On these papers we fhall only obferve, and that chiefly in refpect to the first, that we could wish our electricians, in giving a relation of their experiments, would rather speak of the phenomena, they obferve, as effects, than as caufes; the inferences they draw from the premifes not being always fo ftrictly philofophical as the ingenuity of the investigation and the curiofity of the fubject deferve. Thus the author of the above paper fays that the shock, given by the fish described, muft depend upon fome fluid, which the eel difcharges from the body; and not on the action of its mufcles: and in general, experimentalifts impute the electrical phenomena to the paffage or discharge of. a certain fluid or effluvia. But for this they have neither mechanical nor phyfical proof. The electric influence and action are most probably propagated by the vibration of the component parts of bodies, and not by means of any kind of fluid, paling with fuch amazing fwiftnefs through the pores of fuch bodies; and, though in this particular cafe the apparent effect cannot be fuppofed to follow the common exertion of that muscular force, which difpofes the limbs or parts of the body to local motion, it may well be fuppofed to follow an exertion of the animal fpirits, that operate on the smallest muscles or nerves that compofe the very fubftance of the body.

To be concluded in our next; in which we shall give an account, with the figure, of a curious musical inftrument, brought by Cap. tain Fourneaux from the Ifle of Amsterdam, in the South Sea.

ART. V. Memoirs of Guy Joli, private Secretary to Cardinal de Retz; Claude Joli, Canon of Notre-Dame; and the Dutchess of Nemours. Tranflated from the Original by Edward Taylor. 12mo. 3 vol. gs. Davies.

These several hiftories, fays the tranflator, form a fupplement to, and an illustration of, the Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz; of which, it is obferved in the preface, they ought not to be confidered as a repetition, notwithstanding the matters related in both feem, at firft view, to be nearly fimilar. There are in these memoirs, fays he, a confiderable number of new incidents and circumftances, which are either totally different or are more explicitly recounted, than in the Cardinal's memoirs. Add to this, that M. Joli goes much farther, and gives an account of the tranfactions of feveral fucceffive years, of which no mention whatever is made in the memoirs of his eminency. Thefe additions may even be afferted to form the most curious part of the work; becaufe the private life, perfonal qualities of Cardinal de Retz, are there laid open, and exhibited in the cleareft light. We wish we could to this add, that the pen of M. Joli, or that of his tranflator, had been capable of giving

3

the

The public a narrative equally fpirited and entertaining. In the relation of matters of fact, and defcription of fcenes and characters of different nations and diftant times, there is required fomething more in the hiftorian to intereft the reader, than mere fidelity. It is indeed not ill obferved, that

"The publick tranfactions of Cardinal de Retz's life have been of fo important a nature, that we naturally wish to be made acquainted with the private motives by which he was actuated; and, next to an explicit detail of thefe motives, nothing, perhaps, can give us greater fatisfaction, than a circumftantial account of his domeftic life. Indeed, the behaviour of all fuch perfons as have diftinguished themfelves in the world in any eminent degree, particularly statefinen, at thofe times when, it may be fuppofed, they appeared in their own real characters, in their families, and amongst their friends, has ever been deemed matter of the most agrecable entertainment; witness the pleasure with which we read the familiar recitals of the plain, but wife and judicious Plutarch."

Now nobody, we are told, was better qualified to undertake this task, of depicting the private life and manners of Cardinal de Retz, as well as of difcovering to us the true motives of his public actions, than M. Guy Joli, author of the memoirs contained in the two first volumes of this publication; the Cardinal having placed an unlimited confidence in his abilities and fidelity, and entrusted him with the management of his most important concerns.

:

The memoir of M. Claude Joli, at the beginning of the third volume, appears to be only an extract from a larger work ftill in manufcript and that of the Dutchefs of Nemours an expofition chiefly of the fecret motives that influenced the conduct of the principal Frondeurs; an honorary term of diftinction bestowed

This term, of Frondeur (a flinger), took its rife from the following incident:the fhop-boys, and other young people, frequently affembled, in different parts of the city, and amufed themfelves with flinging tones at each other, in fpite of all the attempts of the officers of justice to prevent them. This circumflance the Sieur Ba chaumont, a counsellor of the parliament, and fon of the prefident Le Coigneux, feltingly applied one day, to the Duke of Orleans going to the parliament, as he often did at that time, purpofely to reftrain the impetuofity of fome of the members, who were accustomed to deliver their fentiments with too much freedom; in which his Highnefs generally fucceeded, fo long as he continued prefent among them, but, in his abfence, the affembly frequently refumed the confideration of the former day's tranfactions, and their decifions thereon often proved very unfatisfactory to the court: upon which the Sieur Bachaumont observed, that the court was likely to fuce ceed no better in its attempts to reftrain the parliament, than the officers of juice had in theirs to fupprefs the diforderly conduct of the (flingers) Frondeurs: fo that, from this time, the above title was given, at firft, to all thofe members in general who expreffed their fentiments freely, and, afterwards to thofe only who acted in oppofition to the Cardinal; and it obtained fo general an ufe at lait, that cloths, ribbonds, faces, fwords, and all other kinds of merchandize, even bread itself, could none of them be good, unless they were a la fronde, and there was no term more expreffive, to denote an honeft man, than that of “ a good Frondeur.”

He was jointly engaged, with M. La Chapelle, in that much-efteemed work, entitled, "La Chapelle and Bachaumont's Voyages."

on the opponents to Cardinal Mazarin, who, on the other hand, were opprobriously stiled Mazarins; even the carmen whipping their horfes in the ftreets calling them bougres de Mazarins. Under the miniftry of this cardinal, it appears that, the whole City of Paris was divided and ranged under one or other of these appellations; whence arofe, fays our Author, the most virulent domeftic diffention; the father being fet at variance with the fon, the husband with the wife, and the brother with the fifter. The fury, indeed, to which thefe party dif tinctions at length arofe, fet not only all Paris, but the whole kingdom into a flame. Were we to judge, fays the Dutchess of Nemours, by the fubfequent peaceful and triumphant ftate of France, and from the abfolute power with which it has been fince governed, we might easily be led to conclude it muft ever have been fubjected to the like legal authority; as it is with difficulty that we perfuade ourselves that it could, at any time have becit reduced to the fituation, in which it was feen during the regency of Ann of Auftria, the mother to Louis XIV. As the tranfactions of thofe troublefome times, however, are to be met with in moft of the hiftories of France, we shall pafs over the account given of them by M. Guy Joli, to give an extract from the manufcript of Claude Joli, containing an account of Cardinal De Retz's extraordinary arreft, imprisonment, and escape from the Caftle of Nantes.

"On the evening on which Cardinal de Retz was taken into cuftody, he came alone to the Palais Royal, (whither he had frequently reforted, in difguife) and was conducted from thence to the cattle of Vincennes this event happened in the month of December 1652. M. Joli, who had given him previous intimation of the defign which had been formed against him in the council, excufed himself from accompanying him upon the occafion, telling him that, if he was determined thus to rush upon his ruin, he might act as he pleafed, but that, for his part, he would not involve himself in that fate which must inevitably attend fuch great imprudence. To this refolution M. Joli was induced by a perfuafion that the court had not forgotten his conduct in the year 1648, when the Proprietors of the fund of the Hotel de Ville appointed him one of their fyndics, nor the, fincere attachment which himself and his family had always manifested to the Cardinal, feveral of whom were afterwards exiled, in confequence of the Cardinal's escape from the castle of Nantes, in 1654, and of the fubfequent tranfactions in the church and diocefe of Paris.

"The customary guard of the caftle was now confiderably aug mented by a number of men, which were draughted from the firit company of the King's body-guards, commanded by the Marquis de Noailles, who was the only perfon amongst the many to whom it was offered, that could be prevailed on to accept of the pot, in prejudice of the Marquis de Chardenier, whom he fucceedel in it, and to whom he never reimburfed the money which it hal originally coit

him: Cardinal Mazarin, to whom he was much attached, having abetted him in this act of injuftice towards a gentleman of the noble houfe of Rochefoucault, and nephew to the Cardinal of that

name.

"Claude du Flos, who poffeffed an eftate called Davanton, in Poitou, and was one of the grand exempts of the abovementioned company of the guards, took every imaginable precaution, to prevent any communication between Cardinal de Retz and his friends. This precaution was carried fo far, that the foldiers, who were stationed about the apartment in which his eminency was confined, were never fuffered to quit their poft, not even for the purpofe of going to mafs, which was frequently performed by the Cardinal himself, and, fometimes, by one of the canons of the chapel of Vincennes, to which his eminency, after his efcape from prifon, prefented the calice, the candlesticks, and all the other veffels, &c. which he had caused to be made, for the celebration of that folemnity. This vigilance, however, did not produce the defired effect, as the Cardinal received conftant information of every thing which paffed, in which he was concerned. It has never appeared whether his eminency was mot indebted to the avarice or compaffion of fome of his guards for this indulgence. As the death of his uncle was an event which would naturally produce a confiderable alteration in his affairs, with refpect to the great increase of power he would thereby acquire in the diocefe of Paris, where it was imagined that the clergy, both fecular and regular, and the people would highly refent the injury done to the church and religion, by the imprisonment of him whom God had given them for their paftor-for thefe reafons, his friends took proper care to inform him of certain fignals which they propofed to make, in order to announce to him that event whenever it should happen. One of these fignals was to be made by ringing certain bells, in the fteeple of the church of Notre-Dame, in an unufual manner; and another by caufing the clock, in the chapel of the caftle of St. Vincennes, to ftrike the fame hour twice fucceflively. It has also been reported, that the priest who performed mafs before him contrived to give him intimation of the above event, by raifing his voice higher than ordinary, when he repeated the canon of the mafs, and naming him by the title of, Johannes Francifcus Paulus, Antiftes nofter; the name of Paul distinguifhing him from his uncle.

"John Francis de Gondy, uncle of Cardinal de Retz, and the first Archbishop of Paris, died during the night of the 21st of March, 1654. Very early in the morning of the next day, a perfon named Peter le Beure, being previously furnished with the proper powers from the Cardinal, repaired to the cathedral of Paris, and took poffellion of the fee in his eminency's name and authority; after which he was inftalled in the archiepifcopal chair, with all the customary folemnities, and a Te Deum was fung, accompanied by the chimes of the cathedral. This ceremony was performed in the prefence of the deans, canons, and the other orders of clergy of the diocefe, who were affembled on the occafion. The inftruments by which Le Beure was impowered to take poffeffion, were registered in due form, in the registry of the diocefe; as were alio thofe by which the Cardinal had

conftituted

conftituted and appointed Meffrs. l'Avocat and Chevalier his vicarsgeneral, and M. Porcher, a doctor of the Sorbonne, prefident of the archiepifcopal court.

"All the above inftruments had been carried to the castle of Vincennes by Roger, the notary to the holy fee, who found means to introduce himself into the Cardinal's apartment, in the difguife of a tapestry-maker's fervant, carrying several pieces of tapestry. By this ftratagem, he gave the Cardinal an opportunity of figning the writings he had brought with him, after which he retired, without being once fufpected by his eminency's guards. This tranfaction is recorded in a manufcript book, in the cathedral of Paris, which contains, amongst other articles, a lift of all thofe canons who had been promoted to the epifcopal dignity and to the cardinalfhip. The author fpeaks of Cardinal de Retz in the following terms.

"From this time, he was recognized as Archbishop of Paris, not only throughout his own diocefe, but alfo by all the clergy of the kingdon. The priests mentioned his name in the public fervice of the church, and recommended him, under the above title, to the prayers of the people, in their fermons : both the clergy and people acknowledged the authority of his vicars-general, who publickly and peaccably exercifed their functions, without any interruption from the court; being folely restrained from making any new regulations, without first communicating them to the council. Although the court thus, both openly and privately, admitted the Cardinal's claim, and the authority of thofe perfons to whom he had délegated his power, yet it was determined not to fuffer him to keep poffeffion of the fee: and, as it was judged that the people would highly refent a further continuance of his imprisonment, every engine was fet in motion, to induce him to resign his pretenfions; on which terms, it was propofed to grant him his liberty, fo foon as the Pope fhould have ratified his refignation, and should have appointed his fucceffor: With this view the Nuncio Bagny was ordered to vifit the Cardinal, at Vincennes, under pretence of having received inftructions to wait on him from the Pope, but, in fact, to found him on the subject of the propofed refignation, to which he appeared to be greatly difinclined. At the different times at which the Nuncio waited on his eminency, he always found him in company with the Count de Brienne and M. Le Tellier, one of the fecretaries of ftate, who came to him with propofals from the court. For fome time the Cardinal

remained inflexible: but, at length, being wearied out by the ri gours of an imprifonment of fixteen months duration, and hoping that, by a compliance, he thould obtain a mitigation of his fufferings, he yielded to the propofals which had been made to him, and formally renounced his claim to the archbishoprick, in the prefence of two fecretaries of Atate, the Count de Noailles, who commanded the King's body-guards, and the President de Bellievre. The laft mentioned perfon was greatly furprized, on entering the caftle, to learn from Davanton that his eminency had declared his willingness to refign the fee, and that he (Davanton) had been witnefs to certain reciprocal engagements which had been entered into on the occafion; the particulars of which the Cardinal studiously avoided revealing, in a lettor