near the Vice-chancellor's seat, the professor presented him, (the prince being then bare); which being done, the Vice-chancellor then standing bare, as the doctors and masters did, he created him doctor of laws.

"This being done, the prince went up to his chair of state, provided for him on the right hand of the chancellor's seat; and when three of his retinue were created doctors, the orator complimented him in the name of the university. He left Oxford next day, at which time was presented to him, in the name thereof, 'Historia et Antiquitatis Universitatis Oxoniensis,' with the cuts thereto belonging."

Ernest Augustus, the last Elector of Hanover before George the First, was a prince much attached to the cultivation of the arts. He adorned his capital with several magnificent buildings, and indeed it is to his munificence that Hanover is indebted for all the remains of splendour of which she can boast. He improved and enlarged the castle, which had been built for his uncle and brother in the city, and he built the palace of Hernhausen in the suburbs, a palace which was the residence of the Princess Sophia, and which, by the representations of the Duke of Clarence, has been lately repaired, and now forms a magnificent building. The court of Ernest Augustus was one of the most celebrated in Europe, and is said to have rivalled that of Louis XIV. in politeness and vice. This prince died in the year 1698. He had never been allowed to take his seat in the college of electors, on account of the opposition which had been raised to his assuming that dignity; but his title was acknowledged by the potentates of Europe, and he enjoyed the precedence due to his rank.

At the commencement of the war with France, occasioned by the Spanish succession, Hanover became the firm ally of Great Britain, and the Elector, in conjunction with his uncle and fatherin-law, the old Duke of Celle, furnished a subsidiary body of ten thousand men to the army under Marlborough. Prince Maximilian, the Elector's brother, commanded the Hanoverian troops, and greatly distinguished himself by his gallantry and conduct. • The cabals, which preceded the accession of the Elector of Hanover to the throne of England, do not furnish any circumstances of peculiar interest. It is well known, that the Elector was not on good terms, either with his mother or his son, and that he viewed with indifference the splendid prospects, which the latter had secured for him. The name of the Princess was inserted in the Liturgy, and her grandson was created Duke of Cambridge, and invested with the Order of the Garter. The residence of the Electoral Prince in these dominions was earnestly desired by the friends of the Protestant succession, and a writ, summoning him to parliament by his new title, was transmitted to Hanover. The affair, however, gave great offence to the Queen, who could not

endure the idea of having a prince of the house she so much detested, so near her person. She accordingly dispatched, by Lord Paget, a letter to the aged Electress, and another to the Electoral Prince, in which she strongly deprecated the idea of the latter visiting England, as dangerous both to the peace of the kingdom and to the succession of the Hanoverian family. These letters made a most powerful, and indeed a fatal impression on the Electress. They were delivered on Wednesday the 6th of June 1714; and although she continued her usual occupations, and conversed on indifferent subjects, she complained the following day of being unwell, and took to her bed. On Friday she was able to dress and dine with the Elector, and took her accustomed walk during the evening in the orangery, but, being overtaken by a shower of rain, she quickened her pace in order to gain a shelter. To an observation from her attendant that she was walking too fast, she replied, "I believe I do." She fell as she was uttering these words, which were her last, and soon afterwards expired. She died in the 84th year of her age.

The Electress Sophia was the youngest daughter of the Elector Palatine, afterwards King of Bohemia, and Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I. Her father died when she was an infant, and her early years were passed in distress and exile. Though many of her family were strict Catholics, she was educated in the principles of Protestantism, to which she always remained firmly attached. At the age of 28 she married Ernest Augustus Duke of Brunswick Luneburg. Her person was beautiful, and her understanding manly. A contemporary writer relates that at the age of seventy-three she possessed all the beauty and vigour of youth, stepped as firm and erect as any young lady, and had not a wrinkle on her face, or one tooth out of her head; she read without spectacles, and was constantly employed. The chairs of the presence-chamber were all embroidered with her own hands, as well as the ornaments of the altar in the electoral chapel. She was much attached to the exercise of walking, usually spending two or three hours in sauntering round the pleasure-grounds at Hernhausen. She was a great patroness of the arts and learning, of which her encouragement of the celebrated Leibnitz may be mentioned as a proof. Her knowledge of languages was considerable, and she had paid great attention to the English. She also made our laws and constitution her study, as soon as it became probable she might succeed to the throne of these kingdoms. Her intellect was highly cultivated, and her wit sprightly; and it is said that nothing could exceed the brilliancy and beauty of her conversation but her letters. Her religious sontiments were firm and elevated, without being superstitious. With the accession of George the First the history of the House of Hanover properly

terminates.

At the conclusion of his history, Dr. Halliday gives an interesting account of the present state of the kingdom of Hanover. The inhabitants are still in some degree suffering under the effects of the late war, but agriculture and commerce are again beginning to flourish amongst them. The taxes are said to be light. By the last accounts, the revenue amounted to a million and a half of dollars (two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling), while the charges exceeded that income by about eight thousand pounds per annum. The government is at present carried on by a committee of five of the king's ministers, under the Duke of Cambridge as president. Three of these ministers, with his Royal Highness, reside constantly in Hanover. In 1819 the king granted a new constitution to the country, consisting of a representative government, in many respects similar to that of Great Britain. In each province the former local government is continued, and its affairs are managed by a legislative assembly of its own, consisting of representatives chosen from the clergy, nobles, and towns of the district; and it is a certain number of deputies from these provincial assemblies that form what is called the General States of the kingdom. In the code of Hanoverian law, which is composed of the Roman and canon law, modified by the peculiar customs of the country, there are some features which are well worthy of observation and praise. The practice of imprisoning a debtor, and thus depriving him of the means of liquidating his debts, which is so great a stain on our system of English jurisprudence, does not exist in the Hanoverian dominions. A creditor can sequestrate and sell the goods of his debtor, but cannot incarcerate his person, unless he makes it appear that he is about to fly from justice. The system of prison discipline also is humane and sensible, and the prisoners and criminals are treated with great humanity. The house of correction at Celle, and the house of industry at Hildesheim, are mentioned as excellent institutions. The convicts, when their services are not required by government, are wisely and benevolently allowed to work for the inhabitants, and are regularly paid a fixed sum per day. In criminal matters, the code of Charles the Fifth, called the Carolina, forms the basis of the law of Hanover. A highly commendable liberality is shewn towards the professors of different religions, and all denominations of Christians are eligible for the highest offices of the state. Jews are, indeed, in some degree, restricted as to residence, but they are equally under the protection of the laws. The Lutheran is the established religion of the country, though two of the States still adhere to their ancient faith. Education receives much encouragement in Hanover. Almost every parish has its school; and there is an establishment in the city of Hanover for the gratuitous education of all such as are desirous of becoming the instructors of youth. The merits of Göttingen as an university are

The

well known: the celebrated Blumenbach is still the ornament of this place.

The ambition of Bonaparte destroyed the constitution of the German empire, and the Emperor of the West was compelled to assume the title of Austria only. The present constitution of Germany was settled at Vienna in 1815, when various principalities, which had previously been sovereign dominions, were incorporated with the Austrian empire, Prussia, Hanover, or others of the newlyformed kingdoms, while the princes have sunk into the first class of nobility. The states, which were not sufficient to form a kingdom, were made Grand Duchies; and the ruler of Hesse Cassel is the only prince, who now retains the title of elector. The diet of the confederation sits at Frankfort, and each sovereign prince has a representative at that assembly. The confederation of the Rhine included only a few of the minor states; but the present confederation comprehends the whole of Germany.

LETTERS FROM SPAIN, BY DON LEUCADIO DOBLADO.

MR. EDITOR,-The letter I have the honour to inclose was found by a friend of mine among some papers belonging to a lady, who had requested his assistance to arrange them. The packet contained two other long epistles, forming part, it should seem, of a considerable series, under the title of Letters from Spain, written between 1798 and 1810, by Don Leucadio Doblado. Knowing how intimately acquainted I had been with the writer, my friend obtained leave to make me a present of the manuscript, promising that he would endeavour to find the remainder, which, the lady was confident, had never been lent or destroyed.

I trust that the entire series of Doblado's letters will be in my possession, before they are wanted for insertion. But I have laid before you the circumstances of the case, that you may either delay the publication, or take the chance of the first three letters being left to stand by themselves as a mere fragment.

B.

Seville, May 1798.

Dear Madam.-I am inclined to think with you, that a Spaniard, who, like myself, has resided many years in England, is, perhaps, the fittest person to write an account of life, manners, and opinions as they exist in this country, and to shew them in the light, which is most likely to interest an Englishman. The most acute and diligent travellers are subject to constant mistakes; and perhaps the more so, for what is generally thought a circumstance in their favour-a moderate knowledge of foreign languages. A traveller who uses only his eyes, will confine himself to the description of external objects; and though his narrative may be deficient in

many topics of interest, it will certainly be exempt from great and ludicrous blunders. The difficulty, which a person, with a smattering of the language of the country he is visiting, experiences every moment in the endeavour to communicate his own, and catch other men's thoughts, often urges him into a sort of mental rashness, which leads him to settle many a doubtful point for himself, and forget the unlimited power, I should have said tyranny, of usage, in whatever relates to language. I still recollect the unlucky hit I made on my arrival in London, when, anxious beyond measure to catch every idiomatic expression, and reading the huge inscription of the Cannon Brewery at Knightsbridge, as the building had some resemblance to the great cannon-foundery in this town, I settled it in my mind that the genuine English idiom, for what I now should call casting, was no other than brewing cannon. This, however, was a mere verbal mistake. Not so that which I made when the word nursery stared me in the face every five minutes, as in a fine afternoon I approached your great metropolis, on the western road. Luxury and wealth, said I to myself, in a strain approaching to philosophic indignation, have at last blunted the best feelings of nature among the English. Surely, if I am to judge from this endless string of nurseries, the English ladies have gone a step beyond the unnatural practice of devolving their first maternal duties upon domestic hirelings. Here, it seems, the poor helpless infants are sent to be kept and suckled in crowds, in a decent kind of Foundling Hospitals. You may easily guess that I knew but one signification of the words nursing and nursery. Fortunately I was not collecting materials for a book of travels during a summer excursion, otherwise I should now be enjoying all the honour of the originality of my remarks on the customs and manners of Old England.

From similar mistakes I think myself safe enough in speaking of my native country; but I wish I could feel equal confidence as to the execution of the sketches you desire to obtain from me. I know you too well, dear Madam, to doubt that my letters will, by some chance or other, find their way to some of the London Magazines, before they have been long in your hands*. And only think, I intreat you, how I shall fret and fidget under the apprehension that some of your pert newspaper writers may fill up a whole column in some of their Suns or Stars, which, in spite of intervening seas and mountains, shall dart its baneful influence, and blast the character of infallibility, as an English scholar, which I have acquired since my return to Spain. I have so strongly

* Poor Don Leucadio! how mortified he would feel could he know that the letters to which he attributed so much importance, have lain forgotten for years, and that it will now cost me, his old friend, a world of trouble to give his posthumous work to the public!