75 factures and commerce, and lived in luxury, and the effeminate purfuit of pleasure. Now our Author thinks, that the commerce of the Tyrians extended to Paleftine, whose inhabitants may have purchased its rich ftuffs and fine linens. It is well known by the relations of Jerome and Gregory of Nyffa, that the greatest depravation of morals reigned through Palestine, and the conclusion our Abbé draws from thence is as follows: "It is not in poor and barren countries that corruption. "of manners reigns: licentioufnefs is the daughter of luxury, "and luxury is the offspring of opulence. And from all that "has been obferved, adds he, I conclude, that whether we "confider the hiftory of Judea at that time, or judge by the "teftimonies of contemporary writers, we must be perfuaded "that, during the period under confideration, it was a fruit"ful, rich and populous country. No contemporary author "has fpoken otherwife, or given any defcription of the Holy "Land, fimilar to those digufting ones which we meet with "in fome modern writers,"-who mean by them to ferve a purpose. Our Author, however, in concluding his work, acknowledges, that the opulence and fertility of Judea may have begun to diminish towards the middle of this period: but he does not think any argument can be drawn from hence, against its having been, at the commencement of this period, in a flourifhing ftate; much lefs can any proof be brought from hence, that in preceding periods, under the kings, or under the adminiftration of Mofes, the country of Paleftine was a barren, poor, and uncultivated diftri&t. For to fay, Palestine, in the time of St. Jerome, was no longer diftinguished by its fertility and cultivation-therefore, it was uncultivated, barren, and miferable, two, or three, or four, or fifteen centuries before that time, would be a very fallacious way of reasoning. ART. XVIII. Differtation contre l'Ufage des Bouillons de Viandes dans les Maladies HIS Differtation has long cuftom and deep-rooted pre- Pp 2 particular, tend to produce a putrid fermentation; the adverfary will tell him, that he has only to fqueeze a Seville orange into the faid broth, in order to correct this pernicious tendency. The apothecaries, more especially, whofe profperous commerce in emetics and purgatives is peculiarly promoted by the confequences of animal food and flesh-broths, will take our Author and his light nourishment feverely to talk; but we believe him to be in the right, notwithstanding all this oppofition. 1 Saggio Hiftorico, &c.-An Hiftorical Effay concerning the Royal Gallery of Florence. By M. JOSEPH BENCIVENNI, Director of that celebrated Collection. Vols. I. and II. 8vo. Florence. $779. THE HE gallery of Florence is, undoubtedly, the first collec tion of ancient ftatues, baffe relievos, pictures, gems, medals, &c. in the world. The immenfe variety of elegant and venerable riches, contained in this gallery, has been the admiration of ages; and were there no other object in that country adapted to attract the attention of men of tafte, this alone would render a voyage to Tufcany fingularly interefting. The defcription of this noble collection, published in eleven volumes in folio, under the title of Mufeo Florentino, is a purchafe too expenfive for perfons of a middling fortune; befides, it is not finished; for, as the merit of the engravings did not answer the expences of the publication and the price of the work, this rendered its fale lefs fuccefsful than might have been expected; but whether it was this circumftance, or the death of Mr. Mouke, a German printer, of great reputation, who was principally concerned in this undertaking, that prevented the continuation of the work, we know not. There is a compendious defcription of the gallery of Florence in 8vo, by Bernard Bianchi; but this is little more than an index, which is fold to ftrangers who go to fee the gallery, and which is far from having the merit of the Hiftorical Effay now under confideration. It is to the first branches of the illuftrious Houfe of Medicis, that this magnificent collection owes its existence; and as they tranfmitted their tafte and their munificence to their fucceffors, it was ftill farther enriched and improved, in procefs of time. The hiftory, then, of this gallery, from Cofmo de Medicis, furnamed the Father of the Country, to the prefent time, is the subject of this work and a noble fubject it is, as it comprehends, in reality, the hiftory of the restoration and progress of the fine arts in Italy. Whatever advantages M. BENCIVENNI may have had for the execution of this plan, from his fituation at Florence, yet he might have improved and enriched his work with feveral curious anecdotes, and elegant remarks, if a work, 4 printed I printed a few years ago in Holland, under the title of Memoires Genealogiques de la Maifon de Medicis, had fallen into his hands. However that may be, M. BENCIVENNI'S Effay has more than one kind of merit. It is eafily to be purchafed, and it contains good information. Its Author being on the fpot, and having the direction of the royal gallery, has the objects before his eyes, and excellent fources of hiftorical inftruction are near at hand. In the first volume, our Author gives an account of the ineftimable collections poffeffed by the Houfe of Medicis, before it arrived at the fovereignty, and which, at this day, enrich several cabinets in different parts of Europe. In the fecond, he gives a hiftory of the foundation of the Gallery of Florence, in the year 1581, under the Grand Duke François I, as alfo, of the acquifitions with which it was enriched by the fucceffors of that prince. It contains, at prefent, according to our Author's account, 90 ftatues, 70 bufts of emperors and empreffes, 100 heads of the most celebrated perfonages of antiquity, a multitude of Greek and Latin infcriptions, baffo relievos, and fragments, of which feveral are Tufcan, two collections of bronzes, one ancient, the other modern, 1100 pictures, 850 portraits of illuftrious men, and the portraits of 344 painters, drawn by themselves. There are also in this grand collection 162 volumes of exquifite drawings, a great quantity of prints, a confiderable number of excellent pieces of workmanship in wax, ivory, amber, ftones, marquetry, turquoife, tortoife-fhell, mofaic, &c. and above 4000 intaglios and cameos. The medals, of which there is a prodigious variety, are above 14000. The number of modern coins, which have been lately arranged in a geographical order, is alfo confiderable. The Author propofes giving, in the following volumes, a defcription of the principal productions of the fine arts contained in this Gallery, with the opinions that have been given of them, respectively, by the most celebrated connoiffeurs. Genealogical Memoirs of the House of Medicis. This inftructive, elegant, and entertaining work (which we have this moment before us, bound in three octavo volumes) was never expofed to fale: the title exhibits neither the name of the learned and ingenious Author, nor that of the place where it was printed. We have been, however, informed, that the Author is a native of the Hague, where he fills an honourable employment, and where alfo his work was printed and diflributed among fele&t friends. ART. XX. Saggio full Educazione dè Principi, &c.-An Effay concerning the Education of Princes. By Sig. ANTHONY PLANELLI, Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerufalem: With this Motto: Ita nati eftis, ut bona malaque veftra ad Rempublicam pertineant. Tacit. 8vo, Naples. 1779. TH HIS work, which difcovers an extensive knowledge of human nature, and a well-directed zeal for public felicity, is divided into fourteen chapters. In the firft, the Author points out three kinds of education, which he diftinguishes by the epithets of natural, civil, and political. The two firft are common to all men, the third ought to be adapted to the rank and offices which different perfons are defigned to fill in fociety. It is of this latter that our Author treats. To fhew, therefore, what fort of education a prince ought to receive in his political character, as a perfon defigned to hold the helm of government, he confiders, in his fecond chapter, the effential duties of a prince, with the branches of knowledge and virtue that ought more efpecially to form his understanding, and take the lead (if we may ufe that expreffion) in his heart. "It is not, fays he, by "the study of the Greek and Latin authors, as fome fcholaftic "pedants will have it, that the great and important art of government is to be learned, but by a careful study of man έσ in general, and a ftrict examination, in particular, of the 66 nature and genius of the ftate and people that are to be "governed."-In good time. But are the Greek and Latin authors of no ufe in facilitating the ftudy of man, and the knowledge of the various fprings that actuate and set in motion that mifcellaneous being, commonly called Human Nature? If hiftory (however fallacious when confidered as exhibiting a finithed picture, a full length of MAN) be nevertheless a faithful mirror of human nature in many of its characteristics, and an inftructive reprefentation of thofe that more especially concern a prince; and if Grecian and Roman hiftory are filled with thofe active and tumultuous fcenes, which, arifing from the extremes of licentioufnefs, anarchy, and defpotifm, have occafioned alternately bold and artful exertions of all the virtues, vices, paffions, capacities, and refources of the human mind, we do not see why the Greek and Latin authors should be banifhed from the library of a prince,-if he is to have any library at all. If books are to be entirely difcarded, the ftudy of man will be long and laborious to every individual, and totally inacceffible to a prince, who can only look at the world through the key-hole of his cabinet, or through the very falJible reprefentations, which are given of mankind in general, by the few individuals that furround him. If our Author's objection objection be founded on the time that a prince must employ in the study of the dead languages, he ought to have faid fo:and, indeed, we acknowledge, that in good translations (if fuch were to be found) of Thucydides, Xenophon, Livy, Salluft, Polybius, and Tacitus, a prince may acquire the fame measure of useful knowledge that is to obtained from the originals the difference here is only a matter of tafte. However, we have a strong (perhaps, it may be a whimsical) notion, that taste, good tafte, is a friend to humanity, and, therefore, by no means, a matter of indifference in the education of a prince. Let Sig. PLANELLI reflect for a moment, why the ftudy of the ancient Greek and Latin authors was called ftudia bumanitatis, and its object, humaniores litera. For the reft, the notions of Sig. PLANELLI feem accurate and judicious, with refpect to the general tenor of political education. When he defines political fcience, the art of influencing the actions of a multitude of perfons united in fociety, in fuch a manner as to make them concur in promoting the public good, he defines it well. This art, according to him, supposes an acquaintance with the intellectual conftitution of man. The prince (and every able statesman) must be a logician, a moralift, a metaphyfician, fays our Author; and if he fays right, the fubjects of fome monarchies are furely to be pitied. But the knowledge of the capacities, paffions, and wants of men would, in his opinion, be of no ufe; nay, it would be even dangerous to a prince, if it were not accompanied with the knowledge of the local circumftances of the country which he is to govern: thefe circumftances are the five following,-the fundamental conftitution, or form of its government-its civil laws-the qualities and nature of the foil-the national character of its inhabitants-the forms of government alfo, and forces of neighbouring ftates, and of thole nations from whence a country has any thing to hope or fear, or with whom it is its intereft to be in any way connected. Thefe branches of knowledge will enable a prince to fulfil his deftination, and to promote the true felicity of his country. It is not, however, only the duty of a prince to promote the happiness of his country, by wife arrangements, that tend to internal order, peace, union, and opulence; he is, moreover, called to fecure a country, thus happily governed from within, against all danger, violence, and calamity from without. He muft defend his country, as well as govern it; accordingly, our Author enlarges on this part of the duty of a prince, and difcuffes, among other things, the nice queftion, Whether a fovereign fhould himself march at the head of his armies, or give the command of them to his generals? He decides in PP 4 favour |