Wretched as the texture of this memoir undoubtedly is, i may not be altogether uninterefting to contemplate its errors, when we confider the place in which it appears. The thing which we have been looking at, is literally the only production on the science of political economy, which the National Institute has deemed worthy of a place in its moral and political volumes, for the last five years, if we except another tract, in the fame style, and from the hand of the fame master. To find fuch a performance ftanding fingle among the labours of that body which has fucceeded to the academies of France, is indeed mefancholy; and evinces, either that the influence notoriously ex-i erted by the government towards the encouragement of exploded errors in political economy, has extended to the first literary body on the continent, or that there do not exift within the circle of the Inftitute, the talents and the lights fufficient to preferve in their purity the first principles of that fcience. Nay, it is quite enough that fuch a paper should be found at all in the Academy's publications. Its exiftence there, amply proves the degraded ftate of political knowledge in the degenerate country of Quefnai, Turgot, and Condorcet. The National Inftitute, it must always be remembered, do nct, like our Royal Society, decline committing themfelves, by giving their opinions as a body on the queftions which come before them for difcuffion. Through the whole of their volumes, we meet with conftant evidence, that what is gi ven to the world under the name of their Tranfactions, contains, if not the opinions of the active members, at leaft nothing from which they would widely diffent. For proof of this, we refer particularly to the hiftory of the claffes, in which the fentiments of thofe bodies are exprefsly ftated upon a great variety of detailed points. Thus, their opinions upon the comparative merits of papers are diftinctly given. Public events, remotely connected with fcience, are commented upon. The joy, for example, of the moral and political clafs, is warmly expreffed in the volume now before us, upon the event of General Napoleon Bonaparte, a member of the mathematical clafs, having been elevated to the head of the governiment. The feelings of this body, upon fome tender fubje&s, are alfo communicated to the world. The clafs was ftruck as with a thunderbolt, at the fudden death of the refident member Baudin; and though it will long retain ifs forrow, fome confolation has been received from the election of Citizen Bigot. (p: 314.) Nor does the clafs feem infenfible (a: always as a body, be it remarked) to the tender effufions of its abfent members. Notices are given of their affectionate letters. Thus, we are told that Citizen Dupont, before fetting out for America, wrote from the veel in which he was to fail, a letter, filled with expreffions

expreffions of the moft touching fenfibility, and ending with an atteftation, that his laft vows on leaving Europe were for the pro-, fperity of the Inftitute.' The attention of this body is alfo, from time to time, directed towards the latter end of all things, if we may judge by no lefs than two reports of committees appointed to inquire into the proper form of funeral for the members. The Inftitute orders, that black crape fhall be worn roundthe left arm, and complains loudly of want of accommodation in the burial ground. In fhort, the whole memoirs of this fociety atteft, that the members act and think with a certain efprit de corps, and entitle us to conclude, that nothing is publifhed in their volumes which is repugnant to the general opinions of the acting fellows. Had there been any belief in, or concern for the truths of political economy, among thofe who compofe the moral and.. political clafs, nothing could have prevented the rejection of the paper which we have described to our readers, by a fhort sketch of The conclufion is inevitable,-that this fcience is: gone down in the firft circles of France. The application is obvious. Let it find a refuge in our free and enlightened country;: and may we be aflured that its progrefs will be in proportion to the attention, not the favour, with which every new work is received, and the impartiality with which all new doctrines are. fcrutinized, by whatever names they may be recommended, or with whatever confidence they may be advanced.

ART. XI. Voyage dans les quatre Principales Iles des Mers d'Afrique, fait par ordre du Gouvernement, pendant les années neuf et dix de la Republique (1801 et 1802), avec l'Hiftoire de la Traverfée du Capitaine Baudin, jufqu'au Port-Louis de l'Ile Maurice. Par J. B. G. M. Bory de St Vincent, Officier d'Etat Major; Naruralifte en chef fur la Corvette le Naturalifte, dans l'Expédition de Découvertes, commandée par le Capitaine Baudin. Avec une collection de 58 Planches, grand en 4to, deffinés fur les lieux par l'Auteur, et gravées en taille-douce. 3 tomes en 8vo. A Paris. An XIII. (1804.)

A TRAVELLER who compaffes fea and land,' that he may

fleep on the top of a burning mountain, and finge his great coat on the brink of a crater, may be allowed to difpenfe with' the ordinary formalities of writing. M. Bory, accordingly, takes an early opportunity of afferting his privilege, and boldly inverts the vulgar relationship of book and title-page. The customary cfice of the latter, it is pretty generally known, is to announce

the

the fubject of the former. But, in the prefent inftance, by one of thofe fimple and beautiful expedients which befpeak true genius, he has contrived to render all the fubfequent pages of the work fubfervient to the explanation of the firft, and thus to keep alive the curiosity and attention of the reader to the very end of his performance. Ladies and country gentlemen have not the names of the four principal iflands of the African feas' always ready at a call: and even we hoary critics, who recollect to have read in our gazetteers and other oracles of geographical intelligence, that Madagascar is one of the forefaid principal islands, have been fairly at fault in our conjectures concerning this myfterious title. A diligent perufal of the whole narrative, however, warrants us to affert with certainty, that our naturalist never touched at Madagascar, and to conjecture that Teneriffe, the Ifles of France and Bourbon, and our own little rock of St Helena, are probably the islands in queftion.

To denominate the fame place by the fame combination of vowels and confonants, is a practice, no doubt, which has the apology of vulgar example; but it argues, in our apprehension, great poverty of tafte in the writer, and is apt to fatigue the reader, by the tamenefs and monotony of the repetition. Hence, the compounder of thefe volumes dexterously rings the changes on the Ile of France and Maurice, and on Bourbon, Mafcareigne, and the Ile of Reunion.

The extraordinary length of the author's own name, and his laudable fpirit of enterprize, naturally prompted our curiofity to learn fome particulars of his hiftory. Those, however, he deals out when and where he pleafes. Thus, we find some general notices of his early life and converfation, at page 19oth of the third volume, forming an agreeable relief to a long Latin catalogue of plants, and dreary defcriptions of volcanic drofs.

Educated,' fays he, for the sciences, by a well informed and very prudent parent, the revolution foon dragged me from those peaceful Occupations for which he formed me. Forced into the army, because I had attained the marching age, I became a foldier. The greatest obligation which I owe to the education which was bestowed on me, is a certain degree of philofophy, which has always enabled me, as the old adage expreffes it, to take courage against fortune. When fairly placed in the ranks, and convinced that I neither could nor ought to quit them, I ftruggled with all my might for favourable diftinétion, that I might no longer be blended with the crowd.'

We may obferve, in paffing, that we do not perfectly compre hend the confiftency of this narrative. M. Bory neither could nor hould quit the ranks: yet he makes every effort to quit them, and fucceeds.

• When

• When the expedition of discovery failed from France, the profpect of approaching peace induced me to convert to my profit and inftruction the years of tranquillity which, I then prefumed, could not be very numerous. I had the affurance of the minifter, that, on my return, I fhould be permitted to rejoin the army, on producing a certificate that I had not quitted the expedition; and that my time fhould be counted as fervice at fea.'

Notwithstanding the eagerness with which he had folicited to be a member of the expedition, it is certain that our author quitted his affociates in the midft of their perils, accepted of fome fecret miffion from General Magallon to the French government, and returned home in a neutral veffel. He has not condefcended to inform us how he was received at the court of Napoleon; nor whether he ftill perfeveres in his adventurous scheme of vifiting Madagascar, India, the Afiatic Islands, and the heart of Africa, (into which he is determined to penetrate, or die), when France thall have compelled her enemies to grant her a long and glorious peace.'

For other biographical particulars, we must turn to the commencement of the first volume, where we find him under the defignation of chief zoologift, expreffing his decided paffion for voyages and travels, and his entire approbation of the details of an equipment fo admirably adapted for the promotion of science. The officers and naturalifts with whom he became particularly acquainted at Havre de Grace, and in whofe fociety he was on the eve of exploring foreign countries, were all endued with the requifite talents, profeffional skill, and perfect urbanity. A har, mony which time was deftined to confirm, foon reigned among us all. I reckon among the most fortunate periods of my life, that in which I formed fo many precious connexions. We know not how M. Bory can reconcile this charming defcription with the ftrictures which occur in other parts of his relation, particularly with the want of fcientific books, the alleged incapacity and mifconduct of his commander, and the infignificance of Petitin, a nominal fecretary, who deprived Depuch, the mineralogist, of a comfortable bed.

Among the thirty-three perfons, who compofed the staff of the two corvettes, and who are celebrated as paragons of perfection, we diftinguish few of name. M. Michaux, indeed, the author of travels in Perfia and in North America, was on board the Naturalifte, though only as a paffenger. We are forry that we have not the honour of being acquainted with M. Peron, who embarked in the capacity of anthropologift to the expedition, and who, being fpecially charged with the ftudy of man,' ranks at the tail of the zoologifts. For the honour of human nature, we truft that M. Peron will affert his claims, to ftand higher on the

Etat

Etat Major, by publishing a few quartos on the anthropology of the Ifles of France and Bourbon.

But, to return to the hero of our prefent lucubrations, it is' worthy of remark, that, after duly commemorating the complete appointment of the expedition, he bitterly deplores the paucity and injudicious felection of books. This, again, rather startles us: for, in his preface, he feems to hold books very cheap, and talks of the luxury of quotation,' as fuitable only to works of a very different defeription from his own. We greatly refpect his motto, J'ai vu; but few naturalifts, zoologifts in chief though they be, will do much juftice to themselves, or their publications, without confulting the writings of others, efpecially of the fyftematists. Indeed, after all this gentleman's high pretenfions to, independence, we conceive that he is materially beholden to various tomes of nomenclature and defcription; and his performance would have acquired a more pleafing variety, and additional intereft, from more extenfive reading, both on the principal and collateral matters which he has condefcended to difcufs. A mindgifted with more than ordinary activity, and equally ready to combat armies, or hunt butterflies, may, unquestionably, achieve much in virtue of its own energies; but no talents, or verfatility of dif pofition, can juftify a total difregard of thofe writers who have preceded us in any department of inquiry. Whether their notices may fupply useful hints, or lye open to animadversion, they have claims on our attention; and the public expect that we' fhould be equally difpofed to profit by their information, and to correct their mistakes.

During the two or three first nights of the paffage to Teneriffe, M. Bory became fentimental, and flept ill; not, however, from fea-ficknets, but from thinking of his dear country. To compenfate for this moral fituation, which was truly afflicting,' he enjoyed, during the day, a moft voracious appetite.' Nor is this the only occafion on which we find a violent defire for food conjoined with delicate emotions and the enthufiafm of fcience. The exalted company of Peron, the anthropologift, and Bernier, the aftronomer, appears not to have reprefied the folvent virtues of the gaftric juice. When we returned to town,' fays the journalift (vol. I. p. 22.), we had a furious appetite. And forry we are to add, that, for the fum of five livres, thefe fons of fcience could only procure a dinner, which would hardly be tole-. rated, even at the frugal board of a Scotifh reviewer. Again, the enchanting lectures of Brouffonnet on the beautiful productions, of the forest of Laguna, were inftantly deferted, when the voice of Monfieur Legros fummoned the audience to a comfortable meal. The narrative, moreover, fets forth (I. 64), that this

dinner