received an invitation from Mr Charles Townshend, to accompany the Duke of Buccleugh on his travels; and the liberal terms in which the propofal was made to him, added to the ftrong defire he had of visiting the continent of Europe, induced him to refign his of fice at Glafgow. With the connections which he was led to form, in confequence of this change in his fituation, he had great reafon to be fatisfied, and he always fpoke of it with pleasure and gratitude. To the public, it was not, perhaps, a change equally fortunate, as it interrupted that ftudious leifure for which nature feems to have deftined him, and in which alone he could have hoped to accomplish thofe literary projects which had flattered the ambition of his youthful genius. The alteration, however, which from this period took place in his habits, was not without its advantages. He had hitherto lived chiefly within the walls of an univerfity; and although, to a mind like his, the obfervation of human nature on the smallest fcale is fufficient to convey a tolerably juft conception of what paffes on the great theatre of the world, yet it is not to be doubted, that the variety of scenes through which he afterwards paffed, must have enriched his mind with many new ideas, and corrected many of those misapprehenfions of life and manners, which the firft defcriptions of them can scarcely fail to convey. But whatever were the lights which his travels afforded him, as a studeat of human nature, they were probably useful to him in a still higher degree, in enabling him to perfect that fyftem of political economy, which it was now the leading object of his ftudies to prepare for the public. After leaving Glafgow, Mr Smith joined the Duke of Buccleugh at London, early in the year 1764; and fet out with him for the Continent, in the month of March following. In their first visit to Paris, the Duke of Buccleugh and Mr Smith employed only ten or twelve days; after which they proceeded to Thouloufe, where VOL. LVIIL they fixed their refidence for eighteen. months, and where, in addition to the pleasure of an agreeable fociety, Mr Smith had an opportunity of extending his information concerning the internal policy of France, by the intimacy in which he lived with fome of the principal perfons of the parliament. From Thouloufe they went, by a pretty extenfive tour, through the fouth of France to Geneva, where they paffed two months. About Christmas 1765 they returned to Paris, and remained there till October following. The fociety in which Mr Smith paffed these ten months, may be conceived by the advantages he enjoyed in confequence of the recommendations of Mr Hume. Turgot, Quefnai, Necker, d'Alembert, Helvetius, Marmontel, Madame Riccoboni, were among the number of his. acquaintances; and fome of them he continued ever after to reckon among his friends. It is much to be regretted, that he preferved no journal of this very interesting period of his hiftory; and fuch was his averfion to write letters, that fearcely any memorial of it exists in his correfpondence with his friends. The extent and accuracy of his memory, in which he was equalled by few, made it of little confequence to himself, to record in writing what he heard or faw; and from his anxiety before his death to deftroy all the papers in his poffeffion, he feems to have wished, that no materials fhould remain for his biographers, but what were furnished by the lafting monuments of his genius, and the exemplary worth of his private life. In October 1766, he returned to London with his noble pupil, whose impreffions of the fatisfaction he received from their tour, may be conceiv ed from the following paragraph of a letter written by his Grace to Profeffor Stewart: "We returned to London, after having spent near three years together, without the flighteft difagreement or coolness: on my part, with every advantage that could be expected from the fociety of fuch a man. We contiB qued nued to live in friendship till the hour of his death; and I fhall always remain with the impreffion of having loft a friend whom I loved and refpected, not only for his great talents, but for every private virtue." The retirement in which Mr Smith paffed his next ten years, formed a ftriking contraft to the unfettled mode of life he had been for fome time accuftomed to, but was fo congenial to his natural difpofition, and to his firft habits, that it was with the utmoft difficulty he was ever perfuaded to leave it. During the whole of this period (with the exception of a few vifits to Edinburgh and London), he remained with his mother at Kirkaldy, occupied habitually with intenfe ftudy, but unbending his mind at times in the company of his old school-fellows. In the fociety of fuch men, Mr Smith delighted; and to them he was endeared, not only by his fimple and unaffuming manners, but by the perfect knowledge they all poffeffed of thofe domeftic virtues which had diftinguished him from his infancy. Mr Hume, who confidered a town as the true fcene for a man of letters, made many attempts, but in vain, to feduce Mr Smith from his retirement. At length, in the beginning of the year 1776, he accounted to the world for his long retreat, by the publication of his "In quiry into the Nature and Caufes of the Wealth of Nations." He received a letter of congratulation on this event from Mr Hume, which difcovers an amiable folicitude for his friend's literary fame. It is dated 1ft April 1776, about fix months before Mr Hume's death. " Euge! Belle! Dear Mr Smith: I am much pleased with your performance, and the perufal of it has taken me from a state of great anxiety. It was a work of fo much expectation by yourfelf, by your friends, and by the public, that I trembled for its appearance; but am now much relieved. Not but that the reading of it neceffarily requires fo much attention, and the public is difpofed to give it fo little, that I fhall ftill doubt for fome time of its being at firft very popular. But it has depth, and folidity, and acutenefs, and is fo much illuftrated by curious facts, that it muft at laft take the public attention. It is probably much improved by your laft abode in London. If you were here, at my fire-fide, I fhould difpute fome of your principles.But these, and a hundred other points, are fit only to be difcuffed in converfation. I hope it will be foon; for I am in a very bad ftate of health, and cannot afford a long delay." (To be continued.) CHARACTERISTICAL SKETCHES OF EMINENT BRITONS. QUEEN ELIZABETH. AT the distance of near two centuries, we come to view a princefs, whofe memory has been perhaps looked at hitherto with too prejudiced an eye, namely, Elizabeth, the last and most renowned of the Tudors. From hardships and injurics fortune gave her to rule over a nation, which, diftracted by the capricious tyranny of Henry VIII. weak under the minority of Edward, inundated with blood by the bigotry of Mary, had now arrived at that ultimate point of depreffion, at which the tide of human affairs is faid naturally to ebb and flow back in a contrary courfe. The circumftances of the times, the amiablenefs of her fex, and, above all, the popularity of her religion, now eftablished by authority, were fufficient inducements to a people lefs fufceptible of affection towards their princes than the English, for unbounded admiration and respect. If the afpect of foreign nations be regarded, we fhall not, I think, difcern thofe gorgon eyes of terror which the blufhing merit of this virgin queen is fabled to have encountered. The reftlefs ambition of Philip was lulled by the delufive expectation of efpoufing the rich inheritance of the Queen, into a ftate of impolitic inaction; the power of France, enfeebled by the arms of Auftria, was foon to be diffolved in the weakness of its own princes; and Scot land land, the province of France, was alone formidable to itself. That the crown then poffeffed a very frong prerogative, capable of overleaping the bounds by which royal authority began to be circumfcribed, is a fact too apparent in the annals of each preceding reign, to ftand in need of further confirmation. We must not, therefore, in reviewing the conduct of Elizabeth, expect to fee her unlike her predeceffors in an action fhe moft with ed to refemble them, fummoning her parliament in order to regulate her councils by their refolves, or waiting till their liberality had enabled her to carry into execution the more extensive schemes of flate: but we are still to look for, under fo renowned a princess, fome regular fyftem of government concerted; fome pecuniary refources conftitutionally derived, independent of appropriating to national uses the occafional revenues of unfilled bishoprics; in fhort, fome firmer political edifice erected, than that bafelefs fabric of duplicity and artifice, which only wanted the weak vices of her immediate fucceffors, to be pulled into Tuins of anarchy and civil diffenfion. Let any one cite to me a single inftance, in the whole of her adminiftration, in which the prerogative of the crown, or the rights of the people, were afferted or denied with the becoming confidence and refolution of a fovereign. Divifion among minifters carefully maintained; the authority of parliaments encreased by the mysterious concealment of their bounds; condefcenfion fhown to the people, the better to lord it over the nobility; one faction depreffed by the exaltation of another; give us fonie, though not an adequate idea, of the undecifive, qualifying, negative abilities of Elizabeth for government. Infulated from pofterity by a determined vow of celibacy, and, confequently, not tied or bound by thofe hoftages of conduct which perfons in the married ftate leave behind them unto fortune, the poffeffed a competent degree of cunning and addrefs to infure power to herfelf, and feems to have been little folicitous for its continuance with the unfortunate family of Stuart, whofe fucceffion, as well as future welfare, her maxims were not calculated to promote, Commerce and navigation, then in their infancy, by what charters and immunities were they protected ?--But why do we talk of charters and immunities?- -Could commerce, that fenfitive plant, fhrinking at the rude touch of oppreffion and tyranny, thrive under the rough hands of rapacious monopolifts? Could the navigator, transporting himself over feas, at that time as unknown to the English, as the world which they joined had been before to all Europe, find a reward for the perils he had undergone, in fharing the fmall pittance the waves and enemy had left him, with a miftrefs whofe avarice was not to be restrained by the laws of compofition fhe herself had enacted? But I haften to that period of history, when, in the Low Countries, the united force of feven provinces had broke the chains of their tyrant, and established a religion and government of their own; when the Hugonots in France, in arms with the Admiral Coligny at their head, were yet unconscious of the approaching flaughter of St Bartholomew; and when Philip in Spain, aided by the thunders of Rome, the gold of Mexico, and the genius of the Duke of Parma, threatened fubjection to all around him. The neceflity of the times demanded a perfon of an active and enterprifing difpofition, capable of uniting the fcattered forces of a perfecuted religion, in order to compofe a fingle one which might shake the proud league of its enemies, and be the deftruction of thofe that laughed it to fcorn. Eliza beth fhould herself have been the centre of fo glorious a confederacy, and not have committed to the unhoped for accidents of adverfe winds and waves, the difperfion of that invincible armament of Spain, which, fkilfully conducted, muft inevitably have triumphed over her refolute, but unaided refi.tance. Succefs in arms, efpecially if they are borne against the natural or religious B 2 ene enemies of the flate, has ever been the fource of popular affection. It was impoffible for the Romans to condemn the guilty Manlius in fight of the Capitol which that celebrated warrior had faved. The fame caufe has on us to the fame effect, in paffing judgment on the characters of our princes; we elevate before our eyes the trophies erected in each reign, pafs over with neglect the lefs confpicuous, but more important duties of a fovereign, and give the fuf frage of our praife to the fuccefsful war rior, which we refufe to the only canditates for true applaufe-the upright magiftrate and the patriot king. The memory of Elizabeth has, it must be confeffed, an undoubted claim to the immunities of profperity. Perhaps the timely death of this princefs is not to be reckoned one of the leaft circumstances of that wonderful fortune which ever attended her. Liberty, like an infant Jove, protected from the rage of profecution by priestly fanatics, now began to fhew itself abroad under the stern features of the puritan, whofe inflexibility of temper did not admit of those lenient mollifying arts, which had ever been the favourite and fuccessful inftruments of her policy. If, from the political, we turn to the moral part of this celebrated character, we fhall there too obferve the fame mixture of female artifice and envy; fometimes wanton by refinement, and fometimes, though rately, cruel in the extreme. I have hitherto omitted mentioning the execution of the Queen of Scots, as an action in which Elizabeth's avowed paffion of rivalfhip was much more concerned than the wellfeigned purpofes of intereft or religion. The fubject has already been fo thorough ly canvaffed, that a farther fcrutiny cannot be made into the conduct of either party, without the repetition of infipid tautology and I think we may plainly difcern, on the part of the British princ, a mind wholly devoted to its own purposes, an ear inattentive to the diftrefs of another, a face that could not blush, and a heart that could not feel. The capricious warrant for the death of : Effex, is perhaps another remaining inftance equally injurious to the humanity of Elizabeth's difpofition. Her difcernment of the characters and abilities of men has been the fruitful fubject of enlogium; and fome feem willing to reprefent her as the Afpafia of Britain, at whose school the Socrates and Pericles of the age were educated in the perfons of Bacon and Walfingham. But that the human genius is not called forth by the wand of power, and that there is a time of its fleep and death, which it cannot interrupt or ad vance, is an evidence eafily collected from the univerfal teftimony of history. If, therefore, the age abounded in men of fuperior talents, it was not owing to the plaftic hand of Elizabeth: the me rit of employing them in high office is ftill apparently hers, though that in a great measure must have depended on the indulgence of fortune, and the reciprocal advantage of mutual affiftances Her liberality, the fortunes of a few court-minions excepted, was by no means extenfive; and that its influence was ever diftinguifhedly fhed on the head of genius or public fervice, is not on record. Let it not, however, be denied, that in the great events of five and forty years of fuccefs, fuch small incidents may have escaped the crowded eye of hiftory. The Athenians dedicated an altar to a god without a name. We too will erect a monument to virtue, which has not been celebrated. But the fairest method of deter mining fuch unknown merit, would be by the measure of its reflection on immediate pofterity. All who die are honoured with tears. The friend is lamented by his furviving companion; the father of a family by his children: the funeral of a prince fhould be followed by the univerfal mourning of the people he governed. It is well known, that the behaviour of the nation, on the death of Elizabeth, amounted to fomething more than indifference; and we cannot fuppofe thofe private virtues to have had the brighteft luftre, whofe departing rays left fo faint a gloom of melancholy behind them. N. ANECDOTE OF FRANCIS II. THE PRESENT EMPEROR OF GERMANY. NONE of the princes of Germany have higher claims on the love of the people, or the eulogy of the modern bards, than the amiable and youthful monarch who now fills the imperial throne. Of his warlike atchievements, during the prefent campaign, the trump of fame has fufficiently informed you; but there is a trait of his heart in prirate and domeftic life, which I receive from the most unquestionable authority, and which will endear him to you more as a thousand victories. Jofeph the fecond, who was an eco nomilt, left to Leopold, who did not five long enough, after he became emperor, to difhpate (them) an unincumbered diadem and immenfe treafures. These all concentered in the prefent Emperor, to whom was bequeathed the difpofal of them fo unconditionally, that the dowager Empress his mother was, in a manner, rather a dependent on his bounty, than poffeffed of powers in her ff to claim as widow, wife, and mother. No fooner did the youth find limfelf thus dangerously placed, than he refolved to put it out of his own power to act unbecoming the fon of an emprefs and queen. Convening, therefore, his court and council, he appropriated an early day for his coronation, or rather 'bomination to the emperorip, (the regular ceremony being perfed long after, at Frankfort) and he intreated the honour that the Queendonager would affift, at it. The affembly was brilliant ; the young monarch rafe in the midst of it, and holding in his hand a feroll, thus addreffed him felf to his erinifters, in the presence of thousands of his fubjects:-" I perceive apalage of great importance is omitted in the will of my royal father. No fitable and independent provifion has been made for my beloved and imperial mother. The long tried virtues of that noble lady, the tender confidence and and domeftic love in which he lived with my father, convinces me, that it never could have been intended that fo good a wife, fo kind a parent, and fo excellent a woman, could be left in a ftate of dependence on her fon. Much more likely is it, that the fon fhould have been bequeathed to the commands, indulgence, and management of his mother. Or if it was intended that the fon fhould receive the whole revenues of the empire, it could only be in confidence that he would act as her agent, and fee that her private, her natural, and proper rights were paid into her coffers with the leaf care and inconvenience to herself. "In the latter cafe, I hope I fhould be found, throughout my reign, a faithful fteward of my dear parent and of the people; and, fuppofing, for a moment, this cafe a poffible one, I cannot be infenfible to the exalted affection and efteem the late emperor and king must have had for me, that he could, after his death, confide the fortunes of fuch a wife to the truft of his fon. But human nature is fo frail, and the truft is so awful, that I tremble while I poffefs it; and cannot, indeed, be easy, till I have dif burdened myself of the weight it impofes. To this end, my loving friends, ministers and fubjects, I have herein bound myfelf, (hewing the feroll) by an inftrument of the laft folemnity, to become refponfible in a yearly fum fuited to her rank although inferior to her defervings. And I have, as nearly as may be, made this difpofition from my private funds, and from fources the leaft likely to infringe on, or to affect, the treasures of the ftate, which I hold in trust also,→→ for the honour of my empire, and the profperity of Auftria; yet I confider myself as called upon by my fubjects to explain, account for, and justify every expenditure, before I make an arrangement in favour of any part of my own family; but I feel, at the fame time, that it is an act of duty and juftice on my part, which will be crowned by the fanction of all my people. "Here then, (madam, continued the royal youth,) dropping on his knee as he defcended |