180r).'J Sketch of the History of Literature in Europe, SCc. 1 1 



foot, and in extinsruilliing them wlicn on 

 tire, for vvliicli latter purpofe it has heen 

 ibund to be peculiarly ferviceable ; and it 

 is to be iioped that in time it will eradi- 

 cate the difgraceful practice or' feiidinj^ 

 children up chinmeys when addully on 

 Jire, of ^\hich there have been many fa- 

 tal infiances in London. 



It is, howe^'er, not only in the metro- 

 polis that this machine is ufed. It be- 

 gins to be adopted in many parts of the 

 country ; and feveral ha\e been fent to 

 Brillol, Birmingham, VVorcefter, Witham 

 in ElVex, Lifkeard in Cornwall, and to 

 the city of Dublin. 



The inventor has fold above feventy 

 machines lince its invention. 



From what has been faid, it is to be 

 hoped that all humane perfons will adopt 

 recommend, and enforce, this method of 

 fweej)ing chimneys, that in courfe of 

 time the old method of fending children 

 up the (lues may be wholly laid alidc. 



Hackney, Julij 2, 1805. S. R. 



For the Monthly Magazine. 



SKETCH of the HISTORY of LITERATURE 



in EUROPE /mw the ace of Augustus 

 to that of LOUIS XIV, By m. de la 



HARPE. 



IF we call our eyes back upon the a<^es 

 of Greece and Rome, we behold pro- 

 digies of human intellett that form the 

 pre-eminent glory of the human race. 

 From thefe, men defcended into dark- 

 nefs and a long night of ignorance. But 

 genius again arofe from a deep Ueep, and 

 iirll imitating, aftei-wards rivalled, the 

 excellence it admired. All that is propo- 

 fed at prefent is, a rapid iletch of facts, 

 without any inquiry into tl'.eir caui'es ; 

 ftnd a brief hidory of letters and aits 

 fnjm the decline of the Auguftan age till 

 the revival of tafte under the Medici, 

 and that full fplendour which fucceeded 

 the time of Louis XIV. 



Although it has been juftly obferved, 

 that tlie triumph of the arts, among the 

 ancients as well as the moderns, is pe- 

 culiarly to be found in times of great po- 

 litical power and greatnefs ; yet to rentier 

 the triumph folid and durable, fomething 

 more than political profperity feems to 

 be iieceifury. An eminent proof of this 

 is in tlie period from Trajan to the lall 

 of the Aiitonines, princes auiong'.i the 

 Left wliofe memory has been prcierved 

 by hillorians. Under them the people 

 were hap])ily governed ; for virtue gave 

 the l;iw. Tlie earth was happy ; yet ge- 

 iiius llept. Some men of refined judg- 

 lutiit^ t'cmuiuvd; but in t'l«4ueuce aud 



poetry Rome and Greece were reduced 

 to declaimers and fophills, occupied ia 

 dealing out praife for hire, or plunged in- 

 to the unmeaning difputes of the fchools. 

 Towards the middle of the fourth cen- 

 tury, when Rome was no,ionger the fole 

 capital of the world ; when barbarian^i 

 on every fide menaced a corrupted 

 people, pretending Hill to the empire of 

 the unixerfe, a new eloq'^ience arofe with 

 a new religion, which, from prifons and 

 the fcalfold, mounted the throne of the 

 Ca;fars. This auguft and powerful voice 

 Avas that of the orators of Chnitianity ; 

 although fuch is the power- of prejudice, 

 that perhaps there may be fome furprize 

 on hearing men thus defcribed who are 

 no longer known to us but as Fathers of 

 the Church ; and no doubt it will be un- 

 expected to rank as fuccelVors of Demof- 

 thenes and Cicero, men whom we are 

 accuftomed to view as the fuccelfors of 

 the Apoltlcs. Without, however, wound- 

 ing the veneration which is given to the 

 latter title, it is principally with relation 

 to the influence of their genius and ta- 

 lents on letters that we have now to con- 

 fider them. And regarding the Fathers 

 in tliis point of view, we may readily de- 

 fcry the caui'es which thus contributed to 

 give a new life to eloquence. A new or- 

 der of ideas and feelings were to be de- 

 veloped, a crowd of obfiacles to be re- 

 moved, and adverfaries overcome, and 

 what weapon but perfuafion could the 

 founders of Chrillianity ufe ? For a long 

 time all power was with their enemies. 

 Hence it was that eloquence became the 

 prevailing inftrumeut of the champions 

 of the new religion. St. Chi-yfoftome, 

 whofe name alone recals the high idea 

 his cotemporaries had of his eloquence, 

 may perhaps be oppofed to whatever an- 

 ti<|uity polfefl'ed of grand in that art. 

 Who does not feel in the Fathers a happy 

 mixture of dignity and tendernefs, of the 

 vehement and the pathetic, of fublime 

 movements and benignant touches, with 

 all that facile and natural elocution which 

 is one of the elfcntial characters of every 

 age that has fomied a grand epoch iu the 

 hiliory of letters ? 



With refpeiit to the Pagan rhetoricians, 

 the opponents of the Fathers, more of" 

 learning than of talints or eloquence was 

 to be found amonglt them. And after 

 this tranlient fplendour, which religioi* 

 had reftored to letters, the irruptions of 

 the barbarians, from the fifth to thai 

 tenth century, more and more fpread 

 over the ^^ eli the darknefs of ignorance ; 

 aud if during tUi& long interval fome ineu 

 £ 2 fuperioi' 



