- ANECDOTES OF ILLUSTRIOUS K dm bostrog bed stor qadrinho jest to zenovog to THE GRAND DUCHESS OF SAXE-WEIMAR THIS illustrious and respectable specimen of the late German court is still living; and of which court she once formed the chief ornament. It was owing to her undaunted influence that the Grand Duke was prevented joining Bonaparte and when the battle of Jena decided the fate of the north of Germany, though the Grand Duke was absent with his army, the Duchess still remained at Weimar. Firm in her refusal to abandon the Castle, the interview which followed between her and Napoleon would have afforded a fine sub ject for an historical painter. Her noble deportment caused him to withdraw his cruel order for pillaging the town. The Grand Duchess undergoing every hardship and privation while she remained in her Castle with her faithful subjects almost without the mere necessaries of life. slcgw sut ol have all the erect dignity of the old court. Her dress is that of a respectable bourgeoise;} she wears a high mob cap fastened under her chin, and generallybas slate-coloured silk gown, hist# End 'MPOOL T30 10 wohe MADAME DE LAJARA LAJESKI,♪ ་』་ 1 THE presence of this lady at the court of France under the usurpation of Bonaparte, excited fear and jealousy amongst' all the ladies of the Empress Maria Louisa's household. To see a foreigner overwhelmed with favours, and engrossing the siniles of their sovereign, was to them intolerable." Finally, they prevailed on the Queen' Naples to propose that the Empress s should send her governess back to Vienna, though Madame de Lajeski had been promised that she should retain her situation for a year. No resistance was made by ber illustrious charge, and Madame de Lajeski returned from Munich to Vienna, carrying along with her the favourite little dog b be IV She is now about sixty years of age, and the traces of her former beauty are gone but her countenance still pleases by its pe-longing to her mistress,' the dismissal of culiar intelligence, and an expression of character firm, decided, and somewhat se vere; but this latter expression changes to a sweet cheerfulness as soon as she enters into conversation, in which she discovers much good nature and simplicity, but which is always more rational than gay. Yet there is a native shrewdness often in what she utters, and her manners are plain and sincere, while her carriage and deportment which was likewise required, under press! Ir is about two thousand four hundred U 17 512.4 ་་ of Upper Italy, part of the ancient înhaand fifty years since the country of Gran-bitants of the country sought a refuge in bunten, otherwise called the Grisous, was resorted to by a colony of Italians, to whom the Greeks and Romaus gave the name of Thyrennians, Tusci, or Hetrusci, and who peaceably occupied the lands comprehend, ed between the Alps and the Tiber, where they formed a confederation, composed of a great number of towns and cities. the Appenines and in Hetruria, whilst Bellovése, a Gaul warrior, having cross-or flax, of which they made plantations.fl Victor and his descendants had possessed in Rhetia. This kind of government lasted till the tenth century, when that country was united to the Ger man empire. From that period the feudal nobility that had been introduced under the” Goths and the Francs, multiplied to an excess throughout the vallies of Rhetia; which country, for five centuries together, offered the sad melancholy spectacle of a nation enslaved and oppressed by a multi-” plicity of Counts, Barons, and Bishops.These Lords would constantly lead their vassals, sometimes to fight under the bau f their former country: thus was one of the principal boroughs of the valley of Domleschg called Tusis, &c. To the whole country they gave the name of Rhetia, from Rhetus their leader, artefice wowed The Rhetians, availing themselves of their || independence, and of the advantageous po sition of their mountains, would frequently harrass the Romaus, who, till the reign of Augustus, considered them only as a race of warlike barbarians. Augustus; however, eighteen years before the birth of Christ, sent his two sons-in-law, Tiberius and Drusus, against the Rhetians, when the Romans made their attack from Lindau,ners of the Emperors, and sometimes una fortress on the lake of Coustance. The rlasted several years, at the expiration of which Rhetia, was entirely subdued. The books in which Tit. Liv. had written an account, of the Rbetian war no longer exist, and it is only mentioned accidentally Lib. V. cap. 35, seri gretat biroda ada te The Romans continued possessors of Rhes tia till the invasion of the Germans. Prior to the fall of the empire they called that country by the name of Rhetia Prima, or Alpina, to distinguish, it from the adjacent lands that were denominated Rhetia Se cunda, or Plana, and which at present compose Suabia and Bavaria. war der those of the Popes, according as they BONGOMA courted the protection of either, In the thirteenth century, after the overthrow of the house of Hohenstarifen, the Rhetians beheld their rulers falling upon each other like so many wild beasts, with ding their" dom a view of extending domains, and of securing their independence. At length however, the perpetual wars between the barons and the prelates, together with the unsufferable oppression of those petty tyrants, gave rise to a spirit of liberty, and suggested, in the minds of the oppressed, a desire of protecting their persons and pro perty against the attacks of arbitrary power, The example of the Swiss, in all proba strengthen the generous disposition of the Rhetians. In the year 1400, all the commons,' dependent on the abbey of Discutis, concluded au alliance with the canton of Glaris, to which Ulrich de Rhätzuus, their abbot, Albert de Sax, and all the commous: in the neighbourhood of Ilantz, and of Lungentz, in the valley of the Lower Rhine, acceded. In the fifth century Rhetia was success. fully subjected to the Ostrogoths, the Lombility, was greatly conducive to rouse and bards, and the Francs. In the year 600 of our Lord, through partiality for a wealthy citizen of the valley of Domleschg, of the name of Victor, one of the Franc Kings created him Count of Coire, and chief of the Rhetians; so that the administration of the supreme authority in Rhetia, remained, for a series of years, in the hands of the posterity of Victor, amongst whom are reckoned six chiefs and four prelates. Pascal, one of them, was at the same time Bishop of Coire, and married to the Count ess Æsopia de Rhaelta, Bishop Tello was the last of the race. This latter, who lived in the year 784, founded the church of the court at Coire, and bestowed considerable landed property on the chapter of Coire, and the abbey of Disentis. The tomb and epitaph of Victor Iitare still-to be seen in the church of St. Luziensteig, in the vicinity of Coire. apyn 7% 21h Charlemaigne, some time after, conferred on the Bishop of Constance a similar dig. So early as in the year 1569, Johu de Wordenberg, Bishop of Coire, and all the commons of the vallies of Oberhalbstein, Schams, Domleschg, Avers, Vatz, and Bergun, had formed a confederacy, which was called the league Caddee, or, of the house of God. To this league the vallies of the Lower and Upper Rhine, as far as Reichenau, opposed that which went by the name of Superior, or Grise, which met, for the first time, at Trons, in 1424. With regard to the league of the Ten Jurisdictions, it was formed in 1486, in consequence of the mon of all the commons between mounte a Scaletta and Fluela, as far the Rhæticonceived them amongst their allies (Zngels and the Plessour. At last, in March, 1471, wandte Orte) in 1499 the Grisons fought 1471, wa those three federal associations contracted in the Swiss ranks during the bloody Suass a general and perpetual alliance, that was bian ian war. In 1525 they rendered themratified in the farm-house of Vatzerel, in the selves masters of the Valteline, of the district of Belfort. country of Chiavenna, and of the territory of Bormio, the possession of which, not long after, was entirely ceded to them by the Dukes of Milan!" they continued under their dominion till the year 1797, when those three provinces were annexed to the Lombardo-Venitian kingdom. Prior to 1798 the Grisons formed an independent republic, but now they constitute one of the Swiss cantons. From that period Upper Rhetia, which, during the middle age, had been called Kurisch-Rhæticon, Curwallen, or Curwalchen, which signify vallies of Coire, as sumed the name of the Grisons,† and its inhabitants became a free and independent people, whose constitution, to the present time, is more popular than that of any -other Swiss democratical canton. In fact, those three leagues, thus united, composed twenty-six high jurisdictions (hochgerichte), that were to be considered as so many Jittle independent republics, whose combination constituted what is called a Federa tive Ochlocracy The canton of the Grisons, such as it remains, is, however, one of the most extensive and interesting in Switzerland, as it contains, over a surface of one hundred and forty square geographical miles, a popula tion of about seventy-four thousand inhaThis constitution, however, from its ori-bitants, and consists of sixty vallies, either gin, was pregnant with those violent inprincipal or lateral. With some of those testine broils and dissensions, to which the vallies I presume the reader would like to republic of the Grisons was so subject till be made acquainted before he undertakes the fifteenth century, and that were at his tour: 1 shall now, therefore, give him tended with such disastrous consequences, a description of some of the most deserving It was towards the latter end of that same of his particular notice. V century that the Helvetic Confederation re A 1 (To be continued.) "AND this, Sir," continued the of mine I shall hold out the dangerous poor wretch, whose life ebbed, but scarcely event naturally consequent to the overflowed, "is the memorial have endea-indulgence of childreu. The errors of voured to draw up-and which has occu- parents in bringing up their offspring, may pied those moments when pain, somewhat prove a triumph to those who have none to subsided, had left me sufficient strength spoil, but who fancy that they have disto proceed. I commenced these unfortu. covered an universal preventive to infantine nate events soon after the morning you errors. The Edgeworths, the Moores, and found me a prey to mental anguish. the Hamiltons, may fancy that they have done much to reform the errors of education, but however finely they have spun their theories, I have yet to learn if their practice has been commensurate with their hopes. Directions or rules for education, drawn up, like players' jackets, to suit all sizes, cannot be presumed really to fit one. The conduct of adults is guided by the power of reason. Children cannot reason, and the parent often finds, › when she attempts to apply the system of education which she has just perused, that her child « I shall not, Sir, in this MS., which you will read when I am no more, affront you by detailing my crude ideas relative to the necessity of a proper education. Theories are at all times but poor succedaneum for practise; but in these imperfect sentences The Rhetians, at that time, went by the name of Walen, and the subjects of the Bishop of Coffe by that of Curwaleng their language was called Walisch, or Welsch, + The etymology of the word Grisons is not known, shews some evil propensity for which no cure is to be met with in the Mother's Vade тесит. →These vague remarks of mine, Sir, you will smile at, or, perhaps, not be able to comprehend; my reasoning faculties are vanishing, and what I now, probably, think very fine writing, will prove sad stuff to you. They are merely given en passant nor do they immediately relate to my case, for I was born long before a royal road to education was found out, the discipline of schools explored, and before Bell or Lancaster were known; in fact, before the advantages or disadvantages of the present system of education were invented. "The first early developement of caprice I remember, which was to reward those who had spoiled my morals and my temper was marked by throwing my plate of victuals on the floor, at a pretended dislike to a dinner got on purpose for me, for which a good flagellation should have been my reward: but, alas! my mother - was of a dreadful nervous temperature she could not bear to sit without her dear Peregrine, and therefore consoled me for the loss of my dinner by a preseut of pastry, which my little mightiness, like an eastern despot, deigned most sullenly to receive. The excuse set up for this conduct I remember well, for it was deeply engraved upon my heart poor little dear, she believed it was really unwell:' she was right, but the malady lay in the mind: the fact, was, that rather than se rather than see me sullen, or hear me ery for one quarter of au hour, she went near to m make me cry all the rest of my life, This excuse, however, of being unwell, served me ever after; and I freely sunavailed myself of it whenever requested to ths do that for which I had no desire. Many a time from this excuse have I been allowed to stop from school; and many a day, Toe after having laid a heavy embargo on preva{} serves, cakes, and fruit, have I been led roaring to bed, like another Alexander, because I had no more fruit pies to con quer, sick with repletion, and fevered by Son excess. To detail the many subterfuges my poor mother made use of to gratify me, area, or rather to gratify herself in not hearing me cry, would be troublesomes suffice it to His say, that the ingenuity of these resources deserved a better causes vila donderd 1001 "The time at length arrived when I should be placed at school: this was an epoch of my life which my father anxious by looked forward to as a sort of millennium of reformation. I was delighted at the idea: at present I was not suffered to use my limbs; and as to the recreation of a play-fellow, that would have robbed my mamma of my company-she was always afraid her dear should get hurt by rude boys. Alas! this school system was obliged to be abandoned-two hysteric fits, and a nervous head-ache, decided my fate, and I was doomed to be the day-scholar of a man who was supple enough to educate his pupils in the manner their several mammas pleased, and thus commenced chapter the second of my ruin. Pretkuanza-purow "It is not a surprising thing that I soon learned as much as he could teach me, though he really Co to knew more of education than a bankrupt attorney could well be expected; but I was, in reality, a quick lad. To the hundred questions of why don't you put Master Perry to war, because I Mr. Syntax" Mr. Busby? the or was a weak timid child, and could not apply deeply-Ah! she should have said, that having made me quite necessary to her existence as a playfellow, she was too sel|| fish to part from me, although it would be to my certain advantage. However, at this wretched school my emulation was excited, and, spite of all my enemies, ju attention, and idleness, I should have learnt something, had not my good mamma, aided by a kind aunt, laboured all they could to frustrate the exertions of my better destiny, rien nadz, phosph "One day a party of pleasure was proposed- I should be so delighted to ride in a coach;' at another, 'I should so like to see a play,' that, par conséquence, I lay so long in bed the day after these recreations, an afternoon was of little conse quence, and Perry might stop at home. Another day it rained, and I should take cold; and when these excuses would not avail, 1 remembered the old story of the plate at dinner, and I rung the changes of being unwell Through all the pains the flesh is heir to, perhaps this excuse was more real than I meant it, for 1 was an epicure at eleven years old. Having, on the whole, remained at school about a quar ter of the time for which Mr. Plausible had way to her own wiles alone. At any plan been paid for his tuition, I determined to of gratification or advantage without her, go no longer. I promised to go on with she immediately became low-spirited and my learning under the eye of my mamma, discontented, which, had I loved her as a and she became highly pleased with this parent, would have embittered every exnew arrangement. On this I determined pecting pleasure which I had depended on, on a course of reading, in which I resolved from the acquisition of a secret hold I had. to confine myself to the living languages, acquired on my injudicious parent. I howand even got as far as the third volume of ever, was not long in breaking from those Gibbon, having before devoured a whole trammels which were no rosy bands to me. hecatomb of novels, when my mamma per- My mamma was one of those who, by ceived I began to grow pale: she told the going to a place of worship three times on Doctor I was always reading, her friends a Sunday, and being full of faith, imagined bore testimony to her report from meeting she thus expiated all the sins of mere moral me ever and anon at the library, and it obligation for the rest of the week: she was at length insisted upon that my life would have compelled me to the same work must be less sedentary. Soon afterwards, of faith, but, as usual, contradicting all her however, flattered by the attentions of a wishes, I cried so loudly and so long at the monstrous agreeable man, who offered to conventicle, that the elders of the place, teach me Latin without application, I was seeing I was not likely to become a babe suffered again to begin hic hac hoc; the of grace, desired I might be kept at home, plan, however, was soon abandoned, and I as being not yet ripe for regeneration., considered my education complete:"1 1 could My mamma forgetting her favourite Sunalmost write a legible hand, could spell day lounge, stayed at home with me. But tolerably correct-arithmetic 1 knew little for my secret:-I had arrived at the age of, but I could dance, sing a song, play off of eighteen, when I commenced visiting a thousand practical jokes, and at a hoax the lounges of stable-boys and demi-nobles, was deemed admirable. Fourteen years and these pursuits robbed me of all the rolled on with more vexation heaped upon pocket-money I was heir to. 1 On my mo me by my misguided mother, than if she ther I made frequent calls, but to little had been the most rigid disciplinarian, || purpose, had 1 not made use of certain could when it was necessary, as my father said, tortions of the mouth, sufficiently indicathat I should think of gaiuing my own tive of the beginning of a string of oaths, living: this was more particularly right, as which became as powerful in opening the he, by his fonduess for company, was fast strings of her purse as the Sesame of the ceasing to live-in fact, he died just in Arabian Nights. With this talisman I ge time to leave my mother and myself to go nerally gained my point; and I bought to ruin our own way, and we were not long horses, and sold them-betted upon pugiabout it. Still I was to go out, and an lists-and finally took a young lady under advertisement, stating that a youth, of my protection, whose mamma was well good morals, who was to board and sleep known, by the beautiful cadence of her at home, was desirous to be articled to a voice, under a certain Piazza in Coventprofession where confinement was not neGarden. cessary,' was put into the papers; but no one applied, and year after year I roamed a gentleman at large. My mother would rather see me running to ruin than part with me, and in this selfish plan she too truly persisted: I call her conduct selfish, because she only promoted my pleasure when she was to be a party in it. If I was about to receive any advantage in which she did not participate, she opposed it with all the fortitude of a stoic. My tears, her fears for my health, alf then gave "My accomplishments were now com. pleted. I could imitate the notes of birds, sing several of Grimaldi's songs, and became a mimic of no small reputation; and, after indulging myself for many years in vicious habits, which made me scarce every at home, I followed my only parent, heartbroken, to the grave! I was now prevail ed upon to look seriously to my interest,r which I found had terribly declined, from the imprudence of my mamma in our tual indulgencies, and I set about reform 5.7 |