The circumstances which led to the Convention of El Arish make a part of this narrative; as well as the very bloody and destructive consequences which resulted from the refusal of our Government to ratify it, as communicated in Lord Keith's memorable letter. After having detailed all the horrors which accompanied the siege of Cairo, and its re-occupation by the French, the author adds: Thus terminated this bloody siege, which cost us more lives than the battles of Mattareh and Heliopolis, and the taking of all the rest of Egypt. More than half of the Turkish army is stated to have perished, and a considerable number of the inhabitants.' Nearly the whole of Boulac, which is considered as the suburbs of Cairo, appears to have been destroyed, as well as several entire quarters of the city. Scarcely could a step be taken without treading on ruins, and being assailed by the stench from the dead bodies; and the few Christians who survived, on re-entering Cairo, could not find their habitations. Such are the horrible effects of war!

With the procès-verbal of the examination of the body of General Kleber after his assassination, the proclamation of Mennu on the occasion, the horrid sentence and execution of the assassin, and the subsequent measures of Menou, the first volume concludes.

In the first part of the second volume, the landing of our army in Egypt is recounted, and its success is evident from the capitulation, which is given at length: but the progress of our victories is not particularly marked; nor are we presented with any thing resembling a history of the campaign. The author blames the conduct of Mensu, and observes that the misunderstauding which prevailed among the Generals excited a prophetic fear that it would prove fatal to their arms.

The remainder of the volume treats on the Political Economy and Antiquities of Egypt, and is formed chiefly of extracts from recent publications. On the whole, the work adds little to our knowlege of that country, and seems to have been compiled in order to take advantage of the avidity of the French for Egyptian details.

ART. IX. Considérations Physiques et Morales, &c.; . e. Physical and Moral Considerations respecting the Nature of Man, his Faculties, &c. &c. By J. A. PERREAU, Member of the Tribunate, and Professor of the Laws of Nature and Nations. 2 Vols. 12mo. Paris. Imported by De Boffe. Price 10s. sewed.

IF

Four deep thinkers should not honour these volumes with their warmest approbation, they will at least bestow on their author the praise which is due to the modesty of execution;

since, instead of availing himself of his very comprehensive title, and spreading his lucubrations over several quartos, he has comprized the following sections within the compass of 528 small pages: 1. Theories concerning the vital principle. 2. Human voice and speech. 3. Nutrition. 4. Sleep. 5. Dream ing. 6. Insanity. 7. The conduct of the mind in cases of unforeseen danger, in certain stages of disease, and at the approach of dissolution. 8. The understanding. 9. A general view of sensations and habits. 10. The senses. 11. Sight. 12. Hearing. 13. Smell. 14. Taste. 15. Touch. 16. Pleasure and pain. 17. Certain phænomena of sensibility. 18. Memory. 19. Imagination. 20. Wit. 21. Genius. 22. Moral sense (goût moral). 23. Certain very general prejudices. 24. Peculiar customs and institutions of nations. 25. The moral sense considered as a principle of knowlege and direction.

These are, certainly, no trifling objects of inquiry: but we have repeatedly canvassed them in the prosecution of our critical labours; and Professor PERREAU's pretensions to the claim of conducting important investigations are not of that transcendant character, which might justify either a detailed analysis or much latitude of quotation. We have perused his work without being rewarded by novelty of doctrine, acuteness of research, or uncommon felicity of illustration. He rather glances at a subject than views it in all its bearings; and, in the consideration of questions of difficult solution, he more generally exposes error than establishes truth. His style, however, always easy and perspicuous, is sometimes elegant; and the tenor of his writings would lead us to infer, that he is endowed with more plain sense than usually falls to the share of his theorizing countrymen, that he is a steady advocate for the dignity of man, and that he is the sincere friend of public and private virtue.

To these notices of the contents and general merits of the publication, we shall add only a few detached remarks in the order in which they have occurred.

The review of opinions concerning the principle of vitality would have gratified us more, had it been less superficial. From the very condensed form in which the theories are here stated, we cannot easily appreciate the ideas of their respective authors. Neither do we perceive why the Professor should consider the region of the stomach as the exclusive seat of lively sensations: since facts similar to those alleged in support of this hypothesis might be mentioned with regard to the brain, the spinal marrow, and other parts of the animal economy. In most cases, we are not conscious of any marked affection of the stomach, produced by sudden and violent noise. Nor is the APP. REV. VOL. XLI. influence

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influence of imagination limited to a single viscus or organ: for, if nausea be sometimes excited by the mere representation of a disgusting object, the circulation of the blood may be retarded or accelerated according to the tenor of a romantic tale; and if a delicate lady has felt the approaches of sea-sickness on viewing painted waves, so also the tear has flowed for sufferings which never existed.

The author's remarks on the neglected state of elocution are judicious: but they are such as must have naturally occurred to any person who has reflected on the defects of our modera systems of education; and they are of too general a complexion to be of much real benefit.

The practice of with-holding from children their favourite dishes, and obliging them to eat of those to which they betray an antipathy, is thus pointedly reprobated:

Besides the learned reasons alleged for this singular conduct, on the score of health, it is maintained that children should accustom themselves to every species of food, because, in the course of their lives, they may be compelled to subsist on that which they dislike. Such amazing foresight is more ridiculous than I can well express. Grant, however, that it were agreeable to right reason, is it not unwise to torment the poor child long before the supposed circumstances can take place? But it is the height of absurdity not to perceive, that, should extreme want urge him to devour the hated aliment, necessity will easily effect that which obstinacy, without it, never can accomplish. I have even seen this foolish practice carried so far, and always on the same principle, as to force children to swallow ragouts and made dishes, which, most assuredly, they will never encounter in the desert, nor during a famine."

Concerning sleep and dreams, we have some trite and a few fanciful observations. With this sage author, we would follow nature, and never turn day into night, did not dull volumes sometimes "overcome us like a summer's cloud," and compel us to nod at noon. In the company of such a light metaphysician as M. PERREAU, we feel no disposition to sleep: but, if he really means that all good citizens should measure their slumbers by the donation of darkness, we trust that our northern latitude will plead our excuse if we do not strictly follow his prescription.

Of the closing scene of life, it is justly observed that the prospect is often more dreadful than the reality. Indulgent nature sometimes prolongs delirium to the last hour, and forbids the understanding to resume its powers, till it awakens in its eternal abode; sometimes, she amuses the dying with the hopes and feelings of convalescence; sometimes, she fortifies them with a composure of reason which astonishes the bystanders and sometimes she animates their fading forms with the rays of approaching immortality.

Humanity

Humanity is much obliged to Professor P. for his anxiety in exalting it above the brute creation. We are, indeed, aware that a few who affect to hold paradoxical tehets, or who have allowed their reason to be obscured by the gloom of misanthropy, have advanced the opposite doctrine: but, if every absurdity were to be seriously refuted, when would there be an end of refutation?

The Professor has adopted (in our opinion, with too little reserve) the favourite notion of St. Pierre, that colours are intimations of the inherent qualities of objects. Such, too, is his proficiency in physiognomy, that he believes that the first glance at a villain's countenance will detect his depravity: but they who know the world, and who have studied character, will strongly demur to this sturdy assertion.

The result of some very pertinent observations on pleasure and pain is, to recommend the cultivation of the intellectual faculties and of moral feeling. We readily admit the partial and inefficient operation of public law on the ignorant multitude, who are seldom sensibly alive to the calls of duty, and who are more strongly incited to the commission of crimes from the prospect of gain, than deterred by the fear of punishment. It deserves, however, to be remarked that a wise and benevolent legislature may greatly promote the diffusion of that knowlege and political freedom, without which morality can' never flourish on an extensive scale. Yet so essential to the well-being of a state is the regulation of individual conduct, that the best devised systems of polity, if not cheered by its influence, must fade and perish. If every member of the 'com. munity would study and obey the dictates of justice and hu manity, the worst of governments would bend to the public will, society would change its aspects, and happiness would reside on earth. It is, then, from the co-operation of individual and public exertion, directed to the best interests of mankind, that nations can rise to pre-eminence in worth and true prosperity; and this co-operation can be effected only by the promulgation and culture of truth and virtue.

The author would resolve the pleasurable sensations which we experience on revisiting the country, chiefly into reminis cence. The murmur of the stream, the rustling of the foliage, the freshness of the air, and the perfumes of the valley, affect us not merely with present impressions, but principally operate on our sensibility by recalling our first feelings of the kind, and the scenes most intimately connected with those sensations.' This may be true to a certain extent; but, at the same time, we must allow that pleasing scenes mostly derive their strongest influence from immediate impressions, and that we

are not always able to assign the period at which we became sensible, for the first time, of the sweets of a country life.

To those who are ambitious of imitating the natural and dig nified style of the antients, whose works we peruse with fond relish after the characters and events which they record have passed away, we would beg leave to recommend the Professor's considerate strictures on wit: We cannot too closely copy from the discretion of the antients, if we would attain to their success and stability of name. This observation, which is too general to hurt the feelings of any individual, can at no time be submitted to the public with more propriety than at present, when wit so much abounds as to make us dread its abuse. It seems to be thought that it must appear in all our writings and it is often more lavishly squandered on some trifling publication than on the entire poem of the Iliad. As such performances, however, resemble sparks which dazzle, without producing light or heat, like them they shine for a moment, and then vanish into total and eternal darkness."

The connection of moral feeling with the imitative arts might claim some special notice, were not the principles, to which the author here alludes, avowedly recognized by the most eminent writers in this department of literature. In estimating the beauties and defects of some of our most celebrated epic poets, the Professor seems not to have sufficiently adverted to an important distinction between absolute and relative excellence.. Our canons of general criticism are daily assuming more and more the character of philosophical abstraction, founded on sober reason, or on our principles of taste, as modified by the existing state of knowlege and improvement. To judge fairly of the merits of Homer or Shakspeare, we must place ourselves as much as possible in their respective situations. To come nearer home, we give the present writer ample credit for dwelling on various positions to which the learned of this country have been long familiar, but which may be regarded as new, or at least as questionable, on the other side of the water. Such an insinuation, he may perhaps place to the score of national prejudice: for he intimates, with an air of apparent triumph, that, in spite of our boasted progress in philosophy, we have not advanced beyond our neighbours; and he quotes the story of Lord Mansfield presiding at the trial of an old woman, who was indicted for walking on her head, &c. as a very recent transaction. As this is the only part of his work in which Professor P. departs from the dignified character of a virtuous cosmopolite, and as nothing is farther from our intention than to break a lance with an intelligent and well-meaning author, at the mo ment of parting with him, we shall only request that he would

amend