publishing the errors of Madame de Stael, and falsely adding to their number. It belongs only to the pen of history, which will immortalize her merit, to reveal the weaknesses by which that merit may be obscured. It is possible that Madame de Stael, as has been observed by her father, may be "very susceptible of being misled:" she may sometimes have been guilty of "an amiable "thoughtlessness," as Marmontel calls it: but she never can be dispossessed of the first rank among female authors who, in our times, have shed a lustre on French literature.

Brompton Road,
November 1st, 1811.

D. BOILEAU.

INTRODUCTION.

THE object of the present work is to examine what influence Religion, Manners, and Laws, have upon Literature; and reciprocally, how far Literature may affect Laws, Manners, and Religion. On the art of composition and the principles of taste there are extant, in the French tongue, treasises the most accurate and complete: but it appears to me, that sufficient pains have not been taken to analyse the moral and political causes which modify and mark the character of Literature. Neither do I think that any attempt has hitherto been made to consider philosophically the gradual developement of the human faculties, as it displays itself in the distinguished works that have afforded delight or instruction to mankind, from the age of Homer down to the present time.

The works of celebrity which have appeared in every age, afford unequivocal proofs of the

The works of Voltaire, Marmontel, and Laharpe.

successive progress and improvement of the human understanding. I have endeavoured to explain the slow but unceasing advance of the mental powers in the field of Philosophy, and their rapid but desultory strides in the career of the Arts. From a curious observation of the characteristic traits which distinguish the contemporary writings of the Italians and the English, of the Germans and the French, I hold it to be demonstrable, that political and religious institutions had a principal share in the production of these continual diversities. Finally, from contemplating the gloom of despair and the dawn of hope which the French Revolution has, if I may be allowed the expression, confounded together; I deemed it of some importance to ascertain what degree of influence that Revolution has exerted upon the state of knowledge, and what are the probable consequences that may hereafter result from it, should liberty and order, Republican morality and independence, be wisely and politically combined.

But before I proceed further to unfold the plan of the present work, it may be proper to touch a little upon the importance and advantages of Literature, considered in its widest acceptation; that is, as it embraces the dogmas of Phi

losophy and the effusions of Imagination;-every thing, in fine, connected with the operations of thought, with the exclusion only of physical and experimental science.

My first object, then, will be to take a general survey of Literature as it is connected with Virtue, with Glory, with Liberty, and with Happiness and if it be acknowledged without the possibility of contradiction, that it has a powerful influence upon these sublime sentiments, these master-springs of the human soul; how much more lively must be the interest with which, I flatter myself, the reader will accompany me in re-tracing the progress and observing the predomidant character of the writers who have honoured every country and graced every age! Oh! that I could win over every enlightened mind to the pursuit and enjoyment of philosophical meditations! But it frequently happens, that the contemporaries and eye-witnesses of a revolution cease to take any interest in the investigation of truth. The issue of so many events decided by force; the atrocity of so many crimes wiped off by success; the lustre of so many virtues tarnished by calumny; the sacredness of so many misfortunes profaned by the insolence of power; the dignity of so many generous senti

ments sunk into objects of ridicule and scorn; the meanness of low calculations raised into subjects of philosophical discussion:-all these things tend to discourage and deaden hope, even in the breasts of men the most zealously devoted to the homage of reason. It should, however, re-animate their desponding spirits, to observe, that there is not to be found in the history of the human mind an useful discovery or a profound truth that does not carry the mark of its own age, and claim its peculiar admirers. Yet, doubtless, it is a melancholy reflection, that we must have to wade through futurity, to transfer our interest, and repose our hopes on posterity, on foreigners, or strangers, who can come in no point of contact with us; in a word, on the whole mass of mankind, the recollection or image of whom can never come home to our hearts or understandings. But, alas! with the exception of a few select unalterable friends, the majority of those whom we recall to mind, after ten years of a Revolution, only sadden the soul, stifle its emotions, and over-awe the talents one may possess, not by any superiority on their on their part, but by the influence of that malevolence which gives pain only to delicate minds, and grieves those only who deserve to be strangers to sorrow.