more classical style of architecture, those of St. Augustine and St. Peter rank the first, and are enriched with several paintings of excellence."

ATTEMPT ON THE KING OF FRANCE.

"The post-master pointed out to our notice here, the mark of a ball, which was fired at the present King of France, while he was standing at a window of one of the front rooms. The ball happily missed his Majesty, and entered the frame of the window. It is surprising, that though this took place in the broad day, the perpetrator of so daring and atrocious an attempt should, to this very moment, have escaped unnoticed."

[MUNDEN.

"This small town is situated at the confluence of the Weser and Fulda. We had scarcely alighted at the inn, when we were waited upon by a young officer of hussars, who came to invite us, in the name of the Colonel, to attend a ball which was that evening to be given in honour of the birth-day of his Majesty the King of England; and it was with no small degree of regret, that we were necessitated to decline this invitation, our departure being arranged for a very early hour the following morning.

"Towards evening the whole place presented a scene of life and bustle. Hair-dressers were seen busily posting from house to house, and the marchandes de modes were all on the alert. A fiacre, which, we understood, was the only one in the place, was in constant requisition; so imperious was the demand for its services, that, notwithstanding the miserable and half-starved condition of the animals who drew it, and in spite of the broken windows of the shattered vehicle, it was constantly rolling through the street. Two or three families were conveyed at the same time, so anxious and urgent was the occasion. The uninvited part of the inhabitants sat before their doors to enjoy the sight of the fashionables thus rapidly whirled along to the scene of gaiety. I could not look on many of these groups without a smile; the men were phlegmatically smoking their pipes in their long white night caps, and powdered beads, while the women sat by in their broad bonnets, decorated with a profusion of long floating ribbons, sometimes gazing with delight on the passing spectacle, sometimes busily occupied in knitting."

UNIVERSITY OF GOTTINGEN.

housen, an Hanoverian minister, whose portrait is conspicuous in the library of the first story, which is the finest and most complete in Germany, containing above a hundred and thirty thousand volumes, among which are several curious works; one of which is the Bible, written upon leaves of the palm trees.

"The University is now in a very flourishing condition, possessing above eight hundred students, among whom are some English noblemen, with their tutors. The students have acquired a good character from the inhabitants, who praise them for their peaceable disposition."

HAMBURGH.

"For the extent and prosperity of its commerce, Hamburgh, at one period during the war, was supposed to be inferior only to London and Amsterdam. Its port is crowded with vessels, which, at ebb tide lye aground, but are not damaged, in consequence of the bed of the river being very soft. The climate is rendered very unwholesome by the constant rains, and the narrowness of the streets in which so immense a population is crowded. Many of the inhabitants, whose poverty obliges them to live in cellars, suffer severely by the inundations, which are occasioned by the height of the tide in some seasons of the year.

“The Hamburghers consider industry as the most useful of all virtues; and it is on this occount, that Hamburgh can boast of so great a number of wealthy citizens, many of whom seem determined to preserve the dress and manners, as well as the spirit and enterprize of their forefathers. The women are remarkably handsome, and particularly attentive to the neatness and propriety of their appearance. The inhabitants of Hamburgh were never celebrated for morality, but their depravity seems to have increased in a sboeking degree since the French revolution. It is to be hoped, that the re-established government will tend to abolish some of the nurseries of vice, with which this city, at present, too much abounds.

"For the management of their poor, they deserve, however, particular commendation. By the praise-worthy exertions of a body of two hundred of the most respectable part of the inhabitants, a few years since employment was provided for the lower classes of the people, health was restored to the sick, instruction given to the ignorant, and mendicity entirely banished from the streets. Those benefits were effected by the most humane, benevolent,

"Founded in 1734, by Baron de Munchen- and judicious regulations."

AN AUTUMN NEAR THE RHINE.

An Autumn near the Rhine; or, Sketches of Courts, Society, Scenery, &c.
8vo. Longman and Co.

THE chief merit of this volume is in its beauty of style, against which the nicest critic cannot possibly have any thing to urge. The route of the traveller has lain through Mayence to Darmstadt; from thence to Frankfort, &c. &c. Baden, Manheim, and Worms: it concludes with his return, by the Rhine, to Cologne and Aixla-Chapelle.

and gardens, formerly of the Electors of May. ence, now of the Prince of Bavaria, called Schöne Busch (Beautifu! Bush). A long alley of poplars conducted us for a league up to the gardens; the lawns, lakes, wildernesses, and parterres of which, are disposed with much taste and beauty. A crew of noisy, grotesquelooking figures were exploring them at the

same time, whom we presently recognized for students from the university, who generally spead their summer vacations in rambling over the country on foot. You never fail to distinguish them by their strange costume and looks, and riotous behaviour. One of the youths, pursuing the same route with ourHe was a handsome lad of

As the author journies along we seem to accompany him, so well, and so agreeably does he describe the places he visits: the small-talk of the higher classes of society, the manners and customs of those in a subordinate sphere, are all admirably de-selves, joined us. lineated, and told with ease, familiarity, and elegance.

eighteen, whose long hair flowing on his shoulders, uncravated neck, and quaint red cap, with the Bavarian cockade, and knap

But what work is perfect? Pity it is sack at his back, did not quite so ill-become that, in some places, this agreeable volume teems with confusion and heedless irregu-fall-grown men whom you often meet similarhis pretty face and figure, as the awkward, larity! And the author is guilty of inter-ly disfigured.” larding his work with too many French phrases. The French language is very universally known; but there are many very competent judges and admirers of English literature, who do not understand modern gallicisms.

The two subjoined short extracts will serve to shew the pleasing manner in which this autumnal traveller writes:

THE GERMAN WOMEN.

"Those of the upper, that is, the noble classes, are brought up from the cradle under a sort of upper servant, dignified by the title of governess, and who generally couples with her higher functions those of nursery-maid, housekeeper, and assistant at the toilette of the noble mamma. They learn to waltz, a little music, to speak French enough for use by-and-by at court, to make gowns, bonnets, and turbans. Their acquaintance with books rarely extends beyond sentimental romances and washy poems; and many a lady of no mean title, writes neither French nor her own language with moderate correctness. Sixteen is the important era when they emerge from this petty sphere to the full enjoyment of the

DESCRIPTION OF ASCHAFFENBURG, &c. "On a terrace covered with shrubs, overlooking the Maine, stands the venerabl castle of Aschaffenburg, a large red stone edifice, whose slated minaret towers, and grotesque pinnacles and ornaments, present an imposing but incongruous mélange of every description of architecture. Most of the palaces and public buildings in the neighbour-court, to which they have looked forward hood, of a few centuries date, display the same impure variety. The castle, formerly the seat of the Electors of Mayence, and since of the Prince Primate of the Rbenish Confederation, is now the summer residence of the Prince Royal of Bavaria, who keeps here a pleasant little court.

from infancy. Mamma is often a heavy, uninformed, or, still worse, a coquettish and unscrupulous person, who little constrains ber favourite speculations on sentiment, intrigue, or dress, before her attentive daughters. An old Baroness, with the reputation of ci-devant beauty and intrigues, entertained me on my "Descending from the terrace on which first visit, and in the presence of two fair rethe castle stands, we passed the picturesque lations under twenty, with a sufficiently intel stone bridge over the Maine towards Darm-ligible history of her intimacy with one of stadt; visiting, in our way, a country house my compatriots at a German court,"

ARTS AND SCIENCES.

AN INQUIRY INTO SOME OF THE MOST CURIOUS AND INTERESTING SUBJECTS OF HISTORY, ANTIQUITY, AND SCIENCE.

An Inquiry into some of the most curious and interesting subjects of History, Antiquity, and Science By Thomas Moir. 1 vol. 12mo. Lackington, Allen, and Co. London;

were covered with plates of brass, silver, and gold. The idol was of so enormous a size, that its arms being extended, they reached to the opposite walls of the Temple; its figure was that of a venerable old man, with a beard, and long hair, but with it was joined a monstrous figure of an animal with three heads: the biggest in the middle was that of a lion; that of a dog fawning came out on the right side, and that of a ravenous wolf on the left; a serpent was represented twining round these three animals, and laying its head on the

plicity and credulity, which do not obscure the character of great piety which Lelaud gives him, ought not to impose upon our understandings. (See Parker's History of Cambridge) Cair Grant was one of the twentyeight cities of Britain under the Romans, but fallen to decay when Bede wrote.-Hist. 1. 4. c. 19. From its ruins Cambridge arose at a small distance, as appears from Henry of Huntingdon, and the writers of Croyland and Ramsey. Some have pretended that here was the school which Bede, or the schools which Malmesbury, Florentius, and Henry of Hunt-right hand of Serapis. On the idol's head was

And

ingdon say King Sigebert founded, by the advice of St. Felix, in 1636. But it is more reasonable to believe those foundations to have been made near Dummoc, in Suffolk. whatever schools might flourish at Cambridge under the Saxons, it is certain there were no remains under the first Norman kings. The foundation of this seat of the sciences was laid in the reign of Heury II. Peter of Blois, a contemporary writer, in his Continuation of Ingulphius' History, published by Gale (Script. Hist. Ang. i. p. 114), relates, that Saoffrid, Abbot of Croyland, sent some learned Monks of that house to their manor of Cotenham, near Cambridge, who, hiring a great house in Cam. bridge, went thither every day, and taught, at different hours, the whole circle of the sciences, a great concourse of students resorting to their lessons. From these beginnings that University soon rose to the highest degree of splendor, and Peterhouse was the first regular college that was erected there, Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founding it in 1284.”

DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE OF SERAPIS
IN 292.

"About the year 292, Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, obtained a rescript of the Emperor Theodosius, to convert an old deserted Temple of Cacchus into a Christian church. In clearing this place, in the subterraneous secret caverns, called by the Greeks Adyta, and held by the Pagaus as sacred, were found infamous and ridiculous figures, which Theophilus caused to be exposed in public, to shew the extravagant superstitions of the idolaters. The heathens in tumults raised a sedition, killed many Christians in the streets, and then retired into the great Temple of Serapis as their fortress. The Temple of Serapis was most stately and rich, built on an eminence raised by art, in a beautiful spacious square, with an assent of 100 steps, surrounded with lofty edifices for the priests and officers. The Temple was built of marble, supported with precious pillars, and the walls on the inside

placed a bushel, an emblem of the fertility of the earth. The statue was made of precious stone, wood, and all sorts of metal together; its colour was at first blue, but the streams of moisture of the place had turned it black. A hole in the Temple was contrived to admit the sun's rays upon its mouth, at the hour when the idol of the sun was brought in to visit it. Many other artifices were employed to deceive the people into an opinion of its miracles. No idol was so much respected in Egypt; and, on its account, Alexandria was looked upon as the holy city.

"The Emperor Theodosius being informed of the above-mentioned sedition, sent an order to demolish the Temples in Egypt. When this letter was read at Alexandria, the Pagans raised hideous cries; many left the city, and all withdrew from the Temple of Serapis. The idol was cut down by pieces, and thrown into a fire. The heathens were persuaded, that if any one should touch it, the heavens would fall, and the world return into the state of its primitive chaos. Seeing no such judgment threaten, they began themselves to deride a senseless trunk reduced to ashes. The standard of the Nile's increase was kept in this Temple, but it was, on this occasion, removed into the Cathedral. The idolators expected the river would swell no more; but finding the succeeding years very fertile, they condemued the vanity of their superstitions, and embraced the faith. Two churches were built on the place where this temple stood, and its metal was converted to the use of churches. The busts of Serapis, on the walls, doors, and windows of the houses, were broken and taken away. The temples all over Egypt were de molished during the two following years. In pulling down those of Alexandria, the cruel mysteries of Mythra were discovered, and in the secret Adyta were found the heads of many infants cut off, cruelly mangled, and superstitiously painted. The artifices of the priests of the idols were likewise detected; there were hollow idols of wood and brass,

placed against a wall, with subterraneous passages, through which the priests entered the hollow trunks of the idols, and gave auswers as Oracles, as is related by Theodoret and Rufinus."

THE RIGHT TO THE CROWN OF ENGLAND
IN THE LINE OF EDWARD THE CON
FESSOR.

"Edward, the son of Edmund Ironside, nephew to St. Edward the Confessor, was the next heir of the Saxon line; whence some modern English condemn the accession of the Confessor, who certainly could derive no right|| from the unjust Danish conquests, as Bedford, or whoever was the author of the book en

sense and approbation of the whole nation, and of all foreign states, in the succession of St. Edward, demonstrates the legality of the proceedings by which he was called to the crown; which no one, either at home or abroad, ever thought of calling in questionso clear was the law or custom in that case. The posture of affairs then required that the throne should be immediately filled before a Dane should step into it. Edward Atheling was absent at a great distance, and unequal to the difficulties of the state; nor could matters be brought to bear that his arrival could be waited for. St. Edward afterwards sent for him, with his whole family, in 1054, and treated him as his heir; and, after that Prince's death, behaved towards his son Edgar in the same manner, who was also styled by him Atheling, or Adeling."

INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE FATAL END
OF THE TYRANTS-ROMAN EMPERORS.

"Tertullian observes, that it was the glory of the Christian religion that the first Emperor that drew his sword against it was Nero, the sworn enemy of all virtue. This tyrant, four years after he had begun, in 64, to exert his rage against the Christians, in his extreme distress attempted to kill himself, but, wanting resolution, he prevailed upon another to help him to take away his life, and perished under the public resentment of the whole empire, and the universal detestation of mankind, for his execrable cruelties and abominations. Domitian persecuted the church in 95, and was murdered by his own servants the year fol

titled Hereditary Right, pretends. But it is evident from Mr. Earberry, (Occasional Historian, p. 4.) that during the reign of the English Saxons, when the next heir was esteemed by the states unfit, in dangerous or difficult times, the King's thanes advanced another son or brother of the deceased King, so as never to take one that was not of his family. Often, if the heir was a minor, an uncle was made king; and, upon the uncle's death, though he left issue, the crown reverted to the|| former heir, or his children, as the very inspection of a table of their succession shews. (See Mr. Squire's Diss. on the English Saxon Government, an. 1753.) Cerdic, founder of the kingdom of the West Saxons, in 495, from whom the Confessor descended, was the tenth from Woden, according to the Saxon Chronicle, published by Bishop Gibson, from an original copy which formerly belonged to the Abbey of Peterborough, was given by Arch-lowing. Trajan, Adrian, Titus, Antoninus, bishop Laud to the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and is more correct than the copies in the Cotton Library, and at Cambridge, made use of by Wheloc. This most valuable Chronicle derives also the pedigrees of Hengist and bis successors in Kent, and of the Kings of Mereia and Northumberland, from Woden, whom Bede calls the father of the royal Saxon lineage in England, or of the chief Kings in the heptarchy: he must have preceded the reign of Dioclesian. Some take him to have been the great God of this name honoured by the Saxons; others a mighty King, who bore the name of that false God. That the regal succession in the heptarchy was hereditary, and, when interrupted, again restored, is mauifest from the above Chronicle. The Norman carried so high his claim of conquest, as to set himself above all established laws and rights, and to exclude his son Robert from the crown; but the succession was deemned here. ditary, after Stephen at least. The unanimous

and Marcus Aurelius, rather tolerated than raised persecutions, and escaped violent deaths. Severus, after he began in 202 to oppress the Christians, fell into disasters, and died weary of life, leaving behind him a most profligate son, who had attempted to take away the life of his father, and afterwards killed his brother; and his whole family perished miserably. Decius, after a sbort reign, died in battle. Gallus was killed the year after he commenced prosecutor. Valerian was a cruel enemy to the Christians, and died in a miserable captivity in Persia. Aurelian was killed 274. Maximus 1, was slain, after a reign of three years. Nothing prospered with Dioclesian after he began his war against the church: out of cowardice he abdicated the empire, and at length put an end to his own life. His colleague, Maximian Herculeus, was compelled to hang himself in · Maximian Galerius, the most cruel author of Dioclesian's persecution, was seized

310.