644 



RetraJ^e£J of French Literature.— Mifcellaneeut. 



" Si du cours 6& tea anj, tu retrinches le 

 fomme, 

 Lcs foucis, et ce feo qui bri'ile pcu-a-peu, 

 Ce qu'cn prend un a.iii, et ta femme con- 

 fontime, 

 Les douleurs, les proces ; il t'en tefte bien 

 peu. 



** Une rage de dents, unc fiebvte, on« 

 goutte, 

 Une ulcere en ta jambe, une pkne en tts 

 rei.is, 

 Te contraint d!fti!ler ton ame goutte a 

 goutte ; 

 Et quand la mort t'en veut d^livrer, tu de 

 plains. 



** Quand le terme eft venu, tu veux payer de 

 fuite ; 

 Tu crois faire beaucoup, en gaignant 

 quelques mois ; 

 Mais puisqu'il faut payer, il n'eft que d'etre 

 quittc : 

 La mort ne fera pas plus douce une autre- 

 fois. 

 Ke remets du depart a demain les aftaire'?. 

 Chez le Rctardement loge le Repentir." 



•' Maltlie ancienne et tnoderne, conte- 

 nant ia Defciiption de cetle Ifle, fen Hil- 

 toire Naturelle, celle de fes differens 

 Gcuvernemens, la Defcription de fts Mo- 

 numens Antiques, ct I'Hiftoire des- Che- 

 valiers de St. Jean de Jerufaiem, depuis 

 les Temps les plus recuie's jufq' ii I'Aii 

 1800," &c. — Malta, Ancient and Mo- 

 dern, containing a DeCcription of that 

 Jflind, its Na ural Hiftory, &c. By 

 X.OUIS De Boisgelin. 



This wstrk, although perhaps original- 

 ly written in French, was firit puldiftied 

 in this country in Englitl' ; we are at a 

 lofs therefore to fay wliethei" or not this is 

 a nandation. 



" Genie du Chviflianiftne, on Beaiites 

 de la Re'igion Chrctienne." — The Ge- 

 nius of Chriftianity, or Beauties of the 

 Chriftian Religion ; by F. Augustus 



CHATEAUBaiANT. 



This work, from the pen of a man who 

 fcatlheen driven into exile during the rfign 

 of Robefpierre, was writien at the begin- 

 ning of the preft-T.t century, is dedicated 

 to the Emperor Napokon Bonaparte, and 

 fca; slieady pilled through a multitude of 

 tditior.s. 



' It is the aim of the author to prove, in 

 this coriefted verfun, that of all the re- 

 ligions wiiich have ever exifted, the 

 Chriftian faith is the moll fublime, tiie 

 wioil humane, tiie nioft favourable to li- 

 berty, as well as to the progrefs of the 

 artt, liriences, and littratiirt. *' Tlie mo- 

 dern world (*e are told) is indebted to it 

 f»r eveiy thing, from agriculture to the 



abftraft-fciences, snd from the hofpitab 

 erefled for the reception of the unfortu- 

 nate, to the temples built by Michael 

 Angclo, and decorated by Raphael ; that 

 noihing is more divine than its morality, 

 nttthing more amiable or tranfcendant than 

 its dogmas, its doftrine, and its worfhip j 

 that it is favourable to genius, purifies 

 tafte, developes the virtuous paflions, 

 gives vigour to thought, prefents noble 

 poems to the man of talents, and perfeii 

 models to the artift ; that there is no 

 fhame to believe with Newton and BoflTuet, 

 Pafcal and Racine. In fhort, all the in- 

 chantments of the imagination, and all the 

 interefts of the heart, are called into the 

 fuccourof that religion againft which they 

 have been armed." 



He then proceeds to obferve, that the 

 moment when the new proofs ol the gran- 

 deur and wifdom of Providence had been 

 fo amply difplayed, " was that precife pe- 

 riod when fome aflefted to Ihut their eyes 

 to the light ; not (adds he) that thefe im- 

 mor'sl men, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, 

 KcpLr, Leibnitz, and Newton, were athe- 

 ifts ; but tiieir I'lccelTors, by an inexpli- 

 cable fatality, imagined tliar they contain- 

 ed the Deity in their crucibles and their 

 telefcopes, becaufe they there difcovered 

 fome of thofc elements out of which the 

 Univerfal Intelligence had coiiftrucled 

 Worlds." 



Armed wi'h the torch of the faith, 

 he now throws light on the darkeft recefle* 

 of the Ath'ift's heart, and he reminds 

 him of a God by means of the moft ani- 

 mated defcriptioiis. After this he ad- 

 drelTts hinifelf t'-' the fem.ile vmbeliever. 



" If morals (f'.ys he) entVely depend 

 on the dogma.s of the exilt. nee of God, 

 and the immortality of the ioul, a father, 

 a fon, a hufband, and a wife, can have no 

 pofiible miereft in being incredulous. Ah ! 

 how is it pnfli'ile to conceive that a woman 

 can poflibly be an At'neill ? What is to 

 fupport this rted, if religion doe« not fup- 

 port its fragility ? The moft feeble be- 

 ing in natuie, always either at the -"ve of 

 death or of the lofs of thy charms, who is 

 to fiiftain a creitiire only born to fmile 

 and to die, if thy hope extendeth not be- 

 yond an ejihenieia! exigence ? From the 

 ,'ole iniereft of h' r beauty, a woman ought 

 to be pious, MiUJricfs, fubmifTion, ame- 

 nity, teiidtrnefs, conlfitu'ed one pordon of 

 the cliarnis which the Cieator bellowed on 

 our fnft mother, and philofophy would 

 prove fatal ta attraftions fuch as thefe. 



" Womnn, who naturally pofleffes the 

 inftinft of myftery, who takes pleafure to 

 veil herl'df, who never difcoveto but half 



of 



