CHARACTER of LEWIS XVI, before his Accession to the Throne. [From Street's Hiftory of the Reign of Louis XVI. ] L EWIS the fixteenth, the third fon of the late dauphin of France and Maria Jofepha of Saxony, was born on the 23d of August, 1754. As foon as he had attained the feventh year of his age, the duke de la Vauguyon was appointed his governor, and the bishop of Limoges his preceptor. The former was diftinguifhed by the politenefs of his manners, and the bigotry of his religious principles; the latter, united with enlarged piety, extenfive erudition. But the ftudies of Lewis the fixteenth, then duke of Berry, were fuperintended and directed by the dauphin; a man ill qualified for an office of fuch importance. His education had been entrufted to the bishop of Mirepoix, a prelate of the most autere and repulfive manners; abafhed by this aufterity, and fettered by the fear which it infpired, the intellectual attainments of the dauphin were neither numerous nor valuable. The gloom that pervaded the mind of the tutor communicated its influence to the pupil, and though the dauphin was virtuous and religious, yet his virtue was foiled by want of firmness, and his religion was fullied by fuperftition. Lewis the fixteenth had fcarcely attained his eleventh year, when his father died; but his mind had received, at that early period, a deep impreffion from fuperftition, which a more mature age was not able to efface. Serious and referved from the influence of this principle, he mixed rarely in the amufements natural to youth, and hence it was generally be lieved that the progrefs he made in his ftudies was rapid. But of the intellectual progrels of princes, it is always difficult to procure any accurate information; rumour, indeed, never fails to speak goldonly of their profit," and therefore the hiftorian will always credit with caution; he will recollect that princes defcribe around them a circle of courtiers, from whom the abhorrence of partiality, or the averfion from prejudice, can fcarcely be expected; he will not forget that these men, like the fatellites of a planet, receive light and animation only from the object around which they move. The progrefs of Lewis, in his fludies, was very flow; and all the en deavours of his father, and his preceptor, to fubdue this tardiness, were ineffectual. Though they punished him by the frequent privation of thofe amufements of which his brothers were permitted to partake, they were never able to infpire him with any defire of improvement, or with any spirit of emulation. His demeanour was fo unpolished, that it approached to vulgarity; and his difpofition fo ferious, that it partook of fullennefs. He had fixed opinions, and no fettled fyftem of conduct; and with fuch facility did he adopt the fentiments, and act according to the advice of others, that when it was determined to unite him to the archduchefs of Auftria, he was not acquainted with the determination, till the propofals of marriage had been difpatched to Vienna. CHARACTER of the late Queen of France, when Dauphinefs. [From the SAME. ] THE dauphinefs, at the period of her marriage, had fcarcely attained her fifteenth year. Her form was graceful and majestic: her features regular and expreffive; her eye-brows, by being too elevated, gave to her countenance an air of haughtinefs, lies, therefore, naturally attached which was only concealed when the condefcended to fimile. Her behaviour, as occafion required, was ei her arrogant or affable; but her arrogance was natural; her affability affumed the defpifed the mild difpofition and moderate abilities of the dauphin, whom the attempted to please only for the purpofe of fashioning him to her wishes. She was intriguing and infincere, voluptuous, prodigal, and inconflant. With thefe attainments it was not difficult for her to acquire the admiration of the people. Popularity, indeed, to the powerful, has always been an eafy acquifition; and the facility with which it has been attained, has, perhaps, produced the frequency with which it has been abufed. But the influence of the dauphinefs was not efficacious alone upon the people. The imperious demeanour of the king's favourite, madame Dubarri, had difgufted feveral of the moft illuftrious families of France, who had retired from a court in which they could only have remained by bending the knee to whoredom, and by burning the incenfe of flattery upon the altar of proftitution. Thefe fami IT themselves to the dauphinefs, from whom they expected that patronage to which the facrifices they had made, entitled them. The other branches of the royal family had been induced to visit the favourite, but the dauphinefs invariably refufed. When the king once endeavoured to prevail upon her, the told him, that obedience, to his commands would have been a duty, if he had been born his fubject, but as the was the daughter and fifter of an emperor, his majefty, fhe hoped, would excufe her.' But the principal object over which the dauphiness endeavoured to acquire an infiuence, was the dauphin; and, perhaps, on no one could her attempts have been exerted with more fuccefs. Averfe from the ceremonies attached to his exalted rank, he willingly fubmitted to her authority, which releafed him from duties that difgufted, and allow ed him the poffeffion of that retirement to which he had always manifefted fuch an attachment. To this attachment the dauphinefs, it was fufpected, afforded additional ftrength by her encouragement and approbation.' ANECDOTES of the prefent Empress of Ruffia. T has been often obferved, that no character is completely vicious: at leaft, that in characters very odious, in general, one folitary virtue has appeared, perhaps, in the melancholy affemblage of vices. To Catharine Il, (who, in her recent conduct toward Poland, has exhib ted fuch infatiable ambition, fuch injuftice, hypocrify, and cruelty) the praife of Chriftian forgiveness, at least, cannot be denied. This will appear from the following extract from Chantreau's Philofophical, political, and literary Travels in Ruffia, in the Years 1788 and 1789. The death of Peter the third, was followed by none of thofe tragical events, with which revolutions had till then been ftained. Nobody was even fent into Siberia; there was neither public nor private execution. The emprefs pardoned even her perfonal enemies. Marfhal Munich, who had given, as we have feen, the bett advice to the emperor, and had offered to defend him at the hazard of his own life, was not regarded with an evil eye. On the contrary, the emprefs was charmed with the attachment, which this foreigner had shown for him, who had brought him back from Siberia; and when he spoke to him of it, Munich replied; It is true, madam, that I offered to cover him with my body, but after twenty years captivity, I owed to him my liberty, and could I do lefs? Was not I bound by the ftrongest ties of duty and of gratitude to devote myfelf to his fervice? Now your majeity is my fove reign, and you fhall find in me the fame fidelity. The emprefs, ftruck with this bold anfwer, fhowed no lefs greatness of foul on her fide. She repofed in him the molt unbounded confidence, which was well juftified by the marshal's behaviour. When a new infurrection was no more dread ed, count Woronzoff, who had been arrested, was fet at liberty, and he was afterward employed by adminiftration. As for the countefs, the experienced neither jealousy nor refentment from Catharine. Her perfon was refpected, and he was permitted to enjoy, without any reftr etion, all that he had received from Peter's liberality. Catharine, guided by a fentiment of magnanimi y peculiar to her character, forgot the arrogance of this favourite, and the uneasiness the had brought upon her. But what completed this greatnefs of foul was, the alfo forgot the plot hatched by this ambitious woman, to ftrip her of the imperial dignity, that he might inveft herself with it. She was allowed to marry a private fubject, and she was fill vegetating at St. Petersburg during our refidence there. Goudo witfch, who had been the emperor's counfellor and favourite, and had given particular offence to the empreis, received permiffion to retire into his own country, and the empress had the greatnefs of mind to forget the offence of the father, for the good of the fon. Young Goudowitsch was recalled into Ruffia, where he is now a lieutenantgeneral, governor of the province of Rjazan, and a knight of the order of St. Alexander Newski. The Holftein guards, who had offered to the emperor to march against Catharine, and even preffed him to give them orders to this effect, received not the leaft mark of refentment. Such, as chofe, were incorporated with other regiments, and the reft were left at fall liberty to withdraw from Ruffia. Prince George of Holftein, uncle to the emperor, who was privy to the prince's defign of confining the emprefs, was put under arreft, in his own palace, during the revolution; but as foon as it was terminated, the raised him to the rank of field-marfhal, and named him governor of Holstein, during the grand duke's minority. An ACCOUNT of the Town of AARBURG, in Swifferland: With a perspective VIEW of its romantic Situation. AARBORG, or Arburg, a fmall town of Swifferland, in the territory of Argau, is feated, with a flrong fort, on the right fide of the river Aar. This fort, or citadel, built on a rock, was greatly ftrengthened, in its fortifications, in the courfe of the last century. The cafements are bomb-proof, and the fort is provided with good wells. A fmall garrifon is conftantly kept here; and the commandant is, at the fame time, bailiff of a diftrict which feparates Upper and Lower Argau, and the cantons of Soleure and Lucern. The view from the fortifications, over a rich and picturefque landfcape, is very extenfive. Argau, or Aargau, in which this town is feated, is a fmall province, forming the northern part of the canton of Bern, Under this name, it once included a much more extenfive district between the Russ and the Aar. It is divided into Upper and Lower Argau, of which the town of Aarburg forms nearly the point of feparation. It contains ten bailwicks, and four principal towns, Zoffingen, Arau, Lentzburg, and Brouck. The two parts exhibit a very fertile country, well watered by rivulets ftored with fish, which defcend from the canton of Lucern. They afford, in course, very excellent paftures. The country alfo produces wine, and corn of all kinds. Upper Argau has the preference with refpect to fertility of foil, but Lower Argau compenfates for this inferiority by the riches of induftry, particularly what refults from the cotton manufacture. In both, very rich peafants are to be found in many parts. 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