caused great jubilation; and in the twinkling of an eye, the whole Fanar was informed of the Secretary's disgrace-only it was ascribed to my having, with a pistol in one hand, and a sword in the other, made such proposals to Madame la Droguema'ne as she could not possibly listen to-from her husband's clerk.' Anastasius now met with an Israelitish quack doctor, with whom he agreed to act:

He was to carry his own Galen, in the shape of the best half of an old missal, stolen from a Capuchin; I undertook the medicine chest, with all its pills of starch, and all its powders of pipe-clay. The only thing I insisted upon as a sine qua non in the treaty, was not to appear in my new character in any of the streets I had before frequented; and to this ultimatum the Jew readily enough agreed. Matters thus settled between us, I somewhat dolefully exchanged my gaudy apparel for a dress in unison with that of my principal, and, after vainly begging, in gratitude for my friend Vasili's advice, to have the honour of making upon him my first experiment in this new profession, walked away with my grotesque patron.

grimace-the last beams of the setting sun darted across the casement of the window, upon his pale yet swarthy features. Thus visited, he seemed for a moment to revive. "I have always," said he, " considered my fate as connected with the great luminary that rules the creation. I have always paid it due worship, and firmly believed I could not breathe my last whilst its rays shone upon me. Therefore carry me out, that I may take my last farewell of the heavenly ruler of my earthly destinies!"

stairs being too narrow, the woman only opened the window, 'We all rushed forward to obey the mandate. But the and placed the dying man before it, so as to enjoy the full view of the glorious orb, just in the act of dropping beneath the horizon. He remained a few moments in silent adoration; and mechanically we all joined him in fixing our eyes on the object of his worship. It set in all its splendor; and when its golden disk had entirely disappeared, we looked round at the Parsee.. He too had sunk into everlasting rest!

Our easy successes amongst the lower orders, by degrees made us aspire at other patients. We took to attending the Immediately we began stalking through all the lanes and of the rich; and by appearing to have respectable customers, poor gratis, in order to appear qualified to try the constitutions by-streets of the capital; I, with a pace exactly regulated by we got them. A Beglier-bey of Roumili-the great-grand that of my master, who walked before me, and both of us turn- son of a Sultan on the mother's side (for on the father's, such ing our heads constantly from right to left and from left to filiations are stifled in the birth) was passing through Constanright, like weather cocks, to watch every call from a door or tinople. One of his Armenian grooms chose to thank Yasignal from a window; but full as much on the alert to avoid coob for having been relieved by nature from a troublesome old faces as to court the notice of new ones. Now and then, quinsy, and recommended him to his master's kehaya. The when we had time for idle chat, I used to advise Yacoob-kehaya also-in spite of Yacoob's attendance-got the better that was my principal's name-to provide himself with a pro- of his rheumatism, and praised us to the head eunuch. The per license for killing the Grand Signor's subjects, in the head eunuch, left by us as we found him, spoke of us in high shape of a diploma from the Hekim-bashee. He denied not terms to his master; and the Visier, on being seized with an the expediency of the measure, but he always found some indigestion for which he had laboured very hard, himself pretence for delaying the performance. At first his poverty condescended to send for us to advise him. He however prevented the purchase; afterwards, the pressure of business; determined to have two strings to his bow, and to consult the and so long did we go on, without any inconvenience from the neglect of the said formality, that at last we began to think stars as well as the faculty: so that my master found himself we never should feel the want of it, and totally forgot there while Yacoob insisted on a contrary remedy. The Visier, pitted against a Moonedgim, who recommended an emetic, was such a person as Hekim-bashee. Ours was an off-hand method of practice. As cases were the opposite opinions meet. determined to be right, slily took both, thinking thus to make The medicines certainly did; pretty much alike to our skill, a single feel of the pulse gene- and by their conflict kept us, for a while, in as violent a rally decided the most difficult treatments. Our patients-perspiration as the Pasha himself. As however the disorder chiefly of the industrious class-could not afford long ill- only proceeded from too free an indulgence of a good apnesses; and these we certainly prevented. What most petite, the double remedy, though a little violent, in the end annoyed us was the headstrong obstinacy of some individuals, proved beneficial; and after suffering a few sympathetic pangs, who sometimes insisted they still felt disordered, when we we ultimately reaped both reputation and profit from our positively assured them they were cured. Had they been treatment of this three-tailed patient. killed instead, they would not have complained! Still more disagreeable incidents now and then occurred. Called in one day to a woman in convulsions, Yacoob, I know not why, prescribed a remedy which the Turks regard as an insult. In her rage the woman flew at him, and bit off half his ear. It was all I could do to save the other half. Another day (a Mohammedan festival,) a set of merry-making Osmanlees insisted on Yacoob's putting on an European dress, which they carried about on a pole, that they might kick him through the streets as a Frank; and though he actually refused a fee for gratifying their whim, he nevertheless was made to go through the whole ceremony.

I remember a quieter, but more impressive scene. One evening as we were returning from the Blacquernes, an old woman threw herself in our way, and taking hold of my master's garment, dragged him almost by main force after her, looking into a mean habitation just by, where lay on a couch, apparently at the last gasp, a man of foreign features. "I have brought a physician," said the female to the patient, "who perhaps may relieve you." "Why will you,"-answered he faintly," still persist to feed idle hopes! I have lived an outcast: suffer me at least to die in peace; nor disturb my last moments by vain illusions! My soul pants to rejoin the Supreme Spirit: arrest not its joys; it would only be delaying my eternal bliss!" Ashe spoke these words-which even struck Yacoob sufficiently to make him suspend his professional

"Thus we were enabled to quit our itinerant mode of life, and to set up near the Backtche-capoossee a shop of decent appearance, furnished with jars and phials of all sorts and sizes. These we inscribed with the names of the most costly medicines, while the inside bore witness to their rarity. Instead of going in pursuit of patients we now waited till they

came or sent.

discovered that, if some ailment will only obey a face furIn the course of his practice my principal had rowed with age, youth and freshness best dispel certain others; and these he left to my sole management.'

(To be concluded in our next.)

Time's Telescope for 1820; or, a complete Guide to the Almanack: containing an Explanation of Saints' Days and Holidays; with Illustrations of British History and Antiquities, Notices of Obsolete Rites and Customs; Astronomical Occurrences in every Month; the Naturalists' Diary, &c. &c. With an Introduction, containing the Outlines of Entomology. 8vo. pp. 323. London,

1820.

THIS is the seventh annual volume of a very clever work, which combines the utile et dulce more happily than

which the common people had in view in the celebration of this tide or festival. New Year's Eve, therefore, was spent in festivity and frolic by the men; and the young women of the village carried about, from door to door, a bowl of spiced ale, which they offered to the inhabitants of every house where they stopped, singing at the same time some rude congratulatory verses, and expecting some small present in return. This practice, however, which originated in pure kindness and benevolence, soon degenerated into a mere pecuniary traffic; for Selden, in his Table Talk, thus alludes to the subject, while drawing the following curious comparison: "The Pope, in sending relicks to princes, does as wenches with a cup, and you must drink of a sorry stuff; but the meaning is, you must give them money ten times more than it is worth."

The present volume contains an admirable little treatise on entomology, well calculated to render that inter-do by their wasŝails at New Year's Tide. They present you esting science better understood; and to exhibit, in a striking view, the power and munificence of the Author of Nature.

And gilded roofs reverberate the rays;

By people, in their new attire arrayed,

To Jove's high tow'rs the long procession's made;
The fasces new precede the splendid line,
And new consuls in new purple shine;
Fat heifers in the Tuscan meadows feed,
Before the altars grateful victims bleed.

The ushering in of the New Year, or New Year's Tide, with rejoicings, presents, and good wishes, was a custom observed, during the sixteenth century, with great regularity and parade, and was as cordially celebrated in the court of the prince as in the cottage of the peasant.

To end the old year merrily and begin the new one well, and in friendship with their neighbours, were the objects

derable advantage by the antiquary and the lover of natural history, as well as by all classes of readers who can feel any pleasure in the perusal of an interesting volume.

Foreign Literature.

The number of students at Gottingen, which, at Easter, this year, amounted to 762, greatly increased at Michaelmas, and amounts now to 937. Of these, 202 study divinity; 378, jurisprudence; 165, medicine; and 192, mathematics, philosophy, philology, and history. Of the above number, 569 are natives, 296 of other German states, and 72 foreigners, among whom are twelve Greeks.

Professor Goerres has resolved to pass the winter at Strasburgh, and to employ himself in literary, not political, labours. He is, at present, engaged in completing a work on ancient mythology, which he began a long time ago.

Original Communications.

DESCRIPTION OF CANADA.

CHEVALIER GAIL, member of the French Institute, has just published a very interesting collection of Literary Anecdotes, by way of supplement to a work, entitled, 'Chronological Tables of the Principal Facts of History since the Christian Era, to the year 1800.' It is divided into two sections; the first consists of a review of letters formerly published by M. Gail, from Henry II, of France, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, &c. accompanied with some new unedited letters of the same king, fac simile transcripts of the hand-writings of Charles V, Henry III, Louis XIII, Louis XIV, and several other distinguished personages. The second part contains a fac simile of a passage of a Greek manuscript of Galien, extracts from some other Greek manuscripts of the sixth and twelfth ages; original letters of Boileau; marginal notes written in the hand of Racine, on Eschyles, Euripides, and Sophocles, which shew that he had benefited largely by the study of these admirable poets, &c. The collection comprehends several other interesting articles, and, among others, an explanation of the emblems which embellish the colonnade, in front of the palace of the Thuilleries, erected by Catharine de Medicis. M. Gail recognizes in this building, a monument of the grief of Catharine, for the loss of her husband, Henry II. He rests this expla-nies offer, to guide him in his choice. nation, as ingenious as it is plausible, on a long passage of Brantome; and, in an engraving at the end of the volume, he indicates the principal attributes which are still to be seen upon this colonnade. The materials of this interesting work, have been gleaned from the valuable collection of manuscripts in the Royal Library, at Paris, of which M. Gail is the keeper.

An ordinance has been recently issued by the municipal authorities of Copenhagen, which allows the public ten minutes after the end of every theatrical representation, to hiss or applaud as they please, but as soon as that time is elapsed, every one must, at a given signal, depart instantly and quietly.

A subscription was opened, sometime ago, at Cambray, for erecting a monument to the memory of the illustrious Fenelon. The sum raised amounting only to 6401 francs, and this being wholly inadequate to the purpose, the magistracy of Cambray thought they could not better apply part of the revenues of a city, which Fenelon had so highly honoured, than by making up the sum wanted; which they have accordingly done, to the amount of no

It has always been a leading object with us to render the Literary Chronicle as generally useful, as the nature of such a publication would admit; with that view the subject of emigration, in itself so important, and which has occupied so much of the public attention, has been amply treated; and much useful information conveyed in our pages. As all the places that have been successively recommended to the emigrant have been already noticed, with the exception of Canada, (which, as being a British colony, is deserving of particular attention,) we now insert an ample description of it: the reader, therefore, who may have it in contemplation to emigrate will only have to turn to the pages of the Literary Chronicle to see the relative advantages the several colo

The name of Canada was originally applied by Europeans to all the land on the south-west shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and on both sides of that river from its mouth to some distance above Quebec. The river St. Lawrence itself was called 'Le Grande Riviere du Canada.' The name was afterwards extended to all the countries which were explored by adventurers from the settlements along the river. The whole of the French possessions in North America were latterly comprehended under the name of New France. Canada, as it is understood at the present day, is bounded to the east by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and country on the Labrador coast, annexed in

1809 to the Government of Newfoundland; to the north west by undefined boundaries, but which may be supposed by the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company, to the to extend (by virtue of occupation by the fur-traders, and the discoveries of M'Kensie) to the Pacific Ocean; to the south it is bounded by unexplored countries, and the United States of America, viz., the north-west territory, the Michigan territory, the states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, the district of Maine, and by the British province of New Brunswick. The division line on the south, from the Grande Portage Count Stollberg, a German poet and writer of consi-on Lake Superior, runs through the great lakes, and derable eminence, died lately, at his estate of Soudermah- down the St. Lawrence to latitude forty-five, and thence len, near Osnabruck. along that line to the Connecticut river; from thence it follows the highlands which separate the waters running into the St. Lawrence and Atlantic, until it reaches due north of the St. Croix river, the boundary between the United States and New Brunswick.

less than 25,000 francs.

The Jews, in Paris, have recently established a school, for the instruction of their young, on the Lancasterian plan.

The king of Sweden has ordered one hundred medals to be struck in gold, silver, and copper, in honour of one hundred individuals of all nations, who have contributed to the civilization and improvement of mankind.

British and American Commissioners are now employed, ascertaining the correctness of this boundary line, and on their decision much will depend, in the event

of a rupture with the United States. The whole of this country in cultivation consists of from one to five leagues extent of country, as far as it was then explored, was back, on both banks of the St. Lawrence, and of the rivers from 1774 to 1791, under the government of the pro- which empty into it; there are also settlements along the vince of Quebec. It was then divided into Upper and boundary of the United States, from the Connecticut riLower Canada, by a boundary line, commencing at ver to the St. Lawrence, at St. Regis. On the Ottawa Pointe au Bodet, on Lake St. Francis, about fifty-five there is a settlement of naval and military men, who, since miles above Montreal; and running in a northerly direc- the last war with America, have taken up grants of land, tion to the Ottawa river, and up that river to its source and are rapidly settling and improving as fine and fertile on Lake Zomiscaming, and then due north to the Hud. a tract of country as any in the world: they have the adson's Bay boundary. Lower Canada lies between the vantage of a good water conveyance to Montreal, and forty-fifth and fiftieth degree of north latitude, and the have an immense barrier of impenetrable woods between sixty-second and eighty-second degrees of west longitude them and the United States. The rest of the country, to from Greenwich. The eastern half of the country is the very tops of the mountains, is covered with timber of a mountainous, and generally uncultivable. On the south species and growth congenial to the soil. The climate of shore of the St. Lawrence, the mountains do not recede Canada resembles that of the countries of the continent considerably from the river; till within about sixty miles of Europe, situate from ten to fifteen degrees further below Quebec, they then run in a south-westerly and south-north. The temperature, upon Fahrenheit's scale, varies ern direction, until they reach lake Champlain. On the at present from thirty below Zero, and the heat from western side of this lake they extend north-westerly, in the eighty to ninety. About sixty or seventy years ago, the direction of the Great Rapids of the St. Lawrence. On extreme of cold used to be stated at thirty degrees below the north shore they can hardly be said to leave the river, freezing of Reamur, or 36 below of Fahrenheit. The till they leave Quebec, from which they extend in a west- variation in a few minutes in the winter season has been ern and southern direction, till they again appear in sight known to be upwards of fifty degrees; it is frequently in of the mountains on the south shore, towards the above a few hours thirty. A remarkable instance of variation rapids. happened on the 18th of January, 1810, when the thermometer stood a few degrees below temperature, and was almost immediately down below Zero. The change of climate in summer is sometimes very abrupt, and is gene rally accompanied by a change of wind, only two of which can be said to prevail in the country, easterly and westerly. Small storms of easterly wind, and almost at every other time, the upper strata of clouds, when visible, is moved by a westerly wind. In the winter, the easterly wind inclines more to the north-east, and the westerly to the north-west. Throughout the whole extent of Lower Canada a slight degree of frost sometimes happens in the summer months. There is a material difference of temperature between the eastern and western divisions of the country, which is discernible at about twenty and thirty leagues above Quebec; beyond that to the eastward, agricultural labour may be prosecuted, and vegetation is active during seven months in the year; round Quebec it is rarely for more than six, at the expiration of which the soil is frozen, or covered with snow, and vegetation dormant. The period for the western division is from the 15th of November to the 15th of April; for the eastern, from the 1st of November to the 1st of May.

The country lying within these mountains, comprising an extent of above two hundred miles from east to west, and one hundred and eighty from north to south at the broadest part, is level, with the exception of the isolated mountains of Montreal, Beliel, and Chambly. Nearly in the middle of the tract of land flows the St. Lawrence, varying from a mile to upwards of twenty miles in width; navigable for vessels of three hundred tons, six hundred miles from the sea, and receiving on the north the waters of the Ottawa, L'Achigan, the St. Maurice, the Batiscan, the St. Anna, and the Jacques Cartier; and on the south the Chambley, the Ganaska, the St. Francis, the Nicolet, the Besancour, and the Chaudiere; all of which in Europe would be ranked as rivers of great magnitude. The sources of all these, excepting the Ottaway and Chambley, lie considerably to the east of their embouchures. They have generally high banks, along which the soil, and growth of timber, are inferior to that of the country farther back. All of them, excepting where they are nearly on a level with the St. Lawrence, have a second bank, at some distance from that which now contains their waters; the same thing is observable of the St. Lawrence. The waters of none of these rivers are clear, excepting the St. Lawrence itself, which, before its junction with the Ottawa, consists of the most transparent water in the world. The soil on both sides of the St. Lawrence, in the western portion of the tract of country above described, is, for the most part, clayey without stones, excepting here and there globular masses of granite lying on the surface: nearly already it is invariably covered with a dark mould, produced by dissolved vegetable substances. As you approach the mountains, the soil is more light and loamy; these lands are the easiest to be cleared, and are at first very productive. Towards Quebec the soil is poorer, frequently stony and shingly, and there are large tracts of sandy soil covered with only a very slight coating of vegetable mould: the mountains generally consist of granite, though there are, throughout the country, extensive strata of limestone, and not unfrequently stones, having appearance of volcanic production. The part of the

the

(To be concluded in our next.)

LEONARDO DA VINCIIS CELEBRATED PICTURE
OF THE LAST SUPPER.

(FROM THE Edinburgh review.)

LEONARDO, like all the great masters, meditated profoundly upon his subject, while forming the plan of his composition; and having prepared himself by long study, and, above all, by close examination of nature, began the execution by repeated sketches, both of the whole design, and of all its individual parts. Giraldi relates some curious particulars, which he had from his father, who was Leonardo's contemporary. He used to frequent the accustomed haunts of persons resembling, by their character and habits, those whom he was about to introduce in his picture; and as often as he met with any attitude, groupe, or feature, which suited his purpose, he sketched it in

the tablets which he carried about with him. Having fathers whose lot it was to occupy the same room with it nearly finished the other Apostles in this way, he had left during a very interesting portion of the day, observing Judas's head untouched, as for a long time he could find (with their wonted sagacity) that the straight line which no physiognomy which satisfied him, or came up to the joined their table and the kitchen passed through the ideas he had formed of transcendent villainy and treachery.centre of the picture, and by no means through the door, The Prior of the Dominican convent, in the refectory or and aware, from instinctive science, that the straight line dining-room of which the painting was, grew impatient between those two points was the shortest, thought proper at being so long incommoded in that essential branch of monastic discipline which was carried on in this apartment, and complained to the Grand Duke; who called on the artist to explain the delay. He said he worked at it two whole hours every day. The pious head of the house renewed his representations with very honest zeal, and alleged that Leonardo had only one head to finish, and that so far from working two hours a day, he had not been near the place for almost twelve months. Again summoned before the prince, the painter thus defended himself. It is true I have not entered the convent for a long time; but it is no less true, that I have been employed every day at least two hours upon the picture. The head of Judas remains to do; and in order to give it a physiognomy suitable to the excessive wickedness of the character, I have for more than a year past, been daily frequenting the Borghetto, morning and evening, where the lowest refuse of the capital live; but I have not yet found the features I am in quest of; these once found, the picture is finished in a day.' 'If, however,' he added, I still am unsuccessful in my search, I shall rest satisfied with the face of the Prior himself, which would suit my purpose extremely well; only that I have for a long time been hesitating about taking such a liberty with him in his own convent.' It is hardly necessary to add, that the Grand Duke was perfectly satisfied; and the artist happening soon after to meet with his Judas, finished his grand work. Our author adds a similar anecdote of Appiani, the last fresco painter that Italy has produced; who, having to represent a lion's skin, delayed a considerable time until he could find one; observing, that he had of course seen but few in his life, and never paid a very minute attention to them.

to cut through the wall, and thus destroyed a part of the principal figure, and the two next it. With a tenderness for their sovereign, almost equal to their zeal for their own clerical duties, they next nailed a great 'scutcheon of the Emperor upon the middle of the wall, so as to reach the heads of the groupe. But the tender mercies of those reverend personages have been still more fatal to this masterpiece, and have finished the destruction which their negligence begun. In 1726, they employed an artist who pretended to have a secret for reviving lost colours; and allowed him to work upon the Supper under an awning which concealed his operations. This dauber, whose name was Bellotti, painted the whole picture over again, with the exception of a portion of the sky, as seen through the window, the original colour of which remained nearly entire. It is justly remarked by our author, that connoisseurs, who were not aware of what had happened, went on pleasantly enough, lavishing their praises on the picture of Bellotti, before whose divine performance they enacted the same raptures as before he had obliterated the work of Leonardo. Finally, its destruction was completed in 1770, by one Mazza, who actually scraped off most of the few outlines which remained of the original; and had inserted heads of his own in all the figures but three, when he was stopped by a change in the convent, and a new prior succeeding. In 1796, Buonaparte, out of respect for the place, rather than that it signified much what now became of the picture, signed an order there, before he remounted his horse, prohibiting any military use being made of the apartment: but soon after, one of his generals, whose name we wish the author had been less delicate about, broke down the doors and made a stable of it. The dragoons, as might be expected, amused themselves with throwing stones at the heads, being told they were meant to represent the Apostles. The refectory was then used for some years as a magazine of forage; and when at length permission was given to wall up the door, in order to prevent further dilapidations, so little was it attended to, that, in 1800, a flood having covered the floor a foot deep with water, it was suffered to remain until it dried by evaporation.

Such is the history, and so complete the destruction, of this celebrated picture; and thus, entirely from tradition, and through the medium of copies and engravings, do we derive all the knowledge of its merit which we can now obtain. Happily those copies are numerous, and some of them by contemporary artists of note, who studied the original in the days of its greatest preservation.

The Supper, thus completed, and the object of unbounded and universal admiration, has unhappily been, of all great pictures, by far the shortest lived. Every thing unfortunate in the materials and position, has been combined with a number of untoward accidents, and some still more fatal acts of preineditated mischief, to destroy long ago all the traces of the master-hand. The first misfortune was its being painted in oil instead of fresco, a kind of work ill suited to the slow retouching hand and most fastidious taste of Leonardo, who was glad, on this account, to take advantage of the recent invention of body colours. A miserable fresco at the other end of the refectory, painted in the same age, still tantalizes the observer by the freshness of its tiuts, while the masterpiece of Leonardo, perhaps of the art, has been gone for ages. It is further said, that he used oil too much refined, and of too thin a consistency. It is certain, too, that the plaster on which he worked had some defect, which made it scale off in a few years. Then the convent is situated in a damp place, and THE FEUDAL MONARCHS OF FRANCE. the refectory is in the lowest part of the building; so that It was Charles Martel who first regulated the mutual at all times when there is an inundation in the Milanese, obligations of the lord of the fee and his feudatory. His the room is filled with water. Hence this picture retained system, afterwards improved by Louis le Debonnaire, was its original beauties only for a few years. It was finished perfected by Charles the Bald, and appeared in all its viin 1498; in 1540 it is represented as half effaced; and gour under Charles the Simple. The government was a ten years later, the outlines only remained, the colours despotism; the ruler being only occasionally thwarted by being entirely gone. A century after this, the venerable the turbulence of barbarous subjects. Clovis butchered.