tisfaction to see that a minister of the Romish Church, inftead of denouncing anathemas against a nation, which has been the channel through which the bleffings of Chriftianity have flown to us, pleads their caufe with fo much zeal and eloquence; and that a difcourfe which breathes fuch a liberal fpirit, has received the moft unequivocal tokens of approbation, from this learned Society, of the Catholic perfuafion. The plan of this differtation is to give a comparative view of the ancient and modern ftate of the Jewish nation; to vindicate them from various calumnies; to examine the causes of the general hatred of this people; the immutability of their customs and opinions; their moral characters; their population, &c.; to inquire whether they may not be permitted to mix with the Chriftians, and be employed in the exercife of arts, manufactures, agriculture, and in the army, without any danger to the Chriftian cause, or to the national policy. The author then proceeds to fhew the effects which fome. recent publications, in favour of the Jews, have produced; and what influence may be expected from an intended reform of national commerce refpecting these defcendants of Abraham. After prefenting us with a very lively and pathetic view of the horrid fufferings of the Jews, by the hands of bigotry and oppreffion, from the days of Vefpafian to more modern times, he obferves: In reminding the Jewish people of the clemency of modern governments, their hearts will doubtlefs be open to gratitude. In prefenting to Chriftians, the iniquities of their ancestors, they will remark what remains for them to expiate! Let us remember that the Jews are but beginning to breathe; that from the deftruction of Jerufalem, down to the fixteenth century, there are but few countries where they have not been fucceffively banished and recalled, to be again profcribed, plundered, or maffacred! Even at the prefent day, their fufferings are not terminated; the world feems ftill to unite as in a league against this unfortunate people. Inftead of filling up the fpace that ftill feparates us, fome are attempting to render the breach wider. Instead of furnishing them with motives for inftruction and improvement, all the avenues to the temple of virtue and of honour are thut againft them! What can we expect from a people, opprefied by defpotifm, profcribed by the laws, loaded with ignominy, and irritated by hatred? They cannot quit their humble dwellings without meeting enemies, and fuffering infults! The fun fhines on their afflictions only! Martyrs to opinion, there remains nothing either to gain or lofe refpecting the public esteem: were they to become profelytes to our religion, we fhould doubt their fincerity and virtue. They have been defpifed until they have loft their title to refpect *.' It should here be remarked, that the author is fpeaking of the fituation of the Jews, on the continent, where his defcription may be juft; but in England, thefe people are not only not perfecuted, but are protected by the laws, equally with the community at large. T13 There There is much ingenuity, as well as justice, in the following thought: To perfecute a religion, is the fureft method of rendering it dear to its profeffors. Self-love is interested in preferring thofe principles which have been the caufe of fufferings. Misfortunes, which fometimes become the fources of crimes, and of defperation, are feldom the causes of incredulity. Man, abandoned by man, turns his view upward, to find a confoler of his griefs. Thus it is with the Jews! The expectation of a Meffiah who fhall lead them to glory and honour, has mitigated the anguifh of a painful life; and the hopes of future happiness have proved their prefent comfort.' The benevolent author adduces many proofs, from actual experience, that perfons of different and moft oppofite fentiments in religion, may live in the utmoft harmony, where abfurd edas do not create an infulting diftinétion; and where blind zeal does not foinent party rage. The Quakers (fays he), and the wandering Moravians, have a moral conftitution very diffonant from that of other nations. Yet it has not been thought impracticable to unite them with the community; and fuccefs has crowned the attempt. Several provinces of Poland and Rufia prefent us with a strange mixture of different religions. Next to the Proteftant, who is eating his fowl on a Friday, peaceably fits the Catholic, who contents himself with his egg. They will both drink wine and work on this day, by the fide of a Tark, who has been circumcifed like the Jew, abftains from the ufe of wine, and devotes the day to facred rest.' We fhall take leave of this differtation, which is replete with fentiments worthy of the Chriftian and the philofopher, and is by no means deftitute of eloquence, by prefenting our read. ers with the following paffage, in which the Chriftian, the Philofopher, and the Orator, are, in our opinion, happily united: Chriftians! the religion which you profefs, embraces in the bands of love the whole human race; not only of every country, but of every age. Shall we impute to that the neglect of the obligations due to pofterity, which wills that, touched with the lot of future generations, you prepare happinefs for thofe who now fleep in non-exiltente; and who will not exist until you are fleeping in the duft? You have juft opened your eyes on the world, and the worm will foon crawl over your tombs. Will you leave nothing to futurity but your fordid relics Let pofterity learn from your example, what you have been toward this people, and what they ought to be. Since life is long enough for much evil, and too fhort for much good, haften to liquidate the debt, or you will depart infolvent. Let us adopt the infcription, Pofteri, pofteri, veftra res agitur. From us, O pofterity! doft thou expect virtuous citizens; and fhall we bequeath a race of men whom we have forced to become perverfe? This would be to fcatter baneful feeds, that may fpring up in a future foil, and perhaps tranfmit the principles of depravity to the most diftant ages! Let us, for a moment, anticipate the years which are to come; and imagine ourfelves ourselves before the tribunal of future generations, to receive their plaudits of gratitude, or their fevereft reproaches.' This very laudable differtation is enriched and enlivened with many entertaining and ingenious notes. ART. XIII. Difcours qui a obtenu l'Acceffit, à l'Académie des Sciences, Belles Lettres, &c. ae Besançon, &c. i. e. A Difcourfe which obtained the Acceffit, at the Academy at Besançon, &c. on the Queftion, Is Genius fuperior to Rules? By M. ANCILLON. 8vo. Berlin. 1789. TTRACTED by the nature and importance of this quef Ation, we fat down, with unufual eagernefs, to the perufal of a treatise, which was honoured with the approbation of the celebrated Academy of Befançon; but we muft confefs that we have neither derived from it, the pleasure nor the improvement which we expected. The question demands a cool investigation. The answer is rhapfodical, turgid, and obfcure. It was natural to look for fome characteristic defcription of genius, fomething concerning its nature and diverfities; but we find little more than vehement exclamations concerning its powers. We hoped to fee the fubject carefully diffected by the metaphyfical anatomift; and we find it feized by a hawk that foars as high as he is able, and then lets it fall, because it is too weighty for his grafp. The ftyle is fo involved, prolix, and redundant, that had the principles advanced been calculated to throw much light on the fubject, we have a right to adopt the answer of a French wit to his confeffor, who, after having given a very florid defcription of the joys of paradife, afked whether he was not impatient to become an inhabitant? Point de tout, anfwered the penitent, votre mauvais François m'en degoute. As a full juftification of the feverity of the above remarks, we muft defire the reader to worm his way through the following paragraph as well as he is able. We beg leave to give it in the original, left any portion of its vapidity fhould be attributed to its being drawn off into another language. • Le raisonnement n'a rien de fi captieux, ou de fi victorieux, l'erudition de fi vafte ou de fi ténébreux, l'éloquence de fi vrai ou de fi féduifant, les paffions de fi impétueux, qui n'ait été mis en ufage dans une difpute où le génie, tantôt declaré indépendant de toutes les regles, tantôt ramené fous le joug de toutes les regles, tantôt fouftrait et vendu en partie à leur empire, fembloit ne fervir que de jouet à toutes les combinaisons poffibles; et s'il ne falloit, fur cet intéressant sujet, que des richesses littéraires bien ou mal difpenfées, quelques morceaux de détails excellens, des théfes contradictoires, foutenues avec une force prefqu' égale, il fuffiroit d'en appeller à tout ce qui a été écrit fur ce point de littérature, depuis les premiers tems jufqu'à nos jours. Mais exifte-t-il un ouvrage qui ne foit que le résultat lumineux et philofophique de tous les ouvrages enfemble, où l'on montre en detail que de ces deux propofitions, l'une, que le génie eft au deffus de toutes les regles, l'autre, qu'il eft foumis à toutes les regles, aucune n'est vraie, Jans T14 fans des reftrictions toujours fous-entendues ou exprimées par leurs partifans; un ouvrage où de ces reftriétions mêmes, jointes tantôt aux droits du genie en faveur des regles, tantôt au pouvoir des regles en faveur da génie, ou forme une troisieme affertion, la feule veritable, c'eft que le genie eft au deffus des regles en un fens, et n'est point au deus d'elles dans un autre; c'est à dire, qu'il eft des regles, qu'il peut & doit negliger, qu'il en eft d'autres qu'il doit refpécter conftamment, un ouvrage enfia où ces deux fortes de regles fidélement recueillier, et exprimées avec clarté, foient appliquées, non feulement, comme on s'eft borué à le faire jufqu'ici, à quelques branches de la littérature, et des beaux-arts, mais à toute la diverfité des fciences et des procedés de la vie, foit publique, foit privée, où le génie peut jouer un rôle; avons-nous, dis je, zn pareil ouvrage? Je l'ignore, ou plutôt j'ofe dire que non.' M. ANCILLON propofes to fupply this deficiency; and inevery fpecies of knowlege, where genius and rules may be fuppofed to be at variance, to mark the boundaries by which their different provinces are limited. His plan is to confider rules, as far as they relate to genius, either as definitions, or as aids; and to examine the degrees of liberty or of reftriction, affigned to genius under each of thefe heads. Our readers will excufe us from giving a more minute account of this treatife, notwithstanding its fubject, and though its honours feem to demand it. The ftyle is uniformly as obfcure as that of the fpecimen. We fometimes difcern a ray of light piercing through a dark cloud that covers feveral pages; but this would convey no information to those who are converfant with the valuable work of Dr. Gerrard. Where M. ANCILLON attempts eloquence, he reminds us of Pope's obfervation : Falfe eloquence, like the prifmatic glafs, Afiatic Refearches; or, Tranfactions of the Society, inftituted in Bengal, for inquiring into the Hiftory and Antiquities, the Arts, Science, and Literature of Afia. Vol. Ift. 4to. pp. 455. Printed at Calcutta; and fold by Elmiley, London. Price 21. 2s. Boards. 1788. TH HE advantages which are derived to fcience from the eftablishment of literary focieties, are too well known to require an enumeration: their utility is, however, peculiarly evident, where the field for inveftigation is large; and where its nature is intricate and unexplored. Our refearches here can be, by no method, more effectually affifted, than by occafional meetings; where men engaged in the fame purfuit may eftablish their own progrefs, and point out to others the path in which they may fuccefsfully advance. To trace the hiftory and antiquities, the arts, the fciences, and the literature, of the immenfe continent of Afia, required multiplied obfervation and experience; as well as a free communication and comparison of facts. Accordingly, we find Sir William Jones, when on his voyage to that country, which he had long and ardently defired to vifit,' planning an inftitution, by which he hoped to fecure these advantages; and thus to form, as it were, a receptacle, into which, by the contributions of many, a greater ftore of knowlege might be collected, than could poffibly fall to the fhare of any individual. There is an active spirit in European minds, which no climate or firuation in life can wholly reprefs, which juftifies the ancient notion, that a change of toil is a species of repofe, and which feems to confider nothing done or learned, while any thing remains unperformed or unknown.' Sir William, therefore, found little trouble in perfuading his countrymen to join in a fcheme, which promifed, in fo flattering a manner, to repay their exertions. The ASIATIC SoCIETY was accordingly formed, on the 15th of January 1784; and as it was refolved to follow, as nearly as poflible, the plan of the Royal Society at London, of which the King is patron, the patronage of the Afiatic Society was offered to the governorgeneral and council, as the executive power in the territories of the company. By their acceptance of this offer, Mr. Haftings, as GovernorGeneral, appeared among the patrons of the new Society; but he feemed, in his private ftation, as the firft liberal promoter of ufeful knowlege in Bengal, and efpecially as the great encourager of Perfian and Sanferit literature, to deferve a particular mark of diftinction: he was requefted, therefore, to accept the honorary title of Prefident. This was handfomely declined in a letter from Mr. Haftings, in which he requested "to yield his pretenfions to the gentleman, whofe genius planned the inftitution, and was moft capable of conducting it to the attainment of the great and fplendid purposes of its formation." On the receipt of this letter, Sir William Jones was nominated Prefident of the Society; and, at their next meeting, he delivered the preliminary difcourfe. In this excellent compofition, which has been separately published, and of which we have already given an account in the 71ft Volume of our Journal, p. 354. the President takes a view of the nature of their inftitution, and of the objects of their inquiries. The immenfe tract of country laid open for their infpection; the magnitude and value of the objects which folicited their attention; the darknefs which they were encouraged to difpel; and the fplendor which they were called on to diffufe; are here magnificently pourtrayed. I conceive (fays Sir William) that it is your defign to take an ample space for your learned inveftigations, bounding them only by the geographical limits of Afia; fo that, confidering Hindoftan as a * Introduction, p. iii. centre, |