1810.) 
worthy of the approbation of well-in- 
formed men. The rights of nature, and 
the laws of nations, have hkewise been 
cultivated, and some elementary works 
have been added, in order to facilitate 
the study of them. The grand principles 
of legislation and public movsals have 
been discussed in their necessary relations 
to social order, as well as to the closest 
bonds of the family and community. 
In Germany, as well as in England, 
and in Italy, several treatises have teen 
Progress of the Sciences since 17189. 
published on different branches cf legis-~ 
Jation; some, though few in nuinber, 
have embraced the whole of it. The 
civil and political laws of the Romans 
have been the especial object of various 
works published in the same countries, 
and particularly in Trance, where, a 
short time before the revolution, appeared 
some publications on the laws given by 
Moses, Zoroaster, Confucius, to the He- 
brews, Persians, Chinese; and on those 
which Mahomet afterwards gave to the 
Arabs, France has also. diffused new 
livht on the federal governments of 
Greece, so that no part of the science 
of laws, ancient or modern, has been 
neglected; and as soon as it was per- 
mitted to renew the connexion between 
legislation and those fundamental prin- 
ciples, from which it never deviates with- 
out danger to the repose and happiness 
of nations, the study was resumed with 
an ardour which daily promises new 
SUCCESS. 
Since the> death of d’Anyille, whose 
labours nearly fix the state of ancient 
geography, at the time which we are 
now considering, several works published 
in different countries, particularly in 
France, contributed to its improvement, 
The opinions of the principal geographers 
of the school of Alexandria, and the 
whole system of geography of the Greeks, 
have been rescued from oblivion, and 
the kind of annihilation to which they 
appearcd condemned during fifteen cen- 
turies. The development of this system, 
by giving rise to new ideas, has altorded 
abundant means of extending this species 
of knowledge so necessary te history, as 
it serves to determine the situation of 
the places, and to circumsenbe, with 
precision, the countries which were the 
scenes of memorable events. A great 
number of the difficulties and uncertain. 
ties which obscured the vreater part of 
geographical discussions, have already 
been removed; and this science, so long 
conjectural, may hencelorward aspire ta 
a rank among the accurate sciences, 
Montuiy Mas. No. 198. 
a 
* 
6c9 
Several travels through Europe, Asia, 
and Africa, undertaken for the purpose 
of visiting countries better known to the 
ancients than they were in our time, 
have also centributed to extend the 
sphere of our knowledge of ancient gea- 
graphy. The glorious expedition of your 
Majesty to Egypt, in particular, has made 
us acquainted with that land of prodigies, 
which always revives the most astonish- 
ing recollections; and our geographers 
will soon connect with the new map, 
which they anxtously expect, all the 
knowledge transmitted to ts by antiquity 
respecting that classic country. 
Several parts of Greece, and the envi- 
rons of the Bosphorus, have been sur- 
veyed with the greatest care, within 
abouttwenty years. ‘This greatoperation 
will give a new interest to, and throw 
new light on, the ancient description of 
those shores, the celebrity of which has 
been increasing during thirty centuries. 
Piedmont, the Alps, a great part of 
Italy, now better known than formerly, 
have presented numerous discoveries to 
those geographers who have occupied 
themselves with the state of the country 
while under the @ominauon of the Ro- 
mans, 
The western coasts of a purtion of 
Africa, and-the geography of India, rec- 
tified in many points, have made known 
to us the principal places visited by an- 
cient navigators, who resorted to those 
remote regions for commercial purposes. 
Ancient geography has made some 
progress: the translation of Strabo, order- 
ed by your Majesty, and the zeal of those 
who cultivate that science, are pledges 
of its future advances. | 
~ His, ry, the great instructress of man- 
kind, as Cicero calls it, has perhaps been 
cultivated by no nation so much as by 
our’s; and none has produced so great a 
number of historians worthy of being 
quoted. To find the first link of the 
long chain formed by them, we must ga 
back nearly to the origin of the monarchy, 
as {.. as Gregory of Tours, who wrote 
under the grandsons of Clovis; and the 
last link includes the presenttime. Italy 
is indebted to a Frenchman for the first 
history of Rome written by a modern; 
it was likewise a Frenchman who first 
acquainted the English with their own 
history. The epoch fixed by your Ma- 
jesty, was gloriously prepared and opened 
in France by a history of the private life 
of the Greeks, of their manners, theiz 
learning, their opinions, their philosaphy 3 
which has been translated m1o abl tao 
a] Guuges, 
