jects unforeseen, all this must evince in La Fantastici a wonderful command of powers: yet, judging from her studied and polished compositions, which are dull enough, I should suspect that this impromptu exercise seldom leads to poetical excellence. THEATRE.-ALFIERI. (From the Same.) Alfieri is, next to Dante, the Italian poet, most difficult to Italians themselves. His tragedies are too patriotic and austere for the Tuscan stage. Their construction is simple, perhaps too simple, too sparing of action and of agents.— Hence his heroes must often soliloquize, he must often describe what a Shakspeare would represent, and this to a nation immoderately fond of picture. Every thought, indeed, is warm, proper, energe tic; every word is necessary and precise; yet this very strength and compression, being new to the language and foreign to its genius, have rendered his style inverted, broken, and obscure; full of ellipses, and elisions; speckled even to affectation with Dantesque terms; without pliancy, or flow, or variety or ease. Yet where lives the tragic poet equal to Alfieri? Has England or France one that deserves the name? Schiller may excel him in those peals of terror which thunder through his gloomy and tempestuous scenes; but he is poorer in thought, and inferior in the mechanism of his dramas. Alfieri's conduct is more open than his works to ceusure. Though born in a monarchy, and living under mild princes, this count concentered in his heart all the pride, brutality, and violence of the purest aristocracies that ever raged in Genoa or Venice. Whoever was more or less than noble was the object of his hatred or his contempt. The same pen levelled his Tirannide against princes, and his Antigallican against plebeians. The patriotism which he once put on could never sit easy upon such a mind, nor fall naturally into the forms and postures of common life. He forced it on so violently, that it burst, and was thrown aside. This hatred of princes led him to dedicate his Agis to our Charles 1st. I admit the jurisdiction of posterity over the fanie of dead kings. But was it manly, was it humane, to call up the shade of an accomplished prince, a prince fully as unfortunate as he was criminal, on purpose to insult him with a mockdedication? and of all Italians, did this become Alfieri, the reputed husband of that very woman whose sterility has extinguished the race of Charles? His aristocratical pride, working on a splenetic constitution, breaks out into disgusting eccentricities, meets you at his very door, bars up all his approaches, and leaves himself in the solitude of a sultan. How unbecoming of a poet was his conduct to General Miollis, the declared friend of all poets living and dead! How often has he descended from his theatrical stateliness to the lowest scurrility! How true is his own description of himself! Or stimandomi Achille ed orTersite, LAST YEARS OF DJEZZAR. (From Dr. Clarke's Travels.) In our last visit to old Djezzar, we found his health visibly on the decline; but there was nothing he seemed more anxious to conceal from the knowledge of his subjects. The well-known fable of the dying lion was constantly present to his imagination; and no one better understood its moral application. Like the generality of ancient fables, it is, in fact, strikingly applicable to the policy and Almanners of Eastern nations. though the repose and stillness of his charem were better suited to the preservation of his life than the public duties of his palace, he knew too well the consequences of a rumour purporting his inability to transact the affairs of his govern ment, and therefore more readily granted audience to persons requesting admission to his presence; continuing his usual practice of cutting watch-papers, but being less ostentatious of his bodily vigour, and the exhibition of his Herculean strength. We found him, as before, with his feet bare, and a bottle of water by his side, but a more than ordinary covering of turbans appeared about his head and neck. Having thanked him for the many obligations he had conferred upon us, he inquired concerning our late journey, and seemed to possess great knowledge of the country, as well as some degree of information respecting its ancient history. Adverting to the dispute which took place between the author and one of the escort in the plain of Esdraelon, (of which he had been informed) he cautioned us against the imprudence of striking an Arab, unless with power to put him instantly to death; adding, "if you had been any where but in Djezzar's dominions, and under his protection, you would not have lived to tell the story. I know the inhabitants of this country better than any man, and have long found that they are not to be governed by halves. I have been deemed severe; but I trust you have found my name respected, and even beloved, notwithstanding my severity." This last observation was strictly true; for, in spite of all his cruelty, such was the veneration in which they held the name of Djezzar in many parts of the Holy Land, that many of the Arabs would have sacrificed As we were their lives for him. about to take leave, he acknowledged, for the first time, that he did not feel himself well, and complained of want of sleep; asking us if we perceived any change in his health. His interpreter told us that he had never before known an instance of a similar confession; and augured, from this circumstance, that he would not long sure vive; which proved true, although his death did not immediately fol low. His last moments were cha racteristic of his former life. The person whom he fixed upon for his successor, was among the number of his prisoners. Having sent for this man, he made known his intentions to him; telling him at the same time, that he would never enjoy peaceful dominion while cer tain of the princes of the country These men were then existed. er. fiving as hostages in Djezzar's pow You will not like to begin your reign," said he, "by slaughfering them; I will do that business for you :" accordingly, ordering them to be brought before him, he had them all put to death in his presence. Soon afterwards he died, leaving, as he had predicted, the undisturbed possession of a very extensive territory to his successor, Ismael Pasha: described by English travellers, who have since visited Acre, as a very umiable man, and in every thing the very reverse of this Herod of his time. CHARACTER OF ALGERNON SYDNEY. (From his Life, by Mr. Meadley.) The name of Algernon Sydney has been long illustrious in the annals of his country, and revered among the friends of freedorn as the champion and martyr of their cause. In vain have the apologists of courtly crimes endeavoured to traduce his character, and to bring public virtue into discredit, by impeaching the rectitude of his designs. Though prejudice and delusion might prevail for a moment, the atrocious calumnies were soon exposed; for the more minutely his conduct is investigated, the more free will it be found from every selfish stain. As a patriot, indeed, his character has been justly admired; but his virtues as a man have been neglected, or at least imperfectly understood. He has generally been considered as austere in his deportment, and devoid of those amenities, which con tribute so much to the happiness of social life. He was no doubt irascible, tenacious, and impatient of contradiction or control; but he was sincere, steady, and consistent in his attachments, and open in the avowal of his enmity or disgust.When he wished to acquire a commanding influence, few men possessed a more insinuating address; and he enjoyed, in return, the most unbounded confidence from his friends. His letters, particularly those he wrote from Italy to his father, display a heart alive to every tender sympathy, and vibrating with the most exquisite feelings. The sweetness of nature, so much noticed in his early years, may be traced in his subsequent progress; enabling him to acquire new friends in exile; and to defy the malice of his persecutors in the closing scenes of life. His kindness to Lord Strangford and his sister shows, that amidst the tumults of civil dissension, he was not regardless of the interest of his family, or the blessings of domestic peace. And the anxiety, which he felt from the unmerited resentment of his father, was more poignant, than what arose solely from the recollection of his other misfortunes. He appears to have been subject to occasional fits of despondency, when chagrined or wearied with the difficulties to which he was exposed. Retirement and study then became the solace of his wounded mind.But, that mind soon recovering its tone and elasticity, he was hurried again to mingle in more active scenes. Hence the apparent inconsistency of his conduct, in withdrawing himself, at times, altogether from society, and in again as suddenly recurring to the distractions of the busy world. Yet in business or in study his mind was equally alert, and few men were better qualified to shine in the councils of his country, or to uphold the interests of a sinking state. Sydney's talents, as a negociator, were displayed in his transactions at the Sound; and the wisdom of his measures were afterwards more clearly unfolded, in the steady adherence of Sweden to the English alliance; when the Danes, whom he was accused of compelJing to a disadvantageous treaty, forsook that alliance, from their more intimate connection with the Dutch. It was, however, in maintaining the beneficial schemes of an enlightened policy, that he was chiefly fitted to excel. He had no sympathy with the intriguers of an abandoned court; and if, after the restoration, his talents were required for the service of his country, it was to oppose, and not to forward, their designs. Aware of the evils inseparable from despotism, and the mischievous tendency of delusion on the minds of princes, Sydney was attached to a popular scheine of policy, which he deemed most conducive to the public good. But, free from all animosity and faction, in his resistance to the arbitrary proceedings of the Stuarts, he preserved the consistency of his principles, by refusing to acquiesce in the usurpation of Cromwell, or to countenance the triumph of the military over the civil power. The religious enthusiastn which so generally prevailed, had little influence on his mind; and his efforts were solely directed to secure the liberties of his country, by the es tablishment of a free constitution, founded on the only legitimate basis of government, the GENERAL WILL. He vindicated the lawfulness of resistance to oppressive rulers, as necessary to maintain the people's rights; and he challenged a degree of freedom, as essential to their happiness, which the advocates of regal authority are seldom disposed to allow. He esteemed himself free, because dependant on the will of no man, and struggled to assert the proud inheritance of an Englishman, against all unwarranted control. The love of liberty, and of his country, was deeply rooted in his mind; and he was incapable of doing any thing repugnant to his principles, even for the preservation of his life. As those principles were formed on the purest models of antiquity, they were free from that fanaticism and coarseness, which strongly characterized his age. He had a soul above disguise. His elevated sentiments and undoubted courage raised him above the little arts of the demagogue. He was a genuine republican, superior to all selfish considerations, and worthy to be handed down for the admiration of posterity, among the most distinguished patriots of Greece and Rome. Although, during the triumph of his party, Sydney declined to sit in judgment on a fallen Sovereign, he scorned to take advantage of such delicacy, in the reaction which afterwards ensued. He chose the hour of danger to avow his approbation of a sentence, in which he had not participated, rather than beliehis principles, aud disown his friends, Disdaining the honours and emoluments, which might have rewarded his apostacy, he preferred a state of poverty and exile, to the countenance of a profligate and licentious court. For a time, he retired from all interference in public affairs: till goaded by persecution, and roused by indignation at his country's spoilers, he strove to reanimate the drooping spirits of his party, to redress their wrongs. If he sought the assistance of Louis, he sought also the alliance of De Witt; and it should never be forgotten, that the great object of his solicitude, was to restore his native land to freedom, when honour and virtue were alike banished from the precincts of the palace and the throne. If pure and honourable motives are, in any case, admitted to justify doubtful or incautious conduct, let the same be equally allowed in others: and let not Sydney be too hastily condemned for attempting like Thrasybulus and Conon, in a desperate crisis, to assert the liberties of his country, by the aid of foreign powers. Or if he be condemned by the austerity of public virtue, let odium indiscriminately fall on those, who have pursued such measures on any similar pretence; since the morality of an action can in no wise be affected by its failure or success. If, in his subsequent retirement in the south of France, Sydney was indebted to that country for support, as well as for protection, a fact by no means clearly ascertained, he did not purchase it by any base compliance with the interest or caprices of the court; accepting merely that assistance, which few governments withhold from illustrious strangers in distress. His supposed connection with Barillon, at a later period, involves nothing inconsistent with the public weal. In a free country, no pensioner can be more dangerous than a pensioned king: and the arbitrary projects of an unworthy sovereign, meanly dependent upon foreign counsels, was, perhaps, most effectually counteracted, by his maintaining some intercourse with the person, who so long conducted the intrigue. The delicacy, and difficulty, of such transactions, certainly cannot be denied: but the importance and necessity of the end in view, with the purity and patriotism of the motive, will, in most cases, justify what is not actually and fundamentally wrong. very similar circumstances, Demosthenes received money from Persia, to maintain, against Macedon, the liberties of Greece. In Sydney has been hastily accused, by an historian* too lenient to the crimes of princes, of ingratitude to a sovereign who had pardoned him. But in his case no particular pardon was necessary; the Act of Indemnity absolving him from all responsibility for his conduct in the civil wars. At first, his exile was quite voluntary, from his detestation of the vices of the court; and the assurance of safety which was afterwards denied him was no farther requisite, than as a defence against unmerited persecution. When, therefore, he returned in compliance with the wishes of his dying father, a safe conduct was all that he required;—all that * See Hume's Hist. viii. 43, note, |