In the dominions of Pruffia, Brandenburgh, &c. nothing can equal the zeal of FREDERICK-WILLIAM, for the inftruction of his fubjects, and for the progrefs of the arts and of fciences. That monarch is, at this time, chiefly occupied in organizing fuitable eftablishments for the or dinary schools, in which he is feconded by a groupe of distinguished writers, who contribute their united talents to the fuccefs of his patriotic views on all matters effential to the good of the state; the affairs of adminiftration are difcuffed; relative interefts are treated of with a franknefs, which, whilft it reflects luftre on his character, cannot but be acceptable to a king, friendly to publicity, and almoft all of whofe letters, orders, and decrees, are published in the Annals of the Pruffian Monarchy. Thus every thing fucceeds and profpers vifibly under the fhade of the olive, which grows and flourishes under the aufpices of that pacific monarch; and the gratitude of a Brandenburgher, manifelted in a publication, entitled, "To Frederick William, in the Name of the Northern Part of Germany," may be confidered as the expreffion of a fpontaneous and unanimous fentiment.

The King of Sweden has lately granted a donation of the fum of 500 crowns to M. COLLIN, optician of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, and the inventor of an inftrument, by means of which, ob, jects at the bottom of the fea may be diftinguished to a confiderable depth.

The following anecdote relative to the late Mr. Gibbon, the hiftorian, is copied from a work lately printed at Paris, intitled, "Anecdotes Relatives," &c. or "Anecdotes relative to J. J. Rouffeau and to Gibbon," published by Madame DE GENLIS.Mr. Gibbon is a man of low ftature, and of enormous or difproportioned bulk; his countenance is a perfect unique, fo that it is impoffible to diftinguith a single feature in it. He has fcarcely any nofe, or any eyes, and but a very little mouth. His two fat cheeks abrb every thing; they are so large, so prominent, and of fo extravagant a proportion, that it is matter of aftonishment

to find them there. The countenance of Mr. Gibbon would be very easy to repres fent er defcribe, if full liberty of speech were allowed, and it could be done without a figure. M. De Lauzun, an intimate friend of his, took him on a vifit to Madame Du Deffant. That lady, who is blind, has a custom of handling the faces of fuch perfons of note as are introduced to her, with a view to form fome idea of their features. She, of course, wished to fhew this mark of flattering curiofity to Mr. Gibbon, who endeavoured to fatisfy her, by accommodating his vifage with all the good nature imaginable. Then Madame Du Deffant, gently ftroaking her hands over his large phyfiognomy, was fearching, but in vain, for fome feature, but could meet with nothing but those two furprising cheeks. During this examination, there might be read fucceffively in the countenance of Madame Du Deffant, aftonishment, uncertainty, and at length, all of a fudden, the most violent indignation when, drawing back her hands, abruptly the exclaimed, “ Voila une infame plaifanterie !"-Truly, a very indecent joke!

The French Government has lately decreed, that there fhall be erected at Paris, in the centre of the Place Vendôme, a Column, fimilar to that erected at Rome in honour of Trajan. This Column is ta be two metres and 73 centimetres in diameter, by 20 metres and 78 centimetres in height. Its fhaft is to be ornamented in its contour, with 108 allegorical figures in bronze, each having 97 centimetres of proportion, and reprefenting the Departments of the Republic. The Column to be furmounted with a pedeftal, on which will be raised a pedestrian statue of Charlemagne.

Citizen CONTE has invented a method of preventing iron and feel from rufting.. This method confifts in mixing with oil varnish, at least half, or, at furtheft, four fifths of effence of turpentine, well rectified, according to the greater or less folidity that is intended to be produced in the effect. This varnish to be applied lightly and equally with a sponge; after which the piece fhould be left to dry, under fhelter from the duft. It is announced that articles thus varnished will preferve their metallic luftre, and not contract the flightest fpot of ruft. It may be likewife applied to copper, whofe polish it preferves, and keeps alive the colour. It may more efpecially be employed to advantage, to preserve from all decay phyfical inftruments in experiments, wherein, when put in contact with water, they are

apt

apt to lofe the glofs which enhances their merit, and wherein their neatness confists.

The following is the refult of the details and feries of proofs, collected by Citizen BIOT, a Member of the National Inftitute, who was fent into the depart ment of Orne, by order of the Minifter of the Interior, to afcertain the reality of a meteor observed at Aigle, on the 6th of Floreal, year 11, as copied from his Relation of the Journey, printed by order of the Institute -It is certain that in the neighbourhood of Aigle, on Tuesday, the 6th of Floreal, year 11, towards one o'clock at noon, a violent explofion took place, which lafted during five or fix minutes, with a continual peal or rolling. This explofion was heard at the distance of near 30 leagues round about. On that fame day, fome moments before the explofion at Aigle, there appeared in the air, a luminous globe, impreffed with a rapid movement. This globe was not obferved at Aigle, but it was feen from many other of the neighbouring towns, very diftant from one another. The explosion which took place on the 6th of Floreal, near Aigle, was pofterior to the appearance of the fiery globe that was feen in the air. The reporter computes the number of the ftones that fell under the above circumftances, at two or three thoufand. They burnt those who took them up at the moment of their fall, when they had a very fulphureous smell. Long after, Citizen Biot difcovered the fame fmell in breaking to pieces fome of the largeft. The wit neffes to the fall of the tones are almost all the inhabitants of twenty hamlets, fcattered over an extent of more than two leagues fquare, and in the number of whom are found men, women, and children of all ages; fenfible and ingenious farmers, curates, military men who have paffed through the wars of the Revolution, and alike exempt from impositions and from fear. No teftimony appears to in valide the fact, or to vary the principal circumstances. The fiery globe, moving in the atmosphere with great rapidity, was feen from Caen, from Pent-Audemer, and from the neighbourhood of Alençon, Falaize, and Verneuil. The explosion was heard round Aigle, in a circumference of more that thirty leagues. The heaviest of the ftones that have been collected weighed feventeen pounds.

At the University of Mofcow Lectures are now held on Natural History, Phyfical Science, Commerce, and the Hiftory of European States, for the inftruction of

the public at large; perfons of both fexes being admitted, and even invited to attend them.

Although the Botanic Garden at Malmaifon has not been established above three years, it is one of the most diftinguished and interefting in France. No pains are fpared to obtain the most precious productions from every part of the world, and it is the principal aim of the owner of the garden, to flock it with fuch ufeful plants and animals as may be na. turalized in France.

Last year the Petersburg public, for the first time, enjoyed the spectacle of a Panorama. Views of Rome, Berlin, and Riga, were exhibited by M. TIELKER, an artist from Berlin. When Mr. Ticker arrived at Riga, he entered his Panorama as pictures, and was charged at the ufual rate of one and a half ruble per inch, the whole amounting to the fum of 14,000 rubles. But application being made to the Emperor, he ordered to let the whole be imported duty-free.

The literary Society of the county of Mansfeld, in Saxony, have proposed a subfcription for erecting a monument to the great Martin Luther, in the place of his nativity.-The King of Pruffia has pa tronized this undertaking, by fub.cribing 100 Frederics d'or, and allowing all let ters, addreffed to the Society, relative to this monument, to paf, poft free. The Society requeft not only the pecuniary contributions of the admirers of the great Reformer, but likewife pans for the monument, and hints for a suitable inscription.

A feries of inftru&tive Hitorical Maps, by C. KRUSER, are now publishing in Germany. There is a map for each century, difplaying, at one view, the changes that had taken place in confequence of war, conqueft, or the dismemberment of ftates.

M. KARAMSIN, a tranflation of whose Travels was last year published in London, has been appointed Hittoriographer of the Ruffian Empire; and the Emperor has ordered, that he fhall have access to all the archives and collections of documents and deeds.

There are now thirty-four printingoffices in Sweden, thirteen in Stockholm, two in Gothenburg, two in Lund, and one in nineteen other towns. In thefe printing-offices, five newspapers and journals are printed at Stockholm, four at Gothenburg, two at Upfal, Calmar, and Linköping, and one in fourteen other cities.

MONTHLY

Nour last month's remarks on the Royal Academy, we mentioned a woefullack of historic fubjects, and the great predomina ceof portia ts;but, no withstanding this, and their p.rpeta 1fquabbles among

each other, we always confidered the annua exhibition at this place, as a collection from which the hiftory of the English fchool might be in a degree recorded, as till deployed the general ftate of the arts each fucceeding year. We fear this is no longer the cale; for, from fo many artits now making feparate exhibitions of their own pictures, the Royal Academy ceates to prefent a fair criterion. The neceflary confequence of this is, that their vifitors decreale; and this in fo great a degree, that, we have been told, they this year foid only 12,000 Catalogues, though in the year 1803 they fold 29,000. The number of v.fiters, we believe, may be eftimated in about a fimilar proportion; and if lo, what a falling off is here!

How far thefe feparations of fo many branches from the great trunk may be occali ned by individuals being improperly treated, it does not come into our plan to notice either is it a part of our plan to notice their various exhibitions; but the two which follow, and which are worthy attention, are of a feparate and distinct description.

Dubourg's Exhibition of large Cork Models, No. 67, Lower Grosvenor freet; Mount Vesuvius at the Tme of the great Eruption with the Flow ing of the Lava, the Town of Portici, &c. a Night View of a Torrent of Lava, that fell down a hollow Way above fifty Feet, and formed a fingular and beautiful Cafcade of Fire; Amphitheatre of Verona, Temples Mausoleums, &e in and near Naples, and the South of

France,

The principal part of the reprefentations of mouldering fanes, &c. which we have hitherto feen, have a strong refemblance to thofe artificial new ruins which are erected in the grounds of fome of our nobility as a terminus to an avenue, and remind us of the decorations of a pastry-cook's shop on Twelfth-day, rather than of those gigantic remains of ancient magnificence which difplay a dignity in their decay, and though

"Obfcur'd in duft,
Yet ftill majestical; the folemn fcene
Elates the foul, while now the rifing fun
Flames on the ruins, in the purer air,
Tow'ring aloft, upon the glittering plain,
Like broken rocks a vaft circumference:

Rent palaces, crush'd columns, rifted moles, Fanes roll'd on fanes, and tombs on buried

tombs."

To give as exact a mirror as art can produce of fuch a scene as this Mr. Dubourg has chofen the best material that nature has furnished; the fpungy and loofe texture of the cork tree, when properly chofen, has a very trong resemblance to the mouldering appearance which the teeth of time give to very ancient buildings, and thefe ruins have a very ttriking refemblance to the mouldering fanes from which they are copied.

In New Bond-ftreet there is a Botanical

Exhibition, in which are many most exquifite drawings, made for Dr. Thornton's moft fplendid work, &c. which to the Atudent in natural history will afford much ; and when entertainment, and instruction confidered with a relation to Dr. Darwin's Loves of the Plants, &c. open to the poetical mind the fources of a new and very amusing mythology.

Her Royal Highness the Princefs of Orange. Hoppner pinxt. P. Conele fculpt. in Chalk.

of the

This print difplays great tafe in the engraving; it is not fettered by that rigid mechanical manner, which in many prints of the prefent day has confounded all diftinction of mafters, and given a va pid fameness to the productions of every age and country, reducing every variety to one common standard, and leading the way to our becoming a band of mannerists of the most contemptible ftamp. Nothing can be more fatal to the arts, or more likely to blight every bud of genius, than thus marching in proceffion through a beaten path, and reducing the engraver to a mere mechanic.

We therefore

rejoice when we fee any artist shake off these fhackles and affume the characteristic dignity which ought to be adopted by all who with for diftinction in their profeffion. Right Hon. Charles Abbot, Speaker of the House of Commons; T. Northcote pinxt. Picart fculpt. in Chalk.

The style of engraving portraits, which was fometimes adopted by Bartolozzi, we have frequently recommended to the study of the young artists of this country; and his engraving of Lord Loughborough we recollect having noticed in the Retrospect in the high terms of praife to which it was entitled. The engraver of this has judiciously taken the portrait of. Lord Loughborough for his model, and produced a print of confiderable merit.

Ben

may,

Among the artifts painted by Vandyke, there are many, mcft picturesque and dignified portraits: the air and attitude which this great painter gave to his heads, rendered all of them valuable; but when he delineated one of his own profeffion, we frequently fee fomething that looks like the taste of the man who fat, united to the taste of the painter. Be that as it the broad mantle, flowing hair and beard, and elevated countenances of many of them, gave high value to that part of his works; though fome of them had an air fo fierce as to leave fome doubt of their peaceable profeffion: they were dignified, and though their features were coarfe, they were characteristic. Very different are the portraits of the painters of the prefent day. A large number of them fat to Gilbert Stuart, the American, who painted them for Alderman Boydell; and they were afterwards exhibited at the Shakespeare Gallery. They were all ftrong resemblances; but a fet of more uninterefting vapid countenances it is not easy to imagine: neither dignity, elevation, or grace, appear in any one of them; and had not the catalogue given their names, they might have paffed for a company of cheesemongers and grocers. The late Prefident of the R. A. was depicted with a wig, that fat as clofe, and was as tight in curl, as a backney coachman's caxon, and in the act of taking a pinch of fnuff. The prefent Prefident, and several others, were delineated as fmug upon the mart, as fo many men mercers, or haberdashers of fmall wares, all of which originated in the bad taste of the fitter. But this is foreign to the purpofe of the prefent portrait of Mr. Weft, which must be admitted to be a very strong refemblance, and is engraved in a manner highly creditable to the abilities of the artist,

pinxit. S. W. Reynolds fculpt. Mezzainto.. Mr. Reynolds's ufual ability fine Portrait, and engraved with

A

very

Mrs. Young, in the Character of Cora; W. Hobday pinxt. W. Bond Sculpt

The rage for theatrical portraits has, within thefe three year or four been years, on the increase. This is engraved in the chalk manner; of the likeness, it so happens, that we are not competent to speak : in other refpects, is a mediocre performance. Groufe-Shooters. T. Northcote, R. A pinxt. G. Dawe, fculpt. Mezzotinto.

of our readers be in a degree interesting. The fubject of this print will to fome The artift has treated it in a tolerably picturesque ftyle, and it is very well engraved; the effect is rich, and the characters well marked and animated.

Filmer Honeywood, Efq. M. P. Engraved and publifhed by W. Sharpe,

This portrait is in the line manner, and engraved with a richness and vigour of effect that is highly honourable to the artist. It is greatly to be lamented that the Englifh fchool furnishes fo few fpecimens of portrait, engraved in this nervous and manly ftyle. The public tafte has, for fome time, been vitiated and miffed by the infipid monotony of dotted work. They have not only tolerated, but encouraged and fanctioned, this fantastic fashion, fit only for fan mounts ; yet after all, perhaps And they who live to pleafe, muft pleafe to "The artist's tafte the public patrons give;

live."

But the charm is diffolved, and the country calls loudly on its artists to vindicate their fame, and produce works that will in a degree restore to the English school the character it obtained from the labours of a Woollet and a Bartolozzi.

happily fancied. while the movements themselves are fo judiciously contrafted as to derive much additional effect from their relative fituations. The paffages in general are well difpoted for the hand; and greatly admit of that facile and playful execution which delights both the cultivated and uncu. ivated ear.

Two Favourite Welsh Airs, Nós Galan, and Ar Hyd Y Nós, with Variations for the Pianoforte; compofed and respectfully inferibed to Mifs Mackenzie, by A. T. Gorfe. 35. Th fe old Welsh airs are well calculated for the purpose to which Mr. Corfe has here converted them; and the judgment displayed in his choice, is well feconded by the tale and fancy exhibited in the variations and embellishments. The exercife of both hands has been attended to; and we think the publication will be found valuable by those who se k the readicit means of manual improvement.

Six Divertiments for two Violins; compofed, and dedicated to Edward Dickerfon, Ejq. by

F. Yaniewicz. 6s.

Mr. Yaniewicz, in order to give popularity to thefe divertiments, has introduced into each fome well known and admired airs; among the selections of his tafte we find "Mama mia;" "Ametuthe le belle;" "Little Peggy's Love;" and "The Caledonian Beauty." The paffages are mostly attractive; and the combinations of the two parts are fo higly ingenious, as to reflect much credit on the author's judgment and experience in this caft of inftrumental compofition.

Elegy on the Death of the Duke D'Enghien, written by a Lady of Fashion; comprfed, with an Accompaniment for the Piano-forte, by I.

D. Winter.

Is. 6d.

We find in this elegy fome pleafing, appropriate, and affecting paffages. The accent, we are, however, obliged to obferve, is not uniformly correct. In the word illuftrations, and in all fimilarly-formed derivatives, the two latter fyllables are, in poetry, confidered but as one; a rule to which the author of the prefent lines has Arictly adhered, but which the compofer has fometimes neglected ; and, in the word EuLope, the fecond fyllable is unfortunately given to an accented note. Much praife is till due to the general merit of the compofition, and we do not doubt its meeting a favourable reception.

La Colombe Reperdue an Air for the Piano forte, with or without additional Keys; compofed and dedicated to Mifs H. C. by J. Mugnie. Is 6d. Mr. Mugnié has formed, from this pleafing air, an excellent and useful exer

cife for the piano-forte. Many of the paffages are happily calculated for the improvement of the finger; and the union of the digreffive with the original matter befpeaks much tafte in arrangement. Divertiments for the Piano-forte or Pedal-harp; compofed by M. A. Bryan. 2s. 6d.

This divertimento comprizes a march, maeftofo, a paftorale, andantino; a cantabile movement in common time; and a rondo, vivače, in fix quavers. A diverfity of effect is of courfe produced, and we may certainly add a diverfity of talent; for the ideas areas pleafing as they are various; and the light and fhade diftributed through the whole, evince great knowlege of effect, and a judgment well matured by study. "Lady Mary Douglass,” a favourite Scotch Air ; arranged as a Rondo for the Piano forte, by

T. Powell 25.

Mr. Powell, whofe Piano-forte productions have frequently claimed our favourable notice, has rendered "Lady Mary Douglafs" an attractive and profitable exercile. The play he has given to his fancy, in the digreffive matter, does him confiderable credit; while the fcience difcoverable in the harmony and modulation, and well-informed musician. cannot but add to his repute, as a studious

"Where the Place," a Continuation of the favcu rite Glee of the Witches, taken from the fir Scene of Macbeth; and fet to Mujic by M. P. King. 2s. 6d.

Mr. King, we must confefs, has afforded us fairer opportunities of ufing the lanhis prefent production. guage of commendation than any we find in We by no means deny merit to his glee; but it is of that limitation which would little fanction any extraordinary praife; and of that kind, which we fear will but faintly attract the generality of hearers. In a word, the paffages are, for the most part, quaint and injudicioufly managed; from which crampt, and the diftribution of the parts ceeds, a confequent meagreness and poverty of effect.

pro