598 Retrofpest of French 
dies’ being. fo enormous, that while they 
conititutes the admiration of strangers, 
they became chjeéts of terior to their ene- 
mies. Thr height was 'o uncommon 
that they were employed to ornament the 
the triumphs of the Roman generals. Plu- 
taich reprefents them as ferving for ftan-_ 
Gards or rallying points to armies ; othcrs 
compare them to elephants; and it appears 
evident from Czelar, that the Gauls confi- 
dered the comparatively {mall ftature of the 
Romans as a fubie&t of rid-cule.”’ 
Their corporeal ftrength, their fatnefs, 
the whitene{s of their fkin, their blue and 
Fively their herce and menacing luck, 
their long ‘hair, uiually either red or fair, 
and their rough voice, are fads atte%ed 
by the univerfal coofent of antiquity. 
‘J beir manners In private hie were thefe 
ofa favage race, that had attained a cer- 
tain degree of civilization, vith fome rade 
knowledge of agriculture, acd a certain 
degcreect :efpect for property. Gaul iti If 
was partitioned intoa great namber of fe- 
patate fates, fome of them monarchies, 
éthers aritoeractes, united folely by cém- 
mon enftems, and: a feeble political con- 
Retlion. Jt was this pofition, which af- 
foréed Cefir great facilities, in his pro 
fect of dividing and cosquerme thein, one 
after ano her. 
¢ Eitoire de France, depuis Ja Revo 
ution de 173g, ecrite d’a; res les Memotres 
& Manuscripts, &c.”"—A Hiftory of 
France, compiled from Costemporary Me- 
irs and Manufcrits, collected in the 
pudlic Oihces, both Civil and Military ; 
by 
EYES, 
{ 
i 
a Veteran, now Menber of tie National 
Inftitute of France, with Charts and 
Plans.” 2 vo!s. ato. 
Thee two volumes, the latter of which 
is ju't publithed, contain an account of a 
mf incerefling epoch in the hittory of 
mankind. In the fri M. Toulongeon 
traces ‘ke origin and the progrels of the 
Revojuticn; he points out the caufes of 
the\ various antecedent commetions; he 
deails the procecdings of the firft National 
Affcmbly, the execution of the King, and 
the rife ard progrefs of the foreign war. 
’ The ditgraceful conduét of the army in 
Flanders, fsmetimes flying before the 
Auftrians, and fometimes murdering its 
cwn generals, is next animadveried up- 
én; to which fuce-eds the refignation of 
La Fayette, the elevation of: Dumourier, 
the cannonade of Valmey, the retreat of 
the Pruffians, and tne famous battle of 
Jemappe, &c. 
Vol TT. commences with the fixth epach 
to the divsiion of this work,) 
(accorcing 
Va £ 
Literature. iftarye 
which correfponds with the year 1792, 
when the capital not only pretended to re- 
-gulate, but aétually did govern both the 
legiflature and the nation, while a hand- 
ful of ruflians perpetrated a variety of 
crimes, | » 
<¢ The affright,”” (ays the author, © oc- 
caficned by the maffacres of September, and 
the events which follewed them ; the frars 
exhibited even by the Legiflative Body for 
its own proper fecurity; that terror, the 
reign of which had already commenced ; 
in thort, every thing feemed to invoke the 
affiftance of an authority capable of item. | 
ming the torrent; this gave birh to the 
National Couwention, which, although 
armed with all the power and authovity of 
the nation, appeared fearcely able to coun- 
terbalance the menacing attitude of the 
new Commune of Paris. Yet the people 
waited in filence, untd this augut bedy 
had been pleafed to pronounce definitively 
on their political deftiny; and no fooner 
was the Kepublic decrecd in their firtt fel _ 
fon, than all Frenchmen became republi- — 
cans. Tnis word, the moment that it 
was invelled wit the forms of law, col- 
lected around it all thofe, among every 
party, whom tne ardour of ycuth, or the 
elevation of {«ntiment, fecretly inclined 10 
vo'e for a mode of government, which re- 
calied the remembrance of the heroic ages 
of Greece and Rome: to the imagination. 
This ‘word even united thofe who, either 
from refleétion, or maturity of years, had 
been inclined to doubt the pra&icability 
of fuch a government, who, notwithftand- 
ing, rejoiced at the poflibility of the faé, © 
and were happy at being bound to com- 
ply from duty, wich what they would 
have preferred from choice. The greater 
rumber, who are always determived by 
example, regulated theinfelves by them, 
and no focner believed that they were re- 
publicans, than they adiually became 
for)’ 
After this very favourable theory, the 
author proceeds to give an account of the 
various parties which contended with each 
other for fuperiority. sini Sai) 
** On one fide,”’ fays he, ‘* was beheld — 
great talents and a devoted attachment to — 
the commonwealth. The Gironde was the 
avowed point to which all thoie rallied, who, 
not defpairing of the ¢ mmeon fafety, be= 
eid nothing more in the convulfions that 
had occurred than evils to repair, and lef- _ 
fons whence to prefit. Bat, on the oppo- — 
fite fide, the neceffity of perfonal fafety, — 
ambition, political tanaticifin, the memory 
of their recent lofi-s, and the hope of fu- — 
tie vengeance, colleed together men, in 
appear-. 
