his death to be more lamented by the public, than the loss of his abilities as judge, of which they had had the experience of eleven. years.'

His intercourse with the Indian natives of character and abilities was extensive: he liberally rewarded those by whom he was served and assisted, and his dependants were treated by him as friends. Under this denomination he has frequently mentioned in his works the name of Bahman, a native of Yezd, and follower of the doctrines of Zoroaster, whom he retained in his pay, and whose death he often adverted to with regret. Nor can I resist the impulse which I feel to repeat an ancedote of what occurred after his demise; the pundits who were in the habit of attending him, when I saw them at a public durbar, a few days after that melancholy event, could neither restrain their tears for his loss, nor find terms to express their admiration at the wonderful progress which he had made, in the sciences which they professed.'

In the pleasing office of delineating his virtues, my regret for his loss has been suspended, but will never be obliterated; and whilst I cherish with pride the recollection that he honoured me with his esteem, I cannot cease to feel and lament that the voice to which I listened with rapture and improvement, is heard no more.

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As far as happiness may be considered dependant upon the attainment of our wishes, he possessed it. At the period of his death, by a prudent attention to economy, which never encroached upon his liberality, he had acquired a competency, and was in a situation to enjoy dignity with independence. For this acquisition he was indebted to the exertion of his talents and abilities, of energies well directed, and usefully applied to the benefit of his country and mankind. He had obtained a reputation which might gratify the highest ambition and as far as human happiness is also connected with expectation, he had in prospect a variety of employments, the execution of which, depended only on the continuance of his health and intellectual powers. I shall not here enlarge upon the common topic of the vanity of human wishes, prospects and enjoyments, which my subject naturally suggests; but if my reader should not participate that admiration which the memory of Sir William Jones excites in my mind, I must submit to the mortification of having depreciated a character, which I had fondly hoped would be effectually emblazoned by its own excellence, if I did but simply recite the talents and virtues which conspired to dignify and adorn it.'

Among other curious matters, which are to be found in the Appendix, is a full developement of the plan of the history of the Turks, already mentioned as one of the literary projects on which Sir William Jones intended to have employed himself; an undertaking which, to use his own words on another occasion, it would require the best part of the life of such men as live in these degenerate days to execute: since it would be necessary for the person who entered on it to add to a thorough knowlege of the language of Turkey, and a residence of some

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time in the country, a deep acquaintance with the Persic and Arabic languages. It clearly appears that this would be a most important service to literature; and we hope that some aspiring candidate for literary fame may be induced, by the perusal of Sir William Jones's essay on the subject, to attempt the execution of this task.

We have spoken strongly on the extraordinary merits of Sir William Jones, and we have extracted copiously from the contents of this interesting publication: but words are scarcely sufficient to express our feelings on the former subject, and our limits do not admit of complete gratification in the latter respect; to the volume itself, therefore, we must finally refer the' reader who desires more ample satisfaction.

Jo.

ART. II. Letters on Silesia, written during a Tour through that Country in the Years 1800, 1801; by his Excellency, John Quincy Adams, then Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States to the Court of Berlin; and since a Member of the American Senate. Embellished with a new Map. 8vo. PP. 400. 83. Boards. Budd. 1804.

A PREFATORY advertisement informs us that the author of

these letters is the eldest son of the late President of the United States of America, and that they were originally addressed to the writer's brother, without any view to publication: but, at the request of some gentlemen of competent taste and judgment, they were allowed to be printed in the Port Feliz, a miscellaneous paper which is published at Philadelphia. They are now collected, and arranged under two divisions; the first containing a Journal of the Tour, and the second a political , and statistical View of Silesia. As that country is very imperfectly known to most English readers, it may be reasonably expected that we should sketch an analysis of the present publication, and extract from it such passages as may help to convey some idea of its merits.

Taking his departure from Berlin, on the 17th of July, 1800, Mr. Adams prosecuted his route by Frankfort on the Oder, Grünberg, Sprotau, Hirschberg, the Riesengebirge, Landeshut, Schweidnitz, Glatz, Frankenstein, Breslau, Liegnitz, Lauban, Dresden, and Leipzig.

Without dragging our weary steps over the flat and sandy tracts in the neighbourhood of Berlin, we may safely advance to those hills and agreeable spots of cultivation which enliven the approach to Frankfort. A pallid race of mortals, who live in wretched hovels, are thinly scattered over these regions.

The

The traveller's report of the manufacture of beet-sugar is by no means favourable:

At one time,' says he, we were assured, beyond all doubt, that one mile square of beets would furnish sugar for the whole Prussian dominions. The question was submitted to a committee of the academy of Sciences, who, after long examination and deliberation, reported, that, in truth, sugar, and even brandy, might be produced from beets, and in process of time might be obtained in great quantities; but that, for the present, it would be expedient to continue the use of sugars and brandies, such as had been hitherto in use. Since this report, we have heard little or nothing of beet-sugar.'

The principal curiosity they shewed us was a specimen of the new sugar produced from the beet or turnip, which I have mentioned to you in a former letter. They have made here a few loaves of it, which in external appearance are equal to the very finest sugar from the cane; but it is neither of so close a texture, nor so sweet to the taste. They sent, about two months ago, two loaves of this sugar as samples to the King, who returned them a very gracious letter of thanks, and an elegant gold medal as a reward for their industry. The gentleman who accompanied us,, and who is one of the directors of the Company, assured us it was impossible to make this sugar under double the price which that from the West Indies amounts to. From a quintal of the vegetable they can make only four pounds of fine sugar.'

In the short description of Frankfort, the most prominent feature is the nastiness of the Jews; in comparison with which, to adopt the writer's phraseology, the word filth conveys an idea of spotless purity. In conformity to the same terse vocabulary, his Excellency terms the deep sandy road to Crossen, the abomination of desolation.'-Crossen, with a population of 7000 inhabitants, is supported chiefly by the manufacture of broad cloth and the cultivation of the vine. The produce from the latter is extremely precarious: but the soil is little adapted to any thing else.

Mr. Adams, who seldom passes a manufactory of any kind unnoticed, paid his respects to the pottery at Bunzlau, where his curiosity was not wholly unrewarded. In the yard is a pot which contains nearly fifty bushels, is about twelve feet high, is hooped like a barrel, and is kept in a house fitted for its reception :

But the greatest curiosities of Bunzlau are two mechanical geniuses by the name of Jacob, and of Hüttig, a carpenter, and a weaver who are next-door neighbours to each other. The first has made a machine, in which, by the means of certain clock-work, a number of puppets, about six inches high, are made to move upon a kind of stage, so as to represent in several successive scenes the passion of Jesus Christ. The first exhibits him in the garden at prayer, while the three apostles are sleeping at a distance. In the

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last he is shewn dead in the sepulchre, guarded by two Roman soldiers. The intervening scenes represent the treachery of Judas, the examination of Jesus before Caiaphas, the dialogue between Pilate and the Jews concerning him, the denial of Peter, the scurging, and the erucifixion. It is all accompanied by a mournful dinge of music; and the maker, by way of explanation, repeats the passages of Scripture which relate the events he has undertaken to shew. I never saw a stronger proof of the strength of the impression of objects, which are brought immediately home to the senses. I have heard and read more than one eloquent sermon upon the passion; but I confess, none of their most laboured efforts at the pathetic ever touched my heart with one half the force of this puppet-show. The traitor's kiss, the blow struck by the high priest's servant, the scourging, the nailing to the cross, the spunge of vinegar, every indignity offered, and every pain inflicted, occasioned a sensation, when thus made perceptible to the eye, which I had never felt at mere description.

Hüttig the weaver, with an equal, or superior mechanical genius, has applied it in a different manner, and devoted it to geographical, astronomical and historical pursuits. In the intervals of his leisure from the common weaver's work, which affords him subsistence, he has become a very learned man. The walls of his rooms are covered with maps and drawings of his own, representing, here the course of the Oder, with all the towns and villages through which it runs; there the mountains of Switzerland, and those of Silesia, over both of which he has travelled in person. In one room he has two very large tables, one raised above the other; on one of them he has ranged all the towns and remarkable places of Germany, and on the other, of all Europe; they are placed according to their respective geographical bearings. The names of the towns are written on a small square piece of paper, and fixed in a slit on the top of a peg, which is stuck into the table. The remarkable mountains are shewn by small pyramidical black stones, and little white pyramids are stationed at all the spots which have been distinguished by any great battle or other remarkable incident. The man himself, in explaining his work, shews abundance of learning, relative to the ancient names of places, and the former inhabitants of the countries to which he points; and amused us with anecdotes of various kinds, connected with the lands he has marked out. Thus, in shewing us the Alps, he pointed to the spots over which the French army of reserve so lately passed, and where Bonaparte so fortunately escaped being taken by an Austrian officer; and then he gave us a short comment of his own upon the character and extraordinary good fortune of the First Consul. In a second room he has a large machine, representing the Copernican system of the universe: it is made in such a manner, as that the whole firmament of fixed stars moves round our solar system once in every twenty-four hours, and thus always exhibits the stars, in the exact position, relative to our earth, in which they really stand. Internally, he has stationed all the planets which belong to our system, with their several satellites, and all the comets that have been ob. served during the last three centuries. In a third room he has another machine exhibiting in different parts the various phases of

the moon; and those of Jupiter's satellites, the apparent motion of the sun round the earth, and the real motion of the earth round the sun.

In his garret he has another work, upon which he is yet occupied, and which being his last labour, seems to be that in which he takes the most delight. Upon a very large table, similar to that in the first room, he has inlaid a number of thin plates of wood, formed so as to represent a projection of the earth upon Mercator's plan. All the intervals between the plates of wood designate that portion of the world which is covered with water. He has used a number of very small ropes of two colours, drawn over the surface in such a manner as to describe the tracks of all the celebrated circumnavigators of the globe. The colours of the ropes distinguish the several voyages from each other. To three of these great adventurers, who he thinks claim especial pre-eminence above the rest, Columbus, Anson, and Cook, he has shewn a special honour by three little models of ships, bearing their names, which are placed upon the surface of his ocean, in some spot of their respective courses. The names of all the other voyagers, and the times at which their voyages were performed, are marked by papers fixed at the points of their departure. Such is the imperfect description I can give you from a short view of the labours of this really curious man. He must be nearly, or quite seventy years old, and has all his lifetime been of an infirm constitution. But this taste for the sciences, he told us, was hereditary in his family, and had been common to them all, from his great-grandfather down to himself. His dress and appearance were those of a common weaver: but his expressive countenance, at once full of enthusiastic fire and of amiable good nature, was a model, upon which Lavater might expatiate with exultation. The honest and ingenious weaver, on our taking leave, made us smile by exclaiming, that now, if he could but have a traveller from Africa come to see his works, he could boast of having had visitors from all the four quarters of the globe.'

Hirschberg, with its adjoining linen manufactory and romantic hills, proved an interesting station to the journalist: but we cannot attend him on all his excursions among the mountains. His picture of the Silesian highlanders is far from flattering:

Their houses are situated at such an elevation upon the mountains that the ground will produce nothing but grass, and they can raise nothing but cows, goats, and a few fowls. For six months in the year they are in a manner buried under the snow, and are cut oft from all intercourse with other human beings. Their log huts are of a single story and a hay-loft; the floor below is divided into four apartments, one of which is a stable for their cattle, another their dairy, the third is the common dwelling-place of all the family, and the fourth a very small room for the reception of strangers: the family-room serves at once as kitchen, eating-room, and bed room, and is heated with fires all the year round. There is a wide bench that goes all round the room, on which they sleep, for they have no beds, or, at most, one for the master and mistress of the house; and REY. DEC. 1804.

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