protesting against the unusual length of the suspension of hostilities during its progress, against the ignorance respecting it in which he was kept, and against every thing in it "that can in any way be contrary to the rights of his Britannic Majesty, or those of the English nation"; and he put his signature to it, though the terms were very favorable to the Republicans, to avoid (as he says in a letter to the Cardinal) throwing the least impediment in the way of the interests of his Sicilian Majesty, which are more particularly in the hands of your Eminence." Intelligence had also been received of the great probability of the arrival of a French fleet, which would have entirely changed the face of affairs.

On the 24th instant, however, very unexpectedly, Lord Nelson (instead of a French Admiral) came with his squadron into the Bay of Naples, and instantly issued his orders to annul the proceedings. That he did not shew disapprobation of Captain F.'s conduct is nevertheless apparent, as the Captain remarks, from his subsequent kind treatment of him, and friendly expressions in letters here pointed. When, on the evening of the 24th, Captain F. waited on the Admiral,

His Lordship was pleased to say, that he was aware I had been placed in an arduous, and unpleasant situation; that he gave me all possible credit for zeal, assiduity, and good intentions; but that I had been imposed on by that worthless fellow, Cardinal Ruffo, who was endeavouring to form a party, hostile to the interests of his Sovereign, and his Lordship desired I would give him a statement, in the form of a narrative, of the heads of my proceedings, from the time the Cardinal approached near to Naples I respectfully ob served to Lord Nelson that I had indeed been placed in a most anxious situation; having had more reason, among many disagreeable and trying circumstances, to expect the enemy's fleet, rather than that under his Lordship's command, in Naples Bay; that I could not be supposed to know, or even imagine, that the Cardinal was acting contrary to his Sovereign's interest, when I saw him retained in his very high and confidential situation; and my instructions directed me to co-operate, to the utmost of my power, with the Royalists, at whose head Cardinal Ruffo was known to be placed, even before the squadron, under Sir Thomas Troubridge, had sailed from Palermo.'

In the statement above mentioned, Captain F. remarks:

On the 9th, I received a plan of a capitulation, already signed by the Cardinal, and the chief of the Russians, with a request that I would put my name to it. In answer, I informed the Cardinal that I had done so, because I considered him as the confidential agent of his Sicilian Majesty-and that some advantage would result from the capitulation, otherwise he would not have signed it; but I could not say I approved of such a manner of treating, and that I could not be answerable for its consequences. I also made some observations relative to St. Elmo's capitulating, which may be seen in my letter book. • At

X 3

At length, on the 22d, I received a letter from the Chevalier de Micherons, with the capitulation in form, already signed by the Cardinal and the Chief of the Russians. I replied to the Chevalier de Micheroux, that I had signed where he pointed out; but that I protested against every thing that could be in the least contrary to the honour and rights of iny Soverign and the British nation.

I signed this capitulation-lest, on a reverse of fortune, or the arrival of the enemy's fleet, it might have been asserted, that my refusal was the cause of such misfortunes as might occur, and because I considered that the Cardinal was acquainted with the will and intention of his Sovereign; and the Count de Thurn had told me, that the Chevalier de Micheroux was authorized to act in a diplomatique character.

The result of all this is, that with a very small force, I have had to conquer difficulties, which were only got the better of by that terror which the British flag inspires; that I never was consulted by the Cardinal relative to the capitulation; and that I had neither instructions, or any document, to assist or guide me.'

It seems to us, then, that Captain Foote has fully proved the sole point which he has here so properly attempted to establish, and to which he has almost wholly restricted himself in a judicious and temperate manner; viz. that of absolv. ing himself from any imputation in this business, and from any liability to the application of the epithet infamous, which Lord Nelson used in his customary strong manner, but within the range of which we are fully convinced he did not mean to include the conduct of the British officer.

It is truly observed by Captain F. that Mr. Harrison has endeavoured to support the conduct of Lord Nelson by an unjustifiable confusion of terms:

The term infamous, which Lord Nelson applies to the treaty, his biographer applies to the armistice, because it seems better to answer the purpose of clearing his Lordship from blame. A treaty, or a capitulation may be infamous, but an armistice, or cessation from hostility, cannot deserve this term: it is only a step towards an accommodation; something of this kind must precede all capitulations; even a surrender at discretion must be preceded by a cessation of arms: a truce, not confined to time, may, with justice, be annulled or broken; but a treaty, or capitulation, cannot be infringed without a breach of faith, which even the most barbarous nations have found it necessary to respect.'-

The idea which the Chief of the Army of the King of Naples entertained of breaking the treaties, may be collected from the conversation which Cardinal Rufo, Sir William and Lady Hamilton, and Lord Nelson, held on board the Foudroyant, as related in Mr. Harrison's Memoirs. The Cardinal maintained, inflexibly, that the treaty ought to be kept sacred, and upon the following opinion being given in writing, by Lord Nelson, the Cardinal retired in disgust:

* Rear

"Rear Admiral Lord Nelson, who arrived in the Bay of Naples on the 24th of June, with the British fleet, found a treaty entered into with rebels, which, he is of opinion, ought not to be carried into execution, without the approbation of his Sicilian Majesty,-the Earl of St. Vincent,-Lord Keith."

Lord Nelson, however, acted without consulting these two senior Admirals, the terms of the capitulation were violated, and several individuals included in it were even executed. That the force opposed to the French and the rebels at the time of the capitulation might deem it advisable to grant terms which Lord Nelson, accompanied by seventeen sail of the line, would not have sanctioned, is one supposition, and a very allowable one: but that a compact, formally executed, should be broken, because shortly afterward one of the parties finds himself stronger than he before was, is a very different position, and a very indefensible and infamous dogma, whether applied to transactions between individuals or to the affairs of nations. It would be a waste of time and words to expose its evil nature and its mischievous tendency. As we have already observed, Captain Foote confines himself principally to his own exculpation, and refrains from a discussion of Lord Nelson's act; only remarking in the commencement, that selfdefence calls him to bring forward the most considerable, the most prominent error, in his lordship's whole public life,'-and that all those who were acquainted with the true state of the case, and who regarded the character of Lord Nelson, or the reputation of the country, saw the necessity of burying the whole transaction in oblivion, as, far as that could be done. In this view, and in this view only, I relinquished the idea of demanding a Court Martial.' He afterward says, however, the very name of an English Officer, acting for his country, was esteemed sufficient for the security of all that is dear to men! On this national character, Italians relied with confidence, before the unfortunate moment, in which a wretched infatuation produced this breach of sacred engagements.'

Though it is still fair, in judging of Lord Nelson's conduct, to remember that we have not before us his own representations of it, and of the reasons and circumstances by which he was guided; yet we have no conception that they could go the length of warranting him in thus compromizing national faith, even supposing that they would fustify dissatisfaction at the measure which had been adopted. We fear that his proceedings in this instance must ever be considered as a blot in his escutcheon, and, which is so much more important, as a reproach on the national character.

ART. XIII. Calligraphia Greca et Poecilographia Graca. Exaravit Johannes Hodgkin, Sculpsit H. Ashby. Folio. 188. Arch.

THIS

HIS very handsome publication consists of two parts, Cal ligraphia, dated in 1794, and Poecilographia, dated in 1807. The Calligraphia is intended to teach a new Greck handwriting which the inventor, Dr. Thomas Young, calls elegantioris forma, magisque Graca; and to accomplish this important design, an alphabet is given, with minute directions for cutting, holding, and guiding the pen. Three copper-plates, containing verses partly selected from the antients, and partly translated from Shaspeare by Dr. Young, are added as examples of the new character.

We might adduce reasons which, as we believe, would satisfy most of our readers, and perhaps make some impres sion on the author himself, for our opinion that this hand is not more beautiful, and is certainly much less Grecian, than the common letters. These, we allow, require improvement but it is to be sought in the imitation of the round and equable writing of the 9th and 10th century, not in a finical compound of hair-strokes and flourishes. However, we feel no inclination to quarrel with the elegant trifle before us: especially as the extreme slowness and difficulty, attendant on the execution of a new plan, will effectually prevent it from corrupting the public taste.

The Poecilographia is comprised in twelve plates, of which the first exhibits nineteen Greek Alphabets, from Montfaucon and others, arranged in chronological order, each in a separate column. We notice the omission of one, which, though imperfect, is extremely curious, and which perhaps was not inserted because its date is not ascertained. It is used in a broken inscription found at Athens by Stuart, and published by the late Daniel Wray in the second volume of the Archaologia, p. 216. Its subject eluded the penetration of Mr. Wray but it consists of a list of names in the Doric dialect, (the last of which should be supplied** ARXIDAE) with these imperfect words on the side of the stone; I IMARNAI Read, HOVTOIMARNAMENOI. + It is needless to add that the marble was the ornan of the tomb of some warriors. In this first plate of the Poecilographia, we have much cause for complaint. The table is unaccompanied by a syllable of explanation, and the references are so defective as always to give trouble, and sometimes to occasion uncertainty. For instance, an Athenian alphabet, A. C. 430, is produced;

+ Probably the first words of an Hexameter,

and

and Wachter apud Massey is quoted. Not possessing Massey, we cannot ascertain whether this be a mistake for 450, at which time the Marmor Baudelotianum, (Montfaucon, Palæogr, p. 133 et seqq.) was engraved at Athens. If not, the omission is very reprehensible: but, if we are right in our suspicion, the copy is both defective and inaccurate.

In either case,

EI and OI, put as equivalent to H and N, are gross and palpable mistakes.

The fac-similes from MSS. do not give an accurate representation of the progress of writing. The, assigned to A. D. 1200, is as old as the ninth century; and the mark-for ", here put under A. D. 1000. goes through MSS. of all ages.

The other eleven plates are taken up with contractions and connections, of which some were communicated by Professor Porson; and at the recommendation of Dr. C. Burney, Villoison's fac-simile of the contractions of the MS. Apollonius is repeated. This addition is judicious and important. The collection is extremely copious, and very useful: but its utility is much diminished by the want of explanation and analysis. Unless a student knows, 1. the original form of a contraction, 2. its date, 3. the limits of its use, as to its position, the letters to which it is affixed, and the species of MSS. in which it occurs, he cannot safely apply that contraction to critical purposes.

Much unnecessary repetition has taken place in this collection. The mark being given as equivalent to ov, there was no need of inserting " and hey, which, as they stand, a beginner is apt to take for abbreviations appropriated to the words Toy and λoyov, not as arbitrary compounds of the usual characters and a very common mark. The greatest redundancies, however, occur in the connections: which, except some few of the most difficult, should be omitted altogether in the table, and introduced into a collection of words and sentences, which should always follow lists of contractions by way of praxis. The same may be said of the numerous variations which the caprice of scribes, and the untractableness of pens and paper, occasion in the formation of the same character. To range these in a table only bewilders the learner, who in course fancies them to be intrinsically distinct, and worries himself in vain to account for a difference which is of no consequence.

A

With these exceptions, we bestow very sincere commendation on this part of the present work. The engraving is generally correct, and always beautiful; and should any scholar be inclined to compose an analytical treatise on Palæography, and its application to criticism, a work which, if properly executed,