period be which must separate Oh thou did'st then ne'er love so hear- Which weighs upon the heart?' The rhapsodical, romantic, tribute of professional kindness in the conclusion of your letter I cannot clearly demonstrate. I am not If thou remember'st not the slightest altogether satisfied whether you folly That ever love did make thee run into, ap Yet, however humiliating and romantic my sentiments may appear to you, I trust I am not altogether deserving of the vile pellation you have thought fit to brand me with, namely, a subverter of the rights of man! Deem me not too arrogant if with the immortal poet I say I dare do all that may become a man: Who dares do more is none.-' And know, Sir, I am not so completely sunk into that sorrowful paroxysm of grief and despair to have recourse to the foul means you allude to, to rid me of my disquietude. Revocate the idea. Heaven forbid it! And know Amor jussit scribere quæ puderit dicere.' Believe me, Sir, it was not any youthful fancy that imprinted on the tablet of my heart the fond characters; and be assured that the impression is such as effort can obliterate.-Your (and every other) remonstrance must ever prove an ineffective antidote to my indisposition. ΠΟ Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, Rase out the written troubles of the brain, And, with some sweet oblivious antidote, VOL. XXXVIII. intend it as a ludicrous burlesque, or not; and you seem in one part of yours rather to abnegate the ginary style persuades me you are heroes of romance;' but your imastrongly allied to that fraternity. I joined the festive throng, but happiness was not there. Pleahas stood forward to my view, and sure, in all her gilded allurements, courted me to enjoyment in the rosy cheek and sparkling eye, that told me 'what the sun is made of;'-and yet so far from giving me the sought-for happiness they Happiness is a shadow ;-Content only increased my uneasiness.-the substance;-where the substance is, the shadow must follow. DESCRIPTION of the SOUND, the (Translated from a German Pamphlet THE Sound is to the North what the Straits of Gibraltar are which has terminated with such signal The late expedition to the Baltic Danish fleet will, we presume, render success in the capture of the whole this description acceptable to our readers. to the South of Europe, and Elsineur and Helsingburg may be called the Northern Pillars of Hercules. It forms the communication between the North Sea and the Baltic. The Sound is two miles and a half broad at the narrowest part, where sandbanks on the Danish, and the Scheeren rocks on the Swedish, coast, confine the channel so much, that men of war of a great draft of water can only The pass one after the other. Danes have, from this circumstance, been enabled to establish a toll, which brings in a considerable sum, all ships that pass Elsineur being obliged to pay this duty. Farther to the Eastward, particularly near Copenhagen, the Sound widens; but still there is scarcely room for vessels to manoeuvre or fight, and the flotilla defending it might receive great support from the batteries on shore. Zealand, the largest of the Danish islands, is about 160 miles long, and 120 broad. The chief produce is barley, oats, and wheat. The pasture lands are very good. There are extensive woods of oak and beech, and the lakes abound with fish. The best harbour is that of Copenhagen, the metropolis and royal residence, built on the opposite side of the strait, between Zealand and the island of Amak, and celebrated for its excellent port, and its convenient situation for trade. It was only a village till the year 1254 when it became a town. In 1443 it was erected into a bishop's see, and made the residence of the king; but suffered to enjoy its own municipal laws. A fire in the year 1728, in twentyfour hours consumed 1,650 houses, five churches, the university, and four colleges. Another fire in the month of February, 1794, consumed the palace called Christiansburg, which was built by Christian VI. at his own expense, without laying any tax on his subjects it was an immense pile of building of hewn stone, the wings and stables of brick, stuccoed. In This city has a noble appearance from the sea, and is about two miles in length, one mile and a half in breadth, and six miles in circumference. Some writers estimate the number of inhabitants at 85,000, others 100,000. many of the streets the canals are deep enough to admit large ships to come close to the warehouses, a circumstance of the greatest convenience to the merchants. There is an university of some importance, founded in 1478, by Christian the First, under the sanction of Pope Sextus IV. an Academy for Artillery and Naval Cadets, a Society of Natural History, an Academy for Painting, Royal Societies of Sciences, Belles Lettres, and Surgery, a Veterinary School, a Royal Library, containing about 100,000 volumes, besides a large one belonging to the University, about fifty Hospitals and Poor-houses, a very spacious Exchange, and a fine Arsenal. Among other excellent manufactories, one of beautiful porcelain, established and carried on by F. H. Muller, an apothecary, deThe serves particular notice. round tower of the church of the Holy Trinity is reckoned a masterpiece of architecture; it was built after a design of the celebrated astronomer, Christopher Longomontanus. It is 150 feet high, and 60 in diameter,and the entrance is a spiral arch, so strong and spacious, as to admit a coach to ascend to the top, an ex periment which the Czar Peter the Great is said to have made in 1716. Copenhagen enjoys the privileges of a free port, and carries on a considerable trade. In 1768 upwards of 3,800 ships entered inwards, and about 3,700 cleared outwards. That Copenhagen is a place of great strength, both by nature and art, is evident from the three long and bloody sieges it sustained under Frederic I, Christian III, and Frederic III, though the fortifications were then by no means in the state they now are. As the town of Christian-haven, built on the isle of Amak, is generally comprehended with Copenhagen, this island may be noticed here. It is seventeen miles in length, by seven broad, and has a communication with the city by means of two bridges. The soil is uncommonly rich, and the island is considered as the garden and dairy of Copenhagen, to which the Amakers bring for sale all kinds of vegetables, milk, butter, and cheese, in great quantities. Of the Danish towns within the Sound, the next in point of importance is Elsineur, built on the declivity of a mountain, directly opposite to Helsinburg, on the Swedish coast. It contains from five to six thousand inhabitants, who derive great benefit from the number of people passing through the town from Sweden to different parts of Denmark, and still more in consequence of the toll that is levied from all vessels passing the Sound, on which account, each of the nations trading to the Baltic usually have a consul established here.-Christian II had an intention of ceding the town to the Dutch, but the inhabitants refused to comply with the order. important fortress of Cronenburg, begun by Frederic II. in 1577, and finished in 1585. The fortifications are in the best order, and the guns command the Sound, which is here not more than a mile and a half over, for men of war dare not keep near the Swedish shore, on account of the shoals. The most important islands in the Sound are, 1st. Amak, which has been already described. 2d. Saltholm, a small island belonging to the Danes, where there are excellent quarries of limestone, freestone, and marble. This island is uninhabited, being overflowed in winter. 3d. Huen, or Ween, a fertile island, formerly an appendage of Zealand, but annexed to the Swedish crown at the peace of Rotzchild. It was bestowed by Frederic the Iid. on Tycho de Brahé, the celebrated astronomer, for the term of his life. ANECDOTE of BOISROBERT, a THE Abbé de Boisrobert, by his pleasing conversation and diveiting taient, which he could exert to a high degree, became a great favourite with cardinal Richlieu, who loaded him with benefits till the scandalous conduct of the Abbé put an end to them. Several persons solicited his pardon in vain, though the cardinal himself secretly wished to be reconciled to him. At last his physician found means to relieve him from his anxiety, and produce a reconciliation. The cardinal asking his advice on account of some slight indisposition with which he was attacked, the physician wrote this prescripTo the South of Elsineur is the tion: Recipe Boisrobert-Take Boisrobert. The Abbé was immediately sent for, and the disorder went off. voured to diver the execution of her purpose, she said, 'You may make my death more painful, but you cannot prevent it;' and dashing her head against a wall fell senseless on the ground. Upon her re ANECDOTES of ARRIA, the ROMAN covery she calmly said, I told you HEROINE. ARRIA, a Roman lady, distinguished by her fortitude and conjugal affection, was the wife of Cecina Petus, a man of consular dignity, who died in the 42d year of the Christian era. Pliny the younger, in one of his epistles, has preserved several anecdotes of her, some of which are well deserving to be recorded. Her husband, and her son who was a very amiable and promising youth, were both seized at the same time with a dangerous disorder. The son died, but the mother concealed the distressing event from the sick father; and whenever she appeared in his presence, assumed a cheerful countenance, and answered his inquiries respecting their son with so much composure and serenity, that she even prevented the suspicion of his death. When her husband was apprehended, in consequence of having joined Scribonianus in a rebellion against the emperor Claudius, and was conveyed by sea to Rome, Arria wished to accompany him in the same vessel, but being refused, she hired a fishing boat and followed him. Having arrived at Rome, she determined to die with Pætus; and to the remonstrance of her son-in-law Thrasea, who asked her Would you wish that your daughter should accompany me, if I were to die?' she replied Yes; provided she had lived so long and so happily with you as I have lived with Patus.' To those who watched her, and who endea that I would find a difficult road to death, if you hindered me from obtaining an easy one.' When her husband was ordered to destroy himself, Arria, perceiving his he sitation, plunged a dagger in her breast, and then presented it, covered with blood, to her husband, exclaiming, in words celebrated by the ancients, who did not entertain that horror of self-murder which Christians have derived from better principles: Pætus! it is not painful. Martial's epigram on this subject is well known, but it has been remarked that he has given an ingenious turn to the expression which injures its noble simplicity. • Casta suo gladium cum traderet Arria Pato, Quam de risceribus traxerat ipsa suis Si qua fides, vulnus, quod feci, non dolet, inquit, Sed quod tu facies, hoc mihi, Pate, dolet. When Arria pull'd the dagger from her side, Thus to her consort spoke th' illustrious bride: The wound I gave myself I do not grieve; I die by that which Patus must receive. Tatler, No. 72. Arria, the daughter, who was married to Pætus Thrasea, proposed to imitate this example of her mother, when her husband was condemned to death under Nero; but she changed her resolution upon his request, who desired her to live, in order to take care of their daughter. merry morn― While Memory stood sideways, halfcover'd with flowers, And restored every rose, but secreted its thorn. Then Fancy her magical pinions spread wide, And bade the young dreamer in ecstacy rise ; Now far, far behind him the green waters glide, And the cot of his forefathers blesses his eyes. The jessamine clambers in flower o'er the thatch, And the swallow sings sweet from her nest in the wall; All trembling with transport he raises the latch, And the voices of lov'd ones reply to his call. A father bends o'er him with looks of delight: His cheek is impearl'd with a mother's warm tear; And the lips of the boy in a love-kiss unite With the lips of the maid whom his bosom holds dear. The heart of the sleeper beats high in his breast, Joy quickens his pulse-all his hard ships seem o'er; And a murmur of happiness steals thro' his rest O God! thou hast blest me, I ask for no more.' Ah! whence is that flame which now bursts on his eye? Ah! what is that sound which now larums his ear? 'Tis the lightning's red glare, painting hell on the sky! 'Tis the crashing of thunders, the groan of the sphere! He springs from his hammock-he flics to the deck, Amazement confronts him with images dire, Wild winds and mad waves drive the vessel a wreck, The masts fly in splinters, the Like mountains the billows tremendously swell In vain the lost wretch calls on mercy to save; |