1796.) 
CHAMPEORT 
Ys one of the men of letters of the o/d 
Jebool, who declared themfelves, from the 
“wery beginning, for the revolution. On 
the difmifion of M. d’Ormeffon, who had 
been appointed by the king, he was made 
one of the joint keepers of the national 
library, with a falary of 1661. z0s. 4d. per 
annum; and put himfelf to death, in the 
old Roman manner, foon after, to avoid 
the tyranny of Robefpierre. His colleague, ~ 
CARRA, 
Nominated at the fame time with himfelf, 
by Roland, had formerly been one of the 
affiftants in this grand eftablihment. He 
conducted a {mall quarto journal, entitled 
Les Annales Politiques © Litéraires, along 
with Mercier. Its circulation was inf- 
nitely greater than that of any of our 
Englith newfpapers: it became popular in 
the provinces, owing to a certain prophetic 
caf which he contrived to infufe into it ; 
and, in the armies, in confequence of that 
fpirit of equality, which it conftantly 
breathed, 
While Champfort judged very wifely of 
the outrages of the Jacobins, and was ac- 
cuftomed to exclaim, “ ces gens-la fe per- 
dent par leurs propres exces !’ Carra be- 
held every thing ex couleur de rofe, and 
boldly prognofticated the future happinefs 
of his country, and the fpeedy enfranchife- 
ment of ail Europe, by their means. In 
the midft of this dream, engendered by the 
union of a warm head and a good heart, 
he was arrefted by order of dmg Robetf- 
pierre, and executed with the twenty-one 
Girondift deputies, on the 31{t of Oétober, 
a OS 
BABQUF. 
Revolutions produce extraordinary cha- 
racters, and eievate fometimes great, and 
Original Anécdotesom—Champfort ...+ Carra.». Babeuf. 48% 
fometimes worthlefs men, to the -higheft | 
and moft eminent fituations. A proverb 
well known to the ariftocracy cf every 
country, although illibera!, and, in genes 
ral, unjuft, is n¢verthelefs, on fome parti- 
cular occafions, true : ‘¢ When the pot boils, 
the cum gets to the top.’ Colonel Pride, 
born in a caurch porch, 1s a familiar in* 
fiance of the juitice of this, in our own 
hiftory; and Babeeuf, perhaps, in that of 
France. The firft, who was bred a dray@ 
man, actually diffolved that houfe of 
commons which bridlea Europe, and pu- 
nifhed its own king; the fecond, who, 
under the old goverament, wore a fhoulder- 
knot, was but lately the leader of a for- 
midable con‘piracy, whofe object is faid 
to have been, to murder the Directory, dif- 
folve the Legiflature, and new model 
France ! 
Baboeuf is a mative of one of the dif- 
tant provinces; from a footman he be- 
came clerk to a procureur; and from a 
clerk rofe to be an attorney. His wife, 
at the fame time, accompanied him from 
the kitchen to the parlour; and as fhe 
had fhared in his indigence, fo fhe very 
juftly partook of his profperity. He 
practifed in the country for fome time ; 
and if we are to give implicit credit to 
his enemies, exhibited all the little tricks 
of a petty-fogger. Certain it is, how- 
ever, thar he was fitted, by a feries of 
imprifonments, and a long and intimate 
acquaintance with all the minute parti- 
culars of the Revolution, both to aét and 
to fuffer; and there cannot be a doubt, 
but that he muft have poffeffed fome ex- 
traordinary talents, either in council, or 
in action, elfe it is not to be fuppofed, 
that fuch men as Drouet, Robert Lin- 
det, Antonelle, and Felix Lepelletier, 
would have chofen him for their leader, 
[ To be continued. | 

WeBRIEF RETROSPECT 
OF THE STATE OF 
DOME St LC. Lia eb RA UW Ree, 
[Zo be continued every Six Months.] : 
ALTHouGH we have not attempted 
in our Mifcellany to unite the two 
charaéters of a Magazine and a Review— 
an attempt which has never yet been 
made with fuccefs, and which, in the 
prefent ftate of official criticifm, is alto- 
gether unneceflary ; it may, perhaps, be 
ufeful, or, at leaft, amufing, if, accord- 
ing to our propofal, at the commence- 
ment of our labours, we, at regular in- 
tervals, take a general retrofpeé of the 
fiate of literature: Our furvey. mut 
MontTHLy Maa; No. VI. 
neceffarily be curfory—a fort of bird’s- 
eye view of the Britifh land of letters; 
but, we truft, it will not be altogether 
unacceptable to our readers, 
THEOLOGY. 
In THEOLOGY, new difcoveries, or 
great improvements, are not, perhaps, 
to be expected ; yet all the labourers in 
this vineyard have not been idle. The 
indefatigable induftry of Dr. Macknight, 
has added to the immenfe mafs ef bib- 
lical commentaries before extant, four 
BQ large 
