80 prove him, in the judgment of Mr. S. to be gifted with the very rare endowments which he discerns in him, we should have selected those for the purpose of enabling our readers to form their own opinion: but we are left to our unassisted choice, and shall begin with some verses written at a very early age: "On being confined to School one Written at the age of thirteen. While wildly warbling from each tree, But for me no songster sings, "How gladly would my soul forego "Oh, that I were the little wren And till death should stop my lays, Surely, here is no evidence of extra- From another early production, the "Fragment of an eccentrick drama," we extract some of the most singu. Flush her cheek, and bleach her skin, On heavenly diet, A considerable number of similar When sullen tempests wrap the throne of night, Art wont to sit and catch the gleam of light That shoots athwart the gloom opaque below; And listen to the distant death-shriek long From lonely mariner foundering in the deep, Which rises slowly up the rocky steep, While the weird sisters weave the horrid song: Or when along the liquid sky (While far below the fitful oar And list the musick of the breeze, That sweeps by fits the bending seas And often bears with sudden swell The shipwreck'd sailor's funeral knell; By the spirits sung who keep Their night watch on the treacherous deep, And guide the wakeful helms-man's eye To Helice in northern sky; And there upon the rock inclined 'Genius of Horrour and romantick awe, Whose power can bid the rebel fluids creep, Can force the inmost soul to own its Who shall now, sublimest spirit, We cannot refrain from inserting one more extract, from an address to Contemplation, which very happily imitates the style of Milton's Allegro. "I will meet thee on the hill, While the frolick zephyrs stir, Will sauntering sit, and listen still, The cattle shun the sultry beam, Our account of these volumes ought not to be closed without our stating, that, from the variety of their contents, the perusal of them is extremely interesting and agreeable; and we observe, with sincere plea sure, that their popularity is evinced by their having already passed racter of melancholy, so strongly imthrough several editions. The chapressed on the features of the author's face, in the portrait which is prefixed to his works, will be contemplated with corresponding emotions by such readers as are able to appreciate his merits, and can feel. for his untimely fate. FROM THE MONTHLY REVIEW. Description du Pachalik, &c. i. e. A Description of the Pachalik of Bagdad, followed by a historical Notice of the Wahabees, and by some other Pieces relative to the History and Literature of the East. By M. ***. 8vo. pp. 260. Paris, 1809. Price 9s sewed. THE pieces which compose this small, oriental collection are four in number. After the description of the Pachalik of Bagdad, and an account of the origin and progress of the Wahabees, we are presented with translations of detached pieces of Persian poetry, and with a series of observations on the Yezidees, a sect in some degree Mohammedan, and established several centuries ago in Mesopotamia by a sheik of the name of Yezid. The account of the Pachalik, and the history of the Wahabees, are the parts of the book which are most deserving of attention, being written with considerable knowledge of the subject, though in a loose and ill digested manner. The author's name is not mentioned, but he is described as having long resided in those countries, and as having composed these tracts for the purpose of their being read to a literary society of which he is member. a Amid all the writer's professions for the advancement of literature, however, it is amusing to observe that commercial arrangements are the real object of his labours. He is much enraged with our envoy, sir Harford Jones, who, he pretends, has rendered himself not less odious to the government of Bagdad than to the Europeans settled there. After having enlarged on the commercial advantages of the situation of Bag dad, he adds, with some naïveté, "I will just remark that it would be proper to establish in that city a French factory, or at least to obtain a firman from the porte, to allot to his imperial majesty's consul a house suitable to his rank; in the same way in which it was granted to the English resident, on the application 4 of the English ambassadour at Constantinople." We extract the passages in the account of the Pachalik, which apinformation. pear to us to contain the most useful "The climate of Bagdad, though very healthy, is subject to excessive heat in summer; during which the inhabitants find it necessary to pass a considerable part of the day in their cellars, and to sleep at night on their roofs. Travellers have often spoken of the Sam-yeli, a burning sulphureous smell, and prevails at Bagdad, southwest wind, which brings with it a as well as throughout Mesopotamia, from the beginning of July to the middle of August. It is not, however, quite so fatal as it has been reported to be by those travellers who assert that it suffocates all who its effects may be avoided by falling prosare exposed to it on elevated ground; since trate, or by wrapping up the face very tightly with a cloak. It is preceded by squalls, and by a hot whirlwind obscuring the horizon. Its pestilential nature probably arises from passing over the sulphu rious and bituminous grounds near the Euphrates and the Tigris. "The inhabitants of Bagdad, so far from being abject slaves, are active, enterpris. ing, and jealous of control. The better ranks are civil, well informed, and obliging to strangers. Luxury is confined to the pacha and the great families. The dress of Turkey, Many Persians reside here, is similar to that which prevails in the rest who carry on the traffick of the place and are protected by the government, and who are in general intelligent and respectable people.--Unfortunately, neither libraries nor publick schools are to be found here: but we meet with a few seminaries inhabited by dervices, and two or three mausoleums, magnificently decorated, in which their sheiks and prophets are interred, and a kind of asylum is afforded to beggars. A number of small chapels also are erected, to which the people resort to perform their ablutions, at the accustomed hours of stooked; provisions and fruit being brought prayer. The publick markets are well thither from all quarters, and sold at moderate prices. "The pachas of Bagdad have been considered at all times as the most powerful in the Ottoman dominions, and are supposed to possess a right to the title of caliph from inhabiting the capital in which the ancient Arabian pontiffs resided. Placed at the extremity of Turkey, they exercise an authority which is almost in dependent of the porte; and great delicacy is observed towards them on the part of the Ottoman court, that they may not be tempted to revolt. They assume to themselves, whenever they please, the right of declining to send their forces to cooperate with those of the grand seignor; and no objection is made to the reasons which they allege, provided that they be accompanied by a sum of money. During more than a century, all the pachas of Bagdad have been originally Georgian slaves, raised by intrigue and accident from that humble station to the hazardous post of vizir. The forces of the government of Bagdad may be increased in a time of urgency to 30,000 men, infantry and cavalry; and this number would be still greater if several Arab tribes had not withdrawn themselves to join the Wahabees, while others have set up the standard of independence. The Curds, of whom a great proportion have revolted, are the best horsemen; their arms consist of a pistol, a lance, a sabre, and sometimes a carabine. The Arabs have only a lance: but, being robust and intrepid, they make a dexterous use of it. The Bagdad infantry are armed with a musket and sabre, and a small part of them are disciplined on the European plan. The revenue is between seven and eight millions of piastres, and would be more, were it not for the decline of the trade of Bussorah. The population of Bussorah is now reduced to 50,000, a diminution which is caused by the desolation that has been spread around by the Wahabees, and by the insalubrity which has arisen from the neglect of the neigh bourhood of the city. "The banks of both the Euphrates and the Tigris are infested with robbers, who are accustomed to swim aboard of the boats on the water, and to carry off whatever they can seize. Travellers have often been surprised at the length of the distances which the Arabs will pass, floating on the water. They accomplish these voyages by means of a goat skin, of which they sow very compactly the different openings, with the exception of the skin of one of the legs, which they use as a pipe to blow up the rest of the skin, and afterwards twist and hold it very tight. After this preparation, they strip themselves naked, form a package of their clothes, and, tying it on their shoulders, lay themselves flat on the goat skin; on which they float very much at their ease, paddling with their hands and feet, and smoking their pipe all the time. Not only men, but women and girls, adopt this me thod of crossing the river, and make the air re-echo with their songs while they are passing. "After the junction of the Tigris and the Euphrates at the beautifully situated town of Korna, their waters roll on for several miles without mixing. Those of the Euphrates are clear, in consequence of its tranquil current; while those of the Tigris are turbid from its rapidity. Not far from Hilla, or Hela, in a northerly direction, and towards the Euphrates, are to be seen the relicks of the once mighty Babylon They are interesting only from the recollections which they excite, and have not beauty in themselves like the remains of Palmyra, Balbec, or Persepolis, among which we meet at every step with traces of magnificent architecture. The remains of Babylon consist in a shapeless mass of ruins, and are more calculated to inspire melancholy than admiration. Like all cities that have been built of brick, it has no striking monument left standing. The Arabs make a trade of digging the ground for the purpose of finding medals of bronze, silver, and sometimes of gold; as well as vases, metal images, and utensils: even the bricks they carry off by water for the purpose of sale. These bricks are all of a square form, five inches thick, and bearing on one of their sides a hieroglyphick inscription, the characters of which are still very plain. The ruins of Nineveh are on the Tigris, opposite to the city of Mosul, about three hundred miles above Bagdad. Mosul appears to have been built out of these ruins. The remains of the ancient Nisibis consist, in like manner, of mere ruins, and are worth visiting chiefly for the beauty of the situa tion." The account of the origin and progress of the Wahabees is given in the same crude and ill-arranged method as that of Bagdad. In consequence of the Wahabees having been known in Europe only of late years, the publick in general are not aware that the origin of this sect took place so far back as the middle of the last century. Their tenets differ from the Mohammedan, not in respect of their idea of the Supreme Being or of the sacred volume, the Koran, which they believe to have been written in heaven by the hand of angels: but in regard to the power and character of Mohammed, whom they consider to have been a mere human being, the messenger indeed of God on earth, but not worthy to have his name joined with that of the Deity in the adorations of men. The Wahabees are therefore not so much the propagators of a new faith, as the reformers of the Mohammedan religion. Like others of this sect they are circumcised; and they observe similar forms of prayer, the same ablutions, the same abstinences, the same yearly fast (that of Ramadan) and the same solemnities. Their mosques, however, are devoid of ornament; and the name of Mohammed is not mentioned in their religious exercises. They reject in the same manner the divine mission of Jesus Christ. They imitate the early Mohammedans most effectually in the vigour with which they spread their doctrine by force of arms; and they have been accustomed to present it to the neighbouring tribes at the point of the sword, calling on them in decisive language to believe or die." When they encounter resistance, their practice has been to sacrifice the males and spare the females, but to confiscate and take possession of the whole property. In case of voluntary submission, a Wahabee governour is put over the subjugated tribe, and a tenth of the property exacted, as well as a tenth of the male population levied for the military service. By these means, the Wahabee leaders have found themselves in possession of large treasures, and at the head of formidable armies. Animated by religious enthusiasm, these fanaticks rush forwards to danger with incredible courage, and attack their enemies in the firm belief that, by dying in the field, they will receive the crown of martyrdom. Were they possessed of the advantages of discipline, and commanded by able leaders, they might become the conquerors of Asia. In the preface to this book, a hope is expressed that the publick will extend encouragement to the author, and induce him to undertake more laborious researches. With such encouragement, however, we can scarcely venture to flatter him, till he has learned to condense his matter into a smaller compass, and has accustomed himself to a clearer arrangement. The account of the Yezidees is short, and is not the production of the same author, but of a missionary named Garzoni; from whom the writer of the preceding tracts might have taken some hints on the score of composition. FROM THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. The Battles of Talavera. A Poem. 8vo. pp. 40. Dublin, London, Edinburgh. 1810. THERE is no point in which our age differs more from those which preceded it, than in the apparent apathy of our poets and rhymers to the events which are passing over them. From the days of Marlborough to those of Wolfe and Hawke, the tower and park guns were not more certain proclaimers of a victo ry, than the pens of contemporary bards. St. James's had then its odes, and Grub-street poured forth its ballads upon every fresh theme of national exultation. Some of these' productions, being fortunately wedded to popular tunes, have warped themselves so closely with our character, that, to love liberty and roast |