The Sun.
London, England, 1821-09-29 00:00:00

eaellotber. They were the oracles of the time. The

Abbt Morellet selected what was reasonable in

their'doctrines, and made a skilful use of it in
composing the prospectus of • that famous Die-
tionarN of Commerce, to which the ancestors of
the present French subscribed about fifty years
ago, and the first volume of which has not yet
made its appearance. This-circumstance gave
rise to the observation that the Abbe Morellet
had not made the Dictionary of- Trade, but a
trade of the Dictionary; a severe reproach, from
which he justifies himself tolerably well in his
Memoirs.

He was not master of his own. time : society
and dinner-parties in town absorbed a great por-
tion of it ; .and Ministers, Intendants of Finance
and of Trade, nay, Lieutenant's of Police, took
up the rest. They applied to him every, time
their measures were attacked. The Abbe Gal iani
published his Dialogues on the Corn Trade,
and instantly M. de Choiseul sells the Abbe
Morellet to refute them. The case was parti-
cularly embarrassing, because the two Abbes
" lived in_ the same society," and it must appear
unkind to attack publicly a friend with whom
he had dined every day for the -last ten years :
but the Minister persisted in his demand, and the
Abbe Morellet was obliged to comply. " 4 I think,
says he, that this -refutation. was a very 'good
performance." Unfortunately,- this good work
was not so successful as the Dialogues.; and if
the Ministry was on the side of the' refuting, the
public took part with the refuted, Abbe. The

reason is clear enough ; but for politeness' sake
will not mention it.

It was still-necessary, 'for the honour of the
principle, and for that.of M. Turgot, to refute
M. Necker, who gave, it is well known, very
good dinners, but who did 'nOt at all understand
the question of the Corn Trade. The Abbe Mo-
rellet now reminds us, and, as' he very judiciously
remarks, at his risk and peril, of his Theory on
Paradoxes, all his Memoirs against the French
East India Company, and those which he wrote
at the request of M. de Sartines and M. Lenoir,
works which it must be admitted are never

thought of in the present day. These are shadei
which he invokes, and this phantasmagoria is hot
very. amusing .to his readers'; but he can only,
as he has already apprised them, tell them of
what he has done ; and if they are tired of his
book they may put it down, since he permits them
to do so. . .

The Abbe .Morellet wrote songs, did he ?
Yes, to be sure; and he wrote sorne to the end of
his life ; the best are inserted in his. Memoirs.
They are not equal, certainly, to some of the
songs of the present day, but they are written
with ease, possess wit, and an occasional daSh of
that spleen and satire with which the Abbe
Morellet, according to his own confession, was
not ill provided. In short, his songs were amusing
enough, and I will venture so say the author was
not the least_ gay. of the troubadours, of the
Rue Michel le Comte. Nature,- moreover, dis-
tributes her favours as she pleases. MoOre 'and M.
Desangiers may turn a couplet more agreeably
than the Abbe Morellet, but I rather-think: they
are not .so well versed' in political:economy.
In France is it allowable•to.write and publish
your sentiments on. matters of adniinistration

Yes, reply all, those who-write and publish; but
M. ale Laverdy, a Comptroller General, thought
very differently, and. so do the present Censors.
This Minister, having read- a manuscript which
the Abbe Morellet was obliged to submit to his
inspection, wrote in the 'margin,: " It does not
become an obscure writer, who is frequently not
worth a hundred erowris,- to attempt to instruct
men in office. To be able to treat on matters
of administration, he ought to have held the
reins of office, and to be constantly up to his
knuckles in ink."

There was a dinner party the same dtly at the
Baron d' Ilolbach's, where the Abbe Morellet
repeated this notable remark, which is very well
for a Comptroller-General : ah-not quite sure
wl4ether it is not enough to immortalize three
Comptrollers-General. " All our philosophers,"
observes the Abbe; " were indignant at it ;" but
perhaps, they would have done better to have
laughed at it. Be this as it may, M.-de Laverdy,
very fortunately for the Abbe Morellet, who had

founded his little fortune on these mallers,w hich he
knew well, did not ion, continue in The
Ministers at that period were not perpetual and
they were succeeded by others who permitted
the Abb6 Morellet to write and to publish what

he pleased on matters of administration, provided
however he was of the same opinion as themselves.
But by what right did they thus dispose of
:every
.moment
.of his life? The Minister of
Finance,
.we can account for him.,—he paid me,
says the Abbe Morellet. M. de Trndaine: he
was his benefactor ; and M. Turgot, an old
friend, who, as soon as he. became Minister,
obtained 'for the -Abbe Morellet a pension,
might also demand .:sorne favours ; but • what
claims
.had M. de Choiseul, M. de VergenneS,
M. de. Sartines, &c. on him, whiCh entitled them
to take him off from Lis great work ? What had
they, done for. him? Nothing ? The Memoirs
will tell you, and besides it is no slight task, on
certain occasions; to undertake the • defence Of
Ministers. The eighteenth century had many
Oppositionists, almost as many as the nineteenth.
The. enemies of the. Abb6 Morellet Were indeed-
in the wrong to reproach him for his-pensions.;
he gained • them truly by the sweat of his brow.
His life was one long contest, and Was passed Li
rJutations.

,13aron de Grimm, Ayho had notwithstanding
dined with him continually. during the space of
thirty years, calumniates him in his Coirespwitl7
ence. This Baron maintains that udder the

cloak of a.philosopher, the Abbe wore the livery
of men in office." Every thing proves, on the
contrary, that in writing for them he maintained
his own opinion ; his pen, not his conscience, was
at their disposal. Who does not know that free-
dom of commerce was the idol of his thoughts ?
that he ,never 'Ceased to defend it, and that he
maintained it even against M. de Calonne, who,
nevertheless, was very generous when he pleased ?

The Abbe Morellet doubtless loved to meet
with grateful Ministers, who knew how to appre-
ciate his solid labours-; and sometimes he may
have had reason to complain that they were
rather tardy in giving proofs of their gratitude :
but I do not mean to find fault with him for
accepting theSe tributes of gratitude ; for since
the Government employed gin; it Was but just that
they should remunerate him ; and, in truth,con-
sidering the base suspicions to which the ser-
vices rendered by him to Government have ex-
posed his philosopher's cloak, I think he was not
'sufficiently paid..

The opinions of 'the Abbe IVlorellet on some
literary characters of his time, and on the Revo-
lution, will furnish the subject of a third and con-
cluding article. C.

(To be continued.)

Extracts. from the Returns of the Stamp ()ince,

chewing the Increase and Decrease of Duty paid during the
... Three Years ending at Christmas last, lay the. different Firs

Offices, and exemplifying th
to the PLAN and Masao

le Preference given by the public
rE3IEIi.T of the -CoulvrY,PritE,

OFFICE.

INCREASE.
X. S. ti.

DECREASE.
X. S. d.
1,188 16 6

Albion - -
Atlas. .. _
British -
*County - -
Eagle - - -
Globe - -
Hand-in-Hand -

3,306 12 7

861 11 9
*8,471 19 11

-Hope
imperial -
London -
Norwich Union -
Phoenix -

643 11 11
1,075 0 9

531 14 0

Royal Exchangc -
Sun - • _
Union.

1,131 3
2,830 0 5
3,021 8 0
430 4 1

Westminster

THE ALABASTER SAncopHAous.---The -cele-
brated Alabaster Sarcophagus, which lately ar-
rived from Alexandria, was, as we yesterday
stated, uncased and deposited in the British
Museum. It is for the present in one of the
apartments no open to the public, where pro-
bably it will lie until a place is prepared for it
in the Egyptian Gallery. This antique is cer-
tainly a very extraordinary and admirable speci-
men of the arts of Egypt. The Sarcophagus is
nine feet long, and about four feet high, appa-
rently of a single piece, and that of a very fine
alabaster. It is shaped like a modern coffin, and
is more than large enough to have the mummy,
with all its envelopes, whiclt is presumed to have
been deposited within this costly repository.—
But its chief value is in the innumerable hiero-
glyphics which cover the sides, interior and ex-
terior„ from top to bottom. They are small ;
the human figures, of which there are lo.ug
processions, in various -circumstances and at-

titudes, erect, linked together, towing- galleys,
bending as if in worship, &c. &c. are from
an inch to an inch and a half high. Between
those are compartments of symbols, the eye,
the ibis,- the lotus, &c. The serpent occurs
frequently;and in some, instances at considerable
`size and with much exactness of detail; This
noble work is supposed to be the coffin of
Psammii. Conjecture, however, has an exten-
sive range in Egyptian antiquity, and soine pro..
babilities have been suggested in favour of its
being no tomb but a temple—a small' shrine
imitative of the original Cymba, or .greitt.belu-
vian vessel to which so many of the 'lndian em-
blerni refer. The ark seems to have formed a
vast resource of Pagan Allegoric sculpture. The
pecuniary value of this sarcophagus has been es-
timated at a very large sum. It ivas the property.
of Mr. Salt, the British Consul, and wag, we-un-
derstand, the subject of
,competition by the
agents of some Foreign Powers. If the industry
of our antiquaries should be at letrgth turned
from the frivolous and feeble pursuitS- which have
for so long a time rendered the name of English
antiquarianism obscure, a noble
,opportunity is
offered in this monument and
,the other Egyptian
, memorials for retrieving our national' reputation
in learned:and productive research.' The COUrt
and Hall of the British Museum are now covered
with works of the purest and most remote anti-
quity, and don-titleSS of the highest value for the
illustration of the early ages of the World. The
attention of learned men abroad has been lately
turned to this study, bUt on the .Continent its
materials are deficient. In England they are
now abundant, and it will be little to our ho-
nour to leave the discovery of • the Secrets of
science, the arts, mythology, and history Which
those sculptures more than probably contain, to
the more fortunate- industry and intelligence of
strangers.

A WATER CoAcit.--,—About the hour of eight
o'clock on Monday night, Mr. , Brady appeared
On the river Liffey,. Dublin, in his-Marine Cha-
riot, Amidst the shouts of assembled hundreds
of persons who -crowded the Bachelors'-n all,
Aston's-quay, andiCarlisle-bridge, attracted by
a sight so novel. The chariot Appeared to he
drawn by two horses, who, seemed as 'if swim-
ming, and the reins were held'by Mr. Brady.—
The intrepid 'charioteer fired several shots during
his voyage or diind•; a boat, from which a light-
ed thithbeau 'was kept waving, followed hint the
entire way.

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