, εὐσχημοσύνη, vid. Foesius in Oecon. Hippocr. s. v. In the celebrated passage of Xenophon K. Π. iv. i. p. 425. Zeun. I explain εὐσχή μοσύνη in the same manner; notwithstanding that the antients generally expounded it by feminine decorum and bashfulness, as appears from an undoubted imitation of this passage in Polyb. x. 18. t. iii. p. 218. Schweigh. In the more skilful attitudes and postures of dancers, much care was taken as to the folds of the garments. Σχήμα, therefore, in common with its derivatives, was transferred to Orcheotics. See the examples quoted by Spanheim ad Aristophan. Plut. 329. Εὐσχημοσύνη, in consequence, was also used for propriety in carriage and dress on the stage. Vid. Pollux IV. 95. and Hesychius s. v. εὐσχήμονες. I have somewhat enlarged on this point, since even Hemsterhuys seems to have mistaken the original meaning of the word σχήμα: v. ad Lucian. Somnium, c. 8. p. 11. This etymological pedigree, too, evinces how faithfully the spirit of Hellas expressed itself in its language.'

striking

1

striking in antient statues, and which has hitherto baffled the most indefatigable efforts of modern statuaries. When, with the gradual neglect of gymnastic exercises, the truth and beauty of the naked figure disappeared in the arts of design, dress also was either loaded with Oriental luxury, or straitened to excess by Northern fashions; and it contracted, under the hands of the artist, a bloatedness or stiffness which is altogether inconsistent with true taste.

In the explanation of the fourth painting, we meet with new and ingenious ideas on the origin of the caduceus. According to M. BOTTIGER, the Deity called Hermes by the Greeks, and Mercury by the Romans, owed his imaginary existence entirely to the commercial intercourse of the Phœnicians with the Greeks. At some period, of which scarcely any monuments are left, the former had mines and factories in a considerable number of places in Greece. There Hermes was worshipped as the tutelary deity of the industrious Phœnician; and all the arts, by which the articles of trade are produced, were ascribed by the Greeks to his invention. The Phœnicians, of course, in order to converse with the rude natives, employed interpreters. Hence Hermes was considered as the inventor of articulate sounds, and of numeral figures and signs. The interpreters and heralds were called his sons, and the race of κήρυκες were said to be descended from him. The Phoeni cian traders, wherever they first approached the rude Pelasgic inhabitants of the Grecian coasts, found it necessary to make use of some manifest token of their having arrived with peaceful intentions; not as pirates, but as merchants and barterers. In such instances, the most natural sign of peace among all nations, even among the inhabitants of the Friendly Islands in the South Seas, has ever been a green branch. The Phoœnicians, however, soon found it more convenient, as well as more ornamental, to carry with them a decorticated or even a gilt staff; and, as occasion required, to wind round it green leaves. Such is the wand of Mercury in Homer, Hymn. in Mercur. 529-532.

Though we cannot dwell any longer on this work, we must acknowlege that we have perused the present part of it with as much satisfaction as was afforded us by the former; and we can assure the classical reader and the artist, that the publication answers all the purposes for which it can be supposed to have been written.

ART.

ART. VIII. Histoire de la Revolution de France, &c. i. e. A History of the Revolution in France. By two Friends to Liberty. Vols. XI. and XII. 8vo. pp. 400 in each. Paris, 1798. Im ported by De Boffe, London. Price Ios.

THE preceding volumes of this work (attributed by a rumour, which we have not the means of ascertaining, to Mess. REGNIER and TROUVÉ, the editors of the Moniteur,) were noticed in our 8th vol. N.S. p. 548. and 24th vol. p.500. As every successive year appears to furnish the authors with matter for one or more additional volumes, this history may be considered as filling up, in French literature, a place analo gous to that of the narrative portion of our Annual Registers. Generally speaking, it is conducted with impartial calmness, and with an affection for order, for liberty, for religion, and for justice.

The tenth volume returns to the first meeting of the Convention, and circumstantially describes the early differences that arose between the party called Girondist, (which, from the superior talents and views of its leaders, soon conciliated the confidence of a considerable majority of the Convention,) and the party headed by the representatives of Paris; who, envious of the real superiority of the provincials, whom they thought it degrading to obey, employed their local influence first to thwart and finally to exterminate the most brilliant and most truly patriotic men of France. Metropolitan vanity seems to have been the original cause of the subordination of the Parisians to the majority of the Convention. The ambition of Danton and of Marat, at least, appears never to have tended to the first places: of Robespierre, indeed, there is too much reason to believe that he loved the republic for the sake of power, and not power for the sake of the republic.

Of Fayette these writers speak harshly (vol. x. p. 60). They describe him as a deserter of the party of the people, and as conniving, for the purpose of strengthening the court, at the approach of the foreign enemy. To us, this appears improbable. Yet a man of whom so much has been said, and whose character has been so much attacked, would do well to explain the questionable parts of his conduct, if they will bear to be explained. Of Dumouriez, opinions yet more unfavourable are here advanced. He is suspected of having never cared for the republic; and of being at all times the secret friend of Philip Duke of Orleans, and willing to cashier the Convention itself in order to smooth the passage of this prince to supre

macy.

Anacy. Montjoye's History of the Conspiracy of Orleans * is ranked with the romances of St. Real.

On the murder of Louis XVI. the authors observe that it was chiefly the result of general causes; that, in whatever manner he had conducted himself, topics of accusation, nearly equal in weight to those which were brought forwards, might probably have been found; and that the attempt to criminate the individual was in fact an effort to remove the king.

The eleventh volume contains horrible details of the war of Vendée, and ascribes to General Hoche great merit in quelling the disturbances of that district. The troubles of St. Domingo also occupy a considerable extent. -The principal topic, however, continues to be the warfare of the Girondist and Metropolitan parties. The Parisians treated every endeavour of the Convention to surround itself with a provincial guard, as a systematic attempt to excite insurrections in the departments; to subdivide France into petty commonwealths; to violate the decreed unity of the republic; and to establish a treasonable federalism. On the 31st May 1793, the Parisians seized on the government by force, and executed the Girondists and their chief friends, on this charge of federalism. The opinion is highly probable that France would have been more free, and more tranquil, if nine or ten clusters of departments had been formed; and if each of the large cities had become a seat of representative authorities. For defence, France would have been as well adapted, for offence worse; it would thus have become equally secure and more pacific. We ought not to wonder, then, if, both at Bourdeaux and Marseilles, strong symptoms were perceived of a disposition to govern themselves. The cities of Greece thought it not enough to be free; they aspired also to be regulated by their own laws.

The volume concludes with an account of the execution of that extraordinary heroine, Charlotte Corday.

ART. IX. Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire du Jacobinisme: i. e. Memoirs illustrating the History of Jacobinism. By the Abbé BARRUEL. IVth Part. 8vo. pp. 620. Dulau and Co. De Boffe, &c. London. 1798.

T HE history of illuminism will form a most interesting chapter in modern ecclesiastical annals. The great influence which this sect has had, and still retains, over the literary mind of one of the most literate of modern nations; the ingenuity of its internal structure, which produced, as if by

* See Rev. vol. xx. p. 536. N. S.

magic, the invisible concert and silent co-operation of innume rable and scattered agents; the persevering attachment of its early votaries to the principles, if not to the forms, of their confederacy; the complete and sudden change which it wrought or announced, in the singular, antient, and wide-spred order of free-masons; and its yet probable indirect influence on political revolutions, cannot but render it a curious and important object of analysis. Men eminent for talents, for know. lege, for official weight, and for personal character, have united to forward its designs. Rich merchants, nobles, and several sovereigns, have frequented its congregations, and have dis tinguished its adherents by their favor and its martyrs by their recompences. Two governments only are yet characterized as its persecutors: the one of them has since prohibited the Iliad; and the other has a popish bishop for its prince. Presumptions, then, are in favour of this sect. - A million of persons, (the Abbé BARRUEL rates them at that number,) all of the educated and many of the opulent classes of society, cannot have associated for purposes of monstrous evil; they expected the approbation of conscience, or the eventual gratitude and patronage of their fellow-citizens. Their collective intentions can neither have been palpably absurd, nor hostile to the probable interests of man. Yet of this sect the Abbé BARRUEL perseveres in presenting a most odious picture. All that has been imagined to its disadvantage is amassed by him with unsparing hostility, deformed with stabbing eloquence, and aggravated with uncandid hermeneutical dexterity, in order to conjure up a new goblin of alarm. Of this German ghost he makes a most terrific scarecrow, by dressing it out in the bloodsprinkled garb of his own country; and by tacking to its train a wholly disconnected catalogue of anecdotes of French villany, French perfidy, French cruelty, and French atrocity.

As the Abbé repeatedly refers to our account of his and Professor Robison's work, we must direct the reader's attention back to our 25th volume, p. 303 and p. 501. In the course of our philological strictures, we ventured to observe that Manichean and atheist, idealist and materialist, christian and impious, are not synonimous terms, although confounded by the Abbé: that Erse is not Hebrew; and that the words Mac Benac afford no proof that Free-Masonry is derived from the Manicheans. We endeavoured to shew that, probably, Masonry is not even derived from the knights templars, but was apparently founded at Paris by Henry Cornelius Agrippa, for purposes neither sectarian nor factious; and that, although its ritual may not employ the dialect of the Athanasian creed, and may include the words liberty and equality, yet even theism, and still