Johannes Ewald's Samblige Skrifter. The Collective Works of John Ewald, Copenhagen.

IF Ewald had written in German instead of Danish, his name would have stood high on the list of fame; he would have had as many admirers and imitators as either Kotzebue or Schiller: but he was too much of a patriot to play so servile a part, and is consequently scarcely known beyond the narrow limits of his native land. The best pieces in the collection before us are the Death of Balder, and the Fisherman. The Fisherman, a drama interspersed with songs, is founded on a circumstance which does great honour to Danish valour. In the year 1775, a ship was stranded between Hornbek and Villingbek, small fishing towns in the Bailiwick of Kronborg. The vessel, which was bound for Scotland, with barley, was commanded by an English skipper of the name of Brown, and had, besides him, five men on-board. It was towards the latter end of autumn, in a dark and stormy night, that these unfortunate people met with this accident. They anxiously waited for day, in order to see whereabouts they were, and what hope they had of deliverance. Day came; they found themselves at the distance of a gun-shot from the shore, and they called for help. At this mournful cry, the inhabitants of Hornbek and Villingbek assembled on the beach. They launched a boat with the intention of rowing out to the wreck; but the fury of the storm was such, that it was impossible for them to reach it. They often repeated the attempt, but were as often unsuccessful. In the meantime, the poor creatures on the wreck, stood abandoned to themselves. Wearied by their past night's exertions, spent with cold, hunger, and anguish, one after the other found a watery grave.

At noon, only the master and pilot remained alive. The pilot, rendered desperate by his situation, determined to exert his last strength, and to reach the shore by swimming; he accordingly embraced the master, bade him farewell, and cast himself out among the billows; but scarcely had he got a few fathoms from the wreck, when a piece of floating mast struck him; it crushed his head, and he sunk. To all these frightful scenes, the peasants on the beach were spectators; each had moved them; but this last made such an impression upon them, that they began to consider whether

was not possible to save the master, who still remained alive. Then stepped forward

Andero Jensen, Peter Jensen, Ivend Bagge, and two others, all of Hornbek; they set themselves in a boat, plyed their oars, strove with their utmost strength, worked through the surf, gained the wreck, took the master into the boat, pulled back again, and reached the shore amid universal acclamations. The half dead man was immediately borne to a house, where they refreshed him in the best manner their humble means would allow. He was shortly after received at Dronning Mallin, a place in the neighbourhood, where being carefully attended to, he, in a short time, recovered his health and strength. When he returned to himself, and saw those good people who had risked their own lives in able sum of money which he had about order to save his, he produced a considerhim, and offered them half of it; but they were now as generous as they had formerly been courageous. They wished for no reward, and considered they had merely done their duty in saving an unfortunate man from death. Yet their noble behaviour rich and powerful Dane, who dwelt abroad, deserved a reward, and obtained it. A hearing of this adventure, rejoiced over determined to shew what a high opinion he the magnanimity of his countrymen, and To this end, he beentertained of it. queathed to each of the above-named five rix-dollars. When any one of them died, persons an annual pension of twenty-five his portion was divided among the rest; so that the longest liver had a clear income of

125 dollars.

A Description of Switzerland, Historical, Picturesque, and Moral. By M. Depping, of Paris, Member of several Literary Societies.

THE subject of this work has been handled by various writers, and between three or four hundred volumes have appeared on it, exclusive of maps and engravings. Of these, may be particularly noticed, sixty by Germans, thirty-one by Swift, eighteen French, eight English, one Italian, one Spanish, two Polish, two Dutch, and four Danish writers, not including such as have drawn up memoirs on particular parts of Switzerland, or on questions relating to the country. The present publication contains a concise, historical view, and a rapid analysis of materials that others have served out in detail.

The author, in a summary of the present political state of Switzerland, observes, that its aristocracy has, in a measure, regained what it had lost in the Revolutions; so that the liberal principles interwoven with its former Constitutions, are no longer predominant; and that, as a nation, it has ceased to have either moral or political force.

Notwithstanding this afflicting change in the situation of Switzerland, occasioned by the late events, the country is one which the lover of nature and humanity may prefer, for an excursive tour, or a temporary residence. M.Depping traverses the whole of the cantons, intermingling with his picturesque descriptions, notions of political economy, remarks on manners, usages, dialects, costume, &c. As an exemplary quotation, we give the following, which contains an interesting picture, with observations just and new, of the objects represented. The author places himself, at sunrise, on the summit of Mount Righi:

"The veil of night, which had overspread the country, is disappearing, and the spectator sees at his feet a landscape, the whole of which his eye cannot survey, or distinguish the whole of its beauties. The brilliant expanse of thirteen lakes, great and small, an immense green carpet, intersected with streams, like silver lacings; forests that appear as shady spots; villages and hamlets, with houses that are mere points, suspended on the declivities of mountains and hills, or scattered along the watery lines that serpentine through the mea

dows, viewed together, afford a beautiful scene, the survey of which cannot fail to gratify."

Locarno is a town, or village, in the canton of Tesin: here the nobles form a separate corporation, the burgesses another, and the peasants a third; and each of these classes has a separate place of worship.

Near the lake of the Four Cantons, an

abbot of the Benedictines, named Leodegard, has introduced silk and cotton manufactories. Interspersed with various facts and historical anecdotes, M. Depping observes, that at Ferney, in Voltaire's chamber, his curious gallery of paintings is still to be seen, as also the saloon wherein his Merope and Zaïre were acted. The author has also correctly given, in musical notes, the popular Swiss air, entitled Ranz des Vaches, which he traces to a remote antiquity. He represents the church of St. Nicholas, at Giornico, as having been formerly a Pagan temple. In the same town are shewn the remains of a Roman triumphal arch; and at a little distance from it, is a church occupying the site, and chiefly constructed of the materials of an ancient Gallic fort. Mention is made of an antique ruinous tower, in the commune of Chiggiogna, the remains of a Roman Prætorium; and between Airlo and Quinto, are the ruins of two Lombard forts. Lastly, in certain parts of St. Gothard are antiquities, the works of different nations, or tribes, impressing, at successive periods, marks of their domination.

La Topografia di Palermo, or the Topography of Palermo and its Environs. By Domenico Scina, Professor of Experimental Physics in the University of that City. Palermo.

THE city of Palermo is situated on the northern coast of Sicily; its form, in general, is nearly that of a square, with one side turned to the N.W. towards the sea. It lies in a plain, surrounded with mountains, at no great distance, and which form a ramification of those known to the ancients, by the name of Nebrodes, but are, at present, the Madorie. If from Palermo the spectator surveys the full extent of this immense amphitheatre, different points of view will present a diversity of objects; eastward, he will perceive, near Cape Lazzerano, Mount Catalfano, on which are the ruins of the ancient Soloentum, (now Solonto,) a town originally built by the Phenicians. Turning to the south, he will see Mount Grizorne, the exterior of which is in itself a commanding object, and the views from it will afford amusement, as

replete with luxuriant verdure and much interesting scenery, to the eye of the traveller that visits it. Nature has prepared a new change in Mount Falcone, which exhibits a strong specimen of the grotesque, varying the view, according to the evershifting reflections of light and shade, moving on the face of the oddly-shaped rocks of which it is composed. One part of it has the name of Caesar's Head, which it has long obtained from some mutilated and mangled likeness to the human head, often traced in it by observers. To the S.W. appears the little town of Monreale, graced and enriched with country houses: the surrounding domains are well wooded, and abound with the charms of vegetative nature, of almost every kind. A magnificent causeway, in a rectilinear direction, and richly decorated with fountains, forms a communication with Palermo.

Mount Caputo overlooks Monreale; to the north is Mount Gallo, where the stranger will unexpectedly meet with a multitude of grottoes, displaying themselves to his view, in obscure corners, and in a variety of shapes. These attest the wonderful diversity, both of nature and art, in their operations. Between Capa Gallo and the city of Palermo, is Mount Pellegrino, or the Ercta of the ancients; on it, Pyrrhus had to encounter a formidable army of Carthaginians; but what renders it more particularly noticeable, at present, is the grotto wherein Saint Rosalia, patroness of Palermo, lived. The height of each of these mountains, in English feet, is given by the author.

The woodlands on this mountainous girdle,rising to a pretty considerable height from the plain below, render the scene eminently beautiful. These sides are every where well cultivated, except where the land is the property of privileged corporations. The crest, or summit, is overrun with brambles and such other wild plants as commonly grow on the tops of mountains.

The mineralogical descriptions of M. Scina take notice of a substance that formerly was of high repute in medicine, but which is now grown into disuse. It is pretty common in rocky concretions, and was so much in vogue in Italy, as to have the pompous names of Elixir Vitæ, Catholic Powder, &c. It is a pulverulent, carbonated calx, now called Magnesifere.

Beds of shells have been found at different heights and periods: it is reasonable, therefore, to conclude, that the country was once, for some time, covered by the waters of the sea. This is not so surprising, as the well-authenticated fact of which we are informed, by M. Ramond, that prodigious collections of shells are found among

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the rocks on the top of Mount Perdu, the highest mountain of the Pyrenees.

In the course of his topographical observations, the author points out two rivers, to which the ancients gave the common name of Himera, although they run in opposite. directions. They served formerly to separate the two questorships of Sicily, i. e. of Lilybæum and Syracuse, and, at present, they mark the two divisions of the island, the provinces, east and west. In general, states have limits, apparently designed by nature, or which Divine Providence has decreed, for wise reasons, however they may be changed, by infinite revolutions.

The author examines that part or tongue of land on which the ancient Panoramas (a name for Palermo) was built, and he feels himself authorized to decide, respecting its character, that it is of submarine formation, and that it differs, in many respects, from that of the adjacent districts.

Throughout the plain of Palermo, the covering of vegetable soil has but little depth. It appears to have been formed out of the waters of descending torrents, and those of the sea. The author conceives the most recent formation to be exactly that whereon the Phenicians built Soloentum: various tombs of those ahcient navigators are yet to be seen there.

The whole plain is watered by a number of springs, which have their reservoirs in the neighbouring mountains. To the east, and at a little distance from the city, runs a stream called the Oreto; some authors derive its name from the gold sands which formerly bespangled its waters. A little further is the torrent of Ficarozi, which empties itself into the sea, about two leagues from Palermo.

Though the soil is light and sandy, the fertility of the whole country is certainly very great in this respect, in former ages, it engrossed more attention than, perhaps, any other. The heat of the climate conspires with the abundance of water, which evidently counteracts it, to produce this effect.

Such is the population of Palermo and the contiguous districts, that the tillage of corn is not the most abundant on the most valuable lands. Kitchen gardens and orchards, in which orange and citron groves are laid out, with art, by their numerous alleys and windings, would lead the curious and attentive traveller to consider the whole as a maze; the situation and quantity of inclosed lands seem adapted to form a sort of labyrinth.

The rural districts included between the Mounts Pellegrino, Gallo and Billenie, have been improved with great spirit and

industry, encouraged by the gentry. A number of magnificent edifices combine to blend the sublime in nature, with many things beautiful and tasteful in art. At the foot of Pellegrino, we see the king's pleasure grounds and gardens, and at the foot of Caputo, are those of the Duke of Calabria. The cottages, lands, gardens, &c. in the hands of the poor are so well attended to, in general, as to be no disparagement to the splendid structures and less simple improvements met within the vicinity. It is gratifying to see that class of the people appear industrious and comfortable within doors and without.

Springs of water are no less abundant in the city than in the fields; the water is pure and limpid. Their temperature is pretty regular; at about thirteen degrees of Reaumur. It is the same with the water of the wells, except those of the Abbot's Village. These last contain a thermal water of from 22 to 24 degrees of Reaumur. Nearly all the thermal waters are found in soils which resemble that of the Abbot's Village.

According to the tables in the observatory of Palermo, the medium temperature is somewhat above 14 degrees; according to Professor Marabiti, that of the city somewhat exceeds 15 degrees. The level of the observatory is higher than that of the city. From 1795 to 1815, the highest temperature was a little above 34 degrees, and the lowest rather more than one degree above Zero.

In a country where it never freezes, and the longest night is not above 14 hours, 33 minutes, it is not surprising that the face of the country, in winter, should be covered, instead of snow, with white flowers of the maritime alisson, and of the eruca or erucago, also with violet flowers of the winged iris; that the air should be em

balmed with the reseda, the jessamine, the violet, the acacia of Farmese, the orange and citron tree, and that the gardens should supply small peas and artichokes, with other materials of luxury, for the table.

The turpentine-tree grows spontaneously on the mountains about Palermo, and it is equal in value to that of Chio. The cultivated pistachio and mastic tree are also in great abundance. The olive tree would be one of the greatest embellishments of the plain of Palermo, if its culture had better encouragement.

The author proceeds to enumerate certain exotic plants that are now successfully cultivated in the environs of Palermo. He mentions the corrosal of Peru, the floripondio of Chili, the sugar-cane, the cotton-tree of India, &c. These plants do not thrive at Naples, nor will the climate of Palermo bring to maturity the fruits of the jujubetree (of the cotophagi,) which ripens very well on the coast of Africa. The medium temperature of these regions is as follows: Naples 14 degrees, Palermo 15, Algiers 17.

The above remarks apply chiefly to the land: the author adds a bird's-eye sketch of the sea; in extending his survey to which, he measures the monuments, progressive and retrogressive, of its tides; and reports various experiments on the temperature of its waters, at different depths; of marine animals and plants, such as seem more interesting or uncommon are particularly considered, as are those also that are most appropriated to the wants of man. Both are found, in great abundance, on the coast of Palermo, and generally in the Mediterranean.

A general conclusion is given in the Revue, &c. that the author's observations and manner of treating his subject form a model of topographical description.