© plecti. Mihi itaque depulfo inde quo 
‘“aggredi volueram dabitur hee venia 
“ut ad id, quod poterit forfan auipi- 
“Catius attentari, delabar:’’ and they 
add, that this is the conftant ftyle of the 
author. Now J can venture to fay, that 
it would not be difficult to preduce a 
variety of fimilar fpecimens of as bad 
Latinity from the German, as the Eng- 
lifh profeflors ; but ss thefe mutual re- 
proaches cannot tend to any good pur- 
pofe, I rather with to call the attention 
ef your readers to thefe queftions: To 
what caufe is/it owing that the Latinity 
of the two Univeriities, as far as we may 
judge from the language of their fchools, 
and the publications of their profeffors, 
has fo much declined from that of Eraf- 
mus, Sadolet, and their cotemporaries, 
and is now become harfh, rugged, and. 
barbarous’ Since the art.of writing, 
Latin feems to be nearly loft dimEng- 
land, would it not be advifeable ta give 
it up in both Univerfities, that the dig- 
nity of the profeffors may not. be ex- 
pofed to the wantonnefs and ridicule, 
we will not fay of the Jearned on the: 
continent, but of every {chool-boy at 
home? An anfwer#to thefe queftions, 
enforced with proper: arguments, will 
much oblige, your conftant reader, . 
PROLEGOMENOS. 
Er 
Present Sratre or Frenen Li- 
MERATORE. 77. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, ; 
PERMIT me to prefent you with a 
fhort account of the prefent ftace of 
FRENCH LITERATURE, and with fome 
ether articles of literary intelligence, 
which I have been able to procure by 
means of an intelligent correfpondent 
abroad. i 
The labours of men of genius on the 
Continent, have been, in part, fufpended, 
im coniequence of a-war, more general 
and difaftrous than any that has hitherto 
afflicted Europe, at leaf in modern 
times. Jn ‘addition to this, our literary 
communications with France have been 
almoft wholly interrupted, during the 
two laft years, a circumftance which has 
tended, not a little, to reftriét our know- 
ledge of what has been lately achieved 
by the learned in that country. 
To fatisfy prefent curiofity, I have 
colleéted a few materials, which I now 
tranfmit you, and fhall foon fend you a 
more ample detail, in the form of a 
catalogue ratfonnte. 
Prefent State of French Literature. 
fubterraneous plants, 
Coblége de France; 1 vol. Sve. 
471. 
What follows, I believe, will be novel 
to the Englith reader, nothing of this 
kind having appeared, at prefent, in any 
of our journals, at leaft to my knowledge. 

Théorie de la Terre; par Fean+Claude 
Lamertherie, 3 vol. 8vo. pr. 36 livres. M. 
Lamertherie’s reputation is fully efta- 
blifhed in France. He has acted as the 
editor of the ournal de Phyfique, ever 
fince Mongez accompanied: the cele- 
brated, but unfortunate navigator, [a- 
peyrouze, on his voyage of difecovery. He 
is alfo author of the work, entitled, Ma. 
nuek du Minéralogifie, of the Traité fur 
Air; and the Philofopbie Naturelle, &c. 
In the prefent publication, which 
chiefly refpe&ts ‘the :¢ofmogony of the 
earth, he takes a revigw of all that has 
evem been faid on’ this cttrious, but 
obfeure fubject.. In ‘refpect’ to the 
formation of the globe, the Egyptians 
adopted the fy/fém of waters, in which 
they were followed by the Greeks in 
general, after the time of Thales. The 
Bramins, Magi, and the Stoics, on the 
other hand, attributed the creation te 
regin which they have been fince fol. 
lewed by Defcartes, Letbnitz, and- Buf- 
fon, among the moderns... Thefe are 
the bafes on which all the iyttems of 
eeclogy have been ereéted, and it is in 
favour of the firft that Lametherie has 
declared himfelf;, it being his decided 
opinion, that our planet has been pro- 
duced by criftallization, through the 
agency of water (criffaléxation part’ cau.) 
Flore Fribergenfis Specimen, plantas 
cryptogamicas, &<. Har fur la Flore de 
Breybers concer waa principalement les plantes 
crypioganuques fouterraines. Publié par B.A. 
de Humbolt;,.1 vol. 4to. 149) pi “Lhe 
Germans, fo juftly celebrated for their 
patience. and induftry, have, within the 
lait twenty years, publifhed a variety of 
Guriols tracts on motles, fea-weeds, and 
more efpecialiv 
thofe- of » Wels, Neckeér,. Schreber, 
Schmiedel, Weber, Hedwig, and rHoff- 
mann. ‘Their oryptogamuts are the moft 
famous of any in Europe. : 
Humbolt, after vifiting Upper Saxony, | 
and the Black Foreft, here prefents the 
public with 258 fpecies of lichens and 
ungi. 
Oeuvres de Xenophon, iraduites en Fran- 
Goife, fur les textes imprimés, & fur quatre 
manufcrits dela Bibhothique; par le Citoyen 
Gail, profeffeur de littérature Grecque au 
The 
