54 
in fortune he has furpaffed Alexander and 
Cefar. 
In the fpace of ten years France has 
gone through five ages of the Roman hif- 
tory, dating from the expulfion of the 
Tarquins. She began with the lateft pe- 
riods of Roman corruption. The Ro- 
mans, corrupt and degraded as they be- 
came, continued to be fuccefsful, by ex- 
tending their conque%s, and fubjugating 
other nations. The influence of France 
is founded on the real fuperiority of her 
forces. Whatever repugnance the French 
may have for foreign war, fo apprehenfive 
are they of civil wars, that they readily 
fubmit to a Government which will, by 
whatever means, prevent them : they will 
no longer find, that this ftate of lethargy 
has been too dearly purchafed by the 
blood of their children, and at the expence 
of national honour. 
Let us calculate the fortune and genius 
of Bonaparte, the power, the fituation, and 
refources of France, compared with the 
divifion, jealoufy, or weaknefs of other 
Powers, and then decide whether the pro- 
ject of revolutionizing all Eurepe be chi- 
merical and impofflible, after the example 
which the Romans have given us. 
wet 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
OBSERVATIONS 07 UNIVERSITIES, with 
@ particular ACCOUNT of THAT of 
GOTTINGEN.* 
UNIVERSITY, at the prefent 
time, with cur cultivation and our 
knowledge, fo merit its. name, fhould 
accomplith a double defign. It fhould 
unite an aflemblage of diftinguifhed men 
of learning in moft of the fciences. Thefe 
learned men are bound to preferve the de- 
pofit of know!edge, to diffufe and to trant 
mit it tu pofterity, augmented, if it is pof- 
ible. It ought, in the fecond place, to 
he an initi ution in which profeffcrs and 
expert mafters infiru€t young perfons in 
the elements of the fciences, the liberal 
ayis, and gymraftic exercifes. If fuccefs 
hz not chtained im thele two poin's cl 
view, the univerfity docs not realize the 
idea that we vivally atiach to it, and it is 
not what it ought tu be. If we would on- 
ly have an allemblgge of learved men as a 
depofit of human knowledge, we have 
then only 2 foit of fuciety of fiences.— 
* This article is partly a tranflation from a 
pamphict, entithd, ‘* Sur ?Hrat adtuel de 
PU nsverfité de Gottizgue, by E Brandes, Couc- 
attior ot Commerce at Hancver,. 
Obfervations of Univerfities. 
(Aug. 1, 
On the other fide, if we reftrié&t a univer- 
fity to be merely a fchool of infruétion, 
we run the rifque of feeing inftruction be- 
come a fort of trade, to the great injury 
of the fciences, and to the exterminating 
of inftru€tion itfelf. If diftinguithed li- 
terati are not employed in inftruction, the 
method of conveying it will be only fu- 
perficial. 
Some univerfities have been much 
cried up for pofleffing certain particular 
branches of human knowledge. Should 
this idea, however, come to be generally 
adopted, it is to be feared that it would 
have the moft difadvantageous confe- 
quences for the ftudents and tie inftitutors. 
The f{ciences have all a mutual coherence; 
the bend which unites them is ftraiter 
than is generally fuppofed to be. Not 
that Iam for cultivating all the iciences 
at once; feldom is it that encyclopedifts, 
who have fuperficially learned many fci- 
ences, are worth a man thoroughly in- 
ftruéted in his particular part; but no 
branch of the {ciences is diftinguifhed by 
characters fo decided, that it will not re- 
quire, in one who would fiudy it thorough, 
ly, at leaft elementary knowledge in other 
parts. The weil-iniormed theologian, for 
example, ought to know hiftory, the learn- 
ed and oriental languages. The lawyer 
alfo has occafion for the fuccours of hif- 
tory and the learned languages. Thefe 
fame fciences are of equal importance for 
the phyfician, and likewife for the natu- 
ralift. A common refidence with learned 
men in all the fciences, engages many to 
improve themilelves in parts to which they 
do not devote themfelves exclufively.— 
Gottingen affords many proofs of this, 
The proteffors, therefore, themfelves, de- 
rive confiderable advantages from their 
affemblage in one and the fame place ; but 
this aflemblage is fill more uleful for 
young perfons. How many are there who 
only at the univerfity fix upon-the career 
they mean to purfue, and who may pals, 
without lofing time, from one ftudy to 
another, which they may judge more agree. 
able or more convenient? How many 
young perfons, whofe head was well orga- 
nized, have acquired new ideas from lef- 
fons which did not properly belong to their 
ftudies ? Every one to his trade, it is true; 
but he who defignates himfelf to any par- 
cular branch of bufinefs, ought he not to 
have other knowledge than {uch as necef- 
farily belongs to that- branch ? 
The idea of the divifion of the inftitu- 
tions of initruétion, has its fource in the- 
oretical ideas of perfe&tion, which are not 
tounded on practical and jult obfervations. 
This 
