Retrofpe? of Domeftic Literature...Hiftory. 
fithed the firft volume of 42 Iii/lorical and 
Political Delineation of the Adm:nifiration 
of the French Republic, during the Year 
1797, and of the Gaufes which produced the 
Revoluiion of September the 4th, with its 
Confequences. Sir Francis d’{vernois is 
known to be a party writer: this circum. 
ftance, however it may render caution ne- 
ceffary in giving credit to unattcfted facts, 
and in paving attention to conjectures, 
Opinions, &c. does not in the fmalleft de- 
gree invalidate the truth of ftatements 
for which documents of fufficient authen- 
ticity are adduced. Thofe which Sir 
Francis refers to are the ftate papers of 
the republic, and the beft printed accounts 
of the debates of the councils: we are forry 
that we do not feel ourfelves authorized to 
obje&t againft them: for, even deducting 
what may be thought neceffary for fup- 
poled exaggeration in the author, the 
amount of mifery which remains is fo 
great, that the contemplation of it is very 
painful. Perhaps the moft afflicting ime 
preffion which the perufal of this work 
feayes on the mind, arifes from the con- 
templation of the fall of inftitutions for 
public charity: The hofpital of Bordeaux, 
which required the annual fupport of 
390,000 livres, aétually received, it feems, 
but 20,000 during eight months, terminat- 
ing in November, 1797. The two hofpi- 
tals of Touloufe, containing near 3,000 
patients, by the fale of all their moveables 
have not been able to Jupply one half of 
their neceffaries. If the ftatements of Sir 
francis are correét, the lofs of population 
by the mortality of illegitimate children, 
for whofe fupport there were many efta- 
blifhments, is very ferious and melancholy, 
Our author, in common with moft perfons, 
we believe, who have examined the bufi- 
nefs, is of opinion, that the immediate 
caufe of the revolution in September, 1797, 
was the dilapidation of the finances of 
France *. f 
An oétavo volume has been publifhed 
‘by Mr. Joun Woop, entitled, A gene- 
ral View of the Hiiory of Switzerland, 
with a particular Account of the Origin and 
Accompli/hment of the late Swifs Revolution, 
This work is divided into two parts, and 
it is fomewhat remarkable, that the firft is 

* If our readers will trouble themfelves to 
sefer to an article of foreign intelligence at 
page 324 of the prefent volume, they will have 
reafon to form a better opinion of the French 
government relative to the fupport of public cha- 
ritable inftitutions, than they are led to by the 
ftatements of Sir Francis dIvesnois, 
git 
an avowed compilation from Stuart, Gib- 
bon, and-Coxe, although the writer has 
himfelf been in Switzerland, and might 
have defcribed, and ought to have de- 
fcribed, from his own perfonal obfervation, 
thofe things which he now defcribes from 
the obfervation of others. The only part 
of the work which is new, is the hiftory of 
the Swifs revolution ; and this, lke every 
hiftory of a recent event which no man 
can regard with complacency, but, on the 
contrary, which every one, till the effere 
vefcence of party fpiric has fubfided, 
muft, of neceffity, contemplate with the 
eye either of rapture or abhorrence, is 
written with a degree of partiality, which, 
though hardly avoidable, muft ever be 
cenfured. That man, moreover, is far tog 
credulous for an hiftorian who can feri- 
oufly refer to the romances of |’ Abbé 
BaRRveEL and Profeflor Ropison for 
the caufes of the French revolution: but 
fuch credulity has Mr. Wood evinced. 
It is with pleafure that we announce the 
continuation of Mr. Maurice’s labours 
in exploring the antiquities of India. Mr. 
Maurice has publifhed the firft and fecond 
parts of the fecond volume of his Hiffory 
of Hindofian, its Arts and its Sciences, as 
connetied with the other great Empires of 
Afia, during the moft early Periods of the 
Wold. It is well known that Mr.Maurice 
in the former volume of this work argued, 
thar the Hindoo fcriptures were a corrup- 
tion and mutilation of the Mofaic: he 
enumerated feveral events, which, when 
ftripped of the mythologic ornaments 
which enveloped them, were eafily to be 
identified as events which are recorded 
with plainnefs and fimplicity by the He- 
brew legiflator. Mr. M. examined with 
minutenefs the chronology of the Brah- 
Mins, and with much ability expofed its 
extravagance by a clofe inveftigation of 
the rules which direéted their aftronomi- 
cal computations. A confiderable portion 
of this fecond volume is employed in de- 
tailing the events of the Avatars, or ten 
incarnations of Veefhnnu. It is impoflible 
for us to {peak otherwife than in general 
terms of this volume, which evinces the 
fame indefatigable minutenefs of refearch 
which the author has repeatedly difplayed 
before: we may, however, add, that it is 
written with more than his ufual attention 
to correcinefs and fimplicity of ftyle. 
Mr. BicHENo has publifhed, with ad- 
ditional notes, and a polifcript on the pre- 
fent movement in the Eaft, a third edition 
of his Glance at the Hiftory of Chrifiianity 
and of Engli/o Nonconjormity. 
The editor of A complete View of ihe 
a. Wiz Chinese 
