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Foreign Intelligence-Italy-Denmark.

thought no more about it. During the winter, however, it became more frequent, especially at the time of changes of wind and weather; but in the night between the 11th and 12th of January, a real earthquake, that lasted from six to eight seconds took place with a violent subterraneous noise, and was felt in a circumference of thirty miles. The shocks have since been weak, but so frequent, that thirty were often counted in a night. A similar earthquake occurred in these parts in 1776, 1777 and 1778. The houses throughout the whole tract in which it has been recently felt, are more or less cracked and damaged; some have been thrown down, and many rendered uninhabitable. The people fled to the open fields, where more than 2000 of them had long no other shelter than wretched huts hastily constructed with boards, and were exposed to the severest privations.

DENMARK.

M. Riffelsen, of Copenhagen, has invented a new musical instrument, which he calls Hymnerophon. It is described as consisting of large pewter forks, set in motion by tangents, which strike plates of brass fastened to a cylinder that is turned by a wheel. It imitates several wind-instruments, the ringing of bells, the rolling of thunder, &c., and occupies a middle place between the Melodion and Harmonica, without coming up to the perfection of the latter.

RUSSIA.

When the French, in the winter of 1812, were advancing into Russia, a painter resident at Moscow was so shocked by the account of the devastations committed by them wherever they came, that the faculties of his mind became impaired. He fled with other inhabitants from the city; but his melancholy was suddenly aggravated to such a degree, that he left his companions by the way, and hid himself in a wood. Here he was found by some peasants who, as he could not speak the Russian language fluently, took him for a spy, and conveyed him to the nearest town, where he was thrown into prison. This treatment entirely deranged the remains of reason. Accidents soon afterwards brought other fugitives on their way from Moscow to Wladimir, through the town where he was confined. They went to see the supposed spy, and to try whether they could understand his language; they immediately recognized in him their former fellow-inhabitant of Moscow, and took him with them to

[May 1,

Wladimir, where, through the humanity of the governor, and the attention of physicians, he was completely cured. In testimony of his gratitude to Providence for his extraordinary preservation, he is engaged in painting a large altar-piece for the principal church at Wladimir. This picture, which he has nearly finished, is seven arschin (about 6 Berlin ells) long and four high, and contains not fewer than 38 figures.

A letter from Irkutzk of the 16-28th December last, gives the following curious particulars-On the 5-17th Dec. about 6 A. M. in a temperature of 30 deg. Reaumur, a considerable shock of an earthquake was felt here, and violent subterraneous rumblings and noises were heard. At Troizko Sawskoi Krepost, on the east side of Lake Baikal, 518 wersts from Irkutzk, this earthquake was much more violent, and lasted above a minute. The ground shook to such a degree that the buildings cracked, and things were thrown down from the tables and the walls. The freezing of the river Angara, an important event for the inhabitants of this town, took place this year earlier than usual, to the joy of all. All the rivers, both large and small in this country, are long frozen over before the An gara appears in its winter dress. The Uschakowka from the south, and the Irkut from the west, which both dis charge themselves into the Angara near Irkutzk, are generally frozen by the middle of November: after which dense va pours incessantly rise from the Angara, envelope great part of the town like a thick fog, and manifest their pernicious influence on the human body by all kinds of discases. The cold at this time in creases to above 30 deg. Reaumur, and the mercury itself is usually frozen. All the rivers of Siberia are arrested in their course; the Angara alone, in spite of the intense cold, continues to run past the town' out of the Lake Baikal with its accustomed rapidity. This extraor dinary phenomenon fills the travellers who witness it for the first time with astonishment. This year on the 1-15th Dec. the Baikal was covered with ice, and from that time drift-ice began to appear on the Angara. At length the wa ter overflowed the banks, as it commonly does at this season, and inundated some low situations, especially about Trinity Church. On the 12-24th December, the ice began to accumulate at the mouth of the Uschakowkat, and at the same time the surface of the Angara was frozen over. From this period the weather

1815.]

Foreign Intelligence-Russia.

became mild, that is to say, the thermometer in the morning did not indicate more than 20°. Serene weather ensued; the dullness and heaviness universally complained of ceased, and every body felt enlivened. It is not upon health alone, but also upon commerce and business in general, that this event has a beneficial influence; for the freezing of the Baikal and the Angara has opened the communication with the east and south. The passage across the Baikal to Werchni Udinsk, Nertschinsk, Selenginsk, and Kiachta is now speedily and easily accomplished, whereas by water the violent and contrary winds render it extremely difficult and protracted. The main road over the frozen sea, as the lake has been called from time immemorial, is now covered with travellers to those places, and the merchants of this town are already sending off their goods to Kiachta, to be bartered with the Chinese at the feast of Maimatschin, or the while month, which is their new year.

In 1808, a plan was formed for erecting a monument in honour of Kosma Minin, a citizen of Nishnei Nowgorod, and Prince Posharsky, who saved their country, in the 16th century, when Russia was almost subdued by Poland, and Moscow itself taken. It was intended to be placed on the same spot in Nishnei Nowgorod where Minin, in the presence of all the people, gave up his whole property, and incited his townsmen, by his example, to follow the banners of the prince. A subscription was opened for the purpose; and the emperor himself gave 20,000 rubles, with a promise to make up whatever deficiency there might be, and from among the sketches presented, be selected one by M. Martos, the sculptor, rector of the Academy of Arts at Petersburg. That artist has completed the model. It has obtained universal applause, and the empress-mother by whom it has been inspected, declared that it would be a work of which the reign of Alexander would have reason to be proud. Mimin is represented, after collecting the patriotic gifts of the people in the public square, persuading the prince, already grown weak in the service of his country, to be the leader of the troops. Both figures are colossal, of larger dimensions than the statue of Peter the Great; they are to be of bronze, and not cast, as usual, in several pieces, but all at once, and placed upon a pedestal of granite at

351

Moscow, which is considered the most suitable situation. The subscription proved so ample, that there will be sufficient to erect, besides, an obelisk at Nishnei Nowgorod to embellish the city and commemorate the action.

Professor Herrmann, a native of Austria, but many years counsellor of state in the Russian service, who has distinguished himself as the author of various statistical, technological, and mineralogical works, respecting the Austrian and Russian states, died, about the end of February, at St. Petersburg, in an advanced age.

66

It is but little known that Peter the Great was extremely anxious to introduce the Bible generally among his subjects, and to enforce the precepts of the sacred scriptures: He would not allow any work to be done on a Sunday, except in cases of the utmost necessity, and he was accustomed to say, Whoever works in violation of the law of God, his labour will never prosper." He always declared, with reverence, that the Bible was the best of books, containing all that it is necessary and useful to know, respecting the duties of man towards God and his neighbour. As the folio bible published through the care of his father Czar Alexei Michaelowitsch was out of print, he determined to bring it into more common use than ever in his empire, and to prepare, at Amsterdam, a new edition, as correct as possible, in five parts, in folio; which issued from the press of Daniel Leeiwen, on his account, in 1721. It was printed on royal paper, in two columns, one for the Dutch language, and the other blank, for the Russian translation. In the first year after he gave orders for the printing of this work, that is to say, in 1717, the fifth part, or the New Testament, first appeared, with one column in Dutch and another in the Russian lan guage. By this splendid edition of the whole Bible in Dutch and Russian, the monarch was desirous, for particular reasons, to afford his subjects a two-fold advantage: in the first place, to render the perusal of the Scriptures more agreeable to them; and, secondly, to instigate them to learn the Dutch language, of which he was very fond. It was, indeed, a common saying with him, "We have occasion for the Dutch language by sca, the German by land; but we may very well dispense with French, as we have no important relations with France."

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NEW PUBLICATIONS IN MARCH AND APRIL,

ANGLING.

WITH CRITICAL REMARKS.

The Angler's Guide, being a Practical Treatise on Angling; containing the whole Art of Trolling, Bottom-fishing, Fly-fishing, and Trimmer-angling, founded on forty years' practice and observation. Second edition, with very considerable additions. Il lustrated with wood engravings. By T. F. Salter, gent.

8vo. 10s. 6d.

No species of amusement has given occasion to so many respectable literary performances as an. gling, from the days of honest Isaack Walton to our own; and it really would be a pleasing amusement to enumerate the several works that have appeared in the English language on this subject, with anecdotes and sketches of those persons of eminence who have distinguished themselves by the piscatory exercise. The present volume is a very complete elementary treatise on the art of angling, and to the plainest directions in every thing connected with the sport, it has the merit of adding many pleasing descriptions and much useful information, the result of long practice and a variety of observation.

THE ARTS.

An Address to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent on the Importance of the Fine Arts, in a National View; and detailing the particulars of a plan for their advancement. 4to. pp. 33.

The object of this very luminous pamphlet is to state the impediments that have hitherto frustrated the wishes of those who have aimed at establishing a school of engraving in this country adequate to the acknowledged genius that exists among us, and to the ample means which we enjoy of applying its powers to the best advantage. The address is clearly the production of a person abundantly well informed on the subjects which he has undertaken to review, and thoroughly qualified by judgment and taste to carry into execution the proposed design of instituting a national work that shall call into activity the talents of British artists.

BIOGRAPHY.

Memoirs of Lady Hamilton, with Anecdotes of her particular Friends and distinguished contemporaries. svo. Embellished with a fine portrait by Meyer after Rom

ney.

Human nature is better understood by being contemplated in the actions of persons who have rendered themselves conspicuous as agents in dissipation or the dupes of folly, than in abstract disquisitions on the passions and in hortatory dissuasions from vice. In such memoirs we see the hidden springs which lead by a gradual but circuitous course to habitual depravity, and whose current impels those that want steadiness of principle down the winding channel which brings them cre they are aware into the abyss of corruption. Since the Life of Savage, we do not remember to have met with any biographical sketch that is so well calculated to paint the evils of voluptuous irregularity and morbid sensibility as the one contained in the present volume, which exibits in a sad variety of instances the dangerous consequences of mingling virtue with vice, and of substituting bright talents and splendid deeds for the substan tial qualities of integrity and chastity, meekness nd humility. The anecdotes scattered through

(May 1,

this work are very extraordinary, but they carry with them every mark of authenticity, and the reflections which the writer has very properly intro duced, are such as clearly evince his sincerity.

the Public Character of some of the most Parliamentary Portraits; or Sketches distinguished Speakers of the House of Commons. Originally printed in the Examiner. 8vo. pp. 240.

We have heard of a sign painter who when en ployed to represent any object was under the ne cessity of writing underneath" This is a lion," or "This is a bull." In like manner, the dauber of these pretended portraits has been kind enough to give the names of the senators whose likenesses he affects to draw; and in so doing he has certainly acted very considerately, otherwise it would have been utterly impossible for the most sagacious and diligent attendant at the house of commons to have recognized one of his old acquaintance.

Lives of Alchymistical Philosophers, with a Critical Catalogue of Books in Occult Che mistry, and a selection of the most celebrated Treatises on the Theory and Practice of the Hermetic Art. 8vo. 10s. 6d.

Johnstone. By A. Mackenrot. 6s.
Secret Memoirs of the Hon. And, Cochrane
Bowdler, esq. F.R.S. & S.A.
Life of Lieut.-gen. Villettes.

By T.

DIVINITY AND ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

from the Establishment of the Reformation The History of the Church of Scotland, to the Revolution. By George Cook, D.D. Minister of Lawrencekirk. 3 vols. 8vo.

The ecclesiastical histories of Scotland have been remarkably numerous; more so, we believe, than those of any other country; for which an obvious Presbyteranism, independent of the interest excited reason will be found in the zeal of Calvinistic by the political effects of the Reformation in that kingdom. But abundant as books of this descrip tion already are, we hailed the present work with spectable author's former volumes on the rise and pleasure from the satisfaction afforded by the re progress of the Reformation in Scotland. Both performances exhibit proofs of great industry and sound judgment; and though written with a natu ral bias in favour of the establishment to which the author belongs, there runs throughout a sparit of candour and moderation with respect to the characters of those eminent divines who have been adverse to the presbyterian discipline.

The Right to Church Property Secured, and Commutation of Tythes Vindicated, in a Letter to the Rev. William Coxe, Archdea con of Wilts. 8vo. pp. 41.

We have thought proper to place this pamphlet under the class of divinity, merely because it re lates to a subject intimately connected with on ecclesiastical establishment, towards which the fury of his rage, indeed, against priests and tythes author manifests a rancorous hostility. In the he seems almost to have lost his wits, a convincing proof of which appears in the title page, where, instead of The Right to Church Property secured," the true reading should have been "The Right of the Laity to seize the Property of the Church asserted." From such an assailant as this neither the Archdeacon of Wilts nor the church can have

New Publications, with Critical Remarks.

New Publications, with Critical Remarks.

Whatever sentiments may prevail among diffe rent persons respecting the duty of interfering with the religious persuasions of others in the way Observations on Necrosis of the Tibia, By should think, on the object proposed in this admiof proselytism, there can be only one opinion, we