Retrofpedt of French Literature. —Drama. 
difcovered Tree appertaining to Mexico, 
remarkable for its Beauty, &c. 5 tranf- 
lated from the Spanifh of Don Josepu- 
Denis LaRREATEGUI. 
M. LEscatLieR, who ts at once a great 
traveller anda great botanift, during his 
various voyages to foreign countries has 
never let flip any opporiunity to make in- 
terefting obfervations relative to the pro- 
grefs of natural hiftory and agriculture. 
Thefe have been regularly conmnunicated 
by him either to the Inftitute or to other 
learned focieties. He at the fame time 
has enriched the Mufeum of Natural Hif- 
tory with feveral valuable fpecimens, and 
embraced every occafion io elucidate what- 
ever is interefting in the arts and {ciences. 
At prefent he has favoured the publie 
with the hiitory of a very fingular tree, . 
of which but one individual, which has 
exifted trom time immemorial at Tolucca, 
a city of Mexico, was formerly known. 
This account is extracted from a work in 
the Spanifh language, printed in Mexico, 
and to it he has added two coloured plates, 
one of which reprefents a branch, and 
the other the flower and the fruit of this 
fuperb vegetable produftion. 
The name of Chiranthodendron, which 
he has beftowed on it, is compofed of 
three Greek words, one of which fignifies 
the hand, the other the flower, and the 
third the tree; it exaétly anfwers to the 
Mexican appellation of Macpalxochiquau- 
ditl, according to Hernandez, which fig- 
nifies <¢ the tree, the fruit of which re- 
tembles a hand.”’ In the different fiages of 
its progrefs, the flower, whichis a deep 
red, and extremely brilliant, appears ‘frit 
like a fhut hand, and then an open one, 
bur the refemblance has a clofer affinity to 
the hand of a monkey than of aman. We 
are informed that the inhabitants of the 
country where it is produced are eager t 
obtain it, and travel from a very great 
diftance exprefsly for this purpofe. As 
their eagernefs renders the fruit very 
{earce, fentinels have been actually placed 
around the tree; fome of the feeds have 
thus been procured, but notwithfanding 
all poffible care, they could never hither- 
to be brought to germinate; 
The botanifts employed in the expedi- 
tion to New Spain repaired, in 1787, to 
‘‘Tolucca, merely for the purpole of view- 
ing, de(cribing, and fkerching this famous 
tree. They fucceeded, at length, in ob- 
taining a very fine fpecimen, which was 
placed in the garden of the royal palace 
of Mexico, and is now forty-five feet 
high. It is fuppofed that it will b¢ poffi- 
ble to multiply this {carce produétion, fo 
645 
as to introduce it into the hot-houfes of 
the noth, and the pleafure gardens of the 
fouth of Europe. 
The work now before us is curious in 
many points of view: inthe firft place, it 
contains the account of a rare production 
which botanifts’ fuch as Humboldt and 
Bonpiand never faw but at Tolucca, ana 
in the next, it may be confidered, in re- 
gard to icieif, as a complete fpecimen of 
French typography and engraving. [tis 
accordingly deferving, in both poiats of 
view, to enjoy a diftinguifhed place in the 
libraries of the opulent and curious. 
DRAMA. 
‘* TL Avare Faftueux; Comedie en trois 
Actes & en Vers.”"—The Pompous Mi- 
fer, a Comedy of three a&ts, and in verfe. 
Although it be one of the charaéterif- 
tics of avarice to derive all its enjoyments 
from hoarding, yet it is poflibie for an 
avaricious man to exhibit great pomp and 
fhew, when he confiders thefe as the means 
of augmenting his fortune; but it be- 
comes neceflary on fuch an occafion that 
he fhould alfo poffefs no inconfiderable de. 
gree of ambition, as this paffion is cal- 
culated, above all others, to triumph over 
his love of money. It is the combat be- 
tween thefe two oppofite propenfities that 
gives comic force to the piece now before 
us. 
‘6 Leonce, ou le Fils adoptif.’’—Leon< 
tius, or the adopted Son. 
Leontius, the hero of this little drama, 
which has been performed with applaufe 
at the Opera-Comique, is a young man 
who has been adopted and brovght up 
from his infancy by an opulent and re- 
{peCtable perion, whom he had been taught 
to confider as his father. But his real pa- 
rent having made his appearance, and de- 
manded his fon, he prefershim, indigent 
as he was, to his rich benefattor, and gets 
ready, without much regret, to exchange 
a brilliant chateau for the cottage in which 
he was born. 
As it is neceflary, atthe conclufion of a 
theatrical piece, that every one fhould be 
made content, fo the two parents at length 
manage matters in fuch a manner, that 
the child is to remain in common between 
them. 
<¢ Les Confalateurs, Comedie, en un 
afte, & en vers; par Cu. Maurice, re- 
prefentée pourla premiére fois fur ie The- 
atre de |’ Imperatrice, Je 24 MeMfidor, an, 
13.°—The Comforters, a comedy, &c. 
It appears that this little piece, which is 
an humble imitation of ** Fauffes Infide- 
Jités,” the ** Feinte par Amour,”’ and the 
© Matrone d’Ephise,” was received . 
‘ with, 
