RetrofpeSi of French Literature. — MifceUaneoui. 



641 



one. He confiden the birth of the Ifle of 

 Reunion as pofteiior to that of the ancient 

 continent, and thinks that it originated 

 from the conftant accumulation of volca- 

 nic mattci-. 



The inhabitants of St, Jofeph chiefly 

 confil^ of men of colour ; they are free, 

 and ufually purchal'e a black flave, whom 

 they call their wife, and by whom they 

 have black children ; yet they are not 

 only Angularly prep '(Tc (Ted againftthe ap- 

 pellation of Negro, but it leems aflually 

 call, and, we are tald, believi;, thernfelves 

 to be white. 



" Mes Souvenirs de ao Ans de Sejour a 

 Berlin, ou Frederic le Grand, fa Famlle, 

 fa Cour, fon Gouvernement, fon A-ade- 

 mie, fes Ecoles, e^ ics Amis Litterateurs 

 et Philcfophes," &cc. — My ReCollei5l.ons 

 during Twenty Years Refidence at Ber- 

 lin, or Frederick the Great, his Family, 

 his Court, his Government, his Academy, 

 his Schools, and his Literary Frieni.Is and 

 Philofophers 5 by Dieudonne Thie- 

 BaUlt, of the Royal Aca<^-my of Ber- 

 lin, the Society of Arts i.i.J Sciences, 

 Paris, &c. Imporied by J. De Boffe. 



Thefe five volumes are at once curious 

 and ufetul. They abound in various and 

 remarkable events, and contain a fund of 

 anecdotes which cannot fail to excite the 

 public curiofity. There is not one of 

 them whence the f)llowing maxim may 

 not be fairly deduced ; That it may be 

 agreeable to ferve under a conqueror, but 

 that Done ought to live with him, or even 

 near him, unlef* condemned fo to do by 

 dire nectffity. 



Frederick is here reprefented at one 

 who, if he kad not been a great king, 

 might have been ccnfldered as a great 

 man. Hl was endowed with all ilic qua- 

 lifies of the human mind which reufer a 

 fuperiortty ; he would have been deemed 

 a learned man among Irirned men, a poet 

 am' ng poeis, a philofopher amon?!' philo- 

 fophers ; \\i even pofTtflijd feveral quali- 

 ties calculated to render him ami-ible and 

 agreeable; yet he could never forget for a 

 (ingle moment that he wan the mdltr, nor 

 ceafe to make all who apjjroachcd him re- 

 member that thty weieiiib iii'eriora. 



No one who tnj lyed his familiarity 

 ever approached him wiihout dread ; at- 

 tachm<;nt was intimidated, xnd di/like be- 

 came dui?.eroiis ; {o that he was con- 

 demned to havefervanti inlleid of friends, 

 and flaves inllead of I'ervants. 



His intimacy has been juKly defc/ibed 

 at a kind of leonine faniiliaiity, he being 

 continually ou ibe watch to make a Ipring 

 .. MoNfHLY Mac. No. jj*. 



at his prey, armed with the tooth of far- 

 cafm, and the claws of fat ire. 



Frederick the Great, in comonny with 

 D'Argens and Voltaire, relemhied the 

 lion in the Tower, who allowed a little 

 dog to remain undevoured in his den, in 

 order to divert himfelf with fuch a dimi- 

 nutive companion after his repalL His 

 favourites were the continual butt of his 

 joke.v — the jokes of a man of wit, to 

 which another man of wit did nf>tdare to 

 make any reply : his auditors were in fait 

 rubbed over with honey, in order to be 

 flung with wafps. 



But this great fCing did not aliways 

 condeTcend to be in a playful humour, 

 and every one muft tremble for the fitua- 

 tion of th'.- author, when,afttr an amicable 

 converfation, he communicated to him 

 conlidentialiy an epigram againftD'Alem- 

 bert, obferving at the fame time with a 

 frown, " This, Sir, is between ourfelves j 

 for if ever D'Alemhert (hould difcover a 

 (ingle fyllable of it, / <vjill hwveyoiir tars 



cutoff r 



The Marquis D'Argens, who during 

 the courfi of thirty years believed himfelf 

 to be the friend of tfie King, at the age of 

 feventy, after a long and faithful fcrvice, 

 at length obtained leave of abience for fix 

 months. His return having been retarded 

 beyond that pei ioJ by a fevere indifpoii- 

 tion, he learned on his recovery, that, oa 

 account of his delay, notwithlfanding it 

 had become indifpenfahle, his name had 

 been erafed out of the lift of penfioners, 

 and he was deprived of a paltry ftipend 

 acquired by near half a century of attend- 

 ance. Stung with this conduff, and fifty 

 fi.niiar affronts, he cbferved one day in 

 confidence to M. Thiebault, " Let us not 

 hope, my friend, that we (hall be evarabla 

 to civilize kings." 



One honourable exception, however, 

 occurs on the part of the King of Prullia, 

 in relpeft to Jordan, who uAially read to 

 him. Having been taken ill. His Majef- 

 ty aiSeJ the pare of a real friend, having 

 vilitcd him in his apartment, difmilTed the 

 attendants, and infilled on fupplying bit 

 wants with his own hands. 



The whole of this intcrefting work doei 

 not confift of anecdotes. We are alfo pre- 

 f<-nted viith a political, civil, military, and 

 financial fylfem of Pnifna, and with aa 

 account of the Court and itg fociety, th» 

 fpirit of the army, (he manners of the in. 

 habitan's ot the towns, the charafters of 

 tlioft: ptrfont: who have figured at Berlin, 

 ^c. Materials for hiftory ^ll'o abound | 

 for wt learn that a (atiri(,al ex^ rv^ffion of 

 ^M the 



