ing the connection. The narrative of Gibbon extends to what may be accounted a modern period, and a few books will ferve to unite the chain of history with that of our own .country. Dr Robertson's Charles V. is, perhaps, the most perfect hiftorical compofition in the English language; and Dr Watson's Hiftory is well connected with it; and both relate to fome of the most important events recorded in history; the reformation of religion, and the establishment of the Batavian republic. Mr Wraxall has lately filled up a chaẩm on the hiftorical shelf, by his agreeable hiftory of France; yet, I would not wish the ftudent to fatisfy himself with that author's account of the age of Henry the Great, but would advife him to inspect for himself the interesting and unblemished pages of Sully; and there are few scholars who will not find exquisite pleasure in the General Hiftory of the correct De Thou. Vertot's Revolutions of Sweden and Portugal, are both of them animated narratives of important events. Voltaire's Age of Louis XIV. and XV. may be claffed among original histories, though not of the first rank; his Charles XII. is, I fear, little better than a romance. Dr Robertson's hiftory of America is an excellent, tho' not faultlefs, piece of compofition; yet, after the publication of Monuz's Hiftory of the New World, which, I underftand, is now in the prefs, it will probably be read more for the ftyle, than for the matter. After this course of reading, the ftudent will not be ill prepared for the hiftory of his own country, which is, indeed, of more importance to an Englishman, than the hiftory of any, or of every, other nation; I am, however, fo unfashionable, as not to join in the applauses which have been unmeritedly lavished on Mr Hume's Hiftory, not merely because it is a compilation, but because it is a bad compilation. Hume is the avowed enemy of the two principles which conduce moft to the happiness of mankind-religion, and liberty; and he who makes him the ftandard of his historical faith, will embrace innumerable errors, arifing, not merely from defign, but from negligence*. 312 As Thy writings thus, with noxious charms refin'd, Seeming to footh its ills, unnerve the mind; While the keen cunning of thy hand To firike alone at Party's abject ends. Dr. Furneaux, who was one of the best hiftorical critics of this age,took the pains of going through the whole of Hume's references, and affirmed, that on every great and bearing point, he had uniformly miftated the evidence; of this a moft ftriking proof may be found in the character of Milton, where Whitlocke is made to speak a language diametrically oppofite to his own. As a general history, Rapin's † is greatly preferable. The fize of Rapin's hiftory generally acts in terrorem to the fuperficial reader, and yet, if he paffes over the state papers which are (injudicioufly I think) inferted in the narrative, he will not find the talk more laborious than the perufal of Hame. Perhaps a ftill better courfe of English history would be, to take Dr Henry's History for the early periods; from the conclufion of which, he may proceed with Rapin to the date of Clarendon's Hiftory; and, for the affairs of Scotland, having recourfe to the claffical narrative of George Buchannan, and the elegant history of Queen Mary, by the accomplished Robertfon. Clarendon's Hif tory, with his Life, are invaluable records; but his statements will, in fome instances, be corrected by Whitlock's Memorials, which every ftu dent of history ought to read, and by the plain and manly, but interefting, Memoirs of the ill-treated Ludlow. "From these the world will judge of men and books, "Not from your Burnets, Oldmixons, and Cooks," is the illiberal expreffion of Pope, who alfo, it is well known, joined with Arbuthnot and Swift, in ridiculing the egotism of Bishop Burnet's Hiftory, in that well-known jeu-d'ejprit, "Memoirs of P. P. Clerk of this Parish" yet Burnet will continue to be read by every man who wishes to inform himfelf correctly of the manners and circumstances of the times in which that excellent prelate, and really candid writer, lived;-in fome few paffages his credulity appears to have been abufed, but he does not in any inftance, in my opi. nion, wilfully mifreprefent a fact. Dalrymple's Memoirs, and Macpherfon's Hiftory, are of fo fufpicious a character, that a fair enquirer into truth will pay little regard to them; they are drawn from polluted fources, and feem chiefly intended to excite a momentary curiofity for the fake of emolument to the authors. They are hiftorical legends, and the moral miracles they relate, appear not much more deferving of credit, than those contained in Geoffrey of Monmouth, or the Lives of the Saints. As I have taken but flight notice of compiled hiftories for the latter periods of our annals, I have not mentioned Mrs Macaulay's; yet, I confefs, I have twice perufed it with unabated pleafure-her principles are certainly republican, but her narrative is pure, and the is fcrupuloufly exact in producing evidences and authority for all her facts. Swift's Hiftory of the Four laft Years of Queen Anne is worth confulting; but I know of no genuine history, or even compilation, that I can recommend for the fucceeding period. The reader who wishes a general view of political affairs from that time, will find it in Mr Belham's Memoirs of the House of Brunfwick, and in his or Mr MacFarlan's "Nor fhalt thou want, Rapin, thy well-earn'd praife, The fage Polybius thou of modern days? Thy fword, thy pen, have both thy name endear'd, That join'd our arms, and this our ftory clear'd; Thy foreign hand discharg❜d th' hiflorian's truft, Unfway'd by party, and to Freedom juft, HAYLEY. I have omitted to recommend the old hiftorians, Froiffart, Hollingshead, Baker, Speed, Stow, and even Lord Verulam, because they are books which are not likely to fall in the way of general readers, and because the periods of history which their works embrace, are really of less importance than those which approach nearer to our own times. Farlan's Hiftory of the Present Reign. The three first volumes of this latter work are well written; of the fourth I cannot fay fo much, as it appears rather a hasty compofition, and the ftyle affected. The ftudent of history fhould always read with a map of the country before him; this is, indeed, the best mode of studying geography, and ferves most effectually to rivet the facts in the reader's remembrance. A good Biographical Dictionary is allo an useful companion in the study of history. The hiftory of England, in particular, fhould always be read with the Biographia Britannica at our elbow. The lofs, indeed, of its late excellent Editor, every friend to literature and truth will long have cause to lament. No man who has not had occafion to confult these volumes, can be a judge of the labour and research which he bestowed upon them. There are many facts in the Biographia which are not elsewhere to be found, and the fair and liberal manner in which the publication was conducted, will remain a lafting monument of the integrity and candour of Dr Kippis. Various plans have been recom mended for connecting history with chronology in the mind; the best mode that I have found is, to endeavour to fix in the memory the dates of fome of the moft remarkable events, fuch, for inftance, as the battle of Marathon, the acceffion of Alex. ander to the throne of Macedon, the foundation of Rome, the expulfion of the Tarquins, the two Punie wars, the contest between Marius and Sylla, the deftruction of the commonwealth by Cæfar, the reign of Trajan, the reign of Constantine, the division of the empire, the flight of the impoftor Mahomet from Mecca, Charlemagne, the first crufade, the Norman conqueft of England, Magna Charta, the ufurpation of Henry IV, the acceffion of Henry VII, the reformation, the death of Charles I, the revolution, &c.; the intermediate tranfactions will generally be found to have fome link of affociation with the great events, and it will not be difficult to decide nearly on the date of any of them. There is, however, no better aid to the memory than Dr Priestley's Hiftorical Chart; it is, indeed, a moft ingenious invention, and connects the great outline of his. tory, at once, with the general principles of geography and chronolgy. ANECDOTES OF THE GENERALS OF THE FRENCH ARMY OF ITALY. From the Same. Napoleone Buonaparte. IT requires but a very fuperficial examination into the hiftory of mankind to discover, that great events are productive of great characters. They excite the paffions; invigorate individual talents; refcue merit from undeferved obfcurity; and, fetting afide the fictitious diftinctions, founded on the follies, rather than the conventions of fociety, give full play to exertion, and ample scope to genius. But this fact is never more fatisfactorily illuftrated, than in the contests connected with, and found ed on, the love of freedom, a principle intimately blended with our exiftence and our happinefs, and which,being founded in nature, is latent in the bafeft and most felfish hearts. The hemifphere of Greece exhibited a galaxy of heroes, during her ftruggle for liberty, against the domeftic tyrants who oppreffed, and the foreign kings, who endeavoured to enflave her. The names and actions of Pelopidas and Epaminondas; of Leonidas and Agis; of Harmodi, us us and Ariftogiton; are familiar to every claffical scholar, and have been long dear to mankind. In Rome, we behold one Brutus arise to expel Tarquin, and another to punish Cæfar. The burning hand of Scævola appalled the heart of the king of Etruria; and a fingle citizen, in the perfon of Horatius Cocles, defending a bridge against a little army, struck an astonished enemy with terror and difmay. To recur to modern times, a few obfcure peasants, fuch as Tell, Erni, Stauffaucher, refcued Switzerland from the oppreffion of the haughty House of Auftria, and established a federal commonwealth, that has lafted longer unaltered, than any monarchy in Europe. In our own days, we have beheld a few American citizens ennobling, by their struggles, a memorable revolution, achieved by a printer, a schoolmafter*, a farmer; we have often heard one of its authors reproached with being a ftay-maker **; and the St. James's Gazette actually ridiculed a man as a horfe dealer §, whofe promotion to the rank of major-general in the British fervice, it was afterwards forced to record. Similar caufes in France have produced nearly fimilar effects, and the triumphs of the monarchy have been obliterated by the glories of the republic. Diforganized, undisciplined, diffatisfied, her armies, at the beginning of the conteft, exhibited numbers without valour, and enterprize without fuccefs. It can have been no common principle, then, that has forced the veteran troops of Europe to turn pale before her fresh levies, and the Brunfwicks, the Clerfayes, the Wurmfers, to bend their filver locks to men, new to the fcience of war, and unknown to history. At one time we have seen Dumourier feebly opposing the allies, and actually deprecating their efforts; at another time, invading their poffeffions, and, foon after, flying to them for fuccour and protection. Jourdan, by the exertion of foldierly bravery alone, taught the enemy to refpect his countrymen ; Pichegru difplayed all the refources of a great tactician, and directed every movement by the rules of art. Moreau, in imitation of Xenophon, acquired more glory by retreat, than others have achieved by victory ; and Buonaparte, by uniting the warrior and the statesman in his own perfon, has confummated the glory of his adopted country. This extraordinary man, born in the town of Ajaccio, in Corfica, in 1767, is the fon of Charles Buonaparte, and Lætitia Raniolini. His father, who was also a native of Ajaccio, was bred to the civil law at Rome, and took part with the celebrated Paoli, in the ever-memorable ftruggle made by a handful of brave iflanders, against the tyrannical efforts of Louis XV, and the Machiavelian fchemes of his minifter, Choifeul. I am affured, by a near relation of the family, that he not only laid aside the gown upon this occafion, but actually carried a musket as a private centinel! On the conqueft of the island, he wished to retire, with the gallant chieftain who had fo nobly struggled for its independence; but he was prevented by his uncle, a canon, who exercifed a parental authority over him.. In 1773, a deputation from the three eftates was fent to wait on the king of France; and, on this occafion, Charles Buonaparte was felected to represent the Nobles. He was * + Washington. foon **Paine. Sir John Sinclair is incorrect in the following ftatement: " His father was one of the three Nobles who reprefented the states of Corfica, anno 1770, when deputies were foon after promoted to the office of procuratore reale of Ajaccio, where his ancestors, fuppofed to have been originally from Tuscany, had been fettled nearly two hundred years. The family of the elder Buona. parte was numerous, for he had feven children; four fons, and three daughters. It was his good fortune, how ever, to be cherished by the French; and both he and his family lived in the greatest intimacy with M. de Marboeuf, the governor, who received a revenue of 60,000 livres a year, on condition of doing nothing † !— An intendant was paid nearly as much, and a swarm of hungry leeches, engendered in the corruption of the court of Versailes, at one and the fame time fucked the blood of the Corficans, and drained the treasure of the mother country; in short, like the conquefts of more recent times, the fubjugation of that island seems to have been achieved for no other purpose, than to gratify avarice, and fatiate rapacity. On the death of his friend, Charles Buonaparte, M. de Marbœuf continued to patronize his family, and placed his fecond fon ‡, Napoleone, the fubject of these memoirs, at the Ecole Militaire, or Military Academy. The advantages refulting from this feminary, which has produced more great men than any other in Europe, were not loft on young Buonaparte; he there applied himself with equal affiduity and addrefs, to mathematics, and studied the art of war as a regular fcience. Born in the midst of a republican struggle, in his native land, it was his good fortune to burst into manhood, at the moment when the country of his choice shook off the chains with which fhe had been menacled for centuries. There was also fomething in his manners and habits that announced him equal to the fituation for which he feems to have been deftined; inftead of imitating the frivolity of the age, his mind was continually occupied by useful ftudies; and from the Lives of Plutarch, a volume of which he always carried in his pocket, he learned, at an early age, to copy the manners, and emulate the actions of antiquity. With this difpofition, it is but little wonder that he should have dedicated his life to the profeffion of were firft fent to wait on the king of France, after the conqueft of that island, on which occafion he acquitted himself with great ability," &c. The deputation was intended to be reprefentative of the three-diftinct branches of the Corfican parlia ment, and confifted, ift, Of the clergy in the perfon of a bishop; 2d, Of the Nobles, in whole name Charles Buonaparte acted; and 3d, Of the tiers etat, or third order, for whom a fimple citizen was substituted. + See Life of General Dumourier, vol. i. p. 181. A French periodical writer has been pleafed to affert, that General Paoli was his godfather (Jon parrain fut le fameux Paoli) but on making the proper enquiries, I find that this circumftance is doubtful. General Paoli recollects that he flood godfather to a fon of Charles Buonaparte, but he is not sure whether it was to Napole one, or ore of his brothers. So much was Charles Buonaparte attached to General Paoli, that, on learning from M. de Marbœuf, that fome Frenchmen intended to affaffinate him, he failed from Ajaccio, to Leghorn, whence he repaired to Florence, in order to communicate the particulars of the plot to the English minifter. { |