$4 
part of St. Nicholas’ Church, at Leipzig. 
‘Thefe laft are particularly ‘elegant, ima- 
gined with taite, and fitted to the place 
as well as to-their deftination. 
nally to be mentioned, that Oefer fhewed, 
on every occafion, a decided averfion to 
grotefque ornaments, which certainly is 
‘not to be approved of, but which, how- 
ever, muft not be interpreted to his dif- 
advantage. For modes of tate revolve, 
like days and feafons, in a continual cir- 
cle, and in one is abundantly brought 
forth wht in another does not profper. 
It might be difficult to thew that fuch 
‘an immoderate a ufe of thofe ornaments, 
as is made in the prefent times, is more 
Jaudable or ufeful than an unlimited re- 
jeGting of. them; nor will it be long 
before they grow difgufing. But true 
art, and a pure genuine talte, will’never 
declare exclufively for or againft any thing; 
they will rather examine ‘every thing, 
choofe the beft, and adapt it to their in- 
tended purpole, 
—— ee 
MEMOIRS gf CARDINAL MAURY. 
EAN SIFFREIN Maury, a celebrated 
French ecclefiaftic,and cardinal of the 
Roman church, was born at Valeras, June 
26,1746, of atamily which acquired con- 
fiderable wealth by trade. Diicovering a 
firong turn for the church, he received an 
education accordingly,and foon becamedify 
tinguifhed as an excellent preacher. His 
talents were fo generally admired, efpe- 
cially by perfons of the firft diftinGion, 
that preferments flowed in upon him in 
abundance; and, at the commencement of 
the Revolution, he was priorof Lyons and 
preacher to the king. ‘The cle-gy of Pe- 
ronne appointed him their Deputy to the 
Affembly of the Eftates in 1789, and in . 
that fituation he greatly diftinguifhed him- 
felf as an orator. In the chamber of the 
clergy he,oppofed vigoroufly the re-union 
of the orders; and when that meafure was 
carried into effet, be quitted Verfailles 
and went to Peronne, where he was ar- 
tefted, but was releafed by order of the 
Legiflative Body. He afterwards return- 
ed to the National Affembly, where he dif- 
played great powers of eloquence in de- 
fence of royalty, the privileges of the no- 
bility, the rights of the clergy, and the 
whole ancient regimen of France. Amidii - 
all the wild uproar of political confufon, 
andthe violence o! the populece, agitated 
by the revolutionary fpirit,and having the 
-moft alarming and fhocking fcenes con- 
fiantly exhibited before his eyés, the Abbé 
Maury preferved his courage and afferted 
his principles, without the leaft reterve, 
Tetis fi 
Memsirs of Cardinal Maury—Count Hompefch. (Aug. I, 
till the fury of the ftorm could no longer 
be ftemmed ; and, therefore, he prudently . 
withdrew into Italy, where the Pope gave 
him a bifhopric, and, in 1792, fent him 
in quality of his nuncio to Frankfort, to 
aflitt at the coronation of the emperer.— 
Some time afterwards he was made arch- 
bifhop of Nice, and, in February 1794, he 
received a cardinal’s hat. 
The literary talents of the Cardinal are 
equal to his powers as an orator, and he 
poffefles 2 moft penetrating*judgment,with 
a vivid imagination. His mind is firm 
and undaunted ; and, while he was 2 mem=_ 
ber of the National Affembly, the thun- 
der of his eloquence oftentimes ftruck thofe 
with confufion who hated both him and his 
order. | * 
He is the author of a Treatrfe on the 
Eloquence of the Pulpit, a fubject which 
he has treated with the hand of a mof 
fkilfal mafter, and, as one,who excels him- 
felf in-the art which he teaches. But, 
though his book cannot be read without 
‘material advantage by every theoretical 
fiudent, it mu€ be admitted that the in- 
genious author has evinced too great a 
partiality to the oratory and pulpit com. 
pofitions of his own countrymen. Teo 
the Englifh in particular he will {carcely 
allow any merit, and it will be feen that 
divines_ of the Proteflant communion are 
all little in the eftimation of his Eminency. 
He appreciates the merits of our own moft 
diftinguifhed writers with a critical feve- 
rity that fhews either a mind warped by 
extreme prejudice, or one that is but flight- 
ly acquainted with the productions he con- 
demns. . 
MEMOIRS of COUNT DE HOMPESCH. 
HIS nobleman, who was grand maf- 
ter of Malta at the time when it 
yielded to the French, is a German by 
birth, and the firft of that nation who ever 
enjoyed that diftinguithed office. 
Military renown feems to have been 
the conftant characteriflic of the Maltefe 
knights, and the hiftory of this order cer- 
tainly exhibits fome of the moft gallant 
exploits that are to be found in the re- 
cords of mankind. But in the capture of 
Malta,in 1798, the glory of the order.was 
tarnifhed, and it affords a firiking contraft 
to the illuftrious fiege of Rhodes, which 
brought thefe military monks into the pof- _ 
feffion of this ifland. . The letters written 
-by the Count to Bonaparte on that orca- 
fion are filled with adulatory iubmiflions, 
and pufillanimous expreffions, far bencath 
the'character of afoldier, much more of the . 
reprefentative of a chivalrous order fo ils 
luiirieus as that of St. John, Pe 
