stay of Madame de Staël. The house of Este never assembled at Ferrara a triad of equal poetic eminence. If the imperial or free cities of Germany have not offered to the fine arts so opulent a market as Venice, Genoa, Naples, and the religious Rome, the universities of Germany have presented to learning an arena of free display incompatible with catholicism; and thus the deficiency in plastic art is compensated by the excess in speculative erudition.

In the sixteenth chapter, Madame de Staël investigates Prussia; and the character of Frederic II. is first analyzed, as having founded that of the nation. He was a German by nature, and a Frenchman by education; that which the German did in a German kingdom has left enduring traces: but that which the Frenchman attempted has not germinated.' This is strikingly said, with strength of antithesis, but we demur to the truth of the proposition. — It was French in Frederic to patronize the deniers of miracles, the philosophists of France; and the established church of Prussia now teaches anti-supernaturalism from the pulpit. It was French in Frederic to make a new penal code, independent of the civil law and of the German law already established in his states, and to legislate in it concerning sins of the flesh with the latitudinarianism of Mon-" tesquieu : such lax criminal law is now universal in Germany. Lastly, it was French in Frederic to apply that military mechanism to his provinces, which gave ascendancy to his power at the expense of the privileges of the people. These things have all stood their ground. It was German in Frederic to respect in each province its antient constitution, and to govern his acquisitions and his inheritances by as many distinct systems of administration as they had original sovereigns. This permanent heterogeneity of government has prevented the cohesion. of his people, has perpetuated among them dissimilar tendencies, and has occasioned that separation of the Prussian power which took place at the first approach of a conqueror. It was German in Frederic to unite his party in the empire under the name of a Fürsten-bund, conformably to the laws and usages of the diet of Ratisbon; instead of assembling these princes to hold separate deliberative assemblies at Berlin. Insensibly his adherents would have become his house of peers, but for his constitutional patriotism: they are now neither allies nor subjects. Lastly, it was German in Frederic to save treasure against the day of want, and to lend on mortgage these accumulations to the provincial land-states for the enterprize of public works. This form of investiture induced the metropolitan government to concede great local rights of taxation, and thus prolonged an inconvenient independence of the pro

vinces ;

vinces; which had, moreover, a debt to cancel by submitting to a conqueror. If, on the contrary, he had adopted a fundingsystem, and if the provincial properties had been confided to the metropolitan bank, the tendency to allegiance would have been strengthened throughout the empire; since a loss would be incurred in that case by separating from the state. These things have not stood their ground.

We are here tempted to remark on the danger of a fine' style, and to say that precision of assertion is occasionally sacrificed to prettiness of expression. French principles are' not so much to be feared as French practice; their rashness. in the sudden application of their theories. They expect to accomplish in a year the work of a generation; they make at one effort constitutions of plaister of Paris, and then wonder that they are brittle: but the enduring marble requires centuries to crystallize.

With as much correctness of thought as of expression, Mme.de Staël observes (p.142.) that into the north of Germany the Reformation had brought inquiry, but not tolerance; and that Frederic introduced there the liberty of thinking.' Many good remarks are made on his character and polity. He is blamed for not patronizing German literature: but the writers of his time were not very eminent. Klopstock indeed shone, the star of the Magi: but, except among the writers of the religious school, to which Frederic had an antipathy, not much greatness was displayed in his time. Wieland had produced Agathon, but no other of his classical master-pieces. Lessing was patronized by General Tauenzein; perhaps at Frederic' instigation, who might wish for such an historiographer of his warfare. Ramler was pensioned, though not liberally, by Frederic; Kleist was killed in his service, with every prospect of promotion.

Chapter XVII. paints Berlin characteristically. The eighteenth undertakes to judge the German universities, and very properly refers the reader to M. de Villers, who studied in one of them. In the nineteenth, Madame de S. treats of beneficent institutions, and mentions, but not with the desirable detail, the plans of Pestalozzi for bettering the education of the poor. A reference would have been welcome to some book in which they are explained: we cannot appretiate the criticism, because we have not the preliminary information. Due praise is given to Baron Voght; who travelled, like Howard, to inspect the institutions of charity, and endeavoured to domesticate the best systems of management.

The Swiss feast of Interlaken is entertainingly described in a somewhat episodical chapter, which terminates Part I.

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This portion of the work, in all comprizing twenty chapters, would in our judgment have been more naturally and agreeably given in the form of a tour. Why not descend the Swiss mountains with the Danube, describe Ratisbon, the senatorial metropolis of the empire, and there criticize a constitution of which Pütter boasts in vain? Next in turn comes Vienna, which is excellently painted. In catching the spirit of the manners of elevated life, few travellers have displayed that judicious quickness of observation and of definition which distinguishes Madame de Staël. Prague might have been a sleeping-place: but Dresden deserved some prolongation of stay: it is the Florence of Germany: the well-built city, the station of the galleries of art, the most refined of the populous places, and is bosomed in scenery which has occupied the pencil of the most tasteful landscape-painters. A glance is taken at Leipzig: it contains two worlds, one literary and one commercial, which come sometimes into contact at the tables of the booksellers. Something of arrogance and self-sufficiency betrays itself about the German students: with much equality among one another, they look down superciliously on the trading class, and consider a college-education as a grade of nobility. They have so far a right to do this, that their acquirements do indeed usually amount to excellence: but they perhaps learn more than is wholesome for the human mind, and encumber with the weight of its armour the activity of the thought. Berlin could not be more aptly painted than it has been by Madame de Staël; and if her return to Swisserland had taken its direction through Frankfort, the most polished of the trading towns might also have been characterized. She closes her tour with Berne, which deserves to become the metropolis of independence, but which has often displayed more attachment to privileges than to freedom.

As the second part of this work treats of German literature, which is a topic rather of permanent than of eager interest, we shall defer to a future opportunity the continuation of our commentary: preserving indeed a willing pretext for revisiting the pages of this attractive writer. Acute, judicious, interesting, and comprehensive in her remarks, she expresses them with a skill even more admirable than her insight. Never flat from emptiness, never boisterous from eloquence, her periods approach the reader like the successive waves of a calm sea, which delight without disturbing the stillness of the twilight wanderer: they are the waves of a summer-sea, warm with feeling, phosphorescent with fancy, each murmuring music, and each curling into brilliancy.

[To be continued.]

ART.

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ART. IX. Hamburgh; or a particular Account of the Transactions which took place in that City, during the first six Months of the Year 1813; with a View of its previous State, and of the Conduct of the French during their six Years' Possession, both before and after its being annexed to the French Empire. By Hannibal Evans Lloyd, Esq., late of Hamburgh. 8vo. PP. 211. 78. sewed. Richardson. 1813.

ART. X. Observations made on a Tour from Hamburgh, through Berlin, Gorlitz, and Breslau, to Silberberg; and thence to Gottenburg. By Robert Semple, Author of Two Journeys in Spain, a Sketch of the Caraccas, &c. Crown 8vo. PP. 275: 7s. Boards.

Baldwin.

A

1814.

s the productions of Mr. Lloyd and Mr. Semple relate to nearly the same period of time, and are respectively appropriated to accounts of transactions in Germany, we are induced to place them together in our pages, though their object and mode of composition betray several shades of distincThe first-mentioned tract is confined almost exclusively to public affairs; while the other, less copious in that respect, derives its chief interest from the personal adventures of the writer.

Mr. Lloyd informs his readers that he is a son of the well known General Lloyd, whose works on the principles of war have attracted much more attention among military men on the Continent than in this his native country. Mr. L. became an in

habitant of Hamburgh in 1800, and passed, in common with the other residents in that city, a life of great freedom and comfort, until the overthrow of the Prussian power in 1806 laid the north of Germany prostrate at the feet of France. From that time forwards, Hamburgh became subjected to heavy contributions, and was never without the presence of a large body of French troops. Spaniards, Italians, Germans, and native French, composed alternately the garrison of the city; of whom the Italians were the worst in their behaviour: but the inconvenience experienced from private individuals was trifling in comparison with the rapacity of the French government. The city-treasury had long been in the habit of receiving on account of widows, unmarried females, and orphans, deposits of money for which they paid interest: but Bonaparte made no scruple in seizing the whole fund, and totally suspending the annual payments. A similar fate was dealt out to a private institution of this nature, of great respectability; and even the merchants, who had the temerity to become contractors for the French government, were exposed to similar misery. It is no wonder, therefore, that the inhabitants of Hamburgh should rise, with premature activity, against their oppressors;

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and, as soon as it became evident that the French were about to withdraw for a season, the populace broke forth into alarming irregularities. These events occurred on 24th February last, and, a fortnight afterward, the approach of a body of Cossacks obliged the French to retire. It would be difficult to describe the alacrity and enthusiasm with which the Hamburghers welcomed the rude warriors of the Don: but, unluckily, the judgment of the people or their government was not equal to their zeal; and the volunteer corps, associated under the name of the Hanseatic Legion, was composed in a very injudicious manner. The plan of their drilling was equally imperfect.

Though the non-appearance of the expected corps of Russian infantry caused considerable disquietude at Hamburgh, the complete overthrow of Morand's detachment at Luneburg by the Cossacks, in the beginning of April, re-established the public confidence for some time. The friendly disposition of Denmark co-operated to the same end; and, notwithstanding the approach of Davoust with a hostile force, the Hamburghers were comparatively tranquil, and fixed their principal attention on the movement of the grand armies in Saxony. Political considerations, however, soon made the Danes withdraw their assistance; and, although they were replaced first by a Swedish and next by a Prussian corps, the successive recall of both soon shewed that Hamburgh was too distant from the theatre of grand operations to count on effectual aid from the allied troops. The rupture also of the negotiation between Denmark and England, and the progress of Bonaparte in Saxony, led to a co-ope ration between the Danes and French, which rendered it wholly unadvisable for Tettenborn and his division of Cossacks to protract the defence of Hamburgh. The despair of the citizens on being obliged to return their arms, and suspend the defence of the town, is very pathetically described by Mr. Lloyd. Hundreds of young men of the volunteer corps quitted the city, before their eyes were afflicted with the painful sight of the triumphs of their oppressors; and it was computed that, exclusively of those who had figured in a military capacity, four thousand persons left the place on the day previous to the entrance of the French. The troops of the latter, on their arrival, were found to consist chiefly of conscripts, who were little more than boys, mixed with some old soldiers of various regiments. Their number was probably eight thousand; which, with their accustomed exaggeration, they magnified to thirty-five thousand. By way of striking awe into the inhabitants, their officers were in the habit of making the same battalions parade through different quarters of the town, marching in at one gate, out at another,

and