ardent attachment and affection, and the most profound respect, from all who have had the honour to have the slightest intercourse with her. A German traveller, Joachim Henry Campe, who was in England in 1803, has inserted in his acoount of his travels some anecdotes of the princess of Wales, which we shall here extract, as they appear to be an honest and unbiassed testimony in favour of her extensive beneficence, and the good and amiable qualities of her mind and heart. and admiration of professed archi- After my royal guide had shewn When I was at the residence of the princess of Wales at Blackheath,' says this traveller, she had the condescension to conduct me to a garden at some distance which she had laid out principally herself, and which she superintends entirely herself, not suffering any person to do any thing in it but under her immediate direction. I admired the beautiful order and the careful cultivation of even the most insignificant spot; the judicious combination of the useful with the agreeable, which appeared so delightful wherever I cast my eyes. I was charmed with the neat borders of flowers between which we passed, and which I was much pleased to find so small; because, as the princess remarked, too much room ought not to be taken from the useful vegetables, merely for the purpose of pleasing the eye. I was transported with the elegance, taste, and convenience displayed in the pavilion, in which the dignified owner, who furnished the plan and the directions for every part of it, has solved the problem how a building of only two stories could be constructed and arranged in such a manner, that a small family, capable of limiting its desires, might find in it a habitation equally handsome, elegant, and commodious. The manner in which this has been cffected deserves, in my opinion, the notice You will probably guess to what purpose this handsome sum is ap、 plied. Or shall I let you a little more into the secret of the active and benevolent life which the future queen of the first and most powerful nation in the world leads here in a simple country-house, which is, in fact, not so large as that of a petty German baron, Well, then, be it so; I will even run the risk of incurring her displeasure, in case she should ever be informed of my treachery. My heart is too full to resist the eager desire to disburthen itself. "Know, then, that this accomplished young princess leads in this mo dest mansion a life so useful, so active, so virtuous, that I might challenge the most celebrated philosopher, in a like situation, to surpass her. She has no court, no officers of state, no chamberlains, no maids of honour, &c. because she has no occasion for them here; but she is occasionally visited by two female friends, who are not so merely in name the very intelligent and worthy Mrs. Fitzgerald, and her amiable daughter. Her whole long forenoon, that is from six in the morning till seven in the evening, is devoted to business, to reading and writing, to the cultivation of different arts, as music, painting, embroidery, modelling in clay, gardening, and to-education. 'My last word, perhaps, is to you a kind of enigma, because it is so unusual to see persons of princely rank occupy themselves with an employment which cannot have any charms for persons who have a taste only for the pleasures and amusements of a court. But you will be still more surprised when I add, that it is not the young and promising princess her daughter whom she educates, but eight or nine poor orphan children, to whom she has the condescension to supply the place of a mother. Her own is the child of the state, and, according to the constitution of the country, must not, alas! be educated by herself. These poor children are boarded by her with honest people in the neighbourhood; she herself not only directs every thing relative to their education and instruction, but sends every day to converse with them, and thus contribute towards the formation of their infant minds. Never while I live shall I forget the charming, the affecting scene, which I had the happiness of witnessing when the princess was pleased to introduce to me her little foster-children. We were sitting at table; the princess and her friends were at breakfast; but I, in the German fashion, was taking my dinner. The children appeared clothed in the cleanest, but at the same time in the simplest, manner, just as the children of country people are in general dressed. They seemed perfectly ignorant of the high rank of their foster-mother, or rather not to comprehend it. The sight of a stranger somewhat abashed them; but their bashfulness soon wore off, and they appeared to be perfectly at home. Their dignified benefactress conversed with them in a lively, jocose, and truly maternal manner. She called to her first one, and then another, and among the rest a little boy, five or six years old, who had a sore upon his face. Many a parent of too delicate nerves would not have been able to look at her own child in this state without an unpleasant sensation; not so the royal mother of these orphans. She called the boy to her, gave him a biscuit, looked at his face, to see whether it got any better, and manifested no repugnance when the grateful infant pressed her hand to his bosom. What this wise royal instructress said to me on this occasion is too deeply impressed upon my memory to be erased. "People find fault with me," said she; " for not doing more for these children after I have once taken them under my care; I ought, in their opinion, to provide them with more elegant and costly clothes, to keep masters of every kind for them, that they may make a figure as persons of refined education. However, I only laugh at their censure, for I know what I am doing. It is not my intention to raise these children into a rank superior to that in which they are placed; in that sank I mean them to remain, and to become useful, virtuous, and happy members of society. The boys are destined to become expert seamen, and the girls skilful, sensible, industrious housewives-nothing more. [ have them instructed in all that is really serviceable for either of these desti nations; but every thing else is to tally excluded from the plan of education which I have laid down for them. Those who are acquainted with the splendour of the higher classes, and have reflected upon it, will beware of snatching children from the more happy condition of inferior rank, for the purpose of raising them into the former, in despite of Providence and natural destination." Such is the wise and benevolent manner in which this admirable princess, in the flower of her age, passes one day after another. Towards evening, a very small company, of not more than three or four persons, assembles at her house to dine with her; and, fortunately, ceremony does not oblige her to pay regard in her selection to any other recommendation than merit. It is only on court-days, when the royal family assemble, that she goes to town, or to Windsor, to complete the dignified circle of which she is such a distinguished ornament. To the theatres, and other places of amusement of the fashionable world, her royal highness is a stranger. Since she came to England she has only been twice to the play, and that was soon after her arrival. This, which of itself is an extraordinary circumstance, will be considered a great sacrifice by those who know the uncommon love and respect which is cherished by people of all ranks for their future queen, and consequently, need not be told, that she renounces a triumph as often as she withdraws from public view. She devotes one day in the week to her own daughter, the princess Charlotte, who comes to see her, and spends the day with her. There is nothing to prevent her from enjoying this gratification oftener, for the child must be brought to her whenever she pleases. For wise reasons, however, she denies herself and her daughter the more frequent repetition of a pleasure of which both of them are every day ardently desirous. "If," said she, "I were to have the child with me every day, I should be obliged sometimes to speak to her in a tone of displeasure, and even of severity. She would then have less affection for me, and what I said to her would make less impression upon her heart. As it is, we remain in some mesure new to each other; at each of her visits I have occasion to shew her love and tenderness, and the consequence is, that the child is attached to me with all her soul, and not a word I say to her fails of producing the desired effect." I was myself an eye-witness of the truth of this. Such tender attachment and such fervent love as this child, only seven years old, ma nifests to her royal mother, is assuredly seldom seen in persons of that rank. Her eyes are incessantly fixed on the beauteous countenance of her tender mother; and what eyes! Never, in a child of her age, have I beheld eyes so expressive, so soft, so penetrating. The first time she cast them on me, she seemed as though she would penetrate my soul. The most experienced observer of mankind cannot scrutinise more severely a person of whom he wishes to form a speedy judgment. For the rest, neither her dress nor her beha viour afford the least room to suspect her high destination. The former is so simple, and the latter so natural and unaffected, that were you to see her in any other place, without knowing her, you would scarcely take her for the heiress of a throne. In every dress, and in every place, however, the attentive observer would easily discover her to be an extraordinary child. The royal artist, her mother, has made a model of her, and of several other persons who are dear to her, in clay, and afterwards taken from them plaster casts, which are most perfect resemblances. In acquiring that art, this accomplished princess pursued a manner of her own. Instead of working, as nsual, a long time from models, she merely procured instruction in the use of the tools; her fancy then formed the representation of an imaginary person, and she began to compose the figure without any copy. The subject of her first essay was the Leonora of Burger's celebrated ballad; her second was the head of an old lord, whose name I have forgotten; and the third was her daughter, the princess Charlotte. This reminds me of another piece of work by the hand of this royal artist, which I had likewise an opportunity of inspecting, and which appeared to me equally beautiful and ingenious. In passing through her workroom (where, besides a choice collection of books, and all kinds of implements of the arts, you see a large table covered with papers, writings, drawings, and books) she took the trouble to direct my attention to a very handsome table, and asked me what I conceived it to be. Without a moment's hesitation, I declared it was inlaid, or, as it is called, Mosaic work, and that it was an excellent specimen of the art, She smiled, and said that could not be, as she, who knew nothing of Mosaic work, had made it herself, and in a few hours. "It is nothing more," added her royal highness, "than a square of ground glass on which I have fastened with gum different kinds of natural flowers, which were first carefully dried and pressed, and then turned the glass with the smooth side uppermost, to produce the illusion by which you are deceived. The whole art, or rather the trifling trouble, which this easy operation requires, consists merely in the choice of the situation which must be given to each flower, so that one may be properly connected with the others, and that as small a vacancy as possible may remain between them." As the glass would not, however, be completely covered, I suppose (for unluckily I forgot to inquire) that the intervals are stained with colours so as to give them the appearance of stone. By means of this pleasing artifice she has made a Chinese lamp for one of her other apartments, which, like those of coloured glass, or thin alabaster, diffuses a very mild light. A second table in her workroom, which appears to be composed of every known species of marble, is—what I never should have imagined had I not been told-nothing more than a square of ground glass, which, on the under side, is painted in such a manner, that the spectator cannot avoid taking the whole for specimens of different species of marble, joined together and inlaid. In each corner a small copper-plate of some antique figure is placed; of course, on the reverse of the square which completes the deception. You must, my friend, have no sense of what is beautiful, great, and amiable, if you think it necessary that I should apologise for this little digression into which I have involuntarily been led. Your heart, which is ever open to all that is virtuous and excellent, must, I know, receive equal pleasure with my own from these particulars of the wise and benevolent system of life which a princess, destined for the throne of Great Britain and Ireland, has prescribed for herself, and pursued for so many years with a fortitude and perseverance which seem to exceed the powers of her sex.' On the CONVERSATION of MEN of LETTERS. A Remark of Madame de Genlis. THE conversation of men of letters generally commences with praises and flatteries reciprocally exchanged. An attack upon their rival ensues, and then arise long arguments, stubborn assertions, and violent quarrels. Indeed, it cannot be termed a conversation; every one speaks for himself alone, and follows his own ideas without listening to those of others. They are absent, impatient, or thoughtful. If they are silent, it is to prepare an answer, without the least attention to what has been said. Is an interesting story related? Their minds are occupied in inventing another, which they trust will be more applauded by the hearers. It seems as if they had assembled together with the intention of challenging and surpassing each other, without attempting to promote the common amusement and instruction of the party. They are generally on the watch to find an opportunity of introducing some bon mots of their own composition, These are sometimes in honour of men of letters; sometimes anecdotes which relate to themselves: but those numerous quotations become at length tiresome; the hearers seldom feel any portion of the satisfaction of those who repeat them; they are not always instructive; and any person listening to such a conversation would imagine that he beard read one of those fatiguing books, which are full of ridiculous stories and puns, compiled without care and without choice, which we may take up for a moment, but soon throw away with disgust. ON FASHION. FASHION is the child of vanity and love,' says the celebrated Montaigne. When it springs from the desire of decorating the person with modest ornaments, and rendering it amiable in the eyes of man, it is praise-worthy; and then it is the true offspring of love. When its object is to feed conceit, and to administer to pride, to purvey for coquetry, and cherish self-love, it is the child of vanity. BOTANY FOR LADIES. By Dr. Thornton. NINTH LESSON CONTINUED. 15. PAPIPILIOANCEOUS, butterfly shape, from papilio, a Latin word signifying a butterfly, from the supposed resemblance which this species of corrolla has to a butterfly, as in the sweet pea. Vide pl. 13. a. front view, b. back view. The upper petal is called the standard, or verillum: this last word is Latin for a flag, or standard. The two side petals are called the wings, or ala, a Latin word for a wing, and The bottom petal is named the keel, or carina, from its supposed resemblance to the keel of a boat. Carina is a Latin word meaning a keel. Vide pl. 13. c, d, d, c. 16. Pentapetalous, having five petals, from the Greek word pente, five; as in the pink. Vide pl. 14. d. 17. Hexapetalous, having six petals, from the Greek word her, six ; as in the tulip. Vide pl. 14. b. 18. Polypetalous, having many petals, from the Greek word polus, many; as in the water lily. pl. 14. c. Vide |