1825.] 
(while the artizan was in rags, and the 
peasant pined and famished over the fields 
that supplied their waste,) exhibits, both 
within and without, the pomps of a mere- 
tricious taste; and the works of Marly, 
which supply the fountains of the spewing 
gods, perpetuate the memory of the clumsy 
ignorance of mechanics, which the profu- 
sion of expenditure did little to reform. 
And as for literature, what did it owe to 
Louis le Grand, but, its debasement? To 
him we must ascribe, not its birth, but its 
prostitution. He loved to be chaunted in 
Pindarics, and could reward the chaunter ; 
and Boileau tuned his harp, that should 
have resounded to better themes, and 
placed the laurels of Turenne on the vo- 
luptuous brow of the royal pageant. He 
loved to be called a Titus ; and, justly per- 
haps, thought the first genius of the world 
unworthy to speak to him, after he had 
adorned him with that title.* But was the 
etherial spark that kindled the spirit of 
Voltaire, and made him, for almost a cen- 
tury, the day-star of European literature, 
shot from the eye of Louis XIV. ? What 
but persecution and exile owed Voltaire to 
him? To a legacy of 2,000 livres from 
Ninon de |’Enclos, he was indebted for his 
library; and the foundations of his fortune 
seem to have been laid by English pa- 
tronage, during his exile. So much for the 
Augustine age of Louis le Grand! The 
intolerant bigotry of his declining years ; 
the waste of his ultimately unavailing wars, 
with their mordinate burthens, and the un- 
redeemable debts that they entailed upon 
posterity ; and, finally, his revocation of 
the edict of Nantz, to please a fanatical 
courtezan, did not contribute much, we 
should think, to the intellectual glory or 
commercial prosperity of his country; and 
the series of ensuing events, down to our 
own times, shew what he had done even 
for the stability of its institutions. O! but 
he had a splendid court! which enabled a 
crowd of courtly literati to fill diary upon 
diary, among others that would be more 
amusing, perhaps, to court ladies at their 
toilets, with such important records as the 
following : 
Aug. 24.—The King took the diversion of hawking 
in the plain of Vesiné; the King of England and the 
Prince of Wales were there, but the Queen of Eng- 
land was not present; she has been indisposed for 
some days past: madame and madame la duchesse 
were on horseback. A black kite was taken, and the 
King issued an order for six hundred francs for the 
* head falconer ; he gives this sum every year for the 
first black kite that is taken in his presence; for- 
merly he gave the horse on which he rode, and his 
morning gown. Last year he gave the same sum 
for a kite taken in the presence of the duke de Bour- 
gogne, but he caused to be inserted in the order, 
that it was not to be taken as a precedent, it being 
necessary that the King should be present. 
* «* Titus I hope was pleased,” said Voltaire, as 
the King was passing from the theatre. His Majesty 
was overwhelmed with astonishment and indigna- 
tion that a poet should daretospeak to him unbidden. 
Domestic and Foreign. 
233 
«© May 7th.—The marshals of France sentenced a 
captain of dragoons, named Aubri, to fifteen years’ 
imprisonment, for having whipped with rods 
one of his fellow captains, with whom he had a 
quarrel, and whom he thus assaulted in the morning 
while in bed; this was considered as a species of as- 
sassination. 
** Aug, 20.—Marly. The parliament of Dijon has 
condemned to the stake a curate of Seurre, accused 
of the errors of Molinos, and of having fallen into 
great abominations. This curate was very intimate 
with Madame de Guyonand Father la Combe. 
** Dec. 1.—The King took medicine ; he takes it 
every month, on the last day of the moon.” 
How interesting ! to know on what day 
of the month kings took physic, when 
queens had catarrhs, and princesses the 
green-sickness! Yet, such is the fiddle- 
faddle by which book-makers get pudding, 
and their trumpeters drink port and claret. 
Antediluviaen Phytology, illustrated by a 
Collection of the Fossil Remains of Plants, 
peculiar to the Coal Formations of Gréat 
Britain ; by EvmMonp Tyrrett ARTIs, 
F.S.A., F.G.S., 4¢o.—Having been favoured 
with a sight of this splendid specimen of 
scientific research, on the eve of its pub- 
lication, we lose no time in anticipating its 
appearance, as a valuable acquisition to our 
comparatively scanty stores of geological 
illustration. r 
«© The study of Fossil Plants,” says Mr. A., ‘* has 
been very little cultivated in this country; indeed 
the progress made by us in this branch of geology 
is far inferior to that by the continental geologists 5 
who, notwithstanding the paucity of their materials, 
have made considerable exertions, being aware of 
the great importance of the study of fossil plants, 
for clearing away many difficulties in the theory of 
geology.” ‘* It cannot be said,” he continues, ‘* that 
our naturalists do not possess equal talents and per- 
severance with them; and it is certain that our quar- 
ries, our pits, our mines and our museums, exhibit 
an immense mass of materials, &c.” 
The author then proceeds to shew the 
Sforeign assistance (“the French and Ger- 
man naturalists”) he has been obliged to 
appeal to in the prosecution of his inqui- 
ries ; and, regretting ‘‘ the depressed state 
of English literature in this respect,” points 
out, we verily believe, the only true and 
influential source of our comparative defi- 
ciencies in this and several other depart- 
ments of physical science. 
«© The progress of this peculiar study appearing 
to have been impeded, in this country, by our unfor- 
tunately insisting on a connexion between two such 
independent branches of knowledge, as philosophy and 
religion.” 
After observing that, ‘‘it is but as yester- 
day, that the similar difficulty arising from 
the scriptural account of the motion of the 
sun round the earth was abandoned ;” _ 
«« May it not be hoped,” he continues, ‘‘ that ina 
liberal and scientific age, a free scope, at least, will 
be given to philosophical enterprize ; and that the 
geologist will be no longer constrained, upon pain of 
incurring the charge of irreligion, to adopt the an- 
cient Chaldean cosmogony, further than may be 
consistent with more recent and carefulobservation.” 
We 
