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included in the list for exchange, and must therefore remain until the Cossacks, who were prisoners in Circassia, were delivered up. The poor woman in all probability did not live to see her husband or her country again.

"Another Circasian female, fourteen years of age, who was also in confinement, hearing of the intended exchange of prisoners, expressed her wishes to remain where she was. Conscious of her great beauty, she feared her parents would sell her, according to the custom of the country, and that she might fall to the lot of masters less humane than the Cossacks were. The Circassians frequently sell their children to strangers, particularly to the Persians and Turks; and their princes supply the Turkish seraglios with the most beautiful of the prisoners of both sexes which they take in war.

"In their commerce with the Tchernomorski Cossacks, the Circassians bring considerable quantities of wood, and the delicious honey of the mountains, sewed up in goats' hides, with the hair on the outside. These articles they exchange for salt, a commodity found in the neighbouring lakes, of a very excellent quality. Salt is more precious than any other kind of wealth to the Circassians; and it constitutes the most acceptable present which can be offered to them. They weave mats of very great beauty, which find a ready market both in Turkey and Russia. They are also ingenious in the art of working silver and other metals, and in the fabrication of guns, pistols, and sabres. Some, which they offered for sale, we suspected had been procured from Turkey, in exchange for slaves. Their bows and arrows are made with inimitable skill; and

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the arrows, being tipped with iron, and otherwise exquisitely wrought, are considered by the Cossacks and the Russians as inflicting incurable wounds.

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"One of the most important ac complishments which the inhabitants of these countries can acquire, is that of horsemanship; and in this the Circassians are superior to the Cossacks, who are nevertheless justly esteemed the best riders known to European nations. Cossack may be said to live but on his horse, and the loss of a favourite steed is the greatest family misfortune he can sustain. The poorer sort of Cossacks dwell under the same roof with their horses, lie down with them at night, and make them their constant companions. The horses of Circassia are of a nobler race than those of the Cossacks. They are of the Arab kind, exceedingly high bred, light and small. The Cossack generally acknowledges his inability to overtake a Circassian in pursuit.

The brother of Mr. Kovalensky of Taganrock, by cultivating the friendship of one of the Circassian princes, passed over the mountainous ridge of Caucasus in perfect safety and protection. According to his account, a stranger, who has voluntarily confided in the honour of a Circassian, is considered a sacred trust, even by the very robbers who would cross the Kuban to carry him off and sell him as a slave, if they chanced to find him in their predatory excursions out of their own dominions. Since this account was written, one of our own countrymen, Mr. Mackenzie, passed the Caucasus, previous to a campaign which he served with the Russian army in Persia. His escort consisted of an hundred infantry and fifty Cossacks, with a piece of artil

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lery During thirteen days spent in the passage, the troops were under the necessity of maintaining a most vigilant watch, and their rear was frequently harassed by hovering hordes of Circassians. The result of his observations tends wholly to dispute the accuracy of those of

Mr. Kovalensky. According to Mr. Mackenzie's opinion, no reliance whatever can be placed upon the supposed honour or promises of a people so treacherous and barbarous as those who inhabit this chain of mountains.

BORDERS OF THE BLACK SEA, WITH ANECDOTES OF POTEMKIN AND

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HOWARD.

[From the same.]

HERSON, founded in 1778, was formerly a town of much more importance than it is now. Potemkin bestowed upon it many instances of patronage, and was partial to the place. Its fortress and arsenal were erected by him. We found its commerce so completely annihilated, that its merchants were either bankrupts, or were preparing to leave the town, and establish themselves elsewhere. They complained of being abandoned by the Emperor, who refused to grant them any support or privilege. Without the smallest inclination to write an apology for the Emperor Paul, I cannot possibly admit that Cherson, by any grant of the Crown, could become a great commercial establishment; and it is quite imcomprehensible how such a notion was ever adopted. The mouth of the Dnieper is extremely difficult to navigate; sometimes north-east winds leave it full of shallows, and, where there happens at any time to be a channel for vessels, it has not a greater depth of water than five feet; the entrance is at the same time excessively narrow. The sands are continually shifting, which ren

ders the place so dangerous, that ships are rarely seen in the harbour. But the last blow to the commerce of Cherson, was given by the war of Russia with France. Before that event the exportation of corn, of hemp, and canvas, had placed the town upon a scale of some consideration. All the ports of Russia in the Black Sea were more or less affected by the same cause; and particularly Taganrock, which had received a serious check in consequence of the state of affairs with France.

"The architecture visible in the buildings of the fortress, showed a good taste; the stone used for their construction resembled that porous, though durable limestone, which the first Grecian colonies in Italy employed in erecting the temples of Pæstum; but the Russians had white-washed every thing, and by that means had given to their works the meanness of plaister. One of the first things we asked to see was the tomb of Potemkin. All Europe has heard that he was buried in Cherson, and a magnificent sepulchre might naturally be expected for a person so renowned. The Reader will imagine our sur

we were cautioned to be silent.
"No one," said a countryman of
ours living in the place,
"dares

prize, when, in answer to our inquiries concerning his remains, we were told that no one knew what was become of them. Potemkin," mention the name of Potemkin!" the illustrious, the powerful, of all At last we received intelligence the princes that ever lived the most that the Verger could satisfy our princely, of all Imperial favourites curiosity, if we would venture to the most favoured, had not a spot ask him. We soon found the means which might be called his grave. of encouraging a little communicaHe, who not only governed all tion on his part, and were then Russia, but even made the haughty told, that the body, by the EmCatharine his suppliant, had not peror's command, had been taken the distinction possessed by the up and thrown into the ditch of lowest and the poorest of the hu- the fortress. The orders received man race. The particulars respect- were, to take up the body of Poing the ultimate disposal of his temkin, and cast it into the first body, as they were communicated hole that might be found. These to me upon the spot by the most orders were implicitly obeyed. A credible testimony, merit a cursory hole was dug in the fosse, into detail. which he was thrown with as little ceremony as a dead dog; but, as this procedure took place in the night, very few were informed of the fate of the body. An eyewitness assured me that the coffin no longer existed in the vault where it was originally placed; and the Verger was actually proceeding to point out the place where the body was abandoned, when the Bishop himself happening to arrive, took away my guide; and, with menaces which were but too likely to be fulfilled, prevented our being more fully informed concerning the obloquy which at present involves the remains of Potemkin. Let me now therefore direct the Reader's attention to a more interesting subject; to a narrative of the last days, the death, and burial of the benevolent Howard; who, with a character forcibly opposed to that of Potemkin, also terminated a glorious career at Cherson. Mysterious Providence, by events always remote from human foresight, had wonderfully destined, that these two men, celebrated in their lives by the most contrasted deeds, should

"The corpse, soon after his death, was brought to Cherson, and placed beneath a dome of the small church belonging to the fortress, opposite to the altar. After the usual ceremony of interment, the vault was merely covered, by restoring to their former situation the planks of wood which constituted the floor of the building. Many of the inhabitants of Cherson, as well English officers in the Russian service, who lived in its neighbourhood, had seen the coffin, which was extremely ordinary; and the practice of showing it to strangers prevailed for some years after Potemkin's decease. The Empress Catharine either had, or pretended to have, an intention of erecting a superb monument to his memory; whether at Cherson or elsewhere, is unknown. Her sudden death is believed to have prevented the completion of this design. The most extraordinary part of the story remains now to be related; the coffin itself has disappeared. Instead of any answer to the various inquiries we made concerning it,

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be interred nearly upon the same spot. It is not within the reach of possibility to bring together, side by side, two individuals more re. markably characterised by every opposite qualification; as if the hand of Destiny had directed two persons, in whom were exemplified the extremes of Vice and Virtue, to one common spot, in order that the contrast might remain a lesson for mankind: Potemkin, bloated and pampered by every vice, after a path through life stained with blood and crimes, at last the victim of his own selfish excesses: Howard a voluntary exile, enduring the severest privations for the benefit of his fellow-creatures, and labouring, even to his latest breath, in the exercise of every social virtue.

"The particulars of Mr. Howard's death were communicated to me by his two friends, Admiral Mordvinof, then Chief Admiral of the Black Sea fleet, and Admiral Priestman, an English officer in the Russian service; both of whom were eye-witnesses of his last mo ments. He had been entreated to visit a lady about twenty-four miles from Cherson, who was dangerously ill. Mr. Howard objected, alleging that he acted only as physician to the poor; but, hearing of her imminent danger, he afterwards yielded to the persuasion of Admiral Mordvinof, and went to see her. After having prescribed that which he deemed proper to be administered, he returned; leaving directions with her family, to send for him again if she got better; but adding, that if, as he much feared, she should prove worse, it would be to no purpose. Some time after his return to Cherson, a letter arrived, stating that the lady was better,

and begging that he would come without loss of time. When he examined the date, he perceived that the letter, by some unaccountable delay, had been eight days in getting to his hands. Upon this, he resolved to go with all possible expedition. The weather was extremely tempestuous and very cold, it being late in the year, and the rain fell in torrents. In his impa tience to set out, a conveyance not being immediately ready, he mounted an old dray horse, used in Admiral Mordvinof's family to carry water, and thus proceeded to visit his patient. Upon his arrival, he found the lady dying; this, added to the fatigue of the journey, affected him so much, that it brought on a fever. His clothes, at the same time, had been wet through; but he attributed his fever entirely to another cause. Having administered something to his patient to excite perspiration; as soon as the symptoms of it appeared, he put his hand beneath the bed-clothes to feel her pulse, that she might. not be chilled by removing them, and believed that her fever was thus communicated to him. After this painful journey, Mr. Howard returned to Cherson, and the lady died.

"It had been almost his daily custom, at a certain hour, to visit Admiral Priestman; when, with his usual attention to regularity, he would place his watch on the table, and pass exactly an hour with hint in conversation. The Admiral, finding that he failed in his usual visits, went to see him, and found him weak and ill, sitting before a stove in his bed-room. Having inquired after his health, Mr. Howard replied, that his end was approaching very fast; that he had several

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things to say to his friend, and thanked him for having called. The Admiral, finding him in such a melancholy mood, endeavoured to turn the conversation, imagining the whole might be merely the result of low spirits; but Mr. Howard soon assured him it was otherwise; and added, Priestman, you style "this a very dull conversation, and "endeavour to divert my mind "from dwelling upon death; but "1 entertain very different senti"ments. Death has no terrors "for me; it is an event I always "look to with cheerfulness, if not "with pleasure; and be assured, "the subject of it is to me more "grateful than any other. I am "well aware I have but a short time to live; my mode of life "has rendered it impossible that "I should get rid of this fever. "If I had lived as you do, eating heartily of animal food, and "drinking wine, I might, perhaps, by diminishing my diet, be able "to subdue it. But how can such "a man as I am lower his diet, "who has been accustomed for years to exist on vegetables and "water, a little bread and a little "tea? I have no method of lowering my nourishment, and there"fore I must die. It is such jolly "fellows as you, Priestman, who "get over these fevers." Then, turning the subject, he spoke of his funeral; and cheerfully gave directions concerning the manner in which he would be buried. "There is a spot," said he, " near "the village of Dauphigny, which "would suit me nicely: you know it well, for I have often said I "should like to be buried there; and let me beg of you, as you value your old friend, not to suffer any ponip to be used at my funeral; nor any monument,

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or monumental inscription whatsoever, to mark where I am laid; "but lay me quietly in the earth, place a sun-dial over my grave, "and let me be forgotten." Hav ing giving these directions, he was very earnest in soliciting that Admiral Priestman would lose no time in securing the object of his wishes; but go immediately and settle with the owner of the land for the place of his interment, and prepare every thing for his burial.

"The Admiral left him upon his melancholy errand, fearing at the same time, as he himself informed me, that the people would believe him crazy, to solicit a burying-ground for a man who was then living, and whom no person yet knew to be indisposed. However, he accomplished Mr. Howard's wishes, and returned to him with the intelligence: at this his coun tenance brightened, a gleam of evident satisfaction came over his face, and he prepared to go to bed. Soon after he made his will; leaving as his executor a trusty follower, who had lived with him more in the capacity of a friend than of a servant, and whom he charged with the commission of bearing his will to England. It was not until after he had finished his will, that any symptoms of delirium appeared. Admiral Priestman, who had left him for a short time, returned and found him sitting up in his bed, adding what he believed to be a codicil to his will; but this consisted of several unconnected words, the chief part of which were illegible, and all without any meaning. This strange composition he desired Admiral Priestman to witness and sign; and, in order to please him, the Admiral consented; but wrote his name, as he bluntly said, in Russian characters, lest any of his

friends

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