ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. Extract of a Letter from an eminent German Literary Character to his Friend in London. Hamburg, June 26, 1800. AVAIL myself of this opportunity to send you a small packet, containing a manuscript of our friend Klopstock, intended for the German Museum, of which, however, only Number I, is as yet arrived here, and to which he is desirous of contributing. He therefore sends herewith some productions of his pen, partly in print, partly in MS. to be inserted in that journal, for which he does me the honour to say it is indebted to my connection with you. Since correctness in printing is with him a point of the first importance, and he particularly enquired of me, whether I thought you would do him the favour of inspecting the impression of what he may communicate, that it may be perfectly correct, the manuscript being always sent in his own hand-writing, and extremely legible, I ventured to anticipate your consent, upon which he en trusted the papers to my care. The trouble you will incur will be as small as possible in the like case, provided Geisweiler sends you the proofs tolerably correct. In these communications, Klopstock, whose enthusiasm for the German language is well known, has given striking proofs of its conciseness. I at first thought of sending them directly to Geisweiler, but on reflection, considered it more proper to forward them through your medium. It is also a wish of Klopstock, that nothing should be prefixed as an introduction, or added as notes; and he relies upon you, that no errors shall find their way into his productions Leipzig Easter Fair, 1800. The last Leipzig fair has produced a very rich harvest of books, as well in quantity as quality, as is evident from the increasing magnitude of the catalogue, that of the Easter fair gradually swelling in size in proportion as that of the Michaelmas fair diminishes. The following articles are particularly worthy of notice: Engel's continuation of his Philosopher of the World; Thiemel's Travels, another part; Lichtenberg's Posthumous Works; Herder's Kalli gone, or the Good and Beautiful, in 2 vols. 8vo; Göthe's new Poems and Songs, being the seventh volume of his new works; Hess's New Excursions; John Paul Richter's Titan, &c. &c. Klopstock's splendid edition of his Messiah, which is now completed, large 4to. with elegant engravings; Schiller's Prose Writings, second volume; We shall be happy if others of the German Literati will follow the handsome, liberal, and patriotic example of this celebrated writer, to whom we return our sincerestTM thanks, and beg to assure him, that his communications shall be inserted with the greatest correctness, and as early as possible. also also his Poems, his Camp of Wallenstein, his Piccolomini, and his Death of Wallenstein; also the nineteenth volume of his Collection of Historical Memoirs; Nemnich's Travels through England in 1799; a new edition of Garve's Moral and Literary Essays; and various excellent works in all branches of literature, of which a list is given in the Leipzig catalogue at the end of this number. MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. DR R. MEYER, the celebrated author of a Picture of Italy, is translating Bourgoin's Life of Pius VI. which he has enriched with notes and illustrations. 3 The art of engraving in wood has begun to revive in Germany, where Unger has acquired considerable fame in that branch of the polite arts. 171 The royal society at Copenhagen have proposed the following as a prize question: "Who were the people that discovered America previously to the Norwegians? and how far southward did the discoveries of that people extend?" Respecting this question, the Norwegians are said to be possessed of many curious docu ments.. Gottingen, June 22. On the 20th of June died, with the most perfect resignation, in the full possession of all his mental faculties, after a useful and active life, Abraham Gotthelf. Kaestner, aged 81. A violent rheumatism had for a considerable time greatly impaired his bodily strength, ånd taken away the use of his right arm and shoulder, which deprived him of his usual cheerfulness. These difficulties, however, he overcame in a considerable degree by employing his left hand, with which he wrote till within fourteen days of his death, during which interval an amanuensis performed that service. How much he has accomplished in the sciences of mathematics, physics, philosophy, &c. &c. for Leipzig and Gottingen, and for his own reputation, and what the sciences, the professors of mathematics and astronomy, and principally of Gottingen, have lost in him, will be betfer felt than described. Equally great as a man and a christian, he cheerfully performed the duties of life with the greatest disinterestedness, and the warmest and most noble beneficence. His loss is sincérely lamented by all who were acquainted with him, and princi pally by those friends who shared his confidence and esteem. Carte hydrographique et routine de la Suisse, par le C. Weiss, Ingénieur Geographique, &c. &c. An hydrographical Chart and Survey of Switzerland, by C. Weiss, Geographer to the Etat Major af the Army of the Rhine. On a large scale-Basle, by Decker. Decker. Mr. Weiss is the author of the celebrated Atlas of Switzerland, in sixteen large sheets: he has now reduced these into one, which forms the above-mentioned general map. It is the first general survey of Switzerland that has been established upon astronomical and trigonometrical operations. The engraving is in a superior style. II Several astronomers of the National Institute at Paris have communicated, during the last three months, their observations on the transit of Mercury over the Sun on the 8th of May, 1799. Delambre lately read to the Institute a long memorial on that phenomenon, in which he gives an account of the preparations and observations made by him previous to that event. From a comparison of these with others made in Germany, Hungary, and France, he has deduced corrections for the tables of Mercury. The precautions which Mr. Delambre took, and which he has explained in the preparatory calculations, form a new and complete theory of this kind of phenomena, by a method equally applicable to the transits of Mercury and Venus, and to calculating the motions of Mercury in particular. He even establishes rules, by which the errors of the tables are discovered before the observations are made. Those which Mr. D. examined and compared with his own were taken at Berlin, Vienna, and several other cities of Germany, Buda, Mirepoix, and Paris (in the latter by Mr. Messier.) From the time Mercury took in passing over the sun, it appeared that the received diameter of that planet was accurate; but there are some trifling corrections to be made in the tables, that they may agree with these recent observations. M. F. J. Gall, of Vienna, has finished a very elaborate work on the functions of the brain, and the possibility of recognizing the several faculties and propensities of the mind from the construction of the head and skull. The publisher of this museum has in his possession a part of the manuscript of this work, with several drawings, executed in the most correct and elegant stile, deserving the attention of the curious. We are informed, that the author intends to publish this work both in England and Germany at the same time. At Vienna will soon appear an Analysis of Brown's Elements, in three parts. Magazines of corn are about to be established throughout the Russian empire, of which every village of fifty houses will have one. The farmers have engaged annually to bring thither a quantity of wheat, which will be returned to them the following year in exchange for an equal quantity of the new harvest. From these magazines, in times of scarcity and famine, the peasants will be supplied. Paul I. has consigned the direction of these magazines to the lords high marshals of the nobility. M. Count de Strogonow, director of the imperial libraries, and of the undertaking for the discovery of quarries of marble and coloured stones in the government of Perm, is appointed by his Imperial Majesty Majesty president of the academy of arts at Petersburg. At his in- M. Such is the extensive usefulness of the Orphan-House at Vien na, that during the last year 1759 children have been provided for and instructed, partly in the hospital itself, and partly out of it, by means of that charity. The prohibition of the Austrian students from studying in foreign universities has been mitigated in favour of protestants studying theology. By a decree sent to the regeney of Linz, they are permitted to study at Gottingen, Vittenburg, Leipzig, and Tubingen, provided they produce a certificate of good conduct from the professors of their respective universities, which they are to transmit to Vienna every six months. Count de Mussin Puschkin has invented a new method of forging platina, in a manner much superior to the old method. He has also made many satisfactory experiments in presence of the commissioners of the academy of Petersburg, and proposes to communicate his secret for 150 pounds of platina. The price of provisions having considerably increased in Sweden, the plan of a society has been formed to furnish them to the poor at moderate prices. On this society the king has bestowed a considerable donation, and has authorized them to take the name of the Institution of Gustavus for the Relief of the Poor of the city of Stockbolm. Considerable donations have already been received. This establishment took place at the time of the birth of the Prince Royal. It was also on this occasion that his majesty pardoned Baron d'Armfeld, who had been condemned in 1794 to lose his life and honour, and to have his goods confiscated. He has been re-established in the rights and privileges of his rank. The ingenious translator of Gren's Chemistry, a work highly esteemed by men of science as a complete system of modern che mistry, uniting the old and new nomenclatures, and enriched with various additional plates, comparative tables of foreign and English measures, &c. and a catalogue of chemical works, will shortly pubLish a translation of Klaproth's Introduction to a chemical Analysis of mineral Bodies. A translation, by Mr. I. Hinckley, from the German, of the celebrated history of Rinaldo Rinaldini, which has made so much noise on the continent, is in the press, and will be published in a few days. We understand a third edition of this work is already coming out in Germany. Lately died, Breitkopf, the hookseller of Leipzig, son of the learned bookseller of the same place. We are informed that he has left all his property to Mr. Härtel, his very intelligent and active partner, to the exclusion of his own relations. On On Kotzebue's arrival at Petersburg, he met with a very good re ception there; but on his attempting to advance farther into the interior of the country, he was arrested and sent back as a prisoner to Petersburg, from whence he was to be banished to Siberia, for no other reason, as is said, than the emperor's dislike of literary men. Through the intercession, however, of Prussia, he has at length been released. A society has been formed at the Hotel de la Rochefoucault in Paris (the scene where the celebrated author of that name reflected so profoundly on the secrets of the human heart), under the name of a Society for the Study of Mankind. Their motto is Ivwb σεaulov, "Know thyself." Their object is to consider man in the threefold view of a physical, moral, and intellectual agent. It has requested the co-operation of all true friends of philosophy and morality, the profound metaphysician and the practical physician, the historian and the traveller, the linguist and the cultivator of the human mind. The society will publish their first number of transactions after the sitting of the 23d Prairial. The celebrated Professor Callisen, of Copenhagen, has lately read before the Royal Society of Medicine a treatise, endeavouring to prove that the external use of boiling water in internal inflammations is much more efficacious, and at least equally safe with blisters. We have reason to hope this subject will soon be further discussed and explained. The author of the Précis des Evènemens Militaires, a journal which has obtained so much approbation, is now known to be General Dumas. Although this officer has returned to Paris, where he fills an important post, he has not given up the conducting his journal, which is ever distinguished by the acuteness of his observations, the clearness of his style, and the impartiality of his judgment. This work may now be improved by the increased facility with which the General will procure authentic informátion in that metropolis. Mr. N. L. M. Desessarts has just finished a most elaborate biographical work, in which he has been employed many years. He solicits the assistance of literary men in correcting the errors and omissions unavoidable in so great an undertaking, by communicating their names and surnames, the times and places of their birth, the academies or literary societies of which they are of have been members, the works they have published, their different editions, and the number of volumes. The most eminent literary characters have already communicated a great number of valuable articles, which will contribute to enrich the work. He requests those gentlemen who have any to send to forward them as early as possible, as they will otherwise be too late for the work itself, and can only be inserted in a supplement. bles, An ukase has ordained the establishment of an university at Dorport. As soon as it is formed, his majesty is to present it with tract of land producing a revenue of 30,000 rubles per annum. The annual expenses of the university are estimated at 57,000 ru a |