to the side of a canal, which, like all other canals in China, is covered with living creatures, who dress their food, spread forth their viands, rest at noon, and sleep at night, in a habitation like that which wafted us across the river. The shops that line our path are meaner in their appearance than those of Canton; they are like them open in front, and display rice of various qualities, meat, dried fish in abundance, &c. &c. At certain seasons of the year we see crickets exposed for sale in bowls covered with a wire netting. These tiny insects, this, the most gambling people in the world, treat as fighting-cocks, and lay heavy bets upon the issue of a contest. The owner can make them chirp at pleasure, which is the menace or prelude of battle, and not the song of content, or the serenade of love, wherewith dream-loving bards have been so much enamoured. At length we cross a bridge built of granite: by means of a pier or two, a few slabs, and a parapet of the same material, there is formed a strong and durable piece of workmanship. We next pass up a very narrow lane, where the tenements afford just room enough for the family to squat round a table by day, and to nestle upon the floor or a pallet at night. The children are often very dirty, and not unfrequently deformed by some cutaneous eruption; but the mother is always neat, and sometimes gay, in her attire. At the top of this lane is a temple sheltered from the sun by the lofty head of a Pombax or silk tree, distinguished by its fingered leaves, and its long pods filled with the most delicate "staple" of silk. In Cochin China it is used for stuffing pillows and cushions, but it is too brittle for the distaff or the loom. In the front of this temple is a small area, where we often see two or three leprous women who in their misery come hither with a shadowy hope of getting somewhat from the presiding deities. Frequent examples convince us that want generates piety or its counterfeit in China; but this phenomenon in the moral world is not, I am afraid, wholly confined to that country. Their labour, however, is in vain-for nothing can come of nothing-save when the philanthropic eye of some Christian stranger lights upon them in compassion, and the slender pittance of a few copper pieces is dropped into their half-withered hands. This disease is not like that mentioned so often in Holy Scripture, for in that the centre of the sore was lower than the surface of the skin, but in this the integuments or natural covering of the body become like a piece of board in hardness, the features swollen and singularly rounded, while the extremities waste by the stealthy advances of this horrible malady. "I feel no pain," is the melancholy acknowledgment of the patient, who augurs from this fact that any cure or spontaneous restoration are things beyond the bounds of hope. After the bestowment of a little charity, and a sigh at their sad lot, we press towards a rising knoll, and reach a clump of bamboo trees, under which the deluded votaress burns her tapers, her gilded paper, her stick of fragrant wood, and pours out libations to she knows not what. "What are you doing?" inquired the stranger as he gazed upon the various emblems of worship. "I am poor and friendless, and therefore am I come to seek help of the deity that haunts the shade of this green and shady grove," was something like the answer she returned. A scene like this enables us to realize with homefelt conviction what a forlorn, empty, and futile thing idolatry is. From the top of the elevation whereon we are supposed to be standing, we get the first glimpse of the country, at which the lungs expand, the heart beats with new vigour, and the eye seems to drink the verdure that is spread before it. The substratum or rock upon which this island rests is red sandstone, and consequently yields a greater proportion of clay to aid the labours of tillage than the peninsula of Macao, which is mostly composed of granite. It presents a few pleasing undulations, but little that deserves to be called a hill-a fact that agrees very well with what we might expect from the nature of the rock; although in Borneo Proper, the hills, though composed of sandstone, are sharp, steep, and ridgy. The terraces which part the fields and guide our steps to the remoter villages are paved with granite, and are wide enough to allow two persons to walk abreast. The effect of these ter races upon the landscape is very striking, and conveys a silent voucher to the mind that industry and forethought have done their best to accommodate the traveller. They are sometimes flanked by lofty trees of a very beautiful kind, which were known in this country solely from a Chinese drawing, till I gave Mr. Lambert, who has published a magnificent work upon cone-bearing trees, specimens of the fruit and the leaves. They are a species of Thuja, which are a most engaging group of trees and shrubs. The height is often between fifty and a hundred feet; the trunk is garnished with many clusters of wreathing and fantastic roots at the base, and is not a little remarkable for its jutting knots and protuberances at a greater elevation. The young shoots are of a pale green, which diversifies the colour of the top, and impresses the beholder with an idea of health and vigour. The branches are pendent; and this imparts a waving grace to the whole appearance, and suits that fondness which we have for ease and pliancy. The estimate which a Chinese forms of the productive value of the soil does not prevent him from allowing ample portions for the interment of the dead; and so here and there we behold a rising hillock consecrated to this purpose. He has a peculiar attachment to hills, because he has learned that by their agency he obtains the buoyant and fleecy cloud, the "upper and the nether springs," and the chief features in a goodly prospect: he therefore commends the relics of parent, brother, or friend to spots so much affected by himself while living. The eight genii (six male and two female) of the national mythology are supposed to haunt the mountain brow or the hilly ridge; and thus the enchantment of idolatrous association is marshalled on the side of a natural choice; for the disembodied spirit is imagined to enter at once into such happy fellowships, and yet at the same time to hover about the highly-favoured dust of its corporeal tenement. The hearts of this people are fraught with superstitious notions; an inference we gather not from their statements when questions are put to them, but from what they do while following the free and unrestrained bias of their own minds. On the top of a hillock devoted to the purpose just mentioned, stands, in the midst of a sylvan scene, a Buddhist temple, of small elevation, but with a spacious ground-plot. Here at day-fall the attendant of the priests beats a large drum, shaped not unlike a cask, and resting by one side upon a stand. The head is made of hide, and kept distended by means of large, broad-headed nails. By the sound of this drum vespers are announced, and the priests summoned to prayer; but not unfrequently it is the only rite of worship for the day. We entered the temple, talked with the priests, and viewed the altars, on which are placed urns of various shapes and sizes, but generally in threes, two sides and the middle. The same arrangement we see on all our chimney. pieces, and it seems to have been taught us by Nature. The priests are generally a stupid race of who make a merit of knowing little and caring less about the "dusty" matters of this life; and hence they exert but little influence upon the minds of the common people, and will never form any important obstacle in the path of Christianity. Not far from this temple we find the tombstone erected to the memory of "Doctor Le,"a Franciscan friar, who died in 1669 at Canton. One side of the inscription is in Chinese, and the other Latin. I may just remark, that a hill (shan in the Chinese phraseology) is often equivalent to burial-ground; and hence the poor Franciscan was interred in consecrated ground of the Celestial Empire. men, As one or two of us were threading our way among the narrow streets that lay between us and the country in another direction, we encountered a procession of Taou priests, who followed a portable altar borne by some of their attendants and a small band of music. In the course of their lustration, they visited each of the little chapels, gates, and niches within the district. Amidst the loud and ear-stunning strains of the heang teih, or Chinese clarionet, and the drum that never learned what rhythm means, my friend saluted and shook hands with the priests, who made me as they passed courteous acknowledgments of the softest refinement. Their hair was gathered into a knot upon the crown of the head, and confined in its place by a sort of wooden skewer. The reader is perhaps aware that the Tartars compelled the Chinese to shear off the hair and leave only a small commodity upon the crown of the head. The Chinaman's queue is, therefore, a badge of his slavery, though use has taught him to regard the custom now as very becoming. Anterior to the Tartar conquest, 1644, the hair was wreathed into a knot upon the crown of the head, and confined in its place by a pin, just like the people of Lewchew. These priests then adhere, we see, to the ancient usage, because they are, as I apprehend, the indigenous priests of the country, and the representatives of the most ancient sacerdotal order in the world. In one of our walks we went to the residence of a Fokien gentleman, who, it seems, had purchased rank, and was therefore allowed to wear the insignia and paraphernalia thereof. Hereditary honours are scarce things in China, and nothing is noble which has not the imperial stamp to authenticate it; and hence a man who has not talents to achieve merit, is glad to purchase the emblems of it by money, and so wears the ornaments of office without the incumbrance of its duties. Sinecures in China are costly, not lucrative, as with us. This residence was, as usual, a cluster of dwellings, or, in other words, a system of roofings; none of these exceeded one story in height, and the largest not more than twenty-five feet in span. An edifice of this kind looks like a group of cottages, neatly constructed of thin blueish bricks. The front resembled a row of dwellings, of which the nigher pertained to the attendants and retainers, and the furthest to the master of the house. Each dwelling was marked by a receding in the façade, so that it was parted from its neighbour by a sort of balustrade without moulding or any other ornament. Below the caves, there was a white border, charged with figures in relief of various kinds, but chiefly landscapes. This we may style the frieze, and pronounce it to be a very pretty and ingenious way of ornamenting a wall, which is otherwise plain, and well fitted to act as a foil to set off embellishment. The badges of office were ranged on each side within a portico, and may be noticed one by one, as they afford a sample of Chinese taste in this way. The first thing was a board, on which the name and honours of the great man were written; the second, a cylindrical umbrella, which is carried not only to screen his head from the sun, but by a little sleight-of-hand is made to whirl round and produce a refreshing eddy at the same time-it answers the twofold purpose of a fan and parasol; the third item was a shovel-like umbrella, or yu sheen, and is, in fact, a fan upon a large scale; the fourth consisted of sundry wands or batons, for the defence of the officer in case of attack; the fifth was an assortment of hats made of iron netting, and ornamented with a feather that looks like a goosequill, these are worn by fellows who give the halloo, or magisterial shout, and were, like the rest of the insignia, fresh and new. We entered the hall, where two lines of chairs, one on each side, compose with the frontispiece a quadrangle, and when desired to sit down, took our seat upon the "lowest room," or the first chair in the line, while our host, as a matter of course, bade us to come up higher. We had in miniature a practical commentary upon the advice given in Prov. xxv. 6, 7, which was applied and enforced by the great model of Christian politeness as well as of every other perfection. Without this quadrangle, on each side towards the wall, stood tables strewed with books for the use of the scholars, who were the sons of the master, nurtured under the care of a private tutor. This gentleman treated us very courteously, and showed us a large book containing various specimens of calligraphy as a guide to himself and his pupils; for in China the art of "writing fair" is one of the accomplishments of the scholar, and ranks next in order after a skill in composition. To express beautiful sentiments in apt and pithy language, and to put the same upon paper in a graceful delineation, comprise no inconsiderable portion of literary qualification in China. In the book aforesaid was a landscape which represented the Meilin Hills, in the province of Fokien, with two figures like human beings, which he called "footze." But the day was declining, so that we were compelled to hasten away after a very short inspection. The walls on both sides were covered with long labels of white written over with moral sentences. The dignified but easy manners of the teacher, and the mild deportment of the youths, agreed very well with this literary display, and were a proof of the effect of moral education, though true philosophy and true religion had no share therein. We had permission, on one occasion, to visit the residence of a Hong merchant upon this island, which is one of the fairest specimens of Chinese taste in the neighbourhood of Canton. It is made up, like the one just referred to, of a multitude of buildings. It is now in a neglected state, and seems to sympathise with its owner, who has lost four of his sons by death. The frontage of the first building or portico, which leads us to the ancestorial hall, is very imposing. The eaves project a good distance from the wall, or we should say rather the wall is built several feet from the margin of the roof, so as to produce the effect of a verandah without any violation of unity: this is supported by four pillars and the lateral walls. The pillars are square, and have very little to distinguish the base, the shafts, or the capital, from each other. They are connected together near the top by a beam, which supports the edge of the roof by means of several that are very curiously carved, and compensate for the want of capital in the columns. Corresponding to each pillar is the Chung kea, or system of cross-beams and queen-posts, which constitutes one of the distinguishing features of Chinese architecture, and is oftentimes the subject of the most elaborate workmanship. The ancestorial temple stood at the remote side of the quadrangle into which the portico opens, and seemed to be a building of no mean pretensions. It was open on one side as usual, and has its ceiling supported by plain round pillars of teak, or Indian hard-wood. On the opposite wall was a niche, where the spirits of the dead are imagined to hold their session from time to time either in person or by their representatives. Over this was the sun in full orb, stained with red, as that luminary looks when seen through a mist, the only time when mortals can dwell long upon it in steadfast gaze. The urns and bowls were ranged upon a table or altar before this niche, just as they usually are in the temples of the Buddhist religion; and hence from this and many other evidences I infer that the early propagators introduced the worship of the "three Buddhs," with other foreign heroes, but adopted in part the ritual that they found ready made to hand in China. In one of the apartments of the dwelling-house was set up a small tablet of wood, in honour of a departed son, with a bench in front of it, whereon were placed a cup of tea and two small pans of rice. Thus memory in fond idolatry broods over the dead, and imagines them still capable of receiving those kind attentions which soothed them while living. The hall for receiving visitors attracted and deserved the greatest part of our attention: it was open in front, with walls panelled, often with borders of fretwork, which enclosed pictures of different objects of nature, landscapes, &c. At the upper end is a settle or divan, about four or five feet in breadth, with a small table at the medial point, with a cushion of mat-work on each side. On this two friends may lean, and tell their free hearts in social converse. The rest of the settle is adorned with flower-stands, vases of antique workmanship, censers, and other rarities. The gardens were extensive, but out of order. The objects that attracted my attention were several standards of the Stillingia sebifera, or tallow-tree, which were lofty, and threw over us a magni. ficent shade. While I was contemplating these handiworks of nature, some of our party caught sight of some little girls who were the granddaughters of our host, and ran to get a nearer view of them, but their nurses interposed. One of the gentlemen then beckoned to them, which had such an influence upon their minds that the interdicts of the nurses were instantly disregarded. When I came up, strangers and natives were in conversation, and seemed to be extremely well pleased with each other. The little girls were elegantly attired, and had their faces stained with red and white to heighten their beauty, or, in truth, to exchange a Chinese complexion for that of a European. So much for the Chinaman's contempt for the fan kwei. those who had the greatest knowledge of ecclesiastical and civil history. He had a very singular way of studying; he lay on the ground, and had round about him the books which he wanted for Descartes used to lie in bed sixteen hours the work he was upon. He every day, with the curtains drawn and windows shut. imagined that in that easy and undisturbed situation he had more command over his mind than when it was interrupted by external objects. And Malebranche used to meditate with his windows shut, as the light was a disturbance to him. Mezerai, the famous historian, used to study and write by candle-light, even at noonday in summer; and, as if there was no sun in the world, he always waited upon his company to the door with a candle in his hand. A SKETCH FROM LIFE. On another occasion we visited the docks, where we found more than a dozen vessels just laid down. The men were occupied in laying the floors, and seemed to proceed in a synchronous order, for all were nearly in the same state of forwardness. They have a keel, and a false keel or kelson, like our own, a provision suggested to the inventors by the nature of the thing; one as the foundation of the fabric, the other as the plane of resistance to keep the vessel from sagging to leeward. The nails were of iron, and were driven in with the back of that most useful instrument a Chinese hatchet. Putty, made of the Wootung oil and lime, was put into the seams and joints, in the same manner as glue is by carpenters and cabinet-makers. The timbers, instead of being bent by means of hot water, are laid over a series of broad pans filled with lighted wood: this process chars, bends, and hardens them at the same time. But this is a rude per-piness, from the times posterior to Miss Hannah More's charming formance; and so thought the chief man at the Custom-house, who, when informed that we bent ours by the use of hot water, said that everything belonging to our naval architecture was superior to that of China. I went on board one of the large junks which was going to receive a new deck, and so had an opportunity of looking at the nature and plan of her build. One thing that strikes you is the number and strength of her beams, which, by being placed one over the other, divide the length of her hull into several compartments, and so interfere not a little with her stowage. Another strange peculiarity arises from enormous beams two feet or more in thickness, which rest upon the upper deck, and are intended to counteract the straining effect which the movement of these ungainly things have in the water when it is agitated by a strong breeze. Two other beams resting upon the lower deck run from the bows to the bends, that is, nearly from one end of the vessel to the other, to keep things in their proper places, and compensate by massiveness of bulk the want of science and compactness of workmanship. These are not, however, the best specimens of Chinese ship-building, for some of the smaller craft are neatly finished, and well contrived for going through the water. It is in the construction of large vessels that skill fails them, and where they have much to learn from Euro peans. In returning from one of our excursions, two of my companions had the curiosity to proceed up a passage between two buildings to get a sight at the gardens that lay at its upper end. I followed them reluctantly, as unwilling to trespass and to merit the reproof of the natives. While I was advising them to proceed no further, the bailiff or steward made his appearance, and called me a child of the devil, and so forth, for venturing past his door without his permission. "I am going back," said I in Chinese, "and there is no occasion for wrath." The current of abuse continuing to flow, the reply was repeated with greater emphasis, when the old man, as if stung with self-reproach, threw himself into his dwelling as he uttered the same words in a bitter agony of spirit. My companion returned, and a crowd of inmates soon gathered round us, while the old gentleman kept aloof, lest he should encounter a stranger who had run him through with that two-edged sword-a cool rebuke. He had doubtless read, for such persons fill up their time by study, the many charming things which Chinese novelists had written about gentleness and self-possession, and felt they would have applauded my conduct, but condemned his own. SINGULAR METHODS OF STUDY. It is recorded of Anthony Magliabechi, that his attention was continually absorbed day and night among his books. An old cloak served him for a gown in the day, and for bed-clothes at night; he had one straw chair for his table, and another for his bed, in which he generally remained fixed, in the midst of a heap of volumes and papers, until he was overpowered with sleep. With all this intense application to reading, his knowledge was well estimated in the observation applied to him-that he was a learned man among booksellers, and a bookseller among the learned. David Blondell, Protestant minister in the 17th century, was esteemed one of How many essays have been written on that simple word hap. poem entitled "Search after Happiness," to the present day! when it seems to be conceded, that Happiness is a celestial resident, who has no home on earth, and whose "visits are few and far between ; that she only comes now and then to say, that we must not expect to be intimately acquainted with her till we seek her in her own region of life and glory, where she dwells in the presence of the Creator. Let us then cease to repine that she so constantly eludes our pursuit, and take the best substitutes we can find,-cheerfulness and contentment. It would be a utilitarian service, not unworthy the projects of of all; but I am not sanguine enough of success to attempt it. the present day, to prove that these qualities are within the reach An habitual discipline of mind, however, will secure a comfortable portion of contentment, and a conscience at peace with itself will conjure up its partner, cheerfulness: it must be confessed, nevertheless, that conscience is not apt to be perfectly at peace with itself; and the higher the standard, the less there is of self-complacency. There is one great truth connected with this subject which illustrates most powerfully the goodness of God. Contentment is not oftener the portion of the rich than of the poor; neither does it ally itself to rank or intellect. One of the most contented people I ever heard of, was one among the least gifted. She was uncouth in her figure and gait, and deeply pitted with the smallpox, which she had had severely in her youth. By daily labour she supported an aged mother; and they occupied a room furnished with the bare necessaries of life. Let not the wealthy disdain "the simple annals of the poor." She often spoke of her success in life with fervent gratitude, and said it seemed to her a miracle how she had risen in the world, so as to be able to "keep house." Her idea of affluence was bounded to a sufficient supply of furnish three meals a-day, and to pay an annual rent of twelve work to enable her to clothe herself suitably for the season, to dollars for her room. This last demand she considered exorbitant, and said, "if she consulted only her own comfort, she would not submit to it, but Marm must live well-she was used to it, and could not be reduced in her old age: then, upon second thoughts, she did not so much blame her landlord, for the prices of everything had risen, and it was natural enough that rent should rise too, At length, however, she said, with something like gloom, "that they must move ;-the landlord had raised their rent from twelve to fourteen dollars, and she could not afford to pay it, and if she could, she should think it wrong to be living at such a rent.' I offered to lend her the two dollars. I would not have risked hurting her feelings by offering to give them. She said, "No, people must accommodate themselves to their circumstances; she would move, though it would take her off from a day's work, and she was afraid they should go behind-hand. The bedstead must be uncorded, and there was a chest of drawers to be moved, and only one pair of hands to do it, but, thank her stars, they were strong ones." I proposed sending a hand-cart for the heavy articles, and asked how far they were to be carried. "Only across the entry," she replied; "the landlord can get a higher rent for this room than the other, and so that is more suitable for us." She certainly lost none of this blessed quality of contentment by getting into a smaller apartment, but said, "the same good luck had followed her that did about everything ;-it took less fire to warm it, and was every way a saving." In time, Sary's mother died (this was the name she always went by), and she became rheumatic and unable to work; and then she got what she called "a nice snug berth in the almshouse." I knew her love of independence so well, that I thought this must be a calamity to her; but I found it otherwise. The first time I went to see her, she began to enumerate her comforts; said," she had half a bed to herself, and that was as much as she had when her mother was living." After she recovered her health, which she did in the course of a few months, she preferred remaining in the almshouse as an assistant. "I can do more," said she, "than earn my living; 1 can do something for the poor, and it is but just that I should, for I have been living almost a year upon charity; not that I ever felt humbled by it, for we are all living upon God's charity." Sary was something of a philosopher; for she added, "that she knew she was well off there, and it was uncertain whether she should better her situation' by trying to live independently." She certainly had not book-learning, for she could neither write nor read; but she had collected a good many sayings, that she applied to the affairs of life. The wisdom of them she always tested by her own experience, and never yielded her opinion to their authority without full conviction. If she had any affectation, it was in quoting the observations of men instead of those of her own sex; and she always prefaced her quotations by remarking, "I have heard sensible men say," &c. I recollect one striking instance of her independence of public opinion. She prefaced a quotation as usual by, "I have heard sensible men say, 'If you mend your clothes cn your back, For poverty you 'll never lack :' now I know that is not true, for I have mended mine on my back a hundred times, and I never yet wanted for anything." Some circumstances took place which rendered it necessary for Sary to make a journey. It was upon the whole a trial to her equanimity; but she was too wise to repine at an unavoidable evil, and so she made up her mind to perform it for pleasure. It was eight long miles; and then there was a bridge to cross, which would cost her two cents. This last difficulty was obviated by crossing in a boat below for nothing; it made her foot-journey two miles farther, but she saved her cents. She said, however, that it was the hardest job she ever went through for pleasure, and, upon the whole, the dearest one, taking into account the wear upon her shoes." I will not farther illustrate my subject, lest some one should say, this is not intellectual contentment, but mere vegetation. It may be so; for God ripens fruits, flowers, and plants by his sunshine; and he will watch over the humblest mind to which he has given existence, even though to the highlygifted it may seem scarcely raised above the clod of the valley*. INFLUENCE OF OCCUPATION UPON THE DURATION OF LIFE. had attained to a great age (in no instance less than one hundred), during the term of years beginning with 1807 and ending in 1823; and we cannot discover throughout the whole catalogue a single name that has linked itself with an expression or a deed worthy of being remembered for an hour. Rather a curious confirmation of Niebuhr's doctrine, just mentioned, is to be found in the ages of all the successful painters. The Italian artists, with very few exceptions, lived long: Titian was ninety-six; Spenello was nearly one hundred; Carlo Cignani ninety-one; Michael Angelo ninety; Leonardo da Vinci seventy-five; Calabresi eighty-six; Claude Lorraine eighty-two; Carlo Maratta eighty-eight; Tintoretti eighty-two; Sebastian Ricci seventy-eight; Francesco Albano eighty-eight; Guido sixty-eight; Guercino seventy-six; John Baptist Crespi seventy-six; Giuseppe Crespi eighty-two; Carlo Dolce seventy; Andrew Sacchi seventy-four; Zucharelli eightysix; Vernet seventy seven; and Schidon seventy-six.-Monthly Review. STOCKHOLM, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF BERNA- THE situation of Stockholm is the most picturesque that can be imagined. Built, as its name imports, upon islands, (the termination holm signifying island,) and upon the narrow strip of land which divides the Malaren from the Baltic, it is a city of the waters a second Venice-or, as it is sometimes called, the Venice of the North; but with this difference, that the Venice of the Adriatic lies upon low, flat islands, while the Venice of the Baltic is built upon hills in the midst of the sea. Rocks of granite rise out of the water, some of them as naked as at the creation, and the rest covered with trees, or crowned with buildings. The interior of the city does not altogether correspond with the unrivalled beauty of its situation. Though there are many public buildings, bridges, squares, and monuments, which are in the best taste; though the fine churches, noble quays, and the grandest of royal palaces, give to the city an air of magnificence; the private houses are, in general, of very ordinary appearance. In the central part of the town, as in the nucleus of all European cities, the streets are narrow, crooked, and dirty; but in the other quarters, straight and broad. The royal palace is an immense quadrangular pile, of simple and chaste architecture, in the centre of the city, and conspicuous from all quarters. Europe can boast of few edifices of any kind whose architecture is so noble, and whose general aspect is so impressive. When seen from the water, the effect of its massive white walls is very imposing; and the palaces, spires, and towers of the city, clustering around the vast old pile, form no inapt illustration of the constitution of the country-the monarch being the centre of the system, of which the people are, however, an important and inseparable part. The population of the town is about 80,000, including the persons of all descriptions in the employment of the government, and the nobility drawn hither by the court. The people are well-dressed, are accustomed to feel, and which, by acting physically on the orderly, and civil, and a more respectable population in appear. brain, tends naturally to abridge life amongst such persons. ance it would be difficult to find. From the port, the city looks the late Niebuhr, the Roman historian, we remember, observes in like an amphitheatre, rising before you from the quay, street above one of his philosophical chapters, that nothing tends more to lon- street; and whichever way you move in the town or its environs, gevity, than the contemplation of projects which one has one's you have some new prospect to admire-a prospect of hill, valas they call self conceived, in their progress to a successful development. ley, island, and water; on one hand, "the Salt sea,' Hence generals, who have retired from the field, after having at- it, with its burden of shipping, and on the other, the lake alive tained the objects of their warfare according to their wishes, are with steamers, boats, and water-crafts of all kinds. Though the long-lived; and the historian adduces as an example of what he Baltic washes the quays of the city, it is only after having passed says, the case of Camillus. We can ourselves quote many modern myriads of islands like those that gird the whole eastern coast; so instances to confirm this opinion. Marlborough, one of the most that the open sea is eighty miles distant. Here, as at Venice, fortunate leaders that ever commanded an army, lived rather too boats are in constant use, not like the gondola, but broad, open long for his own reputation. Perhaps it is for a contrary reason boats, rowed by women, who wait at all the quays, and who seem that we see so few British statesmen live long in office. Those to have the exclusive privilege of conveying passengers by water. I have often admired their quiet, modest deportment, sitting in who lead a party, and are unsuccessful in their plans, die almost always prematurely. Witness Pitt, Fox, Canning, &c. But the their boats, waiting for employment, and employing the intervals great Bacon died in his sixty-fourth year; Newton, at eighty-four; in knitting, or some such woman's work. Nothing can be more Harvey (the discoverer of the circulation), at eighty-eight; Lin agreeable than a row about the waters of Stockholm. I have dreamed næus, at seventy-one; Leibnitz, at seventy; Galileo, at seventy. away many an hour, floating among the islands, amid On the contrary, Bichat, a modern, died in his thirty-fourth year; rapidly succeeding each other, and exhilarated by the clear, elastic the most pleasing pictures of scenery, natural and artificial, and Davy, before he reached sixty. Amongst 1700 cases of per- atmosphere of a northern summer. Conceive the beauty of a sons, in all classes of society, who have reached the age of one hundred, only one literary man was to be found, and that was bright, sunny day, in the Malaren, the sky without a cloud, or a Fontenelle. We have before us a list of nearly three hundred per-moonlight scene, the light falling softy on the masses of foliage, and the intervening waters, all so still as to seem to sleep. sons, men and women, in all parts of the United Kingdom, who Crossing the bridge near the palace a day or two after my arrival, I met an open carriage-and-four, with postilions and out AMONGST men of genius, or those who have distinguished themselves in science or literature, life is, at least in modern times, of rather a short duration. Mr. Disraeli, in his estimate of the literary character, mentions the excitement which all eminent men From The Token, an American Annual,' But riders a fat old lady occupied the back seat, and, as the carriage passed, all the people turned so as to face it, and stopped; the women curtsied, and the men took off their hats and bowed. Such, it seems, is the etiquette to be observed towards any of the royal family, and this was the Queen, the wife of Bernadotte, once Mademoiselle Cléry, the merchant's daughter of Marseilles. The King, her husband, was at the time indisposed, and did not go out. In his busy and eventful life, he has seen hard service enough to bend a man of fewer years; but years alone are sufficient to bow him down, at the age of seventy-five. Of all the French commanders of the Republic and the Empire, he has been the most permanently fortunate; he still retains the highest place to which his fortunes ever lifted him; and he alone, of all that numerous and giant progeny to which the French revolutionprolific mother!-gave birth, is still in the possession of sovereigning for its object a common cause against the French, in which, power. Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte was born at Pau, in the Lower Pyrenees, the 26th of January, 1764. Originally entering the ranks as a private soldier, the extraordinary demands of the times, and his own wonderful fortune, led him, by rapid promotion, to the rank of colonel, general of brigade, and general of division in the Republican armies; afterwards ambassador to Vienna, and then minister of war. The revolution of Brumaire found him almost at the head of the French generals, and the only one who was thought at the time at all capable of making head against the usurpations of Napoleon. From necessity or policy, however, he gave in his adherence to the Consular Government, and after the peace of Luneville, was appointed minister to America, but was prevented from going thither by the renewal of the war. On Napoleon's assumption of the Imperial dignity, Bernadotte was created marshal of the Empire; and he commanded in the Imperial armies at the battles of Austerlitz, Jena, and Wagram. In 1806, he was created Prince of Ponte-Corvo. Such he remained till August 1810, when, by a concurrence of most extraordinary circumstances, such as happen scarcely once in an age, he was chosen Crown-Prince of Sweden, and succeeded to the throne. It might be difficult to tell all the motives which led the Swedish Diet to this choice. In the German campaign of 1806, fifteen hundred Swedes were taken prisoners on the Trave, to whom he showed great kindness, which, together with his conciliatory administration in Swedish Pomerania, made him remembered in Sweden. An enlarged and liberal policy would have placed the crown upon the head of the King of Denmark; for the contiguous position, the similarity of language, the community of blood and religion, and the necessities of their own separate weakness, should seem to demand the reunion of the three crowns; but a Danish alliance has been hateful to the Swedes ever since the revolt of Gustavus Vasa, and the old grudge was too strong for considerations of political expediency. Besides the family of Denmark, there was no other royal family into which it seemed suitable or expedient that the crown of Sweden should fall. The star of Napoleon was then at its culminating point. It was blazing in the zenith. His countenance was a great object, particularly with a secondary state like Sweden, and it was thought that the choice of one of his marshals would secure it. Bernadotte was one of the first of his marshals, and he had been bred a Protestant, a circumstance of great importance in the eyes of the strict Lutherans of Sweden. All these motives together, and perhaps others that will ever be kept secret, induced the King, Charles XIII., to propose, and the Diet to choose, Bernadotte to be his successor, on the single condition of his embracing the Lutheran religion. Bernadotte came into Sweden in October of the same year, and was received by Charles XIII. as a son, and by the majority of the Swedes as the Prince and Heir Apparent of their choice. It was his aim, as it was his policy, to make himself popular among them, and he has so far succeeded as to make them look upon him with respect, and even attachment, as a sincere and well-intentioned Prince, but without any of that enthusiasm which would follow a popular one. He looks and acts the King, but he is not a great man, though he was a successful military commander. Though educated in the midst of republican France, he does not understand the rights of the people; though he owes his crown to the choice of their representatives, he has no just conceptions of their power, or the authority of their collective will; though he affected to make himself a Swede in all things, he has never yet learned their language; though he sought their sympathy, and adopted as his motto, "The people's love is my reward," (Folkets Käslek min belöning,) by his latter controversies with the Norwegian Storthing and the Swedish press, he has done much to alienate their affections from himself and his family. It was quite impossible, moreover, for a man of forty-six to change the habits of his former life, so as to assimilate them to the far differ ent ones to which the natives of the country were accustomed. It was equally impossible for him to pursue, as a Swedish prince, the victorious course which he had begun as a French marshal; and the re-conquest of Finland, which had seemed in the eyes of the Swedes as a natural consequence of his election, was found to be as distant an event as it had seemed under the late dethroned King. Nor was the countenance of Napoleon secured, as had been expected. Bernadotte had never been his favourite, and it was moreover impossible that any Prince should receive his counte nance, and yet preserve his own independence unimpaired; and in two or three years an angry controversy arose between them. In 1812, he entered into a treaty with Alexander of Russia, havinstead of the restoration of Finland, Alexander engaged that Norway, with which he had nothing to do, should be transferred to Sweden. In pursuance of this treaty, Bernadotte took the field in 1813, at the head of 30,000 Swedes, against his old companions in arms,-fought the battles of Gross-Beeren and Dennewitz, and co-operated with the allies at the battle of Leipsic. After the passage of the Rhine, he refused to take any part in the campaign against the French, and turned his forces against Denmark, for the purpose of compelling the cession of Norway, which he obtained January 14th, 1814, by the treaty of Kiel. For taking arms against France, he has been censured severely. It must, indeed, be owned that his situation was very painful, compelled to choose between his countrymen by birth and his countrymen by adoption; but it seems to me no fair judge can censure him for the choice he made, always supposing that there existed a necessity for his interfering in the war at all. When he accepted the call of the Swedish nation, he assumed all the duties of a Swedish prince; he was bound to consult Swedish interests as much as if he was the real in place of adopted son of the king; and in any conflict between his new duties and his old allegiance, from which, in fact, he had been released by the formal act of the Imperial Government itself, he was bound, as a man of honour, to abide by his engagements to the Swedish people, and to stand or fall with them. On the death of Charles XIII., in 1818, Bernadotte succeeded quietly to the throne, and was crowned both in Sweden and Norway. He has pursued an even, noiseless course; encouraging the industry and developing the resources of the country; striving to counteract the vicious system of monopoly, exclusive privilege, and commercial restriction, which has weighed heavily upon Sweden; he has sought to gratify the vanity of the nation, by seizing occasions of honouring and commemorating the great deeds of his heroic predecessors; but after all, he does not seem to have taken strong hold of the hearts of the people. In spite of all he can do, he is still a foreigner among his own subjects. He was a great and victorious military commander, but a great and victorious military commander is not therefore an able and politic prince; but he may have established his family upon the throne of the North, and built up a dynasty as lasting and as brilliant as the heroic dynasty of the Vasas-the glory of Sweden for ages -which his own has supplanted. There are those who imagine that the death of Carl Johan will be the signal for calling in Gustavus Vasa, son of the dethroned king, who is now in Austria; but it seems to me, from the limited observations I could make, that the Crown-Prince Oscar has the advantage, even of his father, of having been brought up in the country, of speaking its language, of having won the hearts and identified himself with the interests of the Swedish people. In considering the political condition of the countries over which Carl Johan bears sway, it is necessary to distinguish between Sweden and Norway. The constitutions of these two kingdoms are widely different, but scarcely more so than the political opinions and the spirit of the people. The constitution of Norway is the most democratical in Europe, and one of the most curious phenomena of our day: established in 1814, it has taken firm root in the country, got hold of the pride and the affections of the people, and become a firm, compact political establishment, sufficient to resist the sovereign. The history of the controversy throws great light not only upon the principles of Carl Johan, but upon the political condition of the two kingdoms. Until 1818, Norway had been governed by the king of Denmark, as an absolute king, but in conformity to ancient laws. In January of that year, in consequence of the treaty of Kiel, he issued his proclamation, releasing his Norwegian subjects from their allegiance. Upon this, the Norwegians, not choosing to be transferred from |