Some Particulars of the Rife of PETER SCHREUTZER, whom the King of Pruffia raised from the Ranks to be a General Officer.

the battle of Prague, in which marshal Daun forced the

Aking to raife the fiege of that place, his majefty, in re

treating, had his left wing put into a good deal of confufion, which made him gallop over fome rough ground, to give orders. His horfe fell, and the king came to the ground near a wounded foldier; who, feeing his majefty, cried out, "Sir, if you do not plant two or three pieces of cannon on that hill, and an ambufcade in the defile under it, your wing will be loft." The man pointed to the ground, which the king had not at all in his contemplation: he turned his head that way, and was filent a few feconds; when, looking at the fellow, he pulled his ring, of fmall value, off his finger." If you efcape, (faid he,) bring that ring to me yourself." The advice was inftantly taken, and the whole Pruffian wing faved by it. In about a month, the foldier, being recovered of his wound enough to move, followed the king, and made himself known. His majefty prefented him with a captain's commiffion, in which rank he behaved fo well at Rofbach, that the king made him a major, and foon after a lieutenant-colonel. In the affair of Drefden, the king was hefitating, and faid to one of his aides-du-camp, "Send for Schreutzer." The king afked his advice; he gave it; it was followed, and proved fuccefsful. Soon after which he had a regiment given him, and was made a major-general. He is ftill hiving, and, we believe, a lieutenant-general. He has the most remarkable coolness of head, in danger, of any man that ever lived his animal fpirits were fo great 'till he was fifty years of age, that the king took much pleasure in his company, and rallied him many times for his great ftomach and fpirits, faying, that he volatilized all his food as foon as he eat it ; and once made him drink nothing but water, while all the reft of the company had Champagne.

An ENTERTAINING LETTER from a Gentleman at Paris to his Friend in England.

SIR,

To the

PRINT E R.

Paris, Odober 2, 1783.

N my first arrival in this capital, I was greatly ftruck with a circumftance, which made me think that Paris, though

the

the feat of literature and philofophy, was funk deeper in faperdi tion than any other place I had ever vifited. The butter which

was served up at breakfast, was all marked with I. H. S. Such an impreffion as this, which would have caused but little furprize in Portugal or Spain, could not be overlooked in a polite city, where all the articles of life muft pay duties in paffing the town gates; and where, of courfe, fuperftition must be eafily detected. I expreffed my furprize to a gentleman who did me the favour to breakfast with me; and he gave me fo fatisfactory an account of the business, that, fo far from being scandalifed, I fhould rejoice to fee juft fuch marks of fuperftition in every town in England! He informed me that the late rector of St. Sul. pice, in this city, ever zealous to promote charity and induâry among the poor clafs of his parishioners, hired a house a little way out of town, and, filling it with young girls, whose poverty might expofe their virtue to deftruction, he bought feveral cows, which the girls were made to milk; and afterwards they were employed in churning it, and making butter. Other cha ritable perfons, forefeeing the benefit that would arife to the community from fuch a beginning, feconded the pious views of the worthy paftor, and bought a confiderable number of cows, which they beftowed on this charity. Care was taken that the girls fhould be neat and clean, and that the butter fhould be well made; and at laft it was fought for from every quarter of Paris. The government, willing to countenance and fupport this laudable inftitution, exempted, by a public act, all the butter made by thefe induftrious girls from the payment of three fous a pound, (or one penny halfpenny English,) to which all other butter is fubject, on entering the city of Paris. The establishment having taken a regular form, the houfe was called de l'Enfant Jefus, or" of the Infant Jefus;" and that the butter made in it might be known to the excife officers, it was ordered that

it fhould be marked with I. H. S. the impreffion on the common feal of the house. The fale of this butter, which is too good, and confequently too dear, to be ufed by any but people of a certain rank, produces a profit which fuffices for the comfortable fupport of the girls who are employed in making it, and who live by the encouragement of the public, without being a burthen to it.

The rector, to whom this inftitution owes its origin, was a very fingular character: he formed the defign of re-building his parish church, which was in a ruinous condition; and though this is not the age in which Chriftian zeal fhews itself by build

ing churches, ftill he overcame a thousand obftacles, and, after having feen the firft ftone laid, lived to fee finithed one of the moft magnificent piles to be found at this day in Paris, or indeed in all France. He had the addrefs to prevail upon Lewis XV. to give him the artillery of the Baftile, to melt down for the purpose of making bells; fo that thofe machines, which never before opened their mouths but for bloody or martial purpofes, now call the people, with a pacific voice, to celebrate the praifes

of the God of Peace.

A curious anecdote is related of this rector :-A very rich old lady lived in his parish, who was fo very far advanced in years, that her death was every day looked for. The rector understood that in her will fhe had bequeathed a very confiderable fum to the carmelites, or white friars, in whofe church fhe had ufuaily affifted at divine fervice, almost all her life. Thele friars are called carmelites, because, from the very earliest times, they led a life of retirement and contemplation on Mount Carmel, where they affect to fay their first founders were difciples and companions of the prophet Elifha; they may confequently be faid to be monks of the Old Teftament. This explanation is neceffary for the understanding of the anecdote.

The rector hearing of the legacy which had been left to these friars, waited upon the lady, and expoflulated with her on the manner in which he had difpofed of her fortune: he faid that the owed more to her parish than to a convent; and if he had been bleffed with affluence, and had refolved to devote a part of her wealth to pious purposes, it would be much more proper for her to leave it towards building the parish church, than to bequeath it to a convent, which really did not ftand in need of it; for, by as much as the fhould leave for the building, by fo much would the taxes for the building fall lighter upon the parishioners.

The lady fuffered herself to be perfuaded by the rector, and, fending for a lawyer, had her will altered, and left to the trustees for carrying on the building the fum fhe had originally defigned for the carmelites. It is to be remembered, that in French, as well as in Englifh, a laft will is called a teftament.-When the will was completed in all form, the rector took his leave; and, as he was going down ftairs, met the prior of the carmelites, who was going up to pay a vifit to the old lady. Each immediately ftopped, in order to make way for the other each was willing to carry away the palm of politenefs, by infifting that the other fhould walk firft. "Reverend father, (faid the rec*tor,) I venerate your habit, and it would but ill become me to take the lead of a perfon who is prior of his order."-"You VOL. II. 45. 3 K

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do me too much honour, Sir," replied the father; "but I can not forget that I am your parishioner, and I fhould be greatle wanting in the refpect I owe you as my rector, if I were to av myfelf of the liberty your politenefs and humility are willing to indulge me with." O lord, father, (anfwered the rector, al luding to what had juft happened above ftairs, but which the friar understood only of the antiquity of his order,) you mu not forget that you are of the old teftament, and that I am only of the new." Having faid this, he gently forced the friar " thing loth," to go up ftairs; and the carmelite foon difcovered, to his coft, that it was much better to be of the new, thanf the old teftament.

Your's,

A TRAVELLER.

I molt uncultivated fate of nature and taite for elegance and N thofe ftages of human fociety that intervene between the refinement of mankind, pageantry and show feem to employ the utmoil attention, and to be confidered as the only proper appet dages of grandeur; frong proofs of which are afforded almost all the nations of the eaft, and by Poland in the tota The Polish women of fashion feldom go to vifit one another, without being attended by the most numerous train of fract carriages, and flambeaux, they can mufter; but when we fou them home, we meet with nothing adequate to this parade: their apartments are but poorly furnished, and but hardly clean, and themfelves are the mean and fawning flaves of the ho bands, who, except in the articles of equipage a rad dreis, al treat them as rational beings. In Germany, where the t in general lets formed, the women are more fond of fa pageantry, and more crammed with family pride, than in Fran or England. In Italy, of a warmer temperament, they ain

more at captivating the heart than the eyes, and have there, as well as in France, attained almost to an abfolute dominion over the men; a prerogative, which in Poland fees much en

decline; for though, in the time of Alphonfo, when the Portaguele were an honour to human nature, the man who inleds woman, or broke any promile he had made to her, was graded from whatever rank he enjoyed: at prefent the falleg fantry introduced, authorizes him to commit every perfuy of

that nature with impunity.

So extenfive are the enacts of politenefs in Eumpe, that it has not only foftened the actions and manners of him, who, to

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tored in the lap of eafe, has received the polish of a good education; but of him alfo, who, left to nature, has nothing to boast of but what he received from her hand. This fpirit of fympathetic indulgence, or of polite gallantry, does not ftop at endea vouring to eafe the load of female toil, or to mitigate the feverity of that labour for which their natural weaknefs feems to have incapacitated the fex; it expands itfelf to every part of the conduct of the men which has any relation to them. We give to a woman, though of inferior quality, the right hand, Thew her every token of refpect, and place her in every fituation of honour. We lavish our fubftance on ornaments for our wives and daughters, and reckon that when they appear in elegance and tafte, they reflect a luftre and credit upon us. We are hurt when they behave improperly; and, on the contrary, perfuade ourfelves, that their good conduct adds a diguity to our character and reputation. In fhort, we are fo deeply interested in every thing that relates to them, that they may be considered as the arbiters of our fate, and the fpring which fets in motion, and continues to direct almost every action of our lives; fuch is the indulgence we fhew them, and fuch the power we put into their hands, that a proverbial faying has from thence arifen, that England is the beaven of women, and the hell of horses.

In France, Italy, and Spain, the deference paid to women is ftill greater than in England, and generally proceeds from different motives: here the honour we confer upon them, flows from a mixture of love for their perfons, and efteem of their virtues; there, it arifes, for the most part, only from a kind of customary gallantry, which feems more directed to the whole fex than to an individual. A Frenchman, the moment he is in the company of a woman, whether young or old, beautiful or other.. wife, declares him felf her admirer, talks of flames and darts, and pays her a thoufand compliments on her beauty. An Italian, when he is introduced to a lady, approaches her in the most humble and fubmiffive manner, kiffes her hand, and, if he is hand fome, and of quality, confiders her as a fublime being, as an angel in human form, and confequently never to be approached but with the greatest reverence. The Spaniard goes yet a ftep farther, the whole fex is to him an object of little lefs than adcration; he retains ftill a tincture of knight-errantry, in every thing relating to women, and will readily venture his life to fave any of them from trouble, or from danger: the object of his love is never lefs than a goddefs, whom he always mentions with all the extravagance that metaphor and hyperbole can dictate; and, to a woman above the rank of a peafant, he never prefents any thing but in a kneeling posture.

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