have more power over the young than the old; over those of warm than those of cold temperament; over those of a licentious than those of a pure education.

The French police, so celebrated under the old French monarchy, seems, according to the account of our traveller, to retain a portion of its former vigilance.

"The diabolical system of spies is carried to such a height, that every action, almost every thought, inimical to the government, is registered; and resorted to as occasion may require, or caprice may dictate. In order to shew you how vigilant the police is, I need only mention a circumstance which happened a short time since to a friend of mine. He came from the country late in the day, after an absence of many years from Paris; and on his arrival was invited by two of his most intimate friends to supper. In the course of the evening, the conversation turned upon the projected invasion of England; must know that Buonaparte already talks of landing among you. My friend, having passed many years there, stated, that from the observation he had made of our national love for our country, our our natural antipathy to France, and various other reasons, he thought the success of such an attempt extremely improbable. After supper, he retired to his lodging at eleven o'clock: and the next day at eight in the morning, had a summons to attend the police-office, where every word that he had uttered the night before was repeated; and he was admonished not to hold a similar language in future, as it might involve him in serious trouble.”

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Mr. Williams observes, that the dwelling-houses are lofty, and each story inhabited by a separate family, as in Scotland; hence the greater number cannot enjoy the conveniences of a ground-floor. This mode of living is very unfavourable to cleanliness. All kind of dirt is thrown into a vessel provided for the purpose, and placed in the kitchen; which is, consequently, filled with an ungrateful odour, This vessel can be emptied only

by being carried down stairs. Servants are lazy, the vessel gets full, and is not emptied immediately; dirt accumulates about the kitchen, because there is no where to put it. Thus the eye becomes accustomed to the sight, and the nose to the smell of filth; the two senses which are the chief guardians over cleanliness are lulled asleep; dirty habits travel by degrees from the kitchen to the parlour. The neatness which appears in the familyroom depends on the mistress, who being compelled in attending to her housewifery concerns to visit the kitchen frequently, becomes · habituated to the sight of dirt, and thus thinks a slovenly parlour neat by comparison. The inhabitants of the ground floor who are not exposed to these inconveniences, become corrupted by example, and by the reception of servants who have been trained As long up above stairs. as the present dwelling-houses in France and Scotland continue to be inhabited, the people will retain much of the dirty habits for which they are remarkable.

The vigilance of the English cruizers has so much interrupted the external commerce of France, as to have ruined many of the merchants of Dunkirk, Nantes, Bourdeaux, Bayonne, and Marseilles.

To facilitate the internal navigation of France, Bonaparte is said to have projected the following canals.

It is

"1. The canal which is to supply Paris with water from the river Ourcq: this is in a state of forwardness. then to be continued to Rouen, and thence to Dieppe a communication between the latter place and Paris will be the result, without the necessity of going up the Seine, which is not at all times safe.

"2. The canal of the Ardennes. This

canal is intended to connect the Meuse with the Aine by means of the river Bar. The Rhine will thus communicate with the ocean by the Meuse, Bar, Aine, Oise, and

church in every place, ascertain its length, breadth, and heighth, and examine all the parts and proportions as accurately as if he had been a master-mason, and about to erect one upon the same plan. He was to make himself acquainted with all the municipal institutions; and in sea ports and fortified places to enter into such minute enquiries as would probably soon have reduced his majesty to the necessity of revealing who he was, and in our days would have introduced him to Fouche in France, and the Alien Office in England. He was to learn how the streets were cleaned, what precautions were taken against contagion, how the inhabitants kept themselves cool when it was hot weather, how they warmed themselves when it was cold, how they guarded against inundations, what sort of ovens were in use, what sort of chimnies they constructed, if they were good fencing-masters, and good riding-masters, who the learned men were, and what books they had written.

A book with a long title to the same purport was published some years ago in English by Count Leopold Berchholdt, a very extraordinary man who has written books in every European language, and in Arabic also. German like, he sorted, sifted, and separated, divided, and sub-divided all the topics of enquiry; and the traveller who should follow the letter of his instructions, would have to go through a catechism ten times as long as that which was prepared for the king. But good advice will no more make a good traveller, than it will a good painter, or a good poet. The more systematically a book of travels is written, the worse it is likely to prove. An author who rides post through a country, like Mr. Semple, and relates all that he saw and heard on his way, will make a more amusing journal and pro

bably a less erroneous one, than if he had asked the whole two hundred and twelve questions which were prepared for the king.

Mr. Semple sailed for Lisbon in the Falmouth packet. The first thing which he says respecting Portugal is erroneous. Speaking of the Rock of Lisbon (which he should certainly have called either by its English, or its vernacular name, not by a French one), he says, 66 a convent, said to be built of cork, forms a conspicuous object near the summit of the mountains. In this convent every thing is made of cork where it can possibly be employed. Even the plates are of that material." The building which he saw is the Penha convent, so called from its situation on the summit, it is of stone, and of no inconsiderable size. The cork convent is not visi ble from the sea, nor indeed from any distance. This place is not built of cork, according to the common story which Mr. Semple heard, but as the situation is remarkably damp, the cells are lined or wainscotted, and roofed with it. Wherever indeed there is plenty of cork it is employed by the peasantry for many purposes, in preference to wood; stools, for instance, and cradles, are made of it. There is nothing wonderful in this convent: but it is a delightful evening's ride from Cintra; the place is solitary and singular: all English travellers mount their burros and visit it; and because they call it the cork convent, the story gets abroad that it is built of cork, and this is repeated in books.

lishman begins to observe something of "On approaching the shore, the Engnovelty. Heavy fishing-boats with large lateen sails plunge through a rough sea, and outstrip the packet. If they come near enough, his attention is drawn toward the mariners, whose dark complexions, meagre countenances, and ragged dress, immediately announce a

different race of men from those of the same occupation whom he has just left. We fire a gun, and one of them tacks toward us to put a pilot on board: As the sea is rough, this is a matter of some difficulty, and we are struck with the noise and vociferation of the people in the bark, who all, from the steersman down to the youngest boy, give directions how it is to be done. At length our pilot seizes a rope and drags himself upon deck. He is ragged and meagre, but not badly made; and in place of boots, he has two wisps of straw wrapped round his legs. He seems perfectly conscious however of the dignity of his character, and that he is a man of some weight in society. He gives his orders with precision, and to shew his consequence reprimands without cause the sailor at the helm, who in return, asks him where he bought his boots. The tide and wind both favouring us, however, we sail fastly up the gulph of the Tagus, and after being visited by the health-boat, anchor the same evening off Lisbon.

"This city can never cease to be a place of consequence whilst trade and commerce flourish in Europe. Had it not been for political events and considerations, it would probably have become the capital of Spain, there being no situation possessed of equal advantages in the whole Peninsula, as it may be called, of Europe, south of the Pyrenees. It is built upon several hills, the number of which it is not easy to ascertain amidst so many buildings; but which the natives say, amount to seven, like those of ancient Rome. It may rather be said to stand upon an arm of the sea, into which the Tagus falls, than upon the Tagus itself; that river not being navigable even for boats in all its long course, till within twelve or fourteen leagues of Lisbon, and the water before the town being salt, and frequently so rough, as to endanger the ships at anchor there. The inhabitants of Lishen, however, who are jealous of the honor of their river, affirm this to be a frivolous distinction, and that in the time of the rains, an immense body of fresh water is here brought down, so as often, to cause more damage to the shipping than is ever occasioned by the wind and tide from the sea. However that may be, the situation is admirable,

and the town, full of churches, palaces, domes, and spires, rising from the edge of the water up the ascents and over the tops of so many hills, presents from the bay one of the noblest views that can be imagined, and superior perhaps to that of any city in the world. In whatever situation we view it during our approach, it is imposing, but when we land the delusion vanishes. The streets are badly paved and full of filth; the houses, with here and there a latticed window, have a melancholy appearance, and the inhabitants, some in rags, and the remainder in dark coloured clothes, render the whole still more gloomy. The powerful influence of climate already becomes perceptible. The Portuguese are generally dark complexioned and thin, with black hair, irascible and revengeful in their tempers, and eager in their gestures on trivial occasions. They are also said to be indolent, deceitful, and cowardly; but they are temperate in diet, and that may be classed at the head of their virtues, if indeed they have many more to add to it. They affect to talk of the Spaniards with great contempt, as being perhaps the next despicable nation to themselves with which they are acquainted. They have no public spirit, and consequently no national character. An Englishman or Frenchman may be distinguished in foreign countries by an air and manners peculiar to his nation, and which he would attempt in vain to disguise; but any meagre swarthy man may pass for a Portuguese."

Mr. Semple it appears was exactly twelve days at Lisbon; he then rode post to the nearest part of the frontiers, and in two days more was in Spain. In the course of a fortnight a traveller may certainly know whether a people are clean or dirty in their habits, and may describe their general appearance; but it is somewhat premature to catalogue their vices, and pass sentence on a whole nation as having no public spirit, and no national character.

Sins of the Government, Sins of the Nation,' was the title of an excellent little book, published by an excellent authoress at the beginning

of the last war. Morally and religiously speaking they are so; but the proposition may be reversed, and of all men an Englishman should be the last to condemn any people for the imbecility of their governors; he should be ready to do unto other nations the justice which they do unto his. A little reflection would make travellers less hasty and more charitable in their opinions. Lisbon is one of the greatest seaports in Europe: now, though sailors are proverbially the most generous race of men in the world, that half and half-breed who ply about shore, are of a very different character; they are every where notorious for roguery,-the sharks, as they are called, of our own coast, not the least so. These are the first people into whose hands a foreigner must fall in every country; he finds out that he has been cheated by them, and complains of the dishonesty of the nation. In sea ports there will be a greater proportion of disorderly persons of both sexes than in the interior, consequently more quarrels will take place, and more outrages be committed. This is not remembered by travellers when they judge of Portugal by Lisbon; neither do they remember that vice every where walks the streets, and virtue stays at home; that bad actions become public, and good ones are done in privacy. They commit another error in judging of the Lisboners by those whom they see in the streets. The better classes never walk abroad; it is not the custom of the country: in hot weather it would be impossible; it would be impossible also during the rains, and there is not much temp tation to it when the season is suitable: such is the intolerable filth of the streets; the pavement is not fitted for female feet, nor are the shops yet baited for female vanity. Yet, even as it is, the general appearance of the people in any fre

quented part of the city, is any thing rather than gloomy; and if Mr. Semple had been present on one of those days when the better classes show themselves; in Lent, for instance, when they visit the churches, or at the procession of the Body of God, he would have seen something more splendid than ever London with all its opulence exhibits.

There are two modes of travelling from Lisbon to Madrid: on horseback with post-horses, or in a calessa (caleche the word is here improperly written), an open carriage which goes only a foot-pace. Mr. Semple found two companions who were about to go post, and joined them. Whatever could be seen on the gallop, he saw and has well described; but travelling post is not the best method of seeing a country. On reaching Madrid he begins to meditate upon the track of country which he has past, and to map out the direction of its mountains. Mr. Semple reviews also the road which he has travelled, and repeats an idle story that the Portuguese have led it purposely over the most difficult and rocky ground, and never repair it, because "they do not wish to make a road to Lisbon for the Spaniards." But this traveller who had crossed the Tagus himself should have remembered when he heard this foolish imputation, that the river effectually protects Lisbon on that side, and that this therefore is not the road which the Spaniards would take if they were marching there.

Quien te quiere no te sabe, Quien te sabe no te quiere, is the saying of an old poet respecting Madrid;

He who likes thee does not know thee,
He who knows thee does not like thee.

The first thing which strikes every stranger in this city is the want of a navigable river; for the