Retrofpedt of French Literature.—Mifcellaneous 
firuftion of the port of Oltia, the com- 
mon fhores, &c. &c. : 
2. He oblerves, in reply to the objec- 
tion concerning language, that it is likely 
Numa was able to write his own laws 
in the Greek tongue; and he main- 
tains it to have been the moft proper for 
that purpofe, becaufe the greater part of 
thofe who compofed the cofony being ori- 
ginally Greeks, this language was more 
familiar to them than that of the fmall 
number of barbarians who conftituted a 
part of the inhabitants. 
C. Larcher, on this occafion, has al- 
fo entered into along and very learned 
difcuffion relative to the origin of | al- 
phabetical charatters and writing, as well 
as their eftablifhment in Latium. He en- 
tertains no manner of doubt, but that 
the practice of letters and of writing ex- 
ifted in that country before rhe foundation 
of the city: «for, adds he, ‘if dur- 
ing the time of Tullus Hoitilius, in the 
eighty-fourth year after the foundation of 
Rome, letters and even treaties of peace 
Were written, it neceffarily follows, that 
characters and writing muft have been 
known long before.’ He, atthe fame time, 
endeavours to overturn the affertion of 
M. Wolf, who has pretended that writing 
was unknown in Greece during the time 
of Homer; an opinion alfo adopted, and 
fupported by C. Levefque, in his Me- 
moir. 
3. He differs from his colleague, who 
doubts their exiftence in the cafe of the 
Great or Pontifical Annals, and quefticns 
the degree of authenticity thatought to 
be afcribed to them. The one pretends, 
‘that either they never exifted at all, or pe- 
vifhed when Rome was burnt by the 
Gauls; but the other triumphantly de- 
mands, whether Atticus, when he exhort- 
ed Cicero to write the hiftory-of Rome, 
did not mention the Great Annals asa 
work then to be examined and referred to. 
4. In reply to the objeétion of C. Le- 
vefque, about the long reigns of the feven 
kings of Rome, according to the vulgar 
fyftem of chranology, C. Larcher oppofes 
twelve diftinét lifts of princes taken trom 
different nations, as well ancient as mo- 
dern, from which it appears, that an 
equal number of them has reigned longer 
than an equal number of princes whofe 
lives have been objeéted to-on account of 
their extreme length. In addition to this, 
he remarks that itis not at all furprifing, 
that the longevi:y of the kings of Rome, 
here referred to, fhould have been of great 
extent at a period when frugality was the 
common practice of the age. 
Montury Mac, No, 131, 
665 
6¢ Traits chara&teriftiques de PHiftoire 
de Ruifhe.”"—Charatteriftic Trais of the 
Hiftory of Ruffia, by M. CLauseErRy 
Counfellor of the Court, 1 vol; 8vo. 
M. Claufer condemns the practice of 
modern nations, who unera etully permit 
brilliant actions, and celebrated mea of || 
their own times, to fall intoanun.elerved 
and unmerited oblivion. He quotes Eng- 
land, however, as an exception to the’ 
general rule, and remarks, that ail the late 
fovereigns of Ruffia, andthe prefent Em. 
peror in particular, have been extremely 
defirous to imitate this nation. He men- 
tions at the fame time, and with a due 
degree of refpect, a cuftom adopted by 
by Alexander I. who honours wiih his 
prefence the funeral of every diftinguithed 
perfonage that happens to he tnatched 
away by death from the fervice of the 
ftate. Among a variety of anecdotes of 
Peter the Great, he alio records an ordon- 
nance of that Prince, in which he gave 
orders that the gardens of his palace 
fhould be thrown open to the people. 
While it 1s nota little flatrering, that 
both the fovereign and fubjecis of a fo- 
reign ftate fhould be eager to imitate this 
country in almoft every thing, we cannot 
but lament that our language does not 
{eem to gain ground on the borders of the 
Baltic; and it is not a little mortitying, 
that this work, deftined for the Ruffians, 
fhould have been written in French, as it 
irrefragably proves the prevalence of that 
tongue. - 
MISCELLANEQUS. 
«¢ Precis de la nouvelle Methoded’Edu- . 
catin de M. PEsraLozzi, Dire&teur de 
VInftitut d’Education a Berthoud, en 
Suiffle, 8zc.”°—-A- Summary of the new 
Method of Education by adopted M. Pes- — 
TALOZZI, Director of the Inftitute of 
Education at Berthoud, in Switzerland, 
by M*** de H***; to which are added, 
fome Confiderations relative to this Me- 
thod, by ARNawry DJuvat. 
The important fubject of education 
hath, at length, engaged the attention of 
ftates as well as individuals ; and if the 
rifing generation be not more learned and 
more accomplifhed than that which has 
preceded them, it will not be the fault of 
the prefent age. New infiicutions have 
been formed, new modes of praétice have 
been adopted, and elementary bouks have 
been multiplied to adegree hitherto un- 
known, 
The eftablifhment at Berthoud, under 
the direction of M. Peftalozzi, has only 
been founded during the fpace of three 
years, and yet fuch, we are aflured, has 
4R | been 
