Gif I had lived but seven yeirs mair,

I wad haif gilt thee round about.”

Not far from this, the Liddel, falling into the Esk, marks the boundary of the two countries; and the road continues, within the English border, by Longtown to Carlisle.'

The volumes are concluded with some remarks on the general principles of taste; in which, we think, the author is not more fortunate than in his dedication and preface. We meet with a number of hard words, in themselves scarcely intelligible, but in their present combination and arrangement conveying no idea whatsoever to our minds.

This elegant work is embellished with thirty-five pleasing views; all of which, however, are not of equal merit, either in the design or in the execution. The views of Fingal's Cave, Kenmare, and Cullean Castle, (the seat of the Earl of Cassilis,) are among the best in the collection.

ART. VII. Life of Bonaparte, First Consul of France, from his Birth to the Peace of Luneville: to which are added, an account of his remarkable Actions, Replies, Speeches, and traits of Character. With Anecdotes of his different Campaigns. Translated from the French. 8vo. pp. 410. 8s. Boards. Robinsons. 1802. THIS compilation appears to be one of those works with

which the press daily teems, and the chief object of which is to render public curiosity a source of individual pecuniary advantage. The author does not seem to be emulous of establishing a title to public regard on the basis of honorable fame: but, if he can furnish amusement for an idle hour, if the pretty trifler, the fashionable lounger, and the family party, purchase and commend his book, the rewards which he seeks will be obtained. Diis miscent superis.-A luminous and yet a concise account of the campaigns of Bonaparte, and a full detail of his political atchievements, would be a valuable present: but the pages before us can boast only the merit of relating some anecdotes and traits which had escaped other writers. If the author's hero be no longer viewed as the saviour of oppressed nations, the subverter of antichrist, the restorer of Palestine to the descendants of its antient race, and the harbinger of arts and polished manners among the barbarians of the East,-if the period of this jejune enthusiasm be past, and if his name have ceased to command devotion and regard,-he still excites lively interest; his power inspires dread; his talents and his perseverance command respect; his future measures are regarded with apprehension; the destinies of Europe seem to be placed in his hands; and on the conduct which he thinks proper to pursue, will depend its agitation or its repose, and the happi

ness

S.R.

ness or misery of myriads of men. A volume professing to develope such a character cannot want readers.

The first distinction can be reached only by few, but considerable eminence is within the grasp of a greater number. The passage underneath exemplifies a part of the system by which the one and the other are attained:

Bonaparte's indefatigable mind was so constantly employed, that he spent many hours of the night in study. During his stay at Nice, one of his friends, being in the most urgent want of his assistance, went to his apartments long before day, and, not doubting but he was in bed, knocked softly at his door, for fear of disturbing him too abruptly: but upon entering his chamber, he found to his surprise Bonaparte dressed as in the day, his police cap on his head, hard at work, plans, maps, and numerous books, lying open around him. "What," said his friend, not yet in bed!"-" In bed!" replied Bonaparte, "I am already risen."-" Indeed!"-repeated the former; "What so early?""Yes, so early: two or three hours are enough for sleep."

The opening buds of Bonaparte's future fame and greatness here present themselves:

The time which elapsed between the commencement of the revoJution, and the famous siege of Toulon, in December, 1793, was wholly employed by Bonaparte in the study of tactics, which he pursued in retirement and obscurity: for, till the siege of Toulon, he might be said to have lived unknown. It was at that remarkable period he first attracted notice, by the display of those great quali ties which would no longer be suppressed: he was then but twentythree years of age, and was an officer in a company of artillery.

Barras and Freron, at that time representatives of the people, were sent to superintend the siege. At the attack of the redoubt of fort Pharo, they observed a young officer extraordinarily busy, in directing the corps of artillery that was under his command. Calm and intrepid, amidst a thousand dangers, he was every where in an instant, displaying at once coolness and activity. At last, his wounded cannoniers scattered round him, and swimming in their blood, he was seen serving, almost by himself, a piece of artillery, charging, loading, ramming, in fact, undauntedly performing the whole business of his men. Upon enquiry this young officer was found to be Bonaparte.

The two representatives, witnesses of his extraordinary skill and valour, immediately advanced him to the rank of general of brigade.'

Soon after the siege of Toulon, he was put under arrest as a terrorist; and, though unable to convict him, the government removed him from the artillery to the infantry. Remonstrating against this injustice without success, he requested leave to quit France for Constantinople, which was also refused:an incident which farther assimilates his history to that of Cromwell.

The

The part which this General performed on the 13th of Vendemisire (4th of October) is here glossed over with much address; and it is contended that, if the armed force had been placed in hands less skilful, far more blood must have been spilt:but it cannot be a source of satisfaction to the Chief Consul, nor of pride to his admirers, that he laid the foundation of his lofty pre-eminence by taking a share in a contest between the convention and the sections of Paris; and that his appointment to that command, which proved the basis of his future fortune, arose out of his having shed the blood of French citizens and revolutionists.-The public, however, have heard enough of his military and political exploits; we will now lay open to them a private scene in which he appears:

After the inauguration of the directory, Bonaparte, as general of the armed force, waited on each of the five directors. Carnot, who was the last nominated on the refusal of Sieyes, lived at the top of a house, beneath the ruins of the Luxembourg, the apartments preparing for him not being ready. It was on a Monday that Bonaparte presented himself, which was the day in the week on which a certain author was in the habit of regularly visiting Carnot. When Bonaparte entered, this author was singing a new air, which a young lady accompanied on a piano-forte. The appearance of Bonaparte put a stop to the music. Seeing five or six tall young men (his aidde camps) come into the room, followed by a little well-made man, introducing and expressing himself with dignity, and bowing to the company with that air of case and politeness, which, it must be owned, formed a striking contrast with the manners and appearance of most of the generals who had appeared before, such as Rossignol and Santerre: the author in question seeing this, asked Carnot, in a whisper, who that gentleman was. Carnot answered, it was the ge neral of the armed force of Paris. "What is his name?" said the author. "His name is Bonaparte."-" Is he a man of sense?”— "I really do not know.""Has he great military skill?" So it is raid."-"What has he ever done that is remarkable?"-" He is the officer who commanded the troops of the convention on the 13th of Vendemiaire." This was enough for the enquirer; the shade deepened in his countenance: he was one of the electors of Vendemiaire, bigottedly attached to his own opinions; and he retired silently to a corner, observing this gentleman, as he had himself called him, whose open countenance, beaming with expression, could not fail to have pleased him, but from what he had just heard from

Carnot.

--

Bonaparte, seeing the young lady still at her instrument, and the company attending solely to him, said, in a tone of gentleness, "I have put a stop to your amusements; somebody was singing, I beg I may not interrupt the party." The director apologized; the general insisted, and the lady, at last. played and sung two or three patriotic ass: Bonaparte, alter amusing himself a few minutes longer, rose and took his leave.'

The traits sketched below, however, indicate the haughty temper of this hero:

The emperor's ministers at Campo Formio, on the treaty of peace, endeavoured to employ that cunning and deceit so usual in courts, and which has generally been denominated good policy; but this suited ill with the candour and openness of Bonaparte's mind: a variety of difficulties too were thrown in the way of the treaty, from the Emperor's not having given sufficient powers to his ministry. Bonaparte, conceiving that the proposals made by the French government were slighted, or at least not sufficiently attended to, with a degree of warmth, which circumstances rendered excusable, he took up a beautiful piece of china that stood near, and breaking it it into a thousand pieces, said to the council, Since you will have it so, thus will I reduce you to dust; and he instantly quitted the room. M*** ran after him, but could only overtake his secretary, whom he entreated most earnestly to bring back the General, show. ing him a letter, four pages long, which he had been writing to the Emperor, and which he was sure, he said, would bring him to his senses. The courier set off immediately, and a few days after the treaty was signed.' —

Áfter signing the treaty of Campo Formio, Bonaparte returned to Paris, where he was received with the most lively demonstrations of public gratitude. He was afterwards named plenipotentiary to the congress at Rastadt. The slowness of the proceedings in this congress, the useless discussions which took place there, the insincerity that pervaded all its negotiations, in short, every thing seemed to announce beforehand, that the Austrian party did not wish for peace, and that the object of the emperor was merely to gain time, that he may recover his losses and begin again with new forces. Bonaparte was one of the first to perceive this; yet he repaired thither, and knew how to preserve the dignity due to himself and the nation he represented. Amazed at meeting count Fersen, the Swedish ambassador, there, the declared enemy of the republic, he openly insisted that no French minister could or ought to treat with this man. The count prudently withdrew, set off for Stockholm, and the king his master sent another person to supply his place.

The following anecdote refers to an event which had a considerable effect in relation to the French revolution:

Some intimate friends of Bonaparte talking freely with him concerning the treaty of Campo Formio, observed, that he had allowed the Emperor great advantages in giving up to him the spoils of Venice, and that the destruction of one of the most ancient republics in the world had served only to indemnify the Emperor; and what was more, through the success of a republican General. I was playing at vingt et un, said the conqueror, and being twenty, I stood.'

The use which Mr. Pitt made of this circumstance, in a speech which needed only to be as judicious as it was eloquent, will not soon be forgotten by persons who give attention to such matters. This play with the independence of states, this

barter

barter of the liberty of foreign communities for the extension of the French territory, imparted a salutary lesson which was lost only on the insane or the unprincipled part of revolutionary amateurs. The horrors of Helvetia, and the transactions with the American envoys, completed the instruction.

A tale widely differing from the following statement, and one which we fear is more authentic, has been circulated:

When Bonaparte abandoned the siege of St. Jean d'Acre there were a great number of wounded, and few means to carry them away; he was setting off with his staff when they informed him of this. Alighting from his horse, the rest followed his example; the horses were sent to the sick, and Bonaparte marched on foot, during three days, over the burning sands of the desert.'

Happy will it be for the world, if the subject of these pages be contented to realize glory of the sort which the subsequent

extracts record:

Bonaparte's first care, on being appointed first Consul, was to franquillize la Vendée; and General Bernadotte was sent thither with a powerful force. Moderation and persuasive measures were the principal arms he made use of for the re-establishment of peace in that country, which had experienced all the horrors of eivil war. Force was only employed against those who, with arms in their hands, determined to persist in fanning the flame of intestine commotion. They sent quietly home all the poor wretches deceived and rendered fanatic by priests; peace was offered to the principal leaders, and the terms were accepted; tranquillity began to revive, and in a short time there only remained a few hordes of banditti, to whom peace is unnatural, and who find in civil and internal divisions alone the mean of retaining an usurped authority, and an aliment to their fury.'

In the interior, Bonaparte made every effort to pacify and unite the factions, established freedom of general worship, infused confidence into every breast harrassed by the storms of the revolution, and gave them hopes of a peace they had so long sighed for. RegnJarity succeeded to trouble and disorder; the different branches of the military establishments were re-organised; the arbitrary proceedings were destroyed; the civil administrations experienced some use. ful changes; and the tribunals regained their activity. The list of emigrants was closed; and the sun of prosperity began to shed its benign rays on our country.

Though the account of the Consul's second campaign in Italy consists of little besides extracts from dispatches already made public, and from the journals, and though they are put together with little method or discrimination, it still forms the most interesting part of the work. This campaign, whether we consider rapidity of execution, the difficulties surmounted, the suc cess obtained, or the consequences to which it led, furnishes the page of history with a narrative which has scarcely a parallel.

ART, Jo.