"When the daring plot, of Tuxen and his coadjutors, to diflodge the Swedes from Cronborg was difcovered, Rostgaard no longer thought himself fecure on his eftate Kraagerup. His name, it is true, was not enrolled among those who had conceived the bold attempt; but he had reafon to apprehend that he should be fufpected, feized, and punished for his loyalty; he, therefore, fought fafety in his escape. But left his flight fhould betray him, and afford the Swedes a pretext for plundering his eftate, he inftructed his wife to advertise him, when he had been absent a proper time, intimating, thereby, her ignorance of his retreat. She was alfo publicly to affect belief that he had been murdered by the Swedes. This having been agreed upon, Rostgaard departed in the night; and, having reached a certain piece of water, he fhot his horfe, and purfued his route in a boat for Copenhagen. On the following day Mrs. Roftgaard was loud in her enquiries for her husband, alleging, that he had not feen him fince he went on bufinefs for the Swedes. Shortly afterwards, fhe dispatched various perfons in fearch of him; who finding his horfe dead, returned with the fearful tidings; upon which the wept bitterly, and in anguifh exclaimed: The Swedes have plundered and murdered my dear husband, and thrown his body into the water. The next day fhe appeared in deep mourning, and caufed large rewards to be offered to thofe who brought home his body; indeed, fhe acted the forrows of a widow with fo much skill, that the enemy believed the fact, and commiserated her fituation. Some Swedish officers fhortly after paid their addreffes to her, for fhe was confidered to be a widow of property, but the returned fuch equivocal answers to their respective over.. tures, that each entertained hopes, and took particular care that her estate and perfon fhould be protected. In the mean time, she carried on a conftant correspondence with her husband under affumed names. She communicated to him whatever information she was enabled to collect refpecting the intentions of the Swedes, which Roftgaard, who was cooped up at Copenhagen, laid before the king. At the conclufion of peace Roftgaard returned home. [The Life of Roftgaard.]

"While the main army of Charles the Twelfth was encamped at Chriftiania, in the year 1716, feveral detachments were dif tributed about the country. One in particular was ftationed at Mofs, where a magazine was established; and, in case of affistance being required, a regiment commanded by Major-General Afcheberg was ftationed in the neighbourhood. The commander had taken up his quarters at the parfonage of Skieberg, and took delight in frequently converfing on military fubjects with the clergyman Mr. Peter Rumohr, who, when a youth, had been a foldier. The clergyman appeared very familiar with his gueft,

but

but at the fame time, did every thing in his power to fruftrate the object of the major-general's miffion. He dispatched agents about the country, between Skieberg and Mofs, to way-lay the Swedish meffengers, by which means the correspondence of the commanders was interrupted for fome days. During this interval a body of Norwegians attacked Mofs; the garrifon was beaten, and the commander, a lieutenant-colonel, made prifoner, together with all the enemy's ftores. The news of this defeat having reached the Reverend Mr. Rumohr, he affected furprize at an event he had occafioned; and whenever the conversation turned upon that fubject, he artfully by doubts and inuendos, strengthened the fears and dejection of the major-general, who began at length feriously to reflect on the almost infurmountable difficulties which impeded his plans, againft a country fo peculiarly guarded by nature, as Norway. At other times he difperfed falfe accounts, that the Swedes had been beaten at fome poft; and by these means ultimately fucceeded in alarming Major-General Afcheberg upon the most trivial occafion. One night a discharge of cannon, at Frederickfhald, was diftinctly heard by the Swedish commander, who leaped from his bed, and anxiously enquired whence the firing proceeded. The Reverend Mr. Rumohr coolly replied: I am not altogether able to afeertain, but it is, no doubt, from the Danish fleet, which is hourly expected with reinforcements; and, fhould that be the cafe, things will foon wear a gloomy appearance in this place.' The major-general inftantly ordered his whole regiment to be mounted, and they were beyond the borders of the country in lefs than twenty-four hours.

"Thus the Reverend Mr. Rumohr had the fatisfaction to expel a whole regiment from the impulfe of vifionary fear; and he rejoiced, not only as a patriot, but as a warrior. But he afterwards fuffered feverely for this fineffe. Charles the Twelfth was fo incensed at his conduct, that he ordered him to be appre hended and sent to Sweden, where he lingered out his life in prifon.

[The Hiftory of Fred. IV. MSS. The Garland of

Frederick hald, by Rit's MSS. and other MSS."] P. 196, The tranflator has before had our commendation for a fpirited defcription of Zealand, and the memorable battle of Lord Nelfon before Copenhagen. The prefent performance indicates much facility of writing, and the book is full of entertainment. A neat engraving of the Prince Royal of Denmark is prefixed, and a useful index is fubjoined.

ART.

ART. VIII. The pofthumous Works of Mrs. Chapone. Containing her Correspondence with Mr. Richardfon; a Series of Letters to Mrs. Elizabeth Carter; and fome fugitive Pieces never before published. Together with an Account of her Life and Character, drawn up by her own Family. 2 vols.. fmall 8vo. 7s. 6d. Murray, Fleet-ftreet; Constable and Co. Edinburgh. 1807.

"that the

HE editors of thefe volumes may juftly hope, THE productions of a pen fo unfullied, and the genuine difplay of a character fo refpectable as that of Mrs. Chapone, will maintain their ground on the prefent ftage of English literature." P. v.

"Such language and fuch arguments as thefe letters contain, can hardly fail to excite admiration, if not to afford confiderable gratification in the perufal, when the reader recollects that they come from the pen of a lady, who at the age of twenty-two, with a very few of the flender advantages of the education even of that moment, had difcernment to detect, and courage to combat the errors of a work received with fo general, nay, even enthufiaftic approbation as the Hiftory of Clariffa Harlowe." " P. viii.

The editors complain ftrongly, concerning a late narrative, mifcalled the Life of Mrs. Chapone; "written without the fanction of her relations; and publifhed in open defiance of the remonftrances of her friends; being prefixed to a new edition of her Letters on the Mind ;"" which narrative,

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excepting the circumftances that fhe was born, that the was married to Mr. Chapone, and that fhe died,-contains fcarcely a fingle fentence that has any foundation in truth, from the beginning to the end." Pp. ix. x.

"Mrs. Chapone's family have been induced to avail themfelves of the kindness of the celebrated Mrs. Eliza Carter's executor, who has obligingly furnished them with all Mrs. Chapone's letters to that lady; beginning at an early age, and continued till within a year or two of her death.

"From these letters, a feries of extracts has been felected, by which the reader may be enabled to form his own judgment of the folidity of her understanding, the vivacity of her imagination, and the affectionate tendernefs of her temper and difpofition.

"To thefe is added a plain unvarnished tale' of the real circumstances of her life, the readers of which may reft affured that they will find nothing in it but what is authentic, nothing but what is ftriftly true. The public will therefore, we cannot

doubt,

doubt, receive it with indulgence; as defigned fimply to do justice to the character of Mrs. Chapone, to refeue it from unmerited reproach, and preferve her memory as it ought to be preferved, unfullied as her life." P. xi.

Such an object is worthy of her family; and we doubt not that it will be fully attained by this publication. The honour of a family is its beft inheritance; and that honour, derived from the merits of its good and useful members, should ever be the object of their warmeft anxiety.

"Thomas Mulfo, Efq. of Twywell, in the county of Northampton, the father of Mrs. Chapone, was, at the time of her birth, the only fon of the reprefentative of a family established in that county before the reign of Edward the First, and ori ginally poffeffed of landed property, in that and the adjacent counties, to the amount of eight thousand pounds a-year; but, of which, from alienation, by means of heireffes, and other caufes, only an inconfiderable portion remains to the present pof feffor." P. 1.

Hefter Mullo (afterwards Mrs. Chapone) was born in 1727. Specimens, from the letters here prefented to us, will best enable our readers to judge concerning the talents of a young woman, who had very few, even of the fmall advantages of education, attainable about the middle of the laft century; when females were generally debarred from learning. Whether, in the present times, their learning be in the other extreme, too general and fuperficial, is a point which we need not here difcufs.

"There is nothing fo painful as diftruft, to a frank and honeft mind; and yet one is perpetually feeling the neseffity of it, or fuffering for the want of it. One feldom fails to fee it grow upon people with their years, and obferve that the longer the world is known, the less it is liked, and the lefs it is trufted. I am staggered and frighted at the difficulty of hitting the true medium, betwixt a credulity and confidence, which exposes one to perpetual difappointments and inconveniences, and a caution and diftruft, which would murder friendship, wound benevolence, and deftroy all the pleafures of fociety. Yet I had much rather fuffer by the first, (as indeed I have more than once done) than fall into the other moft uncomfortable extreme. Affift me, dear Mifs Carter, to avoid both, and, above all, let us both avoid a fruitlefs difcontent at the prefent ftate of things, and the neceffary condition of humanity; for this our fober reafon will tell us (whenever we are calm enough to hear it) is equally painful and criminal." P. 37.

." Mr. tells me that you are a friend to Fielding's Amelia. I love the woman, but for the book-it must have

merit, fince Mifs Carter and fome few more good judges approve of it. Are not you angry with the author, for giving his fa vourite character fuch a lord and mafter? and is it quite natural that she should be fo perfectly happy and pleased with such a wretch? A fellow without principles, or understanding, with no other merit in the world but a natural good temper, and whose violent love for his wife could not keep him from injuring her in the most effential points, and that in circumstances that render him utterly inexcufable. Can you forgive his amour with that dreadful, fhocking monfter, Mifs Mathews? Are we to look upon thefe crimes as the failings of human nature, as Fielding feems to do, who takes his notions of human nature from the most depraved and corrupted part of it, and feems to think no cha racters natural, but fuch as are a difgrace to the human species ? Don't you think Booth's fudden converfion a mere botch to fave the author's credit as a moral writer? And is there not a tendency in all his works to foften the deformity of vice, by placing characters in an amiable light, that are deftitute of every virtue except good nature?" P. 45.

"I am extremely obliged to you for gratifying my curiofity with your reafons for fpeaking fo favourably of Amelia, though, at the fame time, I am not a little mortified to find that I cannot affent to all you fay. I am afraid I have lefs mercy in my dif pofition than you, for I cannot think with fo much lenity of the character of Booth, which, though plainly defigned as an amiable one by the author, is in my opinion contemptible and wicked. Rather frail than wicked!' Dear Miss Carter! -that is what I complain of, that Fielding contrives to glofs over grofs and monftrous faults in fuch a manner, that event his virtuous readers fhall call them frailties. How bad may be the confe quence of fuch reprefentations to those who are interefted in the deception, and glad to find that their favourite vices are kept in countenance by a character which is defigned to engage the efteem and good wishes of the reader." P. 48.

We should with pleasure extract the remainder of this letter, if our limits would permit. We must now, however, make an extract of fome length.

"I will grant you that there is very little virtue, and a great deal of iniquity and corruption to be found amongst thofe who are engaged in public life; provided you will allow me that those are not the people in whom we ought to look for virtue, and that human nature is not to be judged of by the moft corrupted part of it. A man that is thoroughly engaged in the purfuit of intereft, and whofe principal end is the attainment of riches or power, whatever good inclinations he might fet out with, will in all likelihood fo often facrifice them to this darling fcheme, or at beft find fo little leifure to nourish and

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