quisite touches of Shakespeare's creative pencil. TAMING OF THE SHREW. Dr. Farmer has, without any external proof, and in contradiction to the strongest internal evidence, pronounced Shakespeare's property in this excellent drama to be extremely disputable. The truth is, that a play under the same name, and founded upon the same story, had appeared, A.D. 1607; and it cannot be denied that this play was closely imitated by Shakespeare, in respect both to character and incident. But the general composition of the old play is very mean, and the dialogue was almost entirely new written by the great poet. Who can doubt that the following passages, amongst many others, are the genuine production of Shakespeare's magic pen: O Tranio, while idly I stood looking on, I found the effect of love in idleness; I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio; O! yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face: Tranio, I saw her coral lips to move, A titious; but Dr. Warburton truly pro nounces it "to be throughout written in the very spirit of Shakespeare," who in this simple and pleasing drama, "warbles his native wood-notes wild," in a strain which no other writer could ever successfully emulate. The conduct of the fable is indeed extravagant; but the inspiration of genius pervades the whole, and incongruity and impropriety vanish before it. The story of this play is taken from a novel written by R. Green, entitled, The pleasant History of Dorastas and Fawnia; but the parts of Antigonus, Paulina, and Autolycus, are, as Mr. Stec vens informs us, of Shakespeare's own invention. It has been very justly remarked by Mr. Horace Walpole, that the characters of Leontes and Hermione bear an allusion to those of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn. The subject could not be treated on the stage without a veil, and the poet has discovered great address in his mode of managing it. The task was by no means easy to vindicate the innocence of the queen, without making And with her breath she did perfume the the character of the king too odious; and air; Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her. Act I. Scene 1. So honour peereth in the meanest habit; Because his feathers are more beautiful? it must be acknowledged, that Leontes, -You may ride us, ere With spur we heap an acre, but to the goal. That is," says Dr. Warburton," good usage will win us to any thing; but with ill we stop short even there where both The principal merit of this play, how ever, does not consist in the poetry, but in the freedom and vigour with which it is throughout embued and animated. our interest and inclination would otherAll the parts of the induction are exqui- wise have carried us." This is indeed sitely humorous. There is a passage in assigning that sense to the words which the old play, of such superior excellence, suits the general tenor of the passage; but that we cannot hesitate to ascribe it to how the words themselves will admit of Shakespeare, to whose revisal, as theatri- such a construction, the learned comcal manager, it was not improbably sub-mentator has not attempted to explain. mitted previous to its appearance on the stage. Fair lovely lady, bright and crystalline, bird, As glorious as the morning wash'd with dew! Within whose eyes she takes her dawning beams, And golden summer sleeps upon thy cheeks! WINTER'S TALE. This play is strangely supposed by sque of the commentators to be surrep "But to the goal" must mean, except to What were more holy Act V, Scene 1. Dr. Warburton changes the structure of For the Monthly Magazine. VOCABULARY OF MALAY WORDS, as spoken on the WEST COAST of SUMATRA. ONE Sattoo Peesang Two Doo-o Nine Sambilan Twenty Doo-o Poolg Egg Teloor Hundred Saratoos Salt Geram Man (Vir) Lakee Woman Father Teemah Gold Mas Silver Pêra Son Ana, lakee lakee Hatchet Peesore Kapah Head Kapalo Ear Telinggo Nose Eedong Boat Beedoo, Sampan Mast Sail Rope Teeang Layer Anchor Saou Night Malam Sun Story Pantoon Khabar All Samonia Dead Kooning Bitter Paeet For the Monthly Magazine. FRAGMENT of a TOUR in SILESIA by BERNARDIN DE SAINT-PIERRE. N my return from Russia to France, I found myself in company with a number of travellers of various nations, in the post-coach which travels between Riga and Breslaw, We were seated two and two upon wooden benches, with our trunks at our feet, and the open sky above our heads. The vehicle travelled night and day, thus exposing us to all the inclemencies of the weather; and, to add to our misfortunes, the inns on the route could supply us with no refreshments, except black bread, malt spirits, and coffee. Such is the manner of travelling in Russia, Prussia, Poland, and most of the countries in the north of Europe; and after having thus traversed several immense forests of fir and birch trees, and passed over extensive plains without number, we entered among the huge mountains covered to their tops with beech and oak trees, which separate Poland from Silesia. Although my travelling companions understood French, a language nowa-days universal in Europe, they spoke very little. One morning at day-break, we found ourselves on a hill in the neighbourhood of a castle built in a most delightful situation. A number of streams meandered through long avenues of linden trees, and formed at the bottom several small islands, planted with orchards in the midst of luxuriant meadows. Lower down, as far as the eye could reach, we perceived the rich plains of Silesia, covered with excellent crops, villages, and pleasure-houses, These plains were watered by the Oder, which in its windings resembled a rich girdle of azure and silver. "Oh, what a charming view!" exclaimed an Italian painter who was going to Dresden; "it reminds me of the Mi lanese." An astronomer of the academy of Berlin replied: "Here are delightful plains, we might here trace a long base, and these steeples would make a fine series of triangles." An Austrian baron, smiling disdainfully, then addressed the geometrician, "You must know, this estate is the noblest in all Germany; all these steeples you see, are dependant upon it." That being the case," case," replied a Swiss merchant, "the inhabitants must all be slaves. Upon my soul, it is a poor country!" A Prus sian Hussar officer, who was coolly smoaking his pipe, took it gravely from his mouth, and said, with a firm voice, "No person is so great as the king of Prussia. He delivered Silesia from the yoke of Austria and her nobles. I remember, when I was encamped here four years ago. What fine fields for fighting! I would establish my magazine in the castle, and my artillery on the terraces-I would line the river with my infantry, put my cavalry at the wings; and with thirty thousand men I would defy all the forces of the empire. Long live Frederick!" Scarcely had he resumed his pipe, when a Russian officer took up the conversation. "I would not," said he, "live in a country which, like Silesia, is open to all armies. Our Cossacks ravaged it last war; and, had it not been for the regulars who prevented them, they would not have left a cottage standing. It is worse at present. The peasants may complain against their lords for this. The citizens have even greater privileges in their municipality. I like the environs of Moscow much better." A young student of Leipsic thus answered the two officers: "Gentlemen, how can you speak of war in so charming a place? Give me leave to tell you, that the very name of Silesia comes from Campi Elisei, the Elysian Fields. It would be better to exclaim with Virgil, "OLycoris, hic tecum consumerer ævo! -O, Lycoris! here with you could I calmly wait for my dissolution." As these words were pronounced with warmth, a pretty little milliner from Paris, whom the ennui of the journey had lulled to sleep, awoke, and, at the sight of so charming a prospect, exclaimed in her turn: "Ah, what a de licious country! it wants nothing but Frenchmen!" "What do you sigh for?" said she to a young Jewish_rabbi, who was sitting by her side. "Do you see, said the Jewish doctor, "that mountain there with its lofty peak; it resembles Mount Sinai." All the company here burst into laughter; but an old Protestant clergyman from Erfurt, in Saxony, con tracting his brows, said angrily: "Silesia is a cursed country, because the truth is banished from it. It is under the yoke of popery. You will see at the entrance of Breslaw the palace of the ancient dukes of Silesia, which is now inhabited by a college of Jesuits, who have been drawn from every other part of Europe." A fat Dutch merchant, purveyor to the Prussian army in the last war, replied, "How can you call a country cursed which is covered with so many blessings? The king of Prussia did well to conquer Silesia; it is the brightest jewel in his crown. I should prefer a rood of ground here to a thou sand acres in the Mark of Branden burgh." Disputing in this manner, we arrived at Breslaw, and alighted at a very good inn. While waiting for dinner, the conversation turned upon the owner of the castle we had just passed. The Saxon clergyman assured us he was a miscreant, who commanded the Prussian artillery at the siege of Dresden; that he had destroyed with his poisoned bombs that unfortunate city, part of which was still in ruins, and that he had acquired his estates by contributions raised in Saxony. "You are mistaken," replied the baron, "he got them by his marriage with an Austrian countess, who made a bad match of it. His wife has most reason to complain. None of his children can enter into any of the noble orders of Germany, because their father was only a soldier of fortune." "What you say," replied the Prussian Hussar, "does him honour, and he would be amply rewarded now in Prussia, if he had not left the king's service at the peace. He is an officer that cannot shew himself any more." The landlord, who was spreading the cloth on the table, said: "Gentlemen, I see you are unacquainted with the officer of whom you are speaking; he is a man loved and revered by all the world: there is not a beggar in all his domains. Although a catholic, he relieves poor travellers, let them be of whatever country or religion they may. If they are Saxons, he lodges and feeds them for three days, as a compensation for the injury he was obliged to do them during the war. He is adored by his wife and children." "You ought to know," said the Protestant clergyman to the landlord, "that there is neither charity nor virtue in his communion. All he does is pure hypocrisy, like the virtues of pagans and papists." We had amongst us some catholics, who would have raised a terrible dispute when the landlord took his place at the top of the table, according to the custom of Germany. A profound silence reigned during dinner; and every one ate and drank like a tra veller, filled it to the brim, which he drank at one draught. "Come," said she, "what are you thinking about, doctorthe country which produces such good wine? Is it not as good as the Land of Promise?" "Without doubt," replied he, with a smiling air, "all wine must be good when poured out by such fair hands." "Do you not wish," said she, "that your Messiah were born in France, in order that he might there assemble his tributaries from all parts of the world. "May it please God!" replied the Israelite; "but he must previously make the conquest of Europe, where we are at present so miserable. Qur Messiah must be another Cyrus, who will. force the different nations of the earth to live in peace with each other, and with the whole human race." "God grant it!" exclaimed most of the company. I admired this variety of opinions among people who disputed so violently before they sat down to dinner, and agreed so cordially before they rose from it. I concluded, that man is wicked in adversity, (for it is surely a misfortune to many people to have an hungry stomach:) and that he is virtuous in pros perity; for when he has made a good dinner, he is at peace with all the world, like Rousseau's savage. veller: we fared sumptuously; peaches, to the lady a great leather bowl, who grapes, and melons, were served up as a dessert. The landlord desired his wife to bring (between dinner and tea) some bottles of Champagne wine, with which, he said, he would regale the company, in Bonour of the owner of the castle, to whom he was under particular obligations. The bottles were then brought, and putting them before the French milliner, he begged her to do the honours. Joy beamed in every countenance, and the conversation became sprightly. My Countrywoman presented the landlord with the first glass of his wine, saying, that she had been as well treated by him as in the best inn at Paris, and that she never knew a Frenchman who surpassed him in gallantry. The Russian officer now admitted that there was more fruit at Breslaw thau at Moscow. He compared Silesia to Livonia for fertility; and he added, that the liberty of the peasant made a country be better cultivated, and their lords happier. The astronomer observed, that Moscow was very nearly in the same latitude as Bres Faw; and consequently susceptible of the same productions. The Hussar officer remarked: "In truth I find, that the lord of the castle, whose estate we have just passed, did well to quit the service. After all, our Great Frederic, after having fought gloriously in the war, passed part of his time in gardening, &c. cultivating with his own hands the melons at Sanssouci." All the company were of the Hussar's opinion. Even the Saxon clergyman said, that Silesia was a fine and good province: that it was a pity it was in a state of error, but he doubted not but that liberty of conscience being established in all the states of the king of Prussia, the inhabitants, and, without doubt, the master of the castle, would soon return to the truth, and embrace the confession of Augsburg. For," added he, “God never allows a good action to go without its reward, and it is one which we cannot praise too much in a military man who has done mischief to any country in the time of war, to endeavour to benefit it during peace." The landlord then proposed to drink the health of this brave officer, which was done amidst shouts of applause. I drew another more important infer ence, which was this: that all these apinions, which had for the most part shaken all mine by turns, proceeded merely from the different educations of my tra velling companions; and I had no doubt that every man would return to his own way of thinking when by himself. Wishing to strengthen my judgment upon the various subjects of conversa tion, I addressed myself to a neighbour who had kept continued silence; and one who I perceived to be of a placid temper. "What do you think (said I) of Silesia, and the lord of the castle?” "Silesia," replied he, "is a very fine country, because it produces fruit ja abundance; and the lord of the castle is an excellent man, because he relieves the distressed. As to the manner of judging of it, this differs in each individual according to his religion, na tion, condition, temper, sex, age, the season of the year, even the hour of the day; and, finally, the education, which gives the first and last bias to our judg ment; but when we refer every thing to the virtues of the human race, we decide correctly. It is by the general and grand reason |