would not suffer us to fall into those saares which were spread for us, by the schemes and artifices of some women; we have found, thanks to our judgment, a dove in the midst of crows! But the dove is about to lose her candour when, fortunately for her, we took her from her accustomed habits and companions to fit her for ours! Madmen that we are! we pretend thus to unite esteem with contempt, while we are implicated in that contempt which we shew towards a sex whose virtues, talents, graces, and sweetness made our ancestors believe that Heaven had chosen woman to serve as a mediatrix between itself and us. How unjust also are we in the motives which actuate our esteem for our wives! for we cease to esteem them as soon as we cease to believe that it is to us they owe their virtues. Our self-love alone, which causes us to reason so ill on the subject of woman, makes us likewise ready to condemn every thing which is contrary to our own way of seeing and thinking in foreign countries; and you, I know very well, have already blamed the Hungarians because they have not given them. selves up to navigation; particularly the navigation of a river destined by nature to become for them a continual source of health and treasure; perhaps you have accused them of being wanting in that address and courage which navigation demands. If you have been capable of judging thus rashly, you would easily revoke your opinion had you only been a witness to their intrepidity in traversing the Danube during the breaking of the ice, when the thaw begins to be felt in the mountains, and the wild waters in their descent so swell the waves of the flood, that in the end they break the thick ice which covered it, and overwhelm the bridges, the mills, and the huts which are close to the side of the river. The bed of the Danube is covered with enormous flakes of ice, which sometimes coagulate together in such a manner as to impede its course, and cause inundations for several miles along the shore, and sometimes precipitate it towards the Black Sea with the most tempestuous vehemence. It is then that the Hungarian exerts all the efforts of his skill and courage; he confronts, in a bark most inge miously constructed, the fury of the waters, the winds, and the ice. He quits the shore armed with a hook and two strong oars; he makes the same use of his hook on the flakes of ice as the boatmen of other rivers do of theirs against the shoals, the pilot boats, or other vessels beside which they wish to make their boat pass freely. They not only set their little boat in motion with their oars, but they avoid the small pieces of ice which ob struct their passage; often the little boat remains motionless in the middle of the flood, because the play of the oars becomes impracticable, and the hook useless, by reason of the flakes of ice not being thick enough to support it; then the Hungarian, by standing up and balancing himself on his feet, gives an undulating motion to his little boat, the flakes are broken, disperse in small pieces of ice, and give the requisite space for the oars to play without any impediment. A stranger beholding this hazardous method of crossing so deep and rapid a river, is terrified at the apparent danger which accompanies it, but the natives, who know that from time immemorial no fatal accident has ever happened, make use of it as the only possible means of communication to the two opposite shores during the thaw, without regretting that they have none more prompt and easy. Farewell, my dear friend, I depart to-morrow for Grau. In my next letter I will say something of that town and of what I may see in my way thither. Have a little friendship for me if you cannot have much, although much would not be sufficient to return the sincere affection I feel for you. LETTER VI. Erlan, 1810. AT length, my dear friend, I have traversed this enormous Pusta de habitaz, to transport myself here. Fortunately I travelled with the Coust Jiau, under his protection, or rather under that of the suite, which always accompanies the Hungarian nobility in their circuits. I confess to you, I was not without some inquietude; the mediar shepherd, the Hungarian's rival, only in the second degree of civilization, which state the Poets would make us believe is the model of innocence and 1 hospitality, is in this country what nature has made him, a being given up to the most violent passions, so much the more dangerous aş moral and religious principles are too far above his comprehension to become the rules of his conduct. A basket of flowers, a flute, and a crook, formed the equipage of a shep herd who lived in the golden age; the skin of a sheep, a shirt and drawers, stiff with rancid grease with which they are rubbed to keep off the vermin, a cap of fur, boots of goat-skin, and a ztakan, form the accoutrements of the psikos, or keepers of horses, of the kunas, or swine-herds, of the kules, or cow-herds; and the stakan is the ordinary weapon of defence belonging to the Hungarian; it is a species of hatchet, and on the opposite side of the cutting part of the hatchet is either a hammer or a hook, the handle of which is four feet long luckily was both a sensible and compassionate man, reflect on the injustice there would be in punishing a man for transgressing those laws which till then were utterly unknown to him. When spoken to on the rights of pro|| perty, religion, and God, all were new to him except God, of whom he only knew the exist euce the evening before, when he had been shewn his image painted on the walls of his prison. He said that a woman, who lived some miles off, used to come at times and bring him clothes and sometimes provisions; his comrades had told him she was his mother, but he had no other proof; he knew still less of his father. You will easily ima gine that people so grossly barbarous are not the most agreeable to meet with in a kind of desart, and who are besides the terror of the Jews and the silk merchants, whom they pil or thereabouts: not only is the wound theylage without mercy when they find themselves || strong enough to attack them with any hopes of success. The Jews more especially are exposed to their violence; they look upon it that they have a right to tear away by force all that the Jews may have amassed by usury aud fraud; however, they never kill them, except the Jews provoke their fury by seeking to defend themselves, then they become formidable to these unhappy Israelites and the silk merchants, who are in this country properly only hucksters and pedlars. make in striking with this weapon more dangerous than that of a sabre, but they often also make use of the ztakan as a kind of javelin, which they throw at fifteen paces distance or under, and are sure of killing, or at least of grievously wounding the animal at which they burl it. They live on flesh, and dwell under the canopy of heaven, and the heady and gross wine, of which they drink copiously while they smoke incessantly an oily kiud of tobacco, the violent nature of which is sufficient to inflame their blood, and excite them to that terrible Though they fear the nobility, an Hungariau ferocity which is seldom appeased but by the Lord is not always exempt from the attacks blood of its object. Strangers to every tender of these shepherds in some parts of Hungary affection, the ties of kindred are unknown to through which he may chance to travel; and them; there are even amongst them those do not figure to yourself that either respect who forget the names of their parents; so or attachment causes any exemption in favour young and thoughtless were they when they of the nobles, for you will be much deceived. quitted the paternal roof to enter it no more. The shepherds suffer the nobleman to pass The Count informed me that at one of his unmolested, because the nobleman permits estates, situated near the Krapacks, they the shepherd to exercise his robberies with brought a young kunas, or swine-herd, before impunity: the cattle, the corn, wine, and salt the judge, for having stolen some cervellats meats continually carried off are not motives (a kind of sausage), and a pelisse. He con- powerful enough to engage the judicial seniofessed the fact, but thought it very strangerity to lift itself up against these people. The they should desire to punish him for having noble fears their vengeance; his flocks deeaten when he was hungry, and because hestroyed, his vineyards, his houses, and his had taken, to guard himself from the north forests burnt, would be the inevitable conse wind, a pelisse which seemed to be made on quence of justice moving one step; therefore purpose for him. The candour with which he the country people, who know how little they replied to every question, made the judge, who have to reckon on the protection of the laws, make a treaty with the robbers, and give them with a good grace what they exact for their || subsistence. The thing is so common that it is generally specified in the contracts of location the quantity of consumables and other articles which the farmer agrees to furnish, to guard himself from pillage. Now that I have excited your curiosity, I shall immediately conclude my letter, to punish you for your negligence, which you always observe in answering your friend. (To be continued.) HANNIBAL FERACUTI, PRINCE OF SABIONETTA. ITALY groaned under the scourge of war; the French came down from the Alps like a destructive torrent, covering with blood and carnage the smiling plains of Lombardy, while Gonsalvo de Cordova held the kingdom of Naples in subjection to the Spanish yoke. The petty states of Italy, broken by the shocks given them from France and Spain, who had from that period, began to dispute the title of universal monarchy, waited in terror the result of these sanguinary contests. Venice alone held an imposing position; Venice the Queen of the sea, had extended her empire; in the Levant, in several isles of the Archipelago, some points even of the Grecian continent were subject to her laws, and her commerce gave her the means of supporting numerous bands, commanded by experienced chiefs: but alas! these chiefs, less famous for their military talents than for the plunder to which their troops were addicted, were more the terror of the Italians than their safeguard: the name of Condottiero was odious to all classes of the citizens, and the quality of a soldier, so respectable in itself, was become a subject of hatred and universal contempt in the persons of those men who only made use of their arms to oppress their country and abuse their fellow citizens. The property of the peaceable inhabitants of the country was scarce sufficient to satisfy the exorbitant desires of the soldiery, while the liberty of the towns sunk under the oppressions of their chiefs. The Condottiero made themselves successively masters of the most considerable towns; and those whose insignificance had sheltered them against the attacks of the more ambitious, soon fell a prey to others, who too feeble to attack the usurpers already established, were desirous of profiting by their example and the || general consternation, to render themselves masters of possessions which would insure their independence, and put them in a way to keep their own military force perpetually in pay. Raimondo Feracuti, an obscure man, born amongst the fields of Mantua, was one of those whom revolutions had raised to the ' rank of the sovereigns of Lombardy; he possessed valour and experience, and several fortunate expeditions undertaken for the Venetians against the Florentines, had gained him a brilliant reputation, and he was himself superior to his renown: his coolness in combat, his wisdom in council, and his clemency in victory, rendered him dear to the Italians; he would have been a true hero had he known how to set bounds to his ambition, or at least to have allowed himself only to have had in view some lawful pursuit; but he could not withstand the instances of his officers, who, on their part, desirous of enjoying the fruits of their exploits, looked upon the taking and subjecting of a strong town as the only means of establishing their riches and their repose: the little town of Sabionetta,* agreeably situat ed, strong by its position and by the works which the inhabitants have raised to preserve their liberty, was chosen by Feracuti for his own dominion; he meditated the conquest of it, and succeeded in possessing it by stratagem, in which the famous Duke of Valentinois served him most essentially, having rendered him master of Sinigalles and of the Sabionetta is on the confines of the Dutchy of Mantua and of Cremonise, the capital of the Dutchy of the same name as the Castle; it had its own particular Princes, and belonged to the House of Austria, when the French took it in 1797. person of Vilellozzi Vitelli. When he became peaceable possessor of Sabionetta and its territory, Raimondo only occupied himself in repressing the licentiousness of the military; and his new subjects astonished at the mildness of his government, soon ceased to regret the loss of a tumultuous liberty. Feracuti died after having assured the principality of Sabionetta to his son, who had borne arm's under him. Hannibal Feracuti, whom we shall now call the Prince of Sabionetta, joined to the most prepossessing countenance all those qualities which render a chief respectable in the eyes of his soldiers; brave without ostentation, he remained calm in the midst of danger; difficulties, far from blunting his courage, only augmented his energy, and when fortune refused to second his efforts, he found in the fertility of his genius the means of parrying off those strokes which sometimes threatened to overthrow his enterprise. But all these precious endowments were tarnished by an irresistible inordinance of amorous propensity; happy for him if his heart inclining towards an estimable object, had entirely given himself up to that sweet sentiment which a female always inspires, when the beauty of her mind equals the outward attractions which captivate our senses. But the Prince was not susceptible of a lively tenderness, he experienced only sensual desires, without feeling that sweet emotion of the soul which deifies her to whom we look up for favour; to satiate his love by possession was the only end he had in view; never did he wish for the conquest of a heart, never did his bosom palpitate at the sight of the lovely Stefanina, so calculated to inspire the most delicate sentiments; but she only made Hannibal experience the unconquerable desire of sacrificing Stefanina to the ardour of unrestrained passion. Stefanina of Rinaldi, owed her birth to Adolfo di Rinaldi; never did a daughter own a more respectable father; grown old in arms, Adolfo reckoned his years by his exploits; his name was in the mouth of every brave man, and he was one of the twelve Italian chevaliers whom Gonsalvo had chosen to avenge the Italian honour on the insolence of the French;* and although his eleven companions had been as well as himself the conquerors of their adversaries, Rinaldi, who had fought the most formidable of the French, and had found means, notwithstanding their efforts, to succour an Italian Chevalier, who was just on the point of falling under the sword of his euemy, and lived to share in the general glory, Rinaldi was entitled to the greatest share of the honour. The desire of again beholding his country, and to become useful to it, caused Rinaldi to quit the Spanish army, in which he had first borne arms, and he returned to Mantua; a faction inimical to his house exiled him, but his military reputation followed him every where ; he was received by Raimondo Feracati, who owed to him part of his success, and who profiting by the wise counsels of Adolfo, felt himself strengthened in those inclinations which led him to justice and humanity. Hannibal, on the contrary, weary of the severe manner which marked Rinaldi's conversation, sought, as soon as possible, to get rid of so indefatigable a conser, and gave him the Castle of Ripapatta; not so much to recompence him for his past services, as to avoid the remonstrances that his own conduct could not fail to draw upon him, from a man of such rigid morals. Adolfo was too wise not to prefer to the bustle of a court, a retreat which promised him leisure to occupy himself solely with the education of Stefanina, who was in her early bloom when her father led her to his new domain. Three years passed away, without any remarkable event happening to either the father or his daughter; but at the commencement of the fourth, a Veronese Chevalier, named Gherardo Gherardini beheld Stefanina, and conceived for her that love which is given to Italian hearts alone to experience in its fullest extent. The tender Stefanina could not per ceive, without interest, the impression she had made upon a mind, which till then had only known the charms of glory. Stefanina loved, and the command that her father gave * Vide Sennor M. J. Quittana's Lives of Illustrious Spaniards. her to look upon Gherardo, as a lover who would shortly become her husband, intoxicated her with delight; it was with difficulty sbe concealed her transports; the presence of him only who had caused them could impose the silence prescribed by modesty; she was at a loss to express her feelings, and her father attributing her blushes to the embarrassment always experienced by a young maiden at the idea of a wedded state, left her alone, to give her time to recover herself. However, the reports of Stefanina's beauty reached the court, and the Prince himself bad heard it vaunted of; he learned, not without some degree of pique, that a beauty, to whom he had not dared to aspire, ornamented his dominions. A particle of virtue, or rather respect, with which the virtue of Rinaldi inspired the most criminal, decided Hannibal's || resolution to shun Stefanina, his seeing of whom could not but be attended with the most fatal consequences; be feared, and with too much reason, that the sight of such an assemblage of charms would kindle in his bosom an unfortunate passion. Hannibal was married; and although his wife possessed all that was capable of fixing any man who was able to appreciate virtue adorned by the graces, she could never restrain for one moment her fickle husband, who, far from respecting the ties which united him to the gentle Clara, only saw in her an obstacle to the accomplishment. of his base pursuits. He secretly detested the innocent Clara, and he had resolved on her death, since she prevented his gaining new conquests. He was in this frame of mind when Adolfo was announced; the novelty of the message astonished the Prince; it was above three years since Adolfo had appeared at court. Hannibal ordered to be introduced, without delay, a man to whom he owed a part of his elevation, and whose influence was able to destroy his authority, if he declared himself against him. He received Rinaldo with marks of the most sincere benevolence; and after having sounded, before his courtiers, the truest praises of the services Adolfo had rendered his father and himself, he affectionately requested him to tell him the motive of his journey to Sabionetta. Rinaldi touched with the friendship which the Prince evinced for him, felt all those sentiments renewed in his heart, which had before attached him to the son of his ancient friend. (To be continued.) A BRIEF SKETCH OF MISS BURNEY'S NEW NOVEL, ENTITLED "TRAITS OF NATURE." PUBLISHED BY H. COLBURN, LONDON. THIS interesting work opens with the description of two worthy characters, Dr. Hampden and his wife, who, with their own young family, have taken the charge of an amiable youth, Algernon Mordington, the son of a needy younger brother of a noble family; and the infant sister of Algernon, "motherless from the third day after her birth," is admitted into the nursery at Mordington Castle, and allowed to be brought up with Lord Osseley's own children, her cousins. In the early part of the work, the Peer becoming childless, takes Algernon home and adopts him for his son, as well as acknowledging him the proper heir at law: but pre vious to this event, a Mrs. Cleveland, grandmother to the heroine of this work, sends for Dr. Hampden, to consult him not only as a physician, but as a friend; and confides to his care her grand-daughter Adela, then a very young child, and whose mild, sweet, and timid character is finely contrasted with that of her only brother, an adored, spo:lt, and beadstrong boy. These two children are the offspring of Mr. Cleveland by a second wife; two daughters, Elinor and Alicia, are the children of his first marriage. The character of the mother of Julius and Adela is drawn with strong colourings of nature; her husband's ardent affection for her evinced itself in the most iras |