But farther still extend thy lesson,
Raise thou my thoughts to better scenes
So shalt thou prove a real blessing,

Of value more than what it seems.
Remind of heaven's eternal circle,
Which, like thyself, no end can shew;
Where wreaths of ever-living myrtle
Shall bind immortal virtue's brow.
In this frail state of man's existence,
Sorrow must follow all our joy;
Ah! there's an hour, at no great distance,
Shall e'en the bymencal bond destroy.
But in that world no bliss is fleeting,
Pallio and I, on that blest shore,

Shall know a second happy meeting,
And love's soft bonds dissolve no more.

Wilton-Cottage,

Taunton, Somerset.

SONNET,

ANNA MARIA,

Written at Sea, when returning a widowed Voyager from

A

the West Indies, 1796.

LONE on life's tempestuous ocean cast,
A widow, ere the morn of life he past;
Ah! by what skill shall I those rocks avoid,
Which break the foaming waves on every side!
My much lov'd Follio now no more appears,
To sooth my sorrows and subdue my fears,
With skiliul band my feeble bark to guide,
And bid the threatning dangers all subside.
My God! henceforth do thou my pilot be,
And guide me safely through this troublous sea;
Oh teach me how the heavenly port to gain,
While billows heave, and syrens lure in vain;
And steady as the needle to the pole,
To thee shall point the affections of my soul.

Literary Review.

Secret Memoirs of the Court of Petersburg, particu larly towards the End of the Reign of Catherine II. and Commencement of that of Paul I. forming a Description of the Manners of Petersburg at the Close of the Eighteenth Century; and containing various Anecdotes, collected during a Residence of ten Years in that Capital. Together with Remarks on the Education of the Grand Dukes-the Manners of the Ladies-and the Religion of the People. Translated from the French. In two Volumes. Longman and Rees. 10s.

THE

THE present misunderstanding between us and Russia renders every thing respecting the characters and manners an object of greater curiosity. The conduct of Panl has been so strange that even politicians are puzzled to account for it-our noble ally is at once changed into the bitterest enemy.

The Russians appear, from this publication, to be a motley character, and many of them may be pronounced half way between barbarity and civilization. But a sketch will be expected of this work.

The two volumes are distributed into eleven chapters, under the following titles-The King of Sweden's visit to Petersburg.-Catherine II. Of the Favorites. Accession of Paul,-Has Paul reason

to fear the fate of Peter III. ?-What revolutions may be expected to take place in Russia.-National character-Religion.-Female government.-Education and supplement. The author, though unknown, is certainly a sagacious observer of men and manners. His remarks have all the appearance of truth and integrity. The part which entertained us most, was the account of Paul, the present emperor-the anecdotes of whom are so curious, that they shall be transcribed.

"The prince, whom Paul appears to have chosen for the prototype of his reign and actions, is Frederic William, father of the great King of Prussia.* The same austerity of manners, and the same passion for soldiers, are found in the Russian autocraté. For the rest, I have drawn, I conceive, the character of Paul in relating his actions; if not, the task, I confess, is above my powers. It is well known, that nothing is so difficult to paint as an infant, whose physiognomy is as yet unsettled, and it is the same with the character of an eccentric man. The most favourable plea we can make for him is, that the light of the French revolution has touched his brain, and disordered his intellects. It had already disturbed the much stronger head of his mother. It is said, that the people of Paris, crowding to see Paul (then a youth), cried, "My God, how ugly he is!" and that he had the good sense to laugh at it. He is not improved since he is grown

*This he does not allow-for he said, one day, “I will be Frederic II. in the morning, and Louis XIV. at night."

He is greatly changed; or rather, he now dares shew himself what perhaps he was already. A poor soldier, in the agony of his sufferings under the cane, by Paul's orders, for a trifling fault in his exercise, cried out in despair, "Cursed baldhead! cursed baldhead!" The enaged autocrate gave orders that he should expire under the knout; and issued a procla

old, bald, and wrinkled. The empress appears by his side like one of those beautiful women who are paint ed with a little deformed blackamoor near them, as a contrast to their dignity and grace. The singularity which he affects in his dress, and the severity of his manners, add greatly to his deformity. Without excepting even the Kalmuks and the Kirghises, Paul is the ugliest man in his extensive dominions; and he himself considers his countenance as so shocking, that he dares not impress it upon his coin *

"I shall here subjoin some traits, which will serve to describe Paul by his own actions; and will prove, that when grand-duke, he announced what we have seen of him since his accession.

"Near to his castle of Pavlofsky he had a terrace, from which he could see all the centineis, whom he delighted to station about him wherever there was room for a centry-box. On this covered terrace he spent a part of each day, and observed with a spying glass all that was passing about him. Often he sent a servant to a centinel, to order him to button or unbutton a little more of his coat, to keep his musket higher or lower, to walk at a greater or lesser dis

mation, by which it was prohibited, under pain of the same punishment, for any one to make use of the term bald in speaking of the head, or snubbed in speaking of the nose.

* The new coins have not his effigy, but his cypher merely, with the following words of Scripture, which, in such a connexion, have no meaning: "Not unto us, not unto us, but to Thy name." Probably it is some device of martinism, or os obscarantism, which Paul pa ronises. It even appears that he is going to establish this order with that of Malta, of wh ch, to he astonishment of all Europe, he has just declared himself grand-master, at the very instant of forming an alliance with the Turks. O, my friends, can you refrain from laughter? But, alas!

Quidquid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi,
T

tance from his centry box. Sometimes he would go himself nearly half a mile to give these important or ders, and would cane the soldier, or put a rouble into his pocket, according as he was angry or pleased with him.'

"Pavlofsky was an open village, yet guards were appointed, who wrote down the names of all who entered it, or went out of it, and who were obliged to tell whence they came, whither they were going, or what they wanted. Every evening each house was visited, to learn if there were any strangers there.Every man who wore a round hat, or had a dog with him, was arres ed. The village, which had been much frequented because of its beautiful situation, soon became a desert; persons turned out of their way to avoid it; and when Paul was perceived at a distance, he was carefully shunned. These circumstances encreased his displeasure and suspicions, and he often caused the persons who thus sought to avoid him to be pursued and questioned.

"One day he put all the officers of his battalion under arrest, because they had saluted him awkwardly in filing off after their drill, and he ordered them to be called out for eight days successively to file off and salute before him, sending them regularly back to the guard-house till they were able to perform according to his fancy.

"Exercising, one day, his regiment of curiassiers, the horse of an officer threw him. Paul ran furiously towards him, crying, "Get up rascal!"--"Your highness, I cannot, I have broken my leg!" Paul spat upon him, and retired swearing.

"Passing at another time unexpectedly and secretlyby one of his guardhouses, the officer, not knowing him, did not order out his men; upon which he instantly turned back, boxed the ears of the officer, and ordered him to be disarmed, and put under arrest.

"One day, travelling from Tzarsko-selo to Ganshina, of which the road was in the middle of a marshy forest, he suddenly recollected something, and or