flail-nay, even those who, literally, can neithe toil nor spin, - our children of age, of infirmity, - and of misfortune, are better secured in their domestic enjoyment-in the dear and fertile land whereon they live, in their morsels of property upon it in their sickness and their sorrows better consoled and administered to, than either the rich or poor in any other country of the globe. You will more than forgive, my friend, you will welcome these patriot effusions of a heart, which, though it feels an enlarged wish for the happiness of mankind, more affectionately beats to Britain; not, simply, because it is "Link'd to that heart, by ties for ever dear;" *This great truth is beautifully touched by one on the long list of our illustrious female living writers: of whom, you will expect to hear more in their place. Where freedom long has shed her genial smile, And massy portal of the gothic Hall, Than in that favoured isle the straw-built thatch, Where Freedom sits, and guards the simple latch." HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS. but, because, having had various opportunities of seeing, and residing in many other popular countries, and making on each comparative observations, not those of an enthusiast or of a bigot, but of a slow, patient, and pausing experimentalist, I must again, and as often as every fresh cause offers, pronounce England, with all its imperfections on its head, THE UNRIVALLED COUNTRY. I will venture to add, no man that has at any time been, or that now is within the shelter of its protecting arms, has "seen its like." * Nor have I ever yet conversed with a tra velled person, or read a travelled Authour supposing him to have possessed the degree of health which fairly tints every object, who has not been of this opinion-whatever his character whatever be his country. rule, therefore, is, I am persuaded, general: and I cannot allow, as exceptions, those The * You will permit your Correspondent, as you have the book, to refer you to an "Ode on the Benevolence of England," in the first volume of his former Gleanings. ephemera who fly from one clime to another, with the idle and undetermined course of a butterfly, and who, if you will permit me the use of a facetious expression, are as completely ignorant of the real good which a country contains, as a cat or monkey running over a harpsichord is of the use of the keys; from a skilful touch of which, even were it an indifferent instrument, the true artist would bring some sweet sounds. P.S. You will more than accept, you will welcome, a brilliant passage from an animated foreigner, who, while he confirms, illustrates the exulting assertions of the foregoing letter; assertions, my friend, which, on so many dif ferent occasions I already have been, and, I trust, shall again, be called upon, in the character of a faithful delineator, and intrepid defender of my country, to maintain. And so firmly do I feel myself standing on this ground, that I am ready to meet whatever wit, eloquence, ambition, ridicule, or enmity could oppose to the unadorned, the almost naked arms of truth. MALLET DU PAN, and the reputation that is associated with him, cannot be unknown to you. This slight mention of his name will bring him to your mind, as the indefatigable and ingenious opposer of anarchy, and the French Directory; a native, I believe, of Switzerland, that stupendous and romantic country with which you are so enamoured, and justly, whether it be considered topographically or intellectually. He left Switzerland just in time to escape the requisition, made by the five new despots of Paris to their Helvetic dependants, to deliver up every man of genius who was their adversary. Soon after his arrival in the country where every man of every nation is safe, and where all genius is honoured and rewarded, he published the prospectus of a work, called "Mercure Britannique," with the avowed purpose of being the public accuser of the French Directory, and vigilant detector of all their falsehoods and fabrications. He has kept his word; began, and has continued every fortnight an animated commentary on the conduct of France, and the other powers of Europe, including a You general and accurate history of the times, and drawing the characters of the chief actors in the hurly burly of this amazing scene. His book will be a most valuable source to the future historian, and I am happy to inform you that my countrymen have shewn themselves 'sensible of the merit of such a writer. will find a copy of his work, so far as it has proceeded, in the literary packet I am preparing for the first safe opportunity. In the mean time, the passage I have promised, and which will be recommendatory of the rest, shall now be transcribed: "J'ai laissé le Continent, persuadé que l'Angleterre touchoit à sa perte, & que la France alloit l'engloutir dans ses chaloupes canonnières. Les plus courageux, en lui accordant la possibilité d'une résistance extérieure, la livroient aux fleaux d'une revolution interne: l'un gemissoit sur la ruine de son commerce, l'autre sur celle de ses finances; & si l'on admiroit son heroisme, on en plaignoit l'inutilité. que Quelle surprise d'observer, en debarquant, la guerre la plus terrible à laquelle aucun |