The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-02-02 00:00:00

Duniei to b., on Table it Plve otlock.

W. YEWD, setretark,
G. TRITWHITT,
N.A. C.tra4 of Invitation may be had at the Hospital ant
Tavern, Sty time before Tlttir,day the 17th of February.

LITERATURE.

Esi 4prz trdium cognorcere.

Hot.

Viliatever extends our acquantance with human
nature, and makes us more conversant with the cha-
r eters and the manners of our species, as they are
diversified by the accidents of country, climate, or
ihstitution, must always possess the power of inte-
resting us, and must always claim a high place
among the works of useful knowledge. He who
penetrates from effeas to causes ; who unfolds the
elements of matter ; who traces the phenomena of
mind ; who ascertains the principles of morals;
whose imagination creates and sports in worlds of
her own, and adorns our paths with flowers gather-
ed in etherial gardens—the euttosovezz, in short,
and the POET, are entitled to the first honours of in-
tellect, and to the largest incense from the altars of
fame. But, with far humbler pretensions, the TII.
vetxre„ who surveys the rational inhabitants of
our globe, and who faithfully delineates their man-
ners with his pen, and the peculiarities of their form
and their dress with his pencil, can justly demand
our gratitude,for blending amusement with informa-
tion, and for contributing something to the happi-
ness of life. We shall not indeed contemplate him
with wonder, as one of the intellectual giants of our
race, but we shall always regard him with fondness
as one of its benefactors. Without ranking his vo-
lime with the greater exhibitions of the mind, we
shall make it our companion in the hour of less in-
tense thought, and shall frequently turn over its
rages, when the effort of prouder intellect reposes
to unbroken slumber upon-our shelves.
lehe work which at present asks our notice,
44 The Costume of Russia," is not the pmduction
of one traveller, but the result of the labours of
many. Its title intimates its nature. In a yin iety
of plates, so coloured as to impart to the graver the
brilliancy and the life of the pencil, it represents, in
their proper habits, the different races of men which
occupy the enormous extent of the RUSSIAN Ens-
from the Caspian to the Pole, and from the
North Cape to thti Strait which severs Asia from
Anserica. The plates are illustrated with short de-
scriptions ; and from these, which must, of course,
convey a very imperfect idea of a work offered
principally to the eye, we shall select the following
account of a female Schaman ; premising, that a
Bela Mall is the Priest of a particular species of idol-
atry which still prevails in some of the Russian
provinces. Among the professors of this strange
and barbarous religion, the women are represented
as the objects of peculiar contempt and neglect.
They are, however, admitted into the priesthood ;
and our extract forms the description of one of these
females in her sacerdotal habiliments.

Plate XXXVII.

A FEMALE SCRAM AN, chewing the back part of

her dress.

The Schamans dress themselves in-the most fan-
tastic and grotesque manner, under the islea, that
they by these means make themselves agreeable to
God, and formidable to men ; and, on this account,
then- whole endeavour is to surpass each other in sin-
gulanty. Their dress also differs very much, ac-
cording to the nations they are of. The present
plate, as well as the last, exhibits a female Scha-
num, or priestess, of the Karchintvi tribe, of the
district cf Kraynoyarsk. Their dress is distin-
guished by various idolatrous ornaments, made of
plates of iron, of the claws of birds, of stripes of
different cloths and furs, and skins of animals;
while their saps are generally bordered with the
skirt of the lynx, and a plume of owl's feathers.
A sort of tambourine is the constant companions of
the Schamans : it is made of wood, and covered on
one side with skin ; on the other side a bar runs
across, by which they hold it ; this skin is frequently
covered with hieroglyphic characters, sometimes
with the forms of idols, or different animals.
The instrument with which they strike the tam-
bourine, is merely made of a piece of wood, and
covered with the skin of a hare with the fur on, or
of some other similar animal. To this magical in-
strument they attribute very great power ; and pre-
teed, that they can, by beating upon it, cause spi-
rits (in which they believe) to appear or disappear
at pleasnre. he principles of Schamanism are
thiefly as follow: they believe in one God, the
creator of every thing, whom the different nations
call by different names ; a number of inferior
gods govern the world, chiefly according to their
tient wills, although they are all subordinate to the
beity. AU the celestial bodies are divinities, as
well as scene tiarestrial objects, smelt as ire, water,
mountains, kc.
There are also evil deities, of whom there is a
. supreme, who is next to God in power: these live
in rivers, forests, mountains, &c. &c. their wile de-
light is in tormenting mankind. The people are
persuaded, that the gods appear to their &bamans
ander different shapes, but particularly in the form
cif a hear, for which animal they base a great re-
spect. They believe in it state after death, but
their ideas of it are strange and ridiculous. To
the good deities► which ate represented under re-
forms idoialmo forms, they offer sacrifices and
prayers, width day zee sure will be attended to.
lu spite. Seri elan the absurdities in Wm-
imams. attentive enquirer
on mailegneceive some
simileri to the Mosaic religi sacred ism,
the4ihdosa, tie adersiceas, die opinions comern•
lag ironies, and many other tenets of the Scha.
AMA* jperbein. Area borrowed km the
sintallibelevas. . .

vorTunt TIMT.
THEATRE-ROYAL, DRURrIAN.E.
Tins EVENING will 1)4 prrie:lted a New Comedy called
HEAR BOTH SIDES.
fu which rill be added,
LOVE AND MAGI p

THEA7'RE.RorAL, COVENT-GARDEN.
THIS EVENING w ill be performul the Tragedy of
HAMLET.
llam;et, fur the first time, by a Young GENTLEMAN.
To which vill V. added,
HA it LEOUIN'S HABEAS.

THE BRITISH PRESS.

LONDON,
WEDNESDAY, Fee. 2.

Candlenias Day.--tiolitlay at the Public Offices.

It will be seen, in a subsequent part of this Paper,
that a Meeting of the Ship-Owners of London was
held yesterday, at which several resolutions were
pased against the Tonnage Duty.

Yesterday we received two Dutch mails, and one
Hamburgh Mail—Their contents arc of little im-
portance. The speculators in the Dutch Funds are
waiting with impatience for the publication of the
terms of the Loan ; and the uncertainty in which
they are kept respecting their nature, prevents any
material variation in the price of their Stocks. The
frost has set in very severely, and has concurred with
other circumstances in increasing the stagnation of
their commerce.
The Leyden Gazette of the 28th January con-
tains a Copy of the Convention concluded at
Paris in December last, respecting the Indem-
nities of the House of Austria in the Empire.
From which it appears that the Duke of Modena
is to have the county of Ortenau in Suabia, toge-
ther with the Brisgau, agreeably to the fourth article
of the Treaty of Luneville. His Imperial Majesty
is to be indemnified for that cession by the bishoprics
of Trente and Wizen, which are to be secularized.
The Grand Duke of Tuscany is to have the bishopric
of Eichstadt, in addition to the other indemnities
adjudged to him by the general Conclusum of the
23d November, with some trivial exceptions This
Convention is signed Phil. Cobenzel, Joseph Bona-
parte, Count Markoff, and dated Paris, 26th Dec.

1802.
Great preparations are making at Stutgard for
the installation of the Duke of Wnrtemberg in his
new Electoral dignity, which is expected to take
place in the month of March next.

The answer of Mr. Secretary \Vietnam to the
Address, presented to him at Limerick, by Colonels
ODELL and Vent NIA, is so replete with moderation,
and sound policy, that it cannot fail of conciliating
the minds of the orderly, and of repressing the tu-
mults of the disorderly. In a free country, such as
Ireland must be deemed since its Union with the
British empire,. the civil power should be rendered
adequate to ev4purpzies ; and recourse should never
be had to the military, hut in the last extremity. Ire.
land, at present, resembles the ocean ; which con-
tinues in a state of fermentation long after the
storm which first agitated its bosom hath sub-
sided ; and the wisdom of the present Administra-
tion, in casting oil upon its surface, must be mani-
fest to every experienced pilot. A continuation of
the like moderate, yet determined measures, can-
not fail of producing the desired effect.
Letters received yesterday overland from India
state, that the Lord Nilson and Used Kingdom ar-
rived at Madras on the 10th, and wiled for Bengal
on the 18th of July, where they arrived the eitn.
Cirencester, Persever.ince, and Alnwisi Cattle, sailed
from Madras for China the 20th July. Mat-chief? ell
of Exeter sailed from Madras to the northern ports
the Ist August. Thames, lraltner Castle, and Janson,
sailed from Bombay to China the 16th August.
Sir Edward Hughes and Earl St. Vincent arrived at
Bombay from England, the former on the 29th,
and the latter on the I ash August. Company's ship '
Cornoosilis, and the Earl St. Vincent, to be sent down
to Anjengo and Tellicherry, for pepper and piece
goods, and to be dispatched to England from Bombay
on the 19th December. Sir Edward Hughes and Tra-
vers to he dispatched to fill upon the coast about the
end of January, and from whence they will proceed
to England. The Herculean arrived at Bombay the
6th September, and, when unladen, will be sent to
Bengal.
Letters received by the Dutch Mail state, that
the Expedition to Lousiaua is delayed by the seve-
rity of the weather, the ships destined for the voyage
being all frozen in. An article from the Hague
states, that they are returning there to their old ens-
toms and institutions.' Many of the friends of the
PRINCE of ORANGE have been admitted to Public
Offices, and the Guilds and Corporations of Am-
sterdam are all re-established.
Mr. WIER!: m, we understand, left Ireland, on
Saturday last, and is expected in town this day.—
His return to England may be desirable, for the
purpose of appearing in Parliament to answer the
inquiries which Government may expect will be ad-
dressed to him on the subject of the disturbances in
the South of Ireland.
Generals MASSENA and ANGERAV have not vi-
sited St. Cloud, since the day on which they. had a
private conference with RON Ar RT E. They affect
to avoid the assemblies of his Lady, and to be regu-
larly at those of Mesdames CA MRACERRS and La-
DRUM, who pay them a marked attention.
The Duchess of I)OASET on being informed of
tke abuses pratised in the Administration of Sock-
vile College, East Grinstead, has sent over direc-
tionsto redress them without delay. The Tellowsare
to be augmented to thirty, from fourteen their present
number; and the funds are to be raised from 1601.
which is now annually expended in the College to
3901. according to the original foundation, as made
by Roarer, Earl of Dorset, under King JAMiS
the First.
The Hurricanes for the last fortnight, on the whole
ofthe East Riding coast of Yorksbirchave been more
tempestous and fatal than were ever known. No-
dsing has been seen along the whole shore, but parts
of wrecks of vessels and the dead bodies of unfortu-
nate men who have perished in the storms. The
Asicaican Comm, his wife aid child. were with
great difficulty saved at Bvt, Qsy,. aid
were brr on shore nearly soloed. in an-opre
boat. A who attempted to reins to the shore,
*as aplie4 w pie= sr** i