640 
foil, becomes, ‘on this very account, ftill 
more interefting. The fubjeé of this 
canto is the moft fruitful of any; never 
was 2 more vatt or novel career opened 
to poetry. 
‘In fhort, the fourth canto inftruéts 
the rural poer ro celebrate in verfes wor- 
thy of his fubje&t the phezomena and the 
riches of nature. While teaching the 
art of painting rhe beauties of the coun- 
try, the author himielf has endeavoured 
to feize the moft majeftic and affifiing 
of her features.” 
The poem is preceded by a preface. 
whence we have extracted the above quo- 
tation, It alfo contains an eulogium on 
rural poetry; a defence of ‘* Les Jar- 
dins” againft the criticifms of an ane- 
nymous author; a notice cf a new edition 
oi that poem augmented;. and the dif- 
avowal of feveral fugitive pieces pub- 
Iifhed in different journals with the 
name of the author: prefixed. This vo- 
jume has more than one hundred pages 
of notes, in which will be found a variety 
of felcé& paffages from Latin, Enghfh, 
and French poems, analogous to the fub- 
ject of the prefent. 
NOVELS 
“Les Meéres Rivales, ou la Calomnie, 
&c.” ‘Fhe Rival Mothers,. or the :‘Ca- 
lumny, by Madame de Genlis. 
This is a new publication from the 
prelifc pen of a lady of whom the 
French critics have remarked, with more 
ingenuity, wve truft, than truth, ‘ that 
fhe has produced many wolames, without 
ever having publithed a fingle work.” 
The ftory of the pref<nt romance ts 
founded on the following incidents: A 
young married woman having repaired 
to Paris in fearch of her hufband, who 
had made too long a. ftay there, owing 
to a variety of untoward circumftances, 
is obliged to return without feeing him. 
On the evcning previovily to her deper- 
ture, fhe difeovers a beautiful little infant 
in her bedchansber, with a note affixed to 
AND ROMANCES. 
the bafket in which it was contained, re- _ 
commending the chi'd to her care and 
attention. ‘Lhe artlefs innocence of the 
babe overcomes all her fcruples, and fhe, 
at length, refolves to adopt it. This cir- | 
cumftance having become public, the he- 
roine is accufed of beiag the mother; 
whereas, in truth, it was her hufband’s. 
The hufband himfelf, on his return to 
his family, a€tually givesin to this notion, 
and becomes very melancholy on the oc- 
cafion, On the unravelling of the plot, 
Retrofpeét of French Literature.—Novels and Romances. 
however, the real mother appears, dif- 
covers herfelf, and*thus exempts the 
amiable lady who had adopted the found- 
ling from all fufpicion and reproach. 
The following motto chofen by Madame 
ce Genlis, and inferted in the title page,. 
is from our Dryden, and muft be allowed 
to be appofite : 
¢ Virtue and patience have at length unravell’d 
The knets which fortune ty’d.” 
“¢ Angelique et Saint Eagene, &c.” 
Angelica and St. Eugene, or the Daugh- 
ter exchanged... 
The ftory of this, like that of the for- 
mer romance, turns entirely on a found- 
ling. A peatant having exchanged his 
own child with one of the Count de St. 
Eugene’s, fhe is educated in that noble- 
man’s family, and brough: up with all 
the {plendor and attention becoming the 
birth and fortune of her fuppofed parents. 
At length, however, the peafant repents, 
and difcovers the whole myftery ; not- 
with fianding which, the heroine, as ufual, 
is rendered happy by means of an union 
with the man of her choice. 
‘“‘ Les Amands de Corinthe, &c.” The 
Lovers of Coriath, an Epifode imitated 
from the Greek, by CHARLES PERTU-- 
SIER, 2 vols. 8vo. 
This is a novel of the ancient kind; 
‘at leafi, the cuftoms, manners, &c. are 
fuppofed to have been fuch as exifted in 
ancient Greece. The fcene is fuppofed 
to be at the foot of Mount Erymanthus, 
one of the moft celebrated in ail Arcadia. 
An cid man, named Amyntas, leaves his 
rural labours, and abandons his family 
on purpofe to go 1m fearch of a hap- 
pinefs which he might have found at 
home. He foon finds a great many others 
til more unhappy than himfelf; and of 
thefe, Megares, Theaclius, and. Ste- 
vhales, have rendered themfelves mife- 
rable, from the moft whimfical reafons it- 
is poffible to conceive. 
«« Mon Oncle Thomas, &c.”” My Uncle 
Thomas, by PrcauLtT LEBRUN, 4 vols. 
r2mo. Paris. 
‘* My Uncle Thomas”’ is an original 
in his way, for his life is replete with fo 
many and fuch extraordinary incidents, 
that few men can be fairly fuppofed to 
have experienced fimilar viciffitudes. Born 
in the. ftreet called /a rue Fromenieau, in 
Paris, his mother was well known in 
that neighbourhood on account of her 
memory, which however excellent it might 
be, did not enable her to recoileét the 
name of his father. His early years 
were 
