Albania a prey to anarchy, and on his being beheaded, Ali was named to the vacant pachalick, and took possession of Janina, the present seat of his power.

Prudent in prosperity, Ali lost no time in taking the necessary steps to strengthen his precarious and bloodstained authority. He accordingly increased his dominions, by reducing the rebels in arms against the Porte; these he afterwards took under his protection as subjects; and above all he sheltered and favoured the Greek religion. He also contracted alliances with the Agas of Thessalia; and associated his two sons into his power, by obtaining for them the titles of pachas. Lastly, after a series of successes, which surpassed even his most sanguine expectations, Ali received the three tails, on his return from the Widin expedition against Passwan Oglu, in 1798.

He is now [1809] 52 years of age; and no signs of premature old age are discernible in him; his noble and open countenance, marked by strong features, pourtrays all the violent emotions of his soul. He knows, how ever, how to command it, when neeessary; and his looks become engaging. Yet even at such times, his but half-constrained laughter, denotes that his tongue is at variance with his heart. On the other hand, when he punishes, he is unable to conceal his wrath; and the convulsive distortion of his features manifests without reserve his violence of temper. In figure he is tall and athletick: brave

to the extreme and his arms and bosom are graced by numerous honourable scars.

Steady in his plans, he has adopted a line of conduct, from which he has sometimes deviated through circumstances, but which he has kept constantly in view. Convinced that by money he can always preserve favour with the Porte, he regularly pays his tributes to the Sultan, though he has made himself independent in fact. His avarice, for which he has been

harshly censured, has no other me. tive; and it may be considered as his means of self-preservation. He delights in saying that he is a modern Pyrrhus (or Bourrhous, as he pronounces it) but a Pyrrhus, however, who shows a due regard for his sovereign. Unlike most other pachas, by his general knowledge, his eyes are always fixed on what is passing in Europe. He gets newspapers translated; eagerly seeks for information; and is no stranger to the various oscillations of the political system.

Equally attentive to the frequent commotions which take place in the Turkish empire, he uniformly avail's himself of the weakness of that government, to extend his dominions, and to seize advantageous posts. He trusts for his justification in his numerous creatures, in the powerful friends whom he pays, even in the divan; and the Porte, knowing his resources, feels deeply interested in keeping on fair terms with him.

Not satisfied, however, with an ephemeral power, Ali has looked forward to futurity, with a determination not to leave his pachalick to a stranger. We have already said, that he has obtained for his two sons, the titles of pachas; and the Porte, which generally waits for the death of its officers, to reassume its rights, seems to have lost Albania for ever. Mouctar, the eldest son of Ali, following his father's example, has given proofs of the greatest energy ; he may even be accused of ferocity. Veli, of a more gentle disposition, seems engrossed by the cares of administration. United, however, by the firmest friendship, no motives of interest have hitherto divided these brothers. Ali has governed Orta, and Negropont, with the title of pacha. Veli fills the place of Dervendgi Pacha, or " inspector of the highways." By this union of offices, the sensible Ali has secured supports in his two sons, whose strict union strengthens his authority more and more. Ali, always a true Albanese

at heart, speaks only that language, or modern Greek. He places his happiness in commanding those to whom he is indebted for his elevation. Mouctar has learnt Turkish, and from his youth has been familiar with the din of arms, as led by his warlike disposition. Veli, better informed, acquires every day more instruction, and is acquainted with the oriental languages.

Ali has chosen his residence in a peninsula, formed by the lake Acherusia; and connected with Janina by a narrow isthmus, which is defended by a strong castle. Here, inaccessible to attack, Ali lives secluded from the town, and from his subjects. In this strong hold, capable of resistance for a long while, even after the taking of Janina, he is surrounded by a chosen band of Albanese, secured by conscious bravery rather than by the display of terrour. He does not, however, neglect that mean of enforcing his authority in his capital; but it is tempered with occasional marks of condescending confidence. Not long ago [in 1805] all the shops were shut on his appearance in the streets; and he felt some complacency, in seeing himself thus feared. He begins to perceive, that the love of his subjects is preferable to their fear; and he has laid aside part of the terrifick pomp that surrounded him. Free from that barbarous ferocity which sheds blood without mo. tive, he never imbrues his hands in it, but through interest, or to secure his tranquillity, which, from his mistrustful temper, he perhaps considers as exposed to more dangers than actually exist. Moreover he protects commerce and industry. These he delights in fixing in his dominions : and his views on this subject are really astonishing, considering the barbarous state in which he has been till now supposed to live.

The army of Ali pacha is almost exclusively composed of Albanese, who being accustomed to the keen air of their mountains, and wrapt up

in their thick surtouts, seem to disregard the difference of seasons. While encamped they spend the whole day in wrestling, singing, and dancing; and from their habitual sobriety, a slight distribution of wheaten, or maize bread, with black olives, or a few pickled sardines, is reckoned a treat. Very different from the Turks, whom they call Osmanlis, and whose sole happiness is in indolence, the Albanese are always in motion. They hail the ap-. proach of danger with joyful acclamations; but, whatever be the event, they never fail of claiming the whole merit of the success; and above all they never acknowledge a defeat. When repulsed, they only say, that they have not been victorious; but if they can carry off a head, they loudly exult in the trifling advantage. At night, those thick surtouts we have mentioned serve them as beds. Their head is barely covered by their fechs (a kind of bonnet, somewhat like that of the Highlanders) their legs are, however, well guarded by cothurns; they are, literally, loaded with arms; and satisfied with their lot, they place their happiness in a camp life. Diseases are so few among them, that out of six thousand men encamped on active service, for a length of time, no more than twenty could be found on the sick list. It must be said, on the other hand, that as an Albanese never complains, except when actually ill, so no power can keep him in the ranks when he is sick. He then retires to his family, in his native mountains; but hastens to join his colours when recovered.

The Albanese soldier glories in his profession. He shows, with pride, his numerous scars, as titles to honourable distinction. The tattered state of his linen and garments, is also an occasion of exultation; and to express the utmost bravery of an Albanese, they say, that he never quits his shirt till it falls in rags. In short, in the men of Epirus an observer might find the soldiers of Alexander, of Pyrr

hus, and of Scanderberg. With such men properly disciplined, a general might do wonders, and could, perhaps, change the face of the oriental world. In the decline of the empire, the Albanese alone have maintained their true characteristicks; proud, and panting for battle, they are delighted, they are transported, at the clashing of arms. The Albanese officers are generally accompanied by a kind of squire, who, on a march, carry their cuirass, and their arms. Their dress and mode of living, give some faint idea of our ancient knights.

It would be useless here to detail the petty intrigues, the desultory warfare and the crimes of all kinds by which Ali gradually extended his dominions. They now comprise Epirus, Arcadia, the mountains of Pindus, Phocida, a part of Etolia, Thessalia, and some districts of Macedonia; together with Crevesa, and other seaports formerly belonging to the Venetians, and which he has wrested from the French.

The pachas of Arta, Argyro-castron, Ochrida, and Delvino, are, in fact, dependent on him, though he suffers them to enjoy the show and trappings of authority; and even the fierce tribes which dwell in the craggy mountains of Epirus, have either felt the power of his arms, or have been subdued by his intrigues.

The revenue drawn by Ali from these countries, may be valued at 400,000. including the taxes, which are collected with less severity than in the rest of the empire; the produce of his numerous flocks, and his profits on the sale of wool and timber, and indeed on trade in general, for he is the greatest trader and first monopolist in his dominions. This sum is sufficient to pay his tributes to the Porte; to defray the expenses of his household; and to maintain his army.

His forces may amount in peacea ble times to six or eight thousand Albanese; though in cases of great

emergency, as in the expedition against Passwan Oglu, he has brought five and twenty thousand men into the field; but then the additional expense is amply repaid by the Porte. He has, besides, in his dominions, the elements of a most excellent militia ; for the profession of arms is that of every Albanese. They are found throughout the empire, in the service of every pacha, whose guard they generally compose, and they take an active and leading part in all the commotions which desolate the empire. When by these means they have acquired what they consider a competency, they invariably return to their native mountains; and are always ready to obey the call of their pacha. Others prefer the profession of haïdouts, i. e. highway robbers, and after having acquired a property by that course of life, they likewise return, and are never thought the worse of, on that account. As they are acquainted with the darkest passes of the country, they are most formidable in partial encounters, in which the Mussulmen are known to be generally superiour to the disciplined troops of Europe.

To these natural means of defence and attack, Ali unites all the craft of a politician; as well in attaching men to his interests, as in effecting the ruin of those whose designs he suspects. He never vexes his agas by preventing their extortions. On the contrary, he lets them act at their own discretion; well convinced, that rogues will never seek for change, when they are assured of impunity ; and from this conduct some of them are fanatically devoted to him.

He never lulls himself in dangerous security; and, always on the watch for European news, as we have observed already, he never lets a foreigner pass through his dominions, without summoning him into his presence; not so much with a view to extort a present from him, though he is as greedy as any other

Turk, as to get information. He af terwards compares the various intelli gence that he has received; he calculates events; and every thing induces a belief that Ali will be one of the strongest supports of his master, though his services will be those of a great feudatory, rather than of a devoted slave.

The pachalick of Ali, like the rest of the Ottoman empire, having a population infinitely disproportionate to its extent of territory, the land though not remarkably fruitful or well cultivated, produces more than is adequate to the wants of the inhabitants. With the surplus they procure the money for paying their taxes; and to purchase European manufactures, so necessary in a country where even the most common arts of civilisation are utterly unknown. Arms of every kind form an object essentially necessary to such a warlike people. They even are an object of luxury among them. They generally prefer the guns and pistols from the manufac tures of Brescia. They likewise import their glass and their paper from

Italy. Their women, whose greatest finery is a gold-embroidered handkerchief, receive gold and silver thread from Vienna. Germany also, supplies them with woollen cloth and hardware.

From the ports of Orta, Crevesa, Vallona, Durazzo, and from the mouths of the Boïnna, they export annually in Sclavonian, or Ragusan vessels, five or six cargoes of oil, for Trieste and Venice; three or four of wool, of all kinds, mostly unwashed, destined for Ancona and Genoa: three or four of corn for Genoa ; and one or two of tobacco, for Naples and Messina.

Before the revolution, France, which had a constant intercourse with Albania, monopolized most of that trade, with the addition of several valuable cargoes of timber, much superiour in quality to that of the Baltick. It was employed in the dock yards of Toulon; and it has been remarked that the finest frigates in the French navy were built of that kind of oak, which had been furnished by the forests of Albania.

AN article in the foreign jour nals, under the head of Mersburgh, June 10, says: "A distinguished professor in one of our colleges being desirous to excite emulation among his pupils, brought before them a child of only seven years and ten months. He listened with attention to the Greek lesson which the professor was expounding, and which he desired the child to go on with. All his astonished pupils heard the child construe, to the satisfaction of every one, a passage in Plutarch with which he was previously unacquainted, and give every explanation that could be required. Cesar's Commentaries were next handed him, and he translated, readily and distinctly, sentences which had puzzled the

youths around him. In the course of his translating, he was also examined on the parts of speech, concord, syntax, &c. which he analyzed and explained with a facility and accuracy which excited the astonishment of all who were present. He construed, likewise, an Italian book, which one of the company had brought with him, and conversed familiarly in that language. The sequel of the conversation proved his extensive knowledge in history, geography, &c. Fortunately for this prodigy of learning, he is well formed, and enjoys perfect health. He possesses all the playfulness, all the modesty and simplicity of a child of his tender years, and is not even conscious that he is the object of

universal admiration. His father is the celebrated doctor Charles Wette, minister of Lochan, near Halle, who unfortunately refuses to communicate the method (peculiar to himself) which he adopted to instruct a child who resembles Heinckeng and Baratier, the prodigies of their times. It is a well attested fact, that the former

excelled in knowledge at the tender age of two years, and that he died before he had completed his fourth. Baratier, after having astonished Europe by the variety and extent of his acquirements at a very early period, died, apparently of old age, before he attained his nineteenth year.

On the 11th of last March, died at Tiverton, Devonshire, the place of her nativity, in the 66th year of her age, Mrs. Hannah Cowley, an authoress, who may be justly said to have been celebrated in every walk of the drama, and in every measure of poetry.

This lady was the daughter of the late Mr. Parkhurst, also of Tiverton; a gentleman as universally respected and esteemed for his learning and probity, as for a peculiar flow of humour; which enlivened his conversation. Mrs. Cowley's genius may, in some respects, be considered as hereditary. Her grandmother by the father's side having been first cousin to the celebrated poet Gay, by whom she was held in such high estimation, that he passed a considerable portion of his time at her house in Barnstaple.

In addition to his other qualifications, Mr. Parkhurst had attained a proficiency in classical literature, which gained him the reputation of having been an excellent scholar. Under such a tutor, was the genius of our authoress inspired and cultivated; and she presented him in return with the first fruits of her muse, by prefixing his name to the Roem of the Maid of Aragon, in a dedication, which evinced at once the

fire of youthful genius, and the ge nuine effusions of filial gratitude.

Mrs. Cowley's first dramatick Coup d'Essai, was the comedy of the Runaway. This play, produced in March, 1776, was the last new piece brought out by Mr. Garrick, previous to his resigning the management of Drurylane theatre.

The first act of this play, verba. tim, as it now stands, is said to have been produced one morning before dinner. It met the encouragement of her husband, who wished to see it finished. It was accordingly completed in a fortnight, and transmitted to Mr. Garrick, at his then residence, at Hampton court.

This comedy which was so favourably received, that it first introduced the practice of what, in dramatick phraseology, is termed "Running Plays," was performed a successive number of nights, with distinguished applause. And we may judge what must have been the receipts of the treasury of the theatre, when it produced to the fair authoress eight hun. dred guineas.

Her next effort in the drama, in point of composition, though not of representation, was the tragedy of Albina, which was brought out by Mr. Colman, at his summer theatre in the Haymarket, on the 30th of