them in a temple dedicated to Hercules. | These were, in succeeding times, so multiplied by the munificence and emulation of the several emperors, that in the reign of Constantine Rome contained no less than twenty-nine public libraries, of which the principal were the Palatine and the Ulpian. Though books were then collected at an immense expense, several private citizens of fortune made considerable libraries. Tyrannio, the grammarian, even in the time of Sylla, was possessed of three thousand volumes, Epaphroditus, a grammarian also, had in later times collected thirty thousand of the most select and valuable books; but Sammonicus Serenus bequeathed to the Emperor Gordian a library containing no less than sixty-two thousand volumes. It was not always a love of literature that tempted people to these expenses, for Seneca complains of the vanity of the age in furnishing their banqueting rooms with books, not for use but for show, and in a mere spirit of pro ing these public libraries which ought not to be omitted, as it marks the liberal spirit of their institution: it was usual to appropriate an adjoining building for the use and accommodation of students, where everything was furnished at the emperor's cost; they were lodged, dieted, and attended by servants specially appointed, and supplied with everything, under the eye of the chief librarian, that would be wanting whilst they were engaged in their studies, and had occasion to consult the books; this establishment was kept up in a very princely style at Alexandria in particular, where a college was endowed and a special fund appointed for its support, with a president and proper officers under him, for the entertainment of learned strangers, who resorted thither from various parts to consult those invaluable collections which that famous library contained in all branches of science. fusion. Their baths, both hot and cold, A PICTURE OF FRANCE AFTER were always supplied with books to fill up an idle hour amongst the other recreations of the place; in like manner their country houses and even public offices were provided for the use and amusement of their guests and clients. THE REVOLUTION. From the Bussevilliana. [Vincenzo Monti. This poet, one of the most famous among the modern Italians, was born near Fusignano, a town of Romagna, February 19th, 1754. His earliest years were passed under the instruction of his parents, who belonged to the class of small landholders. He was then put to school in Faenza, where he learned the Latin language. He was destined by his father to the labors of agriculture, but showing an invincible repugnance to occupations of this sort, he was sent to the University of Ferrara, to study the law or medicine. He attempted in vain to interest himself in professional studies, and then gave himself wholly up to literature and poetry. His talents attracted the attention of Cardinal Borghese, the legate at Ferrara, who took him to Rome, with the elder Monti's consent. Suwarrow's invasion of Italy, in 1799, compelled Monti The Roman libraries, in point of disposition, much resembled the present fashion observed in our public ones; for the books were not placed against the walls, but brought into the area of the room, in separate cells and compartments, where they were lodged in presses; the intervals between these compartments were richly ornamented with inlaid plates of glass and ivory and marble bass-relievos. In these compartments, which were furnished with desks and couches for the accommodation of readers, it was usual to place statues of learned men, one in each; and this, we may observe, is one of the few elegances which Rome was not indebted to Greece for, the first idea having been started by the accomplished Pollio, who in his library on Mount Aventine set up the statue of Marengo, and received a professorship in the Univerhis illustrious contemporary, Varro, even whilst he was living; it was usual also to ornament the press where any considerable author's works were contained with his figure in brass or plaster of a smaller size. There is one more circumstance attend to take refuge in France. He was reduced, for a time, to the most miserable state of destitution; but the vic tories of Napoleon, after his return from Egypt, revived his hopes He returned to Italy after the battle of sity of Pavia, which he held three years, when he was invited to Milan, and appointed by Napoleon Assessor of the Ministry of the Interior, Court Poet, Knight of the Iron Crown, member of the Legion of Honor, and Historiographer of the kingdom. He thereupon wrote the first six cantos of the Bardo della Selva Nera, which appeared in 1806. In conjunction with his accomplished son-in-law, Count Giulio Perticari, he en "Thy sentence, that thine eyes be ceaseless bent gaged in a warm controversy with the Della Cruscans, | That thou hast helped to work, thou, penitent, on the question between the Tuscan and the Italian. Contemplating with tears, o'er earth must go: He also published a new edition of the Convito of Dante. Returning to poetical composition, he wrote an idyl on the Nuptials of Cadmus. His poetic labors were interrupted in April, 1826, by a sudden stroke of apoplexy; but he lingered on until 1828, and died in October of that year, at the age of seventy-four. Of all Monti's writings, the Bassevilliana enjoys the greatest and widest reputation. As remarked above, Upon flagitious France, of whose offence From the Bassevilliana. it is founded on the murder of the French minister, THE SOUL'S ARRIVAL IN PARIS. Basseville, whose soul, the author supposes, is condemned to wander over the French provinces, and behold the desolation produced by the Revolution, the death of Louis the Sixteenth in Paris, and the armies of the Holy Alliance marching toward France to restore the Bourbons. The poem is divided into four cantos of three hundred liues each, and, like its model, the Divina Commedia, written in terza rima. It was translated into English by the Rev. Henry Boyd, London, 1805.] Wondering, the spirit sees that from the eyes Of his angelic leader tears have gushed, Whilst o'er the city streets dread silence lies. Hushed is the sacred chime of bells, and hushed The works of day,-hushed every various sound Hell had been vanquished in the battle Of creaking saw, of metal hammer-crushed. fought; The spirit of the abyss in sullen mood He roared like lion famishing for food: Then on the mortal prison, just forsook, But the blessed angel, with a heavenly smile, wave Of black Avernus, which who tastes, resigned Nor in severity scrupulous to gauge There fears and whisperings alone are found, But nuptial love and tenderness in vain May strive; too strong the powers of hell, I ween ; They free the consort whom fond arms enchain. Phantoms of ancient Druids, steeped in gore, With human life their garments are dyed red, And, blood and rottenness from every hair Dripping, a loathsome shower around them shed. Some firebrands, others scourges, toss i' th' Twisted of every kind of coiling snake; [Joseph Priestley, LL.D., a Unitarian divine, and copious writer, was born near Leeds, England, 1733, and died at Northumberland, Pennsylvania, in 1804. He published 141 works and treatises, great and small, for a list of which we must refer to Rutt's Collection of his Theological and Miscellaneous Works (excluding the Scientific, 1824), 26 vols. Among his works are Essays on the Principles of Government, and on the Nature of Political, Civil, and Religious Liberty (1768), History and Present State of Discoveries Relating to Vision, Light, and Colors (1772), Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion (1772), Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air (1774), Harmony of the Evangelists in Greek (1777), Experiments and Observations Relating to Natural Philosophy (1779-86), 3 vols.; History of the Corruptions of Christianity (1782), History of Early Opinions Concerning Jesus Christ (1786). "He laid the basis of the chemistry of the gases, and of those modes of investigation in the pneumatic branch of the science which are still pursued. He discovered a great variety of facts in this department of the science. To him we are indebted for the knowledge of oxygen, binoxide of nitrogen, sulphurous acid, fluosilicic acid, muriatic acid, ammonia, carburetted hydrogen, and carbonic acid."-DR. R. D. THOMSON. NORTHUMBERLAND, Nov. 10, 1802. Monthly Review, vol. 36, p. 357 (359), that the late Mr. Pennant said of Dr. Franklin that "living under the protection of our mild government he was secretly playing the incendiary, and too successfully inflaming the minds of our fellow-subjects in America, till that great explosion happened, which forever disunited us from our once happy colonies (colonists).' As it is in my power, as far as my testimony will be regarded, to refute this charge, I think it due to our friendship to do it. It is probable that no person now living was better acquainted with Dr. Franklin, and his sentiments on all subjects of importance, than myself, for several years before the American war. I think I knew him as well as one man can generally know another. At that time I spent the winters in London, in the family of the Marquis of Lansdown, and few days passed without my seeing more or less of Dr. Franklin; and the last day that he passed in England, having given out that he should depart the day before, we spent together, without any interruption, from morning to night. Now, he was so far from wishing for a rupture with the colonies, that he did more than most men would have done to prevent it. His constant advice to his countrymen, he always said, was "to bear everything from England, however unjust; saying, that it could not last long, as they would soon outgrow all their hardships. On this account, Dr. Price, who then corresponded with some of the principal persons in America, said, he began to be very unpopular there. He always said, "If there must be a war, it will be a war of ten years, and I shall not live to see the end of it. This I have heard him say many times. It was at his request, enforced by that of Dr. Fothergill, that I wrote an anonymous pamphlet, calculated to show the injustice and impolicy of a war with the colonies, previous to the meeting of a new parliament. As I then lived at Leeds, he corrected the press himself; and to a passage in which I lamented the attempt to establish arbitrary power in so large a part of the British empire, he added the following clause, " to the imminent danger of our most valuable commerce, and of that national strength, security, and felicity which depend on union and on SIR-I have just read in the (London) liberty." The unity of the British empire, in all its parts, was a favorite idea of his. He used to compare it to a beautiful China vase, which, if once broken, could never be put together again; and so great an admirer was he, at the time, of the British constitution, that he said he saw no inconvenience from its being extended over a great part of the globe. With these sentiments he left England; but when, on his arrival in America, he found the war begun, and that there was no receding, no man entered more warmly into the interests of what he then considered as his country, in opposition to that of Great Britain. Three of his letters to me, one written immediately on his landing, and published in the collection of his Miscellaneous Works, pp. 365, 552 and 555, will prove this. By many persons Dr. Franklin is considered as having been a cold-hearted man, so callous to every feeling of humanity, that the prospect of all the horrors of a civil war could not affect him. This was far from being the case. A great part of the day, above mentioned, that we spent together, he was looking over a number of American newspapers, directing me what to extract from them for the English ones; and in reading them, he was frequently not able to proceed for the tears literally running down his cheeks. To strangers he was cold and reserved; but where he was intimate, no man indulged in more pleasantry and good humor. By this he was the delight of a club, to which he alludes in one of the letters above referred to, called the Whigclub, that met at the London coffee-house, of which Dr. Price, Dr. Kippis, Mr. John Lee and others of the same stamp, were members. Hoping that this vindication of Dr. Franklin will give pleasure to many of your readers, I shall proceed to relate some particulars relating to his behavior when Lord Loughborough, then Mr. Wedderburn, pronounced his violent invective against him at the privy-council, on his presenting the complaints of the province of Massachusetts (I think it was) against their governor. Some of the particulars may be thought amusing. On the morning of the day on which the cause was to be heard, I met Mr. Burke in Parliament-street, accompanied by Dr. Douglas, afterwards bishop of Carlisle; and, after introducing us to each other, as men of letters, he asked me whither I was going. I said I could tell him where I wished to go. He then asked me where that was. I said to the privycouncil, but that I was afraid I could not get admission. He then desired me to go along with him. Accordingly I did; but when we got into the anteroom we found it quite filled with persons as desirous of getting admittance as ourselves. Seeing this, I said we should never get through the crowd. He said, "Give me your arm;" and locking it fast in his, he soon made his way to the door of the privycouncil. I then said, "Mr. Burke, you are an excellent leader;" he replied, “I wish other persons thought so too. After waiting a short time, the door of the privy-council opened, and we entered the first; when Mr. Burke took his stand behind the first chair next to the president, and I behind that the next to his. When the business was opened, it was sufficiently evident, from the speech of Mr. Wedderburn, who was counsel for the governor, that the real object of the court was to insult Dr. Franklin. All this time he stood in a corner of the room, not far from me, without the least apparent emotion. Mr. Dunning, who was the leading counsel on the part of the colony, was so hoarse that he could hardly make himself heard; and Mr. Lee, who was the second, spoke but feebly in reply; so that Mr. Wedderburn had a complete triumph. At the sallies of his sarcastic wit all the members of the council, the president himself (Lord Gower) not excepted, frequently laughed outright. No person belonging to the council behaved with decent gravity, except Lord North, who, coming late, took his stand behind the chair opposite to me. When the business was over, Dr. Franklin, in going out, took me by the hand, in a manner that indicated some feeling, I soon followed him, and going through the ante-room, saw Mr. Wedderburn there surrounded with a circle of his friends and admirers. Being known to him, he stepped forward as if to speak to me; but I turned aside, and made what haste I could out of the place. The next morning I breakfasted with the doctor, when he said, He had never before been so sensible of the power of a good conscience; for that, if he had not considered the thing for which he had been so much insulted as one of the best actions of his life, and what he should certainly do again in the same circumstances, he could not have supported it." He was accused of clandestinely procuring certain letters, containing complaints against the governor, and sending them to America with a view to excite their animosity against him, and thus to embroil the two countries. But he assured me that he did not even know that such letters existed till they were brought to him as agent for the colony, in order to be sent to his constituents; and the cover of the letters on which the direction had been written being lost, he only guessed at the person to whom they were addressed by the contents. That Dr. Franklin, notwithstanding he did not show it at the time, was much impressed by the business of the privycouncil, appeared from this circumstance: when he attended there, he was dressed in a suit of Manchester velvet; and Silas Deane told me that, when they met at Paris to sign the treaty between France and America, he purposely put on that suit. Hoping that this communication will be of some service to the memory of Dr. Franklin, and gratify his friends, I am, sir, yours, etc. J. PRIESTLEY. Monthly Magazine, Feb., 1803. FROM THE "FLYING LEAVES." [Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi was born at Dusseldorf 1743, and died at Munich 1819, a German metaphysical philosopher, who occupied several distinguished posts under the government of Dusseldorf, and, in 1804 became President of the Academy of Sciences at Munich. He published a great number of literary and philosophical works, in some of which he combated the doctrines of Kant. His principal works are, Letters on the Doctrines of Spinosa, Hume and Belief; or, Idealsom and Realism, and Letter to Fichte. His complete works, in 6 vols., were published at Leipsic between 1812 and 1824.] My aim is not to help the reader while away the time, but rather to aid those to whom, as to me, the time is already too fleeting. I can live in harmony with every one who lives in harmony with himself. What dost thou call a beautiful soul? Thou callest a beautiful soul one that is quick to perceive the good, that gives it due prominence and holds it immovably fast. It is absurd for a man to say that he hates and despises men, but loves and honors Humanity. A general without a particular, a Humanity worthy of honor and love without men who are worthy of honor and love, is a fiction of the brain, a thing that has no existence. It is the custom of virtue to note the failings of distinguished men not otherwise than with a certain timidity and shame. It is the custom of vice to cover impudence with the appellation of love of truth. To lay aside all prejudices is to lay aside all principles. He who is destitute of principles is governed, theoretically and practically, by whims. Man, according to Moses, was created last; all the varieties of irrational animals were created before him. This order is still repeated in each individual man. He follows first the animal, the coarser propensities, coarse, animal pleasure; but he is created for immortality, and can find the way to immortality. But he can also become more beastly than a beast, and use the means of immortality in such a way as to become more mortal,-as to draw upon himself sufferings and diseases from which the brute is free. He can "with the armor of light extend the kingdom of darkness and of barbarism.' Herder, in his Aelteste Urkunde, remarks that Adam, after the Fall, clothed himself in the life of animals. Man is guided by propensities, and all his propensities belong to his nature. But the propensity which makes him man, which distinguishes him, is the true life-propensity proper to his species,the propensity to a higher life. Even in the mere faculty of perception, which may be regarded as opposed to the faculty of sensation, this propensity appears. For the faculty of perception, the power of projecting objects out of himself, of raising himself |