1798-] 
the minifter labouring at his defk. Pa- 
pers and books lay upon his efcritoire ; 
and an hungarian cap with gold borders 
and taffels ; tuch as the deputies of the 
convention formerly wore on their mif- 
fions :---a large {word belonging to this 
coftume was hanging againit the wall, 
and behind his arm-chair, a profile of 
Voltaire badly executed in wax. 
Converfation with Sieyes is eafy ; he 
enters readily into difcourfe, and treats 
every fubject with a philofophical elear- 
nefs, and the penetration ‘of a man well 
acquainted with mankind, and illuftrates 
it with new ideas,---Many foreigners 
_complained to me of his laconifm, his 
ill-humour, and even of his want of po- 
litenefs. I paid him frequent vifits, but 
had no reafon to complain of this.--- 
‘There were moments in our converfation, 
when his harfh decifions, and paflionate, 
unjuft reproaches and declarations, com- 
pelled me to inquire of myfelf, whether 
this could be the fame man, who once fo 
nobly exclaimed againit the convention : 
Ils veulent éire libres, et ne favent pas dre 
juftes*! But this converfation was intro- 
duced by topics relating to individuals 
and perfonal concerns, which cannot be 
explained here. And in the fame memo- 
rable hour, the ftorm of his mind ceafed, 
and I again beheld the man in the gentle 
lowering of the tone of his difcourle, as 
it he were deftrous of fottening the im- 
preffion his violence and extravagance had 
left upon his own feelings. 
A firm reliance on his own novel opini- 
ons—on his judement, deliberately formed 
* They want to be free and know not how 
to be juft. 

Original Poetry. 
/ 
457 
upon objests of the general politics of 
Europe---enlightened views of the prefent 
fituation of ftates---bold decifions on the 
~ 
new foreign relations of the French repub- 
lic, and a penetrating glance caft at the 
treaties formed between this ftate and 
foreign powers, conftituted the topics of 
the feveral “converfations 1 held. with 
Sieyes 3 which certain confideraticns for- 
bid me to publifh. The look of his large 
black eye is ftrong and fteady ; with weak 
lungs that rencer public {peaking difficult 
to him, his voice in a -room and inthe 
ardour of converfation, is full and forci- 
ble ; his agtion 1s quick, and his pale vi- 
fage replete with animation and mind. 
Sieyes feluom neglects to attend the fat-- 
tings of the council of five hundred, but 
except on important debates, I never faw 
him there above half an heur. He no 
longer afcends the tribune; but he ap- 
peared feveral times. in the committee of 
fecrecy to deliver accounts from the com- 
miffion that had been appointed to exa- 
mine treaties of peace.---On important 
and unimportant debates of the council, 
the philofopher fat rapt in thought, or 
perufing printed papers. Byven during 
the ftormy f{cene cf the 23d of Germinal, 
I beheid him fitting in apparent indiffe- 
rence. Gi 
Sieyes declined the directorfhip from a 
love of a tranquil life, unconftwainednels 
in his purfuits, eafe, which the precarious 
{tate of his health requires, and from a 
diflike to all the pompcus folemnities at- 
tached to that fituation. As an addi- 
tional reafon for his refufal, his perfonal 
diflike of Rewbell the direftor has beem 
afligned, E.  M.. 
$$ ere 
ORIGINAL PORTRY: 
RUNiC SAGAS, 
R. Cottre’s icelandic Poetry is by this 
timein the hands of every lover of wild 
imagery and harmonious verfe. It isa rimed 
paraphrafe of the Latin verfion of Semund’s 
Edda, publithed in 1787, at Copenhagen. As 
this interpretation departs widely from the 
text, it may not appear fuperfiuous to the cu- 
irious in antiquity, to attempt a lefs free tran- 
flation of the firft and moft curious of thefe 
fagas, which unfolds the Gothic cofmogony, 
The Runic alphabet is of uncercain origin ; 
but as moft of the infcriptions in this cha- 
ra€ter which have been difcovered on the 
Scandinavian rocks, record the fortunes of 
fome foldier who had been in the fervice of 
the* Greek emperor, it may be prefumed, 
that the art of writing wa’ derived by the 
& 
Re 
‘age Schlotzer’s Nordjfche Gefchichte, p. 550. 
Goths from Conftantinople. Antiquaries, 
however, haye afcribed to far + earlier pe- 
riods the literary firftlings of the north, and 
confider the fagas, or mythic fongs, which 
conftitute the Edda, as produ€tions contempo- 
rary with the heroes whom they celebrate. 
The age and hiftory of Odin is again liable 

+ The Runic alphabet expreffes only the 
long vowels a,o, and w: it has but one cha- 
racter for band p, but one for dand ¢, but one 
for g and &, and in all fixteen letters. This 
ftructure countenances the hypothefis of am 
Oriental origin. The Phenicians, as appears 
from the Aufcultationes mirabiles afcribed te 
Axriftotle, came to fifh on the coafts of Thule 
(probably, Norway), falted there the Thyn- 
nus which they caught, and carried it to the 
Mediterranean. From them, perhaps, the 
Runes. ge 
te 

i 
. 
Ay 
SSE oor 
= 
5 gr a a ET 
———— 
