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30th of August 1793, a warrant of apprehension was 

 issued against him and his nephew ; and on the 2d of 

 September the ifficera of justice made intimation of 

 this to the Abbe, who happened to be then at the 

 house of Madame de Choiseul. With the greatest 

 calmness, he immediately submitted to the order, and 

 was conducted to the Magdelorettes, where he found 

 his nephew before him. His imprisonment, however, 

 was not of long duration ; for on the representation 

 of his fri( nd Madame de Choiseul, orders were issued 

 for his liberation in the course of that very evening j 

 and such was the singular composure of his mind, 

 that when the warrant for his delivery arrived, he was 

 found in the enjoyment of a profound repose. He 

 was soon after offered the place of national librarian, 

 by way of reparation, it should seem, for this unmerit- 

 ed aggression ; but his increasing infirmities were a 

 sufficient apology for his refusal. 



His decay was gradual, but seems to hare been ac- 

 celerated by the rigorous winter of 1795. After a 

 short confinement, he expired on the 30th of April of 

 that year, without any struggle, and apparently with- 

 out experiencing any pain. He retained his faculties 

 to the last moment ; and only a few hours before his 

 death was engaged in reading his favourite Horace, 

 till his hands became so numbed that they could no 

 longer support the book. Thus died, in the 80th 

 year of his age, the Abbe Barthelemy, whose virtues, 

 erudition, and fine taste, entitle him to be considered 

 as a principal ornament of the age in which he lived. 

 He is said, in his person and countenance, to have 

 exhibited much of the noble and simple character of 

 that antique which it was his chief delight to study ; 

 a:;d his bust, admirably sculptured by Houdon, has an 

 expression that entitles it to stand by the side of that 

 of Plato or Xenocrates. 



The royal cabinet of medals was greatly enlarged 

 and embellished under the superintendance of Barthe- 

 lemy. He confined his inquiries almost entirely to 

 the coins of antiquity, considering modern medals as 

 an object of very subordinate importance. He found 

 in the cabinet about twenty thousand ancient medals, 

 and left in it no less than forty thousand ; having, at 

 different times, examined, as he declared to a friend, 

 not fewer than four hundred thousand ancient coins. 

 A collection of miscellaneous pieces of the Abbe Bar- 

 thelemy appeared at Paris in 1798, in 2 vols. Svo. ; 

 in which we find, among other interesting perform- 

 ances, an elegant and classical tale, entitled Carite and 

 Poludore, of which the fable relates to that period 

 of Grecian history, when the Athenians were subject- 

 ed to the cruel and disgraceful tribute of an annual 

 supply of youths and virgins, to be devoured by the 

 Minotaur of Crete. But by far the most important 

 literary labour of Barthelemy was his Travels of the 

 young Anacharsis in Greece, which, as we have said, 

 was the employment of his leisure hours for thirty 

 years. The young Anacharsis is a supposed son of 

 the Scythian sage of the same name, and is represent- 

 ed as visiting Greece, in the year 363 B. C. in order 

 to make lumself acquainted with the arts, the litera- 

 ture, and eminent characters of that celebrated coun- 

 try, at this the most brilliant era of its history. The 

 young Scythian fixes his residence at Athens, whence 

 fie makes excursions, not only to the other Grecian 



vol. in. PART II. 



cities, but also to Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia, and the 

 islands of the JEgeaa Sea. He becomes familiar with 

 Plato, Aristippus, Epaminondas, and every other il- 

 lustrious character of the age ; and gives minute de- 

 tails of the prevailing systems of philosophy, forms of 

 political administration, models of the fine arts, and 

 every other particular that is likely to be interest- 

 ing in the internal economy of the Grecian states. 

 The narrative of Anacharsis is addressed to Arsames 

 and Phedime, a Persian satrap and his lady, whose 

 characters are meant as portraits of the Duke and 

 Duchess of Choiseul ; and the authority of the most 

 approved ancient writers is uniformly quoted for every 

 fact and detail, that makes a conspicuous figure in 

 the work. Thus, under the form of an ingenious fic- 

 tion, Barthelemy has contrived to produce a most in- 

 structive commentary on his favourite subject, the 

 antiquities of Greece ; and by the elegance of his 

 style, the liveliness of his narrative, and the justness 

 of his reflections, he has rendered his work attractive 

 to the unlearned, as well as to the learned reader. An 

 introductory discourse is prefixed, in which a rapid, 

 but luminous, view is given of the previous periods of 

 Grecian history ; and maps and engravings are an- 

 nexed, together with a variety of useful tables, in order 

 to render the work completely illustrative of the geo- 

 graphy and antiquities of ancient Greece. The great 

 estimation in which this work is held, has been pro- 

 ved by the variety of editions, as well as translations 

 into different languages which it has undergone j but 

 it is perhaps to be regretted, after all, that the learn- 

 ed author has so completely fettered himself by the 

 authority of ancient writers, that he has on no occa- 

 sion given the reins to his imagination, or assigned 

 any fictitious adventures to his hero Anacharsis, by 

 which the attention of the reader might be occasion- 

 ally relieved, and a greater appearance of reality con- 

 ferred upon the whole. The young Anacharsis is, 

 in fact, a completely inanimate picture, and interests 

 the reader in no other manner, than as the connecting 

 vehicle, by which, whatever relates to the arts, scj- 

 ence, or literature of ancient Greece, is digested into 

 one harmonious whole. It was suggested, soon after 

 the appearance of the travels of the young Anachar- 

 sis, that the hint of the work was taken from a book 

 published at Cambridge, under the title of Athenian 

 Letters, and consisting of the imaginary correspond- 

 ence of a set of Grecians, the supposed cotemporaries 

 of Socrates, Pericles, and Plato. This, however, the 

 Abbe Barthelemy expressly denied to M. Dutens ,* 

 assuring that gentleman that he had never heard of 

 the Athenian Letters till after the publication of his 

 work. Were it necessary to seek for a model that 

 might have suggested this celebrated production, we 

 should have been more disposed to select the Travels 

 of Cyrus of the Chevalier Ramsey, than the Athenian 

 Letters, (m) 



BARTHOLINE, Thomas, a celebrated Danish 

 anatomist, was the second son of Caspar Bartholine, 

 a learned clergyman at Melanoe in Sweden, and the 

 author of numerous works on medicine and natural 

 history. He was born at Copenhagen in the year 

 1616, and after receiving his classical education in 

 that city, he travelled through the greater part of 

 Europe. From Leyden, where he began his medical 

 2.R 



Barthele- 

 my, 

 Bartholine- 



