686 
destined for the army assembled in 1778, 
for the purpose of effecting a descent on 
England. 
_. © The construction ef the sluice of 
Treport, in 1777, on a spot partly com- 
posed of rock, and partly of moving sand, 
presents a new field for researeh, relative 
to the best means of laying foundations 
in similar situations. In the plan of a 
moveabie bridge, so constructed as to 
afford a free passage of from thirty-six 
to fitty-six feet in breadth; the author 
faakes a happy application of a floating 
body, caiculated to support the bridge 
at high water, and to open and shut it 
without any considerable exertion. There 
is.amodel of this Bridge at the Museum 
Des Ponts et Chaussées. 
“ M. de Cessart, may also claim the 
honour of having furnished the first idea 
of the iron bridge in front of the Louvre. 
It is easily perceivable that his system 
has been foilowed on this accasion, with 
some modifications indeed, as to the 
number of arches, as weil as the substi- 
tution of stone instead of timber: but it 
is not a little glorious to him to have 
prepared the success of such a work, the 
first of its kind indeed, that ever was 
constructed in Frgance, at the age of 
eighty-two!” 
The second volume, which will speedily 
make its appearance, is to contain an 
Account of the Sluice at Dieppe, of the 
Works erected at the Port of Becquet, 
together with the interesting details re- 
lative to the project for forming a road at 
Cherbourg, by means equally new and 
ingenious, but whieh, luckiiy perhaps 
for some of her neizibours, France has 
never been able to execute. 
“Va Guerre des Esclavesen Sicile, du 
temps des Romains, suivie de la Guerre 
des trois Mois, &c.”—-The War. of the 
Slaves in Sicily, during the Time of the 
Romans, &c. by Xavier Scrorant, a Si- 
cilian, and a Correspondent of the Nati- 
onal Institute of France. This isa trans- 
lation from the original Italian, in which 
little work M. Scrofani has collected 
from Diodorus, and Dion Cassius, all the 
particulars relative to the Servile War. 
He is at great pains to describe the sin- 
gular resolution with which the slaves 
sustained the siege of a town where 
they had shut themselves up, and to 
commemorate the perseverance with 
which they supported fatigue and fa- 
maine, and all the ills resulting from one 
of the most terrible contests recorded in 
history. . 
“ After having killed and devoured the 
di 
fetrospect of French Literature—Miscellaneous. 
most disgusting animals, after having 
consumed all thervtten leather that could 
be found, and even bones ground and 
formed into a paste, as weil as the roots 
of trees mingled with earth, such was the 
profound hatred of the garrison to their 
masters, such the terror with which they 
were infected, that rather thar yield 
through the pressure of famine, they 
at leugth killed and fed on their own 
wives and children. After this, they 
drew lots for the victims, and concluded 
by eating one another. What is to the 
full as wonderful, not one of them, 
whether maid, wife, or youth, whether 
father or child, ever uttered any com- 
plaint, or shed a single tear; on the 
contrary, they eticouraged one another 
to die; they even invited and directed 
the fatal stroke; at the same time, makin 
the survivors swear by the blood that 
then flowed, to defend to the last extre- 
mity a place, on the possession of which 
depended the liberty of the rest of their 
brethren, as well as their own entire de- 
struction. . 
“ This desperate courage, which asto- 
nished even the enemy, would have re- 
tarded perhaps the surrender of the town 
until Kunus had sent them succours, if 
treason had not proved still more formi- 
dable than the Roman legions, Rupi- 
hus, no jonyer hoping to be able to ob- 
tain possession of the place, either by fa- 
mine or force, at length had recourse to 
treason, and succeeded. By the temp- 
tation of goid and liberty, be seduced a 
Syrian slave, called Serapion, who en- 
gaged to open one of the gates to fim. 
The Romans accordingly entercd under 
favour of the night, and when the sun 
arose, the besieged found themselves so 
completely enveloped, that they were 
ferced to surrender. Durmg three com- 
plete days, the massacre of these un- 
happy persons was continued; the city 
was delivered up to the flames by way 
of punishment, for having given refuge 
to the rebels; while those who escaped 
from the sword, were either dashed 
against the rocks, or precipitated from 
the adjoining hills ito the sea.” 
The following anecdote which termi- 
nates the whole, will serve hetter than 
any words to describe the horror en- 
tertained by these unhappy men, of the 
slavery to which they had bees forced to 
submit by their cruel masters, and can- 
not but excite consolation in our own 
bosoms, at the reflection of having re- 
cently abolished a most cruel and unjust 
trafic in our fellow-men, 
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