SOME ACCOUNT OF THE RISE AND HOLLAND. WE purpose taking some kindly notice of the writers of Holland,-a class of men who we think have hardly received justice at the hands of the literary world. Our own countrymen, who, in search of amusement or instruction, have ransacked the literature of other European nations, have overlooked our Dutch neighbours as if by general convention, and neither their language nor the minds that have ennobled it, have been much noticed among us, in the way of honourable commemoration. True it is that something has been spoken of the Hollander,-his rage for commerce, and his passion for tulip-roots, the magnificence of his dairies, and the bulky superfluity of his nether garments, have all in their turn attracted our attention, and with reason; but the Dutchmen have been remarkable for better things than these. It must be confessed, when we look at Holland, a country planted in the waves, dependent for its very existence on the durability of its dykes, a country essentially commercial, we should scarcely imagine it calculated to promote the cause of literature; but the fact is otherwise; few countries have ja juster title to celebrity on that account, and the wise and learned of all succeeding ages will not deny that such men as Erasmus, as Grotius, as Julius Scaliger, and Isaac Vossius, have a just title to their gratitude. The lovers of science should always commemorate the names of Huygens, Boerhave, and of Swammerdam. While to those who delight in the quiet elegancies of civilized life, who should be dearer than Rembrandt and Gerard Dow, than Mieris and Paul Potter? and obeying no laws but those which the nature of their subject and the taste of their read ers instinctively require, adopted for their own tongue the rules which Boileau and less wort by critics had declared necessary for the French. As might have been anticipated, boldness and originality in style and thought gave way to the absurdities of pedantry and the feebleness of in itation; and it is difficult, from among the writers of the time, to select one of sterling merit. Vie must not, however, pass over the peasant, Poot. He is tame and almost below mediocrity when addressing a patron, but shows himself a true poet in his odes on the happiness of a country life; and the trees, under which he had so often reposed from his labours, the flowers at his feet, the sky above him, the gurgling waters, the bird s and the breeze, live again in his then inspired lines. Next to Poot is Langendijk, who, notwithstanding the buffoonery of many of his compositions, has been compared to Molière, and must always be granted a high place among comic poets. Van Haren is chiefly known by his odes and his poem entitled 'Les Gueux,' wherein he celebrates the praises of the great founders of Batavian liberty. If polite literature lost ground in this age, the cause of science advanced. Philology, jurisprudence and physic, flourished under the auspices of Haverkamp, Oudendorp, Drakenborch, Heineceius, Boërhave, Albinus, Campen, Musschenbrook, Lyonnet, and Farenheit. From this person few writers appeared of such eminence as to attract or demand particular notice until after the French Revolution. ledge and curiosity at the end of the fifteenth, displayed itself with increased vigour at the commencement of the sixteenth century. In Holland, the treasures of antiquity were illustrated by Agricola and Erasmus; philology, by Hadrianus Junius; mathematics and geography, by Mercator and Ortelius; botany, by Dodonans; chemistry, by the Isaacs; anatomy, by Ves lius; and jurisprudence, by Rævardus and Vigilius; but their works are in Latin. The University of Leyden had its origin in the following romantic causes : This city, having effected its preservation from the arms of Philip II. with the sufferings and death of 6,000 of the inhabitants, was offered by the Prince of Orange, an exemption from taxes for many years, or the establishment of a university. The citizens decided for the latter. Four months after the raising of the siege the university was founded, and, in a few years it became one of the most celebrated in Europe. About the same time, by the labours of Coornhert; of Marnix Aldegonde, the composer of the national song of Orange Boven'; of Wilhelmus van Nassauwen; and of Spiegel, the language was very greatly purified from its corruptions, and the poetry of Roemer Visscher gave it simplicity and grace. But it is to Hooft, who flourished in the beginning of the seventeenth century, that the Dutch language is most indebted. He brought it, it may be said, at once to perfection. Equally admirable in poetry and in prose, the partialities of his countrymen rank his Granada,' a pastoral, next, if not equal. to the Aminta,' of Tasso; and, in the history of his country, he proved his native tongue to be capable of imitating the sterner beau- The first name that then occurs is that of Bilties of Tacitus, an author whom he is said to have derdijk, a most voluminous writer, who unites perused fify-two times, in order to fit himself for the apparent discordant qualities of lawyer, gramthe task he had undertaken. Hooft is a rare in- marian, and poet. At an early age he obtained a The same century, the thirteenth, which wit- stance of talents of the first order rightly emprize from the poetical society of Leyden; after nessed the rise of Bruges and Antwerp, presents ployed and duly rewarded. The friend of Huy-which he put forth translations of the Greek traus with the first distinct evidences of the dialect, gens and Descartes, and the protector of Grotius, gedians. A refugee from his country in 1795, he since known as the Dutch language. The pro- he was the intimate and confidant of William I., delivered lectures in London on poetry, in the ductions of the German minstrels, which were Prince of Orange, and was ennobled by Louis XII., French language, which were well attended. In collected by order of Charlemagne, formed, perof France. Vondel, the Shakspeare of his adopted 1806, he returned to Holland, became the inhaps, the model for the madrigals, or love ro- country, was the contemporary, and shared the structor of Louis Buonaparte, and published three mances, of Holland of the fourteenth century; the friendship of Hooft. The subjects of his plays volumes of tragedies of unequal merit, together writers of which, Maerlant, Jean Helu, and Melis are generally scriptural; his best, as dramas for with translations from Pope, Horace, Pindar, Stoke were simple burghers; but their verses acthe stage, are Gijsbrecht van Amstel' and Pala- Theocritus, &c. On the abdication of Louis in companied the breviaries of high-born ladies, and medes'; this last, though Greek in name, has re1810, he lost his pension, and, three years afterwere, perhaps, more frequently perused as being ference to the death of Barneveldt, and was felt wards, joined the triumphant shouts of his countrythe most interesting. Like the poems of Chaucer and attempted to be avenged by that great man's men on the return of their native princes, an and Gower with us, these effusions contributed in murderers. But it is in his satires that Vondel event which, in his Hollonds Verlossing, or Desome measure to fix the language in which they greatly shines. In these he displays an energy of liverance of Holland and Wappenkreet; or an were written. The fifteenth century forms a new style and ideas, that has been equalled by no satirist Appeal to Arms,' he has celebrated in verses and remarkable era in the history of literature. of Holland, and surpassed by few of any other well worthy of the subject. His fame depends, The art of printing was then first discovered by country. More popular than either Hooft or however, very principally on his grammatical Laurent Koster, an inhabitant of Haarlem. The Vondel, though with less pretensions to purity works, and we can recall no author who has greater skill or industry of the German trio, and elegance, is Cats, the poet of low life. His treated with greater skill the delicacies and Gutenburg, Faust, and Schoeffer have, however, writings, in their detail and strong nationality, reniceties of that crooked study, or who has won for them the eulogies due to Koster, whose mind us of the paintings of the Dutch school. evinced a deeper insight into the structure of merits are scarcely recognised beyond the walls of In one of his poems, Het Huwelijk,' or the Mar- their own language than Bilderdijk. He has been his native city. The first consequences of this riage, in six cantos, he depicts, in description and ably seconded by Siegenbeek in his profound discovery to letters in Holland, were not so im- in dialogue-the girl, the lover, the betrothed, remarks on the new system of orthography, by portant as might have been expected. At the the woman, the mother, and the widow. Hence Wieland, the author of a Dutch dictionary, in court of Philip le Bon, of Burgundy, whose in-his influence with the common people, to whom eleven volumes, and of a work on Dutch synofluence prevailed over the extent of the present nimes, as well as a good elementary grammar; Netherlands kingdom, French alone was spoken; and by Kinker, in treating of prosody. In moral and the Chambers of Rhetoric,' which had their philosophy, Kinker's name, in conjunction with origin at this period, following rather than leadVan Hemert, again appears as the propounder of ing opinion, served, by sanctioning the introducKant's system, and in which endeavour they have tion of foreign words only, to corrupt the language been skilfully seconded by Schroeder, Deiman, over which they pretended to watch. The cirFalk, and Jerononimo de Bosch. Kinker is a cumstance most worthy of notice in this age is wonderful man. He embraces in the wide circuit the first appearance of prose writing.* of his knowledge, it may be said, all that pertains to philosophy and the fine arts. His summary of Kant's system has called forth the highest and most marked praise from Degerando in France. He has written and translated tragedies and operas for the stage. His 'Janus Revived,' and Ruminator,' prove his vast acquaintance with policy and government. His Essay on Dutch Prosody' has been mentioned. With the ancient he is equally conversant as with modern languages. Among his productions are remarks on an Egyptian manuscript, and on a Greek manuscript in From this time, however, the ignorance that had so long prevailed began to pass away, and the impulse which had been given to human know * In the library of Brussels is a general history in manuscript, composed about the year 1450, or 1460, with plates, in one of which is seen a monk consoling the last moments of Augustus; and, in another, the funeral of the emperor is celebrated with all the pomp of the Romish ritual, whilst the notary and other personages present at the writing of the monarch's will, are habited in the costume of the fifteenth century. ་ he speaks in their own way, recalling all their Egyptian characters. Like all great Dutch authors he is a poet, and a good one; and, to his other & ccomplishments, he adds a thorough knowledge of music. Yet, of the name of the Professor of Liege, how few in England have heard? Forem ost amongst those who have deserved well of the ir country, stands the Count Van Hogendorp. Having entered the army at an early age, this nobleman proceeded, as a private individual, to the Northern States of America, where he was honoured with the friendship of Franklin, and resided under the same roof with Washington. Returning to his native land, he found it agitated with the first ebullitions of revolution: the people contending against their rulers, and he espoused the cause of the Prince of Orange. The final triumph of republicanism forced him to take shelt er in the quiet of private life. This enlightened individual was one of a few whose hopes for the future rose superior to circumstances, and who, at the most fearful period of Napoleon's ambitious career, still looked forward to the final regeneration of their country. When the time arri ved for expelling the invaders, he came forth to cheer and sustain his countrymen, and elevate the ir minds to the level of that exigence on which the ir freedom depended. The studies to which he haldevoted himself during his retirement proved of eminent service to him, as the head of the Committee appointed, in 1815, to draw up la loi fonda nentale of the Netherlands kingdom. The Count Van Hogendorp ranks with Kemper and Van Alphen as the most efficient and most eloquent members of the National Assembly. We wish we had room to quote a few only of the arguments of this statesman in favour of a free trade, from his Considerations of the Policy of the Low Countries.' His other principal works tre, On the Commerce of India,' and on the "Commerce, Culture, and Finances of Java.' In the eloquence of the pulpit, Dermont and Vander Palm have surpassed, in the estimation of their countrymen, all their contemporaries. Countries considered in their connection with N.B.-Wagenaar, a voluminous and respec- Ma l'afflitta, che pur ne la ruina Ricordivi che tutte io v' ebbi ancelle, Per le saire di Roma erme ruine, Ahi prisca gloria! ahi vani orgogli! ahi come Io chiamava le antiche Ombre per nome; Le fraterne discordie e le percosse, Indi qual vergognando giù cadea, Tutta fuori de l' area la persona, E gridando vendetta, arml chiedea.' The poem which approaches to this in form and grandeur, is that which bears the title of La Spada di Frederico.' It is well known, that after the battle of Jena, Buonaparte carried off the sword of Frederick II. as a trophy of victory, to expiate the defeat of the French at Rosbach. The description of the Prussian hero rising from his tomb, and extending his hand with shuddering indignation, to prevent his weapon from becoming the prey of the conqueror, has some sort of analogy with that of the downcast King in the most forcible scenes of Macbeth, or at least it awakens the same horror, and causes the hair to stand on end from similar feelings. Il bardo della selva The Dutch language is rich in historical records; amongst later writers, Kluit has published a history of the different forms of government which have prevailed in Holland from the earliest periods. It is a work replete with informa- MONTI AND THE ITALIAN WRITERS OF nera' is an incomplete poem, which the author tion imparted in a clear and concise style. To any one who is acquainted with the entangled state of this country's earlier history, it is satisfactory to find for a guide a writer who has brought it into any degree of order, and has explained the origin and changes in the connection of the sovereign with the people; the state of the nobility and the commons at different epochs; the commencement of the corporative privileges of the different cities of Holland and the rise, influence, and power of the national assemblies and the stadtholders. Van Wijn in his Historical Evening,' and Sedentary Life, has opened up to his readers a fund of information regarding the manners and customs of past times. The history of William II. Count of Holland, by Meerman, and the history of Guelderland, by the Baron de Spaan, may be consulted with advantage by the curious in the traditionary lore, laws, politics, and religion of the middle ages; and Herman Bosscha and Van der Palm have recorded the events which finally led to the restoration of the Orange family to the possessions of their ancestors. Some exceedingly interesting sketches of the characters who figured on the scene at that critical period, and who first raised the cry of Orange Boven, are to be found in Van der Palm's work, displaying all the fervour and animation of which that great writer is so capable. But the authors who have distinguished themselves on treating more recent subjects of history are Scheltema and Van Kampen. Scheltema would stand even higher than he does, if he had not too great a love for Hooft and obsolete phrases. He has taken Hooft as his model, who, as we have noticed, is himself an imitator of Tacitus. Even with these defects, his Russia and the Low THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. No. III. has not finished. Buonaparte is also the subject of this; but it is a feeble production in comparison with the others, though it occasionally sparkles AMONG the poems which Monti wrote in cele- with beauty of a superior order. A great number bration of Buonaparte's victories, the finest is that of other poems of all kinds follow those which we which is entitled Il Beneficio. It is a sublime have noticed, all bearing the stamp of genius. vision, in which he paints the sorrows and the The pathetic cast of his elegies, the audacious hopes of Italy when the French General, descend-flight of lyrical odes, the concentrated force of his ing upon it at the head of a formidable army, sonnets, the biblical sanctity of his religious strains, promised to relieve it of its misfortunes, and to all, in fact, are clothed in a magical language, restore to it the grandeur of its power and pros- which makes us think and feel, and transports the perity-a promise which, by the by, the said soul into enchanted regions. The best analysis General never performed. this warrior appearing on the Alps, and terrifying them entire before the eyes of all admirers of the The description of which could be made of so many celebrated productions, would be to reprint them, and place Europe with his frowns, recalls, perhaps, too exactly the picture of Achilles putting a crowd of just and beautiful. enemies to rout, by merely appearing on the front of a vessel. In his personification of the Italy, under the form of a beautiful woman covered with wounds, and lamenting in desolation and mourning, he seems to have combined the powers of Michael Angelo and Raphael. We must quote the passage: 'Una donna di forme alme e divine, Per lungo duolo attrita, e di squallore Sí di pietà mi prese e di respetto, Stranie donne scettrate; e la strignea E crescean strazio ed onta a la meschina: Monti has also written some tragedies. We do not pretend to maintain that they have attained to the standard of Alfieri as to theatric perfection; but we confidently venture to assert, that he has caused tragedy to advance another step in the poetical forms of expression. Alfieri, from a laudable apprehension of falling into the musical harmony of Metastasio, and conseqeuntly into that mild effeminacy with which the Italian language has always been reproached, had adopted a system of versification certainly energetic and profound, but most frequently devoid of all pomp or splendour. Monti has shown that these two qualities may be very well imitated. His tragic productions are rich in those dazzling attractions of poetry, which the theatre stands in need of, in order to excite all our faculties at once, and to lead the affections of the soul by a simultaneous movement of all the organs of sense. Thus in his Aristodemus,' unquestionably the best of his tragedies, whilst we are rather shocked at the treaty of peace between Sparta and Messina, which breaks in like an episode, quite foreign to the principal plot; we are yet delighted with the poetical beauty of the striking dialogue between Aristodemus and the Spartan Ambassadors, the pomp, dignity, and contrivance of which, leaves us nothing to desire. Under this point of view, it must be said that Monti has added to the reform of tragedy that was made by Alfieri, and has gathered to himself some of the ornaments from the brilliant crown of the Piedmontese Sophocles. Justice compels us to avow that this species of glory has also been shared by Piedemonte in his noble tragedy of Arminius.' Besides his original poems, Monti has also consecrated his vigils to translating in verse the Satires of Persius and the Iliad of Homer. The first of these is known by the obscurity, constraint, and roughness of his style, and the second by his simplicity, majesty, and splendour. The address with which Monti has conquered all these difficulties, and the spirit and beauty which he has given to these two ancient poets are beyond all praise; consequently, with such a series of inspired works, following each other in quick succession, like prodigies on prodigies, the influence which he has over the age in which he has lived in, has been powerful and general. The vigour of his versification, which savours of his long theories upon Dante, has turned public attention to this first father of Italian poetry, whose immortal poem has once more become almost the exclusive aliment of all well constituted minds. The depths of his thoughts, the aerial colouring of his images, and the bold relief of his pictures, have given the death-stroke to those composers of verses who endeavoured to revive the redundancy of the Arcadia of Rome, or of the Frugonian sect. There was a time when young Italians commenced their literary career only by a frivolous sonnet or insipid Anacreontic. To do so, in the present day, would be to risk their reputation in the very outset, as it is well known that public contempt would be their sure and inevitable reward. Monti is at his post with his Herculean club in his hand, to make youth comprehend that they must either aspire to poetry worthy of the name, or remain silent. Hence arises the great number of tragedians with which Italy at present swarms. The poets run to the theatre to exercise their powers, and learn to struggle with innumerable difficulties. Certainly they have no reason to be too proud of their success, for the career is immensely difficult; but, it must be observed, that if good tragedies are very rare, there are none that are absolutely worthless: with all their faults, they are all more or less strongly conceived in some respects, and invariably exhibit some talent and promise. We merely dwell on this fact, to show the noble inclination of the age, and what we owe to the generous influence of a single individual. It has been said, that, by a remarkable phenomenon, all great poets are commonly bad prose writers. This remark is in general true, but it admits of exceptions. Voltaire gave the first example of this in France, and Monti has given a second in Italy. It would be long and tedious to enter into the origin of the dispute which he has undertaken to sustain for several years past, for the reformation of the great Dictionary of La Crusca. It is a question which can be interesting only to Italians, and we therefore pass it by. One thing is certain, that the poet has carried off the suffrages of all the enlightened men of Italy in favour of his opinion, and that the six volumes he has published on the subject are written with a a vivacity, a propriety, and a purity and charm of style, the merit of which has not even been contested by his competitors. Aided by his vast literary knowledge, he has disclosed the faults and the lacunes of the Dictionary, and has so embellished with graces a theme necessarily cold and sterile, that the work is as entertaining to a wellinformed Italian, as a romance would be in any other country in Europe. SKETCH OF COUNT DE LA BORDE'S TRAVELS IN THE LEVANT. [Continued from page 11.] Ar a distance ot twelve leagues from the plain of Konié rises an isolated mountain, called the Kam-Dugh, or black mountain; is is the object of several marvellous stories, and had never been visited by any preceding traveller. That mountain,' said the Turks, contains a thousand and one churches, which inclose treasures; and they fall down upon the heads of any person, who attempts to enter them. The stones of these monasteries, as we are informed by the Greeks and Armenians, walk in procession by night, and spread terror in every quarter. In fact, neither Olivier nor Kinnaird could find a guide bold enough to accompany them to the spot. The truth of the matter is, that it has always been head-quarters for robbers. selves in a circle, and the spectators stood behind them; the orchestra, composed of drums and wind instruments, then ranged themselves in due order. Within the circle were posted five Tchautshes, who amused us with throwing up their long rods on high, and catching them as they felt; these rods were furnished with long silver chains, by means of which they whirled them backwards and forwards, much in the same way as the censers are swung at mass; besides this they ejacu lated a prayer or two for the welfare of the Grand Signor and the Pasha. After these prayers had been said, one of them advanced a few paces, and asked, in a loud tone of voice, if any person had been unjustly dealt by, or had any complaint to make; assuring the injured party that his petition should be read in the presence of the assembly and presented to the Pasha. We were much pleased with this solemnity, and were expressing our feelings upon the subject, when an individual, Ali, Pasha of Konié, having given us one of❘ who had kept himself in the back-ground, in the his guards as our guide, we explored the moun- rear of the band, during the whole ceremony, adtain in several directions, in the hope of discover-vanced three paces towards the circle, and placing ing the ruins of some ancient city. But, to our his right hand upon his scymitar, kept his cye great regret, we found that the thousand and one steadily fixed upon the Pasha, as if awaiting his churches, of which the Turks had spoken, con- commands. We naturally imagined that this was sisted of monasteries and tombs of the fifth and the officer in attendance, but were informed that sixth centuries; which were distinguished, how- it was the executioner: an intimation at which the ever, by a very remarkable feature, inasmuch as blood curdled in our veins, and the frightful desall their façades were of the shape of a horse's potism of the East rushed in all its terrors upon shoe, an evident proof that this species of archi- our imagination. tecture, which is common to the most ancient Arabic monuments, did not originate with the Arabians, but is derived from the Byzantines, who were the parents of every thing relating to the arts in Asia as well as Europe. In truth, the Greeks did not surrender the sceptre of taste, even in the worst times of their decline. From Konié we bent our course towards Mount Taurus and Caramania. The ascent to the most elevated point of that mountain did not consume above seven hours, though it took us three days to complete our descent to the coast; from which latter circumstance the great elevation of the Asiatic plane is manifestly apparent. I lament that I must abstain, gentlemen, from describing the interesting vicinities of the Taurus, the ruins scattered along the whole coast from Selefke to Tarsus, the remains of Corisum and Eleusis, the forest of columns at Pompeiopoli, and the memorable Tarsus, where the living waters of the Cydnus had well nigh engulfed Alexander, and the apostle Paul first drew breath! As we passed by the spot, where the roof of that apostle had once stood, I was forcibly reminded of the simple yet eloquent observation he addressed to a female, who had thrown herself at his feet;- What is it that thou doeth? I am but a man of Tarsus.' We quitted this neighbourhood with all possible speed in consequence of the ravages which the plague was inflicting around us; our intention was to re-ascend the Pyramo and examine the remains of Anazarba, the ancient Anazarbo, and of Boudrour, six leagues beyond it, in which, as the Arabs informed us, there were more than two hundred columns, all of them standing; but on mentioning our wish to Nourid, Pasha of Adana, he dissuaded us from the attempt by acquainting us that the Turcomans, who inhabited the valley, were suffering dreadfully from the plague, and were in a state of open rebellion against his authority. We were much surprised at the inquiries he made about General Sebastiani and Priuce Talleyrand, and found that he had known the former at Constantinople, where he had been Grand-Vizier, and became acquainted with the latter during his mission to France, previously to the embassy of Ghslib-Effendi. His conversation was of a far more lively and instructive cast than any we had hitherto had with other Pashas or Mussulmen, who had fallen in our way; and he invited us to assist at a species of divan, composed of the whole of his household, and held every day in the court-yard of his palace. The Delhybashi, Tartars, Tchautshes, &c., arranged them The route from Adana to Aleppo, is the same which Alexander traced when he crossed the Pili Maritimi on his way to meet Darius. The field of battle on the Issus is precisely such as history has described it; a plain inclosed between the sea, and an ampitheatre of mountains, and peculiarly adapted to give the fullest effect to the tactics of the Macedonian phalanx, as well as to afford bravery the preponderance over numbers. Antioch and it magnificent ruins, the woody shades of Daphne, and the pellucid meanderings of the Orontes, detained us for a few days; but the ravages making around us by the plague, disconcerted all our designs. On passing through the village cemeteries, we were alarmed at the multiplicity of sepulchral hillocks, and the freshgathered appearance of the flowers which the Turks are accustomed to plant over the graves of their relatives or friends. The dismal impressions this scene excited had by no means diiminished when we reached Aleppo. At a league in advance of that city, M. de Lesseps, the French Consul, having received information of our approach, rode out to meet us in company with the principal French merchants; though, in consequence of the ten days' quarantine to which it was determined to subject us, they did not venture to come in personal contact with us. When, however, we had reached our quarters, M. de Lesseps jumped from his saddle, exclaiming, 'I can contain myself no longer; happen what may, ny feelings must have vent!' and with these words he threw himself into my arms. His companions did the same by mine; and every idea of quarantine and its purifications was from that moment laid upon the shelf. In fact, there are so few Frenchmen who are found travelling in eastern regions, that the arrival of a single individual of that race becomes a positive festival to their poor fellow-countrymen in exile. Alas! within two months afterwards the plague carried off several of our hosts, whom the earthquake had spared. From Aleppo we took our departure for Palmyra. The difficulties of this journey form much the same kind of episode in our Levantine excursion, which that city itself forms when we refer to its isolated site amidst the encircling desert. The visitor generally starts from Homs, or from Hama. Among the inhabitants in these two towns, are several who keep up an intercourse with the Arab chiefs, and enter into terms with them for providing travellers with guides; in fact, they are to a certain extent the purveyors of the desert. The most eminent of these agents is the Sheik Thala, who conveys the caravan of Mecca from Hama to Damascus; he instantly dispatched an express to a chief, who was the most influential leader of the surrounding hordes at the time of our visit; power, however, is but a fleeting commodity in the desert, and is incessantly merging from one tribe into another, as it is dependent upon the junctions or alliances which take place between them, and the fresh tribes imported every year from the Euphrates and Tigris. In four days' time the man who was to conduct us, made his appearance; he proved to be Nahar, the Sheik of the tribe of the Lions, which is a branch of the distinguished race of the Aneses. He was at the head of ten thousand men, living under six thousand tents, and scattered over a surface of thirty or forty square leagues. He was a man of fair stature, about sixty years of age, and spare in person, and brown in complexion, like all the Bedouins. He had a sheep's skin, dyed inside of a reddish colour, thrown across his shoulders; and this was the only circumstance which distinguished him from the rest of his suite. His motions were solemn and slow; and when a smile shot across the predominating gloom of his countenance his features assumed an expression of sweetness, though mingled generally with a touch of melancholy, which betrayed the corroding canker of some internal affliction; he was sparing of-words, and never expressed himself with vehemence. The terms of our compact were speedily adjusted; but there was one condition to which we demurred, and ought never to have assented, that of laying aside our arms. He asserted, that he could not be resposible for our safety without we acceded to it; and added, further, that the most trivial act of indiscretion might prove our destruction. With this man, and three of his followers on foot, as our escort, we entered the Desert: our own little host com us. prised six horsemen, and three camels, carrying water and provisions. The first day's march brought us to the encampment of the Benekali Arabs, a branch of the Embaraki tribe, whose domain extends along the whole range of the Desert from Damascus to Aleppo. During the night we were suddenly called from our slumbers by the appearance of robbers at a distance; the whole camp was in instant commotion, and we became conscious, when it was too late, of the mistake we had made in leaving our arms behind The two following days were not marked by any particular occurrence. The Arabs on foot were generally sent in advance to see that all was safe, and would frequently stand upright on the back of a camel, to extend the range of their observations, with looks full of anxiety at the slightest noise, and earnestly attentive to the most trivial movement which occurred. Man, a stranger to his fellow mortals in these vast solitudes, is ever apprehensive of encountering an enemy in the first individual that threatens to cross his path. However great may be the distance, the moment one person catches a glimpse of another, he instantly seeks to avoid him; and a whole army might be lost on the very spot, where one human being would ineffectually strive to conceal himself from another. The Sheik Nahar preceded us in silence, but halting at various intervals to say his prayers. One day, conceiving that he had lost his way, though he had in fact deviated from his course simply with a vew of replenishing our stock of water from the supply afforded by a rock, with which he was acquainted, we could not refrain from expressing our apprehensions to him; upon which he replied with the greatest unconcern, "I promised Sheik Thala to accompany you to Tadmor, and bring you back to Homs: and I shall keep my promise. Do not alarm yourselves at what you may see." He did not fail to reach the spring which he was in quest of. The ensuing day, which was preceded by our passing the Light under the open sky, without any fire to protect us against its cutting chill, we were slowly prosecuting our course, when we discerned from fifteen to twenty Arabs coming down upon us at full gallop, and, with their lances lowered, commencing an attack upon our camels which had remained behind. We turned back to defend them, and a fierce conflict of fists and sticks ensued; they as well as ourselves being unprovided with fire-arms. The rest of the tribe had joined their comrades, and we were in the most imminent danger of being plundered and left naked in the midst of the desert, at sixty miles' distance from any supply of water or human habitation. Whilst our hands were mutually busied in tearing the clothes from each other's backs, our borses were exchanging blows with the Arabian mares, and the uproar was at its height. Messieurs Hall and Becker once had to struggle on foot with two Bedouins; my own son, who was the only one of us who had concealed a pistol in his girdle, was by its aid enabled to keep two Arabs at bay, after losing his turban. I was struggling to find my way through the hurly burly, in search of our guide, whose lance had been shattered at the first onset, when one of our party cried out 'We are saved!' In fact we now remarked the Arabs fighting among themselves, and their leader prostrated before our old conductor, anxiously endeavouring to apologise for his offence. Nahar, collecting his garments around him with the most consummate sang froid, regained his saddle, and showed no sign of indignation but a tear or two which rolled down his cheek, and certain upbraidings levelled from time to time at the young chief, by whom we were escorted three miles further on our road. This youth was mounted on a mare, worth fifteen thousand piastres; and yet, the only recompense he sought, for the service he had rendered us in arresting the despoiling career of his tribe, consisted in a small quantity of barley for his courser; to this we added a vest, in which he attired himself upon the spot. FOREIGN NOTICES. CANOVA'S RIGHT-HAND.-We scarcely know with what feelings we ought to regard the extraordinary communication contained in the following letter; whether to deplore the act it commemorates as the evidence of a meretricious refinement of sentiment, or to set it down as an honest, however eccentric, tribute of veneration to the memory of the illustrious departed.' Dr. P. Zannini to Professor Rosini, of Pisa. Venice, July 10th, 1828. SIR,-The notice with which you conclude the 128th note of your Essay on the Life and Works of Canova,' calls upon me to acquaint you with the final disposal of that great sculptor's righthand, which, as you very correctly observe, was intrusted to my custody. In placing this circumstance before you, I conceive that I am simply evincing my deference to the right which that essay has given you, of being made acquainted with every point affecting the memory of that illustrious Possagnese. | clusively dedicated to the fine arts. To this latter establishment, the possession of his righthand appears far more properly to appertain; this hand modelled a multitude of objects, few of which were not of marvellous execution, and impressed upon them that living and speaking portraiture of the chaste and beautiful, in pursuit of which the liberal arts are constantly toiling. On this truly noble occasion, when the academicians found themselves deprived of their relic, they solicited M. Canova to replace it by the righthand of our immortal artist; and he, after obtaining the requisite license from the Roman tribunal, cheerfully acceded to their request, and, by his letter of the first of May last, authorised me to deposit it in the safe-keeping of that academy. Nor did he attach any other condition to the gift beyond this,-that, whenever the Academy of the Fine Arts at Venice should be dissolved or removed elsewhere, the right-hand of his brother should be delivered to the arch-priest of Possagno, in order that it might be re-united with the mortal remains of Canova, which, in a short time, will be transferred from the ancient church of that district, to find a last repose under the sacred roof of its chief temple. In conformity, therefore, with the concession made by M. Canova to the said academicians, on the 9th of this month of July, 1828, I transmitted to the Venetian Academy of Fine Arts, Antonio Canova's right-hand, and caused a solemn attestation of this transmission to be drawn up by an official person, with a view to its enrolment in the archives of that body. record of the several spots where the remains of These lines will, therefore, preserve a perpetual ing in the temple of Possagno, his heart in the this great man will be deposited: his body reposmonumentai Frari,' and his right-hand in the private cenotaph erected to his memory by the Academy of Fine Arts.-Continue to me your friendship, and believe me, &c.. FRANCE, 1828.-After minute inquiries, Chaptal has estimated the agricultural capital of France at 37,522,061,676 francs, or 1,563,335,9007. sterling. Of the 131,646,000 acres (English measure) which constitute the surface of its territory, there are 56,332,000 acres of arable land, 4,880,700, vineyards; 16,099,800, woods and forests; 8,702,300, pastures; 8,611,000, meadows; 17,280, turf for burning; 525,840, buildings, &c; 525,840, ponds or stagnant waters; 16,182,600, roads, rivers, rocks, &c. It is lamentable to reflect, that 9,941,600 acres, being more than a twelfth part of the whole territory, are occupied by marshes, sandy districts, or otherwise waste land, which are lost to husbandry or any other productive purposes. The same intelligent economist estimates the annual crops of wool at 42,000,000 chilogr., or 826,170 cwts. English; the number of sheep, whether of the Merino, cross, or native breeds, at 34,188,910; that of cattle, at 6,973,400; and of horses, at 1,872.617; independently of 250,000 of the latter, which are not employed for agricultural purposes. The annual produce of the vineyards of France, I believe you are already aware, that, on the says M. Cavoleau, averages 35,075,689 hecatoday when the monument to Canova was inaugu- litres, or about 926,000,000 English gallons, (old rated in the Church of the Frari, in this city, his measure,) the value of which may be calculated heart was removed from the cenotaph which the at 22,156,2007. sterling. This valuation is taken members of the Academy of the Fine Arts had at the prices on the spot of growth, to which erected to his memory in their hall of private must be added the expenses of carriage, indirect assembly, was transferred to the church of the taxation, municipal dues, (octroi,) mercantile Frari, and deposited in the pyramid of the monu-profits, &c., which will nearly double the estiment. Whatever may have been the motives for mate, excepting as regards what is abstracted by this removal, and however great a dissonance the growers for their domestic consumption. may exist between the figures which adorn it, or, The extreme lowness of the price at which the more properly speaking, of which the monument preceding valuation is estimated, arises from the is composed, and the remains inclosed within it, disproportionately small quantity of good wine it will be admitted that Canova's heart, which which is produced. was the seat of so many active virtues, occupies a much fitter resting-place, in a spot consecrated to religious purposes, than in an institution ex The department of the Gironde alone produces 74,052,000 gallons of wine, which, if bottled, would cover nearly two square leagues; and the value of its annual produce will average 2,049,0407. sterling, about one-eleventh part of the value of the wines yearly grown in France. The Charente stands next on the list, producing 48,206,400 gallons; and the Charente-Inférieure, with its 47,298,500 gallons, ranks as the third in importance. The average annual produce of the hectare (2 a. 1 r. 35 p.) of vines for the whole of France, is 13., or very nearly 57. 5s. per acre. It yields the greatest pecuniary result in the department of the Yonne, where the crop produces the grower 291. 58. 10d., or nearly 127. per acre. JENA. Its site is rendered exceedingly romantic by the group of mountains in which it is embosomed; but the town itself, which has a population of 7,000 souls, including the students, is an execrable gallimaufry of old tenements ; save and except, perchance, the market-place, which still prides itself in its far-famed clock. Whenever this mensor temporis strikes the hour, the jaws of a huge head open wide their portals to receive a blow from a figure standing beside it, whilst a chaunting angel lifts his book of hymns on high at each recoiling thump. Jena stands foremost in age among the German Universities; it dates from 1558, when Charles V. refused to sanction its establishment. Nor did it, for some time, obtain more than a left-handed confirmation from his successor, Ferdinand, who at first refused it the privilege of granting degrees in the faculty of theology; but afterwards, an attack of imperial indigestion having been removed by Schröter of that ilk,' he allowed the doctors of divinity to rid themselves of polemical indigestion as best they could. In the seventeenth century, Jena became what Bologna had been in the middle ages, and is said to have been frequented by four and even five thousand students: in the nineteenth, their numbers have sunk to six and seven hundred. ment, ces perruques là !' guration perpetuated to the older students under of the present in ready money. To this request the name of Penalismus,' or the Jena freshman, he further added, In case the English Cabinet and helping to foment his hostility against the should feel surprised at so unusual a proceeding, recusant Philistine, who shunned the presence of I allow you to reveal my secret motive, by aca for (the chosen appellation of the initiated) quainting Mr. Canning, (who was at that time with scarcely less dread than the Philistines of Minister for Foreign Affairs,) that the province old trembled at the approach of Samson's foxes. of Bohus is labouring under a total want of corn, Or the worshipper of the sharpest-nosed of all and that I am anxious to apply the money in althe same hallowed pinnacle where stood the Cor-sider the request as passing strange,' but, when foxes may conceive himself looking down from leviating its distress.'-Canning did, indeed, consican, on the 14th of October, 1806, eyeing the its purpose was explained to him, observed that issued from his lips :- Ils se tromperont furieuse- property, from the circumstance of his volunblack eagle of Brandenburg, until the oracle Ehrenheim could not fail to be a man of large teering so handsome a donation. By no means,' replied the ambassador; M. D'Ehrenheim is not a man of property at all.' I admire him the more,' rejoined Canning with great animation; and you may rely upon it, his request shall be complied with; but I have a favour to ask of you on my own account; and this is, that you add the value of the box, for which I am a claimant on the Swedish Government, to the donation M. D'Ehrenheim is anxious to present to the province of Bohus.' The reader will determine for himself which of the two diplomatists is least entitled to his admiration. Scarcely a twelvemonth elapsed, before the President D'Ehrenheim followed his generous competitor to the grave. the Kunitzberg' or the 'Rauthal,' without traNone can visit this spot, or the adjacent hills, velling back on the wings of thought to the bloody day of Jena;' a day pregnant with far of Rossbach,' for it expunged the name of Prussia more portentous consequences than the 'scamper from the catalogue of monarchies in a single day, and swept the whole of Germany into a fell captivity of seven Egyptian years! The avenging fiend bivouacked on the height of Grafenberg during the night of the 13th of October, whilst Hohenlohe lay quietly, drunk with sleep, in the hollow of Capellendorf.' The knell of Prussia tolled from the moment the enemy was allowed to occupy that height; the French had been lost, had Hohenlohe previously thrown himself upon the foe, before the main body had come up to cover Napoleon's daring and unsupported advance. But the Prussian host had no Blucher or Wellington | that day on its muster-roll. The field of Jena was gained before the battle began. The leaders of the Great Frederick's descendants were at war with each other, and at war as to the plan of operations: the wiser one of Hohenlohe had been spurned; the push was devising on the other side of the Thuringian forest, when the thunderbolt burst upon their left flank and rear, severed them from their magazines, cut off their supports, and placed Von Loen, in his portrait of Jena, as it existed the Elbe in their front, and the Rhine at their one hundred and twenty-four years back, speaks of backs: a mental as well as physical darkness the students as wearing long swords, dangling commander, stooping with age, was carried off behind them like spits, with an evident itching to jump from their scabbards: the wearer's gar-blind from his wounds; his men were famished ments, shoes, and stockings were of the most villanous description, as if such trifles were unworthy of his philosophical sobriety; yet his presence dispersed a gale, savouring of tobacco, beer, and brandy; and he would roam and lounge about in reckless idleness by day until night, seek quarrels in the midst of the market-place, and keep the honest burgher from tasting the balm of slumber. He delighted in riotings, mummeries, and mystifications, and would sally forth in night-gown and slippers, with his sword drawn, in quest of an antagonist. A genuine son of Jena, whether then EHRENHEIM AND GEORGE CANNING.-The or at the present day, has never known what it Baron d'Ehrenheim began his career in the Miwas, or is, to leave his beer-glass dry; and I re-nistry of Foreign Affairs at Stockholm in the year collect seeing more than one of his brethren in the year 1802, drawing blood on the market-place by open daylight, with a black leathern helmet on his head, surmounted by a bush of tall red feathers. His mind and habits were pre-disposed for the inoculation of the Burschen-schaft,a fellowship, which was any thing but blameable in its fundamental principles; it was his misfortune to pervert them, and afterwards the error of the German Governments to goad himn further onwards in his faulty path. Nothing can exceed the beautiful scenery which characterises the environs of Jena. I would not set down the adjoining Paradise, as it is called, in this list, for it is a mere meadow planted with rows of trees; but I intreat the traveller to extend his perambulations to the more distant scenes, which gird the banks of the Saale. He must not neglect to ascend the 'Foxe's Tower;' the superb panorama it commands, will richly reward his pains; and, when he looks down from its height, he may imagine himself transported thirty years back, assisting at the rough ceremonies of inau overshadowed them. Brunswick, their veteran because no ambulatory gibbets had been provided under such circumstances! 1773, and subsequently occupied the post of Pre- His official recompense, as leader of the Cabi- SAXONY.-The Electorate of Saxony possessed a population of nearly 2,500,000 souls, spread over a surplus of 723 square miles; its revenue amounted to 1,650,000 or 1,800,000 pounds sterling; and, until the middle of the seventeenth century, its preponderance was greater than any German Power, excepting that of the Emperor of the Romans; it was more considerable, more compact, and more bountifully gifted by nature than Brandenburg, and its military strength consisted of a fine army of 50,000 men. Even at the time of the French Revolution, it was superior to Bavaria; but, in more recent times, it has been compelled to barter its marrow and fatness' for an empty title! The kingdom of Saxony contains scarcely 300 square miles; nay, a recent calculator has 1,200,000 souls, (inferior to that of the British reduced them to 271,-with a population of metropolis itself,) and, at a time when its debt is 2,750,000/., straitened in its resources to a revegress of Vienna was the instrument by which it nue of 927,000l. The pruning-knife of the Conwas shorn of the larger and the more valuable moiety of its ancient possessions. To Prussia was Saxony called upon to surrender two-fifths of her inhabitants, and two-thirds of her income; and with these was she deprived of sources from which she drew three of the most indispensable necessaries of life: to wit, Thuringia, her magazine of grain; Lusatia, her store-house of wood, and her salt mines, whence the plunderer generously allows her to import this necessary article, at a fixed price, to the amount of 20,000l. yearly. But a whole century will not reconcile the Saxon to his Prussian masters: the seven years' war engendered a hatred which has never subsided; and this transfer has thrown fresh fuel on its embers. The contrast which the sixty miles' ride between Dresden and Berlin affords, is scarcely less striking than that between Dover and Calais, or either bank of Tweed.' The Berliner is lively, honey-tongued, vain, apologetic, and satirical; the Dresdener, thoughtful, sparing of words, and reserved in speech: the one thirsts after what is new, the other clings to what is ancient; the former is an enthusiast for public amusements, the latter is devoted to his home; the one loves to sparkle, and the other covets retirement. The Berliner, in short, is formed for the world and busy life, but his neighbour for domesticity and a private station; where the Dresdener is orthodox and frugal, his cousin of Prussia is prodigal and olden times, as compared with the Brandena free-thinker. The Saxon is a German of the burgher, who possesses the art of assuming so many faces, that one is often at a loss to determine which are his native lineaments. |