his authorities. We shall specify from this part of the work merely two passages, which may perhaps be acceptable to the readers of this article. The first relates to the early rate of rents for farms, hides, or plough-lands, an admeasurement at the present time by no means exactly ascertained: but we find instructions in the laws of Ina, West-Saxon king, that a "farm containing ten hides, was to pay ten casks of honey, three hundred loaves of bread, twelve casks of strong ale, two oxen, ten wethers, ten geese, twenty hens, ten cheeses, one cask of butter, twenty pounds of forage, five salmon, and one hundred eels."-Such was the method of defraying annual rent, by these or other articles, according to the nature of the farm, or custom of the country: although payments in money were not, even at that time, altogether unknown.-This short passage occurs at the very entrance of this part of Mr. P.'s history ;-the other is at its end, and we transcribe it because of its relation to the prophecies of Merlin. Having mentioned the acts and exploits of Tregagle, of high renown in Cornubian annals, Mr. Polwhele thus continues:

Amid a variety of legendary personages crouding around me, I scarcely know where to close my narrative; still in the rear are there devils and saints without number. To draw, therefore, the curtain over all, I must conjure up Merlin, the enchanter and the prophet, who seems to have possessed a power over devils and saints. As an enchanter we have seen him in the story of Arthur: we are now to recognize him as a prophet. In the parish of Paul, on the sea-shore, is a rock called in Cornish, Merlyn-Car, or Merlin's rock. There, perhaps, he delivered that old prophecy in the Cornish tongue, foretelling the destruction of Paul church, Penzance, and Newlyn, long before they were in existence. It is as follows-Aga fyth tyer, war en meyne Merlyn, i. e. There shall land on the stone Merlin, Ara neb fyth Leskey, Paul, Penzance, hag Newlyn,-those who shall burn Paul, Penzance, and Newlyn.'

A quotation in the notes, from some other writer, observes,This prophecy was fulfilled when the Spaniards landed, an meyne Merlyn, in 1595, and burnt those very places; and so great was the conflagration at Paul, that the fire consumed the stone pillars of the church!'

The supplement comprehends many more pages than the other part of this volume: St. Michael's Mount, Penzance, the Land's End, the Scilly Isles, Roman castrametation, &c. &c. form this addition; concluding with an account of four urns, by the Rev. Malachi Hitchins, an article which has appeared in the last volume of Archæologia Various entertaining particulars are here detailed, and we also meet with several repetitions. We observe that Mr. Gough's assertions

See Review for June last, p. 197.

are

are sometimes called into question.-The work is accompanied by a great number of engravings, which will materially add to the pleasure of the reader.

ART. XVI. The most remarkable Year in the Life of Augustus Von Kotzebue containing an Account of his Exile into Siberia, and other extraordinary Events which happened to him in Russia. Written by himself. Translated from the German, by the Rev. Benjamin Beresford, English Lecturer to the Queen of Prussia. 3 Vols. 12mo. 158. Boards. R. Phillips.

FEV

Ew novels are more interesting, or display a more dramatic effect, than the present narrative of facts; and it is impossible to peruse it without esteeming the amiable qualities of the author. Yet much as we may applaud M. Kotzebue for his strong affections as a husband and a father, we cannot speak in high terms of his fortitude as a man, and must question his discretion in publishing some of his resolutions and sentiments. Though the circumstances of his arrest and exile awaken our liveliest pity, the treatment which he experienced was on the whole lenient, and we perceive no occasion which afforded the smallest pretext for suicide: yet more than once he tells us that he had determined on destroying himself, and expresses his obligations to Seneca for instructing him in a contempt of death. If such instances of pusillanimity actually occurred, ought he to have recorded them ought he to have left any sentiment which could be adduced as a justification of the crime of suicide? and ought not rather the events of 'the most remarkable year in his life,' to have been quoted as a proof of the advantages which often ensue from a patient endurance of suffering? Afflictive as the circumstances appeared at their commencement, they must be considered as blessings rather than ills; or to resemble dark clouds, which, while they are passing over us, occasion a gloom, but produce consequences which add to the future richness and brilliancy of the prospect.-If M. Kotzebue's temporary persecution arose from his being a man of letters, his celebrity in that line gave him also consequence, and obtained him notice and respect. Like Simonides, he carried a fortune about him, of which neither robbers nor the frowns of an emperor could deprive him, and which procured him friends even in the heart of Siberia.

The cause of Paul's displeasure, which led to the writer's arrest on his entering Russia, is not fully explained: but it is sufficiently clear that something reported to have been written by Kotzebue had prejudiced the Emperor against him. Whatever was the ground of this harsh measure, which he ought not

to

to have meditated after he had granted to Kotzebue a passport to enter his dominions, the order for his exile to Siberia was marked by no hardships which were not common to persons under arrest; and as soon as Paul had reason to believe that his detention was unjust, he not only hastened to restore his captive to liberty, but requested to be reconciled to him, and endeavoured to make him the most ample remuneration.

Perhaps, the circumstance which will most forcibly strike the reflecting reader, in the course of this pathetic detail, is the effect of arbitrary governments on the minds of all who are under their dominion. When the will of the prince is the only Jaw, and when every man is liable, without any reason being given, to be arrested, torn from his property and the bo som of his family, and sent to a dungeon, or to perpetual exile, a debasing fear must oppress the public mind; the virtues of the heart are subdued; and if benevolence towards a state sufferer be displayed, it is with an apprehension at least that the spies of Government will convert that very act of kindness into a plea for persecution. What Englishman can read this narrative without being thankful for the enviable constitution under which he lives, and without considering the Habeas Corpus Act alone as a blessing for which he can scarcely pay too much? The most amiable sovereigns are liable to false impressions from their courtiers; and when to be suspected and to be guilty are the same, when trial is precluded, and punishment precedes conviction, every man is in danger; every man holds all that is dear in life on the precarious tenure of connivance; and innocence must often be involved in the most cruel sufferings. Let us rejoice that things are better understood and managed in Great Britain; and may such accounts as those now before us make us sensible of our real privileges, and endear us to our native country.

We shall endeavour to give the chief outlines of the narrative. After three years' absence from Russia, M. von Kotzebue requested permission to revisit it, with his wife and family: he obtained the desired passport, and entered on his journey, leaving Weimar on the 10th of April 1800. Scarcely, however, was he within the Russian confines when he was arrested with all his papers, by order of the Emperor, separated from his wife, and, instead of being taken to Petersburgh, as he expected, to have his case investigated, was carried under the escort of an officer and a Cossack to Siberia. On the read, he made his escape, but was retaken, and conducted first to Cusan, and ultimately to Tobolsk and Kurgan in Siberia. The mode of travelling, the events of the journey, the nature of the country, the people with whom he meets, and the state of manners

are

are described. Driven almost to despair by the unexpected separation from his wife and children, and uncertain of his fate, he took little interest in the surrounding scene; yet he is sufficiently descriptive to carry the reader along with him, and to give him a lively idea of himself and his situation in every stage of the journey. He speaks of the conduct of those to whose charge he was committed, notices with gratitude the kindness and the hospitality which he received, and gives various sketches of the character of Russians and Tartars.

When arrived at Tobolsk, he was permitted to take a servant; and at Kurgan, to which he was removed by the governor of Tobolsk, his living was extremely cheap, and for an exile in his circumstances not uncomfortable. For his lodging, indeed, he paid a most exorbitant price, considering the place: but the cheapness of provsions was more than a counterbalance; while his amusement will excite the envy of some of our sporting gentlemen, and almost incline them to wish for a short exile to Siberia :

My way of living in general was as follows: I rose at six, and studied the Russian language for an hour; as not a soul in the town spoke any other, it was absolutely necessary to recover that knowledge which I had lost through disuse. I then took my breakfast, and sat down for some hours to the history of my misfortunes. After this task, which at length became pleasant to me, I usually walked on the banks of the Tobol in my bed gown and slippers. I had marked out the extent of two verstes, which was my daily exercise, and, to make it more convenient, I could go there through the yard door unobserved. At my return 1 usually read Seneca; I then took my plain dinner, after which I indulged myself with an hour's nap, and when I awoke, took up Pallas or Gmelin, till Sokoloff called on me to take the diversion of shooting. On our return he generally drank tea with me, over which we repeated the story of our misfortunes, imparted to each other our hopes, or combated each other's fears. After his departure I again read Seneca, and eat a slice of bread and butter for my supper; I then played alone at grande patience, and went to bed more or less sorrowful (I am almost ashamed to own it,) as the game had proved more or less successful.'

The diversion of shooting was extremely agreeable to me, though we were but ill provided for it. We possessed nothing more than two miserable guns, which generally missed fire four or five times before they went off. The whole town did not afford a pointer, nor even a spaniel to fetch our game out of the water. The neighbourhood being full of lakes and marshes, our principal sport consisted in shooting woodcocks and wild ducks; we were therefore obliged to perform the office of a spaniel ourselves, and wade up to our middle in water to look for our prey. My Polish friend was much more expert in this fatiguing exercise than I was. He would plunge into the deepest

A kind of fortune-telling game at cards.'

3

water

waters, and wade about for half an hour together, firing among the reeds, or looking for those birds which I had shot from the banks. He was equal to the best spaniel in every respect but his nose; and indeed a dog was not very necessary to us, on account of the great abundance of game. Never had I seen in Europe so many rooks in one flight, as I saw wild ducks of an hundred different sorts, in flocks in this country. Some were very small; some had round, others flat beaks; some long, and others short ones. There were some with short legs, others with long, and of grey or brown colours, or of black, with yellow beaks. Sometimes, though rarely, we met with the great Persian duck, of a rose colour, with black beak and a tuft on its head. Every time we shot at this bird, it screamed in a most lamentable manner, even when we had missed our aim.

The species of woodcocks were likewise equally numerous and various. Some we saw of about the size of a pigeon, of a brown yellow colour, with long legs and a frill of feathers round their necks. They build their nests among the reeds, and they always fly about the fowler, and make a singular noise; we seldom shot at them, as their flesh has a disagreeable taste. Twice I discovered some birds as white as snow, and of the size of a goose, with long legs and beaks, which were both times seeking their food on the border of a lake; but they were so wild, that they flew away when we advanced within two hundred paces of them. I never was able to learn their names.

Besides ducks and woodcocks, we found wild pigeons in abundance, and blackbirds, flying in such immense flocks, that wherever they alighted on a tuft of trees, they covered it entirely. Their flesh was delicious, but our small stock of powder obliged us to be very sparing of our shots.'

Though,however, M. Kotzebue's personal liberty was not abridged, like that of many state prisoners, he could not enjoy himself in Siberian wilds; and his mind was employed, as he tells us, in meditating an escape: but he was not under the necessity of putting this project in execution. He had not been long at Kurgan, before an ukase arrived from Paul, ordering him to be released and sent to Petersburgh at the expence of the Emperor. This change in the state of his affairs exhilirated his mind; and with expressions of gratitude for the generosity of the Emperor, and for the kind interest of the inhabitants of Kurgan, he hastened his departure. The particulars of his journey from Siberia to Petersburgh occupy many pages; we participate in his impatience and amiable feelings; and we pass over trivial occurrences, to notice his affecting interview with his wife, who had been conveyed to the capital to meet

him:

I was conversing with M. Fuchs, when Graumann, with the countenance of an angel, burst into the room: "Your wife is here," said he. I could not contain myself, but uttered a loud cry of joy. M. Fuchs had the delicacy to retire, to avoid disturbing the first moments of our re-union. Graumann was gone to conduct her to