all the powers of Europe, the three potentates designated the limits of their possessions in Poland, which they entirely appropriated to themselves*. A. D. From that moment, Poland, which had during more than one thousand years figured in Europe as an independent and frequently a formidable state, was degraded from her condition and deprived of that title. On the sixth of Janu1797. ary, the courts of Vienna, Petersburg, and Berlin, published an act by which they engaged to extinguish, by different means, the debts of Poland, to discharge those of the king, to secure to him the enjoyment of all his patrimonial or acquired property, and to allow him an annual pension of two hundred thousand ducats. He received orders to fix his residence at Grodno, from whence the czar Paul I. on his accession to the throne, invited the ill-fated monarch to Petersburg—a scene that must doubtless have recalled to his mind the adventures of his youth, which seemed to promise a happier destiny. He survived only a short time the fall of his throne, and the humiliation of his counA. D. try. He died of an appoplexy, at Petersburg, on the 11th of April, O. S. It was destined that the same hand which had presented should bereave him of his 1798. * Brezesk became the central point of the frontiers of these states. Warsaw feil under the dominion of the Prussian monarch. The Vistula divided Prussia from Austria. The Bog separated Austria from Russia. The Neimen marked the limits between the Russian and Prussian possessions; and one half of the city of Grodno belonged to the king of Prussia, and the other to the empress of Russia. crown; 0 crown; and he would have lost it somewhat sooner, had it not been for the generous intervention of Potemkin, who saw, conversed with, and conceived an ardent friendship for his majesty, during the excursion of the empress to the Crimea. The character of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, the last king of Poland, is neither difficult to understand nor to delineate. As a man and an individual, he was certainly more amiable, and more the object of attachment and respect, than when considered in his regal capacity. In his youth, his person was handsome, graceful, and elegant. Never was a prince more gracious, easy, and affable in his manners and address; which was the result of natural disposition, not the effect of artifice. But, when we contemplate him as a monarch; he evidently sinks in our estimation: he was amiable, not great; engaging, not imposing. Equally deficient in the strong powers of discernment, and in the vigour of mind which his situation demanded, he was not calculated to direct the storm by which he was assailed and finally destroyed. He possessed rather a lively and pleasing than a solid and penetrating understanding. The facility of his nature exposed him to deception; and the flexibility of his temper was abused by favourites, who acquired and retained an ascendancy over him. He supposed himself to resemble Henry IV. of France, in the leading features of his mind and body; but, though some resemblance might be traced n the circumstances of the two sovereigns, StaDiskus unfortunately did not equal the French monarch monarch in wisdom, firmness, heroic valour, discernment, and above all, in frugality; and his talents were more calculated for the calm than the tempest :-for domestic privacy, than for the intrigues and bustle of a court. SWEDEN. SWEDEN. CHAP. I. Description of Sweden, and its history till the Accession of Eric XII. THE HE kingdom of Sweden includes that extensive tract of country which lies between Denmark, Norway, and Russia; and which is bounded on the east by Russia, the Baltic, and the gulph of Finland; on the south, by the Baltic and Sound; on the west, by the Desart and the impassable mountains of Norway; and on the north by Norwegian Lapland. It extends from fifty-five degrees and thirty minutes to sixty-nine degrees of north latitude; and from the twelfth to the thirty-second degree of east longitude from London: being about one thousand four hundred miles in length, and nine hundred and twenty in breadth. The air of Sweden is extremely salubrious; but the winters are long and severe. In the midst, however, of the brumal season, the splendor of the moon, the reflection of the snow, and the lucid brightness of the sky, render the nights less tedious, and even give beauty to them. At Stockholm, on the longest day, when the heat, is most intense, the sun continues above the horizon about eighteen hours and a half: but the nights are luminous and pleasant; and travelling is equally eligible during the night as the the day. In this climate violent storms wind and rain are seldom experienced, and th sky is commonly clear and serene. Summe suddenly succeeds winter; and vegetation considerably more rapid than in many mor southern climates. This season, however, is short duration, and seldom continues longer tha three months; when the assistance of stoves an warm furs is again found necessary, to mitigat the severity of the cold. Sweden exhibits extensive woods and unfre quented forests, which produce pines, fir, beed! birch, alder, juniper, and oak; and which affor fuel in the most plentiful manner, at the cheap est rate, and also furnish an important article exportation. In those places where agricultu is practicable, the soil is abundantly ferti though seldom more than halfa foot in depth; a it is common to plough the ground with a sing ox. Since the reign of Charles the twelft the Swedes have been at incredible pains to co rect the natural sterility of their country; a their labours have in general been attended w great success: but, notwithstanding their utm exertions, they have never been able to grow quantity of corn sufficient for the national co sumption. Wheat, rye, barley, oats, peas, a beans are produced in Gothland; but the nativ in many places, either on account of a want industry or of an unhappy situation, are und the necessity of procuring corn from Live: and the provinces of the Baltic. During t summer season, nature appears extremely agre able, the fields are clothed with a variety flowers; and even the most barren rocks yie strawberries, raspberries, and other smail fru |