mind is over anxious, diverted
from one labour to another, and hence every thing is incomplete, and leaves
the appearance of confusion and negligence. The common exercises of the
Welsh are running, leaping, swimming, wrestling, throwing the bar,
dancing, hunting, fishing, and playing at fives against the church or
tower; and they constitute the joy of youth, and the admiration of old age.
The convivial amusements are singing and versification. In these favourite
exercises the performers are of humble merit; the singing is mere roar and
squeak; and the poetical effusions are nonsense, vested in the rags of
language; and always slanderous, because the mind of the bard is not
fertile in the production of topics. The Welsh character is the echo of
natural feeling, and acts from instantaneous motives. The fine arts are
strangers to the principality; and the Welshman seldom professes the
buskin, or the use of the mallet, the graver, or the chisel; but although
deficient in taste, he excels in duties and in intellect.

_Jones's History of Wales._

ITALIAN WOMEN.

Italy and England are undoubtedly possessed of a greater share of female
beauty than any other country in Europe. But the English and Italian
beauties, although both interesting, are very different from one another.
The former are unrivalled for the delicacy and bloom of their complexions,
the smoothness and mild expression of their features, their modest
carriage, and the cleanliness of their persons and dress; these are
qualities which strike every foreigner at his landing. On my first arrival
in England, I was asked by a friend how I liked the English women; to which
I replied that I thought them all handsome. This is the first impression
they produce. There is an air of calmness and pensiveness about them, which
surprises and interests particularly a native of the south. They seem to
look, if I may apply to them the fine lines of one of their living poets--

"With eyes so pure, that from the ray
Dark vice would turn abash'd away;

* * * * *

Yet fill'd with all youth's sweet desires,
Mingling the meek and vestal fires
Of other worlds, with all the bliss
The fond weak tenderness of this."

The Italian beauties are of a different kind. Their features are more
regular, more animated; their complexions bear the marks of a warmer sun,
and their eyes seem to participate of its fires; their carriage is graceful
and