if the strangers who pass the night there require soft beds, they must content themselves as well as they can with sweet hay, for straw is a luxury unknown to these virtuous patriarchs. As they have not this article for their cows to lie down upon, th y keep their stables uncommonly clean, and generally make one of the streams which are so abundant upon the mountains run through them and through the dairy but their cow-yard, in which all the manure is kept, is close upon the house, so that you nose it at a great distance upon your approach to the house; and by this community of the roof between the family and all the other cattle, so much filthiness arises, that it is scarcely conceivable how they can keep even their dairies clean. Of their persons they appear to take no concern at all, and are, of course, as dirty as any other peasants in the most wretched hovels of Europe. The houses are generally full cf children, clad in no other garb than a coarse shirt; oftentimes stark naked, and loaded with vermin like the land of Egypt at the last of its plagues. Such is the condition of these venerable and blissful beings, whom we had heard extolled as the genuine children of nature the true samples of mankind in the golden age. Their manners are varied, according to their individual characters; all are coarse, most of them disgusting, and some rude and insolent as to their treatment of strangers, the only two by whom we have been entertained imposed egregiously upon us in their charges.'

Various interesting notices are communicated relative to the manufacture of linens, which we regret that we cannot insert without swelling this article to an immoderate bulk. We must also refer to the work for some judicious and discriminating strictures on the peculiarities of the mountain-towns and their inhabitants, as contrasted with those of the rest of Silesia. We shall, however, for the entertainment of our readers, present them with a repast in the house of Mr. Ruck, an eminent linen merchant at Landeshut:

It was a formal dinner of thirty persons, according to the fashion of the country; we sat down soon after one, and rose from table just before six. The whole of this time is employed in eating; for the ladies and gentlemen all rose together, and there was very little wine drank. But as only one dish is served at a time, and in a dinner of three courses every dish must be handed round to every guest, the intervals between the dishes are of course very long; the usual time of sitting on such occasions, we are told, is about seven hours, but it was here abridged out of complaisance to us. After dinner we walked in the garden, and coffee was served in an arbour, where we sat some time and conversed. As evening came on, the company sat down to cards, and played until eleven, when a cold collation was served in another room. We were now permitted, as strangers, to return to our inn; but the rest of the company continued at their cards and the collation until half past twelve. This is the usual course of a great dinner in Silesia. The company consisted of the principal linen-merchants, and the Lutheran clergy of the place. Among them

I found

In ge

I found men of agreeable manners and of considerable information, but none of them spoke any other language than German neral throughout Silesia, speaking French is considered as an affectation of high life, and a sort of ridicule is cast upon it; so that many who are well versed in the language scruple at speaking it even with a stranger.'

In passing through the little town of Gottesberg, the industry of the women, boys, and girls, in knitting worsted stockings, suggested this reflection: Thus, upon almost every mile of our passage, we behold industry with a different, and always with an useful occupation. But it is always a great alloy to the satisfaction we receive from this prospect, that it is accompanied with that of wretchedness. The poor people, who are thus continually toiling, can scarcely earn a sufficiency for their bare subsistence, and are subjected to various heavy oppressions. The manufactories of linens, in particular, which raise large fortunes to the merchants who export them from the cities, scarcely give bread to the peasants, who do all the valuable part of the work.'

The eighteenth letter contains an amusing account of a carousal and masquerade given at Fürstenstein, in honour of the king and queen of Prussia.

Landeck is described as a pleasant watering-place. The bath waters are about milk-warm; those they drink are cold and clear as crystal, but so much impregnated with sulphur, that they taste like bilge-water.'

Breslau forms the subject of two letters. That city contains upwards of 60,000 inhabitants, a great many churches and cloisters, an university, several public buildings which belonged to the college of the Jesuits, a cannon foundery, a manufactory of what is termed Turkish yarn, and another of needles. The large library belonging to the church of St. Elizabeth boasts many valuable manuscripts, one of which is an unmutilated copy of Froissart's Chronicle, written on parchment, and beautifully illuminated. We were shewn,' says Mr. Adams, 'another manuscript of a very different kind, though perhaps not less curious. To the naked eye it appears to be a drawing with a pen of the Venus de Medicis, upon a half sheet of folio paper by looking at it through a magnifying glass, you find it is a copy of Ovid's Art of Love, perfectly legible, and the whole five books within a compass of ten inches in length and three in width.'

From Breslau to Dresden, the author's progress was too precipitate to admit of many observations de serving of particular notice. Dresden has been often described, and one short paragraph is here devoted to Leipzig.

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The length to which our report has already extended, and the comparative shortness of the second part of this volume, permit us not to dilate on its contents. The geographical and historical details, with which it presents us, are dry and scanty: but the statements of the revenues and of the sources of public taxation are clear and satisfactory.

:

That the tolerant Frederic should have continued the gabelle on salt, a tax of ten thousand rix dollars on the Jews for being allowed to live in Silesia, and compulsory obligations on the inhabitants to serve in the army and perform personal labour, considerably abates our admiration of a philosophic king. That he ameliorated the condition of the peasantry will not be denied but he did so in violation of the right of the landlords. Such,' observes Mr. Adams, is the character of arbitrary power; its only medicines are extracts from the deadliest poisons; its most bounteous charities are but the fruits of robbery.' Yet, let us not forget that the same monarch who could thus trample on public and private justice, zealously exerted himself to procure, for the province which he had conquered, the first of national blessings-the education of its youth. In the work before us, his plan of public schools, and the system of education which he prescribed, are duly commemorated. May they teach an important lesson to the rulers of states and empires!

• Doctor Johnson, in his life of Watts, has bestowed a just and exalted encomium upon him, for not disdaining to descend from the pride of genius and the dignity of science, to write for the wants and the capacities of children. Every man acquainted," says he, "with the common principles of human actions, will look with veneration on the writer, who is at one time combating Locke, and at another time making a catechism for children in their fourth year." But how much greater still is the tribute of admiration irresistibly drawn from us, when we behold an absolute monarch, the greatest general of his age, eminent as a writer in the highest departments of literature, descending, in a manner, to teach the alphabet to the children of his kingdom; bestowing his care, his persevering assiduity, his influence and his power, in diffusing plain and useful knowledge, among his subjects; in opening to their minds the first and most important pages of the book of science, in filling the whole atmosphere they breathed, with that intellectual fragrance, which had before been imprisoned in the vials of learning, or enclosed within the gardens of wealth!-Immortal Frederick! when seated on the throne of Prussia, with kneeling millions at thy feet, thou wast only a king. On the fields of Leuthen, of Zorndorf, of Rosbach, of so many other scenes of human blood and anguish, thou wast only a hero. Even in thy rare and glorious converse with the Muses and with science, thou wast only a philosopher, an historian, a poet; but in this generous ardour, this active and enlightened zeal for the education of thy

people,

people, thou wast truly great-the father of thy country-the benefactor of mankind.'

In the concluding letter, which treats of the state of literature and science in Silesia, we learn that not fewer than 2000 names of native authors were published in 1680, in the Silesia Togata; and that, at present, there are about 500, who have als ready given public testimonies of their talents on every variety of subjects, and who have written chiefly in the German language. The three of most distinguished eminence are Opitz, Wolff, and Garve. A short biographical sketch of each of these writers is subjoined.

When we regard these letters as the friendly communications of the writer to his brother, we are highly gratified with the solid and amusing information which they contain, and the distinct and easy manner in which that intelligence is conveyed: but, viewing them, on the other hand, as a professed publication, we should sometimes look for a greater diversity of remark, and more sprightliness and purity of style. A skilful disposer of his materials would incorporate the general views with the details, as occasion might offer, or reserve the observations on agriculture, manufactures, commerce, &c. for the statistical division; and thus either avoid the formality of a partition, or endue it with consistency and proportion.

From some incidental passages, we are led to infer that Mr. Adams is no friend to the received doctrine of a division of labour in a manufacturing district; and his reasoning on this subject, though very succinctly stated, is plausible; yet, as it appears to us, inconsistent with fact. To the adoption of this doctrine, England owes her decided superiority in various products of manual industry, the extension of her manufactures, and her ability to compete with foreign markets, notwithstanding her enormous load of taxation. By division and subdivision of mechanical processes, not only are the manufactured articles obtained in greater perfection, and sold at much lower prices than they otherwise could be, but the demand for artisans is increased, and consequently more families are enabled to subsist. If the question be, whether the ignorance and profligacy, which arise out of the present system, are counterbalanced by the advantages of increased wealth and population, the solution becomes more doubtful: but Mr. A. has not glanced at this view of the subject.

In more instances than one, the present tourist raises expectations which are but partially gratified. Thus he contemplated the Zackerle-fall from three different positions; none of which, he tells us, should be overlooked: yet the description is very inadequate to a distinct conception of this celebrated cascade. In like

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manner, the ninth letter promises grand and sublime painting: but the writer conducts us to the height of four thousand feet, on the Riesengebirge, without greatly exalting our sentiments, or imparting much information. The geology of this mountainous range is curiously dispatched in two sentences: At the snow-pits, as at the falls, there is every appearance as if the immense masses of granite, of which these mountains consist, had been split and shivered by some great natural convulsion, The basaltic rocks, which rise in irregular pyramidical shafts from the bottom of the pits, to the height of four or five hundred feet, furnish materials for the controversy between the natural philosophers, whether it is a marine or volcanic production." Does Mr. A. reckon granite and basalt synonymous terms? If not, can the mountain be said to consist of immense masses of granite?-The epithet marine, in the same passage, is rather improperly opposed to volcanic, since even volcanists maintain that basalt is formed under the surface of the sea, and some of them assert that it cannot have been formed out of it.-The Riesenkoppe, or Giant Mountains, are celebrated as a principal object of the tour; the intrepid Plenipotentiary ascends to the top, and sees the sun rise, large as a coach-wheel. The same effect, he sagely remarks, may be produced by viewing the orb of day through a telescope.-The whole of Silesia, Saxony, and Bohemia pass before his eyes: but admiration is instantly repressed by the chilling reflection that, when the eye embraces at once such an extent of objects, it perceives only great masses; whereas all the pleasure that painting can afford is by the accurate representation of details.-The ascent to the Heuscheur, which is so pompously announced, again reminds us of the mountain in labour.-Our curiosity was not a little excited by mention of the coal mines near Waldenburg: but the narrative conducts us by a tunnel, or subterraneous canal, to the work and then leaves us in utter darkness.

Mf. Adams's sentiments, (when he is pleased to introduce them) if not original, are mostly correct and commendable; and therefore the very uncharitable insinuation conveyed in this sentence excites at once our surprize and regret : 'I expected to have found at least some heinous crimes upon the list; but unless the murder of a priest may be considered as of that denomination, there was not one. Is the murder of a priest less criminal than that of a lawyer or physician, or even than that of a Minister Plenipotentiary? We sincerely hope that the clause which we have marked in Italics has been erroneously printed; for we cannot willingly believe that a gentleman of liberal education could allow himself to doubt on the subject.

Muir.

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