disclosed. Worta having fatisfied himself with the vifits he made to the different courts of the reigning powers, proposed returning to his own country; and could his bed be honoured with a partner like the Duchefs, a scene of connubial felicity would be completed. To this language the Duchefs liftened with infinite pleasure; and, had there not been an infurmountable obftacle, fhe actually would have given her hand and fortune to an adventurer. This Worta very lately committed feveral forgeries in Holland, and being apprehended, he difpatched himself by a dofe of poifon *. As a contrast to this inftance of impofture and credulity, there was a real prince, who made the Duchefs an offer of his hand, and that after an attachment which had fubfifted twenty years. On a vifit to the court of Saxony, the Duchefs firft met Prince Radzivil, an illuftrious perfonage, who had pretenfions to the crown of Poland †. This high character lived in a ftyle of dignified fplendor, which excited the admiration of those who knew not the amount of his immenfe revenues. The Duchefs, ftruck with the grandeur of his ftate, practised every ingratiating art which might attract esteem. In this, fhe proved to fuccefsful as to engage the heart of the Prince in her favour. This was all the wanted; for, the confequences of the engagement were, magnificent prefents, and a correfpondence carried on, during a fucceffion of years. When the Duchefs was about to make a fecond vifit to Peterfburgh, propofing to travel thither by land, the fignified, in a letter to Prince Radzivil, her intention of taking his dominions in her route. The Prince, the force of whofe affection had not been abated by time, received the determination as an announcement of his approaching happinefs. The place of meeting was fixed, and, as there was fomething fingularly romantic in the ftyle in which the interview was conducted, a description of it, as detailed by a foreign gentleman, who was of the party, may not prove unentertaining to the reader. Berge, a village in a duchy belonging to Prince Radzivil, was affigned for the rendezvous. It is fituated about forty miles from Riga. The Duchefs being there arrived, was waited on by an officer in the retinue of the Prince, who was commiffioned to inform her Grace, that his mafter proposed to dispense with the ceremonials of rank, and visit * Worta, whoever he might be, was entitled to praise, as a man of talents. During the contest between Great Britain and America, he wrote several little pieces, in fupport of what he termed "The honourable caufe of les pauvres Ame«ricains. Befide this fubject, there is a small tract by Worta, intitled, "L'Horofcope Politique." In this he extols the character of Prince Henry of Pruffia, whom he ftyles his dear and intimate friend. There is also another fmall production, containing a felection of Poetic Pieces, profelfedly tranflated from a Turkish author, but really written by Worta. His language, in profe, is energetic in the extreme; in poetry, it is mellifluous, and full of tenderness. He had certainly ftrong feelings, and a very fuperior understanding. To each of his publications, there is an engraving of himfeif prefixed, which is encircled by ftars, and rays, from a fmall reprefented fun, darting on the top of his head. He was, altogether, a most extraordinary character. This illuftrious Pole is now living, and about fixty-five years of age. her her as a friend. The next morning was the time specified for this vifit taking place. In the interim, the Duchefs was entreated to permit herself to be escorted to an hotel, ten miles diftant, whither the Prince had dispatched his own cooks, and other attendants, to wait on her Grace. The next morning, the vifit, without ceremony, took place, and thus was it conducted. Prince Radzivil came with forty carriages, each drawn by fix horfes; and the different vehicles contained his nieces, the ladies of his principality, and other illuftrious characters. In addition to thefe, there were fix hundred horfes led in train, a thoufand dogs, and feveral boars; a guard of huffars completed the fuite. Such an affemblage, in a country surrounded by wood, gave an air of romance to the interview, which was ftill more heightened by the manner in which the Prince contrived to amufe his female gueft. He made two feafts, and they were ordered in the following ftyle. The Prince had caufed a village to be erected, confifting of forty houfes, all of wood, and fancifully decorated with leaves and branches. Thefe houfes formed a circle; in the middle of which, three fpacious rooms were erected, one for the Prince, a fecond for his fuite, and the third for the repaft. Entering the village, in the way to the rooms, all the houses were fhut, and the inhabitants appeared to have retired to reft. The entertainment, at the rooms, opened with fplendid fireworks, on an adjoining piece of water, and two veffels encountered each other in a mock engagement. The feaft being ended, Prince Radzivil conducted the Duchefs to the village, the houses of which were fhut before, and on a fudden they were converted into forty open fhops, brilliantly decorated, and containing the richeft commodities of different kinds. From these fhops the Prince felected a variety of articles, and prefented them to the Duchefs. A magnificent topaz, rings, boxes, trinkets of all defcriptions, compofed the gifts *. The company then returned to the rooms, which were thrown into one, and a ball was opened by Prince Radzivil and the Duchefs. The minuets and dances being concluded, the company quitted the ball-room, and in an inftant it was in a blaze; combuftible matter having been previously difpofed throughout every part of the building. The people of the village were feen dancing round the fire. This entertainment, which is unexaggerated in the defcription, was fuppofed to have coft The Duchefs, through life, had been accustomed to receive prefents; and a great part of her perfonal property was acquired in this manner. Prince Radzivil, at a moderate computation, five thousand pounds. His Highness ended not here. At a country feat, ten miles from Niceiffuis, his favourite town, he gave a fecond feast to the Duchefs. This feast was followed by a boar hunt; for the purpose of which, his dogs had been brought. The hunt was in a wood, at night. A regiment of huffars, with lighted torches in their hands, formed a circle; within which were huntsmen alfo with torches. The boar, thus furrounded by fire, was intimidated, and, after the ufual sport, he fell a victim to his purfuers. At this hunt atAt this hunt attended a numerous party of the Polish nobility. During fourteen days, the time of the Duchefs's continuance with Prince Radzivil, fhe dined and flept in different houses belonging to the Prince. As the retinue moved from place to place, they, on every third or fourth day, met a camp, formed of the Prince's own guard. Travelling at night from Niceiffuis, the roads were illu. minated; guards accompanied as escorts, and, on the arrival of the Duchefs at the different towns belonging to the duchy of the Prince, the magiftrates waited on her with their gratulations, and the cannon were fired. Here was transporting fatisfaction! and yet, fuch was the oddity of the Duchefs, fo unique was the in character, mind, and feeling, that, at the moment of her being complimented with a feu de joye, the only thus expreffed her fentiments of the princely treatment: "He may fire as much as he pleases, but he fhall not hit "my mark!" These were her own words; the commentary on them is obvious. Befide this extraordinary difplay of magnificence, the Duchefs, during her refidence in Poland, had alfo the honour to be entertained by one of the first characters in the theatre of the world. This was Count Oginski*; of whom the late king of Pruffia had fo exalted an opinion, that he dispatched a letter to him, with the following fuperfcribed orders: "This is to be "forwarded to the Ornament of "Human Nature!" Such a compliment, from a Sovereign who was not eafily mistaken in characters, muft have been highly flattering. But it did not exceed the merits of the Count; he was great, in every fenfe of the word. Befide being the munificent rewarder of talents, and the univerfal fuccourer of the diftreffed, his accomplishments were of the most endearing kind. At a concert which he gave the Duchess, he performed on fix different inftruments. His eftablishment for mufical entertainments coft him fifty thousand ducats a year; about twentyfive thousand pounds of our money. He had a theatre, in which plays, in the French, German, and Polith languages, were acted. Horfes he had from the remoteft countries; one, which he fhewed the Duchefs, was brought him from Jerufalem. With Louis the XVth he had lived on terms of intimacy, refiding nine years at the court of France. He painted inimitably; and, among other articles, the Duchefs faw a piece of his execution, which originated from the following incident: Louis the XVth and the Count were Count Oginski is now alive, and univerfally revered. walking walking in a garden, and the French monarch broke off a branch of an apple-tree, in high bloffom, and throwing it at the count, he faid, "Oginski, you must paint that for me. The count obeyed; and the demife of the king happening before the picture was finished, it remained in the poffeffion of the count. At the manfion of this nobleman, the Duchefs continued a few days; and Prince Radzivil accompanying her there, an emulation feemed to pre vail who moft fhould fhew her a marked attention. She was, however, fhackled, as it were, in mind. There was fameness even in princely fplendor; and famenefs to her was ever difgufting. An aventurier, like Worta, could have fucceeded, where a prince, like Radzivil, failed of his point. The one was a fixed, the other an eccentric character; and eccentricity, in every variation of form or action, accorded moft forcibly with her feelings. In fo heterogeneous a character as that of the lady who is the fubject of this detail, it is difficult to difcriminate the propenfities, and pronounce how far they are influenced by any genuine motive, or paffion. The Duchefs had an apparent attachment to a Polish Bishop, the Bishop of Wilna. She alfo, when at Rome, difcovered fomething more than friendship for the Patriarch of Jerusalem. The Bishop of Wilna firft faw the Duchefs at Rome. He is a moft amiable character; but perhaps it was more the vanity of inconfiftency, than any real affection, which actuated the Duchefs in her apparent tenderness. To contemn the offers of Prince Radzivil, whom the actually might have married, and have had the lofs of her fortune abundantly compenf,ted, and to defire an union where it could not be ob tained, was that species of contrariety, which distinguished this lady through life. VOL. XXX. E NATURAL NATURAL HISTORY. Some Obfervations on the Heat of Wells and Springs in the Island of Jamaica, and on the Temperature of the Earth below the Surface in different Climates. By John Hunter, M.D. F.R. S.; communicated by the Hon. Henry Cavendish, F.R.S. From Philofophical Tranfactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. lxxviii. Part i. To the Hon. Mr. CAVENDISH. SIR, the heat of fprings and wells, and their application towards determining the mean temperature of the earth in different climates, were fuggefted by you in fome converfation on that fubject, previous to my going to Jamaica in 1780. If you think them deferving the attention of the Royal Society, I muft beg the favour of you to lay them before that learned body. I have the honour to be, &c. THE great difference between the temperature of the open air, and that of deep caverns or mines, has long been taken notice of, both as matter of curiofity and furprize. After thermometers were brought to a tolerable degree of perfection, and meteorological regifters were kept with accuracy, it became a problem, to determine what the cause was of this difference between the heat of the air, and the heat of the earth; for it was foon found, that the temperature of mines and caverns did not depend upon any thing peculiar to them; but that a certain depth under ground, whether in a cave, a mine, or a well, was fufficient to produce a very fenfible difference in the heat. In obfervations of this kind, there was perhaps nothing more ftriking, than that the heat in fuch caves was nearly the fame in fummer and winter; and this even in changeable climates, that admitted of great variation between the extremes of heat in fummer, and cold in winter. There is an example of this in the cave of the Royal Obfervatory at Paris. The explanations, which have been attempted of this phænomenon, have turned chiefly upon a fuppofition, that there was an internal fource of heat in the earth itself, totally independent of the influence of the fun*. M. de Mairan has beftowed much labour on this fubject, and by observation and calculation is led to con * Vid. Martine's Effays, p. 319. clude |