Retrofpect of French Literatures—Mifcellanecus. 
panions of Ulyffes. And 6. Scylla, copied 
from a moft admirable gem, in tne poflef- 
fion of the Prince Conftabile Colonna. 
It is expected in France, that this com- 
mentary on Homer, not lefs ufeful to the 
Jearned, than to critics, will be either ac. 
companied or followed by a concordance, 
hilofophical and piétorial, and that Mr. 
Tillers, one of the beft antiquarians of 
the age, will fuperintend this portion of 
a work at once laborious, elegant, and 
ufeful. 
We have been particularly careful to 
celcribe the plates, in the order pub- 
lifhed, as they cannot fail to excite a 
lively intereft, in a country like England, 
where Greek, and confequently Homer, 
is more generally cultiyated and under- 
fiocd, than in the territories of the French 
Republic. 
“« Diflertation fur le Préjugé qui attri- 
bue aux Egyptiens l’Honneur de la Dé- 
couverte des Sciences et des Arts, lue a 
la Séance publique de l’Académie de 
Caen, du 15 Germinal, An X.; par C, 
CaiLLy, Membre de l’Académie, Vice- 
prefident du Tribunal d’Appel, &c.”°— 
A Differtation on the Prejudice which 
attributes to the Egyptians the Honour of 
the Difcovery of the Sciences and Arts, 
read at the public Seffion of the Academy 
of Caen, &c. By C. Cartiy, a Mem- 
ber of the Academy, and Vice-prefident 
of the Tribunal of Appeal, &c. 
The gueftion here agitated, is far from 
being novel, as it has been long fince 
proved, or at lealt fuppofed, that the arts 
and fciences were received by us frem 
Afia; yet the fubject appears to be treated 
with confiderable talent. The author 
begins by examining how far the opinion 
is well founded, that Egypt was the 
cradle of whatever adorns life, or renders 
it agreeable. To fuppofe this, it is ne- 
cellary to believe that the Egyptians con- 
ftituted the firft nation, united in one 
body, which attained any confiderable 
degree of civilization. Learned men, 
however, feem to concur in the opinion, 
that Afia, the moft ancient portion of the 
world, was allo the firft inhabited, and 
that it isin Afathat we are to leek for 
the fources of ancient difcoveries and 
modern knowledge. La Cepede, in his 
Ducourfe on the Hittory of Agriculture, 
exprefles himfelf in the following manner : 
~—‘* We behold among the Mungul race, 
and chiefly among fuch as irhabit China, 
and the banks of the Ganges, induitry 
and manufactures brought to the utmoit 
pofible perfection; commerce eftablithed 
and fourithing; architectural mosuments 
to the Ethiopians. 
os? 
that befpeak the remoteft ages of anti- 
quity; manufcript, as well as printed 
writings ; the dramatic art; the fciences 
which {pring from the obfervation of ex- 
ternal objects, and thofe which proceed 
from the operations of the underftand- 
ing, while mathematics are cultivated 
with equal care and fuccefs ; in fhort, 
a civil code, which in point of extent, 
arrangement, forefight, and clearnefs, 
may be compared to that of Juftinian.” 
The African race, on the contrary, 
has only furnifhed a fmall number of 
general traits, which characterize its 
ignorance, its barbarifm, and its mifery. 
It cannot be denied, however, thatthe 
Egyptians can boait of a high degree of 
antiquity, and might have attained the 
greatelt poflable degree of perfection, 
had it not been for the intolerant na- 
ture of a def{potic government. A theo- 
cracy that triumphed even over their 
kings, and which in a people difgraced 
by flavery ftifled every {park of 
genius. 
_ After baving with equal tafe and 
erudition collected a number of proofs, 
all tending to demonfirate that the 
Egyptians were neither the mott an- 
cient people, nor the firft inttrudted, 
M. Cailly examines the early acquifi- 
tions of the nationyin refpect to the 
{ciences, and undertakes to prove that, 
having neither invented nor perfected 
any thing, they could not pietend to 
tranfmit to others the treafures which 
they themfelves did not poflets. 
He commences with rhe written al- 
phabet, and obferves that they firitem- 
ployed hieroglyphics, which were in 
fome re{petts the corporeal images of 
thought; but he denies that they were 
the hrit who made ufe cf them. In 
truth, thefe clumfy, reprefentations of 
objects, are to be met with in oppofite 
quarters ot the world; in China, Mexi- 
co, &c. It is the tirit efiay of man in 
the art of painting thoughts, and if we 
are to believe Fourmont and other 
learned men, they are indebted for it 
As to the alphabe- 
tical letters, Diodorus of Sicily has in- 
deed formally afferted that they were in- 
vented by the inhabitants of Egypt ; 
but others attribute the difcovery to 
the Phoenicians : 
‘¢ Pheenices primi, fame fi creditur, aufi 
‘¢ Maniuram rudibus vocem fignare figuris.” 
Iris, however, beginning tobe the re- 
ceived opinion on the continent, that 
mankind are indebted for thisimportant 
invention to Noxthern nations. Ciaries 
Pougens, 
