Retrofpec? of French Literature,—Mifcellaneous. 
ied toa furnace, for the purpofe of be- 
ing again purified. 
The former of thefe operations is per- 
formed by means of wood, with which 
tke mineral is intermixed, and the thick 
{moke which arifes at once darkens and 
infe&ts the horizon around. We are af- 
fured, however, ‘‘ that neither man nor 
animals are affected, and that no particu- 
Jar malady is known either in that town 
or neighbourhood: but the plants as well 
as the edifices experience the effects of 
thefe exhalations, in which vitricl predo- 
minates. It is only by means of extra- 
ordinary care that the adjacent lands are 
rendered in any degree fertile. The 
wood, of which moft of the houfes are 
compofed, is alfo corroded by the air im. 
pregnated wiih thefe vapours, and be- 
comes infenfibly converted into a fpecies 
of charcoal, which yields-to tne preffure 
of the fingers. Thefe exhalations,”’ it 
is added, ** even attack metal itfelf. The 
inhabitants of Fahlun are particularly de- 
firous to cover their churches with plates 
of a mineral to which they are indebted 
for their profperity, but this /heatbing of 
copper is foon attacked by the vitriclic 
vapours, and ftands in need of being fre- 
quently repaired.” 
About five hundred workmen are con- 
ftantly employed in the mine of Fahlun. 
They never fleep, and but feldom eat their 
meals, in the fuoterraneous regions ; two 
perfons, however, remain conttantly be- 
low, to prevent any accident by fre.— 
Eight borfes are kept in ftables cut out of 
the folid rock; a council room has alfo 
been formed in the fame manner; the 
principal perfons conneéted with the 
works fometimes affemble there, ‘* and ic 
was there alfo that Guitavus ILI. affect- 
ing originality in every thing, without re- 
curring to the forms ulually employed in 
the Swedith Chancery, without confult- 
ing the minifters whom he had left behind 
kim on the turiace of theearth, figned a 
Royal Proclamation, by which he grant- 
ed an exemption from certain duties on 
gold, filver, and lead.” 
We mult refer the reader to the origi- 
nal for an account of the iron mines, 
‘© Po:trait apologéique de Charles 
XII. Roi de Suede.”—An apoi getical 
Poitrait of Charles XII King of Swe- 
den. This, which is, of courfe, a fa- 
vourable fketch of one of the moi fioga- 
Jar men of tne lat age, appears ‘o bave 
been tranflated trom the German of Her- 
PER. 
© Charles XII.’ fays our author, 
*f may be confidered one of thofe byiiliant 
G69 
phenomena that mark the commencement 
of the la& century, and the greater part 
of our fafhionable writers reprefent this 
King-Captain under no other name than 
that of the Don Quixotte of the North. 
Since the time that Pope made him fhare 
the epithet of ** madman” with Alexan-— 
der, and more efpecially fince he was at- 
tacked in the Anti-Machiavel, and Vol- 
taire made him the hero of an Hiftorical 
Romance, the farcafm of the Englith poet 
has been conftantly repeated as often as 
his name is mentioned. But does not’ 
that very madnefs of whigh they accufe 
him deferve to be examined a little more 
clofely? Whence did this pretended ma. 
niac derive his ftrength ? How did he em- 
ploy it? Was this madnefs natural to him, 
or was it merely the delirium of a mind 
irritated by circumftances ?”’ 
Such are the queftions put, by M. Her- 
der, and on the reply to thefe is founded 
the charactey of the work now before us, 
Weare told that Charles, in defiance 
of the teftament of his father, afcended a 
throne illuftrated by the exploits of his 
predeceffors, when he had not attained 
the fifteenth year of hisage. He receiv- 
ed the education ufvally beftowcd ona 
Prince educated in the midft of a court, 
and he was infpired with all the preju- 
dices of abfolute power, without become 
ing acquainted with the conftitution and 
interefts of the country that gave him 
birth. 
«* The affertion is falfe, that duriag 
his youth he had ftudied Quintus Curtius 
with predileCtion, and that from this au- 
thor he had copied the model which he 
propofed to imitate, The Alexander 
which he carried in his own bofom was 
arouled by the critical and extraordinary 
circumftances that mark the commence- 
ment of his reign. His character was 
firm and intrepid, his Conftitution robult ; 
his inclinations honeit, but inflexibie. 
His biograpaers tell us, that even from 
his infancy he never mounted on horfe- 
back but tc make long journies and crof{s 
the mofi difficust pafles. One of his prn-. 
cipal amufements confifted in hurting of 
wild boars, and infead of deftroying he 
was aiways particularly defircus to take 
the animal alive; in one of thefe encoun- 
ters be had nearly Jolt his life. It was 
not thug that tie feholar of Arifotle 
amuled himfelf; and it is not in Quintus 
Curfius that Chailes could imbibe aa idea 
of the plealure to be derived from the 
chace of che boar” 
When the young monarch, who in op- 
pofition to the received ulage had placed 
the 
