48 
thought to be too lufcious. In the orange 
menths, from November till the middle 
ef June, the groves of thefe beautiful 
trees are always covered with a great pro- 
fufion of this delicious fruit. The createft 
part of their. crops were commonly fent 
every year in prcients to the different courts 
cf Europe, and to the relations of the che< 
valiers. 
The induftry of the Maltefe in culti- 
vating their little ifland, is altogether in- 
credible. There is not an inch o7 ground 
loft in any part of it; and where nature 
has not produced foil enough for the 
purpofe of the hufbandman, they have 
brought over fhips and boats loaded with 
it from Africa, and particularly from Si- 
cily, where there is plenty and to fpare. 
‘The whole iffand is full of inclofures of 
free-ftone, which are very {mall and irre- 
gularly laid out, according to the incli- 
nation of the ground. ‘Thele the inaabi- 
tants fay they are obliged to maintain, 
notwithftanding the uncouth and deformed 
afpect they exhibit, as otherwife, the ra- 
pid floods, to which they are cccafionally 
fubjeét, would carry off the foil. The 
rains, however, fall here but very ieldom. 
No. fpot hardly upon earth, prefents 
ground naturally more ungrateful and 
fterile than that of Malta; and yet the far- 
mer here, in cultivating the foil, is fo 
active, fo indefatigable, and fo neat, that 
his poverty has only the appearance of ab- 

Lnécdotes of Emineiit Perfons. 
[ Jan. 
ftinence. The foil of Sicily, on the other 
hand, is immenf<ly fortunate and fertile, 
crops of various produce, corn, wine, 
oil, filk, &c. (which aré all mingled to- 
gether) rapicly fucceeding, or rather 
treading ¢loi2 upon each other; while the 
mountains, highly cultivated, almof to — 
their tops, the inclofures, fenced with 
hedges ct the Indian fig, or prickly pear, 
and the fides of the roads garnifhed with 
a proftfion of flowers or flowering fhrubs, 
exceedingly beautiful, altogether prefent 
the moft agreealle afpeé&t to the eye that 
can pofiibly be imagined (efpecially in 
failing along its very rich coaft). Still, 
however, notwithftanding thefe natural 
advantages, the peafants there are*poor, 
dull, and loathfomely dirty; and in Syra- 
cufe, and other of their cities, fearcely @ 
creature is to be feen, and even thofe have 
the appearance of difeafe and extreme 
wretchednefs. The inward and outward 
cleanlinefs and comfortablenefs of Malta. 
and its inhabitants, contrafted with what 
is vifible in Sicily, is fo ftriking in paffs 
ing from one ifland to the other, that 2 
ftranger would almoft be induced to ima- 
gine them a thoufand leagues afunder: in 
taét, there never were two countries fo 
near each other, which, in every phyfical 
and moral point of view, have fo little 
mutual relation and refemblance as thefe 
have. 
(To be continued.) 

ANECDOTES OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
Tue Marquis De POMBAL, 
LATE PRINE MINISTER OF PORTUGAL. 
HE great powers of the human un- 
deritanding, and the immente inter- 
val that feparates the mind of one man 
from another, are never more clearly ex- 
hibited than when an obfcure individual 
arifes trom the midft of a nation funk in 
floth, and dozing in the lap of ignorance, 
and after pufhing down all the obftacles 
placed by fortune in his way, afcends to 
an eminence fe high as to enable him at 
once to defpife and to command the whole 
inert mafs of his countrymen. The Mar- 
quis de Pombal was one of thele rare 
prodigies; fometimes portending good, 
fometimes mifchier, to the regions in 
which they appear. 
Jofeph Sebaftian Carvalho was born at 
Coimbra in 1699, of parents fo very hum- 
ble, and_ fe little known, that report has 
reduced them to the rank of artifans. 
The truth however is, that he defcended 
from one of thofe noble, but obfcure fa- 
milies, which the more opulent and dig- 
nified noblefie held in almoft equal con- 
tempt with the bafeft clafs of plebeians. 
The proud fpizit of Carvalho was ftung 
at an early age by this infolence of the 
grandees, which he forgot not to abate 
when he afterwards rofe to power. 
Though he difcovered confiderable ta- 
lents while purfuing his ftudies at the uni- 
verfity of his native city, he declined the 
arts of peace, in which he might have 
difplayed them, and embraced the pro- 
feflion of arms, as better fuited to an ar- 
dent and enterprifing mind, and to the 
perfonal advantage with which he was 
moft liberally endowed by nature. He 
was one of the handfomeft men of the age 
in which he lived. His ftature was un- 
common; his afpeét noble and command- 
ing; and his firength prodigious. He 
was no lefs remarkable among the Guards 
of the Palace tor his whdaunted courage ; 
byt 
