KING FREDERICK AND HIS PAGE, The preceding fine print represents one of the most interesting scenes in the life of Frederick. Having been ill-educated in his youth, it is not at all wonderful that he should have displayed a very imperfect, and often inconsistent character on the throne. He was hy turns mild and harsh, passionate and judicious, sensible and foolish, and in short, sometimes right, but often wrong, in opinions, motives and actions. Having had no good example in his parents, no sound principles in his teachers, and nothing like plan in the selection of them, both his intellectual and his moral training must of necessity have been vastly inferior to that which is daily going on, in thousands of families in our own country, often amidst mediocrity and even poverty. When we take into view the positively bad examples, and the erroneous and false instructions to which he was exposed, with the numerous corruptions and allurements of the court, we may well renew our thanks to God, for the advantages we enjoy for the education of our children, and our resolutions to use them with greater courage and faithfulness.

Frederick occasionally exhibited interesting and noble traits of character; and perhaps none of the creditable anecdotes recorded of him, is as well calculated to make a gratifying and lasting impression on the heart of the reader, as that represented in the frontispiece of this number of our magazine, for which he is referred to the conclusion of this article.

We will take this opportunity to give a brief outline of the early life and character of Frederick.

Frederick II., king of Prussia, was greatgreat-grand-son of George William, Elector of Brandenburgh, who died in 1640, leaving to his son, Frederick William, as has been forcibly said: "a desolated country in the possession of his enemies, few troops, suspected allies, and few resources," the wrecks of the thirty years' war. By good judgment, vigor, moderation, and humanity, he wonderfully improved the condition of the people, and in many respects merited the title which he has received of the Great Elector. He was founder of the house of Brandenburgh, the restorer and defender of his country.

Frederick, the first king of Prussia, came to the throne in 1689, and was weak and

frivolous; so that his character has been briefly summed up in these words:

"Great in little things, and little in great things."

He had the vanity to assume the title of king, which his successors had the ability to sustain.

In 1713 Frederic William came to the throne; a man of violent passions and preJudices, and one of the worst of husbands and fathers. No one can read of the treatment to which his son was subject, without sincere compassion, and a disposition to make more allowances for his errors and his faults. Frederick William was so penurious towards his family, that he almost starved them; and yet so ridiculously vain of having the tallest body-guards in Europe, that he squandered money to obtain every giant he heard of, either by high pay or by force. With the rancor of madness he twice sought to take the life of his eldest son with his own hand, and once by a mock trial. Intemperance hastened him to the grave, at the age of fifty-one.

Frederick the 2d. was born at Berlin on the 24th of January, 1712. His mother was Sophia Dorothea, daughter of George I., king of England. In his early childhood he was under the care of Madame de Rocule, a refugee from France, who taught him her own language, doubtless in the natural manner, that is, as a living tongue, which is the only way in which a language can be taught well, and without disgust to the learner. He retained a preference for it through life; but probably his discreditable partiality for Voltaire and infidelity arose in part from this

cause.

He was in feeble health for several years; but, at the age of six, had become more vigorous, and was placed under the charge of Count Finckenstein and Colonel Kalstein.

The former was a successful officer of the army, but ignorant; while the latter was ten times more unfit and dangerous, as he "had studied under the Jesuits," and proved submissive to their authority. The Princess of Bareith, the sister of Frederick, gives a just and striking portrait of a man thoroughly trained in such a school, when she says of Kalstein:

"His disposition is supple and insinuating, but he conceals under all this fair exterior the blackest heart. He is always talking of being

an honest man, and has managed to deceive many. By his daily unfavorable accounts of the most innocent actions of my brother, he embittered the mind of the king, and inflamed him against him."

Hundreds of Jesuits are now acting as corrupt a part towards thousands of American youth, ignorantly confided to their control; and some of them will prove as unfit for Americans, as Frederick was for a king.

When Frederick ascended the throne, in 1741, the whole population of Prussia and about a dozen duchies, principalities, &c., under his government, was only about 2 1-4 millions; considerably less than that of the state of New York in 1840. He had a military force of 75,000 men, 26,000 of whom were foreigners; and with these he began a series of prosperous campaigns, which soon raised him as general. At the same time he carried on negotiations with different powers, which displayed much skill in diplomacy. As he bent all his energies to the selfish objects of power and fame, and adopted a rigid, methodical and industrious plan of life for every day, he accomplished a vast amount of business; and set an example of systematic labor, which ought not to be lost on any of

We add the following anecdote illustrated by the print on the Title page.

"Frederick one day rang his bell, and nobody answered, on which he opened his door, and found his page fast asleep in an elbow chair. He advanced towards him, and was going to awaken him, when he perceived part of a letter hanging out of his pocket. His curosity prompting him to know what it was, he took it out and read it. It was a letter from this young man's mother, in which she thanked him for having sent her part of his wages to relieve her in her misery, and finished with telling him, that God would reward him for his dutiful affections. The king, after having read it, went back softly into his chamber, took a bag of ducats, and slipped it and the letter into the page's pocket. Returning to his chamber, he rang the bell so loudly, that it awakened the page, who instantly made his appearance. have had a sound fleep," said the king. The page was at a loss how to excuse himself, and putting his hand into his pocket by

You

chance, to his utter astonishment be there found a purse of ducats. He took it out, turned pale, and, looking at the king, shed a torrent of tears, without being able to utter e single word. What is that? (said the king) what is the matter?' Ah, Sire, (said the young man, throwing himself on his knees) someb dy seeks my ruin! I know nothing of this money, which I have just found in my pocket! My young friend, (replied Freder ick) God often does great things for us even in our fleep. Send that to your mother, salute her on my part, and assure her that I will take care of both her and you."

CALIFORNIA. A meeting was held at St. Louis a short time since, to hear an address from Mr. Hastings from California, touching the history of that country.

Mr. Hastings premised, that he expected to make California the place of his permanent residence, and trusted he should have the pleasure of meeting there many who were within the sound of his voice. He de. sired their friendship, and in his remarks, would endeavor not to raise hopes to be disappointed if he spoke of incredible things, he should not be doubted, as he was about to speak of facts not familiar to us hereand remarked that the inhabitants of the torrid zone would be amazed to see, or hear that from the effects of our climate, water congeals into ice. He spoke of the climate of California, as far north as 38 or 39 degrees, as being blessed with what might be termed an eternal spring-the low lands bordering on the Pacific, being subject only to the changes from dry to wet-while the mountains in the interior were covered with perpetual snow several hundred feet deep. Of its health he remarked that on the sea board, fevers never prevail-and the inhabitants of the interior, who are subject to ague and fever and remittent fevers, repair to the shores of the Pacific and are speedily restored there being no occasion for physicians or medicine. As an evidence of the purity and salubrity of the atmosphere, he stated that animal matter never putrefies -that beef is there killed and hung in the open air, and, without salt or any other preservative appliance than the free winds of heaven, it remains untainted.

The country abounds with prairies, and yet it is abundantly supplied with timber, the thrift of which is an evidence of the fertility of the soil. He had himself measured a fallen red-wood tree, which was 23 feet in diameter at the but, and its length was 302 feet, and the bare trunk was 200 feet without a limb. Of the husbandman's crops, he enumerated wheat, oats, clover,

flax, hemp, &c., and declared that they grew thriftily, without cultivation, and averaged better than our best crops, nurtured with the skill and labor of man: the spontaneous crop of wheat, averaged from 40 to 80 bushels per acre, and when the ground had been well prepared, 121 bushels had been the product. He has made a day's journey through a field of oats from three to five feet high, and the dry stubble of the previous season gave evidence of an average growth that year of from 5 to 8 feet. For clover, hemp and flax, the soil was equally adapted.

For herdsmen, the country bordering on the Pacific was unequalled. Grazing was good the whole year, grass averaging from 2 to 3 feet high. A lazy Mexican, hardly worthy to be ranked as a human being, owned more horses than could be found in any one county in the United States, the cattle being valued principally for their hides. Vessels of eleven different nations he had seen there at one view, and thus was afforded a market for the products of the country. For want of space, we pass his remarks on the fisheries and fur trade of the country, and several other interesting topics.

He spoke of the country as abounding with every variety of fruit and flower, fish, flesh and fowl; but of man, the native there, is degraded, uncivilized, and inert, unable of appreciating the bleesings with which he was surrounded, and hence he inferred that it was the duty of Americans to plant the tree of Liberty there, that the sons of Freedom from the four quarters of the earth might gather beneath its branches, and render California, what she is capable of being made, the garden of the earth.

LIVING SKETCHES OF ITALY-No. 6. Oppression by the Papal Government.-The

general state of Italy.—The popular party. By Mazzini.

"The uncertainty of the law and other causes tend to the depreciation of property, through high and changeable duties. "Commerce is swallowed up between the monopolist and the smuggler; industry is shackled by exclusive privileges; enormous taxes, direct and indirect, hinder agriculture; the treasury, when not plundered, is given in scandalous pensions to idle prelates, to servants digraced, but paid to save their masters from shame; secret agents, and women of ill-life, courtezans to the cardinals.""

And here is more for Americans to note:the treasury of Rome "maintains a large part of the congregation of the Propaganda; foments political plots in Spain, Portugal, and

elsewhere; it everywhere keeps alive, by secret agents, Jesuits, and others, the assailant spirit of Papistry, and feeds the luxury of the most demoralized court in Europe, in the midst of a famishing population."

In 1831, a victorious insurrection was stopped by an Austrian army, and a Cardinal plenipotentiary of the Pope signed a complete amnesty, which the Pope denied and violated."The Pope is the handle of a sword, Austria the point, and it hangs over all Italy. The Pope clutches the soul of the Italian nation, Austria the body."

"We are a people of from 21 to 22 millions, known from time immemorial by the same name, as the people of Italy; enclosed by natural limits, the clearest ever marked out by the Deity-the sea and the highest mountains in Europe; speaking the same language, varying from each other less than do the Scotch and the English; having the same creeds, the same manners, the same habits, with modifications not greater than those which in France, the most homogeneous country on the earth, distinguish the Basque races from the Breton; proud of the noblest tradition in politics, science, and art, that adorns European history; rich in every source of material well-being that, fraternally and liberally worked, could make ourselves happy, and open to sister nations the highest prospect in the world."

"We have no flag, no political name, no rank among European nations. We have uo common centre, no common laws, no common market. We are dismembered into eight states.-Lombardy, Parma, Tuscany, Modena, Lucca, the Popedom, Piedmont, the Kingdom of Naples-all independent one of another, without alliance, without unity of aim, without organized connection between them.Eight lines of custom houses, without counting the impediments appertaining to the administration of each state, sever our material interest, oppose our advancement, and forbid us large manufactures, large commercial activity, and all those encouragements to our capabilities that a centre of impulse would afford.

"Prohibitions, or enormous duties check the import and export of articles of the first necessity in each state of Italy. Territorial and industrial products abound in one province, that are deficient in another; and we may not freely sell the superfluities, or exchange among ourselves the necessaries. Each different system of currency, of weights and measures, of civil, commercial, and penal legislation, of administrative organization, and of police registration divide us, and render us, as much as possible, strangers to each other,

“And all these States among which we are stationed, are ruled by despotic governments, in whose working the country has no agency whatever. There exists not in any of these States, either liberty of the press, or of united action, or of speech, or of collective

petition, or of the introduction of foreign books, or of education, or of anything."

One of these States, comprising nearly a fourth of the Italian population, belongs to the foreigner-to Austria; the others, some from family ties, some from a conscious feebleness, tamely submit to her influence.From this contrast between the actual condition and the aspirations of the country, was produced the National Party, to which, sir, I have the honor to belong.

The National party dates a long time back in Italy. It dates from Rome-from that law of the empire that admitted every Italian to the rights of citizenship in the capital of the known world. The work of assimilation, which then instinctively began, was interrup ted by the invasion of the northern hordes.Two or three centuries sufficed, and our communes were established, the work was resumed. From the Consul Crescentius to Julius 2d., or to Dante and Machiavel, all were devoted to the union of Italy; for which the sons of the Austrian Rear Admiral, the two Bandieras, were basely tempted to land in Calabria last year, and shot,-probably in consequence of the opening of Mazzini's letter by Sir. James Graham.

When Bonaparte made the north of Italy one Kingdom, the greatest harmony and prosperity were the immediate consequences. The government of Europe appealed to the National party when they proposed to overthrow Napoleon; Austria in 1809, made promises to it; Gen Nugent promised them an "independent government four years later;" and next, England proclaimed "the liberty and independence of Italy," but all these promises were forgotten.

Italy is a vast prison, guarded by a certain number of gaolers and gendarmes, supported, in case of need, by the bayonets of men whom we don't understand, and who don't understand us. If we speak, they thrust a gag in our mouths; if we make a show of action, they platoon us. A petition signed collectively, constitutes a crime against the State.

When you, Englishmen, have a reasonable object to attain, you have the great highway of public opinion to your steps; why should yon digress into the bye-lanes of conspiracy, or into the dangerous morass of insurrection? You put your trust in the all-powerfulness of truth, and you do well; but you can propogate this truth by the press-you can preach it morning and evening in your journals—you can insist upon it in lectures-you can popularize it in meetings; in a little while it stands menacingly on the hustings, whence you send it to your parliament, sealed in the majority. We Italians have neither parliament nor hustings, nor liberty of the press, nor liberty of speech, nor possibility of lawful assemblage, nor a single means of expressing the opinion stirring within us."

Temperance among the Whalemen.—The Sailors' Magazine for September, has a letter from Honolulu, in the Sandwich Islands, which mentions that several whale ships have lately visited that port, the crews of which are wholly or chiefly active, as well as decided friends of temperance. The correspondent saw the pledge, with its signatures, framed and hung up as the cabin ornament; and he informs us, that the ship Benjamin Rush, Friend Gifford, master, while in port carries the temperance flag at mast-head.

At a temperance meeting held at that place, a sailor made the following characteristic appeal to his companions :

"Shipmates! look out for the devil; for he does not keep a watch below, but is all the time on deck, at work."

Fifteenth Meeting of the British Association for the advancement of Science. (CONTINUED.)

GIGANTIC BIRD.-The Secretary read a paper from Mr. Bonomi, " On a Gigantic Bird sculptured on the Tomb of an Officer of the Household of Pharaoh." "In the gallery of organic remains in the British Museum are two large slabs of the new red sandstone formation, on which are impressed the footsteps or tracks of birds of various sizes, apparently of the stork species. These geological specimens were obtained through the agency of Dr. Mantell from Dr. Deane, of Massachusetts, by whom they were discovered in a quarry near Turner's Falls. There have also been discovered by Capt Flinders, on the south coast of New Holland, in King George's Bay, some very large nests measuring twentysix feet in circumference and thirty-two inches in height; resembling, in dimensions, some that are described by Capt. Cook, as seen by him on the north-east coast of the same island, about 14 south latitude. would appear, by some communications made to the editor of the Athenæum, that Prof. Hitchcock of Massachusetts had suggested that these colossal nests belonged to the Moa, or gigantic bird of New Zealand; of which several species have been determined by Prof. Owen, from bones sent to him from New Zealand, where the race is now extinct, but possibly at the present time inhabiting the warmer climate of New Holland, in which place both Capt. Cook, and recently Capt. Flinders, discovered these large nests.

It

Between the years 1821 and 1823, Mr. James Burton discovered on the west coast or Egyptian side of the Red Sea, opposite the peninsula of Mount Sinai, at a place called Gebel Ezzeit, where for a considerable distance, the margin of the sea is inaccessible from the Desert, three colossal nests within the space of one mile. These nests were not

in an equal state of preservation; but, from one more perfect than the others, he judged them to be about fifteen feet in height, or, as he observed, the height of a camel and its rider. These nects were composed of a mass of heterogeneous materials, piled up in the form of a cone, and sufficiently well put together to insure adequate solidity. The diameter of the cone at its base was estimated as nearly equal to its height, and the apex, which terminated in a slight concavity, measured about two feet six inches, or three feet in diameter. The materials of which the great mass was composed were sticks and weeds, fragments of wreck, and the bones of fishes; but in one was found the thorax of a man, a silver watch made by George Prior, a London watchmaker of the last century, celebrated throughout the East, and in the nest or basin at the apex of the cone, some pieces of wollen cloth and an old shoe. That these nests have been but recently constructed was sufficiently evident from the shoe and watch of the shipwrecked pilgrim, whose tattered clothes and whitened bones were found at no great distance; but of what genius or species had been the architect and occupant of the structure Mr. Burton could not, from his own observation, determine. From the accounts of the Arabs, however, it was presumed that these nests had been occupied by remarkably large birds of the stork kind, which had deserted the coast but a short time previous to Mr Burton's visit. To these facts," said Mr. Bonomi, "I beg to add the following remarks:

Among the most ancient records of the primeval civilization of the human race that have come down to us, there is described, in the language the most universally intelligible, a gigantic stork, bearing, with respect to a man of ordinary dimensions, the proportions exhibited in the drawing before you, which is faithfully copied from the original document. It is a bird of white plumage, straight and large beak, long feathers in the tail; the male bird has a tuft at the back of the head, and another at the breast; its habits apparently gregarious. This very remarkable painted basso-relievo is sculptured on the wall, in the tomb of an officer of the household of Pharaoh Shufu, (the Suphis of the Greeks,) a monarch of the fourth dynasty, who reigned over Egypt, while yet a great part of the delta was intersected by lakes overgrown with the papyrus-while yet the smaller ramifications of the parent stream were inhabited by the crocodile and hippopotamos-while yet, as it would seem, that favored land had not been visited by calamity, nor the arts of peace disturbed by war, so the sculpture in these tombs intimate, for there is neither horse nor instrument of war in any one of these tombs. At that period, the period of the building of the Great Pyramid, which, according to some writers on Egyptian matters, was in the year 2100 B. C., which, on good authority, is the 240th year of the

deluge, this gigantic stork was an inhabitant of the delta, or its immediate vicinity; for, as these very interesting documents relate, it was occasionally entrapped by the peasantry of the delta, and brought with other wild animals as matters of curiosity to the great landholders or farmers of the products of the Nile of which circumstance this painted sculpture is a representation, the catching of fish and birds, which in these days occupied a large portion of the inhabitants. The birds and fish were salted. That this document gives no exaggerated account of the bird may be presumed from the just proportion that the quadrupeds, in the same picture, bear to the men who are leading them; and, from the absence of any representation of these birds in the less ancient monuments of Egypt, it may also be reasonably conjectured they disappeared soon after the period of the erection of these tombs.

With respect to the relation these facts bear to each other, I beg to remark that the colossal nests of Capts. Cook and Flinders, and also those of Mr. James Burton, were all on the sea shore, and all of those about an equal distance from the equator. But whether the Egyptian birds, as described in those very ancient sculptures, bear any analogy to those recorded in the last pages of the great stone book of nature, (the new red sandstone formation,) or whether they bear analogy to any of the species determined by Prof. Owen from the New Zealand fossils, I am not qualified to say, nor is it indeed the object of this paper to discuss; the intention of which being rather to bring together these facts, and to associate them with that recorded at Gezah, in order to call the attention of those who have opportunity of making further research into this interesting matter."

Mr. H. Strickland remarked, that the instances of gigantic birds, both recent and fossil, enumerated by M. Bonomi, though interesting in themselves, had little or no mutual connexion. The artists of ancient Egypt were wont to set the laws of perspective and proportion at defiance, so that the fact of the birds here represented being taller than the men who were leading them by no means implied the former existence of colossal birds in Egypt. Indeed, in this very painting the foot of a human figure is introduced, probably that of a prince or hero, whose proportions are as much larger than those of the birds in question as the other human figures are smaller. He considered the birds here figured to be either storks, or demoiselle cranes, or egrets, all of which are common in Egypt. The gigantic nests found by Mr. Burton on the coast of the Red Sea deserved further examination; but the size of a nest by no means implied that the bird which formed it was large also, for the Australian Megapodius, a bird not larger than a fowl, makes a nest of enormous proportions.