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Merry. What? call you it a misery "to slip and fall in a ludicrons posture in skaiting?"-This is the best amusement of the sport. It excites more merriment than if one should run ten miles without a fall. It makes those around laugh so heartily, that the person who falls cannot but laugh himself full as merrily as any one among them. Look at boys amidst their diversions-the merriment comes chiefly from the tricks, ludicrous accidents, and surprises, such as your fall on the ice, which happens as the game proceeds.

In the above, and in many others, this writer has taken Mr. B's “Miseries," for the text of his reply. The following is our author's last Comfort.

When Jove had bestowed on man every blessing which nature presents; and was returning to Heaven:-he cast one look back upon his new-born favourite. It seemed to his tenderness, that something more might be bestowed. He gave him, to crown the whole, the power of laughter, and the sense of the ridiculous!

We never expect that " Second Parts," should equal the First Part, of any work of imagination; nor that imitators should surpass their originals: the first pressure of the grapes makes the best wine; and whoever adopts the thought of another, is like him who adopts another man's child, he can treat it with a secondary affection only; there are a thousand little delicacies apparent to the real father, which pass unnoticed by the foster-paient; and yet, attention to these delicacies is necessary, if the offspring is to be reared to virtuous maturity.

Œuvres de Louis XIV: The Works of Louis XIV, &c. (Resumed from page 493.)

We attempted in our last number to pourtray the general spirit of the connections between Louis XIV. and Charles II., and we gave, in Louis's own words, the hitherto unknown details of the two first transactions between these monarchs. We are induced to draw now from the same source, some very curious particulars of the war which ended in the peace of Breda. Besides the novelty in the mode of negociation then adopted by Louis, it will be proved by his own testimony, that his intrigues with the English factions as well as his baneful influence over Charles, date from a much earlier period than has been suspected.

The death of the King of Spain * and the war between the Engfsh and the United States, which happened nearly at the same time, afforded me at once two glorious oppor tunities of trying my arms; one against the Spaniards, for the rights accruing to the Queen, by the death of the King her father; the other against the English, in defence of the States of Holland, according to the treaty I had lately made with them.

The King of Great Britain supplied me, indeed, with a tolerable pretence to get rid of this last quarrel, by affirming that the Dutch were the aggressors; and that I was bound to assist them only in case they were attacked, and though on the other hand, the Dutch did their utmost to prove the contrary, yet it is certain, that they never would have been able to convince me, had I pleased to affect any degree of doubt.

But though it was much to my interest to seize such a fair opportunity of remaining neutral, yet I could not help acting honestly according to the knowledge I had of the aggression on the side of England.

1, however delayed declaring myself, to try to conciliate matters; but seeing my intervention ineffectual, and fearing lest the two parties should come to an understanding at my expense, I, at last, took openly that part,

Philip IV. deceased September 17, 1665.

I was bound to take. But it remained for me to determine whether I should at the same engage in a double war against England, time and Spain, for my own interests and those of my allies; or, whether I should only at that time take up the quarrel of Holland, waiting for a more favourable opportunity to terminate

my own.

Here Louis details the various considerations which might have decided him; nothing, he owns, could have urged him to undertake that double war, but the prospect of glory which the perilous undertaking offered; and this was balanced by the fear of closely connecting the Spaniards with the English; and of seeing thereby these islanders obtain an establishment on the Continent; from which it would have been a hard matter to drive them. He saw on the other hand, that his quarrel with England was not Jikely to be pushed to any great extremities; and that, under the cover of such a mock war, he might, without much suspicion, make the necessary preparations for his intended breach with Spain; these he accordingly set about with much industry, and when they were in some forwardness, he began to think it was time to act honestly by his allies.

Nothing now remained for me to do, says Louis XIV. Before I began the war, but to contrive how to declare it; for, as I was all along determined, to put an end to it as soon as possible, I was glad to act towards the King of England with as much courtesy as possible; and the best way I could hit upon, was to get the intelligence conveyed to him, in the form of a compliment, through the means of the Queen his mother, who then was in Paris. I therefore requested of her, simply to let him know that the peculiar esteem I had for him, made it excessively painfat to me, to be compelled by my engagements to come to this resolution; and this appeared to her so very polite, that she not only promised to let him know, but also thought he ought to be obliged to me for it.

And indeed, I may say that this language was perfectly consonant with my feelings, for I really always had a most particular regard for the King of Great Britain, as I am also convinced that, in the beginning of this war, he, on his side, had been urged by the voice of the people, much farther than he would have gone, had he only consulted his own inclination.

As long as advantages were pretty well balanced between England and Holland, Louis was satisfied with making empty

demonstrations of warlike activity, and spectator than as an ally; but when a appeared more in reality as a pleased brilliant naval victory had given the English a decided superiority, he then thought it high time to check their progress. The means he devised we shall give in his own words, requesting our readers to recollect the particular regard he professed for Charles II.

While this event [the naval victory] seemed to preclude the possibility of our effecting a junction, I was on my side seeking some hand I kept intelligence with the remains secret means to weaken the English. On one of Cromwell's faction, in hopes to excite some new troubles in London, through their means; and on the other, I was practising on the Irish catholics, who being always highly dissatisfied with their situation, seemed also always ready to make some attempt to better it.

In these ideas I listened to the propositions made to me by Sidney, an English gentleman, who offered to excite an insurrection in a short time, if I would let him have 100,000 crowns (from the then value of money, about £30,000). But I thought this sum rather too considerable to be thus advanced on the promises of a fugitive, unless I could see some previous dispositions towards their accomplishment: I therefore offered him 20,000 crowns, only, ready money, pledging myself to send the insurgents such assistance, as they should need, so soon as they would be likely to avail themselves of it successfully.

In the midst of all these intrigues, Louis was ardently wishing for that peace which was to forward his ambitious views. A negociation opened for that purpose at the Queen of England's (Henrietta) house in Paris had failed. In the mean time, Rouvigny a man of considerable merit, and connected with the first English families, had, by order of the French King, kept a constant intercourse with Lord St. Albans, who was in London at the head of a party desirous of peace. The motive of Lord St. Albans was, the wish of seeing the Queen dowager of England, whom Louis broadly calls his mistress, though it should seem he was privately married to her. At last both parties being pretty

This was the famous Algernon Sidney. It appears by a letter from Colbert de Croissi to Louis, that he was still in Paris in 1700. These early connections of Louis XIV with the English actions, have escaped Dalrymple; who places the beginning of them later; probably even this is not their commencement.

settlement in the demarcation of empires can possibly be expected, while changes depend on the whim of the strongest, without any other rule or guide but the coloured windings of a map; while public right is only a branch of geography, and diplomacy is a mere science of curiosity, a kind of dead language, fit for the learned, rather than for negociators.

Of Louis's unprincipled political bargains, the first in magnitude is certainly the treaty which partitioned Spain, during the life of its sovereign. We shall give an abridged account of this transaction. Torcy hardly notices it in his Memoirs, Bolingbroke only mentions it as known to him, like Henault and Mably. Voltaire is the first who gave any details on this head, but these are insuflicient and inac curate, as is too often the case with that lively writer. The document from which we draw our information, is annexed to the collection before us, it forms a part of a secret history of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, composed by Mr. SaintPret, keeper of the archives of the foreign department, in France; a manuscript copy of which, made in 1731 by Mr. le Dran, first clerk to this establishinent, is in the hands of the editors.

October 20, 1667, Mr. Wicka, the Emperor's ambassador at the court of France, gave a grand dinner, to celebrate the birth of a prince, son of his master. Thither Louis sent the Landgrave William of Furstenberg, to be the first to propose the health of the Emperor. During the entertainment, Mr. Wicka told the Landgrave that the court of Vienna would now listen more willingly to the proposition of an eventual treaty, than it had done before. This was enough to induce Lionne (the French minister for foreign affairs) to dispatch immediately a courier to M. Gremonville, the French ambassador at Vienna, with instructions to discover, if possible, whether such really was the intentions of the Emperor, and to say, in that case, that if the two courts could agree in this important point, the French king would willingly make peace, at present, with the Spaniards; reserving only what he had conquered in Flanders in the last campaign. Greinonville lost no time in tampering with the Emperor's ministers; he first saw Prince Lobkowitz, who denied that Mr. Wicka had been authorised in what he had said, but appeared much in favour of the project; doubting however Louis's sincerity.

He

meanwhile referred Mr. Gremonville to Prince Aversberg, as likely to have more weight with the Emperor. This minister,

like his colleague, had his doubts as to the King's real intentions; he was however induced to propose the matter to his master, by the promise of a Cardinal's hat; which he passionately desired, but which Louis never procured for him.

Four days after Prince Aversberg gave M. Gremonville the answer of the Emperor, who consented to enter into negociation on the subject; provided he could be assured of the French King's sincerity; and on condition that it should be immediately commenced, without any one else being privy to it.

Louis accepted these conditions, and lost no time in sending M. Gremonville his instructions, and full powers, enabling him to sign such a treaty, as would contain the following conditions. That his catholic Majesty should make peace with Portugal on terms already agreed between them, and acknowledge it as an independent kingdom. That in or der to satisfy his most Christian Majesty, for the rights of the Queen in the Low Countries, his Catholic Majesty should confirm to the King of France the possession of what he had conquered in Flanders, in his last campaign; or some equivalent in the same country, specified in the instructions. As to the partitiontreaty, Louis gives his minister a variety of plans wherein he was successively to intrench himself in case he should be too hard pressed, rather than to break off the negociation the last of which was, that Louis would be satisfied with the possession of Flanders (so intent was he on this point) Sicily and Sardinia; leaving to the Emperor the other vast possessions of the Spanish monarchy.

Gremonville having received his powers, began the negociations with Prince Aversperg. After as much finesse, and as many debates, as if they had been conveying the actual property of their respective sovereigns, these ministers at last signed a definitive treaty January 19, 1668. The conditions of peace with Spain were such as Louis himself proposed; such as had been already settled with the states of Holland, and which the triple alliance, concluded in January, 1668, was intended to enforce. It was moreover stipulated, that the Emperor should give the Spaniards till the end of March to accept, or refuse, these terms; in which last case, he should afford thei no munner of assistance.

Such was the craft, such were the politics, of Louis XIV! Could he have foreseen that the issue of his contrivances would have been the expulsion of his fa

cies, the fortress of Rosas, the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily (these last were granted by Prince Aversberg in consideration of the cardinal's hat promised to him : the money lavished on the occasion is not mentioned) the Philippines, and the town on the coast of Africa; the Emperor was to have the rest of the Spanish monarchy. It was also stipulated that each of the parties should assist the other in getting possession of his respective share; and it was agreed, that for secrecy and security, the original of the treaty should be put in a sealed box, and committed to the custody of the grand Duke of Tuscany. To this, however, Louis soon after objected, fearing some indiscretion; the treaty was in consequence, made in duplicates, and Louis sent a party of his body guards to Vienna to convey the counter-part, which he was to keep.

The author affirms, that Louis XIV expressed the highest satisfaction in receiving the first copy of this treaty; saying, that the repose of Europe was now insured for a long time; this is still the language held at every new usurpation; and with as little truth now as it was then; for war broke out four years afterwards. This treaty was in the issue set aside, and the plan of partition became the cause of most sanguinary contests.

It may be observed here, how vain was the boast of the framers of the triple alliance, echoed by all historians, that this coalition had forced Louis to accede to the conditions of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. We have seen that the treaty concluded with the emperor had rendered it perfectly nugatory; nor could he, who in 1666, contracted a secret agreement with Charles II, then his enemy, have found it a very difficult matter to separate him from his new allies. Indeed, Charles himself seems to have courted seduction, for hardly had he signed that treaty when he pettishly excuses himself for so doing, and writes to his sister, the Duchess of Orleans; that the coolness, with which his offers had been received on one side had compelled him to take part with the other," this letter of January 28, 1658, we quote memoriter, from Dalrymple,

the century was expired in which he died, what a bitter and nauseous ingredient would that anticipation have been in the cup of self flattery, and popular applause with which he was intoxicated. Fame, glory, honour, empty sounds! followed by revolution, dethronement, and murder.

In a succeeding Number we may consider this mighty monarch, as a warrior, and as a sovereign over his own people. Verzeichniss, &c. a Catalogue of Plants

which grow wild in the Neighbourhood of Goettingen. By G. Londes, Svo. pp. SO. Goettingen.

THIS is a systematic catalogue of the Phænogamic according to the first twenty-three classes of Linnæus, without including the Cryptogamic, which will probably form the substance of another volume.

Poétique Anglaise, par M. Hennet. 3 vol. in 8vo. Paris.

THESE three volumes, though relating to the same subject, namely that of illustrating English, poetry, differ totally in their execution, and appear to form separate works.

The first explains, not the general rules of poetry, but those which particularly belong to the English. The mechanism of English versification, the richness of expression peculiar to it, the genins and prosody of the language, are described with clearness and precision. The author runs through all the kinds of poems from the epigram to the epopea. This first part is less a cold didactic treatise, than a series of very judicious remarks, confirmed by extracts of choice pieces from the best authors.

The second volume is consecrated to the poets. Without entering into the details of the private lives of these poets, the author brings us acquainted with their character, the species of poetry which they cultivated, those poems in which they have best succeeded, and those wherein they have not been so happy. This volume contains a fund of curious anecdote but little known.

In the third, our author turns poet,