that these men were fuch as Nature herfelf had produced, that they were happy before they were forced to endure our chains, that they were fatisfied with their condition, that their focial fyftem did not appear to them to be imperfect, that their industry was fufficient for the fupply of all their wants* and above all, in order to form a judgment of thofe men who have been fo much calumniated, let us not lofe fight of that affecting picture, which M. de la Condamine has drawn of his abode at Chuchunga. "I had now been eight days in this "hamlet, and they had glided quickly away it required all that time "to dry in the fun my cloaths and o"ther articles that had been wet to "the very bottom of my trunks. I "expofed them freely to the air; for "I had neither robbers nor the im"pertinently curious to dread; I was "in the midst of favages, and with "them I recompenfed myfelf for ha"ving lived among civilized men; " and fhall I confefs it? I did not rethe want of their fociety. Af gret 66 ter feveral years paffed in continu"al motion and agitation, I enjoyed now for the first time a delightful "tranquillity; the remembrance of 66 66. my past fatigues, of my pains, and "of my perils appeared to me like a dream, the filence that prevailed in "this folitude gave it additional "charms for me, and here I feemed "to breathe more freely; the heat of "the climate was tempered by the "coolness of the waters of a river that "had but just left its source, and by "the thick wood that fhaded its "banks; a prodigious number of fin gular plants and unknown flowers "prefented to me a new and varied fpectacle in the intervals of my "labour I partook in the innocent "pleasures of my Indians, I bathed "with them, I admired their indust"ry in fishing, their activity in the "chace; they prefented to me the "choice of their fith and of their SIR, "I Original Letter from Lisbon, LOOK upon it as my indifpenfable duty to give you fome account of my fituation; and in the discharge of this duty, if I am not deficient in gratitude, I fhall inevitably feel a very fenfible fatisfaction. foon after the Earthquake. "I have found little difficulty in reconciling myself to Portugal. The religion here is the greatest nuisance, aud that is indeed abominable. I could not well brook Tacitus's expreffion, "deteftabilis fuperftitio," when ufed Since Europe has appropriated America, fays a certain philofopher, by right of conqueft, and by cruelties which one cannot think of without horror,-how many vices, how many crimes, what disorders have we not introduced into that country. The people of the new world rested content with their ignorance, and were guided by a certain natural instinct, which is often a more useful guide than reafon itself; but we, instead of that happiness which they were content with, have substituted a number of falfe and dangerous gratifications, we have aggravated their miseries, by making them acquainted with new wants. Hift. de la Philos. afed for Christianity in general; but I fhould not be displeased to hear the term applied to this particular fpecies of Chriftianity, if it can merit to be ftyled any Christianity at all. In other refpects Portugal is extremely agreeable. The country is indifputably fine, and the climate admirable. A man who has never been in Italy may be excufed, I hope, for fancying Portugal resembles it; for I find this country exactly correfponding with the idea I had formed of that on the other fide of the Alps. I perfuade myself, that no two places in the world, fo diftant from each other, bear fo great a resemblance. The temperature of climate is nearly the fame in both; the likeness holds in their calamitous earthquakes, and more calamitous religion. There is fo great affinity between the languages, that to be master of one is to understand both. The Portuguese too, as well as the Italians, are of a very mufical difpofition, and have a good tafte for mufic, and excellent voices, almoft univerfally. "One particular which ftrikes an Englishman upon his coming hither is the prodigious violence with which the rain comes down; and this circumftance, I fuppofe, Portugal has in common with Italy: for Tacitus, I remember, takes notice that England is remarkably calm, in comparifon, I fuppofe, with his own as well as other countries. He endeavours to affign the caufe: "Credo quod rariores terræ montefque, caufa ac materia rempeftatum."I need not tell you that I have lately read him, and that I find him a writer whofe meaning I cannot readily either get or forget. "I had afforded fome attention to the earthquakes, but to very little purpofe. I can indeed promife, that I know enough of the matter to prevent my writing fuch pamphlets as I have lately read upon the fubject. I faw three of Dr Stukeley's. He feems to be an old woman, but no witch; and his treatifes are so many centos of wretched mistakes, picked up with care, and bound together with a most obftinate opiniatrety. "To attempt affigning the natural caufe of earthquakes is certainly no eafy undertaking. The fhocks here at different times feem fo very different, that one would almost be inclined to think they arofe from caufes effentially different, though it is very improbable that fhould be the cafe. Sometimes we have a fudden fhock, which is at its greatest violence when firft perceived, and is over inflantanėoufly. Others come on by degrees, and feem at first to give the buildings a kind of internal vibratory motion, not unlike that which is produced fometimes in bodies by a musical note; this gradually increafes, till at length. you hear the timbers labouring and cracking, and the ftones in the walls grinding against each other: fome are preceded by fubterraneous noifes, and others not; and the other concomitant circumftances are fo much diverfified, that a man of any ingenuity may eafily felect great numbers that will make for his own hypothefis, whatsoeve that may happen to be. "The weather is at prefent, and has been for fome time, the most delightful imaginable ('tis now Feb. 25). But they tell me, this winter has been the feyereft that has been known for many years. We had ice of confiderable thickness for a country where it is not ufual to have any. This weather, as it did not laft long, fo it was not, I believe, general, even during its continuance; for in Christmas holidays I was at Cintra, which is about twenty miles from Lisbon, where we found the air wonderfully mild and pleasant. We dined in the open air, and had fome delightful walks about the rock. Cintra is defervedly famous for its temperature, being no lefs cool in fummer than warm in winter. One may indeed almoft pronounce they have neither fummer nor winter there, but a delightful middle kind of feason, that is fre free from the inconveniences of both, and is conftantly both and neither. It is the most unaccountable place I ever faw or heard of, and hardly feems fubject to the laws of Nature; for, befides its unfeasonable pleafantnefs at all times of the year, though it is the higheft ground I ever trod, it is conftantly overflowed with water, in which refpect, though it may fall-in with the system of Mr. Halley, it seems to run counter to the common courfe of Nature. It is the most fertile and the most barren, the most frightful and the moft lovely place I ever beheld. The exquifite fweetness of the lower part of the hills is ftrongly contrafted by the craggy appearance of the fummits, where the rain has washed away the mould from between the rocks, and left them piled upon one another in a frightful manner. The foxes and wolves, that inhabited the numerous clefts and caverns in these eminences, are in one place diflodged by a fet of inhabitants, who, when religion is out of the queftion, have the advantage of the wild beafts in point of humanity; I mean, a fett of friars, who have confecrated the evacuated dens, and taken up their abode in them. We dired with them, and they treated us very hofpitably, juft without the gate of their unbuilt and invifible convent. "They tell me that Cintra is infinitely more pleafant in the fummer than in the winter; but it is very difficult to conceive how that is poffible. P The grafs affords a verdure in winter, which, I am apt to think, the fummer heats must destroy. The hills abound with ever-greens, particularly corktrees; and the orange-groves, when I faw them, were loaded with fruit, and made a fine appearance. "No measures have yet been tak en for rebuilding the city, and many intelligent perfons affure me, it will be fome confiderable time before any thing is attempted. This will not be a difagreeable article to fuch as are fond of ftrange fights; for it is generally allowed, that, from a very indifferent city, Lifbon is become one of the most extraordinary ruins in the world. "We have three people here, for the benefit of the air: Mr Cleveland, fon of the Secretary to the Adniralty'; Sir Archer Crofts, and his brother. The two firft are pretty well recovered; but the lait is irrecoverably gone in à confumption, and given over by every one except himself. He is an admirable young fellow, and we all feel for him, "I do not repent of my coming hi ther. You are well apprized of the inconveniences of my former fituation: at prefent I have nothing to complain of, though my affairs are not abfolutely fettled and certain, which is the lefs to be wondered at, confidering the nation I belong to, and the country I am in. "I am glad of an opportunity of acknowledging myfelf your moft obliged humble fervant. W. ALLEN." Anecdote of Lord Bacon; by J. Petit Andrews, F: A. S. UNNING was, at least, no crime in the days of the first of the Stuarts, nor kings nor nobles were above it. The great Lord Bacon was reduced to fuch extreme poverty towards the latter end of his life, that he wrote to James I. for affiftance in thefe words." Help me, dear fovereign lord and mafter, and pity "me fo far, that I who have been born to a bag, be not now in my forced in effect to bear a wallet age nor that I, who defire to live to "study, may be driven to study to "live." Those who may be difpofed to excufe this "Jeu de mots," may not perhaps be fo indulgent to a former letter of the fame great man, to prince Charles, wherein he hopes, that "as the father was his creator, the fon will be his redeemer.” Character Character of Count Schaumbourg-Lippe, commonly called Count de Bucke bourg.-By Mr Zimmerman. S OLITUDE, fays Mr Zimmer man, puts every thing in its proper place. There, one is happy in being able to think; in pleafing a fmall part of mankind, and confe. quently in having abundance of leifure to onefelf. To be generally hated, is fometimes a happiness worthy of envy. To him who can do good in retirement, it would be a real curfe to be univerfally beloved, and on that account to find every one defirous of paying him a vifit, or of inviting him to dinner. But for the most part, thefe are not the people who are principally diftinguilhed, or who receive the greatest thare of esteem, and a whole city never cries out against a perfon of ordinary character. It must therefore be confeffed, that there isfomething great in that man whom the world abuses, at whom every one calls a ftone, concerning whom a thoufand ridiculous ftories are invented, and to whom a thousand crimes are imputed, of which, however, not even one is proved. The lot of a man of genius, who lives in obfcurity, is by far more enviable. He is then left to himself, and as it appears natural to him that he should not be understood, he is never furprifed to find that the public judge badly of every thing that he does or fays, and that the attempts of his friends to rectify the opinions of mankind refpecting him, are always unfuccessful. Such was with the multitude, the fate of the famous Count Schaumbourg Lippe, better known by the fitle of Count de Buckebourg. I never faw in Germany a man worse understood or more ridiculed, and yet his name deferves to be enrolled among thofe of the celebrated chatacters of Germany. I formed an acquaintance with him, at a time VOL. X. No. 58. FE. when he lived almoft folitary and re tired from the world; but he governed his fmall territories with the greateft prudence. He had, indeed, fomething difgufting on the first appearance, and it was this which prevented ftrangers from paying attention to his internal merit. Count de Lacy, formerly Ambaffador from the court of Spain to that of Peterfburg, told me, at Hanover, that he was a general in the Spanish army against the Portuguese, commanded by the Count de Buckebourg, and that the external figure of this commander fo ftruck the Spanish Generals, when they difcovered him with their fpy-glaffes, that they all exclaimed, What! have the Portuguefe got Don Quixote for their commander? But this Count de Lacy, who was a man of great parts, spoke with enthusiasm of the Count de Buckebourg's conduct in Portugal, and of the greatness of his mind and character. It is true, that at a diftance, he had a romantic air, on account of his military countenance, his loofe hair, and his long meagre figure, and above all, on account of the extraordinary length of the oval of his head, which undoubtedly might bring to remembrance Don Quixote. But when near him, one faw and thought in a different manner. Lively and animated features announced his dignity, his penetration, bis fhrewdnefs, his mildness of difpofition, his goodness, and the ferenity of his mind. Exalted fenti ments and heroic thoughts, were to him as familiar and natural, as to the greatest of the Greeks or the Romans. The Count was born at London, and without doubt was a ftrange character. There are few people who know what a German Prince told me, that he was fond of of difputing with the English upon every occafion. He wagered, for example, that he would ride from London to Edinburgh, with his face turned towards the horfe's tail; and in this manner he actually traversed fome of the counties of England. He not only travelled through great part of that country, on foot, in company with a German Prince, but he went through feveral of its countics in the habit of a beggar. Being once told, that there was a part of the Danube, above Ratisbon, fo rapid that no person was ever able to cross it by fwimming, he took it into his head to attempt it, and fwam fo far, that it was with great difficulty he could be faved. A great fatefman and a profound philofopher, at Hanover, informed me, that in the war against the French, in which the Count commanded the - artillery of the Duke of Brunswick's army, he one day invited fome Hanoverian officers to dine with him in his tent. When all the company had fat down to table, feveral cannon bullets paffed over the tent. The officers, alarmed, all cried out that the French were undoubtedly approaching. The Count affured them that the French were at a great diftance, and begged his guests to finish their dinner. In a few moments after, fome more bullets bruthed the top of the tent, upon which the officers started up, crying out, The French are certainly upon us.' 'No, no,' faid the Count, the French are not upon us; be feated, gentlemen, and believe my "word.' The bullets, however, ftill continued to fly over their heads, but the officers ate and drank quietly, though they could not comprehend the meaning of this fingular entertainment. At length the Countrifing up, faid to them, Gentlemen, I was defirous of thewing you how ⚫ much I can depend upon those who direct my artillery: for I ordered them to fire with bullets, and to ' aim at the ball on the top of our tent, and you fee they have done it with the greatest nicely! The philofophic reader will readily per ceive in thefe fingularities, a man who wished to accuitom himself and others to every thing that appeared difficult. Being one day with the Count near a powder magazine, which he had ordered to be built below his bed-chamber, in the fort of Wilhelmitein, I obferved to him that I fhould fleep very little there du ring the warm nights of fummer, but the Count proved to me, I know not in what manner, that the greateft danger and no danger are all the fame. When I first faw this extraordinary man in company with an English and a Portuguese officer, he difcourfed with me for two hours, on Haller's phyfiology, which he knew by heart.. Next morning L was obliged to accompany him to the fort of Wilhelmftein, which he had conftructed in the midst of water, without finding a fingle foot of earth, and after plans which he fhew ed me. In this excurfion, he himfelf managed the oars, One Sunday morning, in the grand alley at Pyrmont, whilft all the company round us were dancing, making love, or fhewing themselves to the best advantage, he difcourfed with me for two hours, with as much ease as if we had been alone, concerning allthe proofs hitherto brought of the exiftence of God, the deficiencies of thefe proofs, and in what manner he thought it fill poffible to furpass them all; and that none of this leffon might efcape me, he held me by one of the buttons of my coat during the whole time. At his refidence at Buckebourg, he fhewed me a large folio, written by his own hand, on the art of defending a smali state against a great power, a work finifhed and intended for the King of Portugal; but he read many pa Lages |