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All that the editor prefumes farther to add, is, that the tranflation is the first performance of the kind of a very young lady; whofe name, if it had been thought proper to mention it, would be indifferent to no lover of found and deep learning, and exemplary piety. It is her pride, and her confolation, to be one of the daughters of a venerable man, who is mentioned with all the respect due to him in the enfuing letters.. And, young as fhe is, this is not the first time she has folicited and obtained British patronage, and British protection. And now, with all the diffidence natural to her fex and her years, the entreats, that this her maiden effay in literature may be received as a tender of her heart-felt gratitude. The editor has revised the tranflation, which, though far from being fervile, or even always literal, he thinks fufficiently faithful. Some little stiffneffes, it is poffible, may ftill remain but it has been the aim of the tranflator, without departing from the fenfe of the author, to exprefs that fenfe in fuch a way as the fuppofed her author would have done, had he been of London, rather than of Berlin. And this aim the feems, in general, very happily to have ac

complished.

TRAVELS, &c. &c.

On the Thames, 31ft May.

AT length, my dearest Gedike, I find myself fafely landed on the happy fhores of that country, a fight of which has, for many years, been my most earnest wish; and whither I have so often, in imagination, tranfported myfelf. A few hours ago, the green hills of England yet fwam imperfectly before our eyes, fcarcely perceptible in the distant horizon: they now unfold themselves on either fide, forming as it were a double amphitheatre. The fun bursts through the clouds, and gilds alternately the fhrubs, and meadows, on the distant fhores; and we now efpy the tops of two mafts of ships just peeping above the furface of the deep. What an aweful warning to adventurous men! We now fail close by those very fands, (the Goodwin) where fo many unfortunate perfons have found their graves.

The fhores now regularly draw nearer to each other: the danger of the voyage is over; and the feafon for enjoyment, unembittered by cares, commences. How do we

feel ourselves, we, who have long been wandering, as it were, in a boundless space, on having once more gained profpects, that are not without limits! I fhould imagine, our fenfations as fomewhat like thofe of the traveller, who traverses the immeasurable deferts of America, when fortunately he obtains a hut wherein to fhelter himself; in those moments he certainly enjoys himfelf; nor does he then complain of its being too fmall. It is indeed the lot of man to be always circumfcribed to a narrow space; even when he wanders over the most extenfive regions; even when the huge fea envelopes him all around, and wraps him close to its bofom, in the act, as it were, of fwallowing him up in a moment: still he is feparated, from all the circumjacent immensity of space only by one fmall part, or infignificant portion, of that immenfity.

That portion of this fpace, which I now fee furrounding me, is a moft delightful felection from the whole of beautiful nature. Here is the Thames full of large and fmall fhips, and boats, difperfed here and there, which are either failing on with us, or lying at anchor; and there the hills on either fide, clad with so soft, and mild a green,

as I have no where else ever seen equalled. The charming banks of the Elbe, which I fo lately quitted, are as much furpaffed by these fhores, as autumn is by fpring! I fee every where nothing but fertile and cultivated lands; and thofe living hedges which in England more than in any other country, form the boundaries of the green corn-fields, and give to the whole of the diftant country, the appearance of a large and majestic garden. The neat villages and fmall towns, with fundry intermediate country feats, fuggeft ideas of profperity and opulence, which it is not poffible to describe.

The profpect towards Gravefend is particularly beautiful. It is a clever little town, built on the fide of an hill; about which there lie hill and dale, and meadows, and arable land, intermixed with pleasure grounds and country feats; all diversified in the most agreeable manner. On one of the highest of these hills near Gravefend, stands a wind-mill, which is a very good object, as you fee it at fome distance, as well as part of the country around it, on the windings of the Thames. But as few human pleasures are ever complete and perfect, we too, amidst the pleafing contemplation of all the fe beauties, found ourfelves expofed, on the quarter-deck, to uncommonly cold and piercing weather. An unintermitting violent fhower of rain has driven me into the cabin; where I am now endeavouring to divert a gloomy hour, by giving you the description of a pleafing one..

London, 2d June:

THIS morning those of us who were fellow paffengers together in the great cabin, being fix in number, requested to be fet on fhore, in a boat, a little before the vessel got to Dartford, which is ftill fixteen miles from London. This expedient is generally adopted, instead of going up the Thames, towards London; where, on account of the astonishing number of fhips, which are always more crouded together the nearer you approach the city, it frequently requires many days before a fhip can finish her paffage. He therefore who wishes to lofe no time unneceffarily, and wishes also to avoid other inconveniences, fuch as frequent ftoppages, and, perhaps, fome alarming dashings against other fhips, prefers travelling thofe few miles by land in a post chaise, which is not very expenfive, especially when three join together, as three paffengers pay no more than one. This indulgence is allowed by act of parliament.

As we left the veffel we were honoured with a general huzza, or, in the English phrase, with three cheers, echoed from the German failors of our fhip. This nautical ftyle of bidding their friends farewell, our Germans have learned from the English. The cliff where we landed was white and chalky, and as the distance was not great, nor other means of conveyance at hand, we refolved to go on foot to Dartford; im mediately on landing we had a pretty steep hill to climb, and, that gained, we arrived at the first English village, where an uncommon neatness in the ftructure of the houses, which in general are built with red bricks, and flat roofs, ftruck me with a pleafing furprize, especially when I compared them with the long, rambling, inconve nient, and fingularly mean cottages of our peasants. We now continued our way through the different villages, each furnished with his staff; and thus exhibited no remote resemblance of a caravan. Some few people who met us feemed to ftare at us, ftruck, perhaps, by the fingularity of our drefs, or the peculiarity of our manner of travelling. On our route we paffed a wood where a troop of gypfies had taken up their abode, around a fire, under a tree. The country, as we continued to advance, became more and more beautiful. Naturally, perhaps, the earth is every where pretty much alike, but how different is it rendered by art! How different is that on which I

now..

now tread from ours, and every other spot I have ever feen. The foil is rich even to exuberance, the verdure of the trees and hedges, in fhort the whole of this paradifaical region is without a parallel! The roads too are incomparable; I am aftonished how they have got them fo firm and folid; every step I took I felt, and was conscious, it was English ground on which I trod.

We breakfasted at Dartford. Here, for the first time, I faw an English foldier, in his red uniform, his hair cut fhort and combed back on his forehead, fo as to afford a full view of his fine broad manly face. Here too I firft faw (what I deemed a true Englifh fight) in the street, two boys boxing.

Our little party now feparated, and got into two poft-chaifes, each of which hold three perfons, though it must be owned three cannot fit quite fo commodiously in these chaifes as two: the hire of a poft chaife is a fhilling for every English mile. They may be compared to our extra pofts, because they are to be had at all times. But thefe carriages are very neat and lightly built, fo that you hardly perceive their motion, as they roll along these firm smooth roads; they have windows in front, and on both fides. The horses are generally good, and the poftillions particularly smart and active, and always ride on a full trot. The one we had, wore his hair cut short, a round hat, and a brown jacket, of tolerable fine cloth, with a nosegay in his bofom. Now and then, when he drove very hard, he looked round, and with a fmile feemed to folicit our approbation. A thousand charming fpots, and beautiful landscapes, on which my eye would long have dwelt with rapture, were now rapidly paffed with the speed of an

arrow.

Our road appeared to be undulatory, and our journey, like the journey of life, feemed to be a pretty regular alternation of up hill and down, and here and there it was diversified with copfes and woods; the majestic Thames, every now and then, like a little forest of mafts, rifing to our view, and anon lofing itself among the delightful towns and villages. The amazing large figns which, at the entrance of villages, hang in the middle of the street, being faftened to large beams, which are extended acrofs the street from one house to another oppofite to it, particularly ftruck me; thefe fign pofts have the appearance of gates, or of gateways, for which I at first took them, but the whole apparatus, unneceffarily large as it feems to be, is intended for nothing more than to tell the inquifitive traveller, that there is an inn. At length, stunned as it were by this conftant rapid fucceffion of interefting objects to engage our attention, we arrived at Greenwich nearly in a state of ftupefaction.

The Profpect of London.

WE first defcryed it enveloped in a thick smoke, or fog St. Paul's arofe, like fome huge mountain, above the enormous mafs of fmaller buildings. The monument, a very lofty column erected in memory of the great fire of London, exhibited to us, perhaps, chiefly on account of its immenfe height, apparently fo difproportioned to its other dimensions (for it actually ftruck us as refembling rather a flender maft, towering up in immeasurable height into the clouds, than as what it really is, a stately obelisk) an unusual and fingular appearance. Still we went on, and drew nearer and nearer with amazing velocity, and the furrounding objects became every moment more diftinct. Westminster abbey, the tower, a steeple, one church, and then another, prefented themfelves to our view; and we could now plainly diftinguish the high round chimnies, on the tops of the houses, which yet feemed to us to form an innumerable number of fmaller fpires, or steeples.

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