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fearful that a knowledge, however slight, of physiology, and of the causes of disease, would embolden many to assume the office of physicians, denounce all attempts to popularise those subjects. We cannot but think such apprehensions unfounded, and that the diffusion of the knowledge in question would be attended with diametrically opposite results. For who is it that places his reliance for the cure of disease on the impudent and ignorant quack, or on the well-meaning though not less ignorant friend? Not, assuredly, the man who has learned how delicate are the organs, and how easily deranged the functions of his body, and who knows that symptoms, apparently identical, frequently arise from very different causes; but he to whom health and sickness are mysteries, about which he can exercise no judgment or discrimination, and who therefore is duped by every impostor who promises him health and long life. To nothing else but ignorance of the principles of hygiène is attributable the ease with which unprincipled empirics have at all times deluded the multitude with their gross absurdities, which they have not seldom palmed off even upon the better educated in other respects; and which a very small amount of the requisite knowledge would have sufficed to expose. The objections of medical men above mentioned are now disappearing, and some of the brightest ornaments of the profession have not thought it derogatory to attempt to enlighten their fellow-creatures on the means of preserving their health.

In endeavouring to aid them in this important object, we would especially address ourselves to women. On them is devolved not only the care of their own health, but, in a great measure, of that of infants and the young also; a heavy responsibility, to enable them to support which scarcely anything has yet been done. Nay, it has been held a departure from the proper province of the female sex to acquire the knowledge necessary for the due performance of this trust. "Women," says Dr. Southwood Smith, "are the earliest teachers; they must be nurses: they can be neither, without the risk of doing incalculable mischief, unless they have some understanding of the subjects about to be treated of" (the physical and mental constitution of man). "On these grounds 1 rest their obligation to study them; and I look upon that notion of delicacy which would exclude them from knowledge calculated, in an extraordinary degree, to open, exalt, and purify their minds, and to fit them for the performance of their duties, as alike degrading to those to whom it affects to show respect, and debasing to the mind that entertains it."

The science of hygiène is commonly supposed to relate exclusively to the well-being of the body; and hence it holds a much lower place in public estimation than it deserves. The mighty influence of the body on the mind and disposition, especially in infancy, giving to it an important share in the formation of character, has been elaborately expounded by several philosophical physiologists (among whom Cabanis claims distinguished mention); but is comparatively unknown beyond the medical profession. Yet, without some acquaintance with this subject, even the most careful parent or instructor is sure to make frequent mistakes in the training of the young;-mistakes, the consequences of which may be to pervert the faculties and corrupt the feelings of all exposed to their influence. A knowledge of this science, and of its relations with moral science, ought therefore to form an essential item in the qualifications of all who undertake the charge of the young, whether as parents or teachers.

The subjects above alluded to are too extensive, and some of them too abstruse, to be more than incidentally and briefly noticed in our pages. We can only indicate the principal points, and refer our readers to the sources of more complete information. In a work of this kind, we are necessarily confined to the consideration of those branches only of the subject which are of the most direct and obvious importance, and which may most readily be

expounded in a popular form.

We are convinced that mere precept, however good the authority on which it rests may be regarded, is never so well obeyed as when its reasonableness and propriety are made known. Accordingly, there can be no doubt that a knowledge of the principles of physiology, on the part of the patient, renders him much more ready to comply with the directions of his medical adviser, with whom it enables him in many cases usefully to co-operate. Dr. S. Smith, indeed, mentions this fact as a strong argument in favour of the diffusion of the knowledge in question. Few persons would willingly act so as to injure themselves, and we hope to make it appear that the adoption of the advice we propose to give from time to time will conduce to human happiness.

Philosophy of Health," p. 10.

CHARACTERS OF FIVE GREAT MEN. THINLY, very thinly, were great men sown in my remembrance. I can pretend to have seen but five. The Duke of Cumberland, Sir Robert Walpole, Lord Mansfield, Lord Granviile, and Mr. Pitt. I have expatiated on all their characters separately; and yet I am inclined to say a few words more in the light of comparison. It is by setting the same characters in different oppositions and points of view, that nearer acquaintance with them may be struck out. Lord Granville was most a genius of the five; he conceived, knew, expressed whatever he pleased. The state of Europe, and the state of literature, were equally familiar to him. His eloquence was rapid, and flowed from a source of wit, grandeur, and know. ledge. So far premeditated, he allowed no reflection to chasten it. It was entertaining, it was sublime, it was hyperbole, it was ridicu lous, according as the profusion of ideas crowded from him. He embraced systems like a legislator, but was capable of none of the detail of a magistrate. Sir Robert Walpole was much the reverse: he knew mankind, not their writings; he consulted their interests, not their systems; he intended their happiness, not their grandeur. Whatever was beyond common sense he disregarded.

Lord Mansfield, without the elevation of Lord Granville, had great powers of eloquence. It was a most accurate understanding, and yet capable of shining in whatever it was applied to. He was as free from vice as Pitt, more unaffected, and formed to convince even when Pitt had dazzled.

The Duke of Cumberland had most expressive sense, but with that connexion betweeen sense and sensibility, that you must mortify his pride before you could call out the radiance of his understanding. Being placed at the head of armies without the shortest apprenticeship, no wonder he miscarried. It is cruel to have no other master than one's own faults.

Pitt's was an unfinished greatness. Considering how much of it depended on his words, one may almost call his an artificial greatness; but his passion for fame, and the grandeur of his ideas, com. pensated for his defects. He aspired to redeem the honour of his country, and to place it in a point of giving law to nations. His ambition was to be the most illustrious man of the first nation in Europe; and he thought that the eminence of glory could not be sullied, by the steps to it being passed irregularly. He wished to aggrandize Britain in general; but thought not of obliging or benefiting individuals.

Lord Granville, you loved till you knew him-Sir Robert Walpole the more you knew him.-You would have loved the Duke, if you had not feared him.-Pitt liked the dignity of despotism, Lord Mansfield the reality; yet the latter would have served the cause of power without sharing in it. Pitt would have set the world free, if he might command it. Lord Granville would have preferred doing right, if he had not thought it more convenient to do wrong. Sir Robert Walpole meant to serve mankind, though he knew how little they deserved it; and this principle is at once the most meritorious in itself and to the world."

Lord Orford's Memoirs.

ANECDOTE OF LORD ST. VINCENT.

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LORD ST. VINCENT, during his anxious command, passed many sleepless hours in the night, and generally rose between two and three o'clock in the morning; his usual hour of retiring at that time being eight o'clock P.M. One night, feeling very restless, he rang his bell, and ordered the officer of the watch to his bed-side. The officer was Lieutenant Cashman, a fine rough unlettered sailor, of the true breed." What sort of a night, sir?" "A very fine night, my lord."- 'Nothing stirring? no strangers in sight?" "No, my lord.". "Nothing to do on deck?" "No, my lord?" --"Then you may take a book, and read to me. Any book-it don't signify-take the Admiralty Statutes." Cashman handed out the huge quarto, and having placed the lantern with which he was furnished to visit the ship on the table before him, sat down in his watch-coat, and read a part of those Acts of Parliament out of which our naval code is formed; Acts which, I will venture to

say, he never heard of before, and I am sure never looked at again.

Lord St. Vincent, in telling the story, used to say, "Sir, I thought I should have suffocated myself; I was forced to keep my head so long under the bed-clothes, to conceal my laughter at the manner in which he stumbled and hobbled through his task. And well he might, with a horn lantern and a farthing candle."

Brenton's Life of St. Vincent.

THE CHIEF DUTY OF WOMAN. "WHAT a 'miserable thing it is to be a woman!" was lately the exclamation of an amiable but high-spirited lady. She had been admirably educated by indulgent parents, and taught accomplishments beyond her station in life. Now, being married to a worthy man, of moderate income, and having a family of young children, the little elegances and accomplishments and romance of youth had to be laid aside, and duties of a plain and sober cast claimed incessant attention. Her husband was out all day he had to hurry off in the morning, and often came home tired and worn-out late at night. She herself, of a buoyant disposition, passionately fond of society and public meetings, and who had, when free, been an active member of more than one "Ladies' Committee," was now, as she expressed it, tied up like a dog to its kennel. The piano was untouched, unless now and then the little girl, standing on tiptoe, contrived to give it a jarring thrum; the sketch-book was a sealed book; her own sense of domestic duty led her to practise economy, as far as it could be carried; she loved her husband, and had every reason, she said, to be perfectly happy: yet old recollections would revive, and feeling as if she were now reduced to the capacity of being merely a nurse of children, she exclaimed pettishly, "What a miserable thing it is to be a woman!"

This is an old complaint of the ladies, and is amusingly enough put forward in a tract, published exactly a century ago (1739) under the title of "Woman not inferior to Man; or a short and modest Vindication of the natural Right of the Fair Sex to a perfect equality of power, dignity, and esteem, with the Men. By Sophia, a person of quality." The reputed fair authoress says, "Was every individual man to divulge his thoughts of our sex, they would all be found unanimous in thinking that we are made only for them, and only fit to nurse children in their tender years, to mind household affairs, and to obey, serve, and please our masters,—that is, themselves, forsooth! All this is mighty fine, and amongst a seraglio of slaves could not but sound mighty big from a Mussulman's mouth. . .

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ignorant-women have generally a hardy healthy cast of mind, which our modern system of female education is calculated greatly to impair. There is nothing more delightful than to meet, in the ordinary walks of life, with a woman of sound good sense, whose conversation and manner show that her mind has been well educated, and stored with useful and ornamental knowledge. But we are constrained to say, that this is a rarer case, than to meet with a feeble or an affected creature, whose only use of an "accomplished education" is alternately to shine and murmur.

"There is one class of duties," says Mrs. Sandford, "which, as it went out with our grandmothers, is now considered quite obsolete. We wonder, indeed, how these venerable ladies could be so familiar with the pantry, and yet never soil their petticoats; how they could preside over the culinary department, and be adepts in every domestic art, and yet be still as stately as their ruffles or brocade. Ladies were in those days accountable for every dish; they smiled with conscious triumph when the sauce was praised; they made currant wine and raspberry vinegar ; and their cupboards were stored with expressed juices and ingenious confections. But now there is something inelegant that attaches to the ménage. It is associated with making puddings or mending stockings, or scolding servants. A good housewife is a good sort of bustling person, who has always a good dinner and a clean house; who jingles a bunch of keys, and gasps for an opportunity of replenishing your plate.”

That men and women were intended, in one sense, to be on an equality, seems evident, both from nature and Scripture; and married men, who sometimes exhibit a very commendable propriety in their general conduct, are frequently grossly selfish in leaving to their wives all the burden, all the restraints, and all the dulness, of a family and of home. "God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them." Population tables show that there is scarcely any disproportion in the births of males and females, thus bringing the sanction of nature to scripture, and demonstratTo stoop to some regarding that though polygamy existed by permission in Old Testament times, it is against a natural rule. Heeren advances the position, that the great moral, social, and intellectual superiority of European nations over the Eastern, is owing to the simple fact of the non-prevalence of polygamy. There appears to be great truth in this. Wherever woman stands on an equal footing with man, there man himself rises, and society improves. Woman, in the East, has no social consideration. Indirect influence she has, of course-for even amongst coarse-minded, unintellectual savages, where she is compelled to perform all the drudgery, woman has influence-but this is exercised in a way which neither improves individuals nor society.

for the strutting things is not enough; to humour them more than we could children, with any tolerable decency, is too little ; they must be served, forsooth! Pretty creatures indeed!" Sophia, however, takes a just view of the importance of one of the chief duties of women. "It is too well known," she says, ❝to be dissembled, that the office of nursing children is held by the men in a despicable light, as something low and degrading: whereas, had they Nature for their guide, they would not need to be told, that there is no employment in a commonwealth which deserves more honour, or greater thanks and rewards. Let it but be considered, what are the advantages accruing to mankind from it, and its merit must stand immediately confessed. Nay, I know not whether it may not appear to render women deserving the first places in civil society. ... How largely are they rewarded who succeed in taming a tiger, an elephant, or suchlike animals; and shall women be neglected for spending years in the taming that fiercer animal, man ? ”

To an active-minded woman, who occasionally thinks, the burdens, pains, and duties of life must occasionally appear to be very unequally divided; and when left to her own reflections, man will at times seem, if not a savage, at least a very selfish animal. The "march of intellect" has not hitherto done women much good in this respect. Their mental faculties have received a wrong direction; they share in that ascending spirit which mental stimulus communicates; they receive what is called a fine, or an accomplished education, are made sensitive, sympathetic, and delicate; and go through life struggling to maintain a balance in the equivocal half-lady half-servile position of a governess, or they sink into an ordinary marriage, with perhaps a decided distaste for the mere dull routine, as it seems, of a small domestic establishment. This appears to us to be one of the evils of our state of society, which is both serious and large in amount. Ignorance is bad: but ignorant—that is, comparatively

But while women were thus intended to be man's social and domestic equals, the life and ornament of his society, they were never intended to be his intellectual equals; and that education which attempts to force this equality will only defeat itself, and injure its objects. We must prop ourselves here with an opinion. The author of "Home Education" says, "Every day, in society, we may meet with women equal to, or surpassing men in intelligence; but if male and female minds, of apparently equal intelligence, are brought into comparison, very few instances will occur in which the latter are not far inferior to the former in POWER." "Some allowance," he adds, "ought, as I am inclined to think, to be made in the culture of the female mind for what I would not call an organic difference of structure, if I could find a term nearer to my meaning, and not so liable to misconstruction."

To this we cordially subscribe; and the intellectual difference, thus pointed out, at once directs attention to the character and object of female education. HOME should be the sphere to which the female mind should ever be directed. Let the females of a nation fulfil, in intelligent spirit and truth, the duties of home, and there is little fear of its men. In all ages the WOMEN OF ENGLAND have exercised a powerful, social, and domestic influ

ence.

With us the fireside virtues have ever been reverenced This, therefore, is to be taken into account in the history of our rise and progress as a nation; and far distant be the day when a false system of education, or a vain straining after intellectual pre-eminence, shall lead them to quit their stronghold, and make them dissatisfied unless they can spend their time in the public view, fluttering and promenading, like butterflies in a summer's sun!

Guizot, in his History of Civilisation in Europe, dates the origin of the influence of woman from the feudal system. He draws a picture of a feudal castle, on a hill, at the foot of which lies its village of serfs. The lord of this establishment can maintain no familiarity with his dependants; he can scarcely have any equal companionship, unless when engaged in war and hunting. "The chief, however violent and brutal his out-door exercises, must habitually return into the bosom of his family. He there finds his wife and children, and scarcely any but them; they alone are his constant companions; they alone divide his sorrows and soften his joys; they alone are interested in all that concerns him. It could not but happen, in such circumstances, that do- | mestic life must have acquired a vast influence; nor is there any lack of proofs that it did so. Was it not in the bosom of the feudal family that the importance of women, that the value of the wife and mother, at last made itself known? In none of the ancient communities-not merely speaking of those in which the spirit of family never existed, but in those in which it existed most powerfully; say, for example, in the patriarchal system -in none of these did women ever attain to anything like the place which they acquired in Europe under the feudal system. It is to the progress, to the preponderance, of domestic manners in the feudal halls and castles, that they owe this change, this improvement in their condition. The cause of this has been sought for in the peculiar manners of the ancient Germans; in a national respect which they are said to have borne, in the midst of their forests, to the female sex. Upon a single phrase of Tacitus, Germanic patriotism has founded a high degree of superiority-of primitive and ineffable purity of manners, in the relations between the two sexes among the Germans. Pure chimeras! Phrases like this of Tacitus-sentiments and customs analogous to those of the Germans of old,—are found in the narratives of a host of writers, who have seen, or inquired into, the manners of savage and barbarous tribes. There is nothing primitive, nothing peculiar, to a certain race in this matter."

Now, with all deference to this great master of philosophical history, we do think that there is something "peculiar to a certain race in this matter;" and in England, at least, his theory of the origin of the influence of woman will not hold. Not to go so far back as Boadicea, and the ancient Britons, we find that the condition of women in early Saxon times was, on the whole, very favourable. In old illuminations they are represented as sitting at table with the men; they are scarcely, if ever, exhibited as taking a part in the labours of the field; they appear to have been almost exclusively occupied within doors; and their names are poetically expressive-Adeleve, the noble wife; Wynfreda, the peace of man; Deorwyn, dear to man; Deorswythe, very dear; Winnefride, a winner or gainer of peace.

The feudal system was perfected in England after the Norman conquest; and we have abundant proof, during the long period from William the Conqueror to Henry the Eighth, and Elizabeth, that the influence of French customs on the court and nobility, while they polished the manners of the ladies, deteriorated their morals. The Reformation elevated female character, though the process was apparently interrupted by the gross buffoonery of the court of James I. The civil wars tended to develop the strength and single-mindedness of woman, when sustained by religion of this we have noble examples in the respective Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe, and Mrs. Hutchinson. But the Restoration cast once more a blight over female character, as far as the influence of the court extended.

With this exception, the characteristic of the women of Eng

land, from the earliest period down to our own day, has ever been that of fulfilling the domestic relations of life with zeal, strictness, and fidelity. Pope, in uttering a sarcasm, paid them a compliment, when he said, "most women have no character at all." The sarcasm was aimed at that class of triflers, who formed the fashionable world with which Pope was chiefly acquainted: but when applied generally, it is so far true, that the great bulk of women have no character-that is, no distinctive peculiarities of mind, to make them stand out in relief; and this very want of character is their great excellence, and that which fits them to shine in the domestic circle. Characteristic women are often troublesome companions ; and a female requires much good sense to balance mental peculiarities, or intellectual cleverness.

We conclude with an illustration taken from the vegetable kingdom. The Banyan tree (Ficus Indica) is a native of most parts of India; and we are told that "if the seeds drop in the axils of the palmyra tree, the roots grow downwards, embracing the trunk in their descent; by degrees they envelop every part except the top, whence, in very old specimens, the leaves and head of the palmyra tree are seen emerging from the trunk of the banyan tree, as if they grew from it. The Hindoos regard such cases with reverence, and call them a holy marriage, instituted by Providence. The banyan tree, covering with its trunks a sufficient space of ground to shelter a regiment of cavalry, and used as a natural canopy for great public meetings, has been so often described by writers on India, as to have become familiar to the reader. The branches spread to a great extent, dropping their roots here and there, which, as soon as they reach the ground, rapidly increase in size, till they become as large as, and similar to, the parent trunk; by which means, the quantity of ground they cover is almost incredible."

Our readers, we trust, require no application of this illustration. To our minds it is a beautiful exemplification of that intimate union and mutual protection and dependence which constitute character of modern female education tends in some degree to the roots of human society, and which we fear the stimulating injure. But as we have probably given enough of our prose, let us part with a nice little bit of Moore's poetry :

TO MY MOTHER.

They tell us of an Indian tree,

Which, howsoe'er the sun and sky May tempt its boughs to wander free, And shoot, and blossom, wide and high, Far better loves to bend its arms Downward again to that dear earth, From which the life that fills and warms Its grateful being, first had birth. 'Tis thus, though woo'd by flattering friends, And fed with fame (if fame it be), This heart, my own dear mother, bends With love's true instinct, back to thee!

DISCOVERY OF PETRA.

DURING the reign of Sultan Moezz Aibek, the first discovery of the city of Petra appears to have been made. A revolt was raised by the Baharite Mamelukes in Cairo; but Aibek gained possession of the leader's person, put him to death, and had his head flung and sought safety in flight. Twelve of the Baharite Mamelukes, into the midst of the insurgents: they were thrown into confusion, in their flight, became entangled in the desert called Tib-beniIsrael (the waste of the Israelites), and wandered about at random for five days. On the sixth, they perceived at a distance certain ruins, of a greenish colour, towards which they directed their course. They found a large city, with walls and gates, wholly built of green marble. They traversed the interior, whose streets and houses were buried in sand. The vessels and vestments which they found crumbled into dust when touched. In one vase, to have belonged to a cloth-merchant, they found nine pieces of which appeared gold, on each of which was impressed the figure of an antelope, surrounded by an inscription in Hebrew letters. The Mamelukes having excavated one spot, came to a solid pavement, which they lifted up: they found a fountain cold as snow, of which they drank greedily. Having travelled all the night, they met a troop of Arabs, by whom they were conducted to Karak: there they presented the coins to the money-changers, one of whom declared that "these pieces were struck in the time of Moses."

History of the Mameluke Sultans.

MAGNANIMITY, OR THE ADOPTED SON.

AN OLD ITALIAN STORY.

LIVIA, a noble lady of the city of Forli, had an only son, named Scipio, adorned with every accomplishment, and warmly attached to his mother. He was enamoured of a beautiful lady who was sought by many suitors, and amongst these a young man, whom Scipio, the favoured lover, accidentally encountered. They quarrelled, and fought, and the son of the widow received a wound of which he expired soon after. The homicide was instantly pursued by the officers of justice, and, seeing the door of Livia's mansion standing open, sought refuge in the apartment of the mother of Scipio, and implored her protection. She granted his request, and concealed him. Suddenly the door opened, and the corpse of her beloved son was brought into the room. The unfortunate mother

burst into loud lamentations, and was rendered so insensible by grief, that she did not perceive the officers searching for, and discovering the murderer, whom she had taken under her protection. When she saw him brought in fettered, her affection for her son was subdued by her sense of honour. She denied his having been the cause of her son's death; but the young man, seeing the certainty of death before him, made the last effort, and, in moving accents, implored the forgiveness of the mother of his enemy; offering to replace the loss she had sustained, and in every respect to become her son, promising the most dutiful and filial affection. Notwithstanding her arms clung to the dead body of her murdered child, she was moved by the speech of the murderer; and, after a struggle of maternal affection and pity for the young man, the latter gained the ascendancy, and she not only forgave the homicide, but adopted him as a son. But the magistrate of the city was a rigid executor of justice, and though he admired the eloquence of the youth, and the compassion of the mother, he ordered the culprit to be imprisoned, and executed the following day; nor could the reasons of Livia, who represented herself as the person most deeply injured, and who conjured him not to deprive her of an adopted son, who would console her for the one she had lost, move him from his resolution. Prospero Colonna, the lord of the city, was fortunately present, to whom she represented her case, and prevailed. The young man was pardoned, and for many years, under the adopted name of Scipio, consoled the afflicted Livia by the most assiduous filial affection. Upon her death-bed she took the most tender leave of him, and left him all her property. Her memory was honoured by a monument, upon which was recorded her noble treatment of the homicide, and his filial regret at her departure.

THE BLIND SECRETARY OF THE GLOUCESTER SABBATH
SCHOOLS.

"I ARRIVED in Gloucester in time to breakfast with a friend who kindly undertook to obtain the assistance of some active person who would be likely to forward my purpose of addressing the children; and he accordingly sent for a young man, who, although blind, was nevertheless a very efficient secretary of the Sabbath schools, and highly respected.

"This interesting young man soon arrived: he appeared to be about twenty-eight years of age; his eyes were beautifully black, and so clear, that I could not have supposed they wanted the faculty of vision: but it was so-he had been deprived of sight for nine years. Notwithstanding this disability, he undertook his task with promptitude; and, taking me by the arm, directed me to lead him down the main street, where, with surprising accuracy, he brought me to the house of one of the superintendants. After wards, in like manner, having instructed me to conduct him to various parts of the town, he made all the arrangements for a general meeting of schools on the following Sabbath, and for lectures on other evenings.

"I was, at first, so careful of my blind guide, that I walked slowly; but he begged that I would push boldly forward, as we had much work before us; at the same time assuring me, that all he required was care, lest he should be jostled by some inadvertent passenger. I inquired how he managed to do the duties of secretary. He answered, that he only went through the routine, and obtained the assistance of an amanuensis; that he kept possession of the books, and retained the contents in his memory."-Pilkington's Adventures.

A GLANCE AT RUSSIA..

PUBLIC attention, especially since the affair of the "Vixen," has been greatly attracted by the proceedings of Russia; her progress, which had been disregarded, her moral force, which had perhaps been undervalued, have become objects of attention, and every addition to the knowledge we already possess of her policy and resources, is very valuable. Many people of the present day fondly persuade themselves that true wisdom, that is Christianity, for the terms are synonymous, has already so strong a hold on the minds of men, as to render it very unlikely, almost morally impossible, that Europe should again plunge into war. Despite the quarrels in Portugal and Spain, they hold the civilized world at large as too far advanced in knowledge to be guilty of the great folly of general warfare, and to a certain extent we truth, that war is an evil; that no success, not even the possesagree in this opinion. We hold it to be a moral and political sion of a disputed territory, can compensate for its mischiefs; but we hold it also to be a moral and political truth, that the nation who does not early oppose aggression, and take all wise precautions against the opportunity of attack, is aiding the folly of those whose ambition inclines them to disturb the tranquillity of nations, and the general improvement and progress of the human mind, which steadily proceeds in peaceful times, but is necessarily stayed-nay, prevented, thrown back, by war. These feelings make us look with very anxious eyes upon Russia, which is a country so different in the constitution of its society from any other European state, as to render it difficult to form a correct judgment of its real power. Hence any authentic infor fate of Europe to be again plunged into general war, a rupture mation regarding it is of great value, for if it be the unhappy between England and Russia will in all probability be the commencement of a terrible strife, the result of which, however it may be terminated, must necessarily check the course of moral culture which is now so beneficially going forward throughout the world, and penetrates even to its remotest parts.

Mr. Bremner travelled from Petersburg to Odessa, making a long detour for the purpose of visiting the fair at NishneiNovgorod, the great annual mart for the interchange of European and Asiatic merchandise. In the course of this journey, and in his sojourn in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Odessa, he had very ample opportunity of gaining the information which he has communicated to his countrymen in two very pleasant and instructive volumes. His description of the personal character of the Emperor will be read with interest. In the peculiarly constituted society of Russia, where the people are divided into two classes, nobles and slaves, and wanting all the moral energy which can only exist in union with a third class, the court takes a prominent part, and leads the way, either to vice or virtue, as it may be. "Nicholas is the third son of the unfortunate Paul, and succeeded to the throne on the death of Alexander, in consequence of some arrangement made by that Emperor for the exclusion of his been much blamed for sanctioning an arrangement directly subsecond brother Constantine, who was still alive. Alexander has made so many sacrifices throughout his long reign; but in versive of those very principles of legitimacy for which he had Russia it was no new thing to pass over the direct heir, in favour of one better able to govern: for the greatest Emperor who ever reigned over it, Peter the Great himself, was called to the throne in the same way; Fodor having named him his successor, to the exclusion of Ivan, the rightful heir, who, from weakness of intellect, was deemed incapable of governing. In both cases demonstrations were made in favour of the disinherited. Ivan was for some time regarded as sovereign by one party, but soon gave claimed at Warsaw, as well as supported by a revolt of a portion way to his more energetic brother; and Constantine was proof the guard, and by the populace of St. Petersburg. The energy displayed by Nicholas in subduing the rebellion has continued to characterise the whole of his conduct ever since.

There is nothing, however, either in the attainments or measures of the Tzar, to justify his admirers in holding him up as a man of extraordinary, nay, almost superhuman talent. That he posin a monarch may not unnaturally be mistaken for genius--no sesses restless activity of mind and body-and in a degree, which qualities that entitle him to be considered as much above the one will deny; but we have never discovered in him any other

* Excursions in the Interior of Russia, by ROBERT Bremner, Esq., 2 vols. 8vo, 1839. Colburn, London.

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ordinary average of human character, and certainly none that moment (Jan. 1839), amounts to sixteen ships of the line, which can entitle him to be pronounced, as he has sometimes been, the it is said will be further strengthened in the course of the ensuing greatest genius, the master spirit of our age. His most prominent summer, by the addition of other ships now building. It being qualities, we should say, are decision and firmness; quickness in customary in Russia to begin the training of the crew of a new devising expedients to meet the unforeseen emergency of the ship the moment her keel is laid, the ships last referred to will moment, and steadiness in enforcing them. Next to these, is the be ready for sea as soon as they are launched. There excess of his passion for reducing everything to military uni- are several vessels of very considerable size on the Caspian, and formity. This propensity degenerates almost to a weakness: it more are in rapid progress at the building yards recently estabis his great aim to give the whole empire the appearance of an lished at very favourable points. The last item to be added is encampment. This passion is so well known that the very her steamboats, which, in such seas as Russia will have to fight children in the streets are made to affect the air military, strut-upon, will be of the utmost service to her in case of a war. Inting about in a white cap with a red band à-l'empereur. On cluding those on the Caspian and the sea of Azoff, she has now entering a school, the boys and girls rise in files, to salute you at least sixty steamboats of one kind or other." after the military fashion, and march out as if wheeling to the sound of fife and drum. In the very prisons a dash of the corporal's discipline is visible; and even in the hospitals, you would say the old nurses ape the imperial guard. The emperor's private habits and general style of living are extremely simple, and the delight which he takes in the society of his children is boundless. Those who have seen the imperial family in their private moments, when free from the constraint of pomp and ceremony to which princes are slaves before the world, speak of them in terms of rapture. An English gentleman who was honoured with many opportunities of entering the august circle, says that more happiness, more affection, more simplicity, it would be impossible to conceive. The unconstrained and innocent amusement of their evenings, contrasted delightfully with the notions usually formed of imperial family scenes. In short, from all that he beheld, it appeared that a kinder husband or a better father than Nicholas, does not exist." "In person the Emperor is tall and well made. Few men of his height (six feet two inches), display such grace and freedom of carriage. In fact his appearance is so superior, that many have bestowed upon him the wise and not easily disputed compliment of being the "handsomest man in Europe.' Being one of the best horsemen of the time, he is never seen to more advantage than when mounted on his favourite steed. Accustomed to command, and to see his commands obeyed with crouching submission, he has acquired the air and mien of majesty more completely than any sovereign of the age. His eye has a singular power: its fierce glance can awe the turbulent, and, it is said, has disarmed the assassin. His manners, however, are far from those of the despot; nothing can be more winning than his attentions where he wishes to please. No man ever seemed to possess more strongly the power of removing, from those who have access to him, the prejudices which may have been previously entertained against him. The Russians, it is said, see little of his fascinating powers; towards them he dare not be familiar, without exciting jealousies which would be fatal to the empire. It is on strangers, passing visitors, that he lavishes his amiability, for with them it can be done without danger, and he is too anxious to stand well with the rest of Europe to allow a foreigner to leave him under an unfavourable impression. Never was even imperial flattery more successful in attaining its aim: the raptures with which his condescension, his frankness, his courtesy, are spoken of by all who come near him, would indicate that it is not merely the emperor but the man who triumphs." An amusing anecdote is related of the conversion of a French liberal and political writer, by the talent of the Emperor, but we have not space to insert it. Mr. Bremner is of opinion that Nicholas has long meditated and still intends to carry his arms to India, and attack England in her Eastern possessions: a scheme which he considers impracticable, even with the large resources which the emperor can command. But the immense preparations of Russia, both naval and military, has also excited suspicion that she contem-setting out on his many months' journey home. Next come a plates war, and war against England. Mr. Bremner took pains to procure accurate information concerning the real force of the Russian Baltic fleet, and he gives the following statement :

Turn we now from these warlike details to the more pleasing prospect of industrious commerce. We will fly with our author to the great fair of Nishnei-Novgorod; and after plunging through the deep sloughs into which the turf roads are cut by the multitude of passengers (for beyond Moscow there are no made roads whatever) we reach the city, which stands on a fine triangular height at the junction of the Okka and Volga, in 56° 19′ 40′′ north latitude, and 61° 40′ 34′′ east longitude. The fair is not held in the town, but "across the Okka, on a low almost inundated flat, exposed to the waters of both these rivers, lies a scene of bustle and activity unparalleled in Europe. A vast town of shops, laid out in regular streets, with churches, hospitals, barracks, and theatres, now tenanted by more than a hundred thousand souls, but in a few weeks to be as dead and silent as the forests we have been surveying: for when the fair is over, not a creature will be seen out of the town, on the spot which is now swarming with human beings. Yet these shops are not the frail structures of canvas and rope with which the idea of a fair is associated in other countries. They are regular houses, built of the most substantial materials, and are generally one story high, with large shops in the front part, and sleeping-rooms for the merchant and his servants behind. Sewers, and other means of maintaining cleanliness and health, are provided more extensively even than in the regular towns of Russia.

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"The business of the fair is of such importance that the governor of the province, the representative of the emperor himself, takes up his residence in it during the greater part of the autumn. There is a large and handsome palace built for him in the centre, accommodating a train of secretaries and clerks numerous enough to manage the revenues of a kingdom. Strong posts of military are planted all round to keep down rioting, and the cossack policemen are always on the alert against thieves, who notwithstanding, continue to reap a good harvest from the unwary.

"Immediately on leaving the bridge, the fair-ground begins. This part is always crowded with labourers looking out for employment, and cossacks planted among them to maintain order. Then come lines of temporary booths, displaying objects of inferior value for the lower classes, such as beads, trinkets, and some articles of dress, especially caps. Of these last a great variety is displayed-round turbans of short curly wool from Astracan (here called crimmels, because the best is furnished by the lamb of the large-tailed sheep imported from Crim Tartary) high black Kirghis bonnets made of wool resembling hair-and flat gold-figured cowls from Kasan. These booths stand in front of coffee, or rather tea-rooms, laid out with little tables, and eating-houses large enough for two or three hundred to dine in with comfort, and at any price, from two pence to two pounds.

"First advances a white-faced flat-nosed merchant from Archangel, come here with his furs. He is followed by a bronzed long-ear'd Chinese, who has got rid of his tea, and is now moving towards the city, to learn something of European life before

pair of Tartars from the Five Mountains, followed by a youth whose regular features speak of Circassian blood. Those with muslins on their arms, and bundles on their backs, are Tartar pedlars. Cossacks who have brought hides from the Ukraine, are gazing in wonder on their brethren who have come with caviar from the Aklituba. Those who follow, by their flowing robes and dark hair, must be from Persia; to them the Russians owe their perfumes. The man in difficulty about his passport is a Kujur from Astrabad, applying for aid to a Turcoman from the northern bank of the Gourgan. The wild-looking Bashkir from the Ural has his thoughts among the hives of his cottage, to which he would fain be back; and the stalwart Kuzzilbash from Orenburg looks as if he would gladly bear him company, for he would rather be listening to the scream of his eagle in the chase than to the roar of this sea of tongues.

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