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Ras Walder Serlassey is the strongest prince in Abyssinia, and has of his own eight thousand five hundred matchlocks, besides a great quantity belonging to his chiefs, about two thousand horses, and above twenty thousand shieldsmen; still he is as mean as a common Jew, and a great liar; though one thing is to his credit, he is very merciful to prisoners, and he is a brave hard fighter.'

is the same. A grass cutter's wages is the same; though his Mrs. Pendarves was married to Dr. Delany, with whom allowance is three cakes a day. There are some serviceable it appears she had been long acquainted; the marriage servants, who get four and five cloths a year. A musket- was a very happy one, and her husband is said to have reUpon his decease, in man's, or soldier's pay, is ten cloths a-year; but he finds himgarded her almost to adoration. self, and makes his own powder. The shieldsmen have the same. These soldiers cultivate as much ground as they like May, 1761, she intended to fix herself at Bath, but the Duchess Dowager of Portland, having in early years A horseman's pay for themselves, and pay no tithes. formed an intimacy with Mrs. Delany, wished to have her twenty cloths, who also finds himself and horse.' near her. Her Grace succeeded in her solicitations, and Mrs. Of the chiefs, Pearce says,Delany now passed her time between London and Bulstrode. On the death of the Duchess, his Majesty, George the Third, who had frequently seen and honoured Mrs. Delany with his notice at Bulstrode, assigned her, for her summer residence, the use of a house completely furnished, in St. Alban's Street, Windsor, adjoining to the entrance to the castle; and, as a further mark of his royal favour, his Majesty conferred on her a pension of 300l. a year. On the 15th of April, 1788, after a short indisposition, she departed this life, at her house in St. James's Place, having nearly completed the eighty-eighth year of her age. Dr. Darwin, in allusion to the elegant and ingenious amusements of Mrs. Delany, has the following lines :'So now Delany forms her mimic powers, Her paper foliage and her silken flowers; Her virgin train the tender scissors ply, Vein the green leaf, the purple petal dye; Round wiry stems the flaxen tendril bends, Moss creeps below, and waxen fruit impends. Cold winter views, amid his realms of snow, Delany's vegetable statues blow;

Ras Gabi has about seven hundred muskets; Guxar has eight thousand horse, but few muskets. Ras Ilow is not very strong; and Libban has about ten thousand horse. Goga, another chief, is uncommonly barbarous, and always at war. Those are the great princes of Abyssinia, who have the whole country in their hands.

We offer no remarks on this curious narrative, the principal parts of which we have given; but the author, Pearce, in the conclusion of it, declares to Sir Evan Nepean, 'your honour may depend upon this to be a real true account, and no hearsay whatever.' It will be observed, that this account confirms the much abused statement of Bruce, with respect to the Abyssinians eating raw meat; and as Pearce is declared to be a man not likely to deal falsely, we think his statements generally entitled to credit, however much probability may be staggered in some of them.

Letters from Mrs. Delany, (Widow of Dr. Patrick De-
lany,) to Mrs. Frances Hamilton, from the Year 1779,
to the Year 1788; comprising many unpublished_and
interesting Anecdotes of their late Majesties and the
Royal Family. 8vo. pp. 106. London, 1820.
THESE letters owe all their interest and importance to the
illustrious personages on whom they treat. The memory
of their late Majesties, endeared by a long and amiable
life of conjugal felicity, gains an increased veneration
from the contemplation of passing events. George the
Third, while he preserved all the dignity of the sovereign,
was a kind husband, an affectionate father, a sincere
friend, and a truly good man. His illustrious consort
possessed all those virtues which adorn private life, and
shed lustre even on the throne itself. Any anecdotes,
therefore, that make us better acquainted with such dis-
tinguished personages, and which confirm most amply the
estimable character they possessed, must be read with in-
terest by every good subject; by every one who respects
virtue either on the throne or in the cottage.

Mrs. Mary Delany, a lady of distinguished ingenuity and merit, was born May 17, 1700. She was the daughter of Barnard Granville, and neice of George, afterwards Lord Granville. When in her seventeenth year, she was married to Alexander Pendarves, Esq. a gentleman of large property at Roscow, in Cornwall. In 1724, Mrs. Pendarves became a widow, upon which occasion she quitted Cornwall, and fixed her principal residence in London. For several years, between 1730 and 1736, she maintained a correspondence with Dean Swift. In 1743,

* A cloth is equal to a dollar.--Rev.

Smooths his stern brow, delays his hoary wing,
And eyes with wonder all the bloom of spring.'

A lady, thus honoured with the society and confidence of royalty, could not fail of often witnessing those amiable traits of character for which their late Majesties were so much distinguished. Of a visit to Bulstrode, in 1779, by the royal family, ten in all, Mrs. Delany says,

'The day was as brilliant as could be wished, the 12th of August, the Prince of Wales's birth-day. The Queen was in a hat and an Italian night-gown of purple lustring, trimmed with silver gauze. She is graceful and genteel; the dignity and sweetness of her manner, the perfect propriety of every thing she says or does, satisfies every body she honours with her distinction so much, that beauty is by no means wanting to make her perfectly agreeable; and though age and long retirement from court, made me feel timid on my being called to make my appearance, I soon found myself perfectly at ease; for the King's condescension and good humour took off all awe, but what one must have for so respectable a character, (severely tried by his enemies at home, as well as abroad.) The three princesses were all in frocks; the King and all the men were in an uniform, blue and gold. They walked through the great apartments, which are in a line, and attentively observed every thing; the pictures in particular. I kept back in the drawing-room, and took that opportunity of sitting down; when the Princess Royal returned to me, and said the Queen missed me in her train, I immediately obeyed the summons with my best alacrity. Her Majesty met me half way, and seeing me hasten my steps, called out to me, Though I desired you to come, I did not desire you to run and fatigue yourself." They all returned to the great drawing-room, where there were only two arm chairs placed in the middle of the room for the King and Queen.-The King placed the Duchess Dowager of Portland in his chair, and walked about admiring the beauties of the place.'

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The King desired me to show the Queen one of my books of plants; she seated herself in the gallery; a table and the book laid before her.-I kept my distance till she called me to ask some questions about the mosaic paper work; and as I stood before her Majesty, the King set à chair behind me.

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turned with some confusion and hesitation, on receiving so
great an honour, when the Queen said, “ Mrs. Delany, sit |
down, sit down; it is not every lady that has a chair brought
her by a King;" So I obeyed. Amongst many gracious
things, the Queen asked me why I was not with the Duchess
when she came, for I might be sure she would ask for me?
I was flattered, though I knew to whom I was obliged for the
distinction, (and doubly flattered by that.) I acknowledged
it in as few words as possible, and said I was particularly
happy at that time to pay my duty to her Majesty, as it it gave
me an opportunity of seeing so many of the royal family;
which age and obscurity had deprived me of. "Oh, but,"
says her Majesty, "you have not seen all my children
upon which the King came up, and asked what we were talk-
yet;"
ing about? which was repeated, and the King replied to the
Queen, you may put Mrs. Delany into the way of doing
that, by naming a day for her to drink tea at Windsor Castle.
The Duchess of Portland was consulted, and the next day
fixed upon, as the duchess had appointed the end of the week
for going to Weymouth.

66

، We went at the hour appointed, seven o'clock, and were received in the lower private apartment in the castle: went through a large room with great bay windows, where were all the princesses and youngest princes, with their attendant ladies and gentlemen. We passed on to the bedchamber, where the Queen stood in the middle of the room, with Lady, Weymouth and Lady Charlotte Finch. (The King and the eldest princes had walked out.) When the Queen took her seat, and the ladies their places, she ordered a chair to be set for me opposite to where she sat, and asked me if I felt any wind from the door or window?-It was indeed a sultry day. ، At eight, the King, &c. came into the room, with so much cheerfulness and good humour, that it was impossible to feel any painful restriction. It was the hour of the King and Queen, and eleven of the princes and princesses' walking on the terrace. They apologised for going, but said the crowd expected them; but they left Lady Weymouth and the Bishop of Lichfield to entertain us in their absence; we sat in the bay window, well pleased with our companions, and the brilliant show on the terrace, on which we looked; the band of music playing all the time under the window. When they returned, we were summoned into the great room to tea, and the royals began a ball, and danced two country dances, to the music of French horns, bassoons, and hautboys, which were the same that played on the terrace. The King came up to the Prince of Wales, and said he was sure, when he considered how great an effort it must be to play that kind of music so long a time together, that he would not continue their dancing there, but that the Queen and the rest of the company were going to the Queen's house, and they should renew their dancing there, and have proper music.'

On a subsequent visit to Bulstrode, in 1783, we are told,

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Mrs. Siddons read the ، Provoked Husband.'
Mrs. Delany was invited to the Queen's house to hear
was quite select :-
The party

'Besides the royal family, there were only the Duchess Dowager of Portland, her daughter, Lady Weymouth, and her beautiful grand-daughter, Lady Aylesford; Lord and Lady Harcourt, Lady Charlotte Finch, Duke of Montague, and the gentlemen attendant on the King. There were two rows of chairs for the company, the length of the room. princesses on each hand, which filled it. The rest of the laTheir Majesties sat in the middle of the first row, with the dies were seated in a row behind them, and as there was a space between that and the wall, the lords and gentlemen that were admitted stood there. Mrs. Siddons read standing, and had a desk with candles before her; she behaved with great propriety, and read two acts of the Provoked Husband, which head's parts, &c. ; but she introduced John Moody's account was abridged, by leaving out Sir Francis and Lady Wrongof the journey, and read it admirably. The part of Lord and made it very affecting. She also read Queen Katharine's last Lady Townly's reconciliation, she worked up finely, and speech in King Henry VIII. She was allowed three pauses, to go into the next room and refresh herself, for half an hour

each time.'

Duchess Dowager of Portland, that Mrs. Delany re-
It was in the autumn of 1785, on the death of the
ceived an invitation to Windsor, and had a house pre-
pared for her by their Majesties. The following is the ac-
count of it, as related in one of Mrs. Delany's letters:----
، On Saturday, the 3d of this month, one of the Queen's
messengers came and brought me the following letter from her
Majesty, written with her own hand :-
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charged by the King, to summon her to her new abode, at
My dear Mrs. Delany will be glad to hear that I am
Windsor, for Tuesday next, where she will find all the most
essential parts of the house ready, excepting some little tri-
fles, which it will be better for Mrs. Delany to direct herself
in person, or by her little deputy, Miss Port*. I need not add
that I shall be extremely glad and happy to see so amiable an
inhabitant in this our sweet retreat; and wish very sincerely
that my dear Mrs. Delany may enjoy every blessing amongst
us her merits deserve. That we may long enjoy her amiable
company, Amen! These are the true sentiments of
My dear Mrs. Delany's

Very affectionate Queen,

CHARLOTTE.

Queen's Lodge, Windsor,
Sept. 3, 1785.
"P. S. I must also beg that Mrs. Delany will choose her
own time of coming, as will best suit her own convenience."

to answer it instantly, with my own hand, without seeing a
I received the Queen's letter at dinner, and was obliged
letter I wrote. I thank God I had strength enough to obey
the gracious summons on the day appointed. I arrived here
about eight o'clock in the evening, and found his Majesty in
the house ready to receive me.
indeed, unable to utter a word; he raised and saluted me, and
I threw myself at his feet,
said he meant not to stay longer than to desire I would order
every thing that could make the house comfortable and agree-
able to me, and then retired.'

The King had no attendants but the equerries, Major Digby and Major Price. They were in the drawing-room before I was sent for, where I found the King and Queen and the Duchess of Portland, seated at a table in the middle of the room. The King, with his usual graciousness, came up to me, and brought me forward, and I found the Queen very busy in showing a very elegant machine to the Duchess of Portland, which was a frame for weaving of fringe, of a new and most delicate structure, and would take up as much paper and begged that all ceremonies might be waived, and that The next day the Queen paid a visit to Mrs. Delany, as has already been written upon to describe it minutely, yet the King and herself might be allowed to visit her as it is of such simplicity as to be very useful. You may easily imagine the grateful feeling I had when the Queen presented which contained the first quarter of 3001. per annum, friends. She also delivered to her a paper from the King, it to me, to make up some knotted fringe which she saw me about. The King, at the same time, said he must contribute | which his Majesty allowed her out of the privy purse, something to my work, and presented me with a gold knotting Never a day passed without Mrs. Delany seeing or hear shuttle, of most exquisite workmanship and taste ; and I am at ing from one of their Majesties. In a letter, which gives this time, while I am dictating the letter, knotting white silk, to fringe the bag which is to contain it.' an account of Margaret Nicholson's attack on the King, * [Niece of Mrs. Delany,➡REV:

we see the characters of their Majesties displayed in the most amiable light towards Mrs. Delany. She says,

blended with the advantages of royalty; and of George the Third, it may truly be said, in the words of Dryden:

'He was a man

Above man's height, e'en tow'ring to divinity;
Brave, pious, generous, great, and liberal;
Just as the scales of heav'n that weigh the seasons.
He lov'd his people,-him they idoliz'd
His goodness was diffused to human kind.'

Sketches descriptive of Italy, in the Years 1816 and 1817; with a brief Account of Travels in various Parts of France and Switzerland, in the same Years.

(Concluded from p. 500.)

FROM Rome, our fair author travelled to Naples, where she dashed about until she saw every thing except an eruption of Vesuvius, which was not sufficiently complaisant to exhibit its terrific splendour during her residence there. This was really a disappointment, for although our countrywoman says, she and her party were not quite wicked enough to desire an eruption to happen entirely for their amusement, yet, if an eruption there was to be within any reasonable space of time, they could not resist wishing it might be a little hurried on their account.' Of Naples we are told, that

It is impossible for me to enumerate the daily instances I receive from my royal friends, who seem unwearied in the pursuit of making me as happy as they can. I am sure you must be very sensible how thankful I am to providence for the late wonderful escape of his Majesty from the stroke of assassination; indeed, the horror that there was a possibility that such an attempt would be made, shocked me so much at first, that I could hardly enjoy the blessing of such a preservation. The King would not suffer any body, to inform the Queen of that event, till he could show himself in person to her. He returned to Windsor as soon as the council was over. When his Majesty entered the Queen's dressing-room, he found her with the two eldest princesses; and entering in an animated manner, said, "Here I am, safe and well!" The Queen suspected from this saying, that some accident had happened, on which he informed her of the whole affair. The Queen stood struck and motionless for some time, till the princesses burst into tears, in which she immediately found relief by joining with them. Joy soon succeeded this agitation of mind, on the assurance that the person was insane that had the boldness to make the attack, which took off all aggravating suspicion; and it has been the means of showing the whole kingdom, that the King has the hearts of his subjects. I must tell you a particular gracious attention to me on the occasion; their Majesties sent immediately to my house, to give orders that I should not be told of it till the next morning, for fear the agitation should give me a bad night. Dow- Among the peculiarities which strike a stranger in the streets ager Lady Spencer was in the house with me, and went with at Naples, when he becomes so habituated to the stir and bustle me to early prayers, next morning, at eight o'clock; and after as to be able to observe any thing, are the odd looking little chapel was over, she separated herself from me, and had a carriages, called Calessi, carrying one or two persons, who long conference with the King and Queen, as they stopped hold the horse's reins, the driver standing behind, and directto speak to her on our coming out of chapel. When we re-ing the horse with his voice and whip,-the temporary stages turned to breakfast, I taxed her with having robbed me of an on which the wit of the illustrious native of Naples, Punch, is opportunity of hearing what their Majesties said to her, by displayed,-the moveable shops for the sale of macaroni, standing at such a distance. She told me it was a secret; but melons, lemonade, &c.,—and the characteristic groups who* she had now their permission to tell me what it was, and then surround them and crowd the streets, in varied but always informed me of the whole affair. picturesque costumes. All these carriages, stages, shops, and people, are as fine as gaudy paint, a profusion of gilding, and gay, though often ragged stuffs, trimmed with gold and silver tinsel, can make them. This excessive love of meretricious finery pervades all ranks of persons, and covers all sorts of things with the most false and paltry ornaments.'

I was commanded in the evening to attend them at the lodge, where I spent the evening; the happiness of being with them not a little increased by seeing the fulness of joy that appeared in every countenance.'

One anecdote, with which we shall conclude, records the singular goodness of heart of the Queen, and her attention to those little acts of kindness which are the most endearing :

Our travellers were fortunate to be at Naples during the carnival, when a masked ball took place at the royal pa

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It was the first fete which had been given since the restoration of Ferdinand the Fourth to the kingdom of the Two Sicilies; and so much was said and thought about it, that it was like

"O'Rourke's noble fare,
Which ne'er was forgot,
By those who were three-
And those who were not."

One little anecdote of the Queen struck me, as a stronger instance of her real tender feeling towards our dear old friend, than all her bounties or honours. As soon as the Duchess of Portland died, Mrs. Delany got into a chaise to go to her own house; the Duke followed her, begging to know what she would accept of, that belonged to his mother: Mrs. Delany recollected a bird that the Duchess always fed and kept in her own room, and desired to have it, and felt towards it as All strangers were dying to obtain tickets. But as those you may suppose. In a few days she got a bad fever, and only who had been presented at their own courts were inthe bird died; but for some hours she was too ill even to re-vited, and as many most respectable travellers, especially collect her bird. The Queen had one of the same sort, which she valued extremely, (a weaver bird;) she took it with her own hands, and while Mrs. Delany slept, had the cage brought, and put her own bird into it, charging every one not to let it go so near Mrs. Delany, as that she could perceive the change, till she was enough recovered to bear the loss of

her first favourite.'

It is difficult to imagine a more delicate compliment than that thus paid by her Majesty to her aged friend. But it was by such acts as these that their late Majesties have erected a monument to their memories, more durable than brass. In them all the virtues of private life were

English,-had not gone through that ceremony, there were numbers of disappointments. Indeed, from one cause or another, this ball excited a monstrous commotion, both among foreigners and natives.

In the forenoon of the day, the Principe di L, a Sicilian nobleman of our acquaintance, came to us in great distress, to know if my sister or I could lend a bird of Paradise plume to a friend of his, who had been chosen by Prince Leopold, along with four other favourites, to attend him all the evening, and who were all to be attired alike. Four of these plumes had been procured; but, alas! Naples did not produce a fifth! In all countries, courtiers worship the rising sun. Those only who know something of courts, can imagine the

eagerness with which this chase of the paradise plume was conducted all over the city on this day, and into how much importance these feathers rose in Neapolitan estimation. laughed at myself for the interest I took in the business; and I it certainly did not arise from any admiration for Leopold himself, who is a fat heavy looking young man, with white hair and eyebrows, and the thick lip of the Austrian family, from which he is maternally descended.

rel with the quality, you may have what quantity of people you please at Naples; and accidents very frequently happen sed along the street, and the crowd, rushing after him, reckin consequence. One day, a better mask than ordinary pasless and careless what they were doing, pushed a child under the wheels of a carriage which was proceeding rapidly in the line. The poor boy's leg was broken. Some notice, it may Though generally known by the name of Prince Leopold, was neither thought of, nor spoken of, again. Accidents of be imagined, was taken of this affair;-but no such thing. It his proper title is Prince of Salerno. He is believed to be his this kind are, indeed, so frequent at Naples, owing to the father's favourite; and I heard it often confidently affirmed, that frightful rapidity with which carriages are driven, that they Ferdinand intended the Duke of Calabria to inherit only Sicily, do not seem to excite a sensation of any kind. Under l'ancien where he was then resident as viceroy, and that Prince Leo-régime, if an old man was run over, a trifling penalty was expold was to be King of Naples. An absolute monarch may do acted; but nothing whatever could be demanded for the demuch-when alive; but an absolute monarch-when dead-molition of an old woman.' is quite another sort of personage: and I should doubt the power of Ferdinand to seat his favourite on the throne, more especially as the Duke of Calabria is said to have a strong party in his favour in Naples itself, where Prince Leopold is much less popular than his father. On this occasion, indeed, the old monarch, weak and silly as he is, appeared to much the greatest advantage of the two; for his manners were kind, frank, and affable, while his son sauntered about the whole evening as if half asleep, leaning on the shoulder of one of his plumed favourites, and scarcely deigning to notice any one else in the room.

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On the return to Rome, our travellers were presented to the Pope, kissed his hand, and received his benediction. His holiness was extremely polite, spoke with chearfulness on common topics; laughed, took snuff, and cut jokes about the weather. His dress must have appeared somewhat singular to our visitors:

part of his head, half a dozen white cambric petticoats, one
He had a very small skull-cap, clapped upon the shorn
over another, all edged with a particular kind of lace, a pair
and nothing at all on the other, and a scarlet mantle.'
of scarlet silk shoes, with a cross embroidered in gold on one,

have taken place:-
While at Rome, no less than two miracles were said to

The King is a good-humoured respectable looking old gentleman. He was dressed in a plain black domino and hat; and seemed to enjoy the amusement from his very heart. La Moglie also wore black, with a profusion of diamonds. Though the wife of the reigning sovereign, this lady is not allowed either the title or state of Queen; for she was the subject, before she became the wife, of the King. She was created Duchess of Santa Florida; but is more commonly cal-persons who were passing. led La Moglie. She is young and rather handsome.

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The picture or statue of a Madonna, placed in a niche near the Campidoglio, was seen to open her eyes by some "A miracle a miracle !" was The Duchess of Genoa, the daughter of Ferdinand, and virgin who did-but the virgin who had opened her eyes; for instantly exclaimed; and all Rome flocked to see-not the her husband, brother to the King of Sardinia, were also present she never repeated the performance. Whether she meant at this ball. He is very uninteresting, and she very plain, in | any thing by it is unknown; certain it is, her wishes, if she appearance; but though apparently far from young, she is so had any, remained ungratified, for 'they were never underimmoderately fond of dancing, as to tire out the most youth-stood; and the only effects of the miracle were, that a broful and indefatigable courtiers. ken bass-bottomed chair, covered with a white-no-not alHaving now dispatched the royal party, I may descend to ways a white napkin or ragged apron,-with a half-penny the rest of the company, which consisted of Turks, Jews, and print of the Madonna pinned against the back, and a cracked infidels of all descriptions-ghosts and devils-gods and god-plate set on it to receive alms, was put forth at every poor desses-Tartars of the desert, Cossack chiefs, Indian princes, man's door to invoke, in the name of this miraculous virgin, numerous sultans and innumerable sultanas-Greeks, Spa- the charity of all pious Catholics. niards, Duchmen, and Laplanders; a variety of Swiss and Italian costumes, and an immense assemblage of fancy dres- her sister image, went to work in a more sensible manner. 'Another Madonna, warned perhaps by the ill success of ses. Every one was masked on entering the rooms; but She spoke to an old washerwoman who was kneeling before none of the royal family wore masks, and as the King himself her little shrine, (which was situated in a recess of the citytook them off from some of the earlier comers, the whole com- wall, near the Santa Croce, in Gierusalemme,) and distinctly pany were at liberty to get rid of the unpleasant incumbrance desired to have it newly white-washed. A request so reasonas quickly as they pleased. There was no attempt at preservable in itself, and so wonderfully communicated, could not ing character, except in dress; but, in that respect, nothing well be denied. The recess was cleaned, and, moreover, the can be imagined more splendid, varied, or elegant. The frame of the picture was fresh gilt. The greater part of the suite of rooms was extensive, magnificently furnished, bril-population of the city went to see the Madonna in her smartliantly lighted, and splendidly filled. The supper was served ened abode. I did not hear that any body went to see the wain great abundance and variety, on gold and silver, and sherwoman.' seemed to form no indifferent portion of the entertainment to the Italian part of the company; who not only ate pretty largely of the good things set before them, but stuffed their pockets with cakes and other portable articles. They did this quite openly, not conceiving that any one would think it strange, for it is the common practice all over Italy.'

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After quitting Rome, our travellers successively visited Florence, Padua, Venice, Verona, Milan, crossed the Simplon, and entered France at Les Russes. several interesting descriptions of these places, and some There are very just reflections on the present degraded state of the Italian states, under the yoke of Austria. Bonaparte devoted the produce of the taxes he levied on them, to pubcular state; not so the Emperor of Austria, who levies the same taxes, but the public works are neglected-the money goes to Vienna, and the countries are sinking into ruin. At Venice, our travellers visited the tribunals and dungeons, which served equally for state trials and prison

One extract more and we take our leave of Naples :Few masks, either good or bad, attend the San Carlo mas-lic buildings, and the general improvement of each partiquerades; and this is also the case in the semi-hebdomadal parades in the Strada di Toledo; where no better amusement is to be found than seeing twenty or thirty shabby and stupid masks pelt each other with spoonsful of whitened dough kneaded into little round balls. There is generally a large enough crowd of spectators on foot; for, if you do not quar

ers, and those of the yet more dreaded inquisition,-scenes which recall the accounts we have read with shuddering

horror:

The three grand inquisitors who formed the supreme council, were chosen from among the famous council of ten and the private council of the Doge. They were debarred from common communion with their fellow creatures; and the penalty of their unenviable office followed them even into the bosoms of their families, with whom they were not permitted to hold unrestrained intercourse, least they might betray the dreadful secrets of their meetings. Of this supreme council the doge himself was never a member. The room in which it sat was hung with black; and, to increase its gloomy and terrific aspect, the powerful pencil of Tintoretto was employed to depict on the ceiling various virtues, bearing in their hands the different instruments of torture used by this tribunal. This apartment is not large; it has only two doors, both communicating with the dungeons; by one of which the prisoners were brought before the council, and by the other taken away. We descended one of these staircases; it was almost totally dark, and branched off into several passages at the foot. Here our conductor opened a heavy trap-door, fastened by three or four locks, and having furnished himself with a light, desired us to descend the steep narrow staircase which appeared beneath it, and then followed us, letting the trap door fall behind him. Its ponderous sound rang through the vaults we were just entering, and struck such a deadly chill upon my heart, that I almost fancied I could form some idea of the feelings with which they must have heard the same sound whom fate ordained to be entombed alive within these dreaded abodes. But I deceived myself! It is not in the power of imagination to conceive the horrors of that moment. Though humanity recoils from the contemplation of these scenes of cruelty and suffering, where thousands of lives were wasted away in unheard-of tortures; yet, those only who trod those regions as the victims of that accursed oppression, can tell the point to which human suffering can reach. But, even in idea, I cannot dwell on this subject,-let me hasten to

its conclusion.

along another passage and staircase of the same gloomy description, to the Ponte de Sospiri, a bridge crossing the narrow canal, on which one side of the Doge's palace fronts, to the public prisons of the city. It is a covered gallery, with narrow gratings in the sides to admit air, crossed by an iron door. A few paces further on, another door, now walled up, formerly opened into a small chamber, into which a prisoner once entering was seen no more! He was there strangled, and his body thrown into the canal beneath. Well might this passage be called the Bridge of Sighs!'

In taking leave of this work, we must observe, that although there is much in it familiar to almost every reader, yet the fair author's descriptions are very elegant and animated, her observations generally sensible and judicious, and her style displays much vivacity. A most agreeable travelling companion she must have been; and there is even much pleasure in accompanying her in

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THE theatres in France have long been under the immediate control of the government, and various regulations have at different periods been made respecting them. In November, 1796, a decree was passed, and which still continues in force, enacting, that a deciine on every franc of the price of admission at all places of public amusement, should be collected for the use of the poor,-that is, one tenth part of the receipts.

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It is somewhat curious to find this very tax proposed in England, to Mr. Secretary Walsingham, in 1586, by some zealous person, as a trifling compensation for the This narrow steep stair conducted us to an iron door, immorality of stage plays. If this mischief must be towhich admitted us into an equally narrow vaulted passage, tolerated,' says the memorial, let every stage in London tally dark, which surrounded three sides of the small square in which the dungeons are constructed-the fourth being occupied by the staircase itself. Another iron door defended the passage at the further end, which opened on a similar staircase, terminating again in a vaulted passage underneath the one we were now in. There are four of these stories; the lower ones, of course, sunk considerably below the water. These are now partly blocked up by the rubbish disuse and neglect have happily suffered to accumulate-may it never again be removed!

pay a weekly pension to the poor; that ex hoc malo proveniat aliquod bonum: but it is rather to be wished that plays might be used as Apollo did his laughing-semel in anno.' Extremes meet, and thus we see a profligate French government acting on the principle of an overrighteous English puritan.

The produce of this tax for six years, from 1811 to 1816, a period in which so many extraordinary events have occurred, serves as a kind of moral thermometer, to shew to how little vicissitude of feeling the public mind of France is subject, and with what regularity the course of amusement has gone on during the Austrian campaign,— the retreat from Moscow,-the capture of Paris, and the establishment, expulsion, and re-establishment of the Bourbons. The following is the produce of the duty in francs:

Each story contains three or four dungeons; they open from the vaulted passages I have mentioned, where neither air nor light can penetrate, and are numbered in the stone wall above the door. The cells are small and vaulted, scarcely high enough to admit of a man's standing upright. The walls and roof were lined with iron; an iron shelf, and a broad wooden board, serving at once for table, chair, and bed, are all the furniture they contain. Traces of writing were perceptible on some of the walls, but very indistinct. By the light of our lamp we deciphered with difficulty part of one of these, scrawled up and down on the roof with the wandering Fetes Publiques. band of one writing in the dark.

Theatres..

Bals..

Concerts.

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Soirees Amusantes.

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• When the French broke open these dungeons, one old man only was found, who had been immured in them upwards Panoramas.. of twenty years, and was become hopeless of liberation. He Petits Spectacles.. Curiosites is now, or, at least, was very lately, alive in the island of Zante.

After visiting several of these dungeons, I felt myself so overcome by painful emotion and the want of air, that I gladly returned to the trap-door, and emerged into a purer atmosphere. When my companion re-appeared, we proceeded

Total......

455,395 437,503 438,855 485,137 491,826 497,358

From this account it appears, that the year which immediately followed the heaviest calamity that ever befel a nation, the retreat from Russia, witnessed but little di

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