King of France, the Emprefs, and moft other powers in Christendom, united in endeavouring to procure him his pardon. Inftead of being touched with thefe folicitations, Philip II. employed himself in multiply ing the moft difmal objects round about his fon. The young prince was obliged to put on mourning; his prifon was hung with black, which was embroidered with the emblems of death; his victuals were brought him by strangers who were clothed alfo in black, and who served him with down-caft looks, keeping the moft profound filence. He feemed to be immured alive in fome fepulchre inhabited by spectres. All these fufferings excited the livelieft compaffion in the people; and the king was apprehenfive that, if he deferred his vengeance much longer, he might be hindered in the execution of it. A fubtle poifon was therefore fprinkled upon the prince's linen, and upon all the victuals that were brought him; but, either from the ftrength of his conftitution or from fome other cause, the poison had no effect upon him. In a word, he was at last informed he might choose himself what manner of death he would die. It is impoffible'to defcribe the fituation of the queen when the heard this final decision of the inexorable Philip. It was fhe who had preffed all the powers of Europe to folicit a pardon for the Prince of Spain. As a laft refource fhe perfuaded him to demand a perfonal interview with the king. Whatever repugnance Don Carlos might have for such a step, he was however willing to give the queen this last mark of compliance with her will. When they announced his father's arrival, "fay my king," replied he in a melancholy accent," and not my father." As foon as he faw him, he fell at his feet, bedewed them with his tears, and asked his forgiveness in themoft melting expreffions, telling him, "that it was his own blood he was going to fhed.""When my blood is bad," replied the hard-hearted father," I offer my arm to the furgeon to let it out." On this the prince arofe with a noble rage: "Know," faid he with great warmth, "that, if there is any thing in this world that I repent of, it is this ftep which I have now taken. If fome perfons, who have a refistless power over me, had not impelled me to it, I fhould never have condescended to fo humiliating a cowardice, and fhould have died more gloriously than you live." Immediately after, he afked the guards whether the bath, in which he was to die, was ready. The king retired after his fon's reply, without feeming in the least difcompofed.-Don Carlos then took off the portrait of the queen, which he always wore in his bofom, entered the bath, and ordered the veins in his arms and legs to be opened.-In his last moments he held this precious image with a steady hand; his eyes were fixed upon it with an expreffion of affection, forrow, and rapture; and, while he contemplated it, fhed his blood, loft his ftrength, and breathed out his life in a figh for her who had given birth to his love. The vengeance of this gloomy and vindictive monarch was not yet glutted-the queen was still living.-One morning the Duchefs of Alba entered the apartment of Elizabeth with a phial in her hand: the queen was pregnant, and the duchefs informed her that the medicine fhe had brought was pronounced by the physicians neceffary to give her an eafy delivery. As the princefs refused to take it notwithstanding all her importunities, the king himself entered, and told her that her taking it was of the utmost importance, and that fhe abfolutely must. "As you infift upon it," replied fhe, "I will." The fame day the expired in the greateft agonies, after bringing forth a dead child. Thus perifhed, in the flower of their age, the moft accomplished prince that Spain ever produced, and one of the moft amiable princeffes that ever reigned over that great kingdom. They had fcarcely attained the twenty-third year of their age their virtues and their misfortunes are confecrated in the annals of history, and will always be dear to the memory of mankind. AUSTRIA AUSTRIA is one of the principal rors to Germany, and six kings to provinces of the empire of Germany towards the east; from which fituation it takes its name Ooft-ryck, in the German language fignifying the East Country. It is bounded on the north by Moravia; on the east by Hungary; on the fouth by Stiria; and on the weft by Bavaria. It is divided into Upper and Lower. Upper Auftria is fituated on the fouth, and Lower Auftria on the north, fide of the Danube. Vienna, the capital, is in Upper Auftria, which contains several other very confiderable towns. The country is very fertile, has a great many mines, and produces vast quantities of fulphur. In the ninth and tenth centuries, Auftria was the frontier of the empire against the barbarians. In 928, the emperor Henry the Fowler, perceiving that it was of great importance to fettle fome perfon in Austria who might oppose these incurfions, invefted Leopold, furnamed the Illuftrious, with that country. Otho 1. erected Auftria into a marquifate in favour of his brother-in-law Leopold, whose descendant Henry II. was created duke of Auftria by the emperor Frederic Barbaroffą. His pofterity becoming extinct in 1240, the ftates of the country, in order to defend themselves from the incurfions of the Bavarians and Hungarians, refolved to put themselves under the protection of Henry marquis of Mif-. nia; but Othogar II. king of Bohemia, being likewife invited by a party in the duchy, took poffeffion of it, alleging not only the invitation of the ftates, but also the right of his wife, heirefs of Frederic the laft duke. The emperor Rodolphus I. pretending a right to this duchy, refused to give Othogar the inveftiture of it; and afterwards, killing him in a battle, procured the right of it to his own family. From this Rodolphus the prefent houfe of Auftria is defcended, which for feveral centuries past has rendered itself so famous and fo powerful, having given fourteen empe Spain. In 1477, Auftria was erected into an archduchy by the emperor Frederic the Pacific, for his fon Maximilian, with thefe privileges: that thefe fhall be judged to have obtained the inveftiture of the ftates, if they do not receive it after having demanded it three times; that if they receive it from the emperor, or the imperial ambaffadors, they are to be on horfeback, clad in a royal mantle, having in their hand a staff of command, and upon their head a ducal crown of two points, and furrounded with a crofs like that of the imperial crown. The archduke is born privy-counfellor to the emperor, and his states cannot be put to the ban of the empire. All attempts against his perfon are punished as crimes of lefe-majefty, in the fame manner as thofe against the king of the Romans, or Electors. No one dared to challenge him to fingle combat. It is in his choice to affift at the affemblies, or to be abfent; and he has the privilege of being exempt from contributions and public taxes, excepting twelve foldiers which he is obliged to maintain against the Turks for one month. He has rank immediately after the electors; and exercifes juftice in his ftates without appeal, by virtue of a privilege granted by Charles V. His fubjects cannot even be summoned out of his province upon account of lawsuits, to give witnefs, or to receive the investiture of fiefs. 'Any of the lands of the empire may be alienated in his favour, even thofe that are feudal; and he has a right to create counts, barons, gentlemen, poets, and notaries. In the fucceffion to his states, the right of birth takes place; and, failing males, the females fucceed according to the lineal right; and, if no heir be found, they may difpofe of their lands as they please. Upper Auftria, properly fo called, has throughout the appearance of a happy country; here are no figns of the the ftriking contrast betwixt poverty and riches which offends fo much in Hungary. All the inhabitants, thofe of the capital only excepted, enjoy that happy mediocrity which is the confequence of a gentle and wife adminiftration. The farmer has property; and the rights of the nobility, who enjoy a kind of lower judicial power, are well defined. The fouth and fouth-weft parts of the country are bounded by a ridge of hills, the inhabitants of which enjoy a fhare of profperity unknown to thofe of the interior parts of France. There are many villages and market-towns, the inhabitants of which having bought themselves off from vaffalage, are now their own governors, and belong fome of them to the eftates of the country. The cloifters, the prelates of which belong to the eftates of the country, are the richest in Germany, after the immediate prelacies and abbacies of the empire. One of the great convents of Benedictines is worth upwards of 4000 millions of French livres, half of which goes to the exchequer of the country. Lower Auftria yearly exports more than two millions worth of guilders of wine to Moravia, Bohemia, Upper Auftria, Bavaria, Saltzberg, and part of Stiria and Carinthia. This wine is four, but has a great deal of strength, and may be carried all over the world without danger; when it is ten or twenty years old it is very good. This country is very well peopled. Mr. Schloffer, in his political journal, which contains an account of the population of Auftria, estimates that of this country at 2,100,000 men. The revenue of this country is about 14,000,000 of florins; of which the city of Vienna contributes above five, as one man in the capital earns as much as three in the country. The fouthern parts of Austria are covered with hills, which rife gradually from the banks of the Danube to the borders of Stiria, and are covered with woods. They lofe themfelves in the mass of mountains which run to the fouth of Germany, and ftretch through all Stiria, Carniola, Carinthia,and Tyrol, to the Swiss Alps; and are probably, after Savoy and Swit zerland, the highest part of the earth. The inhabitants of this extensive ridge of mountains are all very much alike; they are a strong, large, and, the goitres excepted, a very handfome, people. The characteristic of the inhabitants of all this country is ftriking bigotry, united with ftriking fenfuality. You need only fee what is going forwards here to be convinced that the religion taught by the monks is as ruinous for the morals as it is repugnant to Christianity. The cicifbeos accompany the married women from their bed to church, and lead them to the very confeffional. The bigotry of the public in the interior parts of Auftria, which from the mixture of gallantry with it, is ftill to be found even amongst people of rank, degenerates amongst the common people into the groffeft and most abominable buffoonery. The Windes, who are mixed with the Germans in these countries, distinguish themselves by a fuperftitious custom that does little honour to the human understanding, and would be incredible if we had not the most unequivocal proofs of the fact before our eyes. Many years ago, they fet out in company with fome Hungarian enthufiafts to Cologne on the Rhine, which is about one hundred and twenty German miles diftant, to cut off the beard of a crucifix there. Every feven years this operation is repeated, as in this fpace of time the beard grows again to its former length. The rich perfons of the affociation fend the poorer ones as their deputies, and the magiftrates of Cologne receive them as embaffadors from a foreign prince. They are entertained at the expence of the state, and a counsellor fhews them the most remarkable things in the town. This farce brings in large fums of money at stated times, and may therefore deferve political encouragement; but ftill, however it is the most miferable and meanest way of gain that can be imagined. These Windes have alone the right to shave our Saviour, and the beard grows only for them. They firmly believe, that, if they did not do this fervice to the crucifix, the earth would be shut to to them for the next seven years, and there would be no harvests. For this reafon they are obliged to carry the hair home with them, as the proof of having fulfilled their commiffion, the returns of which are diftributed amongst the different communities, and preferved as holy reliques. The imperial court has for a long time endeavoured in vain to prevent this emigration, which deprives agriculture of fo many ufeful hands. When the Windes could not go openly, they would go clandeftinely. At length the court thought of the expedient of forbidding the regency of Cologne to let them enter the town. This happened fix years ago, and the numerous embassy was obliged to beg its way back again without the wonderful beard; which without doubt the capuchins, to whom the crucifix belonged, used to put together from their own. The trade which the monks carry on with holy falves, oils, &c. is ftill very confiderable; a prohibition of the court, lately publifhed, has rather leffened it, but it cannot be entirely fuppreffed till next generation. It is now carried on fecretly, but perhaps to nearly as great an amount as formerly. THE PROGRESS OF VANITY. IT is not a little difficult to difcri ftrange infatuation never appropriat Iminate rightly between ambition ed to curfelves. never and vanity, we are by both fenfations prompted to exalt ourselves either in fome fphere or other; and the attainment of fuch end, tho' fometimes afcribed to a laudable ambition, is very frequently the refult of vanity alone. It cannot be overlooked however, that with the wife man, whofe principal aim is to know himfelf, and whofe knowledge and experience dictate to him alone the veneration of a fuperior, and not the ftupid admiration of mortals like himself, humility ftands the foremost of the virtues; without it beauty itfelf ceafes to charm, and the allurements and attractions of the female fex in general are difgufting, without that modefty which is their chief and confpicuous ornament. The effects of vanity on mankind are various as the caufes whereby fuch vanity is excited; it is however for the most part of that nature which cannot merit praife, as it too often adopts a fyftem of laffitude under the cover of great abilities, which in the minds of thofe in a humble fphere, would be converted into a fpring of action, meritorious in itself, and beneficial to others. The operations of this paffion likewife daily expofe us to the ridicule of the world, which, though fometimes mifplaced, is not always fo.. Yet even this ridicule fo evident to the eyes of others, and fo reproachful to ourselves, is by a ties of the human mind (of which alas we all partake) are beheld only in others, and the propensities to vice are execrated by us as though we did not participate in them. It has been urged as a plea for this fashionable failing, that there is no man but is ac quainted with his own abilities; we cannot by any means contradict this : but,while we acknowledge the truth of it, we cannot but deplore the weakness of the human being, who is in purfuit of the most empty and least defirable of all attainments. If vanity is made a leading object, how shall we bear the frowns and fcorns of the world, which, whether merited or not, requires fome fortitude to fupport, and which, alas! vanity can never infpire. If vanity is our portion, how fhall we arrive at any perfection in science, for we are beforehand fufficiently wife, and need not further information? In fact, there is nothing in the human heart fo treacherous to its own felicity, as the encouragement of a fenfation, which though it may hold its feat for a time, the delufion must at last vanish, and leave the fad refource of fruitless reflection. For, when our youthful avocations have no foundation in truth and virtue, the refuge which we shall but too folicitoufly fly to in old age for folace and tranquillity, will afford only imbecility and disappointment! DESCRIPTION DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF MARTINICO, Lately captured by the British Forces; embellished with an elegant Representation of the forming of FORT ROYAL, and a striking Likeness of Gen. Sir CHA. GREY. Map on the richest, bet planted, laying, and cabinet work, he has and ftrongeft, of all the French Carib-rofe-wood, which when wrought and bee iflands; and its fertility is unquef- polished, has a very beautiful aptioned by its very great production of pearance, as well as fine fmell. fugar, ginger, and tobacco, the last of an extraordinary quality. It is in 61° W. Long. 14° 30' N. Lat. ARTINICO was without ex- woods, which are used for dying, in The land is not only rich and fruitful, but also improved with the utmoft industry, and alfo with extraordinary skill. ́ ́The fea-coaft and harbours were excellently well fortified, and the feveral forts had conftantly ftrong garrisons of regular troops from France. The principal commodity at prefent raised in the Caribbee islands is fugar, whereas formerly it was tobacco. M. de Poincy was the firft who taught the art of raifing the fugarCane, and curing the juice of it. He was a man of fuch extraordinary genius, that he improved upon the methods then in ufe at Brazil and the Madeiras; the mills he caufed to be erected were ftronger, neater, and better fitted for use; and his furnaces likewife were contrived to much greater advantage; fo that he not only introduced it, but carried the art of fugar-making to a very high degree of perfection. Betides fugar they raife alfo a great deal of indigo, in which they did not fo foon fucceed as in fugar; which the French writers attribute to the intolerable ftench the making of that commodity is attended with. But they were more happy in raifing cotton, which requires very little pains or labour. They alfo cultivate cocoa to great advantage, and draw confiderable profit from ginger, caffia, and pimento, which is what we call Jamaica pepper, or all-fpice, of which they export confiderable quantities. They likewife manufacture rocou, for the ufe of dyers, and send home variety of medicinal gums, and wet fweet-meats of feveral kinds.-This island produces alfo feveral kinds of valuable Though this ifland produces fo many rich and valuable commodities, yet it ftands in need of very large fupplies of various kinds of neceffaries, without which it could not poffibly fubfift, fuch as horfes, and cattle of all kinds; corn, roots, dry fish, and all forts of lumber, of which it received confiderable quantities from Canada, and the reft it had heretofore from our northern colonies, in exchange for fugar, tobacco, indigo and other goods, which are fent to Canada, and for molaffes to our colonies, where it is diftilled into rum. In Martinico it is computed that they make, one year with another, ten thoufand hogfheads of fugar, each of about fix hundred weight; in Guadaloupe, about four thousand hogfheads; and in the other islands, about one thousand høgfheads all together. The French employed in this trade annually between two and three hundred fhips, from the burden of one hundred to three hundred tons. The time in which they failed from France is between September and February, that they might avoid as much as pofiible the hurricanes, and arrive in a fit feafon for completing their cargoes. The land is fixteen leagues in length and forty-five in circumference, leaving out the capes, fome of which extend two or three leagues into the fea. It is very uneven, and interfected in all parts by a number of hillocks; which are mostly of a conical form. Three mountains rife above thefe fmaller eminences. The highest bears the indelible marks of a volcano. The woods with which it is covered continually attract the clouds, which occafions noxious damps, and contributes to make it horrid. |