■ * > 0 so ar i dr s ir ,x w .►r PuHisid ty Fisher, Son & C? Canon, I on ioja, 1827. THE MANNERS and CUSTOMS OF ALL nations; ALSO, REMARKABLE BIOGRAPHIES, NOTABLE HISTORIES, ECCENTRIC SECTS, SINGULAR INVENTIONS, NATURAL CURIOSITIES, MYSTICAL SCIENCES, EXTRAORDINARY BUILDINGS, WONDERFUL ANIMALS, &C. BEING A COMPENDIUM OF UNIVERSAL INFORMATION , JEIlustratetr fottf) 35ngrabtngs. BY THE REV. JOHN PLATTS. LONDON: PRINTED FOR HENRY FISHER, SON, AND CO. 38 , NEWGATE-STREET. V PCMTTD PREFACE. The writer presumes that the following work requires no apology ; it claims a place in that class of publications, the value of which is indisputable, and on which the public has stamped its seal of appro- bation. The present volume, though complete in itself, may form a suitable companion to the writer’s Book of Curiosities ; it has been carefully compiled from standard books, and works of authority, and is also interspersed with choice extracts from the periodical and float ing literature of the day. It is in truth a new compilation ; though it is not improbable that some of the articles may be found among other col- lections ; but on this point the author is incompetent to decide, having compiled for himself, without reference to the collections of others. The writer has throughout the work endeavoured to maintain an ori- ginality in his extracts; on this account he has passed over many things which are generally included in works of this nature. In proof of these assertions, he need only refer the reader to the “ Remarkable Biographies,” where he will find that the characters introduced are not. generally those that have been exhibited under the term Eccentric Biography, but are principally a new selection. The extracts in this volume are brought forward without any formality of disquisition, of which the writer did not see the necessity; but a sort of order is nevertheless observed in the arrangement of the w hole, which, if it be not visibly marked, will be obvious to every judicious observer. The compiler trusts that the work will fully answer to its title ; and that it will not only be esteemed a Compendium of Information, but also of Amusement, by readers of every description. Doncaster , May 18 , 1827 . CONTENTS. Part I. Manners and Customs of all Nation*, Page 9 .. II. Remarkable Biography, &c. 301 .. III. Notable Histories, 439 .. IV. Eccentric Sects, &c, 534 .. V. Singular Inventions, &c. . ...57 0 .. VI. Natural Curiosities, &c. 595 .. VII. Mystical Sciences, &c 665 .. VIII. Extraordinary Buildings, &c 692 ., IX. Wonderful Animals, Insects, Tree*, & c 727 .. X. Miscellaneous Articles of Curiosity, 784 INDEX. Aba'RIS, the Hyperborean, 301 ALdals, Eastern saints, 5G2 Abiponians, a tribe of American Indians, 88 Abdalonymus, 302 Abjuration, an ancient English custom, 298 Abelard and Eloisa, the true story of, 496 X Abstinence from food, 524. Abracadabra, a Syrian god, 539 Abyssinian feast, 230 Acridophagi, or locust-eaters of Ethiopia, 159 Adam, legendary acconnt of, 439 Adams, Jack, the astrologer, 361 Adamites, a sect of ancient heretic*, 549 Adoration of the Hindoos, mode of, 139 Adrian’s wall, 708 Adultery, punishments of, 298 Aerostation, history of, 448 ./Etna, a burning mountain of Sicily, 635 AStites, or eagle stone, 611 Agouti, an American animal, 736 Albinos, as described by the Portuguese,! 12 Aleppo, climate, religion, and customs of, 93 Algerines, account of the, 45 Algonquins, a nation of N. America, 163 Alibnroons, a tribe of Indians, 190 All-fools’ day, 249 All-hallow even, or nut-crack night, 252 Alarof, the Mahometan partition wall, 554 Alme, or alma, dancing girls, 272 Alphabetical characters, combinations of, 799 Alps, a range of mountains, 624 Alexandrian library, 708 Amazous, an account of the, 146 Amboyna, customs, religion, &c. in, 56 Americans, customs, dress, &c. of the, 76 America, probable manner of first peopl- ing, 87 Amulets, 680 Angoy, a kingdom of Africa, 167 Anossi, aprovince of Madagascar, 189 Ansarians, a people of S3'ria, 144 Ansiknns, inhabitants of Africa, 128 Anthropophagi, or man-eaters, 73 Antiquity of the world, 445 extravagant claims to, 445 Antipodes, 478 Anachorets, or anchorets, 541 Animal magnetism, 685 Antiquities of Benevento in Italy, 694 at Abydus in Egypt, 696 Ants’ eggs, 766 bills, methods of destroying, 768 Aormas, a high rock in India, 622 Apparitions, remarks on, 682 Appellations, corrupted, 786 Arabians, matfners and customs of the, 120 Arimanius, the evil god of the Persians, 535 Armenians, religion of the, 543 Aranjuez, palace of, 718 Ashantees, manners and customs of the, 18 Asyla of altars and temples, 236 Asphyxia, or suspended animation, 515 Astronomical machine, Dr. Long’s, 570 Assassins, a sect of Mahometans, 554 Astrology, 671 Athenian girls, description of, 44 Atooi, one of the Sandwich islands, 66 Avalanches, masses of snow, 662 Avars, a tribe of Sarmatian origin, 202 Ausenses, a people of Lybia, 115 Austerlitz, battle of, 514 Augury, 667 Babel, account of the city and tower of, 716 Bagdad, view of society in, 31 Babylonians, peculiar customs of the, 65 Barcans, of Africa, account of the, 32 Balinese, manners and customs of the, 99 Baptism of ships, 235 Bachelors, laws respecting, 291 Bakers, history of, 447 Balbec, ruins of, 806 Ballad-singers, English, 474 Barbarity in Virginia, 466 Balloons, 448 Banian tree, 783 Battles, 500, 512, 514 Bangorian controversy, his‘ory of the, 563 1 Battering-ram, and anciem arms, 572 i X D E X . V Beds, 574 Bebmen, Jacob, the Teutonic philosopher, 322 Bells, antiquity of, 253 superstitious uses of, 256 Belamites, or thunder-bolts, 612 Beltan, superstitious custom in Scotland, 248 Beguins, a congregation of nuns, 546 Bacon fossil in Devonshire, 616 Bargarron noted for fine thread, 719 Ben-Nevis, a mountain of Scotland, 623 Beloraancy, divination by arrows, 691 Bengal, extraordinary phenomenon in, 711 Biscayers, a distinct people from the Spa- niards, 69 Bissaons inhabitants of an African island, 163 Birth-day, 277 Bird-catching, Italian method of, 471 Blood, colonel, 353 Black-bole prison, Calcutta, catastrophe at, 498 Blenheim, battle of, 512 Blind lady, extraordinary case of a, 518 Blood, force of the, 585 transfusion of, 586 Blood-hound, 742 Black hares, 739 Boat for ascending rapids in rivers, 579 Bockholdt, or Boccold, John, 306 Bog, a moving one in Ireland, 605 Bombay, cariosities of, 697 Bonzes of China, 537 Book-worms, antidotes against, 801 Boahies-men, a species of Hottentots, 128 Booshooanes, a tribe in the N. of Africa, 175 Bottle-conjuror, 465 Bourguignons, or Burgundians, 173 Bourignon, madam, 435 Brank for correcting scolding women, 576 Brasilian flexible stone, 615 Brides, ancient customs respecting, 278 Bridgetins, a religious order, 562 Britton, T. the musical small-coal man, 367 Brossier, Martha, the demoniac, 434 Browny, 791 Brine-springs, 655 Bricks, ancient, 726 Bridges, natural, pendent, &c. 721 Buckhars, manners, customs, &c. of the. 28 Bull-fighting, Roman, 218, Spanish, 219, Burying alive, a punishment, 296 Buxton, Jedediab, 398 Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander, 447 Buchanites, a sect in Scotland, 568 Butter-tree (shea-tree) 778 Caledonia, New, inhabitants of, 185 Cantabrians, the enemies of the Romans, 76 California, inhabitants of, 195 Cadres described, 202 Carbonari of Italy, 34 Cardinal, origin and office of, 246 Calas, John, 403 Calcatta, history of the capture of, 498 Carthusians, 546 Cainitesfa sect of heretics, 568 Calumet among the Indians, 583 Carmelites, a tribe of mendicant friars, 547 Cavern of Antiparos, 599 Caves in Scotland and America, 60 Canal of Scotland, the great, 723 Canadian jerboa, 737 Castles, history of ancient English, 709 Celtiberians, a warlike nation, 162 Celestines, a religious order, 548 Celibacy and marriage, laws respecting, 291 Ceylonese, account of the, 154 Centipede worms, 757 Chaos, 591 Charcoal, porousness and durability of, 591 Chatterton, Thomas, 423 Chinese, manners of the, 9 customs peculiar to the, 10 entertainments, 11 ■ ■ — tea-drinking among the, 13 religious sects among the, 16 Christening customs, 290 Christmas-keeping, 257 - ■ . within doors in Germany, 263 Church bells, origin of, 254 Circassians, account of the, 209 Circulation of the blood, 584 Clans in Scotland, 530 Clemency, instances of, 467 Clocks, invention of, 577 Cleopatra’s needle, and Pompey’s pillar, 59C Cochin-china, inhabitants of, 15 Coreans, account of the, 168 Cock-fighting, 215 Coffins, ancient customs respecting, 299 Congoese, an African nation, 171 Cossacks, account of the, 53 Corde, Charlotte, the assassin of Marat, 436 Coroner’s inquest, origin of the, 250 Cornaro, Lewis, the Venetian, 324 Coryate, Thomas, 327, Coral-fisLery, 472 Coin of the realm, 479 Comet, 803 Commonwealth of Babina, in Poland, 501 Cork-jackets, 575 Colebrook Dale, in Shropshire, 661 Cock- crowing, 772 Crab, the land, 739 Cross, punishment by the, 244 superstitious adoration of the, 555 Cromwell, Oliver, the protector, 331 Cruden, Alex, author of the Concordance, 396 Crowns, ancient, 571 Crow, power of reason in a, 772 Cricket, the field, domestic and mole, 754 Currents in Norway, 660 Customs at weddings, 280 Cuerenhent, Theodore van, 315 Dahoinans, inhabitants of Africa, 186 VI INDEX. Dances, ancient, 271 of the calumet, 272 Dancing girls in Egypt, 272 Dancers, a religious sect in Flanders, 565 Darien, inhabitants of, 201 Day, Thomas, 418 Dead sea, or lake of Asphaltites, 658 Deafness, and dumbness, 517 Dee, John, 316 Decoy for taking wild fowls, 725 Diamonds, extraordinary size and value of, 614 Dieu et mou droit, 800 Dimsdale, sir Harry, maror of Garratt, 428 Doomsday or domesday book, 798 Dragooning the French protestants, 55G Dutch, manners and character of the, 191 Dunstan, St. 303 Dwarfs, Lewis Hopkins and John Coan, 401 the Dutch, Wyband Lolkes, 402 Earth, absorption of, and moving, 591 bread, 787 Egypt, state of female society in, 26 miserable state of the people of, 175 Egyptian darkness, 491 Electrical properties in animals, 745 Elephants, sagacity of, 727 Ellen Tate, 790 England, New, manners and character of the citizens of, 160 Eonians, a fanatical sect, 555 Essenians, a ancient Jewish sect, 534 Ethiopians, modern manners of the, 143 customs of the ancient, 277 — funeral ceremonies of the, 294 Exposing of children, 276 Fairies, 789 Fakirs of India, 540 Falls of Foyers, 602 Families of children, numerous, 290 Famine in Bengal, 503 Female society in Egypt, 26 Fine fellows of two periods, 529 Fire, perpetual, 480 Fire and pestilence of London, 507 Flagellants, a sect of wild fanatics, 558 Flying Dutchman, 234 Force of men and horses, 788 Forge, a remarkable, 576 Forks for the table, 572 Formoi-ans, account of the, 67 Free spirits, brethren and sisters of the, 559 Friendly Islands, inhabitants of the, 58 Funeral ceremonies, 64, 78, 110, 134, 156, 167, 292, 294, 296 Gabres, or Gauss, a sect in Persia, 580 Galla, a nation of Ethiopia, 182 Gareinia mangostana, a tree, 775 Garments, dress, &c. 24, 1 25, 133, 1 35, 1 87 Gascoigne, Thos. a penurious character, 430 Georgia, inhabitants of, 96 Gilpin, Bernard, 308 Gladiators, an account of the, 205 Gladiator, the dying, 721 Glass, astonishing properties of, 78 Gnats, 765 Golden fish, 762 Goldsmith, Oliver, 414 Going a Gooding on St. Thomas’s day, 234 Gordian knot, 487 Gog and Magog, 801 Granicus, battle of the, 511 Gratitude, instances of, 514 Greenland, account of the natives of, 51 Groaning tree, 777 Guiana, South America, natives of, 176 Guinea, history of the trade to, 491 humanity and civility of the natives of, 101 Guy, Thos. the founder of Guy’s Hospital 369 Gymnotus, an electrical animal, 746 Gymnosophists, 537 Hagmena, a custom in Franconia, 233 Hallow-even, the vigil of all saints day, 252 Halos, artificial, 583 Han«f, 586, and Ambidexterity, 587 Handel, commemoration of, 481 Hare, the mountain or alpine rabbit, 738 Harleian collection, 470 Harpoon gun, 580 Hatching, artificial, 592 Hattemists, a Dutch sect, 565 Hats, 581 Hawking, history of, 222 Hedgehog, 741 Heideggar, John James, 365 Henley, John, the Orator, 380 Heroic women, 152 Hindoos, manners, customs, &c, of the, 135 Hindoo suttee, 229 Hippopotamus or river horse, 729 Hogarth, William, the painter, 386 Holland, New, inhabitants of, 116 Hospitality, 79, 122 Hottentots, some account ot the, 102 habitations of the, 105 superstitions of the, 106 Houzonanas, a wandering nation of Africa, 170 Howard, John, the philanthropist, 406 Human horns, cases of, 521 Hnaheine, one of the Society Islands, 131 Hunting among the Mexicans, 224 — in Lapland, 225 • in the East Indies, 226 Hutton, Charlotte, 436 Jane of Flauders I. 433 Januarius, St. 302 Japanese, account of the, 12 Ice-hills in Russia, 664 Iceland, volcanoes and irruptions in, 650 Icelanders, account of the, 97 Ichneumon wasp, or savage, 764 Jenkins, Henry, 791 INDEX. VII Jerusalem, (with a view,) 713 Jews of York, 485 Jezides, a sect in Turkey and Persia, 542 Jidda, a port in Arabia, 706 Illuminati, history of the, 566 Imagination, power of the, 285 Improvement of the state of women, 300 Incombustible cloth, 575 Indians of America, manners and customs of the, 78 /dol of Owhyhee, 794 Insects, recently discovered, 766 Inscriptions on church bells, 256 John O’Groat’s house, 720 Ischorti, inhabitants of Ingria, 133 Kabobiquas, a nation of South Africa, 184 Kalmucs, a tribe of Tartars, 177 Kamtschatka, inhabitants of, 22 Kettlewell, Lumley, esq. 432 Kubesha, a town in Egypt, 707 Labyrinths of Egypt and Crete, 597 Ladrone islands, inhabitants of the, 95 Lake Avernus, 657 — Asphaltites, 658 Lapland, inhabitants of, 61 Law, John, the projector, 378 Lee-penny, or lee-stone, 614 Lieou-Kieou, inhabitants of, 89 Lilburne, John, 350 Lilly, William, the astrologer, 342 Logan, or rocking-stone, 612 Lombards, account of the, 196 London, pestilence and fire of, 507 Longevity of the Antediluvians accounted for, 441 — ancient and modem instances of, 443, 790 Long hair, clerical zeal against, 483 Loretta, chapel of, in Italy, 712 Lotteries, 472 Low-bell to take birds, 570 Madagascar, people of, 188 Magi, or Magians, of Persia, 385 Magliabechi, Anthony, 361 Mallicolla, in the South-seas, 188 Manicheans, ancient heretics, 551 Man in the moon, 234 Marriage ceremonies, 63, 65,81, 109, 123 198, 279 Martinmas, 233 Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 509 M’assianello, the fisherman of Naples, 355 Maternal affection in S. America, 468 Mathematicians, ancient, 472 Medina, mosque at, (with a view) 714 Menzikoff, Alexander, of Russia, 370 Mermaid or merman, 759 Michaelmas goose, 232 Microscopic animals, 757 Mole-cricket, 756 Moon, superstition respecting the, 682 Morin, Simon, a French fanatic, 359 Morlacchi, in Dalmatia, 35 Moore, Anne, the fasting woman, 437 Moors, dress, customs, &c. of 1 the, 107 Mount St. Michael in Fiance, 700 Mud-Iguana, 736 Murder, expiation of, 236 Mystics, a religious sect, 549 Natural history, curious facts in, 773 Nayler, James, the Quaker, 346 Necromancy, 665 Negro slavery, origin of, 493 New-year’s eve, 264, — day, 267 Nicobar islands, natives of the, 165 Nobility of Naples, 50 Noctilucus nereis, a kind of worm. 762 Nuba, a race of pagans, 169 Numerical figures, 501 Oak pucerons, 744 the royal, 776 Old times, prices of articles in, 242 Omens, with historical examples, 490 Ophites, a sect of heretics, 549 Ordeal, forms of trial by, 238 Organs, 573 Ostiacs, a people of Siberia, 158 Otaheite, inhabitants of, 155 Owhyhee (Hawaii) volcano in, 626 valley of Waipio, in, 660 — inhabitants of, 164 Pagoda of Mavalipuran in India, 703 Pantheon at Rome, 692 Parias, or Perreas, a tribe of Hindoos, 43 Pairing of birds, 784 Palmyra, ruins of, 704 Parisian or St. Bartholomew massacre, 509 Parr, Old, 331 Parental despots in Russia, 198 Partridge, 77.3 Pastimes in Great Britain, 268 Patagonians of South America, 190 Pegu, inhabitants, religion, &c. of, 94 Pelew islands, inhabitants of the, 92 Peopling of America, 87 Persia, people and oapital of, 193 Peru, inhabitants of, 72 Pestilence and fire of London, 507 Peter the wild boy, 399 Petrified ponds in Persia, 604 Phenomenon in Bengal, 711 Phenix, a fabulous bird, 736 Pholeys of Africa, 204 Plant, wonderful, of Sombrero, 729 Plants, propagation of, 780 Poets laureat, 483 Poison tree of Java, 774 Poland, inhabitants of, 193 Poligars, natives of Hindoostan, 173 Population of the world, 479 Porcupine man, 400 Portugal, inhabitants of, 205 Posts for the conveyance of letters, 587 Potatoes, extraordinary increase of, 780 Prices of articles in old times, 242 Prison in Venice described, 698 Prisoners, Indian manner of treating, 83 Vlll INDEX. Psalm-singing, origin of, 251 Punishments in Algiers, 46 Recluse, description of a, 562 Recreations, 111 Recovery of a female unjustly executed, ^80 Religious fasting, 560 Rivers, disappearing of, 607 Rock of Aultgrande, in Scotland, 62° Romans at table, 230 Rosicrucians, bermetical philosophers, 664 Russia, the people of, described, 196 Salamander, 750 Salt-mines in Poland, 656 Salutation, modes of, 245 Samoieda, inhabitants of, 201 Sarcophagus, 617 Scylla and Charybdis, 619 Sea-dragon, 735 — serpent, 743 — ape, 773 Second-sight, 687 Seeks, a religious sect in Persia, 544 Segalien, the island of, 16 Sego in Africa, Park's account of, 33 Selkirk, Alexander, 375 Senegaliens, of Senegar in Africa, 75 Seraglio of the emperor of Morocco, 47 Serpents, tricks performed with, 749 Sharp, Abraham, the mathematician, 372 Sbillook, inhabitants of Sennaar, 73 Siamese, account of the, 69 Sic ly, marriage customs in, 278 Sinai or Sina, mount, 618 Si-fans, orTou-fans, of China, 71 Sixtus V. popo, 312 Six-nations of American Indians, 174 Snakes, a list of, found in Bengal, 697 Snake stones, or ammonillse, 610 Social customs, Asiatic, 298 Sorcery, or magic, 678 Spain, inhabitants of, 191 Spanish armada, history of the, 503 Spell, or charm, 682 Sphinx, 795 Sponge, 768 Stukeley, Mr. the perpetual-motion seeker, 413 Stockings, and weaving of, 582 Stones of various kinds, 610 Subterranean vaults of Maestricht, 598 lake of Burgundy, 610 Superstition of the N. Amer. Indians, 82 Hottentots, 106 * Russians, 199 respecting the moon, 683 in Scotland, 248 observed in Bombay, 538 Suspended animation, 515 SHttee in Hindoostan, 229 Swift, a species of swallow, 769 Taylor, John, the water poet, 329 Temple of Jupiter, at Olympia, 695 Osiris in Egypt, 696, — Hiannen in China, 701 Theodore, Anthony, king of Corsica, 383 ' Tobacco, king James against, 781 Tombs, ancient, 296 Tongues, confusion of, 487 Torpedo, 747 Trade to Guinea, history of, 491 Travelling, mode of, 25 Trees, age of, 777 Trenck, Frederick von, 411 Trial, a singular, 211 Turkey, inhabitants of, 192 Turkish bathing, 274 Turtle, 762 Valley of Waipio, in Owhyhce, 660 Vegetable lamb, 779 Venice, account of the prison in, 698 Vishnoo, a Hindoo deity, 569 Volcano of Owbyhee, (Hawaii,} 626 — — — yEtna, 635 Iceland, G50 Wars of the N. Amer. Indians, 84 Walnnt tree, 778 Weather, changes of the, 804 Weddings in Great Britain, 280 White bre hren, a popish sect, 559 Williamson, Peter, 403 Witchcraft, 676 Women, 26, 44, 48, 108, 140, 146, 185 209, 300, 443 Writing, origin of the piaterials of, 589 Zend, or Zendavesta, 802 LIST OF THE PLATES. Frontispiece, History upon an Eminc ce, &c page 1 Manner of Travelling in Winter in Kamlschatka, 25 Canoes used by the Greenlanders, ......... 51 Laplanders in their Winter Dress, 61 Men ana Women of the Sandwich Islands, , 66 A Man of New Caledonia throwing the Spear, 185 Domestic Scene in Russia, 197 Cleopatra’s Needle, and Pompey’s Fillar, 595 Volcano in the Island of Hawaii 626 Valley of Waipio in Hawaii, 660 Prison in Venice, 698 Daniing Serpents, 749 Egyptian Sphinx, • .795 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, Part I. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS. Manners of the Chinese. The manners of the Chinese bear little resemblance to those of any other nation ; and, their historians say, they are the same now that they were 4000 years ago. The women are condemned to almost perpetual imprisonment within the precincts of their own houses. A woman is never seen, not even by her intended husband, before marriage. He knows nothing of her looks or person, but from the account of some female relation or confidant, who in these cases acts the part of match-maker ; though when imposed upon, either with regard to her age or figure, he can have recourse to a divorce. The same matrons who negociate the marriage, also determine the sum which the intended husband must pay to the parents of the bride, for in China a father does not give a dowry to his daughter; it is a husband who gives a dowry to the wife. When the day appointed arrives, the bride is placed in a palan- quin, the key of which is committed to the care of a trusty domestic, who must deliver it to none but the husband. The latter, richly dressed, waits at his gates for the arrival of the procession. As soon as it approaches, the key is put into his hands ; he eagerly opens the chair, and for the first time perceives his good or bad fortune. If he is contented with his new spouse, the bride descends and enters the house, where the marriage is celebrated by feasting and merri- ment as in other countries ; but if the bridegroom is very much dis- appointed, he suddenly shuts the chair, and sends the bride home to her relations. To get rid of her in this manner, however, costs a sum equal to what he originally gave in dowry to obtain her. The Chinese women, even of the first rank, seldom quit their apartment, which is situated in the most retired part of the house, and in which they are secluded from all society but that of their domestics. B 10 THF. CHINESE. The book of ceremonies requires that there should be two apart- ments in every house ; the exterior one for the husband, and the interior for the wife. They must even be separated by a partition, the door of which is carefully guarded ; nor is the husband at liberty to enter the wife’s apartment, or she to quit it without good reason. A widow of superior rank, who has children, seldom enters a second time into the marriage state, though those of the ordinary rank generally do. Poor widow's are not at liberty to follow their inclinations, but are sold for the benefit of the parents of the deceased. As soon as the bargain is concluded, a couple of porters bring a chair, which is guarded by a number of trusty people. In this the widow is shut up, and thus conducted to her new husband. Concubinage is tolerated in China, though not authorized by law. This privilege is granted only to the emperor, the princes of the blood, and mandarins ; and none but the emperor is permitted to have more than one. But the people generally avail themselves of the toleration, and have two or three concubines, if they can afford to pay the cus- tomary sum to the parents, &c. They, however, excuse themselves as well as they can to their w ives in this respect, pretending only a desire of having many children, and a number of women to attend their wives ; for the concubines and children must all be subject to the lawful wife. Others, desirous of having a male child, which perhaps their lawful wife cannot have, take a concubine for this reason only, and dismiss her as soon as their wishes are accomplished ; they then permit her to marry whom she pleases, and frequently even provide a husband for her themselves. These concubines are almost all procured from two cities, named Yang-Tcheou and Sou-Tcheou, where they are educated, and taught singing, dancing, music, and every accom- plishment suitable to women of quality, or which can render them agreeable and pleasing. The greater part of them are purchased in other places, to be again disposed of in these cities. Unlawful intrigues arc seldom heard of in China. Customs peculiar to the Chinese. All authors agree, that an absurd custom prevails throughout China, of confining the feet of female infants in such a mauner, that they are never allowed to grow to near their full size. " Of most of the women we saw,” says Sir G. Staunton, “ even in the middle and inferior classes, the feet were unnaturally small, or rather truncated. They appear as if the forepart of the foot had been accidentally cut off, leaving the remainder of the usual size, and bandaged like the stump of an amputated limb. They undergo, indeed, much torment, and cripple themselves in a great measure, in imitation of ladies of higher rank, among whom it is the custom to stop by pressure the growth of the ankle as well as foot, from the earliest infancy ; and leaving the great toe in its natural position, forcibly to bend the others, and retain them under the foot, till at length they adhere to, as if buried in the sole, and can no more be separated. It is said, indeed, that this practice is now less frequent than formerly, at least among the lower sort in the lower provinces.” CHINESE ENTERTAINMENTS. 11 In China, every father of a family is responsible for his children, and even his domestics; all those faults being imputed to him which it was his duty to have prevented. Every father has the power ot of selling his son, “ provided,” says the law, “ the son has a right o selling himself.” This custom, howewer, is barely tolerated among the middling and inferior ranks; and all are forbidden to sell them to comedians, or people of infamous character, or very mean stations. In China a son remains a minor during his father’s life, and is even liable for the debts contracted by him, those from gaming only excepted. Adoption is authorized by law, and the adopted child immediately enters into all the rights of a lawful son ; only the law gives a right to the father, of making a few dispositions in favour ot his real children. The children, however, whether real or adopted, cannot succeed to the dignity of their father, though they may to his estate. The emperor alone can confer honours; and even then they must be resigned when the person atains the age of seventy; though this resignation is considered as an advice, rather than a law. The will of a father cannot be set aside in China on account of any infor- mality ; nor can a mother make a will. Chinese Entertainments. Nothing can appear more irksome to an European, than the multitude of ceremonies used on all occasions by the Chinese. An invitation to an entertainment is not supposed to be given with sin- cerity, until it has been renewed three or four times in writing. A card is sent the evening before the entertainment — a second on the morning of the appointed day — and a third when every thing is pre- pared. The master of the house introduces the guests into the hall, where he salutes them one after another. He then orders wine to be brought him in a small cup, made of silver, porcelain, or precious wood, and placed on a small varnished salver. He lays hold of it with both his hands, makes a bow to all the surrounding guests, and advances towards the fore part of the hall, where he raises his eyes and cup towards heaven ; after which, he pours the wine on the ground. He afterwards pours some wine into the cup, makes a bow to the principal person in company, and then goes to place the cup on the table before him ; for in China every guest has a table to himself. The person for whom he intends this honour, however, generally saves him the trouble of placing the cup ; calls for wine in his turn, and offers to place the cup on the master’s table, who endeavours to prevent him, with a thousand apologies and compli- ments, according to Chinese politeness. A superior domestic con- ducts the principal guest to an elbow chair, covered with rich flowered silk, where the stranger again begins his compliments, and begs to be excused from sitting in such an honourable seat, which, however, he accepts of ; and all the rest of the guests do the same, otherwise the ceremonial must be gone through with each of them. The entertainments of the Chinese are begun, not by eating, but by drinking ; and the liquor they drink must always be pure wine. The intendant, or maitre de hotel, falling down on one knee, first 12 CHINESE ENTERTAINMENTS. invites the guests to take a glass ; on which each of them lays hold, with both hands, of that which is placed before him, raising it as high as his forehead, then bringing it lower down than the table, and at last putting it to his mouth ; they all drink together, and very slowly, taking three or four draughts. While they are drinking, the dishes on each of the tables are removed, and others brought in. Each of the guests has twenty-four set before him in succession ; all fat, and in the form of ragouts. They never use knives in their repasts ; and two small-pointed sticks, ornamented with ivory or silver, serve them instead of forks. They never begin to eat, however, until they are invited by the maitre de hotel ; and the same ceremony must be gone through every time they are going to take a cup of wine, or begin a new dish. Some change has been made in the ceremonial of the Chinese by the Tartar conquest, and some new dishes have also been introduced, for the Tartars are much better cooks than the Chinese. All their dishes are highly seasoned ; and bv various proportions of spiceries, they form a variety of dishes out of the same materials. None of their viands, however, are more esteemed than stags’ sinews, and the nest of a particular species of birds, which give a most agreeable relish to whatever is mixed with them. Other dishes are introduced at these repasts, which would be accounted very disagreeable with us ; such as the flesh of wild horses, the paws of a bear, and the feet of several wild animals. The greater part of these provisions is brought preserved in salt from Siam, Camboya, and Tartary. Towards the middle of the entertainment, the soup is brought in, accompanied with small loaves or pies. These they take up with their small sticks, steep them in the soup, and eat them, without waiting for any signal, or being obliged to keep time with the rest of the guests. The entertainment, however, continues in other respects with the utmost formality, until tea is brought in ; after which, they retire from table, and amuse themselves in another hall, or in the garden, for a short time, until the dessert is brought in. This, like the entertainment itself, consists of twenty four dishes, made up of sweetmeats, fruits differently prepared, hams or salted ducks baked or dried in the sun, with shell and other kinds offish. The same ceremonies which preceded the repast, are now renewed, and every one sits down at the same place he occupied before. Larger cups are then brought, and the master invites the guests to drink more freely. The entertainment is concluded by some theatrical representations, accompanied with the music of the country. A cer- tain number of spectators are admitted to behold these theatrical representations ; and even the women are allowed to view them through a wicket, so contrived that they may see them without being seen themselves. These entertainments never end till midnight. A small sum of money is given to the domestics; when each of the guests goes home in a chair preceded by several servants, who carry large lanterns of oiled paper, on which are inscribed the quality, and sometimes the name of the master. Without such an attendance, they would be taken up by the guard ; and the day following, they return a card of thanks to the officer. RELIGIOUS SECTS AMONG THE CHINESE. 13 Tea-Drinking among the Chinese. The Chinese method of drinking tea is not like that of other nations. A small quantity of Bohea, sufficient to tinge the water and render it palatable, for they drink no green, is taken in the morning, and thrown into a vessel adapted to the number in the family. This stands till milk-warm ; in which state it is kept the whole day, and a cup drank now and then without sugar or milk, to exhilarate their spirits when exhausted ; and if a stranger call by accident, on a visit, or by appointment, the first thing presented is a small pipe, filled with tobacco of their own growth, and a cup of the tea, with sweatmeats, &c. Tea is the daily beverage in China, and is drank by all ranks of people. Religious Sects among the Chinese. The purity of the ancient Chinese religion has been long contami- nated by many idolatrous and fanatical sects. That of Tao-Sse was founded by a philosopher called Lao-Kiun. His morality consists principally in banishing all vehement desires and passions. Accord- ing to him, the care of every wise man ought to be only to endeavour to live free from grief and pain, and to glide gently down the stream of life devoid of care and anxiety. To arrive at this happy state, he advises his followers to banish all thoughts of the past, and all anx- iety for the future, arising from ambition, avarice, &c. His disciples, how ever, found that all their endeavours to obtain a perfect tranquillity of mind were vain, so long as the thoughts of death intervened ; they therefore declared it possible to discover a a composition, from which a drink might be made, that would render mankind immortal. Henee they were led to the study of chemistry ; and, like the western alchymists, wearied themselves in search of the philosopher’s stone, until at last they gave themselves up to all the extravagancies of magic. The desire of avoiding death, together with the credulity natural to unenlightened minds, quickly produced a number of con- verts to the sect of Tao-Sse. Magical practices, the invocations of spirits, and the art of foretelling events by divination, w r ere quickly diffused over the empire, and the imbecility of the emperors contri- buted to propagate the folly. Temples consecrated to spirits were quickly reared, and two of the most celebrated of the sect were authorized to maintain public worship after the form w'hich had been prescribed by their master. At the same time they made, and sold at a high price, images of those ideal spirits with which they had peopled the heavens and the earth. These were worshipped as so many deities independent of the supreme Being; and, in like man- ner, several of the ancient emperors are invoked as gods. Being patronized by the emperors of several dynasties, this sect became more and more powerful. At last they had the impudence to affix during the night to one of the gates of the imperial city, a book filled with mystic characters and magical figures. At day- break, they informed the emperor of the sudden appearance of this 14 CHINESE SECTS. book, and publicly declared that it was fallen from heaven. This trick easily Imposed upon the weak prince. He immediately repaired with a numerous train to the spot where the sacred volume appeared ; and having taken it into his hands in a respectful manner, carried it in triumph to his palace, where he shut it up in a golden box. An- other emperor carried his reverence for the sect to such a height of impiety, as to order a celebrated Tao-Sse to be publicly worshipped, under the name ofChang-ti. The sect thus patronized by the princes, continued to gain ground, in spite of every opposition from the wiser, part of the people, and is still very powerful in China. At present they offer up a hog, a fowl, and a fish, to a spirit whom they invoke. Various ceremonies, such as howlings, drawing fantastical figures upon paper, making a hideous noise with kettles, drums, &c. are used in their incantations ; and though for the most part unsuccessful, yet their credit is still kept up by those cases in which hey succeed by accident. The chief Tao-Sse is invested with the dignity of grand mandarin : he resides in a sumptuous palace in a town of Kiang-si ; and the superstitious confidence of the people attracts an immense number thither from all parts of the empire. Some come to be cured of dis- eases ; others to get an insight into futurity. The impostor distributes to them small bits of paper filled with magical characters ; and the ignorant wretches depart well satisfied, without grudging the expense of their journey, though ever so long. A still more pernicious and more widely diffused sect is that of the idol Fo, which came originally from India. The Tao-Sse had promised to the brother of one of the emperors of China, to intro- duce him to a communication with spirits. The credulous prince having heard of a great spirit named Fo, who resided in India, prevailed on his brother to send an embassy thither. On the arrival of the ambassadors, however, they could only find two worshippers of this deity, both of whom they brought to China. Several images of Fo were also collected at the same time; and these, together with some canonical books of the Indians, were placed on a white horse, and carried in procession to the imperial city. This superstition was introduced into China about A. D. 65, and soon made vast progress. One of the principal doctrines is that of the metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls, of which M. Grosier thinks he was the inventor, and that Pythagoras, who travelled into several parts of India, had borrowed the doctrine from him. The account given of him by the bonzes is, — that finding himself, at the age of 70, oppressed with infirmities, he called his disciples together, and told them he was unwilling to leave the world without communicating the sacred and hidden mysteries of his doctrine ; which were, in short, that all things proceeded from nothing, and to that they must return. This doctrine produced a corresponding mode of action, or rather of inaction, in those who believed it. The common doctrine, however, which admits of distinction between good and evil, finds more proselytes among those whose situation in life will not allow them to spend their time in idleness. They say that THE INHABITANTS OF COCHIN CHINA. 15 the god Fo came to save mankind, and to expiate their sins, and that he alone can procure them a happy regeneration in the life to come. Five precepts are inculcated on those who adopt this doctrine, 1. Not to kill any living creature ; 2. Not to take away the goods of another; 3. Not to pollute themselves by uncleanness : 4. Not to lie ; and, 5. Not to drink wine. Above all, they recommend to them to perform acts of mercy and benevolence, to treat their bonzes well, build temples, &c. The doctrine of the metempsychosis has introduced into China an infinite number of idols, who are all worshipped, on the supposition that the spirit of Fo has transmigrated into the animals they represent. A colony of Jews was established in China about A. C. 206 ; but they are now reduced to a small number of families at Cai- sang, the capital of Ho-nan. The Mahometans have multiplied much more than the Jews. It is above 600 years since they entered the empire, where they have formed different establishments. They are become now so numerous, that, in the places where they reside, they exclude all who do not believe in their prophet, and frequent a mosque. The Inhabitants of Cochin China. The inhabitants of Cochin China are well shaped ; of a light brown complexion, with long hair, and thin beards. M. le Poure represents them as gentle, hospitable, frugal,' and industrious. There is not a beggar in the country, and robbery and murder are abso- lutely unknown. A stranger may wander over the kingdom from one end to the other, the capital excepted, without meeting with the slightest insult. He will be every where received with the most eager curiosity, but at the same time with the greatest benevolence. A Cochin Chinese traveller, who has not money sufficient to defray his expenses at an inn, enters the first house of the town or village he arrives at, and, waiting the hour of dinner, takes part with the family, and goes away when he thinks proper, without speaking a word, or any person putting to him a single question. The people of this country have a great affinity with those of Tonquiu, with whom they have a common origin, and from whom they differ very little in their manners and customs, all of which they have in a great measure borrowed from the Chinese. M. Grosier says, that a false report has gained ground in Europe, that when a trading vessel happens to run aground in Cochin China, or to be driven into any of its harbours by stress of weather, the king seizes the cargo, if the rudder be broken. He assures us, however, that so far from this being the case, a vessel in distress is much safer on the coast of Cochin China than almost any where else. Barks are immediately sent to the relief of the crew, and people employed to drag the sea with nets, to recover the goods that are lost. In short, neither labour nor expense is spared to put the ship in the best condition possible. As to religion, the Cochin Chinese believe in the metempsychosis. 16 ISLAND OF SEGALIEN. Inhabitants of the Island of Segalien, near China. La Perouse, and M. Rollin the surgeon of his ship, both describe the natives of this island as a worthy and intelligent people. Of the presents which were made to them, they seemed to set a value only on such as were useful. Iron and stuff's prevailed over every thing ; they understood metals as well as their guests, and for ornament pre- ferred silver to copper, and copper to iron. They use looms, which though small are very complete, and by means of spindles they pre- pare thread of the hair of animals, of the bark of the willow, and of the great nettle, from which they make their stuff’s. They are of a mode- rate size, squat, and strong-built, with the muscles of their bodies very exactly defined ; their common height is five feet, and the greater does not exceed 5 feet 4 inches ; but men of this size are uncommon. They have all a large head, and a broader and more rounded face than Europeans ; their countenance is animated and agreeable, though destitute of that grace which we esteem essential to beauty ; they have large cheeks, a short nose rounded at its extremity, with very broad nostrils ; their eyes are lively, of a moderate size, for the most part black, though some are blue ; their eye-brows are bushy, voice strong, lips rather thick, and of a dull red ; in several the upper lip was tattoed, and tinged blue ; these, as well as their eyes, are capable of every variety of expression ; their teeth are white and even, their chin is rounded and a little advancing ; their ears are small, they bore them, and wear in them glass ornaments or silver rings. The women are not so large as the men, and are of a more rounded and delicate figure, though there is little difference between their features. Their upper lip is tattoed all over of a blue colour, and they wear their hair long and flowing ; their dress hardly differs from that of the men ; the skin in both sexes is tawny, and their nails, which they suffer to grow to a great length, is a shade darker than that of Europeans. These islanders are very hairy, and have long beards, which give to the old men a venerable air, these last appear to be held in much respect. The hair of their head is black, smooth, and moderately strong ; in some it is of a chesnut colour ; they all wear it round, about six inches long behind, and cut into a brush on the top of their heads, and over the temples. Their clothing consists of a kind of surtout, w hich w raps over before, where it is fastened by little buttons, strings, and a gir- dle placed above the haunches. This surtout is made of skin or quilted nankeen, a kind of stuff that they make of willow bark ; it generally reaches to the calf of the leg, sometimes lower ; some of them wear seal-skin boots, the feet of which, in form and workmanship, resemble the Chinese shoe, but the greater number go bare- footed and bare-headed ; a few wear a bandage of bear-skin round the head, as an ornament. Like the Chinese, they all wear a girdle, to which they hang their knife as a defence against the bears, and several little pockets, into which they put their flint and steel, their pipe, and their box of tobacco ; for they make a general practice of smoking. Their huts are sufficient to defend them against the rain, but are very small in proportion to the inhabitants. The roof is formed INHABITANTS OF TUB ISLAND OF STGALIEN* 17 of two inclined planes, which are from ten. to twelve feet high at their junction, and three or four on the sides ; the breadth of the roof is about fifteen feet, and its length eighteen. These cabins are con- structed of frame-work, strongly put together, the sides being filled up with the bark of trees, and the top thatched with dry grass, in the same manner as our cottages are. On the inside of these houses is a square of earth, raised about six inches above the ground, and supported on the sides by strong planking. On this they make the fire ; along the sides of the apartment are trenches 12 or 13 inches high, which they cover with mats, on which they sleep. The uten- sils which they employ in cooking their food consists of an iron pot, shells, vessels made of wood and birch bark, of various shapes and workmanship; and, like the Chinese, they take up their food with little sticks ; they have generally two meals in the day, one at noon, and the other in the evening. The habitations in the south part of the island are much better built and furnished having for the most part planked floors ; our author saw in them some vessels of Japan porcelain. They cultivate no kind of vegetables, live only on dried and smoked fish, and what little game they take by hunting. Each family has its own canoe, and implements of fishing and hunting. Their arms are bows, javelins, and a kind ofspontoon, which they use principally in bear hunting. By the side of their houses are the magazines in which they lay up provisions for winter. These consist of dried fish, garlic, wild celery, angelica, a bulbous root called ape, or the yellow lily of Kamptschatka, and fish oil, which they preserve in the stomachs of bears. These magazines are made of planks strongly put together, on stakes about four feet high. Dogs are the only domestic animals ; they are of a middling size, with shaggy hair, pricked ears, and a sharp long muzzle ; their cry is loud, but not savage. These people, who are of a very mild and unsuspecting disposition, appear to have commercial intercourse with the Chinese by means of the Mantchou Tartars, with the Russians to the north of their island, and the Japanese to the south ; but the articles of trade are of no great consequence, consisting only of a few furs and whale oil. This fish is caught only on the southern coast of the island. Their mode of extracting the oil is by no means economical ; they drag the whale on shore on a sloping ground, and, suffering it to putrefy, receive in a trench at the foot of the slope, the oil, which separates spontaneously. The island is well wooded and mountainous towards the centre, but is flat and level along the coast, the soil of which ap- pears admirably adapted to agriculture. Vegetation is extremely vigorous ; forests of pine, willow', and birch, covered nearly the whole surface. The sea abounds with fish, as w r ell as the rivers and brooks which abound in salmon and trout of an excellent quality. The weather is in general foggy and mild. All the inhabitants have an air of health and strength, which they retain even to extreme old age : nor did our author observe among them any instance of defective organization, or the least sign of contagious or eruptive disorders prevailing among them. c 18 ASITANTEES. Manners and Customs of tiie Ashantees. Ashantee is a large and powerful negro state in Africa. The most authentic account which we have received respecting these peo- ple, is to be derived from the work of Mr. E. Bowdich, who was conductor of a mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee ; which was published in 1819. This gentleman, in describing the object and departure of his mission, states that Bosnian and Barbot men- tion the Ashantees as first heard of by Europeans about the year 1706. Issert, a physician in the Danish service, who meditated a visit to Ashantee, writes — “ This mighty king has a piece of gold as a charm, more than four men can carry ; and innumerable slaves are constantly at work for him in the mountains, each of whom must collect or produce two ounces of gold per diem. In 1807 an Ashantee army reached the coast for the first time. In 1811 the Ashantees invaded Fantee, and again in 1816. These invasions inflicted the greatest miseries on the Fantees. Few were slain in battle, for they rarely dared to encounter the invaders ; but the butcherings in cold blood were incredible, and thousands were drag- ged into the interior, to be sacrificed to the superstitions of the con- querors. The prolonged blockade of Cape Coast Castle in the last invasion, engendered sa much distress and hazard, that the govern- ment having averted imminent danger by advancing a large sum of gold on account of the Fantees, earnestly desired the Committee to authorize and enable them to venture an embassy to deprecate these repeated calamities, to conciliate so powerful a monarch, and to propitiate an extension of commerce. In consequence of this application, in 1817 the African Committee forwarded liberal and suitable presents, and a mission was sent to Aspenlow, with proper instructions as to the observations they were to make. Under these instructions, the mission departed, accompanied by Mr. Bowdich ; the result of whose observations has, as we have already stated, been published. After describing the difficulties of his progress, and the country through which he passed, M.. Bowdich proceeds as follows : — “ We entered Coomassie at two o’clock, passing under a sacrifice of dead sheep, wrapped up in red silk, and suspended between two lofty poles. Upwards of five thousand people, the greater part warriors, met us, with awful bursts of martial music, discordant only in its mixture ; for horns, drums, rattles, and gongs, were all exerted with a zeal bordering on frenzy, to subdue us by first impressions. The smoke which encircled us, from the incessant discharges of musketry, con- fined our glimpses to the fore-ground, and we were halted, whilst the captains performed their pyrrhic dance in the centre of the circle formed by the warriors, where a confusion of flags, English, Dutch, and Danish, were waved and flourished in all directions, the bearers plunging and springing from side to side with a passion of enthu- siasm only equalled by the captains, who followed them, discharging their blunderbusses so dose, that the flags were now and then in a blaze. The dress of the captains was a war cap, with gilded rams’ MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ASIIANTEES. L9 horns projecting in front, the sides extend beyond all proportion by immense plumes of eagles’ feathers, and fastened under the chin with bands of cowries. Their vests were of red cloth, covered with fetishes and saphies (scraps of Moorish writing as charms against evil) in gold and silver, and embroidered cases of almost every colour, which flap- ped against their bodies as they moved, intermixed with small brass bells, the horns and tails of animals, shells and knives ; long leopards’ tails hung down their backs, over a small bow covered with fetishes : they wore loose cotton trowsers, with immense boots of a dull red leather, coming half way up the thighs, and fastened by small chains to their waistbelt : a small quiver of poisoned arrows hung from their right wrist, and they held a long iron between their teeth, with a scrap of Moorish writing affixed at the end of it ; a small spear was in their left hand, covered with red cloth and silk tassels : their black countenances heightened the effect of this attire, and completed a figure scarcely human.” The author then proceeds to describe the immense crowd of peo- ple by whom he was surrounded ; he says, — “ The large open porches of the houses, like the fronts of stages in small theatres, were filled with the better sort of females and children, all impatient to behold white people for the first time. “ We were then squeezed up a long street to an open fronted house, where we were desired to wait the further invitation from the king. Here our attention was attracted to a most inhuman spectacle ; it was a man whom they were tormenting previously to sacrifice : his hands were pinioned behind him, a knife was passed through his cheeks, to which his lips were noosed, like the figure of eight; one ear was cut off and carried before him, the other hung to his head by a small bit of skin ; there were several gashes in his back, and a knife was thrust under each shoulder-blade ; he was led, with a cord passed through his nose, by men disfigured with immense caps of shaggy black skins, and drums beat before him.” The author then proceeds to describe the extraordinary splendour which marked the retinue of the court, previously to his admission to the presence of the king. “ The prolonged flourishes of the horns, and deafening tumult of drums, announced that we were approaching the king : we were already passing the principal officers of his household ; the cham- berlain, the gold-horn blower, the captain of the messengers, the captain for royal executions, the captain of the market, the keeper of the royal burial ground, and the master of the bands, sat sur- rounded by a retinue and splendour which bespoke the dignity and importance of their offices. The cook had a number of small services, covered with leopard’s skin, held behind him, and a large quantity of massive silver plate was displayed before him, punch- bowls, waiters, coffee-pots, tankards, and a very large vessel with clawed feet, which seemed to have been made to hold incense. The executioner, a man of an immense size, wore a massy gold hatchet on his breast, and the execution stool was held before him, clotted in blood, and partly covered with a caul of fat; The king’s four lin- guists were encircled by a splendour inferior to none, and their 20 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF T1IE ASHANTEES. peculiar insignia, gold canes, were elevated in all directions, tied in bundles like fasces. “ A delay of some minutes, while we severally approached to receive the king’s hand, afforded us a thorough view of him; his deportment first excited my attention ; his manners were majestic, yet courteous, and he did not allow his surprise to beguile him for a moment of the composure of the monarch : he appeared to be about thirty-eight years of age, inclined to corpulence, and of a benevolent countenance.” In describing the customs of the Ashantees, Mr. Bowdich thus proceeds : — “ A general is appointed to the command of an army by receiving a gold-handled sword of the king’s from his hand, (who strikes him gently with it three times on the head,) swearing to return it encrusted with the blood of his conquered enemies. One of the king’s linguists always accompanies an army of any consequence, to whom all the politics of the war are intrusted. The Ashantees are superior in discipline as in courage to the people of the water side, though their discipline is limited to the following precautions. They never pur- sue when it is near sun-set ; the general is always in the rear ; the secondary captains lead the soldiers on, whilst those in command, with a few chosen individuals, urge them forward with their heavy swords, and cut any man down who retreats until the case is despe- rate. The first object of the Ashantees in close fight, is to spring upon the throat of his enemy ; to advance every time he fires, he feels to be imperative, if his commander thinks it possible; who would otherwise, if he escaped death in the action, inflict it on him directly it was over. The general has his umbrella spread in the rear, and besides his guard has several muskets ready loaded, for those soldiers who may be driven to him in case of reverse. His band plays all the time, and in his assumed contempt for the enemy, it is his etiquette to divert himself at some game, while the heads of the slain, of any rank in the hostile army, are sent to him to put his foot on. When the result of an important action is expected, the king is always seated, in public, w ith his golden worra before him, playing with some dignitary, and thus receives the news, in order to impress the people with confidence by his affected indifference to victory or defeat. “ Several of the hearts of the enemy are cut out by the Fetish men who follow the army, and the blood and small pieces being mixed with various consecrated herbs, all those who had never killed an enemy before, eat a portion, for it is believed if they did not, their vigour and courage would be secretly w r asted by the taunting spirit of the deceased. It was said that the king and all the dignitaries partook of the heart of any celebrated enemy. “ The army is prohibited during the active parts of the campaign from all food but meal, which each man carries in a small bag at his side, and mixes in his hand with the first water he comes to : this, they allege, is to prevent cooking-fires from betraying th.eir posi- tion, or anticipating a surprise. Ashantee spies have been stationed two or three days in the high trees overlooking Cape Coast Castle, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ASHANTEES 21 with no other supply than this meal and a little water, before the enemy has shewn himself. There is always a distinct body of recruits with the army, to despatch those with their knives whom the musket has only wounded, and they are all expected to return well armed from despoiling the enemy. “ It is the invariable policy of the Ashantees to make the contingents of the power last subdued, the revolters recently quelled, or the allies last accepted, the van of their army throughout the campaign, and very frequently there are no Ashantees but captains, with the army/’ Speaking of the military forces, Mr. Bowdich says, “ I can only calculate the population of the kingdom of Ashantee from its mili- tary force, which amounts to 204,000 ; this appears an extravagant force, until we recollect that it is probably one-fifth of the whole population. Barbot heard of the Ashantees losing 50,000 in two actions ; an exaggeration which, nevertheless, serves to argue great military resources. Since the Ashantee invasion, their disposable force has been estimated by old residents, in public reports, at upwards of 150,000.’’ In Mr. Hutchison’s diary, which is quoted by Mr. Bowdich, the following statement is made : — “ When any public execution or sacrifice is to take place, the ivory horns of the king proclaim at the palace door, Wow ! wow! wow! death ! death ! death ! and as they cut off their heads, the bands play a peculiar strain till the operation is finished. “ On a particular occasion a message was sent to one chief, to say that the king was going to his mother’s house to talk a palaver; and shortly after, his majesty arose and proceeded thither, ordering the attendants to conduct me out by another door. “ This sacrifice was in consequence of the king imagining that if he washed the bones of his mother and sisters, who died while he was on the throne, it would propitiate the Fetish, and make the war suc- cessful. — Those who had done any thing to displease the king, were then sent for in succession, and immolated as they entered, * that their blood might water the graves.’ The whole of the night the king’s executioners traversed the streets, and dragged every one they found to the palace, where they were put in irons (which is often the case;) some one had disclosed the secret, and almost every one had fled, and the king w'as disappointed of most of his distinguished vic- tims. The sacrifice was continued until the next Adai custom, seven- teen days, at the end of which time the chiefs came from their con- cealment, and paraded the streets, rejoicing that they had escaped death, although a few days might put them in the same fear.” The power of the king of Ashantee is liable to some check from the authority and influence of his chiefs, and the prejudices and superstitions to which savages are always enslaved ; he is highly despotic ; and the indifference with which the lives of the subjects are sacrificed, merely for the gratification of his caprices, is such as is scarcely conceivable. Neither he nor any of his family can be put to death except by being drowned, in order that the royal blood may not be shed. He inherits all the gold in his dominions ; and whatever is accidentally found is his perquisite, hence if his subjects 22 Nil A BIT. V NTS OF K A MTSCII ATK A . pick up any thing in the street, they are punished with death, as guilty of lesc majesty. These wise laws, however, they find means to evade by not turning informers, and dispersing their gold among their relations before their decease, and not leaving it for his majesty to inherit. The monarch has no less than 3333 wives ; a mystic number, on which the salvation of the state is supposed to depend ; but he is not bound to indulge them all with his company, and six only enjoyed that privilege when the British mission was at his capital. The rest were well secured and guarded ; a precaution by no means super- fluous in Ashantee, where the manners of the women are highly licentious. Owing to this cause, probably, the throne passes to the sister’s son, as property does among the Nayrs on the coast of Malabar; and those fortunate dames, the king’s sisters, are allowed to make choice of their spouses, — never failing, as Mr. Bowdich was told, to shew their taste by the personal charms of the hero they prefer. The wantonness with which the blood of the multitude is shed by their despotic master, is almost incredible ; but it is at his funeral that the horrors of the merciless system are fully developed. All the members of the royal family burst forth, as if they were mad, and fire promiscuously amongst the crowd of unhappy slaves, who are driven forth by the chiefs to furnish marks for their superiors to aim at. The king’s household slaves, to the number of a hundred or more, and women in abundance, are sacrificed upon his tomb. Besides this, all the funeral sacrifices made during his reign arc repeated, “ to amplify that for the death of the monarch,” as Mr. Bowdich expresses it; and what such an “amplification” must amount to, we may judge, when he tells us that 3000 victims were devoted to “ water the grave” of the present king’s mother. Some- thing like this, on a smaller scale, is practised, several times in the year, at their public festivals, called “ Customs,” in the barbarous dialect of the English traders on the coast of Africa; and Mr. Bow- dich witnessed the terror and consternation which the return of these fatal seasons occasioned. The king has no power over the lives of the chiefs, (Cabeceiras,) but he can strip them of their property at his pleasure. The people appear to be in a state of wretched vassallage, exposed to all sorts of oppression and extortion from the great ; and it is surprising to find them, under such disadvantages, so alert and industrious as they are. Inhabitants of Kamtschatka. The natives of Kamschatkaare as wild as the country. Some have no fixed habitation, but wander from place to place with their reindeer ; others have settled habitations, and reside upon the banks of rivers and the shore of the Parschinska sea, living upon fish and sea animals, and such herds as grow upon the shore ; the former dwell in huts covered with deer-skins, the latter in places dug out af the earth, though both in a very barbarous manner. Their disposition and tem- pers are rough ; and they are entirely ignorant of letters. The natives are divided into three different people, viz . the Kamtschatkans, Koi- ^HABITANTS OF K A MTSCII ATK A. 23 aki, and Kuriles. The Kamtschatkans live on the south side of the promontory of Kamtschatka ; the Korehi inhabit the north parts on the coast, of the Penschinska sea, and round the eastern ocean almost to the river Anadir, whose mouth lies in that ocean almost in 60° N. lat. The Kuriles inhabit the islands in that sea reaching as far as that of Japan. The Kamtschatkans endeavour to give every thing a name in their language which may express the property of it ; but if they do not understand the thing themselves, then they take a name from some foreign language, which perhaps has no relation to thing itself : e. g. they call a priest boghog , because probably they use the word boghog, God ; bread they call brightatin augsh, that is, Russian root ; and thus of several other words to which their language is a stranger. It is supposed that the Kamtschatkans lived formerly in Mungalia, beyond the river Amur, and made one people with the Mungals ; which is farther confirmed by the Kamtschatkans having several w'ords common to the Mungal Chinese language, as their terminations in ong, ing, oang, chin, cha, ching, ksi, ksung. The Kamtschatkans and Mungals are both of a middling stature, and swarthy, have black hair, broad face, a sharp nose, w ith the eyes falling in, eye-brows small and thin, a hanging belly, slender legs and arms; they are both remarkable for cowardice, boasting, and slavishness to people who use them hardly, and for their obstinancy and contempt to those w ho use them with gentleness. The Kamtschatkans in outward appearance resemble the other inhabitants of Siberia, but differ in this, that their faces are not so long ; their faces stand more out, their teeth are thick, their mouths large, their stature middling, and their shoulders broad, particularly those who inhabit the sea coast. Before the Rus- sian conquest, they lived in perfect freedom, having no chief, being subject to no one, nor paying any taxes; the old men, or those re- markable for their bravery, bearing the particular authority in their vil- lages, though none had any right to command and inflict punishment. Their manner of living is slovenly to the last degree ; they never w ash their hands or face, or cut their nails : they eat with the dogs out of the same dish, which they never wash ; they never comb their heads, but both men and women plait their hair in two locks, binding the end with small ropes. When any starts out, then they sew it with threads to make it lie close, by which means they are swarming w ith lice. Those that have not natural hair sufficient, wear false locks some- times as much as weigh lOlbs. They place their chief happiness in idleness, and satisfying their natural appetites, which incline them to singing, dancing, and relating of love stories ; and they think it more eligible to die than to lead a disagreeable life, which often leads them to suicide. This was so common after the conquest, that the Russians had great difficulty to put a stop to it. They have no notion of fame, riches, or honour, therefore covetousness, ambition, and pride are not known among them. On the other hand, they are careless, lustful, and cruel ; these vices occasion frequent quarrels among them, some- times with their neighbours, not with a desire of increasing pow er, but to carry off provisions, or their girls, which is often practised as the most summary method of procuring a wife. 21 inhabitants of kamtsciiatka. As to religion, they believe that almost every place in heaven and earth is tilled with different spirits, and they offer them sacrifices. Some carry little idols about them, or have them placed in their dwellings ; but with regard to God, they not only neglect to worship him, but, in case of troubles and misfortunes, they curse and blaspheme him. They are so totally ignorant of arithmetic, that it is said they cannot reckon above twenty, and that with the help of their fingers and toes. They reekon ten months in the year, some of which are longer and some shorter ; for they do not divide them by the changes of the moon, but by the order of particular occurrences that happen in those regions. They commonly divide one year into two, so that winter is one year, and summer another; the summer year begins in May, and the winter in November. They do not distinguish the days by any particular names, nor form them into weeks or months. They mark their epoch as from some remarkable event, as the arrival of the Russians, or their first expedition to Kamtsciiatka. They are, how - ever, very ingenious in some arts. They are exceedingly fond of iron instruments, such as hatchets, knives, or needles, nay, at the first arrival of the Russians, a piece of broken iron was looked upon as a great present ; and even yet they receive it with thankfulness, find- ing use for the least fragment, either to point their arrows or make darts, which they do by hammering it out cold between two stoues. As some of them delight in war, the Russian merchants are forbidden to sell them any warlike instruments ; but they are ingenious enough to make spears and arrows out of the iron pots and kettles which they buy; and they are so dexterous when the eye of a needle breaks, as to make a new eye, which they will repeat until nothing remains but the point. Garments , Dresses , <5 re. Their clothes for the most part are made of skins of deer, dogs, sea and land animals, and even of the skins of birds, those of different animals being frequently joined in the same garment. They make the upper garments sometimes by cutting the skirts all of an equal length, and sometimes leaving them long behind, in the form of a train, with wide sleeves, of a length to come down below the knee, and a hood behind, which in bad w'eather they put over their heads below their caps ; the opening above is only large enough to let their heads pass ; they sew the skins of dogs’ legs round this opening, with which they cover their faces in bad weather; and round their shirts and sleeves they put a border of white dog-skin. They com- monly wear two coats, the under coat with the hairy side inwards, the other side being dyed with alder; and the upper with the hair out- wards. Black, white, or speckled skins are much esteemed. Botli men and women use these garments, their dress only differing in their under clothing, and in the covering of their feet and legs. The women have an under garment, which they commonly wear at home, con- sisting of a breeches and waistcoat sewed together. The breeches are wide like those of the Dutch shippers, and tie below the knee, the waistcoat is wide above, and drawn round with a string. The - . THE MANNER OF TRAVELLING IN WINTER IN IA¥T S C 1ATMA . INHABITANTS OF KAMT3CHATKA. 25 summer habits are made of dressed skins without hair; the winter garments of deer or ram skins without hair. The Kamtschatkans now wear linen shirts, which they buy from the Russians. The cover- ing of their feet and legs is made of skins of different sorts. But the buskins, which both the Cossacks and Kamtschatkans use in their finest dress, is thus made: the sole is of fine seal skin, the upper part of fine white leather, the hinder quarters is of white dog-skin ; what comes round the legs is of dressed leather, or dyed seal skin; the upper parts are embroidered. If a bachelor is observed to wear these, he is concluded to be upon a scheme of courtship. They wear the same sort of caps as the people of Yakutski. In summer they have a kind of hats of birch bark tied about their heads. The Kuriles use in summer caps made of plaited grass. Ground the Russ settlements, the women wear shirts, ruffles, waistcoats, caps, and ribands. The women do all their work in mittens ; they formerly never washed their faces, but now they use both red and white paiut ; for white paint they make use of a rotten wood, and for red a sea plant, which they boil in seal’s fat, and, rubbing their cheeks with it, make them very red. They dress most in the winter, especially when they visit. The common clothes for a Kamschatkan and his family will not cost him less than 100 rubles, for the coarsest worsted stock- ings, which cost in Russia twenty kopeeks, cannot be bought here for less than a ruble ; and all other things in proportion. The Kuriles are more able to buy clothes than the Kamschatkans, for they can purchase for one sea-beaver as much as the Kamtschatkans can for twenty foxes; and one beaver costs the Kuriles no more trouble thau five foxes do the Kamtschatkans ; for he must be a good hunter who catches more than ten foxes in a winter ; and a Kurile thinks him- self unlucky if he does not catch three beavers in the season. Method of Travelling. The Kamtschatkans commonly travel in sledges drawn by dogs : the animals used for this purpose differ very little from the common house-dog ; they are of a middling size, of various colours, though there seem to be more white, black, and gray than of any other. In travelling they make use of those that are castrated, and generally yoke four to a sledge. They drive and direct their dogs with a crooked stick about four feet long, adorned with different coloured thongs ; this is looked upon as a great piece of finery. They drive their sledge sitting upon their right side, with their feet hanging down ; for it would be looked upon as a disgrace for a man to sit down at the bot- tom of the sledge, or to allow any person to drive him. It is very difficult to travel in these sledges ; for unless a man keeps the exact- est balance, he is liable every moment, from the weight and narrow- ness of them, to be overturned. In a rugged road this would be very dangerous, as the dogs never stop till they come to some house, or are entangled by something upon the road, especially in going down steep hills, when they run with all their force, for which reason, in descending any great declivity, they unyoke all the dogs, except one, and lead them softly down. They likewise walk up hills, for it is as D 26 STATE OF FEMALE SOCIETY IN EGYPT. much as the dogs can do for to draw the sledge up empty. After a deep snow, before it has been hardened by a frost, there is no travel- ling with dogs, till a road be made, which is effected by a man going before upon snow-shoes, whom they call brodor-skika. The snow-shoes are made of two thin boards separated at the mid- dle, bound together at the ends, and with the fore parts bent a little upwards. The brodor-skika having one of these shoes upon each foot, leaves the dogs and sledge, and going on, clears part of the road, then returning, leads forwards the dogs and sledge as far as the road is made ; this he must continue till he comes to some dwelling house. This is very laborious, and it happens so often, that no driver ever sets out without his snow-shoes. When a storm of driven snow surprises them, they seek the shelter of some wood, and stay as long as the tempest lasts, which is sometimes a week. If they are a large com- pany, they dig a place for themselves under the snow, and cover the entry with wood or brambles. Sometimes they hide themselves in caves or holes in the earth, wrapping themselves in their furs, and when thus covered they lie as warm as in their huts ; they only require a breathing place, but their clothes must not be tight girt about them, for then the cold is insufferable. Another danger is, that in the severest frost several rivers are not frozen over; and as the roads for the most part lie close upon the rivers, the banks being- very steep, scarce a year passes without many being drowned. A disagreeable circumstance also, to those who travel in those parts, is, their having to pass through copses, when they run the risk of having their eyes scratched out, or their limbs broken ; for the dogs always run most violently in the worst roads, and, to free themselves, very often overturn their drivers. The best travelling is in March or April, when the snow is become hard at the top ; however, there is still this inconvenience attending it, that sometimes travellers are obliged to lodge two or three nights in desert places ; and it is difficult to pre- vail upon the Kamtschatkans to make a fire, either for warming them- selves or dressing their victuals, as they and their dogs eat dried fish, and find themselves so warm wrapped in their furs, that they need no other heat; nay, all the people of this climate bear cold so well, that they sleep in the open air as warm as others in a soft bed, and awake next morning perfectly refreshed and alert. State of Female Society in Egypt. From Mrs. Belzoni' s Account of the Women of Egypt , Nubia, and Syria. “ Having heard so much of Turks and Arabs, I took the oppor- tunity while in Egypt, to observe the manners of the women in that country. On our arrival at Assouan, I went to visit the women of the aga of that place. I was met at the door by himself, his wife, his sister, her husband, two young children, three old women uglier than Macbeth’s witches, and an old negro slave. I entered into a small yard, and a deal chair was brought me. The aga went out, and the women then stood round me, while the husband of the aga’s sister made coffee and prepared a pipe, which he presented me, not allowing STATE OF FEMALE SOCIETY IN EGYPT. 27 the women to touch it. He durst not trust them with any thing, as he knew of their monkeyish tricks whenever he turned his back. He seemed to pride himself much on his great knowledge of the world, when he corrected the rough curiosity of the women, when they at- tempted to examine my dress too rudely. “ I made a sign I wished them to sit down, and in particular that the w ife should take coffee with me ; but he treated them very harshly, made me understand that coffee would be too good for them, and said water was good enough ; at the same time he held the coffee-pot, pressing me to drink more: on my refusing, he locked it up in a small room, that the women might not drink it. By this time I had been so much among the women in Egypt, and compelled to smoke, that I could easily finish my half pipe. After having smoked for some time, I laid it down ; one of the women took it up, and began to smoke: on seeing such a horrid profanation, the man took it from her with violence, and was going to beat her, which I naturally pre- vented. He filled it again, and offered it to me ; but, as I did not wish to smoke any more, he went and carefully locked it up, making me understand, when I wanted it, it was at my service. I must con- fess, I felt hurt to see the distinction he made, but afterwards I saw the necessity of so doing. “ They always behaved to me not only with respect, but even with humility, so that their roughness seems not directed towards women in general ; and I have often heard them remark to me, that if they treated these women as I w as treated, they would become quite unruly. “ A short time afterwards, the aga came in, and inquiring if they had served me with coffee and a pipe, he went to his treasury, and brought out some dirty bruised grapes, as a great treat, which he presented me, the poor women looking with wistful eyes towards the basket. In the impulse of the moment, I took it, and offered them to his wife, and then to the rest, w'ho all refused ; and though they did not dare to take any themselves, yet they pressed me to eat, and seemed aston- ished, when, on account of their dirt, I only took a small bunch. I kept the grapes in my hands for sometime before I could muster reso- lution to eat them. I began at last, one by one, trying to wipe them in an handkerchief without their perceiving it; but I was mistaken, for their eyes was fixed upon me very closely. An old woman saw what I was doing, and ran and fetched me a burdock of water. I did not ask for water at first, as I was afraid to do any thing to offend them. “ I now gave my little present of beads and a looking glass, which contained a drawer ; the beads pleased them, and the glass, being the largest they had ever seen, and made to stand by itself, was to them a matter of astonishment. To describe ‘the tricks the women played with it, tearing it from each other, and setting it in any way but the right, would be thought a caricature. I at first attempted to shew them the right way to use it, but there is no other method with those women than letting them have their own way ; and I believe it is pretty well so in more civilized countries, or I am much mistaken. When the wife perceived they had got the glass out of its frame, she put it in a little room, and locked it up with the beads. ‘28 BUKHARS. “ On the man coming in, they began to prepare to cook the dinner for the aga, which consisted of a dish of bamia boiled in mutton broth, poured over bread, with a little mutton and some minced meat, mixed up with rice into balls ; what other ingredients might be mixed, shall by me be nameless ; the cleanliness of this preparation I have not eloquence to describe: the horror I felt at the idea that I should be obliged to eat of it, was more than my English stomach could re- concile at that moment. They brought me all the dishes before they took them out to the aga, and Mr. B. was to dine with him : the first was the bamia, which I refused, but I took a piece of the boiled mutton, as being the cleanest, with some bread : that would not do, the wife took some of the minced meat and rice in her hands, and insisted on my eating it, making me understand it was the best. At last all was carried to the aga. I was then served with the custo- mary coffee and pipe. The house, or rather stable, consisted of four walls, which had the sky for its ceiling, enclosing two small rooms, one in which the aga used to keep his treasure locked, such as coffee, cof- fee-cups, tobacco, &c. ; the other was the wife’s, and contained all their great wardrobe, besides bread, onions, flour, dhourra, oil, and many other things of the kind. The furniture consisted of water-jars, sieves to clean the corn and sift the flour, a few earthen pots to cook in, some wooden bowls to eat out of, an oven, and some burdocks for cooling water, a small coffee pot, and old mats to lie on. I took my leave, giving the children and women a small present of money, promising to call and see them on my return. Next morning, another wife of the aga sent me word that she should be glad to see me. I felt little inclination to go, but not wishing to make any dis- tinction between them, I went, and found, to my surprise, a very pretty young woman. She lived next door to the other, who got upon the wall to see what passed between us. She had no coffee to give me, but, instead, presented me with some dates and dhourra in grain. She seemed much afraid of the other wife. Though pretty in my eyes, she was not thought so by her own people ; the other, though old, was considered the greatest beauty in Assouan, on account of her being so extremely fat. Their hair was plaited after the Nubian custom, adorned with a few gold ornaments, with plenty of stinking raw fat, and a certain bark of a tree beat in powder, to make it black besides, giving a horrid perfume, which they consider as a great im- provement to their charms ; it is not the same powder they use in blacking the eye-brows and eye-lids. I made her a present of some beads, which she tried to hide, and I wished her farewell. Account oi the Bukhaus, their Houses, Customs, Marriage Ceremonies, and Religious Opinions. The Bukhars are the inhabitants of Bukharia, a country on the borders of China. They are for the most part sun-burned, and black-haired ; although some of them are very fair, handsome, and well made. They do not want politeness, and are addicted to com- merce, which they carry on with China, the Indies, Persia, and Rus- sia : but they are ready to overreach those who deal with them. BUKHARS. 29 The habits of the men differ very little from those of the Tartars. Their girdles are like those of the Poles. The garments of the women differ in nothing from those of the men, and are commonly quilted with cotton. They wear bobs in their ears fourteen inches long ; part and twist their hair in tresses, which they lengthen with black ribbon embroidered with gold or silver, and with great tassels of silk and silver, which hang dowm to their heels ; three other tufts of a smaller size cover their breasts. Both sexes carry about them prayers written by their priests, which they keep in a small leathern purse by way of relics. The girls, and some of the women, tinge their nails red with the juice of an herb, called by them kena : they dry and pulverize it; then mixing it with pow'dered alum, expose it in the air twenty-four hours before they use it, and the colour lasts a long time. Both sexes w r ear close breeches, and boots of Russia leather, very light, without heels, or rather soles; putting on gal- /ches, or high-headed slippers, like the Turks, w hen they go abroad. They wear also the same sort of bonnets and covering for the head ; only the women set off theirs with trinkets, small pieces of money, and Chinese pearls. Wives are distinguished from maids by a long piece of linen worn under their bonnets ; which folding round the neck, they tie in a knot behind, so that one end of it hangs down to the waist. The houses of the Bukhars are of stone, and pretty good ; but their moveables consist chiefly of Chinese trunks plated with iron. Upon these, in the day-time, they spread the quilts they made use of at night, and cover them with a cotton carpet of various colours. They have likewise a curtain sprigged w ith flowers and various figures ; also a sort of bedstead, half a yard high, and four yards long, which is hidden in the day-time with a carpet. They are very neat about their victuals ; which are dressed in the master’s chamber by his slaves, whom the Bukhars either take or buy from the Russians, Kalmucs, or other neighbours. For this purpose there are in the chamber, according to the largeness of the family, several iron pots, set in a kind of range near a chimney. Some have little ovens made like the rest of the walls, with stiff clay or bricks. Their utensils consist of some plates and porringers made of Cagua wood or of China, and some copper vessels. A piece of coloured calico serves them instead of a table-cloth and napkins. They use neither chairs nor tables, knives nor forks, but sit cross-legged on the ground ; and the meat being served up, they pull it to pieces with their lingers. Their spoons resemble our wooden ladles. Their usual food is minced meats, of which they make pies of the form of a half-moon ; these serve for provisions when the Bukhars go long journeys, especially in winter. They carry them in a bag, having first exposed them to the frost ; and when boiled in w^ater, they make very good broth. Tea is their common drink, of which they have a black sort prepared with milk, salt, and butter ; eating bread with it, when they have any. The Bukhars buy their wives, paying for them more or less accord- ing to their handsomeness. The persons to be married must not see or speak to each other from the time of their contract, to the day of 30 BUKHARS. marriage. This is celebrated with three days’ feasting, as they do great annual festivals. The evening before the wedding, a company of young girls meet at the bride’s house, and divert themselves till midnight, playing, dancing, and singing. Next morning the guests assemble, and help her to prepare for the ceremony. Then, notice being given to the bridegroom, he arrives soon after, accompanied by ten or twelve of his relations. These are followed by some playing on flutes ; an Abus, a kind of priest, who sings, while he beats two little timbrels. The bridegroom then makes a horse race, which being ended, he distributes the prizes, six, eight, or twelve in number, according to his ability. They consist of damask, sables, fox-skins, calico, or the like. The parties do not see each other while the marriage ceremony is performing, but answer at a distance to the questions asked by the priest. As soon as it is over, the bride- groom returns home with his company ; and after dinner carries them to the bride’s home, and obtains leave to speak to her. This done, he goes back, and returns again in the evening, when he finds her in bed ; and in presence of the women, lays himself down by her in his clothes, but only for a moment. The same farce is acted for three days successively, but the third night he passes with her entirely, and the next day carries her home. Although the prevailing religion throughout all Little Bukharia is the Mahometan, yet all others enjoy a perfect toleration. The Bukhars say that God first communicated the Koran to mankind by Moses and the prophets; and afterwards Mahomet explained and drew a moral from it, which they are obliged to receive and practise. They hold Christ to be a prophet, but have no notion of his suffer- ings. Yet they believe in the resurrection, but cannot be persuaded that any mortal should be eternally damned : on the contrary, they believe, that as the demons lead men into sin, so that the punish- ment will fall on them. They believe, moreover, that at the last day, every thing but God will be annihilated ; and, consequently, that all creatures, the devils, angels, and Christ himself, will die. Likewise, that after the resurrection, all men, excepting a few of the elect, will be purified or chastised by fire, every one according to his sins, which will be weighed in a balance. They say there will be eight different paradises for the good ; and seven hells, where sinners are to be purified by fire ; that they who will suffer most are liars, cheats, and others of that kind ; that the elect who do not feel the fire will be chosen from the good, viz. one out of one hundred men, and one out of one thousand women ; which little troop will be carried into one of the paradises, where they shall enjoy all manner of felicity, till it shall please God to create a new world. It is a sin, according to them, to say that God is in heaven. God, they say, is every w here ; and therefore it derogates from his omnipresence to say that he is confined to any particular place. They keep an annual feast of thirty days, from the middle of July to the middle of August, during which time they taste nothing all day; but eat twice in the night, at sun-set and midnight; nor do they drink any thing but tea, all strong liquors being forbidden. Whoever transgresses these ordinances is obliged to emancipate his BAGDAD. 31 most valuable slave, or to give an entertainment to sixty people ; he is likewise to receive eighty-five strokes on the back with a leathern strap called dura. The common people, however, do not observe this fast exactly, and workmen are allowed to eat in the day-time. The Bukhars say prayers five times a day ; before morn- ing, towards noon, afternoon, at sun-set, and in the third hour of the night. Bagdad. The following View of Society in Bagdad is taken from Sir R. Porter's Travels in Georgia , Persia , Babylonia , fyc. The wives of the higher classes in Bagdad are usually selected from the most beautiful girls that can be obtained from Georgia and Cir- cassia; and, to their natural charms, in like manner with their cap- tive sisters all over the East, they add the fancied embellishments of painted complexions, hands and feet dyed with henna, and their hair and eye-brows stained with rang, or prepared indigo-leaf. Chains of gold, and collars of pearls, with various ornaments of precious stones, decorate the upper part of their persons, while solid bracelets of gold, in shapes resembling serpents, clasp their wrists and ancles. Silver and golden tissued muslins, not only form their turbans, but frequently their under-garments. In summer, the ample pelisse is made of most costly shawl, and in cold weather lined and bordered with the choicest firs. , The dress is altogether very becoming ; by its easy folds, and glittering transparency, shewing a fine shape to advantage, without the immodest exposure of the open vest of the Persian ladies. The humbler females generally move abroad with faces totally unveiled, having a handkerchief rolled round their heads, from beneath which their hair hangs down over their shoulders, while anqther piece of linen passes under their chin, in the fashion of the Georgians. Their garment is a gown of a shift form, reaching to their ankles, open before, and of a gray colour. Their feet are completely naked. Many of the very inferior classes stain their bosoms with the figures of circles, half-moons, stars, &c. in a bluish stamp. In this barbaric embellishment, the poor damsel of Irak Arabi has one point ofrarity resembling that of the ladies of Irak Ajem. The former frequently adds this frightful cadaverous hue to her lips ; and, to complete her savage appearance, thrusts a ring through the right nostril, pendent with a flat button-like ornament set round with blue or red stones. But to return to the ladies of the higher circles, whom we left in some gay saloon of Bagdad. When all are assembled, the evening meal, or dinner, is soon served. The party, seated in rows, then prepare themselves for the entrance of the show ; which, consisting of music and dancing, continues in noisy exhibition through the whole night. At twelve o’clock, supper is produced ; when pilaus, kabobs, pre- serves, fruits, dried sweatmeats, and sherbets of ever fabric and fla- vour, engage the fair convives for some time. Between this second banquet and the preceding, the perfumed narquilly is never absent from their rosy lips ; excepting when they sip coffee, or indulge a general shout of approbation, or a hearty peal of laughter, at the BARCANS. 32 freaks of the dancers, or the subject of the singers’ madri als. But no respite is given to the entertainers; and, during so long a stretch of merriment, should any of the happy guests feel a sudden desire for temporary repose, without the least apology she lies down to sleep on the luxurious carpet that is her seat ; and thus she remains, sunk in as deep an oblivion as if the nummud were spread in her own chamber. Others speedily follow her example, sleeping as sound ; notwithstanding the bawling of the singers, the horrid jangling of the guitars, the thumping on the jar-like double-drum, the ringing and loud clangour of the metal bells and castanets of the dancers, with an eternal talking in all keys, abrupt laughter, and vociferous expressions of gratification, making in all a full concert of distract- ing sounds, sufficient, one might suppose, to awaken the dead. But the merry tumult and joyful strains of this conviviality gradually become fainter and fainter ; first one and then another of the visitors (while even the performers are not spared by the soporific god) sink down under the drowsy influence; till, at length, the whole carpet is covered with the sleeping beauties, mixed indiscriminately with hand- maids, dancers, and musicians, as fast asleep as themselves. The business, however, is not thus quietly ended. “As soon as the sun begins to call forth the blushes of the morn, by lifting the veil that shades her slumbering eyelids,” the faithful slaves rub their own clear of any lurking drowsiness, and then tug their respective mistresses by the toe or the shoulder, to rouse them up to perform the devotional ablutions usual at the dawn of day. All start mechanically, as if touched by a spell ; and then commences the splashing of water, and the muttering of prayers ; presenting a singular contrast to the vivacious scene of a few hours before. This duty over, the fair devotees shake their feathers like birds from a refreshing shower ; and tripping lightly forward with garments, and perhaps looks, a little the worse for the wear of the preceding even- ing, plunge at once again into all the depths of its amusements. Coffee, sweetmeats, kaliouns, as before, accompany every obstre- perous repetition of the midnight song and dance ; aid all being fol- lowed up by a plentiful breakfast of rice, meats, fruits, &c., towards noon the party separate ; after having spent between fifteen and six- teen hours in this riotous festivity. Barcans. The Barcans are the natives of Barca, a country of Africa. The inhabitants of the maritime towns are more civilized than those that dwell in the inland parts. The first profess Mahometanism, and have imbibed some notions of humanity and justice ; whilst the lat- ter, who have no sign of worship among them, are altogether savage and brutish. They are a sort of Arabs, and, like them, live entirely upon plunder. By them, this tract, which before was a continued desart, was first inhabited. At their first coming in, they settled in one of the best places of the country ; but as they multiplied, and had frequent wars with one another, the strongest drove the weakest out of the best spots, and sent them to wander in the desart parts, MR. MUNGO PARK’S ACCOUNT OF SEGO IN AFRICA. -33 where they live in the most miserable manner, their country hardly affording one single necessary of life. Hence they are said to be the ugliest of all the Arabs, their bodies having scarcely any thing but skin and bone, their faces meagre, with fierce ravenous looks ; their garments, which are commonly what they take from the passengers who go through those parts, tattered with long wearing ; whilst the poorest of them have scarce a rag to cover their nakedness. They are most expert and resolute robbers, that being their chief employ- ment and livelihood ; but the travellers in these parts are so few, that the Barcans are often necessitated to make distant excur- sions into Numidia, Libya, and other southern countries. Those that fall into their hands are made to drink plenty of warm milk, then they hang them up by the feet, and shake them, in order to make them vomit up any money they think they have swallowed ; after which they strip them of all their clothes, even to the last rag, but with all this inhumanity, they generally spare their lives, which is more than the other African robbers do. Yet notwithstanding every artifice they can use, the Barcans are so poor that they commonly let, pledge, or sell their children to the Sicilians and others, who supply them with corn, especially before they set out on any long excursion. Mr. Mungo Park’s Account of Sego in Africa. Mr Park informs us, that Sego contains about 30,000 inhabitants. The king of Bambarra constantly resides at Sego ; he employs many slaves in conveying people over the rivers; and the money they receive, though the fare is only ten cowrie shells for each individual, furnishes a considerable revenue to the king in the course of a year. The canoes are of a singular construction, each of them being formed of the trunks of two large trees rendered concave, and joined toge- ther, not side by side, but endwise, the junction being exactly across the middle of the canoe ; they are therefore very long, and dispro- portionably narrow, and have neither decks nor masts ; they are, how- ever, very roomy, for our author observed in one of them four horses, and several people, crossing over the river. The river of this extensive city, the numerous canoes upon the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the sur- rounding country, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence, which he little expected to find in the bosom of Africa. He met not, however, in Sego with that hospitality which he had experienced in some other African towns. The Moors, who abound in it, and whose bigotry renders them implacable enemies of every white man suspected of being a Christian, persuaded the king that it was for no good purpose he had come into the territories of Bambarra. He was therefore ordered to take up his residence at a village a little distant, without being admitted into the royal presence. Even there, so strong was the prejudice that had been excited against him, that no person would admit him into his house. About sun-set, how- ever, as he was preparing to pass the night in the top of a tree, that he might not be torn to pieces by wild beasts, a poor Negro woman conducted him to her hut, dressed a fine fish for his supper, and E 34 THE CARBONARI. furnished him with a bed to sleep on. She then called to the female part of her family, who had stood gazing on him all the while with fixed astonishment, to resume their task of spinning cotton, in which they spent great part of the night. They lightened their labour by songs, one of which was composed extempore, for our author was himself the subject of it. It was sung by one of the young women, the rest joined in a sort of chorus. The air was sw eet and plaintive, and the words, literally translated, were these — “ The winds roared, and the rains fell. The poor white mau, faint and weary, came and sat underour tree. He has no mother to bring him milk ; no wife to grind his corn.” — Chorus. “ Let us pity the white man ; no mother has he,” &c. &c. “ Trifling (says Mr. Park) as this recital may appear to the reader, to a person in my situation the circumstance was affecting in the highest degree.” Having remained three days in this village, he was dismissed on the fourth, after receiving from the king 5000 cowries, to enable him to purchase provisions in the course of his journey. Though this sum amounted only to one pound sterling, so cheap are the necessaries of life in Bambarra, that it was sufficient to purchase provisions for himself, and corn for his horse, for 50 days. The Carbonari. The following description is given of this community by one of the initiated. The Carbonari of Italy owe their origin to Cardinal Ruffo, who in the year 1812, in conjunction with some Neapolitan emigrants formed a secret sect, known at first under the name of Caldeiari, for the purpose of restoring the ancient dynasty of privileges and ponti- fical influence. The Calderari consisted of a considerable number of banditti and lazaroni, and their society fell into disrepute. Sub- sequently a grand or directoral lodge was organized; and this soci- ety took the name of Carbonajia, (the coal pit,) or rather a place where the coal is carbonized , and made into charcoal. The sepa- rate meetings were called barrache (markets,) and the members Car- bonari (or coal burners). This society is at once political and reli- gious. Its principles have their foundation in the purest maxims of the gospel, from which they derive eternal hatred to political and religious tyranny. They promise obedience to the law as far as it is founded on equity, and respect to those who do justice worthily. Their hatred against tyranny and intolerance is so much the greater, because they consider Jesus Christ as the most illustrious victim of the arbitrary acts of governors and priests. The Carbonari are distinguished by their ranks and the cross shines in all their symbolical signs. Their symbolical w'ords are taken from the coal-trade, because their first chiefs lived, like coal-burners, in solitude, to withdraw themselves from tyranny. As to the words, the signs, and the secrets of the association, we must be sdent. The flag of the Carbonari is tricoloured; the colours are black, red, and blue. The black represents death, and the coal in its natural state — the red indicates liberty, glory, and blood ; that is to say, the battles, without which Italy could not hope to establish its MORLACCHI. 35 liberty — blue is the emblem of constancy, without which every enterprise fails. The Neapolitan armies raised the flag of the Car- bonari. It was also raised in Piedmont during the revolution. The object of the institution was to clear the Apennines of the ravening wolves which infest them. The Apennines signify all Italy; the ravening wolves are the foreign rulers, the oppressors of the people, and all the agents of power who gave into arbitrary proceedings against them. The efforts of the Carbonari consisted in spreading their principles, in enlightening the people, and in creating an Italian League, to recover the independence of the Italian states from fo; eign powers, and establish internal liberty. The Abruzzas, and even Calabrias, have witnessed the most astonishing conversions. The banditti, who infested the mountains, have changed the musket for the hoe — so much have they been affected by pure and enthusiastic admonition. The Carbonari is composed of all classes of the people. The noble and the peasant, the soldier and the priest, the sailor and the citizen, the judge and the lazaroni, are united in it. Morlacchi. These are the inhabitants of Morlachia, in Dalmatia. They chiefly inhabit the pleasant valleys of Koter, along the rivers Kerha, Cettina, Narenta, and among the inland mountains of Dalmatia. They are by some said to be of Walachian extraction, as is indi- cated by their name : Morlachia being a contraction of Mauro- Walachia, that is, Black Walachia ; and the Walachians are said to be descendants of the ancient Roman colonies planted in these countries. This, however, is denied by the Abbe Fortis, who published a volume of travels in that country. He informs us, that the origin of the Morlacchi is involved in the darkness of barbarous ages, together with that of many other nations, resembling them so much in cus- toms and language ; that they may be taken for one people, dispersed in the vast tracts from the Adriatic Sea to the Frozen ocean. The emigrations of the various tribes of the Slavi, who, under the names of Scythians, Geti, Goths, Hunns, Slavini, Croats, Avari, and Vandals, invaded the Roman empire, and particularly the Illyrian provinces, during he decline of the empire, must have strangely per- plexed the genealogies of the nations which inhabited it, and which perhaps removed thither in the same manner as at more remote periods of time. The remainder of the Ardioei, Autariati, and the other Illyrian people anciently settled in Dalmatia, who would not reconcile themselves to a dependence on the Romans, might never- theless form a union with foreign invaders, resembling themselves in dialect and customs; and, according to our author, many families, driven out of Hungary by the Mogul Jenghiz Khan and his succes- sors, might people the deserted valleys among the mountains of Dalmatia. This conjecture is also somewhat confirmed by the traces of the Calmuk Tartars, still to be found in a part of that country called Zara. With regard to the etymology of the name, the Abbe observes. MORLACCHI. 3G that the Morlacchi generally call themselves, in their own language, Vlassi ; a national term, of which no vestige is found in the records of Dalmatia until the thirteenth century. It signifies powerful men, or men of authority : and the denomination of Moro Vlassi, now cor- rupted to Morlacchi, may perhaps point out the origin of the nation. This word may possibly signify the conquerors that came from the sea ; Moor, in all the dialects of the Sclavonian language, signifying the sea. The Morlacchi are so different from the inhabitants of the sea- coast in dialect, dress, dispositions, and customs, that they seem clearly to be of a different origin, or at least the colonies must have settled at such distant periods from each other, that they have had time to alter in a great measure their national character. There is also a remarkable diversity among the Morlacchi themselves in dif- ferent districts, probably on account of the different countries from whence they came. With regard to their character, they are much misrepresented by their maritime neighbours. The inhabitants of the sea coast of Dalmatia tell many frightful stories of their avarice and cruelty ; but these, in our author’s opinion, are all either of ail ancient date, or, if any have happened in later times, they ought rather to be ascribed to the corruption of a few individuals, than to the bad disposition of the nation in general ; and though thievish tricks are frequent among them, he informs us that a stranger may travel securely through this country, where he is faithfully escorted and hospitably treated. The greatest danger is from the Haiducks, or banditti, of whom there are great numbers among the woods and caves of these dread- ful mountains on the confines. There, says our author, a man ought to get himself escorted by a couple of these honest fellows : for they are not capable of betraying him, although a banditti; and their situa- tion is commonly more apt to create compassion than diffidence. They live among the wolves, w andering from one precipice to another, exposed to the severity of the seasons, and often languish in w ant of the necessaries of life, in the most hideous and solitary caverns. Yet they very seldom disturb the tranquillity of others, and prove always faithful guides to travellers ; the chief objects of their rapine being sheep and oxen, to supply them with food and shoes. Some- times it happens, that, in their extreme necessity, the Haiducks go in parties to the shepherds’ cottages, and rudely demand some- thing to eat; which they immediately take by force, if any hesitation is made. It is seldom, indeed, that they meet with a refusal, or with resistance, as their resolution and fury is well known to be equal to the savage life they lead. The Haiducks look upon it as a meritorious action to kill the Turks, being led to this, not only by their natural ferocity, but inflamed by a mistaken zeal for religion, and the discourses of their fanatic priests. Hut the Morlacchi are open and sincere to such a degree, that they w ould be taken for simpletons in any other country ; and accordingly they have been so often duped by the Italians that the faith of an Italian, and the faith of a dog, are synonymous among them. They are very hospitable to strangers; and their hos- MORLACCJI T. 37 pitality is equally conspicuous among the rich and poor. The rich prepares a roasted lamb or sheep, and the poor with equal cordiality offers whatever he has ; nor is this generosity confined to strangers, but generally extends itself to all who are in want. When a Mor- lach is on a journey, and comes to lodge at a friend's house, the eldest daughter, or the new-married bride, if there happens to be one, receives and kisses him when he alights from his horse, or at the door of the house, but a foreigner is rarely favoured with these female civilities ; on the contrary, the young women hide themselves, and keep out of the way. The Morlacchi have little notion of domestic economy, and often consume in a week as much as would be sufficient for several months, whenever any occasion of merriment occurs. A marriage, the holy- dav of a saint, the arrival of relations or friends, or any other joyful incident, consumes all the provisions in the house. Yet they are great economists of their wearing apparel. Nothing but an absolute impossi- bility hinders a Morlach from being punctual, and if he cannot repay the money he borrowed at the appointed time, he carries a small present to his creditor, and requests a longer term. Thus, from term to term, and present to present, he often pays double what he owed. Friendship is lasting among the Morlacchi. They have even made it a kind of religious point, and tie the sacred bond at the foot of the altar. The Sclavonian ritual contains a particular benediction for the solemn union of two males or two females in presence of the con- gregation. The male friends thus united are called Pobratimi, and the female Posestreme, which means, half-brothers and half-sisters. Their duties are, to assist each other in every case of need or danger, to revenge mutual wrongs, and such like. The enthusiasm is often carried so far as to risk and lose lives for each other, although these savage friends are not celebrated like Pylades and Orestes. If dis- cord happens to arise between two friends, it is talked of all over the country as a scandalous novelty ; and there have been some recent examples of it, which the old Morlacchi attribute to their inter- course with the Italians. But as the friendships of the Morlacchi are strong, so their quarrels are unextinguishable. They pass from father to son ; and the mothers put their children in mind of their duty to revenge their father, if he has had the misfortune to be killed, and to shew them often the bloody shirt and arms of the dead. A Morlach is naturally inclined to do good to his fellow-creatures, and is full of gratitude for the smallest benefit, but implacable if insulted or injured. A Morlach who has killed another of a power- ful family, commonly saves himself by flight, and keeps out of the way for several years. If during that time he has been fortunate enough to escape the search of his pursuers, and has got a small sum of money, he endeavours to obtain pardon and peace ; and that he may treat about the conditions in person, he asks and obtains a safe- conduct, which is faithfully maintained, though only verbally granted. Then he finds mediators, and on the appointed day the relations of the hostile families meet, and the criminal is introduced, dragging him- self along on his hands and feet, the musket, pistol, or cutlass, with 88 MORLACCUI. which he committed the murder, hung about his neck ; and while he continues in that humble posture, one or more of his relations recites a panegyric on the dead, which sometimes rekindles the flame of revenge, and puts the poor prostrate in no small danger. It is the custom in some places for the offended party to threaten the criminal, holding all kinds of arms to his throat, and, after much entreaty, to consent at last to accept of his ransom. These pacifications cost dear in Albania, but the Morlacchi make up matters sometimes at a small expense ; and every where the business is concluded with a feast at the offender’s charge. The Morlachs, whether they be of the Roman or Greek church, have very singular ideas about religion ; 'and the ignorance of their teachers daily augment this evil. They are as firmly persuaded of the reality of witches, fairies, enchantments, nocturnal apparitions, and sortileges, as if they had seen a thousand examples of them. Nor do they make the least doubt about the existence of vampyres ; and attribute to them, as in Transylvania, the sucking the blood of infants. Therefore, when a man dies suspected of becoming a vampyre, or vukodlak, as they call it, they cut his hams, and prick his whole body with pins, pretending, that after this operation he cannot walk about. There are even instances of Morlacchi, who, imagining that fhey may possibly thirst for children’s blood after death, intreat their heirs, and sometimes oblige them to promise to treat them as vampyres when they die. The boldest IJaiduck would fly trembling from the apprehension of a spectre, ghost, or phantom, or such like gob- lins, as the heated imaginations of credulous and superstitious people lead them to think they see. The women are still more timorous, and some of them, by often hearing themselves called w itches, actually be- lieve they are so. Great discord reigns in Morlachia between the Latin and Greek communions, w hich their respective priests fail not to foment, by telling a thousand little scandalous stories of each other. The churches of the Latins are poor, but clean ; those of the Greeks are poor, but shamefully ill kept. Our author has seen the curate of a Morlach village sitting on the ground in the churchyard to hear the confession of women on their knees by his side : a strange posture indeed ! but a proof of the innocent manners of those good people, who have the most profound veneration for their spiritual pastors ; who, on their part, frequently make use of a discipline rather military, and correct the bodies of their offending flock with the cudgel. They also impose on the credulity of these poor mountaneers, by selling certain superstitious scrolls, called zapiz, on which they write sacred names, and sometimes add others very improperly joined. The virtues attributed to these zapiz are of the same nature as those which the Basilidians attributed to their monstrously cutstones. The Morlac- chi carry them sewed in their caps, to cure or prevent diseases, and tie them to the horns of their oxen. The composers of the trumpery take every method to maintain the credit of their profitable trade, in spite of its absurdity, and the frequent proofs of its inutility. And so great has their success been, that not only the Morlacchi, but even the Turks near the borders, provide themselves plentifully w‘th MORLACCHI. 39 zapiz from the Christian priests, which not a little increases their income, as well as the reputation of the commodity. The Morlacchi having also much devotion, and many of the igno- rant people in Italy having little less, to certain copper and silver coins of the low empire, or to Venetian contemporary pieces, which pass among them for medals of St. Helen, they think they cure the epilepsy and such like. They are equally fond of an Hungarian coin called fretizza, which has the Virgin and Child on the reverse ; and one of those is a most acceptable present to a Morlach. The bordering Turks not only keep with devotion the superstitious zapiz, but frequently bring presents, and cause masses to be cele- brated to the image of the Virgin, which is doubtless in contradiction to the Koran ; yet when saluted in the usual manner in that country, by the name of Jesus, they do not answer. Hence, when the Mor- lacchi, or other travellers, meet them on the confines, they do not say, Huaglian Issus, “ Jesus be praised,” but Huaglian Bog, “ God be praised.” Innocence, and the natural liberty of pastoral ages, are still preserved among the Morlacchi. Pure cordiality of senti- ment is not there restrained by circumstances. A young handsome Morlach girl, who meets a man of her district on the road, kisses him affection ately, without the least immodest thought ; and our author has seen all the women and girls, all the young men and old, kissing one another as they came into the church yard, on a holiday on the road, and at the fairs in the maritime towns. In times of feasting and merri- ment, however, amours often take their beginning, and frequently end in marriage when the lovers are agreed. For it very rarely happens in places distant from the coast, that a Morlach often carries off a girl against her will, or dishonours her ; and were such attempts made, the young woman would be able to defend herself, the women in thatcountry being little less robust than the men. But the custom is for the woman herself to appoint the time and place of being carried off, in order to extricate herself from other suitors from whom she may have re- ceived some token of love, as a brass ring, a little knife, or such like. The dress of the unmarried women is the most complex and whim- sical, in respect to the ornaments of the head ; for when they are married, they are not allowed to wear any thing but a handkerchief tied about it. The girls use a scarlet cap, to which they commonly fasten a veil hanging down upon the shoulders, as a mark of virginity. The better sort adorn their caps with different sorts of silver coins, among which are frequently seen very ancient and valuable ones ; they have also ear-rings of very curious workmanship, and have small silver chains w ith the figures of half-moons fastened to the end of them. But the poor content themselves with plain caps, or, if they have any ornaments, they consist only of small exotic shells, small glass-beads, or bits of tin. The principal merit of these caps is to attract atten- tion by the noise they make on the least motion of their heads. Hence half-moons of silver or of tin, little chains and hearts, false stones and shells, together with all kind of splendid trumpery, are readily admitted into their hair-dress. In some districts, they fix tufts of various colours, resembling two horns, on their caps ; in others, set artificial flow'ers ; and in the 40 MORLACCHI* variety of these capricious ornaments, sometimes a fancy not inelegant is displayed. Their holiday shifts are embroidered with red silk and sometimes with gold, which they work while they attend their flocks, and this is executed very nicely. Both old and young women wear about their necks large strings of round glass beads, of various sizes and colours ; aud many rings of brass, tin, or silver, on their fingers. Their bracelets are of leather, covered with tin or silver; and they em- broider their stomachers, or adorn them with beads or shells. A broad wooden girdle surrounds their petticoat, which is commonly decked with shells, and of blue colour, called modrina. Their gown, called sadah, as well as petticoat, is of a kind of serge, and both reach near the ankle. They use no modrina in summer, and only wear the sadah without sleeves, over a linen petticoat or shift. The girls always wear red stockings, and their shoes are, like those of the men, called opanke. The sole is of undressed ox-hide, and the upper part of sheep-skin thongs knotted, which they call apute. These they faslen about the ankles like the ancient cothurnus. Even the richest unmarried women are not allowed to wear any other shoes, though after marriage they may lay aside the opanke, and use the Turkish slippers. The girls keep their hair tressed under their caps, but when married they let it fall dishevelled on the breast, or tie it under the chin ; and always have medals, beads, or bored coins, in the Tartar or American mode, twisted amongst it. An unmarried woman who falls under the imputa- tion of want of chastity, runs the risk of having her red cap torn oft' her head publicly bv the curate, and her hair cut by some relation, in token of infamy. Hence, those who fall into an illicit amour, com- monly lay aside the badge of virginity, and remove to some distance. Nothing is more common among the Morlacchi than marriages concluded by the old people of the respective families, when the young parties live at a great distance, and neither see nor know each other ; and the ordinary motive of these alliances is the ambition of being related to a numerous and powerful family, famous for having pro- duced valiant men. The father of the future bridegroom, or some other relation of mature age, goes to ask the young man, or rather a young w oman, of such a family, not having commonly any determi- nate choice. Upon this, all the girls of the house are shewn to him, and he chooses which he likes best, though he generally respects the right of seniority. A denial in such case is very rare, nor does the father of the maid inquire much into the circumstances of the family that asks her. Sometimes a daughter of the master is given in marriage to the servant or tenant. On these occasions the Morlacchi girls enjoy a privilege which ours would wish to have, as in justice they certainly ought. For he who acts by proxy, having obtained his suit, is ob- liged to go and bring the bridegroom ; and if, on seeing each other, the young couple are content, the marriage is concluded, but not other- wise. In some parts it is the custom for the bride to go to see the house and family of the proposed husband, before she gives a defini- tive answer ; and if the place or persons are disagreeable to her, she is at liberty to cancel the contract. But if she is contented, she returns to her father’s house, escorted by the bridegroom and nearest MORLACCHI. 41 relations. Tlrere the marriage day is appointed ; on which the bride- groom comes to the bride’s house, attended by all his friends of greatest note, who on this occasion are called svati, and are all armed, and on horseback, in their holiday clothes, with a peacock’s feather in their caps, which is the distinctive ornament used by those who are invited to weddings. The company goes armed, to repulse any attack or ambush that might be intended to disturb the feast. The bride is conducted to a church veiled, and surrounded by the svati on horseback ; and the sacred ceremony is performed amidst the noise of muskets, pistols, barbaric shouts, and acclamations, which continue till she return to her father’s house, or to that of her hus- band, if not far off. Each of the svati has his particular inspection, as well during the cavalcade as at the marriage feast, which begins immediately on their return from church. The parvinaz precedes all the rest, singing such songs as he thinks suitable to the occasion. Abb6 Fortis describes a number of ridiculous ceremonies that follow, which are not worth quoting. The first day’s entertainment is sometimes made at the bride’s house, but generally at the bride- groom’s, whither the svati hasten immediately after the nuptial bene- diction. The most extravagant abundance reigns in these .feasts, and each of the svati contributes, by sending a share of provisions. All sorts of domestic fowls, kids, lambs, and sometimes venison, are heaped in prodigal quantities upon their tables ; but the Morlacchi never eat veal. This abhorrence to calves’ flesh is very ancient among them. St. Jerome, against Jovinian, takes notice of it; and Torneo Marnavich, a Bosnian writer, who lived in the seventh century, says, that the Dalmatians, uncorrupted by the vices of strangers, abstain from eat- ing calves’ flesh, as an unclean food, even to his days. The women relations never dine at table with the men, but always by themselves. After dinner, they pass the rest of the day in dancing, singing ancient songs, and in games of dexterity, or of wit and fancy ; and in the evening, at a convenient hour after supper, the three ritual healths having first gone round, viz. 1. The Saint Protector of the Family ; 2. The Holy Faith ; and 3 A certain sacred Name ; the knum accom- panies the bridegroom to the matrimonial apartment, which com- monly is the cellar or the stable, whither the bride is also conducted by the diveri and the staches ; but the three last are obliged to retire ; and the knurn remains alone with the new-married couple. If there happens to be any bed prepared better than the straw, he leads them to it ; and having untied the bride’s girdle, he causes them both to undress each other reciprocally. Next day the bride, without her veil and virginal cap, dines at table with the svati, and is forced to hear the coarse equivocal jests of her indelicate and some- times intoxicated company. These nuptial feasts, called sdrave by the ancient Hunns, and by the Morlacchi sdravize, contain three, six, eight, or more days, according to the ability of the family. The new r -married wife gets no inconsiderable profit in these days of joy, and it nearly amounts to much more than all the portion she brings with her, which often consists of nothing but a cow, and her clothes: nay, sometimes the parents, instead of giving money with their daughters, get some- F 42 MORLACCHI. thing from the bridegroom by w ay of price. The bride carries w ater every morning to wash the hands of her guests, as long as the feast- ing lasts ; and every one throws a small piece of money into the bason after washing. The brides are also permitted to raise other little contributions among the svati, by hiding their shoes, caps, knives, or some other necessary part of their equipage, which they are obliged to ransom by a piece of money, according as the company rates it. And, besides all these voluntary and extorted conti ibutions, each guest must give some present to the new-married wife at taking h ave the last day of the sdravizc, and then she also distributes some trifles in return, such as shirts, caps, handkerchiefs, and the like. The nuptials are almost precisely the same throughout all the vast country inhabited by the Morlacchi ; and those in use among the peasants of Dalmatia, Istria, and the islands, differ but little from them. Yet among these particular varieties, there is one, of the island Zarine, near Sebenico, remarkable enough ; for there the starisvat, whether drunk or sober, must, with his naked broad sword, strike the bride’s crown of flowers off her head, w hen she is ready to go to bed. And in the land of Pago, in the village of Novoglia, there is a custom more comical, and less dangerous, but equally savage. After the marriage contract is settled, and the bridegroom comes to con- duct his bride to church, her father or mother, in delivering her over to him, makes an exaggeration of her ill qualities : “ Know, since thou wilt have her, that she is good for nothing, ill-natured, obsti- nate, &c.” On which the bridegroom, affecting an angry look, turns to the young woman, exclaiming, “Ah! since it is so, 1 will teach you to behave better and at the same time regales her with a blow or a kick, or some similar piece of gallantry, which is by no means figurative. And it seems in general, that the Morlach women, the inhabitants of the cities excepted, do not much dislike a beating either from their husbands or lovers. Our author gives a most disgusting picture of the nastiness of the Morlacchi women after marriage; and says, that the mortifying man- ner in which they are treated by their husbands, is both the cause and effect of this neglect of their persons. He often lodged in Morlach houses, but observed that the female sex is universally treated with contempt. The pregnancy and births of those women would be thought very extraordinary among us, where the ladies suffer so much, notwithstanding all the care and circumspection used before and after labour. But a Morlach woman neither changes her food nor interrupts her daily fatigue on account of her pregnancy ; and is often delivered in the fields, or on the road, by herself; and takes the infant, washes it in the first water she finds, carries it home, and returns the day after to her usual labour, or to feed her flock. The infants, thus carelessly treated in their tenderest moments, are after- wards wrapped in miserable rags, where they remain three or four months under the same ungentle management ; aft^r which they are set at liberty, and left to crawl about the cottage till they are able to walk upright by themselves; and at the same time acquire that sin- gular degree of strength and health, with which the Morlacchi are PARI AS, OR PERREAS. 43 endowed ; when, without the least inconvenience, they can expose their naked breasts to the severest frosts and snow. The infants are allowed to suck their mother’s milk till she is with child again; though that should not happen for four, five, or six years. The length of the breasts of the Morlacchi women is extraordinary ; for it is certain, that they can give the teat to their children over their shoulders, or under their arms. They let the boys run about, with- out breeches, in a shirt which reaches only to the knee, till the age of thirteen or fourteen ; following the custom of Bossina, subject to the Porte, where no capitation tax is paid for boys till they wear breeches, they being considered till then as children, not capable of earning their bread. On the occasion of birth, and especially of the first, all the rela- tions and friends send presents of meat to the woman in child-bed, or rather to the woman delivered ; and the family makes a supper of all those presents together. The women do not enter the church till forty days after the child-birth. The Morlacchi pass their youth in the woods, attending their flocks and herds ; and in that life of quiet and leisure, they often become dexterous in carving with a simple knife : they make wooden cups, and whistles adorned with fanciful has reliefs, which are not void of merit, and shew' the genius of the people. Parias, ok Perreas. This is a tribe of Hindoos, so peculiarly degraded beyond all others, that they live by themselves in the outskirts of towns; and, in the country, build their houses apart from the villages, or rather have villages of their own, furnished with wells ; for they dare not fetch water from those which other families make use of ; and, lest these latter should inadvertently go to one of theirs, they are obliged to scatter the bones of dead cattle about their wells, that they may be known. They dare not in cities pass through the streets where the Bramius live ; nor set foot in their villages where thev dwell ; nor enter a temple, either of their god Wissnow or Eswara ; because they are held impure. They get their bread by sowing, digging, and building the walls of mud houses; most of those inhabited by the common people being raised by these Parias; who do all such kinds of dirty work, as other people will not meddle with. Nor is their diet much more cleanly ; for they eat cows, horses, fowls, or other carrion, which die of themselves. One would scarce imagine that contention for precedency sliouhY ever occur among a people who have renounced all cleanliness, and like swine, wallow' in filth, and who are held in such an utter con- tempt by the rest of the Hindoos; yet pride has divided the Parias into two classes : the first are simply called Parias, the other Seriperes. The employment of these last, is to go abroad selling leather, w hich they dress ; also to make bridles ; and some of them serve for soldiers. The Parias w'ho reckon themselves the better family, will not eat in the houses of the Seriperes ; who must pay them respect, bv lifting their hands aloft, and standing upright before them. The Seriperes, 44 ATHENIAN GIRLS. when they marry, cannot set up a panaal, a kind of garland, before their doors, made with more than three stakes or trees ; else the whole city would be in motion. They are, in fact, slaves ; for when any person of authority dies, in the families of Komittis, Sittis, Palis, farriers or goldsmiths, and the relations incline to give some clothes to the Seriperes, their beards must be shaven ; and when the corpse is carried out of town to be burned or interred, they must do that office; for which each receives a piece of silver worth three and a half sous. These Seriperes are called, at Surat, Kalalchors; that is, in the Persian language, eat-alls, or eaters at large. Nothing can offend an Hindoo more than to be called an Halalchor ; yet these poor people submit to all this drudgery and contempt without repining. They are very stupid and ignorant, and even vicious, from their wretched way of life ; the Bramins and nobility shun them as if they had the plague, looking on the meeting of a Paria as the greatest misfortune. To come near one of them is a sin, — to touch them a sacrilege. If a Paria were dying, it is infamy to visit him, or to give him the least assistance, even in the utmost distress. A Bramin, who touches a Paria, immediately washes himself from the impurity. Even their shadow and breath being reckoned contagious, they are obliged to live on the east side of their towns, that the westerly winds which reign in their country may keep back their breath. And a Bramin may kill one of these unhappy creatures, if he does not avoid it by getting out of his way. In short, they think them reprobated by God, and believe the souls of the damned enter into the Parias, to be punished for their crimes. Yet the mission have found among these dregs of the people very active and zealous catechists, who by their labours have very much contributed to the conversion of their countrymen, particularly one Rajanaitzen, a Paria soldier, who, of all the inferior missionaries, has distinguished himself most by his labours and sufferings. Description of Athenian Girls. From Huyhes's Travels in Greece. “ Our hostess, Signora Vitali, introduced us to our next door neigh- bours, who consisted of her own sister, with three fair daughters, considered at this time the belles of Athens. They are known by the title of Consuline, their father having held the post of British vice-consul. One of these young ladies was supposed to be that ‘ Maid of Athens’ who is celebrated in some beautiful verses annexed to Cfcilde Harolde : her countenance was extremely interesting, and her eye maintained much of its wonted brilliancy ; but the roses had already deserted her cheek, and we observed the remains only of that loveliness which elicited such strains from an impassioned poet. So fading a flower is beauty in these climates, that a very few years see it rise to sparkle like a meteor and to vanish. A Grecian damsel of sixteen is frequently angelical ; at twenty she becomes plain ; and, in five years more, frightfully ugly. There is no transition, as with ALGERINES. 45 us, from the light beauty of the girl to the mature graces of the matron, and the venerable dignity of advanced age : the face of a sylph becomes almost at once transformed into a gorgon’s head. In discussing this subject with Signor Lusieri, he assured me, that the fault lay not so much in the climate, as in the destructive habits of the Grecian females, more especially in the abuse of the bath, which they attend almost daily, remaining in its hot sudatories several hours at a time, where they discuss more scandal than circulates at an English tea-table in as many weeks : hence their colour vanishes, and their fibres are relaxed ; hence they become languid, and unable to take wholesome exercise ; soon after the age of twenty, wrinkles begin to appear, and they suffer all the inconveniences of premature debility. Though the Grecian females are not accomplished, yet they possess a considerable degree of elegance in their address and manners : their salutation is particularly graceful, consisting of a gentle inclination of the body, whilst the right hand is « brought in contact with the waist: they are generally found by visitors reclining indolently on the sofas of the apartment, their silken robes bound round with a silver-clasped zone, their hair partly wreathed with flowers or adorned with pearls, and partly flowing in curls over their shoulders ; their eye-brows carefully arranged, and tinged with surine, a powder of the blackest dye ; their nails stainedwith henna, and their complexion too often aided by artificial lustre; exhibiting melancholy examples of the neglect of nature’s choicest gifts, the substantial graces of the mind. Algerines. The inhabitants of Algiers, a nation of pirates, who, in defiance of all the powers of Europe, have robbed and plundered the ships, and enslaved and murdered the subjects, of every Christian state in Europe and America, and for two centuries past, excepting only those of such as condescended to purchase their friendship or for- bearance by presents. These pirates, all along the sea coasts, are a mixture of different nations ; but chiefly Moors and Moriscoes, driven out of Catalonia, Arragon, and other parts of Spain. There are also great numbers of Turks among them, who come from the Levant to seek their fortunes, as well as multitudes of Jews and Christians taken at sea, and brought hither to be sold for slaves. The inland inhabitants of Algiers, distinguished by the name of Berebers, are some of the most ancient inhabitants of the country; and are supposed to be descended from the ancient Sabians, that nation of robbers, who plundered the patriarch Job, and who are said to have come to Algiers from Arabia Felix, under the conduct of one of their princes. Others believe them to be descended from the Canaanites, who w'ere driven out of Palestine by Joshua. They are dispersed all over Barbary, and divided into a multitude of tribes under their respective chiefs : most of them inhabit the mountainous parts ; some range from place to place, and live in tents, or portable huts ; others in scattered villages, in which situation they have generally kept from intermixing with other nations. 4 (> PUNISHMENTS OF ALGIERS. The Berebers are reckoned the richest of all the Algerines, go bet- ter clothed, and carry on a much larger t rathe of cattle, hides, wax, honey, iron, and other commodities. They have also some artificers in iron, and some manufacturers in the weaving branch. — The name Bereber, is supposed to have been originally given them on account of their being first, settled in some desart place. Upon their increas- ing in process of time, they divided themselves into five tribes, proba- bly on account of religious differences, called the Zinhagiuns, Mas - came dins, Zcncti , Jfoares, and Gorncre ; and these having produced (J00 families, subdivided themselves into a great number of petty tribes. To these we may add the Zwouahs, by European authors called Azuagues , or Assuagucs, who are likewise dispersed over most parts of Barbary and Numidia. Great numbers of these inhabit the moun- tainous parts of Cuco, Labez, &c. leading a wandering pastoral life. But the most numerous inhabitants are the Moors and Arabians. The former are very stout and warlike, and skilful horsemen ; but so ad- dicted to robbing, that one cannot safely travel along the countrv at a distance from the towns without a guard, or at least a marabout, or saint, for a safeguard. For as they look upon themselves to be the original proprietors of the country, and not only as dispossessed by the rest of the inhabitants, but reduced by them to the lowest state of poverty, they make no scruple to plunder all they can meet with, by way of reprisal. The inhabitants in general have a pretty fair complexion, they are robust and well-proportioned. People of distinction wear their beards ; they have rich clothes made of silk, embroidered with flowers of gold, and turbans enriched w ith jew els. The Turks, w ho compose the military force, have great privileges, pay no taxes, are never pub- licly punished, and rarely in private. The lowest soldier domineers over the most distinguished Moors at pleasure. If he finds them better mounted than himself, he exchanges horses without ceremony. The Turks alone have the privilege of carrying fire-arms. Some good qualities, however, distinguish them, in spite of this excess of despotism. They never game for money, nor even for trifles ; and they never pro- fane the name of the Deity. They soon forget their private quarrels ; and after the first paroxysm of resentment is over, it is infamy for a Turk to keep in remembrance the injuries he has received. In this respect, certainly, they are less barbarous than other nations that boast of their civilization. Punishments in Algiers. In this country it is not to be expected that justice will be ad- ministered with any degree of impartiality. The Mahometan sol- diery, in particular, are so much favoured, that they are seldom put to death for any crime except rebellion ; in which cases they are either strangled with a bow -string, or hanged to an iron hook ; in lesser offences they are fined, or their pay stopped, and if officers, they are reduced to the station of common soldiers, from whence they may gradually raise themselves to their former dignity. Women guilty of adultery have a halter tied about their necks, with the other end fastened to SERAGLIO OR IIAREM OF THE EMPEROR OF MOROCCO. 47 a pole, by which they are held under water till they are suffocated. The bastinado is likewise inflicted for small offences : and is given either to the belly, back, or soles of the feet, according to the plea- sure of the cadi, who also appoints the number of strokes. These sometimes amount to 200 or 300, according to the indulgence the offender can obtain either by bribery or friends ; and hence he often dies under this punishment for want of advocates sufficiently powerful. But the most horrible punishments are those inflicted upon the Jews or Christians who speak against Mahomet or his religion ; in which cases they must either turn Mahometans or be impaled a live. If they afterwards apostatize, they are burnt alive, or else thrown down from the top of the city walls, upon iron hooks, where they are caught by different parts of their body, according as they happen to fall, and sometimes expire in the greatest torments, though by accident they may be put out of their pain at once. This terrible punishment, however, begins now to be disused. Seraglio or Harem of the Emperor of Morocco. The following account of this seraglio is extracted from the inte- resting tour of M. Lempriere, who being a surgeon, was admitted into the harem to prescribe for some of the ladies who were indisposed, and was therefore enabled to give a full account of this female prison, and of the manners and behaviour of its inhabitants. The harem forms a part of the palace. The apartments are very lofty, and four of them enclose a spacious square court, into which they open by means of large folding doors. In the centre of these courts, which are floored with blue and white chequered tiling, is a fountain, supplied by pipes from a large reservoir on the outside of the palace, which serves for the frequent ablutions recommended by the Maho- metan religion. The whole of the harem consists of about twelve of these courts, communicating with each other by narrow passages, which afford a free access from one part to another, and of which all the women are allowed to avail themselves. The apartments are ornamented on the outside with beautiful carved w'ood. In the inside most of the rooms are hung with rich damask of various colours : the floors are covered with beautiful carpets, and there are mattresses disposed at different distances, for the purpose of sitting and sleep- ing The apartments are also furnished at each extremity with an elegant European mahogany bedstead, hung with damask, having on it several mattresses placed one over the other, which are covered with various coloured silks; but these beds are merely for ornament. In all the apartments the ceiling is wood carved and painted. The principal ornaments were large and valuable looking-glasses, hung on various parts of the walls; clocks and watches of different sizes, in glass-cases were, disposed in the same manner. The sultana Lalla Batoom, and another favourite, were indulged with a whole square to themselves ; but the concubines were only each allowed a single room. Each female had a separate daily allowance from the emperor, proportioned to the estimation in which they were held by him. The late emperor’s allowance was very trifling ; Lalla Douyan, the favourite 48 SERAGLIO OR HAREM OF TIIE EMPEROR OF MOROCCO. sultana, had very little more than half-a-crown English a day, and the others less. He indeed made them occasional presents of money, dress, and trinkets, but this never could be sufficient to support the expenses they must incur. Their greatest dependence therefore was on the presents they received from those Europeans and Moors who visited the court, and who employed their influence in obtaining some par- ticular favour from the emperor. This was the most successful mode that could be adopted. When Mr. Lempriere was at Morocco, a Jew, desirous of obtain- ing a very advantageous favour from the emperor, for which he had been a long time unsuccessfully soliciting, sent to all the principal ladies of the harem presents of pearls to a very large amount; the consequence was, that they all went in a body to the emperor, and immediately obtained the wished-for concession. The ladies separately furnish their own rooms, hired their own domestics, and in fact do what they please in the harem, but are not permitted to go out without an express order from the emperor, who very seldom grants them that favour, except when they are to be removed from one palace to another. In that case, a party of soldiers is despatched a little distance before them, to disperse the male passengers, and prevent their being seen. This previous step being taken, a piece of linen cloth is tied round the lower part of the face, and afterwards these miserable females cover themselves entirely with their haicks, and either mount mules, which they ride like men, or, what is more usual, are put into a square car- riage or litter constructed for this purpose, which by its lattice work allows them to see without being seen. In this manner they set off, under a guard of black eunuchs. This journey, and sometimes a walk within the bounds of the palace, is the only exercise they are permitted to take. The late emperors harem consisted of between GO and 100 females, besides their numerous domestics and slaves. Many of the concubines were Moorish women, several were European slaves, who had either been made captives, or purchased by the em- peror ; though some were negroes. In this group, the Europeans, or their descendants, had by far the greatest claim to the character of handsome. There was one in par- ticular, who was a native of Spain, and taken into the harem at about the same age as Lalla Douyan, who was indeed a perfect beauty; and many others were almost equally handsome. The eunuchs, who have the entire charge of the women, and who in fact live always among them, are the children of Negro slaves. They are generally either very short or fat, or else tall, deformed, and lame. Their voices have that particular tone which is observable in youths who are just arriving at manhood; and their persons toge- ther afford a disgusting image of weakness and effeminacy. M. Lempriere gives a very curious account of the manners and ignorance of these immured females, from his own observation. Attended by an eunuch, says he, after passing the gate of the harem, which is always locked, and under the care of a guard of eunuchs, we entered a narrow and dark passage, which soon brought us to the court into which the women’s chambers open. We here saw num- bers of both black and white women and children, some concubines. SERAGLIO OF THE EMPEROR OF MOROCCO. 49 and some slaves. Upon their observing the unusual figure of an European, the whole multitude in a body surrounded me, and express- ed the utmost astonishment at my dress and appearance, some stood motionless, with their hands lifted up, their eyes fixed, and their mouths open, in wonder and surprise. Some burst into fits of laugh- ter; while others, with uncommon attention, eyed me from head to foot. The parts of my dress which seemed most to attract their notice, were my buckles, buttons, and stockings ; for neither men nor women in thiscountry wear any thingof the kind. Wiihrespect to the club of my hair, they seemed utterly at a loss in what view to consider it; but the powder they conceived to be employed for destroying vermin. Most of the children, when they saw me, ran away in consternation ; and I appeared as singular an animal, and I dare say that I had the honour of exciting as much curiosity and attention, as a lion or a man-tiger just imported from abroad, and introduced into a country town on a market-day. Every time I visited the harem, I was sur- rounded and laughed at by this curious mob, who, on my entering the gate, followed me close to the very chamber to which I was pro- ceeding, and, on my return, universally escorted me out. The greatest part of the women were uncommonly fat and unwieldy ; had black and full eyes, round faces, with small noses. They were of different complexions; some very fair, some sallow, and others again perfect negresses. One of my new patients being ready to receive me, I w as desired to w alk within her room ; w here, to my great surprise, I saw nothing but a curtain drawn quite across the apartment, similar to that of a theatre, which separates the stage from the audience. A female domestic brought a very low stool, placed it near the curtain, and told me I was to sit down there, and feel her mistress’s pulse. The lady, who had by this time summoned up courage to speak, introduced her hand from the bottom of the curtain, and desired me to inform her of all her complaints, which she conceived 1 might perfectly do by merely feel- ing the pulse. It was in vain to ask her where her pain was seated ; the only answer I could procure was, a request to feel the pulse of the other band. I w as under the necessity of informing her, in positive terms, that to understand the disease, it was absolutely necessary to see the tongue, as w ell as to feel the pulse ; and that without it, I could do nothing for her. My eloquence, or that of my Jewish interpreter, was, however, long exerted in vain, and she would have dismissed me without any further inquiry, had not her invention supplied her with a happy expedient. She contrived to cut a hole in the curtain, through which she extended her tongue, and thus complied with my injunction, but most effectually disappointed my curiosity. I was afterwards ordered to look at another of the prince’s wives, who was affected with a scrofulous swelling in her neck. This lady was, in the same manner as the other, at first excluded from my sight ; but as she was obliged to shew me her complaint, I had an opportunity of seeing her face, and observed it to be very handsome.” It is curious to observe the childish notions of persons who have been totally secluded from the world. All the ladies of the harem expected that our author should have instantly discovered their com- G 60 NOBILITY OF NAPLES. plaints, upon feeling the pulse, and that he could cure every disease instantaneously. He found them proud and vain of their persons, and extremely ignorant. “ Among many ridiculous questions, they asked my interpreter,” says M. Lempriere, “ if I could read and write : upon being answered in the affirmative, they expressed the utmost surprise and admiration at the abilities of the Christians. There was not one among them who could do either ; these rudiments of learning are, indeed, only the lot of a few of their men, who on that account are named Talbs, or explainers of the Mahometan law.” It is melancholy to reflect on the situation of these unfortunate women. Being considered as the mere instruments of pleasure, no attention is paid to the improvement of their minds. They have no employment to occupy their time. Their needle-work is performed by Jewesses ; their food is dressed, and their chambers taken care of, by slaves and domestics. They have no amusement but a rude and barbarous kind of melancholy music, without melody, variety, or taste ; and conversation with one another, w hich must indeed be verv confined, uniform, and inanimate, as they never see a new object. Excluded from the enjoyment of fresh air and exercise, so necessary for the support of health and life; deprived of all society but that of their fellow-sufferers, a society to which most of them would prefer solitude itself ; they are only to be considered as the most abject of slaves — slaves to the vices and caprice ofa licentious tyrant, who exacts, even ffom his wives themselves, a degree of submission and respect which borders upon idolatry, and which God never meant should be paid to a mortal. Nobility of Naples. The number of the high and low nobility is very great. “ I am assured,” says Dr. Moore, “ that the king of Naples counts among bis subjects one hundred persons with the title of prince, and a still greater number with that of duke. Six or seven of these have estates which produce from ten to twelve or thirteen thousand pounds a year ; a considerable number have fortunes of about half that value; and the annual revenue of many is not above one or two thousand pounds. The inferior orders of the nobility are much poorer. Many counts and marquisses have not above three or four hundred pounds a year of paternal estate ; many have still less ; and not a few enjoy the title without any estate whatever. These nobles, however, are exceedingly fond of splendour and show, which is seen in the brilliancy of their equipages, the number of their attendants, the richness of their dress, and the grandness of their titles. The finest carriages are painted, gilt, varnished, and lined, in a richer or more beautiful manner than has become fashionable either in England or France. They are often drawn by six, and sometimes eight horses. Before the carriage, it is the mode to have two running footmen, and, behind, three or four servants in the richest liveries. The ladies and gentlemen within the coaches glitter in all the brilliancy of lace, embroidery, and jewels. This fiuery is not confined to the persons within and with- a® (rasa. sromvm GREENLAND. 51 out of the coaches ; it is extended to the horses, whose heads, manes, and tails are ornamented with the rarest plumage, and set off with ribbons and artificial dowers.” The hereditary jurisdiction of the nobles over their vassals subsists in the fullest rigour of the feudal government. The peasants therefore are poor, and it depends entirely on the personal character of the master, whether their poverty be not the least of their grievances. As this power is too often abused, the importance of the nobility depends in a great measure on the favour of the king, who, under pretence of any offence, can confine them to their estates, 01 imprison them, at pleasure, and he has little to fear from their resentment. Manners, Character, and Customs of the Natives of Greenland. In winter the people dwell in huts of stone or turf ; on the sides are two windows, covered w ith the skins of seals or rein-deer. These huts are seldom more than two ells above the surface of the ground ; the rest of them being sunk in the earth, for defence against wind and cold. Several families live in one of these houses, possessing each a separate apartment, before which is a hearth with a great lamp placed on a trevet, over which hangs their kettle ; above is a rack or shelf, on which their wet clothes are dried. They burn train oil in their lamps ; and instead of wick, they use a kind of moss, which fully answers the purpose. These fires are not only sufficient to boil their victuals, but they likewise produce such a heat, that the whole house is like a bagnio. The door is very low, that as little cold air as possible may be admitted. The house within is lined with old skins, and surrounded with benches for the convenience of strangers. In summer they dwell in tents made of long poles fixed in a conical form, covered in the inside with deer-skins, and on the outside with seal-skins, dressed so that the rain cannot enter them. In their dispositions, the Greenlanders are cold, phlegmatic, indolent, and slow of apprehension, but very quiet, orderly, and good -natured. In natural aff ection they seem to equal the natives of the warmest climates. Two of them were carried off’, and brought to Denmark, but though caressed by the king and court to the utmost, were quite unhappy, and one of them alw ays wept upon seeing an infant in its mother’s arms, whence it was concluded that he had left a wife and a young child in Greenland. They live peaceably together, and have everything in common, with- out strife, envy, or animosity. They are hospitable, but slovenly, to a degree almost beyond the Hottentots. They never w'ash themselves with water, but lick their paws like a cat, and then rub their faces with them They eat after their dogs without washing their dishes, devour the vermin which devour them, and even lick the sweat which they scrape oft’ their faces with their knives. The w omen wash themselves with what must not be named, which they imagine makes their hair grow ; and in winter go out immediately, to let the liquor freeze upon their skin. They often eat their victuals off’ the ground, and 52 GREENLAND. devour rotten flesh with avidity. In times of scarcity they will sub- sist on pieces of old skin, reeds, sea-weeds, and a weed called tug- loronet, dressed with train oil and fat. The intestines of rein-deer, the entrails of partridges, and all sorts of offals, are counted dainties among these savages, and of the scrapings of seal skins they make pancakes. At first they could not taste the Dauish provisions without abhorrence ; but now they are become extremely fond of bread and butter, though they still retain an aversion to tobacco and spirituous liquors; in which particular they differ from almost all savages on the earth. The Greenlanders commonly content themselves with one wife; who is condemned, as among other savage nations, to do all the drudgery, and may be corrected and even divorced by the husband at pleasure. Heroes, however, and extraordinary personages, are indulged with a plurality of wives. These people never marry within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, nor is it considered decent for a couple to marry who have been educated in the same family. They have a number of ridiculous superstitious customs. While a woman is in labour, the gossips hold a chamber utensil over her head, as a charm to hasten the delivery ; when the child is a year old, the mother licks and slabbers it all over, to render it, as she imagines, more strong and hardy. The Greenlanders are constantly employed either in fishing or hunting. At sea they pursue the whales, mooses, seals, fish for eating, and sea fowls. On shore they hunt the rein- deer in different parts of the country. They drive these animals, which feed in large herds, into a narrow defile, where they kill them with arrows. Their bow is made of fir-tree, wound about with the twisted sinews of animals ; the string is of the same stuff, or of seal- skin ; the arrow is a full fathom in length, pointed with a bearded iron or a sharp bone ; but those with which they kill birds are blunt, that they may not tear the flesh. Sea-fowls they kill with lances, which they throw to a great distance with surprising dexterity. Their manner of catching whales is quite different from that prac- tised by the Europeans. About fifty persons, men and women, set out in one long boat, w hich is called akone-boat, from kone a women, because it is rowed by females only. When they find a w hale, they strike him w ith harpoons, to w hich are fastened, w ith long lines, some seal-skins, blown up like bladders. These, by floating on the surface, not only discover the back of the whale, but hinder him from foundering under water for any length of time. They continue to pursue him until he loses strength, when they pierce him with spears and lances till he expires. On this occasion they are dressed in their spring coats, consisting of one piece, with gloves, boots, and caps of seal skin, so closely laced and sewed, that they keep out the water. Thus accoutred, they leap into the sea, and begin to slice off the fat, even under water, before the whale is dead. They have many different ways of killing seals ; namely, by strik- ing them with a small harpoon, equipped also with an air-bag ; by watching them when they come to breathe at the air-holes in the ice, and striking them with spears ; by approaching them in the disguise of their own species, that is, covered with a seal skin, creeping upon COSSACKS. 63 the ice, and moving the head from side to side just as the seals are accustomed to do. By this stratagem the Greenlander moves towards the unsuspecting seal, and kills him with a spear. The Greenlanders angle with lines made of whalebone, cut very small, by means of which they succeed wonderfully. The Greenland canoe, like that used in Nova Zembla and Hud- son’s Bay, is about three fathoms in length, pointed at both ends, and three-quarters of a yard in breadth. It is composed of thin rafts fastened together with the sinews of animals. It is covered with dressed seal-skins both above and below, in such a manner that only a circular hole is left in the middle, large enough to admit the body of one man. Into this the Greenlander thrusts himself up to the waist, and fastens the skin so tight about him, that no water can enter. Thus secured, and armed with a paddle broad at both ends, he will venture out to sea in the most stormy weather, to catch seals and sea fowl ; and if he is overset, he can easily raise himself by means of his paddle. A Greenlander, in one of these canoes, which was brought with him to Copenhagen, outstripped a pinnace of six- teen oars, manned with choice mariners. The kone-boat is made of the same materials, but more durable; and so large, that it will contain fifty persons with all their tackling, baggage, and provisions. She is fitted with a mast, with a triangular sail made of the membranes and entrails of seals, and is managed without the help of bracings and hawlings. The kones are flat-bot- tomed, and sometimes sixty feet in length. The men think it beneath them to take notice of them, and therefore they are left to the con- duct of the women, who indeed are obliged to do all the drudgery, including even the building and repairing of their houses, while the men employ themselves wholly in preparing their hunting implements and fishing tackle. Cossacks. This is a name given the people inhabiting the banks of the rivers Dnieper and Don, near the Black Sea, and borders of Turkey. The word implies irregular troops of horse. These people are divided into European and Asiatic Cossacks. The first consist of the Zapo- rogs, who dwell below the cataract of the Dnieper, some on the side next to Russia, and others on the opposite side of that river ; the Upper and Lower Cossacks, the Bielgorod Cossacks, and a part of the Don Cossacks. The Asiatic Cossacks are composed of the rest of the Don Cossacks, the Grebin Cossacks, the Yaik Cossacks, and the Western Cossacks, who retiring from those that inhabited the south borders of Siberia, under Yaneki Khan, settled upon the Wolga, and are dependent upon Russia. The Cossacks have been known by that name ever since A. D. 948. They dwelt upon Mount Caucasus, in the place now called Cabardy ; and were reduced to the Russian dominion by prince Mastiflau in the year 1021. Many Russians, Poles, and others, who could not live at home, have at different times been admitted among the Cossacks; but the latter, abstracted from these fugitives, must have been an ancient and well-governed nation. 54 COSSACKS. The Cossacks are tall and well made, generally hawk-nosed, and of good mien. They are hardy, vigorous, brave, and extremely jea- lous of what is most valuable in life, their liberty ; fickle and wavering, but sociable, cheerful, and sprightly. They are a very powerful people, and their forces consist wholly of cavalry. Their dialect is a com- pound of the Polish and Russian language, but the latter is the most predominant. They were formerly Pagans or Mahometans ; but upon their entering into the Polish service, they were baptized Christians of the Romish communion ; and now that they belong to Russia, they profess themselves members of the Greek church. Each of their towns, with the district belonging to it, is governed by an officer called cettomau, attaman, or hettman. The Cossacks in general are of great service to garrison towns by way of defence, or to pursue an enemy, but are not so good at regular attacks. Don Cossacks, (so called from their residence on the banks of the Don.) — In 1599, when the czar, John Basilowitz, was emperor of Rus- sia, they voluntarily put themselves under his protection, and are at this time on a pretty equal footing with the other Russian subjects. They have several towns and villages on the banks of the Don ; but are prevented from extending farther up the country, by the scarcity of fresh water and wood in many places. Their chief support is grazing and agriculture, and occasionally robbing and plundering, for which they want neither capacity nor inclination. Every town is governed by a magistrate called tamann ; and the tamanns, with their towns, are under the jurisdiction of two attamans, who reside at Tsherkasky. The troops of these Cossacks consist entirely of cavalry ; and their manners in general resemble those of the Zaporog Cossacks. In this country all the towns and villages are fortified, and encompassed with palisades, to defend them against the incursions of the Calmucs and Kuban Tartars, with whom they are continually at war. The Hei- damack or Seitsh Cossacks have their particular hettman. They inha- bit the Russian, Polish, and Turkish dominions on the Dnieper. The Yaik Cossacks, dwell on the south side of the river Yaik,and, upon the success of the Russian arms in the kingdom of Astracan, voluntarily submitted to them. In stature they greatly resemble the other Cossacks ; though by their boorish manner of living, and inter- marriages with the Tartars, they have not the shape and air peculiar to the rest of their countrymen. Their natural dispositions and customs are, however, nearly the same. Husbandry, fishing, and feeding of cattle are their principal employments ; and, like the other tribes they slip no opportunity of making depredations on their neighbours. Their continual war with the Kara Kalpacs, and the Kasal-Shaia-Horda, oblige them to keep their towns and villages in a state of defence. They are indeed subject to Russian waywodes, to whom they pay an annual tribute in corn, wax, honey, and cattle ; but they have also their particular chiefs, who govern them according to their ancient customs. Though the generality of the Yaik Cossacks profess the Greek religion, yet a great many relics of Mahometanism and Paganism are still found among them. Being naturally bold and hardy, they make excellent soldiers ; and they are not so turbulent as the other Cossacks. They live entirely COSSACKS. 55 at peace with the Calmucs and their other neighbours, and even maintain a commercial intercourse with them. Zaporog Cossacks fixed their habitations on the spacious plains along the banks of the Dnieper, about the beginning of the sixteenth century. They had undergone considerable hardships from the incursions of the Tartars, for which they afterwards found means to revenge themselves in an ample man- ner. The Poles being sensible how serviceable the Cossacks might be in defending them from the ravages of the Tartars, and even of the Russians, proposed to them terms of alliance. In 1562 they solemnly took them under their protection, and engaged to pay them an annual subsidy ; in return for which, the Cossacks were to keep on foot a suffi- cient body of troops for the defence of the Polish dominions. With a view to bind them still more strongly by the ties of interest, the Poles gave them the whole country between the rivers Dneiper and Niester, and the borders of Tartary. The Cossacks applied themselves with great industry to the cultivation of this fertile spot ; so that in a short time it was interspersed with large towrns and handsome villages. Besides, they continually harassed the Turks, and did them great damage by their incursions ; and in order to prevent the latter from pursuing them, or making reprisals, they possessed themselves of seve- ral small islands in the Dnieper, where theykept their magazines, &c. The hettman or general of the Cossacks w as not in the least sub- ordinate to the field-marshal of Poland, but acted in concert with him as an ally, and not as a subject of that republic. But this alliance, though of such manifest advantage to both parties, was not of long duration. The Poles, seeing the vast improvements made by the Cossacks in the country they had given up to them, became envious of them, and actually made an attempt to bring them into subjection. In 1648, the Cossacks gained great advantages over them, and the next year came to an accommodation, in which they notonly preserved their old communities, but obtained additional privileges. The result of all was, that these Cossacks remained under the protection of Rus- sia ; and as their former territory was entirely laid waste in the late wars, they settled in the Russian Ukraine, upon receiving formal assurances from the court of Russia, that no alteration should be made in their political constitution, and that no taxes whatever should be laid upon them. The Cossacks, on the other hand, w r ere always to keep in readiness a good body of troops for the service of Russia ; but in 1708, Mazetta, their hettman or chief, went over from the Russians to the Swedes, upon which Peter II. resolved to prevent such revolts for the future. For this end, after the battle of Pultowa, he sent a strong detachment into the abovementioned little islands in the Dnieper, w hither the Cossacks had fled w ith their w ives and chil- dren and all their effects, and ordered them all to be put to the sw'ord without distinction, and the plunder to be divided among his soldiers. He likewise sent a great number of men into their country, and caused several thousands of the Cossacks to be carried to the coasts of the Baltic, where they w r ere put to all sorts of hard labour, by which means he in a manner extirpated the whole nation. What distinguishes the Zaporog Cossacks from all other people is, that they never suffer any women in their settlements, as the Ama- 56 AMBOYNA. zons are said not to have suffered any men among them. The women of these Cossacks live in the other islands of the Dnieper. They never marry, nor have any family ; all their male children are enrolled as soldiers, and the females are left with their mothers. The brother often has children by his sister, and the father by his laughter. They know no laws but those which custom has introduced, founded on their natural wants, though they have among them some priests of the Greek persuasion. They serve in the army as irregulars ; and wo to those who fall into their hands. The country of these Cossacks, who are an assemblage of ancient Roxalans, Sarmatians, and Tartars, is called the Ocraine or Ukraine. It lies upon the borders of Russia and Poland, Little Tartary, and Turkey, and was anciently a part of Scythia. By the treaty between Russia and Poland, in 1693, the latter remained in possession of all that part of the Ukraine which is situated on the west side of the Dnieper, and is now but poorly cultivated. That on the east side, inhabited by the Cossacks, is in much better condition, and extends about two hundred and sixty miles in length, and as many in breadth. It is one continued fertile plain, watered by a great number of fine rivers, diversified with pleasant woods, and yields such plenty of all sorts of grain, pulse, tobacco, honey, and wax, as to supply a great part of the Russian empire with these commodities. Its pas- tures are exceedingly rich, and its cattle very large, but the inhabit- ants are generally plagued with locusts, which infest this fine country. The houses in the Ukraine are, like those of the Russians, built Mostly of timber. Customs, Religion, &c. in Amboyna. The men of Amboyna, one of the Malacca islands, wear large whiskers, but have little hair upon their chins, and have only a slight piece of stuff lapped round their middle. The women tie their hair in knots ; the maids are bought of their fathers before they are mar- ried ; and if the wife proves barren, the marriage is dissolved. Some of the natives are Mahometans, and some Christians ; but they are all said to be lazy, deceitful, and treacherous. They make war with small swift vessels, in shape like dragons with regard to the head and tail. Their houses are built of bamboo canes and sago-trees. Their weapons are bows and arrows, javelins, cimeters, and targets. Amboyna was first discovered by the Portuguese, who built a fort upon it, which was taken from them by the Dutch in 1605. They did not, however, become masters of the whole island at once. The English had here five factories, the people of which lived under the protection of the Dutch castle, holding themselves safe, in respect to the friendship between the two nations. Great differ- ences had arisen between the Dutch and English colonists in these parts of the world ; till at last the East India company applying to king James, a treaty was concluded in 1619, by which the concerns both of the English and Dutch were regulated, and certain measures agreed upon for preventing future disputes. This was an additional security to the English ; and by virtue of the treaty, they continued AMROYNA. 57 two years in Amboyna, trading’ with the Dutch. During this time, however^ several disputes happened, which occasioning much dis- content, the complaints were sent to Jacatra, in the island of Java Major, to the council of deference of both nations then residing: but they not agreeing, a state of the matter was sent over to Europe, to be decided by the East India companies of both nations ; or, in case they should not agree, by the king of England and the States of of Holland, according to an article in the the treaty of 1619. — But before these disputes could be decided in a legal way, the Dutch, in order to give the more specious colouring to the violent seizure which they meditated of the island of Amboyna, made use of the pretext of a conspiracy being formed by the English and Japanese, to dispossess them of one of their forts in this place. The plot, it was alleged, had been confessed by a Japanese and Portuguese in the English service, who were most inhumauly tortured till they should answer in the affirmative such interrogatories as might favour the secret designs of these cruel inquisitors. Upon the injurious evi- dence of this constrained declaration, they immediately accused the English factors of the pretended conspiracy. Some of them they imprisoned, and others they loaded with irons, and sent on board their ships ; seizing at the same time all the English merchandise, with their writings. These acts of violence were followed by a scene of horror unex- ampled in the punishment of the most atrocious offenders. Some of the factors they tortured by compelling them to swallow water till their bodies were distended to the utmost pitch ; then taking tb miserable victims down from the boards to which they had been fastened, and causing them to disgorge the water : if they did not acknowledge the imputed guilt, the process of torture was repeated. Others of the English they tormented by burning them gradually from the feet upwards, in order to extort the confession of a con- spiracy, which was only pretended by the infernal policy of those savage tormentors. Some had the nails of the fingers and toes torn off; and in some they made holes in their breasts, filling the cavi- ties with inflammable materials, to which they afterwards set fire. Those who did not expire under the agonies of torture were con- signed to the hands of the executioner. The allegation of this pretended conspiracy was equally void of probability and truth. The Dutch had a garrison of three hundred men in the fort, besides the burghers in the town, and several other forts and garrisons in the island, while the English did not amount to twenty men ; nor were even those provided with arms or ammuni- tion, to effect such a design as that with which they were charged. There likewise was not one English vessel in the harbour, whereas the Dutch had eight ships riding near the town ; neither, when the Dutch broke open the desks or trunks of the factors, was there found a single paper or letter which could be construed into a con- spiracy. Add to all this, that such of the unhappy sufferers as could speak or be heard, declared, in the most solemn manner, their inno- cence of the plot with which they were charged. The whole of the transaction affords the most irrefragable testimony that it was H 58 INHABITANTS OF TIIE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. founded only upon a political fiction of the Hollanders, who had formed the design of monopolizing the trade of the Spice Islands, for the accomplishment of which they perpetrated about the same time a similar tragedy at Pooleron, where they put to the torture one hundred and sixty-two of the natives, whom they likewise charged with a pretended conspiracy. It may justly be reckoned singular in the fortune of this commercial republic, that they have ever since been permitted to enjoy in peace those invaluable islands, which were originally obtained by such atrocious infringements of humanity and the laws of nations, as will stain the Dutch annals, to the latest ages, with indelible infamy. But indeed we need not be surprised at any thing of this kind, while some of the powers of Europe pay so little attention to the dictates of humanity, as to permit the African slave-trade to be still carried on by their subjects, or suffer that nation of robbers, the Algerines, to con- tinue their piracies unpunished. Inhabitants of the Friendly Islands, in the Pacific Ocean. The natives of these islands seldom exceed the common stature, but are strong and well made. They are generally broad about the shoulders, and though the muscular appearance of the men rather conveys the idea of strength than of beauty, several of them are really handsome. Most of the women are well proportioned, and some are absolutely perfect models of beauty, both in features and figure. But the most remarkable distinction, is the uncommon smallness and deli- cacy of their fingers. The general colour is a cast deeper than the copper brown, but several have a true olive complexion, and some of the women are even a great deal fairer. Their countenances express their natural mildness, being entirely free from that savage keenness which marks most nations in a barbarous style. They are frank, cheerful, and good-natured. There are few natural deformities to be found among them. The most common is the tetter, or ringworm, which seems to affect almost one half of them, and leaves serpentine marks behind it. Captain Cook had the mortification to learn, that all the care he took when he first visited these islands, to prevent the venereal dis- ease from being communicated to the inhabitants, had proved ineffec- tual. But they do not seem to regard it much. As there appeared few signs of its fatal effects, probably the climate, and their way of living, abate its virulence. There are two other complaints frequent amongst them, one of which is an indolent firm swelling, that affects the legs and arms, and increases them to an extraordinary size in their whole length. The other is a tumor of the same sort, in the lower glands, which sometimes exceeds the size of the two fists. In other respects they seem uncommonly healthy. Their hair is in general straight, thick, and strong, though a few have it bushy, or frizzled. The natural colour is black, but the greatest part of the men, and some of the women, have it stained of a brow n, purple, or orange colour. Some have it, cut off on one side of the INHABITANTS OF THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 59 head only, others have it entirely cut off, except a single lock ; the women in general wear it short. The men have their beards cut short ; and both men and women pluck the hair from the arm-pits. The men are stained from about the middle of the belly to about half way down the thighs with a deep blue colour. The women have also a few small lines or spots, which they imprint on the inside of their hands. The dress of both men and women is the same, and consists of a piece of cloth matting, about a yard wide, and 2| long, so as to go once and a half round the waist, to which it is confined by a girdle. It is double before, and hangs down like a petticoat, as low as the middle of the leg. When unfolded, there is cloth sufficient to draw up, and lap round the shoulders. The inferior sort often wear nothing but a covering made of leaves, or the maro, which is a narrow piece of cloth like a sash, passed between the thighs, and w rapped round the waist. The use of this is chiefly confined to the men. The ornaments worn by both sexes are necklaces, made of the fruit of the pandanus, and various sweet-smelling flowers, which they name Kabulla. Others are composed of small shells, bonesof birds, shark’s teeth, &c. all which hang loose upon the breast ; rings of tortoise- shells on the fingers ; or joined together as bracelets on the wrists. The lobes on the ears, though most frequently only one, are per- forated with two holes, in which they wear cylindrical bits of ivory about three inches long. They bathe in the ponds, being sensible that salt water hurts the skin ; but when they bathe in the sea, they commonly have fresh w ater thrown upon them to wash it off. Those of superior rank use cocoa-nut oil, w hich improves the appearance of the skin. The manufacturing of their cloth is wholly consigned to the care of the women ; as is also their mats, which are esteemed both for their texture and beaut), with many other articles of less note: as, combs, of which they make vast numbers, and little baskets with small beads, all finished with great neatness and taste. The employment of the men is more laborious and extensive. Agriculture, architecture, boat-building, filling, and other things that relate to navigation, are the objects of their care. Roots and fruit being their principal sup- port, they pay constant attention to agriculture, which they have brought to great perfection. In planting the plantains and yams they observe great exactness, and make the rows every way regular and complete. The cocoa nut and bread-fruit trees are scattered about without order, and give them no trouble after they have attained a certain height. The houses of the lower people are poor huts, and very small, those of the higher ranks are larger and more comfortable. The dimensions of one of a middling size is 30 feet long, 20 broad, and 12 high. The house is, properly speaking, a thatched roof, supported by posts and rafters. The floor is raised with earth smoothed, covered w ith strong thick matting, and kept very clean. A thick strong mat, about three feet broad, bent in a semicircle, and set upon its edge, in shape re- sembling a fender, encloses a space for the master and mistress to sleep in. The rest sleep upon the floor, the unmarried men and wo- 60 INHABITANTS OF THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. men apart. If the family be large, there are small huts adjoining, to which the servants retire at night, so that privacy is much observed. The clothes they wear in the day serves for a covering at night. Their whole fortune consists of a bowl or two, in which they make kava, a few gourds, cocoa-nut shells, and some small wooden stools which serve them for pillows. They display much ingenuity in building and navigating their canoes. The only tools that they use to construct them, which are very dexterously made, are hatchets, or rather thick adzes, of a smooth black stone that abounds at Toofoa, augers made of shark's teeth fixed on small handles, and rasps of a rough skin of a fish fastened on flat pieces of wood, thinner on one side, with handles. The cord- age is made from the fibres of the cocoa-nut husk, which, though nine or ten inches long, they plait about the size of a quill, to any length, and roll it up in balls, from which the larger ropes are made by twisting several of these together. The lines that they fish with are as strong and even as the best cord we make. Their weapons are clubs of different sorts, spears, and darts. They have also bows and arrows for shooting birds. The stools are about two feet long, but only four or five inches high, and four broad, bending downward in the middle, with four strong legs, and circular feet; the w hole made of one piece of black or brown wood, neatly polished, and inlaid with bits of ivory. Yams, plantains, bread-fruit, and cocoa-nuts, compose the greatest part of their vegetable diet. Of their animal food, the chief articles are hogs, fowl, fish, and shell- fish : the lower people eat rats. Their food is generally dressed by baking, and they have the art of making, from different kinds of fruit, several dishes, which Captain Cook’s people esteemed very good. The women eat with the men, but there are certain ranks among them that can neither eat nor drink together. They seem to have no set time for meals. They go to bed as soon as it is dark, and rise w ith the dawn. Their diversions are chiefly singing, dancing, and music. The dancing of the men has a thousand different motions with the hands, performed with an ease and grace not to be described but by those who have seen them. Most of the men satisfy them- selves with one wife ; the chiefs, however, have commonly several, though only one is looked upon as mistress of the family. When any person of rank dies, his body is washed and decorated by women appointed for the occasion ; who, by their customs, must not touch any food with their hands for many months afterwards ; and the length of the time that they are thus proscribed is the greater in proportion to the rank of the chief whom they had washed. The concern of these people for the dead is extraordinary. They beat their teeth with stones, strike a shark’s tooth into the head until the blood flows in streams, and thrust spears into the inner part of the thigh, into their sides below the arm-pits, and through the cheeks into the mouth. But these painful operations are only practised to the dead nearly related. Their long and general mourning proves that they consider death as a very great evil, and this is confirmed by a very old custom which they practise to avert it. They suppose that the Deity will accept of the little finger, as a sort of sacrifice to MJLMIAi HI9CHX MI S^LStCIMVTdL^ INHABITANTS OF LAPLAND. 61 procure the recovery of their health. They cut it off with one of their stone hatchets. There was scarcely one in ten of them who was not mutilated. The inferior people also cut off a joint of the little finger on account of the sickness of the chiefs to whom they belong. They seem to have no ideas of future punishment. They believe, however, that they are justly punished upon earth, and therefore use every method to render their divinities propitious. The supreme Author of all things they call Kallafoolonga, who, they say, is a female residing in the sky, and directing all the changes of the weather. They believe that when she is angry with them, the productions of the earth are blasted by lightning, &c. and that they themselves are punished with sickness and death, as well as their hogs and other animals. They also admit a plurality of deities, though all inferior to Kallafoolonga. They call life, or the living principle, Otooa, i. e. a divinity, or invisible being. The power of the king is unlimited, and the lives and properties of his subjects are at his disposal. The lower ranks of people have no property, nor safety for their persons, but are at the will of their chiefs. When any one wants to speak with the king, he advances, and sits down with his legs across; a posture to which they are so much accustomed, that any other position is disagreeable to them. To speak to the king stauding, would be accounted a mark of rudeness. Though some of the chiefs may vie with the king in point of posses- sions, they fall very short in rank, and in certain marks of respect. It is a particular privilege annexed to his sovereignty, not to be punc- tured and circumcised as all his subjects are. Whenever he walks out, every one he meets must sit down, till he has passed. The per- son who is to pay obeisance, squats down before the chief, and bows his head to the sole of his foot, which, when he sits, is so placed that it cannot be easily come at ; and having tapped or touched it with the under and upper side of the fingers of both hands, he retires : the hands, after this application to the chief’s foot, must not touch any kind of food until they be washed. While in this state they are called “taboo rema;” q. d. forbidden hands. Their great men are fond of having women sit beside them all night, or until they fall asleep, with some kind of music ; after which they relax a little of their labour, unless they appear likely to awake, in which case they redouble their drumming until they are again fast asleep. Inhabitants of Lapland. The Laplanders are very low in stature, but have remarkably large heads. They are ill-shaped, and their features harsh. They are, however, strong, hardy, and robust, can bear incredible fatigue, and it is said that the stoutest Norwegian is not able to bend the bow of a Laplander. The women are much less homely than the men, and many of them have a delicate and florid complexion. These people are simple, honest, hospitable, and timorous; their timidity, however, respects war alone, for to many other species of dangers they expose themselves with surprising intrepidity, whether in ascending and d escending mountains and precipices with their snow-shoes and in 62 LAPLANDERS. sledges, or in venturing amidst whirlpools and cataracts in little slen- der boats made of thin fir boards, fastened together with thongs of leather, sinews of wild beasts, or tough and flexible twigs of willow and osier. These boats are of different sizes, from two to six yards in length, managed with oars, and calked with moss so tight as to keep out the water. The Laplanders are partly settled, and partly roving ; the latter live in tents made with coarse cloth ; the former live in small villages near the lakes, and chiefly follow lishing. They build their cottages somewhat in the shape of a cone, by planting a circle of large trees or poles aslant in the earth, and close to each other, so that their tops meet, and form a small vent for the issue of the smoke ; they cover the ground w ithin with branches of trees. In spring their food consists principally of the eggs of water-fowl, which are extremely plentiful ; in summer and autumn, of the birds themselves, and of various others of the partridge tribe; and in winter, of the milk and flesh of the rein-deer and dried fish. They had till lately no bread, but used the inner rind of the pine-tree dried and ground, and dried fish reduced to powder. They make confections and decoctions of berries, angelica, and sorrel, which they use as preservatives against the scurvy. The Laplander enjoys almost uninterrupted health, by temperance and exercise, which brace his nerves to a very unusual pitch of strength, and fortify his constitution in such a manner, that he often lives to the age of 100 without feeling any disease, or perceiving his vigour impaired. It is not uncommon to see a Laplander in old age hunt- ing, fowling, skaiting, and performing all the several exercises of youth with agility. The summer garb of the men consists of a long coat of coarse cloth, reaching down to the middle of the leg, and girded round the waist by a belt or girdle, from which hang a Norway knife, and a pouch containing flints, matches, tobacco, and other necessaries, the girdle itself being decorated with brass rings and chains. Their caps are made of the skin of the northern diver, with the feathers on ; and their shoes of the rein-deer skin, with the hair outwards. They wear no linen, but the garments of the superior ranks are of a finer cloth, and they delight in various colours, of which red is the most agreeable. In winter they are totally cased up in coats, caps, boots, and gloves, made of rein-deer skins. In the “Flora Laponica,” Linnaeus says, “Perhaps the curious reader w ill w onder how the people of Lapland, during the terrible cold that reigns there in winter, can preserve their lives ; since almost all birds, and even some wild beasts, desert it at that time. The Lap- lander, not only in the day, but during the whole winter nights, is obliged to wander about in woods for his herds of rein-deer ; for the rein-deer never come under cover, nor eat any kind of fodder but a particular kind of liverwort. On this account the herdsmen are under a necessity of living continually in the woods, to take care of their cattle, lest they should be devoured by the wild beasts. The Lap- lander easily does with little light, as the snow reflects the rays from the stars, and as the Aurora Borealis illuminates the air every night. LAPLANDERS. G3 He guards himself against the cold in the fallowing manner : he wears breeches made of rein-deer ckins with the hair on, and shoes made of the same materials, the hairy part turned outwards. He puts into the shoes slender-eared broad-leaved cypress grass, that is cut in summer and dried. This he first combs, and rubs in his hands, and then places it in such a manner, that it not only covers his feet quite round, but his legs also ; and being thus guarded, he is quite secured against the intense cold. With this grass he stuffs his gloves likewise, to preserve the hands. As this grass keeps out the cold in winter, so in summer it hinders the feet from sweating, and at the same time prevents them from being annoved by striking against stones, &c. for their shoes are very thin, being made not of tanned leather, but of raw hide. The women’s apparel differs very little from that of the men ; only their girdles are more ornamented with rings, chains, needle-cases, and toys that sometimes weigh 20lb. In winter, both men and women lie in their furs ; in summer they cover themselves entirely with coarse blankets, to defend themselves from the gnats. Marriage and Funeral Ceremonies. The manner in which the young Laplander chooses a wife is equally remarkable and ludicrous. When he has pitched upon a female, he employs some friends as mediators with the father; and these being provided with some bottles of brandy, the suitor accom- panies them to the house of his future father-in-law, who invites the mediators to enter ; but the lover is left without, till the liquor is drank, and the proposal discussed ; then he is called in, and enter- tained with such fare as the hut affords ; yet without seeing his mis- tress, who retires, or goes out. Having obtained leave of her parents to make his addresses in person, he puts on his best apparel, and is admitted to the lady, whom he salutes with a kiss : then he presents her with the tongue of a rein-deer, a piece of beaver’s flesh, or some other provision. She declines the offer, which is made in presence of her sisters and relations ; but makes a signal to her lover to follow her into the fields, where she accepts the presents. When the lovers are agreed, the youth is permitted to visit his intended as often as he shall think proper ; but every time he comes he must purchase this pleasure with a fresh bottle of brandy ; a perquisite so agreeable to the father, that he often postpones the celebration of the nuptials for two or three years. At length the ceremony is performed at church by the priest of the parish. Even after this event the husband is obliged to serve his father-in-law a whole year, at the expiration of which time he retires to his own habitation with his wife and her patrimony of rein-deer, and receives presents from all his friends and relations. From this period he sequesters his wife from the com- pany of all strangers, especially of the male sex, and watches over her conduct with the most jealous vigilance. Many Lapland women are barren, and none of them are very fruitful. A woman, immediately after delivery, swallows a draught of w hale fat; the child is washed with snow or cold water, and wrapped up in a hare-skin. The mother is seldom above five days in confine- C> 4 LAPLANDERS ment, and in fourteen is generally quite recovered ; then she carries the child to church to be baptized. Before she can reach the residence of the priest, she is often obliged to traverse large forests, mountains, lakes, and wide-extended wastes of snow. The infant is fastened in a hollow piece of wood, stretched naked on a bed of tine moss, covered with the soft skin of a young rein-deer, and slung by two straps to the back of the mother, who always suckles her ow n child. At home this little cradle is hung to the roof of the hut, and the child lulled to sleep by swinging it from one side to the other. The boys from their infancy practise the bow, and they are not allowed to break their fast in the morning until they have hit the mark. The female children are as early initiated in the business peculiar to their sex. When a Laplander is supposed to be on his death-bed, his friends exhort him to die in the faith of Christ, and bear his sufferings with resignation, remembering the passion of our Saviour. They are not, however, very ready to attend him in his last moments, and, as soon as he expires, they quit the place with precipitation, apprehend- ing some injury from his ghost, which they believe remains with the corpse, and takes all opportunities of doing mischief to the living. The deceased is wrapped up in woollen or linen, according to his circumstances, and deposited in a coffin by a person selected for that purpose; but this office he will not perform, unless he is first secured from the ill offices of the manes by a consecrated brass ring fixed on his left arm. Together with the body, they put into the coffin an axe, a flint, a steel, a flask of brandy, some dried fish, and veni- son. With the axe the deceased is supposed to hew down the bushes or boughs that may ob_ ct his passage in the other world ; the steel and flint is designed lor striking a light, should he find himself in the dark at the day of judgment; and on the provision they think he may subsist during his journey. The Muscovite Laplanders observe other ceremonies, that bear an affinity to the superstitions of the Greek church. They provide him with money for the porter of paradise, and a certificate, signed by the priest, and directed to St. Peter, specifying that the bearer had lived like a good Christian, and ought to be admitted into heaven. At the head of the coffin they place a little image of St. Nicholas, who is greatly reverenced as a friend to the dead. Before the inter- ment, the friends of the deceased kindle a fire of fir boughs near the coffin, and express their sorrow in tears and lamentations. They w'alk in procession scv^al times round the body, demanding, in a whining tone, the reason, of his leaving them, with many other ridi- culous questions. Meantime the priest sprinkles the corpse and the mourners alternately w'ith holy water. The body is at last conveyed to the place of interment on a sledge drawn by rein-deer ; which, with the clothes of the deceased, are left as the priest’s perquisite. Three days after the burial, the kinsman and friends of the defunct are invited to an entertainment, where they eat the flesh of the rein- deer which conveyed ifie corpse to the burying ground. This beiug a sacrifice to the manes, the bones are collected into a basket, and interred. Two-thirds of the effects of the deceased are inherited by BABYLONIANS. 65 liis brothers, and the remainder divided among his sisters; but the lands, lakes, and rivers, are held in coparceny by all the children of both sexes, according to the division made by Charles IX. of Sweden, when he assigned a certain tract of land to each family. Peculiar Customs of the Babylonians. We shall first notice the peculiar and surprising construction of their boats of skins, in which they sailed along the river to Babylon. These boats were invented by the Armenians, whose country lay north from Babylonia. They made them with poles of willow, which they bent, and covered with skins ; the bare side of the skins they put outward, and they made them so tight, that they resembled boards. The boats had neither prow nor stern, but were of a round form like a buckler. They put straw on the bottom. Two men, each with an oar, row ed them down the river, laden with different w ares, but chiefly palm wines. Of these boats, some were very large, and some very small. The largest carried the weight of five hundred talents. There was room for an ass in their small boats ; they put many into a large one. When they had unloaded after their arrival at Babylon, they sold the poles of their boats and the straw ; and loading their asses with the skins, returned to Armenia, for they could not sail up the river, its current was so rapid. For this reason, they made their boats of skins instead of wood, and on their return to Armenia with their asses, they applied their skins to their former use. As to their dress, they wore a linen shirt, which came down to their feet ; over it they wore a woollen robe’; their outer garment was a white vest. Their shoes resembled '.'fese of the Thebans. They let their hair grow. On their heads they wore a turban. They rub- bed their bodies all over with fragrant liquors. Each man had a ring on his finger and an elegant cane in his hand, with an apple at the top, or a rose, a lily, or an eagle, or some other figure ; for they were not suffered to use canes without devices. When the Babylonians had become poor by the ruin of their me- tropolis, fathers used to prostitute their daughters for gain. There was one custom among the Babylonians worthy to be related. They brought their sick into the forum, to consult those who passed, on their diseases, for they had no physicians : they asked those who approached the sick, if they ever had the same distemper ? if they knew any one who had it? and how it was cured ? Hence, in this coun- try, every one w ho saw a sick person was ol Mged to go to him and in- quire into his distemper. They embalmed tlu. dead with honey ; and their mourning was like that of the Egyptians. There were three Baby- lonian tribes who lived only upon fish, which they prepared by drying them in the sun, and then beating them in a sort of mortar to a kind of flour, which, after they had sifted through a linen sieve, they baked in rolls. Marriage Laws. When the girls were marriageable, they were ordered to meet in a certain place, where the young men likewise assembled. They were i 66 INHABITANTS OF ATOOI. then sold by the public crier; but be first sold the most beautiful one. When he had sold her at an immense price, he put up others to sale, according to their degrees of beauty. The rich Babyloilans were emulous to carry off the finest women, who were sold to the highest bidders. But as the young men who were poor could not aspire to have fine women, they were content to take the less hand- some with the money which was given them ; for when the crier had sold the handsomest, he ordered the ugliest of all the women to be brought, and asked if any one was willing to take her with a small sum of money. Thus she became the wife of him who was most easily satisfied ; and thus the finest women were sold, and from the money which they sold for, small fqrtnnes were given to the ugliest, and to those w'ho had any bodily infirmity. A father could not give his daughter in marriage as he pleased ; nor was he who bought her allowed to take her home, without giving security that he would marry her. But, after the sale, if the parties were not agreeable to each other, the law enjoined that the money should be restored. The inhabitants of any of their towns w ere allowed to marry wives at those auctions. Such were the early customs of the Babylonians. But they afterwards made a law, which prohibited the inhabitants to inter- marry, by which husbands were punished for treating their wives ill. Inhabitants of Atooi. Atooi is one of the Sandwich islands. The natives of this island are of the middle size, and in general stoutly made. They are neither remarkable for a beautiful shape nor for striking features. Their visage, particularly that of the women, is sometimes round, but others have it long; nor can it justly be said that they are distinguished as a nation by any general cast of countenance. Their complexion is nearly of a nut-brow n, but some individuals are of a darker hue. They are far from being ugly, and have to all appearance few natural deformities of any kind. Their skin is not very soft nor shining ; but their eyes and teeth are for the most part pretty good. Their hair in general is straight ; and though its natural colour is usually black, they stain it, as at the Friendly and other islands. They are active, vigorous, and most expert swimmers, leaving their canoes upon the most frivolous occasions, diving under them, and swimming to others, though at a considerable distance. Women with infants at the breast, when the surf w as so high as to prevent their landing in the canoes, frequently leapt overboard and swam to the shore, without endanger- ing their little ones. They appear to he of a frank cheerful disposition, and are equally free from the fickle levity which characterizes the inhabitants of Otaheite, and the sedate cast which is observable among many of those of Tongataboo. They seem to cultivate a sociable intercourse with each other; and, except the propensity to thieving, which is as it were innate in most of the people in those seas, they appeared extremely friendly. It was pleasing to observe with what affection the women managed their infants, and with what alacrity the men contributed their assist- ance in such a tender office; thus distinguishing themselves from FORMOSANS. 67 (hose savages who consider a wife and child as things rather necessary, than desirable or worthy of their regard and esteem. From the numbers that were seen assembled at every village, in coasting along, it was conjectured that the inhabitants of this island are pretty numerous. Including the straggling houses, it was compu- ted there might perhaps be, in the whole island, sixty such villages as that near which our ships anchored ; and allowing five persons to each house, there would be in every village 500, or 30,000 in all upon the island. This is by no means exaggerated ; for there were some- times 3000 people at least collected upon the beach, w hen it could not be supposed that above a tenth part of the natives were present. Formosans. These are the inhabitants of the island of Formosa. These Indians are distributed into forty-five villages, thirty- six of which lie to the north, and nine towards the south. The northern villages are very populous, and the houses almost after the Chinese manner. The habitations of the southern islanders are only heaps of huts, or cot- tages of earth. In these huts they have neither chairs, benches, tables, beds, nor any piece of furniture ; the middle part is occupied by a kind of hearth or chimney raised two feet high, and constructed of earth, upon which they dress their victuals. Their ordinary food is rice, other small grain, and the game which they catch by coursing or kill with their arms. These islanders run with such surprising swiftness, that they can almost outstrip the fleetest greyhound. The Chinese attribute this agility to the precaution they take of confin- ing their knees and reins by a close bandage, till the age of fourteen or fifteen. Their favourite arms are lances, which they dart to the distance of sixty or eighty feet with the greatest dexterity and precision. They use bows and arrows, and can kill a pheasant on the wing with as much certainty as an European sportsman could with a fusee. They are very dirty in their manner of eating. They have neither plates, dishes, nor spoons, nor even small sticks as used in China. Whatever they dress is placed on a plain board or mat, and they use their fingers to convey it to their mouths. They eat flesh haif raw ; if it has been only presented to the fire, it appears to them excellent. Their beds are formed of fresh-gathered leaves. They go almost naked, and wear only a piece of cloth which hangs from their girdle to their knees. Those among them who have borne away the prize for agility in running, or dexterity in the chase, obtain the honourable privilege of marking on their skin, by a very painful operation, several fantastical figures of flowers, trees, and animals. All have a right of blackening their teeth, and of wearing ornaments of bracelets and crow ns made of shells and crystals. The islanders who inhabit the northern part, where the climate is something colder, clothe themselves with the skins of the stags which they kill in hunting. They make a kind of dress of them without sleeves, that pretty much resembles a dalmatic, or vestment worn at the altar by the Roman clergy. They wear on their heads caps in FORMOSANS GO the form of a cylinder, made of palm leaves, and ornamented with several crowns placed one above another, on the top of which they fix plumes composed of the feathers of a cock or pheasant. The marriage ceremonies of the Formosans approach near to the simple laws of nature. They neither purchase, as in China, the women whom they espouse, nor does interest preside over their unions. Fathers and mothers are scarcely ever consulted. If a young man has a mind to marry, and has fixed his affection on a young girl, he appears for several days following near the place where she lives, with a musical instrument in his hand. If the young woman is satisfied with the figure of her gallant, she comes forth and joins him ; they then agree, and settle the marriage contract. After this they give notice to their parents, who prepare a wedding dinner, which is always given in the house where the young woman resides, and where the bridegroom remains, without returning again to his father. The young man afterwards considers the house of his father- in-law as his own. He becomes the support of it, and has no farther connexion with that of his father ; like married women in Europe, who generally quit their paternal home to live with their husbands. These islanders are therefore seldom anxious for male children ; they prefer daughters, because they procure them sons-in- law, w ho become the supports of their old age. Although the Formosans are entirely subjected to the Chinese, they still preserve some remains of their ancient government. Each village chooses three or four old men from among those who have the greatest reputation for probity. By this choice they become rulers and judges of the rest. They have the power of finally determining all differences ; and if any should refuse to abide by their judgment, he would be immediately banished from the village, without hopes of ever being able to re-enter it, and none of the inhabitants would after- wards receive him. The natives pay in grain the tribute imposed upon them by the Chinese. To regulate every thing that concerns the laying on and collecting of this impost, government has established a Chinese in every village, who is obliged to learn the language, and act as inter- preter to the mandarins. These interpreters are most cruel extor- tioners to the miserable people, whom they ought rather to protect; they are such insatiable leeches, that they can scarcely ever be satis- fied. This daily and domestic tyranny has caused the desertion of three villages in the southern part of the island, where formerly there were twelve. The inhabitants of these villages revolted, expelled their interpreters, lefused to pay tribute any longer to the Chinese, and united themselves to the independent nations in the eastern part of the island. It was in the island of Formosa, that John Struys affirms to have seen w ith his own eyes a man icho had a tail more than a foot in lengthy covered with red hair , and greatly resembling that of an ox ! This man with a tail said, that his deformity, if it was one, proceeded from the climate, and that all those of the southern part of the island were born with tails like his. But John Struys is the only author who attests the existence of this extraordinary race of men, no other BISCAYERS. 69 writer who has spoken of Formosa makes the least mention of this singular appendage. Biscayers. These are a people quite distinct from other Spaniards. Their language is counted aboriginal, and unmixed with Italian, French, or Spanish, and seems to be a dialect of the Celtic. It is so totally different from the Castilian, that we seldom meet with any of the pea- sants that understand one word of the Spanish. The Biscayers are stout, brave, and choleric to a proverb. The best sailors in Spain belong to the ports of Biscay, and its mountains produce a very valuable race of soldiers. Their privileges are very extensive, and they watch over them with a jealous eye. They have no bishops in the province, and style the king only, lord of Biscay. The men are well-built and active, like all mountaineers. The most singular thing in their dress is the covering of their legs; they lap a piece of coarse grey or black woollen cloth round them, and fasten it on with many turns of tape. The women are tall, beau- tiful, light, and merry; their garb is neat and pastoral, their hair falis in long plaits down their backs; and a veil or handkerchief twisted round in a coquetish manner, serves them for a very becoming head-dress. On Sundays they generally wear white, covered with rose-coloured knots. Siamese. These are the inhabitants of Siam, a kingdom of Asia. The Siamese are of small stature, but well proportioned ; their complex- ions are sw arthy ; the faces of both sexes are broad, and their foreheads suddenly contracting, terminate in a point, as well as their chins. They have small black eyes, hollowed jaws, large mouths, and thick pale lips. Their teeth are dyed black, their noses are short and round at the end, and they have large ears, which they think beautiful. Their hair is thick and lank, and both sexes cut it so short that it reaches no lower than their ears ; the women make it stand up on their foreheads, and the men shave their beards. People of distinc- tion wear a piece of calico tied about their loins, that reaches down to their knees. The men bring up this cloth between their legs, and tuck it in their girdles, which gives it the appearance of a pair of breeches. They have also a muslin shirt without a collar, with wide sleeves, no wrist-bands, and the bosom open. In winter they wear a piece of stuff or painted linen over their shoulders like a mantle, and W'ind it about their arms. The king of Siam is distinguished by wearing a vest of brocaded satin with straight sleeves that reach down to the waist, under such a shirt as above described ; but no subject must wear this dress, unless he receives it from the king. They wear slippers with peaked toes turned up, but no stockings. All the retinue of the king, either in war or in hunting, are clothed in red. The king wears a cap in the form of a sugar loaf, encompassed by a coronet of precious 70 •SIAMESE. stones; those of his officers have a circle of gold, silver, or of ver- milion gilt, to distinguish their quality ; these caps are fastened under the chin ; they are only worn in the king’s presence, or in courts of justice, and on other extraordinary occasions. They have also hats for travelling ; but in general, few people cover their heads, notwithstanding the scorching heat of the sun. The women also wrap a cloth about their middle, which hangs down to the calf of their legs. They cover their breasts with another cloth, the ends of which hang down over their shoulders. But they have no garment corresponding to a shift, nor any cover- ing for their heads but their hair. The common people are almost naked, and wear neither shoes nor slippers. The women wear as many rings on the three last fingers of each hand as they can keep on, and bracelets upon their wrists and ancles, with pendants in their ears shaped like a pear. For an inferior to stand before a superior is deemed insolent ; and therefore slaves and people of inferior rank sit upon their heels, with their head a little inclined, and their joined hands lifted up to their foreheads. In passing by a superior they bend their bodies, joining their hands and lifting them towards their heads. The highest part of the house is esteemed the most honour- able. The Siamese, indeed, have but one story, but the rooms rise gradually, and the innermost, .which are the highest, are always the most honourable. The Siamese never permit such familiarities as are practised by gentlemen in Europe. Easiness of access, and affability to inferiors, is in that part of the world thought a sign of weakness ; and yet they take no notice of some things which would be looked upon as ill breeding among us ; such as belching in company, which no man endeavours to prevent, or to conceal, so much as to hold his hand before his mouth. They have an extraordinary respect for the head, and it is the greatest affront to stroke or touch that of another person ; nay, their cap must not be used with too much familiarity. They are esteemed an ingenious people, and though rather indolent than active, they are not addicted to voluptuous vices, which often accompany a state of ease, being remarkably chaste and temperate. They are, however, insolent towards their inferiors, and equally obsequious to those above them. In general their behaviour is extremely modest, and they are averse from loquacity. Like the Chinese, they avoid speaking in the first person ; and when they address a lady, it is always with some respectful epithet, insinuating accomplishments. No man learns any particular trade, but has a general knowledge of all that are com- monly practised, and every one works six months for the king by rotation ; at which time, if he should be found perfectly ignorant o. the business he is set about, he is doomed to suffer the bastinado. The consequence of this burdensome service is, that no man endea- vours to excel in his business, lest he should be obliged to practise it as long as he lives for the benefit of the crown. The Siamese maintain the doctrine of transmigration, believing in a pre-existent state, and that they shall pass into other bodies till they are sufficiently purified to be received into paradise. They SI-FAN'S, OR TOU-FANS. 71 believe likewise that the soul is material, but not subject to the touch ; that it retains the human figure after quitting the body, and that when it appears to former acquaintances, which they suppose it to do, the wounds of one that has been murdered will then be visible. They are of opinion that no man will be eternally punished; that the good, after several transmigrations, will en joy a perpetual happiness ; but that those who are not reformed will be doomed to transmigra- tion to all eternity. They believe in the existence of a Supreme Being ; but the objects of their adoration are departed saints, whom they consider as mediators or intercessors for them ; and to them both temples and images are erected. The men are allowed a plurality of women ; but excepting one, who is a wife by contract, the others are only concubines, and their children deemed incapable of any legal inheritance. Previous to every nuptial contract, an astrologer must be consulted, who calcu- lates the nativity of the parties, and determines whether their union is likely to prove fortunate or otherwise. When his prognostication is favourable, the lover is permitted to visit his mistress three times, at the last of which interviews the relations being present, the mar- riage portion is paid, when, without any religious ceremony per- formed, the nuptials are reckoned complete, and soon after consum- mated. A few days after, the talapoin visits the married couple, sprinkles them with water, and repeats a prayer for their prosperity. The Siamese were anciently famous for their skill in astronomy. Si-Fans, or Tou-Fans. These are a people inhabiting the country on the w r est of China. The Si-Fans are divided into two kinds of people ; the one are called by the Chinese, black Si-Fans, the other yellow, from the different colours of their tents. The black are the most clownish and wretched ; they live in small bodies, and are governed by petty chiefs, who all depend upon a greater. The yellow Si-fans are subject to a family, the oldest of which becomes a lama, and assumes the yellow dress. These lama princes, who command in their respective districts, have the power of trying causes and punishing criminals ; but their government is by no means burdensome. Provided certain honours are paid them, and they receive punctually the dues of the god Fo, which amount to very little, they molest none of their subjects. The greater part of the Si-fans live in tents ; but some of them have houses built of earth, and even brick. Their habitations are not contiguous ; they form at most but some small hamlets, consisting of five or six families. They feed a great number of flocks, and are in no want of the necessaries of life. The principal article of their trade is rhubarb, which their country produces in great abundance. Their horses are small, but they are well-shaped, lively, and robust. These people are proud, and of independent spirit, and acknowledge with reluctance the superiority of the Chinese government, to which they have been subjected. When they are summoned by the mandarins, they rarely appear ; but the government, for political reasons, winks at this contempt, and endeavours to keep these intractable subjects 72 INHABITANTS OF PERU. under by mildness and moderation ; it would besides be difficult by rigorous means to reduce them to perfect obedience ; their wild and fright ful mountains, the tops of which are always covered with snow, even in July, would afford them places of shelter, from which they could never be driven by force. The customs of these mountaineers are totally different from those of the Chinese. It is, for example, an act of great politeness among them to present a white handkerchief of taffeta or linen, when they accost any person whom they are desirous of honouring. All their religion consists in their adoration of the god Fo, to whom they have a singular attachment ; their superstitious veneration extending even to his ministers, on whom they have considered it as their duty to con- fer supreme honour and the government of the nation. Inhabitants of Peru. Peru is a couutry of South America, which abounds more in wo- men than in men, and the women' enjoy a better state of health, owing to the earlier intemperance of men. The Creoles are well made, of a proper stature, and of a lively and agreeable countenance. The Mestizos are also in general well made, often taller than the ordinary size, and very robust. The Indians are commonly low in stature, though strong and well-proportioned. Some are remarkably short. Their hair is thick and long, and worn loose ; but the Indian women plait theirs behind with a ribbon, and cut that before, above the eye-brows. The greatest disgrace that can be offered to an Indian of either sex is to cut off their hair ; any other punishment they bear with patience, but this they never forgive. The colour of their hair is a deep black, lank, harsh, ami coarse as that of a horse. The male Mestizos, to distinguish themselves from the Indians, cut off their hair ; but the females do not. The Mestizos wear a blue cloth, manufactured in Europe. The Mestizo women affect to dress in the same manner as the Spanish. The dress of the Indians con- sists of white cotton drawers down to the calf of the leg, loose, and edged with a lace. The shirt is supplied by a black cotton frock in the form of a sack, with three openings, one for the head and two others for the arms. Over this is a serge cloak, and a hat. This is a general dress, which they never lay aside, even while they sleep. The Indians who have acquired some fortune, particularly the barbers and phlebotomists, distinguish themselves from the country- men by the fineness of their drawers, and a shirt with lace four or five fingers broad, fastened round like a ruff or band. They w'ear silver or gold buckles in their shoes, though they wear no stock- ings ; and have a cloak of fine cloth, often adorned with gold or silver lace. Rum and brandy are drank by persons of all ranks; but the excessive use of spirituous liquors chiefly prevails among the Mestizos. Another liquor much used in this country is made of an herb called Paraguay. Gaming is carried to an extravagant height. The common people and the Indians are greatly addicted to stealing, but highway robberies are seldom heard of. SHILLOOK. 73 Anthropophagi or Men-Eaters. Garcilasso- de-la-Vega mentions a people in Peru, who made eunuchs of their children by their female captives, in order to fatten them for the table ; and when the mothers could breed no more, they shared the same fate : and Herrera speaks of the markets in China, as being regularly supplied with human flesh, which was considered as a delicacy, and only fitted for the rich. The history of Milan furnishes an extraordinary instauce of Anthropophagia. A woman was broken on the wheel, and burnt in that town, in the year 1519, whose crime was a long continued practice of enticing children into her house, whom she killed and salted. Siiillook. This is the name of the inhabitants of Sennaar, a country of Africa. This country, together w ith all the northern part of Africa, had been over-run by the Saracens during the rapid conquests of the Khalifs ; but instead of erecting any distinct principalities here, as in other parts, they had incorporated themselves with the original inhabitants called shepherds, whom they found at their arrival, and had converted them to their religion, and become one people with them. In 1504 the Shillook, a people before unknown, came from the western banks of the river Bahiar el Abiad, which runs into the Nile, and conquered the country, allowing the Arabs, however, to retain their possessions on condition of paying them a certain tribute. These founded the city of Sennaar, and have ever since continued to carry on a com- mercial intercourse with Egypt. At the establishment of their monar- chy the whole nation w'ere Pagans, but soon after became converts to Mahometanism, and took the name of Funge, an appellation signifying lords or conquerors, and likewise free citizens. Mr. Bruce, who passed through this country in his return from Abyssinia, gives a list of twenty kings who have reigned in it since the conquest of the Shillook. This country is inhabited by a people so barbarous and brutish, that no history of them can be expected. One of the most remarkable of their customs is, that the king ascends the throne with the expectation of being murdered whenever the general council of the nation thinks proper. The dreadful office of executioner belongs to one single officer, styled, in the language of the country, Sid el Coom, and who is always a relation of the monarch himself. It was from his registers that Mr. Bruce took the list of the kings already mentioned, with the number of years they reigned, and which may therefore be received as authentic. The Sid el Coom, in office at he time when Mr. Bruce visited this country, was named Achmet, and was one of his best friends. He had murdered the late king with three of his sons, one of whom w'as ail infant at his mother’s breast; he was also in daily expectation of per- forming the same office to the reigning sovereign. He was by no means reserved concerning the nature of his office. When asked by Mr. Bruce, why he murdered his young son in his father’s presence l K 74 SIIILLOOK. he answered tb- he did it from a principle of duty to the king himself, who had a right to see his son killed in a lawful and regular manner, which was by cutting his throat with a sword, and not in a more painful or ignominious way which the malice of his enemies might possibly have inflicted. The king, he said, was very little concerned at the sight of h ; son s death, but he was so very unwilling to die himself, that he often pressed the executioner to let him escape ; but finding his entreaties ineffectual, he submitted at last without resistance. On being asked whether he was not afraid of coming into the pre- sence of the king, considering the office he might possibly have to perform? he replied, that he was not in the least afraid, on this account — that it was his duty to be with the king every morning, and very late in the evening; that the king knew he had no hand in pro- moting his death ; but that when the matter was absolutely deter- mined, the rest was only an affair of decency ; and it would undoubt- edly he his own choice rather to fall by the hand of his own relation privately than by a hired assassin, an Arab, or a Christian slave, in the sight of the populace. On the death of any sovereign of this country, his eldest son succeeds ; on which as many of his brothers as can he found are apprehended, and put to death by the Sid el Coom. Women are excluded from the sovereignty here, as well as at Abyssinia. The princesses of Sennaar, however, are worse off 'than those of Abyssinia, having no settled income, nor are they treated in any degree better than the daughters of private persons. The king is obliged, once in his life- time, to plough and sow a piece of ground, whence he is named Baady, “ the countryman, or peasant,” a title as common among the nionarchs of Sennaar as Caesar was among the Romans. When the royal family marry Arab women, the white colour of the mother is com- municated to the child. This, we are told by Mr. Bruce, is invaria- bly the case when a negro man of Sennaar marries an Arab woman, and it holds equally good when an Arab man marries a negro woman ; and he likewise informs us, that he never saw one black Arab all the time that he was at Sennaar. The soil and climate of this country is extremely unfavourable both to man and beast. The men are strong, and remarkable for their size, but short-lived ; and there is such a mortality among the children, that were it not for a constant importation of slaves, the metropolis would be depopulated. The shortness of their lives, however, may perhaps he accounted for, from their indulging them- selves from their infancy in every kind of excess. The dress of the people of Sennaar consists only of a long shirt of blue cloth, which wraps them up from the under part of the neck to the feet. The men sometimes have a sash tied about their middle; and both men and women go barefooted in the houses, whatever their rank may be. The floors of their apartments, especially those of the women, are covered with Persian carpets. Both men and women anoint themselves at least once a day with camel’s grease mixed with civet, which they imagine softens their skin, and preserves it from cutaneous eruptions, of which they are so fearful, that they confine themselves to their houses, if they observe the smallest pimple on SH1LL00K. 75 their skins. With the same view of preserving the sk’us, though they have a clean shirt every day, they sleep with a - reused one at night, having no other covering but this. Their bed is a tanned bull’s hide, which this constant greasing softens very much ; it is also very cool, though it gives a smell to their bodies, from wlibh they cannot be freed by any washing. Our author gives a very curious description of the queen a no ladies of the court of Sennaar. He had access to them as a physician, and was permitted to pay his visit alone. He was first shewn into a large square apartment, where there were about fifty black women, all quite naked, except a very narrow piece of cotton rag about their waists. As he was musing w hether these were all queens, one of them took him by the hand, and led him into another apartment, much better lighted than the former. Here he saw' three women sitting upon a bench or sofa, covered with blue Serat cloth, they themselves being clothed from the neck to the feet with cotton shirts of the same colour. These were three of the king’s wives ; his favourite, who was one of the number, appeared to be about six feet high, and so corpu- lent, that our traveller imagined her to be the largest creature he had seen, next to the elephant and rhinoceros. Her features perfectly resembled those of a negro ; a ring of gold passed through her under lip, and weighed it down, till, like a flap, it covered her chin, leaving her teeth bare, which were small and very fine. The inside of her lip was made black with antimony. Her ears reached down to her shoulders, and had the appearance of wings ; there was a gold ring in each of them about five inches in diameter, and somewhat smaller than a man’s little finger, the weight of which had drawn down the hole, where her ear was pierced, so much, that three fingers might easily pass above the ring. She had a gold necklace of several row s, one below another, to which were hung rows of sequins pierced. She had two manacles of gold upon her ankles, larger than those used for chaining felons. Our author could not imagine how it was possible for her to walk w ith them, till he was informed that they were hollow. The others were dressed much in the same manner, only there was one who had chains coming from her ears to the outside of each nos- tril, where they were fastened. A ring was also put through the gris- tle of her nose, which hung down to the opening of her mouth, hav- ing altogether something of the appearance of a horse’s bridle ; and Mr. Bruce thinks she must have breathed with difficulty. Seneg alians. These are the inhabitants of the island of Senegal. The men are tall, and the women are accounted the handsomest, negresses of all Africa. The Senegalians may be considered as the most courageous people in that part of the world, without even excepting the Moors. Their coinage, however, is more nearly allied to temerity than to bravery. In the course of a voyage to Galam, they met the greatest dangers with gaiety and song. They dread neither musket nor cannon, and are equally fearless of the cayman or crocodile. Should one of their companions be killed, ahd devoured by these animals before their face. 76 CANTABRIANS. they are not deterred from plunging into the water, if the working of the ship require it. These excellent qualifications, which distinguish them, do not, however, preserve them from rapine. They are emu- lous to surpass one another in all the arts of over-reaching and fraud. The conduct of the Europeans has, no doubt, encouraged these vices, as much as the lessons of the Marabons, who inculcate the duty of plundering the Christians to the utmost of their power. The Yolof negroes of Senegal are either Christians or Mahometans, or, w ith more truth, neither; religion being a matter of indifference to them. Cantabrians. The inhabitants of Cantabria are famous for their w arlike character. In conjunction with the Asturians, they carried on desperate wars with the Romans, but were subdued by them about B. C. 25. Im- patient, however, of a foreign yoke, they soon revolted. Most of their youth had been taken prisoners by the Romans, and sold for slaves to the neighbouring nations ; but having found means to break their chains, they cut the throats of their masters, and, returning to their ow'n country, attacked the Roman garrisons with great fury. Agrippa marched against them with great expedition, but, on his arrival, met with so vigorous a resistance, that his soldiers began to despair of ever reducing them. As the Cantabrians had waged war with Rome for upwards of 200 years, they were well acquainted with their manner of fighting, no way inferior to them in courage, and were become desperate, knowing that if they were conquered after having so often attempted to reco- ver their liberty, they must expect the most severe usage. Animated by this reflection, they fell upon the Romans with a fury hardly to be imagined, routed them in several engagements, and defended them- selves when attacked with such intrepidity, that Agrippa afterwards owned he had never, either by sea or laud, been engaged in a more dangerous enterprise. That brave commander used entreaties and menaces, and even branded some of his legionaries with ignominy, be- fore he could bring them to enter the lists with such a formidable foe. But having at last prevailed upon them to try the chance of an engagement in the open field, he so animated them by his own exam- ple, that after a most obstinate dispute he gained a complete victory, which put an end to that destructive war. All the Cantabrians fit to bear arms were cut in pieces, their castles and strong holds taken and razed, and their women, children, and old men, none else being left alive, were obliged to abandon the mountainous parts, and settle in the plain. Customs, Dress, &c: of the Americans. AoL the Indian nations take a peculiar pleasure in painting the«r bodies of a red colour w ith a certain species of earth. The mine of Guancavolica was formerly of no other use than to supply them with this material for dying their bodies ; and the cinnabar extracted from it was applied entirely to this purpose. The tribes in Louisiana and AMERICANS. 77 Canada have the same passion ; hence minium is the commodity most in demand there. It may seem singular that these nations, whose natural colour is red, should affect the same colour as an artificial ornament. But it may be observed, that they do nothing in this respect but what corresponds to ihe practice of Europeans, who also study to heighten and display to advantage the natural red and white of their complexions. The Indians of Peru have now' indeed abandoned the custom of painting their bodies : but it was ^common among them before they were conquered by the Spaniards, and it still remains the custom of all those tribes who have preserved their liberty. The northern nations of America, besides the red colour which is predominant, employ also black, white, blue, and green, in painting their bodies. The adjustment of these colours is a matter of as great consideration with the Indians of Louisiana, and the vast regions extending to the north, as the ornaments of dress amongst the most polished nations. The business itself w as called maetacher, and they do not fail to apply all their talents and assiduity to accomplish it in the most polished manner. No lady ot the greatest fashion ever con- sulted her mirror with more anxiety, than the Indians do while paint- ing their bodies. The colours are applied with the utmost accuracy and address. Upon the eyelids, precisely at the root of the eye- lashes, they draw tw'O lines as fine as the smallest thread, the same upon the lips, the opening of the nostrils, the eye-brows, and the ears, of which last they even follow' all the inflexions and sinuosities. Over the rest of the face, they distribute various figures, in all which the red predominates ; and the other colours are assorted so as to throw it out to the best advantage : a thick coat of vermilion com- monly distinguishes the cheeks. The neck also receives its proper ornaments. Four or six hours are requisite for accomplishing all this with the nicety which they affect. As their first attempts do not always succeed to their wish, they efface them, and* begin anew upon a better plan. No coquette is more fastidious in her choice of orna- ments, none more vain when the important adjustment is finished. Their delight and self-satisfaction are then so great, that the mirror is hardly ever laid down. An Indian, maetached to his mind, is the vainest of all the human species. The other parts of the body are left in their natural state, and, excepting what is called a cachecul, they go entirely naked. Such as have made themseives eminent for bravery, or other qua- lifications, are distinguished by figures painted on their bodies. They introduce the colours by making punctures on their skin ; and the extent of surface which this ornament covers, is proportioned to the exploits they have performed. Some paint only their arms, others paint both their arms and legs, others again their thighs, while those w ho have attained the summit of warlike renown, have their bodies washed from the w aist upwards. This is the heraldry of the Indians, the devices of which are probably more exactly ad justed to the merits of the persons who bear them, than those of more civilized countries. Besides these ornaments, the w'arriors also carry plumes of feathers on their heads, their arms, and ankles. These likewise are tokens of 78 AMERICANS. valour, and none but such as have been thus distinguished may wear them. The propensity to indolence is equal among ail the tribes of Indians. The only employment of those who have preserved their indepen- dence is hunting and fishing. In some districts the women practise agriculture, in raising Indian corn and ponipions, of which they form a species of aliment by bruising them together. They also prepare the ordinary beverage in use among them, taking care at the same time of the children, of w hom the fathers take no charge. The female Indians of all regions of both North and South America, practise what is called the urea, a word which among them signifies elevation. It consists in throwing forward the hair from the crown of the head upon the brow', and cutting it round from the ears to above the eye, so that the forehead and eyebrows are entirely covered. They tie the rest of their hair behind. The males of the higher parts of Peru wear long and flowing hair, which they reckon a great ornament. In the lower parts they cut it short, on account of the heat of the climate. The inhabitants of Louisiana pluck out their hair by the voots, from the crow n of the head forw ards, in order to obtain a large forehead, denied them by nature. The rest of their hair is cut as short as possible, to prevent their enemies from seizing them by it in battle, and from easily getting their scalp, should they fall into their hands as prisoners. Among the North Americans, it is disgraceful to be hairy on the body, they say it likens them to hogs. They there- fore pluck it out as fast as it appears. Every nation has its customs. “ I have seen an Indian beau with a looking-glass in his hand,” says Mr. Jefferson, “ examining his face for hours together, and plucking out by the root every hair he could discover, with a kind of tweezer made by a piece of fine brass wire, that had been twisted round a stick, and which he used with great dexterity.” The Iudians of South America distinguish themselves by modern dresses, in which they affect various tastes. Those of the high country, and of the valleys in Peru, dress mostly in the Spanish fashion. Instead of hats, they wear bonnets of ccarse double cloth, the weight of which neither seems to incommode them when they go to warmer climates, nor does the accidental want of them seem to be felt in situations where the most piercing cold reigns. Their legs and feet are always bare, if we except a sort of sandals made of the skins of oxen. Funeral Rites . The force fo their friendship principally appears by the treatment of their dead. When any cne of the society is cutoff, he is lamented by the whole ; on this occasion a thousand ceremonies is practised, denoting the most lively sorrow. No business is transacted, how- ever pressing, till all the pious ceremonies due to the dead are performed. The body is washed, anointed, and painted ; then the women lament the ioss with hideous howlings, intermixed with songs w hich celebrate the great actions of the deceased and of his ancestors. The men mourn in a less extravagant manner. The whole village is present at the interm u nt, and the corpse is habited in its most sump- tuous ornaments Close to the body of the defunct are placed his AMERICANS. 7 » bows and arrows, with whatever he valued most in his life, and a quantity of provision for his subsistence on the journey which he is supposed to take. This solemnity, like every other, is attended with feasting. The funeral being ended, the relations of the deceased confine them- selves to their huts for a considerable time, to indulge their grief. After an interval of some weeks, they visit the grave, repeat their sorrow', new-clothe the remains of the body, and act over again all the solem- nities of the funeral. Among the various tokens of their regard for their deceased friends, the most remarkable is what they call the feast of the dead, or the feast of souls. The day for this ceremony is appointed in the council of their chiefs, who give orders for every thing which mav enable them to celebrate it with pomp and magnificence ; and the neighbouring nations are invited to partake of the entertainments. At the time, all who have died since the preceding feast of the kind, are taken out of their graves. Even those who have been interred at the greatest distance from the villages are diligently sought for, and con- ducted to this rendezvous of the dead, which exhibits a scene of horror beyond the power of description. When the feast is concluded, the bodies are dressed in the finest skins which can be procured, and after being exposed some time in this pomp, are again committed to the earth with great solemnity, which is succeeded by funeral games. Hospitality. The Americans have certain rules which they observe on entering one another’s villages. It is reckoned uncivil in travelling strangers to enter a village abruptly, without giving notice of their approach. Therefore as soon as they arrive within hearing, they stop and halloo, remaining there till invited to enter. Two ojd men usually come out to them, and lead them in. There is in every village a vacant dwell- ing, called the stranger’s house. Here they stay while the old men go round from hut to hut, acquainting the inhabitants that strangers are arrived, who are probably hungry and weary ; and every one sends them what he can spare of victuals, and skins to repose on. When the strangers are refreshed, pipes and tobacco are brought, and then, but not before, conversation begins, with inquiries who they are, whither bound, what news, &c. and it usually ends with offers of service, if the strangers have occasion for guides, or other neces- saries, for continuing their journey ; and nothing is exacted foi the entertainment. The same hospitality, esteemed among them as a principal virtue, is practised by private men, of which Conrad Wei- ser gave Dr. Franklin the following instance : — “He had been naturalized among the Six Nations; and spoke well the Mohock language. In going through the Indian country, to carry a message' from our governor to the council of Onondago, he called at the habitation of Canassetego, an old acquaintance, who embraced him, spread furs for him to sit on, placed before him some boiled beans and venison, and mixed some rum and water for his drink. When he was well refreshed, and had lit his pipe, Canassetego began to converse with him ; asked him how he fared the many years since they had seen each other — whence then he came — and what had occasioned the journey, &c. Conrad answered all his questions, and 80 AMERICANS. when his discourse began to flag, the Indian, to continue it, said* “ Conrad, you have lived long among the white people, and know something of their customs ; I have been sometimes in Albany, and have observed, that once in seven days they shut up their shops, and assemble all in the great house ; tell me what it is for V* “They meet there,” said Conrad, “ to hear and learn good things.” “ I do not doubt,” says the Indian, that they tell you so ; they have told me the same ; but I doubt the truth of what they say, and I will tell you my reasons. I went lately to Albany to sell my skins, and buy blankets, knives, powder, rum, &c. You know I generally used to deal with Hans Hanson ; but I was a little inclined this time to try some other merchant. However, I called first upon Hans, and asked him what he would give for beaver. He said he could not give more than 4s. a pound ; but, says he, I cannot talk on business now ; this is the day when we meet together to learn good things, and I am going to the meeting. So 1 thought to myself, since I cannot do any business to-day, I may as well go to the meeting too ; and I went with him. There stood up a man in black, and began to talk to the people very angrily. I did not understand what he said ; but perceived that he looked much at me and at Hanson. I imagined he was angry at seeing me there; so I went out, sat down near the house, struck fire, and lit my pipe, waiting till the meeting should break up. I thought too, that the man had mentioned something of beaver, and I suspected that it might be the subject of their meeting. So, when they came out, I accosted my merchant: “Well, Hans,” says I, “ I hope you have agreed to give more than 4s. a pound V “ No,” says he, “ I cannot give so much,” I cannot give more than 3s. 6d.” I then spoke to several other dealers, but they all sung the same song, — three-and-sixpence, three-and-sixpence. This made it clear to me that my suspicion was right ; and that whatever they pretended of meeting to learn good things, the real purpose was to consult how to cheat poor Indians in the price of beaver. Consider but a little, Conrad, and you must be of my opinion. If they met so often to learn good things, they certainly would have learned some before this time. But they are still ignorant. You know our prac- tice : If a w hite man, in travelling through our country, enters one of our cabins, we all treat him as I treat you ; we dry him if he is wet, we warm him if he is cold, and give him meat and drink to allay his thirst and hunger, and w'e spread soft furs for him to rest and sleep on ; we demand nothing in return. But if I go into a white man’s house at Albany, and ask for victuals and drink, they say, Where is your money? and if I have none, they say, Get out, you Indian dog. You see they have not yet learned those little good things that we need no meeting to be instructed in, because our mothers taught them to us when we were children ; and therefore it is impossible their meetings should be, as they say, for such purpose, or have any such effect; — they are only to contrive the cheating of Indians in the price of beaver.” Ingenuity. The Indians are acquainted with letters, and their history is pre- served in some few instances by hieroglyphic paintings, and sculpture. AMERICANS. 81 but principally in tradition. They often discover great ingenuity in communicating information to the absent. Of the following instance of hieroglyphic writing, Dr. Mitchel was an eye-witness. The Dr. in company with several other gentlemen, as they were proceeding up the Onondago river to an Indian treaty, overtook several canoes of Seneka Indians, who encamped with them, near fort Brewington, and the next day proving rainy, they continued in company till the weather became so favourable as to permitthem to cross the Oneida Lake. During the storm, one of the Indian canoes stove, and became unfit for service. The commissioners took the crew on board their boat, and carried them to a landing place, some distance up Wood Creek. Here one of them, before he forsook the water, took the following method to let his companions, who were left behind, know when and whither they had proceeded. He took a piece of wood, and hewed it flat and smooth, and then raked his fire for a suitable coal, with which he rudely delineated, on the slab, the figure of an Indian carrying his gun reversed upon his shoulder. In front of him he drew a crooked line, which reached to a man with a long coat and cocked hat, and holding a cane in his hand, and behind him a framed house. He then took a straight pole, and tied some weeds and grass upon one end of it, and fixed the other in the earth, in such a manner, that in the position the sun then was, which was six o’clock in the morning, it cast no shadow, or, in other words, he pointed it exactly towards the sun. The meaning of all this was “ Susquewewah, (the name of the Indian,) left this place at six o’clock in the morning, or when the sun was in the place where the pole pointed, and has proceeded up wood Creek, (which is remakably crooked,) to the settlement where the commissioners of the state of New York are assembled to hold a treaty with the Indians.” All these insignia were arranged so conspicu- ously on the margin of the creek, that his companions behind could scarcely avoid observing them as they passed. Marriages. Although the women generally bear the laborious part of domes- tic economy, their condition is far from being so slavish as it appears. On the contrary, the greatest respect is paid by the men to the female sex. The women even hold their councils, and have their share in all deliberations which concern the state. Polygamy is practised by some nations, but is not general. In most they content themselves with one wife, but divorce is admitted in case of adultery. No nation of the Americans is without a regular marriage, in which there are many ceremonies, the principal of which is, the bride’s presenting the bridegroom with a plate of their corn. The women, though before incontinent, are remarkable for chastity after marriage. Punishments. ‘ Controversies among the Indians are but few', and quickly de- cided, When any criminal matter is so flagrant as to become a na- tional concern, it is brought under the jurisdiction of the great coun- cil ; but in ordinary cases the crime is either revenged or compromised by the parties concerned. If a murder be committed, the family L 82 AMERICANS. .vhich has lost a relation, prepares to retaliate on that of the offender. They often kill the murderer ; and when this happens, the kindred of the last person slain, look upon themselves to be as much injured, and to have the same right to vengeance, as the other partv. Iu general, however, the offender absents himself, and the friends send compliments of condolence to those of the person that has been mur- dered. The head of the family at length appears with a number of presents, the delivery of which he accompanies with a formal speech. The whole ends, as usual, in mutual feastings, songs, and dances. If the murder is committed by one of the same family or cabin, that cabin has the full right of judgment within itself, either to punish the guilty with death, or to pardon him, or to give some recompense to the w ife or children of the slain. Instances of such a crime, however, very seldom happens; for their attachment to those of the same family is remarkably strong, and is said to produce such friendship as may vie with the most celebrated in real or fabulous antiquity. Superstitions. The chief ingredient in the character of the Americans, is their propensity for war, which gives a strong bias to their religion. Are- koni, or the god of battle, is revered by them as the great god of the Indians. Him they constantly invoke before they go out into the field, and according as his disposition is more or less favourable to them, they conclude that they w ill be more or less successful. Some nations worship the sun and moon ; among others there are num- bers of traditions, relative to the creari on of the w orld and the history of the gods, traditions which resemble the Grecian fables, but which are still more absurd and inconsistent. But religion is not the pre- vailing character of the Indians ; and except when they have some mmediate occasion for the assistance of their gods, they pay them no sort of worship. Like all rude nations, however, they are strongly addicted to super- stition. They believe in the existence of a great number of good and bad genii or spirits, who interfere in the affairs of moitals, and produce all their happiness or misery. It is from the evil genii in particular that our diseases proceed, and it is to the good genii we are indebted for a cure. The ministers of the genii are the jugglers, w ho are also the only phisicians among the savages. These jugglers are supposed to be inspired by the good genii, most commonly in their dreams, w ith the knowledge of future events; they are called in to the assistance of the sick, and are supposed to be informed by the genii whether they will get over the disease, and in what way they must be treated. But these spirits are extremely simple in their system of physic, and, in almost every disease, direct the juggler to the same remedy. The patient is enclosed in a narrow cabin, in the midst of which is a red stone pot ; on this they throw w ater, until he is well soaked w illi the warm vapour and his own sweat. Then they hurry him from this bagnio, and plunge him suddenly into the next river. This coarse method, which costs many their lives, often performs very extraordinary cures. The jugglers have likewise the use of some specifics of won- derful efficacy ; and all the savages are dexterous in curing wounds AMERICANS. 83 by the application of herbs. But the power of these remedies is aiways attributed to the magical ceremonies with which they are administered. Manner of Treating their Prisoners. United as the Americans are in small societies, connected within themselves by the firmest ties, their friendly affections, which glow with the most intense warmth within the walls of their ow n village, seldom extend beyond them. They feel nothing for the enemies of their nation, and their resentment is easily extended from the individual who has injured them, to all others of the same tribe. The prisoners, who have themselves the same feelings, know the intentions of their conquerors, and are prepared for them. The person who has taken the captive, attends him to the cottage, where, according to the dis- tribution made by the elders, he is to be delivered, to supply the loss of a citizen. If those who receive him have their family weakened bv war or other accidents, they adopt the captive into the family, of w hich he becomes a member. But if they have no occasion for him, or their resentment for the loss of their friends be too high to endure the sight of any connected w ith those who were concerned in it, they sentence him to death. All those who have met with the same sen- tence being collected, the whole nation is assembled at the execution, as for some great solemnity. A scaffold is erected, and the prisoners are tied to the stake, where they commence their death-song, and pre- pare for the ensuing scene of cruelty with the most undaunted courage. Their enemies, on the other side, are determined to put it to the proof by the most refined and exquisite tortures. They begin at the extremity of his body, and gradually approach the more vital parts : one plucks out his nails by the roots, another takes a finger into his mouth, and tears off the flesh with his teeth ; a third thrusts the finger, mangled as it is, into the bowl of a pipe made red hot, which he smokes like tobacco; then they pound his toes and fingers to pieces between two stones ; they cut circles about his joints, and gashes in the fleshy parts of his limbs, which they sear imme- diately with red- hoi irons, cutting, burning, and pinching them alter- nately ; they pull oft' the flesh, thus mangled and roasted, bit by bit, devouring it with greediness, and smearing their faces with blood in an enthusiasm of horror and fury. When they have thus torn off the flesh, they twist the hare nerves and tendons about an iron, tearing and snapping them, whilst others are employed in pulling and extend- ing their limbs in every way that can increase the torment. This con- tinues often five or six hours, and sometimes, such is the strength of the savages, days together Thpn they frequently unbind him, to give a breathing to their fury, to think what new torments they can inflict, and to refresh the strength of the sufferer, who, w earied out with such a variety of unheard-of torments, often falls into so profound a sleep, that they are obliged to a| t 'x the fire to awake him, and renew his sufferings. He is again fastened to the stake, and again they renew their cruelty : they stick him all over with small matches, or wood that easily takes fire, but burns slowly ; they continually run sharp reeds into every part of his body, they drag out his teeth with pincers, and AMERICAN’S. 04 thrust out his eyes; and, lastly, after having burned his flesh from the bones with slow fires, and after having so mangled the bodv that it is all but one wound, after having mutilated his face in such a manner as to carry nothing human in it, after having peeled the skin from the head, and poured a heap of red-hot coals or boiling water on the naked skull, they once more unbind the wretch, who, blind and stag- gering with pain and weakness, assaulted and pelted on every side with clubs and stones, now up, now down, falling into their fires at every step, runs hither and thither, till one of the chiefs, either out, of compassion or weary of cruelty, puts an end to his life with a club or dagger; the body is then put into a kettle, and this barbarous employment is succeeded by a feast as barbarous. The women, forgetting the human as well as the female nature, and transformed into worse than furies, even outdo the men in this scene of horror that has been described, while the principal persons of the country sit round the stake, smoking and looking on without the least emotion. What is most extraordinary, the sufferer himself, in the little interval of his torments, smokes too, appears unconcerned, and converses with his torturers about indifferent matters. Indeed, during the whole time of his execution, there seems a contest which shall exceed — they in inflicting the most horrid pains, or he in enduring them with a firmness and constancy almost above human. Not a groan, not a sigh, not a distortion of countenance, escapes him ; he possesses his mind entirely in the midst of his torments; he recounts his exploits ; he informs them what cruelties he has inflicted upon their countrymen, and thieatens them with the revenge that will attend his death ; and though his reproaches exasperate them to a perfect madness of rage and fury, he continues his insults, even of their ignorance of the art of tormenting ; and points out himself more exquisite methods, and more sensible parts of the body to be alflicted. The women have this part of courage as well as the men, and it is as rare for an Indian to be otherw ise, as it would for an European to suffer as an Indian. Such is the wonderful power of an early edu- cation, and a ferocious thirst of glory. “ I am brave and intrepid," exclaims the savage in the face of his tormentors. “ I do not fear death nor any kind of tortures ; those who fear them are cowards, they are less than women ; life is nothing to those that have courage. May my enemies be confounded with despair and rage ! Oh ! that I could devour them, and drink their blood to the last drop.” But neither the intrepidity on the one side, nor the inflexibility on the other, is among themselves matters of astonishment, for vengeance and fortitude in the midst of torment are duties which they consider as sacred; they are the effects of their earliest education, and depend upon principles instilled into them from their infancy. Wars, War, if we except hunting, is the only employment of the men ; as to every other concern, including even the little agriculture they practise, it is left to the women. Their most common motive for entering into war, when it does not arise from an accidental rencounter or inter- AMERICANS. 85 ference, is either to revenge themselves for the death of some lost friends, or to acquire prisoners who may assist them in their hunting, and whom they adopt into their society. These wars are either undertaken by some private adventurers, or at the instance of the whole company. In the latter case all the young men who are disposed to go out to battle, for no one is compelled contrary to his inclination, give a bit of wood to the chief, as a token of their design to accom- pany him ; for every thing among these people is transacted with a great deal of ceremony. The chief who is to conduct them fasts several days, during which he converses with no one, and is parti- cularly careful to observe his dreams, which the presumption natural to savages generally renders as favourable as he could desire. A variety of other superstitious ceremonies are observed. One of the most hideous is setting the w ar-kettle on the fire, as an emblem that they are going out to devour their enemies, which among some nations must formerly have been the case, since they still continue to express it in clear terms, and use an emblem significant to the ancient usage. Then they send a dish or large shell to their allies, inviting them to come along, and drink the blood of their ene- mies ; for they think that those in their alliance must not only adopt their enmities, but have their resentment wound up to the same pitch with themselves. And, indeed, no other people carry their friendships or resentments so far ; and this is what should be expected from their peculiar circumstances — that principle in human nature which is the spring of the social affections, acts with so much the greater force, the more it is restrained. The Americans, who live in small societies, who see few oojects and few persons, become wonderfully attached to those objects and persons, and cannot be deprived of them without feeling themselves miserable. Their ideas are too confined to enable them to entertain sentiments of universal benevolence. But this very circumstance, while it makes them cruel to an incredible degree towards those with whom they are at war, adds a new force to their particular frendships, and to the common tie w'hich unites the members of the same tribe, or of those different tribes which are in alliance with each other. Without attending to this reflection, some facts we are going to relate would excite our wonder without informing our reason, and we should be bewildered in a number of particulars, seemingly oppo- site to one another, without being sensible of the general cause from which they proceed. Having finished all the ceremonies previous to the war, and the day appointed for setting out on the expedition being arrived, they take leave of their friends, exchanging their clothes, or whatever moveables they have, in token of mutual friendship ; after which they proceed from the town, their w ives and female relations walking before, and attending them to some distance. The w arriors march, all dressed in their finest apparel and most showy ornaments, without any order. The chief walks slowly before them, singing the war-song, while the rest ob- serve the most profound silence. When they come up to their women, they deliver them all their finery, and, putting on their worst clothes. AMERICANS. 8 « proceed on the expedition. Every nation has its peculiar ensign or standard, which is generally some beast, bird, or fish. Those among the Five Nations are the bear, otter, wolf, tortoise, and eagle, and by these means the tribes are usually distinguished. They have the figures of those animals printed and painted on several parts of their bodies, and when they march through the woods, they commonly, at every encampment, cut the representation of their ensign on trees, especially after a successful campaign, marking at the same time the number of scalps or prisoners they have taken. Their military dress is extremely singular. They cut off or pull off part of their hair, except a spot about the breadth of two English crown-pieces, near the tops of their heads, and entirely destroy their eye-brows. The lock left upon their head is divided into several par- cels, each of which is stiffened, and adorned with wampum beads, and feathers of various kinds, the whole being twisted into a form much resembling the modern pompoon. Their heads are painted red down to the eye-brows, and sprinkled over with white down. Tiic gristles of their ears are split almost quite round, and distended with wires or splinters, so as to meet, and tie together on the nape of the neck. These are also hung with ornaments, and generally bear the representation of some bird or beast. Their noses are likewise broad and hung with trinkets of beads, and their faces painted with various colours so as to make an awful appearance. Their breasts are adorned with a gorget or medal of brass, copper, or some other metal ; and that dreadful weapon, the scalping knife, hangs by a string from their neck. The great qualities in an Indian warrior are vigilance and attention, to give and to avoid a surprise, and indeed in these lh- y are superior to all the nations in the world. Accustomed to continual wandering in the forests, having their perceptions sharpened by keen necessity, and living in every respect according to nature, their external senses have a degree of acutenes which at first view appears incredible. They can trace out their enemies at an immense distance by the smoke of their fires which they smell, and by the tracks of their feet on the ground, imperceptible to an European eye, but which they can count and distinguish with the utmost facility. They can even distinguish the different nations with whom they are acquainted, and can deter- mine the precise time when they passed, where an European could not, w ith his glasses, distinguish footsteps at all. These circumstances however, are of no small importance, because their enemies are equally acquainted with them. When they go out, therefore, they take care to avoid making use of any thing by which ihey might run the dan- ger of a discovery. They light no fire to warm themselves or to prepare their victuals ; they lie close to the ground all day, and travel only in the night; and marching along in lines, he that closes the rear diligently covers W'ith leaves the tracks of his own feet and of those who preceded him. When they halt to refresh themselves, scouts are sent out to reconnoitre the country, and beat up every place w here they suppose an enemy to be concealed. In this manner they enter unawares the villages of their foes ; and while the flower of the nation are engaged in hunting, masacre all the women children, and helpless AMERICANS. 87 old men, or make prisoners of as many as they can manage, or have strength enough to be useful to their nation. But when the enemy is apprised of their design, and coming on in arms against them, they throw themselves flat on the ground among the withered herbs and leaves, which their faces are painted to re- semble. Then they allow a part to pass unmolested, when, all at once w ith a tremendous shout rising from their ambush, they pour a storm of musket-bullets on their foes. The party attacked returns the same cry. Every one shelters himself with a tree, and returns the fire of the adverse party, as soon as they can raise themselves from the ground to give a second fire. Thus does the battle continue until the one party is so much weakened as to be incapable of further resistance. But if the force on each side continues nearly equal, the fierce spirits of the savages, inflamed by the loss of their friends, can be no longer restrained. They abandon their distant war, to rush upon one another with clubs and hatchets in their hands, magnifying their own courage, and insulting their enemies with the bitterest reproaches. A cruel combat ensues ; death appears in a thousand hideous forms, which would congeal the blood of civilized nations to behold, but which rouse the fury of savages. They trample, they they insult over the dead bodies, tearing the scalp from the head, wallowing in their blood like wild beasts, and sometimes devouring their flesh. The flame rages on till it meets with no resistance ; then the prisoners are secured, those unhappy men whose fate is a thousand times more dreadful than those who die in the field. The conquerors set up a hideous howling, to lament the friends they have lost. They approach in a melancholy and severe gloom to their own villages ; a messenger is sent to anounce their arrival, and the women with frightful shrieks come out to mourn their dead brothers or their husbands ; when they arrive, the chief relates in a low voice to the elders, a circumstantial account of every particular of the expedition. The orator proclaims aloud this account toythe people; and as he mentions the names of those who have fallen, the shrieks of the wo- men are redoubled. The men too join in these cries, according as each is most connected with the deceased by blood or friendship. The last ceremony is the proclamation of the victory ; each individual then forgets his private misfortunes, and joins in the triumph of his nation; all tears are wiped from their eyes, and, by an unaccount- able transition, they pass in a moment from the bitterest sorrow to an extravagance of joy. But the treatment of the prisoners, whose fate all this time remains undecided, is what chiefly characterizes the savages, and which has been already described. Probable Manner of first peopling America. Those w ho call in question the authority of the sacred writings, says Mr. Morse, pretend that the Americans are not descendants of Adam, that he w r as the father of the Asiatics only, and that God created other men to be patriarchs of the Europeans, Africans, and Americans. But this is contrary to the traditions of the Americans themselves, who, in their paintings and hymns, call themselves “ the descendants of those who escaped from the general deluge.” In answer to the ques- 88 A BIPON IAN 9 tion, therefore, how these descendants of Noah got over to America, we shall content ourselves by giving the opinion of the Abbe Clavigero, which appears to be the most probable of any we have met with. I. “ The men and animals of America,” says the abbe, “ passed there from the old continent. This is confirmed by the sacred writings : Moses, who declared Noah the common father of all who survived the deluge, says expressly, that in that general inundation of the earth, all its quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles, perished, except a few of the several species which were saved alive in the ark. The repeated ex- pressions which the sacred historian uses to signify its universality, does not permit us to doubt that all quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles, which are in the world, descended from those few individuals which were saved from the general inundation. II. The first inhabitants of America might pass therein vessels by sea, or travel by land or by ice. 1. They might either pass there in vessels designedly, if the distance by water, were but small, or be carried upon it accidentally by winds. 2. They might pass by land, upon the supposition of the con- tinents being united. 3. They might also make that passage over the ice of some frozen arm of the sea. III. The ancestors of the nations which peopled Anahuac, now New Spain, might pass from the northern countries of Europe into the northern countries of America, or from the most eastern parts of Asia, to the most western parts of Ame- rica. This conclusion is founded on the general tradition of those nations, that their ancestors came into Anahuac from the north and north-west. This tradition is confirmed by the remains of many ancient edifices, built by those people in their migrations.” Here the abbe adduces different instances of these, and after refuting several absurd expositions, he adds, “The probability is, that the quadrupeds, reptiles, &c. of America, passed thither by land, and that the two conti- nents were formerly united. This was the opinion of Acosta, Grotius, Buffon, and other great men. That this earth has experienced great changes since the deluge, will not admit of a doubt. Earthquakes have swallowed up great tracts of land in some places, subterraneous fires have thrown up others. The sea in some places has been forced to retreat many miles from the shore ; in others it has made encroach- ments, and in many instances separated territories which were formerly united. Very considerable tracts of land have been also formed at the mouths of rivers. We have many examples of all these revolutions. Sicily was formerly united to the continent. The straits of Gibraltar as Diodorus, Strabo, and other ancient authors, affirm, were formed by a violent irruption of the ocean upon the land, between the moun- tains Abyla and Calpe.” The abbe adds many other instances, but these we think may suffice in proof of the general supposition that the two continents were once united. Abiponians. These are a tribe of American Indians, who formerly inhabited the district of Chak, in Paraguay ; but the hostilities of the Spaniards have now obliged them to remove southward into the territory lying between Santa Fe, and St. Jago. The only account we have of them INHABITANTS OF LIEOU-KIEOU. 89 is that published by Mr. Dobrizhoffer in 1785. This gentleman, who lived seven years in their country, informs us that they are not nume- rous, the whole nation not much exceeding 5000, for which he assigns as a reason an unnatural custom among their women, of sometimes destroying their own children from motives of jealousy, lest their hus- bands should take other mates during the long time they give suck, which is not less than two years. They are naturally white, but, by exposure to the air and smoke, become a brown colour. They are a strong and hardy race of people, which our author attributes to their marrying so late ; an Abiponian seldom or never thinks of marrying till he is thirty years of age. They are greatly celebrated on account of their chastity and other virtues, though, according to our author, they have no knowledge of a Deity. They make frequent incursions into the territories of the Spaniards, mounted on horses which run wild in those parts. They have a kind of order of chivalry for their w'arriors, and are so formidable, that 100 of their enemies will fly before ten of those horsemen. The hatred which these savages, whose manners, though rude and uncultivated, are in many respects pure and virtuous, bear to the Spaniards, is inviucible. “These pretended Christians,” saysour author, “who are the scum of the Spanish nation, practise every kind of fraud and villany among these poor barbarians ; and their corrupt and vicious morals are so adapted to prejudice the Abiponians against the Christian religion, that the Jesuit missionaries have, by a severe law, prohibited any Spaniard from coming, without a formal permission, into any of their colonies.” From his account of the success of the Jesuits in converting them to Christianity, however, it does not appear that they have been able to do more than bribe them to a compliance with the ceremonies of the Popish superstition ; so that in general they are quite ignorant and uncivilized ; a most incredible instance of which is reported, viz. that in counting, they can go no farther than three, and that all the art of the Jesuits to teach them the simplest use and expression of numbers has proved unsuccessful ! Inhabitants of Lieou-kieou, a Kingdom in Asia, containing Thirty-six Islands, subject to China. Father Gabal, a Jesuit, furnished some interesting details re- specting these islanders, which he extracted from a Chinese work, published in 1721, in 2 vols. by Sapao Koang, a learned Chinese doctor, w ho was sent ambassador by the emperor Koang-hi, in 1719, to the king of Lieou-kieou. Being on the spot, he examined, accord- ing to the emperors orders, whatever he found interesting, relative to the number, situation, and productions of these isles, as well as the history, religion, manners, and customs of the natives. These isles are situated between Corea, Formosa, and Japan. The natives pretend that the origin of their empire is lost in the remotest antiquity. They reckon up twenty-five successive dynasties, the duration of which forms a period of more than 18,000 years. It would be useless to point out the absurdity of these pretensions. It M 00 INHABITANTS OF LIEOU-KIEOU. is certain that the existence of the country called Lieou-kieou was not known in China before the year G05 ot the Christian era. In the course of that year, one of the emperors, of the dynasty of Soui, hav- ing heard of these isles, wished to know their situation. He first sent some Chinese for this purpose ; but their expedition proved fruit- less, for want of interpreters. They, however, brought some of the islanders with them to Sig-nan, the capital ofChen-si, and the usual residence of the emperors of that dynasty. An ambassador of the king of Japan being then at court, he and his attendants knew the strangers to be natives of Lieou-kieou ; but they described these isles as a wretched country, the inhabitants of which had never been civilized. The emperor of China afterwards learned that the princi- pal island lay east of the city of Fou-tcheou, the capital of Fo-kien ; and that in a passage of five days one might reach the island where the king kept his court. On this information, the emperor Yan-ki sent a party, with inter- preters, to summon the prince to do homage to the emperor of China, and to pay him tribute. The king of Lieou-kieou sent back the Chinese, telling them sternly, that he acknowledged no prince to be his superior. This answer irritated the emperor, who caused a fleet to be immediately equipped at Fo-kien, in which he embarked 10,000 men. This fleet arrived in safety at the port of Napa-kiang. The army, in spite of every effort made by the natives, landed in the island ; and the king, who had put himself at the head of his troops, having fallen in battle, the Chinese pillaged, sacked, and burnt the royal city, made more than 5000 slaves, and returned to China. The emperor of the dynasties ofTuang, and those of the dynasties of Song, made no attempts to render these isles tributary. In 1291, Chi-tsou, emperor of the dynasty of Yu-len, wished to revive the pretensions of his predecessors. He fitted out a fleet to subdue these islands, but the schemes of conquest had become disagreeable to the Chinese, since the disaster that befell their army in an expedition against Japan. The fleet of Chi-tsou went no farther than the isles of Pong-heu, and the west coast of Formosa, when they returned to Fo-kien. But in 137*2, in the reign of Hong-vou, founder of the dynasty of Mino, these islands submitted voluntarily to the Chinese government. Hong-vou had sent one of his grandees to the court of Tsay-tou, when reigning at Lieou-kieou, to inform him of his acces- sion to the throne The Chinese ambassador acquitted himself of his commission with all the address of an able minister. In a private audience he exhorted Tsay-tou to own himself a tributary of the empire, and laid before him various advantages he would derive from this step. His reasoning made so much impression on Tsay-tou, that he sent immediately to the emperor to demand the investiture of his states. Hong-vou received his envoys in a magnificent manner, and loaded them with presents. He solemnly declared Tsay-tou a vas- sal of the empire, and after having received his first tribute, consisting of horses, aromatic wood, sulphur, copper, tin, &c. he sent to this prince a golden seal, and confirmed the choice he had made of one of nis sons for successor. Hong-vou sent thirty-six families, almost all from Fo-kien, to Lieou-kieou. Tsay-tou assigned them lands INHABITANTS OF LIEOU-KIEOU. 91 near Napa-kiang, and appointed certain revenues for their use, at the same time that Hong-vou made them considerable remittances. These families first introduced into Lieou-kieou the learned language of the Chinese, the use of their characters, and the ceremonies prac- tised in China in honour of Confucius. On the other hand, the sons of several of the grandees of the court of Tsay-kou were sent to Nan-king, to study in the imperial college, where they were treated with distinction, and maintained at the emperor’s expense. The isles of Lieou-kieou having neither iron nor porcelain, Hong- vou carried a great number of utensils and instruments of iron to be made, which he sent thither with a quantity of porcelain vessels. Commerce, navigation, and the arts, soon flourished. These islanders learned to cast bells for their temples, to manufacture paper and the finest stuffs, and to make porcelain. The celebrated revolution which placed the Tartars on the imperial throne of China, produced no change in the conduct of the kings of Lieou-kieou. Chang-tche, who was then reignings sent ambassadors to acknowledge Chim-tchi, and received a seal from him, on which were engraven some Tartar characters. It was then settled, that the king of Lieou-kieou should pay his tribute only every two years, and that the number of persons in the train of his envoys should not exceed 150. The emperor Kang-hi paid more attention to these isles than any of his predecessors. He caused a superb palace to be erected in houour of Confucius, and a cbllege, where he maintained masters to teach the sciences of the Chinese characters. He also instituted examinations for the different degrees of the literari ; he ordained that the king of Lieou-kieou should send in tribute nothing but the productions of the country, particularly a fixed quantity of sulphur, copper, tin, shells, and mother-of-pearl, which is remarkably pretty in these islands ; besides house-furniture, pistol-cases, &c. which these islanders ma- nufacture with great taste and neatness. It is above 900 years since the bonzes of China introduced, at Lieou- kieou, the principal books belonging to their sect, with the worship of Fo, which is now the established religion. There is in the royal city a magnificent temple, erected in honour of another idol of the Chi- nese, named Tien-fey, which signifies celestial queen. These islanders do not make promises, or swear before their idols, but burn perfumes present fruits, and stand respectfully before some stone, which they call to witness the solemnity of their engagements. Numbers of stones are to be seen in the courts of their temples, in most public places, and upon their mountains, appropriated to this purpose. They have also women consecrated to the w r orship of spirits, w ho are supposed to have great influence over those beings. They visit the sick, distribute medicines, and pray for their recovery. They respect the dead as much as the Chinese, and are no less ceremonious in learning, but their funerals are neither so pompous, nor attended with so much expense. Their coffins, which are of an hexagonal or octagonal figure, are three or four feet high. They burn the bodies of their dead, but preserve the bones. They never offer provisions to them, but place lamps around them, and burn perfumes. Families are distinguished in Lieou-kieou by surnames, but 92 INHABITANTS OF THE PELEW ISLANDS. a man and a woman of the same surname cannot marry. The king is not permitted to marry but into three grand families, "which always enjoy the highest privileges. There is a fourth, of equal distinction with the three former ; but neither the king nor the princes contract any alliances with this family, for it is doubtful whether it is not sprung from the same stem as the royal line. Young men and women enjoy the liberty of seeing one another, and of conversing together, and their union is always in consequence of their own choice. The women are very reserved, they collect their hair on the top of their heads in the form of a curl, and fix it by long pins made of gold and silver. Besides his vast domains, the king receives the produce of the sul- phur, copper, and tin mines, and of the salt-pits, together with what arises from taxes. From these revenues he pays the salaries of the mandarins, and officers of his court. These salaries aro estimated at a certain number of sacks of rice. There are nine orders of manda- rins, distinguished by the colour of their caps, or by their girdles and cushions. The greatest parts of the titles of these mandarins are hereditary, but some are only acquired by merit. In the royal city there are tribunals established for managing the revenues and affairs of all the islands. There are also particular tribunals for civil and criminal matters, and for regulating the affairs of religion, the public granaries, revenues, duties, commerce, manufactures, ceremonies, na- vigation, public edifices, literature, and war. The vessels built in this country are greatly valued by the people of China and Japan. In these the natives go to China, Tong-king, Cochin-China, Corea, Nangazaki, Salzuma, the neighbouring isles, and Formosa, where they dispose of their silk, cotton, paper, arms, copper utensils, mother-of-pearl, tortoise and other shells, coral, and whet-stones, &c. which are in great request both in China and Japan. Inhabitants of the Pelew Islands. They arc all of a deep copper colour, going perfectly naked. They are of a middling stature, very straight, muscular, and well-formed, but their legs, from a little above their ankles to the middle of their thighs, are tattooed so very thick, as to appear dyed of a far deeper colour than the rest of their skin. Their hair is of a fine black, long, and rolled up behind, in a simple manner, close to the back of their heads, which appear both neat and becoming ; but few of them have beards, it being the general custom to pluck out the hairs by the roots. The island of Coorooraa, of which Pelew is the capital, produces plantains, bananas, Seville oranges, and lemons, but neither of them in any considerable quantity. None of the islands which the English visited had any kind of grain. As to birds, they had plenty of com- mon cocks and hens, which, though not domesticated, kept running about near their houses and plantations ; and what appears extremely singular is, that the natives had never made any use of them, till our people told them they were excellent eating. Pigeons they account a great dainty ; but none except those of a certain dignity were permitted CLIMATE, RELIGION, AND CUSTOMS OF ALEPPO. 93 to eat of them. The country is very mountainous; but the valleys are extensive and beautiful, affording many delightful prospects. The houses are raised about eight feet from the ground, upon stones which appear as if hewn from the quarry. The interior part of them is without any division, the whole forming one great room, which rises in a ridge like our barns, the outside being thatched thick and close with bamboos and palm leaves. All their implements, utensils, weapons of war, and canoes, are much of the same kind with those in the South Sea islands. In their marriages they allow a plu- rality of wives, though in general not more than two. Climate, Religion, and Customs of Aleppo. The air of Aleppo is very dry and piercing, but at the same time very salubrious for all who are not troubled with asthmatic com- plaints. The city, however, and the environs, are subject to a singular endemial disorder, which is called the ring-worm, or pimple, of Aleppo, it is, in fact, a pimple which is at first inflammatory, and at length becomes an ulcer of the size of a finger nail. The usual duration of this ulcer is one year : it usually fixes on the face, and leaves a scar, which disfigures almost all the inhabitants. It is alleged that every stranger who resides there three months is attacked with it ; and experience has taught them that the best mode of treatment is to make use of no remedy. No reason is assigned for this malady : but M. Volney suspects it proceeds from the quality of the water, as it is likewise frequent in the neighbouring villages, in some parts of Diarbekar, and even in certain districts near Damascus, when the soil and the water have the same appearances. Of the Christian inhabitants, the greater number are Greeks, next to them the Armenians, then the Syrians, and lastly the Maronites, each of w hom have a church in the city, called Judida ; in which quarter, and the parts ad jacent, most of them reside. The common language is the vulgar Arabic, but the Turks of condition use the Turkish. Most of the Armenians can speak the Armenian, some few Syrians understand Syriac, and many of the Jew's Hebrew ; but scarcely one of the Greeks understand a word of Greek. The peo- ple in general are of a middle stature, and tolerably well propor- tioned ; but they seem neither vigorous nor active. Both sexes are handsome when young ; but the beard soon disfigures the men, and the women, as they come early to maturity, very soon fade ; females are generally married from fourteen to eighteen years of age, and many under fourteen. The people of rank here.are polite and affa- ble, making allowances for that superiority which the Mahometan religion instructs its votaries to assume over all who hold a different faith. Their bread is generally of wheat flour made into thin cakes, but very ill prepared, and is generally eaten as soon as it comes out of the oven. The principal people have small loaves of a finer flour, which are well fermented and baked. Besides this, there are a variety of biscuits, most of which are strewed on the top with some kinds of seeds. The Europeans have very good bread, baked and N HABITANTS OF PEGU. f»4 prepared in the French manner. All the inhabitants, of both sexes, smoke tobacco to a great excess; even the very sen ants have constantly a pipe in their mouths. Coaches or carriages are not used here ; therefore persons of quality ride on horseback in the city, with a number of sen ants walking before them, according to their rank. Ladies of tbi first distil ei n compelled to walk o large pen- dent cars, and their heads are much arched. Their wool is coarse, and they seldom hate horns. One ram is sufficient for one hundred ewes. The wool is only fit to make frit for tents. Many sheep die timing winter, and a greater number still of the early lambs, the skins of which are wrought into those fine furs so much esteemed in Russia and foreign parts. The rich Kalmucs only have camels ; for they are very dear, multiply slowly, and are subjected to many diseases. They arc guarded with more care in winter, yet many of them die of consumption and diarrha^a, occasioned probably by the moisture of their pasture. No animal is so tormented with insects, and they often die in summer of those they swallow in eating the leaves of the oak and birch. The meloe prescarahseus, which covers all the plants in many places where they feed, is generally fatal to them. In spring, when they cast their hair, and which falls at once from every part of their body, they are exposed to the bite of the spider scorpion, whose wound is so venomous, that the camel dies of it at the end of eight days; sometimes in three. Camel’s milk is thick, unctuous, and of a saltish taste, and this last property makes the KALMUCS. 101 Kalmucs fond of it to tea. They use the hair for stuffing cnshions, and for making ropes, packthread, felts, and very beautiful camlets. The camels with two bunches afford a very uneasy seat to the person who rides them ; their trot is so heavy, and even their walk so rude, that he receives the most violent shocks at every step. When a Kalmuc horde intends to seek a fresh pasture, which in summer happens every six or eight days, people are sent to reconnoi- tre the best place for the khan or prince, for the lama, and for the hut containing the idols. These begin the march, and are followed by the whole troop, on these days the women paint and dress themselves in their best clothes. The Kalmucs are supplied by their flocks with milk, cheese, butter, and flesh, which are their chief articles of food. They also eat the roots and stalks of many wild plants, such as the bulbous chervil, dandelion, &c. Their ordinary drink is the milk of mares or cows. The former when fresh has a disagreeable taste of garlic; but it takes, as it grows sour, a very agreeable vinous fla- vour; it neither yields cream nor curd, but furnishes a very wholesome refreshing beverage, which inebriates when taken to excess. They never use new milk, nor milk or water that has not been boiled. Their milk is boiled as soon as it is taken from the animal ; when cold, it is poured into a large leathern bag, where there remains as much of the old milk as is sufficient to turn the new sour. This commmuni* cates to the milk a vinous fermentation. As often as the Kalmucs procure much milk from the flocks, they intoxicate themselves with the spirituous liquor which they distil from it. Mare’s milk is the most spirituous ; afid the quantity meant to be distilled remains twenty-four hours in summer, and three or four days in w'inter, in those corrupted bags, to prepare it for the operation. Cow’s -milk yields one-thirtieth part, and mare’s milk one-fifteenth of spirit. This liquor is limpid and very watery, and consequently does not take fire, but is capable of being long kept in glass bottles. The rich Kalmucs increase its strength by a second distillation. These people are exceedingly fond of tea and tobacco. As it comes to them from China by the way of Russia, that the poor people supply its place with various wild plants, such as liquorice, the seed of the sharp-leafed dock, Tartarian maple, the roots of w ild angelica, &c. The Kalmucs are excellent horsemen. Their arms are lances, bows and arrows, poniards, and crooked sabres ; the rich have fire-arms. They wear, when at war, coats of mail, and their helmets are gilt at top. Falconry and hunting are their chief amusements. Their pas- sion for play, especially cards, is carried to as great excess as in any nation. The greater part of their time is spent in diversions ; and however miserable their manner of life may seem to us, they are quite happy with it. They cannot endure for any time the air of a close room, and think our custom of living in houses insupportable. The greatest part of them arrive at a vigorous old age, their diseases being neither frequent nor dangerous. Men of eighty or one hundred years old are not uncommon, and at that age they can still endure the exer- cise of riding. Simple food, free air, a hardy constitution, con- tinual exercise, and a mind free from care, are the causes of their health and longevity. It is remarkable that a migratory people, whose GALLA. 182 life seems so congruous to the natural history of mankind, should have been subjected from time immemorial to the unlimited authority of an absolute sovereign. Neither written records nor traditions have preserved any trace of their ever having enjoyed a state of inde- pendence. On the contrary, they sav they have always been sub- ject to khans; whose authority has been transmitted to them by succession, and is considered as a right perfectly safe and divine. Galla. This is the name of a nation of Ethiopia, originally dwelling, as Mr. Bruce supposes, under the Line, and exercising the profession of shepherds, which they still continue to do. For'many years, he says, they have been constantly migrating northward, though the cause of this migration is not known. At first they had no horses ; the reason of which was, that the country they came from did not allow the animals to breed ; but as they proceeded northwards, and conquered some of the Abyssinian provinces, they soon furnished themselves with such numbers, that they are now almost entirely cavalry, and make little account of infantry in their armies. On advancing to the frontiers of Abyssinia, the multitude divided, and part directed their course towards the Indian ocean ; after which, having made a settlement in the eastern part of the continent, they turned southward into the countries of Bali and Dawar, which they entirely conquered, and settled there in 1537. Another division having taken a westerly course, spread themselves in a semicircle along the banks of the Nile, surrounding the country of Gojam, and passing eastward behind the country of the Agows, extended their possessions as far as the territories of the Gongas and Gasats. Since that time the Nile has been the boundary of their possessions; though they have frequently plundered, ami sometimes conquered, the Abyssinian provinces on the other side of the river, but have never made any permanent settlement in these parts. A third division has settled to the south of the low country of Slioa, which the governor of that province has permitted, in order to form a barrier betwixt him and the territories of the emperor, on which he scarcely acknowledges any dependence. The Galla are of a brown complexion, and have long black hair; but some of them, who live in the valleys, are entirely black. At first their common food was milk and butter; but since their intercourse with the Abvssinians, they have learned to plough and sow' their lands, and to make bread. They seem to have a predilection for the number seven, as each of the three divisions above mentioned are subdivided into seven tribes. In their behaviour they are extremely barbarous, and live in continual war with the Abyssinians, whom they murder without mercy as often as they fall into their hands. Yet notw ithstanding their excessive cruelty abroad, they live under the strictest descipline at home, and every broil or quarrel is instantly punished according to the nature of the offence. Each of the three divisions of the Galla has a king of its own ; and they have also a kind of nobility, from among whom the sove- reign can only be chosen ; however, the commonalty are not excluded 0 ALLA. 183 from rising to the rank of nobles, if they distinguish themselves very much in battle. None of the nobility can be elected till upwards of forty years of age, unless he has with his own hand killed such a num- ber of enemies, as, added to his own age, make forty. There is a council of each of the seven tribes, which meets separately in its own district, to resolve how many are to be left behind to settle and govern the territory, and other matters of importance. These nations have all a great veneration for a tree which grows plentifully in their country, called wanzey, and which these superstitious people are even said to adore as a god. Their assemblies for the choice of a king are held under one of these trees; and when the sovereign is chosen, they put a bludgeon of this wood into his hand by way of sceptre, and a garland of the flowers upon his head. The Galla are reported to be very good soldiers, especially in cases of surprise ; but, like most other barbarians, have no constancy nor perseverance after the first attack. They will, however, perform extraordinary marches, swimming rivers, holding bv the horses’ tails, and are thus enabled to do very great mischief by the rapidity of their movements. They are excellent light-horse for a regular army in a hostile country, but are very indifferently armed, on account of the scarcity of iron among them. Their principal arms are lances made of wood, sharpened at t lie end and hardened in the fire ; and their shields are composed of one single fold of bull’s hide, so that they are extremely apt to warp by heat, or to become too soft in wet weather. They are exceedingly cruel, and make a shrill and horrid noise at the beginning of every engagement, which greatly terrifies the horses, and very often the barbarous riders who oppose them. The Galla are somewhat below the middle size, but extremely light and nimble. The women are fruitful, and suffer so little in child- bearing, that they do not even confine themselves for a single day after delivery. They plough, sow, and reap the corn, which is trod- den out by the cattle, but the men have all the charge of the cattle in the fields. In their customs, they are filthy to the last degree, plaiting their hair with the guts of oxen, which they likewise twist round their middle, and which by the quick putrefaction occasion an abominable stench. They anoint their heads and their whole bodies with grease, in which, as well as in other respects, they greatly resemble the Hottentots. It has been supposed that they have no religion whatever, but Mr. Bruce is of opinion that this is a mistake. The wanzey, he says, is undoubtedly worshipped by all the three nations as a god ; and they have likewise certain stones w'hich are wor- shiped as gods. They worship the moon and also some stars, when in certain positions, and at some particular seasons of the year. They all believe in a resurrection, and have some faint notions of a state of happiness, but no idea of future punishment. Some of them to the south profess the Mahometan religion, but those of the east and w’est are generally pagans. They all intermarry with each other, but will not allow strangers to live among them, though the Moors have found out a method of safely trading with them. The commodities they deal in are blue Surat cloths, myrrh, and salt, the last being the most valuable article. The marriages among the Galla are celebrated 184 K A B0B1QU AS. with some of the disgusting customs of the Hottentots, and after these ceremonies the bridegroom promises to give the bride meat and drink while she lives, and bury her w hen dead. Polygamy is not only allowed among them, but the women even solicit their husbands to take others to their embraces, that they may have numerous families of children, who may be capable of defending them against their enemies, as the Galla, according to Mr. Bruce, always fight in families, whether against foreign enemies or with one another. Kabobiquas. This is the name of a nation of South Africa, who had never seen a white man till 1785, when M. Vaillant visited them. Having received previous intimation of his approach from the adjacent tribes, their curiosity was wound up to the highest pitch, and, upon the first appearance of his company, the whole horde quitted their kraal, and ran out to meet him. Hardly able to believe their eyes, they felt his hair, his hands, his feet, and almost every part of his body. His beard astonished them, and, believing him to be all over hairy, they half unbuttoned his clothes, before they could be satisfied to the con- trary. The children were dreadfully frightened, but were soon reconciled to him by presents of sugarcandy. Their chief shewed him every mark of respect. He was a ma jestic figure, advanced in life, and wore a long mantle made of four jackals’ skins. The Kabobiquas have neither the flat nose nor the plump cheeks of the Hottentots. They are as tall and as black as the Caffres. Their hair is very short, much curled, and ornamented with small copper buttons. They go almost entirely naked during the hot weather, wearing only a small round piece of leather over the pudenda ; yet their manners are uncommonly chaste, and no females can be more reserved than their women, whose aprons only reach half way down the thigh. They wear a long mantle, made of skins with the hair on. Their only ornaments are glass beads, which they wear as bracelets. M. Vaillant gave them a number of glass bottles, which they greatly admired, and called solid water — having seen ice, and having no idea that any other solid substance could be formed trans- parent. They supposed that M. Vaillant prevented them from melting before their fires by magic. He says he “ never saw a nation so dis- interested. They vied with each other in generosity. Every night they brought to his camp a considerable quantity of milk ; and they never came to spend the evening with his people without bringing some sheep to regale them. Many of them gave away gratuitously, and w ithout receiving any thing in return, part of their herds and flocks.” With all this benevolence, they have also a courageous and martial character. Their weapons are poisoned arrows, and lances with long points. Their defensive arms are bucklers of two different sizes, made of skins, very thick, and impenetrable by arrows. Their courage is equally displayed against their enemies and against wild beasts. Yet with all their boldness, they are extremely obedient to their chief, whose will is a law. They believe in a supreme Being, w ho exists far beyond the stars, and who made and governs all things. NEW CALEDONIANS. 185 Yet, if we may believe M. Vaillant, they have no conception of future existence, or reward? and punishments ; and they have neither worship, sacrifices, ceremonies, nor priests.” Inhabitants, Customs, &c., of New Caledonia, an Island in the South Sea. The inhabitants are in general very tall, stout, and well propor- tioned ; their features mild ; their beards and hair black, and strongly frizzled, so as to be somewhat woolly; in some individuals their colour is a dark chestnut brown. A few measured six feet four inches. They are remarkably courteous, not at all addicted to pilfering; in which feature of character they are singular, all the other nations in the South Sea being remarkably thievish. Some wear their hair long, and tie it up to the crown of their heads ; others suffer only a large lock to grow on each side, which they tie up in clubs; many others, as well as the women, wear it cropt short. They all use a kind of comb made of sticks of hard wood, from seven to ten inches long, and about the thickness of knitting-needles. These combs they also wear in their hair on one side of the head. Some have a kind of concave cylindrical stiff black cap, which appears to be a great ornament among them, and was supposed to be worn only by the chiefs and warriors. The men go naked ; only tying a string round their middle, and another round their neck. A little piece of brown cloth, made of the bark of a fig-tree, sometimes tucked up to the belt, and sometimes pendulous, scarcely deserves the name of a covering, nor indeed does it seem intended for it. This piece of cloth is sometimes of such a length, that the extremity is fastened to the string round the neck; to this string they sometimes hang small round beads, of a pale nephritic stone. They had also coarse gar- ments made of a sort of matting ; but they seemed never to wear them, except in their canoes, and unemployed. The women seemed to be in a servile state ; they were the only persons who had any employment, and several of them brought bundles of sticks and fuel on their backs; those who had children carried them on their backs in a kind of satchel. The women also dig up the earth, to plant it. They are in general of a dark chest- nut, but sometimes of a mahogany brow n ; their stature middle-sized, though some are tall, and their w hole form stout, and somewhat clumsy. Their dress is a short petticoat or fringe, consisting of filaments or little cords, about eight inches long, fastened to a very long string, which they tie several times round their waist. These filaments lie above each other in several layers all round the body, but do not near cover the thigh ; they were sometimes dyed black, but frequently of a dirty gray. There was not a single instance, during the ship’s stay at this island, of the women permitting any indecent familiarities with an European. The general ornaments of b th sexes are ear-rings, neck- laces, amulets, and bracelets made of shells, stones, &c. Notwith- standing the inoffensive disposition of the inhabitants of New Cale- donia, they were all provided with offensive weapons, as clubs, spears, darts, and slings. Their clubs are about two and a half 2 A DAIIOMANS. 186 feet. long, and variously formed, — some like a scythe, others like a pickaxe ; some with a head like a hawk, others with round heads ; but all are neatly made, and ornamented with carvings. The slings are simple, but they form the stones into a shape somewhat like an egg. They drive the dart by the assistance of short cords knotted at one end and looped at the other, called by the seamen, beckets. These contain a quantity of red wool, taken from the great Indian bat. Bows and arrows are wholly unknown among them. Their language bears no affinity to that spoken in the other South Sea islands, the word arrekee, and one or two more, excepted. This is the more extraordinary, as different dialects of one language were spoken uot only in the easterly islands, but at New Zealand. Their ouly musical instrument is a kind of whistle — a little polished piece of brown wood about two inches long, shaped like a bell, though appa- rently solid, with a rope fixed at the small end; two holes are made in it near the base, and another near the insertion of the rope, all which communicate with each other, and by blowing in the uppermost a shrill sound like whistling is produced. Many of these people were observed to have prodigiously thick arms and legs, which seem to be affected with a kind of leprosy ; the swelling was extremely hard, but the skin was not alike harsh and scaly in all those that were affiicted with the disorder. The preternatural expansion of the arm or leg did not appear to be a great inconvenience to them, and they very rarely felt any pain in it; but after some time the disorder began to form blotches, w hich are marks of a great degree of virulence. They bury their dead in the ground. The grave of a chief who had been slain in battle resembled a large mole-hill, and was decorated with spears, darts, paddles, &c., all stuck upright in the ground about it Lieutenant Pickersgill was shew n a chief w hom they called Teabeoma, and styled their arrekee, or king; but nothing farther is known of their government, and nothing at all of their religion. They have no idea of goats, hogs, dogs, or cats. Daiiomans. These are the inhabitants of Dahomy, a kingdom of Africa. The religion of the Dahomans is vague and uncertain in its principles, and rather consists in its performance of some traditionary ceremo- nies, than in any fixed system of belief, or of moral conduct. They believe more firmly in their amulets and fetiches, than in the Deity; their national fetiche is the tiger, and their houses or huts are decorated with ugly images, tinged with blood, stuck with feathers, besmeared with palm oil, and bedaubed with eggs. The government is perhaps the most perfect despotism upon earth. The policy of the country admits of no intermediate degree of subordination between the king and slave, at least in the royal presence, where the prime minister is obliged to prostrate himself with as much abject submission as the meanest subject, all acknowledging the unlimited power of the sove- reign. A minister of state craw ls towards the apartment of audience on his hands and knees, till he arrives in the royal presence, where he lays himself flat on his belly, rubbing his head in the dust, and DAHOMANS. 187 uttering the most humiliating expressions. Being desired to advance, he receives the king’s commands, or communicates any particular business, still continuing in a recumbent posture, for no person is permitted to sit, even on the floor, in the royal presence, except the women ; and even they must kiss the earth when they receive or deliver the king’s message. — The king of Dahomy maintains a con- siderable standing army, commanded by an agaow, or general, with several other subordinate military officers, who must hold themselves in readiness to take the field upon all occasions, at the command of the sovereign. The payment of this troop chiefly depends on the success of the expeditions in which they are engaged. On extraor- dinary occasions, all the males able to bear arms are obliged to repair to the general’s standard, every caboceer marching at the head of his own people. Sometimes the king takes the field at the head of his troops, and, on very great emergencies, at the head of his women. Within the walls of the different royal palaces in Dahomy are immured not less than three thousand women ; several hundreds of these are trained to arms under a female general, and subordinate officers appointed by the king, in the same manner as those under the agaow. These Amazons are regularly exercised, and go through their evolutions with as much expertness as the male soldiers. They have their large umbrellas, their flags, their drums, trumpets, flutes, and other musical instruments. In short, the singularity of this institution never fails to attract the particular attention of Europeans, when, among other uncommon exhibitions, they are presented with the curious spectacle of a review of female troops. The dress of the men in Dahomy consists of a pair of striped-or white cotton drawers, of the manufacture of the country; over which they wear a large square cloth of the same, or of European manu- facture. This cloth is about the size of a common counterpane for the middling class, but much larger for the grandees. It is wrapped about the loins, and tied on the left side by two of the corners, the others hanging down, and sometimes trailing on the ground. A piece of silk or velvet, of sixteen or eighteen yards, makes a cloth for a grandee. The head is easily covered with a beaver or felt hat, according to the quality of the wearer. The king, as well as some of his ministers, often wears a gold or silver laced hat and feather. The arms and the upper part of the body remain naked, unless when the party travels, or performs certain pieces of w ork, when the large cloth is laid aside, and the body is covered with a sort of frock or tunic without sleeves. The feet are always bare, none but the sove- reign having a right to wear sandals. The dress of the women, though simple, consists of a greater number of articles than that of the men. They use several cloths or handkerchiefs, some to wrap round their loins, and others to cover occasionally the breasts and upper part of the body. The neck, arms, and ankles, are adorned with beads and cow'ries ; and rings of silver, or baser metal, encircle the fingers. The ears are so pierced as to admit the little finger, and a coral bead of that size stuck in each, if the party be able to afford it ; otherwise a portion 188 M ALLICOLLO. MADAGASCAR. of red sealing wax, or a piece of oyster-shell polished, is applied in the same manner. Girls before the age of maturity wear nothing but a string of beads or shells round their loins, and young women usually expose the breasts to view. The general character of the Dahomans is marked by a mixture of ferocity and politeness. The former appears in the treatment of their enemies ; the latter they possess far above the African nations with whom we hitherto had any intercourse, this being the country where strangers are least exposed to insult, and where it is easy to reside in security and tranquillity. Natives of Mallicollo. These people are described as the most ugly, ill-proportioned people imaginable, and in every respect different from the other islanders in the South Sea. They are of a very dark colour, and diminutive size; with long heads, flat faces, and monkey counte- nances; their hair is in general black or brown, short and curly, but not so soft and woolly as that of a negro. Their beards are very strong, crisp, and bushy, and generally black and short. Hut what serves to increase their natural deformity is, a custom which they have of wearing a belt or cord round their waist; this rope is as thick as a man’s finger, and is tied so tight round their belly, that it would be fatal to a person unaccustomed from infancy to such an unnatural ligature ; for it cuts such a deep notch across the navel, that the bellv seems in a manner divided, one part above and the other below the rope. The men go quite naked, except a piece of cloth or leaf used as a wrapper. Most other nations invent some kind of covering from motives of shame ; but here a roll of cloth, fastened to the belt, rather displays what should be concealed. Besides having the flat broad nose and projecting cheek-bones of a negro, and a very short forehead, many increase their natural ugliness by painting their faces and breasts black. Some few had a small cap on the head made of mat- ted work. They wear bracelets of white and black shells, which press the upper arm so closely, that they seem to have been put on when the wearer was very young ; this tends, as well as the belt, to reduce the Mallicollese to that slender shape which characte- rizes them. The depression of their foreheads is supposed to be artificial, as the heads of infants may be squeezed into any kind of form. Manners and Character of the People of Madagascar. These people are civil and good-natured, but easily provoked, and apt to shew their resentment when they think themselves injured. Another characteristic is, the very high notions they entertain of their king, who resides in a town built with mud, about twelve miles up from St. Augustine’s bay. Their physiognomy displays the appear- ance of frankness and satisfaction ; they are desirous only of learning such things as may administer to their necessities ; that species of knowledge which demands reflection, is indifferent to them ; sober, agile, active, they spend the greatest part of their time in amusements. Madagascar. 189 In fine, according to the Abbe Rochon, they are devoid of vice and of virtue ; the gratifications of the present moment solely occupy their reflections; they possess no kind of foresight, and have no idea that there are men in the world who trouble themselves about the evils of futurity. But such a description of any human beings is hardly credi- ble. All the women of Madagascar, excepting the very poorest, wear a covering over their breasts and shoulders, ornamented with glass beads, and none go without a cloth about their loins. They commonly walk with a long slender rod or stick. The men marry as many women as they can support. The Abbe gives the following description of the people in the south division of the island. “ That part of Madagascar in which Fort Dauphin is situated, is very populous. When the chiefs go abroad, they are always provided with a musket, and a stick armed with iron, adorned at the extremity with a little tuft of cow's hair. They wear a bonnet of red wool. It is chiefly by the colour of their bonnet that they are distinguished from their subjects. Their authority is extremely limited : however, in the province of Carcanossi, the lands by custom belong to their chiefs, who distribute them among their subjects for the purpose of cultivation ; they exact a trifling quitrent in return, which in their language is called jaensa. The people of Carcanossi are not altogether ignorant of the art of writing ; they even possess some historical works in the Madagascar tongue, hut their learned men, whom they term Ombiasses, use the Arabic characters alone. They have treatises on medicine, geomancy, and judicial astrology; the most renowned live in the province of Matatane; in that district magic still remains in all its glory, and the Matatanes are actually dreaded bv all the other Madagasses on account of their excellence in this delusive art. The Ombiasses have public schools, in which they teach geomancy and astrology. The natives have undoubtedly learned the art of writing from the Arabians, who made a conquest of this island about three hundred years since. “The people of Anossi, near Fort Dauphin, are lively, gay, sensible, and grateful ; they are passionately fond of women, are never melan- choly in their company, and their principal occupation is to please the sex ; indeed, whenever they meet their wives, they begin to sing and dance. The women, from being happy, are always in good humour. Their lively and cheerful character is extremely pleasing to the Europeans. I have often been present at their assemblies, where affairs of importance have been agitated ; I have observed their dances, their sports, and their amusements, and I have found them free from those excesses which are too common among polished nations.” — “If the people of Madagascar,” adds the Abbe, “have availed themselves of treachery, they have been forced to it by the tyranny of the Europeans. The weak have no other arms against the strong. They are uninformed and helpless, and we avail ourselves of their weakness to make them submit to our covetousness and caprice. They receive the most cruel and oppressive treatment, in return for the hospitality which they generously bestow on us ; and we call them traitors and cowards, when we force them to break the yoke with which we load them.” 190 ALIBAMONS. — PATAGONIANS. Alibamons. This is one of the native tribes of Americans on the river Alibama in Georgia. This tribe is remarkable for their hospitality and frank- ness. They believe in a future state of existence, resembling the sensual paradise of Mahomet. Their dead are buried in a sitting posture, with a pipe and tobacco ; but the bodies of suicides, who are considered as cowards, are thrown into the rivers. As they marry only one wife, they are exceedingly jealous of their honour, though their young women are allowed to trifle with their chastity. This spirit of jealousy induces them to set out on their hunting parties with their families, in canoes, about the end of October ; and after travelling through a distance of eighty or a hundred leagues, they return at their seed-time, in March, loaded with skins and dried flesh. Their diet consists chiefly of toasted maize cooked with flesh, which they call sagamiti. The Alibamons have their magicians and little deities or manitus, and pretend to heal diseases by magical iucantations. Patagonians. These are the inhabitants of Patagonia, in South America. From the accounts of Commodore Byron and his crew , and the testimonies of other navigators, some of the Patagonians are of a gigantic stature, and clothed with skins ; others go almost quite naked, notwithstanding the inclemency of the climate- Some of them also who live about the streights, are perfect savages ; but those with whom Byron and his people conversed, were gentle and humane. They live on fish and game, and what the earth produces spontaneously. A vast deal has been said respecting the stature of the Patagonians, by peo- ple of different nations, and on various occasions. Mr. Charles Clarke, who was on board Byrons ship in 1764, says that some of them are certainly nine feet, if they do not exceed it. Captain Wal- lis, on the other hand, who went out to the Straits of Magellan after Byron’s return, found that the tallest man among them measured only six feet seven inches high ; several were within an inch or two as tall; but the ordinary size was from five feet ten inches to six feet. All agree, however, that the hair is black, and harsh like bristles; that they are of a dark copper colour; that their features are rather hand- some than ugly; that they clothe themselves with skins; that they paint themselves variously, and there is reason to suspect that by that variety they distinguished their tribes. One remarkable observation made by our vogagers is, that the Patagonians could repeat whole sentences after our men, more distinctly than almost any European foreigner, of what nation soever. Another very remarkable particular is, that they had none of the characters of a ferocious people, there were no offensive weapons among them, except the scymeter, and a kind of sliug which they use in hunting, consisting of two round stones of about a pound weight each, connected together by a thong. These stones were fastened to the extremities of the thong; and when they threw them, they held one stone in the hand, and swung the other about the head. SPANIARDS. — DUTCHMEN. 191 Inhabitants of Spain. The Spaniards want neither inclination nor capacity for the sciences, but have hardly any opportunity of acquiring any true learn- ing or knowledge, at least in their schools and universities. They are admired for their secrecy, constancy, gravity, patience in adversity, and loyalty. They are also said to be true to their word, great enemies to lying, and so nice and jealous in point of honour, that they will stick at nothing to wipe ofF any stain that is cast upon it. Among their vices and defects are reckoned their pride, and contempt of foreigners, their indolence, laziness, lust, bigotry, and credulity in believing the feigned miracles and legends of their monks. They are also extremely passionate, jealous, and vindictive, and are noted, above any other European nation, for despising and neglecting agri- culture, arts, and manufactures. Manners and Character of the Dutch. • The Dutch boors or husbandmen are very industrious, but heavy and slow of understanding. The seamen are a plain, blunt, but rough, surly, and ill-mannered sort of people. Their tradesmen are some- thing sharper, and make use of all their skill to take advantage of those they deal with. Every class of meu is extremely frugal. All appetites and passions run lower and cooler than in other countries, avarice excepted. Quarrels are very rare, revenge is seldom heard of, and jealousy scarcely ever known. It is very uncommon for any of the men to be really in love, or even to pretend to it ; nor do the women seem to care whether they are or not. People converse pretty much upon a level here, nor is it easy to distinguish the man from the master, or the maid from the mistress ; such liberties do they allow their servants, or rather are obliged to allow them, for they may not be struck or corrected, but the dispute must be referred to the magistrate. The Dutch are tall and strong built, but both men and women have the grossest shapes that are to be met with any where. Their garb, except among the officers of the army and some few others, is exceed- ingly plain, and the fashions change as seldom as in Spain. The men are addicted to drinking, which some think necessary to this foggy air, both for their health, and the impovementof their understanding. Among their diversions, that of skating in winter is one of the chief. It is amazing to see the crowds in a hard frost upon the ice, and their dexterity in skating ; both men and women darting along wdth incon- ceivable velocity. The Dutch are remarkable for their cleanliness ; nothing can exceed the neatness of their houses, towns, and villages. Many of them have distinguished themselves by their learning, and some even by their wit and ingenuity ; witness Eras- mus, Grotius, &c. The Dutch excel also in painting and engraving, particularly the former ; and some of them have been no contemptible statuaries. 192 TURK'. Dress Character, and Manners of the Inhabitants of Turkey. > The Turks are generally robust and well-shaped, of a good mien, and patient of hardships, which renders them fit for war. They shave their heads, but wear their beards long, except the military and those in the seraglio, who wear only whiskers. They cover their heads with a w hite linen turban of an enormous size, and never put it oft' but when they sleep. None but Turks must presume to wear a white turban. Their breeches or drawers are of a piece with the stockings ; and they have slippers instead of shoes, which they pull off when they enter a temple or house. They wear shirts with wide sleeves, not gathered at the wrists, and over them a vest tied with a sash ; their upper garment being a loose gown, something shorter than the rest. The women’s dress much resembles that of the men ; only they have a stiffened cap with horns, something like a mitre, on their heads instead of a turban, and wear their hair flowing down. When they go abroad, they are so wrapped up that their faces can- not be seen. The Turks sit, eat, and sleep, according to the custom of the East, on sophas and cushions, mattresses and carpets. Rice is their most general food, and coffee their common drink. Their most usual salutation is to bow their heads a little, laying their right hand upon their breasts ; but to persons of rank, they stoop so low as to touch the border of their vest. The women are kept under a rigor- ous confinement. They have generally delicate skins, regular fea- tures, black hair and eyes, with an admirable chest. Many of them are complete beauties. Their cleanliness is extraordinary ; for they bathe tw ice a week, and suffer not the smallest hair or least soil to be upon their bodies. As to the qualities of their minds, they are said to want neither wit, vivacity, nor tenderness, and to be exceedingly amorous. It is no doubt for this reason that the men never suffer their wives’ faces to be seen, not even by the dearest friend they have in the world. There is no need of much w it to behave one’s self well here ; for a good mien and gravity supply the place of merit in the East, and much gaiety would spoil all. Not that the Turks want w it, but they speak little, and pride themselves in sincerity and modesty, more than eloquence. The Turks use no unnecessary words, whereas the Greeks talk incessantly. Though these two nations are born under one climate, their tempers are more different than if they lived in the most distant countries. The Turks make profession of candour and faithfulness, and are charitable good-natured people, jealousy excepted, and very sober. On the other hand, they are extremely proud, insolent and indolent, superstitious and covetous. They are also much addicted to unnatural lusts; and despise all other nations ia general, especially those which are not of their own religion. The common appellation they give to Christians is that of — dogs. An uniformity runs through all the actions of the Turks, and they never change their manner of living. They seem to have no kind of genius for the improvement of the arts and sciences, though they live under the influence of the same heaven, and possess the same POLES. — PERSIANS. 193 countries, as the ancient Grecians did. They generally loiter away their time, either among the women in the harem, or in smoking, or in taking opium ; and though they herd together, you will observe as little conversation among them as among so many horses in a stable. They seldom travel, or use any exercise or rural sports, and discover little or no curiosity to be informed of the state of their ow n or any other country : but Turkey, after all, is not without men of parts, probity, ana honour; nor without benevolent, liberal, couver- sible, and ingenious people. They behave very commendablv to their slaves and servants, and frequently better than the Christians do to theirs. There are no hereditary governments, or titles of nobility, in Turkey ; and indeed the commonalty there enjoy the greatest liberty. Inhabitants of Poland. When Poland was an independent kingdom or republic, the inhabitants consisted of nobles, citizens, and peasants. The first possessed great privileges, which they enjoyed, partly by the indul- gence of their kings, and partly by ancient custom and prescription. Some of them had (he title of prince, count, or baron, but no supe- riority or pre-eminence on that account over the rest, which was only to be obtained by some public post or dignity. They had the power of life and death over their vassals ; paid no taxes ; were sub- ject to none but the king ; had a right to all mines and salt-works on their estates ; to all offices and employments, civil, militarv, and ecclesiastic ; could not be cited or tried out of the kingdom ; might choose whom they would for a king, and lay him under what restraints they pleased ; and none but they and the burghers of par- ticular towns could purchase lands. In short, they were almost entirely independent, enjoying many other privileges and preroga- tives besides those we have specified ; but if they engaged in trade, they forfeited their nobility. The Poles are personable, and have good complexions. They are esteemed a brave, honest people, without dissimulation, and exceedingly hospitable. They clothe themselves in furs in winter, and over all they throw a short cloak. No people keep grander equipages than the gentry : they consider themselves as so many sovereign princes; and have their guards, bands of music, and open- houses ; but the lower sort of the people were, and we fear still are, in the lowest state of slavery. The exercises of the gentry are hunt- ing, riding, dancing, vaulting, &c. They reside mostly upon their estates in the country; and maintain themselves and families by agriculture, breeding of bees, and grazing. Manners of the People of Persia. The ancient Persians are known to have been exceedingly volup- tuous and effeminate. After the conquest of the empire by Alexander, the Greek discipline and martial spirit being in part communicated to them, they became much more formidable ; and hence the Parthians 2 B 104 PERSIANS. were a match, not only for the Syro-Macedonian princes, but even for the Romans. Of their manners we know little or nothing, but that to their valour and military skill they joined in a surprising degree all the luxury and dissipation of the ancient Persians. The modern Per- sians, like the Turks, plundering all the adjacent nations for beautiful females, are men of a good stature, shape, and complexion, but the Gawres, or ancient Persians, are homely, ill-shaped, and clumsy, with a rough skin and olive complexions. In some provinces not only the complexions, but the constitutions of the inhabitants, suffer greatly by the extreme heat of the climate. The Persian women are generally handsome and well-shaped, but much inferior to those of Georgia and Circassia. The men wear large turbans on their heads, some of them very rich, interwoven with gold and silver ; a vest girt with a sash, and over it a loose garment, something shorter, with sandals or slippers on their feet. When they ride, which they do every day, they wear pliant boots of yellow leather ; the furniture of their horses is extremely rich, and the stirrups are generally of silver; whether on horseback or on foot, they wear a broadsword, and a dagger in their sash. The dress of the women does not differ much from that of the men, only their vests are longer, and they wear stiffened caps on their heads, and their hair down. With respect to outward behaviour, says an intelligent traveller, “ the Persians differ from the nations of the East. Whilst a rude and insolent de* meanour peculiarly marks the character of the Turkish nation towards foreigners and Christians, the behaviour of the Persians would, on the contrary, do honour to the most civilized nations ; they are kind, courteous, civil, and obliging. Their usual drink is water and sherbet, as in other Mahometan countries, wine being prohibited ; but of all Mahometan nations, they pay the least regard to this prohibition* Many of them drink wine publicly, and almost all of them in private* excepting those who have performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and men of religion ; they are also very liable to be quarrelsome when inebri- ated, which is often attended with fatal consequences. They eat opium, but in much less quantities than the Turks; and indeed in every thing they say or do, eat or drink, they make a point to be as different from this nation as possible, whom they detest beyond measure, esteeming Jews and Christians superior to them, and much nearer to salvation. They are of the sect of Ali, whom they venerate to a high degree of blasphemy, and exalt even above the Almighty himself.” The Scha/i of Persia. An officer in the service of Persia gives, in one of his letters, the following details respecting the Schah of Persia, and the town of Teheran, the residence of the court : — “ The present Schah, Feth Ali, is about fifty-five years of age. He is of high stature. His demeanour is full of majesty ; his counte- nance pale, and shining like marble; but when he speaks on sub- jects which animate him, a glowing red mantles in his cheeks. His eves are black and brilliant ; his eye-brows full, and finely arched. His long beard, of the finest black, comes down to his waist: (a long beard has for ages back been the distinguishing mark of the royalty PERSIANS. — CALIFORNIANS. 195 of the Persian sovereigns.) His physiognomy in general expresses sweetness, and his smile is at once noble and gracious. His moral qualities are not inferior to his physical advantages. He is benevo- lent, generous, and one of the most learned men in Persia. He knows, and perfectly appreciates, European customs, having been almost always surrounded by European officers, both French and English. His policy is not narrow, like that of the Turks. A single instance will suffice to shew how much the policy of the court of Persia differs from that of the Porte. Whilst at Constantinople the princes of the imperial family are imprisoned all their lives in an old seraglio, it is the custom at Teheran to confide the important provinces of Per- sia exclusively to the princes of the royal blood. “The Persian army is composed, first, of the guards of the king and princes ; secondly, of the troops furnished by the Nomadic tribes ; thirdly, of the provincial militia, who do no regular nor permanent duty; fourthly, of various corps of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, exercised and clothed nearly the same as European soldiers, without reckoning a corps of bad artillery, called Zemboureh. The number of guards is 4,000 That of the Nomadic troops 80,000 Militia .. 150,000 Troops disciplined like European soldiers 20,000 Total 254,000 “ In time of war, the number of Nomadic troops and militia may easily be doubled. “Tehraun, (falsely called Teheran,) the capital of the empire, is situated in a plain at the foot of the mountains of Elborz. It is sur- rounded by deep moats, towers, and a wall which embraces an extent of four miles. The streets are narrow and dirty, like those of all the towns of Persia. When a khan or great personage goes out to take an airing, or for any other purpose, he is rarely seen on foot ; lie mounts a horse, and is followed by thirty or forty domestics on foot. One of these carries his master’s pipe ; the others are required to make up his suite. The narrators of national histories, surrounded by a group of listeners, are often met with in the streets. They relate, with animated gestures, and changing their tone or voice as the subjects require, sometimes the loves of Khosroo and Shirenee ; at others, the exploits of Rustaum, their favourite hero; or sing some verses of Ferdousi, the Homer of their country. Every body takes delight in these amusements, from the peasant to the prince. The Schah, as well as the prince-governors, have each their history-nar- rator, and they send for them when they are affected with a moment’s melancholy. They represent at once, the bards of ancient times, — the troubadours of more modern days, — and the Italian improvisatori of our own age.” Inhabitants of California. The Californians are well made, and very strong. They are said to be extremely pusillanimous, inconstant, stupid, and even insensible. Before the Europeans penetrated into California, the natives had no 196 LOMBARDS. RUSSIANS. form of religion. The missionaries, indeed, tell us many tales con- cerning them, but they evidently bear the marks of forgery. Each nation was then an assembly of cottagers more or less numerous, all confederated by alliances, but without anv chief. They were stran- gers even to filial obedience. No kind of dress was used by the men, but the women made use of some coverings, and were even fond of ornamenting themselves with pearls, and such trinkets as the country afforded. What mostly displayed their ingenuity was the construc- tion of their fishing-nets, which are said by the* Jesuits to have even exceeded in goodness those made in Europe. They were made by the women, of a coarse kind of flax, procured from some plants which grow there. Their houses are built of branches and leaves of trees, nay, many of them were only enclosures of earth and stone, raised half a yard high, without any covering; and even these were so small that they could not stretch themselves at length in them; In winter they dwelt in caves under ground. Lombards. The Lombards were at first a cruel and barbarous nation, but their natural fierceness gradually wore off, especially after they embraced the Christian religion, and they governed with such equity and mode- ration, that most other nalions envied the happiness of those who lived under them. Under the government of the Lombards, says Paulus Diaconus, no violence was committed, no one unjustly dis- possessed of his property, none oppressed with taxes ; thefts, rob- beries, murder, and adultery were seldom heard of ; every one went without apprehension wherever he pleased. Their laws were so just and equitable, that they were retainec in Italy, and observed there some ages after their kingdom was at an end. Their dress was loose, and for the most part linen, such as the Anglo-Saxons wore, being interwoven with various colours ; their shoes were open to the end of the foot, and they used to button or lace them. From some ancient paintings, it appears that they shaved the back part of their heads, but that their hair was long before, their locks being parted, and laid on each side their foreheads. Manners, Character, and Customs or the People or Russia. The native Russians are stigmatized by their neighbours as igno- rant and brutal, totally resigned to sloth, and addicted to drunkenness, even to the most beastly excess, nay, they are accused of being arbi- trary, perfidious, inhuman, and destitute of every social virtue. There is not in their language a phrase analogous to ours — “ the manners or the sentiments of a gentleman,” nor does gentleman with them express any thing moral ; they have no such distinction. Gaming is professed and gloried in by all ; and the nobleman who is detected telling a lie is vexed, but not in the least ashamed. In the whole regiment of the marine by Peter the Great, there is not one word addressed to the honour, or even to the probity, of his officers. Hopes of reward, and the constant fear of detection and punishment, are the "RUSSIANS. 197 only motives touched on. In every ship of war, and in every regiment, there is a fiscal or authorized spy, a man of respectable rank, whose letters must not be opened, but at the risk of the great knout ; and he is required by express statute to give monthly reports of the behaviour of the officers and privates. Such regulations we cannot think well adapted to improve the morals of the people, yet we believe they have been improved by the care, assiduity, and example of some of their late sovereigns. Certain it is, the vice of drunkenness was so universally prevalent among them, that Peter I. was obliged to restrain it by very severe edicts, which, however, have not produced much effect. There were in the city of Moscow no fewer than 4000 brandy shops, in which the inhabitants used to sot away their time, in drinking strong liquors and smoking tobacco. This last practice became sb dangerous among persons in the most beastly state of intoxication, that a very severe law was made to prevent the pernicious consequences, other- wise the whole city might have been consumed by fire. The nobility were heretofore very powerful, each commanding a great number of vassals, whom they ruled with the most despotic and barbarous authority ; but their possessions have been gradually circumscribed, and their power transferred in a great measure to the czar, on whom they are now wholly dependent. The Russian nobles formerly wore long beards, and long robes with straight sleeves dangling down to their ankles ; their collars and shirts were generally wrought with silk of different colours ; in lieu of hats, they covered their heads w ith furred caps ; and, instead of shoes, wore red or yellow leathern buskins. The dress of the women nearly resembled that of the other sex ; with this difference, that their garments were more loose, their caps fantastical, and their shirt-sleeves three or four ells in length, gathered up in folds from the shoulder to the fore-arm. But now the French fashions prevail among the superior ranks throughout all Muscovy. The common people in this country are generally tall, healthy, and robust, patient of cold and hunger, inured to hardships, and remarkably capable of bearing the most sudden transitions from the extremes of hot or cold weather. Nothing is more customary than to see a Russian, who is over-heated, and sweating at every pore, strip himself naked, and plunge into a river ; nay, when their pores are all opened in the hot bath, to which they have daily recourse, they ei- ther practise this immersion, or subject themselves to a discharge of some pailfuls of cold water. This is the custom of both men and women, who enter the baths promiscuously, and appear uncovered to each other without scruple or hesitation. A Russian will subsist for many days upon a little oatmeal and water, and even raw roots; an onion is a regale ; but the food they generally use in their journeys is a kind of rye bread cut into small square pieces, and dried again in the oven ; these, when they are hungry, they soak in water, and eat as a very comfortable repast. Both sexes are remarkably healthy and robust, and accustom themselves to sleep every day after dinner. The Russian women are remarkably fair, comely, strong, and well shaped, obedient to their lordly husbands, and patient under discipline. 198 RUSSIANS. Parental Despotism. Such is the slavery in which the Muscovites of both sexes are kept by their parents, their patrons, and the emperor, that they are not allowed to dispute any match that may be provided for them by these directors, however disagreeable or odious it may be. Officers of the greatest rank in the army, both natives and foreigners, have been saddled with wives by the sovereign in this arbitrary manner. A great general, some time ago deceased, who was a native of Bri- tain, having been pressed by the late empress to wed one of her ladies, saved himself from a very disagreeable marriage, by pretending his constitution was so, unsound that the lady would be irreparably injured by his compliance. In Russia, the authority of parents over their chil- dren is almost as great as it was among the ancient Romans, and is often exercised with equal severity. Should a father, in punishing his son for a fault, be the immediate cause of his death, he could not be called to account for his conduct ; he would have done nothing but what the law' authorized him to do. Nor does this legal tyranny cease with the minority of children ; it continues while they remain in their father’s family, and is often exerted in the most indecent manner. It is not uncommon, even in St. Petersburg, to see a lady of the highest rank, and in all the pomp and pride of youthful beauty, standing in the court-yard with her back bare, exposed to the whip of her father’s servants. And so little disgrace is attached to this punishment, that the same lady will sit down at table with her father and his guests immediately after she has received her flogging, pro- vided its severity has not confined her to bed. Marriage Ceremonies. On the wedding day, the bride presents the bridegroom with a whip of her own making, in token of submission ; and this he fails pot to employ as the instrument of his authority. Very little cere- mony is here used in match-making, which is the work of the parents. The bridegroom seldom sees the woman till he is joined to her for life. The marriage being proposed and agreed to, the lady is minutely examined by a certain body of her female relations ; and if they find any bodily defect, they endeavour to cure it by their own skill. The bride, on her wedding day, is crowned with a gar- land of wormwood, implying the bitterness that often attends the married state. When the priest has tied the nuptial knot at the altar, his clerk or sexton throws upon her head a handful of hops, wishing that she may prove as fruitful as the plant thus scattered. She is muffled up, and led home by a certain number of old women, the parish priest carrying the cross before ; while one of his subalterns, in a rough goat-skin, prays all the way that she may bear as many children as there are hairs on his garment. The new-married couple, being seated at table, are presented with bread and salt; and a chorus of boys and girls sing the epithalamium, which is always grossly obscene. The bride and bridegroom are then conducted to their own chamber by an old woman, who exhorts the wife to obey her husband, and retires. Then the bridegroom desires the lady to RUSSIANS. 199 pull off one of his buskins, giving her to understand, that in one of them there is contained a whip, and in the other a jewel ora purse of money. She takes her choice ; and if she finds the purse, inter- prets it into a good omen ; whereas, should she light on the whip, she construes it into an unhappy presage, and instantly receives a lash, as a specimen of what she has to expect. The Muscovite husbands are the most barbarous, even to a pro- verb ; they not only administer frequent and severe corrections to their wives, but sometimes torture them to death, without being sub* ject to any punishment for the murder. He that marries a second wife, the first being alive, is not admitted farther than the church door; whoever espouses a third, is excommunicated; so that, though polygamy is tolerated, they count it infamous. If a woman is barren, the husband generally persuades her to retire into a con- vent ; if fair means will not succeed, he may whip her into compliance. Religions and Superstitions. The Russians were converted to the Christian religion about the end of the tenth century. Since that period they have professed the articles of the Greek church, mingled with many superstitious cere- monies of their own. They do not believe in the pope’s infallibility or supremacy ; they hold no communion with the see of Rome ; they use auricular confession, communicate in both kinds, adopt the Athaqasian creed, and adhere to the established liturgy of St. Basil. They worship the Virgin Mary and other saints, and adore crosses and relics. They observe four great fasts in the year, during which they never taste fish, flesh, nor any animal food ; they will not drink after a man who has eaten flesh, nor use a knife that has cut meat, in less than twenty-four hours after it has been used ; nor will they, even though their health is at stake, touch any thing in which harts- horn or any animal substance has been infused. While this kind of Lent continues, they subsist upon cabbages, cucumbers, and rye-bread, drinking nothing stronger than a sort of small beer called quassi. They likewise fast every Wednesday and Friday. Their most common penance is to abstain from every species of food and drink, but bread, salt, cucumbers, and water. They bend their bodies, and continue in that painful posture, and between whiles strike their head against an image. The Muscovites reject as impure, horse- flesh, elk, veal, hare, rabbit, ass’s milk, mare’s milk, and Venice trea- cle, because the flesh of vipers is an ingredient, also every thing that contains even the smallest quantity of musk, civet, and castor ; yet they have no aversion to swine’s flesh, and the country produces excellent bacon. They celebrate fifteen grand festivals in the year. On Palm Sunday there is a magnificent procession, at which the czar assists in person and on foot. He is dressed in cloth of gold, his train is carried by the prime nobility, and he is attended by his whole court. He is immediately preceded by the officers of his household, one of whom carries his handkerchief on his arm, lying upon another of the richest embroidery. He halts at a sort of platform of free-stone, where, H 200 RUSSIANS. turning to the east, and bending his body almost double, he pro- nounces a short prayer ; then he proceeds to the church of Jerusalem, where he renews his devotion. This exercise being performed, he returns to his palace, the bridle of the patriarch’s horse resting upon his arm. The horse’s head being covered with white linen, is held by some noblemen, while the patriarch, sitting sidewise, and holding a cross in his hand, distributes benedictions as he moves along : on his head he wears a cap edged with ermine, adorned with loops and buttons of gold, and precious stones ; before him are displayed banners of consecrated stuff, in a variety of colours. Above 500 priests walk in the procession; those who are near the patriarch, bearing pictures of the Virgin Mary, richly ornamented with gold, jewels, and pearls, w ith crosses, relics, and religious books, including a copy of the Gos- pels, which they reckon of inestimable value. In the midst of this procession is born a triumphal arch, and on the top an apple-tree covered with fruit, which several little boys enclosed in the machine endeavour to gather. The lords and laity carry branches of willow ; the guards and the spectators throw themselves on the ground, while the procession halts, and after the ceremony, the patriarch presents a purse of 100 rubles to the czar, who perhaps invites him to dine at his table during the season of Easter; the whole empire is filled with myrth and rejoicing, which, however, never fails to degenerate into heat and debauchery ; even the ladies may indulge themselves with strong liquors to intoxication without scandal. During these carnivals, a great number of people, in reeling home drunk, fall down and perish among the snow. It is even dangerous to relieve a person thus overtaken, for should he die, the person who endeavoured to assist him is called before the judge, and generally pays dear for his cha- rity. The Muscovite priests use exorcisms at the administration of baptism. They plunge the child three times over head and ears in water, and give it the sacrament of the Lord’s supper in one kind, until it hath attained the age of seven, after which the child is indulged with it in both kinds. They likewise administer the sacrament to dying persons, together with extreme unction ; and if this be neglected, the body is denied Christian burial. Soon as the person expires, the body is deposited in a coffin, w ith a lunchion of bread, a pair of shoes, some few pieces of money, and a certificate signed by the parish priest, and directed to St. Nicholas, who is one of their great patrons. They likewise hold St. Andrew in great veneration, and pretend they were converted by him to Christianity. But next to St. Nicholas, they adore St. Anthony of Padua, who is supposed to have sailed upon a mill-stone through the Mediterranean and Atlantic, and over the lakes Ladoga, and Onega, as far as Novogorod. Every house is furnished with an image of St. Nicholas, carved in the most rude and fantastic manner; and when it becomes old and worm-eaten, the owner either throws it into a river with a few pieces of coin, saying, Adieu, brother, or returns it to the maker, who accommodates him with a new image. The women are very careful in adorning their private St. Nicho- lases with rich clothes and jewels ; but on emergency, these are resumed, and the saint left as naked as he came from the hand of SAMOJEDES. — DARIEN S. 201 the carpenter. There are monasteries in Russia ; but neither the monks nor the nuns are subjected to severe restrictions. The friars are either horse-jockeys, or trade in hops, wheat, and other com- modities ; the sisters are at liberty to go abroad when they please, and indulge themselves in all manner of freedoms. Heretofore liberty of conscience was denied, and every convicted heretic was committed to the flames ; but since the reign of Peter, all religions and sects are tolerated throughout the empire. Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Calvi- nists, Armenians, Jews, and Mahometans, enjoy the free exercise of their respective forms of worship ; though it was not without great difficulty, and by dint of extraordinary solicitation from different powers, that the Romish religion was allowed. Peter, knowing the dangerous! tenets of a religion that might set the spiritual power of the pope at variance with the temporal power of the emperor, and being well acquainted with the meddling genius of its professors, held out for some time against the intercession of Germany, France, and Poland ; and though at length he yielded to their joint interposition, he would by no means suffer any Jesuits to enter his dominions. Inhabitants of Samoieda. These people are so rude, that they can hardly pretend to humanity, except in face and figure ; they have little understanding, and in many things resemble brutes, for they will eat carrion of every kind. They travel on the snow on sledges, drawn with an animal like a rein-deer, but with the horns of a stag. Travellers affirm, that no people on the earth make such shocking figures : their sta- ture is short; their shoulders and faces are broad, with flat broad ses, great blubber lips, and staring eyes ; their complexion is dark, and heir hair long, and as black as pitch, and they have very little beards, and the Samoiede women have black nipples. If they have any religion at all, it is idolatry, though some attempts have been made of late to convert them. Their huts are made of birch bark sewed together, which is laid upon stakes set in the ground, and at the top is a hole to let out the smoke ; the fire is made in the middle, and both men and women lie naked round it all night. They have little regard to the nearness of kin, and take as many wives as they can keep ; their only employ- ment is hunting and fishing. Inhabitants of Darien. The aboriginal natives of the isthmus or province of Darien, have several peculiar customs. Although they go naked, like most of the other American Indians, yet they w r ear nose-jewels. The men have silver plates in the form of a crescent, fastened to their noses, and hanging over their mouths. The women have rings passing through their noses, and hanging down in the same manner. They also have several chains, composed of teeth, shells, beads, &c., hanging down from the neck to the pit of the stomach. 2 c CAFFRES. AVARS. 302 Their houses are scattered by the sides of rivers, and have planta- tions around them. They are built with small posts set upright, about seven feet high, hurdled with sticks, and daubed over with earth. The men clear the plantations, and the women cultivate them. The girls pick and spin cotton, which the women weave into cloth for their hammocks. The men make baskets very neatly with canes, reeds, and palmetto leaves, dyed of different colours. Each man has several wives, who live together in great harmony. They dance to the sound of a pipe or drum, and are expert at tumbling. When they go a hunting, the women carry baskets full of plantains, bananas, yams, potatoes, and cassava roots, ready roasted. Rivers are no interruption to their expeditions, men, women, and children being equally expert at swim- ming. They have no distinction of weeks, but reckon their time by the course of the moon. Caffres. These are the natives of Caffraria, whom Mr.Walker thusdescribes : “ The Caffres are tall, active, and strong, and evince great courage in attacking lions, and other beasts of prey. Their complexions are black : their clothing consists of hides of oxen, which are as pliant as cloth/' Perhaps this kind of clothing has led voyagers to con- found them with the Hottentots. “ Industry is the leading trait in the character of the Caffres. The men employ much of their time in » hunting, the women in cultivating the land. They also make earthenware, and curious baskets. They have a high opinion of the supreme Being, and of his power ; believe in a future state of rewards and punishments ; and think that the world had no beginning, and will be everlasting. They have no form of prayers nor priests, yet undergo, at nine years of age, the initiatory rite of the Hebrews. Their government is limited monarchy, and their king is often poorer than his subjects. He is allowed a plurality of wives.” Avars. These were a tribe of Sarmatian origin, deriving their name which signifies far distant, from their remote eastern situation with regard to Europe. Their name and their nation were unknown to the civilized world, till in the sixth century they revealed their exist- ence to it by the terrors they inspired, and connected their history with its revolutions and its downfall. Driven before a tribe more fierce and powerful than themselves, they emerged from their pri- meval wilds, and appeared on the confines of the Eastern empire in the reign of Justinian. Their pride was not tamed by their defeats, nor their confidence dismayed by the appearance of a civilized and powerful state. Their ambassadors having gained admittance to the Roman emperor, represented their nation as the most powerful and most warlike people on the earth, as invincible when attacked, or irresistible when aggressors. Upon the faith of this character, they offered their services to the empire, and demanded gifts and riches as their reward. Instead of endeavouring to dispel this cloud of bar- AVARS. 203 barians, the timid monarch who then sat on the throne of the Cesars, courted their alliance, and purchased their protection. He sent an ambassador to their camp at the foot of mount Caucasus, to assure them of his friendship, and to point the line of their invading hordes to the country of his enemies. Their camps were soon pitched on the Danube and the Elbe ; and their savage furv either swept from the earth, or rendered tributary to their dominion, many tribes of Hungary, Poland, and Germany. Their king still retained an attachment to the emperor, who on his side appeared not averse to continue the alliance, till his friendship was claimed by a more powerful horde, who effected to treat the Avars as slaves and fugitives. The Turks had pursued them from their native wilds to the Wolga, to Mount Caucasus, and the Euxine, and they now appeared in the presence of the emperor requiring him to with- draw his countenance from a people w hom they had followed so far as runaway subjects, and whom they now claimed a right to subdue or extirpate. The timid emperor yielded to this demand, and re- nounced the alliance of his friends the Avars. Their ambassadors, who came to renew the coalition, and to represent the advantages that might result from it, were dismissed without presents or promises, and their remonstrances or threats treated with haughty defiance. The king, called Chagan, and his tribe, were either awed by the power of the empire, or dissembled their resentment till a more con- venient opportunity should occur for gratifying it, and retired into Germany, where they met in dreadful conflict with the fierce and pow- erful nation of the Franks. They were obliged to withdraw from the neighbourhood of the Franks, after repeated defeats, and might, like many other hordes of those barbarous ages, have been totally extin- guished in their retreat to their native wilds, had they not had the good fortune to have formed a league with the Lombards, in conjunc- tion with whom they destroyed the tribe of Gepidae, and succeeded to their dominions. Their new allies directing their views to Italy, left them in possession of their extensive territories, which stretched from the Euxine to Germany and Prussia. They were now in a condition to repay the insults offered them by the Romans, and the most glorious of their kings, Baion, was not backward to display the power of his arms, and to extend the terror of his name. He made repeated inroads upon the empire, and demanded presents as the price of his retreat. Submission and exactions only increased arro- gance, and the value of the presents bestowed only encouraged future demands. The emperor Maurice found he must either become a tri- butary to a barbarian, or repel his incursions by meeting him in the field. In five battles his general w’as victorious, 60,000 of the barba- rians, with four of the king’s sons, were killed in battle, and nearly 20,000 prisoners were taken. The Avars, however, w'ere not finally subdued, and seizing the opportunity when the eastern parts of the empire were pressed with all the weight of hostility by the Persian kings, they renewed their dreadful inroads with augmented forces and more atrocious cruelties. Blood and rapine every where marked their progress, the most fruitful violations of nature and humanity every where distinguished their conduct. Their captives were either 204 PHOLEYS. killed in cold blood or reduced to slavery, and virgins of the highest rank were abandoned to their brutal lusts. Heraclius, the emperor of the east, having in vain endeavoured to purchase their retreat, was almost surprised by the barbarian king in an interview which the latter solicited, as preparatory to a mutual reconciliation. Having joined his forces with the Persians, the chagon invested Constantinople, and after endangering the safety of the city, by repeated assaults, was driven from it by the ancestors of the race that now possess it. After this period the fortune of the Avars began to decline, and we find them, in 795, surrendering themselves to the arms of Charlemagne, and offering to embrace his religion as well as to submit to his sway. Pholeys. The Pholeys are the inhabitants of Plioley, a kingdom of Africa, and a people of very peculiar manners. Mr. More, however, says, that the Pholeys live in clans, build towns and are in every kingdom and country on each side the river, yet are not subject to any kings of the country, though they live in their territories, for if they are used ill in one nation, they break up their towns and remove to another. They are rather of a low stature, but have a genteel and easy shape, with an air peculiarly delicate and agreeable. Though they are strangers in the country, they are the greatest planters in it. They are extremely industrious and frugal, and raise much more corn and cotton than they consume, which they sell at reasonable rates, aad are so remarkable for their hospitality, that the natives esteem it a blessing to have a Pholey town in their neighbourhood, and their behaviour has gained them such reputation, that it is esteemed infa- mous for any one to treat them in an inhospitable manner. Their humanity extends to all, but they are doubly kind to people of their ow n race. They are, however, as brave as any people of Africa, and very expert in the use of their arms, which are javelins, cutlasses, bows and arrows, and occasionally guns. They usually settle near some Mantingo town, there being scarce any of note up the river that has not a Pholey town near it. Most of them speak Arabic, which is taught in their schools, and they are able to read the Koran in that language, though they have a vulgar tongue called Pholey. Their houses are built in a very regular manner, they being round structures, placed in rows at a distance from each other to avoid fire, and each of them has a thatched roof, somewhat resembling a high crowned hat. They arc also great huntsmen, and not only kill lions, tigers, and other wild beasts, but frequently go twenty or thirty in a company, to hunt elephants, whose teeth they sell, and whose flesh thev smoke-dry and eat, keeping it for several months together. They are almost the only people who make butter, and sell cattle at some distance up the river. They are very particular in their dress, and never wear any other clothes but long robes of white cotton, which they make themselves. They are always very clean, especially the women, who keep their houses exceedingly neat. PORTUGUESE. — GLADIATORS. 205 Inhabitants of Portugal. The Portuguese are represented as inferior to the Spaniards, both in person and genius ; as extremely treacherous, and crafty in their dealings ; much given to avarice and usury ; and vindictive, mali- cious, and cruel. The meaner sort are said to be addicted to thiev- ing ; yet they have shewn themselves on many occasions a brave and warlike people. They are justly famed for their skill in naviga- tion; and for their many discoveries both in the East and West Indies. The women are not so prolific as in colder climes ; but they are very beautiful whilst young, though their complexion is some- what upon the olive. Their eyes are very black and sparkling, and retain their brilliancy after all their other charms are gone. The ladies spoil and disfigure their skins and complexions with paints and washes ; but, though lively and witty, they have a nice sense of female honour. Both men and women make great use of spectacles; not so much to aid their sight, as to give them the appearance of wisdom and gravity. Their dress, like that of the Spaniards, never used to vary, especially among the men ; but of late years, both sexes have given much into the French modes. Gladiators. These were persons who fought for the amusement of the public in the arenas of amphitheatres in the city of Rome, and of other places under the dominion of the Romans. The term is derived from their use of the gladius, or sword ; and the origin of this horrid custom is said to have been the practice of sacrificing captives to the manes of chiefs killed in battle. It seems, however, more probable that it arose from the funeral games of antiquity, when the friends of the deceased fought in honour of his memory ; an instance of which occurs in the twenty-third book of the Iliad, at the burning of the b-dy of Patroclus : Achilles having ordaiued every solemn rite usual upon those occasions, Homer adds, “ The prizes next are order’d to the field, For the bold champions who the cfestus wield.” The leather which composed the caestus being loaded with lead, enabled the combatants to give each other mortal blows, though the hands only were used. Epeus, of gigantic stature, challenged the whole of the Grecian chiefs, who were terrified at his bulk, and Euryolus alone accepted his defiance. “ Him great Tydides urges to contend. Warm with the hopes of conquest for his friend'; Officious with the cincture girds him round, And to his wrist the gloves of death are bound.” The captives slain on this occasion were not commanded to fight; they had been led to the pile, and died with the sheep, oxen, coursers. 206 GLADIATORS. and dogs, that the bodies might be burnt by the flames which con sumed that of Patroclus : “ Then last of all, and horrible to tell, Sad sacrifice ! twelve Trojan captains fell.” The above quotations positively prove that the Romans deviated from their predecessors in the practice of this barbarous custom. The Greeks appear to have destroyed their prisoners on a revengeful principle, and despatched them immediately ; but the former delighted in cruelty, and would rather purchase captives, or destroy the lives of ill-disposed slaves, than send the ashes of their friends to the urn bloodless, or the spectators of the obsequies home, without the grati- fication of witnessing wretches cutting each other to death, though not under the influence of previous anger. According to Valerius Maximus, and Lampridius in Heliogabalus, gladiators were first introduced at Rome by M. and D. Brutus, at the funeral of their father, in the consulship of Ap. Claudius and M. Ful- vius. The examples of great men, however detestable, ever produce imitators. Hence, though the brothers may have acted from motives of family vanity only, other great personages, perceiving that the people delighted in the sight of blood, determined to gratify them by- adopting the custom ; which was afterwards extended to public exhi- bitions given by the priests in the Ludi Sacerdotales, and managed solely for the amusement of the populace, or perhaps to confirm them in an habitual contempt for wounds and military death. Thus the family alluded to, introducing perhaps three pairs of gladi- ators to the citizens of Rome, was the means of multiplying their number to an amount which is shocking to humanity, for the subse- quent emperors appeared to have attempted to excel each other in assembling them at their birth-day celebrations, at triumphs, the con- secration of edifices, at their periodical games, and at the rejoicings after great victories. As the disposition of several of the chief magistrates who are recorded as having exhibited gladiators was mild and merciful, it is but fair to suppose that Julius Cassar, who produced three hundred and twenty pairs in his ediieship, Titus, Trajan, and others, submitted to the custom in compliance with the temj>er of the people, rather than from any predilection to it in themselves. But there are few pernicious practices which do not carry their punishment with them. The prevailing frenzy had at length arrived to such an excess, that the gladiators became sutficiently numerous to threaten the safety of the state, for, when the Catiline conspiracy raged, an order was issued to disperse the gladiators in different garrisons, that they might not join the disaffected party ; yet although the fears of the government were excited, it does not appear that any steps were taken to lessen their number, as the emperor Otho had it in his power, long afterw ards, to enlist two thousand of them to serve him against Vitellius. The people thus cut off from society, and rendered murderers per force, were fully justified in considering the w hole Roman state their enemy ; nor was it surprising that they were sometimes willing to revenge themselves upon their oppressors. Spartacus, a gladiator. GLADIATORS. 207 gave a bold but unavailirg example to his brethren, by rushing out of an amphitheatre at Verona, at the head of those collected there for public exhibition, declaring war against the Romans, and assem- bling so great a force as to make the citizens of Rome tremble. Simi- lar apprehensions were entertained at intervals by enlightened people ; and Cicero observed, “ The shows of gladiators may possibly to some # persons seem barbarous and inhuman; and indeed, as the case now stands, I cannot say that the censure is unjust. But in those times when only guilty persons composed the number of combatants, — the ear perhaps might receive many better instructions, but it is impos- sible that any thing which affects our eyes should fortify us with more success against the assaults of grief and death.” Still he had the good sense to propose a law prohibiting all candidates for offices from exhibiting gladiators within two years before they became such. Julius Caesar limited their number in Rome. Augustus ordained that not more than sixty pairs of combatants should fight at one exhibi- tion, and that there should only be two of the latter in a year. During the reign of Tiberius it was decreed that gladiators were not to be brought before the public by persons worth less than 400,000 ses- terces. Constantine the Great had the humanity and courage to abolish the custom, after it had prevailed near six hundred years; but it revived under Constantius, Theodosius, and Valentinian, and was finally suppressed by the emperor Honorius. The guilty persons alluded to by Cicero must apply to those slaves whose masters sold them, for disobedience or malpractices, to the Lanistse, who, instructing them in the arts of attack aud defence, hired them to any rich man disposed to exhibit them. Had they been entirely confined to this class of people, we might have been less inclined to censure the custom ; but when we reflect that honest and courageous soldiers were condemned to undergo the lash of their captors, and afterwards perish by the swords of slaves, or each other, we cannot fail of being astonished that the high-spirited Roman should expose himself to their vengeance, by voluntarily entering the arena with them, there to meet almost certain death. Strange, however, as it appears, freemen fought for hire under the term of Auctorati ; and even knights, nobles, and sen tors, who had wasted their property by extravagance, have deigned to become gladiators. Augustus, offended at their conduct, forbade thesenatorian order and knights to enter the lists as such ; but preceding princes, less influenced by a sense of honour, permitted them to act as they pleased. The contagion at length extended to the females of Rome; and, lastly, dwarfs were taught the use of the sword, and, fighting with the women or each other, furnished a new description of diversion. Rennet classes the various sorts of Gladiators under the terms of Retiarii, the Secutores, the Myrmillones, the Thracians, the Samnites, the Essedarii, and the Andabatae * the Gladiatores Meridiani fought in the afternoon ; the Gladiatores Fiscales were paid from the emperor’s private trea- sury ; the Gladiatores Postulatiti were men of consummate art in the profession ; the Gladiatores Catervarii fought in small companies ; and the Gladiatores Ordinarii were not particularly distinguished, but fought in a common way. 208 GLADIATORS. The dress of the Retiarius was a short habit, and a hat tied under the chin. His means of offence were a weapon called a fuscina, and a net. With the latter in his right hand, he endeavoured to entangle his adversary; and, with the fuscina in the left, he aimed mortal blows at him ; but as this description of gladiator was invariably opposed to Secutor, armed with a scymeter, a buckler, and a helmet, the Retiarius had no means of escape, if he failed in casting his net, except by flight round the arena, during which he adjusted it fora new trial. The best gladiators w'ere Thracians; these men, with their falchion and small round shields, possessed more determined ferocity and cruelty than any of their opponents. Rennet says, “ The origin of the Samnite gladiators is given by Livy. The Campanians,” says he, “ bearing a great hatred to th*. Samnites, they armed a part of their gladiators after the fashion of that country, and called them Samnites. They wore a shield, broad at top, to defend the breast and shoulders, and growing more nar- row towards the bottom, that it might be moved with the greater convenience. They had a sort of belt coming over their breasts, a greave on their left foot, and a crested helmet on their heads.” The Epidatii sometimes engage from chariots, and at others on foot; and the Andabatae mounted. The exhibition df gladiators was announced to the public by bills fixed in the public places, sometimes accom- panied by paintings of the intended combat, or the most celebrated combatants ; aud when the time mentioned had arrived, and the people assembled, the gladiators marched slowly round the arena ; they were then matched, by persons appointed for that purpose, as equally as possible, and they prepared for the contest by fencing w ith blunted swords, &c. ; after which the trumpets were sounded, and the battles began in serious earnest. When a severe wound was given, the gladiator who inflicted it, and the people, exclaimed, “ He has it.” If that proved decisive, the vanquished person resigned his weapon, and acknowledged himself conquered. But this submission was not alone suflicient to save his life ; the people were to decide his fate. He therefore turned to them, and supplicated mercy, which was granted, or refused, according to their opinion of his skill and courage. Several learned authors have differed as to the exact manner in which the hands and fingers were placed, to express praise or disapprobation on those occasions. According to Juvenal, the bending of the thumbs backwards authorized the conqueror to kill his adversary as a coward. The emperor might, however, interfere, if he was present, and save the gladiator; it is supposed, besides, that his entrance at the instant of defeat was favourable to the vanquished party, as far as his life was concerned. The rewards of the victors consisted of money collected from the spectators; and when they happened to be slaves, they received the pileus, or cap, denoting that from that moment they became free ; or the rudis, or wand, which signified that their services as gladiators were thenceforth dispensed with, whether slaves or freemen. It was cus- tomary for the persons thus situated either to become Lanistae, or to suspend their arms in the temple of Hercules. There are few nations w hich have not imitated this strange custom, CIRCASSIANS. 209 in a greater or less degree, at different periods of their history ; and, less than a century past, we had gladiators in London, who fought and bled, but never killed each other. Malcolm’s Anecdotes of the Man- ners and Customs of this great Metropolis, contains numerous parti- culars relating to those modern swordsmen ; whose exertions were rivalled by several females, in the art of boxing and cutting. One of their challenges, from the publication alluded to, will be a proper conclusion to this article. “ In Islington Road, on Monday, being the 17th of July, 1727, will be performed a trial of skill by the follow- ing combatants. We, Robert Baker and Mary Welsh, from Ireland, having often contaminated our swords in the abdominous corporations of such antagonists as have had the insolence to dispute our skill, do find ourselves once more necessitated to challenge, defy, and invite Mr. Stokes, and his bold Amazonian virago, to meet us on the stage ; where we hope to give a satisfaction to the honourable lord of our nation, who has laid a wager of twenty guineas on our heads. They that give the most cuts to have the whole money, and the benefit of the house. And if swords, daggers, quarter-staff, fury, rage, and resolution, will prevail, our friends shall not meet with a disapoint- ment.” — “ We, James and Elizabeth Stokes, of the city of London, having already gained an universal approbation by our agility of body, dexterous hands, and courageous hearts, need not preambulate on this occasion, but rather choose to exercise the sword to their sorrow, and corroborate the general opinion of the town, than to follow the custom of our repartee antagonists. This will be the last time of Mrs. Stokes performing on the stage. There will be a door on pur- pose for the reception of the gentlemen, w here coaches may drive up to it, and the company come in without being crowded. Attendance will be given at three, and the combatants mount at s : x. They all fight in the same dresses as before.” Circassians. The inhabitants of Circassia, a country in Asia. The Circassian women are extremely well-shaped, with exceeding fine features, smooth clear complexions, and beautiful black eyes, which with their black hair, hanging in two tresses, one on each side the face, give them the most lovely appearance ; they wear a black coif on their heads, covered with a fine white cloth, tied under the chin. During summer they all wear only a chemise of divers colours, and that far too open to afford modest and becoming concealment ; thus with their beautiful faces, always uncovered, contrary to the customs of many of the other provinces in these parts, their good humour and lively freedom in con- versation, altogether render them very attracting; notwithstanding this, they have the reputation of being very chaste, though much exposed to temptation ; for, according to the accounts of a late traveller, it is an established point of good maimers among them, that as soon as any person comes in to speak to the wife, the husband goes out of the house : but whether this continency of theirs proceeds from their own generosity, to recompense their husbands for the confidence they place in them, or has its foundation only in fame, he pretends not to 210 CIRCASSIANS. determiue. Their language they have in common with the other neighbouring Tartars, although the chief people among them are not ignorant of the Russian ; their ancient and native religion is Paganism, for notwithstanding the use of circumcision, they have neither priest, koran, nor mosque, like the Mahometans. Every person offers his own sacrifice at pleasure ; for which, however, they have certain days, established rather by custom than any positive command ; their most solemn sacrifices are offered at the death of their nearest friends; upon which occasion both men and women meet in the field to be present at the offering, which is a he-goat ; and having killed, they flay it, and stretch the skin, with the head and horns on, upon a cross at the top of a long pole, placed commonly in a quickset edge, to keep the cattle from it ; and near this place the sacrifice is offered, by boiling and roasting the flesh, which they afterwards eat. When the feast is over, the men rise, and having paid their adoration to the skin, and muttered over some prayers, the women withdraw, and the men conclude the ceremony with drinking a great quantity of aqua-vitae, and this generally ends in a quarrel before they part. In summer the Circassians quit the towns, and encamp in the fields like the neigh- bouring Tartars, occasionally shifting their stations along with their flocks and herds. Besides game, in w hich the country greatly abounds, the Circassians eat beef and mutton, but that which they prefer to all others is the flesh of a young horse. Their bread consists of thin cakes of barley-meal, baked upon the hearth, which they always eat new ; and their usual drink is water, or mare’s milk, from the latter of which they distil a spirit, as most of the Tartar nations do. They allot no fixed hours for the refreshments of the table or sleep, which they indulge irregularly, as inclination or conscience dictates. When the men make excursions into an enemy’s country, they will pass several days and nights successively without sleeping, but at their return devote as much time to repose, as the space in which they had before abstained from that gratification. When they eat, they sit cross-legged on the floor, the skin of some animal serving them instead of a carpet. In removing from one part of the country to another, the women and children are carried in waggons, which are a kind of travelling houses, and drawn by oxen or camels, as they never use horses for draught. Their breed of the latter, however, is reckoned exceeding good ; and they are accustomed to swim along any river on horseback. The women and children smoke tobacco as well as men; and this is the most acceptable commodity which a traveller can carry w ith him into the Tartar countries. The principal branch of their traffic is their own children, especially their daughters, whom they sell for the use of the seraglios in Turkey and Persia, where they frequently marry to great advantage, and make the fortune of their families! The merchants who come from Constantinople to purchase those girls, are generally Jews, who, as well as the mothers, are said to be extremely careful of preserving the chastity of the young women, knowing the very high value that is set by the Turks upon virgin purity. The greater part of the Circassians are Christians of the^ Greek church ; but there are also both Mahometans and Pagans amongst them. SINGULAR TRIAL. 211 Singular Trial. An Historical Account of Joseph Lesurques, who , through a judicial error , was condemned and executed on the 30 th of October , 1796. — From the “ Brapeau Blanc .” Joseph Lesurques was born at Donai in 1763, of an honest arid respectable family. He received a good education, which inspired him with a taste for the arts. After having served some time in the regiment of Auvergne, he returned to his country, and was admitted as principal in the bureaux of the administration of the district. His con- duct in this situation merited and obtained the suffrages of all who knew him, and he continued to enjoy the reputation of a worthy man. A marriage which he contracted with a young lady of good family increased his fortune, and put him in possession of an annual income of ten thousand francs, — a considerable fortune this, in a pro- vincial town. The father of a family, he determined at the age of thirty-three, to settle at Paris, in order that he might himself con- duct the education of his children. He had three ; two girls, and a boy. He took lodgings in the house of M. Moruet, a notary, and amused himself with rendering them convenient and agreeable. — Fortune till then had smiled upon him, but, alas! she now prepared for him the most fatal reverses. It is is well known that people who come to Paris from the provinces are almost lost, in so large a town, from their first connexions with persons of their own country. M. Lesurques knew' Le Sieur Guesno, who kept a waggon-office at Donai, and to whom he had lent two thousand francs. Le Sieur Guesno came to see him — returned the two thousand francs, and invited him to breakfast. Guesno lodged at the house of one Richard, born, as well as bimself, at Donai, but a rnan of a dissipated character. Richard was connected with an individual named Courriol, who was a perfect stranger to Lesurques. Richard was present at breakfast; Courriol came in unexpectedly, and remained. This meeting took place four days after an event which still occupies the whole capital. The courier of Lyons had been stopped, robbed, and assassinated on the road from Paris to Melun. Search was making for the assassins. Courriol was one, and consequently not free from terror and anxiety. Guesno was gone to Chateau -Thierry on business; Courriol followed, and took lodgings in the same house as Guesno. He was arrested; all his papers, those belonging to Guesno, and even those of Golier the landlord, were seized. The tw'o latter presented themselves at the police office, appeared free from all suspicion, and were discharged ; Courriol alone was detained, — Guesno received permission to return for his papers. Unhappily Guesno met Lesurques just as he was entering the central office of the police; he asked him to accompanv him; Lesurques consented; each entering with that unsuspecting confidence which the peace of a good conscience inspires. Here commence all the misfortunes of Lesurques. M. Daubauton, officer of the judicial police, w'as taking depositions against the assassins of the courier of Lyons. The antechamber of 212 SINGULAR TRIAL. his cabinet was filled with persons ready to swear. Among these persons were two women from the environs of the place where the crime had been committed. For some time they fixed their eyes on Guesno and Lesurques, who were waiting for admission. They requested soon after that they might be shewn into the cabinet of M. Daubauton ; they were admitted, and assured M. D. that they had just recognized in the antechamber two men who had been concerned in the assassination of the courier. The judge exhorted them not to yield to false conjectures, and represented to them the improbability of their declaration ; but they still persisted in it. It was indeed diffi- cult to believe that two culprits should thus of their own accord throw themselves into the hands of justice. Nothing, however, could induce these women to desist. The magistrate therefore saw himself neces- sitated to arrest two honest men, who were entirely unconscious of the danger which threatened them. The deposition of these women against Guesno was inexcusable, for he did not resemble any of the real culprits; but it may be justified in the case of Lesurques, for, by a terrible fatality, he bore a great resemblance to one of the robbers described as the principal agent, or one of the accomplices, in the assassination. Recourse was had to the description of the person ; it was found exact. Lesurques was asked for his carte de surete. He could only produce one belonging to his father, who bore the same name as himself. So many circumstances appearedoverwhelming. The judicial officer began to entertain suspicions, and Lesurques and Guesno were accused with Courriol, whom we have already mentioned; Bernard, w ho furnished the assassins with horses ; Richard, at whose house a part of the stolen goods were deposited, in order to undergo examination ; and a Sieur Bruer, whom an innkeeper of Lieursaint thought he recognized, was quickly declared innocent. At the moment that Lesurques underwent this afflicting trial, he had just finished the furnishing and decorating of his lodgings. On the ill-fated day of his arrest he had left them gaily; he had only slept there one night, and he was never to enter them again. Information was sought after with all that ardour which animated the magistrates in those times, when the roads were infested with robbers, when the couriers were frequently stopped, and the money of the state taken by force. As soon as the arrest of Lesurques w r as made public, the conster- nation and grief of his family, his friends, and all the town of Donai, were extreme. All were impatient to give him some marks of the lively interest they took in his fate. The least reflection was sufficient to convince the mind, that a man who possessed a fortune of 10,000 francs, who till the present moment had enjoyed the most honourable reputation, who came to settle at Paris with his wife and children, who hired lodgings at the house of M. Motuet, a well-known notary, and occupied himself in furnishing them, never could have left his country to come and assassinate the Courier of Lyons on the road of Melun. The sum stolen from the Courier was 14,000 francs in cash, and 7 millions in assignats, which, in 1796, might be equal to from 5 to 6000 francs. The number of culprits marked out for justice were six, including the man who furnished the horses. It was then SINGULAR TRIAL. 213 supposed that a rich and honourable man, in order to obtain three thousand francs, transformed himself suddenly into an .assassin on the high road. In such a case, all concerned should have proceeded with extreme circumspection, and, above all, have been on their guard against prejudice. Quite the contrary. When called to the trial, the two women were obstinate in their declaration. Guesno made their deposition void by proving his alibi by evidence. Of what weight then was the testimony of these women ? Bruer, recog- nized by an innkeeper of Lieursaint, proved, with the same success, that he neither had nor could have had any part in the crime for which the law pursued him. Lesurques thought himself equally sure of demonstrating his innocence. He called two distinguished artists of Paris, who gave evidence that thev had dined with him the day the assassination took place, and had not left him till eleven o’clock at night. Their depositions were fortified by many important and satisfactory proofs. One of them recollected, too, that that very day he had mounted the guard, and the registers of the national guard confirmed his testimony. Two jewellers of the Palais Royal attested that he had been at one of their shops, bought a ladle, and changed some ear-rings. The tribunal required that the books should be produced. Here, by a new fatality, the register was misdated ! Separate this particular circumstance from Lesurques' situation, and it scarcely merits attention. It happens everv day that mistakes are made in the dates of the month, and easily corrected. There is no merchant’s daily journal which does not furnish some example of this ; but such was the seriousness of the circumstances, and the disposition of the tribunal, that this incident filled the judges with the strongest conviction. They would hear nothing more. All the depositions which they had received were looked upon only as so many acts of conspiracy ; still, however, their real authority was not lessened. The unfortunate condition of Lesurques arose from an excess of confidence; if he had not been desirous of multiplying the proofs of his innocence, if he had been satisfied with calling the two artists whom we have mentioned, and the workmen w ho were employed in furnishing his lodgings, his alibi would have been proved. Nearly forty witnesses bore testimony to his probity ; most of them came from Donai at their own expense, in order to support and declare his innocence and virtue. None of these considerations could weaken or dispel the prejudices of the tribunal, or perhaps of the jurymen. They saw only the book of the jeweller, which was misdated. A single pre- sumption destroyed the most decisive testimonies. They shewed the accused a plaited spur found on the road, and the woman who had declared that she recognized Lesurques, said to him, 1 saw you mend it ; I lent von thread to tie the links which were broken.” Lesurques had nothing to oppose to the many charges which seemed to overwhelm him, but the undisturbed countenance and proud tranquillity of an honourable man. Courriol and his accom- plices denied the crime most obstinately. The decision of the public accuser was such as might have beeu expected from a magistrate known for his severity, and prejudiced by a multitude of circumstances 2M SINGULAR TRIAL. which the malice of fortune seemed to have wrought together for the express purpose of crushing an unfortunate but guiltless man. Cour- riol, Lesurques, and Bernard, were condemned to death, and Richard to imprisonment in irons. Neither Richard nor Bernard had taken an active part in the assassination. The former had only received a part of the stolen goods, and the latter lent horses to the assassins. The condemned sued for a repeal, but their application was rejected. As soon as Courriel saw that death was inevitable, he was impatient to bear testimony to innocence ; he declared before his judges that he had never been in any way connected with Lesurques ; that this unfortunate man had taken no part in the crime; that in sentencing him to death they were immolating a victim unjustly ; he pointed out all his accomplices, and particularly described Dubosq, whose figure and features bore such a fatal resemblance to Lesurques ; in short, he fortified his declaration with so many evidences, that the Directory thought it their duty to address a message to the Council of Five Hundred, in favour of the unfortunate Lesurques. Must then (said the Directory) the innocent perish for the guilty? The Council of Five Hundred ordered a delay, and named a com- mission to bring them a prompt account. Alas ! the same preju- dices which had induced the judges to pass sentence on Lesurques, assailed the commission. It was supposed that Courriol might have been persuaded by the offer of money to make his tardv confessions ; that the details which he had given of the assassination might be all a falsehood, concerted between him and his accomplice; that the culprits whom he pointed out might be imaginary beings only, and that the proofs which were brought to fortify the declaration of Courriol might be only the work of Lesurques’ friends. And thus their decision rested on a simple probability. A second message from the Directory had no more effect than the first ; they added to the above-mentioned probabilities, the respect due to the decisions of the jury, and the inviolability of its judgments. Lesurques, Bernard, and Courriol were condemned to die. To the last moment Courriol proclaimed the innocence of Lesurques, and continued to desire that they would search for the men he had described. Lesurques died forgiving the judges, and all those any wav concerned in his death. One of the artists who had given e\idence in his favour, traced with his pencil his last adieu to his family. The murderer, and the man of worth and honour, were buried in the same tomb. The day when all was to be discovered was not very distant. Four months had scarcely passed away, w hen they arrested one of the cul- prits pointed out by Courriol ; he made confession of his crime, con- firmed all the evidence of Courriol, and, like him, protested that Lesurques was innocent. Two other assassins were pursued and taken. One of them was that Dubosq, whom Courriol had described as resembling Lesurques in a singular manner. This fact was con- firmed when he appeared before his judges. The astonished wit- nesses were struck with terror and remorse when they beheld him ; and the woman, who had so obstinately persisted in her accusation of Lesurques, asked Heaven’s pardon for her error. The judges themselves were dismayed. All France heard of this shocking event. SINGULAR TRIAL. — COCK-FIGHTING. 215 and shuddered. Dubosq was a villain who had been condemned to the galleys, from whence he had escaped; arrested at Versailles, he again escaped from prison : he was again taken, when they found in his possession two boxes full of false keys, and other instruments necessary for the commission of crimes, tie was condemned to death, and suffered with a man named Victal, whom Courriol had also marked out, and who was overwhelmed by the most conclusive evi- dence. All the researches of justice had been able to mark out only five individuals as parties concerned in the assassination. Four, not including Lesurques and Bernard, had been executed ; the fifth still remained unpunished : he had taken shelter in Spain, and they discovered him. When examined, he at first denied the crime with which he was charged ; condemned to die, and seeing no prospect of a reprieve, he desired his confessor to declare that he died justly, and that Lesurques was innocent of the crime imputed to him. At iength the important proof had been given ; justice, considering Bernard as an accomplice, had only six culprits to punish ; she had punished seven. Of these seven, who was the innocent one? Lesur- ques, or Dubosq? The first was a respectable man, acquitted even by the authors of the crime. The second was a villain, and known to be such ; he was charged by all those concerned in the assassina- tion ; it was he who had mended and lost the spur presented at the trial ; the other, which he had thrown into a ditch, was afterwards found. The division of the money stolen, took place at his house. Can there remain the least doubt as to the innocence of the unfortu- nate Lesurques? As soon as all the circumstances of this dreadful tragedy were known, the memory of Lesurques was justified in public opinion, in the opinion of all the respectable part of society, in that of all the citizens of Donai, and in that of the whole of the department in which he so honourably performed all the duties of society. It was so fully cleared in the minds and hearts of all the deputies of this department, that since the restoration they readily came forward, and were all impatient to support a petition presented by his unhappy family. We must give honour to M. Daubauton, who, penetrated with grief for the error of the judges, collected himself the proofs of Lesurques’ innocence, and neglected nothing to obtain the reversal of his sen- tence. He died with grief at not being able to succeed. But, however honourable those testimonies of interest and public opinion may be for Lesurques, his death demanded a more solemn reparation. For twenty-five years his family claimed, but could not obtain it. It is that reparation which has recently been solicited with fresh ardour, and, above all, with a certain persuasion that the voice of oppressed innocence, and the prayer of the unfortunate, will not be turned from that throne where justice and pity dwell with the most virtuous and enlightened of monarchs. COCK-FIGHTING. This is a mode of diversion so cruel and inhuman, that it is aston- ishing that not only the ancients, barbarians, Greeks, and Romans, should have adopted it, but that it should be continued by Christians 216 COCK-FIGIITING. of all sorts, and even pursued in those more humane and enlightened times. The ancient Greeks and Romans were wont to call all the nations in the world barbarians; yet certainly, if we consider the many instances of cruelty practised among them, there was very little rea- son for the distinction. Human sacrifices were common both to them and the barbarians ; and the combats of men and wild beasts, and of men in the gladiatorial scenes, were spectacles of delight and festivity. The islanders of Delos were great lovers of cock-fighting, and Tana- gra, a city in Bceotia, the iele of Rhodes, Chalcis in Euboea, and the country of Media, were famous for their generous and magnanimous race of cocks. From Persia this kind of poultry was first brought into Greece; and if one may judge of the rest from the fowls of Rhodes and Media, the excellency of the broods, at that time, consisted in their weight and largeness, as the fowls of those countries were heavy and bulky, and of the nature of what our sportsmen call shake- bags, or turn-pokes. The Greeks had some method of preparing the birds for battle by feeding, as may be collected from the Columella. At first cock-fighting was partly a religious and partly a political institution at Athens, and was there continued for improving the seeds of valour in their youth ; but afterwards perverted, both there and in other parts of Greece, to a common pastime, without any poli- tical or religious institution, as is now practised among us. The Ro- mans were prone to imitate the Greeks. They did not, however, adopt this practice very early. It may be gathered from Columella, that the Romans did not use the sport in his time. This author styles cock-fighting a Grecian diversion, and speaks of it in terms of ignominy, as an expensive amusement, unbecoming the frugal house- holder, and often attended with the ruin of the parties that followed it ; as still happens too often in England. The Romans at last adopted the custom, although not till the decline of the empire. The first cause of contention between the two brothers, Bassianus and Geta, sons of the emperor Septimus Severus, happened, according to Hero- dian, in their youth, about the fighting of their cocks. Cocks and quails, fitted for engaging one another to the last gasp, are compared with much propriety to gladiators. Consequently, one would expect that when the scenes of the amphitheatre were discarded, on the establishment of the Christian religion, (the shedding of man’s blood in sport, being of too cruel a nature to be patronized under an institution so merciful as the Christian,) cock-fighting would also have been abandoned. The fathers of the church continually inveighed against the spectacles of the arena, and upbraided their adversaries with them. These indeed were more unnatural and shocking than a main of cocks ; but this, however, had a tendency towards infusing the like ferocity and implacability into the breasts and dispositions of men. The cock is not only an useful animal, but stately in his figure, and magnificent in his plumage. His tenderness towards his brood is such, that, contrary to the custom of many other males, he will scratch and provide for them with an assiduity almost equal to that of the hen; and his generosity is so great, that, on finding a hoard of meat, he will chuckle the hens together, and, without touching one bit himself, will relinquish the whole. He was highly esteemed in some COCK-FIGHTING. 217 countries, and in others was even held sacred. One cannot hut regret therefore that a creature so useful and noble should be so enormously abused by us. It is true the massacre of Shrove Tuesday is now in a declining way, and in a few years, it is to be hoped, will be totally disused ; but the cock-pit still continues a reproach to the humanity of Englishmen, and to their religion — the purest, the ten- derest, and most compassionate of all religions, not excepting even the Brahmanic. It is not known when the pitch-battle first entered England, but it was probably brought hither by the Romans. The bird was brought here before Caesar’s arrival, but no notice of his fight- ing occurs earlier than the time of William Fitz-Stephen, who wrote the life of archbishop Becket in the reign of Henry II. and describes the cocking as a sport of school-boys on Shrove Tuesday. From this time, the diversion, however absurd, and even impious, was con- tinued among us. It was followed, though disapproved and pro- hibited in 3.9 Edward III., also in the reign of Henry VIII. , and A. D. 1596. It has by some been called regal diversion; and the cock-pit at Whitehall was erected by a crowned head, for the more magnificent celebration of it. There was another pit in Drury-laue, and another in Javin-street. It was prohibited, however, by one of Oliver’s acts, March 31, 1654. What aggravates the reproach and disgrace upon Englishmen are those species of fighting which are called the battle-royal and the Welsh main, known no where else in the world, neither in China, Persia, Malacca, nor among the savage tribes in America. In the battle-royal, an unlimited number of fowls are pitted, and when they have slaughtered one another for the diver- sion of the otherwise generous and humane Englishmen, the single surviving bird is to be esteemed the victor, and carries away the prize. The Welsh main consists, we will suppose, of sixteen pair of cocks ; of these, the sixteen conquerors are pitted a second time, the eight conquer- ors of these are pitted a third t ime, the four conquerors the fourth time, and lastly the two conquerors of these are fitted the fifth time ; so that, incredible barbarity ! thirty-one cocks must be inhumanly murdered for the sport and pleasure, the noise and nonsense, the profane cursing and swearing, of those who have the effrontery to call themselves, with all these bloody doings, and with all this impiety about them, Christians! nay, what with many is a superior and distinct character, men of benevolence and morality ! But let the morality and benevo- lence of such be appreciated from the following instance. — The fol- lowing melancholy fact is recorded as authentic, in the obituary of the Gentleman’s Magazine for April 1789, “ Died, April 4, at Totten- ham, John Ardesoif, Esq. a young man of large fortune, and in the splendour of his carriages and horses rivalled by few country gentle- men. His table was that of hospitality, where it may be said he sacrificed too much to conviviality ; but if he had his foibles, he had his merits also, that far outweighed them. Mr. Ardesoif was very fond of cock-fighting, and had a favourite cock, upon w hich he had won many profitable matches. The last bet that he laid upon this cock he lost, which so enraged him, that he had the bird tied to a spit, and roasted alive before a large fire. The screams of the miserable 2 K 218 ROMAN BULL-FIGIITING. animal were so affecting, that some gentlemen who were present at- tempted t© interfere; which so enraged Mr. Ardesoif, that he seized a poker, and with the most furious vehemence declared, that he would kill the first man who interfered ; but in the midst of his passionate asseverations, he fell dead upon the spot. Such, we are assured, were the circumstances which attended the death of this great pillar of humanity.” Roman Bull-figiiting. The following account of a bull-feast in the Coliseum at Rome, in 1332, extracted from Muratori by Mr. Gibbon, may give some ideas of the pomp, the ceremonies, and the danger which attend these exhibitions. “A general proclamation, as far as Rimini and Ravenna, invited the nobles to exercise their skill and courage in this perilous adventure. The Roman ladies were marshalled in three squadrons, and seated in three balconies, which on this day, the 3rd of September, were * lined with scarlet cloth. The fair Jacova di Rovere led the matrons from beyond the Tiber ; a pure and native race, who still represent the features and character of antiquity; the remainder of the city was divided between the Colonna and the Ursini families. The two factions were proud of the number and beauty of their female bands ; the charms of Savella Ursini are mentioned with praise, and the Co- lonna regretted the absence of the youngest of their house, who had sprained her ankle in the garden of Nero’s tower. The lots of the champions were drawn by a respectable citizen ; and they descended into the arena or pit, to encounter the wild bulls, on foot as it should • seem, with a single spear. “Amidst the crowd our annalist has selected the names, colours, and devices of twenty of the most conspicuous knights. Several of the names are the most illustrious of Rome and the Ecclesiastical State; Malatesta, Polenta, Della Valle, Cafarello, Savelli, Cappoecio, Conti, Annabaldi, Altieri, Corsi. The colours were adapted to their taste * and situation ; and the devices, expressive of hope or despair, breathed the spirit of gallantry and arms. “ I am alone, like the youngest of the Horatii,” the confidence of an intrepid stranger: ** I live disconsolate,” a weeping widower : “ 1 burn under the ashes,” a discreet lover : “ I adore Lavinia or Lucretia,” the ambiguous declaration of a modern passion : “ My faith is as pure,” the motto of a white livery: “ Who is stronger than myself?” of a lion’s hide: “ If I am drowned in blood, what a pleasant death !” the wish of ferocious courage. The pride or prudence of the Ursini restrained them from the field, which was occupied by three of their hereditary rivals, whose inscriptions denoted the lofty greatness of the Colonna name : “ Though sad, I am strong :” “ Strong as I am great “ If I fall,” addressing himself to the spectators, “ you fall with me :” intimating, says the w riter, that w hile the other families were the subjects of the Vatican, they alone were the supporters of the Capitol. The combats of the amphitheatre were very dangerous and bloody. Every champion successively encountered a wild bull ; and the victory may be ascribed to the quadrupeds, since no more than eleven were left SPANISH BULL-FIGHTING-. 219 on the field, with the loss of nine wounded and eighteen killed on the side of their adversaries. Some of the noblest families might mourn ; but the pomp of the funerals, in the churches of St. John Lateran, and St. Maria Maggiore, afforded a second holiday to the people. “ It was not in such conflicts that the blood of Romans should have been shed ; yet in blaming their rashness, we are com- pelled to applaud their gallantry; and the volunteers who display their magnificence and risk their lives under the balconies of the fair, excite a more generous sympathy than the thousands of captives and malefactors who were reluctantly dragged to the scene of slaughter.” Spanish Bull-Fighting. A STRIKING relic of barbarity in the Spanish manners is the excessive attachment of that nation to bull-fights, a spectacle which shocks the delicacy of every other nation in Europe. Many Spaniards consider this practice as the sure means of preserving that energy by which they are characterized, and of habituating them to violent emotions, which are terrible only to timid minds. But it seems diffi- cult to comprehend what relation there is between bravery, and a spectacle where the assistants now run no danger; where the actors prove, by the few accidents which befall them, that theirs has nothing in it very interesting ; and where the unhappy victims meet only with certain death, as the reward of their vigour and courage. The bull- fights are very expensive, but they bring great gain to the undertakers. The worst places cost two or four rials, according as they are in the sun or in the shade : the price of the highest is a dollar. When the price of the horses and bulls, and the wages of the torreadores, have been paid out of the money, the rest is generally appropriated to pious foundations; at Madrid it forms one of the principal funds of the hospital. It is only during summer that these combats are exhibited, because the season then permits the spectators to sit in the open air, and because the bulls are then most vigorous. Those which are of the best breed are condemned to this kind of sacrifice ; and connoisseurs are so well acquainted with their distinguishing marks, that so soon as the bull appears upon the arena, they can mention the place where he was reared. This arena is a kind of cir- cus surrounded by about a dozen seats, rising one above another ; the highest of which only is covered. The boxes occupy the lower part of the edifice. In cities which have no place particularly set apart for these combats, the principal square is converted into a theatre. The balconies of the houses are widened, so as to project over the streets which end there. The spectacle commences by a kind of procession round the square, in which appear, on horseback and on foot, the combatants who are to attack the fierce animal; after which two alguazils, dressed in perukes and black robes, advance with great gravity on horseback ; who ask from the presi- dent of the entertainment an order for it to commence. A signal is immediately given, and the animal, which was before shut up in a kind of hovel with a door opening into the square, soon makes its 220 SPANISH BULL'- FIG II TING. appearance. The alguazils hasten to retire, and their fight is a pre- lude to the cruel pleasure which the spectators are about to enjoy. The bull is received with loud shouts, and almost stunned with the noisy expressions of their joy. He has to contend first against the picadores, combatants on horseback, who, dressed according to the ancient Spanish manner, and as it were fixed to their saddles, wait for him, each being armed with a long lance. This exercise, which requires strength, courage, and dexterity, is not considered as dis- graceful. Formerly the greatest lords did not disdain to practise it; even at present the hidalgos solicit the honour of fighting the bull on horseback. The picadores open the scene. It often happens, that the bull, without being provoked, darts upon them, and every person entertains a favourable opinion of his courage. If, notwithstanding the sharp- pointed weapon which defends his attack, he returns immediately to the charge, their shouts are redoubled, as their joy is converted into enthusiasm ; but if the bull, struck with terror, appears pacific, and avoids his persecutors by walking Tound the square in a timid manner, he is hooted at and hissed by the whole spectators, and all those near whom he passes load him with blows and reproaches. If nothing can awaken his courage, he is judged unworthy of being tormented by men ; the cry of “ Perros, per- ros,” brings forth new enemies against him, and large dogs are let loose upon him, which seize him by the neck and ears in a furious manner. The animal then finds the use of those weapons with w hich nature has furnished him ; he tosses the dogs into the air, who fall down stunned, and sometimes mangled ; they often recover, renew the combat, and generally finish by overcoming their adversary, who thus* perishes ignobly. If, on the other hand, he presents himself with a good grace, he runs a longer and nobler, but much more painful career. The first act of the tragedy belongs to the combatants on horseback ; this is the most bloody of all the scenes, and the most disgusting. The irritated animal braves the pointed steel which makes deep wounds in his neck, attacks with fury the innocent horse who carries his enemy, rips up his sides and overturns him together with his rider. The latter, then dismounted and disarmed, would be exposed to imminent danger, did not combatants on foot, called Chu- los, come, to divert the bull’s attention, and to provoke him by shak- ing before him different pieces of cloth of various colours. It is, however, at their own risk that, they thus save the dismounted horse- man ; for the bull sometimes pursues them, and they have need then for all their agility. They often escape from him by letting fall the piece of stuff which was their only arms, and against which the de- ceived animal expends all his fury. Sometimes the combatant has no other resource but to throw himself speedily over a barrier six feet high, which encloses the interior part of the arena. In some places this barrier is double, and the intermediate space forms a kind ofcircular gallery, behind which the pursued torreadoreis in safety. But w hen tiie barrier is single, the bull attempts to jump over it, and often succeeds ; the nearest of the relations are then in the greatest conster- nation ; their haste to get out of their way, and to crow'd to the upper benches, becomes often more fatal to them than even the fury of the BULL-FIGHTING. 221 bull, who, stumbling at every step, thinks rather of his own safety than of revenge, and besides, soon falls under the blows given him from all quarters. Except in such cases, which are very rare, he immediately returns. His adversary has now had time to get up ; he immediately remounts his horse, provided he is not killed or rendered unfit for service, and the attack commences ; but he is often obliged to change his horse several times. Expressions cannot then be found to celebrate these acts of prowess, which, for several days, become the favourite topic of conversation. The horses are very affecting models of patience, courage, and docility, and may be seen treading under their feet their own bloody entrails, which drop from their sides half torn open, and yet obeying, for some time after, the hand which conducts them to new' tortures. Spectators of delicacy are then filled with disgust, which converts their pleasure into pain. A new act, however, is preparing, w hich reconciles them to the enter- tainment. As soon as the bull has been sufficiently tormented by the combatants on horseback, they retire, and leave him to be irritated by some on foot. The latter, which are called banderilleros, go before the animal ; and the moment he darts upon them, they plunge into his neck, two by two, a kind of dart called banderillas, the points of which are hooked, and which are ornamented with small streamers made of coloured paper. The fury of the bull is now redoubled ; he roars and tosses his head, while his vain efforts serve only to increase the pain of his w'ounds. This last scene calls forth all the agility of his adversaries. The spectators at first tremble for them, when they behold them braving so near the horns of this formidable animal ; but their hands, well exercised, aim their blows so skilfully, and they avoid the danger so nimbly, that after having seen them a few times, one neither pities nor admires them, and their address and dexterity seem only to be a small episode of the tragedy. When the vigour of the bull appears to be almost exhausted by the blood running from his neck and sides, and when the people, tired of one object, demand another victim, the president of the entertainment gives the signal of death, which is announced by the sound of trumpets. The matador then advances, and all the rest quit the arena ; with one hand he holds a long dagger, and w ith the other a kind of flag, which he waves back- wards and forwards before his adversary. They both stop and gaze at one another, and while the agility of the matador deceives the im- petuosity of the bull, the pleasure of the spectators, which was for sometime suspended, is now awakened into life. — Sometimes the bull remains motionless, throws up the earth with his feet, and appears as if meditating revenge. The bull in this condition, and the matador who calculates his motions and divines his projects, form a group which an able pencil might not disdain to delineate. The matador, at length gives the mortal blow ; and if the animal immediately falls, a thousand voices proclaim with loud shouts the triumph of the con- queror ; but if the blow is not decisive, if the bull survives, and seeks still to brave the fatal steel, murmurs succeed to applause, and the matador, whose glory was about to be raised to the skies, is consi- dered only as an unskilful butcher. He endeavours to be soon 222 HAWKING. revenged, and to disarm his judges cf their severity. His zeal some- times degenerates into blind fury, and his partisans tremble for the consequences of his imprudence. He at length directs his blow better. The animal staggers and falls, while his conqueror is intoxi- cated with the applauses of the people. Three mules, ornamented with bells and streamers, come to ter- minate the tragedy. A rope is tied about the horns of the bull which has displayed his valour, and the brave animal is dragged ignominiouslv from the arena which he has honoured, and leaves only the traces have been unacquainted with bells till the ninth century, when their construction was first taught them by a Venetian : but it is not true Jhat the use of bells was unknow n in the ancient eastern churches, and that they called the people to church, as at present, with w'ooden mallets. Leo Allatius, in his dissertation on the Greek temples, proves the contrary from several ancient writers. He says, bells first began to be disused among them after the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, who, it seems, prohibited them, lest their sound should disturb the repose of souls, which, according to them, wander in the air. He adds, that they still retain the use of bells in places remote from the intercourse of the Turks; particularly very ancient ones, in Mount Athos. F. Simon thinks the Turks prohibited the Christians the use of bells rather from political than religious reasons ; as the ringing of bells might serve as a signal for the execution of revolts against their authority. 256 SUPERSTITIOUS USES OF BELLS. Inscriptions on Church Bells. Weever, in his Funeral Monuments, mentions that — Bells had frequently these inscriptions on them : Funera plango, Fulgura frango, Sabbata pango ; Excito lentos, dissipo ventos, Paco cruentos. In this little sanctuary at Westminster, king Edward III. erected a clochier, and placed therein three bells for the use of St. Stephen’s chapel, about the biggest of them were cast in the metal these words : King Edward made mee thirtie thousand weight and three. Take mee down and w eigh mee, and more you shall fynd me. But these bells being to be taken down in the reign of Henry VIII. one writes underneath with a coal : But Henry the eight Will bait me of my weight. This last distich alludes to a fact mentioned by Stow in his Survey of London, ward of Farringdon Within, to wit, that near St. Paul’s school stood a clochier, in which were four bells called Jesus’s bells ; the greatest in all England, against which Sir Miles Partridge staked one hundred pound, and won them of Henry VIII. at a cast of dice. Abroad, however, there are bells of greater magnitude. In the steeple of the great church at Roan in Normandy, there is a bell, unless it has been melted and turned into cannon, as others have been during the great revolutionary war, with the following inscription: Je suis George de Ambois, Qui trente cinque mille pois ; Mei lui qui me pesera, Trente six mille me trouversa. I am George of Ambois, Thirtie five thousand in pois: But he that shall weigh me, Thirty six thousand shall find me. And it is a common tradition that the bells of King’s-college chapel, in the university of Cambridge, were taken by Henry V. from some church in France, after the battle of Agincourt. They were taken down some years ago, and sold to Phelps the bell-founder in White- Chapel, who melted them. Superstitious Uses of Bells. Matthew Paris observes, that anciently the use of bells was prohibited in time of mourning, though at present they make one of the principal ceremonies of mourning. Mabillon adds, that it was CHRISTMAS- KEEPING. 257 an ancient custom to ring the bells for persons about to expire, to advertise the people to pi^av for them ; whence our passing-bells. The passing-bell was anciently rung for two purposes : one, to bespeak the prayers of all good Christians for a soul just departing; the oher, to drive away the evil spirits, who stand at the bed’s foot, and about the house, ready to seize the prey, or at least to molest and terrify the soul in his passage : but by the ringing of that bell, for (Durandus informs us, evil spirits are much afraid of bells,) they were kept aloof: and the soul, like a hunted hare, gained the start, or had what is by sportsmen called law. Hence, perhaps, of the additional labour, was occasioned the high price demanded for tolling the greatest bell of the church, for that being louder, the evil spirits must go farther off to be clear of its sound, by which the poor soul got so much the more start of them : besides, being heard farther off, it would likewise procure the dying man a greater number of prayers.” This dislike of spirits to bells is mentioned in the Golden Legend, by W. de VVorde. “ It is said the evil spirvts had been in the regijon of thayre, doubte inoch when they here the belles rongen, and this is the cause why the belles ben rongen whan it thondreth, and whan grete tempeste and outrages of wether happen, to the end that the fiends and wicked spirytes should be abashed and flee, and cease of the movynge of tempeste.” Lobineau observes, that the custom of ringing bells at the approach of thunder, was to call the people to church, to pray that the parish may be preserved from that terrible metor. The use of bells were summed up in the following distich, as well as that first above mention* d : Laudo Deum verum, plobem voco, conjuga cierum, DefunctGs ploro, pestem, fugo, festa decoro. Christm as-Keeping. ( From the New Monthly Magazine.) “ Now Hospitality, to cheer the gloom Of winter, invitation sends abroad : The rural housewife lajs the annual block Of Christmas on the hearth ; and bids a blaze Of tenfold brightness glad its sable spot ; Then sprucely decks the window with fresh sprigs Of evergreens, triumphant o’er the storms Of fading time, while ever social mirth And rival kindness load the smoking board; And bois’trous sport and heavy dance resound .” — The Year. Amidst the wintry desolation of the month of December, remem- brance of a season once anticipated in joyous hope by all ranks of people, recurs to the lovers of “ Auld langsyne” — to those w ho remem- ber with what pleasure they once welcomed its chill atmosphere and snow storms with the vivid raptures of youth. Even in London, the memory of its festivities is not yet wholly extinguished ; but in the 2k 2o8 CHRIST MAS-KEEPING. remote part of the island, it is still hailed as the period of enjoyment — it is still marked by genial appearances ; and round the social hearth of Christmas-eve, the less artificial inhabitants of the country will be found as Burns describes them : — The lasses feat, an’ clonely neat. More braw than when they ’re fine. Their faces blythe, fu’ sweetly kythe, Hearts leal, an’ warm, an’ kin’, The lads sae trig, wi’ wooer-babs, Well knotted on their garten, Some unco blate, an’ some wi’ gabs. Gar lasses’ hearts sang startin. Whiles fast at night. Christmas is supposed by some to be founded on the Saturnalia of the Romans, and was distinguished a century or two ago by its “ festival of fools.” The mummeries practised at that season were performed in disguises made with the skins of animals ; and the lower orders, who could not afford masks and dresses, daubed their faces with soot, the sexes changing clothes. The Saturnalia were cele- brated in a similar manner. Such resemblance, and the obvious policy of transmitting the heathen festivities into rejoicings of some kind, after the introduction of Christianity, that the people might not be deprived of their customary pleasures, give a plausible ground for supposing that the early Christians availed themselves of the opportunity to establish a fete in honour of the birth of their Founder But this can only be conjecture, like a thousand other opinions we read of the same nature, and must for ever remain so. The deci- sion of the question, indeed, might gratify curiosity, but could be of no utility to the interests of mankind. It is a most pleasing occupa- tion to dwell upon the celebration of Christmas at later periods among ourselves, to go over ground that is interesting from its proxi- mity to our own, and to realize the agreeable feeling always excited in the human bosom at the contemplation of every thing, however insignificant, which is tinged with the gray melancholy of age. In London, as in all great cities, particularly in those which are commercial, where strangers continually arrive, and new customs are daily introduced, observances of a nature similar to those formerly kept at Christmas must soon be lost. That season is accordingly marked here by few of the pleasantries and enjoyments with which it is even now characterized in the country. The merchant and shop- keeper are absorbed in traffic, and the closing up of their accounts; and but a short space is devoted to that drunkenness and gluttony among the lower orders, which are the besetting sin of the time. The genuine cockney, however, though on the verge of bankruptcy, considers it a moral duty to spend his creditors’ guinea for a fat turkey on Christmas-day ; which with a plenary potation of some kind of liquor, a minute fraction within the quantity necessary to produce ebriety among the more sober citizens, and a fraction beyond it among those less concerned as to outward deportment, completes the annual memorial of the time. The canaille may be seen. C JIR ISTM AS-KEEPING. 259 as usual when rejoicing, in all the stye-grovelling stupidity of the most inexcusable sensuality, reeling from lamp-post to lamp-post. The gin-shops overflow with ragged visitants, and the bloated porter- drinkers, saturating themselves with doses of cocuhis indicus , and divers adulterating narcotics which muddle the brain and clog the circulation, fill the pot-houses. Intoxicated draymen, dustmen, and butchers’ attendants, hie to the suburbs to fight their dogs, and finally to fight among themselves. St. Giles’s vomits forth its mass of vice and contamination, mingled with the filth and vociferations of drunken Irish barrow-women, wretched, squalid, and hectic from dram-drinking. Such is a London Christmas-keeping. — Among viands once com- mon there at this season plum-puddings, and mince-pies are still found, and most probably will long remaip, on the score of their intrinsic value to gastronomists. Pantomimic representations are proffered at that time in theatrical entertainments, to attract such little children and their parents as can afford to laugh at them but once a year. In London, no yule-log now blazes in the contracted chimneys, as in days of yore on its once ample hearths ; no yule-songs are sung; and the wassail-bowl, as in most parts of the country, is quite forgotten. — The hearty but natural and simple merriment of the rustic, has no parallel in such over-grown congregations of men ; and the festive activity of the Christmas hall-dance, where Jest, and youthful jollity, Quips, and cracks, and wanton wiles. Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles, once abounded, has taken its flight, and left nothing half so heart- cheering behind. Thus mortal customs perish like those who were observers of them, but only with a little less rapidity. But the celebration of Christmas in London was formerly marked with pomp, and feast, and revelry, With mask and antic pageantry. The Lord of Misrule, a personage whose origin is lost in the obscurity of years, superintended the sports in every nobleman’s and gentleman’s house. Each parish had also a ruler of sports with the same title. The lord mayor of London and the sheriffs were not behind-hand in jocularities, and, besides a fool, they had each a sovereign of mummeries on their establishment. His reign began on All-hallow-eve. Even royal authority afterwards sanctioned the use of these officers, w'hose post always continued until the eve of the Purifi- cation. During the entire period of his sway, Stow says, there were “fine and subtle disguisings, masks, and mummeries.” King Edward the Sixth appointed one George Ferres to hold the office. This man was a “poet, lawyer, and historian,” and was the first styled “ Lord of the Pastimes.” Even the grave lawyers of Lincoln’s Inn doffed their sober habits at Christmas; they, too, had a King of Christmas-day, with his attendants, w ho presided in their hall ; and so earnest were they in these matters, that on Childer- mas-day they elected another officer, who presided with attendant* CIIKISTM AS-k EEP1NO. 200 in a similar manner, and was staled “ King of the Cockneys.” The gentlemen of the gown thus kept a carnival in the very court of gravity itself. How edifying would it now be for the augmented number of students in the profession, to witness the be-wigged judges and benchers relaxing from that stiff solemnity of physiognomy, which so often passes current in the profession for wisdom — to sheep-tails and periwigs, tilling the atmosphere of the legal arena with showers of perfumed dust — dissipating the labours of Danby and other emi- nent w ig are hitects, by the shaking of their curls at the mummeries of the /any and his followers decked with fools’ caps and bells; and, the keeper of the king’s conscience himself “ holding both his sides” at the sight of Robin Goodfellow and the bear-skin man, for- merly called a Wodehouse, forgetting even chancery suits and fees, for a moment, in the indulgence of unrestrainable laughter. The Middle-temple lawyers, not to be outdone by their “learned brethren” of Lincoln's Inn, elected a Prince of Christmas so late as the year 1035. Thi* personage dined with them in their ball, hating eight attendants. lie was seated under a cloth of state, and served with great attention. To complete this climax of foolery, this Zany was afterwards introduced at court, and actually knighted at White- hall, and was most pr .hahly not the first of his character who received that honour, as the prssent generation can testify he was not the last. Rut, as later periods have also shewn, the lawyers were far out- done hv the clergy in matters appertaining to feasting and revelrv. The former soon relapsed into their wonted habits, the departure from which had been momentary; for very few chancellors besides Sir Thomas More would have admitted, even in ancient (lavs, that they were good throwers at cocks : Sir Thomas does not sav he practised it after he came to the lord-chancellorship. — The clergy , however, seem to have had no scruples, and to have shared largely in Christ- mas sports and revels of all sorts. Even at the universities they elected a “ King of the Bean on ( hristnias-day. In cathedral churches there was an “Archbishop or Bishop of Fools” elected, and in Catho- lic times a “ Pope of Fools ’ The office of “ King of Fools,” (Rex Stultorum) was abolished in 1731, perha s as being derogatory to the dignity of kingship. Th* se mummers attended divine service in pan- tomimical dresses, and were followed by crowds of the laity in masks of different forms. Abroad, some assumed the habits of females, and displayed the most wanton gestures. One ceremony consisted in shaving a “ Precentor of Fools” before the church-door, in presence of the populace, who where amused by a vulgar sermon. In England a Bov-I*ishop was regularly elected in the churches at Christmas, who mimicked the service and office of bishop; and the clergy even enjoined the children of St. Paul’s school to attend at the cathedral, and give the Boy-Bishop a penny each ! This mockery was abolished at the Reformation, in the thirty-third year of Henry’ the Vll I. ; and though revived by Mary, it ceased entirely at her death. The exercise of quintin was anciently much practised in London at Christmas: a quintin was set up at that season in Cornhill, near CIIRISTM AS-KEEPING. 261 Leadenhall. Plays were also exhibited at court, but they only con- sisted of pantomime and buffoonery, until the reign of Edward III. The clergy in the reign of Edward II. possessed the exclusive right of getting up Christmas plays from scripture subjects; and in that reio-n a petition was presented to the crown by the scholars of St. Paul’s, complaining that secular actors infringed on this right. Cards were forbidden to apprentices in London, except at Christmas; and at that season the servant-girls and others danced every evening before their masters’ doors. Honest Stow laments the decay of the manner of keeping festivities in his time, which seems to have become unwarlike and effeminate. “ Oh,” says he, “ what a wonderful change is this ! Our wrestling at arms is turned into wallowing in ladies’ laps, our courage to cowardice, our running into royot, our bowes into bowles, and our darts into dishes.” The English, according to Polydore Virgil, “ celebrated the feast of Christmas with plays, masks, and magnificent spectacles, toge- ther with games and dancing, not common with other nations.” Cam- den says, that “ few men played at cards in England, but at Christmas.” But it is to the country at present, that we must look for what remains of the customs practised by our ancestors at that season. The relics of old and ridiculous observances, deprived of all their objectionable parts by the improving spirit of successive years, are hallowed in our memories, and always recall the vernal season of life, and its regretted pleasures. In the north they have yet their “ fools’ plough,” and in Cornwall their goose-dancers. The latter stiil exhibit an old hunch- backed man, called the “ King of Christmas,” and sometimes the “ Father:” like customs may be traced in other counties. The yule- log still blazes in the chimney of the rustic at Christmas-eve, under the ditferent appellations of Christmas stock, log-block, &c. The wassail was regularly carried from door to door in Cornwall forty or fifty years ago ; and even now a measure of flip, ale, porter, and sugar, or some beverage, is handed round while the yule-log is burning, — or stock, as denominated in the western counties. The wassail bowl is of Saxon origin, and merits notice on an historical account. Vorti- gern, prince ol ihe Silures, fell in love with Rowena, the niece of Hengist, the Saxon warrior. She presented the prince with a bowl of spiced wine, saying in Saxon, “ Waes Heal Hlaford Cyning” which signified “ Be of health, lord king.” Vortigern married her, and thus his kingdom fell to the Saxons. Robert of Gloucester notices this incident : — “ Kuteshire and sitte hire adoune, and glad drink hire heil, And that was in this land the Verst, * Was hail/ As in the language of Saxvone that w'e might evere i'wite. And so well he paieth the foie about, that he is not Yet vorgute.” Waes- heil thus became the name of the drinking cup of the Anglo- Saxons ; and those cups were afterwards constantly used at public entertainments. In parts of the country remote from the metropolis, the singing of Christmas carols yet ushers in the mornings. — After breakfast the busy housewife prepares her plum-puddings, mince-pies, and confec- tionary, w hich she decorates w ith the emblems of the time : — a scratch 262 CHRISTM AS-KEEPING. in the dough in the shape of a hay-rack, denoting the manger of the infant Saviour, is one of those emblems most commonly in use. The younger part of the household hunt the garden for evergreens to decorate the interior of the apartments: and the woods are sought to bring home the misletoe, which is to be suspended in the room where the pleasures of the evening are to take place, and beneath which the “ sighing lips,” as Moore calls them, of many a lovely girl still continues to be pressed, despite of that coy resistance and those blushes, that so much heighten the charms of beauty. — They also paint candles of different colours, to be lighted up in the evening; a custom perhaps borrowed from ancient Roman practice ; though some ima- gine that lighting up houses formed a part of the worship of the Teutonic god Thor, being one of the ceroinonies observed at Juul-tide, or the feast of Thor, from w hich it was introduced into the Christian feast of Christmas. Thus, if some parts of our Christian ceremonies was derived from the Saturnalia, another was evidently of northern origin. The misletoe was a plant held sacred by the Druids. The Christmas-carols also, were, it is probable, Juul or Ule songs first sung in honour of the heathen deity ; and the evergreens may be ascribed to the same origin. In the evening, the Ule-log, or Christmas stock, as at present denominated, is placed on the fire in the princi- pal apartment of the house. The company seat themselves round if, and the cheerful cup is yet handed about, which often contains nothing more than ale, in the cottages of the peasantry. What remains to the modern times of Christmas gambols then commences, and ancient Christian plays are even still plainly to be traced among them. Blindman’s buff*, hunt the slipper, the game of the goose, snap-dragon, push-pin, and dancing, form the amusements of the younger parts of the assemblage, and cards the elder; though among the more substantial people, as they are denominated in the language of the country-folks, the simpler amusements begin to lose their value. But their very simplicity recalls the memory of past times : they have a certain charm about them, worth all that is arti- ficial, and they would not be bereft of attraction to minds of sensi- bility, if they were wholly abandoned to the lowly: for they have that in them which is far more endearing than the sordid heartlessness of fashionable entertainments, and the formality of high life. Bereft of superstition, Christmas is then a season of innocent mirth — a pleasing interlude, to lighten and beguile the horrors of our inclement winters. It affords a period for the exhibition of hospitable greetings, and the pleasing interchange of good offices, of which, in the country, op- portunities are rare. How many innocent hearts rejoice there at anti- cipating the season and its festivities, whose feelings have never been chilled by the artificial, and circulating, and calculating, civilities of Metropolitan intercourse. But the humbler ranks have been accused of superstition, because the stocking is still thrown, the pod with nine peas hid over the door, and all the little ceremonies so admira- bly depicted by Burns in his Hallowe’en, still practised. These, how- ever, are now generally looked upon as a diversion, and few have faith in their efficacy ; for in our days the poor have as good common sense as their superiors. — These diversions come to them but once a CHRISTMAS WITHIN DOORS IN GERMANY. 2G3 year, and it is to be hoped that they may long continue to practise them. “ Let the rich deride, the proud disdain. The simple pleasures of the lowly train ; To me more dear, congenial to my heart, One native charm than all the gloss of art. Before concluding, it may not be irrelevant to observe, that Christ- mas is still kept as a festival in some parts of America, together with many of the old English usages, which are no more seen in the mother country. This affords an illustration of w hat time may one day effect respect- ing the language and literature of Britain, which America is in all probability destined to preserve in full bloom, when our greatness of population and wealth, by the vicissitudes of time, is no more ; and our rich fields and fertile meadows are again returned to the primitive wildness, covered with heath, and changed into a waste-howling wilderness. Christmas within-doors in Germany. Of Christmas, as it is kept in the north of Germany, we have a pleasing description by Mr. Coleridge, in his very entertaining collec- tion of Essays, called “The Friend,” of which a new edition was lately published in three pocket volumes. Writing from R,atzeburg, Mr. Coleridge says, “There is a Christmas custom here, which pleased and interested me. The children make little presents to their parents, and to each other ; and the parents to the children. For three or four months before Christmas, the girls are all busy, and the bovs save up their pocket-money, to make or purchase these presents. What the present is to be, is cautiously kept secret, and the girls have, a world of contrivances to conceal it — such as working when they are out on visits, and the others are not with them ; getting up in the morning before day-light, &c. Then on the evening before Christmas- day one of the parlours is lighted up by the children, into which the parents must not go: a great yew' bough is fastened on the table at a little distance from the wall ; a multitude of little tapers are fastened in the bough, but not so as to burn it, till they are nearly burnt out, and coloured paper, &c. hangs and flutters from the twigs. Under this bough the children lay out in great order the presents they mean for their parents, still concealing in their pockets what they intend for each other. Then the parents are introduced, and each presents his little gift: they then bring out the rest one by one from their pockets, and present them with kisses and embraces. Where I wit- nessed the scene, there were eight or nine children, and the eldest daughter and the mother wept aloud for joy and tenderness; and the tears ran dow'n the face of the father, and he clasped all his children so tight to his breast, it seemed as if he did it to stifle the sob that was rising within him. I was very much affected. The shadow of the bough and its appendages on the wall, and arching over on the ceiling, made a pretty picture ; and then the raptures of the very little 264 NEW YEARS EVE. ones, when at last the twigs and their needles began to take fire and snap — O, it was a delight for them ! — On the next day, in the great parlour, the parents laid out on the table the presents for the children : a scene of more sober joy succeeds, as on this day, after an old cus- tom, the mother says privately to each of her daughters, and the father to his sons, that which he has observed most praiseworthy, and that which was most faulty, in their conduct. Formerly, and still in all the smaller towns and villages throughout North Germany, these presents were sent by all the parents to some one fellow, w ho, in high buskins, a white robe, a mask, and an enormous flaxen wig, personates Knecht Rupert, i. e. the servant Rupert. On Christmas night he goes round to every house, and says, ‘ that Jesus Christ, his Master, sent him thither.’ The parents and their children receive him with great pomp of reverence, while the little ones are most terribly frightened. He then inquires for the children, and, according to the character which he hears from the parent, he gives them the intended present, as if they came out of heaven.” * New Year’s Eve. There was an ancient custom, which is yet retained in many places, on New Year’s Eve : Young women went about with a wassail bowl of spiced ale, with some sort of verses, that were sung by them as they went from door to door. Wassail is derived from the Anglo-Saxon, Waes hael, (be in health.) It were unnecessary to add, that they accepted little presents on the occasion, from the houses at which they stopped to pay this annual congratulation. In the Antiquarian Repertory, is a wood-cut of a large oak beam, the ancient support of a chimney-piece, on which is carved a large bowl, with this inscription on one side, ‘ Wass-heil.’ The ingenious remarker on this representation, observes, that it is the figure of the Old Wassel Bowl, so much the delight of our hardy ancestors, who on the vigil of the New Year never failed to assemble round the glowing hearth with their cheerful neighbours, and then in the spicy Wassel Bowl (which testified the goodness of their hearts) drowned every former animosity, an example worthy modern imitation. Wassel was the word, — Wassel every guest returned, as he took the circling goblet from his friend, whilst song and civil mirth brought in the infant year. A writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine, (vol. 65, for May, 1784, p. 347) tells us, that ‘ The drinking the Wassel Bowl or Cup, was, in all probability, owing to keeping Christmas in the same mauner they had before the Feast of Yule.’ One custom more should be remembered; and this is, that it was usual, some years ago, in Christmas time, for the poorer people to go from door to door with a Wassail Cup, adorn- ed with ribbons, and a golden apple at the top, singing, and begging money for it; the design of which was, that they also might procure lamb’s-wool to fill it, and regale themselves as well as the rich. The following Carol for a Wassel Bowl, to be sung to the tune of " Gallants, come away is from a collection of ‘New Christmas Ca- NEW YEARS EVE. 2 <3o rols,’ in the curious study of that ever-to-be-respected antiquary, Mr. Anthony Wood, in the Ashmolean Museum. A jolly Wassel bowl, A Wassel of good ale, Well fare the butlers soul, That setteth this to sale ; Our jolly Wassel. Good Dame, here at your door Our Wassel we begin, We are all maidens poor, We pray now let us in. With our Wassel. Our Wassel we do fill With apples and with spice, Then grant us your good will To taste here once or twice Of our good Wassel. If any maidens be Here dwelling in this house, They kindly will agree To take a full carouse Of our Wassel. But here they let us stand All freezing in the cold ; Good master, give command, To enter and be bold. With our Wassel* Much joy into this hall With us is enter’d in. Our master first of all, We hope will now begin, Of our W'assel : And after his good wife Our spiced bowl will try. The Lord prolong your life : Good fortune we espy. For our Wassel. Some bounty from your hands, Our Wassel to maintain : We’ll buy no house nor lands With that which we do gain With our Wassel. This is our merry night* Of choosing King and Queen, Then be it your delight That something may be seen In our Wassel. It is a noble part To bear a liberal mind, God bless our master’s heart, For here we comfort find, With our Wassel. And now we must be gone. To seek out more good cheer ; Where bounty will be shown, As we have found it here, With our Wassel. In the Collection of Ordinances for the Royal Household, published by the Society of Antiquaries, we have some account of the ceremony of Wasseling, as it was practised at court, on Twelfth Night, in the reign of Henry the Seventh. From these we learn that the ancient custom of pledging each other out of the same cup, had now given place to the more elegant practice of each person having his cup, and that * When the steward came in at the doore with the Wassel, he was to crie three tymes, Wassel, Wassel, Wassel, and then the chappell (the chaplain) was to answere with a songe.’ The subsequent Wassailers’ song on New Year’s Eve, is still sung in Gloucestershire. The Wassailers bring with them a great bowl, dressed up with garlands and ribbons. Wassail ! Wassail ! all over the town. Our toast it is white, our ale it is brown: Our bowl it is made of a maplin tree, We be good fellows all ; I drink to thee 2 L CONCLUSION OF THE YEAR. ‘ 26 G Here's to ,* and to his right ear, God send our maister a happy New Year; A happy New Year as e’er he did see — With my Wassailing Bowl I drink to thee. Come, butler, bring us a bowl of the best: 1 hope your soul in heaven will rest : But if you do bring us a bow l of the small, Then down fall bntler, bowl, and all. * The name of some horse. Conclusion of the Yeah. “ Dost thou know the price of a day, an hour, or a minute ? Didst thou ever examine the value of time ? If thou hadst, thou wouldst employ it better, and not spend so many happy opportunities upon trifles ; and so easily and so insensibly part with so inestimable a treasure. What is become of thy past hours? Have they made thee a promise to come again when thou callest for them? or canst thou shew me which way they went? No, no; they are gone without recovery; and in their tlight, methinks, Time seems to turn his head, and laugh over his shoulder in derision at those that made no better use of him, w hen they had him. Dost thou know that all the minutes of our life are but as so many links of a chain that has death at the extremity ; and every moment brings thee nearer thy expected dis- solution? Perchance while the word is speaking, it may be at thy very door. How stupid is he who dies while he lives, for fear of dying ! How insensible is he that lives as if he should never die, and only fears death when he comes to feel it! — Quevedo, .Vision 5th. To-morrow you will live, you always cry; In what far country does this morrow lie. That ’tis so mighty long ere it arrive ? Beyond the Indies does this morrow live? ’Tis so far fetch’d this morrow, that I fear ’Twill be both very old and very dear. To-morrow l will live, the fool does say; To-day itself ’s too late, — the wise lived yesterday ! Martial , by Cowley , lib. v. 48. “ Every year we behold proofs and symptoms of decay. All things around us are snbject to dissolution, and are actually dissolving. The mountain oak, which flourished for ages, now stands a blighted trunk, inspiring melancholy. Places renowned of old for beauty and defence, are know n to us now only by their names. Of Jerusalem and Mount Sion, of which such glorious things are said, there is not one stone left upon another. Babylon, the mighty Babylon, is fallen — is fallen. Families, and states, and empires, have their rise, and glory, and decline. The earth itself is waxing old. The sun, and stars, and elements, shall at last dissolve. Years, as they pass, speak vs of the consumm ation of all things. Listen to their parting voice. In still, but solemn lauguage, they speak of the Angel who shall lift up his hand to heaven, and swear by him that liveth for ever and ever — There shall be TIME no more." NEW- YEAll’s DAY. 267 New-Year’s Day. Bishop Stillingfleet observes, that among the Saxons of the northern nations, the feast of the new-year was observed with more than ordinary festivity. Thenee, as Olaus Wormius observes, they reckoned their age by so many Tolas. The poet Naogeorgus is cited by Hospinian, as telling us, that it was usual in his time for friends to present each other with a new-vear’s gift; for the husband to give one to his wife ; parents to their children; and masters to their servants, &c. ; a custom derived to the Christian world from the times of Gentilism. The superstition condemned in this by the ancient fathers, lay in the idea of these gifts being considered as omens of success for the ensuing year. In this sense, also, and in this sense alone, could they have censured the benevolent compliment of “wishing a merry Christmas, and a happy new-year.” The latter has been adopted by the modern Jews, who on the first day of the month Tisri have a splendid entertainment, and wish each other a happy new-year. The Romans were great observers of the custom of new-year’s gift3, even when their year consisted only of ten months, of thirty-six days each, and began in March; also when January and February were added by Numa to the ten others, the calends or first of January were the time on which they made presents; and even Romulus and Tatius made an order that every year vervain should be offered to them with other gifts, as tokens of good fortune for the new-year. Tacitus makes mention of an order of Tiberius, forbidding the giving or demanding of new-year’s gifts, unless it were on the calends of January ; at which time, as well the senators as the knights, and other great men, brought gifts to the emperor, and, in his absence, to the capitol. The ancient Druids, with great ceremonies, used to scrape off from the outside of oaks the misleden, which they conse- crated to their great Tutates, and then distributed it to the people through the Gauls, on account of the great virtues which they attri- buted to it; from whence new’-year’s gifts are still called in some parts of France, Guy Van nevf. Our English nobility, every new-- year’s tide, still send to the king a purse with gold in it. Reason may be joined to custom to justify the practice; for as presages are drawn from the first things which are met on the beginning of a day, week, or year, none can be more pleasing than of those things that are given us. We rejoice with our friends after having escaped the dangers that attend every year ; and congratulate each other for the lu ture by presents and wishes for the happy continuance of that course, which the ancients called Strenarum Commercium. And as formerly men used to renew- their hospitalities by presents, called Xenia , a name proper enough for our new-year’s gifts, they may be said to serve to renew friendship, which is one of the greatest gifts imparted by Heaven to men. In Sir John Sinclair’s Statistical Account of Scotland, Edinburgh, 175)4, 8vo. vol. xi. p. 458, the minister of Kirkmicliael, in the county of Banff, under the head of Superstitions, &c. tells us : “ On the first night of January, they observe, with anxious attention, the disposi- 268 EASTERN MAGI. — PASTIMES. tion of the atmosphere. As it is calm or boisterous — as the wind blows from the south or the north — from the east or the west — they prognosticate the nature of the weather till the conclusion of the year. The first night of the new year, when the wind blows from the west, they call Dar-na-coille, the night of the fecundation of the trees ; and from this circumstance has been derived the name of that night in the Gaelic language. Their faith in the above signs is couched in verse, (thus translated :) ‘ The wind of the south will be productive of heat and fertility ; the wind of the west, of milk and fish ; the wind from the north, of cold and storm ; the wind from the east, of fruit on the trees.’ ” Eastern Magi. Of these Magi, or sages, (commonly called the three kings of Colen,) the first, named Melchior , an aged man, offered gold : the second, Jasper, a beardless youth, offered frankincense : the third, Balthazar , a black or Moor, offered myrrh : according to this distich : — Tres Reges Regi Regum tria dona ferebant. Myrrh am Ilomini, Uncto aurum, thura dedere Deo. Pastimes. Pastimes of some kind seem to be absolutely necessary, and to none more than to the man of study ; for the most vigorous mind cannot bear to be always bent. Constant application to one pur- suit, if it deeply engage the attention, is apt to unhinge the mind, and generate madness ; of which Don Quixote of Cervantes, and the Astronomer of Johnson, are two admirably conceived instances; con- firmed by too many facts in real life. But though pastime is neces- sary to relieve the mind, it indicates great frivolity when made the business of life ; and yet the rich and the great, who are not obliged to labour for the means of subsistence, too often rove from pastime with as constant assiduity as the mechanic toils for his family, or as the philosopher devotes himself to science. When those pastimes give elasticity to the mind, or strength to the body, such conduct is not only allowable, but praise-worthy ; but when they produce effects the reverse of these, it is both hurtful and criminal. The gaming- table, the masquerade, the midnight assembly of any sort, must of necessity enfeeble both the body and the mind ; and yet such are the fashionable amusements of the present day, to which many a belle and many a beau sacrifice their beauty, their health, their quiet, and their virtue. Far different were the pastimes of our wiser ances- tors; remote from effeminacy, they were innocent, manly, and gene- rous exercises. From ancient records, it appears, that the sports, amusements, pleasures, and reereations, of our ancestors, as described by Fitz- Stephen, added strength and agility to the wheels of state mechanism, while they had a direct tendency towards utility. For most of these ancient recreations are resolvable into the public defence of the state against the attacks of a foreign enemy. The play at ball derived PASTIMES. 269 from the Romans, is first introduced by this author as the common exercise of every school-boy. The performance was in a fieid, where the resort of the most substantial and considerable citizens, to give encouragement and countenance to this feat of agility, was splendid and numerous. The intention of this amusement was to make the juvenile race active, nimble, and vigorous ; which qualities were requisite whenever their assistance should be wanted in the protec- tion of their country. Another species of manly exercise was truly martial, and intended to qualify the adventurers for martial discipline. It is related by Fitz-Stephen thus: “ Every Friday in Lent, a company of young men enter the field on horseback, attended and conducted by the best horsemen : then march forth the sons of the citizens, and other young men, with armed lances and shields ; and there practise feats of war. Many courtiers likewise, when the king is near the spot, and attendants upon noblemen, repair to these exercises ; and while the hopes of victory inflame their minds, they shew' by good proof how serviceable they would be in martial affairs.” This evidently is of Roman descent, and immediately brings to our recollection the Ludus Trojac, supposed to be the invention, as it was the common exercise, of Ascanius. The common people, in that age of masculine manners, made every amusement where strength was exerted, the sub- ject matter of instruction and improvement. In the vacant intervals of industry and labour, commonly called the holidays, indolence and inactivity, which now mark this portion of time, were found only in those who were distempered with age or infirmity. Fitz-Stephen says, “ In Easter holidays they fight battles upon the water. A shield is hanged upon a pole, fixed in the middle of the stream. A boat is prepared without oars, to be born along by the violence of the water ; and in the forepart thereof standeth a young man, ready to give charge upon the shield with his lance. If so be that he break his lance against the shield, and doth not fall, he is thought to have performed a worthy deed. If without breaking his lance he runs strongly against the shield, down he falleth into the water; for the boat is violently forced with the tide : but on each side of the shield ride two boats, furnished with young men, who recover him who falleth soon as they may. In the holidays, all the summer, the youths are exercised in leaping, dan- cing, shooting, wrestling, casting the stone, and practising their shields ; and the maidens trip with their timbrels and dance as long as they can well see. In winter, every holiday, before dinner the boars prepared for brawn are set to fight, or else bulls or bears are baited.” Such were the pursuits to which leisure was dovoted by our forefathers, so far back as 1130. Their immediate successors breathed the same spirit. In 1222, the 6th year of Henry III certain masters in exercises of this kind made a public profession of their instructions and discipline, which they imparted to those who were desirous of attaining excellence and victory in these honourable achievements. About this period, persons of rank and family introduced the play of tennis, and erected courts or oblong edifices for the performance of 270 PASTIMES. it. About 1253, the 38th of Henry III, the quintin was a sport much in fashion in almost every part of the kingdom. This contrivance, consisted of an upright post firmly fixed in the ground, upon the top of which was a cross piece of wood, moveable upon a spindle; one end of which was broad like the flat part of an halberd, while at the other end was hung a bag of sand. The exercise was performed on horseback. The masterly performance was, when, upon the broad part being struck with a lance, which sometimes broke it, the assail- ant rode so swiftly on as to avoid being struck on the back by the bag of sand, which turned round instantly upon the stroke given, with a very swift motion. He who executed this feat in the most dexterous manner was declared victor, and the prize to which he became entitled was a peacock. But if, upon the aim taken, the contender miscarried in striking at the broadside, his impotency of skill became the ridicule and contempt of the spectators. Dr. Plott, in his Natural History of Oxfordshire, tells us, that this pastime was in practice in his time at Deddington. He and Matthew Paris give similar accounts. But all the manly pastimes seem to have given place to one, indeed no less manly, which was Archery. This had a continuance to the reign of Charles I. It appears from 33 Hen. VIII. that by the intru- sion of other pernicious games, archery had been for a long time disused ; to revive which, a statute was made. Tow ards the beginning of James I.’s reign, military prowess seems to have sounded a retreat. He, to gratify the importunity of the common people, and at the same time to obviate his own fears upon a refusal, published a book of sports, in which the women had been some time before indulged on Sunday evenings, but which had been lately prohibited. These sports consisted of dancing, singing, wrestling, church ales, and other profanations of that day. Charles I., his successor, wisely, in the very entrance ofhisieign, abolished these sports, which was no doubt proper, &nd shewed the distinguished piety of this unfortunate monarch. But in this age likewise ended the manly sports of Britons, and nothing was introduced that could compensate for the loss. In the Satistical Account of Scotland, parish of Monquhitter, under • Amusements,’ we are told, ‘ People who are not regularly and pro- fitably employed, rejoice in a holiday, as the means of throwing off that languor which oppresses the mind, and of exerting their active powers. So it was with our fathers. They frequently met to exert their strength in wrestling, in casting the hammer, and in throwing the stone, their agility at foot-ball, and their dexterity at coits and penny-stone. Hot-cockles . — This sport is described as follows by Gay : “ As at Hot Cockles once I laid me down, I felt the weighty hand of many a clow n ; Buxoma gave a gentle tap, and I Quick rose, and read soft mischief in her eve.” Races. — Misson, in his Travels in England, translated by Ozell, says : * The English nobility take great delight in horse-races. The most famous are usually at Newmarket ; and there you are sure to ANCIENT DANCES. 271 see a great many persons of the first quality ; and almost all the gen- tlemen of the neighbourhood. It is pretty common for them to lay wagers of two thousand pounds sterling upon one race. I have seen a horse, that after having run twenty miles in fifty-five minutes, upon ground less even than that where the races are run at Newmarket, and won the wager for his master, would have been able to run anew without taking breath, if he that had lost durst have ventured again.’ — Grose mentions among the Sports of Sailors, the following : * Ambassador : A trick to duck some ignorant fellow, or landsman, frequently played on board ships in the warm latitudes. — It is thus managed : A large tub is filled with water, and two stools placed on each side of it. Over the whole is throw n a tarpawlin, or old sail ; this is kept tight by two persons, who are to represent the King and Queen of a foreign country, and are seated on the stools. The person intended to be ducked plays the Ambassador, and after repeating a ridiculous speech dictated to him, is led in great form up to the throne, and seated between the King and Queen, who rising suddenly as soon as he is seated, he falls backw ard into the tub of w ater.’ — He notices another game in the subsequent words : ‘ Arthur , King Arthur : A game used at sea, when near the Line, or in a hot latitude. — It is performed thus : A man w ho is to represent King Arthur, ridiculously dressed, having a large wig, made out of oakum, or same old swabs, is seated on the side, or over a large ves- sel of water. Every person is to be ceremoniously introduced to him, and to pour a bucket of water over him, crying, Hail, King Ar- thur ! If, during this ceremony, the person introduced laughs or smiles, (to which his majesty endeavours to excite him by all sorts of ridiculous gesticulations,) he changes place with, and then becomes King Arthur, till relieved by some brother tar who has as little com- mand over his muscles as himself.’ Ancient Dances. The origin of dancing among the Greeks was doubtless the same as among all other nations ; but as they proceeded a certain length ia civilization, their dances were of consequence more regular and agree- able than those of the more barbarous nations. They reduced dancing into a kind of regular system, and had dances proper for exciting, by means of sympathy, any passion w hatever in the minds of the behold- ers. In this way they are said to have proceeded very great lengths, to us absolutely incredible. At Athens it is said, that the dance of the Eumenides, or Furies, on the theatre, had so expressive a character, as to strike the spectators with irresistible terror : men grown old in the profession of arms trembled ; the multitude ran out ; women with child miscarried ; and people imagined they saw in earnest those terri- ble deities commissioned with the vengeance of heaven to pursue and punish crimes upon earth. The Greeks had martial dances, which they reckoned to be very useful for keeping up the warlike spirit of their youth ; but the Romans, though equally warlike with the Greeks, never had any thing of the kind. This probably may be owing to the want of that romantic turn, for which the Greeks were so remarkable. 272 DANCE OF THE CALUMET. — ALME, OR ALMA. The Romans had no heroes among them such as Hercules, Achilles, or Ajax ; nor does the whole Roman history furnish an example of a general who made war after the manner of Alexander the Great. Though their soldiers were as valiant as those of the Greeks, the object with them was the honour of the republic, and not their own per- sonal praise. Hence there was less fury, and much more cool deli- berate valour, exercised by the Romans, than any other ifation what- ever. The passions of pride, resentment, obstinacy, &c. were excited in them, not by the mechanical means of music and dancing, but by being taught that it was their chief honour to fight for the republic. — It does not, however, appear that the Romans were at all less capa- ble of being affected in this mechanical manner than the Greeks. When dancing was once introduced, it had the very same effects at Rome as at Athens. Dance of the Calumet. This is a solemn rite among the Indians on various occasions. They dare not wash themselves in a river in the beginning of summer, nor taste of the new fruits, without performing it; and the same ceremony always confirms a peace, or precedes a war. It is per- formed in winter in their cabins, and in summer in the open fields. For this purpose they choose a spot among trees, to shade them from the heat of the sun, and lay in the middle a large mat, as a carpet, setting upon it the god of the chief of the company. On the right hand of this image they place the calumet, as their great deitv, with their arms erected round it. The hour of 4he dancing being come, those who are the most honourable take their seats under the shade of the trees. The company is then ranged round ; every one, before he sits down, saluting the monitor, which is done by blowing upon it the smoke of tobacco. Each person next receives the calu- met in rotation, and holding it with both hands, dances to the cadence of the vocal music, which is accompanied with the beating of a sort of drum. During this exercise, he gives a signal to one of his warriors, who takes a bow, arrow, and axe, from the trophies already mentioned, and fights him ; the former defending himself with the calumet only, and both of them dancing all the while. This mock engagement being over, he who holds the calumet makes a speech, in which he gives an account of all the battles he has fought, and the prisoners he has taken, and then receives a cloak, or some other pre- sent, from the chief of the ball. He then resigns the calumet to another, who, having acted a similar part, delivers it to a third, and he to a fourth, &c. till at last the instrument returns to the person who began the ceremony, and who presents it to the nation invited to the feast, as a mark of their friendship, and a confirmation of their alliance. Alme, or Alma. This name is given to the singing and dancing girls in Egypt, who, like the Italian Improvisatori, can occasionally pour forth unpre- 273 ALME, OR ALMA. meditated verse. They are called Alme y from having received a bet- ter education than other women. They form a celebrated society in their country. To he received into it, according to Savarv, it is necessary to have a good voice, to know the language well, to under- stand the rules of poetry, and be able to compose and sing couplets ou the spot, adapted to present circumstances. The Alme know by heart all the new songs. Their memory is furnished with the most beautiful tales. There is no festival without them ; no entertainment of which they do not constitute the ornament. They are placed in a rostrum, from whence they sing during the repast. They then de- scend into the saloon, and form dances, which have no resemblance to ours ; they are pantomime ballads, in which they usually repre- sent the occurrences of life. The mysteries of love, too, furnish them with scenes. The suppleness of their bodies is inconceivable. One is astonished at the mobility of their features, to which they give at pleasure the impression suitable to the characters they play. The indecency of their attitude is often carried to excess. Their looks, their gestures, every thing speaks, but in so expressive a manner, that it is impossible to mistake them. At the beginning of the dance they lay aside w ith their veils the modesty of their sex. A long robe of very fine silk goes down to their heels, which is slightly fastened with a rich girdle. Long black hair, plaited and perfumed, lies on their shoulders. A shift, transparent as gauze, scarcely hides their bosom. As they put themselves in motion, the shapes, the contours of their bodies, seem to develop themselves successively. Their steps are regulated by the sound of the fiute, of castanets, the tambour de lasque, and cymbals, which accelerates or retards the measure. They are still farther animated by words adapted to such scenes. They appearin a state of intoxication. They are the bacchantes, in a deli- rium. It is when they are at this point, throwing off all reserve, they abandon themselves wholly to the disorder of their senses ; it is then that a people, far from delicate, and who like nothing hidden, t redouble their applauses. These Alme are sent for into all the harems. They teach the wo- men the new airs, amuse them with amorous tales, and recite in their presence poems, which are so much the more interesting, as they fur- nish a lively picture of their manners. They initiate them into the mysteries of their art, and teach them to contrive lascivious dances. These girls, who have a cultivated understanding, are very agreeable in conversation. They speak their language with purity. ” The habit of dedicating themselves to poetry, renders the softest and most sono- I rous expressions familiar to them. They repeat with a great deal of j grace. In singing, nature is their only guide. Sometimes tw o of them sing together, but always with the same voice. It is the same with an orchestra, where all the instruments playing in unison execute the same part. The A. me assist at the marriage ceremonies, and march before the bride, playing on instruments. They make a figure like- wise at funerals, and accompany the procession, singing sorrowful airs. They break forth into groans and lamentations, and give every sign of grief and despair. These w omen are paid very high, and seldom appear but among the grandees. The common people have 2 M 274 TURKISH BATHING. also their Alm6. These are girls of the second class, who try to imi- tate the former ; but they have neither their elegance, their graces, nor their knowledge. They are every where to be met with. The public places and the walks about Grand Cairo are full of them. As the populace require allusions still more strongly marked, decency will not permit the relation of the pitch to which these carry the licentiousness of their gestures and attitudes. Turkish Bathing. In modern Turkey, as well as among the ancients, bathing makes a part of their luxuries, so that in every town and even village there is a public bath. Indeed, the necessity of cleanliness, in a climate where one perspires so copiously, has rendered bathing indispensable ; the comfort it produces, preserves the use of it; and Mahomet, who knew its utility, reduced it to a precept. Of these baths, and the manner of bathing, particularly at Cairo, the following account is given by M. Savary, in his letters on Egypt. * The first apartment one finds on going to the bath, is a large hall, which rises in the form of a rotunda. It is open at the top, to give a free circulation to the air. A spacious estrade, or raised floor, covered with a carpet, and divided into compartments, goes around it, on which one lays one’s clothes. In the middle of the building, a jet-d’eau spouts out from a bason, and agreeably entertains the eye. When you are undressed, you tie a napkin round your loins, take a pair of sandals, and enter into a narrow passage, where you begin to be sensible of the heat. The door shuts to, and, at twenty paces oflf, you open a second, and go along a passage, which forms a right angle with the former. Here the heat increases. They who are afraid of suddenly exposing themselves to a stronger degree of it, stop in a marble hall, in the way to the bath properly so called. The bath is a spacious and vaulted apartment, paved and lined with marble, along which there are four closets. The vapour, incessantly rising from a fountain and cistern of hot water, mixes itself with the burning perfumes ; these, however, are never burnt, except the per- sons w ho are in the bath desire it : they mix with the steam of the water, and produce a m<;st agreeable effect. The bathers are not imprisoned here, as in Europe, in a tub, where one is never at one’s ease. Extended on a cloth spread out, the head supported by a small cushion, they stretch themselves freely in every posture, whilst they are lapped up in a cloud of odoriferous vapours, which penetrates into all their pores. After reposing there some time, until there is a gentle moisture over the whole body, a servant comes, presses you gently, turns you over, and when the limbs are become supple and flexible, he makes all the joints crack, without difficulty. He masses, i. e. touches delicately, and seems to knead the flesh, without making you feel the smallest pain. This operation finished, he puts on a stuff glove, and rubs you a long time. During this operation he detaches from the body of the patient, which is running with sweat, a sort of small scales, and removes even the imperceptible dirt that stops the pores. The skin becomes soft and smooth like satin. He TURKISH BATHING. 275 then conducts you into a closet, pours the lather of perfumed soap upon your head, and withdraws. The ancients did more honour to their guests, and treated them in a more voluptuous manner. Whilst Telemachus was at the court of Nestor, the beautiful Polycaster, the handsomest of the daughters of the king of Pylos, led the son of Ulysses to the bath, washed him with her own hands, and after anointing his body with precious oils, covered him with rich habits and a splendid cloak. Pisistratus and Telemachus were not worse treated in the palace of Menelaus. When they had admired its beauties, they were conducted to basons of marble, where a bath was prepared ; beautiful female slaves washed them : and, after anointing them with oil, covered them with rich tunics and superb pelices. The closet to which one is conducted is furnished with a cistern and two cocks, one for cold and another for hot water. There you wash yourself. Soon after, the servant returns with a depilatory pomatum, which in an instant makes the hair fall off the places it is applied to. Both men and women make general use of it in Egypt. It is composed of a mineral called rusma, which is of a deep brown. The Egyptians burn it lightly, knead it with water, mixing it with half the quantity of slaked lime. This grayish paste, applied to the hair, makes it fall off in two or three minutes, without giving the slightest pain. After being well washed and puri- fied, you are wrapped up in hot linen, and follow the guide through the windings that lead to the outer apartment. This insensible transition from heat to cold prevents one from suffering any incon- venience from it. On arriving at the estrade, you find a bed prepared for you ; and scarcely are you laid down, before a child comes to press every part of your body with its delicate fingers, in order to dry you thoroughly. You change linen a second time, and the child gently grates the callosity of your feet with pumice-stone. He then brings you a pipe, and Moka coffee. Coming out of a stove where one was surrounded by a hot and moist fog, where the sweat issues from every pore, and transported into a spacious apartment open to the external air, the breast dilates, and one breathes with voluptuousness. Perfectly massed, and as it were regenerated, one experiences an universal comfort. The blood circulates with freedom, and one feels as if disengaged from an enor- mous weight, together with a suppleness and lightness to which one has been hitherto a stranger. A lively sentiment of existence diffuses itself to every extremity of the body; whilst it is lost in delicate sensa- tions, the soul sympathizing with the delight, enjoys the most agree- able ideas. The imagination, wandering over the universe, which it embellishes, sees on every side the most enchanting pictures, every where the image of happiness. If life be nothing but the succession of our ideas, the rapidity with which they then recur to the memory, the vigour with which the mind runs over the chain of them, would induce a belief that in the two hours of that delicious calm that suc- ceeds the bath, one has lived a number of years. Such are the baths, the use of which were so strongly recommended by the ancients, and which are still the delight of the Egyptians. It is by 276 EXPOSING OF CIIILDDREN. moans of them that they cure rheumatisms, catarrhs, and such cuta- neous disorders as are produced hv want of perspiration. By the same resource they get rid of that uncomfortable feeling so common to all nations who do not pay attention to the cleanliness of their bodies. Mr. Tournefort, indeed, who had used steam-baths at Constan- tinople, where there is less retinement in them than at Cairo, is of opinion that they injure the breast: but, according to Mr. Savary, this is an error which further experience would have corrected. There are no people who make more frequent use of them than the Egyp- tians, and there is no country where there are fewer asthmatic peo- ple : the asthma is hardly known there. The women are fond of these baths, frequent them once a week, and take with them slaves properly qualified to assist them. More luxurious than the men, after undergoing the usual preparations, they wash their bodies, and, above ail, their heads, with rose-water. It is there that female head- dressers form their long black hair Into tresses, which they mix with precious essences, instead of powder and pomatum. It is there that they blacken the edge of their eye-lids, and lengthen their eye-brows with cohel, a preparation of tar burnt with gall-nuts ; it is there they stain the linger and toe nails with henne, a shrub common in Europe, and which gives them a golden colour. The, linen and clothing they make use of, are passed through the sweet steam of the wood of aloes ; and when the work of the toilet is at an end, they remain in the outer apartment, and pass the day in entertainments. Their women entertain them with voluptuous songs and dances, or tell them talcs of love. Exposing of Children. This was a barbarous custom practised by most ancient nations, excepting the Thebans, who had an express law, whereby it was made capital to expose children, and ordained that such as were not in condition to educate them should bring them to the magis- trates, to he brought up at the public expense. Among the other Greeks, when a chirfl was born, it was laid on the ground ; and if the father designed to educate his child, he immediately took it up ; hut if lie forbore to do this, the child was carried away and exposed. The Lacedemonians indeed had a different custom ; for with* them all new-born children were brought, before some of the gravest men in their own tribes, by whom the infants were carefully viewed ; and if they were found lusty and well-favoured, they gave orders for their education, and allotted a certain proportion of land for their main- tenance ; hut if weakly or deformed, they ordered them to he cast into a deep cavern near mount Taygenus, thinking it. neither for the good of the children themselves, nor for the public interest, that such should be brought up. Many exposed their children only because they were not in a condition to educate them, having no intention that they should perish. It was the unhappy fate of daughters especially to he thus treated, as requiring more to educate and settle them the world than sons. birth-day. 277 The parents chiefly tied jewels and rings to the children they ex- posed, or any other thing whereby they might afterwards discover them, if Providence should preserve them, as well as to encourage such as found them to nourish and educate them if alive, or to give them human burial if dead. The places where it was usual to expose children were those most frequented, that they might be found, and taken up by compassionate persons, who were able to be at the expense of their education. Thus the Egyptians and Romans chose the banks of rivers, and the Greeks the highways. Customs of the ancient Ethiopians. These ancient Ethiopians, says Diodorus, were of a dry adust temperament; their nails in length resembled claws; they were igno- rant of the arts which polish the mind ; their language was hardly articulate, their voices were shrill and piercing. As they did not endeavour to render life commodious and agreeable, their manners and customs were very different from those of other nations. When they went to battle, some were armed with bucklers of ox’s hide, .and little javelins in their hands ; others carried crooked darts ; others used the bow ; and others fought with clubs. They took their wives with them to war, whom they obliged to enter upon military service at a certain age. The women w ore rings of copper at their lips. Some of these people went without clothing. Sometimes they threw about them what they happened to find, to shelter them froju the burning rays of the sun. Some lived upon a certain fruit, which grew spontaneously in marshy places ; some ate the tenderest shoots of trees, which were defended by the large branches from the heat of the sun; and others sowed Indian corn and lotos. Some of them lived only on the roots of reeds. Many spent a great part of their time in shooting birds, and, as they were excellent archers, their bows supplied them with plenty ; but the greater part of this people were sustained by the flesh of their flocks. Birth-day. The ancients placed a good deal of religion in t the celebration of their birth-days, and took omens from thence of the felicity of the i coming year. The manner of celebrating birth-days was by a peculiar I dress, wearing a sort of rings appropriated to that day, offering sacrifices, ! the men to their Genius, of wine and frankincense, the women to Juno, giving suppers, and treating their friends and clients, who in return made them presents, wrote and sung their panegyrics, and offered good wishes for the frequent happy returns of the same day. The birth-days of emperors were also celebrated with public sports, feasts, vows, and medals struck on the occasion. But the ancients, it is to be observed, had other sorts of birth-days besides the day on which they were born. The day of their adoption was always reputed as a birth-day, and celebrated accordingly. The emperor Adrian, we are told, observed three birth-days, viz. the day of his nativity, of his adoption, and of his inauguration. In those 278 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS IN SICILY. times it was held, that men were not born only on those days when they first came into the world, but on those also when they arrived at the chief honours and commands in the commonwealth ; e. gr. the consulate. Hence that of Cicero, in his oration at duirites, after his return from exile: “ A parentibus, id quod necesse erat, parvus sum procreatus ; a vobisnatus sum consularis.” Ancient Customs respecting Brides. Among the ancient Greeks, it was customary for the bride to be conducted from her father’s house to her husband’s in a chariot, the evening being chosen for that purpose. She was placed in the mid- dle, her husband sitting on one side, and one of her intimate friends on the other ; torches were carried before her, and she was entertained in the passage with a song suitable to the occasion. When they arrived at the end of their journey, the axle-tree of the coach they rode in was burnt, to signify that the bride was never to return to her father’s house. Among the Romans, the bride was to seem to be taken by force from her mother, in memory of the rape of the Sabines under Romulus ; she was to be carried home in the night to the bridegroom’s house, accompanied by three boys, one of whom car- ried a torch, and the other two led the bride, a spindle and distaff being carried w ith her. She brought three pieces of money, called asses, in her hand to the bridegroom, whose doors on this occasion were horned with flow'ers, and branches of trees ; being here inter- rogated who she was, she was to answer, Caia, in memory of Caia Cecilia, wife of Tarquin the elder, who was an excellent spinstress ; for the like reason, besides her entrance, she lined the door-posts with wool, and smeared them with grease. Fire and water being set on the threshold, she touched both ; but starting back from the door, refused to enter, till at length she passed the threshold, being careful to step over without touching it ; here the keys were given her, a nuptial supper was prepared for her, and minstrels to divert her ; she was seated on the figure of a Priapus, and here the attend- ant boys resigned her to the females, who brought her into the nup- tial chamber, and put her to bed. This office was to be performed by matrons only, who had been married, to denote that the marriage was to be for perpetuity. Marriage Customs in Sicily. The Sicilians till lately retained a great many foolish and super- stitious customs, but particularly in their marriage and funeral ce- remonies : it would be tedious to give but an account of all these ; some of them are still practised in the wild and mountainous parts of the island. As soon as the marriage ceremony is performed, two of the attendants are ready to cram a spoonful of honey into the mouths of the bride and bridegroom ; pronouncing it emblematical of their love and union, which they hope will ever continue as sweet to their souls as that honey is to their palates. They then begin to throw handfuls of wheat upon them, which is continued all the way to MARRIAGE CUSTOMS IN SICILY. 279 the house of the bridegroom. This is probably the remains of some ancient rite to Ceres, their favourite divinity, and they think it cannot fail of procuring them a numerous progeny : — however, the Sicilian women have no occasion for any charm to promote this, as, in gene- ral, they are abundantly prolific even without it. Fazello gives an account of women having frequently upwards of forty children ; and Carera ^mentions one who had forty-seven. The young couple are not allowed to taste of the marriage feast ; this, they pretend, is to teach them patience and temperance ; but when dinner is finished, a great bone is presented to the bridegroom by the bride’s father, or one of her nearest relations, who pronounces these words, “ Rodi tu quest osso , &c. Pick you this bone, for you have now taken in hand to pick one, which you will find much harder and of more difficult digestion.” Perhaps this may have given rise to the common saying, when one has undertaken any tli’ing arduous or difficult, that “ He has got a bone to pick.” The Sicilians like most other nations in Europe, carefully avoid marrying in the month of May, and look upon such marriages as extremely inauspicious. This piece of superstition is as old, perhaps older, than the time of the Romans, by whose authors it is frequently mentioned, and by whom it has been transmitted to almost every nation Jn Europe. It is somewhat unaccountable that so ridiculous an idea, which can have no foundation in nature, should have stood its ground for so many ages. There are indeed other customs still more trivial, that are not less universal : that of making April fools on the first day of that month ; the ceremony of the cake on Twelfth- night; and some others that will occur to the reader, of which, no than this, have we ever been able to learn the origin. The marriages of the Sicilian nobility are celebrated with great magnificence; and the number of elegant carriages produced on these occasions is astonishing. I wanted to discover when this great lux- ury in carriages had taken rise; and have found an account of the marriage of the daughter of one of their viceroys to the Duke of Bi- vona, in the year 1551. It is described by one Clenco, who was a spectator of the ceremony. He says, the ladies as well as the gentlemen were all mounted on fine horses, sumptuously caparisoned, and preceded by pages ; that there were only three carriages in the city, which were used by invalids who were not able to ride on horseback. These he calls carette, which now signifies a little cart. The Sicilian ladies marry very young, and frequently live to seethe fifth or sixth generation. You will expect, no doubt, that I should say something of their beauty : — In general, they are sprightly and agreeable ; and in most parts of Italy they would be esteemed hand- some. A Neapolitan or a Roman would surely pronounce them so : but a Piedmontese w'ould declare them very ordinary ; so indeed, would most Englishmen. Nothing is so vague as our ideas of female beauty ; they change in every climate, and the criterion is no where to be found. Ask where’s the North? — at York, ’tis on the Tweed, In Scotland at the Orcades ; and there. At Nova Zembla, or the Lord knows where/ 280 MARUIAGE CUSTOMS IN SICILY. Divinations at Weddings. — Divinations at marriages were practised in times of the remotest antiquity. Valiancy tells us, that in the memoirs of the Etruscan academy of Cortona is the drawing of a picture found in Herculaneum, representing a marriage. In the front is a sorceress casting the five stones. — The writer of the memoir justly thinks she is divining. The figure exactly corresponds with the first and principal cast of Irish purin : all five are cast up, and the first cast is on the back of the hand. — He has copied the drawing: on the back of the hand stands one, and the remaining four on the ground. Opposite the sorceress is the matron, attentive to the suc- cess of the cast. No marriage ceremony was performed without con- sulting the druidess and her purin : “ Auspices solebant nuptis interesse.” In the St. James’s Chronicle, from April lGth to April 18th, 1799, are the following lines on the bride-cake. “ Enlivening source of hymeneal myrth. All-hail the blest receipt that gave thee birth ! Tho’ Flora culls the fairest of her bowers. And strews the path of Hymen with her flowers, Not half the raptures give her scattered sweets ; The cake for kinder gratulation meets. The Bride-maid’s eyes with sparkling glances beam. She views the cake, and greets the promis’d dream. For, when endowed with necromantic spell. She knows what wondrous things the cake will tell. When from the altar comes the pensive Bride, With downcast looks, her partner at her side ; Soon from the ground these thoughtful looks arise. To meet the cake that gayer thoughts supplies. With her own hand she charms each destin’d slice. And thro’ the ring repeats the trebled thrice. The hallow’d ring infusing magic pow’r, Bids Hymen’s visions wait the midnight hour; The mystic treasure, plac’d beneath her head. Will tell the fair if haply she may wed. These mysteries protentous lie concealed, Till Morpheus calls, and bids them stand reveal’d ; The future husband that night’s dream will bring, W T hether a sailor, soldier, beggar, king, As partner of her life the fair must take, Irrevocable doom of Bridal Cake.” Skarfs, Points , and Bride-laces at Weddings . Skarfs, now confined to funerals, were anciently given at mar- riages, as noticed in Ben Jonson’s Silent Woman. In the same author’s Tale of a Tub, Turf is introduced as saying on this occasion, “ We shall all ha’ bride-laces or points, I zee.” — Among the lots presented to Queen Elizabeth in Davison’s Rhapsody, the two following occur, in a list of Prizes for Ladies : — MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 2B1 **9. A Dozen of Points. “ You are in every point a Lover true. And therefore Fortune gives the Points to you.” “ 16. A Skarfe. “ Take you this Scarf e, bind Cupid hande and foote. So Love must aske you leave before he shoote.” Herric, in his Hesperides, in the Epithalamie on Sir Clipseby Crew and his Lady, thus cautions the bridegroom’s men against offending the delicacy of the new-married lady : “ We charge ye that no strife (Farther than gentleness tends) get place Among ye, striving for her Lace.” At the marriage ceremony of John Newchombe, the wealthy clothier of Newbury, cited by Strutt, his bride was led to church between two sweet boys, with bride laces and rosemary tied about their silken leaves. Bride Knives. — Strange as it may appear, it is however certain that knives were formerly part of the accoutrements of a bride. This perhaps will not be difficult to account for, if we consider that it, anciently formed part of the dress for women to wear a knife or knives sheathed and suspended from their girdles : a finer or more ornamented pair of which would very naturally be either purchased or presented on the occasion of a marriage. In that most rare play, the Witch of Edmonton, Somerton says, “ But see the bridegroom and bride comes : the new pair of Sheffield knives fitted to one sheath.” — In ‘Well-met, Gossip or, ‘ ’Tis Merry when Gossips meet/ the Widow says, — “For this you know, that all the wmoing season, Suitors with gifts continual seek to gain Their mistress’ love, &c.” The w ife answers : — “ That’s very true In conscience I had twenty pair of gloves. When I was maid, given to that effect ; Garters, knives , purses, girdles, store of rings, And many a thousand dainty, pretty things.” Thus to another part of the dress, in the old play of the Witch of Edmonton, old Carter tells his daughter andjier sweetheart, “Your marriage money shall be received before your wedding shoes can be pulled on. Blessing on you both.” We find the following passage in “ a Treatise wherein Dicing, Dauncing, Vaine Plays, or Enterluds, with other idle Pastimes, &c. commonly used on the Sabbath-day, are proved bv the authorise of the Word of God, and antient writers, by John Northbrook, minister and preacher of the word of God. — In olde time (we reade) that there was usually carried before the Mavde, w hen she shoulde be married, and came to dwell in hir husbande's house, a distaffe t 2 N MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 282 charged with flaxe, and a spyndle hanging at it, to the intente shee might bee myndeful to lyve by hir labour.” Chaucer’s Miller of Trumpinton is represented as wearing a Shef- field knife : — “ A Shefeld thwitel bare he in his hose.” And it is observable that all the portraits of Chaucer give him a knife hanging at his breast. Among the women’s trinkets, A. D. 1560, in the four P’s of John Heywood, occur: — “ Silkers, swathbands, riband, and sleave laces. Girdles, knives , purses, and pin cases.” “ An olde merchant had hanging at his girdle, a pouch, a spec- tacle-case a punniard, a pen and inckhorne, and a handkertcher, with many other trinkets besides : which a merry companion seeing, said, it was a habbcrdusher s shop of small wares .” Strewing Herbs , Flowers, or Rushes before the Bridegroom and Bride in their way to Church : as also the wearing Nosegays on the occasion . There was anciently a custom at marriages, of strewing herbs and flowers, as also rushes, from the house or houses where persons betrothed resided, to the church. Every one will call to mind the passage in Shakspeare to this purpose : — “ Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse.” Arinin’s “History of the Two Maids of Morelacke,” 4to. 1009, opens thus, preparatory to a wedding, “Enter a maid strewing flowers , and a serving man perfuming the door. The maid says, * Strew, strew ;* — the man, * The Muscadine stays for the bride at church.’ ’* “ It is worthy of remark that something like the ancient custom of strewing the threshold of a new-married couple with flowers and greens, is, at this day, practised in Holland. Among the festoons and foliage, the laurel was always conspicuous : this denoted, no doubt, that the wedding-day is a day of triumph.” The bell-ringing, &c., used on these occasions are thus introduced : “ Lo! where the hamlet’s ivy’d gothic tow’r With merry peals salutes th’ auspicious hour. With sounds that thro’ the cheerful village bear The happy union of some wedded pair.” In Hasket’s “ Marriage Present,” the author introduces among flowers used on the occasion, primroses , maiden s-blushes, and violets. The strewing herbs and flowers on marriage occasions, as mentioned iu a note upon the old play of Ram Alley, to have been practised formerly, is still kept up in Kent and many other parts of England. With regard to nosegays, called by the vulgar in the north of Eng- land “Posies,” Stephens has a remarkable passage in , his character of “A plaine Country Bridegroom “ He shows,” says he, “ neere affinity betwixt marriage and hanging: and to that purpose he MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 2fig provides a great nosegay, and shakes hands with every one he meets* as if he were now preparing for a condemned man’s voyage.” Nose- gays occur in the poem of the Collier’s wedding : — “ Now all prepared and ready stand With fans and posies in their hands.” Rosemary and Bays at Weddings. — Rosemary, which was anciently thought to strengthen the memory, was not only carried at funerals, but also worn at weddings. In a curious wedding sermon, by Roger Hacket, D. D., 4to. Lon- don, 1607, entitled, “ A Marriage Present,” he thus expatiates on the use of rosemary at this time: “The last of the flowers is rosemary, (rosmarinus, the rosemary, is for married men,) the which by name, nature, and continued use, man challengeth as properly belonging to himselfe. It overtoppeth all the flowers in the garden, boasting man’s rule. It helpeth the braine, strengthened the memorie, and is very medicinable for the head. Another pro- perty of the rosemary is, it affects the heart. Let this rosmarinus, this flower of men, ensigne of your wisdome, love, and loyaltie, be carried not only in your hands, but in your heads and hearts.” Both rosemary and bays appear to have been gilded on these occasions. The rosemary used at weddings was previously dipped, it should seem, in scented water. We gather from the old play of Ben Jonson, entitled, the T^le of a Tub, that it was customary for the maidens, i. e. the bridemaids, on the bridegroom’s first appearance in the morning, to present him with a bunch of rosemary bound with ribbons. So late as the year 1698, the old country use appears to have been kept up, of decking the bridal bed with sprigs of rosemary; it is not, however, mentioned as being general. The Marriage Ceremony , or part of it, performed anciently in the Church Porch , or before the Door of the Church . — Can this custom have had its rise in the times of Gentilism ! Val- iancy informs us that “ the ancient Etruscans always were married in the streets, before the door of the house, which was thrown open at the conclusion of the ceremony.” All the ancient Missals mention, at the beginning of the nuptial ceremony, the placing of the man and woman before the door of the church, and direct, towards the con- clusion, that here they shall enter the church as far as the step of the altar. Selden, in his Uxor Hebraica, asserts, that no where else but before the face, and at the door, of the church, could the marriage dower have been lawfully assigned. By the parliamentary reformation of marriage and other rites under king Edward the Sixth, the man and woman were first permitted to come into the body or middle of the church, standing no longer, as formerly, at the door : yet, by the following from Herrick’s Hesperides, one would be tempted to think that this custom had survived the reformation : — 284 MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. • ‘The Entertainment, or Porch Verse, at (lie Marriage of Mr. Henry Northy and the most witty Mrs. Letlice Yard. “ Welcome ! but yet no entrance till we blesse First you, then you, and both for white successe : Profane no porch, young man and maid, for fear Ye wrong the threshold god that keeps peace here ; Please him, and then all good luck will betide You the brisk bridegroom, you the dainty bride.” Drinking Wine in the Church at Marriages — This custom is enjoined in the Hereford Missal. By the Sarum Missal it is directed that the sops immersed in this wine, as well as the liquor itself and the cup that contained it, should be blessed by the priest. The beverage used on this occasion was to be drunk by the bride and bridegroom, and the rest of the company. — In Mr. Lyson’s Environs of London, in his account of Wilsdon parish, in Middlesex, he tells us of an “Inventory of the goods and ornaments belonging to Wilsdon Church about A. D. 1547,” in which occur “ two Massers that were appointed to remayne in the church for to drynk yn at Brideales .” The pieces of cake, or wafers, that appear to have been immersed in the wine on this occasion, were properly called sops, and doubtless gave name to the flower termed “ Sops in wine.” The allusions to this custom in our old plays are very numerous. In Ben Jonson’s Magnetic Lady, the wine drank on this occasion is called “ a Knitting Cup.” The Jews have a custom at this day, when a couple are married, to break the glass in which the bride and bridegroom have drunk, to admonish them of mortality. This custom of nuptial drinking appears to have prevailed in the Greek Church. The Nuptial Kiss in the Church. — The Nuptial Kiss in the church is enjoined both by the York Missal,* and the Sarum Manual ; f it is expressly mentioned in the following line from the old play of the Insatiate Countess, by Marston : “The Kisse thou gav’st me in the church here take.”£ Care Cloth. — Among the Anglo-Saxons, the nuptial benediction was performed under a veil, or square piece of cloth, held at each corner by a tall man, over the bridegroom and bride, to conceal her virgin blushes; but if the bride was a widow, the veil was esteemed useless. According to the use of the church of Sarum, when there was a marriage before mass, the parties kneeled together, and had a * Thus the York Missal, “ Accipiat Sponsus pacem,” (the Pax) “ a Sacerdote, et ferat Spousae, osculans earn, et neminem alium, nec ipse, nec ipsa.” t 4to. Par., 1 553, Rubrick, fol. 69, “ Surgant ambo, Sponsus, et Sponsa, et accipiat Sponsus pacem a^Sacerdote, et ferat Sponsae, osculans earn, et neminem alium, nec ipse, nec ipsa.” X Vaughan, in his Golden Grove, says, “ Among the Romans, the future couple sent certain pledges one to another, which most com- monly they themselves, afterwards being present, would confirm with a religious kiss.” MARRIAGE ceremonies. 285 fine linen cloth (called the Care-cloth) laid over their heads during the time of mass, till they received the benediction, and then were dismissed. Bride-ale , called also Bride-bush , Bride-stake , Bidding , and Bride- wain. — Bride-ale, bride-bush, and bride-stake, are nearly synonymous terms, and all derived from the circumstance of the bride’s selling ale on the wedding day, for which she received, by way of contribu- tion, whatever handsome price the friends assembled on the occasion* chose to pay her for it. A bush at the end of a pole or stake was the ancient badge of a country ale-house. Around this bride-stake, the guests are wont to dance as about a may-pole. The bride-ale appears to have been called in some places a bidding, from the cir- cumstance of the bride and bridegroom’s bidding, or inviting, the guests. In Cumberland it had the appellation of a bride-wain, a term which will be best explained by the following extract from the Glossary to Douglas’s Virgil: — “There was a custom in the Highlands and north of Scotland, w here new-married persons, who had no great stock, or others low in their fortune, brought carts and horses with them to the houses of their relations and friends, and received from them corn, meal, wool, or whatever else they could get.” Winning the Kail ; in Scotland termed Broose, in Westmoreland called Riding for the Ribbon . — The Glossary to Burns’ Scottish Poems describes “ Broose” (a word which has the same meaning with “Kail”) to be “a race at country weddings, who shall first reach the bridegroom’s house on returning from church.” The meaning of the w ords is every where strangely corrupted. “ Broose” was originally, I take it for granted, the name of the prize on the above occasion, and not of the race itself : for whoever first reaches the house to bring home the good news, wins the “ Kail,” i.e., a smoking prize of spice broth, which stands ready prepared to reward the victor in this singular kind of race. This same kind of contest is called in West- moreland “riding for the Ribbon.”* Torches used at Weddings . — At Rom ethe manner was, that tw'o children should lead the bride, and a third bear before her a torch of white-thorn, in honour of Ceres. We have seen foreign prints of marriages, w'here torches are represented as carried in the procession. We know not whether this custom ever obtained in England, though from the following lines in Herrick’s Hesperides, one might be tempted to think that it had : — Upon a Maid that dyed the day she was marryed. “ That morne w hich saw me made a bride. The ev’ning witnest that I dy’d. Those holy lights, wherewith they guide Unto the bed the bashful bride, * In a small book entitled the Westmoreland Dialect, we are told that, “ The ceremony being over, awe raaid haim fearfu’ wele, an the youngans raaid for tK ribbon , me cusin Betty banged awth lads, an gat it, for sure.” 28 G MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. Serv’d but as tapers for to burne, And light my reliques to their urne. This epitaph, which here you see. Supplied the epithalamie.” Music at Weddings . — At the marriages of the Anglo-Saxons, the parties were attended to church by music. In the old history of John Newcombe, the wealthy chothier of Newbury, cited by Strutt, speaking of his marriage and the bride’s going to church, the writer observes, “ There was a noise of musicians that played all the way before her.” Dame Sibil Turfe, a character in Ben Jonson’s play of the Tale of a Tub, is introduced reproaching her husband as follows ; “ A clod you shall be called, to let no music go afore your child to church, to chear her heart up !” and Scriben, seconding the good old dame’s rebuke, adds, “ She’s ith’ right, sir : for your wedding din- ner is starved without music.” The rejoicing by ringing of bells at mar- riages of any consequence, is every where common. On the fifth bell at the church of Kendal, in Westmoreland, is the following inscription alluding to this usage: “ In wedlock bands, All ye who join with hands. Your hearts unite ; v So shall our tunefull tongues combine. To laud the nuptial rite.”§ Bride Favours . — A knot, among the ancient northern nations seems to have been the sy mbol of love, faith, and friendship, pointing out the indissoluble tie of affection and duty. Thus the ancient Runic inscriptions, as we gather from Hicks’s Thesaurus, are in the form of a knot. Hence among the northern English and Scots, who still retain in a great measure the language and manners of the ancient Danes, that curious kind of knot, a mutual present between the lover and his mistress, which, being considered as the emblem of plighted fidelity, is therefore called a true-love knot; a name which is not derived, as one would naturally suppose it to be, from the words “ true” and “ love,” but formed from the Danish verb, “ Trulofa Jidem do, I plight my troth or faith. Thus we read, in the Islandic Gos- pel, the following passage in the first chapter of St. Matthew, which § In Sw inburne’s account of the gypsies, in his Journey through Cala- bria, is the following remark : “At their weddings they carry torches , and have paranymphs to give the bride away, with many other unusual rites.” Lamps and flambeaux are in use at preseut at Japanese wed- dings. “The nuptial torch” (says the author of Hymen, &c , an account of marriage ceremonies of different nations,) “ used by the Greeks and Romans, has a striking conformity to the flambeaux of the Japanese. The most considerable difference is, that, amongst the Romans, this torch was carried before the bride by one of her virgin attendants ; and among the Greeks, that office wets performed by the bride’s mother. In the Greek church, the bridegroom and bride enter the church with lighted wax tapers in their hands.” MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 287 confirms beyond a doubt, the sense here given — “ til ein rar Meyar er trulofad var einum Manne,” &c., i. e. to a Virgin espoused, that is, who was promised, or had engaged herself, to a man, fyc. Hence evidently the bride-favours or the top-knots at marriages, which had been considered as emblems of the ties of duty and affec- tion between the bride and her spouse, have been derived. Bride* favours appear to have been worn by the peasantry of France, on similar occasions, on the arm. In England, these knots of ribbons were distributed in great abundance formerly, even at the marriages of persons of the first distinction. They were worn on the hat, (the gentleman’s, we suppose,) and consisted of ribbons of various colours. If we mistake not, white ribbons are the only ones used at present. To this variety of colours in the bride-favours used formerly, the following passage, wherein lady Haughty addresses Morose, in Jon- son’s play of the Silent Woman, evidently alludes : Let us know your bride’s colours and vour’s at least.” The bride-favours have not been omitted in the northern provincial poem of “ The Collier’s Wedding.” “ The blithsome, buxom, country maids. With knots of ribands at their heads. And pinners flutt’ring in the wind, That fan before and toss behind, &c.” And, speaking of the youth, with the bridegroom, it says, — “ Like streamers in the painted sky. At every breast the favours fly.” Bride Maids . — The use of bride- maids at weddings appears as old as the time of the Anglo-Saxons ; among whom, as Strutt informs us, “ the bride was led by a matron, who was called the bride’s woman, followed by a company of young maidens, w ho were called the bride’s maids.” The bride-maids and bridegroom men are both mentioned by the author of the Convivial Antiquities, in his description of rites at marriages in his country and time. In later times it was among the offices of the bride-maids to lead the bridegroom to church, as it was the duty of the bridegroom men to conduct the bride thither. This has not been overlooked in the provincial poem of the Col- lier’s Wedding : — “ Two lusty lads, well drest and strong. Stepp’d out to lead the bride along: And two young maids, of equal size. As soon the bridegroom’s hand surprise.” Bridegroom Men . — These appear anciently to have had the title of Bride Knights. Those who led the bride to church were always bachelors : but she was to be conducted home by two married per- sons. Polydore Virgil, who wrote in the time of Henry the Eighth, informs us that a third married man, in coming home from church, preceded the bride, bearing, instead of a torch, a vessel of silver or 288 MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. gold. Moresin relates, that to the bachelors and married men who led the bride to and from the church, she was wont tc/ present gloves for that service during the time of dinner. In a curious old book called, “The Fifteen Comforts of Marriage,” a conference is introduced at p. 44, 46, and 48, concerning bridal colours in dressing up the bridal-bed, by bridemaids: — Not (say they) with yellow ribbands , these are the emblems of jealousy — nor with feuillemort, which signifies fading love ; but with true blue, that signifies constancy, as green denotes youth : put them both together, and there ’syouthful constancy. — One proposed blue and black, which signi- fies constancy till death ; but that was objected to, as these colours will never match. — Violet w'as proposed, as signifying religion ; this was objected to as being too grave ; and at last they concluded to mingle gold tissue with grass green , which latter signifies youthful jolity. — For the bride’s favour, (top-knots and garters,) the bride proposed blue, gold colour, popinjay green, lemon colour ; but they objected to gold colour, as signifying avarice, and to popinjay green, as indicating wantonness. The younger bride-maid proposed mixture, flame-colour , willow , and milk white. The second objected to it, as willow' signifies forsaken. It was settled that red signifies justice, and sea-green inconstancy. The milliner at last fixed the colours : for the Favours, blue, red, peach-colour, and orange-tawny; for the young ladies’ Top-knots, grass-green and milk-w hite ; and for the garters, a perfect yellow, signifying honour and joy. Garlands at Weddings: — Nuptial garlands are of the most remote antiquity. They appear to have been equally used by the Jews and the Heathens. Among the Anglo-Saxons, after the benediction in the church, both the bride and bridegroom were adorned with crowns of flowers, kept in the church for that purpose. In the Eastern church, the chaplets used on these occasions appear to have been blessed. The nuptial garlands were sometimes made of myrtle. In England, in the time of Henrv the Eighth, the bride wore a gar- land of corn-ears, sometimes one of flowers. Gloves at Weddings .-—The giving of gloves at marriages is a custom of remote antiquity. The following notice of them occurs in a letter to Mr. Winwood from Sir Dudley Carleton, dated London, 1604, concerning the manner ot celebrating the marriage between Sir Philip Herbert and the Lady Susan : “No ceremony was omitted of bride-cakes, points, garters, and gloves .” In Ben Jonson’s play of the Silent Woman, Lady Haughty observes to Morose, “ We see no ensigns of a wedding here, no character of a bridale ; where be our skarves and our gloves V' The custom of giving aw ay gloves at weddings occurs in the old play of “ The Miseries of inforced Marriage.” White gloves still con- tinue to be presented to the guests on this occasion. • The following is an extract of the late Rev. Dr. Lort’s : “ At Wrexham in Flintshire, on occasion of the marriage of the surgeon and apothecary of the M ARRIAGE CERE M 0 X 1 F. S . 280 place, August 1785, I saw at the doors of his own and neighbour s houses, throughout the street where he lived, large boughs and posts of trees, that had been cut down and fixed there, filled with white paper, cut in the shape of women’s gloves and of white ribbons.”]; The following is in Parkinson’s Garden of Flowers: “The bay- leaves are necessary both for civil uses and for physic, yea, both for the sick and for the sound, both for the living and the dead. It serveth to adorn the house of God as well as man — to crown or encircle, as with a garland, the heads of the living, and to sticke and decke forth the bodies of the dead : so that from the cradle to the grave we have still use of it, we have still need of it.” Ibid. — “ Rose- mary is almost of as great use as bayes, as well for civil as physical purposes : for civil uses, as all doe know, at weddings, funerals, &c. to bestow among friends.” It should seem, by the following passage in Clavell’s Recantation of an Ill-led Life, that anciently this present was made by such prisoners as received pardon after condemnation. It occurs in his Dedication “ To the impartial Judges of his Majesties Bench, my Lord Chief Jus- tice and his other three honourable Assistants.” “ Those pardon’d men, who taste their prince’s loves ( As married to new life) do give you gloves ,” &c. Clavell was a highwayman, who had just received the king’s par- don. He dates from the King’s Bench Prison, October, 1627. — Fuller in his “ Mixt Contemplations on these Times,” says, “ It passeth for a general reportof what w as customary in former times, that the sheriff of the county used to present the judge with a pair of white gloves , at those which we call may den assizes , viz. when no malefactor is put to death therein.” Can the custom of dropping or sending the glove, as the signal of a challenge, have been derived from the circumstance of its being the cover of the hand, and therefore put for the hand itself? — The giving of the hand, is well know n to intimate that the person who does so will not deceive, but stand to his agreement. — To “ shake hands upon it,” would not, it should seem, be very delicate in an agreement to fight, and therefore gloves may, possibly, have been deputed as substitutes — We may, perhaps, trace the same idea in wedding gloves. Wedding Ring. — Among the customs used at marriages, those of the ring and bride-cake seem of the most remote antiquity. Con- farreation and the ring were used anciently as binding ceremonies by the heathen, in making agreements, grants, &c., whence they have doubtless been derived to the most solemn of our engagements. The supposed heathen origin of our marriage ring had well nigh caused the abolition of it during the time of the commonwealth. The wedding ring is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand, because it was anciently believed, though the opinion has been justly exploded by the anatomists of modern times, that a small artery ran X In the north of England, a custom still prevails, at maiden assizes, i.e. when no prisoner is capitally convicted, to present the judges, &c. with white gloves. 2 o 290 NUMEROUS FAMILIES OF CHILDREN. from this finger to the heart. Wheatley, on the authority of the Mis- sals, calls it a vein : “ It is," says he, “ because from thence there proceeds a particular vein to the heart. This, indeed, (he adds,) is now contradicted by experience; but several eminent authors, as well Gentiles as Christians, as well physicians as divines, were for- merly of this opinion, and therefore they thought this finger the pro- perest to bear the pledge of love, that from thence it might be con- veyed, as it were, to the heart.” Rings appear to have been given away formerly at weddings. In Woods Athenai Oxonienses, vol. i. p. 280, we read, in the account of the famous philosopher of queen Elizabeth’s days, Edward Kelley, “ Kelley, who was openly profuse beyond the modest limits of a sober philosopher, did give away in gold wire rings, (or rings twisted with three gold wires,) at the marriage of one of his maid-servants, to the value of 40001.” This was in 1589, at Trebona. Christening Customs . — The learned Dr. Moresin informs us of a remarkable custom, which he himself was an eye-witness of in Scot- land : They take, says he, on their return from church, the newly bap- tized infant, and vibrate it three or four times gently over a flame, saying, and repeating it thrice, “ Let the flame consume thee now or never.” — Grose tells us there is a superstition that a child who does not cry in baptism will not live. He has added another idea equally well founded, that children prematurely wise are not long lived, that is, rarely reach maturity; a notion which we find quoted by Sliak- speare, and put into the mouth of Richard the Third. — It appears to have been anciently the custom at christening entertainments, for the guests not only to eat as much as they pleased, but also, for the ladies at least, to carry away as much as they liked in their pockets. Hutchinson, in his History of Northumberland, tells us that children in that country, when first sent abroad in the arms of the nurse, to visit a neighbour, are presented with an egg, salt, and fine bread. It was anciently the custom for the sponsors at Christenings to offer gilt spoons as presents to the child ; these spoon were called Apostle Spoons, because the figures of the twelve apostles were chased or carved on the tops of the handles. Opulent sponsors gave the whole twelve ; those in middling circumstances gave four ; and the poorer sort contented themselves with the gift of one, exhibiting the figure of any saint, in honour of whom the child received its name. — Brand's Popular Antiquities. NUMEROUS FAMILIES OF CHILDREN. In the genealogical history of Tuscany, written by Gamarini, men- tion is made of a nobleman of Sienna, named Pichi, who by three wives had had one hundred and fifty children ; and that, being sent am- bassador to the pope and the emperor, he had forty-eight of his sons in his retinue. In a monument in the church-yard of St. Innocent, at Paris, erected to a woman who died at eighty- eight years of age, it is re- corded that she might have seen 288 children directly issued from her. But children here evidently includes grand-children, &c. &c. Hakewell relates of Mrs. Honeywood, a gentlewoman of Kent, who LAWS RESPECTING BACHELORS. 291 was born in 1527 ; married at sixteen to her only husband, R. Honey- wood of Charing, Esq. who died in her ninety-third year ; that she had sixteen children of her own body : of whom three died young, and a fourth had no issue; yet her grand-children amounted to one hundred and fourteen ; her great grand-children to two hundred and twenty-eight; and her grand-children’s grand-children to nine, before she died. The whole number she might have seen in her life-time, being 367 ! 16 + 114 + 228 + 9 = 367. — But the faithful mother of the Dalburg family saw her offspring of the sixth generation ; as recorded in the follow- ing distich : Mater (1), ait natae (2), die natae (3), filia natam (4), Ut moneat, natae (5) plangere filiolam (6) : That is, “ The mother (1), says to her daughter (2), Daughter, go tell your daughter (3), to advise her (laughter (4), to chastise her daugh- ter’s (5) little daughter/’ (6). Laws of Sparta respecting Celibacy and Marriage. Celibacy in men was infamous, and punished in a most extra- ordinary manner ; for the bachelor was constrained to walk naked in the depth of winter, through the market place : while he did this, he was obliged to sing a song in disparagement of himself ; and he had none of the honours paid him which otherwise belonged to old age, it being held unreasonable that the youth should venerate him who was resolved to have none of his progeny behind him, to revere them when they grew old in their turn. The time of marriage was also fixed ; and if a man did not marry when he was at full age, he was liable to an action ; as were such also as married above or below themselves. Such as had three children had great immunities: such as had four were free from all taxes whatsoever. Virgins were mar- ried without portions; because neither want should hinder a man, nor riches induce him, to marry contrary to inclinations. Laws respecting Bachelors. The Roman censors frequently imposed fines on old bachelors. — Dion. Halicarnassus mentions an old law, by which all persons of full age were obliged to marry. But the most celebrated law of the kind was that made under Augustus, called the “ Lex Julia de mari- tandis ordinibus;” by which bachelors were made incapable of lega- cies or inheritances by will, unless from their near relations. This brought many to marry, according to Plutarch’s observations, not so much tor the sake of raising heirs to their own estates, as to make themselves capable of inheriting those of others. The rabbins maintain, that by the laws of Moses, every body, except some few particulars, is obliged in conscience to marry, at twenty years of age : this makes one of their 613 precepts. Hence those maxims so frequent among their casuists, that he who does not take the necessary measures to leave heirs behind him, is not a man. 292 CUSTOMS AT FUNERALS. but ought to be reputed a homicide. — Lycurgus was not more favour- able : by his laws, bachelors are branded with infamy, excluded from all offices civil and military, and even from the shows and public sports. At certain feasts they were forced to appear, to be exposed to the public derision, and led round the market-place. At one of their feasts, the women led them in this condition to the altars, where they were obliged to make the amende honourable to nature, accompanied with a number of blows and lashes with a rod, at discretion. To com- plete the affront, they forced them to sing certain songs composed in their own derision. The Christian religion has been supposed to be more indulgent to the bachelor state, because the apostle Paul has recommended it as preferable, as it certainly was during the early ages of Christianity, when a man was in danger of suffering, not only in his own person or property, but in those of his nearest and dearest connexions, for the sake of religion, which rendered such persecutions much more dread- ful and severe upon the married than the unmarried. The ancient church, overlooking this principle, upon which the apostle’s advice is evidently founded, recommended the bachelor state, as well as that of perpetual virginity in the other sex, as not only more perfect than the married state, but even as highly meritorious, and thus gave birth to the absurd system of monasteries, nunneries, and the celibacy of the clergy, which for so many ages has burdened Europe with thousands of idle drones of both sexes. In the canon law, we find injunctions on bachelors, when arrived at puberty, either to marry, or to turn monks, and profess chastity in earnest. In England there was a tax on bachelors, after twenty-five years of age, (121. 10s. for a duke, a common person, Is.) by 7 Wil. III. 1095. In Britain, at present, they are taxed by an extra duty on their servants. Every man of the age of 21 years and upwards, never having been married, who shall keep one male servaut or more, shall pay ll. 5s. for each, above, or in addition to, the ordinary duties leviable for servants. Every man of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, never having been married, keeping one female servant, shall pay 2s. 6d. in addition to the former 2s. 6d.; 5s. in addition for each, if he has two female ser- vants ; and 10s. in addition for each, for three or more female servants. Customs at Funerals : Following the corpse to the grave, carrying evergreens on that occasion in the hand, together with the use of psalmody. — Bourne tells us, that the heathens followed the corpse to the grave, because it presented to them what would shortly follow, how they themselves should be so carried out to be deposited in the grave. Christians, he adds, observe the custom for the very same reason. And he fur- ther remarks, that this form of procession is an emblem of our dying shortly after our friend ; so the carrying in our hands of ivy, sprigs of laurel, rosemary, or other evergreens, is an emblem of the soul’s im- mortality. — The Romans and other heathens, upon this occasion, made use of cypress, which being once cut, will never flourish nor grow again, as an emblem of their dying for ever; but instead of CUSTOMS AT FUNERALS. 203 that, the ancient Christians used the things before mentioned, and deposited them under the corpse in the grave, to signify that they who die in Christ do not cease to live; for though, as to the body, they die to the world, yet, as to their souls, they live and revive to God. And as the carrying these evergreens is an emblem of the soul’s im- mortality, so it is also of the resurrection of the body : for as these herbs are not entirely plucked up, but only cut down, and will, at the returning season, revive and spring up again : so the body, like them, is but cut down for a while, and will rise and shoot up again at the resurrection : for, in the language of the evangelical prophet, “ our bones shall flourish like an herb. ,, Bourne cites Gregory, c. 26, as observing that it was customary among the ancient Jews, as they returned from the grave, to pluck up the grass two or three times, and then throw it behind them, saying these words of the psalmist, * They shall flourish out of the city like grass upon the earth,’ which they did, to shew, that the body though dead, should spring up as the grass. Various are the proofs of the ancient custom of carrying out the dead with psalmody in the primitive church ; in imitation of which it is still customary, in many parts of this nation, to carry out the dead with singing of psalms and hymns of triumph; to shew that they have ended their spiritual warfare, that they have finished their course with joy, and become conquerors. This exultation, as it were, for the conquest of their deceased friend over hell, sin, and death, was the great ceremony used in all funeral processions among the ancient Christians. In poems by the Rev. John Black, minister of Burley, in Suffolk, 8vo. Ipsw\ 1799, p. 10, in ‘ An elegy on the Author’s Mother, who was buried in the church-yard of Dunichen in Scotland,’ is the following stanza : Oh, how my soul was griev’d, when I let fall The string that drop t her silent in the grave ! Yet thought I then, 1 heard her spirit call : ‘Safe I have passed through death’s overwhelming wave.’ On the second line the author has this note: ‘ In Scotland, it is the custom of the relations of the deceased them- selves to let down the corpse into the grave, by mourning cords fast- ened to the handles of the coffin ; the chief mourner standing at the head, and the rest of the relations arranged according to their propin- quity. When the coffin is let down and adjusted in the grave, the mourners first, and then all the surrounding multitude, uncover their heads : there is no funeral service read ; but that solemn pause for about the space of ten minutes, when every one is supposed to be medi- tating on death and immortality, always struck my heart in the most awful manner, and on one interesting occasion with peculiar solemnity. The sound of the cord, when it fell on the coffin, still seems to vibrate on my ear,’ Torches and Lights at Funerals. — The custom of using torches and lights at funerals, or in funeral processions, appears to have been of long standing. The learned Gregory tells us that ‘the funeral tapers, however thought of by some, are of harmlesse import. Their meaning is to shew that the departed soules are not quite put out, but, having 294 ETHIOPIANS. walked here as the children of light, are now gone to walk before God in the light of the living.’ — Strutt tells us, the burning of torches was very honourable. To have a great many, was a special mark of esteem in the person who made the funeral to the deceased. Mon- sieur Jorevin, describing a lord’s burial near Shrewsbury, says, “ After the burial service, the clergyman, having his bough in his hand like the rest of the congregation, threw it on the dead body when it was put into the grave, as did all the relations, extinguishing their flam- beaux in the earth with which the corpse was to be covered. This finished, every one retired to his home without further ceremony. Ancient Funeral Ceremonies of the Ethiopians. The Ethiopians had very particular ceremonies in their funerals. According to Ctesias, after having salted the bodies, they put them into a hollow statue of gold, which resembled the deceased, and was placed in a niche, on a pillar set up for that purpose. The remains of the richest Ethiopians were thus honoured. The bodies of those of the next class were contained in silver statues ; the poor were enshrineil in statues of earthenware. Herodotus informs us, that the nearest relations of the dead kept the body a year in their houses, and offered sacrifices and fruits during that time to their deceased friend ; and at the end of the year they fixed the niche in a place set apart for the purpose near their town. The inhabitants of the country of Meroe had various methods of paying respect to their de- ceased friends. Some threw their bodies into the river, thinking that the most honourable sepulchre. Others kept them in their houses in niches, thinking that their children would be stimulated to virtuous deeds by the sight of their ancestors ; and that grow n people, by the same object, would retain their parents in their memories. Others put their dead bodies into coffins of earthenware, and buried them near their temples. To swear with their hand laid upon a corpse, was their most sacred and inviolable oath. Ancient Customs respecting Coffins. The sepulchral honours paid to the manes of departed friends, in ancient times, are curious, and worthy of attention. Being put into a coffin, was considered a mark of the highest distinction. With us, the poorest people have their coffins. If the relations cannot afford them, the parish is at the expense. On the contrary, in the east they are not at all made use of in our times. Turks and Christians, as Thevenot assures us, agree in this. The ancient Jews seem to have buried their dead in the same manner ; neither was the body of our Lord, it should seem, put into a coffin : nor that of Elisha, whose bones were touched by the corpse that was let down a little after into his sepulchre. However, that they were anciently made use of in Egypt, all agree ; and antique coffins of stone and sycamore wood are still to be seen in that country, not to mention those said to be made of a kind of pasteboard, formed by folding or glueing cloth together a good many times, curiously plastered, and then painted with hieroglyphics. COFFINS. 295 Its being an ancient Egyptian custom, and not practised in the neighbouring countries, was doubtless the cause that the sacred his- torian expressly observes of Joseph, that he was not only embalmed, but put into a coffin too, both these being practices peculiar to the Egyptians. Bishop Patrick, in his commentary on this passage, takes notice of these Egyptian coffins of sycamore wood and of pasteboard; but he does not mention the contrary usage in the neighbouring coun- tries, which was requisite, one might suppose, in order fully to illus- trate the passage ; but even this perhaps would not have conveyed the whole idea of the sacred author. Maillet apprehends that all were not enclosed in coffins who were laid in the Egyptian reposito- ries of the dead ; but that it was an honour appropriated to persons of figure. Hence, after having given an account of several niches found in those chambers of death, he proceeds, “ But it must not be imagined that the bodies deposited in these gloomy apartments were all enclosed in chests, and placed in niches. The greatest part were simply embalmed and swathed after that manner which every one has some notion of; after which they laid them one by the side of another, without any ceremony Some were even laid in these tombs without any embalming at all ; or such a slight one, that there remains nothing of them in the linen in which they were wrapped, but the bones, and those half rotten. It is probable that each considerable family had one of these burial places ; that the niches were designed for the bodies of the heads of the families ; and that those of their domestics or slaves had no other care taken of them, than the laying them on the ground, after haviug been embalmed, or without that, — which without doubt was all that was done even to the heads of families of less distinction/’ After this, he gives an account of a way of burial, practised anciently in that country, which had been but lately disco- vered, and which consisted in placing the bodies, after they were swathed, upon a layer of charcoal, and covering them with a mat, under a depth of sand of seven or eight feet. That coffins then were not universally used in Egypt, is undoubtedly proved from those accounts, and probably they were only persons of distinction who were buried in them. It is also reasonable to believe, that in times so remote as that of Joseph, they might not be less common than afterwards ; and consequently that Joseph’s being put in a coffin in Egypt, might be mentioned with a design to express the great honours which the Egyptians did him at his death, as w 7 ell as in life, he being interred after the most sumptuous manner of the Egyptians, — embalmed, and put into a coffin. Agreeable to this, the Septuagint version, which was made for Egyptians, seems to represent coffins as a mark of grandeur. It is no objection to this account, that the widow of Nain is repre- sented as carried forth to be buried on a bier, for the present inha- bitants of the Levant, w ho are well known to lay their dead bodies on the earth unenclosed, carry them frequently out to burial in a kind of coffin. So Dr. Russel, in particular, describes the bier used for the Turks at Aleppo, as a kind of coffin much in the form of ours, only that the lid rises vrith a ledge in the middle. Christians indeed, he tells us, are carried to the grave on an open bier ; but as the most common ANCIENT JEWS. — JURYING ALIVE. 20 « kind of bier resembles our coffins, that used by the people of Nain might possibly be of the same kind. Funeral Rites among the ancient Jews. When any person wasdead, his relations and friends rent their clothes, which custom is but faintly imitated by the modern Jews, who only cut off a bit of their garment, in token of affection. It was usual to bend the dead person’s thumb into the hand, and fasten it in that posture with a string; because the thumb then having the figure of the name of God, they thought the devil would not dare to approach it. When they came to the burying-place, they made a speech to the dead, in the following terms : “ Blessed be God, who had formed thee, fed thee, and maintained thee, and taken away thy life. O dead ! he knows your numbers, and shall one day restore your life, &c. Then they spake the eulogium or funeral oration of the deceased, after w hich they said a prayer, called “ the righteousness of judgment then turn- ing the face of the deceased towards heaven, they called out, “ Go in peace.” Burying alive. This was the punishment of a vestal who had violated her vow of virginity. The unhappy priestess was let down into a deep pit, with bread, water, milk, oil, a lamp burning, and a bed to lie on. But this was only for show ; for, the moment she was let down, they began to cast in the earth upon her till the pit was filled up. Some middle-age writers seem to make burying alive the punishment of a woman-thief. This barbarous custom has even been used in Scotland under the feudal tyranny. Mr. Matheson, minister of Kilmuir Easter, in Ross- shire, mentions, that, in the year 1751, as labourers were digging a bank of earth near Miln-town, they found a human skeleton sitting in an erect posture, on a seat seemingly made for that purpose. Many credible persons authenticate this as a fact known to themselves. Tradition says, that several persons have been buried alive, in this and the neighbouring parish, by the direction of a cruel and arbitrary landlord, who was proprietor of these lands in the beginning of the last century.” Lord Bacon gives instances of the resurrection of per- sons w ho have been buried alive. The famous Duns Scotus is of the number, who having been seized by a catalepsis, was thought dead, and laid to sleep among his fathers, but raised again by his servants, in whose absence he had been buried. Bartholin gives an account of a woman, who, on recovering from an apoplexy, could not believe but that she was dead, and solicited so long and so earnestly to be buried, that they were forced to comply, and performed the ceremony at least in appearance. The famous emperor Charles V. after his abdi- cation, took it into his head to have his burial celebrated in his life- time, and assisted at it. Ancient Tombs. In many nations it has been customary to burn the bodies of the dead, and to collect the ashes with pious care into an urn, which was ANCIENT TOME?. 297 deposited in a tomb or sepulchre. Among many nations it has also been the practice to lay the dead body in a tomb without consuming it, after having wrapped it up decently, and sometimes placed it in a coffin. The tombs of the Jews were generally bollovy places hewn out of a solid rock. The Egyptians also buried their dead in caves, called catacombs. The pyramids, as some think, were also employed for the same purpose. Sometimes also, after embalming their dead, they placed them in niches in some magnificent apartment in their houses. Persian Tombs. A tomb of the Persians is a circular building, open at top, about fifty five feet in diameter, and twenty-five feet in height, filled to within five feet of the top, except a well of 15 feet in the centre. The part so filled is terraced, with a slight declivity tow ard the well. Tw o cir- cular grooves, three inches deep, are raised round the well, the first at the distance of four, the second at ten feet from it. Grooves of tlie like depth or height, and four feet distant from each other at the outer part of the outer circle, are carried straight from the wall to the well, communicating with the circular ones, for the purpose of carrying off the water, &c. The tomb is thus divided into three circles of partitions ; the outer, about seven feet by four ; the middle six by three ; the inner, four by two ; the outer for the men, the middle for the women, the inner for the children ; in which the bodies are respectively placed, wrapped loosely in a cloth, and left to be devoured by the vultures, which is very soon done. The friends of the deceased come at the proper time, and throw the bones into the well. The entrance is closed by an iron door, four feet square, on the eastern side, as high up as the terrace, to which a road is raised. Upon the wall, above the door, an aditional wall is raised, to prevent people from looking into the tomb, w Inch the Persees are particularly careful to prevent. A Persian inscription is on a stone inserted over the door. From the bottom of the wall subterraneous passages are conducted, in order to receive the bones, &c. and prevent the well from filling. Russian Tombs . Of the ancient sepulchres found in Russia and Siberia, some are perfect tumuli, raised to an enormous height, while others are almost level with the ground. Some of them are encompassed with a square wall of large quarry stones placed in an erect position ; others are covered only with a small heap of stones, or they are tumuli adorned with stones at top. Some are walled with brick within, and vaulted over; others are no more than pits or common graves. In some the earth is excavated several fathoms deep ; others, and especially those which are topped by a lofty tumulus, are only dug of a sufficient depth for covering the carcase. Urns are never met with here ; but some- times what remained of the bodies after the combustion, and even whole carcases, are found wrapped up in thin plates of gold. Turkish and Moorish Tombs. The Moors hold it an irreverent thing to bury their dead in mosques. The burial grounds of all Mahometans are mostly without the city, 2 P 298 PUNISHMENTS OF ADULTERY. and they inter the dead at the hour set apart for prayer. Their tombs are exceedingly simple, and have no pretensions to architectural elegance. Among the northern nations, it was customary to bury their dead under heaps of stones called cairns, or under barrows. The inhabitants of Thibet, it is said, neither bury nor burn their dead, but expose them on the tops of the mountains. Social Custom. Colonel Gaenber ascribes the following custom to the subjects of an Asiatic prince. “ Whenever the prince has a son, he is carried round from village to village, and alternately suckled by every woman who has a child at her breast, until he is weaned. This custom, by establishing a kind of broiherhood between the prince and his sub- jects, singularly endears them to each other.” Abjuration. In the ancient English customs, abjuration is an oath taken by a person guilty of felouy ; who, having fled to a place of sanctuary, engages to leave the kingdom for ever. The following passage will furnish a curious illustration of this subject. “ This heare thou Sir Coro- ner, that I, M.of II. am a robber of sheepnr any otherbeast, andamur- dererofonc or of none, and a fellow of our lord the king of England, and because l have done many such euilles or robberies in his land, I I do abjure the land of our lord Edward king of England, and I shall haste me towards the port of (such a place), which thou hast given me, and that 1 shall not go out of the high way, and it' I doe, I will that I be taken as a robber and a felon of our lorde the king. And that at such a place I will diligently seeke for passage, and I will tarrie there but one flood and ebbe,if I can have passage; and unlesse I can have it in such a place, I will goe every day into the sea up to my knees, assaying to pass over, and unlesse I can do this within fortie days, I will put my- selfe again into the church, as a robber and a felon of our lord the king ; so God me helpe and his holy judgment, &c.” Rastall’s Col- lect. of Stat. p. 2. Punishments of Adultery. This crime has been punished in many ages and nations, though with different degrees of severity. In many it has been capital, in others venial, and only attended with slight pecuniary mulcts. Some of the penalties are serious, and even cruel; others of a jocose and humorous kind. Even contrary laws have been enacted as punishments for adultery. By some, the criminals were forbid marrying, in case they became single ; by others, they were forbid to marry any besides each other ; by some, they have been incapacitated from ever com- mitting the like crime again. Among the Egyptians, adultery in the man was punished by one thousand lashes with rods, and in the woman by the loss of her nose. Among the rich Greeks, adulterers were allowed to redeem themselves bv a pecuniary fine ; the woman’s ADULTERER, 299 father in such cases returned the dower he had received from her husband, which some think was refunded by the adulterer. Another punishment among those people was, putting out the eyes of the adulterers. At Gortyn in Crete, adulterers were covered with wool, an emblem of the softness and effeminacy of their disposition, and in that dress carried through the city to the magistrate’s house, who sentenced them to ignominy, whereby they were deprived of all their privileges, and their share in administering the laws, or being employed in any public business. There are various conjectures concerning the ancient punishment of adultery among the Romans. Some will have it to have been made capital by a law of the R.omans, and again by the twelve tables. Others, that it was made capital by Augustus ; and others, not before the emperor Constantine. The truth is, the punishments in early ages were very various, much being left to the discretion of the husband and partners of the adulterous wife ; w ho exercised it differently, rather with the silence and countenance of the magistrate, than by any for- mal authority from him. Thus we are told, the wife’s father was allowed to kill both parties when caught in the fact, provided he did it immediately, killed both together, and as it were with one blow'. The same power ordinarily w'as not indulged the husband, except the crime was committed with some mean and infamous person ; though in other cases, if his rage carried him to put them to death, he was not punished as a murderer. On many occasions, however, revenge was not carried so far, but mutilating, cutting off the ears, nose, &c. served the turn. The punishment allotted by the Lex Julia , was not, as many have imagined, death, but rather banishment, or being interdicted fire and water, though Octavius appears, in several instances, to have gone beyond his own law 7 , and to have put adulterers to death. Under Mauricus, many were burnt at a stake. Constantine first by law made the crime capital. Under Constantius and Constans, adulterers were burnt, or sewed in sacks and throw n into the sea. Under Leo '‘and Marcian, the penalty was abated to perpetual banishment, or cuttingoff the nose. Under Justinian, a farther mitigation was granted, at least in favour of the wife, who was only to be scourged, lose her dow er, and be shut up in a monastery. After two years, the husband was at liberty to take her back again ; if he refused, she was shaven, and made a nun for life ; but it still remained death for the husband. The reason alleged for this difference was, that the woman is the weaker vessel. Matthaeus declaims against the empress Theodora, who is supposed to have been the cause of this law, as well as of others procured in favour of that sex from the emperor. By the Jewish law, adultery was punished by death in both parties, where either the woman was married, or both. The Jews had a par- ticular method of trying an adulteress, or a W'oman suspected of the crime, by making her drink the bitter waters of jealousy, which, if she was guilty, made her swell. In Spain, they punished adultery in men by amputation of the offending member The Saxons formerly burnt the adulteress, and over her ashes erected a gibbet, whereon the adulterer w as hanged. In this kingdom 300 IMPROVEMENT OF THE STATE OF WOMEN. likewise, adultery, by the ancient laws, was severely punished. King Edmund ordered adultery to be punished in the same manner as homicide ; and Canute ordered that a man who committed adultery should be banished, and that the woman should have her nose and ears cut off. In the time of Henry I. it was punished with the loss of eyes, and mutilation. Among the Mingrelians, according to Char- din, adultery is punished with the forfeiture of a hog, which is usually eaten in good friendship between the gallant, the adulteress, and the injured party. Among the Japanese, and divers other nations, adultery is only penal in the woman. Among the Abyssinians, the crime of the hus- band is said to be only punished on the innocent wife. In the Marian islands, on the contrary, the woman is not punishable for adultery, but if the man go astray, he pays severely : the wife and her relations waste his lands, turn him out of his house, &c. Among the Chinese, there is reason to conclude that adultery is not capital, for it is said that fond parents will make a contract for their daughter’s future hus- band to allow them this indulgence. In Britain, adultery is reckoned a spiritual offence, and is cogniza- ble by the spiritual courts, where it is punished by fine and penance. The common law takes no farther notice of it, than to allow the party aggrieved an action and damages. This practice is often censured by foreigners, as making too light of a crime, the bad consequences of which, public as well as private, are very great. It has been answered, that perhaps this penalty, bv civil actions, is more wisely calculated to prevent the frequency of the offence, which ought to be the end of all laws, than a severer punishment. He that by a judgment of law is, according to circumstances, stripped of agreat part of his fortune, thrown into prison till he can pay it, or forced to fly his country, will, no doubt, in most cases, own that he pays dearly for his crime. Improvement of the State of Women. For the present improved state of the fair sex, and, in consequence thereof, of society in general, modern Europeans are indebted to our Gothic ancestors. Women, among the ancient Greeks and Romans, seem to have been considered merely as objects of sensuality, or of do- mestic conveniency ; they were devoted to a state of seclusion and ob- scurity, had few attentions paid them, and were permitted to take as little share in the conversation, as in the general commerce of life. But the northern nations, who paid a kind of devotion to the softer sex, even in their native forests, had no sooner settled themselves in the provinces of the Roman empire, than the female character began to assume new consequence. Those fierce barbarians, who seem to have thirsted only for blood, always forbore to offer any violence to the women. They brought along with them the respectful gallantry of the north, which had power to restrain their savage ferocity ; and they introduced into the w est of Europe a generosity of sentiment, and a complaisance towards the ladies, to which the most polished nations of antiquity were strangers These sentiments of generous gallantry were fostered bv the institution of chivalry, which lifted women yet 301 ABAltlS, THE HYPERBOREAN 1 . higher in the scale of life. Instead of being nobody in society, she became its primum mobile. Every knight devoting himself to danger, declared himself the humble servant of some lady, who was often the object of his love. Her honour was supposed to be intimately con- nected with his, and her smile was the reward of his valour ; for her he attacked, for her he defended, and for her he shed his blood. Courage animated by so powerful a motive, lost sight of every thing but enterprize ; incredible toils were cheerfully endured, incredible actions were performed, and adventures seemingly fabulous were realized. The effect was reciprocal. Women, proud of their influence, became worthy of the heroism which they had inspired ; they were not to be approached but by the high-minded and the brave ; and men then could only be admitted to the bosom of the chaste fair, after proving their fidelity and affection by years of perseverance and of peril. Again, as to the change which took place in the operations of war, it may be observed, that the perfect hero of antiquity was superior to fear, but he made use of every artifice to annoy his enemy ; im- pelled by animosity and hostile passion, like the savage in the Ame- rican woods, he was only anxious of attaining his end, without regard- ing whether fraud or force were the means. But the true knight, or modern hero of the middle ages, who seems in all his rencounters to have had his eye on the judicial combat, or judgment of God, had an equal contempt for stratagem and danger. He disdained to take advantage of his enemy, he desired only to see him, and to combat him on equal terms, trusting that Heaven would declare in behalf of the just; and as he professed to vindicate the cause of religion, of injured beauty, or oppressed innocence, he was further confirmed in his enthusiastic opinion by his ow n heated imagination. Strongly persuaded that the decision must be in his favour, he fought as if rather under the influence of divine inspiration, than of military ardour. Thus the system of chivalry, by a singular combination of manners, blended the heroic and sanctified characters, united devotion and valour, zeal and gallantry, and reconciled the love of God and of the ladies. ’Abaris, the Hyperborean. This person was a celebrated sage of antiquity, of whom a great number of fabulous stories are told ; such as, that he got a present of a miraculous arrow from Apollo, with which he travelled without tak- ing food ; that he could foretell earthquakes, allay tempests, drive away the pestilence, &c. &c. Harpocratian tells us that the whole earth being infected with a dreadful plague, Apollo ordered that the Athenians should offer up prayers in behalf of all other nations; upon which, ambassadors were sent to Athens, from different countries. Among these was Abaris, who during this journey renewed the alli- ance between his countrymen, and the inhabitants of the isle of Delos. He also went to Lacedemon, where he built a temple to Proserpine the Salutary. The history and travels of Abaris have given occasion ST. J ANU All JUS. £02 for much learned discussion. Mr. Toland makes it appear not improba- ble that he was a Scotchman. “ If, says he”, “ the Hebrides, or Western Isles of Scotland, were the Hyperboreans of Diodorus, then the cele- brated Abariswas of that country, and likewise a druid, having been the rriestof Apollo.” Suidas and some others make him a Scythian, though Diodorus has fixed his country in an island, and not on the continent. All agree, however, thathe travelled over Greece, and thence into Italy ; and that he conversed familiarly with Pythagoras, who favoured him beyond all his other disciples. Hirnerius, the Sophist, who applauds him for speaking pure Greek, describes his person accurately, and gives him a good character. “ He came, says he, “ to Athens, holding a bow in his hand, having a quiver hanging over his shoulders, his body wrapt up in a plaid, girt about the loins with a gilded belt, and wear- ing trowsers reaching from his waist downwards.” By this it is evident, says Mr. Toland, that he was not habited like the Scythians, who were always covered with skins, but in the native garb of an abori- ginal Scot. “ Hirnerius adds, that he was affable, discreet, industrious, quick-sighted, circumspect, a searcher after wisdom, desirous of friend- ship, trusting little to fortune, and braving every thing trusted to him for his prudence.” Suidas reports, that he wrote several books, viz. Apollo’s Arrival in the Country of the Hyperboreans; the Nuptials of the River Hebrus ; the Generation of the Gods ; a Collection of Oracles, &c. Abdalonymus. This was a person of the royal line of Sidon, who, though descended from king Cyniras, was contented to live in obscurity, and get his subsistence by cultivating a garden, while Strato was in possession of the crown of Sidon. Alexander the Great having deposed Strato, inquired whether any of the race of Cyniras was living, that he might set him on the throne. It was generally thought that the w'hole race was extinct ; but at last Abdalonymus was thought of, and mentioned to Alexander, who immediately ordered some of his soldiers to fetch him. They found the good man at work, happy in his poverty, and entirely a stranger to the noise of arms, with which all Asia was at that time disturbed ; and they could scarcely persuade him they were in earnest. Alexander was convinced of his high descent by the dig- nity that appeared in his person, but was desirous of learning from him in what manner he bore his poverty. “ I wish,” said Abdalonymus, “I may bear my new condition as well. These hands have supplied my necessities ; I have had nothing, and I have wanted nothing.” This answer pleased Alexander so much, that besides giving him all that was Strato’s, he augmented his dominions, and gave him a large present out of the Persian spoils. St. Januarius. T*his is the patron saint of Naples, where his head is occasionally carried in procession, in order to stop the eruptions of Vesuvius. — The liquefaction of his blood is a famous miracle at Naples. The saint suffered martyrdom about the end of the third century. When ST. DUNSTAN* 303 he was beheaded, a pious lady of Naples caught about one ounce of his blood, which, tradition says, has been carefully preserved in a bottle ever since, without ever having lost a single grain of its weight. This, of itself, were it demonstrable, might be considered as a greater miracle than the circumstance on which the Neapolitans lay the whole stress, viz. that the blood, which has congealed, and acquired a solid form by age, is no sooner brought near the head of the saint, than, as a mark of veneration, it liquefies. This experiment is made thrice a year, and is esteemed by the Neapolitans as a miracle of the first magnitude. The substance in the bottle, which is exhibited for the blood of the saint, is supposed to be something naturally solid, but which melts with a small degree of heat. When first brought out of the cold chapel, it is in its solid state ; but when brought before the saint by the priest, and rubbed between his warm hands, and breathed upon for some time, it melts ; and this is the whole mystery. The head and blood of the saint are kept in a kind of press, with folding doors of silver, in the chapel of St. Januarius, belonging to the cathe- dral church. The real head is probably not so fresh and well pre- served as the blood ; on that account it is not exposed to the eyes of the public, but is enclosed in a large silver bust, gilt and enriched with jewels of high value. This being what is visible to the people, their ideas of the saint’s features and complexion are taken entirely from the bust. The blood is kept in a small repository by itself. The chemical process for performing this pretended miracle is by muriatic acid. Though this acid has no action on gold in its metal- lic state, yet if the metal is previously attenuated or reduced to a calx, either by precipitation from aqua regia, or by calcination in mixture with calculable metals, this acid will perfectly dissolve it, and keep it in solution. This solution is of a yellow colour, gives a purple stain to the skin, bones, and other solid parts of animals, and strikes a red colour with tin. In distillation, the nitrous acid arises and the muriatic acid remains, combined with the gold, in a blood-red mass, soluble in spirit of wine. If towards the end of the distillation the fire is hastily raised*, part of the gold distils in a high saffron- coloured liquor, and part sublimes into the neck of the retort, in clusters of long slender crystals of a deep red colour, fusible in a small heat, deliquating in the air, and easily soluble in water. By repetitions of this process, the whole of the gold may be elevated, ex- cept a small quantity of white powder, whose nature is unknown. This red sublimate of gold being easily fusible by the heat of one’s hand, is exhibited by the priest for St. Januarius’s blood. — The French are said, in their first invasion of Naples, during the revolutionary furor, to have thrown the bottle into the bay ; but it found its way again to the priests, and the French no longer disputed the reality of the miracle, because they derived advantage from the continuance of the popular delusion. St. Dunstan. This was a famous archbishop of Canterbury, of whom the monkish historians give .us the following acconnt. He was descended from a 304 ST. DUNSTAN. noble family in Wessex, and educated in the abbey of Glastonbury. Here he studied so hard, that it threw him into a violent fever, which brought him to the very point of death. When the whole family were standing about his bed, dissolved in tears, and expecting everv moment to see him expire, an angel came from heaven in a very dreadful storm, and gave him a medicine, which restored him to per- fect health in a moment. Dunstan immediately started from his bed, and ran with all his speed towards the church, to return thanks for his recovery; but the devil met him by the way, surrounded him by a great multitude of black dogs, and endeavoured to obstruct his passage. This would have frightened some boys ; but it had no such effect upon Dunstan ; who, pronouncing a sacred name, and brandishing his stick, put the devil and all his dogs to flight. The church-doors being shut, an angel took him in his arms, conveyed him through an opening in the roof, and set him softly down on the floor, where he performed his devotions. After his recovery he pursued his studies with the greatest ardour, and soon became a perfect master in philoso- phy, divinity, music, painting, writing, sculpture, working in gold, silver, brass, and iron, &c. When he was still very young, he entered into holy orders, and was introduced by his uncle Athelm, archbishop of Canterbury, to king Athelstan, who, charmed with his person and accomplishments, retained him in his court, and employed him in many great affairs. At leisure hours he used to entertain the king and his courtiers with playing on his harp, or some other musical instrument; and now and then he wrought a miracle, which gained him great admiration. His old enemy the devil was much offended at this, and prompted some envious courtiers to persuade the king that his favourite was a magician, which that prince too readily believed. Dunstan discover- ing by the king’s countenance that he had lost his favour, and resolving to resign rather than be turned out, retired from court to another uncle, who was bishop of Winchester. This good prelate prevailed upon his nephew to forsake the world, and become a monk ; after which he retired to a little cell built against the church-wall of Glastonbury. Herejhe slept, studied, prayed, meditated, and sometimes amused himself with forging several useful things in brass and iron. One evening, as he w as working very busily at his forge, the devil, putting on the appearance of a man, thrust his head in at the window of his cell, and asked him to make something for him. Dunstan was so intent upon his work, that he made no answer ; on which the devil began to swear and talk obscenely, which betrayed the lurking fiend. The holy blacksmith, putting up a secret ejaculation, pulled his tongs, which w'ere red-hot, out of the fire, seized the devil with them by the nose, and squeezed him with all his strength, which made his infernal majesty roar and scold at such a rate, that he awakened and terrified all the people for many miles around ! Thus far the legend. Ridiculous as were these fictions, they served, in those times of ignorance, to procure Dunstan a high degree of reputation. It appears that this extraordinary person was recalled to court by king Edward, a. D. 941, who bestowed upon him the rich abbey of Glastonbury, which for his sake he honoured with many peculiar privileges- He ST. DUNSTAN. 305 enjoyed the favour of this prince during his short reign of six years, but he stood much higher in the favour of his brother and successor, king Edred, to whom he was confessor, chief confidant, and prime minister. He employed all his influence during this period of court favour, in promoting the interest of the monks of the Benedictine order, to which he belonged, and of which he w'as a most active and zealous patron. Having the treasures of these two princes, especially of the last, very much at his command, he lavished them away in building and endowing monasteries for these monks, because almost all the monasteries were in possession of secular canons. He per- suaded Edred to bestow such immense treasures on the churches and monasteries by his last will, that the crown was stripped of its most valuable possessions, and left in a state of indigence. This conduct of Dunstan rendered him very odious to Edwi, who succeeded his uncle Edred, A. D. 955; and his rude behaviour to himself, and his beloved queen Elgiva, raised the resentment of that prince so high, that he deprived him of all his preferments, and drove him into exile. The banishment of Dunstan was a severe blow to the monks, who were expelled from several monasteries ; but their sufferings were not of long continuance, for Edgar, the younger brother of Edwi, having raised a successful rebellion against his unhappy brother, and usurped all his dominions on the north side of the Thames, recalled Dunstan, and gave him the bishopric of Worcester, A. D. 957. From this time he was the chief confidant and prime minister of king Edgar, w ho became sole monarch of England, a. d. 959, by the death of Edwi. In 900, Dunstan was raised to be archbishop of Canterbury, and being thus possessed of the primacy, and assured of the royal support and assistance, he prepared to execute the grand design which he had long meditated, of compelling the secular canons to put away their wives and become monks, or of driving them out, and introducing Be- nedictine monks in their room. With this view he procured the promo- tion of Oswald to the see of Worcester, and of Ethelwald to that of Winchester; two prelates who were monks themselves, and ani- mated with the most ardent zeal for the advancement of their own order. This triumvirate, by their arts and intrigues, in the course of a very few years filled no fewer than forty-eight monasteries with Benedictines. But on the death of Edgar, in 975, they received a check. The sufferings of the persecuted canons had excited much compassion ; and many of the nobility, who had been overawed by' the power and zeal of the late king, now espoused their cause, and promoted their restoration. Ejfric duke of Mercia drove the monks by force out of all the monasteries in that extensive province, and brought back the canons, with their wives and children ; while Elfwin duke of East Anglia, and Brithnot duke of Essex, raised their troops to protect the monks in these countries. To allay these commotions, several councils were held ; in which Dunstan was so hard pushed by the secular canons and their friends, thathew'as obliged to practise some of his holy stratagems ; and finally, by dint of miracles, he overcame all opposition. St. Dunstan died A. D. 988, in the sixty-fourth of his age, having held the bishopric of London, together with the arch- bishopric of Canterbury, about 27 years. 2 Q 306 JOHN BOCKIIOLDT, OR EOCCOLD. As this prelate was the great restorer and promoter of the monastic institutions, the grateful monks, who were almost the only historians of those dark ages, have loaded him with the most extravagant praises, and represented him as the greatest wonder-worker, and highest favourite of heaven, that ever lived. To say nothing of his many con- flicts with the devil, in which he often belaboured that enemy of man- kind most severely, the following short story, which is told with great exultation by his biographer Osborn, will give the reader some idea of the astonishing impudence and impiety of those monks, and of the no less astonishing blindness and credulity of the people. “ The most admirable, the most inestimable Father Dunstan,” says, that author, “whose perfections exceed all human imagination, was admitted to behold the Mother of God and his own mother in eternal glory ; for before his death he was carried up into heaven, to be pre- sented at the nuptials of his own mother with the Eternal King, which were celebrated by the angels with the most sweet and joyous songs. When the angels reproached him for his silence on this great occasion, so honourable to his mother, he excused himself on account of his being unacquainted with those sweet and heavenly strains ; but being a little instructed by the angels, he broke out into this melodious song, O King and Ruler of nations, &c.” It is unnecessary to make any comment on this most shocking story. The violent and too successful zeal of Dunstan and his associates, in promoting the building and endowing so great a number of houses for the entertainment of useless monks and nuns, was very fatal to their country; for a spirit of irrational, unmanly superstition was thus dif- fused amongst the people, which debased their minds, and diverted them from nobler pursuits ; and a great proportion of the lands of England having been put into hands who contributed nothing to its defence, rendered it an easy prey, first to the insulting Danes, and afterwards to the victorious Normans. John Bockiioldt, or Boccold. This person, a memorable example of the force of fanaticism, was a journeyman tailor of Leyden, in the early part of the sixteenth century. Joining with John Matthias, a baker of Haerlem, who, like himself, assumed the character of a prophet among the sect of Ana- baptists, they fixed their residence at Munster, an imperial city in Westphalia, and employed themselves with great zeal in propagat- ing their opinions. Their proselytes at length became numerous enough to enable them to make themselves masters of the city, in which they established a new form of government, directed by Mat- thias as its head, with the uncontrolled power of a prophet inspired by Heaven. This was in 1534 ; and Matthias sent emissaries to all the sect, inviting them to repair to Munster, as the Mount Sion of true believers, whence they were to proceed to reduce the whole earth to their obedience. Meantime the bishop of Munster, assembling an army, laid siege to the town, and Matthias, in a frantic sally, was slain. Boccold succeeded him in the prophetic authority, and, being a more cautious man in action, ne contented himself with carrying on JOHN BOCKHOLDT, OR BOCCOLD. 307 a defensive war. He was, however, still more of an enthusiast than his predecessor, as he soon proved by extraordinary proceedings. He marched naked through the streets, proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand, when whatever was highest on earth should be brought low, and whatever was lowest should be exalted. In con- sequence, he commanded the churches, as well as the highest buildings in the city, to be levelled with the ground ; and he deprived Cuiper- doling, the most considerable proselyte, of the consulship to which he had been raised, and even made him perform the office of common executioner. Following the abrogated obligation of the Jewish legislature, he appointed twelve judges, in analogy to the twelve tribes of Israel, reserving to himself the divine authority of the Moses of this new legislature. Not content, however, with this degree of supremacy, he produced a prophet, to declare it to be the will of God that John Boccold should be the king of Sion, and sit on the throne of David ; and he was installed in this new dignity with the greatest pomp and solemnity. As he was amply furnished with the warmth of constitu- tion ordinarily accompanying fanaticism, his next step was to direct the teachers of the sect to preach up a plurality of wives, as one of the privileges of the saints; and he soon brought it to practice by marry- ing three wives at once, one of them the beautiful widow of Matthias, whom alone he permitted to share with him the honours of royalty. As his passions became more ardent by indulgence, he increased the number of his wives to fourteen; and the example of his licentiousness being readily adopted, the most unbounded profligacy in this respect immediately took place, so that every female who could by any latitude be deemed marriageable in Munster, was obliged to submit to a fugi- tive union. The siege, in the mean time, was drawn closer about the town, no succours arrived, and scarcity began to be sensibly felt. Yet such was the ascendency Boccold had acquired over the mind of his follow- ers, by his confident promises and predictions, that the multitude retained their expectations of deliverance, and never admitted the idea of surrender. Indeed, any token of an inclination of this kind was punished with instant death ; and no one used the sword of au- thority with more rigour than the king of Munster. One of his wives having presumed to utter some doubts concerning his divine mission, he assembled the whole flock of them, and, causing the heretic to kneel down in the midst, he struck off her head with his own hands, while the rest danced in frantic joy round the bleeding corpse of their companion. At length, all the horrors of famine pressed on the unfortunate people of Munster, who still refused to capitulate. But a deserter having pointed out a weak place in the walls, they were scaled by a party, and the rest of the army was admitted. The Ana- baptists defended themselves in the market-place with desperate valour till most of them were killed. Boccold was taken alive; and it was thought proper treatment to carry him loaded with irons from town to town, by way of spectacle, exposing him to all the insults of the populace. He bore those indignities with an unbroken spirit, and still adhered to all the tenets of his sect. He was brought back 308 BERNARD GILPIN. to Munster, and there put to death under the most exquisite torments which he endured with astonishing fortitude. He finished his extra- ordinary course when only twenty-six years of age. Bernard Gilpin. This excellent parish priest was distinguished among his contem- poraries by the title of, the Apostle of the North. He was descended from an ancient and honourable family in Westmoreland, and born in 1517. Being bred in the Roman Catholic religion, he for some time defended it, and held a disputation with Hooper, afterwards bishop of Worcester, and martyr for the Protestant faith ; but was foiled in another dispute, with Peter Martyr, and began seriously to examine the contested points. Being presented to the vicarage of Norton in Durham, he resigned it, and went abroad to consult eminent profes- sors on both sides ; and after three years’ absence, returned a little before the death of queen Mary, satisfied in the doctrines of the Reformation. He was kindly received by his uncle. Dr. Tonstal, bishop of Durham ; who soon after gave him the archdeaconry of Durham, and rectory of Etfington. Though the persecution was then at its height, he boldly preached against the vices, errors, and corrup- tions of the times, especially in the clergy, on which a charge, con- sisting of thirteen articles, was draw n up against him, and presented to the bishop. But Dr. Tonstal dismissed the cause in such a man- ner as to protect his nephew without endangering himself, and soon after presented him to the rich living of Iloughton-le-Spring. He was again accused to the bishop, and again protected ; when his enemies, enraged at this second defeat, laid their complaint before Dr. Bonner, bishop of London, who immediately gave orders to ap- prehend him. Upon which, Mr. Gilpin bravely prepared for martyr- dom, and ordering his steward to provide him a long garment, that he might make a decent appearance at the stake, set out for London. Luckily, however, he broke his leg on the journey, which protracted his arrival until the queen’s death. Being immediately set at liberty, he returned to Houghton, where he was received by his parishioners with the sincerest joy. Upon the deprivation of the Popish bishops, he w'as offered the see of Car- lisle, which he declined ; and confining his attention to his rectory, discharged all the duties of his function in the most exemplary man- ner. He was not satisfied with the advice he gave in public, but used to instruct in private, and made his parishioners come to him with their difficulties. He had a most engaging manner towards those whom he thought well disposed. His very reproof was so conducted, that he seldom gave offence ; the becoming gentleness with w hich it was urged, making it always appear as the effect of friendship. By these means, in a few years he made a great change in his neighbourhood, and gave evidence what reformation a single man may effect, when he has it at heart. He was particularly anxious to improve the minds of the younger part of his flock ; pressing them to mix religion with their labours, and, amidst the cares of this life, to have a con- stant eye upon the next. He attended to every thing that might be BERNARD GILPIN. 309 of service to his parishioners, and was very assiduous in preventing lawsuits. His hall was said to have been often thronged with people, who came to him about their differences. Though little acquainted with law, he decided equitably, and that satisfied ; nor could the royal commission have given him more weight than his own charac- ter had given him. His hospitable manner of living was the admira- tion of the whole country. He spent in his family every fortnight forty bushels of corn, twenty bushels of malt, and a whole ox, besides a proportionable quantity of other provisions. Strangers and travel- lers found a cheerful reception. All were welcome that came, and even their beasts had so much care taken of them, that it was said, “ If a horse was turned loose in any part of the country, it would immediately make its way to the rector of Houghton.” Every Sunday from Michaelmas to Easter was a public day to him. During this season he wished to see all his parishioners and their families. For this reception he had three tables well covered ; the first for gentlemen, the second for husbandmen, and the third for day-labourers. This piece of hospitality he never omitted, even when loss, or scarcity of provisions, made its continuance rather difficult. When he was absent from home, no alteration was made in his family expenses; the poor were fed, and his neighbours entertained, as usual. Notwithstanding the extent of his parish, Mr. Gilpin thought the sphere of his benevolence too confined. It grieved him to see every where in the parishes around him so great a degree of ignorance and superstition, occasioned by the negligence of the clergy in those parts. To supply, as far as he could, what was wanting in others, every year: he regularly visited the most neglected parishes in Northumberland Yorkshire, Cheshire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland ; and that his own parish in the mean time might not suffer, he was at the expense of a constant assistant. In each place he stayed two or three days, called the people around him, and laid before them the danger of leading wicked or careless lives, instructing them in the duties they owed to God, their neighbour, and themselves ; and shewing them how greatly a moral and religious conduct would contribute to their pre- sent as well as future happiness. As he had all the warmth of an enthusiast, though under a very calm judgment, he never wanted an audience, even in the wildest parts ; where he roused many to a sense of religion, w ho had contracted the most inveterate habits of inatten- tion to every thing serious. And wherever he came, he used to visit all the gaols, few in the kingdom having then an appointed minister. By his labours, and affectionate manner of behaving, he is said to have reformed many of the most abandoned persons in those places. He employed his interest likewise for criminals, whose cases he thought attended with any hard circumstances, and often procured pardons for them. There are two tracts upon the borders of Northumberland, called Redesdale, and Tynedale, of all barbarous places in the north, at that time the most barbarous. Before the union, these places were called the Debatable land, subject by turns to England and Scotland, and the common theatre where the two nations acted their bloody scenes. They were inhabited by a kind of desperate banditti, rendered 310 BERNARD GILPIN. fierce and active by constant alarms ; who lived by theft on both sides of the barrier ; and what they plundered on one side, they ex- posed to sale on the other; thus escaping justice on both sides. In this dreadful country, where no man would even travel who could avoid it, Mr. Gilpin never failed to spend some part of every year. He generally chose the Christmas holidays, because he found the people at that time most disengaged, and most easily assembled. He had set places for preaching, which were as regularly attended as the assize towns of a circuit. If he came where there w as a church, he made use of it ; if not, of barns or any other large buildings, where great crowds of people were sure to attend him, some for his instructions, and others for his charity. This was a very difficult and laborious employment. The country was so poor, that what provisions he could get, extreme hunger would make palatable. The inclemency of the weather, and the badness of the roads through a mountainous country, and at that time covered with snow, exposed him likewise often to great hardships. Sometimes he was overtaken by the night, the country being in many places desolate for several miles together, and obliged to lodge out in the cold. At such times he made his servant ride about with his horses, w hilst he himself on foot used as much exercise as his age, and the fatigues of the preceding day, would per- mit. All this he cheerfully underwent, esteeming such services well compensated by the advantages which he hoped might accrue from them to his uninstructed fellow-creatures. The disinterested pains he took among this barbarous people, and the good offices he was always ready to do them, drew from them the warmest and sincer- est expressions of gratitude. Indeed, he was little less than adored among them, and might have brought the whole country almost to do what he pleased. One instance is related, that shews how greatly he was revered. “ By the carelessness of his servants, his horses were one day stolen. The news was quickly propagated, and every one expressed the high- est indignation at the theft. The thief was rejoicing over his prize, when, by the report of the country, he discovered whose horses he had taken. Terrified at what he had done, he instantly came trem- bling back, confessed the fact, returned the horses, and declared he believed the devil would have seized him directly, had he carried them off', knowing them to have been Mr Gilpin’s.” The value of Mr. Gilpin’s rectory was about 4001. a year ; an in- come indeed at that time considerable, but yet in appearance very disproportionate to the generous things he did. Indeed, he could not have done them, unless his frugality had been equal to his generosity. His friends, therefore, could not but wonder to find him, amidst his great and continual expenses, purpose to build and endow' a grammar school ; a design, however, which his exact economy soon enabled him to accomplish, though the expense of it amounted to upwards of 5001. His school was no sooner opened than it began to flourish, and there was so great a resort of young people to it, that the town was soon not able to accommodate them. He put himself then to the inconvenience of fitting up a part of his own house for that purpose, where lie seldom had fewer than twenty or thirty children. Some of BERNARD GILPIN. 311 these were the sons of persons of distinction, whom he boarded at easy rates; but the greater part were poor children, whom he not only educated, but clothed and maintained. He was at the ex- pense likewise of boarding in the town many other poor children. He used to bring several every year from the different places where he preached, particularly Redesdale and Tynedale. As to his school, he not only placed able masters in it, whom he procured from Oxford, but himself likewise constantly inspected it. To encourage and quicken the application of his boys, he always took particular notice of the most forward ; he called them his own scholars, and sent for them often into his study, to instruct them himself. When he met a poor boy upon the road, he made trial of his capacity by a few questions; and if the answers pleased him, lie provided for his education. Be- sides those whom he sent from his own school to the universities, and there wholly maintained, he likewise gave to others, who were in circumstances to do something for themselves, what farther assistance they needed. By these means he induced many parents to allow their children a liberal education, who otherwise would not have done it. Nor did he think it enough to afford the means only of an acade- mical education to these young people, but endeavoured to make it as beneficial to them as he could. With this view he held a punctual correspondence with the tutors ; and made the youths frequently write to him, and give him an account of their studies. And once every other year he made a journey to the university, to inspect their behaviour. This uncommon care was not fruitless ; for many of his scholars became ornaments to the church, and exemplary instances of piety. Every Thursday throughout the year, a very large quantity of meat was dressed, wholly for the poor, and every day they had what quantity of broth they wanted. Twenty-four of the poorest were his constant pensioners. Four times in the year a dinner was prepared for them ; when they received from his stew- ard a certain quantity of corn and a sum of money, and at Christmas they had always an ox divided among them. In his walks abroad, he often brought home with him poor people, and sent them aw ay clothed as well as fed. He took great pains to inform himself of the cir- cumstances of his neighbours, that the modesty of the sufferer might not prevent his relief. But the money best laid out was, in his opinion, that which encou- raged industry. It was one of his greatest pleasures to make up the loss of his laborious neighbours, and prevent their sinking under them. If a poor man had lost a beast, he would send him another; if a farmer had a bad year, he would make him an abatement in his tithes. Thus, as far as he was able, he took the misfortunes of his parish upon himself, and, like a true shepherd, exposed himself for his flock. But he was most forward to assist those who had large fami- lies ; such never failed to meet with his bounty, when they wanted to settle their children in the world. In the distant parishes where he preached, as well as in his own neighbourhood, his generosity and benevolence were continually exercised, particularly in the desolate parts of Northumberland. POPE SIXTUS V. 312 “When he began his j ourney,” says an old Ms. life of him, “ lie would have 101. in his purse ; and at his coming home, he would be 20 nobles in debt, which he would always pay within a fortnight after.’' In the gaols he visited, he was not only careful to give the prisoners proper instructions, but used to purchase for them likewise what necessaries they wanted. Even upon the public road, he never let slip an opportunity of doing good. He has often been known to take off his cloak, and give it to a half-naked traveller; and when he had scarcely money enough in his pocket to provide himself a dinner, yet would he give away part of that little, or the whole, if he found any one who seemed to stand in need of it. One day, returning home, he saw in a field several people crowding together ; and judging something more than ordinary had happened, he rode up, and found that one of the horses of a team had suddenly dropped down dead. The owner of it declaring how grievous a loss it would be to him, Mr. Gilpin bade him not be disheartened: “I’ll let you have,” said he, “ honest man, that horse of mine,” pointing to his servant’s. — “ Ah ! master,” replied the countryman, “my pocket wiil not reach such a beast as that.” “Come, come,” said Mr. Gilpin, “ take him ; and when I demand mv money, then thou shalt pay me.” This excellent divine, who deservedly obtained the glorious titles of the Father of the Poor, and the Apostle of the North, died in 1583, in the 60th year of his age. Pope Sixtus V. This singular character was born 13th of December, 1521, in La Marca, a village in the seigniory of Montalto. Ilis father, Francis Pereth, was a gardener, and his mother a servant maid. He was their eldest child, and was called Felix. At the age of nine he was hired out to an inhabitant of the village, to keep sheep ; but disobliging his master, he was degraded to the keeper of the hogs. He was engaged in this employment, when F. Michael Angelo Selleri, a Fran- ciscan friar, asked the road to Ascoli, where he was going to preach. Young Felix conducted him thither, and struck the father so much with his eagerness for knowledge, that he recommended him to the fraternity to which he had come. Accordingly he was invested with the habit of a lay brother, and placed under the sacristan, to assist in sweeping the church, lighting the candles, and the like, for which he was to be taught the responses, and rudiments of grammar. His progress in learning was so surprising, that at the age of fourteen he was qualified to be^in his noviciate, and was admitted at fifteen to make his profession. He pursued his studies with unwearied assi- duity, and was ordained priest in 1545, when he assumed the name of Father Montalto ; soon after, he took his doctor’s degree, and w as appointed professor of theology at Sienna ; where he so effectually recommended himself to cardinal de Carpi, and his secretary Bossins, that they ever remained his steady friends. Meanwhile the severity and obstinacy of his temper incessantly engaged him in disputes with the monastic brethren. His reputation for eloquence, which was now spread over Italy, about this time gained him some new friends. *>OPE SIXTUS V. 313 Among these were the Colonna family, and F. Ghisilieri, by whose recommendation he was appointed inquisitor general at Venice ; but he exercised that office with so much severity, that he was obliged to flee precipitately from that city. Upon this he went to Rome, where he was made procurator general of his order, and soon after accom- panied cardinal Buon. Compagnon into Spain, as a chaplain and con- suitor to the inquisition ; where he was treated with great respect. Pius IV. dying, FatherGhisilieri, or cardinal Aiexandrino, succeeded him, under the name of Pius V ; and Montalto w as immediately invest- ed by the pontiff w'ith new dignities. He was made general of his order, bishop of St. Agatha, raised to the dignity of cardinal, and received a pension. About this time he w'as employed by the Pope to draw up the bill of excommunication against queen Elizabeth. He began now to look towards the papacy; and, to obtain it, formed and executed a plan of hypocrisy with unparalleled constancy and suc- cess. He became humble, patient, and affable. He changed his dress, his words, and his actions, so completely that his most intimate friends declared him a new man. Never was there such an absolute victory gained over the passions ; never w'as a fictitious character so well maintained, nor the foibles of human nature so artfully con- cealed. He had formerly treated his relations with the greatest ten- derness, but he now changed his behaviour to them entirely. When Pius V. died in 1572, he entered the conclave with the other cardinals, but seemed altogether indifferent about the election, and never left his apartment, except to his devotion. When cardinal Buon. Compagnon, or Gregory XIII. was elected, Montalto flattered him ; but the new' pope treated him with the greatest contempt, and deprived him of his pension. He now assumed all the infirmities of old age ; his head hung dow'n upon his shoulders; he tottered as he walked, and supported himself on a staff. His voice became feeble, and w'as often interrupted by a cough, so exceedingly severe, that it seemed every moment to threaten his dissolution. He interfered in no public transactions, but spent his whole time in acts of devotion and benevolence. Meantime he constantly employed the ablest spies, who brought him intelligence of every particular. When Gregory XIII. died in 1585, he entered the conclave with re- luctance, and appeared perfectly indifferent about the event of the elec- tion. He joined no party, yet flattered all. He knew that there would be divisions in the conclave, and that when the leaders of the different parties were disappointed in their own view s, they often agreed upon the election of some old and infirm cardinal, the brevity of w hose life w ould soon occasion a new vacancy. Three cardinals, the leaders of opposite fac- tions being unable to procure the election which each of them wished, unanimously agreed to make choice of Montalto. When they came to acquaint him w ith their intention, he fell into a violent fit of cough- ing, and told him that his reign would last but a few days, and conjured them to take the whole weight of affairs upon their own shoulders. The cardinals swallowed the bait, and Montalto w'as elected. He now pulled off the mask which he had worn for fourteen years. No oooner was his election secured, than he started from his seat, and appeared almost a foot taller than he had done for several years. 2 R POPF. SIXFUS V. :*14 His former complaisance and humility disappeared together with his infirmities, and he now treated all around him with reserve and haughtiness. The first care of Sixtus V. was to correct the abuses, and put a stop to the enormities, daily committed in the Ecclesiastical State. The lenity of Gregory’s government had introduced a general licen- tiousness of manners. It had been usual with former popes to release delinquents on the day of their coronation, who therefore voluntarily surrendered themselves prisoners after the election of the pope. When the governor of Rome and the keeper of St. Angelo waited on his holiness, to know his intention in this particular, he replied, ” We have too long seen the prodigious degree of wickedness that reigns in the state, to think of granting pardons. Let the pri- soners be brought to a speedy trial, and punished as they deserve, to shew the world that divine Providence has called us to the chair of St. Peter, to reward the good and chastise the wicked ; that we bear not the sword in vain, but are the ministers of God, and a revenger to execute wrath on those that do evil.” Accordingly he appointed commissioners to inspect the conduct of judges, displaced those who were inclined to lenity, and put others of severer dispositions in their room. He offered rewards to any person who could convict them of corruption or partiality. He ordered the syndics of all the towns and signiories to make out a complete list of the disorderly persons within their districts. The syndic of Albano was scourged in the market-place, because he had left his nephew, an incorrigible liber- tine, out of his list. He made laws equally severe and just against rob- bers and assassins. Adulterers when discovered suffered death ; and they who willingly submitted to the prostitution of their w ives, a custom then common in Rome, received the same punishment. He was par- ticularly careful of the purity of the female sex, and never forgave those who attempted to debauch them. His execution of justice was as prompt as his edicts were rigorous. A Swiss happening to give a Spanish gentleman a blow with his halberd, was struck by him so rudely with a pilgrim’s staff, that he expired on the spot. Sixtus informed the governor of Rome that he was to dine early, and that justice must be executed on the criminal before he sat down to table. The Spanish ambassador and four cardinals entreated him not to disgrace the gentleman by suffering him to die on a gibbet, but to order him to be beheaded. “ He shall be hanged,” replied Sixtus, “ but 1 will alleviate his disgrace by doing him the honour to assist personally at his death.” He ordered a gibbet to be erected before his own window's, where he continued sitting during the whole execution. When Sixtus assended the throne, the whole Ecclesiastical State was infested with bands of robbers, who from their numbers and out- rages, were exceedingly formidable ; but by his vigorous conduct, he soon extirpated the whole of his banditti. Nor was the vigour of his conduct less conspicuous in his transactions with foreign nations. Before he had been pope two months, he quarrelled with Philip II. of Spain, Henry III. of France, and Henry king of Navarre. His intrigues indeed in some measure influenced all the councils of Europe. THEODORE VAN CUEREN IIERT. 816 After his accession to the pontificate, he sent for his family to Rome, with orders that they should appear in a decent and modest manner. Accordingly his sister Camilla came thither, accompanied by her daughter and two grand-children. Some cardinals, to pay court to the pope, went out to meet her, and introduced her in a mag- nificent dress. Sixtus pretended not to know her, and asked two or three times w'ho she was. Her conductors at last found it necessary to carry her to an inn, and strip her of her finery. When Camilla was again introduced, Sixtus embraced her tenderly, and said, “Now we know indeed it is our sister; nobody shall make a princess of you but ourselves.” He stipulated with his sister, that she should neither ask any favour in matters of government, nor intercede for criminals, nor interfere in the administration of justice, declaring that such recjuest should meet with a certain refusal. These terms being agreed to, and punctually observed, he made the most ample provision, not only for Camilla, but for all his relations. This great man was also an encourager of learning. He caused an Italian translation of the Bible to be published, which raised a good deal of discontent among the Catholics. When some cardinals reproached him for his conduct in this respect, he replied, “ It was published for the benefit of you cardinals who cannot read Latin.” He died twenty-seventh of August, 1590, after a reign of little more than five years. To the indulgence of a disposition naturally severe, all the defects of this wonderful man are to be ascribed. Clemency was a stranger to his bosom; his punishments were often too cruel, and seemed sometimes to border on revenge. But though the conduct of Sixtus seldom excites love, it generally commands our esteem, and sometimes our admiration. He strenuously defended the cause of the poor, the widow, and the orphan ; he never refused audience to the injured, however wretched or forlorn. He never forgave those magistrates who were convicted of partiality or corruption ; nor suffered crimes to pass unpunished, whether committed by the rich or the poor. He was frugal, temperate, sober, and never neglected to reward the smallest favour which had been conferred on him before his exaltation. When he mounted the throne, the treasury was not only exhausted, but in debt; at his death it contained five millions of gold. Rome was indebted to him for several of her greatest embellishments, particularly the Vatican library ; it w as by him, too, that trade w r as first introduced into the Ecclesiastical State. And he allotted 3000 crowns a year for the redemption of Christian slaves from the Turks. Theodore Van Cuerenhert. This very extraordinary man w r as born at Amsterdam, in 1522. Early in life he travelled into Spain and Portugal. He w'as a man of science, an engraver, and a good poet. These sister arts he first considered as an amusement only ; but in the end he was obliged to have recourse to engraviug alone for his support. And though the different studies in which he employed his time, prevented his attach- ment to his profession from being so close as ii ought to have been. 316 join: DEE. yet marks of genius appear in his works. They are slight, and exe- cuted with the graver alone; but in an open careless style, so as greatly to resemble designs made with a pen. He was established at Haarlem, and there pui suing his favourite studies in literature, he learned Latin, and was made secretary to that town, from whence he was sent several times as ambassador to the prince of Orange, to whom he addressed a famous manifesto, which that prince published in 1566. Had he stopped here, it had been well, but he undertook an argument as dangerous as it was absurd. He maintained that all religious communions were corrupted ; and that, without a super- natural mission, accompanied with miracles, no person had a right to administer in any religious office. He therefore pronounced that man to be unworthy the name of a Christian, who would enter any place of public worship. He shewed the sincerity of his belief by his prac- tice, for he would not communicate with either Protestant or Papist. His works were published in three vols. folio, in 1630; and though several times imprisoned, and at last sentenced to banishment, yet he did not alter his sentiment. He died at Dergoude in 1590, aged 68. He worked conjointly with the Galles and other artists, from the designs of Martin Ilemskirck. The subjects are from the Old and New Testament, and consist chiefly of middling-sized plates length- wise. He also engra\ed several subjects from Francis Floris. John Dee. This singular character was a great mathematician, and greater enthusiast ; the son of Rowland Dee, gentleman sewer to Henry VIII. and grandson to Bedo Dee, standard-bearer to lord de Ferrars at the battle of Tournay : he was born at London, July 13, 1527; and after some time spent at school there, and at Chelmsford in Essex, was sent to John’s college in Cambridge, where he informs us of his pro- gress in the following words: “ Anno 1542, 1 was sent by my father, Rowland Dee, to the university of Cambridge, there to begin with logic, and so to proceed in the learning of the good arts and sciences ; for 1 had before been meetly well furnished with understanding in the Latin tongue, I being then somewhat above fifteen years old. In the years 1543, 1544, 1545, I was so vehemently bent to study, that for those years I did inviolably keep this order, — only to sleep four hours every night ; to allow to meat and drink, and some refreshing after, two hours every day ; and of the other eighteen hours, all, except the time of going to and being at divine service, was spent in my studies and learning.’" In 1547 he went into the Low Countries, on purpose to converse with Frisius, Mercator, &e. and other learned men, particularly ma- thematicians ; and in about eight months after, returned to Cambridge, where, upon the founding of Trinity college by Henry VIII. he was chosen one of the fellows, but his bias was to the study of mathe- matics and astronomy. He brought over with him from the Low Countries several instruments made by the direction of Frisius, toge- ther with a pair of large globes, made by Mercator : and his repu- tation was very high. His assiduity, however, in making astronomi- cal observations, (in those days always understood to be connected with JOHN DEE. 317 the desire of penetrating into futurity), brought some suspicion upon him ; which was so far increased by a very singular act that befell him, as to draw upon him the imputation of a necromancer, which he de- served afterwards more than now. This affair happened soon after his removal from St. John’s College, and his being chosen one of the fellows of Trinity, where he was assigned to be the under reader of the Greek tongue, Mr. Pember being the chief Greek reader then in Trinity college. “ Hereupon,” says he, “ I did set forth, and it was seen of the university, a Greek comedy of Aristophanes, named in Latin, Pax ; with the performance of the scarabzeus, or beetle ; his flying up to Jupiter’s palace, with a man, and a basket of victuals on his back ; whereat was great wondering, and many vain reports spread abroad of the means how that was effected.’ Disturbed with these reports, he left England again in 1548, and went to the university of Louvain ; where he distinguished himself so much, that he was visited by the duke of Mantua, by don Lewis de la Cerda, afterwards duke of Medina, and other persons of great rank. While he remained there, Sir William Pickering, who was afterwards a favourite with queen Elizabeth was his pupil ; and in the university it is probable, though not certain, that he had the de- gree of LL D. conferred upon him. July 1550, he went from thence to Paris, where, in the college of Rheims, he read lectures upon Euclid’s Elements w ith uncommon applause ; and very great offers were made him, if he would accept of a professorship in that univer- sity. In 1551 he returned to England, was well received by Sir John Cheke, introduced to secretary Cecil, and even to king Edw'ard him- self, from whom he received a pension of one hundred crowns a year, which was in 1558 exchanged for a grant of the rectories of Upton upon Severn, and Long Lednam, Lincolnshire. In the reign of queen Mary, he was for some time very kindly treated ; but afterwards came into great trouble, and even in danger of his life. At the very beginning of it, Dee entered into a correspon- dence with several of the lady Elizabeth’s principal servants, while she was at Woodstock and at Milton ; which being observed, and the nature of it not known, two informers charged him with practising against the queen’s life by enchantments. Upon this he was seized and confined ; but being, after several trials, discharged of treason, he was turned over to bishop Bonner, to see if any heresy could be found in him. After a tedious persecution, on August 19, 1555, he was, by order of council, set at liberty, and thought his credit so little hurt by what had happened, that, January 15, 1556, he presented a supplication to queen Mary, for the recovery of ancient writers and monuments. The design was certainly good, and would have been attended with good consequences, had it taken effect; its failure can- not be too deeply regretted, as there was then an opportunity of recovering many of the contents of the monastic libraries dispersed in Edward’s time. Dee also appears "to have had both the zeal and knowledge for this undertaking. The original of his supplication, which has often been printed, is still extant in the Cotton library ; and we learn from it, that Cicero’s famous work, De Republica, was once extant in this kingdom, and perished at Canterbury. 318 JOHN DEE. Upon the accession of queen Elizabeth, at the desire of Lord Ro- bert Dudley, afterwards earl of Leicester, he delivered somew hat upon the principles of the ancient astrologers, about the choice of a fit day for the coronation of the queen, from whom he received many promises; nevertheless, his credit at court was not sufficient to over- come the public odium against him, on the score of magical incanta- tions, which was the true cause of his missing several preferments. He was by this time become an author ; but, as we are told, a little unluckily, for his books were such as scarcely any pretended to under- stand, written upon mysterious subjects, in a very mysterious manner. In the spring of 1564 he went abroad again, to present the book which he dedicated to the then emperor Maximilian, and returned to England the same summer. In 1563, he engaged the earl of Pembroke to pre- sent the queen with his Propaedumata Aphoristica; and two years after Sir Henry Billingsley’s translation of Euclid appeared, with Dee’s preface and notes; which did him more honour than all his perform- ances, as furnishing incontestable proofs of a more than ordinary skill in the mathematics. In 1571 we find him in Lorrain , where, falling dangerously sick, the queen was pleased to send him two physicians. After his return to England, he settled himself in his house at Mortlake ; where he prosecuted his studies with great diligence, and collected a noble library, consisting of four thousand volumes, of which above a fourth part were mss. a great number of mechanical and mathematical in- struments, a collection of seals, and many other curiosities. His books only were valued at 20001. It was upon his leaving the king- dom in 1583, that the populace, who always believed him to be one who dealt with the devil, broke into his house at Mortlake ; where they tore and destroyed many things, and dispersed the rest in such a manner that the greater part of them were irrecoverable. In 1572 a new star appeared in Cassiopeia’s chair, which gave Dee an opportunity of distinguishing himself in his own way. March 1575, queen Elizabeth went to his house, to see his library; but having buried his wife only a few hours before, he could not entertain her in the manner he would have done, nor indeed did she enter the house ; but he brought out to her majesty a glass of his, which had occasioned much discourse, shewed her the properties of it, and ex- plained the causes, in order to wipe off the aspersion under which lie had so long laboured, of being a magician. In 1577 a comet appearing, the queen sent for him to Windsor, to consult him upon it, and was pleased with his conversation, and promised him her royal protection, notwithstanding the vulgar reports to his prejudice. The year after, her majesty being greatly indisposed, Dee was sent abroad to confer with the German physicians upon the nature of her com- plaint. The queen, hinting her desire to be thoroughly informed as to her title to countries discovered in different parts of the globe by subjects of England, Dee applied himself to the task with great vigour, so much so, that October 3, 1580, which was not three weeks after, he presented to the queen, in her garden at Richmond, two large rolls, in which those countries were geographically described and historically explained ; with the addition of all the testimonies and JOHN DEE. 319 authorities necessary to support them, from records, and other authen- tic vouchers. These she very graciously received ; and, after dinner, the same day conferred with Dee about them, in the presence of some of her privy council, and of the lord treasurer Burleigh especially. His next employment, of consequence enough to be remembered, was the reformation of the calendar, which, though it never took effect until the reign of George II. was one of his best performances, and did him great credit. We come now to that period of his life by which he has been most known, though for reasons which have justly rendered him least regarded. He was certainly a man of uncommon parts, learning, and application ; and might have distinguished himself in the scientific world, if he had been possessed of solid judgment, but he was very credulous, superstitious, extremely vain, and, we suspect, a little roguish ; but we are told that it was his ambition to surpass all men in knowledge, which carried him at length to a desire of knowing beyond the bounds of human faculties. In short, he suffered himself to be deluded into an opinion, that by certain invocations, an inter- course or communication with spirits might be obtained, from whence he promised himself an insight into the occult sciences. He found a young man, one Edward Kelly, a native of Worcestershire, who was already either rogue or fool enough for his purpose, and readily un- dertook to assist him, for which he was to pay him fifty pounds per annum. Dec. 2, 1581, they began their incantations, in consequence of which, Kelly was, by the inspection of a certain table, consecrated for that purpose with many superstitious ceremonies, enabled to acquaint Dee with what the spirit thought fit to show and discover. These conferences were continued for about two years, and the sub- jects of them were committed to writing, but never published, though still preserved in Ashmole’s museum. In the mean time, there came over hither a Polish lord, one Albert Laski, palatine of Siradia, a man of great parts and learning and, as a late writer observes, of large fortune too, or he would not have answered their purpose. This nobleman was introduced by the earl of Leicester to Dee, and became his constant visitant. Having him- self a bias to those superstitious arts, he was, after much entreaty, received by Dee into their company, and into a participation of their secrets. Within a short time, the palatine of Siradia, returning to his own country, prevailed with Dee and Kelly to accompany him, upon the assurance of an ample provision there; and accordingly they went all privately from Mortlake, in order to embark for Holland, from whence they travelled by land through Germany into Poland, where, Feb. 3, 1584, they arrived at the principal castle belonging to Albert Laski. When Laski had been sufficiently amused with their fanatical pretences to a conversation with spirits, and was perfectly satisfied that they were impostors, he contrived to send them to the emperor Rodolph II. who, being quickly disgusted with their imperti- nence, declined all farther interviews. Upon this, Dee applied himself to Laski, to introduce him to Stephen, king of Poland ; which accord- ingly he did at Cracow, April, 1585. But that prince soon detecting his delusions, and treating him with contempt, he returned to the 320 JOHN DEE. cmp.eror’s court at Prague, from whose dominions he was soon banished at the instigation of the pope’s nuncio, who gave the emperor to un- derstand how scandalous it appeared to the Christian world, that he should entertain two such magicians as Dee and Kelly ; At this time and while these confederates were reduced to the greatest distress, a young nobleman of great pow er and fortune in Bohemia, and one of his pupils, gave them shelter in the castle of Trebona ; w here they not only remained in safety, but lived in splendour, Kelly, having in his possession, as is reported, that philosophical powder of projection, by which they were furnished with money very profusely. Some jealousies and heart-burnings afterwards happened between Dee and Kelly, that brought on at length an absolute rupture. Kelly, how- ever, who was a younger man than Dee, seems to have acted a much wiser part ; since it appears, from an entry in Dee’s diary, that he was so far intimidated, as to deliver up to Kelly, January, 1589, the powder, about which, it is said, he had learned from the German che- mists many secrets which he had not communicated to Dee. The noise their adventures made in Europe, induced queen Eliza- beth to invite Dec home, who in May 1589 set out from Trebona towards England. He travelled with great pomp and solemnity, was attended by a guard of horse, and, besides w aggons for his goods, had no less than three coaches for the use of his family ; for he had mar- ried a second wife, and had several children. He landed at Gavesend Nov. 23 : and Dec. 9, presented himself at Richmond to the queen, who received him very graciously. He then retired to his house at Mortlake ; and collecting the remains of his library, which had been torn to pieces and scattered in his absence, he sat down to study. He had great friends, received many presents ; yet nothing, it seems, could keep him from want. The queen had quickly notice of this, as well as of the vexations he suffered from the common people, w ho per- secuted him as a conjurer, which at that time was not a title equiva- lent to an impostor. The queen, who certainly listened oftener to him than might have been expected from her good sense, sent him money from time to time ; but all would not do. At length he resolved to apply in such a manner as to procure some settled subsistence ; and accordingly, Nov. 9, 1592, he sent a memo- rial to her majesty by the countess of Warwick, in which he very ear- nestly pressed her, that commissioners might be appointed to hear his pretensions, and to examine into the justness of his wants and claims. This had a good effect, for on the 22nd, two commissioners. Sir Thomas Gorge, knight, and Mr. Secretary Wolley, were actually sent to Mortlake, where Dee exhibited a book containing a distinct account of all the memorable transactions of his life, those w hich occurred in his last journey abroad only excepted ; and as he read this historical narration, he produced all the letters, grants, and other evidences, requisite to confirm them, and, where these were wanting, named living witnesses. The title of this w ork, the original of which still remains in the Cotton library, and a transcript of it among Dr. Smith’s writteu collections, runs thus : “ The compendious re- hearsal of John Dee, his dutiful declaration and proof of the course and race of his studious life for the space of half an hundred years JOHN DEE. 3-21 now by God’s favour and help fully spent; and of the very great inju- ries, damages, and indignities, which for these last nine years he hath in England sustained, contrary to her majesty’s very gracious will and express commandment, made unto the two honourable commis- sioners by her most excellent majesty thereto assigned, according to the intent of the most humble supplication of the said John, exhibited to her most gracious majesty at Hampton-court, ann. 1592, Nov. 9.” Upon the report made by the commissioners to the queen, he received a present, and promises of preferment; but these promises ending like the former, (in nothing,) he engaged his patroness, the countess of Warwick, to present another short Latin petition to the queeu, but with what success does not appear. In December, 1594, however, he obtained a grant to the chancellorship of St. Paul’s. But this did not answer his end ; upon which he applied himself next to Whitgift, archbishop of Canterbury, by a letter, in which he inserted a large account of all the books he had either published or written ; and in consequence of this letter, together w ith other applications, he obtained a grant of the wardenship of Manchester college. Febuary. 159G, he arrived with his wife and family in that town, and was in- stalled in his new' charge. He continued there about seven years ; which he is said to have spent in a very troublesome and unquiet manner. June 1604, he presented a petition to king James, earnestly desiring him that he might be brought to a trial ; that, by a formal and judi- cial sentence, he might be delivered from those suspicions and surmises which had created him so much uneasiness for upwards of fifty years. But the king, although he at first patronized him, beiug better in- formed of the nature of his studies, refused him any mark of royal countenance and favour; which must have affected a man of that vain and ambitious spirit, which all his misfortunes could never alter or amend. November the same year, he quitted Manchester with his family, in order to return to his house at Mortlake, w here he remained but a short time, being now' very old, infirm, and destitute of friends and patrons, who had generally forsaken him. We find him at Mort- lake in 1607 ; where he had recourse to his former invocations, and so came to deal again, as he fancied, with spirits. One Hickman served him now, as Kelly had done formerly. Their transactions were continued to Sept. 7, 1607, which is the last date of that journal published by Casaubon, whose title at large runs thus : “ A true and faithful relation of what passed for many years be- tween Mr. John Dee, a mathematician of great fame in queen Elizabeth and king James their reigns, and some Spirits, tending, had it suc- ceeded, to a general alteration of most states and kingdoms in the world : His private conference with Rodolph, emperor of Germany, Stephen king of Poland, and divers other princes, about it : The particulars of his cause, as it was agitated in the emperor’s court by the pope’s intervention : His banishment, and restoration in part ; as also the letters of sundry great men and princes, some of whom w'ere present at some of those conferences and apparitions of spirits to the said Dr. Dee : out of the original copy written with Dr. Dee’s own hand, kept in the library of Sir Thomas Cotton, knt. baronet, with a 2 s 322 JACOB BEHMF.X. preface confirming the reality, as to the point of spirits, of this rela- tion, and shewing the several good uses that a sober Christian may make of all. By Meric Casaubon, D.D. Lond. 1659,” fol. This book made a great noise upon its first publication ; and many years after, the credit of it was revived by one of the ablest mathema- ticians and philosophers of his time, the celebrated Dr. Hooke, who believed that not only Casaubon, but archbishop Usher, and other learned men, were entirely mistaken in their notions about this book ; and that, in reality, our author, Dee, never fell under any such delusions, but being a man of great art and intrigue, made use of this strange method of writing, to conceal things of a political nature, aud, instead of a pretended enthusiast, was a real spy. — But there are several reasons which will not sutler us to suppose this. One is, that Dee began these actions ir England ; for which, if we suppose the whole treatise to be written in cipher, there is no account can be given, any more than for pursuing the same practices in king James’s time, who cannot be imagined to have used him as a spy. Another, that he admitted foreigners, such as Laski, Rosenberg, Arc. to be present at these consultations with spirits ; which is not reconcileable with the notion of his being intrusted with political secrets. Lastly, upon the return of Dee from Bohemia, Kelly did actually send an account to the queen, of practices against her life ; but then this was in a plain and open method, which would never have been taken, if there had been any such mysterious correspondence between Dee and her minis- ters, as Ilooke suggests. In the latter end of his life he became miserably poor. It is highly probable that he remained under these delusions to. his death ; for he was actually providing for a new journey into Germany, when, worn out by age and distemper, he died in 1G08, aged eighty, and was buried at Mortlake. Jacob Beiimen, called the Teutonic Philosopher. The person was the founder of a sect called Behmists, and was born of poor parents at a village near Gorlitz, in Upper Lusatia, in 1575. At the age of ten he was sent to school, where he learned to read and write, after which he was put apprentice to a shoemaker, and in 1594, he became a master, and entered into the state of marriage. In the year 1600 he is said to have fallen into a spiritual trance, or ecstasy, for seven days, during which he was not only drawn nearer to God, but had wonderful things revealed to him. In 1610 he fell into another trance of the like kind ; and that the remembrance of what had been disclosed to him might not be lost, he wrote, in 1612, a book called Aurora, the style of which is exceedingly dark and ob- scure. Gregorius Richter, a clergymart at Gorlitz, having seen this work, resolved to get it suppressed, and accused Behmen before the council, who ordered the book, though not yet completed, to be seized and shut up in the town-house. Paulus Scipio, however, one of the burgomasters, sent a copy of it to George von Pflug, marshal of the household to the elector of Saxony, who transmitted it to Amster- dam to be printed. In 1619 he wrote another book, on the Three Prin- ciples, to which in the course of a few years he added several others. JACOB BEHMEN. 323 In 1G24 he travelled to Dresden, where he was interrogated by some divines, who declared, as is said, that they found nothing reprehensi- ble in his character. He died the same year, after receiving the sacrament from the hands of Elias Dietrich, and, according to the account of his biographer, was honourably interred at Gorlitz. His other works are, Of the Threefold Life of Man ; Of the Incarna- tion of Christ, his sufferings, death, and resurrection ; A Book on the Six Points; On Celestial and Terrestrial Mysteries; De Scriptura Rerum ; On the Four Complexions; On True Repentance; On True Resignation ; On the Second Birth ; Mysterium magnum ; On the First Book of Moses ; On Spiritual Life, &c. These appeared at first separately, but were afterwards collected and printed together. The best edition is said to be that published in German at Amsterdam. Some have bestowed great praise on this mystic, on account of the wisdom which they pretend is contained in his writing ; but their prin- cipal merit seems to consist in a certain obscurity, which excites won- der in weak minds, and induces them to believe that it is owing to want of capacity, if they do not comprehend what they read. Others have accused him of the most dangerous errors, and have written volumes in opposition to his doctrines ; among whom may be men- tioned one Gilbert, who published an admonition against his works, which was answered by Theodore von Tscheusch, a Silesian noble- man, and this produced a reply from Gilbert. After this, Gerrard Antagnossus, who called himself a Catholic, published the defence of Von Tscheusch, with a refutation of it in Latin, under the title of “ Ne Sutor ultra crepidam,” in which he endeavoured to shew that Behmen entertained the same opinions as the Mauichaeans and the Gnostics. Tobias Wagner also w rote a book to refute Beheman’s doc- trines, entitled Judicum Propemptjcon ; but it appears that he con- founded Behmen’s Aurora with another book, called the Aurora of Wisdom, written by Paul Felgeuhauer. Some have endeavoured to prove from Behmen’s writings, that he did not acknowledge a Deity ; and particularly Von Muller, a work entitled The Fanatic Atheist, and various authors, have at different times appeared for or against him ; but he acquired many followers, especially among the alchymists and makers of gold. H is life, which is printed along with most of the editions of his works, was written by a Silesian nobleman, named Von Frankenburg. Tiedeman,in his Spirit of Speculative Philosophy, speaking of Behmen says, “ We are not informed by history from what source he derived his idea. Some have suspected that he only lent his name to another enthusiast ; but others entertain the most probable opinion, that he had read the w'orks of Paracelsus, because some expressions of that physician are to be found in his writings. Be this as it may, he can- not have been the author of the whole, for the chemical w r ords of art, and many Latin words relating to the sciences, which he uses, are not to be expected from an illiterate shoemaker. He makes no quota- tions but from the scriptures, and repeatedly affirms, in the most solemn manner, that he obtained his deep knowledge by a particular revela- tion. However, without too much lessening the esteem in which he is by some held, one may on good grounds assert, that imagination 324 JACOB BEIIMEN. and his vanity, flattered by the supposed intercourse with the Deity, have led him into error. His language and doctrines betray him be- yond all dispute, and prove him to have been a man who formed his ideas from books on chemistry and the Platonic mysteries. He i 9 most intelligible in his Aurora, so that he will be easily understood by those acquainted with the Alexendrian philosophy, except where he introduces in a spiritual sense many words borrowed from chemistry and alchymy, and so corrupts his style, that no one can discover his real meaning.” Among Behmen’s numerous followers, no one rendered himself more conspicuous than John Pordage, a physician and naturalist, who pre- tended to divine revelation, and declared that by these means he had been convinced of the truth of Behmen’s doctrines. That he might, therefore, throw more light upon them, he published a book, entitled Divine and True Metaphysics, with some other works of the same kind; which being soon spread through Germany, became, together with Behmen’s writings, the standard books of all enthusiasts.” Behmcn has had admirers even in this country; the most distinguished of whom is the famous Mr. William Law, author of Christian Perfec- tion, who gave an English edition of his works, in two volumes quarto. Lewis Cornaro. This was a Venetian, of noble extraction, memorable for having lived to an extreme age : he was ninety-eight years old at the time of his death, which happened at Padua, April 2G, 1560, his birth being fixed in 1407. Amongst other little performances, he left behind him a piece entitled, “ De Vitae Sobriie Commodis,” i. e. “ Of the Advantages of a Temperate Life.” He was moved, it seems, to com- pose this little piece at the request and for the benefit of some young men, for whom he had a regard; who having long since lost their parents, and seeing him then eighty-one years of age, in a florid state of health, were desirous to know by what means he contrived to pre- serve a sound mind in a sound body to so extreme an age. In an- swer, he tells them, that when he was young he was very intempe- rate ; that this intemperance had brought upon him many and griev- ous disorders ; that from the thirty-fifth to the fortieth year of his age, he spent his days and nights in the utmost anxiety and pain ; and that in short, his life was grown a burden to him. The physi- cians, however, as he relates, notwithstanding all the vain and fruit- less efforts which they made to restore him, told him, that there was one medicine still remaining, which had never been tried, but if he could prevail with himself to use with perseverance, might free him in time from all his complaints ; namely, a regular and temperate way of living, but, — that unless he resolved to apply instantly to it, his case would soon become desperate. Upon this, he immediately prepared him- self for his new regimen, and now r began to eat and drink nothing but what w r as proper for one in his weak habit of body. But this at first was very disagreeable to him : he wanted to live again in his old manner ; and he did indulge himself in a freedom of diet some- LEWIS CORNARO. 325 times, without the knowledge of his physicians indeed, although much to his own uneasiness and detriment. Driven in the mean time by necessity, and exerting resolutely all the powers of his under- standing, he grew at last confirmed in a settled and uninterrupted course of temperance, by virtue of which, all his disorders had left him in less than a year, and he had been a firm and healthy man from that time to his giving this account. To shew what a security a life of temperance is against the ill effects of hurts and disasters, he relates an accident which befell him when he w r as very old. One day being overturned in his chariot, he was drag- ged by the horses a considerable w>ay upon the ground. His head, his arms, his whole body, were very much bruised, and one of his ankles w as put out of joint. He w as carried home, and the physici- ans, seeing how much he was injured, concluded it was impossible he should live three days; but, by bleeding and evacuating medicines, he presently recovered his health and strength. Some sensualists, as it appears, had objected to his manner of living; and in order to evince the reasonableness of their own, had urged, that it was not worth while to mortify one’s appetite at such a rate, for the sake of being old ; since all that was life, after the age of sixty-five, could not pro- perly be called “ vita viva, sed vita mortua ;” not a living life, but a dead life. “Now,” says he, “to shew these gentlemen how much they are mistaken, I will briefly run over the satisfactions and plea- sures which I myself now enjoy in this eighty-third year of my age. In the first place, I am always well, and so active withal, that I can with ease mount a horse upon a flat, and walk to the tops of high mountains. In the next place, I am always cheerful, pleasant, per- fectly contented, and free from all perturbation, and every uneasy thought. I have none of that fastidium vitae, that satiety of life, so often to be met with in persons of my age. I frequently converse with men of parts and learning, and spend much of my time in read- ing and writing. These things 1 do, just as opportunity serves, or my humour invites me, and all in my own house here at Padua, which, I may say, is as commodious and elegant a seat as any perhaps this age can shew, built by me according to the exact proportions of archi- tecture, and so contrived as to be an equal shelter against heat and cold. I enjoy at proper intervals my gardens, of which I have many, whose borders are refreshed with streams of running water. I spend some months in the year at those Euganean hills, where I have an- other commodious house, with gardens and fountains ; and I visit also a seat I have in the valley, which abounds in beauties, from the many structures, woods, and rivulets that encompass it. I frequently make excursions to some of the neighbouring cities, for the sake of seeing my friends, and conversing with the adepts in all arts and sciences ; architects, painters, statuaries, musicians, and even husbandmen. I contemplate their works, compare them with the ancients, and am alw'ays learning something which it is agreeable to know. I take a view of palaces, gardens, antiquities, public buildings, temples, forti- fications ; and nothing escapes me, which can afford the least amuse- ment to a rational mind. Nor are these pleasures at all blunted by the usual imperfections of great age, for I enjoy all my senses in per- 32G LEWIS CORNARO. feet vigour; my taste so very acute, that I have a better relish for the plainest food now, than I had for the choicest delicacies, when for- merly immersed in a life of luxury. Nay, to let you see what a portion of fire and spirit I have still left within me, know, that I have this very year written a comedy, full of innocent mirth and pleasantry ; and, if a Greek poet was thought so very healthy and happy, for writing a tragedy at the age of seventy-three, why should not I be thought as healthy and as happy, who have written a comedy when I am ten years older? In short, that no pleasure whatever may be want- ing to my old age, I please myself daily with contemplating that im- mortality, which I think I see in the succession of my posterity. For every time I return home, I meet eleven grand children, all the off- spring of one father and mother ; all in fine health ; all, as far as I can discern, apt to learn, and of good behaviour. I am often amused by their singing, nay, I often sing with them, because my voice is louder and clearer now than ever it was in my life before. These are the delights and comforts of my old age ; from which, I presume, it appears/ that the life I spend is not a dead, morose, and melancholy life, but a living, active, pleasant life, which I would not change with the robustest of those youths who indulge and riot in all the luxury of the senses, because I know them to be exposed to a thousand diseases and a thousand kinds of deaths. I, on the contrary, am free from all such apprehensions, — from the apprehension of disease, because I have nothing for disease to feed upon ; from the apprehension of death, because I have spent a life of reason. Besides, death, I am persuaded, is not yet near me. 1 know that, barring accidents, no violent dis- ease can touch me. I must be dissolved by a gentle and gradual decay, when the radical humour is consumed like oil in a lamp, which affords no longer life to the dying taper. But such a death as this cannot happen of a sudden. To become unable to walk and reason, to become blind, deaf, and bent to the earth, from all which evils I am far enough at present, must take a considerable portion of time : and I verily believe, that this immortal soul, which still inhabits my body with so much harmony and complacency, will not easily depart from it yet. I verily believe that I have many years to live, many years to enjoy the world, and all the good that is in it — by virtue of that strict sobriety and temperance, which I have so long and so reli- giously observed ; friend as I am to reason, but foe to sense.” His wife, who survived him, lived also to nearly the same age. Sir John Sinclair, in his “Code of Health and Longevity,” mentions the edition of 1779 as the best English translation of Cornaro’s works. There are four discourses on one subject, penned at different times ; the first, already mentioned, which he WTote at the age of eighty-three, in which he declares war against every kind of intemperance. The second was composed three years after, and contains directions for repairing a bad constitution. The third he wrote w r hen he was ninety- one, entitled “An earnest Exhortation to a Sober Life and the last is a letter to Barbaro, patriarch of Aquileia, written when he was ninety-five, which contains a lively description of the health, vigour, and perfect use of his faculties, w hich he had the happiness of enjoy- ing at that advanced period of life. THOMAS CORYATE. 327 Thomas Coryate. This was an extraordinary person, who made himself famous by his whims and extravagancies. He was the son of a clergyman, and born at Odcombe in 1577. He was first educated at Westminster school, and became a commoner of Gloucester-hall, Oxford, in 1596 ; where continuing about three years, he attained, by mere dint of me- mory, some skill in logic, and more in the Greek and Latin languages. After he had been taken home for a time, he went to London, and was received into the family of Henry prince of Wales, either as a domestic, or, according to some, as a fool, an office which in former days was filled by a person hired for the purpose. In this situation he was exposed to the wit of the court, who finding in him a strange mixture of sense and folly, made lfim their whetstone; and so, says Wood, he became too much known all over the world. In 1608 he took a journey to France, Italy, Germany, &c. which lasted five months, during which time he had travelled 1975 miles, — more than half upon one pair of shoes, which were only once mended, and on his return were hung up in the church of Odcombe. He published his travels under this title, “ Crudities hastily gobbled up in five months’ travels in France, Savoy, Italy, Rhetia, Helvetia, some parts of High Germany, and the Netherlands.” This work was ushered into the world by an Odcombian banquet, consisting of near sixty copies of verses, made by the best poets of that time, which, if they did not make Coryate pass with the world for a man of great parts and learning, contributed not a little to the sale of his book. These verses were reprinted in the same year, 1611, detached from the Crudities, with this title, “The Odcombian Banquet dished forth by Thomas the Coriat, and served in a number of Noble Wits, in praise of his Crudities, andCrambe too — Asinusportansmysteria ;”and with a prose advertisement at the conclusion, of which is the following transcript, which may serve as a specimen of Coryate’s strange and whimsical style. “Noverint tmiversi, &c. “ Know, gentle reader, that the book in praise whereof all these preceding verses were written, is purposely committed for their and thy purses’ good ; partly for the greatness of the volume, containing 654 pages, each page thirty-six lines, each line forty-eight letters ; besides panegyrics, poems, epistles, prefaces, letters, orations, fragments, posthumes, with the commas, colons, full- points, and other things hereunto appertaining; which being printed of a character legible without spectacles, would have caused the book much to exceed that price whereat men in those witty days value such stuffe as that; and partly for that one. Whose learning, judgment, wit, and braine, Are weight with Toni’s just to a graine ;” u Having read the book with an intent to epitomize it, could he but have melted out of the whole lumpe so much matter worthy of reading as would have filled four pages ; but, finding his labour lost, and his hope therein fallen short, is resolved to defer it till the author of the “ Crudities” has finished his second travels ; w hich being intended for a place far more remote, is likely to produce a book of farre 328 THOMAS COIl Y ATE. greater bulk, both which being drawn into an exact compenel, as Munster, Baronius, the Magdeburgians, and other famous chronolo- gers, have been, may perhaps afford something either worthy thy reading, or supply thy need in such cases of extremitie, as nature and costume oftentimes enforce men unto. Vale!” Among those poets who were concerned in the Odcombian Banquet were Ben Jonson, Sir John Harrington, Inigo Jones the architect, Chapman, Donne, Drayton, &c. In the same year he published Coryate’s Crambe, or his “ Colewort twice sodden, and now served in with other Macaronic dishes, as the second course of his Crudities,” 4to. In 1612, after he had taken leave of his countrymen by an oration spoken at the cross in Odcombe, he tsok a large and long journey, with intention not to return till he had spent ten years in travelling. The first place he went to was to Constantinople, where he made his usual desultory observations ; and took from thence opportunities of viewing divers parts of Greece. In the Hellespont he took notice of the two castles Sestos and Abydos, which Musaeus has made famous in his poem of Hero and Leander. He saw Smyrna, from whence he found a passage to Alexandria inEgypt ; and afterwards he observed the pyramids near Grand Cairo. From thence he went to Jerusalem ; and soon to the Dead Sea, to Aleppo in Syria, to Babylon in Chaldea, to the kingdom of Persia, and to Ispahan, where the king usually resided ; to Suras, anciently called Shushan ; to Candahar, the first province north-east under the subjection of the great mogul, and so to Lahore, the chief city but one belonging to that empire. From Lahore he went to Agra ; where being well received by the English factory, he made a halt. He staid there till he had learned the Turk- ish and Morisco or Arabian languages ; in which study he was also very apt, and had some knowledge in the Persian and lndostan tongues, all of which were of great use to him in his travelling up and dow n the great mogul’s dominions. In the Persian tongue he afterw ards made an oration to the great mogul ; and in the lndostan he had so great a command, that we are gravely told, he actually silenced a boundary- woman belonging to the English ambassador in that country, who used to scold all the day long. After he had visited several places in that part of the world, he went to Surat in East India, w here he was seized with a diarrhoea, of which he died in 1617. This strange man, it is evident, had an insatiable desire to view dis- tant and unknowm parts of the world, which has never been reckoned a symptom of folly ; nor indeed would Coryate have been so much despised, if he had not unluckily fallen into the hands of w its, who, by way of diverting themselves, imposed upon his weakness and ex- treme vanity, and nothing vexed him more than to have his vanity checked. Thus, when one Steel, a merchant, and servant to the East India company, came to Sir Thomas Roe, the English ambassador at Mandoa, where the mogul then resided, he told Coryate, that he had been in England since he saw him, and that king James had inquired about him ; and that upon telling his majesty that he had met him in his travels, the king replied, “ Is that fool living'?” Our traveller was equally hurt at another time, when, upon his de- parture from Mandoa, Sir Thomas Roe gave him a letter, and in that 329 JOHN TAYLOR, THE WATER POET. a bill to receive 101. at Aleppo. The letter was directed to Mr. Chap- man, consul there at that time ; and the passage that concerned Coryate was this : Mr. Chapman, when you shall handle these letters, I desire you to receive the bearer of them, Mr. Thomas Coryate, with courtsee, for you will find him a very honest poor wretch/’ &c. This expression troubled Coryate extremely, and therefore it was altered to his mind. He was very jealous of his reputation abroad ; for he gave out, that there were great expectances in England of the large accounts he should give of his travels at his return home/ What became of the notes and observations he made in his long peregrinations, is unknown. The following only, which he sent to his friends in England, were printed in his absence : — Letters from As- mere, the court of the great mogul, to several persons of quality in England, concerning the emperor and his country of East India, in the title of which is our author’s picture, riding upon a elephaut : A letter to his mother Gertrude, dated from Agra in East India, containing the speech that he delivered to the great mogul in the Persian lan- guage : Certain observations from the mogul’s court, and East India: Travels to, and observations in, Constantinople, and other places in the way thither, and in his journey thence to Aleppo, Damascus, and Jerusalem : His oration, Purus Putus Coryatus,* (quintessence of Coryate ;) spoken extempore, when Mr. Rugg dubbed him a knight on the ruins of Troy, by the name of Thomas Coryate, the first English knight of Troy : Observations on Constantinople, abridged : all these are to be found in the Pilgrimages of Sam. Purchas: Divers Latin and Greek epistles to learned men beyond the seas ; some of' which are in his Crudities. — Among his persecutors was Taylor the Water-poet, who frequently endeavours to raise a laugh at his expense. To Coryate’s works may be added a copy of verses, in the Somersetshire dialect, printed in Guidott’s “Collection of Treatises on the' Bath Waters,” 1725, 8vo. John Taylor, the Water Poet. This person, usually called the Water Poet, from his being a water- man as well as a poet, and certainly more of the former than the lat- ter, w'as born in Gloucestershire about 1580. Wood says he w r as born in the city of Gloucester, and went to school there ; but he does not seem to have learned more than his audience, as appears by some lines of his own. From this school he was brought to London, and bound apprentice to a waterman, whence he was either pressed or went voluntarily into the naval service, for he was at the taking of Cadiz, under the earl of Essex, in 1596, when only sixteen years old, and was afterwards in Germany, Bohemia, and Scotland, as may be collected from various passages in his works. At home he was many years collector, for the lieutenant of the Tower, of the wines which were his fee, from all ships which brought them up the Thames; but was at last discharged, because he would not purchase the place at more than it was worth. He calls himself the “ King’s Water Poet,” and the “ Queen’s Wa- 2 T 330 JOHN TAYLOR, TIIE WATER POET. German,” and wore the badge of the royal arms. While a waterman, he very naturally had a great hatred to coaches ; and besides writing a satire against them, he fancied that the watemen were starving for want of em- ployment, and presented a petition to James I. which was referred to certain commissioners, of whom Sir Francis Bacon was one, to obtain prohibition of all playhouses except those on the bank-side, that the greater part of the inhabitants of London, w ho w ere desirous of seeing plays, might be compelled to go by water. Taylor himself is said to have undertaken to support this singular petition, and was prepared to op- pose before the commissioners the arguments of the players, but the commission was dissolved before it came to a hearing. When the rebellion commenced in 1642, Taylor left London, and retired to Oxford, where he was much noticed and esteemed for his facetious turn. He kept a common victualling house there, and wrote pasquinades against the round-heads ; by w hich he thought, and Wood too seems to think, that he did great service to the royal cause. After the garrison at Oxford had surrendered, he retired to Westminster, kept a public-house in Phoenix-alley, near Longacre, and continued constant in his loyalty to the king, after whose death, he set up a sign over his door, of a mourning crown ; but that proving offensive, he pulled it down, and hung up his ow'n picture with these verses under it : “ There’s many a head stands for a sign. Then, gentle reader, why not mine'?” And on the other side, “ Though 1 deserve not, I desire The laurel wreath, the poet’s hire.” He died in 1654, aged seventy-four, as Wood was informed by his nephew, a painter of Oxford, who gave his portrait to the picture gal- lery there in 1655. This nephew’s own portrait, also by himself, is on the staircase. His works were published under the title of “ All the Workes of John Taylor the Water Poet, being sixty and three in num- ber, and collected into one volume by the author, with sundry new additions: corrected, revised, and newly imprinted.” 1630, folio.” These pieces, which are not destitute of natural humour, abound with low jingling wit, which pleased and prevailed in the reign of James I. though it too often bordered upon bombast and nonsense. He was countenanced by a few persons of rank and ingenuity, but was the darling and admiration of numbers of the rabble. He was himself the father of some cant words, and he has adopted others, which w-ere only in the mouths of the lowest vulgar. From the date of this volume it is evident that it does not contain those “ pasquins” and satires which Wood says he wrote at Oxford, and which perhaps it might have been unsafe to avow or republish, as he did not survive the times of the usurpation. Five articles, however, whose titles may be seen in the “ Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica,” were published between 1637 and 1641. One of them is the life of Old Parr, printed in 1635, w'hen Parr is said to have been living, at the age of 152. OLD parr- 331 Old Parr. This person lived to the vast age of 152 years. But as his life is publicly known, we shall only state in this place the following lines respecting him, from Taylor the Water Poet : Good wholesome labour was his exercise, Down with the lamb, and with the lark would rise ; In mire and toiling sweat he spent the day. And to his team he whistled time away; The cock his night-clock, and till day was done. His watch and chief sun-dial w r as the sun. He was of old Pythagoras’ opinion. That green cheese was most w'holesome with an onion ; Coarse meslin bread, and for his daily swig, Milk, butter-milk, and water, whey and whig: Sometimes metheglin, and, by fortune happy, He sometimes sipp’d a cup of ale most nappy, Cider or perry, when he did repair T’ a Whitsun-ale wake, wedding, or a fair ; Or when in Christmas-time he was a guest At his good landlord’s house amongst the rest ; Else he had little leisure-time to waste ; Or at the ale-house huff-cap ale to taste. — His physic w r as good butter, which the soil Of Salop yields, more sw r eet than Candy oil ; And garlic he esteem’d above the rate Of Venice treacle, or best mithridate. He entertain’d no gout, no ache he felt. The air was good and temperate where he dwelt ; While mavisses and sweet-tongued nightingales Did chant him roundelays and madrigals. Thus living within bounds of nature’s laws. Of his long lasting life may be some cause. And the same writer describes him in the two' following lines : From head to heel, his body had all over A quick-set, thick-set, natural hairy cover. Oliver Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell is w r ell known as being the Lord Protector of the Commomvealth of England, and one of the most extraordinary per- sons mentioned in history. He was born at Huntingdon, April 25, 1599, and received the name bf Oliver, from his uncle Sir Oliver Cromwell, who was his godfather. His father, Robert Cromwell, esq. second son of Sir Henry Cromwell, knight, enjoyed an estate in or near Huntingdon, of about three hundred pounds a year; and to ease the expenses incident to a numerous progeny, carried on, besides, an extensive trade in the brewery ; and being fond of a private and domestic life, he lived and died in that tow n. 332 OLIVER CROMWELL. No presages of the future greatness of our hero marked his birth ; at least none have been handed down to us. An incident that threat- ened to put an early period to that existence which teemed with so much mingled glory and infamy, must not, however, be omitted. While he was yet an infant, being at Hinchenbrook, the residence of his grandfather Sir Henry Cromwell, a monkey, which was suffered to go loose, took him from the cradle, and ran with him to the leads of the house, where he stood exhibiting all the imitative tricks of his species. The family, greatly alarmed for the safety of the child, ran w ith beds, blankets, &c. to the spot on which he was expected to tumble from the arms of his inexperienced nurse, in order to break the fall; but the sagacious animal, to the great joy of the anxious beholders, brought young Oliver down, with the same care and circumspection that he had conveyed him to the dangerous eminence. Whether this instance may be con- strued into an ominous token of his future exaltation, and of the ma- nifold anxieties and hazards that preeminence was attended with, is left to the opinion of the reader ; as likewise are the following tradi- tions, which are said not to want credible authentications. Hinchenbrook, at that time the seat of Sir Oliver Cromwell, as being near Huntingdon, was generally one of the resting places of any excursions of the royal family into the north. When Charles I. then duke of York, was on his journey from Scotland to London, in the year 1604, he called at that place. The knight, to divert the young prince, sent for his nephew Oliver, that he, in addition to his own sons, might play with his royal highness. But they had not been long together, before Charles and Oliver disagreed ; and the former being weakly, and the latter strong, the royal visitant was worsted. Even at this early age, Oliver so little regarded dignity, that he made the blood flow in copious streams from the prince’s nose. When the civil wars afterwards commenced, and Oliver began to grow conspicu- ous, this circumstance was considered as no very favourable presage for the king. Oliver likewise used to aver, that as he lay one night awake, a gigantic figure opened the curtains of his bed, and told him that he should be the greatest person in the kingdom. The word “ king” was not mentioned ; but from' a part of the subsequent conduct and ex- pectation of Oliver, it may be supposed that he concluded the expres- sion made use of to convey that idea. Upon his repeating it in the morning, he was severely chastised by his schoolmaster, at the par- ticular request of his father. And though he was told it was traitor- ous to relate it, yet he could not be prevented from frequently repeat- ing it, and often, after he had arrived at the height of his glory, he spoke of it as a fact, and noticed the accomplishment of it. But to return. Oliver’s father, who appears to have been a gentleman of good sense and competent learning, placed him at the free grammar school of Huntingdon, where the proficiency he made in his scholastic stu- dies has been a matter of dispute : by some it is said to have been very considerable; by others it has beeu no less decried; but from his speeches, and from other instances where he had occasion to exhibit proofs of his learning, nothing more than mediocrity is observable. In OLIVER CROMWELL. 333 his studies he was very eccentric and inconsistent, now applying him- self with unremitting assiduity for a few weeks, then becoming indolent for as many months. Traits of his character would also at this time break out. When he was at the grammar school, it w'as a custom for the scholars to perform a play once a year. Upon one of these occasions the comedy of Lingua, or The Combat of the Tongue and the Five Senses for the Superiority, was fixed upon. The plan of this play, which was printed in 1607, is, — Lingua gives a crown and royal robe to be contested for by the Senses. Tactus, one of the principal persons of the piece, having stumbled over the crown and robe as they lay on the ground, it gives rise to the following soliloquy, — which so accorded with the sentiments of Oliver, even at this early period of his life, that he could not conceal the pleasure he received from it; and nothing would satisfy him but his being permitted to personate the character of Tactus. As this speech gives such a striking picture of the first development of an ambitious mind, the whole of it is here transcribed : Scene VI. A Soliloquy. TACTUS. Tactus, thy sneering somewhat did portend ; Was ever man so fortunate as I, To break my shins at such a stumbling block ? Roses and bays, back hence ; — this crown and robe, My brows and body circles and invests ! IIow gallantly it fits me ! Sure the slave Measured my head, that wrought this coronet. They lie, who say complexions cannot change; My blood’s ennobled, and I am transformed. Under the sacred temper of a King, Methinks I hear my noble parasites Styling me Ccesar, or Great Alexander ; Licking my feet, and w'ondering where I got This precious ointment. How my pace is mended ! How princely do I speak ! How sharp I threaten! Peasants, I’ll curb your head — strong impudence. And make you tremble when the lion roars. Ye earth-bred worms ! Oh, for a looking glass ! Poets will write whole volumes of this change ! Where’s my attendants? Come hither, sirrah, quickly. Or by the wings of Hermes — From Huntingdon grammar-school, Oliver was removed, about the beginning of the year 1616, to Sydney Sussex College in Cambridge, where, his genius being little fitted for the calm and elegant occupa- tions of learning, he made no great progress in his studies. His course of life, on the contrary, was dissolute; and he became more famous, while at college, for foot-ball, cricket, wrestling, cudgelling, and other gymnastic amusements, than for his application to the in- struction of his tutors. He did not, however, totally neglect his studies; he obtained a tolerable knowledge of the Latin language, and likewise of the Greek and Roman histories ; and as he was afterwards 334 OLIVER CROMWELL. in possession of a valuable and well-chosen library, ever patronized men of learning and science, and through his whole life retained a regard for the university of Cambridge, we are not to suppose that he was averse to learning, or without a competent share of it. Upon the death of his father, which happened about a year after he had been placed at Cambridge, he left the university, by the direc- tions of his mother, who appears to have been a prudent sensible woman. Mrs. Cromwell was probably induced to take this step, from a knowledge of his irregularities there, which must have reached her ears : and it is not less probable that her injunctions were obeyed without reluctance by her son, as one reason of his returning home was to take possession of the family estate. He now fell into the usual dissipations of a young heir ; and unheedful of the affectionate entreaties of a tender mother, gave himself up to all the levities and vices of ungovernable youth. Oliver did not continue long at home. He soon after set out for London, in order to study the law ; and he became a student at Lincoln’s inn, where he remained about two or three years. But as the metropolis was not a place wherein his dis- solute propensities were likely to find restraint, women of easy virtue engrossed more of his time than Coke upon Littleton, and the chief places of his residence were taverns and brothels. His companions were of the lowest rank, his manners and behaviour being so boister- ous and overbearing, that no persons of respectability would be seen with him. So notorious was lie at length become, that it was not uncommon for the tavern-keepers, when they saw him coming, to say, “Here comes young Cromwell ! shut up the door.” In short, at this period he seems to have had no control over his actions, but to have gratified his inclinations without respect to time, person, or place. These dissolute propensities, however, do not appear to have sup- ported their dominion over the mind of young Cromw ell for any con- siderable length of time. He had scarcely completed his twenty-first year, before the impropriety of his conduct forcibly struck him ; and he began to listen to the admonitions of a fond and venerable mother. He became sensible of the folly of having lavished away much of his property ; a compunction for the crimes which had attended this pro- digality took possession of his mind ; and he formed the resolution, not only of parting with his foibles, but of correcting his manners. He did so, and this amendment of his conduct procured him many and great friends. His relations, the Hampdens and the Barringtons, now interested themselves in his fortunes ; and by their influence he ob- tained an alliance with a lady of the name of Bourchier, who compen- sated, by the fortune she brought him, and her virtue and good sense, for the want of personal attractions. How difficult is it in the concerns of life to obtain that happy medium, which ensures internal satisfac- tion, and at the same time the approbation of the world ! From a debauched way of living, Oliver fell by degrees into the other extreme. His sudden transition from vice to virtue, with the preciseness of manners he had since adopted, having recommended him to the notice of the nonconformists, particularly to some of their preachers , they weaned him from the established church, and instilled into his head all the enthusiastic notions of their own sect. His OLIVER CROMWELL. 335 course of Jife grew stricter ; his mind seemed wholly bent upon reli- gious subjects ; and he not only exerted himself in behalf of his new brethren, but his house became the retreat of their persecuted ministers. The nation at large being at this time extremely dissatisfied with the court, lie obtained through this mode of procedure a seat for the bo- rough of Huntingdon, as a champion of the people. Whether he was at this or any former period concerned in the brewing business, as his father had been, is difficult to ascertain ; but several lampoons, con- taining inferences of that kind, were published by his enemies during his life. Huntingdon after some time becoming disagreeable to him, on account of the loyalty of its corporation, and of his uncle Sir Oli- ver Cromwell, he sold his estates there, and took a farm at St. Ives in the same county. But his new residence does not appear to have been long agreeable to him. The occupation he had entered into was not suited to his turn of mind. Indeed, it did not turn out so advan- tageous as he expected ; which might partly be attributed to his want of knowledge in the grazing business, to which the farm was appro- priated, and partly from his employing too much of his own and his servants’ time in prayer and other religious duties. A more pleasing revolution in his affairs, however, soon took place ; for, upon the death of his maternal uncle, Sir Thomas Steward, who died in the year 1635, without issue, he became possessed of very considerable estates in and near Ely ; to which he removed, after having resided about five or six years at St. Ives. Here those seeds of ambition which were implanted by nature in the breast of Oliver, began to distend themselves ; and he seems to have neglected no opportunity of increasing his popularity. For, in the year 1638, we find him strenuously opposing the scheme for draining the fens in Lincolnshire and the Isle of Ely, which had been undertaken by the earl of Bedford and others, under the royal sanction. Notwithstanding the undertaking must have proved extremely beneficial to the country, and had been recommended by his father, yet as it was very unpo- pular, particularly among the common people, because they had a custom of commoning and fishing in dry times, Oliver set his face against it; and by his plausibility, activity, and interest, at a meeting of the propietors held in Huntingdon, he obliged them to drop their intention. By doing this, he gained a great number of friends, and it likewise procured him the title of “ lord of the fens.” By such gradual steps did that popularity expand itself, which at length was the means of raising him to the most elevated situations. But dis- I content for the present clouded his mind, and rendered him dissatis- fied with his native country. Having opposed by every means in his power the arbitrary pro- ceedings of the court, and finding that nothing would alter the system which Charles and his ministers had determined to pursue, he resolved to leave England, in order to enjoy that liberty of conscience which w r as denied him here. With this design he went to London, and em- barked with many other gentlemen of fashion, several of whom were of far better fortune than himself, particularly his cousin Hampden, on board some ships bound for New r England, in North America, which OLIVER CROMWELL. 33(5 was then the retreat of the disaffected and persecuted nonconformists, where they found a shelter from archbishop Laud’s impolitic and cruel severity. But his intention of leaving the kingdom was prevented by govern- ment, which, jealous of so many opulent subjects transplanting them- selves, issued a proclamation, forbidding any person to leave the kingdom without a royal license. This was followed by an order of council for stopping the ship in which Mr. Cromwell and his family had embarked, and likewise many other vessels bound on the same expedition. Disappointed in this plan, which would have frustrated the more Battering one that was imperceptibly carrying on, he retired again to Ely ; where, his mind being now disengaged from every thing but religious melancholy, heightened by dissatisfaction, both with the religious and civil establishments of the kingdom ; constantly reflect- ing upon some disappointment in his fortunes, which were never, through a want of economy, in a flourishing state; and magnifying, by the force of his imagination, the foibles of his youth into the greatest of crimes ; he became sour and gloomy in the extreme. Such was his prejudice against the established church and liturgy, especially against the cathedral service, that he once entered the col- legiate church of Ely during the performance of it, and being attended by some soldiers and rabble, put a stop to it, and drove away the congregation. In 1C40 king Charles summoned a parliament, in order to obtain pecuniary assistance from them ; but the commons rather wishing to procure redress for many real, and some supposed grievances, the mistaken monarch dissolved them, in hopes of getting money some other way than contending w ith an angry assembly. But scarcely were they dismissed, than he found himself obliged to call another parlia- ment. In both of these, Oliver obtained a seat as member for Cam- bridge, where his opposition to the draining scheme, before mentioned, had rendered him very popular. Thus did Oliver get seated in the long parliament, to the proceedings of which he afterwards put a stop by his own authority. Let us now take a view of the personal and mental qualifications of this celebrated man, in order to examine how far he might be supposed capable of making a shining figure in so august an assembly, and likewise what prospect is exhibited thereby of his future exaltation. He was now arrived at the middle age of life, which undoubtedly is the most proper for deliberation, and his judgment and capacity were certainly great : but in these qualifications he was only on a par with very many in the house at that time, consequently there could be but little prospect of his attaining a pre-eminence. In the next place, his estate, even at the best of times, was too inconsiderable for a man to set himself up, on the strength of it, as the leader of a party in a great nation, and, when compared to what the generality of his fellow members enjoyed, it might be considered as a mere bagatelle. In his advantages as a gentleman, there appears to have been a still greater disproportion between him and most of the members of the house of commons. Instead of being versed in the dead and OLIVER CROMWELL. 337 living languages, his learning, as already observed, extended only to a moderate acquirement of the Latin : so far frbm being acquainted with the jarring interests of foreign courts, and the dispositions of the different princes on the continent, he had never been out of the kingdom ; and as to a knowledge of the arrangements of the English court, and the characters of the leading men either of that or the country party, it must have been very confined, as he had resided but a short time in the capital, and had sat in parliament but a few months. His person, though manly, did not possess any of those elegancies which captivate regard or command respect, and which are only to be acquired by a long and familiar acquaintance with persons of the first rank. And as for his dress, it was far from attracting respect. He rather engaged the attention of the house by a slovenly habit. His clothes were ill made, entirely out of the fashion, the work of an ordinary country tailor, and no part of them of the best materials. Sir Philip Warwick, a gentleman, the exactness of whose description may be relied on, gives the following account of Oliver’s appearance w hen he was first called to sit in the long parliament. “ The first time,” says the knight, “ that ever I took notice of him, was in the beginning of the parliament held in November 1640. I came one morning into the house, and perceived a gentleman speaking, whom I knew not, very ordinarily apparelled ; for it was a plain cloth suit, which seemed to have been made by a bad country tailor; his linen was plain, and not very clean ; and I remember a speck or two of blood upon his little band, which was not much larger than his collar; his hat was without a band; his stature was of good size; his sword stuck close to his side ; his countenance swollen and red- dish ; his voice harsh and untunable ; and his eloquence full of fervour.” With all these disadvantages of mind and body, was it ever to be expected that Oliver would become a principal person in the senate, and much less its future sovereign ? It is, however, no less strange than true, that this very man, within a few years, was not only noticed in the house for the boldness of his speeches, and the solidity of his arguments, but that he studied both grace in his gesture, and neatness and gentility in his dress. “ And I lived to see,” continues Sir Philip Warwick, “this very gentleman, who out of no ill will I thus describe, by multiplied good successes, and by real but usurped power, having had a better tailor, and more converse among good company, in my own age, when for six weeks together I was a pri- soner in his sergeant’s hands, and daily waited at Whitehall, appear of a great and majestic deportment, and comely presence.” From the foregoing observations we see, that though Oliver’s speeches w'ere delivered at first withoutgrace, eloquence, or even per- spicuity, yet he soon commanded the attention of the house by the depth of his arguments; and overcame all his disadvantages, by his penetration, unwearied diligence, courage, and perseverance ; by his accommodating himself to the dispositions of the different persons of his own party, and discovering the tempers of all ; and by even not neglecting to copy the dress and behaviour of the most graceful and refined. 2 u ' 333 OLIVER CROMWELL. A man of his deep penetration could not but perceive that the national liberty was deeply wounded. II is gloomy turn of mind might induce him to consider it as absolutely destroyed. And as he was undoubtedly, in hi? religious sentiments, a flaming puritanical bigot, lie was as violent against the decent ceremonies of the church, as archbishop Laud was anxious to graft upon them many of the super- stitions of the church of Home. Probably, even at this early period, he foresaw that a civil war must decide between prerogative and liberty ; and had already deter- mined what part he should take. But if he had formed any aspiring views, they must have been very confined ; the most towering flights of his ambition could never have suggested a hope of attaining the command of an army, much less that of the whole kingdom. The ill-fated year 1642 witnessed the commencement of the fatal quarrel between king Charles and his parliament; which took its rise from the insincerity of both. Upon this occasion, Oliver, through the interest of his relation Mr. Hampden, obtained a commission from the latter to raise a troop of horse, which he found no diffi- culty in doing in his own county of Huntingdon ; and as his recruits chiefly consisted of freeholders* sons, they did not a little contribute, by their firmness and discipline, to his success and elevation. He first served under Sir Philip Stapleton, and was in the battle of Edgehill, where the dawning of his bravery first shone forth. The following year, 1643, he obtained a colonel’s commission ; and almost immediately after, for the services he had performed, was appointed lieutenant-general to the earl of Manchester. Such was the rapidity with which he rose in the army, notwithstanding he was totally unacquainted with arms before the fatal rupture commenced. But it was the at relief of Gainsborough, during this year, w here, with the brave troop of his countrymen, he exhibited the great proofs of his courage, that laid the foundation of his future greatness. Oliver’s antipathy was so determined and undisguised, that he would enlist none but those who would resolve to go any lengths with him against the king. And this enmity was so well known to archbishop Williams, that he advised his majesty to secure him by some signal favour, or to take him oft' by violence. Though Charles at the time only smiled at the bishop’s proposal, yet he was after- wards heard to say, “ I would that some would do me the service to bring Cromwell to me, alive or dead.” Under Fairfax, he w as the grand movement of a victorious army, from which, in the end, the kingdom must receive its laws. Now it was that his contracted principles of religion, together with his ostensi- ble patriotism, began to give w ay to his ambition. Of the former, if we may judge by the tenor of his conduct, little more than the mask remained. And when honours and great emoluments courted his acceptance, to a mind aspiring as his, it was impossible to sit down again as a private gentleman. His ambition, however, at this time, might have had its limits. He had probably set a certain mark to his desires, the arriving at which would entirely have satis- fied him ; and in return, he would, no doubt, have been as firm a friend to the ruined monarch, as he had been a formidable foe. His OLIVER CROMWELL. 330 utmost wish, it is said, was at one time to have been created earl of Essex, honoured with the garter, made first captain of the guards, and declared vicar-general of the kingdom. It is true, these demands have the appearance of being very extravagant ; and yet when his consequence in the state, at the time the demand was made, is consi- dered, and that his namesake and relation, Sir Thomas Cromwell, from the meanest situation had been invested with greater honours and revenues than these by so haughty a monarch as Henry VIII., it will not be thought that he was so unreasonable in his proposals. The parliament, who had much less to fear or hope from him than the king, when the propositions for peace were under consideration of the house, voted that he should be created a baron, and have two thou- sand five hundred pounds a year settled upon him. The unfortunate Charles, whose mind was unsettled, wavering, distrustful, and insin- cere, instead of closing with terms which alone could save his crown, his life, and the constitution, endeavoured by artifice, first to amuse, and then to ruin him But Cromwell, to whom nothing, how secret soever, was unknown, excelled the king as much in policy as he did in real power; and he now agreed, though with some reluctance at first, to secure his own life, by the sacrifice of that of his sovereign. At this time he could have formed no idea of attaining the eminence he afterward did. On the contrary, there is every reason to believe, that he would have been happy to have closed with his majesty, had he found him sincere, and could have done it with safety to himself, by not risking the hatred of the army ; for it appears that they were so jealous of him, that he durst not be seen with, or permit any one to come to him from the king. Oliver, however, is known to have averred that “it must be expected, he would perish for his sake.” But it was not till after this that Oliver met with a full confirmation of Charles’s insincerity, in a letter from him to the queen, w herein he says, “that lie was courted by both parties, but w'ould close with that which offered him the best terms a declaration highly ungenerous, as he had at that time pledged his honour to the army. The king even w'ent farther : in another letter he informed her majesty, “ that it would be easier for him to take off Cromwell when lie had agreed with the parliament, than now he w : as at the head of his army.” Oliver, who was perfectly acquainted with every step taken by the king, acquired a know ledge of the contents of these letters ; and probably it was upon this occasion that he said, “ If it must be my head or the king’s, can I hesitate which to choose V Though these deceptions may seem to render Oliver’s unremitted enmity to the king in some degree warrantable, yet his hypocrisy to the public, and jocularity throughout the dreadful tragedy of his majesty’s trial and execution, will not admit of the least palliation. A great part of the latter indeed was affected, and only a cover to hide the perturbation of his mind. The first principle of nature, self-defence, might be pleaded in his justification, or at least as an extenuation, in putting the king to death ; but to indulge a vein of mirth and pleasantry in the misfortune of any one, particularly a person of so high a dignity, and who stood in so 340 OLIVER CROMWELL. sacred a relation to him as that of his sovereign, cannot be excused. During the last scenes of the king’s life, he talked jestingly, and acted buffoonery ; and this, too, when he was confessing himself guided by Providence ; and with a hypocritical countenance lamented the situa- tion of him whose miserable fate he was fixing. While the trial of the king was carrying on, he laughed and jeered in the court of wards; and even in the solemn act of signing the war- rant for his majesty’s execution, he marked the face of one of his companions with his pen, — who returned the compliment. It is likewise a well-known fact, that he went to feast his eyes upon the murdered king; and it is said that he put his finger to the neck, to feel if the head was entirely severed. On viewing the inside of the body, he observed how sound it was, and how well made for lon- gevity. And yet, notwithstanding these unequivocal marks of satis- faction at the tragical steps that had been taken, he mocked his Ma- ker, both before and during the trial and execution, with hypocritical prayers on his sovereign’s behalf, and was often seen to shed tears for his unhappy situation and death. The artful manner by which, after Charles’s catastrophe, he drove his masters and employers (the parlia- ment) from the sovereignty, and stepped into it himself, is too well known to need a repetition here. He accomplished the latter with the same consummate art and resolution with which he had brought about the former; and on the I ‘2th of December, 1653, he was elected the supreme head of the British empire, by the style and title of Lord Protector. His first inauguration into the protectorate took place in the court of chancery at Westminster, on the 16th of the same month, in the presence of the lords commissioners of the great seal of England, the barons of the exchequer, and the judges, the council of the com- monwealth, the lord mayor, aldermen, and recorder of the city of London, and many of the chief officers of the army. And a few days after, a second and more solemn investiture was performed in West- minster-hall, where scaffoldings were erected for the purpose, and at the upper end of which a chair and canopy of state were set. As a part of the ceremony, Oliver was presented by the speakers, in the name of the parliament, with a robe of purple velvet, a bible, a sceptre, and a sword ; and the oath being taken, the heralds, by sound of trumpet, proclaimed his highness, Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, together with the dominions thereunto belonging, requir- ing all persons to yield him due obedience. That he governed the nation, for the few years he was at the head of it, with an ability that wanted only legality to entitle it to the highest encomiums, must be allowed even by those w ho are most pre- judiced against him. He not only procured the British name honour throughout the world, but in his domestic administration ruled with as much disinterestedness as was consistent with his own safety and the temper of the times. The methods made use of both by the king of France and the king of Spain, to win the friendship of Cromwell, were beyond description humiliating. His very name was terrible to them. It is said, that iie obliged the haughty Lewis \IV. on executing a treaty, to sign his name after his. He w r ould not receive the title of Cousin from that OLIVER CROMWELL. 341 king, but expected that of Brother. He obliged all nations to pay his ambassadors the same honours they had paid to similar represen- tatives when these realms were governed by kings. All Europe trembled at his name. Cardinal Mazarine declared “ that he was more afraid of hint than of the devil.” The pope ordered pro- cessions to avert the thunder of his cannon from reaching Rome. The duke of Savoy was commanded to put a stop to the massacre of his protestant subjects ; and no sooner was the mandate received, than he obeyed. The Dutch were all submission to him. Sweden took uncommon pains to obtain his alliance. He treated Denmark and Portugal with an excess of haughtiness. All Italy, w ith the states of Africa, stood in awe of him, after he had severely punished them for the depredations they had committed on the British ships. So that, though the means by which he obtained the sovereign power w r ere highly unwarrantable, yet his use of that power was as highly com- mendable and advantageous to the nation. This prosperous consummation of his ambitious wishes was not, how- ever, attended with that happiness which alone could make it desira- ble ; for, worn out by excessive fatigue both of mind and body, by grief arising from many domestic misfortunes, among which the loss of a favourite daughter was not the least ; and likewise by financial diffi- culties ; he paid the debt of nature at his palace of Whitehall, Sept. 3, 1658 ; a day that in several instances of his life had been pregnant with great events to him. His body, after being embalmed, and wrapped in a sheet of lead, was removed on the 26th from the palace of Whitehall, his usual residence, to Somerset-house, where it lay in state ; and on the 23d of November was interred with great funeral pomp, in a vault purposely prepared for it, in Henry the Seventh’s chapel, in West- minster abbey. But no sooner was the restoration brought about, than a humiliating reverse took place. The body of the Protector, with those of Ireton and Bradshaw, having been taken from the places of their interment, w^re, on the 29th of January, 1660, the anniversary of king Charles’s death, conveyed upon sledges to Tyburn, where they hung till sun-set. They were then beheaded ; and their trunks being thrown into a hole under the gallows, their heads were set upon poles, and- placed on the top of Westminster-hall. Such were the indignities with which the corpse of this great man, (for, as the most victorious general and the greatest sovereign of the age in which he lived, such he must be allowed to be,) was treated by his enemies. With regard to his general character, whether he was a saint or a hypocrite, wdiether “ he deserved a halter or a crown,” has been, and still is, matter of dispute. The character which was drawn of him by Smollet, who, as he was known to have no small attachment to “ high prerogative,” we may suppose not to be partial to him, comes, probably nearest to the truth. It runs thus, Oliver Cromwell w'as of a robust make and constitution, and his aspect manly, though clownish. His education extended no farther than a superficial knowledge of the Latin tongue; but he inherited great talents from nature, though they were such as 342 WILLIAM LILLY. he could not have exerted to advantage at any juncture but that of a civil war, inflamed by religious contests. His character was formed from an amazing conjunction of enthusiasm, hypocrisy, and ambition He was possessed of courage and resolution, that overlooked all dan- gers and saw no difficulties. He dived into the characters of mankind with wonderful sagacity, whilst he concealed his own purposes under the impenetrable shield of dissimulation. He reconciled the most atrocious crimes to the most rigid notions of religious obliga- tions. From the severest exercises of devotion, he relaxed into the most ludicrous and idle buffoonery. He preserved the dignity and distance of his character in the midst of the coarsest familiarity. He was cruel and tyrannical from policy, just and temperate from incli- nation, perplexed and despicable in his discourse, clear and consum- mate in his designs, ridiculous in his reveries, respectable in his con- duct ; in a word, the strangest compound of villany and virtue, base- ness and magnanimity, absurdity and good sense, that we find upon record in the annals of mankind.” The Protector married, August 22, 1G20, at St. Giles’s church, Cripplegate, London, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Bourchier, of Felsted, in Essex, knight, who, notwithstanding she has been greatly traduced by the enemies of her husband, appears to have been a virtuous and deserving woman. In her person she was certainly very ordinary, and was usually denominated by the royalists, on account of the plainness of her person, Joan Cromwell. She bore him nine children, five sons and four daughters, most of whom were very amia- ble characters, particularly Elizabeth, the second and favourite child of Oliver, who was married to John Claypole, esq. and died a short time before her father ; and Henry, who was appointed by Oliver, lord lieutenant of Ireland ; where he, not only by the wisdom and equity of his administration soon procured the love of the Irish, so that they regarded him as a blessing, but was constantly treated with every mark of esteem even by the cavaliers of both kingdoms. What is remarkable in Oliver’s children is, that most of them disapproved of the violent steps their father was taking, and were warm partisans for Charles I. as well as for his son, whose restoration they greatly approved of, and lived quietly under his government. Besides the foregoing children by his wife, Oliver is supposed to have had several illegitimate children ; for though a great devotee, and affecting an outward sanctity of manners, he is known to have indulged himself, after he arrived at power, with the company of ladies, and that not in the most innocent manner. William Lilly. Some account of this man has been given in many publications ; but he was altogether so remarkable a character, that a general out- line of his history, in this place, may not be unacceptable to the curious reader : He was born at Diseworth in Leicestershire, in 1692, and was put to school at Ashby-de-la-Zouch in the same county ; but his father not being in circumstances to give him a liberal education, as he WILLIAM LILLY. 343 intended, at Cambridge, he was obliged to quit the school after learn- ing writing and arithmetic. Being then, as his biographers inform us, of a forward temper, and endued with shrewd wit, he resolved to push his fortune in London, where he arrived in 1620, and where his immediate necessities obliged him to article himself as a servant to a mantua-maker, in the parish of St. Clement Danes. In 1624 he was assistant to a tradesman in the Strand ; who not being able to write, employed him, among other domestic offices, as his book-keeper. He had not been above three years in this place, when, his master dying, he addressed and married his mistress, with a fortune of 10001. In 1632 he turned his mind to astrology, and applied to one Evans, a worthless Welsh clergyman, who, after practising that craft many years in Leicestershire, had come to London, and at this time resid- ed in Gunpowder-alley. Here Lilly oecanie his pupil, and made such a quick progress, that he understood, in the cant of his brethren, how “to set a figure” perfectly in seven or eight weeks; and, continuing his application with the utmost assiduity, gave the public a specimen of his attainments and skill, by intimating that the king had chosen an unlucky horoscope for the coronation in Scotland, 1633. In 1634, having procured a manuscript, with some alterations, of the “ Ars Notoria” of Cornelius Agrippa, he became so infatuated by the doctrine of the magical circle, and the invocation of spirits, as not only to make use of a form of prayer prescribed there to the angel Salrnonaeus, and to Lauoy himself, a favourite of great power and interest with that uncreated phantom, but even to claim a knowledge of, and a familiar acquaintance with, particular guardian angels of England, Salmaeland Malchidael. After this he treated the more common mystery of recovering stolen goods, &c. with great contempt, claiming a supernatural sight, and the gift of prophetical predictions, and seems to have known well how to profit by the credulity of the times. Such indeed was his fame, as to produce the following notable story. When one Ramsay, the king’s clock-maker, being informed that there was a great treasure buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey, obtained the dean’s (Dr. Williams, bishop of Lincoln) leave to search for it with the divining or Mosaical rods, he applied to Lilly for his assistance. Lilly, with one Scot, who pretended to the use of the said rods, attended by Ramsay and above thirty persons more, went into the cloister by night, and observing the rods to tumble over one another on the west side of the cloister, concluded the treasure lay hid under that spot ; but the ground being dug to the depth of six feet, and nothing found but a coffin, which W'as not heavy enough for their purpose, they proceeded, without opening it, into the Abbey. Here they were alarmed by a storm, which suddenly arose, and increas- ed to such a height, that they were afraid the west end of the church would have been blow n down upon them : the rods moving not at all ; and the candles and torches, all but one, being extinguished, or burning very dimly. Scot w'as amazed, looked pale, and knew not what to think or do ; until Lilly gave directions to dismiss the daemons, which when done, all w r as quiet again, and each man returned home. Lilly, however, took care not to expose his skill again in this manner, though 314 JOHN LILLY. he was cunning enough to ascribe the miscarriage, not to any defect in the art itself, but to the number of people who were present at the operation, and divided it ; shrewdly laying it down for a rule, that secrecy and intelligent operators, with strong confidence and know- ledge of what they are doing, are necessary requisites to succeed in this work. In the mean time he buried his first wife, purchased a moiety of thirteen houses in the Strand, and married a second wife, who, join- ing to an extravagant temper a termagant spirit, which all his art could not lay, made him both poor and miserable. With this lady he was obliged to retire in 1G37, to Horsham, in Surrey, where he continued till September, 1641 ; and now seeing a prospect of advan- tage from the growing confusion of the times, and the prevalence of enthusiasm and credulity of all kinds, he returned to London. Here having purchased several curious books in his art, which were found on pulling down the house of another astrologer, he perused them with incessant diligence, and, in 1644, published his “ Mertinus Anglicus Junior,” and several other astrological books. He had contracted an intimacy, the preceding year, with Bulstrode Whitelocke esq., who was afterwards his friend and patron ; and, in 1645, devoted himself entirely to the interests of the parliament after the battle of Naseby, though he had before rather inclined to the king’s party. In 1(>47, upon the breaking out of the quarrel between the parlia- ment and army, whose head-quarters were at Windsor, he was sent for, together with Booker, another astrologer, by Fairfax the general, who addressed them in these terms : ‘ That God had blessed the army with many signal victories, and yet their work was not finished ; that he hoped God would go along with them until the work was done ; that they sought not themselves, but the welfare and tranquillity of the good people, and the whole nation, and for that end were resolved to sacrifice both themselves and their fortunes ; that they hoped the art which they, Lilly and Booker, studied, was lawful, and agreeable to God’s word, and that he understood it not, but did not doubt they both feared God, and therefore had a good opinion of them ” To this speech Lilly returned the following answer : “ My lord, I am glad to see you here at this time ; certainly, both the people of God, and all others of this- nation, are very sensible of God’s mercy, love, and favour unto them, in directing the parliament to nominate and elect you general of their armies, a person so religious, so valiant. The several unexpected victories obtained under your excellency’s conduct will eternize the same unto posterity. We are confident of God’s going along with you and your army, until the great work, for which he ordained you both, is fully perfected ; which will be the conquering aud subversion of yours and the parliament’s enemies, and then a quiet settlement and firm peace over all the nation, unto God’s glory, and full satisfaction of tender consciences. Sir, as for ourselves, we trust in God, and as Christians believe in him ; we do not study any art but what is lawful, and consonant to the scriptures, fathers, and antiquity ; which we humbly desire you to believe.” This audience, in November, seems to have been occasioned by a suspicion of his attachment to the royal party, of which he had on x r,u.L\. 34 5 afforded some ground by receiving an application from the king, then in custody of the army at Hampton-courf ; fur in the August preceding, when his majesty had framed thoughts of escaping from the soldiery, and hiding himself somewhere near the city, he sent, as Lilly tells us,. Mrs. Whorwood, to know in what quarter of the nation he might be safely concealed, till he thought proper to discover him- self. Lilly, having erected a figure, said the king might be safely con- cealed in some part of Essex, about twenty miles from London, where the lady happened to have a house fit for his majesty’s reception, and went away next morning to acquaint him with it. But the king was gone away in the night westward, and surrendered himself at length to Hammond, in the Isle of Wight ; and thus the project was rendered abortive. lie was again applied to by the same lady in 1G48, for the same purpose, while the king was at Carisbrook castle ; whence ha\ing laid a design to escape by sawing the iron bars of his chamber window, Mrs. Whorwood came to our author, and acquainted him with it. Lilly procured a proper saw, made by one Farmer, an ingenious locksmith, in Bow-lane, Cheapside, and furnished her with aquafortis besides, by which means his majesty had nearly succeeded ; but his heart fail- ing, he proceeded no farther. About September, the same lady came a third time to Lilly on' the same errand. The parliament commis- sioners were now appointed to treat with his majesty ; on which our astrologer, after perusing his figure, told the lady the commissioners would be there on such a day, appointed the day and hour w hen to re- ceive them, and directed, as soon as the propositions were read, to sign them, and make haste with all speed to come up with the commission- ers to London, the army being then far distant from London, and the city enraged stoutly against them. The king is said to have promised he would do so, but w r as diverted from it by lord Say. All this while our astrologer continued true to his own interest, bv serving that of the parliament party, from whom he received this year, 1648, fifty pounds in cash, and an order from the council of state for a pension of 1001. per ann. which w'as granted to him for furnishing them with a perfect know ledge of the chief concernments in France. This he obtained by means of a secular priest, with whom he had been formerly acquainted, and who now w'as confessor to one of the French secretaries. Lilly received the pension two years, when he threw it up, w'ith the employment, on some account or other. He read public lectures upon astrology in 1648 and 1649, for the improvement of young students in that art, and succeeded so well, both as a prac- titioner and teacher, that we find him, in 1651 and 1652, laying put near 20001. in a house and lands at Horsham. During the siege of Col- chester, he and Booker w'ere sent thither to encourage the soldiers, which they did by assuring them that the town would soon be taken, which proved true, and was perhaps not difficult to be foreseen. In 1650 he published that the parliament should not continue, but a new government arise, agreeably thereto ; and in the almanack for 1653, he also asserted that the parliament stood upon a ticklish foundation, and that the commonalty would join together against them. On this he was called before the committee of plundered ministers, but 2 x 340 JAMES NAYLttR. receiving nothing ; before the arrival of the messenger, he applied to speaker Lenthal, always his friend, who pointed out the offensive passages, which he immediately altered ; and attended the committee next morning with six copies printed, which six alone he acknowledged to be his. By this trick he escaped, after having been only detained thirteen days in custody of the sergeant at arms. This year he was engaged in a dispute with Mr. Thomas Gataker, and, before the expi- ration of the year, he lost his second wife, to his great joy, and mar- ried a third in October following. In 1655 he was indicted at Hicks’s- hall, for giving judgment upon stolen goods, but acquitted ; and, in 1659, he received, from the king of Sweden, a present of a gold chain and medal, worth above 50l. on account of his having mentioned that monarch with great respect in his almanacks of 1657 and 1658. After the restoration, in 1660, being taken into custodv, and examin- ed by a committee of the house of commons, touching the execution of Charles I., he declared, that Robert Spairn, then secretary to Crom- well, dining with him soon after the fact, assured him it was done by cornet Joyce. This year he sued out his pardon under the great seal of England, and continued in London till 1665; when, on the appear- ance of the plague, he retired to his estate at Horsham. Here he applied himself to the study of physic, having, by means of his friend Elias Ashmole, procured from archbishop Sheldou a license to prac- tise it ; and from October 1670, he exercised both the faculties of physic and astrology till his death, which was occasioned by a para- lytic stroke, in 1681, at Horsham. He was interred in the chancel of the church at Walton, and a black marble stone, with a Latin inscription, was paced over his grave, soon after, by Mr. Ashmole, at whose request also, Dr. Smabridge, bishop of Bristol, then a scholar at Westminster-school, wrote a Latin and English elegy on his death, both which are annexed to the history of our author’s life and times, from which this memoir is extracted. Lilly, a little before his death, adopted one Henry Coley, a tailor, for his son, by the name of Merlin Junior, and made him a pre- sent of the copyright, or good will, of his almanack, which had been printed six-and-thirty years successively ; and Coley carried it on for some time. Lilly bequeathed his estate at Horsham to one of the sons of his friend and patron Bulstrode Whitelock ; and his magical utensils came into the hands of Dr. Case, his successor, of facetious memory. — Lilly was author of many works. James Nayler, An English Quaker in the seventeenth century, was remarkable both on account of the extravagance of the delusions w hich for some time possessed him and his followers, and the excessive severity of the punishment which was inflicted upon him. He was the son of an industrious little farmer, who supported his family by the cultivation of his own estate ; and was born in the parish of Ardslev, near Wake- field in Yorkshire, about the year 1616. He had a good natural capacity, and was taught to read and write his native tongue with correctness. About the age of twenty-two he married, and removed JAMES NAYLER. 347 into the parish of Wakefield, where he continued till the breaking out of the civil wars in 1641. He then entered into the parliament army, and served as a soldier eight or nine years, at first under lord Fairfax, and afterwards as quarter-master in major-general Lambert’s troop in Scotland ; till, being disabled by sickness, he returned home about the year 1649. At this time he was a member of the Independ- ent party, and continued so till the year 1651, when the preaching of George Fox made him a convert to the communion of the Quakers, as they are called. Among them he soon commenced preacher, and, according to their judgment, acquitted himself both well ia speaking and writing. In the beginning of the following year he imagined he heard a voice, calling upon him to renounce his kindred and his father’s house, and go into the west, promising that God would be with him. In obedience to this voice, which he believed to be the voice of God, he went about preaching from place to place, and greatly increased the numbers of the new sect. Towards the close of the year 1654, or early in 1655, he came to London, where he found a meeting of Friends which had been established by Edward Burrough and Francis Howgill, among whom he so greatly distinguished himself by his preaching, that many began to draw invidious comparisons between him and his brethren, which created uneasiness and differences in the society. To such a length did these proceed, that some women, admirers of Nayler, assumed the liberty of interrupting and disputing with Howgill and Burrougnin the midst of their preachings, and thus disturbed the peace of the meetings. For this conduct they were reproved by these preachers; upon which they complained so loudly and passionately to Nayler, that he was weak enough to take their part, and was so intoxicated with their flattering praises, that he became estranged from his best friends, who strongly disapproved of and lamented his conduct. In the year 1656 we find him in Devonshire, where he was committed to Exeter jail for propagating his opinions. Here he received letters from some of his female admirers and others, written in the most extravagant strains, calling him the everlasting Son of righteousness — the Prince of peace — the only begotton Son of God — the fairest among ten thousand, &c.; and some of his followers kneeled before him in the prison, and kissed his feet. Before he could suffer such language to be applied to him, the intoxication of his brain must have arisen to frenzy, of which he soon afforded additional evidence. While he continued in this prison, George Fox called upon him, and reproved him for his defection and lofty pretensions ; but without effect. At parting, Nayler would have kissed Fox ; but the latter told him, that since he had turned against the power of God, he could not receive his show of kindness. And it is but justice to the Quakers in general to mention, that they had now disowned Nayler and his adherents. Soon afterwards Nayler wa'fc released from imprisonment, and intended to return to London, but, taking Bristol in his way, as he passed through Glastonbury and Wells, his deluded attendants strewed their garments before him. When they came to Bedminster, about a mile from Bristol, they carried their extravagance to the highest pitch ; JAMES N A YLF.R. 310 for they formed a procession in imitation of our Saviour’s entrance into Jerusalem, in which a man walked bare-headed before Nayler, and a woman led his horse, while other women spread their scarfs and handkerchiefs in the road, and the company suns:, “ Holv, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts; Hosanna in the highest ! holy, holy, is the Lord God of Israel ! In this manner these mad people made their entrance into Bristol, marching though the mire and dirt, to the amazement of some, and the diversion of others ; but the magistrates thought proper to interfere, and, after an examination into what had passed, committed them to prison. Soon afterwards they were sent to London, and a committee was appointed by parliament to examine witnesses against Nayler, upon a charge of blasphemy, for admitting religious worship to be paid to him, and for assuming the names and incommunicable titles and attributes of our blessed Saviour. Before the committee, he did not deny what was alleged concerning the extraordinary proceedings in Exeter jail, at»d at Ids entrance into Bristo ; while he defended himself, by maintaining that the honours which he received were not shewn to him, but to Christ who dwelt within him; and that if they were offered to any other than to Christ, he disowned them. However, the committee having made a report to the house on the fifth of December, declaring the charge well founded, on the following day he was sent for, and heard at the har; and on the eighth they resolved that James Navler is guilty of horrid blasphemy, and that he is a grand impostor, and a great seducer of the people. The next business to be determined on was, the nature of the punishment to be indicted on him; which occupied the debate of the house, both on forenoons and afternoons, till the sixteenth of December, many mem- bers being for putting him to death, (and losing their vote, as secretary Thurloe, informs ns, only by fourteen voices',) w bile many other mem- bers totally disapproved of the severity which was used against him. At length, on the following day, after a considerable debate, the ma- jority came to the resolution, “That James Navler be set on the pillory ! in the Palace-vard, Westminster, during the space of two hours, on Thursdav next ; and be whipt by the hangman through the streets from Westminster to the Old Exchange, and there likewise to be set with his head in the pillory, for the space of two hours, between the hours of eleven and one on Saturday next; in each place wearing a paper, containing an inscription of his crimes : And that, at the Old Exchange, his tongue be bored through wiih a hot iron ; and that he be there also stigmatized in the forehead with the letter B : That he be afterwards sent to Bristol, and he conveyed into and through the said city on horseback, with his face backward, and there also publicly whipt the next market-day after he comes thither ; And that from thence he be committed to prison in Bridewell, London, and there restrained from the society of all people, and there to labour hard till he be released bv parliament ; and, during that time, be debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper, and shall have no relief hut what he earns by his daily labour. This sentence was repugnant to humanity, equity, and wisdom; for, though the religious extravagancies of Nayler might reasonably JAMES NAYLER. 319 shock pious and sober minds, yet his criminality ought to have been estimated, not by the greatness of the titles and claims which he assumed, or were given him, but by the delusion and frenzy which had seized his brain. On this ground he was an object of pity, not of indignation, and he should have been assigned over to the physician for a cure of his madness, and not to the executioner of public justice to be punished. In its cruelty this sentence bears a great resemblance to that passed on Dr. Leighton by the infamous court of star-chamber ; and it vied with it in illegality, for the house of commons is no court of judicature, nor has any power to inflict a punishment beyond im- prisonment during its session. To the honour of humanity, however, it ought to be mentioned, that several persons had offered petitions to parliament on his behalf ; but it was resolved not to read them till sentence had been passed. On the eighteenth of December, the first part of it was carried into execution with the greatest rigour ; but he was brought into a state of such extreme weakness by his cruel whipping, that, upon repeated applications to the parliament, his punishment was respited for one week. During this interval, many persons, looking upon him rather as a madman than guilty of wilful blasphemy, again interposed in his favour by a petition to parliament that the remainder of his punish- ment might be wholly remitted : but intolerance and vindictiveness resisted those solicitations. The Protector was then addressed, and wrote a letter to the house, which, though it occasioned some debate, obtained no resolution in favour of the prisoner. On this the petitioners presented a second address to Cromwell ; but, it is said, the influence of the ministers prevented its effect. Five of these reverend gentle- men, Caryl Manton, Nye, Greffith, and Reynolds, went to Nayler, in order to bring him to an acknowledgment of his offence: but though in many respects excellent characters, they did not manage this inter- view in a manner worthy of themselves, or honourable to their memory ; for they would admit no friends of his, nor any neutral or impartial person, into the room, although requested so to do. When Nayler insisted that what had passed should be put to writing, and a copy be left with him or the jailer, they consented ; but on remarking, in the course of the conversation, when he thought that they were desir- ous of wresting his words, “ How soon have you forgot the works of the bishop, who are now found in the same, seeking to ensnare the innocent !” they rose up with some warmth, burnt what they had committed to paper, and so left him, as he said, “with some bemoan- ingexpressions.” On the twenty-seventh of December, the remainder of Nayler’s sen- tence was executed at the Old Exchange. Afterwards he was sent to Bristol, where he w'as publicly whipt, from the middle of Thomas- street, over the bridge to Broad-street; which punishment, we are told, he bore with wonderful patience, as he had done the former. From Bristol, he was brought back to Bridewell, London, where he was confined about two years; during which his mind recovered from the frenzy which had governed it, and he felt deep humiliation and sin- cere repentance on account of his past conduct. Having also, not- w ithstanding the prohibition in his sentence, found means to procure JAMES NAYLER. *50 pen, ink, and paper, he Wrote letters to the parliament, the magistrates of Bristol, and his friends, in which he acknowledged and condemned his extravagant behaviour, and asked forgiveness of all to whom he had given offence. He likewise wrote several small books, in which he retracted his past errors, and other pieces that are particularly mentioned by Sewell. After the protector’s death, Navler was released from prison, and went to Bristol, where, in a public meeting, he made confession of his offence and fall, in a manner so affecting as to draw tears from most of those who were present, and having afforded satisfactory evidence of his unfeigned contrition, was again received into the communion of his friends. “ Because God,” says Sewell, ** forgiveth the transgres- sions of the penitent, and blotteth them out, and remembereth them no more, so could James Nayler’s friends do no other than forgive his crime, and thus take back that lost sheep into their society.” Nayler did not long survive his enlargement, for having left London in October 1660 , with the intention of going home to his wife and children at Wakefield, he was taken ill in Huntingdonshire, where, it is said, he was robbed, and left bound in a field. Whether he received any personal injury is not known, but being found towards evening by a countryman, he was carried to a friend’s house at Holm near King’s Rippon, where he expired in the month of December, when about forty-four years of age. The expressions uttered by him about two hours before his death, both in justice to his name, which is so conspicuous in the history of the reveries of human imagination, and on account of their own excellence, ought not to be omitted in the memoirs of his life. “There is a spirit which I feel,” said he, “ that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things, in hopes to enjoy its own in the end. Its hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or what- ever is of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all temp- tation : as it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives none in thoughts to any other. If it be betrayed, it bears it, for its ground and spring is the mercies and forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is everlasting love unfeigned, and takes its kingdom with entreaty and not w ith contention, and keeps it by lowliness of mind. In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow, and brought forth without any pity to it ; nor doth it murmur at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through sufferings ; for with the world’s joy it is murdered. I found it alone, being forsaken ; I have fellowship therein with them who lived in dens, and desolate places in the earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and eternal holy life.” His writings were collected together, and published in an octavo volume in 1716 . John Lilburne. This remarkable character in the republican party, during the time of Charles I. and Cromwell, was born in 1618 , of an ancient family in the county of Durham. Being a younger son, he was sent at an early JOHN LILBURNE. 351 age, and with very little education, to an apprenticeship with an emi- nent wholesale clothier in London. He appears to have imbibed from his family those principles of opposition to what were thought illegal exertions of power in church and state, which then began to prevail ; and he also inherited a bold, unquiet, ,and forward temper, which involved him in that perpetual series of contention and suffering by which his life was distinguished. He gave an early specimen of his disposition by a complaint before the city chamberlain against his master for ill-usage; and having carried his point, he was enabled to indulge his propensity for reading, which was turned to the religious systems and controversies at that time so much studied by the purita- nical party. The book of Martyrs, in particular, inspired him with an enthusiastic passion for encountering all dangers and sufferings in the cause of truth. He soon began to be taken notice of by those of similar sentiments ; and was introduced by his pastor in 1636, to Dr. Bast- W'ick, then a star-chamber prisoner on account of sedition. Contracting an intimacy with this person, he was entrusted to carry over to Holland one of his anti-episcopal writings, in order to get it printed. On his return, he employed himself in similar occupations, till, being betrayed by an associate, he w'as apprehended, and found guilty, in the star-chamber court, of printing and publishing libels and seditious books. At his examinations he refused to answer interroga- tories, and stood up so firmly for the privileges of Englishmen, that he acquired the appellation of Freeborn John. His sentence was to receive five hundred lashes at the cart’s tail, and then to be set in the pillory, w hich was executed in April, 1638, with great severity ; but his spirit was so far from being subdued by this treatment, that upon the pillory he uttered many invectives against the bishops, and threw pamphlets from his pockets among the crowd. For this contumacy he was remanded to prison, and kept double ironed in one of the worst wards ; yet here he contrived to get another libel printed and published. Such was the opinion of his desperate resolution, that a fire having taken place near his cell, he was thought to have caused it for his deliverance, and the other prisoners and neighbours joined in an application for his removal to a more airy situation. On the meeting of the long parliament in 1640, an order was made, in consequence of his petition to the house of commons, that he should have the liberties of the Fleet and a better apartment. In consequence of this indulgence, he w as enabled to appear as one of the ringleaders of an armed mob which assembled at Westminster, and cried out for justice against the earl of Strafford ; for which he was brought to the bar of the house of lords on a charge of treason, but was dis- missed. In May, 1641, a vote passed the house of commons, “That the sentence of the star-chamber against Mr. Lilburne was illegal, barba- rous, bloody, and tyrannical, and that reparations ought to be given him for his imprisonment, sufferings, and losses.” When an army was raised by the parliament, Lilburne entered into it as a volunteer, and at the battle of Edgehill acted as a captain of infantry. He behaved with distinguished bravery at the affair of Brentford, where he was made prisoner, and carried to Oxford. He was there arraigned JOHN I.ILDURKE. 552 of high treason, but was saved by a declaration of parliament, threat- cuing reprisals, and soon after was exchanged. He was received with triumph by his party, and rewarded with apurse of three hun- dred pounds. When his general, the earl of Essex, began to urge the Scotch cove- nant in the army, Lilburne, who was attached to the. principles of the Independents, left him, and obtained the commission of major of foot in the forces raised by the earl of Manchester. The regiment in which he served was sent to garrison Boston in Lincolnshire, and he w as diligent in putting the place in a good state of defence. Having quarrelled here with his colonel, the earl of Manchester made him lieu- tenant colonel to his own regiment of dragoons, in which situation he behaved with great bravery at the battle of Marston-nioor, in 1644. Cromwell and Fairfax would willingly have given him a good post in the army, as new-modelled in 1645 ; but Lilburne’s dislike to Presin - terian church government would not permit him to serve the party then in power, and he laid down his sword. This, however, was only to take up his other weapon, the pen, which he employed against Prvnne, Lcnthal, and other persons. He was in consequence committed to New gate on a charge of seditious practices ; but no bill being found against him, he was discharged without trial. It would be a waste of the reader s time to enter into all the events of this man’s turbulent life, which are detailed with extraordinary mi- nuteness in the Biographia Britannica. A few incidents, most impor- tant to his character and that of the times, will suffice for the remain- der of the article. Having thrown out some reflections against the earl of Manchester, for which he was brought before the house of lords, he treated the jurisdiction of that house with so much contempt, that he was committed first to Newgate, and then to the Tower. So much was he regarded by the people as the champion of liberty, that a remonstrance, signed by many thousand names, was presented to the house of commons in his behalf. This failing of effect, he continued to publish pamphlets, in which he displayed his grievances in such bold and virulent language, that he rendered the leading men of all parties his enemies. Finding himself abandoned by the parliament, he endeavoured to engage the army in his favour ; and as he conceived that his wishes were thwarted by Cromwell, he did not scruple to charge that power- ful man with a design of usurping the sovereignty. He even brought a charge of high treason against Cromwell and Ireton, on account of which he was ordered to be tried for seditious and scandalous practices against the state. In conclusion, however, so active and numerous were his friends among the people, that the house of commons, in 1648, thought fit to discharge him from imprisonment, and make an order for giving him satisfaction for his sufferings. At the time of the king’s death, Lilburne w as extremely busy in plans for settlino- a new mode of government. Finding the army-leaders resolved to keep the power in their own hands, he opposed them wilh his usual intrepidity, and boldly maintained the right of the people to form a constitution for themselves. So dangerous did he aspear to Cromwell and his council, that he was again committed to the 'lower, COLONEL ELOOD. 353 and brought to his trial for high treason, before a special commission, but was fully acquitted by the jury, to the great joy of the populace. Upon this occasion, a medal of his head was struck, with the following ■inscription : — “ John Lilburne, saved by the power of God and the integrity of his jury, who are judges of law as well as of fact.” The names of the jurymen are on the reverse. A new offence which he gave to the parliament, caused that body to pass a sentence of heavy fine and punishment against him, upon which he retired to Holland. Here he remained till the dissolution of the long parliament, when he used all his interest to obtain a passport for his return to England ; but not succeeding, he ventured, in June 1653, to return without one. Being apprehended and committed to Newgate, he defended himself on the plea of illegality in his sentence of banishment; and this served him so well at his trial at the Old Bailey, that he was again acquitted by the jury. He was, however, ordered to be re-transported ; but givirig security for his future quiet behaviour, he was suffered to re- main. He now settled at Elthani in Kent, and having apparently spent the contentious fir® of his disposition, but retained his enthu- siasm, he joined the Quakers, and preached at their meetings in Wool- wich and other adjacent places, till his death, in 1657, at ihe age of thirty-nine. He had a wife, who seems to have possessed the undaunted spirit of her husband, and was his faithful and affectionate helpmate in all his sufferings. John Lilburne was certainly, according to Anthony Wood's expres- sion, “ a great trouble-world,” in all the varieties of government. This may partly be ascribed to his natural disposition, which was such, that it is said, “ If there were no more living but him, John would be against Lilburne, and Lilburne against John.” Yet it would be unjust not to grant him a pure and disinterested zeal for what he conceived to be justice and the public good ; which he pursued against all par- ties, with an invincible spirit, through a life of persecution. As a writer, he was extremely vulgar and virulent, but not without acuteness and a show of reason. He was a firm supporter of the law's of his country, which in return often supported him, and proved effectual barriers against arbitrary violence. Colonel Blood. Thomas Blood, commonly called Colonel Blood, was a disbanded officer of Oliver Cromwell, famous for his daring crimes and his good fortune. He w r as first distinguished by engaging in a conspiracy to surprise the castle of Dublin ; which was defeated by the vigilance of the duke of Ormond, and some of his accomplices were executed. Escaping to England, he meditated revenge against Ormond ; and actually seized him one night in his coach at St. James’s street, where he might have finished his purpose, if he had not studied refine- ment in his vengeance. He bound him behind one of his associales, resolving to hang him at Tyburn, with a paper pinned to his breast ; but when they got into the fields, the duke threw himself, and the assassin to whom he was fastened, to the ground, and while they were struggling in the mire, he was rescued by his servants, but the authors of this attempt were not then discovered. 354 COLON F.L BLOOD. After living- a considerable time among the malcontents in Ireland, he went to Holland ; where he became intimate with some of the principals of the republic, particularly the famous De Ruyter. He returned thence to England, with recommendations to the republican party; whence he went to Scotland, where he contributed much to the breaking out of the insurrection, and was present in the action of Pentland hills, Nov. 27, 1GG6 ; in which the insurgents were killed. He returned to England, where he rescued his friend Captain Mason from a party of soldiers who were conducting him to trial. In 1G71 Blood formed a design of carrying oft' the crown and regalia from the Tower : a design to which he was prompted, as well by the surprising boldness of the enterprise, as by views of profit; and was very near succeeding, lie had bound and wounded Edwards the keeper of the jewel-office, and had got out of the Tower with his prey, but was overtaken and seized, with some of his associates. One of them was known to have been concerned in the attempt upon Ormond; and Blood was immediately concluded to be the ringleader ; when questioned, he frankly avowed the enterprise, but refused to discover his accomplices : “The fear of death,” he said, “ should never engage him to deny an offence, or betray a friend.” All these extraordinary circumstances made him the subject of conversation, and the king was moved with an idle curiosity to see and speak with a person so noted for his courage and his crimes. Blood wanted not address to improve this opportunity of obtaining a pardon. He told Charles that he had been engaged, with others, in a design to kill him with a carabine about Battersea, where his majesty often went to bathe; that the cause of this resolution was the severity exercised over the con- sciences of the godly, in restraining the liberty of their religious assemblies; that when he had taken his stand among the reeds, full of these bloody resolutions, he found his heart checked with an awe of ma jesty, and he not only relented himself, but diverted his associ- ates from their purpose ; and that he had long ago brought himself to an entire indifference about life, which he now gave up for lost, yet he could not forbear warning the king of the dangers which might attend his execution ; that his associates had bound themselves by the strictest oaths to revenge the deaths of any of their confederacy, and that no precaution nor power could secure any one from the effects of their desperate resolutions. Whether these considerations excited fear or admiration in the king, they confirmed his resolution of granting a pardon to Blood ; but he thought it a point of decency first to obtain the duke of Ormond’s consent. Addington came to Ormond in the king’s name, and desired that he would not prosecute Blood, for rea- sons which he was commanded to give him. The duke replied, that his majesty’s commands was the only reason that could be given ; and being sufficient, he might therefore spare the rest. Charles carried his kindness to Blood still farther, and granted him an estate of five hundred a year in Ireland ; he encouraged his attendance about his person, shewed him great countenance, and many applied to him for promoting their pretensions at court. And while old Edwards, who had been wounded in defending the crown and regalia, was neg- lected, this man, who deserved to be hanged, became a favourite. COLONEL BLOOD. 355 Blood enjoyed his pension about ten years, till, being charged with fixing an imputation of a scandalous nature on the duke of Bucking- ham, he was thrown into prison ; yet though the damages were laid at ten thousand pounds, Blood found bail. He died, however, soon after, on the 24th of August, 1680. But the public had now got such a notion of the restless spirit of Blood, than they did not believe he could rest even in his grave. Nor did they indeed permit him to do so ; for a story being circulated that his death and burial were only a trick preparatory to some extravagant exploit, it gained credit to such a degree, that the body was obliged to be taken up, and the coroner’s inquest to sit upon it, and to call witnesses to prove the identity of the colonel’s corpse, before the public could be fully per- suaded that so extraordinary a genius was actually dead. Thomas Massianello. This person was the son of a fisherman of Naples, and is remark- able for being the author of a temporary revolution in that state. In 1623, when this man was born, Naples was subject to the house of Austria, and governed by a viceroy. The Neapolitans had supported the government in this house with great loyalty and liberality, and submitted themselves to many voluntary impositions and burdensome taxes in support of it. But in 1646, the necessities of the king requir- ing it, a new donation was projected, and a design was formed to lay a fresh tax upon fruits, comprehending all sorts, dry or green, as far as mulberries, grapes, figs, apples, pears, &c. The people, being thus deprived of their ordinary subsistence, took a resolution to dis- burden themselves, not only of this, but of all other insupportable exactions formerly imposed. They made their grievances known to the viceroy by the public cries and lamentations of women and children as he passed through the market-place, and petitioned him, by means of the cardinal Feilomarino, the archbishop, and others, to take off the said tax. He promised to redress the grievance, and convened proper persons to find out some method to take off the tax on fruits. But the farmers, because it was prejudicial to their interest, found some secret means to frustrate his endeavours, and dissuaded him from performing his promise to the people ; representing to him, that all the clamour was made only by a wretched rabble, not worth regarding. Thomas Anello, or Massianello, now in his 24th year, dwelt in a corner of the great market-place at Naples. He was stout, of a good countenance, and a middle stature. He wore linen slops, a blue waistcoat, and went barefoot with a mariners cap. His profession w f as to angle for little fish with a cane, hook, and line, as also to buy fish, and to retail them. This man, having observed the murmurings up and down the city, went one day very angry towards his house, and met with the famous banditto Perrone and his companion, as he passed by a church where they had fled for refuge. They asked him what ailed him ? He answered in great wrath, “ I will be bound to be hanged, but I will right this city.” They laughed at his words, saying, ** A proper squire to right the city of Naples !” Massianello replied. THOMAS MASSIANELLO. 300 replied, “Do not laugh, I swra- hy God, if t had two or three of my hurm ur, you should see what 1 could do. Will vou join with me?” They answered, “Yes,”“ Plight me then your faith which .they h iving done, he departed. A little after, when his fish was taken from him by the court, because he had not paid the tax, he resolved to avail him- self of the murmurings of the people against the tax on fruit. He went among the fruit shops that were in that quarter, advising them that the next day they should come all united to market, with a resolution to tell the country fruiterers that they would buy no more taxed fruit. A number of boys used to assemble in the market place, to pick up such fruit as fell. Massianello got among these, taught them some cries and clamours suited to his purpose, and enrolled such a number of them between sixteen and seventeen years of age, that they came to be 500, and at last 2000. Of this militia he made himself gene- ral, giving into the hands of every one of them a little weak cane. The shop-keepers observing his instructions, there happened the next day a great tumult between them and the fruiterers, which the regent of the city set Anaclerio, the prefect of the city, to quell. Among the fruiterers was a cousin of Massianello’s, who, according to the instruc- tions given him, began more than any to inflame the people. He saw tlmt he could sell his fruit hut at a low price, which, when the tax was paid, would not quit cost. He pretended to fall into a great rage, threw two large baskets on the ground, and cried out, “ God gives plenty, and the bad government a dearth. I care not a straw for this fruit, let every one take of it.” While the boys eagerly ran to gather and eat the fruit, Massianello rushed in among them, crying, “No tax! no lax !” and when Anaclerio threatened him with whipping and the galleys, not cfnly the fruiterers, but all the people, threw figs, apples, and other fruits, with great fury in his face. Massianello hit him on the breast with a stone, and encouraged his militia of boys to do the same, which obliged Anaclerio to save his life by flight. Upon this success, the people flocked in great numbers to the mar- ket place, exclaiming aloud agaiirst the intolerable grievances under which they groaned, and protesting their resolution to submit no longer to them. The fury still increasing, Massianello leaped upon the high- est table that was among the fruiterers, and harangued the crowd; comparing himself to Moses, who delivered the Israelites from the rod of Fharoah ; to Peter, who was a fisherman ns well as himself, yet rescued Rome from the slavery of Satan ; promising them a like deli- verance from their oppressions by his means, and protesting his rea- diness to lay down his life in such a glorious cause. Massaniello repeated these and such like words until he had inflamed the minds of the people, who were soon disposed to co-operate with him for this purpose. To begin the work, fire was put to the house next to the toll-house for fruit, both which were burnt to the ground, with all the books and accounts, goods and furniture. This done, every one shut up his shop, and, the numbers increasing, many thousand people uniting themselves, went to other parts of the city, where all the other toll- houses were ; them they plundered of all their w ritings and books, great quantities of money, with many rich moveables ; all which they THOMAS M ASS I A X EL TO. threw into a givatfireof straw, and burnt to ashes in the streets. The people meeting with no resistance, assumed more boldness, and made towards the palace of the viceroy. The first militia of the Massianello, consisting of 2000 boys, marched on, every one lifting up his cane with a piece of black cloth on the top, and with loud cries excited the com- passion, and entreated the assistance, of their fellow-citizens. Being come before the palace, they cried out that they would not be freed of the fruit tax only, but of all others, especially that of corn. At last they entered the palace, and rifled it, notwithstanding the resist- ance of the guards, whom they disarmed. The viceroy got into his coach, to secure himself within the church of St. Lewis; but the people, spying him, stopped the coach, and, with naked swords on each side of it, threatened him, unless he would lake oft' the taxes. With fair promises, and assurances of redress, and by throwing money among the multitude, which they were greedy to pick up, he got at last safely into the church, and ordered the doors to he shut. The people applied to the prince of Basignano, who was much beloved by them, to be their defender and intercessor, lie promised to obtain what they desired ; but finding himself unable, after much labour and fatigue, to restrain their licentiousness, or quell their fury, he took the first opportunity of retiring from the popular tumult. After the retirement of the prince, the people, finding them- selves without a head, called out for Massianello to be their leader and conductor, which charge he accepted. They appointed Genoino, a priest of approved knowledge, temper, and abilities, to attend his person ; and to him they added for a companion the famous handitto Perrone. Massaniello, by his spirit, good sense, and bravery, won the hearts of all the people, insomuch that they became willing to transfer unto him solemnly the supreme command, and to obey him accordingly. A stage was erected in the middle of the market-place, where, clothed in white like a mariner, he with his counsellors gave public audience, received petitions, and gave sentence in all cases, both civil and criminal. He had no less than one hundred and fifty thousand men under his command. An incredible number of women also appeared with arms of yarious sorts, like so many Amazons. A list was made of about sixty persons, who had farmed the taxes, or been some way concerned in the custom houses; and, as it was said they enriched themselves with the blood of the people, and ought to be made examples to future ages, an order was issued, that their houses and goods should be burnt, which was executed accord- ingly, and with so much regularity, that no one was suffered to carry away the smallest article. Many, for stealing mere trifles from the flames, were hanged by the public executioner, in the market-place, by the command of Massianello. While these horrid tragedies were acting, the viceroy thought of every method to appease the people, and bring them to an accom- modation. He applied to the archbishop, of whose attachment to the government he was w r ell assured, and of whose paternal care and affection for them the people had no doubt. He gave him the origi- nal charter of Charles V., which exempted them from all taxes, 358 TIIOMAS MASSIANELLO. and upon which they had all along insisted, confirmed by lawful au- thority, and likewise an indulgence or pardon for all offences whatever committed. The bishop found means to induce Massianello to con- voke all the captains and chief commanders of the people together, and great hopes were conceived that a happy accommodation would ensue. In the mean time 500 banditti, all armed on horseback, entered the city, under pretence that they came for the service of the people, but in reality to destroy Massianello, as it appeared afterwards, for they discharged several shots at him, some of which very narrowly missed him. This put a stop to the whole business, and it was sus- pected that the viceroy had some hand in the conspiracy. The streets were immediately barricaded, and orders were given that the aque- duct leading to the castle, in which were the viceroy and family and all the principal officers of state, should be cut off, and that no pro- visions, except some few roots and herbs, should be carried thither. The viceroy applied again to the archbishop, to assure the people of his sincere good intentions towards them, his abhorrence of the designs of the banditti, and his resolution to use all his authority to bring them to due punishment. Thus the treaty was again renewed, and soon completed ; which being done, it was thought proper that Massianello should go to the palace, to visit the viceroy. He gave orders that all the streets leading to it should be clean swept, and that all masters of families should hang their balconies and window's with their richest silks and tapestries. He threw off his mariner’s habit, and dressed himself in cloth of silver, w ith a fine plume of feathers in his hat, and, mounted upon a prancing steed, with a drawn sword in his hand, went, attended by fifty-thousand of the people. While he was in conference with the viceroy in a balcony, he gave surprising proofs of the ready obedience of the people. Whatever cry he gave out, it was immediately echoed ; when he put his finger upon his mouth, there was such a profound universal silence, that scarce a man was heard to breathe. At last he ordered that they should all retire, which was punctually and presently obeyed, as if they had all vanished away. On the Sunday following the capitulations were signed, and solemnly sworn to, in the cathedral church, to be observed for ever. Massia- nello declared, that now having accomplished his honest designs, he would return again to his former occupation. If he had kept this resolution, he might have been ranked among the benefactors of his country ; but either through the instigation of his wife and kindred, through fear, or allured by the tasted sweets of rule and power, he still continued his authority, and exercised it in such a capricious and tyrannical manner, that his best friends began to be afraid of him. He seems to have fallen into a frenzy, which might naturally enough be occasioned by his sudden elevation, his care and vigilance, for he seldom either ate or slept during the whole transaction, and by his immoderate drinking of strong wine, which excess he gave into, on the happy event. — Four persons took an opportunity of assassinating him. As he fell, he only cried out, “ Ungrateful traitors !” His head was thrown into one ditch, and his body into another. The tumult. SIMON MORTX. V 359 however, did not subside until the Neapolitans were entirely freed from the reigning dynasty. Simon - Morin. This person was a celebrated French fanatic, who excited much attention at Paris in the seventeenth century : he was born about the year 16‘23, at Richmont, near Aumale in Normandy, of obscure pa- rents, who found means to procure hirq instruction in reading and writing, but they were not able to obtain a situation for him, in which he might earn his maintenance. He therefore went to try his fortune at Paris, where his good penmanship recommended him to the place of clerk in the office of M. Charron, extraordinary treasurer at war. Here he soon betrayed symptoms of a deranged imagination, and indulged so much in his visionary contemplations, that his business was neglected, and he was dismissed from his employment. He had now nothing to depend upon but his skill as a copyist, and having much leisure time, he spent it in a manner that increased the disorder of his mind, by listening to the reveries of the Illumines , who were then numerous in Paris. In company with persons of this description, he was one day arrested, and committed to the prison belonging to the bishop’s court ; where his behaviour w ? as in general so decent and inoffensive, that he was soon liberated. Having taken an apartment at the house of a woman w ho sold fruit and other refreshments to the frequenters of an ad joining tennis-court, he seduced the daughter of his hostess, whom he was obliged to marry. This adventure, hdw- ever, did not produce any diminution of his religious enthusiasm, and he formed an acquaintance with several of the fives-players, who were weak enough to attend to his rambling harangues, and to be persuaded that he saw visions, and had supernatural divine communications. His apartment was soon found (o be too small for the numbers who came to hear him, upon which he hired a much larger room in a neighbour- ing house. The police, however, being informed of those meetings, thought proper to arrest him a second time in 1664, and to immure him within the walls of the Bastille, where he was confined twenty-one months. At the expiration of that time he was again set at liberty, when his fanaticism appeared to have acquired fresh vigour during his hours of solitude, and he immediately set about composing his book of Thoughts, designed to explain and to propagate more widely his opinions. Manuscript copies of this piece were received with eager- ness by his deluded followers ; but the demand for it became so great, that in 1647 he caused it to be privately printed, w ith this title, “ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit : The Thoughts of Morin, dedicated to the King/’ &c. octavo* This work is a tissue of arrogance, wild fanaticism, and ignorance, and maintains some of the notions afterwards condemned in the Quietists, only that Morin carried them to a greater length of absurdity, mixed with mad presumption : for he affirms, that there would quickly be a reformation in the church, and that all nations should be converted to the true faith. He pretends that this renovation w as to be accom- plished by the second coming of Jesus Christ, in his state of glory, 360 SIMON MORIN. incorporated in Morin himself ; and that for the execution of the events to which he was destined, he was to be attended with a great number of perfect souls, and such as participated in the glorious state of Jesus Christ, w hom he therefore called the champion of gl° r y. For this publication Morin w r as denounced to the lieutenant of the police, and thought proper to withdraw' into concealment. Not- withstanding all his precautions, however, the place of his retreat was discovered, and he was a second time imprisoned in the Bastile, where he continued till the beginning of the year 1649. He then purchased his deliverance by a solemn abjuration of his errors, which he published the same year ; and followed it by a printed declara- tion, some months afterwards, to the same purport, and professed unreserved submission to the dogmas of the church. It was not long after this that he retracted his abjuration, and again attempted to make converts to his opinions by private persuasions, and the writings of one of his disciples, published in 1650 and 1651, which were attributed to his ow n pen. Upon this the parliament of Paris gave directions for his arrest, and sentenced him by an arret to spend the remainder of his days in a house of confinement for lunatics. This sentence was revoked in 1656, upon his making a second abjuration ; and he was again set at liberty. Still the frenzy of his mind was unsubdued, and he continued in secret to propagate his former opinions. He also composed, in 1661, with the design of its being circulated among his adherents through the instrumentality of Marets, a piece entitled, A Proof of the Second Advent on the Son of Man, and the Son of God in him. This agreement was so very satisfactory to our visionary, that he placed his entire confidence in Des Marets, and communicated to him all his secret opinions ; conferring upon him at the same time, as a mark of special favour, the offer of his forerunner, calling him a true John the Baptist risen again. Having thus obtained the evidence which he wanted, Des Marets basely impeached Morin of dangerous heresy; in consequence of which, he was taken into custody, just as he had put the finishing hand to a discourse which he was desirous of presenting to the king, beginning with these words ; — “ The Son of Man to the King of France.” He was now again committed prisoner to the Bastile, whencehe was afterwards brought to the Chatelet for trial, and there, on the deposition of Des Marets, was pronounced guilty of the charge preferred against him, and condemned to be burnt alive. Against this cruel sentence he appealed to the parliament, but with- out success; and it was carried into execution in 1663, when he was about forty years of age. It would have reflected greater honour on the justice and humanity of the parliament, if they had sent him once more to bedlam instead of the stake. At his execution his accomplices were condemned to be present, and then to be sent to the galleys for life, having been first whipped by the hangman, and branded with fleurs de-lis on the right and left shoulders. In this number there were two priests, and others of education superior to that of the vulgar. Those who have any curiosity to meet with further particulars concerning this fanatic, may be gratified by 361 JACK ADAMS. — ANTHONY M AGLIABECHI. reading, in Moreri, an extract from a curious paper on the sub- ject, inserted in the twenty-seventh volume of father Niceroir’a Memoirs. Jack Adams, the Astrologer. This person lived in the reign of Charles II., and styled himself Professor of the Celestial Sciences.” He was very singular in his dress, and affected to cast his horoscopes with extraordinary gravity. When his predictions failed, he asserted that the heavenly bodies did not absolutely compel, but only powerfully incline ; and threw the blame upon wayward and perverse fate ! There is a portrait of this personage existing, in which he is thus designated : — “ Magnifico Smokentissimo Custardissimo Astrologissimo, Cun- ningmanissimo, Rabbinissimo Vero Jacko Adams, de Clarkenwell Greeno, hanc lovelissiman sui Picturara. Hobbedeboody, pinxit et scratchabat.” The following curious description accompanies the portrait : — View here the wonder of Astrologers, How solemnly he with himself confers : Sure by his leaning posture we may guess Some serious things his noddle doth possess. The drum, tops, whips, and rattles, by his head He seems to slight, whilst fortune he doth read. Unto which purpose, with what earnestness. See how the gallant doth his counsel press; So earnestly as not to be denied, Longing to have a Princess for his bride. Joan, Queen of Sluts, as earnest doth importune His worship would be pleased to tell her fortune; Whilst he looks down with an intentive look. On the twelve houses and poor Robin’s book. The medal which before him hangs on pin, Is that which the Great Turk did send to him. Nought else remaineth, that we should describe, But horn-book and napkin by his side; His pipe’s at girdle, which he calls his gun ; His iukhorn a porridge pot: and so we have done. Anthony Magliabechi. This extraordinary man was born at Florence, October 28 or 29, 1633. His parents, who were of low' rank, are said to have been satisfied w hen they got him into the service of a man who sold fruit and herbs. He had never learned to read, and yet was perpetually poring over tire leaves of old books, that were used as waste paper in his master’s shop. A bookseller who lived in the neighbourhood, and who had often observed this, and knew the boy could not read, asked him “ what he meant by staring so much on printed paper V He said “ that he did not know how it was, but that he loved it ; and 2 z 362 ANTHONY MAGLIABECHI. that he was very uneasy in his business, and should be the happiest creature in the world, if he could live with him, who had always so many books behind him.” The bookseller, pleased with his answer, consented to take him, if his master was willing to part with him. Young Magliabechi thanked him with tears in his eyes, and having obtained his master’s leave, went directly to his new employment, which he had not followed long, before he could find any book that was asked for as readily as the bookseller himself. This account of his early life, which Mr. Spence received from a gentleman of Florence who was well acquainted with Magliabechi and his family, differs considerably from that given by Nueron, Firaboschi, and Fabroni. From the latter, indeed, we learn that be was placed as an apprentice to a goldsmith, after he had been taught the principles of drawing, and he had a brother that was educated for the law, and made a considerable figure in his profession. Ilis father died while he was an infant, but Fabroni makes no mention of his poverty. It seems agreed, however, that after he had learned to read, that became his sole employment, but he never applied himself to any particular study. He read every book almost indifferently, as it happened to come to his hands, with a surprising quickness ; and yet such was his prodigious memory, that he not only retained the sense of wh it he read, but often all the words, and the very manner of spelling them, if there was any thing peculiar cf that kind in any author. His extraordinary application and talents soon recommended him to Ermini, librarian to the cardinal de Medicis, and to Marnii, the grand duke’s librarian, who introduced him into the company of the literati, and made him known at court. Every where he began to be looked upon as a prodigy, particularly for his vast and unbounded memory, of which many remarkable anecdotes have beeu given. A gentleman at Florence, who had written a piece that was to be printed, lent the manuscript to Magliabechi, and some time after it had been returned with thanks, came to him again with the story of a pretended accident by which he had lost his manuscript. The author seemed inconsolable, and intreated Magliabechi, whose charac- ter for remembering what he had read w r as already very great, to try to recollect as much of it as he possibly could, and write it down for him against his next visit. Magliabechi assured him he would, and wrote down the whole ms. without missing a word, or even varying any where from the spelling. Whatever our readers may think of this trial of his memory, it is certain that by treasuring up at least the subject and the principal part of all the books he ran over, his head became at last, as one of his acquaintance expresses it to Mr. Spence, “ an universal index both of titles and matter.” By these means Magliabechi became so famous for the vast extent of his reading, and his amazing retention of what he had read, that he was frequently consulted by the learned, when meditating a work on any subject. For example, (and a curious example it is,) if a priest was going to compose a panegyric on any saint, and came to consult Magliabechi, he would immediately tell him who had said anything of that saint, and in what part of their work, and that sometimes to the / ANTHONY MAGLIABECIII. 363 number of about a hundred authors. He would tell not only who had treated of the subject designedly, but point out such as had touched upon itonly incidentally; both which he did with thegreatest exactness, naming the author, the book, and often the very number of the page in which they were inserted. All this he did so often, so readily, and so exactly, that he came at last to be looked upon as an oracle, on account of the ready and full answ ers that he gave to all ques- tions that were proposed to him, in any science or faculty whatever. The same talent induced the grand duke Cosmo III. to appoint him his librarian ; and no man, perhaps, was ever better qualified for the . situation, or happy to accept it. He was also very conversant with the books in the Laurentian library, and the keeping of those of Leo- pold and Francis Maria, the two cardinals of Tuscany. Yet all this, it is said, did not appease his voracious appetite, he was thought to have read all the books printed before his time, and all in it. Doubt- less this range, although very extensive, must be understood of Italian literature only or principally. Crescemberi paid him the highest compliment on this. Speaking a dispute whether a certain poem had ever been printed or not, he concluded it had not, because Mag- liabechi had never seen it. We learn farther, that it was a general custom for authors and printers to present him with a copy of what- ever they printed, which must have been a considerable help towards the very large collection of books which he himself made. His mode of reading in his latter days is said to have been this. When a book first came into his hands, he would look over the title-page, then dip here and there in the preface, dedication, and advertisements, if there were any, and then cast his eye on each of its divisions, the different sec- tions or chapters, and then he would be able to retain the contents of that volume in his memory, and produce them if wanted. Soon after he had adopted this method, of what Mr. Spence calls “ foreshorten- ing his reading,” a priest who had composed a panegyric on one of his favourite saints, brought it to Magliabechi as a present. He read it over in his new way, the title-page and heads of the chapters, &c. and then thanked the priest very kindly “ for his excellent treatise.” The author, in some pain, asked him “ w hether that w as all that he intend- ed to read of his book?” Magliabechi coolly answered, “Yes, for I know very w'ell every thing that is in it.” This anecdote, however, may be explained otherwise than upon the principles of memory. Mag- liabechi knew' all that the writers before had said of this saint, and he knew this priest’s turn and character, and thence judged what he would choose out of them, and what he would omit. Magliabechi had even a local memory of the place where every book stood, as in his master’s shop at first, and in the Pitti and several other libraries afterwards ; and seems to have carried this farther than in relation to the collection of books with which he was personally acquainted. One day the grand duke sent for him after he was his librarian, to a=>k him whether he could get him a book that was particularly scarce. “No, sir,” answered Magliabechi; “for there is but one in the world, and that is in the grand signior’s library at Constantinople, and is the seventh book on the second shelf on the right hand as you go in.” 364 ANTHONY MAGLIABECHI. Though this extraordinary man must have lived a sedentary life, with the most intense and almost perpetual application to books, yet ye arrived to a good old age. He died in his eighty-first year, July 14, 1714. By his will, he left a very fine library of his own collection for the use of the public, with a fund to maintain it; and whatever should remain over, to the poor. By the funds which he left, by the addition of several other collections, and the bounty of some of the grand dukes, his library was so much augmented as to vie with some of the most considerable in Europe. Of this collection, a catalogue and description of the works printed in the fifteenth century were published by Fossi, under ihe title “ Catalogus Codicum Szeculo XV. impressorum in Bibliotheca Magliabechiana, Florentine adversantur,” Florence, 3 vols. fol. 1733 — 1795. Of the domestic habits of Magliabechi, we have many accounts that represent him as an incorrigible sloven. His attention was so entirely absorbed by his books and studies, that he totally neglected all the decencies of form and ceremony, and often forgot the most urgent wants of human nature. His employment under the grand duke did not at all change his manner of life : the philosopher still con- tinued negligent in his dress, and simple in his manners. An old cloak served him for a gown in the day, and for bed clothes at night. Fie had one straw chair for bistable, and another for his bed ; in which he generally continued fixed among his books till he was overpowered by sleep. The duke provided a commodious apartment in his palace ; of which Magliabechi was with much ditficulty persuaded to take pos- session, and which he quitted in four mouths, reluming to his house on various pretences, against all the remonstrances of his friends. He was, however, characterized by an extraordinary modesty, and by a sincere and beneficent disposition, which his friends often expe- rienced in their wants. He was a great patron of learned men, and had the highest pleasure in assisting them with his advice and infor- mation, in furnishing them with all necessary books and manuscripts. Cardinal Noris used to call him his Maecenas ; and writing to him one day, he told him, he thought himself more obliged to him for direction in his studies, than to the pope for raising him to the purple. He had the utmost aversion to any thing that looked like constraint. The grand duke knew his disposition, and therefore always dispensed with his personal attendance upon him ; and when he had any orders to give him, sent him them in writing. The pope and the emperor would gladly have drawn him into their service, but he constantly refused their most honourable and advantageous offers. The regimen he observed contributed not a little to preserve his health to old age. He alwavs kept his head warmly covered, and took at certain times treacle, which he esteemed an excellent preservative against noxious vapours. He loved strong wine, but drank it in small quantities. He lived upon the plainest and most ordinary food. Three hard eggs and a draught of w'ater was his usual repast. He took tobacco, to which he was a slave to excess, but was absolute master of himself in every other article. He died in the midst of public applause, after enjoying, during all the latter part of his life, such an affluence as very few persons have JOHN JAMES II El D EGG AH. 365 ever procured by their knowledge or learning, and which, as he had acquired honourably, he bestowed liberally. Though he never composed any work himself, yet the commonwealth of learning is greatly obliged to him for several, the publication of which was owing to him, such as the Latin poems of Henry de Setti- mello, the Hodaeporicon of Ambrose Camaldula, the Dialogue of Be- nedict Aretin, and many others. A collection of letters, addressed to him by literary men, was printed at Florence in 17*25, but it is said to be incomplete. John James Heideggar. This very singular adventurer was the son of a clergyman, and a native of Zurich in Switzerland, w here he married, but left his coun- try in consequence of an intrigue. Having had an opportunity of visiting the principal cities in Europe, he acquired a taste for elegant and refined pleasures, which by degrees qualified him for the manage- ment of public amusements. In 1708, when he was nearly 50 years old, he came to England on a negociation, from the Swiss at Zurich ; but failing in his embassy, he was entered as a private in the guards, for protection. By his sprightly engaging conversation and insinuat- ing address, he soon became a favourite with our young people of fashion, from whom he obtained the appellation of the Swiss count, by which name he is noticed in the Tatler. He had the address to pro- cure a subscription, with which, in 1709, he was enabled to furnish out the opera of Thorny ris, which was written in English, and performed in the Queen’s theatre in the Haymarket with such success, that he gained, by this performance alone, five hundred guineas. The judi- cious remarks he made on several defects in the conduct of our operas in general, and the hints he threw out for improving those entertainments, soon established his character as a theatrical critic. Appeals were made to his judgment ; and some very magnificent and elegant decorations, introduced upon the stage in consequence of his advice, gave such satisfaction to George II. who was fond of operas, that his majesty was pleased from that time to countenance him, and he soon obtained the chief management of the opera- house, in the Hay- market. He then undertook to improve another species of diversion, not less agreeable to the king, — the masquerades ; and over these he always presided at the King’s theatre. He was likewise appointed master of the revels. The nobility now caressed him so much, and had such an opinion of his taste, that all splendid and elegant enter- tainments, given by them upon particular occasions, and all private assemblies by subscription, w ere submitted to his direction, for which he was liberally rewarded. From the emoluments of these several employments, he gained a regular and considerable income ; amounting, it is said, in some years to five thousand pounds, which he spent with much liberality, parti- cularly in the maintenance of perhaps too luxurious a table; so that it may be said he raised an income, but never a fortune. His charity was so great, that after a successful masquerade, he has been know'll to give away several hundred pounds at a time. “ You know poor JOHN JAMES 11 El DKG OAll. r»G(j objects better than I do, he would frequently say to the father of the gentleman who published this anecdote, “ Be so kind as to give away this money for me.” This well-known liberality, perhaps, contributed much to his carrying ou that diversion with so little opposition as he met w ith. That he was a good judge of music, appears from his opera ; but this is all that is known of his mental abilities, unless it may be added, in honour of his memory, that he walked from Chairing-cross to Temple-bar, and back again, and when he came home, wrote down every sign on each side of the Strand. As to his person, though he was tall and well made, it was not very pleasing, from an unusual hardness of features. But he was the first to joke upon his own ugliness ; and he once laid a wager with the earl of Chesterfield, that within a certain given time his lordship would not be able to produce so hideous a face in all London. After a strict search, a woman was found whose features were at first sight thought stronger than Heideggar’s, but upon clapping her head-dress upon himself, he was universally allowed to have won the wager. Jolly, a well-known tailor, carrying his bill to a noble duke ; his grace, for evasion, said, “ 1 never will pay you till you bring me an uglier fellow than yourself.” Jolly bowed and retired, wrote a letter, and sent it by a servant to Heideggar, saying, “ his grace wished to see him the next morning on particular business.” Ileideggar attended, and Jolly was there to meet him ; and in consequence, as soon as Heideggar’s visit was over. Jolly received the cash. The late facetious duke of Montagu, the memorable contriver of the bottle-conjurer at the theatre in the Hay-Market, gave an enter- tainment at the Devil Tavern, Temple-bar, to several of the nobility and gentry, to whom he imparted his plot. Heideggar was invited, and, a few hours after dinner, was made drunk, and laid insensible upon abed. A profound sleep ensued ; when the late Mrs. Salmon’s daughter was introduced, who took a mould from his face in plaster of Paris. From this a mask was made, and a few days before the next masquerade, at which the king promised to be present with the countess of Yarmouth, the duke made application to Heideggar’s valet de chambre, to know what suit of clothes he was likely to wear, and then procuring a similar dress, and a person of the same stature, he gave him his instructions. On the evening of the masquerade, as soon as his majesty was seated, who was always known by the con- ductor of the entertainment and the officers of the court, though concealed by his dress from the company, Heideggar, as usual, ordered the music to play “ God save the King but his back was no sooner turned, than the false Heideggar ordered them to strike up “ Charly over the Water.” The whole company were instantly thunder- struck, and all the courtiers, not in the plot, were thrown into a stupid consternation. Heideggar flew to the music gallery, stamped and raved, and accused the musicians of drunkenness, or of being set on by some secret enemy to ruin him. The king and the countess laugh- ed so immoderately, that they hazarded a discovery. While Heideg- gar stayed in the gallery, “ God save the King” w as the tune ; but when. JOHN JAMES HEIDEGGAR. 367 after setting matters to rights, he retired to one of the dancing rooms, to observe if decorum was kept by the company, the counterfeit step- ping forward, and placing himself upon the floor of the theatre, just in front of the music gallery, called out in a most audible voice, imitating Ileideggar, and asked if he had not just told them to play “Charlyover the Wafer?” A pause ensued; the musicians, who knew his character, in their turn either thought him drunk or mad; hut, as he continued his vociferation, “ Charly” was played again. At this repetition of the supposed affront, some of the officers of the guards, who always attended upon these occasions, were for ascend- ing the gallery, and kicking the musicians out ; but the late duke of Cumberland, who could hardly contain himself, interposed. The company were thrown into great confusion. Shame! shame! resound- ed from all parts, and Heideggar once more flew in a violent rage to that part of the theatre facing the gallery. Here the duke of Montagu artfully addressing himself to him, told him the king was in a violent pas- sion, that his best way w as to go instantly and make an apology, for cer- tainly the musicians were mad, and afterwards to discharge them. Al- most at the same instant he ordered the false Heideggar to do the same. The scene now became truly comic in the circle before the king. Heideggar had no sooner made a genteel apology for the insolence of his musicians, but the false Heideggar advanced, and in a plaintive tone cried out, ‘ Indeed, sire, it was not my fault, but that devil’s, in my likeness.”. Poor Heideggar turned round, stared, staggered, grew pale, and could not utter a word. The duke then humanely whis- pered in his ear the sum of his plot, and the counterfeit was ordered to take off his mask. Here ended the frolic ; but Heideggar swore he would never attend any public amusement, if lhat W'itch, the wax- work woman, did not break the mould, and melt down the mask before his face. Being once at supper with a large party, when a question was debated, which nation of Europe had the greatest ingenuity ; to the surprise of all present, he claimed that character for the Swiss, and appealed to himself for the truth of it. “ I was born a Swiss,” said he, “ and came to England without a farthing, where I have found means to gain five thousand a year, and to spend it. Now I defy the most able Englishman to go to Switzerland, and either to gain that income, or to spend it there.” He died, September 4th, L749, at the advanced age of ninety years, at his house at Richmond, in Surrey, where he was buried. He left behind him one natural daughter. Miss Pappet, who was married, September 2, 1750, to captain, afterwards adryiral Sir Peter Denis. Part of this lady’s fortune w'as a house at the north-west corner of Queen-square, Ormond-street, which Sir Peter afterwards sold to the late Dr. Camp- bell, and purchased a seat in Kent, pleasantly situated near West- ram, then called Valence, but now by its present proprietor, the earl of Hilborough, Hill Park. Thomas dritton. This man, who is worthy of record for the singularity of his character and attainments in a humble condition, was born about THOMAS BRUTON. 868 the middle of the 17 th century, at or near Iligham Ferrars, in North- amptonshire. He served as an apprentice to a small-coal man in London, and set up in the same trade in Clerkenwell. It was his business to go about the streets of London with his sack on his back, calling “Small Coals but with this occupation, than which none can be meaner, he was a chemist, a collector of curious books, and, above all, a musical amateur. His taste for chemistry he imbibed from his neighbour, Dr. Garencieres ; and his ingenuity enabled him to contrive a moving laboratory, built by himself at a small expense, with which he performed many curious experiments. Of the nature of these we are not informed ; but as many of the books he had picked up, related to the Rosicrucian philosophy, it is not improbable that he might waste some of his small-coal in search after the grand secret. His daily rounds through a part of the town abounding in book-stalls, probably first made him a collector of curiosities in that way, and eventually introduced him to those acquaintances which so much distinguished him in his sphere of life. About the commencement of the eighteenth century, a passion pre- vailed among several persons of distinction, for collecting old books and mss. ; and it was their Saturday’s amusement during winter, to ramble through various quarters of the town, in pursuit of those trea- sures. The earls of Oxford, Pembroke, Sunderland, and Winchelsea, and the duke of Devonshire were of this party, and Mr. Bagford and other collectors assisted them in their researches. Britton appears to have been employed by them ; and as he was a very modest, decent, and uupresuming man, he was a sharer in their conversation, when they met after their morning’s walk at a bookseller’s shop in Ave-Ma- ria-lane. Britton used to pitch his coal-sack on a bulk at the door, and, drest in his blue frock, to step in and spend an hour with the com- pany. But it was not only by a few bookish lords that his acquaintance was cultivated : his humble roof was frequented by assemblies of the flash and gay ; and this small-coal man has the singular honour of having set the first example in this country of that elegant and rational amusement, the musical concert. His fondness for music caused him to be known to many amateurs and performers, who formed themselves into a club at his house, where capital pieces were played by some of the first professional artists and other practitioners. Dr. Pepusch, and even Handel, ha\e here displayed their powers on a harpsichord, and here Dubourg played his first solo on the violin. Britton’s house was an old mean building, of which the ground-floor was a repository for coals ; over this was the concert-room, long, low, and narrow, and ascended to by a pair of stairs from the outside, scarcely to be mounted without crawling. Yet some of the fairest ladies of the land were seen to trip up this awkward ascent without airs or hesitation. This musical meeting commenced in 1678 , and it was affirmed that it was absolutely gratuitous ; but in process of time, probably after Britton had taken a more convenient room in the next house, a subscription was made of ten shillings a year each, for which, how- ever, he provided musical instruments. He had also a very good collection of ancient and modern music by the best authors. Mr. THOMAS GUY. 369 John Hughes, the poet, who was a performer at Britton’s concert, has commemorated him in the following lines, inscribed beneath his engraved portrait : Though mean ihy rank, yet in thy humble cell Did gentle Peace, and Arts unpurchased dwell. Well pleas’d Apollo thither led his train, And music warbled in her sweetest strain. Cyllenius, so fable tells, and Jove, Came willing guests to poor Philemon’s grove. Let useless Pomp behold, and blush to find So low a station — such a liberal mind. The singularity of Britton's mode of life, and the contrast between his station and his connexions, caused a variety of opinions to pre- vail concerning him and his meetings. He was taken for an atheist, a Jesuit, a sectary, and a conjurer, and his concerts were thought to be meetings for seditious or magical purposes. He was, however, a plain honest man, of an ingenious countenance and cheerful temper, and a sin- cere votary of the arts and studies in which he engaged. He appears rather to have been a general virtuoso, than a real proficient in any other branch, yet he played upon the viol-de-gamba at his own con- certs; and the not°d antiquary, Thomas Hearne, has attested his real skill in rare books and old manuscripts. He sold a large collection of these some years before his death, the printed catalogue of which, Hearne says, he has often looked over with wonder ; and another collection of books and music, being the chief property he left behind irn, was sold by his widow. The circumstances of his death were as extraordinary as those of his life, if the storv may be credited. A ventriloquist was introduced into his company by an acquaintance, who was lord of mischievous jests. This man, in a voice apparently coming from a distance, announced to poor Britton his approaching end, and bid him prepare for it by repeating the Lord’s Prayer on his knees. Britton, whose mystical and magical books had probably made him credulous, obeyed the injunction, went home, took to his bed, and actually died in a few days. This was in September, 1714. He was buried, with a very respectful attendance, in Clerkenwell church-yard. Thomas Guy. This person, the founder of Guy’s Hospital, was the son of Thomas Guy, lighterman and coal-dealer in Horseleydown, Southwark. He was put apprentice, in 1630, to a bookseller in the porch of Mercers’ chapel, and set up trade w ith a stock of 2001. in the house that forms the angle between Coruhill and Lombard-street. The English Bible being at that time very badly printed, Mr. Guy engaged with others in a scheme for printing them in Holland, and importing them ; but this being put a stop to, he contracted with the university of Oxford for their privilege of printing them, and carried on a great Bible trade many years to considerable advantage. Thus he began to accumulate money, and his gains rested on his hands; for, being a single man 370 ALEXANDER nlf-SZjKOFF. and very penurious, his expenses were very trifling. His custom was to dine on his shop-counter, with no other table-clotn than an old newspaper ; he was also as little nice in regard to his apparel. The bulk of his fortune, however, was acquired by the less reputable pur- chase of seamen’s tickets during queen Anne’s wars, and by South- sea stock in the memorable year 1720. To shew what great events spring from trivial causes, it may be observed, that the public are indebted to a most trifling accident for the greatest part of his fortunes being applied to charitable uses. Guy had a rnaid-servant, whom he agreed to marry ; and preparatory to his nuptials, he had ordered the pavement before his door to be mended, so far as to a particular stone which he marked. The maid, while her master was out, innocently looking on the paviers at work, saw a broken place they had not repaired, and mentioned it to them ; but they told her that Mr. Guy had directed them not to go so far. “ Well,” says she, “do you mend it : tell him 1 bade you, and 1 know he wiil not be angry.” It happened, however, that the poor girl presumed too much on her influence over her wary lover, with whom the charge of a few shillings extraordinary turned the scale entirely against her ; for Guy, enraged to find his orders exceeded, renounced the matrimonial scheme, and built hospitals in his old age. In 1707 he built and furnished three wards, on the north side of the outer court of St. Thomas’s hospital in Southwark, and gave 1001. to it annually for eleven years preceding the erection of his own hos- pital. Some time before his death he erected the stately iron gate, with the large houses on each side, at the expense of about 30001. He was seventy-six years of age when he formed the design of build- ing the hospital near St. Thomas’s, which bears his name. The charge of erecting this vast pile amounted to 13,7031. besides 219,4001. which he left to endow it: and he just lived to see it roofed in. lie erected an almshou e, with a library, at Tamworth in Staffordshire, the place of his mother’s nativity, (and which he represented in par- liament,) for fourteen poor men and women ; and for their pensions, as well as for the putting out of poor children apprentices, bequeathed 1251. a year. To Christ’s hospital he gave 4001. a year for ever ; and the residue of his estate, amounting to about 80,0001. among those who could prove themselves in any degree related to him. He died December 17, 1724, in the eighty-tirst year of his age, after having dedicated to charitable purposes more money than any one private man upon record in this kingdom. Alexander Menzikoff. This was a prince of the Russian empire, deeply concerned in the politics of his time. The general opinion of the origin of Menzikoflf is, that his father was a peasant, who had placed him at Moscow with a pastry-cook, and that he carried little pies about the streets singing as he went. In this situation he was seen by the emperor Peter, who, pleased with the wit and liveliness, which on examination he found in him, took him about his person, and thus opened the way to his fortune. Others, however, say that his father was an officer ALEXANDER MENZIKOF. 37 L in the service of the czar Alexis Michaelowitz, and that, as it was not extraordinary for gentlemen to serve in the stables of the czar, Men- zikoff was there employed as one of the head-grooms, and that in this situation his talents were noticed by the czar, and his advance- ment begun. Whatever may in this respect be true, it is certain, that when he had begun to attend the emperor, he soon made himself agreeable, and finally necessary, to that prince, whose projects he seconded with great address; and, having studied several languages, was able to be useful in various situations. Being appointed to the government of Ingria, his services in that situation obtained him the title of prince, with the rank of major-general in the army. He signalized himself in 1708 and 1709; but in 1 713 he was accused of peculation, and con- demned to pay a fine of three hundred thousand crowns. The czar, how- ever, remitted the fine, and having received him again into his favour, sent him with a command into the Ukraine in 17 L9, and ambassador to Poland in 1722. When the czar died in 1725, MenzikofF had already contrived the means of continuing and increasing his power. He was aware of the designs of Peter to give his throne to the empress. Catherine, and therefore, to secure her gratitude, MenzikofF prepared all parties to arquiese in this arrangement. Catherine was not insen- sible of her obligations to him, and agreed that her son, afterwards Peter II. should marry the daughter of MenzikofF, which she made an article in her will. At her death in 1727, the prince being then under twelve years of age, MenzikofF was also one of the regency appointed by her will, and the most active member in it. Soon after the accession of Peter II. that prince was affianced publicly to the daughter of MenzikofF, who then thought himself almost at the summit of happiness and elevation ; he was made generalis- simo by sea and land, duke of Cozel, and had the chief appointment in the household of the czar. Intoxicated at length 'with this extraor- dinary elevation, he behaved with haughtiness towards the young czar, and with an imprudent ostentation in himself, which gave his enemies, particularly the princess Dolgomchi, the means of supplanting him in the affections of the prince, and compassing his final overthrow. His disgraces now followed fast upon each other. The emperor removed from the palace of MenzikofF, w hither he had hitherto resided, and he was ordered to quit Petersburg!], and pass the remainder of his days at Oranienburgh, a petty town on the borders of the Ukraine, which he had built and partly fortified. On his depar- ture, he added to his other imprudences, that of setting out in great pomp; but on his journey he was overtaken bv an order to seal up all his effects, and leave him nothing but necessaries. Many com- plaints being now preferred against him, he was condemned to live alto- gether, for the rest of his life, at Beresowa, situated on the most dis- tant frontiers of Siberia. His wife, grown blind wdth w'eeping, died upon the jonrney. His three children fell sick of the small-pox, and one of them, a daughter, died of it. MenzikofF bore his misfortunes with more firmness than might have been expected. He even recovered his health for a time, which had been injured by a grossness of habit, and, being allowed ten roubles a day, he not only found them suffi- 372 ABRAHAM 3IIARP. cient for his wants, but saved enough to build a small church, at which he worked himself. Yet he did not long survive his disgrace, for he died Nov. 2, 1729; and, it is said, of a plethora, there being no person at Beresowa skilful enough to open a vein. Some time after his death, the Dolgomkis being in their turn disgraced, his surviving son and daughter were recalled by the czarina Anne : the son made an offi- cer in the. guards, with a restoration of the fifth part of his father’s fortune ; and the daughter had the appointment of maid of honour to the empress, and soon after married advantageously. MenzikotV had a very strong attachment to Peter 1. and to his maxims for civilizing the Russian nation. He was affable and polite towards strangers, that is, to all who were submissive, and not am- bilious of eclipsing him in wit or other talents. His inferiors, in general, he treated w ith gentleness, and never forgot a service rendered to him. His courage was incontestable, and proved on many trying occasions. His friendship, when once fixed, was steady and zealous. On the other hand, his ambition was boundless ; he could not bear a superior or an equal, much less a rival, in any quality or advantage. He was not destitute of w it, but for want of an early polish it was rather coarse. His avarice was insatiable, and led him into several difficulties, even with his iudulgenl master Peter 1 ; and when he was disgraced, he was found to possess the value of three millions of roubles, in jewels, plate, and money, besides his vast estates. There are many features of resemblance between Menzikofl' and Wolsey, not only in his rise from a low origin, but more particularly in the impru- dence, haughtiness, and ostentation, which accelerated his fall. Abraham Sharp. This eminent mathematician, mechanist, and astronomer, was descended from an ancient family at Little Horton, near Bradford, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where ne was born about 1(151. After completing his school education, he was put apprentice to a me chant at Manchester ; but having a strong attachment to mathematics, h quit- ted the mercantile business, and removed to Liverpool Hero he applied with great diligence to his favourite study, but particularly to those branches which relate to astronomy ; and to procure subsist- ence, he opened a school, where he taught writing and accounts. Happening to meet with a merchant or tradesman, in whose house at London Mr. Flamsteed the astronomer then lodged, he engaged with him as clerk, that he might have an opportunity of becoming acquainted with that eminent man. He therefore left Liverpool, anc. on his arrival at the capital soon made himself known to Mr. Flam- steed, by whose interest and recommendation he obtained a more profitable employment in the dock-yard at Chatham, where he re- mained till his friend and patron, convinced of his great merit in astronomy and mechanics, invited him to be his assistant iu fitting up the apparatus in the royal observatory at Greenwich, which had been erected about the year 1676. In this situation Mr. Sharp continued to make observations, and had a considerable share in forming a catalogue of 3000 fixed stars, with their longitudes and magnitudes • 4 ABRAHAM SHARP. 373 their right ascension and polar distance, and the variations of the same while they change their longitude by one degree. Being, however, of a weakly constitution, the fatigue of continually observing the stars at night, in a cold dense air,injured his health ; and for the recovery of it he returned to his house at Horton, where, as soon as he found himself in a state of convalescence, he fitted up an observatory of his own, having first made an elegant and curious engine for turning all kinds of work in wood or brass, and even irregular figures, as ovals, wreathed pillars, &c. He constructed also most of the tools used by joiners, clock-makers, opticians, and mathematical instrument-makers. The limbs or arcs of his large equatorial instru- ment, sextant, quadrant, Sic. he graduated with the nicest accuracy, by diagonal divisions, into degrees and minutes. The telescopes he used were all of his own making, and the lenses were ground and adjusted with his own hands. At this time he assisted Mr. Flamsteed in calculating most of the tables in the second volume of his Historia Celestis, and made curious drawings of the constellations, which were sent to Amsterdam to be engraved ; and though executed by a masterly hand, the origi- nals are said to have exceeded the engravings in beauty. In the year 1689, Mr. Flamsteed completed his mural arc at Greenwich, and in the Prolegomena to his Historia Celestis, he acknowledges, in a most ample manner, the valuable assistance he received from Mr. Sharp, whom. in the month of August, 1688, he had brought into the obser- vatory as his amanuensis. As he was not only a skilful mathemati- cian, but expert in mechanical operations, he employed him chiefly in the construction of the mural arc, w hich, in the course of fourteen months, he finished so much to Mr. Flamsteed’s satisfaction, that he speaks of him in the highest terms of praise. The ingenious Mr. Smeaton, in a paper published in the Philoso- phical Transactions for the year 1786, says, that this mural arc may be considered as the first good and valid instrument of the kind, and that Mr. Sharp was the first person who cut accurate and delicate divisions upon astronomical instruments. The delicacy of Mr. Sharp’s hand w ill permanently appear from the copper plates of a quarto book, published in the year 1718, entitled, Geometry improved by A. Sharp; or rather, 1717, by A. S. Philomath, in which not only the geometri- cal lines on the plates, but the whole engraving of the letters and figures, were done by himself. At the same time this elaborate work affords an honourable proof of the author’s great abilities as a mathematician, and contains things well worth attention : 1. A large and accurate table of Segments of Circles, with the method of its construc- tion, and various uses in the solution of several difficult problems. 2. A concise treatise of Polyedra, or solid bodies of many bases, both the regular ones and others ; to which are added twelve new ones, with various methods of forming them, and their exact dimensions in surds or species, and in numbers. The models of these polyedra he cut out in box-wood with astonishing neatness and accuracy. Few or none of the mathematical instrument-makers^ indeed, could exceed him in exactly graduating or neatly engraving any mathematical or astronomical instrument. In short, he possessed a remarkably 374 ABRAHAM SHARP, cleat head for contriving, and an extraordinary hand for executing, any thing, not only in mechanics, but in drawing, writing, and mak- ing the most exact schemes or figures in all his calculations and geo- metrical constructions. In the year 1G99 he undertook for his own private amusement the quadrature of the circle, deduced from two different series, by which the truth of it was proved to seventy-two places of figures, as may be seen in the introduction of Sherwin’s tables of logarithms, where may be seen also his ingenious improvements on the making of logarithms, and the construction of the natural sines, tangents, and secants. Mr. Sharp maintained an epistolary correspondence with most of the emi- nent mathematicians and astronomers of his time, as Mr. Flamsteed, Sir Isaac Newton, Ur. Halley, Dr.Wallis, Mr. Hodgson, Mr. Shcrwiu, <&c. and on the backs of his letters he received, w rote copies of his answers to them, in a short-hand of Ids own contrivance. It appears from a great variety of letters, which remained after his death, written by these and other celebrated mathematicians, that he spared neither pains nor time to promote real science. Being one of the most accu- rate and indefatigable computers that ever existed, he was' for many years the common resource for Mr. Flamsteed, Sir Jonas Moore, Dr. Halley, and others, in all troublesome and delicate calculations. On quitting Mr. Flamsteed, he retired to the village of Little Horton, in Yorkshire, where he spent the remainder of his days. He conti- nued all his life a bachelor, and passed his time as recluse as a hermit. He was ofa middling stature, but exceedingly thin, and being ofa weakly constitution, fell into a state of great feebleness during the last three or four years of his life. He died on the 18th of July, 1742, in the 91st. year of his age. In his retirement at Little Horton, he employed four or five rooms or apartments for different purposes, and in these none of the family were ever suffered to enter without his permission. He had few visitors, except two gentlemen at Bradford, one a mathema- tician, and the other an ingenious apothecary. When he chose to be visible, these were admitted on making a signal, by rubbing a stone against a certain part of the outside wall of the house. Every Sunday he regularly attended the dissentingchapel at Bradford, of which he was a member, and he always took care to be provided with plenty of halfpence, which he very charitably suffered to be taken singly out of his hand, held behind him during his walk to the chapel, by a number of poor people who followed him, w ithout his ever looking back or asking a single question. He was remarkably sparing of his diet, and very irregular in his meals, w hich he frequently took in the following singular manner : A small square hole or wicket formed a communication between the room where he was usually employed in his calculations, and another chamber or room to which his servant had access. This hole was closed by a sliding board, which he could remove at pleasure, and the servant always placed his victuals before the hole, without speaking or making the least noise. As soon as he had a little leisure, he visited his cupboard, to see what it afforded to satisfy his hunger or thirst : but it frequently happened that the breakfast, dinner, and supper were found untouched when the servant went to remove what ALEXANDER SELKIRK. 37-3 bad been left, so much had his thoughts been engaged in his calcu- lations. — Cavities, it is said, might easily be perceived in an old English oak table, atwhich he was accustomed to write, occasioned bv the continual rubbing and wearing of his elbow's. By his epitaph, it appears that he was related to archbishop Sharp. Mr. Sharp the eminent surgeon was his nephew ; arid another nephew was the father of Mr. Ramsden, the celebrated instrument-maker, who used to say, that Ins grand-uncle, the subject of this article, had been, some time in his younger days, an excise-man, but quitted that occupation on coming to a patrimonial estate of about 200 per annum. Alexander Selkirk. This person, wdiose adventures gave rise to a well-known historical romance, Robinson Crusoe, was born at Largo, in Fife, in 1076, and was bred a seaman. He went from England in 1703, in the capacity of a sailing master of a small vessel, called the Cinque-Ports, Charles Pick- ering, captain, burden ninety tons, w ith twenty-six guns and sixty-eight men ; and in September, the same vear, sailed from Cork, in company with another ship of twenty-six guns and one hundred and twent}' men, called the St. George, commanded by that famous navigator William Dampier, intending to cruise against the Spaniards in the South Sea, on the coast of Brazil. Pickering died, and was succeeded in his command by his lieutenant, Thomas Stradling. They pro- ceeded on their voyage round Cape Horn to the island of Juan Fernandez, whence they were driven by the appearance of two French ships, of thirty-six guns each, and left five of Stradling’s men there on shore, who were taken off by the French. Hence they sailed to the coast of America, where Dampier and Stradling quarrelled, and separated by agreement, on the nineteenth of May, 1704. In September following, Stradling came again to the island of Juan Fernandez, where Selkirk and his captain had a difference, which with the circumstance of the ship’s being leaky and in very bad condition, induced him to determine on staying there alone ; but when his companions were about to depart, his resolution was shaken, and he desired to be taken on board again. The captain, however, refused to admit him, and he was obliged to remain, having nothing but his clothes, bedding, a gun, and a small quantity of powder and ball; a hatchet, knife, and kettle ; his books, and mathematical and nautical instruments. He kept up his spirits tolerably till he saw' the vessel put off, w hen, as he afterwards related, his heart .yearned within him, and melted at parting with his comrades and all human society at once. Such is the rooted love we bear mankind, ruffians as too many of them are. Thus left sole monarch of the island, w ith plenty of the necessaries of life, he found himself in a situation hardly supportable. He had fish, goats, flesh, with turnips and other vegetables; yet he grew 7 dejected, languid, and melancholy, to such a degree as to be scarcely able to refrain from doing violence to himself. Eighteen months passed be- fore he could, by reasoning, reading his bible, and study, be tho- roughly reconciled to his condition. At length he grew happy, ein- 376 ALEXANDER SELKIRK. ploying himself in decorating his huts, chasing the goats, which he equalled in speed, and scarcely ever failed of catching. He also tamed young kids, and kept a guard of tame cats round him, to defend him when asleep from the rats, which were very troublesome. When his clothes were worn out, he made others of goat-skins, but could not succeed in making shoes, with the use of which, however, habit in time enabled him to dispense. His only liquor was water. He computed that he had caught 1000 goats during his abode in this island ; of which he had let go 500, after marking them by slitting their ears. Commodore Anson’s people, who were there about thirty years after, found the first goat they shot upon the island was thus marked, and, as it appeared to be very old, concluded that it had been under the power of Selkirk. He made companions of his tame goats and cats, often dancing and singing with them ; but he dreaded nothing so much as the thoughts of being eaten by his cats when he should be dead. Though he constantly performed his devotion at stated hours, and read aloud ; yet when he was taken off the island, his language, from disuse of conversation, was become scarcely intelligible. In this solitude he continued four years and four months ; during which time only two incidents happened which he thought worth relating, the oc- currences of every day being in his circumstances nearly similar. The one was, that pursuing a goat eagerly, he caught it just on the edge of a precipice, which was covered with bushes, so that he did not perceive it, and he fell over to the bottom, where he lay, according to Capt. Roger’s account, twenty-four hours senseless ; but, as he related it to R. Steele, he computed, by the alteration of the moon, that he had lain three days. When he came to himself, he found the goat lying under him dead. It was with great difficulty that he could crawl to his habitation, w’hence he was unable to stir for ten days, and did not recover of his bruises for a long time. The other event was the arrival of a ship, which was at first supposed to be French ; and such is the natural love of society in the human mind, that he was eager to abandon his solitary felicity, and surrender himself to them, although enemies ; but upon their landing, he found them to be Spaniards, of whom he had too great a dread to trust himself in their hands : they were by this time so near, that it required all his agility to escape, which he effected by climbing into a thick tree, being shot at several times as he ran off. Fortunately, the Spaniards did not discover him, though they stayed some time under the tree where he was hid, and killed some goats just by. In this solitude Selkirk remained until the second of February 1709, when he saw two ships come into the bay, and knew them to be Eng- lish. He immediately lighted a fire as a signal, and on their coming on shore, found they were the Duke, captain Rogers, and the Duchess, captain Courtnay, two privateers from Bristol. He gave them the best entertainment he could afford ; and as they had been a long time at sea without fresh provisions, his goats were highly acceptable. His habitation, consisting of tw r o huts, one to sleep in, the other to dress his food m, was so obscurely situated, and so difficult of access, that only one of the ship’s officers would accompany him to it. Dam- ALEXANDER SELKIRK. 377 pier, who was pilot on board the Duke, and knew Selkirk very well, told Captain Rogers, that, when on board the Cmque Ports, he was the best seaman on board of that vessel : upon which captain Rogers appointed him master’s mate of the Duke. After a fortnight’s stay at Juan Fernandez, the ships proceeded on their cruise against the Spaniards ; plundered a town on the coast of Peru ; took a Manilla ship off California, and returned by way of the East Indies to England, where they arrived the first of October, 1711 ; Selkirk having been absent eight years, more than half of which he had spent in the island. The public curiosity being excited respecting him, he was induced to put his papers into the hands of Daniel Defoe, to arrange and form them into a regular narrative. These papers must have been drawn up after he had left Juan Fernandez, as he had no means of recording his transactions there. Captain Cook remarks, as an extraordinary circumstance, that he had contrived to keep an account of the days of the week and month; but this might be done, as Defoe makes Robinson Crusoe do, by cutting notches in a post, or many other methods. From this account of Selkirk, Defoe took the idea of writing a more extensive w’ork, the Romance of Robinson Crusoe, and very dishonestly defrauded the original proprietor of his share of the profits. Of the time, place, or manner, of this extraordinary man’s death, we have received no account ; but in 1792 the chest and musket which Selkirk had with him on the island, were in the possession of his grand-nephew, John Selkirk, weaver, in Largo. Robinson Crusoe, the favourite of the learned and unlearned, of the youth and the adult, the book that w r as to constitute the library of Rousseau’s Emilius, owes its secret charm to its being a new repre- sentation of human nature, yet drawn from an existing state; this picture of self-education, self-inquiry, self-happiness, is scarcely a fiction, although it includes all the magic of romance ; and is not a mere narrative of truth, since it displays all the forcible genius of one of the most original minds our literature can boast. The history of the work is therefore interesting. It was treated in the author’s time as a mere idle romance, for the philosophy was not discovered in the story : after his death it was supposed to have been pillaged from the papers of Alexander Selkirk, confided to the author ; and the ho- nour, as well as the genius, of De Foe, were alike questioned. The entire history of this work of genius may now be traced from the first hints to the mature state, to which only the genius of De Foe could have wrought it. In this artless narrative we may discover more than the embryo of Robinson Crusoe. — The first appearance of Selkirk, ‘ a man clothed in goat’s skins, who looked more wild than the first owners of them ;’ the two huts he had built, the one to dress his victuals, and the other to sleep in ; his contrivance to get fire, by rubbing two pieces of pimento wood together; his distress for the want of bread and salt, till he came to relish his meat without either ; his wearing out his shoes, till he grew so accustomed to be without them, that he could not for a long time afterwards, on his return home, use them without 3 B 378 JOHN LAW. inconvenience ; his bedstead of his own contriving, and his bed of goat-skins ; when his gunpowder failed, his teaching himself by con- tinual exercise to run as swiftly as the goats ; his falling from a pre- cipice in catching hold of a goat, stunned and bruised, till, coming to his senses, he found the goat dead under him ; his taming kids to divert himself, by dancing with them and his cats ; his converting a nail into a needle ; his sewing goat-skins with little thongs of the same, and when his knife was worn to the back, contriving to make blades out of some iron hoops ; his solacing himself in this solitude by singing psalms, and preserving a social feeling in his fervent prayers ; and the habitation which Selkirk had raised, to reach which, they fol- lowed him * with difficulty climbing up and creeping dowrn many rocks, till they came at last to a pleasant spot of ground, full of grass and of trees, where stood his two huts, and his numerous tame goats shewed his solitary retreat;’ and finally, his indifference to return to world, from which his feelings had been so perfectly weaned : — such were the first rude materials of a new' situation in human nature; an European in a primeval state, with the habits or mind of a savage. The year after this account was published, Selkirk and his adven- tures attracted the notice of Steele ; who was not likely to pass unobserved, a man and a story so strange and so new. In his paper of “ The Englishman,” Dec. 1713, he communicates further particu- lars of Selkirk. When Steele became acquainted with him, he says he could discern that he had been much separated from company from his aspect and gesture. There was a strong but cheerful seriousness in his looks, and a certain disregard to the ordinary things about him, as if he had been sunk in thought. The man frequently bewailed his return to the world, which could not, he said, with all its enjoyments, restore him to the tranquillity of his solitude.” Steele adds another curious change in this wild man, which occurred some time after he had seen him. ‘Though I had frequently conversed with him after a few months’ absence, he met me in the street, and though he spoke to me, I could not recollect that I had seen him. Familiar converse in this town had taken oft' the loneliness of his aspect, and quite altered the air of his face.’ De Foe could not fail of being struck by these interesting particulars of the character of Selkirk ; but probably it was another observation of Steele, w hich threw the germ of Robinson Crusoe into the mind of De Foe. John Law. This person is usually known by the name of the Projector, and w as the eldest son of a goldsmith, in Edinburgh, by Elizabeth Campbell, heiress of Laurieston, near that city, and born about 1681. He w as bred to no business, but possessed great abilities, and a very fertile invention. He had the address, when but a very young man, to re- commend himself to the king’s ministers in Scotland, to arrange the revenue accounts, which were in great disorder at the time of settling the equivalent before the union. He also laid before the Scots par- liament a scheme for supplying the kingdom with money, by establish- ing a bank, which should issue paper to the value of the whole landed property in the kingdom ; bu t his plan being thought too wild was rejected JOHN LAW. **79 His father dying about 1704, Law succeeded to the small estate of Laurieston ; but the rents being insufficient for his expense, he had recourse to gaming. He was tall and graceful in his person, and much addicted to gallantry ; and giving a sort of ton at Edinburgh, he went commonly by the name of Beau Law. He was forced to fly his coun- try, however, in the midst of his career, in consequence of his having fought a duel, and killed his antagonist. He escaped to Holland, thence proceeded to Venice, and wandered over Italy, studying the nature of banks, and making himself an adept in the mysteries of exchanges and re-exchanges. At the close of the reign of Lewis XIV. when the French finances were in great disorder, Law having obtained an audience, the bank- rupt king was delighted by his projects : but the minister Desmarest menacing him with the Bastile, obliged him to fly from Paris. He next applied to Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, who told him he was not rich enough to ruin himself. At the death of Lewis XIV. the regent Duke of Orleans, in despair, called in our numerical quack. By an arret of the second of March, 1716, a bank was established by authority, in favour of Law and his associates : 200,000 shares were instituted, of 1000 livres each ; and Law deposited in it to the value of two or three thousand crowns, which he had accumulated in Italy by gaming. Many persons had at first little confidence in this hank ; but when it was found that payments were made with quickness and punctuality, they began to prefer its notes to ready money. In consequence of this, shares rose to more than twenty times their original value ; and in 1719, their valuation was more than eighty times the amount of all the current specie in the kingdom. Law was created Count Tankerville, and hi* native city humbly presented him with her freedom, in which appear these remarkable expressions : “ The city of Edinburgh presents its freedom to John Law, count of Tankerville,