3810] 
fi 609. J 
Lvtracts from the Port-folio of a Man; of Letters. 
a 
fy, RUSSIAN VIRTUOSI, 
HE author of * The Present State of 
Russia,” has favoured us with a chap. 
ter on the Amateurs of that country. A 
very ingenious traveller, Mr. Abel Burja, 
in his “ Observations d’an Voyageur 
sur la Russie,” (p. 162), informs us, that 
there are, in fact, at Petersburg, many 
Russian lords, and men of fortune, who 
affect to be connoisseurs in the sciences 
and fine arts. ‘ f was introduced,” 
sayshe, ** one day, into a closet filled 
with books, thrown about, a3 if at ran- 
dom, in the most picturesque manner. 
There were globes, spheres, and mathe- 
matical instruments of every kind, and 
i retired from the house penetrated with 
the most profound respect for the learned 
and accomplished possessor of so inany 
rare productions of ingenuity ; but what 
Was ny astonishment, at hearing that this 
personage was merely a rich man, and no- 
thing more? The booksellers reap a 
wonderful harvest from the ignorance of 
those pretended amateurs: they abso- 
futely sell them volumes by the yard ; 
and by this means clear their wares 
houses of all the damaged books and trash 
which had been accumulated for years, 
To a coprtier they will sell old musty 
concordances of the bible, and similar 
works. If a set of books wants the sc- 
cond volume, they will immediately 
place on the back of the first, * Vol. I. 
and If.” All this they hazard, because 
they know with positive certainty, that 
the worthy purchaser will never even 
Open one of the books. There are, how. 
ever, in Russia, some few men of real 
taste, and true Jovers of literature.” 
PARRICIDES AND SUICIDES. _ 
Count John Potocki, in his ‘* Voyage 
dans quelques parties de la Basse-Saxe,” 
{p. 43,) mentions, that near la Ghorde, 
a hunting lodge, belonging to the Elec. 
tors of Hanover, onthe ro&d from Eu- 
chace to Hansbourg, is a forest, called 
the Jammer Holtz, or “ the Wood of 
Groans.” [tis related, that King George 
the Second, hunting in the vicinity of 
this place, heard cries and !amentations 
issuing fr6m the skirts of the forest, and, 
on gallopping up to the spot, he *disco- 
vered a Vend peasant in the very act of 
_ burying his own father alive. The mo- 
narch was struck with horror, and the 
peasant assured him, with great simpli- 
elty, that he was only following a 
custom, established among the Vends 
from time immemorial, but which they 
were latterly obliged to practice withy 
great secrecy, through fear of being de- 
tected by the Germans. This circum+ 
stance gives occasion to Count Potocki 
for many ingenious observations and re- 
flections. He notices the similar custona 
prevalent among Hottentots, and other 
Savages, of putting to death their aged 
and decrepid friends. ‘The Greeks and 
Romans, it is true, did not kill their 
parents, but the old men amongst therm 
often prevented the evils of infirmity and 
disease by voluntary suicide. A®lian, in 
his “ Various Histories,” informs us, 
that Pompey, passing through a certain 
city of Greece (which he naines,) was in- 
vited by a lady, aged eighty years, to be 
present whilst she poisoned herself—a 
ceremony which she resolved to perforne 
some days sooner than she had originally 
intended, that she might have the ho- 
nour of dying in the presence of Pompey,. 
And Pliny the Younger, assures us, that 
many of his friends had consuited him 
on the question, Whether it was deceng 
and expedient, that they should conti- 
nue to live? as if they considered the 
perpetration of a suicide, as nothing 
more than giving a quicker degree of ac~ 
tion to the scythe of Time. 
VOLTAERE’S PORTRAIF. 
Voltaire once chanced to pass througia 
Colonyes, a village about twenty miles 
from Geneva, just at the time when an 
eminent painter ‘happened to be resting 
there fora few hoars. The latter, con- 
trary to the practice of most persons of 
his profession, had neither pencils nor 
colours about him, but enraptured with 
the sight of the philosopher, whom he 
here met so unexpectedly, lhe took a 
piece of charcoal, and with this rude in- 
strument drew a sketch of him over the 
chimney-piece of the inn. The resem~ 
blance of this sketch to the original was 
uncommonly striking. Some time after~ 
wards, the same place was visited by a 
jovial party, who were highiy diverted 
with the grotesque figure of the patriarch 
of Ferney, not knowing for whom it was 
intended, and were just going to pro- 
phane 1t by various additions, when the 
hostess perceived their design, and ex- 
claimed, “It is Voltaire!” At these 
words they were struck with awe; one 
of the company immediately rode, or 
rather flew to Geneva, and fetched a gla- 
zier, to make a glass-case to put corre 
tae 
