winter, when whole families left their habitations and passed day and night under the canopy of heaven, in defiance of cold, as beggars on the highways. I will no longer torture the heart of the feeling reader, by more minutely depicting these shocking scenes. I then resided on an estate not far from Simbirsk, where, though yet a child, I felt my share of the universal want, and the sufferings of my brothers filled my heart with anguish.

In a neighbouring village lived Flor Silin, an industrious peasant, who cultivated his acres much better than his neighbours, for which reason he had always the richest harvest, and never had occasion to sell all his corn. The dry season came, and all the inhabitants of the village, Flor Silin alone excepted, were reduced to beggary. Yet was not industry his only virtue. Instead of taking advantage of the general dis tress, and selling his superfluous grain at an advanced price, he assembled the poorest of his neighbours, and thus addressed them: "Hark ye! my brethren; you are in want of corn, I have more than sufficient; help me to thresh out some measures, and every one take as much as he has occasion for."The peasants were quite thunderstruck; for noble sentiments are equally uncommon in a village, as in a city.

The report of Silin's benevolence spread through the whole vicinity, and the impoverished peasants from all the neighbouring villages came also to him, and begged for corn. The worthy Silin received them as brothers, and as long as he had any remaining rejected no one's petition. "At this rate," said his wife," we shall, at last, have none ourselves."-" In the Bible," answered Silin," it is written, Give, and it shall be given unto you."

The following year, God heard the intreaties of the poor, and blessed the harvest. The peasants, to whom Silin had given corn, now came, to pay their debts with interest. With tears in their eyes, they said to him; "Us and our children you have saved from perishing with hunger, and God alone can reward you for the noble deed-we can only pay that part of our debt with thanks."-"I am not at present in want of grain, my dear friends," answered Silin; "the harvest has turned out well with me. Return thanks to God; for He it was that relieved you in your misery, not I, a poor impotent individual." In vain the debtors pressed it on him. "No," said he, "I will not take your corn. But if you have a superfluity, share it with those unfortunate beings who, not possessing the means to sow their fields last harvest, now suffer from want. There are many of them in the neighbourhood. Let us help them, my dear brethren, and God will

VOL. II.

O

bless

bless us."-"Yes, that we will," returned the affected peasants, "we will divide this corn among the poor, and tell them, that 'tis you they must thank for the benefit; and at the same time bid them join us and our children in prayers to God for you." -Silin raised his tearful eyes towards heaven, but his feelings no pen can pourtray.

At another time, fourteen cottages being burnt down in a neighbouring village, Silin sent each of the sufferers two rubles and a scythe.

Soon after, a whole village was burnt down, and the poor inhabitants, who had nearly lost their all, took refuge with the worthy Silin; but his former benefits had disabled him from giving them assistance equal to his wishes. He was without moncy. "Yet," said he, "there is a horse, which at present I do not much want. Take it, and sell it."

For two female slaves, whom he had bought in the name of his landlord, he procured freedom, kept them as his own daughters, and afterwards gave them good portions.

If thou yet tarriest upon earth, thou philanthropist, Flor Silin, if thou hast not departed for a better country, and one more worthy of thee, where the hand of the Almighty will raise thee far above many kings and princes, thou art certainly still doing good to thy fellow creatures, and gaining a higher place in heaven. If ever I return to that country of which thou art the best ornament, with reverence shall I approach thy cottage, and in thy person pay homage to humanity and virtue; but if thou art no longer in existence, I will visit thy grave, and water it with my tears. A stone shall cover thy vault, and I will engrave on it with my own hands: "Here rest in peace the remains of a Noble Man.".

M. G.

KARAMSIN'S TRAVELS.

THE HE more rarely the Russians publish any accounts of their travels, the more incumbent it is upon us to make known the manner in which they view and judge of the various objects presented to their observation. Mr. Karamsin is not only a celebrated prose-writer, but a poet, and one of the fa

*He is still living, and one of my friends read to him this narration. The worthy old man, with tears, exclaimed: "No, I am unworthy of so much praise. Indeed I do not deserve it.

NOTE OF THE AUTHOR.

vourite

vourite authors of the inhabitants of Moscow. His travels, however, which were written ten years ago, do not excite so lively an interest as some other works of this class since, in respect to sentimental observations. They are inferior to the modern travels of Baggesen the learned Dane, called The Labyrinth, of which a German translation has been published; but they abound in observations equally just and striking, and contain some information relative to Russian literature, and many entertaining anecdotes. A second edition was published in 1798, and a German translation has appeared.

Our author sets out from Moscow, and goes to Berlin, from which capital he proceeds to Switzerland, &c. The passages we shall select for the entertainment and information of our readers, are from his observations on the northern parts of Europe.

Our author begins with an anecdote, which proves the extraordinary vigilance of the police of Petersburg as to passports. Having arrived there with a passport from Moscow, including a permission to quit the empire by land, he altered his plan, and wished to go by sea; but as his passport stated a different intention, he was not allowed to avail himself of it

any other way, and would not have been permitted to go by sea without a new passport. Between Narva and Riga the post houses are built of wood, and divided into two parts, one of which is occupied by the post master, and the other by the travellers, who there find all the requisite refreshments.

Our traveller perceived no other difference between the Esthonians and Livonians than those of language and dress. In these countries he scarcely saw any thing but forests, sandy deserts and marshes. The peasants there are very industrious, doubtless at the instigation of their lords, who sometimes complain of their idleness, although they yield four times as much as the serfs, for example, of Kasan; but in return they enjoy great gaiety on their festivals and holidays, which how ever are the more rare on account of their being Lutherans. On entering Riga the traveller instantly perceives he is in a commercial town by the great number of shops, the great con course of people in the streets, a river covered with ships and boats displaying colours belonging to all nations, an exchange crowded with merchants, and the German language, which so generally prevails that Russian is heard only here and there; nor are accounts kept in rubles, but in ecus. The town however is far from beautiful, and the streets are narrow, though the houses are built of stone, and some of

them

them are handsome. In the year 1799 its population was as follows:

Total 27,708

Beyond Mittau the fields are very rich. Courland is infinitely more fertile than Livonia, which latter the traveller might almost traverse with his eyes shut.

On entering Prussia, our traveller observes, that the soil appears in a still higher state of cultivation than in Courland, and that bread is very cheap there; but he says, there is no good bread, or any meat, to be had at the inns, though there is always plenty of coffee. We think it proper to remark, that the inhabitants of the south of Europe have no idea of the enormous consumption in the northern part of the continent of that valuable production of Africa and America. From Dresden to Hamburg there is not perhaps a single inn, however small, where those who are fond of coffee may not satisfy their taste, and that in great perfection; for the coffee is extremely good, especially in Saxony. What is called a portion contains at least three cups running over, as in France; and at whatever hour travellers arrive, they call for one of these, which is served up with cream.

A werst is about half a mile.

"Koningsberg, the capital of Prussia, is justly ranked as one of the largest cities of Europe, being fifteen wersts* in circumference, though it contains but 4,000 houses and 40,000 inhabitants. It was formerly one of the Hanseatic towns, and still carries on considerable trade. The garrison is so numerous, that scarcely any thing is to be seen but uniforms." This observation, which travellers so often have cause to make in Prussia, has given occasion to a very striking expression of M. Karamsin. Speaking of Potsdanı, he says, that city resembles a town of which all the inhabitants have fled from an approaching enemy, and the garrison alone remains to defend it.

Mr.

Mr. Karamsin then traverses Germany, where he becomes acquainted with the most distinguished literary characters, a circumstance which leads him to give his readers various information relative to Russian literature. He informs us that the ten first cantos of Klopstock have been translated into Russian, and well executed, though almost literally rendered; that the German literati were much pleased with the harmony of the Russian verses he recited to them; that Russia possesses two epic poems by M. de Cheraskaw, which will immortalize his name; and that a part of the Children's Friend, by Weise, has obtained the honour of a Russian translation, as also in particular his Monument in Arcadia.

Our traveller thus expresses himself relative to the various poets of Germany. "Herder, Göthe, and other writers, who seem as it were educated in the school of the ancient Greek poets, and animated with their spirit, have formed their style upon the model of the Greek language, and thus have enriched and rendered it more poetical. It is, perhaps, through not adopting this practice, that the French and English are destitute of those superb translations from the Greek, of which the Germans have so much reason to boast, where Homer is still Homer, and retains all that simplicity and nature which characterized the times in which he wrote when queens and princesses went to draw water at a fountain, and kings themselves counted the number of their flocks."

"9

Our polite traveller spoke to Wieland of a translation of some of his works into Russian, upon which the latter enquired how it was executed-" So as not to please those,' said M. Karamsin, who have read the original."" It is my lot," replied the German, "to be always disfigured by my translators. It has happened to me both in French and English,"

X.

THE NEW COLONY IN SIBERIA.

A LATE ukase has ordered a colony to be established in

Siberia, to commence this present year. It is at first to consist of ten thousand persons, and to be placed towards the south, on the confines of China. The climate is there tolerably temperate, and the soil in some places pretty good. "Not only agriculture," says the emperor, "may be there pur

sued