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Cardinals de la Minerva and Ponzetta experienced nearly a similar calamity; and the German and the Spanish prelates were not spared by their countrymen, any more than the Italian dignitaries. In every house were heard the cries and lamentations of the wretches who were exposed to the torture; and the space in front of the churches was filled with the altar-ornaments, reliques, and other sacred things, which the soldiers cast into the streets after having despoiled them of their gold and silver. The German Lutherans, adding religious fanaticism to their cupidity, endeavoured to shew their contempt for the pomp of the Roman church, and to profane whatever was respected by those people, whom they called idolatrous.' (Vol. xv. p. 273.)

Volume xvi. comprehends the history of the Italian republics from the year 1529, when Florence was besieged by the Prince of Orange, to the year 1748, when Genoa was included in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. The same scene of foreign invasion and internal dissention was still continued, though the efforts of the Italians in the cause of liberty grew weaker and weaker as they approached our own times. During the sixteenth century, the spirit of resistance and independence which had actuated the fathers still preserved some power over the hearts of their children; who, almost without the incitement of hope, yet struggled against their oppressors, from habit, and from a prescriptive spirit of opposition. The scholars and the artists, who flourished at the commencement of this century, shed a glory on it long after they had ceased to exist; and the many illustrious names and noble actions, by which it was distinguished at its commencement, counterbalanced in a great degree the sterility and degradation which marked its close. The age, however, still maintained an appearance of life and mind: but the seventeenth century presents only a history of listless inactivity and gradual debasement of mind. The evils of bad government had begun to work their effect on the characters of individuals; and the annals of that period contain a detail of individual rather than of political misfortunes. 6 Every one suffered in his family as a man, and not as a citizen. private relations were empoisoned; the hopes of each individual were destroyed and his fortune diminished, while his wants increased every day; his conscience, instead of sustaining him in the trial, accused him as the guilty cause; and, while shame was added to grief, he endeavoured to conceal his misfortunes from the eyes of the world, and to deprive posterity of the remembrance of them.'

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The causes of these private afflictions are to be sought in the laxity of morals, which, from an imitation of the man

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ners of the courts, prevailed among all ranks of people; and in the disregard of the marriage-tie, by the introduction of the infamous custom of married women receiving the attentions of cicesbei, or cavalieri serventi, by which all confidence between the husband and the wife was destroyed. Another great cause of the degradation, into which Italy sank, was the contempt in which commerce and indeed every industrious occupation began to be held; while luxury and the pleasures of sense were invariably pursued, in order to supply that interest which higher or more useful occupations ought to have afforded. The hordes of strangers, who so long harassed Italy, left behind them the vices by which they were distinguished; so that the pride and inactivity of the Spaniards, the voluptuousness of the French, and the avaricious cruelty of the Germans and the Swiss, were all added to the character of a people who possessed in themselves a full competence of vice.

At the end of volume xvi. we have two very valuable chapters; on the liberty of the Italians during the continuation of their republics, and on the causes which produced the change in the character of the people after the subjection of their commonwealth. In fact, these chapters form two excellent disquisitions on the principles and application of political science; although they are in some places tinctured with the peculiarities of the writer's mode of thinking, and occasionally with a few of his prejudices. We regret that our boundaries will not allow us to give an analysis of this part of the work but we cannot forbear to transcribe the passage in which a hope is held out that Italy may, at some futurę time, be restored to that lofty eminence which her rank among the nations of Europe and the genius of her people so well qualify her to enjoy.

• Let us still not refuse to admire what yet remains to this nation, which seemed formed to surpass all others; that spirit, so open and so prompt, for which no study is too difficult when once the object of its aim has inflamed it; that flexibility to every new shape, by which the Italian becomes fitted for politics, for war, or for the most unusual enterprize, by means of his extraordinary rapidity in education;-that creative imagination which has preserved to him the empire of the fine arts, after he had lost every other; that sociability and sweetness of manners which in other countries are peculiar to the higher ranks, but which in Italy are allotted to all classes; that sobriety which preserves the common people free from the orgies of intemperate debauchery, in the midst of their entertainments and their pleasures;-that superiority of uncultivated men, which makes them more worthy of esteem because they owe little to education, so that an Italian peasant is as

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superior to the inhabitant of a city as the latter is to the gentleman; in short, that admirable power of conscience which triumphs over bad institutions, the falsest education, the basest superstition, and the most depraved system of policy; and which, sustaining man amid the most violent temptations, and within the weakest barriers, diminishes the frequency of crimes in a manner that cannot be calculated. Undoubtedly the Italians, who have so long been our study, are at this day an unfortunate and degraded people: but, place them in ordinary circumstances, and give them those chances which all nations possess, and it will then be seen that they have not yet lost the seeds of noble actions, but are still worthy of starting forwards in that career which they have twice traversed with so much glory.' (P. 459.)

In this long and arduous performance, M. DE SISMONDI has conferred an important obligation not only on the philosophical inquirer, but on all those to whom history is something more than a bare recital of battles, sieges, and the succession of monarchs; and he has illustrated the annals of a land which in elder times employed the pen of Livy and Tacitus, with a depth of judgment and a liberality of feeling that are worthy of the subject which he has chosen. It may, however, be said that a little too much of the French philosophy appears in the character of his writings; and that he is not entirely free from some prevailing prejudices of modern times, in the consideration of matters to which they bear but slight relation. He betrays also, in some of his opinions, a love of paradox that induces us to doubt the colouring which he throws over many of the transactions related, and to imagine that we are listening to the advocate rather than the historian. — In estimating the value of the work to the English reader, we must likewise recollect that much of the ground, over which M. DE SISMONDI passes, has already been traversed by several of our own authors; that Mr. Hallam has lately presented us with a concise history of the Italian republics during their earlier stages; and that almost all the historical facts in M. SIMONDE'S later volumes will be found in Dr. Robertson's Life of the Emperor Charles V., and in Mr. Roscoe's biography of Lorenzo de Medici and Leo X.

ART. VI. Archives des Découvertes et Inventions Nouvelles, &c.; i. e. Archives of Discoveries and New Inventions, in France and other Countries, during the Year 1819, &c.&c. Vol. XII. 8vo. Paris. 1820. Imported by Treuttel and Würtz. Price 10s.

So numerous are the inventions and discoveries which sig

nalized the conclusion of the last century, and which still continue to distinguish the commencement of the present,

that

that such a work as that which is now before us must be peculiarly interesting to men of science. We do not mean that they can expect to find here a complete developement of all the circumstances attending the facts which the book records, but the heads of them are stated with considerable perspicuity, and references are given to the publications, whether English or foreign, in which the requisite information may be obtained. Our last analysis of a volume of this compilation will be found in M. R. vol. lxxvii. p. 484.; and we shall here continue to give a similar abstract of the heads of the most important articles.

The first section, on Natural Sciences, is subdivided into distinct chapters, on Geology, Zoology, Botany, and Mineralogy: the Physical Sciences, into General Physics, Chemistry, Electricity and Galvanism, Optics, and Meteorology: the Medical Sciences, into Medicine, Surgery, and Pharmacy:

and, lastly, the Mathematical Sciences, into Mathematical Philosophy, Astronomy, and Navigation. The second section, on the Fine Arts, is subdivided into chapters on Painting, Design, Music, and Miscellanies. The third, on the Mechanical Arts, is (as usual) by far the largest and most important part of the volume. The articles classed under the head Chemical Arts are also extremely multifarious. The last general section is given under the term Agriculture, and comprizes Rural Economy and Gardening: after which we have an exposition of the products of the national industry of France, as exhibited in the hall of the palace of the Louvre in August, 1819: a list of the prizes and the objects on which they have been bestowed by the Society for the Encouragement of National Industry; and an enumeration of the several patents granted in France to different individuals, since the publication of the last volume. Having thus given a brief abstract of the contents of this volume, we shall now particularize a few of the articles under each head; selecting those which we conceive to possess the greatest interest, and which are at the same time the least likely to be known to the English reader.

The first article is an abstract of a memoir by M. Laplace, on the density of the earth, but it is too short to illustrate the views of its author. Under the same head (Geology) we have an account of the discovery of a great river in the bay of Van Diemen, to the north of New Holland, by Capt. King; a report on a number of petrified trees, found in Russia; and an analysis of the red snow brought home by Captain Ross in his late voyage to Baffin's Bay: as likewise of a similar matter collected from the top of Mount St. Bernard. Our readers

are

are acquainted with the result of the former of these analyses by Mr. Bauer and Dr. Wollaston, but the latter is not so generally known. It appears from this statement that snow of a lively rose colour is frequently observed on the borders of large masses of white snow, in the month of June, but that it loses its red tint when brought into a higher temperature, and produces colourless water. This water, after a careful analysis, was found to leave a residue of an extractive nature, which was ascertained to contain in one instance about 13 per cent. of oxyd of iron, and in another nearly 50 per cent.; the former also contained about 9 per cent. of an organic substance. Hence it is concluded that the red colour of this Alpine snow is caused by a greater, or a less, quantity of the oxyd of iron, spread on its surface in a high degree of oxydation and division; and by a resinous vegetable principle, having a red orange colour, appertaining, according to every appearance, to some species of lichen.

Under the head of Zoology, we find no articles which require particular notice: but we may perhaps inform the authors that the account of the living Mammoth, said to have been lately found in America, is not credited; being generally supposed here to have been nothing more than a hoax, which is by no means uncommon even in this country, and sometimes crosses the Atlantic.

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In the class of Mineralogy, we have an account of the discovery of a new metal called Wodanium, by M. Lampadius, the particulars of which have already appeared in our philosophical journals; and another relating to the discovery of a mine in France, which promises to be productive of considerable supplies of Tin. The chapter intitled Physique is rather poor, and one article in particular seems altogether unworthy of the place which it occupies. It is intended to prove, what nobody has ever doubted, that the resistance of the air is the cause of light bodies falling less rapidly than those which are heavy. Under the head of Chemistry, we have a great multiplicity of articles; of which, however, we observe only a small number that possess any particular interest, and, most of these being due to English chemists, our readers are already acquainted with them. The chapter on Optics contains only a few articles, but they treat on subjects of importance. The first relates to the refraction of light in a prism by M. Fresnel; and the second, to the rotations that certain substances produce on the axes of polarization of luminous rays, by M. Biot: but it is too short to convey any idea of the views of the author on this topic. The subsequent articles refer to the action which luminous

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