dinner-time I devote to exercise, or making We should have had much pleasure, had our space admitted of it, to have given copious extracts from his letters written at Dresden and Vienna, and in Switzerland; but wè must refer the reader to the work itself. Of the corps diplomatique, Mr. Tweddell's estimate was by no means exalted. Lord Whitworth he considers as an honourable exception to the general class of British diplomatists to the rest he gives little praise. His sketch of their charac. : "I have been here about am much delighted with n We are just restored to tranq mighty bustle-there has been ding in the family, which ha consisted of 150 persons. W great mob of Russian princes feet of Ukraine have been s dance. At present we are red sixteen persons, and our soci what select and pleasant, Am the Marshal Suvarrow, the he He is a most extraordinary cha dines every morning about nine sleeps almost naked. He affe indifference to heat and cold; a chamber, which approaches to in order to review his troops, in jacket, while the thermometer is at 10 degrees below freezing ners correspond with his humo with him this morning, or rath his dinner. He cried to me table, 'Tweddell! (he generall without by the surname, French have taken Portsmouth. received a courier from England is in the Tower; and Sheridan great deal of this whimsical man ed. He finds that it suits his the people he has to deal with him, if after the massacre at Ism perfectly satisfied with the co day? He said, he went home and tent."-pp. 135, 136. The filial affection of M dell is beautifully exem several occasions, in his let mother. He paid particul to her birth-day, May 29, failed, at that time especia press the warm interest took in her happiness. "Vienna, May 29th, 1796. "My dear Mother,-This is a day which I do not recollect ever to have let pass without commemorating by the expression of my sincere duty and affection. I am still less likely to omit that welcome office at this moment, when rendered naturally more thoughtful by the accession of time; and sobered by a disappointment, the effects of which will never be effaced, I am better enabled to estimate the value of so great a blessing as that of the most affectionate friend in the person of the kindest parent."--p. 75. See also pp. 156, 225, 320, &c. We have an interesting account (p. 306) of a Greek wedding, but our limits will not allow us to insert it. The interest which Mr. Tweddell took in the several countries which he visited, and the zeal with which he prosecuted his inquiries, are obvious from many of his letters: we think it important in relation to the concluding part of this Review, to bring this subject distinctly before our readers. "Wherever I go, I always wait upon the men of information most celebrated in the place. I brought no letters with me (except for Lausanne); but the Swiss are so very obliging in communicating with strangers, and so pleased to find any stranger who interests himself about their country, that I never had the least difficulty in introducing myself wherever I wished. I always carry pens and paper in my pocket, write my observations on the spot, and transcribe them in a book before I go to bed. I have filled four small quarto books with such remarks, and one day or other I hope that you will have pleasure in travelling over again with me this country upon paper. Your affection will create the interest which exists but feebly in the remarks themselves."-p. 93. He says (p. 184), that he had found, in the Crimea, a great many antiquities and inscriptions relating to the time when the Greeks were masters of the Island, and adds, "I have made several very tolerable drawings of all the most interesting views of this country; and I have copied all the inscriptions I have found.*”_ "-p. 185, "I am just returned from my tour in the Crimea, where the beauty of the country and the delightful climate, notwithstanding the advanced season, detained me longer than I expected. I have made and procured drawings of many situations, the representation of which will, I hope, one day afford you pleasure. The different costumes of the Tartars, Cosaks, Calmucks, &c. have been drawn for me during my absence from Simpberopol, by a painter in the service of Professor Pallas, and they are executed in a very masterly manner.”—p. 188. See also pp. 187, 199, 201, and 209. "I have now collected drawings of one hundred different dresses of this country, and have either taken or copied the greater part of the views in the neighbourhood."P. 232. "My collection of drawings augments rapidly, and is becoming very extensive. I hope to show you such an assemblage of views of this country as has not yet been carried out of it; especially when I shall have caused a part of my own performances to be re-copied by an able master in Italy. I have myself copied the greater part of a port-folio, which the Envoy of Naples has been collecting for many years, and which is very interesting; and I have eight or nine views of the greatest beauty, drawn by Mr. Préaux, an artist formerly employed by the Comte De Choiseul. I shall have ten or twelve, or perhaps fourteen, views of the single city of Constantinople, exclusively of the envirous. I have not been idle myself. I have found the "Dr. Clarke, in his 'Travels,' has the following reference:- Mr. Tweddell, of Trinity College, Cambridge, had recently visited this country, and he left with Professor Pallas his own beautiful transcripts of every inscription found here, from which documents they were published by the Professor, but without any illustration; the world having lost, in Mr. Tweddell's untimely death, and the subsequent disappearance of his journals at Constantinople, in 1799, as yet unexplained, all the information his great acquirements enabled him to afford.' secret of being admitted into the gardens ing and the perfection of detail in the of the Seraglio; and to-morrow morning architecture."-pp. 285-287. the gardener will conduct me through paths little frequented, between four and five o'clock in the morning.”—pp. 248, 249. "In short (he says) my port-folio is considered as one of the most perfect that has been made here, and will, I hope, soon be very much increased, as I shall stop to take views of every place that has either been famous in former times, or offers at present a romantic situation.”—p. 255. He congratulates himself exceedingly, when in the Isle of Teno, Dec. 1798, upon having procured, at Constantinople, a very celebrated painter to accompany him in his projected tour through Greece, and adds, "I continue my occupations. There is an abundant crop, and the promise of a rich harvest at least, I can answer for the diligence of the reapers. From sun-rise till eleven o'clock at night, we labour uniformly: Mr. Préaux in copying every thing which is to be copied, and I in determining the locality of ancient buildings, and in describing and comparing what is with what was. I am highly satisfied with our several progress."—pp. 287, 288. See also pp. 281,283, 292, and 296. with particular pleasure, a very valuBesides this he mentions (p. 302), able collection of forty or fifty drawings, which he had purchased at Athens of Mons. Fauvel. The most interesting part of the volume is the Appendix: and it is, "I look upon this circumstance as one of the most pleasing that I have met with as we have already hinted, with a in the course of my travels. I shall profit particular view to the very extraor myself by his instructions, and take views dinary information which is here of every object that conveys the slightest communicated, that we have cited interest either from its picturesque merits or its connection with ancient history. My so many letters tending to show Mr. collection of Levantine Dresses (I mean Tweddell's indefatigable industry, and the value attached by him to his journals and drawings. We shall endeavour to state the substance of it with as much brevity as possible. drawings of them) is already very considerable, amounting to nearly two hundred, and will soon be greatly augmented; so that I hope one day to show the richest port-folio perhaps that was ever carried. out of Greece, Asia, and Turkey. But Athens especially, is my great object. I promise you that those who come after me shall have nothing to glean. Not only every temple, and every archway, but every stone, and every inscription, shall be copied with the most scrupulous fidelity."—pp. 267, 268. From Athens he writes on different occasions in the same terms. "I have already collected a great variety of inscriptions here: and persuade myself that I have ascertained with tolerable exactness many situations which have been miscalculated by the Abbé Barthelemy, in his map of ancient Athens. My collection of drawings augments from day to day. Mr. Préaux has just finished a general view of the Acropolis, and of the Pantheon of Ha. drian, near five feet long; it is richly worth thirty guineas, for the beauty of the colour. When Mr. Tweddell was on the point of leaving Constantinople, in the autumn of 1798, to prosecute his researches in Greece, it was recommended to him as a measure of security, to leave in the private and confidential care of his friend Mr. Thornton, at Péra, whatever drawings or manuscripts he could conveniently spare and he followed the recommendation. Without entering minutely into the particulars of this property, the editor observes, "It comprised several views of the Crimea, either sketched by himself, or under his direction, executed by a very masterly hand; one hundred drawings of Constantinople and its environs; besides other collections of a mixed nature, which had accumulated in the course of three years' travels, prosecuted with an uniform and zealous regard to every object of rational curiosity, and under circumstances singularly favourable for obtaining information. "It is under this head that I must specify a part of Mr Tweddell's property on which he seems to have placed a higher value than on any other of his literary ef. fects, namely, the journals of his travels in Switzerland and the Crimea, which were both voluminous and complete. The journal of his tour in Switzerland, in particular, was composed with much care, had received the last decision of his judgment; and appeared, in his own beautiful hand. writing, in a state of finished preparation for the press."-pp. 351, 352. A destructive fire, which happened at Péra, excited considerable alarm in the mind of Mr. Tweddell for the safety of his deposit: the mansion and warehouse of Mr. Thornton were consumed: but the effects in question having been lodged in a chamber on the ground floor, supposed to be fire proof, were by the exertions of that gentleman happily preserved. At this time Mr. Tweddell was in Greece. We think it important to shew the manner in which he expressed himself, when he heard of the fire. "I deposited in the hands of Mr. Thornton, a trunk and portmanteau, containing all my better clothes, &c. and, what was of much more importance, all my papers and notes upon the different countries through which I have passed, which were then very voluminous ; among other things there were also one hundred drawings relating to Constantinople But, after all, my greatest alarm and regret (if the alarm prove founded) is for my different Journals; especially those of Switzerland and the Crimea, which were composed with much care; and which contained, I will venture to say, some very good information, and many details not yet known."-p. 315. "I fear that I have lost the fruits (not all the fruits, but a great part) of three years and a half of unremitted application to every object of curiosity that has come before me." Christ. Observ. No. 162. "My collection of drawings of Athens is the most complete, without any doubt, of all those that have ever been carried out of the country. My portfolio contains fifty views of Constantinople and its environs, more valuable than the hundred which I imagine to be lost; fifty more of the Crimea, which are not burnt, I know; forty views of Athens; and one hundred and fifty drawings, respecting the ceremonies, and usages, and dresses of the people of this country."-p. 317. To the same effect, see p. 319.. Mr. Tweddell died at Athens, July 25, 1799. On the day of his death, the British Consul and some other persons, whose names are subjoined to their report, repaired to the house of Logotheti, the British Vice-Consul, where the deceased dwelt, took an inventory of his effects, and affixed their seal: they found four trunks, a small box, an escritoire, a portfolio, and a portmanteau. On the 27th and 28th, the same persons went again, broke the seals, and examined the property: the following is in substance their statement of the contents:— Ten paper books, and sixty sheets of paper containing journals, annotations, Greek inscriptions, &c. Eighteen portfolios, packets, or books of drawings, besides different drawings folded up, upwards of two hundred medals, and a number of ancient vases, lamps of pottery ware, &c. Soon after the date of these proceedings, the whole of Mr. Tweddell's effects were embarked on board a country ship, bound for Constantinople, and consigned to the care of John Spencer Smythe, Esq. then Minister Plenipotentiary from Great Britain at the Porte-a gentleman who was a warm personal friend to the deceased, and who had received him under his roof for some months before his departure for Greece. To Mr. Smythe the property was formally consigned by the Consult 3 D at Athens. The vessel which contained it was unfortunately wrecked, but the packages were preserv ed and forwarded to Constantinople, in the last week of November, 1799. "Immediately on their arrival, and before their delivery to Mr. Smythe, they were attached under the order of the Earl of Elgin, who had recently landed from England, with the powers of ambassador extraordinary, and were taken into the custody of the embassy-by virtue of what authority I pretend not to explain."-p. 348. The packages, though suffering under the consequences of shipwreck, and though his lordship's attention was entreated by Mr. Thornton to their state, remained unopened for nearly eight weeks, when an English artist, then at Constantinople, attended at the ambassador's palace to view the drawings which had then been unpacked, and were spread abroad on chairs and tables. sea water "He was requested to exercise his skill in saving or restoring those which had sustained injury, from the effects of the His attention was particularly engaged by many beautiful drawings, views of Greece, aud costumes of that country; but in a state of mildew, from having remained a considerable time in the cellar of the English palace: he succeeded, however, by great care, in separating many of them; and these, when dried, he left in tolerable condition."-p. 349. Here then we have the whole of the effects, which were sent from Athens to Constantinople, distinctly traced into the hands of Lord Elgin. But what became of the other property, which was left under the confidential care of Mr. Thornton, at Péra, and which had been so fortunately saved from the flames? his suite, assembled in an apartment, where the whole of the packages were opened and examined. He particularly noticed the journal of the tour in Switzerland, which, with all the other MSS. and other arti. cles," were taken out of the trunks in the order in which Mr. Tweddell himself had packed them up. "The contents thus opened, were spread abroad, for their inspection and examination, upon the chairs and tables of the room; and when the parties present withdrew, they were left exposed in that state, the door of the room being locked by Lord Elgin himself, and the key kept in his own possession. "Several weeks after this transaction, his warehouse in Galata, found some boxes Mr. Thornton, on going one morning to which had been brought there from the English palace: he examined the contents of them; they appeared to correspond to a certain extent with those which he had seen unpacked from the trunks formerly in his possession-with this material exception, however, that all the drawings and manuscripts were missing; these, after the most diligent and repeated search among the returned boxes, could not be found; no satisfactory intelligence of them could be procured at the time; no subsequent com. munication on the subject was ever made; and in fact they never were returned.”— pp. 353, 354. We have now traced the whole of Mr. Tweddell's property to Lord Elgin. We must pause for one moment to inquire, by what authority the noble lord ordered these effects into his own custody? The British Minister at the Porte has a two-fold appointment, and a two-fold salary: one derived from the Crown, and one from the Levant Company. The Levant Company, on receiving a sort of recommendation from the At the very time that the pack- Crown, usually elect the Crown's ages from Athens were opened, Mr. Minister as their municipal MaThornton received Lord Elgin's gistrate. At the time when Mr. commands to send Mr. Tweddell's Tweddell was in Constantinople, trunks to the palace. He went Mr. Smythe united both offices in with them, and found his lordship, his own person; and after Lord his chaplain, and other persons of Elgin went out as ambassador, |