popular books and pamphlets in favour of an alliance with France, bribed influential people to support its interests,and endeavoured, as much as they could, to assimilate the manners of the inhabitants to that of France, by introducing among them gambling, and every species of debauchery.

The objects which France had in view, by these intrigues, were of considerable moment. By obtaining a preponderating influence in Holland, they proposed to strengthen themselves and to weaken England; and to make Holland their bank, where they might raise any sum of money their exigencies might require. But, above all, having succeeded in their attempt to deprive England of its American colonies, they had next resolved to disencumber it of its Indian empire, and for the attainment of that object, the assistance of Holland was of the highest importance. The breaking out of the French Revolution put an end to all these projects, and in that respect was one of the most fortunate events that could have happened to England.

XIII.

AUSTRIAN FLANDERS.

I visited Flanders, when it was under the dominion of the House of Austria, and after its government had undergone a change. I had the honour of being introduced to their Royal Highnesses, who were intrusted by the Emperor with the government of Flanders, on Christmas 1786.. Strangers were presented to them, as they came from mass, in the same manner as at St Petersburgh; and their Royal Highnesses acted their parts with much dignity and affability. In the evening there was a very brilliant drawing-room.

The towns and villages were numerous, and the people seemed much at their ease; but it was a bad system that of annexing such distant possessions to the Austrian government.

The Emperor had begun to dismantle the fortifications of his frontier towns; and his object must have been of more importance than the trifling sum of money he got for the ground. He had rendered himself very unpopular by the changes he had attempted in the religion and government. But the people, though much dissatisfied, did not well know how to mend themselves. The clergy were attacked in various ways, and, among other burdens, were compelled to build several houses in the Park at Brussels, for the ornament of the town, which they let to great disadvantage.

Nothing could exceed the richness and beauty of the Netherlands, nor the excellency of its agriculture. The country is fertile, inclosed with trees, and not with close hedges, which intercepts the prospect; and every where the traveller sees rivers and navigable canals,-country-houses finely situated, and adorned with delightful pleasure grounds,―neat villages, --and a number of considerable towns.

XIV.

HOUSE OF BOURBON.

I had frequent intercourse with the House of Bourbon, both in its prosperous and adverse circumstances. It is singular, that in the second edition of the History of the Revenue, published in 1786-7, the Revolution in France was predicted, several years before it actually took place. The foundation was laid at that time, and the crisis seemed to be fast approaching. The economical arrangements of Necker destroyed the influence of the Crown; and the reduction of the household troops was a blow which the monarchy never recovered. In the History of the Revenue, it was remarked, that the court of France, like every arbitrary administration, was nothing but a faction confederated together, for the government of that great and powerful kingdom; and this fac

tion was upheld, and received perpetual accessions, from the hopes that every individual belonging to it entertained, of having some share in the plunder of the nation. But if ever those hopes were destroyed,—if frugality was ever carried to any extreme,—if all expectations of sharing in the spoils of the public were annihilated, the power of the faction would quickly cease, and a revolution would be the necessary consequence. "Besides," it was added, "such has been the impolitic conduct of the French cabinet, in supporting the independence of North America,-in suffering the natives of that country to spread their wild ideas of republicanism throughout every corner of the kingdom,—and indeed so much have the bold compositions written in this country in favour of liberty, and the legal rights of mankind, been circulated there, that the seeds of important political changes seem to be sown, which greater restrictions on the royal bounty would have a tendency to accelerate *." The King of France, therefore, was severely but properly punished for giving any countenance to the independence of America, after he had given the most solemn assurances, that he would never grant any assistance to the British colonies; and since, depending on his assurances, the British Government was induced to take those harsh measures which occasioned the separation.

I had the honour to be introduced to the Count d'Artois, when he resided at the King's Palace in Edinburgh. He was much admired for the affability of his deportment, and the pleasant sallies which he frequently produced. I recollect having waited upon him in company with Lord Macdonald, who was about 6 feet 5 inches in height, or about 2 inches taller than I was. It was about the time of the Edinburgh races. He asked whether we had any horses in the field? I happened to say, in return, that the horses in our part of Scotland were remarkably small, and unfit for racing; on which he remarked,

Hist. of the Revenue, vol. iii. p. 315.

with a good deal of archness," There is a great difference then between the men and the horses of your country."

I was extremely anxious, during his residence in Scotland, that he should pay some marked attention to agriculture, and be present at some of those public meetings, where the cultivation and improvement of the soil were the great objects of consideration. I was persuaded that it would have an advantageous effect on the minds of the people of France. But his Royal Highness did not seem much inclined to enter into those ideas.

There was a singular contrast in my reception at the Court of France, at two different periods. On the 1st of January 1787, I was presented to Louis the Sixteenth, by the Duke of Dorset, the British Ambassador, and the crowd was so great that he hardly took notice of any of those who were introduced to him. But after the battle of Waterloo, when I went in the Highland dress, no one could receive a more gracious reception from his successor. "That is the garb," his Majesty said, "which I particularly admire, and those who wear that dress will always be acceptable at my Court."

XV.

ANECDOTES OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.

I had no communication with the Emperor Napoleon, either personal or epistolary; but a circumstance took place at the commencement of his attack on Prussia, in which I was most deeply interested, and in the course of which, he had an opportunity of proving, as he himself expressed it, "That he did not make war against education or literature."

Having felt, in the course of my literary pursuits, the great disadvantage of not having acquired a knowledge of the German language, in which such stores of useful knowledge are contained, I determined that my eldest son, George, should not experience the same obstacle to his progress in science,

and therefore sent him, after he had become thoroughly master of Latin and Greek *, to complete his education in Germany. Having remained about two years in Gotha, where it is supposed that the German is spoken with peculiar purity, he had directions to proceed to the University of Leipsic. He began his journey at the period when Napoleon had commenced his celebrated attack on Prussia, and his army marched with a celerity, for which the Prussians were not at all prepared. My son was most unexpectedly seized, on his road to Leipsic, by some of the advanced guards of the French army; and brought before Napoleon in person, as a spy. Of this singular circumstance, a Berlin paper, transmitted to me by M. Bottiger of Dresden, gave the following account:

"On the 14th of October (1806), while the Emperor Napoleon had his head quarters at Auma, there were two prisoners brought before him early in the morning, who had been arrested as spies. It became evident, however, when they were separately examined, and their depositions compared, that they were very honest people. The one was the son of Sir John Sinclair, a Scots Baronet, well known for his meritorious labours in statistics and agriculture. His son had studied at Gottingen, and having been upon a visit at Gotha, was now travelling through the midst of the Prussian army to Leipsic. His companion was a chaplain from Gotha. The young Scotsman had, in his pocket book, a plan of study drawn up by his father, and soon manifested his innocence. The Emperor himself had a conversation with him, and afterwards with his companion, about three o'clock in the morning; and as soon as he learned that the Prussians as yet knew no

• He spent about three years at Harrow, where he became intimate with the celebrated Lord Byron, who, in his memorandums, thus expresses himself regarding his young friend. "The prodigy of our school-days was George Sinclair, (son of Sir John); he made exercises for half the school, (literally), verses at will, and themes without it. He was a friend of mine, and in the same remove, and used at times to beg me to let him do my exercise,—a request always most readily accorded upon a pinch, or when I wanted to do something else, which was usually once an hour."-Moore's Life of Byron, vol. i. p. 41.