equal degree of cultivation with Europeans, though they did not live thus scattered. Were the shackles of slavery taken off, still their minds would eternally slumber; therefore whatever remarks we can make upon them must be pathognomonical (or physiognomonical), and we must confine ourselves to their receptive powers of mind, not being able to say much of their expression.

Such people as do not bear our badges of servitude are not so miserable as we suspect. Their species of slavery is more supportable in their mode of existence. They are incomparably better fed than German peasants, and have neither to contend with the cares of providing, nor the excesses of labour. As their race of horses exceeds ours in strength and size, so do their people those among us who have, or suppose they have, property. Their wants are few, and their understanding sufficient to supply the wants they have. The Russian or Polish peasant is, of necessity, carpenter, tailor, shoemaker, mason, thatcher, &c. and, when we examine their performances, we may easily judge of their capacities. Hence their aptitude at mechanical and handicraft professions, as soon as they are taught their principles. Invention of what is great they have no pretensions to; their mind, like a machine, is at rest when the necessity that sets it in motion no longer impels.

Of the numerous nations subject to the Russian sceptre, I shall omit those of the extensive Siberian districts, and confine myself to the Rus

sians properly so called, whose countries are bounded by Finland, Eastland, Livonia, and the borders of Asia. These are distinguishable by prodigious strength, firm sinews, broad breast, and colossal neck, which, in a whole ship's crew, will be the same, resembling the Farnesian Hercules; by their black, broad, thick, rough, strong hair, head and beard; their sunken eyes, black as pitch; their short forehead, compressed to the nose, with an arch. We often find thin lips, though in general they are pouting, wide, and thick. The women have high cheek bones, hollow temples, snub noses, and retreating arched foreheads, with very few traits of ideal beauty. Their power of propagation exceeds belief, and at a certain period of life, both sexes become frequently corpulent.

The Ukranians, of whom most of the regi ments of Cossacks are formed, dwell in the centre. They are distinguished among the Russians almost as the Jews are among Europeans. They generally have aquiline noses, and are nobly formed; amorous, yielding, crafty, and without strong passions; probably because, for some thousands of years, they have followed agriculture, have lived in society, had a form of government, and inhabit a fruitful country, in a moderate climate, resembling that of France. Among all these people, the greatest activity and strength of body are united. They are as different from the German boor, as quicksilver

is from lead; and how our ancestors could suppose them to be stupid, is inconceivable.

:

Thus too the Turks resemble the Russians. They are a mixture of the noblest blood of Asia Minor with the more material and gross Tartar. The Natolian, of a spiritual nature, feeds on meditation he will for days contemplate a single object, seat himself at the chess-board, or wrap himself up in the mantle of taciturnity. The eye void of passion or great enterprise, abounds in all the penetration of benevolent cunning; the mouth eloquent; the hair of the head and beard, and the small neck, declare the flexibility of the

man.

The Englishman is erect in his gait, and generally stands as if a stake were driven through his body. His nerves are strong, and he is the best runner. He is distinguished from all other men by the roundness and smoothness of his face. If he neither speak nor move, he seldom declares the capability and mind he possesses in so superior a degree. His silent eye seeks not to please. His hair, coat, and character, are alike smooth. Not cunning, but on his guard; and, perhaps, but little colouring is necessary to deceive him on any occasion. Like the bulldog, he does not bark; but, if irritated, rages. As he wishes not for more esteem than he merits, so he detests the false pretensions of his neighbours, who would arrogate excellence they do not possess. Desirous of private happiness, he

disregards public opinion, and obtains a character of singularity. His imagination, like a seacoal fire, is not the splendour that enlightens a region, but expands genial warmth. Perseverance in study, and pertinacity, for centuries, in fixed principles, have raised and maintained the British spirit, as well as the British government, trade, manufactures, and marine. He has punctuality and probity, not trifling away his time to establish false principles, or making a parade with a vicious hypothesis.

In the temperament of nations, the French class is that of the sanguine. Frivolous, benevolent, and ostentatious, the Frenchman forgets not his inoffensive parade till old age has made him wise. At all times disposed to enjoy life, he is the best of companions. He pardons himself much; and therefore pardons others, if they will but grant that they are foreigners, and he is a Frenchman. His gait is dancing, his speech without accent, and his ear incurable. His imagination pursues the consequences of small things with the rapidity of the second-hand of a stop-watch, but seldom gives those loud, strong, reverberating strokes which proclaim new discoveries to the world. Wit is his inheritance. His countenance is open, and, at first sight, speaks a thousand pleasant, amiable things. Silent he cannot be, either with eye, tongue, or feature. His eloquence is often deafening; but his good humour casts a veil over all his failings. His form is equally distinct from that of other

nations, and difficult to describe in words. No other man has so little of the firm or deep traits, or so much motion. He is all appearance, all gesture; therefore the first impression seldom deceives, but declares who and what he is. His imagination is incapable of high flights, and the sublime in all arts is to him offence. Hence his dislike in whatever is antique in art or literature, his deafness to true music, his blindness to the higher beauties of painting. His last, most marking trait is, that he is astonished at every thing, and cannot comprehend how it is possible men should be other than they are at Paris. ola The countenance of the Italian is soul, his speech exclamation, his motion gesticulation. His form is the noblest, and his country the true seat of beauty. His short forehead, his strong marked eyebones, the fine contour of his mouth, give a kindred claim to the antiquities of Greece. The ardour of his eyes denotes, that the benefi- . cent sun brings forth fruit more perfect in Italy than beyond the Alps. His imagination is ever in motion, ever sympathizing with surrounding objects, and, as in the poem of Ariosto the whole works of creation are reflected, so are they generally in the national spirit. That power which could bring forth such a work, appears to me the general representative of genius. It sings all, and from it all things are sung. The sublime in arts is the birth-right of the Italian. Modern religion and politics may have degraded and falsified his character, may have rendered