refrain from smiling, which ensured the jes ter's forgiveness. Several other anecdotes were related to me, that displayed much originality, but they were of a description that the reader will probably forgive me for emitting.

The chief amusement of the lower class of the community during this season of fes tivity, consists in playing at a game called 'kersa,' which is precisely similar to the common English game of handy.' Large parties meet for this purpose; the inhabitants of whole villages frequently challenging each other to the contest. On these occasions, as might be expected, the game is violently disputed, and when the combatants are pretty equally matched, it sometimes takes up the greater part of the day to decide. The vic tors afterwards return shonting and dancing to their homes, amidst the loud acclamations of their female friends. I also occasionally observed. at Antálo, that the vanquished were received with similar honours, and we often heard them challenging their opponents, in a friendly way, to renew the sport, though, at other times, the parties, engaged in these contests, fell into a violent rage, both men and women uttering the most terrible menaces, and pouring forth torrents of abuse; so that, as frequently happens in our own country, that which was begun in jest, ended in blows; but, even in such cases, they are never known to attack each other with any other weapon than the sticks, or bandies, which they employ in the game. In one instance, Mr. Pearce mentioned an incident which occurred in his presence, where onehalf the town of Moculia was so hotly engaged against the other, that at last the combat became very alarming, and the Ras him self was obliged to interfere, but did not succeed in parting them, till several men had been laid dead on the field. The Ras received an accidental blow in the fray, notwithstand ing which, he would not, from a feeling of humanity, which is the distinguishing feature of his character, permit Mr. Pearce to use his pistols, which he had drawn out for the

occasion.

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IRISH INGENUITY.

When General V was quartered in a small town in Ireland, he and his lady were regularly besieged, whenever they got into their carriage, by an old beggar-woman, who kept her post at the door, assailing them daily with fresh importunities and fresh tales of distress. At last the lady's charity and the generals patience, were nearly exhausted, but their petitioner's wit was still in its pristine vigour. One morning, at the accustomed hour, when the lady was getting into her carriage, the old woman began, Agh ! my lady; success to your ladyship, and success to your honour's honour, this morning, of all days in the year; for sure didn't I dream last night, that her ladyship gave me a pound of ta, and that your honour gave me a pound of tobacco?" 'But, my good woman,' said the general, 'do you know, that dreams always go by the rule of contrary?' Do they so, plase your honour?' rejoined the old woman. Then it must be your honour that will give me the ta, and her ladyship that will give me the tobacco.' The general being of Sterne's opinion, that a bon mot is always worth something, even more than a pinch of snuff, gave the ingenious dreamer the value of her dream. Edgeworth's Essay on Irish Bulls.

SOLOMON AND QUEEN SHEBA.

The following well-pointed story is taken by D'Israeli from the Talmad

The power of Solomon had spread his wisdom to the remotest parts of the known world. Queen Sheba, attracted by the splendour of his reputation, visited this poetical King, at his own court; there, one day to exercise the sagacity of the monarch, Sheba presented herself at the foot of the throne; in each hånd she held a wreath of flowers, one composed of natural, the other of artificial flowers. Art, in the labour of the mimic

wreath, had exquisitely emulated the lively hues of nature; so that at the distance it was held by the Queen for the inspection of the King, it was deemed impossible for him to decide, as her question imported, which wreath was the production of nature, and which the work of art The sagacity of Solomon seemed perplexed; yet to be vanquished, though in a trifle, by a trifling woman, irritated his pride. The son of David, he who had writ ten treatises on the vegetable productions "from the cedar to the hyssop," to acknow ledge himself outwitted by a woman, with shreds of paper and glazed paintings! The honour of the monarch's reputation for divine sagacity seemed diminished; and the whole Jewish court looked solemn and melancholy. At length an expedient presented itself to the King; and it must be confessed worthy of the natural philosopher Observing a cluster of bees hovering about a window, he commanded that it should be opened; it was opened the bees rushed into the court and alighted immediately on one of the wreaths, while not a single one fixed on the other. The baffled Sheba had one more reason to be astonished at the wisdom of Solomon.

Such is the story. Mr. D'Israeli thus turns its moral. "This would make a pretty poetical tale. It would yield an elegant description, and a pleasing moral; that the bee only rests on the natural beauties, and never fires on the painted flowers, however inimitably the colours may be laid on. Applied to the ladies, this would give it pungency." Curiosities of Literature vol. 1. pp. 371, 372.

OKATOR HENLEY.

'Henley. What, you thank God for your ignorauce. do you."

Gentleman (in a violent rage.) "I do, sir, -What then ?"

'Henley. Sir, you have a great deal to be thankful for."

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Several valuable communications are on

ber.

file, which shall have place in our next numWe have received the Loiterer No. I., and are obliged. by the kind intentions of Our correspondent. but have no room in our publication for essays which have neither wit nor wisdom to recommend them. We are resolute in our determination to admit no prosing dissertations upon virtue, modesty, hope. taste, fancy, genius, industry, idleness, prolixity, or procrastination, into our columns. We shall always be grateful for contributions which come within the scope of our work, of which some idea may be formed from the present number. We should sooner have introduced the department of Original Communications, had we been sooner provided with suitable materials to fill it.

Several solutions of the mathematical questions in our last, have been received, and shall be published in due time. It is our intention to propose prizes for the solution of difficult questions of practical utility.

Our friend, at the seat of government. will perceive that the list of Patents for June, did not arrive in season for this number. We shall rely on his kind attention hereafter.

TO OUR READERS.

We must apologize to some of our more recent subscribers for not furnishing them immediately with the 1st and 2nd numbers of our Magazine. The first edition of them is entirely exhausted, and we have not yet got another through the press. We shall have it in our power, however, to forward the first number in about ten days, and the second in three weeks. We originally issued 2000 copies; it will be gratifying to the early patrons of our undertaking to learn that our subscribers already exceed that number by several hundreds. In this unprecedented encouragement we find only a new motive to exertion. In proportion as the circulation of our work extends, we shall be anxi ous to increase its reputation.

ERRATA.

Page 246, col. 1, line 20 from top, for Stuart, read Stewart.

Page 259, col. 2, line 8 from bottom, for commences read commencez.

Page 260, col. 1, line 6 from bottom, for cellee, read cette.

Page 290, col. 1, line 27, for on read and. Page 290, ool. 2, line 7, for M.D. read DD.

The

THIS HIS is a plain, well told, compressed, and interesting Narrative of a toilsome and perilous expedition, undertaken in the spirit of adventure, and prosecuted solely for the acquisition of knowledge, by Mr. Legh, a member of the British Parliament, and his friend, the Rev. Mr. Smelt. These gentlemen, it seems, were on a pleasure cruise in the Archipelago, in the summer and autumn of 1812, when the breaking out of the plague at Smyrna and at Constantinople, compelled them, reluctantly, to abandon their design of landing at Bodrun, (Hali carnassus) and of proceeding over land by Smyrna to the Turkish capital, and to retire beyond the sphere of infection. They returned to Athens, and soon after sailed to Malta. Defeated in their original intention of travelling to the east, they were induced to turn their views towards Egypt. Egypt,' says our author, was still open before us: and though the communication between Constantinople and Alexandria had been uninterrupted, that country had hitherto continued in a state of perfect exemption from the contagion. There is something inexplicable, and that one might be disposed to call capricious, in the way in which this dreadful disease spreads from one country to another, and we had been particularly struck with the observation of the Greek who acted as English consul at Scio. Though within a few hours sail of Sinyrna, where numbers were dying daily of the plague, he had no fear of its approaching the island; and during our stay of some days, we saw many Turks who had come directly from that place, leap on shore without any interruption. "But," added the consul, "should the plague de

VOL. I. NO. Y.

clare itself at Alexandria, distant some hundred miles, we shall certainly have it at Scio." He spoke confidently, and quoted many instances within his own memory of the like coincidence.'

In a few weeks they sailed from Malta, and safely arrived at Alexandria. The dilapidated condition of this once famous city, forms a melancholy contrast with its former greatness.

"Of the ancient, populous and magnificent city of Alexandria, which abounded in palaces, baths, and theatres, ornamented with marble and porphyry, and which reckoned 300,000 freemen among its population at the time it fell under the dominion of the Romans, the only inhabited part is confined at present to the narrow neck of land which joins the Pharos, or ancient light-house, to the continent.'

Our author makes an apology for not dwelling more minutely on the objects of attention which this city presents, deeming it superflous to describe scenes with which the expedition to Egypt has brought his countrymen so well acquainted. He assigns a like excuse for many similar subsequent omissions. He is unwilling to repeat the descriptions of those who have preceded him, and contents himself with merely referring to them.

The traveller,' he observes, who sees for the first time the pyramids of Gizeh, or the ruined temples of the Thebaid, feels as if he had never heard or read of them before; but an author must have very considerable confidence in his own powers of writing, who would venture to add to the descriptions of Denon, Hamilton, and, above all, of the costly and elaborate work lately published by the French government.

T

There is more modesty than truth in this argument. The best authority of this kind is not above corroboration, even when it is uncontradicted, but where previous accounts are at variance, new evidence is necessary to decide the controversy.

"When we stepped on shore,' says Mr. Legh, 'the novelty of every object which met our view convinced us that we had quitted Europe. Instead of horses, oxen, and carts, we beheld buffaloes and camels; and the drivers of caleches, by whom we had been beset and importuned in the streets of Valetta, were here replaced by Arab boys, recommending, in broken English, their asses to carry us to different parts of the town.

"These animals are seen in great numbers in a small square near the southern gate, plying for hire, and the Arab runs by your side, carrying your gun, pipe, or any thing else intrusted to his care.

Mounted on these animals, we traversed the various parts of this extensive city, and visited the numerous remains of ancient edifices with which it was formerly adorned, but which are now nearly buried in the sand.

'Pompey's Pillar stands without the walls of the present town, and the obelisk called Cleopatra's Needle is on the shore of the Eastern Port. The ruins of a Gymnasium near the ancient Canopic Gate, and the Baths of Cleopatra, situated to the west of the old harbour, are the other chief monuments which attract the attention of the traveller.

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The present walls of Alexandria, which were raised in the thirteenth century by the Saracens, are in some places forty feet high, and are flanked by one hundred towers; they enclose a circuit of nearly five miles, now for the most part a deserted space, covered with heaps of rubbish, and strewed over with the fragnents of ancient buildings.

'Immediately around, the country is a desert, and produces absolutely nothing; but the city is well supplied with provisions from the Delta, the coasts of Syria, and the islands of the Archipelago.'

Alexandria is supplied with the water of the Nile, by a canal from Rahmanhieh, a distance of fourteen leagues. Its dependance upon this resource, has always afforded a besieging enemy a powerful means of annoyance. History informs us,' says our author, 'that when the emperor Diocletian opened his campaign in Egypt, by the siege of Alexandria, his first measure was to cut off the aqueducts which carried the waters of the river into

every quarter of that immense city; and during the first Egyptian expedition, this plan was adopted by our army, not so much however for the purpose of depriving the city of its supply of fresh water, as to diminish the extent of our lines, and lessen the duty of our troops, whose exertions were required in another quarter. On the 13th April, 1801, the canal and the embankment of the Lake Aboukir were cut through, and the water of the sea rushed with great violence into the ancient bed of the Lake Mareotis; it continued to flow during a month with considerable force, at first with a fall of six feet, gradually diminishing, till the whole was filled up to the level of the adjoining lake. By this inundation, 150 douars, or villages, were destroyed, and a very considerable quantity of land lost to agriculture. Since this period, the canal has been repaired, and the city is again supplied with the water of the Nile; and a permanent advantage has been supposed to be derived from the inundation, in the increased salubrity of the atmosphere, which is now no longer infected by the marshy vapours of the Lake Mareotis.

"The houses of Alexandria are flat roofed, as in all countries where there is little rain; the streets narrow, not paved; and the town, upou the whole, is ill built and irregular. According to the most accurate information we could collect, its population amounted to about 12,000; but this number was reduced to less than one half by the ravages of the plague that declared itself during our absence up the country, and which we found still raging, on our return, some months afterwards from Upper Egypt.

'During our stay at Alexandria,' continues Mr. Legh, we were niuch indebted to the friendly and polite attentions of the English resident, colonel Misset, who furnished us with letters to Cairo, and amongst others, with one to a very intelligent traveller, from whom we afterwards received the greatest assistance and most valuable information. He was known in Egypt by the name of Shekh Ibrahim, and was travelling under the auspices of the African Society, chiefly I believe for the purpose of investigating the various tribes of Arabs. Colonel Misset, though apprized of the arrival of the Shekh at Cairo, had never yet seen him, but gave us the following particulars of his former travels, which raised our curiosity and made us eager to form his acquaintance. He had been taken prisoner by the Bedouins in Syria, and, after having been detained six months in

captivity, and robbed of all his effects, had, after many adventures, succeeded in making his escape, and at length presented himself under the disguise of an Arab shepherd at the residence of the English agent at Cairo. He remained in the outer court of the house for some time, and it was with some difficulty he obtained an interview with M. Aziz, whose astonishment may be easily imagined when he heard a person of such an appearance address him in French.'

On the 12th of December the travellers quitted Alexandria, taking the road for Rosetta. In a short time they reached the lake of Aboukir, on which they embarked, sailed to its opposite extremity, and entered the sea at the ancient mouth of Canopus. After coasting along for a short time they entered the Lake of Etko, soon reached the town of that name, and again mounting their asses arrived at Rosetta. The latter part of their route gave them, by its barrenness, a foretaste of the sterility they were afterwards to witness. They found, however, the immediate vicinity of Rosetta luxuriant and picturesque. This is a commercial town, and forms the entrepôt of the carrying trade between Cairo and Alexandria.

"The style of building in Rosetta is somewhat peculiar-the houses are very high, and each story projects beyond the one below, so that the opposite buildings nearly meet at the top; but though the streets are, in consequence, rendered very gloomy, they are at the same time shaded from the scorching rays of the sun.'

On the 17th the party, with some accession, embarked on board a maish (boat) for Cairo, which, in consequence of head winds, they did not reach till the 26th; they beguiled, however, the tediousness of this delay by amusing themselves in sporting on the banks of the Nile, which swarm with pigeons. Our author takes occasion here to introduce some general remarks on the state of the country and its inhabitants, which his leisure afforded him an opportunity of contemplating.

'Provisions,' he informs us, 'are so extremely abundant and cheap in this part of the country, and in Upper Egypt they are still more so, that we frequently bought one thousand eggs for a dollar, and for the same sum could purchase fourteen fowls and innumerable pigeons; but the fertility of the soil, which produces three crops in the year, clover, corn, and rice, offers a striking contrast to the miserable appearance of the inha

bitants, who are excessively dirty, and in a state of almost perfect nudity. They are, however, at the same time remarkable for their great patience, the power of bearing fatigue and the faculty they possess of living almost upon nothing.

'Since the expulsion of the Mamelukes, the population of Egypt consists chiefly of Copts, Arabs, and the Turkish or Albanian soldiers, who are employed in the service of the government.

"The Copts are generally supposed to be the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, a conjecture suggested by the similarity of the name, as will appear by the following observations from the Travels of Pietro della Valle, which afford a most exquisite specimen of such etymological reasoning.

'He is giving a description of Alexandria, and after speaking of Pompey's Pillar, says

"De plus, j'ai vu la petite église de St. Marc, qui étoit autrefois la Patriarcale, que les Chrétiens, Coftis, c'est à dire les Egyptiens, occupent aujourd'hui où vous remarquerez, s'il vous plait, que ce terme Egittio, qui signifie Egyptien, signifie aussi Guptios; si on en soustrait l'E qui est au commencement, et que l'on prononce le G comme anciennement, et la lettre I comme si c'étoit un V; or, au lieu de Guptios ou Gubti, selon les Arabes, les nôtres disent plus correctement, Cofto."

But whatever opinion may be adopted of the origin of these Christians of the sect of Eutyches, they are a clever and intriguing race, and are employed by the government in keeping the registers of land and tribute, and generally become the gens d'affairs of the Beys and Cacheffs, which posts, however, they have to dispute with the Jews, who abound in Egypt as in every other country.

With respect to the Arabs, who form the great mass of the population of the country, they are divided into three tribes,

"The pastoral, which appears to be the original race-the Bedouin, who is distinguished by the warlike and independent spirit which he derives from the free and restless life he leads in the desert

and the Fellah, or cultivating Arab, the most civilized and patient, but at the same time the most corrupt and degraded class.

The Turkish and Albanian troops are distributed throughout the country to garrison the different towns, and to levy the miri, or contribution, which they do with every circumstance of cruelty and oppression.'