The Sun.
London, England, 1828-09-19 00:00:00

COMMERCE OF FRANKFORT.

In no other town on the Continent is there
probably so rnuch business transacted on paper
—are so many bills negotiated with every quarter
of the globe—or so many singular speculations
undertaken—as in this place. Frankfort may,
indeed, be styled the head-quarters of the Con-
tinental bankers. Among those of this class
who had acquired a degree of celebrity, no one
was more distinguished than Mr. Bethmann.
His connections in the mercantile world were so
extensive, that in no corner of the earth in which
that valuable contrivance of commerce—a bill of
exchange—is resorted to, was his name unknown.
His great attention to his clients arid friends,
the affability of his conversation, and, above all,
his splendid hospitality, had made him very po-
pular among travellers. I believe Ido not ex-
aggerate when I assert that most of the English
travellers who passed through Frankfort have
experienced, at some period or other, the grati-
fying effect of Mr. Bethmann's amiable. disposi-
tion. He was in the prime of life, and no man
attended with more strictness to his duties. His
house, in which he entertained his guests in a
sumptuous manner, situated near a' part of the
public gardens and drive, is next to a summer
pavilion, embosomed within a handsome planta-
tion

To this pavilion the wealthy banker used to
adjourn with his guests from his house after
dinner, in a summer afternoon, to take refresh-
ments on the sloping lawn before it, after having
shown to them, with appropriate enthusiasm, his
" there Ariadne." I bad the pleasure, in the
sumther of 1819, to form one of a party of this
description, when I beheld, for the first time, the
cliff d'oeuvre in question. I derived the greatest
pleasure in revisiting it, from the original and
judicious remarks made on the group by the dis-
tinguished individuals whom I accompanied, and
who are known to possess a classical taste for the
fine arts. My second view of this exquisite
poetical composition of the best living sculptor
took place under far different circumstances from
the first. In lieu of the ardent and admiring
host pointing out the beauties of an object which
he had so often and so long examined, we were
escorted by one of the servants, whose interfer-
ence extended only to the very innocent office of
turning round the groupe on its pedestal, in order
to present it to us in every point of view, and to•
the drawing Of a pink curtain before the ease-
ment, through which the light was admitted into
the room ; a coquetterie of the worthy master of
the place, who wished to give to the cabinet of
Ariadne the soft atmosphere of a boudoir. But
the master is no more ! We learned with grief
that he had died of apoplexy Only a .
few months
before. He had entertained a large
Company
to dinner, of which, as usual, he had himself
a
partaken liberally ; and proceeded to the
theatre, for the purpose of escorting ma_
dame Catalani. Some altercation took /4„e
at the entrance-door, during which he be-
came violently agitated ; on reaching his box
he fell in a senseless state on the floor. He was
instantly removed to his house, where, after lin-
gering for ten or twelve hours speechless and
T
motionless, he expired. The house was still oc-
cupied by his widow, who, in virtueof that title,
can claim the right of continuing in it during her
widowhood ; but the pointed manner in which
she has been wholly overlooked in the testamen-
tary dispositions of the deceased, dated some
time before his illnesi, and the peculiar arrange-
ment made by him in regard to his children,
seem to indicate that he had reason. to be discon-
tented with her. Of the immense wealth which
he has left, she is not to partake in the remotest
degree ; and the guardianship of his . children is
confided to his partner, Monsieur St. George.
Against these measures the widow has since -
pealed ; and an action, disputing the provisions
of the will, is now pending in a Court of Justice
at Lubeck. It is supposed that, at one time,
during his short illness, Mr. Bethmann had pro-
bably the intention of altering his last will, as he
made signs to have writing materials' brought to
him. After attempting to use the, right hand, I
and failing, he traced some characters with his
left hand c,n the paper, but these were found
afterwards to be perfectly illegible. The friends
of the lady rely much on this circumstance, as a
presumptive evidence of the testator's relenting
and kinder disposition towards his widow ; and
it will be curious to know how the learned in the
aw at Lubeck will settle •the question. Mrs.