tastes and accomplishments to his father, who early imbued him with a love of music and the languages of England and Italy. His first literary effort, a poetical piece entitled Confession de Zulmae, brought him into notice among the literary coteries of Paris, from the circumstance that when first published anonymously it shared the fate of Wolfe's Ode on the Burial of Sir John Moore, and was claimed by six or seven different authors. Though the intrinsic value of this piece is not very great, it is still entitled to be called Ginguéné's poetical chef d'œuvre. The part he took in the strife which then divided the musical world into partizans of Glück or Piccini made him still more widely known; and the reputation he enjoyed as a promising political writer secured employment for him in the public service. He hailed, however, with enthusiasm the first symptoms of the Revolution, and celebrated in an indifferent ode the opening of the States General. A more creditable effort was his Lettres sur les Confessions de J. J. Rousseau, in which he defended to the uttermost the life and principles of that richly-endowed but ill-starred genius. Refusing to countenance the excesses of the Revolution, Ginguéné became an object of suspicion to the authorities, and was thrown into prison, whence he only escaped with life by the downfall and death of Robespierre. Some time after his liberation he was made director-general of the "Commission Exécutive de l'Instruction Publique," and re-organized the system of public instruction according to the principles and ideas then fashionable in France. When the Institute was established in 1796, Ginguéné was elected into it and attached to the academy of moral and political sciences. In 1798 he was sent by the Directory as minister plenipotentiary to the king of Sardinia, whose ruin, begun by force of arms, they had determined to complete, if possible, by treachery and cunning. A worse tool than Ginguéné could not have been found for carrying out so base a design. After fulfilling his duties for seven months very little to the satisfaction of his employers, Ginguéné resigned office and retired into private life at his country house of St Prix, in the valley of Montmorency. Here he prosecuted his literary toils till the revolution of the 18th Brumaire called him once more into public life. He was made a member of the tribunate which made a show of maintaining a democratic opposition to the arbitrary proceedings of the First Consul. But Napoleon, finding that Ginguéné was by no means sufficiently tractable, had him expelled at the first "purge" which he administered to the tribunate, and Ginguéné once more joyfully returned to private life and his favourite pursuits. These were now more than ever a necessity of life to him, as his only other source of income was the small endowment attached to his seat in the Institute. Fortunately he was nominated one of the commission charged to continue the literary history of France, brought down by the Benedictines to about the close of the twelfth century. The continuation of this work, which appeared in three volumes in 1814, 1817, and 1820 respectively, is for the most part the work of Ginguené. But the work by which he will be longest remembered is his *Histoire Littéraire d’Italie*, 9 vols., 8vo, 1811–1819. He was still engaged in putting the finishing touches to this great undertaking when he was cut off by a painful disease, Nov. 16th, 1815. The first six volumes of the work appeared before their author’s death; the seventh is entirely his except a few pages; and of the eighth and ninth he wrote about a half, the other half being composed by Salvi, and revised by Daunou. The success which this work had in Italy was astonishing. Editions of it appeared in various parts of the peninsula, with notes and comments by the best scholars. Three translations of it also appeared at Milan, Naples, and Venice.

Ginguené was originally led to make Italian literature his especial study by finding how ill that subject was understood, and how little it was appreciated by his countrymen. The better to dispel their prejudices, as well as their ignorance, by enhancing the interest of the work, he classified the various productions of each department of literature under one head and in the order of time, so that we can trace the progress of thought in modern Italy, through its various phases, from its dawn in the twelfth century to its glorious noon in the sixteenth. In its composition, Ginguené was guided for the most part by the great work of the Jesuit Tiraboschi, from which he has borrowed very largely. He avoids, indeed, the prejudices and party views of his model, and has imparted a more lively colouring to the original design; but his own style, though occasionally forcible and eloquent, is often too tame for the subject. He often trespasses also on his reader’s patience by his over-minuteness of detail. But these faults are more than atoned for by the fine critical discernment, the impartiality, and the freedom which the work displays. On the score of accuracy, indeed, Ginguené sometimes offends, but seldom in matters of great moment; and his occasional slips are such as are almost inevitable to a foreigner and one who could hardly be said to have even seen the country whose literary history he relates. The Italians felt grateful to Ginguené for having placed their literature in its proper light, and readily forgave the excessive eulogies which he passed on many of their writers, whose very names had been forgotten in their own country.

During the latter years of his life Ginguené wrote extensively for the press, and edited the *Decade Philosophique, Politique et Littéraire*, till it was suppressed by Napoleon in 1807. He also contributed largely to the *Biographie Universelle*, chiefly articles bearing on the literature of Italy. (Biog. Univers.; *Éloge de Ginguené*, *Mémoires de l’Institut*, tom. vii.; *Discours de M. Daunou*, prefixed to the 2d edit. of the *Hist. Litt. d’Italie*.)the Chinese name for the root of *Panax quinquefolium*, a small plant of the nat. ord. *Araliaceae*, found in the northern parts of Asia and in America. It has a jointed, fleshy, tapered root, which when dried is of a yellowish-white colour, and has a mucilaginous sweet flavour somewhat resembling liquorice, accompanied with a slight bitterness. It is highly prized by the Chinese as a stimulant and restorative, or rather as a panacea for every ill. American ginseng was formerly exported largely from this country; but now the Americans carry it direct to China, which is its only market.