were emperors of Constantinople; ten of Trebizond; and two of Heracleus Pontus: Colchis, and eight of Lazi.

XII.

eighteen kings of

When our friend, Helvetius, was in Poland, with what enthusiasm did he visit the birth places of Casimir the Third, and of Piastus king of that country. To Casimir is Poland indebted for its principa towns, churches, and fortresses. He was the Alfred of Poland; and so equal was he in the administration of justice, that the nobles, in derision, called him "king of the peasants." Piastus was actually a peasant; but proved one of the best kings, that Poland has ever known. On such a spot how natural was it to revert to the instances of celebrated men, who have risen to sovereignity from a low estate. Justin, the fifty-fifth emperor of Rome, was originally a herdsman's boy in Thrace, that could neither write nor read: yet was he afterwards elected emperor; and became more distinguished by his courage, wise laws, and the due administration of them, than most monarchs, born and educated expressly for the exercise of sovereignity.

Pertinax was an artificer; Diocletian was the son of a scrivener; Valentinian of a ropemaker; Probus of a gardener; and Maximin of a wheelright. The celebrated Eumenes was no higher than the son of a charioteer; Arsaces, the founder of the Parthian dynasty, was the son of an herdsman; Agathocles of a potter; and Iphicrates of a cobler. Tar quinius Priscus was the son of a foreign merchant;

Servius Tullus of a female slave; and the mighty Tamerlane of an herdsman. Prismislaus, king of

Bohemia, was the son of a peasant; the ancestor of the dukes of Milan was a poor labouring man; Pope Nicholas was the son of a poulterer; and Pope Sixtus the Fourth of a mariner: while the most celebrated of all the kings in the universe, (David), kept the flocks of his father.

XIII.

On the three mountains, overlooking Goodesburg, a beautiful village near Bonn, a city on the west side of the Rhine, are the remains of three, castles, once belonging to three brothers. These brothers, like most of the ancient German nobility, having established themselves in those castles, sallied out upon travellers; and, robbing their more industrious neighbours of what they wanted, either for immediate consumption or for future support, became the founders of three distinguished families.-They had one sister,-Adelaide; who was one of the most beautiful women in all Germany. But having had the misfortune to lose her parents, the care of her devolved upon her brothers. A young knight, whose name was Roland, and who lived in a castle on the eastern shore of the river, having occasionally seen her, at her brothers' revels, became enamoured of her; woo'd her; and won her affections. An ancient feud had unfortunately formerly subsisted between the families: and though this enmity had, for many years, subsided, it still remained sufficiently powerful to induce the three brothers to obstruct the union. Not choosing however to rekindle the feud, they stipulated

with the lover, that he should proceed to Palestine; join the crusading army; and, after a certain number of years' service, if he returned with honour, he might renew his suit, and become a member of their family.

The lovers took an affectionate and reluctant farewell of each other. Roland pursued his destination; and Adelaide remained at the fortress of Drakenfelds, situated on one of the three mountains; and rendered still more inaccessible by towers and bastions. After a certain period had elapsed, a pilgrim arrived at the outer gate of the castle, and requested to be admitted. Being ushered into the great hall, he, with many tears, related that he had, after escaping many dangers, arrived from the Holy Land with a message and token of love from Roland, who had fallen in a battle against the Saracens. Adelaide, believing the tale, devoted herself from that hour to the memory of her deceased lover: and rejecting several suitors, introduced by her brothers, founded a convent in a small island of the Rhine; from the casements of which she could see the three castles of her brothers, on the one side, and that of Roland on the other. In this retirement, after passing several years in religious duties, she was surprised by the unexpected return of her lover! It was then, for the first time, she discovered the cruelty of her brothers' device:but the discovery came too late; her health had gradually been undermined by affliction; she lived in her convent, therefore, but a short time after her lover's return; and then died, to the great grief of all the neighbourhood.

Roland, overcome with sorrow at her loss, built a small castle on an abrupt rock, that overlooked the convent; and there, absorbed in silent sorrow, died a martyr to his disappointment. To these unfortunate circumstances we are chiefly indebted, for Ariosto's poem of Orlando Furioso,

XIV.

Places, too, in which remarkable customs prevail, are frequently agreeable to the imagination; particularly if those customs are illustrative of moral feelings. Thus when our friend, Captain Southcote, was in Persia, he was charmed with a festival, held every year, at Demawend, to celebrate the death of the tyrant Zohak. The people of the town and villages meet together in the fields, some on mules, and others on horses, and white asses; when they ride about with great shouts, and in the evening illuminate their houses.

In Montpellier the magistrates caused every quack, who entered their town, to be placed upon the poorest ass, they could find; with his head towards the ass's tail. They then caused the unfortunate mountebank to be led through the streets; attended by the vilest of the populace; who loaded him with shouts and upbraidings; beat him; and pelted him with all manner of filth. In Marseilles, on a partieular day of the year, the inhabitants were once accustomed to take the vilest of their prisoners out of their gaol; cloth him with rich garments; feast him with rich meats and wines; and, having done so, charge

him with all the sins of the inhabitants; lead him to the gates; and then hiss and hoot him out of their city. By the former of these instances the physicians pretended to purge their town of ignorant practitioners; by the latter, the inhabitants imagined, that they washed the sins of the whole city away.1

XV.

Who can visit Venice, rising like Venus out of the sea, without reverting to the many illustrious citizens by whom it has been distinguished? Can we visit Arezzo without remembering, that it was the birthplace of Mecenas, Petrarch, Guido, Aretino, and of Pope Julius the Second? The very walls are eloquent. In Italy

The very weeds are beautiful; her waste
More rich than other clime's fertility:
Her wreck a glory; and her ruin grac'd

With an immaculate name, that cannot be defaced.

Childe Harold, canto iv, st. 26,

There is one circumstance, connected with Italy, exceedingly remarkable. With Schlegel, we may asso~ ciate the tragedies of Sophocles and Eschylus with the groupes of Niobe and Laocoon: but at the tomb of Alfieri, we meditate without fathoming why, in every age but that which gave birth to him and Foscolo, dramatic genius should have been denied to a country, so emi

The Biajas of the east, says Dr. Leyden, in his remarks on the IndoChinese nations, load a boat with the sins and misfortunes of the nation; send it out to sea; and the crew, which first meets with it, are supposed to bear the burthen of both.

Lectures on Dramatic Literature.