Retrofpe? of French Literaiure— Mifcellaneoms. 
By means of the labours of the miffion- 
Gries, M. Caftera has been enabled to con- 
tinue his narrative until that period, when 
the Britifh cabinet determined to imprefs the 
Emperor of China with a high idea of the 
power and confequence of our own mo- 
narch, by means of a moft fplendid em- 
bafly. The tranflator afterwards com- 
bats feveral of the aflertions of Sir George 
Staunton, partly by notes, in which he 
endeavours to overturn his pofitions, and 
partly by a recurrence to the works of M. 
Huttner, who, we believe, accompanied 
him, in the charaéter of preceptor to his 
fon. “For example, the one affirms that 
China is happily exempt from that difgrace 
of the focial ftate, but too well known in 
Europe under the name of mendicity ; 
while the other maintains that he obferved 
many beggars among the crowd that often 
furrounded the officers of the embafly. 
<¢ Effai fur ’Efprit et P'Influence de la 
‘Reformation de Luther, ouvrage quia 
remporté le prix fur cette Queftion pro- 
pole par }’Inftitut National: * Qvelle.a 
été Influence de la Reformation de Luther 
furla Situation Politique dbs Etats del ki. 
rope & fur le Progrés des Lumieres?” 
—An Ellay on the Spirit and Influence of 
‘the Reformationef Luther; a Work which 
obtained the Prize on the following Quef- 
‘tion, propofed by the National Inftitute : 
*< ‘What has been the Influence of the 
Reformation by Luther, in refpe& to 
the Political Situation of the States of 
Europe, as well as the Progrefs of Know- 
ledge??? By CHarxes ViLLERS. 1 vol. 
“Svo. 
The religious reformation produced by 
the intervention of Luther, during the 
fixteenth century, is one of thofe great 
events which ftill continues to exercile its 
influence on human affairs, and which 
therefore, in the opinion of fome, cannot 
be fairly appreciated even-at this moment. 
‘The epoch to which weallude, is of courfe 
confidered by the Catholics, as ‘highly 
difattrous. The Protefant theologians, 
on the contrary, have contemplated it'as 
the period whence they are to date the re- 
fioration of the true principles of Chrifti- 
anity, while philofophers in general look 
up toitasa grand viétory obtained over 
the molt degrading fuperftition. 
The eflay now before us was crowned 
by the National Inftitute, and this alone 
will occafion the production of M. Villers, 
which: was originally written in the Ger. 
man language,’ to be read overall Europe. 
A chapter on the effence of reformation 
“In general, precedes the particular exams- 
nation of that by Luther, and he here flates. 
6a5 
fuch to be legitimate, ‘* when a contrarie~ 
ty,.an oppolition, a difcordance, are’ at 
length eftablithed between the fpirit of rea 
ligion and its form.” 
To a mafterly fketch of the frate of 
affairs, which at once provoked and pro-~ 
duced this grand revolution, fucceeds an 
account of the principles on which it was 
founded. he portrait of Luther himfelf 
is finifhed with uncommon care; his un- 
fhaken firmne(s; his difintereftedne(s 3; his 
poverty, and that too at a period when the 
{poils of his enemies enriched the coffers of 
his friends and partizans;' his fimplicity 5 
his mildne(s; all thefe, he obferves, ‘would 
have rendered him an extraordinary per- 
fonage, even if he had not been placed 
among the fmall number of privileged 
beings deftined to become the benefactors 
of mankind.” 
M.. Villers does not deny that there are 
certain {pots, which fhade and obfeure fo 
“great a character: he remarks, however, 
that thofe blemifhes rather appertain to 
the age, than the individual. He clears 
his memory from the imputation, « that | 
he declaimed againft Rome, and acaing 
indulgences, merely becaule the fale of 
them was transferred from the Augultins, 
to whom he appertained, to the Domini- 
cans, whom he detefiéd.”? 4& parallel isal.. 
fo drawn between Saxony, the native 
country of this great reformer, and Italy, 
in which all the abufes of the papacy pre- 
vailed. ; . : 
After having’ traced the moral, politi 
cal, and religious hiftory of this wonder. 
ful revolution, C. Villers purpotes the fol- 
lowing hypothetical queftion, incidental 
to, and immediately conne&ted with, the 
fubject of his enquiry : «* What would have 
occurréd to Europe, and what in all human 
probability, would have been the fate of 
aifairs, and alio of opinions, provided the 
reformation had not taken place, or in 
other words, provided the ‘Pope had tri- 
umpoed over Luther?” The conclufion 
which he deduces is, that Europe would 
have been re-plunged, during whole ages, 
in the darknefs cf {uperftition, and the 
degradation of flavery. ; 
In the fecond part, he treats : 
1. Of the Church and the: Political Situ- 
ation of the principal States of Europe, 
confidered feparately and without any con- 
nexion with each other. 
2. Relative to Europe, confidered as 
one great Society, all the Members of 
which ‘have onecommon Interef. 
3. And in Relation tothe’Progrefs of 
Knowledge. 
The direct effects of the Lutheran re- 
are 
