all familiar, through the reports that have appeared in the Times.

From the growing feeling in favour of the Whitworth guns, as well as from an impression abroad that one special inventor has received more official countenance than perhaps is customary in England, the whole question has just been reopened again. Without balancing their merits very minutely, or wishing to prejudge the question, it is impossible to deny that the Whitworth has the merit of greater simplicity and of less delicacy—a merit which, when we come to the rude wear and tear of war and field service, and even granting there is some superiority on the other side, in range and accuracy of aim, must counterbalance every other. The fact of a weapon becoming "unpopu

lar" with the service is a dreadful shibboleth, fatal even to excellence. Vent-pegs flying out, gases escaping, and accidents which, we are told, may depend on the false adjustment of a 1,000th part of one inch, begin at length to encourage doubts and suspicions among the men who have the Eandling of these arms; and suspicion and doubt cause uncertainty. This feeling has a greater influence than would be supposed, and actually brings about mistakes and accidents.

In conclusion, it may be said that Captain Palliser's plan commends itself by economy, and the utilization of a large existing "plant." It is simple and inexpensive-merits of no common order in these days of large outlay and costly extravagance.

IF an engagement were made that there should be presented in these papers a true picture of the tone of society, and the moral condition of the upper and lower classes throughout Europe, A.D. 1730-40, the disappointed reader would have just grounds for complaint.

Whether agreeable to ourselves or not, however, we must glance at unwelcome and, on the whole, repulsive subjects; but, at least, in doing so, we shall cherish a righteous awe of the critics, and imitate those tigers mentioned by that great Egyptian authority, the late Tom Moore, who avers that these beasts, while quenching their thirst with Nile water, keep running all the time they are lapping it, lest they should find themselves on a sudden in the interior of a crocodile.

As our travellers quitted the Prussian for the Saxon possessions, they became sensible of a change for the better in the soil and climate, and in the dispositions of the people also. They found the middle ranks and the artizans very industrious and intelligent, and disposed to literature according to their means. The great obstacle to the thorough well-being of the people was the insufficiency of native-grown corn for the wants of

the population. Hence their dependence on Silesia and Bohemia. The farms were generally large, and the small cultivators were obliged to use great economy. It was no uncommon thing to see the cow, after having furnished the breakfast-milk, taking the ox into partnership, and helping to drag the plough through the light soil for many hours of the day. Meat was as unfrequent at the tables of the small farmers as if their lot had been cast in green Erin. Potatoes, cabbages, and turnips, furnished the staple of food, and coffee in a very diluted state was drunk in large quantities. When the Englishmen were leaving the country and getting over the Erzgeberge mountains, they had an opportunity of inspecting the diligent working of the mines by the thrifty and industrious people. The gentlemen turned their woods to the best account, and at that period the Saxon wool, dyed blue, was an article acceptable through the greater part of Europe.

At Leipzig, which they took in their progress to Dresden, they found the town all alive with the manufacture of velvets, silks, rough cloths, linen, carpets, and apothecaries' drugs! and even then distinguished by the number of books there printed, and by the

surprising quantities of that commodity interchanged by the booksellers through all the German States, at the fairs held on New Year's Day, and at Easter and Michaelmas, Vienna being the only city unrepresented. Saxony was at the time the Attica of Germany in literature and æsthetics.

Our tourists were struck by the houses of Leipzig, which were distinguished by their great size and height, built with freestone, and the lower floors used as warerooms by the foreign traders who resorted regularly to the fairs. It was no uncommon occurrence to find two or three kings and queens, and a couple of score of princes and princesses collected at one of these re-unions. They were surprised, too, at the vast and curious trade in larks yearly caught in its neighbourhood, and exported to other German States, as well as to Holland and Denmark, the export-duty being a grosh (24d. British) for every sixty birds. Nightingales were also marvellously abundant.

A word about their cuisine while en route. The ordinaries in the smaller towns and villages between Leipzig and Dresden did not favourably impress our travellers, either by the quality of the fare or the cleanliness of the apparatus. At Meissen they visited the manufacture of the beautiful gold-enamelled porcelain, the invention of a professed alchemist, who pretended he could make gold. The King of Poland believing in his skill, shut him up in the Castle of Königstein, near Dresden, so that he might have the full benefit of his labours. The distracted man, in his miserable endeavours to produce the precious metal, lighted on the secret of the beautiful ware mentionednearly as valuable a discovery.

In Dresden they beheld a nicely laid out city, even in the beginning of the eighteenth century, remarkable for its tall houses, broad streets, spacious squares, and its splendid stone bridge connecting the old and new towns. Among the public buildings, was the palace of the Indies, the rooms of which were filled with the most costly China and Japan wares, one room, furnished with curtains, sofa-covers, and other draperies, composed of feathers so skilfully wrought that to casual observers they had the appearance of satin. The royal trea

sury, called the Green Vault (Grüne Gewolde), consisted of three arched rooms, filled with complete sets of precious stones, forming buttons, hatloops, sleeve-buttons, shoe-buckles, sword-belts, snuff-boxes, &c., nicely arranged in crystal cases. The great picture-gallery was only begun at the period of our friends' visit.

This would be a more edifying paper if as much good might be said of the inhabitants of the palaces as of the palaces themselves, but such is unhappily not the case. If Augustus, the Elector, whom we have seen at Berlin, enjoying a private dinner with Frederic William, was distinguished by a high degree of immorality, no one could point out his grandfather, John George II. (ob. 1680), his father, John George III., who died of a camp pestilence in 1691, or his own elder brother, John George IV., whose life and short reign of three years ended in 1694, as models of domestic life. Still there were good points about his father, the third John George. He was openly rebuked from the pulpit, by a stout Court preacher, for sins respecting which King David had unfortunately set him an evil example; and after the second or third rebuke, he had the manliness to promote the conscientious clergyman to a higher post in the church-at Berlin. Thus the prophet was rewarded, and the sinner relieved.

Augustus's brother, of the short reign, was an industrious, intelligent, and judicious prince, and would have done more for his electorate but for having been entrapped in the meshes of Mlle. Von Neitschutz, an artful and ambitious girl, provided with a lynx-eyed and enterprising mamma. He was so enthralled by the devices of the pair, that he treated his wife, Eleanore Louise, of Eisenach, with utter neglect, and would have even divorced her but for the interposition of Augustus, his brother and successor. Mlle. held a promise of marriage of some kind, and her infatuated lover so wrought on the Emperor that he conferred on her the title of Countess of the Holy Roman Empire. The next step was to procure for her the further title of princess. That done, she would push the Electress from her throne!

Philtres, it was said, had been un

sparingly resorted to by mother and daughter. The Elector was at her feet. An event, however, occurred which interrupted the progress of their splendid machinations. She was taken ill. She attributed the attack to poison. It proved to be small-pox, and the remedies to drive in the disease succeeded in covering her with a "black scurf." She died in her palace in Dresden, at the age of twenty, and shortly after her death, green and yellow spots appeared all over the body. The Elector had it wrapped in the costliest materials, celebrated the obsequies, with a wild and forlorn magnificence, and soared even to profaneness in her epitaph.

Poorthing!-her countenance, they say, had neither a good nor noble expression. She was vicious and perverse; yet her epitaph vaunted her numerous virtues and the profusion of her excellent qualities, which left imperishable regrets in all hearts." The infatuated John George, forgetting orthodoxy, coolly assumed her present portion to be with the blessed, and apostrophized her accordingly.

Having staid by her during her illness, and remained near the corpse for a considerable time, he was seized with a mortal malady, and died within four weeks. Such was the detestation in which mother and daughter were held, that the survivor was tried for witchcraft, and the poor corpse was exhumed in order to be examined for witch-marks. None, however, were found, and the remains were re-interred in a field, divested of its silks and velvets, and the valuable jewels that studded and embroidered them.

Here was a tragedy. "They had sowed in the flesh, and of the flesh had reaped corruption." But all could not avail to prevent his successor, Frederic Augustus, from copying his offences against morality in more than a hundredfold proportion. It is asserted that the number of his children born out of wedlock was three hundred and fifty-four. Yet towards the decline of his life, Frederic William of Prussia, of whom we have lately been speaking, agreed to receive him as husband of his daughter, the future Margravine of Bareith; and had it not been for the opposition made by Augustus's son the match would have been ratified,

On the demise of the noble and heroic John Sobieski, our Elector was chosen his successor on the throne of Poland, with the title of Augustus II., having conformed, with true German flexibility, to the Roman Catholic religion as a condition precedent. It is hard to conceive Solomon as under considerable religious influence at the period of his espousals with his thousand pagan wives, more or less. Nor is it probable that Augustus's affairs of state and affairs of gallantry, his fears of Charles XII. and his fears of Madame Cozel, left him sufficient time to decide on the comparative merits of Calvin's Institutes and the Catechism of the Council of Trent.

This prince, in addition to an agreeable appearance, was one of the strongest men of his time, and to these attractive qualities he added a majestic air, good-nature, politeness, and courage. He was not only generous, but knew how to confer his favours gracefully. Let these gifts be combined with a total destitution of religion and a thirst for pleasure, and the result has not far to be sought. Pleasant it must have been to the enemy of man, in his excursions down the Elbe, to witness his reckless expeditions among the frail beauties of Saxony, which is well known not to yield the palm of loveliness to any country in Europe.

During a sojourn, in his youth, at Venice, he made a visit, in disguise, accompanied by two of his gentlemen, to the apartment of a celebrated astrologer. He had covered his dark brown locks with a yellowish peruke, and assumed the bearing of an attendant. The astrologer, however, addressed him at once by the titles, "My Lord," and "Your Highness,' and persevered in the same vein, notwithstanding the assertions of the three that he was under a mistake. "I know well enough," he rejoined, "to whom I have the honour of speaking." He conducted them into a closet and bade the prince look into a mirror hanging on the wall. The first glance showed himself in the Elector's habit; the second presented him with crown and sceptre, and at the third he was horrified at finding himself dying of wounds. However clever this adept might have been, he was evidently no conjuror, as Augustus's

death at a comparatively early age was the natural consequence of his life of unlimited indulgence.

Our wanderers had the good-fortune to make acquaintance with the oncemuch-spoken-of Count Pollnitz, whom we have already introduced to our readers, a thriftless, whimsical, restless, gad-about, who reverenced every crowned head about whose court he happened to flutter for the time being, as devoutly as ever Boswell did the great Lexicographer.

He gave them, in his gossipping way, an account of the marriage of the Electoral Prince, afterwards Augustus III., with the Archduchess Maria Josepha, daughter of Emperor Joseph and the Hanoverian Princess Wilhelmina Amelia, in which recital he did not spare them the least item of the marchings and counter-marchings of the Saxon ambassador to and from Emperor, Empress, and Dowager Empress, to obtain the consent of father, mother, and dowager grandmother. All kindly consented as far as each was concerned, but still with the proviso that Maria Josepha was willing. On the question being proposed to the party chiefly interested, who had been accidentally in the next room, and very richly dressed, she at once signified ready compliance with their highnesses' wishes. The delighted ambassador then advanced and presented the bridegroom's portrait, which the dutiful bride presented to her mother without even looking at it. The gratified parent at once proceeded to affix the richly-framed gage of love to the waist of her daughter's dress, but the delighted ambassador on bended knee requested that the coveted operation might be performed by himself. The impatient bridegroom did not at first venture nearer to the city than to a house two leagues away, but the Empress, and the bride, and her sister, favoured him with an interview of a half hour's length at an intermediate convent, after which the betrothed went to make their confession as if they were simple peasants. At six next evening he proceeded to the palace, and having changed his dress, and paid his respects to his imperial father-in-law the procession to the royal chapel began.

The good loquacious count did not spare his hearers a yard of marble slab or Turkey carpet, tra

versed in all the long-drawn-out proceedings, or flounce, or stomacher, or lofty tête worn by the high-born ladies; but we cut all this short, and confine ourselves to the outward woman of the Empress, who had on a "straw-coloured gown of silver-tissue, adorned with diamonds, and her headdress was adorned all over with pearls 'like pears.' (?) The archducal bride wore a farthingale, and her gown was of silver brocade, adorned with diamonds."

At the nuptial banquet the bridegroom had the honour of sitting at his lady's right hand; but Pollnitz's hearers were scandalized to learn that he was provided with a mere plainbacked chair, while his Princess, and her parents, and her sister, the unmarried Arch-Duchess, enjoyed the honour and comfort of chairs with arms. The ladies of the court stood round till the imperial family took their first glass of wine, and then repaired to an adjoining room to help themselves. They returned again to the dessert.

The Turkish ambassador dined in a sort of gallery fitted up in this hall, and was waited on by thirty of his own dependents, and not neglected in the matter of sweetmeats. Being afterwards asked what he thought of the entertainment, he said it was very fine, but in his mind the grandest object in the room was the person of the Empress.

Next evening the whole court attended an opera composed expressly to celebrate the happy event, the Prince Elector still obliged to sit after the Arch-Duchesses (daughter and sisters of the Emperor). Dear, however, as was to Pollnitz the atmosphere breathed by imperial and royal highnesses, even he found the entertainment a little too long, and the air of the theatre somewhat too hot.

But that performance was not worthy to be mentioned in the same sentence with one that took place after the arrival of the illustrious pair in Dresden. It lasted so long that King Augustus ate his supper in the pit, and tables suitably provided were furnished to the ladies in the boxes. These events had place in the year 1719.

Profusion was one of Augustus II.'s little failings. He celebrated the reception of his daughter-in-law by

an entertainment in the Turkish style, thus described :

-ap

"Upon the feast-day the whole courtpeared at the Turkish palace in the Habits of Turks. The King came in the Dress of a Sultan, but without any Attendants. His Majesty was soon after followed by the Princess, his Daughter-in-law, with her Ladies. Her Royal Highness for whom the Entertainment was made, found a body of Janizaries drawn up in the Court Yard of the Palace. The King received

her at the Entrance of his Apartment, and conducted her into a Hall spread with fine Tapestry, and laid with Cushions richly

embroidered.

"The King and Princess being seated, were served by twenty-four Negroes in Sumptuous Dresses, with Sherbet, Coffee, and Sweetmeats, in great Vessels of massy Silver; nor were Scented Waters and perfumed Handkerchiefs forgot. After this Collation they drew near the Windows to see the Pillau (which is the rice of Turky), and the King's Bounty-money distributed to the Janizaries. This was followed by a

Comedy, with an Entertainment of Turkish Dances. Then came the Supper, the Guests sitting cross-legged upon the Cushions, and the Courses being served up after the fashion of Turky, by the Negroes and young Turks. While they were at Table, the Company was diverted by the various Leaps and Postures of certain Tumblers and Rope Dancers. Supper being over, they went into the Garden, which was illuminated with several Thousands of Chrystal Lamps. There was Tilting and Shooting

at the Mark, and whenever the Mark was hit a Sky Rocket was sent up, which for the time seemed to Sprinkle Thousands of Stars among those in the Firmament. After this the Company retir'd into the Palace, where the King and the Princess open'd the Ball; and there was Dancing till

five o'clock in the morning, when the Ball was concluded with a sumptuous Break

fast, that was served at the several Tables after the Manner of our own Country, which, with the Leave of the Mussulmen, is as good as theirs.'

Allusion has been already made to a marriage projected between Augustus and Frederica Sophia Wilhelmina, Princess Royal of Prussia. Her father, Frederic William, and her brother, the future hero of the Seven Years' War, paid a visit to Dresden during the negotiation, and were royally entertained. The earnest Frederic William was scandalized at first, at the lax examples set by King and Court, but, as far as eating and drinking were concerned, he was soon seduced into excesses. Having thus

sapped the foundation a little, Augustus thought he might venture to give the edifice of morality a final shake. Having induced him to drink more than was good for soul or body one evening, he conducted him into an apartment tastefully and gorgeously furnished. While giving the various objects of art due attention, his eye was caught by the withdrawing of a curtain before a recess, and there, reclining on a couch, was an ivory statue, as perfect in form, as it seemed to him, as any Venus or Grace that was ever extracted from a shapeless stone by Athenian chisel. Well, there is no essential harm in the finest specimen of sculpture unless communicated by an evil inspiration of the sculptor; but the pious and tipsy monarch, as he approached, was sensible of motion in the eyelids, lips, and arms of the false work of art. The effect was different from what Augustus expected. Frederic William turned round, and seeing his son behind him, he angrily pushed him towards the door, and had he had the royal cane in hand, he would have made it ring on his shoulders. He openly declared his disgust at the snare laid for him, and threatened to quit the court at once, if any other trick of the kind were attempted. The vicious career of the future pupil and friend of Voltaire commenced with that visit to Dresden.

Frederic Augustus, born in 1670, became Elector of Saxony in 1694. Whatever his faults, harshness or tyranny were not of the number. Though public indignation obliged him to have the old soldier abovementioned prosecuted for witchcraft, he managed to defer the punishment till all excitement on the subject had died away. His profligacy was extreme; but Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Baron Riesbach insinuate that the Saxon ladies must share the blame which he so richly deserved. The Baron insisted that the ladiesay, even the daughters of farmers and shopkeepers-were acutely sensitive to the influence of sentimental novels, and a consequent desire of filling the parts of those heroines, one of whom is so well personified in Miss Edgworth's Leonora." These impressionable beauties were always more ready to make sacrifices for that allexacting passion so dominant in the