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add the patronage of England , which he most highly prizes , and to which , from our connexion wfth his country , he seems to have a natural title , to the praises and respect of literary men on the Continent .
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Manuscripts of Voltaire . The Aristarque Champenois contains the following article of literary intelligence , which appears authentic , and is not destitute of interest : ——" It was stated in the journals , that on the 25 th of August , the day of the
reerection of the statue of Henry IV ., a dedication of the Henriqde , addressed toy Voltaire to Louis XV % ) was to he read by the Secretary of the Academy . This was the finest homage that a literary body could render to a great and good king—the bard was worthy of the hero } but this hope has not been realized .
u Count Francois de Neufchateau well knew that this piece had existed ; for , at a very early age , he had heard it read , but he believed it to he lost past recovery , as well as all the papers ^ bich had belonged to Th it of , from the long inquiries which
he had unsuccessfully made , and the silence of the possessor of the papers . Grimm also was persuaded that this collection was destroyed , as may be seen from what lie states in his Correspondence , tome 2 , p . 372 .
u Franpois de Neufchateau , however , continued his investigations , and his perseverance was rewarded by the discovery that the manuscripts were in the hands of M . Jacobson , mayor of Noirmoutiers . M . Jacobson possesses all that Thirot received from Voltaire , and this valuable collection consists
of' ** 1 . The dedication already mentioned . This piece is in the hand-writing- of Voltaire , with his erasures . If reliance may be placed on the opinion of the men of letters who have heard this dedication read , it is the iriost eloquent discourse ever written by Voltaire . u considerable number of letters in the hand-writing of Voltaire . They have never been printed , and are the more curious from their having been written confidentially . They are full of anecdotes and historical traits of a highly interesting nature . u About fifty pieces in verse , all remarkable for that grace and facility which characterize the fugitive poetry of Voltaire .
" 4 . Fragments of a tragedy , which Voltaire composed at the ag « of twelve , and which is entitled , Amulius and Nuniitor ?* These manuscripts are soon to be printed , and , it is supposed , will form en octavo volume of about 800 pages .
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In November will he published , embellished with an elegant frontispiece , Times Telescope ^ for 1819 , or a Complete Guide to the Almanack ; containing an explanation of Saints * Days and Holidays , with Sketches of comparative Chronology , Astronomical Occurrences in every Month ;
and the Naturalist s Diary , explaining- th « various appearances in the animal and vegetable kingdoms , and a description of Fruit Trees ; the whole enlivened with descriptive illustrations from our best modern poetou To which will be prefixed , an Introduction , containing the lElemeuta of Chemistry .
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Intelligence . —Manuscripts of Voltaire , £ c . 659
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Antiquarian Fallibility . A curious instance of literary and antiquarian fallibility occurs , in the last Quarterly Review . Our readers may probably be aware that a Signor Belzoni , a Roman , under the protection of Great Britain ,, has recently enriched the British Museum by his various discoveries among the ruins of Egyptian grandeur . This gentleman ,
whose death is just announced , and exceedingly lamented , by great ingenuity and mechanical ability succeeded last February in opening the second pyramid at Ghiza , known by the name of Cephrenes * Pyramid . In the midst of the principal chamber or recess , the construction of which seems to have been the object of these vast efforts of human toil and
delusion , was a sarcophagus of granite , partly buried in the ground , in the midst of which the enterprising Belzoni found what he conceived to be a few bones of a human skeleton . This , to the Reviewers , appeared a satisfactory proof that , as often supposed , the pyramids were intended at once for the indestructible tombs and monuments of the
moiiarchs who erected them . So clear , indeed , were they of the fact , that they became quite witty and facetious upon a few brother antiquaries , who ventured into a different line of supposition . Now for the sequel : Major Fitzclarence "being at Cairo sometime after Belzoni opened this tomb , would also visit it , and brought away
with him one of the mouldering bones out of the sarcophagus . This he has recently presented to the Regent , who having suhmitted it to Sir Everard Home aud a jury of surgeons , they pronounce it to be the bo tie of a cow !! some mother , sister , wifo > or female first-cousin of the god Apis possibly . Such is the droll fate that often at *
tends antiquarian conjecture , which should * , therefore , at least be tolerant , and avoid wit , which is truly pestilential in this grave line of inquiry;—a truth the Reviewers must have strongly felt , when they placed the note in the appendix , which states and acknowledges the error , in a prior part of the same publication . —Chester Guardian October 24 .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1818, page 659, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2481/page/59/
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