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If it is the general lot of projects that they are well meant but are feldom practicable, it cannot be alleged against ours, that they ftand on ideal grounds. Convinced that the total abolition of flavery is yet wound up with infuperable difficulties, and that fo beneficial a reform is not to be produced by law and power, fo much as by a change in thinking, and by greater cultivation of the mind, we have laid our foundation in the prefent ftate of the people, and endeavoured only to bring this important truth into notice, that to alleviate moderately the grievances of the peasant, and to fecure him againft arbitrary power, are the best means of giving vigour to agriculture. What statesman, or what really enlightened landlord, will doubt or dispute the truth and importance of this propofition? And is it too much to hope, that this falutary change fhould take place in the age of Catharine the Second, in an age which, by its wisdom and cultivation, forms the moft brilliant epoch in the Ruffian hiftory, and is particularly celebrated for its improvements in agriculture?"

The flavery of the peasants cannot, perhaps, be removed without injury to the conftitution of Ruffia. The admiffion of fo great a body of men to the common rights of humanity, would neceffarily diminish the defpotism of the fovereign as one extreme would be raised in fociety, the other would be in fome degree lowered; and it may juftly be doubted, whether the change could be effected without a convulfion in the empire.

We now quit with reluctance this well-informed and entertaining writer, whofe methodical arrangement and ac- · curacy of defcription have enabled us to travel with eafe and pleasure through this enormous empire. Whether we wifhed to trace the origin of each people, to mark the caufes of the difference of manners in various parts of the empire, to learn the ftate of the population and the variety of the produce of different foils, to explore the wonders of the Siberian mountains, to wander with the Kamtfchadal or Samoied over the fnowy plains by the frozen sea, or contraft them with the Circaffian on the heights of Caucafus, we every where found inftruction united with entertainment, and statistics blended with real patriotifm. A translation of this performance, we understand, has been under, taken by a person well acquainted with Ruffia, and with the language in which the work is written; and we truft that it will prove an acceptable present to the English reader,

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Gemälde von St. Petersburg von Heinrich Storck. Rigą. View of Petersburg. 2 Vols. 8vo. 155. boards. Imported by Efcher.

THIS is a full, and frequently an animated, defcription of the inftitutions and buildings of Petersburg, and of the manners and cuftoms of the inhabitants. Much information has been given on these points by British travellers; but the time and ftudy employed upon this work by one fo well qualified to inveftigate every part of the subject, must give it a fuperiority over the accounts of those writers.

On the mode of life and the hofpitality of the Peterfburghers, our author's remarks are very interefting; and we might contraft the following ftatement of the expence of fervants in the capital of Ruffia, with what we have learned of the expence of the fame fervice in North America.

Servants in Petersburg form one of the moft expenfive articles for all who are not proprietors of land. The cuftom of keeping many fervants has become general in this city. In the houses of the nobility, where the fervants are flaves, their number exceeds all belief. This example, on the one hand, excites imitation in the middle ranks, and, on the other, produces indolence in the common people. Even the ordinary bufinefs of the house, for which one female fervant in Germany would be fufficient, is here thought to require at least three men.

Women are

never employed on any occafion which requires them to appear in the 'drawing-room, or to go into the streets; their departments are the kitchen, the wash-house, and the nurfery. Every other fervice is performed by men. For almost every employment one is obliged to keep a man; and the demands of these fervants are exorbitant. A man who dreffes hair and fhaves has from twelve to fifteen rubels every month, and a cook twenty or more, befides board. Agreements for hire are monthly; and this circumitance, together with the great ease of getting into fervice, is the chief caufe of the bad qualities of this clafs of people, the fubject of daily complaint. This inconvenience is lefs felt by those who can poffefs or purchase flaves the last is a privilege belonging only to the nobles and the military and civil officers of high rank. common price of a lad is three hundred rubels; that of a girl, a hundred.'

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When the Ruffians fhall become fo enlightened as to make themselves free, one fervant, without doubt, will do the work of half a dozen of thofe poor wretches who

have fcarcely any motive for exertion; for the obfervations of travellers in all parts of the world, where flavery is allowed, tend to prove that it is the most expensive, as well as the moft difgraceful mode of fervice. Of the focial life of the Petersburghers the following paffages will give fome idea.

Sociability is here a very different thing from what it is in most countries of Europe, with whofe manners and cuftoms we are acquainted. It does not fix itfelf only among friends and intimate acquaintance, as in England, where friendship, not fociability, seems to have domefticated itself. It is not confined to entertainment, as in Germany, where, with the foul fatisfied and an hungry stomach, a perfon takes his leave at fupper-time, or where a whole company is collected to enjoy a cup of coffee. Our fociable turn confifts in the common enjoyment of all the comforts of life. Bufinefs and forrow each man keeps to himself and his confidential friends: all the reft is common property, which feems to belong lefs to the giver than to his companions. Not merely the idle hours which muft otherwife be spent between fleeping and waking, or a few days of feftival, on which the mantle of pride is decorated with ridiculous expence, or the fuperfluities of felf-interested gluttony, are here offered to focial enjoyment! No Each open day, every moment free from labour and care, are dedicated to focial participation!

The times in which a Petersburgher in good circumftances is the most fond of a vifit, are precisely those which in Germany are avoided-the times of dinner and fupper." Then is every one free from care and open-hearted, free from all business, and at leisure for entertainment. He who is deliberately invited to a houfe, has perpetual admiffion when he pleases. The firft vifit ufually determines that point. If, at parting, no other invitation follows, fuch an acquaintance is not farther to be cultivated. When the gueft is agreeable to the hoft, he either names to him, at the end of the firft vifit, his vifiting days, or requests him to make the house his home.'

From this fpecimen of the manners of Petersburgh, it is evident that a ftranger may enjoy himself in that capital; and, if the fight of lazy flaves did not detract from his enjoyment, we should say that he was unworthy of the bleffings of liberty. But, in the perufal of this work, we were happy to fee repeated proofs that the iron yoke of defpotism is gradually becoming lighter; and perhaps one or two centuries will bring the Ruffians to all the enjoy nents of rational civilifation.

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In this performance, a very good view is given of Ruffian literature, arts, and feiences; and, from fome poetical tranflations, the northern Mufe promises to captivate by her ftrains even the more refined ears of the fouthern Europeans. Various anecdotes are alfo interfperfed; and every vifitant of Petersburg will find his advantage in the perufal of this work, which will, we doubt not, be put into his hands on his arrival, as his beft guide to every object worthy of notice in that metropolis.

Mélanges extraits des Manufcrits de Madame Necker. Paris, 1798.

Mifcellanies extracted from the Manufcripts of Madame Necker. 3 Vals. 8vo. 18s. Boards. Imported by De Boffe. THE general intereft with which Madame Necker's Reflections upon Divorce were received, induced her huf band to publish thefe Mifcellanies. She had accuftomed herfelf, from an early age, to commit her thoughts to paper, and confequently left many manufcripts. The rare affociation of brilliant talents with a fevere morality and the moft folid religious fentiments, will not (fays M. Necker) be feen with indifference in thefe writings. The language and the style of Madame Necker, almost always adorned with imagery, never ferved her but to exprefs juft views and reasonable sentiments. It was amidst a certain number of principles that her reflection travelled; but fhe collected much within a boundary which the authors of the age found too confined: this the did without difficulty, without effort, both in writing to her friends and in converfing with herself. All her thoughts were connected with that great chain which unites mankind among themfelves by benevolence and charity, and which raises them even to heaven by faith and by hope. She had placed her perfonal intereft in the performance of her duty; the reft was an amusement to her; and all the glories of the world would not have relieved her from the confuming chagrin which (I will not fay the flighteft remorse, but) even a momentary indifference to her rigid fcruples, would have occafioned in her breaft. Never, I believe, were feen fo great an extent of mind, and fo great a freedom of imagina tion, with fo many reftraints of conduct. The faculties of this lady allowed her to traverse an indefinite space; and her principles were immovable. Thus, with a daily progrefs in her perceptions and in her acquirements, the had preferved an innocence of heart, which, prolonging her

moral youth, diffufed many graces over her perfon. A triking contraft! She faw all the developements of felflove, all the arts of vanity, all the convulfions of the paffions; and fhe fcarcely ever believed in perfidious defigns or treacherous craft.-She particularly delighted in the fociety of men of letters: no one had too much genius for her; but it is remarkable, that, after having paffed a great part of her life in their fociety, and at an epoch when modern philofophy had moft boldness, her religious opinions never underwent the flighteft alteration; and, without abruptnefs, but with a continual vigilance, fhe changed the converfation which might have wounded her in her firft fentiment, in the refpect which the bore to the Supreme Being. No kind of bigotry, or of minute ceremony, accompanied this refpect; it was great, noble, ele vated, and always proper, if any can be proper, for a worship addreffed to the Sovereign Mafter of the Universe. This refpect, mingled with a holy love, had a character which, I believe, is very rare; it was effentially founded upon gratitude, and would have fubfifted in all its force, without fear and without hope. Yet Madame Necker had had her fhare of the viciffitudes of life: fhe had known, at the age of twenty-four years, the miferies which fpring from a total want of fortune, and which are always fo bitterly felt when they are joined to a liberal education. She was afterwards fubject to nervous diforders fo painful, that the gradually loft the comfort of fleep; and, obliged by day to yield to movements of agitation, fhe kept herfelf standing even in company, and obtained a little reft only when in the bath. Amidst her laft, her tender regrets, amidit the acute pains which the fuffered near the end of her life, the always recollected her past prosperity, and raised her hands towards the Supreme Being, to thank him for his goodness. God! what an example! Who can flatter himicif with the power of imitating it? I know not whether there ever existed a piety more fimple, and more proper to give a juft idea of the relations of a virtuous and feeling foul with the Divinity. How often have thofe relations given to Madame Necker a penetrating eloquence!

"Yes, you fee me,"-faid fhe in an inftruction left to her daughter," you fee me upon the limits that separate life from eternity. I place my hand upon one and upon the other, to atteft by both the existence of a God, and the happiness arifing from virtue !"

Ah! how impofing is this declaration from a mouth fo pure! It infpires courage against the doubts and the fyftems of the age.'

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