1803. ] aa by 
$43. J 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
ee 
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 
FRANCE. 
EXTRACT of a MEMOIR lately read be- 
fore the CLass of MORAL aud FOLI- 
TICAL SCIENCES of the NATIONAL 
INSTITUTE. 
ITIZEN LEVESQUE, in a me- 
moir on hiftory, confiders it as a 
{cience and an art. Asa fcience, itis 
the regifter of fa&ts. Every day it makes 
new progrefs, inafmuch as every day it 
becomes enriched with new facts. Con- 
temporaries are curious to know all that 
pafles within the {phere of their obferva- 
tion. In times of tranquiliity,this curiofity 
acquiredan afcendant over indolent minds ; 
mm times of agitation and inquietude, it 
becomes a fort of ruling paffion of all. 
To fatisfy this impatient avidity, journals 
which contain the hiftory of every day 
have been devifed. Some affe& to flight 
thefe publications, but they are in general 
much more faithful depofitaries of events 
than the traditions and public rumours 
which too long have formed the only ma- 
terials of hiftory. 
Sterile fa&ts, which have no influence 
on futurity, will, of courfe gradually lofe 
their value. 
them, and annals are formed of fuch as 
are preferved. Contemporaries, however, 
approve of faéts, the rrore they are in de- 
tail. If the annalift has talents, it will 
be long’ere the public will deem itfelf un- 
der obligations to him, as it fs not talents 
that we require in him, Prolixity is a 
fault one can eafily parden in him, becauie 
it makes him appear diminutive, as well 
as the generality of hisreaders. — 
Hiftory, confidered as a fcience, fur- 
nifhes materials to hiftory confideréd as an 
art. This is what we call hiftory in the 
proper feafe of the word, and of which the 
Greeks and the Romans have leit us fuch 
beautiful models. 
Hiltery, confidered in this light, is de- 
figned for pofterity, and fhould only re- 
tain what may ferve to inftruét or to 
pleafe. A number of events, which ar- 
reft the attention of contemporaries, will 
in time, lo‘e all their importance ; hiftory 
will rejeét them. Many individuals who 
have acquired reputation in their time,. 
will, hereafter, appear no more thdn or- 
dinary men; hiftory will not vouchfafe 
to name them. Hiftory requires two 
forts of criticifm; one, which, in the 
midft of the contradi@ions, ‘exaggerations 
and falfehocds of the annalifts, can afcer- 
Care muft be taken to prune: ‘ ve te 
to fee every thing in the great. 
tain the trath; the other, more difficult 
ftill, which, in a chaos of events, knows 
how to felect fuch only as merit the at- 
tention of a confiderate reader. It paints 
in large chara&ters, and makes a more 
forcible impreffion on the imagination 
than annals ; becaufe, in thefe latier, vul- 
gar fa&ts overfhadow great events, and 
vulgar men great men. ; 
Ttis a very difficult tafk to write hifs 
tory for contemporaries. The author 
would fain become an hiftorian, and his 
readers are defirous that he fhould be only 
anannalift; he withes to be impartial, and 
his readers are already prepoflefled. If 
he combats againft his own age, he will 
only have approvers in the ages that fuc- 
ceea him. . i 
«But, (fays Citizen Levefque), the, 
witnefles of our own revolution ought to 
cherifh a difpofition favourable to the 
writing of the hiftory of pattages. They 
inveed have witnefled fo many great fub- 
verfions, fo many great calamities, fo.many 
grand projects, foch a number of great 
actions, fuch individual great chavaéters, 
that whatever is not fublime, appears to 
them as trivial. From the great obj-s 
which they have feen, théy have learned 
To fee 
in the great, is toembrace a multiplicity. 
of objects with a fincle view, and to re- 
duce this multiplicity of objetis to unity. 
Such an obferver, (fays Citizen Levefqu-,} 
will exprefs much in a few woids.” 
Citizen. Romme, affociate profeffor of 
mathematics, has communicated to the 
clafs a paper entitled ‘* Tides oblerved. 
in the port of Rochefort, on the river. 
Charente, during the courle of two luna- 
tions. In accordance with naturatft?, 
allronomers and geographers, in exaét ac- 
cordance with himfelf in refpeet to the ob- 
fervations which he made lait year, on 
the fame phenomenon, Citizen Romme, 
explains thefe tides, by the principle of 
the gravitation of the moon. 
— 
ASTATICK” SOCIETY, . INSTT. 
TUTED IN BENGAL. 
On the CouRsE of the Gances through 
BENGAL. 
AJOR R. H. Coveprooke, who. 
has pretented the Scciety with an 
elaborate difiertation on this fubjeét, cb- 
ferves that the frequent alterations in the 
courle of the Ganges have been a fubjyét 
of wonder to Europeans, although to the 
natives the moft remarkable enroachmenis 
or 
