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‘ 
PARIS AS IT WAS 
which he received may excuse him for 
having drawn a more flattering portrait 
ef the people of France, than is usu- 
ally pencilled by Englishmen who have 
not been so fortunate as to the society 
Art. XXII. 
93 
into which they were thrown. The vo- 
lume is ornamented with a variety of 
views taken by Mr. Carr on the spot: 
they do credit to his taste, and doubt- 
less to his accuracy. 
ARD AS IT Is, &c. 
Paris as it was and as it is; or a Shetch of the French Capital ; illustra. * 
tive of the Effects of the Revolution, with repect to Sciences, Literature, Arts, Religion, 
Education, Manners, and Amusements ; comprising also a correct Account of the most re= 
2 vols. pp. 1040. 
THIS willbe a very useful as well as en- 
tertaining companion to the Englishman 
at Paris, should a speedy peace allow 
him to visit the capital. ‘The author 
has given a more ample and minute ac- 
count of the various places of amuse- 
ment, public buildings, galleries, scien- 
tific and learned institutions, &c. than 
any of the numerous travellers whose 
descriptions have come before us. His 
account is interspersed with a variety of 
historical anecdotes, illustrative of the 
French character and manners, and his 
attention is very properly employed in 
estimating the utility and intrinsic im- 
portance of those military, naval, and 
civil institutions which have been so mul- 
tiplied since the era of the revolution. 
We ape the French in their fashions and 
their fooleries; it would be more be- 
coming if, impressed with the just sense 
of the advantages they are likely to de- 
rive from their various schools for pub- 
lic services, we were to rival them insi- 
milar establishments. The author of 
these pages is desirous of calling the 
attention of the British government to 
this subject, and by way of stimulat- 
‘ing the ambition of British genius, he 
assures us that the arts and sciences 
in France are now making a rapid and 
simultaneous progress; first, says he, 
because the revolution has made them 
popular in that country; and secondly, 
because they are connected by new ties 
_ which in a great measure render them 
inseparable. Facts are then recurred to, 
less with a view to draw from them im- 
mediate applications, than to develope 
the truths resulting from them. “ With 
_ them, method is an induction incessantly 
_ verified by experiment; whence it gives 
to human intelligence, not wings which 
lead it astray, but reins which guide 
~’? 
In a letter om the state of French li- 
terature, we find some ingenious remarks 
and shrewd distinctions. Under the 
markable National Establishments and Public Buildings. 
by an Encuisn Traverver during the Years 1801-2, to a Friend in London. 
In a Series of Letters, written 
8vo. 
constituent assembly the literary genius 
of the French was turned towards poli- 
tics and eloquence; under the legislative 
assembly, literature was constantly cul- 
tivated under several forms, although 
the literati themselves became victims 
of the political convulsions of their coun- 
try. The national institute was esta- 
blished under the directorial govern- 
ment. It was at one time insinuated in 
many pericdical publications of this 
country, that literature had been totally 
annihilated in France during the course 
of the revolution. This is a mistake ; 
and our author seems justified in stating 
that * its aberrations have been taken 
for eclipses;” it has followed the revo- 
lution, says he, through all its phases. 
The /iterati, he observes, are now consi- 
dered as men of secondary importance, 
the savans taking the lead; to these lat. 
ter, who have revived the drooping arts 
and sciences, France is under the great- 
est obligations. The utility of the ob- 
jects to which genius and labour are 
devoted, give them a fair title to prefe- 
rence; the consequence has been, that 
while the French government has flat- 
tered men of letters, its solid distinctions 
and honours are reserved to men of 
science. Science and literature, how- 
ever, must ever go hand in hand; and 
we are not at all surprised at the result 
of our author’s observation, namely, on 
the one hand, that few men of science 
are unacquainted with the literature of 
their country ; and on the other, that 
very few literati are unacquainted with 
philosophy and the sciences, and above 
all with natural knowledge. The ge- 
neral inference then is, that “ French 
literature has not received any apparent 
injury from the revolutionary storm: 
it has only changed its direction and 
means: it has still remaining talents 
which have served their time, talents in 
their maturity, and talents in a state of 
probation, and of much promise,”’ 
