which I advanced. The lines on the colossal statue of Domitian, for which the Emperor had had the extreme condescension to solicit my muse, I had to deliver the next day, which was the inauguration. The epithalamium which you have commanded, you know should be an affair of two days. Assuredly it is a great undertaking, seeing that there are in the piece two hundred and seventy-two hexameters."

Gaspar Barthius, a German savant, died in 1587, " was not more than sixteen years of age," said Baillet, "when he composed a treatise or a dissertation in form of a letter on the manner of reading with profit the authors of the Latin language, commencing from Ennius to the end of the Roman Empire, and continuing from the decline of the language up to the critics of these latter times who have re-established the ancient authors. It was a composition which the author assures us cost him but the labor of one day of four and twenty hours."* Dumonin, a French author of the sixteenth century, took two months to translate in seven thousand Latin verses la Semaine of Dubartas.

The Italian Ferreri composed, in three days, a poem in Latin (Lugdunense somnium) of a thousand hexameter verses on Leo X.

L'Eloge de la folie was a labor of only seven days to Erasmus.

Chapman, an English poet, died 1634, translated in four months the twelve last books of the Iliad.

Guillard Danville, gendarme of the Queen, author of la Chasteté, a heroi-comical poem, (1624, in duodecimo), took care to apprise his readers that he commenced this work during an official voyage across Styria, and concluded it on repairing to Bavaria in France on the king's service. He boasted of having composed more than 900 verses in twelve days, without infringing in the least on his other avocations. This was not bad for a gendarme.

Voltaire, at the age of sixty-nine, in 1763, composed the tragedy of Olympie. "It was the work of six days," wrote he to one of his friends, whose opinion he wished to have on the merit of this piece. "The author should not have taken his rest on the seventh," replied his friend. repented of his work," replied Voltaire. Some time after, he returned the piece with several corrections.

"He would have

Mary Darby, a celebrated English actress, who died in 1800, composed in twelve hours, a poem, comprising three hundred and fifty verses. It is but just to say that the greater number of these works written thus hurriedly, lived but as short a time as was taken to compose them.

Two theologians of the fourth century, Didymus and Theodorus, have left, the former six thousand, the latter ten thousand volumes, or we had better say, one six thousand, and the other ten thousand treatises.

The works of Alfred the Great (died 1280,) published in 1654, formed twenty-one volumes in folio. The Speculum Majus, of Vincent de Beauvais, were composed in ten volumes in folio.

The

The Chronicle of Horneck, a German historian of the thirteenth century, contained eighty-three thousand verses. style of this Chronicler was equally good as that of Hennin, author of a poem in a hundred songs. Soyouthi, an Arabic author of the fifteenth century, has left more than sixty works on all subjects. The celebrated Meistersanger HansSachse, who died in 1576, has left between all his writings, 26 comedies, and 27 tragedies sacred, and 52 comedies, and 28 tragedies profane; 64 farces of the Carnival; 59 fables; 116 allegorical tales; 197 comic tales, and 307 poems, sacred and profane. He had besides translated and put into verse several portions of the Bible.

Macedo, a Portuguese Franciscan of the seventeenth century, is author of 53 paneygrics, 60 discourses, 32 prayers, 123 elegies, 115 epitaphs, 212 dedicatory epistles, 700 letters, 2,600 epic poems, 500 elegies, 110 odes, 3,000 epigrams, 4 latin comedies, 2 tragedies, and one satire in Spanish.

Alexander Hardy was the most prolific author that ever labored in France for the theatre. He composed 600 pieces. This was nothing, however, in comparason to the 1,800 pieces in verse by Lopez de Vega, who, besides, composed 21 volumes in quarto, of poetry, and several minor copies of verses.

Pryme, an English lawyer and scholar of the seventeenth century, has left more than 200 works, forming 40 volumes in folio and in quarto.

We have preserved at the Bodlyan library, at Oxford, 122 volumes in folio, writings from the hand of Dodsworth, an English Antiquarian of the seventeenth century.

The German Moser, a compiler of the last century, has left 480 works, 17 of which are still unpublished, 16 are disputed; these would form in all a total of 700 volumes, whereof there are 71 in folio, without including 84 volumes of re-prints, or new editions of his works, nor 4 volumes of which he was only editor, nor 24 dissertations or articles which he had furnished for three periodical compilations, nor 26 numbers of weekly notices of literary news from Suabia.

Another German, Krunitz, who died in 1796, composed by himself an encyclopedia which, at the period of his death, formed 72 huge volumes in octavo.

The author of Manon Lescaut, the Abbé Prevost, wrote more than 170 volumes.

The principal works of Restif de la Bretonne formed 146 volumes in duodecimo.

The Journalist, Fréron, is author of 250 volumes. They attribute to Figueinedo, a Portuguese savant of the eighteenth century, 169 works, 68 of which have been printed; to Madame Le-prince Beaumont, who died at the age of seventy,70 volumes; to Ducray-Dumesnil,95; to a German romance writer, Lafontaine, descendant of the French refugees, 75 romances in 210 volumes. The catalogue of the works of Gail make 500 pages in quarto.

The manuscripts of the learned botanist, Adanson, on Natural History, were composed of 120 volumes, and of 75,000 rep

resentations.

Dingé, a French writer, rather unknown, (died in 1832) has left autograph manuscripts which weigh 400 kilogrammes.

The Chinese authors have not been, as far as we can perceive, less prolific than ours. In the last century, the Emperor Khiang-Loung, wished to make choice of some of the chefsd'œuvres of Chinese literature; this selection could not contain fewer than 180,000 volumes. In this collection are noted. three works written by Europeans.

LE JOURNAL DE SAVANTS.-The weekly sheet, founded in 1665,by M. de Sallo, minister in the Parliament of Paris, under the title of Journal des Savants, deserves particular attention, as having been the first model of literary Periodical Reviews. M. de Sallo, to preserve the liberty of his opinions, concealed himself under the signature of Hèdouville. Entrenched behind this

nom-de-plume he hurled his judgments on the men most remarkable for their writings at that period; and, according to a custom which can be traced sufficiently high, he did not spare the modesty of his collaborateurs, as we may perceive by the extravagant praises he lavishes on M. Chapelain, one of his copartners in the compilation of the Journal. Notwithstanding the reserve and gravity of M. de Sallo, he was not able to guard himself from occasional ebullitions of satire, as has been thus expressed by La Fontaine :-

Tout faiseur de journal doit tribut au malin.

But the republic of letters, little accustomed at the time to this supremacy in journalism, rebelled against this new species of censorship, which, springing from private authority, set itself up as a supreme arbiter of the sciences of literature and of the arts. Against this modern Procustes, who in his paper commenced the occupation, since brought to perfection, of mangling, mutilating and disfiguring all those who had had the misfortune of displeasing him, Charles Patin, on whom they had made a very lively attack, the author of l'Introduction à l'histoire par les médailles, and several others whose self love had been wounded, coalesced to extinguish the journal guilty of hurting their literary vanity.

They found this a difficult matter to accomplish, as Guy Patin has thus written :-"M. de Colbert took under his protection the authors of this journal; and if my son had defended himself they say he would have been sent to the Bastille : it was consequently better not to write."

But on the occasion of some books having been condemned by the court of Rome, there escaped from M. de Sallo some sallies contrary to the edict of the inquisitors, and in favour of the liberties of the Gallican Church. Some, to whom this innovation of journalism was not agreeable, and who detested. M. de Sallo and his friends in their capacity of a parliamentary faction and of Gallicans suspected of Jansenism, used their influence with the Pope's Nuncio, and obtained an order for the suspension of the journal. Chapelain, well known for the wariness of his disposition, and with which Balzac had reproached him, and who was much more reserved towards the powers than Balzac, had as we know the best income of all the Beaux Esprits, wrote on this subject in a letter of 1665:

"The complaints of Rome on the liberty of our Journal des Savants has caused the suspension of its publication.—M. de Sallo, who is its founder, would sooner abandon altogether his charge than submit to the scrutiny of a censor. The English, in imitation of us, have commenced one in their language. They are learned, rare and free, and much that is good may be expected; besides, not being obliged to observe the same rules as we are, we may indulge a hope that it will be more lasting and not less bold than ours has been."

was re

When the publication of the Journal des Savants sumed in 1674 the direction of it was confided to the Abbé Gallois. This Abbe was a partisan of the new philosophy then very strongly attacked by zealous disciples of the old. These latter presented a petition to the Parliament of Paris, in which they moved that the Professors of the University should be obliged by a decree to teach nothing but what was conformable to the doctrine of Aristotle; on the other side it was said, ironically, if these strange regulations were not adopted it was necessary to return thanks on the part of the burlesque decree of Boileau, and on that of the polemic ingenuity sustained by the Journals des Savants.

The Journal was afterwards directed by M. de la Roque; then by the President Cousin, who re-united with the functions. of the journalist that of censor; then in fine, and in the following century, by a sucession of savants, amongst whom we distinguish Fontenelle, Vertot, Saurin, Terrasson, Trublet, Desfontaines, Burette, Duresnel, Montcrif, de Guignes, Clairant, Dupuy, Delalande, and others.*

The old Journal des Savants made, up to 1792, eleven hundred volumes iu quarto. This Journal had been resumed in September, 1816, under the direction of M. Dannon, afterwards under that of M. Lebrun, and continues up to this day at the rate of one volume, in quarto, annually.