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problem in which human curiosity has taken a considerable degree of interest. Some particulars, however, which have been recently published on this subject by a French writer, M. Desodoards, seem to have completely elucidated a point which has so long remained a subject of doubt. They are as follow:

"In the first moments which followed the taking of the Bastille, in 1789, all the doors of that prison were thrown open; the archives, the preservation of which would have been of such service to history, were at the mercy of people incapable of suspecting their importance. Some spectators, more curious that the rest, picked up different papers, among which were simple cards, signed by Ministers, or by other persons. They contained notes relative to the prisoners.

have found means to apprehend him in some foreign country, and to imprison him at St. Margaret's, from which place he was conveyed to the Bastille, when the former Commandant of Pignerol was made Governor of that prison; he was capable of satisfying the vindictive Comptroller-General, that his new prisoner was actually the same that had been before given in charge to him. Voltaire observes, that at this period no person of distinction disappeared in Europe: the disappearance of Fouquet took place in the year 1664. With respect to his iron mask, this expedient was probably adopted dur ing the journey, to conceal the irregular seizure of the man in a foreign country. It would be ridiculous to suppose that he wore a mask of iron all his life. It is incontestible that his face would soon have become inflamed, and that a mortification would have put a speedy end to his captivity.

"The manner in which Voltaire relates this adventure gives it a romantic air. But is it probable that a punctilious etiquette would have been observed towards a prisoner, whose fate was intended to be kept an everlasting secret? How are we to know whether it be true that Louvois remained standing out of respect during his interview with the Man with the Iron Mask?

"One of these cards, marked with the number 4,389,000, contained these words:-Fouquet arrivant des iles de Sainte Marguerite avec un masque de fer;-that is, Fouquet coming from the islands of St. Margaret with an iron mask. This was followed by X. X. X. and underneath was Kersadion. I saw this card in the hands of the person who found it, and who refused to part with it, in spite of all my intreaties to that effect. I took with a pencil an accurate copy of the card, which exhibited no particular character of authenticity, but which, however, is a docu-Who can tell whether Chamillart pronounced it ment of moral conviction, since it affords a complete solution of the difficulties relative to the Man with the Iron Mask, which could never before be satisfactorily explained.

"It is well known that the surintendant, Fouquet, was conveyed to the citadel of Pignerol, at that time belonging to France. After remaining there several years, he found means to escape, and no person could ever tell where this celebrated exile expired. This fact is attested in the Memoirs of Gourville, the intimate friend of Fouquet. It is very probable that Colbert, who had sworn the destruction of Fouquet, might

to be a secret of State? Voltaire was fond of giving an air of importance to the anecdotes which he received from people about the Court. The love of the marvellous has, in fact, converted a very simple story into an extraordinary adventure.

"Fouquet was born in 1615-If the Man with the Iron Mask died, as we are informed by Voltaire, in 1704, that Minister must have lived eighty-nine years. His mother, Marie de Meaupou, died in the 91st year of her age." I am, Sir, &c.

GM.

SIR,

ACCOUNT OF THE ALMANACK OF LIEGE.

No work, perhaps, ever had such an extensive circulation in this country as the celebrated Almanack of Francis Moore, to whose extraordinary predictions thousands are accustomed to look up with such implicit confidence and veneration. It is far from being generally known that a counter-part to the lucubrations of the English Astrologer exists on the Continent, in the Almanack of Liège, by Matthew Laensberg, which there enjoys an equal degree of celebrity;

and it is by no means improbable that our countryman originally borrowed the idea from the German Philosopher, whose publication is of a date considerably older.

Whether the name of Laensberg is a real or an assumed name is a matter of great doubt. The latter supposition is favoured by a tradition preserved in the family of the first printers of the work, which ascribes it to a Canon of St. Bartholomew, at Liège, who lived about the con«lusion of the 16th century, or at the beginning

The four first pages of that for 1636 are occu pied by a piece entitled, The Twelve Celestial Signs governing the Human Body. Cancer, for instance, governs the breast, the belly, and the lungs, with all their diseases. This was, at that time, the fashionable system of Astrology, which was succeeded by many others equally illfounded, and equally popular. But a fact, that could scarcely be believed, were it not stated in an advertisement prefixed, is, that the Physi-cians manifested a jealousy lest the prophet of Liège should extend his dominion over the healing art. They obtained an order that every thing relating to the influencc of the Celestial Signs on diseases should be suppressed, and this retrenchment took place, for the first time, in 1679. The principal part, however, is still preserved, and still ensures the success of this wonderful

of the 17th. This is further corroborated by a picture of a Canon of that Church which still exists, and which is conjectured by many to represent the inventor of the celebrated Almanack of Liège. Figure to yourself an old man, seated in an arm chair, his left hand resting on a globe, and his right holding a telescope. At his feet are seen different mathematical instruments, several volumes and sheets of paper, with circles and triangles drawn upon them. His eyes are large and prominent; he has a dull, heavy look, a nose in the form of a shell, and large ears, which are left uncovered by a greasy cap. His large mouth, half open, announces surliness and pedantry; frightful wrinkles furrow his face, and his long bushy beard covers an enormous band. This man is, besides, muffled up in an old cassock, patched in several places. Under his hideous portrait was the inscription, D. T. V. || performance; it consists of the general predicBartholomei Canonicus et Philosophie Professor.

Such is the picture given by a person who examined this portrait, and who, though he was at the pains to search the registers of the Chapter of Liège, was unable to find any name that at all corresponded with the above designation. Hence it may be fairly concluded, that the Canon, whose portrait has just been exhibited, assumed the name of Matthew Laensberg, as well as the title of Professor of Philosophy, for the purpose of publishing his Almanack, with the prognostications, which have rendered it so celebrated.

tions concerning the variations of the seasons, and the occurrences of the year. In each month are marked the days when there will be rain, and those that will be dry; whether there will be snow or hail, high winds, storms, &c. It is to this part which Sterne alludes in his Tristram || Shandy, when he says, "I have observed this 26th of March, 1759, a rainy day, notwithstanding the Almanack of Liège.”

The general predictions mention the occurrences that are to take place in every month.Accident has frequently been wonderfully favourable to the prophet; and he owes all his reThe earliest of these Almanacks that is known putation and celebrity to the luck of having anto exist is of the year 1636. It bears the name nounced the gaining of a battle, or the death of of Matthew Lansbert, Mathematician, and not some distinguished person. The anecdote of Laensberg, as it is now written. In the middle Madame Du-barri, at that time all-powerful at of the title is seen the portrait of an Astronomer, || the Court of Louis XIV. is not a little singular. nearly resembling that which is still placed there. When the King was attacked with the malady After the printer's name are the words, with per- which put an end to his life, that Lady was mission of the superior powers. This is repeated obliged to leave Versailles. She then had occain the eleven first Almanacks, but in that forsion, says the author of her life, to recollect the 1647, we find, with the favour and privilege of his Highness. This privilege, granted by Ferdinand of Bavaria, Prince of Liège, is actually inserted; it gives permission to Leonard Streete to print Matthew Laensberg's Almanack, and forbids other printers to make copies of it, upon pain of confiscation, and other penalties.

The name of this prophet is spelt Lansbert in the first Almanacks, but it has since been regularly written Laensberg. It is to this privilege of the Prince Bishop of Liège that Voltaire alludes in these lines of his Epistle to the King of Denmark: :-

Et quand vous écrirez sur l'Almanac de Lüge,
Ne parlez des saisons qu' avec un privilége.

Almanack of Liège, which had given her great uneasiness, and of which she had suppressed all the copies she was able. Amongst the predictions for the month of April, in that Almanack, was the following, "A Lady, in the highest favour, will act her last part" She frequently said, “I wish this odious month of April were over." According to the prediction, that favourite acted her last part, for the King died in the following month, in May, 1774.

I am, &c.

P-M

SIR,

PRESENT MODE OF FEMALE EDUCATION CONSIDERED.

Ar at a time, and in an age when the female mind, generally speaking, is inuch more under the influence of sentiment than principle; and when the mode of female education appears to be much better calculated to confine the sex to

a secondary instead of a primary place in the order of rational beings, I shall in no respect think my time or labour either mispent or misapplied by endeavouring to stimulate the female mind to the acquisition of principles that may render both sentiment and feeling subservient to solid sense, refined taste, correct judgment, and true humanity.

As beings endowed with reason, and consequently capable of the highest degree of intellectual improvement, the female sex is in no respect inferior to our own. And where there is a discernable inferiority, the cause of such inferiority will, if critically enquired into, be found to originate either in an improper mode of education and study, or an inexcusable indulgence of parents.

Daily to examine, and carefully to watch, the improvement of the human mind, and earnestly and impartially to inquire into the cause of its assents and dissents; to investigate all its operations with a desire to discover whether its notions and its decisions are properly the effect of its own labour, or whether they are the result of impressions made by others, or by something from without us, is a very useful and a very desirable employment. It is an employment that will require care, industry, and perseverance, rather than deep thought, laborious research, or intense application. And the advantages arising from such an employment will be no less durable than valuable. They will, and must contribute very essentially to a formation and stability of conduct. They will give to the mind that confidence in its own powers which will eventually lead to just discrimination of character, to true taste and sound judgment. Indo. lence is the greatest enemy we have: it is no less injurious to strength and purity of mind than to health and vigour of body. To an industrious and unremitted application of the in. tellectual faculties, many of the first rate characters of this and every preceding age are, and have been, more, much more indebted, than to the possession of talents in any respect naturally superior to those of their neighbours and cotemporaries.

Absolute ignorance is not the fault of the pre-
No, II. Vol. I.

sent age. Knowledge of the lighter kind is more universally diffused than at any former period. It is taught more expeditiously than heretofore. But the knowledge that is hastily and superficially acquired ought never to be considered as our own until we have made it such by reflection, study, and investigation. For it is not knowledge, but it is the proper application of it, that gives a visible and decided ascendency of advantages to those whose talents are continually employed in giving strength and effect to the powers of the human understanding. Minds that success greatly elates, or misfortunes greatly depress-minds that trifles can divert, and opinions can influence, can never have been properly formed. In these cases the work of education has done little or no good. Indeed it may be doubted whether in such instances it has not done an essential and almost irremediable injury.Where there are great inconsistencies there may be great talents, but there must also be great weaknesses. And as the female world has long been distinguished by the appellation of the weaker sex, I should feel myself exceedingly happy if I could but prevail on it to adopt a resolution so to exercise its powers of investigation as to be no longer deserving of the appellation. Great and sudden changes from one extreme to another, whether in point of sentiment, of opinion, or of fashion, are equally indicative of real weakness of mind. A fashion that a great mind dislikes, a great mind will never adopt. Whenever the dress, the manners, or the principles, of a frivolous, an unsteady, and an imbecile

people are adopted, their weaknesses, their instabilities, and their frivolities will soon be generated, and the mass of mankind corrupted and undone. Neither sex can be at the same time frivolous without and sound within. Where there is inconsistency, there the head must be wrong or the heart corrupt. Nothing could occasion me more pain than to draw inferences that are in any degree erroneous. But when we see more, abundantly more attention paid to the graces, accomplishments, and decorations of the person and the fashion of the times, than to the virtues of the heart, the correctness of judgment, or the energies of the mind, we cannot but wish, for the sake of posterity, that some able pen would recal us from the paths of momentary pleasure and temporary elevation to the study and practice of those principles which will insure to us domestic happiness, social harmony, and universal respect; which will give to virtue an ornament more valuable than the graces can

L

bestow, and to character a dignity which nothing can injure or destroy.

our youth we have the happiness to behold, as we advance towards the confines of the grave, the affectionate wife, the discreet parent, the cheerful companion, and the faithful friend, life itself continues to be precious and desirable, because it dissolves not the union which alone makes it truly valuable.

The influence which women have in society, if virtuously and prudently applied, would be fully sufficient to effect a total reformation of manners in the world. In the presence of a virtuous woman the most abandoned profligate is under a restraint that he cannot break through, without descending from the man to the brute; nor does it scarcely ever happen that the least disrespect is shewn to a female, of any description, who does not omit to respect herself. Dress, manners, and conversation, denominate character; and however inclined ladies may be to display a certain playful levity of disposition, an apparent indifference to the sober opinion of the world, and an ardent propensity to appear in whatever dress may be considered to be most fashionable, it sometimes happens that the exterior of manners and fashion bears no correspondent resemblance to the interior of virtue and principle. All external deviations from decency and propriety bespeak similar internal deviations from rectitude and honour. Decency and virtue should ever go hand in hand; for when they separate, the barrier of security is thrown

It is on the character and the conduct of the fair sex that man must principally found his hopes of the aggregate of virtue and solid principle that is to be looked for in posterity. It is woman that has the care, almost exclusively, of our younger years; and it is to women principally that all eminently religious and good characters are primarily indebted for the origin and foundation of their subsequent greatness. Take from women all share in the education and guardianship of children; and religion, I doubt not, would soon be scarcely visible amongst us. How much then ought we to endeavour by every possible means, accurately to estimate the superior value of a well formed female mind, and to give to the character all the weight and importance which is so justly and so eminently due to it? Exclusively of religion, in what can the most pure and the most perfect happiness of nan in this life consist, but in the endearing society of the female world! By this society the enjoyments of prosperity are heightened, and the sorrows of adversity wonderfully alleviated. In trouble, how much more firm; in sickness, how much more patient; in pain, how much more composed; in danger, how much more firm and resigned, generally speaking, are women than men! Their attachments, when founded on a worthy object, and arising from virtuous principles and affections, no words can ade-down, and the treasure of the citadel remains to be quately describe. Nor is it in the power of art or of language to communicate to man that variety of pleasures, and that desirable and complete system of happiness, which is to be derived from virtuous and good women. In every walk, and in every stage of life, we receive fresh boun-tability attached to the character and deportment ties of pleasures, of the most interesting and affect. ing kind, from their presence, conversation, and society. In our boyish days, what new delights,|| what added charms, have not their attentions frequently given to our accustomed sports and pastimes? How often has a look of approbation and a smile of applause from them, made us more daring in our attempts, and more persevering in our exertions? And their presence is more coveted in proportion as their value is more known. By them the spring of life unfolds to us all its charms, while imagination blossoms in all the purity of beauty, and every returning year brings us nearer to the object of our best affections. By them the pleasures of manhood fasten on the heart, and become intrinsically vaJuable; whilst its cares and its troubles, its pains, its sorrows, and its disa pointments are divided, eased, and lightened. In age, no abatement of affection is experienced; no assiduous attentions dispensed with. And if in the partner of

contended for by every unprincipled by-stander.

The husband who wishes to live happily with the partner of his days; the father who wishes to enjoy in its fullest extent the society of his daughters; and brothers who wish to see respec

of their sisters, can neither of them feel happy, when the manners and the dress of either are calculated to give birth to ideas that even only border on indelicacy or indiscretion.

In every point of view I feel the subject before me to be highly interesting and important. It involves in its discussion the most effectual means of establishing, promoting, and securing, on the most solid foundation, the domestic and the social happiness of the present and of future ages. By giving mind to the fair sex, we shall make then equal to any thing that is attainable by rational beings; and by making them ac quainted with their own powers, consequence, and influence in the scale of creation, they will gradually become more dignified, and less. ssuming; more elevated, and less haughty; more amiable, and less trifling; more useful, and less capricious; more exquisitely fascinating, and less indelicately fashionable. I am, &c. L-C

ALADIN:
OR,

THE MAZE OF LIFE EXPLORED.

upon his soul: the secrets of the universe were unfolded, and the agents of nature stood revealed before him. Lost in wonder and astonishment, he beheld radiant legions of angels c ad in celestial glory, guiding with unerring hands the silent operations of nature, and fanning with refreshing

HAIL, solemn scenes of night, exclaimed Alzadin, as he arose from the couch of his res! and wandered into the garden of roses. Your silent grandeur is more congenial to my mind than all the pomp of wealth. Often as I have breathed your refreshing gales, yet still they waft inspiration, and peace to my soul. How delight-wings the panting bosom of exhausted creation. ful to rove amidst these solitary bowers, attended But when his timid looks rose upon the friendly by heavenly meditation to contemplate the messenger of Paradise, a flood of glory seemed skies and trace no clouds of darkness; to examine to burst upon his senses and overwhelm his faculmy secret thoughts, and discern no stain of cor- ties. The mild, though sublime expression of ruption! Innocence! how sweet is thy reward? his features, the blushing glow of heavenly youth Thy hand opens the spring of true delights, and that tinged his cheeks, the light that darted from spreads a lovelier glow over the face of creation, his eyes, the snowy splendour of his spotless robe, while the soul of thy votaries, expanded and enstruck him as with the presence of a god. His dowed with celestial faculties, awakes to higher knee was bending with adoration, when the feelings of joy, pure as thyself Oh! be thou youth reproved him gently with a smile, addresmy guide through the bewildering mazes of sing him in these words: “To Allah and his life! lead me far from the crowded paths of vain great prophet, belong thy praise, gratitude, and pleasure to the solitar, abode of peace and vir adorations; to me, thy confidence and love. tue! And thou, beloved prophet of God, listen Though blessed with higher powers, though to the prayer of youth; let it sound in thy ear drawing our knowledge from the fountain of all like the pleasant voice of the nightingale, wafted science, though no intervening clouds hide the by the giles of night to thy gardens of bliss, majesty of Allah from our eyes, we are the serwhile sleep has charmed to rest the songsters of vants of man; it is for him that we leave the the grove. Send the Angel of Innocence to fields of Paradise, where joy blooms in eternal hover around me; bid him spread his snowy spring, where delight swells every gale, to dewings over my youthful head, and speak in dreamscend into this vale of darkness. Behold those and visios instruction to my soul.-It is my only prayer, prophet; the only wish my heart has formed."

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radiant seraphims who guide through the deserts of immensity the rolling orbs that deck the fir mament; listen to the music of the spheres."And Allah grants thy demand," replied, It is for man they shed their rays, and, balancing with mild expression, a seraphic voice, that each other, preserve the harmony of the unithrilled every spring of Alzadin's bosom with de- verse. Contemplate these humbler spirits, placed light, his penetrating eye reads the inmost in a station less lofty, but of equal importance secret of thy soul, and explores the field of thy to man. These watch over the birth of empires, desires; he has found sincerity on thy lips, and and the fall of monarchs; brace them with the moderation in thy heart, and he smi ed assent to vigour of youth, exalt them to the height of thy prayer. Alas! said his holy prophet, a mor- prosperity, and, as heaven directs, overthrow the tal voice invokes thee from the lower gardens of work of ages with a crash that shakes the world, existence; long has man despised thy gifts, in- or sink it silently into the grave. Those, born sulted thy sanctity, and by his vices exited thee for sweeter employments, expand the bud of from guilty earth. Resume thy ancient sway human understanding into bloom, and, like the over his yielding soul; descend on the wings of vernal clouds, distil the fruitful showers of ingladness to the garden of roses, and twine around struction upon the mind of man. Some unfold Alzadin's brow thy flowery garlands: tear asun- the beauties of nature; tinge, as with the blush der the veil of darkness that conceals the true of modesty, the snowy brow of the rose, and nature of things; expose to his sight the secret with the fragrance of their breath perfume her springs whence flow all human actions, and shed youthful bosom. Others awaken the melody of upon his soul the fruitful dews of science, know-he grove, and bid the feathered songsters attune ledge, and virtue!"

He ceased, and Alzadin's eyes were opened; truth, like the first ray of the rising morn, blazed

their voice to love.

For whom do so many angels incessantly toil? For man; for man alone, the first, the noblest of beings when treading the

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