sisted in his resolution till his friend was actually restored to his family. The minister was soon restored to health; and Friend, on the very evening of his release, received from the hands of the Doctor the sum of five thousand guineas, which the other had received as fees for attending the patients of his imprisoned companion; nor could Friend, with all his rhetoric, persuade him to accept them, as the just fruit of his labour. MARSHAL SAXE. A poor fellow in Marshal Saxe's army was going to be hanged for stealing a crown; Saxe asked him how he could risk his life for such a trifle? "As to that," said the brave culprit, "I have long exposed it every day, boldly, Sir, for two-pence halfpenny." This speech recalled to Saxe's memory his bravery and wretched situation so forcibly, that he gave him his pardon. CHEVALIER BAYARD. In the war carried on by Louis XII. of France, against the Venetians, the town of Brescia, being taken by storm, and abandoned to the soldiers, suffered, for seven days, all the distresses of cruelty and avarice. No house escaped but that where Chevalier Bayard was lodged. At his entrance, the mistress, a woman of figure, fell at his feet, and deeply sobbing, cried, "Oh! my Lord, save my life; save the honour of my daughters." "Take courage, Madam," said the Chevalier, " your life and their honour shall be secure while I have life." The two young ladies, brought from their hiding-place, were presented to him; and the family, thus re-united, bestowed their whole attention on their deliverer. A dangerous wound he had received gave them opportunity to express their zeal: they employed a notable surgeon; they attended him by turn day and night; and, when he could bear to be amused, they entertained him with concerts of music. Upon the day fixed for his departure, the mother said to him, "To your goodness, my Lord, we owe our lives, and to you all that we have belongs by right of war; but we hope, from your signal benevolence, that this slight tribute will content you," placing upon the table an iron coffer full of money. "What is the sum?" said the Chevalier. "My Lord," answered she trembling, "no more but two thousand five hundred ducats, all that we have; but, if more be necessary, we will try our friends." "Madam," said he, "I never shall forget your kindness, more precious, in my eyes, than one hundred thousand ducats. Take back your money, and depend always on me." "My good Lord, you kill me to refuse this small sum: take it only as a mark of your friendship to my family." Well," said he, " since it will oblige you, I take the money; but give me the satisfaction. of bidding adieu to your amiable daughters." They came to him with looks of regard and affection. Ladies," said he, "the impression impression you have made on my heart will never wear out. What return to make I know not, for men of my profession are seldom opulent; but here are two thousand five hundred ducats, of which the generosity of your mother has given me the disposal: accept them as a marriage present; and may your happiness in marriage .equal your merit.” "Flower of chivalry," cried the mother, "may the God who suffered death for us reward you here and hereafter." DR. JOHN RADCLIFFE WAS himself sufficiently addicted to the accumulation of wealth; but he was apt to treat those with great contempt, who behaved to him in a mean or niggardly manner. This was remarkably exemplified in the case of Mr. Tyson, of Hackney, a person of great wealth, and who was said at the time of his death to be worth more than 300,000l. It happened that this man, who was as much distinguished by the meanness of his soul as the largeness of his fortune, had so long dealt with quacks, for cheapness sake, that he was reduced to the lowest ebb of life, his continuance in it being in a manner despaired of. His friends and neighbours had repeated their instances with him, to no manner of purpose, that he would apply to some able physician for advice, as his case appeared to be so dangerous; but the expence seemed to be a greater terror than even the apprehensions of death itself. At length, however, the extreme near view of the next world frightened him into a resolution of using some proper means to make his abode in this as long as possible. In order to which, he pitched upon Dr. Radcliffe, as the only person capable of giving him relief in this dangerous state: but the great difficulty was, how to keep the Doctor from discovering him, so as he might procure the assistance without the usual expence. At last, with that view, he and his wife agreed to wait upon the Doctor at his own house; and being carried in their own coach to the Royal Exchange, there they hired a hack to Bloomsbury, where Radcliffe then lived. When they came to his house, with two guineas in hand, and a very mean habit, Mr. Tyson opened his case to the Doctor, not without alledging his poverty, as a motive for having advice upon moderate terms: but neither his sickness nor his apparel had dis guised him so much as to deceive Radcliffe, who happened to know his face, He had, therefore, no sooner heard what he had to say, and taken his gold, but he told him, that He might go home, and ie and be damned, without a speedy repentance; for both death and the devil were ready for one Tyson, of Hackney, who had raised an immense estate out of the spoils of the public, and the tears of orphans and widows, and, would certainly be a dead man in ten days." And the event, we are told, did not falsify the prediction; for the oid usurer returned to his house, quite confounded with the sentence that had been passed upon him, and died within eight days after. LITERATURE. LITERATURE. MONTHLY REVIEW, The Picture of Petersburgh. From the German of Henry Storch. 8vo. Longman and Rees. 1801. r WHEN it is considered that the site of this superb metropolis was less than a century since one vast and unhealthy morass, on which were to be seen but the straggling huts of a few miserable fishermen, the mind is lost in wonder, at the progress of civilization and the rapidity of human improvement. Although several works have been published on this interesting subject, in this country and in different parts of Europe, there is not one which contains such important details, apparently supported by correct information, as the present Picture of Petersburgh. It is the result of six years careful observation, and it is not only more copious, but more recent in the intelligence which it conveys. The facts which Mr. Storch has occasion to state, depend, with respect to their authenticity, on his personal remarks, on the communications of men, of whose integrity he was perfectly convinced, and, in no inconsiderable degree, on the description of Petersburgh, written two years before, by the Academician Georgi, to which the merit of correctness has not been denied by the best-informed Russians. The reasonings of the author are, in general, just ; and he mingles with a vast fund of instruction, several curious and entertaining anecdotes of national character, and traits of celebrated personages. The arrangement of the work is marked with great judgment. It embraces thirteen distinct heads :-the locality of the city; the circumjacent country; the inhabitants; the consumption of provisions; public security; public convenience; provisions for the sick and poor; seminaries for education; industry; arts and sciences; diversions and entertainments; life and manners, and characteristic lineaments, all of which necessarily comprehend in their sub-divisions, many topics of an interesting nature. Of the population of the capital of this immense empire we have the following account, for the sources of which, the author is indebted to the wise and liberal policy of the Empress Catharine: According to the calculations and inferences of the academician Krafft, in the space of time from 1764 to 780, the average of all the living amounted to 164,000. The last five years, from 1775 to 1780, taken alone, allows us to estimate the number of people at 174,778. According to the last census it amounted in VOL. 2-NO. XI. the the year 1784 to 192,816, and in the year 1789 to 217,918, Thus it appears that the numbers of the military establishment, in the capital only, constitute nearly one-fifth of its population. The increase of population, judging by analogy from the preceding statements, must however be very considerable since 1789, and we shall not perhaps be very wide of the mark, if we rate the number of inhabitants for the present year at 230,000 persons, The chapter on public security abounds in valuable information; but great and effectual as the precautions and vigilance of this branch of the government are to prevent all open acts of violence, it appears that the Russians are not outdone by the wily and fraudulent swindlers of London or Paris, in artful impostures and deep-laid stratagems. Even the merchants and shopkeepers commonly demand three times and not unfrequently five times the value of the commodity in which they deal. To give damaged goods a fair appearance, to defraud in measure and weight, and to slip bad articles among those of a superior kind, are tricks in general prac ticed at Petersburgh, particularly with respect to foreigners. Mr. Storch gives the following account of an affair, which deserves notice at least for its originality: "A wealthy nobleman, well known as a fancier of precious stones, fell accidentally in company with a person unknown to him, who wore on his finger a ring of great beauty and value. After a long discourse on its real worth, the nobleman offered him a considerable price for it; which the stranger at first refused, on. the reasonable ground that he had no desire to part with it. At length, however, to evade the repeated importunities of the nobleman, he declared that he could not sell it, because-the stones were not genuine. This declaration filled all the company, among whom were connoisseurs, with amazement. The nobleman, in order to be sure of the matter, desired to have the ring for a few days against sufficient security, received it, and ran from one jeweller to another, who all unanimously pronounced the stones to be genuine, and of great value. With this assurance, and the hope of a good bargain, he brought back the ring to its owner, who, on receiving it, put it, with great indifference, into his waistcoat pocket. The negotiation now began a-fresh; the stran ger persisted in his resolution, till at length the nobleman offered a sum which was pretty near the true value of it. "This ring," returned returned the stranger, " is a token of friendship; but I am not "rich enough to reject so large a sum as you offer for it. Yet this "high offer is the very reason of my not complying. How can "you, if you are thoroughly conscious of what you are doing, "offer so much money for a ring, which the owner himself con" fesses to be made up of false stones?" "If your determina"tion depends only on that," replied the buyer, "here take at once the sum," (laying it in bank-notes upon the table)" and I "call the gentlemen here present to witness, that I voluntarily, " and after due consideration, pay it." The seller took the money, and gave the nobleman the ring, repeating the declaration, that the stones were false, and that it was still time to make the bargain void. The latter obstinately refused to hearken to his advice, hastened joyfully home, and found-what the reader has already guessed that the stranger had said what was too true. Instead of the genuine ring, he had a false one made exactly like the other. The affair was brought into a court of justice; but as the seller proved, that during the whole business there was no question at all about genuine stones; that the purchaser expressly treated only for a false ring, and he on the other hand sold him only a false ring; the judge was accordingly obliged to pronounce in favor of the latter." The expences attending a month's stay at Petersburgh to a fore igner, who would appear with propriety, in good company, and not neglect matters of curiosity, are thus estimated : An apartment in one of the best inns of the admiralty-quarter, about... A valet de place, about .. Carriage and pair, including drink-money. Rubles. ..10 .18 ..75 5 1 Hair-dresser, powder and pomatum... Barber.... Coffee, with rolls, or the like, for breakfast, Dinner (with the customary glass of brandy before, a pint of wine or porter, and a cup of coffee) costs at Demuth's one ruble. Admitting that the foreigner dines once a week at home, with two breakfasts and two suppers 8 8 ...15 About.. 4 Presents for seeing the curiosities of the town ...50 Total....194 This table, the author remarks, must not be thought extravagant; every article is on the contrary set down at the lowest rate and with the utmost frugality. |