Page and across the Mountains of Atlas; also Fragments, Notes, ...... ART. VII. The Life of Augustus Von Kotzebue. From the German ... 457 480 VIII. MONTHLY LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS ....... 506 IX. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC Information of Works in the Press, or preparing for Publication................ THE EDINBURGH MONTHLY REVIEW. OCTOBER, 1820. ART. I.-Letters from Mrs. Delany, Widow of Dr. Patrick Delany, to Mrs. Frances Hamilton, from the year 1779 to the year 1788; comprising many unpublished and interesting anecdotes of their late Majesties and the Royal Family. 12mo. Pp. xxiii. and 105. Longman & Co. London, 1820. THE insincerity of courts has been a very ancient and popular topic of animadversion and complaint. The splendour necessarily connected with their imposing scenes, and the pomp and forms which regulate the intercourse of those who move in them, have been pronounced not only unpropitious, but irreconcileable to the exercise of the kind affections, and are supposed alike to repel every effusion of friendship, and to wither every generous emotion of the heart. While it is obviously unfair to make such sweeping and confident averments respecting any individuals, founded merely on the circumstances in which they are placed, it must at the same time be allowed, that the situation of kings and those who are immediately around them, is not favourable to the free interchange of sentiment and unrestrained expression of feeling, which are of spontaneous and natural occurrence among the less elevated ranks of society. "When the King said it," replied Dr. Johnson, on being asked what answer he made to a compliment paid him by his Majesty on the occasion of his interview with him, "When the King said it, it was to be so: it was not for me to bandy civilities with my sovereign."-Seged, in the story by the same moralist, having attempted by an edict to banish the appearance of sorrow from his court and palace, met indeed every face settled in a smile; but it was <6 а smile that discovered solicitude, timidity, and constraint." It is then, we are afraid, indisputable, that those who fill the highest situations in life are compelled to sacrifice to them not only important moral advantages, but a great proportion of what constitutes the purest happiness VOL. IV. NO. IV. 2 K of existence; inasmuch as they are almost entirely separated by the very eminence to which they are elevated, from the reciprocation of the social affections,-these demanding for their freest and finest play, equality among the circle which they animate and inspire. It is only, indeed, when high personages lay aside for a time their distinction of rank, and endeavour to descend to a somewhat lower level, (of their sincerity in doing which, they scarcely can expect to succeed in convincing others,) that they ever enjoy the full zest and relish of social life. So true is the remark of the poet Plerumque gratæ divitibus vices; Mundæque, parvo sub lare, pauperum Solicitam explicuere frontem. We may ascribe, then, to some such impressions respecting the peculiar circumstances of kings and royal families, to their great elevation above the sphere of ordinary society, and there being scarcely any opportunity of contemplating them but as public persons, surrounded with the formalities necessarily belonging to their rank and constituting a portion of national splendour, that curiosity which is so strongly and generally excited as to what are their thoughts and habits and feelings, when withdrawn from public gaze into privacy and retirement; what are their regular -occupations, either of a graver or lighter description;-whether, • under the pressure of any of those numerous "ills that flesh is .heir to," and which no rank or wealth can avert, they exhibit the unsophisticated feelings of a common nature; and whether amid family and domestic events, calculated to produce the overflowings of affection and pure delight, their enjoyments are as acute as those of persons in the inferior gradations of society in similar circumstances. It is to this curiosity, accordingly, that we must refer the extreme avidity with which all anecdotes respecting persons in the most exalted station are received by the public; of which there can be no stronger proof than the extensive circulation of various recent publications, in every form, of numerous incidents illustrative of the character and habits of our late excellent and much-revered sovereign. The anecdotes to which we allude, all bear the same gratifying and unequivocal testimony to the unaffected piety and lofty moral feeling, which preeminently distinguished that illustrious individual; but, besides their relating chiefly to the more advanced period of his life, they are also, as having been gleaned from various casual sources, of a detached and insulated description. The little volume before us, on the other hand, we consider to be more peculiarly interesting, as it exhibits a view of the domestic habits of their late Majesties when in the prime of life, in the midst of their children then young, and for a series of years, during which an intercourse with the royal family, of a nature the most easy and unceremonious, was enjoyed by the writer of the letters of which the volume is composed. Mrs. Delany, the author of them, was a lady of respectable family, the daughter of Barnard Granville, Esq. of Wiltshire, and niece of George, afterwards Lord Granville, a poet and literary man, and the friend of Pope, Swift, and other eminent writers of that day. Her first husband was a gentle man of large property in Cornwall, who died and left her a widow at an early age, After a considerable interval, she was married to Dr. Delany, well known as the friend and intimate of Swift, and as a literary character of some celebrity. She was a person of cultivated understanding, fine taste, and elegant accomplishments, and was honoured by the distinguished esteem of many eminent individuals. After the decease of Dr. Delany, she intended to fix her residence in Bath, but was prevailed upon to take up her abode with the late Duchess Dowager of Portland, mother of the late Duke, a lady who had a particular friendship and value for her; after which her time was spent with her Grace, between her country seat of Bulstrode and London. The letters, which are written in the confidence of friendship, are addressed to the Hon. Mrs. Hamilton in Ireland, widow of the Hon. and Rev. Francis Hamilton, son of James Earl of Abercorn, and embrace a period from 1779 to 1788, when the writer, who was born in 1700, had attained a goodly old age. They form part of a course of regular correspondence with her friend'; and the notices which they contain respecting the royal family, were intended to gratify that friend's expressed curiosity on the subject. The purpose of giving them to the world, as stated in the preface, being to preserve some interesting accounts of the late king and the royal family, such letters only are inserted as refer to them, and even from these, every passage relating to other matters is excluded. It is but fair to explain these circumstances in order to avert any impression as to egotism and vanity on the part of the writer, which the sameness of the topics might make on the mind of a reader. The incidents narrated in the correspondence occurred during the period of the regular annual residence of the royal family at Windsor, in the neighbourhood of which was the country seat of the Duchess Dowager of Portland, and to this it is owing that there are such chasms between the dates of some of the com. munications. In the extracts, which, without farther preface, we shall now present, we think our readers will agree with us in opinion, that there is exhibited much of domestic happiness, simple manners,' and unaffected friendship, blended together with a harmony of colouring so delightful as is rarely to be discovered amid the ordinary aspects of society, and grouped in a felicitous combination that has been commonly imagined to form the exclusive and appropriate distinction of the humbler and more secluded walks of life. The first letter relates to a visit which the Royal Family paid to the Duchess of Portland at Bulstrode, eight miles from Windsor, on the 12th of August 1778, when his present Majesty had just completed his sixteenth year. "The royal family (ten in all) came at twelve o'clock. The King drove the Queen in an open chaise, with a pair of white horses. The Prince of Wales and Prince Frederick rode on horseback, all with proper attendants, but no guards. Princess Royal and Lady Weymouth, in a post-chaise ; Princess Augusta, Princess Elizabeth, Prince Adolphus, (about seven years old,) and Lady Charlotte Finch, in a coach; Prince William, Prince Edward, Duke of Montague, and Bishop of Lichfield, in a coach: another coach, full of attendant gentlemen; amongst the number, Mr. Smelt, whose character sets him above most men, and does great honour to the King, who calls him his friend, and has drawn him out of his solitude (the life he had chosen) to enjoy his conversation every leisure moment. These, with all their attendants in rank and file, made a splendid figure as they drove through the park, and round the court, up to the house. The day was as brilliant as could be wished, the 12th of August, the Prince of Wales's birth-day. The Queen was in a hat, and an Italian night-gown of purple lustring, trimmed with silver gauze. She is graceful and genteel; the dig nity and sweetness of her manner, the perfect propriety of every thing she says or does, satisfies every body she honours with her distinction so much, that beauty is by no means wanting to make her perfectly agreeable; and though age and long retirement from court, made me feel timid on my be ing called to make my appearance, I soon found myself perfectly at ease; for the King's condescension and good humour took off all awe, but what one must have for so respectable a character (severely tried by his enemies at home, as well as abroad.) The three Princesses were all in frocks; the King and all the men were in an uniform, blue and gold. They walked through the great apartments, which are in a line, and attentively observed every thing; the pictures in particular. I kept back in the drawing-room, and took that opportunity of sitting down; when Princess Royal returned to me, and said the Queen missed me in the train: I immediately obeyed the summons with my best alacrity. Her Majesty met me half-way, and seeing me hasten my steps, called out to me, Though I desired you to come, I did not desire you to run and fatigue yourself. They all returned to the great dining-room, where there were only two armed chairs placed in the middle of the room for the King and Queen.-The King placed the Duchess Dowager of Portland in his chair, and walked about admiring the beauties of the place. Breakfast was offered-all prepared in a long gallery that runs the length of the great apartments (a suite of eight rooms and |