is not the work of the firft formation and productive power of nature, but of art, of accident, of constraint: experiment will render this indifputable. As a preliminary amufement for the enquiring reader I fhall add what follows.

Among a hundred circular foreheads, in profile, I have never yet met with one Roman nose. In a hundred other fquare foreheads I have scarcely found one in which were not cavities and prominences. I never yet faw a perpendicular forehead, with strongly ached features, in the lower part of the counte nance, the double chin excepted.

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I meet no ftrong-bowed eyebrows bony perpendicular countenances.

combined with

Wherever the forehead is projecting fo, in general, are the under lips, children excepted.

I have never feen gently arched yet much retreating foreheads combined with a fhort fnub nofe, which, in profile, is harp and funken.

A vifible nearnefs of the nose to the eye is alwaye attended by a visible widenefs between the nose and mouth.'

Take two, three, or four fhades of men, remarkable for understanding, join the features fo artificially that no defect shall appear, as far as relates to the act of joining; that is, take the forehead of one, add the nose of a fecond, the mouth of a third, the chin of a fourth, and the refult of this combination of the figns of wisdom fhall be folly. Folly is perhaps nothing more than the emendation of fome heterogeneous addition." But. let these four wife countenances be fuppofed congruous ?”— Let them fo be fuppofed, or as nearly fo as poffible, ftill their combination will produce the figns of folly.'

These facts are ftriking, and we believe the obfervations juft; fome examples are added which greatly illuftrate these remarks.

M. Lavater prefers fhades in many inftances to portraits, for phyfiognomonical exercifes. They are, however, flight and imperfect reprefentations, but they are accurate copies from nature in fome of the more important outlines; copies which diffimulation cannot change or vanity alter. He diftinguishes properly what may be difcovered from them, and what, in general, they cannot exprefs. They will not always fhow extraordinary talents; but our author tells us that a man may act, write, fpeak, or fuffer, fo as to appear extraordinary, though in reality he is not fo.' He does not chufe to give examples, but we believe every one's experience will furnish them.

As we cannot finish even our sketch of these fragments in one article, we shall now ftop, for the author next proceeds to a very different fubject. Though we shall speak more at length of the decorations of thefe volumes, we ought to ob

ferve, before we conclude, that this first complete English verfion of Lavater is a very beautiful one. The paper and print-. ing are excellent, and the engravings unite great elegance with much accuracy. The editor feems to have fteered properly. between two extremes: he has neither difgraced the work by a parfimonious retrenchment of ornaments, or improperly enhanced its price by ufelefs fplendor.

Oeuvres Pofthumes de Frederic II. Rei de Pruffe, en 15 Tomes.. 8vo. Berlin. Vofs et Fils, Decker et Fils.

Oeuvres Pofthumes de Frederic II. Roi de Prufe. Partie I. II. Tom. I. II.

The Hiftory of my own Times. Part I. II. Vols. I. II. 7. each in Boards. Robinfons.

IN

(Continued from p. 141.)

N a former Number we left the king of Pruffia entering on the famous war of feven years. Perhaps the annals of history do not furnish a detail of military exploits more replete with intercfting fcenes and unexpected events. The many fud den and furprising viciffitudes of fortune, which Frederick is conftantly experiencing, keep the mind of the reader in fufpenfe and anxiety for the iffue of every enterprize, and he looks forward to the final event with impatience and apprehenfion. In thefe refpects, this hiftory excels the Commentaries of Cæfar, which the author feems, as we have before obferved, to have had in his eye during the time he was compofing it. The almot uniform and uninterrupted fuccefs of the Romans produces an infipid fameness of event, and takes away from the intereft we should otherwife feel in the perufal of the Commentaries. When we are told that an engagemcht is near, we have learnt from long experience to entertain little doubt how it will end: fo confiantly did victory follow the Roman arms, as to justify the feemingly vaunting expreffion of their leader, I came, I faw, I conquered.' Very different indeed was the checquered fortune of the hero and hiftorian before us, as our readers will perceive by the fuccinct detail we shall now give of fome of the most interefling occurrences.

The king of Pruffia being furnished by a spy in office at Drefden, with inconteftible proofs that the empress of Germany and her formidable allies intended to attack him, thought it prudent and juftifiable to ftrike the first blow. He marched into Saxony, and entered Drefden. He there feized

and

and published the original state-papers of which he had before privately obtained copies, in order to justify his march into Saxony. The Saxon army retired to the famous camp of Pirna, by nature one of the strongest in Europe. The Pruffians prefently found it to be impregnable. They therefore determined to blockade it; and the king, in this interval, joined the army he had fent into Bohemia; where he fought and gained the battle of Lowofitz, against an army of Auftrians, who were marching to the relief of the camp at Pirna. The Saxons, defpairing of relief, at laft endeavoured to escape; but their general was ignorant of the country, and they were foon furrounded by the Prufians. The captive army confifted of feventeen thousand men, with upwards of 80 pieces of cannon: the officers gave their honour not to ferve again against the Pruffians as long as the war fhould continue: the king of Poland was glad to be permitted to retire to Warfaw. Before this time the Pruffians had formed an alliance with the English; and during the winter of 1756 to 1757, the Auftrians had fufficient addrefs to be thoroughly reconciled to their ancient enemies the French, and to draw them as well as the Ruffians, the Swedes, and the empire, into the war against the Pruffians. Whilft these negociations were carrying on, the king of Prussia remained at Drefden, where the queen of Poland refided, who continually made him the ftrongeft profeffions of friendship, but fecretly correfponded with the Auftrians. This was at laft difcovered by examining a box of puddings coming from Bohemia, which were found to be ftuffed with letters. At this time our author fays, that his enemies had recourfe to a means of which history does not furnish any example among fecular princes. The Saxon officers were ordered to difregard the parole of honour they had given to the Pruffians, not to ferve any more against them, and feveral officers were mean enough to obey. In the ages of ignorance we meet with popes who releafed fubjects from the oath of fidelity they had fworn to their fovereigns; we read of a cardinal, Julien Cefarini, who obliged a Ladislaus, king of Hungary, to violate the peace he tad fworn to maintain with Soliman. Till now, the authorifing of perjury had been confined to ambitious and implacable pontiffs, but had never been adopted by kings, among whom truth and honour ought to be found, though they were banished from the reft of the world. If I dwell on fuch inftances as these, it is because they characterife the determined spirit of animofity and rage which reigned during this war, and which diftinguish it from all others.'

The next chapter contains the hiftory of the campaign of 1757. In it was fought the battle of Prague, one of the most

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bloody

bloody that had taken place in this century. The Auftrians, who were beaten, loft 24,000 men, of whom 5000 were prifoners, 11 standards, and 60 pieces of cannon. Our royal author fays, with a pleasing fenfibility, The lofs of the Pruffians amounted to 18,000 combatants, without reckoning marfhal Schwerin, who alone was worth more than 10,000 men. His death caufed the laurels of victory to wither, fince they were purchased with blood which was more precious. Notwithstanding his great age, he ftill preferved all the fire of his youth. Seeing, with indignation, fome Pruffians repulfed, he feized on the colours, put himself at the head of his regiment, led it on to the charge, and exhibited wonderful efforts of bravery; but as there were not at that time any troops to fupport him, he was overpowered and killed; thus terminating a glorious life by a death which thed over it a fresh luftre.' How honourable to the deceased general, as well as to the furviving monarch, is fuch a generous tribute of applaufe! After this victory the Pruffians formed the blockade of Prague, and the king went to head the army that was oppofed to marshal Daun. Another body of Pruffians, under general Meyer, having made an irruption into the empire, the king obferves that the elector of Bavaria, and feveral other princes to whom this irruption gave uneafinefs, fent deputies to the king to treat of their interefts. In short, all the empire would have abandoned the cause of the emprefs queen, if one of those revolutions common in war, and which fortune in her fportive humour frequently brings about, had not interrupted the profperity of the Pruffians. We fhall fee, in the continuation of this war, how frequently those viciffitudes took place which, from time to time, equally destroyed the hopes of the Pruffians and the Imperialists. This refers to the battle of Kolin. The king, finding fo many enemies almoft overwhelming him, was there obliged to attack the Auftrians. He loft the battle, together with 8000 of his best troops. Had it not been for this misfortune, he adds, the princes of the empire would have fued for permiffion to be neutral; the French would probably have proceeded no further with their operations in Germany; the duke of Cumberland might have been fuc, coured; the Swedes would have become pacific, and even the court of Petersburgh would have ftopt to make a few reflections. But the rafh courage of his general, M. de Mannftein, occafioned his defeat, and deftroyed all these prospects. This event obliged the Pruffians to raise the fiege of Prague.-Next follows a long detail of marches and countermarches, of the lofs of the Pruffian detachment under M. de Puttkammer at Gabel, and of the city of Zittau. Thefe two misfortunes the king attributes to the misconduct of the prince of Pruffia; who, he fays, became

ill and languished till he died: other writers have faid, of a bro ken heart, occafioned by the fevere reflexions of the king his brother. At this time fome original letters from the queen of Poland to his enemies fell into the hands of the king, which he fent back to Drefden to be fhewn to her.

We now come to a short account of the campaign of the duke of Cumberland, the plan of which is reprefented as having been originally formed by fome ignorant Hanoverian lawyers, in direct oppofition to one which had been fent over to George the Second by our author. The following is the account given of fome occurrences at the battle of Haftenbeck, where the duke of Cumberland commanded. The following day the French attacked his left, paffing through the ditch at the bottom of the wood, and carried the battery of the centre of the allies. The hereditary prince of Brunswick retook it fword in hand, and fhewed, by this first attempt, that nature deftined him to be a hero. At the fame time a Hanoverian colonel, called Breitenbach, takes upon himself to act of his own accord, collects together the first battalions he meets with, enters the wood, attacks the French in the rear, drives them before him, and seizes upon their cannon and colours: every body confiders the battle as gained by the allies: M. d'Etrées, who fees his troops routed, orders a retreat; the duke of Orleans opposes it; at last, to the great astonishment of all the French army, they are informed that the duke of Cumberland is in full march, and bending his courfe towards Hameln. The hereditary prince was obliged to abandon the battery which he had retaken with so much glory; and the retreat was made with fo great precipitation, that the brave colonel Breitenbach, who had behaved fo well in this engagement, was forgotten. This deferving officer remained alone mafter of the field of battle, and quitted it at night to join the army, carrying his trophies to the duke, who wept with chagrin, at having in the evening precipitately quitted a field of battle for which there was no longer any conteft.' Such is the account Frederick gives of this battle, which eventually brought about the convention at Clofter Seven, the next important event related. The negociations for this convention were carried on by count Lynar, a minister of the Danish court. Our author fays, About this time were intercepted by the Pruffian army fome letters from count Lynar to the count de Reufs. These two men were of the fect called Pietifts. Count Lynar, fpeaking to his friend of this negociation, fays, "The idea which arofe in my mind of bringing about this convention, was a celeftial inspiration: the Holy Ghoft gave me fufficient force to stop the progrefs of the French arms, as Joshua formerly stopped the fun. God, all powerful, who holds the univerfe

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