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"In Tscherchaskoy they live an amicable and pleasant life. Sometimes they have publick amusements, such as balls and parties of pleasure. Once they had a theatre, but it was prohibited. In some of their apartments we observed mahogany bookcases, with glass doors, containing a small library. They are, in every respect, entitled to praise for their cleanliness, whether of their persons or their houses There is no nation (I will not even except my own) more cleanly in their apparel than the Cossacks. The dress of their women is singular. It differs from all the costumes of Russia; and its magnificence is vested in the ornaments of a cap, somewhat resembling the mitre of a Greek bishop. The hair of married women is tucked under this cap, which is covered with pearls and gold, or adorned with flowers. The dress of a Cossack girl is elegant; a silk tunick, with trowsers fastened by a girdle of solid silver, yellow boots, and an Indian handkerchief round the head. A proof of their riches was afforded in the instance of the mistress of the house where we lodged. This woman walked about the apartments, without shoes or stockings; and, being asked for some needles to secure the insects we had collected, opened a box, in which she showed us pearls to the value of ten thousand roubles. Her cupboard, at the same time was filled with plate and costly porcelain The common dress of the men in Tscherchaskoy was a blue jacket, with a waistcoat and trowsers of white dimity; the latter so white and spot. less, that they seemed always new. The tattered state of a traveller's wardrobe, but ill fitted us to do credit to our country in this respect. I never saw a Cossack in a dirty suit of clothes. Their hands, moreover, are always clean; their hair free from vermin; their teeth white; and their skin has a healthy and cleanly appearance. Polished in their manners, instructed in their minds, hospitable, generous, disinterested in their hearts, humane and tender to the poor, good husbands, good fathers, good wives, good mothers, virtuous daughters, valiant and dutiful sons; such are the natives of Tscherchaskoy. In conversation, the Cossack is a gentleman; for, he is well informed, free from prejudice, open, sincere, and upright." P.

292-294.

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more striking. The truth of it, on account of its notoriety, will not be disputed by either party. Whenever a quarrel among the Cossacks causes them to combat each other, they fight, as in England, with their fists, and never with knives, daggers, or any sharp instrument. This practice is so established a characteristick of their people, that it gave rise to a very remarkable wager. Teplof and Gelagin, two of the late empress Catherine's privy counsellors, happened to be in her presence, when it was told her, that a Cossack priest, then a monk in the convent of St. Alexander Nevski, had been arrested for cutting the throat of a young woman, whom he had made pregnant, and with whom he had quarrelled; upon which Teplof offered to wager with Gelagin, that the monk was not a Cossack. The bet was made, and won by Teplof; the monk proving to be a Russian. Being questioned how he could possibly divine the probable success of his wager: Because,' said he, no Cossack would strike a woman: if he did, he would use his hand, and not his knife." P. 295, 296.

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The author visited different persons of this nation; and, in short, lived amongst them. Nor does any part of the narrative, during his stay, at all affect the accuracy of the above highly coloured picture. Nor does Mr. Heber's journal, wo saw the same people a few years atterwards, leave it at all doubtful that he had formed, in general, a similar opinion, although somewhat less rapturously stated than that of Dr. Clarke. His testimony is important, as confirming, to a certain extent, the above account. "The manners,' says Mr. Heber," of the people struck us, from their superiority to the Russians, in honour and dignity. A lieutenant at Petersburgh, who once begged alms of us, bowed himself to the ground, and knocked his head on the floor. A lieutenant here" [Tscherchaskoy, the capital of the Don Cossacks] "who was imprisoned, and also begged, made the request in a manly and dignified manner, and thanked us, as if we had been his comrades." In a billiard-room, belonging to a very good inn, Mr. Heber observed a number of German priests, and, conversing

with one of them, found the Cossacks quite well acquainted with the history of Alexander and Darius. "Education," he adds, " among the Cossacks, is not so low as is generally thought, and it improves daily. All the children of officers are sent to the academy of Tscherchaskoy, and learn French, German, &c. It was holyday time when we were there; but their progress was well spoken of." Other passages might be produced from the same MS. Journal, in which similar testimony is born to the superiority of the Cossacks over the Russians: but, we would rather refer our readers to the narrative of Dr. Clarke's residence among this people, than to any formal character, or set description of their manners. The great excellence of a book of travels is, that if it only contains a tolerably faithful register of occurrences, we can correct any errours in the author's general remarks, and can gain good information on a variety of points, which he may either have misunderstood, or not turned his attention to.

The account which our travellers give of the Circassians presents a remarkable contrast, in almost every particular, to the foregoing sketch of the Cossacks. With the exception of the ferocious valour which the men, like all savages, possess, and the singular beauty of form which distinguishes the women, no one estimable quality is to be traced in either the description or the occurrences relating to this barbarous tribe. The Circassians are separated from the Russian dominions by the Kuban; on the Russian side of which river, the Tchernomorski Cossacks have their settlements. They received from Catherine a district of country conquered from the Kuban Tartars; and removed thither about the year 1792, nine years before our author visited the country. Originally they inhabited the marshes of the Dnieper, where the population was composed of an assemblage of

refugees from all nations; insomuch that there was scarcely a European language that might not be found among this horde. In their new country, they have the same privileges with the Don Cossacks; are much less refined and wealthy; but, as far as the observations of Dr. Clarke and Mr. Heber went, extremely well disposed and honest; and even hospitable, according to their scanty means. It is needless to add, that they live in constant hostility with their savage neighbours, the Circassians; and it appears by no means the plan of the Russian government to check these animosities. Here, again, we must refer to the work of Dr. Clarke, enriched by the notes of Mr. Heber, for more ample details on this curious subject. Our travellers had the advantage of being in the country during a campaign between the two nations; and, after witnessing part of their military operations, were present also at the conclusion of the peace. The war began from the same cause, was carried on with the spirit, and terminated in the kind of accommodation which usually marks the rise and progress of barbarous warfare.

Referring our readers, likewise, to the work itself for accounts of the Crim Tartars, as well as of the Jews, Armenians and Greeks, in the Crimea (particularly to pages 416, 482 and 518) we can scarcely afford room to do more than name the interesting particulars respecting professor Pallas, and the residence of our travellers in his hospitable and elegant retirement. From thence they journeyed by Perecop, to Kerson, or Cherson, where they collected many circumstances relating to the justly celebrated Howard's latter illness and death. Could we spare room for this extract, it would afford us real satisfaction, as the mind can surely never be more profitably or pleasingly employed, than in meditating on the character

of that most amiable and singular person.* We cannot help noticing, however, an amusing, were it not rather a melancholy piece of Sclavonian virtú, in a certain count Potocki, who has, it seems, conspired with his lady, a person of a romantick turn of mind, to have the body of the philanthropist removed to some proper place in his pleasure-grounds, where temples may be erected, and fêtes given, in honour of Benevolence. Howard himself desired that he might be laid in a spot of earth, which he chose, and only a sun-dial erected over his grave, without any inscription. The neighbouring people, who, with a pious veneration for so pure a mind, flocked in thousands to pay the last duties to his remains, have, instead of the dial, raised a rude pyramid, surrounded with posts and chains; nor can we avoid wishing, with Dr. Clarke, that the wellmeant, but most absurd intentions of the count and countess, may be defeated; that his honoured ashes may remain undisturbed, to bestow an interest upon that bleak and barren spot where they now rest; and preserve, in the wild tribes among whom his last days were spent, a recollection of the only deeds of kindness ever done amongst them.

After leaving the Crimea, the route of our travellers lay across the Bog, to Odessa, on the Black Sea. There they embarked, having made their escape, with much difficulty, from the scrutinizing police of the emperour Paul; and, after a most dangerous and tempestuous voyage, as the passage of that

stormy sea generally is, were forced to put into the harbour of Ineada; from whence they afterwards reached Constantinople. The description given of the scenery during this voyage, particularly of the magnificent prospects on entering the canal, and arriving at the city, do great credit to Dr. Clarke's powers in this department of writing.

Here the present work breaks off; and, whatever our author has to relate of Turkey and Greece, of the Greek islands and Egypt, where he extended his travels, is reserved for another volume. While we express our anxiety for its appearance, and repeat once more the obligations under which he has already laid us, we shall conclude an article, already too long, but protracted by the more than ordinary importance of some of the topicks, by submitting to our author a few notices of faults and trifling' slips into which he has been betrayed.

Dr. Clarke is extremely free from the sins of affectation, and attempting fine writing, either where he is unequal to it, or where it would be out of place. Yet, we do not at all approve of the meteorological similie which runs through p. 100.. Speaking of the tyranny of Paul, he says, "A bon mot, an epigram, the sparks and ebullitions of inventive genius, like sudden flashes of lightning in the darkness of a nocturnal tempest, rendered, as they vanished," &c. And then, speaking of Catherine's reign, it is a very fine day, a northern summer contrasted with the night of winter, and so forth. The misery of all which is,

*The praise so universally bestowed, in his own country, on Howard, and so loudly echoed in every part of the civilized world, almost proves, that, to be famous even in his own day, a man need not deal by wholesale in the misery of his fellow creatures. But it was well remarked by one of the ablest and best men of our times (sir S. Romilly) in the debates upon some of those measures of legislative reform, to which, under every possible disadvantage from the neglect of some, and the pitiable bigotry of others, he perseveres in applying the powers of his enlightened mind, that with all our tributes of praise to Howard, we have never yet taken one step towards-erecting the fittest monument to his memory, by adopting any of his wise and salutary plans.

that the subject forces him to minute particulars; and in five lines after the above sublime passage, we come to pug-dogs, ivory-headed canes, waistcoat flaps, and shoestrings. The sensations of the author in his voyage to Azof [p. 314] seem also uncalled for; because something quite akin, and innowise inferiour to "the reflections, very interesting at the moment," which were excited by "the consciousness of sailing with all Europe on his right hand, and all Asia on his left," might have been procured by a walk on the west coast of Ireland or Cornwall. We do not think, either, that Russia is, "morally considered," very "like an enormous toad," notwithstanding the reasons given in support of this idea [p. 404.] Why will he talk of the pictures of « Zampieri," in p. 87, instead of Dominichino, especially as, in the same line, he speaks of Michael Angelo, and in the next of Correggio? We like still less the violent abuse of Voltaire, which our author is given to; because it can prove nothing, at least nothing against that great man. Had it been his infidel or licentious writings which he attacked, we could have easily excused it; but we certainly are not aware that his histories are "drivellings," [preface, p. iii.] nor did a pretty competent judge of the subject think so, when he, in his History of Charles V. bore, perhaps, the highest testimony that has ever been brought to his wonderful powers. But, were we to ad

mit him a driveller, why talk of his "grand climacterick." [p. 125] when it turns out, that he means to say, not 63, but 77? By the way, the mention of Dr. Clarke's zeal against Voltaire, brings to mind rather an inadvertent remark of his own, in p. 325. It seems the violence of the wind at Taganrock frequently drives back the sea to such a distance, that the people can travel over the sand to the opposite coast, a distance of twenty versts; and this our author cites as a very forcible proof of the veracity [truth] of the sacred scrip tures.' Assuredly, the scriptures want no such proof; but Dr. Clarke forgets that the passage of the Red Sea was not effected by natural means. In p. 315, we are told, that the etymology of " Inverness" (in Scotland) may be traced by means of the same name being given to a village, similarly situated, in Tartary; and there it comes from Inverness, or, " in the turning." This derivation is somewhat farfetched; and is, moreover, wrong; for, the Scottish town is indubitably so called from the river Ness, at the mouth of which it stands.

These, and a few other venial oversights, we are obliged to mention; and should scarcely subjoin any apology to Dr. Clarke, if we did not well know, that there is but one way of pleasing an author, viz. ample, excessive, and wholly unmingled praise. Our apology must be found in the preceding part of this article.

FROM THE LITERARY PANORAMA.

The Secret History of the Cabinet of Buonaparte; including his Private Life, Character, Domestick Administration, &c. &c. &c. With two Appendices, by Lewis Goldsmith, Notary Publick. 8vo. pp. 640. Price 16s. London. 1810.-To be republished by I. Riley, New York.

WHENEVER political sentiments, diametrically opposite to each other, are maintained by considerable numbers of persons, and the

publick mind is in a state of suspense, or vacillation, nothing can be more acceptable than the testimony of a witness, qualified to speak from

398

his own knowledge, on facts that have been deemed questionable, or doubtful. No evidence can be so convincing, as the deposition of one who was himself a participator in what he narrates. If he be a man of veracity, a man to whose affirmation credit may be given; what he declares must and will have its weight with the judicious and impartial. Waving all investigation of his motives, and placing due, but not undue confidence in his opinions, if he be a man of honour and honesty, of sound mind and sedate judgment, his statement of facts, as he saw them, and his opinions of persons, as he found them by experience, may claim, and will justify our attention.

Mr. Goldsmith professes to speak from observation. He also relates incidents which were communicated to him in confidence, by publick persons who were deeply inculpated in them; and he describes himself as having maintained an intimacy, for a considerable time, with statesmen who possessed the best means of knowing the real motives for many proceedings of the French government; events which have distressed and terrified the nations of Europe. It cannot be denied, that from the nature of the stations he has filled in France, Mr. Goldsmith was likely to associate with those persons whose characters he describes. He could scarcely avoid contracting an intimacy with them; and they, though guarded and secret on some points, yet, on others, might diminish or dismiss their reserve. He was, when in England, one of the dissatisfied with the British government. In search of a theoretical superiority, if not absolute perfection, he settled in France: and he found, as all will find who take French professions literally, that the boasted liberty of that blissful paradise was little other than the terrour of the house of bondage; a department at least of purgatory, if not absolutely an arrondissement of hell. Mr. G. was for

merly a reformer; he now professes to be reformed himself. He has seen with his own eyes, and heard with his own ears. He has been deluded and abused, by the governours of the great nation; and he proposes to make the amende honourable to his country, by endeavouring to undeceive such of his countrymen, as have been, or may be misled by fascinations similar to those from which he is happily delivered. Whether his publication will obtain like salutary influence over those infected with the mania of admiration for the character of the emperour and king, we dare not venture to affirm; we know the obstinacy of some, and the imbecility of others. In addition, Mr. G. assures us, that he knows the distribution of French gold, in support of French principles, and is aware of its effect among our population.

This author was the original editor, appointed by the French government, to conduct The Argus, a famous English newspaper, printed in Paris. That he should imagine he might be allowed to preserve either liberty or liberality of sentiment, in his editorial office, is proof enough to us that he was completely ignorant of the persons who protected him, and of the purposes his labours were destined to subserve. We wonder at this, from so much of his previous history, as has come to our knowledge; and nothing less than his distinct affirmation of the fact, is necessary to establish it. Mr. G. however, being installed in this office, it naturally led to intercourse with the minister; and, he affirms, that not a day passed in fifteen months, in which he was not in company with M. Talleyrand. Disgusted at the offensive nature of the paragraphs he was forced to insert, he abandoned this undertaking, and acted as agent in law proceedings. This also became a source of intelligence, and he was hereby enabled to obtain those official proofs of the

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