dangerous to the little is the neighbourhood of the great. The great are like the fire, which scorches even those who throw incense into it, if they approach too near it. I wished to make off; but all the entrances of the square were fhut. It had been impossible for me to get out of it, if it had not been, that, by the providence of God, the place where I was happened to be hard by the seraglio. As the eunuchs were carrying off the ladies on elephants, they facilitated my escape; for if the guards every where by the lashes of their whips obliged people to come to the relief of the castle, the elephants by the blows of their trunks, forced them to get out of their way. Thus, one while pursued by the one, and as oft pushed back by the other, I got out of this terrible chaos; and by the bright shining light of the conflagration, I gained the other extremety of the suburbs, where, in some wretched hovels, far from the great, the inhabitants in peaceful repose, rested from all their toil There I began to recover my breath I said to myself," Well then I have seen a city! I have seen the residence of the sovereign of the nations. Ah! how few sovereigns are not themselves slaves! Even in the time of repose they are the slaves of voluptuousness, ambition, superstition, and avarice: even when asleep, they have reason to be afraid of a crowd of wretches and rogues with which they are encompassed; robbers, beggars, courtisans, incendiaries, and even their soldiers, their nobles, and their priests. What must a city be then during the day? The evils to which man is subjected, increase with his enjoyments. How much is the emperor to be pitied then in whom they are all united! He has reason to dread civil and foreign wars; and even the means of his defence, and of his consolation, his generals, his guards, his mollahs, his wives, and his children. The ditches and ramparts of his fortress cannot defend him from the phantoms of superstition; nor can his elephants with all their trappings, keep at a distance, or drive away cares. For my part I fear nothing of that sort; no tyrant has any power over my body, or over my mind. I can serve God according to my conscience, and I have nothing to dread from any man, if I torment not myself: in truth a paria is lefs miserable than an emperor. While I was speaking these words the tears rushed into my eyes, and falling on my knees I thanked heaven which in order to instruct me to bear misfortunes, had fhewn me distrefs more intolerable than my

own.

To be continued.

:

112

slight notices of Toulon.

SLIGHT NOTICES OF TOULON.

Sept. 18.

TOULON is the finest naval arsenal in France; and perhaps the most complete one in the universe: its fortifications towards the sea are so strong, and the access into the harbour so narrow, and so well defended by batteries of heavy cannon, as to make it be deemed nearly impregnable on that side. Towards the land the fortifications, tho' not so formidable, are strong, and capable of withstanding a powerful attack But the greatest strength of the place consists in the nature of the ground that surrounds it; which is every where so difficult as to render any approach to it extremely hazardous.

It is situated in a valley surrounded by high grounds on the west, north, and partly on the east; which are at such a distance as, one excepted, not to command the town. The only accefs to this valley from the westward is by two narrow defiles, through one of which passes the road to Marseilles, and the other to Aix. These defiles are commanded by high ground strongly fortified, which may be easily defen. ded against a much superior force.

Supposing these pafses to be carried, the plain in which the approaches to the town must be made, is open on the south to an arm of the sea which forms what they call the outer harbour, where the water is so deep that ships of war can lay their sides close to the shore; and it is commanded on the north by some strong batteries erected upon the face of the northern hills, so that the afsailants must be flanked both on the right and on the left until these batteries be silenced, and the fhips commanded by a superior force.

Towards the east the valley is more open. Through it pafses the road to Nice; and though the ground is there in some places swampy and unfavourable for military approaches, yet in the year 1747 when it was last besieged, this appeared to be its weakest side, on which account a strong regular fort has been erected upon an eminence that commands at the same time the entrance to the town, and even the town itself, whose naval arsenal is within the range of its guns, and open to them, so that till that fort be taken no approach can be made to the town on that side; and as the safety of that town depends on the possession of that fort, every device has been adopted to render it impregnable. This is the fort Malgue mentioned in Lord Hood's dipatches as being put under the command of the gallant cap-" tain Elphinston. On this side too the town has the additional defence of which extend to the distance of more than a mile from its walls.

mines,

ERRATUM.

In page 41 introduction near the bottom some words have been ac cidentally misplaced; it ought to be read "Tsaritsa, the technical word denoting the Tsar's wife, as well as a female excercising royalty, and Tsarevitch, &c.

149

THE BEE,

OR

LITERARY WEEKLY INTELLIGNCER,

FOR

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. 1793

THOUGHTS ON WHAT IS CALLED VARIETIES, OR DIFFERENT BREEDS OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS, SUGGESTED BY READING DR PALLAS'S ACCOUNT OF RUSSIAN SHEEP-BY THE EDITOR.

THE only rule that has hitherto been adopted by naturalists to mark the distinction between a species and a variety is, that though different species of animals of the same genus may be brought to breed together, as the horse and the afs, yet the animals thus produced, are not prolific; whereas the progeny arising from an intermixture of different varieties of the same species, are themselves equally prolific as the parents from which they sprang. Adhering to this rule Dr Pallas, very properly, calls all the kinds. of sheep yet known, only varieties of the same species of animal, because he has found that the mixed progeny of the whole are prolific.

Naturalists however have not stopped here. In their desire for simplification they have gone a step VOL. Xvii.

P

farther, and are now in general disposed to maintain that all the varieties, properly so called, have been -produced by accidental deviations only from one parent animal, which they believe has originally constituted the whole of each indivual species; they of course endeavour, in most cases, to condescend upon some one of these varieties as having been the original from which all the others have sprung. In both these last afsumptions however, they seem to go farther than facts hitherto well authenticated can authorise them: they reason here at best only from probabilities; from which no inferences can be admit ed as certain and as there are probabilities, perhaps equally strong against the opinion they have adopted, as for it, the safest course in this case would seem to be, at least, to suspend our opinion for the present, and to decline drawing any certain conclusion, till the facts necefsary for giving authenticity to any opinion shall have been fully ascertained.

Buffon, who is the least scrupulous of all modern naturalists, has been the most forward to decide in this, as in many other cases. He does not so much as condescend to admit that there can be a doubt in this case; but on all occasions afsumes it as a certainty, that all the varieties of one species have been derived from one parent; and boldly raises upon that supposition many practical inferences, which if his theory fhould prove to be unfounded, might lead to very important errors; so that it is not a matter of idle curiosity to investigate this question.

Among the varieties of the same species of animals, we find very great and striking diversities in re

spect of size, qualities, appearence, natural instincts and faculties. Between the largest sized mastiff dog for example, and the smallest lap dog, when both are well fed, and at full growth, the difference is not, I should suppose, lefs than as ten to one of absolute weight. The bound, properly so called, pofsefses the sense of smelling in the highest perfection, so that he purfues his game invariably by the scent. The gaze hcund on the other hand, is perfectly destitute of that sense in regard to the discrimination of game,* and pursues it invariably by the eye only; whence his name. The pointer and the spaniel though both possefsing the sense of smelling in great perfection, as well as the hound, are endowed with instincts very different; and exercise the sense of smell each in a' way peculiar to its kind. The pointer and the fhepherd's dog can be each taught their lefson in their own stile with equal facility; but the one can never be brought farther than to act by a sort of mechanical impulse, steadily to one point, while the other can be taught to act in some measure like a reasoning animal, who is authorised to vary his conduct as circumstances require; and does so accordingly 11 some cases with a cautious discretion, that exceeds

*Here a distinction takes place, somewhat analogous to what is observed to take place among men, with respect to the discrimination of musical sounds. A man may have the sense of hearing sufficiently acute, yet be totally destitute of an ear for music. The grehound too po sefes, I believe, the sense of smelling in some cases sufficiently strong, yet is not able by that means to trace his game.