witneffes examined; next, the council for the prifoner pleads a couple of hours; then the advocate for the fifco replies during one hour; and after him the advocate of the poor makes a rejoinder, which he has a right to fpin out for two hours: this done, every one of the four judges harangues; then all the notifications are made, examinations canvaffed, proofs debated, and a thoufand trifling formalities obferved, which occafion fuch fhameful, infurmountable delays, as eternize a criminal procefs. It happened lately, that upon the final determination of 1 the trial and condemnation of a malefactor, a meffage was fent to the jailor to bring the culprit into court in order to receive fentence; when, behold! the turnkey appeared, and made affidavit that the prifoner had died of a long fit of fickness the Christmas twelvemonth before. As the falary of a judge in Naples is only fifty ducats a month (91 7s 6d) he cannot afford to be honeft or expeditious but the cafe is ftill worfe in the provinces, where the judges have but twenty-five ducats, and with that must keep a coach and proper household eftablishment. The fcrivani, or commiffaries, who have the department of warrants, arrefts, and police, are allowed no pay, though they muft keep thirty bailiffs a-piece under them; fo that they are naturally very active in taking up an offender, where there is a probability of extorting any money out of him when once in durance, the prifoner ceases to be an object of confideration to them, and therefore they take no pains to forward his trial, or bring him to juftice. There are at this day above twelve thoufand criminals rotting in the different prifons of the kingdom, whofe maintenance costs the ftate above two hundred thousand ducats a year (thirty-feven thousand five hundred pounds). The fishermen of Santa Lucia are the handfomeft men in Naples; they have the true old Grecian features, and fuch well-proportioned limbs, that they might ferve for models in any academy of defign: they are the most fubftantial and beft lodged portion of the Neapolitan populace. It is true, as moft writers affert, that the houferoom of this metropolis is very inadequate to the popula tion, which, according to authentic accounts, amounted, at the clofe of the year 1776, to three hundred and fifty thousand fixtyone fouls; and that numbers of thefe are deftitute of house and property. But it is not equally a fact, as they affert, that winter and fummer thefe houseless inhabitants pafs their lives in the open air, and fleep in all weathers in the ftreets. In fummer it is very pleasant fo to do, but in winter not even a dog could bear the inclemency of the weather, not fo much on account of cold, as of wet. When the rainy feafon fets in, it commonly lafts' feveral fucceffive weeks, falling, not in fuch show. ers as we are acquainted with in England, where we have rain more or lefs every month in the year, but by pailfuls, an abfolute water-fpout, that carries all before it, and almost drowns the unfortunate paffenger who is caught out of doors by the form. The quantity of rain at Naples is much more confiderable than that which falls Falls on the fame space of ground in England. Whole months of drought are compenfated by the deluge of a day and befides, the fouth winds are frequently fo boif. terous in winter, as to burft open the bolts of both doors and windows. At that rainy time of the year, few are fo wretched and helpless as to lie in the street; but moft of the vagrants refort to the caves under Capodi Monte, where they fleep in crowds like fheep in a pinfold. As they are thus provided with a dwelling, for which no rent is exacted, they alfo procure food without the trouble of cooking or keeping houfe: the markets and principal ftreets are lined with fellers of macaroni, fried and boiled fifh, puddings, cakes, and vegetables of all forts; where, for a very fmall fum, which he may earn by a little labour, running of errands, or picking of pockets, the lazaro finds a ready meal at all hours: the flaggon hanging out at every corner invites him to quench his thirft with wine; or if he prefers water, as most of them do, there are ftalls in all the thoroughfares, where lemonade and iced water are fold. The paffion for iced water is fo great and fo general at Naples, that none but mere beg. gars will drink it in its natural state; and, I believe, a fcarcity of bread would not be more feverely felt than a failure of fnow. It is brought in boats every morning from the mountains behind Caftelamare, and is farmed out at a great rent. The Jefuits, who poffetfed a large capital, as well as the true fpirit of enterprize, had purchased the exclufive privilege of fupplying the city with it. Very little fuffices to clothe the lazaro, except on holidays; and then he is indeed tawdrily decked out, with laced jacket and flamecoloured ftockings: his buckles are of enormous magnitude, and feem to be the prototype of those with which our prefent men of mode load their infteps The women are alfo very fplendid on thofe days of fhew; but their hair is then bound up in tiffue caps and fcarlet nets: a fashion much less becoming than their every day fimple method. Citizens and lawyers are plain enough in their apparel, but the female part of their family vies with the first court ladies in expenfive drefs, and all the vanities of modifh fopperies. Luxury has of late advanced with gigantic ftrides in Naples. Forty years ago, the Neapolitan ladies wore nets and ribbons on their heads, as the Spanish women do to this day, and not twenty of them were poffefled of a cap: but hair plainly dreft is a mode now confined to the lowest order of inhabitants; and all diftinction of drefs between the wife of a nobleman and that of a citizen is entirely laid afide. Expence and extravagance are here in the extreme. The great families are oppreft with a load of debt; the working part of the community always fpend the price of their labour before they receive it; and the citizen is reduced to great parfimony, and almoft penury, in his houfe-keeping, in order to answer thefe demands of external fhew: fhort commons at home whet his appetite when invited out to dinner; and it is fcarce credible what quantities of victuals he will devour. The no bility bility in general are well-ferved, and live comfortably, but it is not their custom to admit ftrangers to their table; the number of poor dependants who dine with them, and cannot properly be introduced into company, prevents the great families from inviting foreigners: another reafon may be, their fleeping after dinner in fo regular a manner as to undrefs and go to bed. No ladies or gentlemen finish their toilet till the afternoon, on which account they dine at twelve or one o'clock. The great officers of state and minifters, live in a different manner, and keep fumptuous tables, to which strangers and others have frequent invitations. The establishment of a Neapolitan grandee's household is upon a very expenfive plan; the number of fervants, carriages, and horfes, would fuffice for a fovereign prince; and the wardrobe of their wives is formed upon the fame magnificent feale; yet it is a fixed rule, that all ladies, whatever be the circumftance of their hufbands, affluent or circumfcribed, have an hundred ducats a month, and no more, allowed them for pin-money. At the birth of every child, the husband makes his wife a prefent of an hundred ounces, and fome valuable trinkets, according to his fortune. Marriage portions are not very great in general; it does not coft a nobleman more to marry a daughter than it does to make her a nun; for a thousand pounds will not defray the expence of the ceremonies at her reception and profeffion: fhe must have fion fettled upon her; and referves, befides, a power over her inheritance, in cafe the fhall ar pen rive at any dignity in the convent, and with to enrich it with build. ings, plate, or vestments. Servants and artificers of the city give from fifty to an hundred ducats with their daughters; peafants and country workmen go as far as three hundred. Females at and near Naples are esteemed helplefs and indolent, and therefore have always twice or thrice as much fortune as their brothers, who have greater refources in their ftrength and activity. A girl would fcarce get a husband, if her lover did not expect to be reimburfed by her portion the fum he had paid away with his own fifters. In the plains, it is cuftomary for a peafant, on the birth of a daughter, to plant a row of poplar trees, which are down and fold at the end of feventeen years, to make up a for tune for her. The proverbial be nediction of Figlij maschi (male children) which a Neapolitan gives a woman when the fneezes, is founded on the great facility with which the common people provide for their fons: as foon as they can run about they are able to earn their bread, while their fifters remain idle at home, or beg till they are old enough to attract the notice of the men. cut clear up certain doubts refpecting Charles the Twelfth. I will endeavour, to the best of my power, to refolve your questions refpecting a prince who was for a length of time the polar star of the military world, and will remain to after-ages its most dazzling meteor. You may at any rate reft affured, that I shall not give you a fingle anecdote but what I have heard from thofe who were eyewitneffes to every tranfaction. To begin with the vifit he paid to his principal enemy King Auguitus at Drefden, you need not entertain the fmalleft doubt of it, however extraordinary it may appear to you. Charles was not a man of the common ftamp: he might fay, like Father Arduin, What! do I rife every morning two hours before day, to think like the rest of mankind? In fact, it was a whim that he determined to indulge. The Swedish army was then on its march towards Ruffia. One morning, as it was filing off not far from Drefden, the king fuddenly departed with two companions on horfeback, directing his courfe to the city. One of his attendants he leaves at the gate as a centinel, and rides inmediately to the palace with the other, whom he leaves in the fame manner; giving him his horse in charge while he afcends the fairs, and enters the apartments of King Auguftus, before he had rifen from his bed. Thus was the king obliged to get up without ceremony, and drefs himself in the prefence of the man who had just before driven him from his throne. Charles' remained with him about three VOL. XXV. quarters of an hour; during which time he fcarcely ever took his eyes off him, nor would give him an opportunity of fpeaking to any perfon; not even to a page or valet, much lefs to the minifter, who came as foon as he heard of the King of Sweden's arrival. It happened, as they were walking through the rooms of the palace, that Charles first paffed through one of the doors, when the minifter feized that opportunity of making figns, to know whether it was the king's pleasure that he fhould be detained; to which he made a fignal in the negative. The vifit turned out a mere affair of ceremony; and Charles being conducted by Auguftus to the gate of the palace, he there mounted his horie, and fet off full fpeed to join his army, which he found in the utmost anxiety about him. As foon as it was known that the king had entered Drefden, not feeing him return immediately, they thought every quarter of an hour an age, and became fo impatient as to think of no less than marching up to the town, and laying fiege to it, in order to recover their prince. When in quarters in Saxony, his defign was to march into the heart of the empire, and with his victorious arms to give law to Europe, which was then divided about the Spanish fucceffion. Many reafons have been given for the ftep he took afterwards, of leaving the empire, and turning his arms against Ruffia. What principally urged him to this was, according to the best-received authors, a note of one hundred thousand pounds fterling given to C fomebody fomebody by the Duke of Marlborough. Momentumque fuit mutatus curio rerum. The duke finished the bufinefs of exafperating him against the Czar, towards whom he had already a violent animofity; and pointed out to him the glory of crushing his only rival, and of becoming the arbiter of the north, which would in the end make him the arbiter of Europe. There were two ways to march into Ruffia; the one by Livonia, a Swedish country on the fea-coaft, abounding with grain, which would fubfift his army; whence entering into the fertile provinces of Ruffia, he might direct his march to Moscow, with eafe and convenience, along the banks of navigable rivers: the other was by Poland and Ucrania, to which he was invited by the Coffack Mazeppa, a malcontent, who promifed him every kind of affiftance; and by this route he might fall at once upon Mofcow, which would Of decide the fate of Ruffia. these two, Charles himself chofe that which was more worthy of his courage than his prudence; as was fully proved by the hardships his troops were obliged to go through, and the extreme mifery to which they were at length reduced. Charles's laft campaign against the Danes, wherein he loft his life, was planned indeed entirely by himself; which was not the cafe with regard to his first enterprifes, that were followed with fo great fuccefs: in thefe, though he was the Achilles, fome other was the Chiton. It was always his custom to charge the enemy at the head of his cavalry: the difpofition of the battle was left to Levenhaupt. The famous difembarkation at Copenhagen, with which Charles, while yet a youth, opened his military career, was projected by General Stuart; the attack of the enemy's trenches at Narva, which brought to mind the exploits of the Greeks against the Perfians, by one Gundvil. General Altendorf conceived the idea of the famous paffage of the Duna, where fome rafts being floated down the stream with wet ftraw on them, which was set fire to, the Swedish army paffed the river, covered by the finoke from the enemy, who was to leeward: a ftratagem first put in practice by Hannibal. His army was ftrengthened by the prefence of feveral brave and experienced generals, who had ferved under Charles the Eleventh, his father; who might be of infinite fervice to him in council, as Philip's officers were to Alexander. It was not fo with the Czar, his enemy, who derived instruction from his defeats alone. He reaped more benefit, however, from thefe defeats, than Charles did even from his victories. The fuc cefs of the engagement at Pultowa he owed entirely to himself; in which he had to do with the most terrible enemy he ever had upon his hands; over whom this battle gave him a complete and decifive advantage: a battle that might be called the modern Pharfalia. Charles having arrived, after fuffering many difficulties, in U. crania, found the great promifes of Mazeppa, who had engaged to |