French National Inflitute. * 209 
ings; and he afterwards determined, by recompofition, t that 
in which it ought to be underftood*. Poe 
Cit, Dupont read two memoirs ; one on the bafes of mo- 
rals; and another on the philofophy of Haller and Bonnet. . 
. Cit. Bernardin Saint-Pierre traced. out, in a. fragment 
entitled Le Matin du Jour de la Mort de Socrate, one of 
thofe immortal examples which may afford ufeful -leffons of 
morality. The accufers of that philofopher, apprehenfive of 
the inconftancy of the Athenians, and fearing the regret, and, 
perhaps, the vengeance that would follow his death, but 
dreading above all his innocence, come and promife him his 
life, his liberty, and honours, if he will acknowledge himfelf 
guilty. When his ironical but folid anfwers deprive them 
~ of all hope of being able to perfuade him by their arguments, 
they introduce his family, and prefent to him his children, 
who wifh to die with him, and with whom he fheds tears. 
Fora moment they fuppofe him overcome, becaufe they fee 
him affe&ted; but he replies to his enemies, ‘‘ I weep for 
joy that I am about to leave behind me children worthy of 
‘their father.” Thefe dialogues, in which the character of 
the perfonages is {crupuloufly preferved ; where Lycon fpeaks 
as a fophift, Anytus as a fuperftitious man, and Melitus as a 
politician, form the firft aé&t of a drama, which Saint-Pierre 
propofes to end with the death of Socrates. 
LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS. 
‘Cit. Dupuits read a fecond memoir on the Pelafzi, a na- 
tion of whom fcarcely any thing more is known than the. 
name, and whofe antiquity goes beyond the fabulous ages. 
The author places the origin of thefe people in Egypt; from, 
which he endeavours to fhow that the Pelafgi fpread into 
Lybia as far as the Atlantic ocean, and afterwards paffed 
into Peloponnefus, the Archipelago and Afia. Thefe con+ 
jectures of Dupuits refult from a comparative view. of the 
* Does this propofal fhow a progreflive improvement in literature > or, 
Are the French going back again to the jargon of the {choolmen ?) Ep1r. 
Vor. Il. P religious 
