general subject, Mr. Colebrooke shows, is not ill suited to the stage," the play is certainly conducted with art, and notwithstanding some defects in the fable, the interest on the whole is well preserved the incidents are striking-the intrigue is well managed. As to the style, it is of the highest order of Sanskrit composition: and the poetry, according to the Indian taste, is beautiful."

We must now, however reluctantly, take leave of this elegant specimen of Mr. Colebrooke's taste and attainments; and we shall always be glad to meet with some of his essays in the succeeding volumes of the Asiatic Researches. On his judgment the British public may confidently rely concerning every branch of oriental literature.

Art. VII.-Remarks upon the Authorities of Mosulman Law. By J. H. Harrington, Esq.

Were we not restricted by obvious considerations, we could very profitably dilate on this instructive comment on Mahommedan law authorities. These "Remarks," form part of an analysis of the laws and regulations for the civil government of Bengal, intended for the use of the students in the college of Fort William; and cannot fail of being very useful to the future, as well, indeed, as to the present conservators of the public weal of British India. Mr. Harrington is engaged in a very praiseworthy labour, interesting to the civilians of every country; but we are forced to substitute our strong commendation in lieu of the lengthened attention which, under other circumstances, we should be disposed to bestow on this article.

Art. VIII.—An Account of Astronomical Observations taken at the Observatory at Madras; to which are added some Remarks on the Declination of certain Stars, and of the Sun, when near the Zenith of that Place. By Captain John Warren.

Our brief notice of Art. IV. of this volume is applicable here. We must, however, add our regret to that of Captain Warren that there should be "no instruments in the Madras observatory wherewith to take accurately great zenith distances;" and we must express our confident hope that such insufficiency will soon cease to be a subject of complaint and reproach. The surmise of Captain Warren, in his last paragraph, as to the unequal effects of refraction at different periods of the night and day, is deserving of the serious consideration of astronomers; and, as he observes, "strongly suggests the expediency of farther ex

periments for ascertaining a point, which, if established, would be highly conducive to important discoveries in an interesting but imperfectly known branch of natural philosophy."

Art. IX-Translations of two Letters of Nadir Shah; with introductory Observations in a Letter to the President. By Brigadier-General John Malcolm.

In the first of these letters Nadir gives an account of his subjugation of Herat.-The second, to his son, relates to the conquest of Dehli. Both, together with the introductory letter of the gallant Brigadier, are curious, and illustrative of the character of Nadir Shah (the Napoleon of the East), and of the history of the period to which they relate. A collection is extant of letters and original state papers of this enterprizing and, for a time, successful villain, made by his favourite secretary; which is held in high estimation in Persia, not only on account of the light it throws on the history of that empire, but from the excellence of its style. From this source General Malcolm hass elected these two letters; and we are glad to see a notification of his intention of communicating others through the same channel. We had marked some passages that we intended to extract for the amusement of our readers, but must be now content to refer them to the volume.

ART. X.-Travels in various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa. By Edward Daniel Clarke, L.L.D. Part the Second. Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Section the First. Cadell and Davies, Strand, London. 1812. THIS ponderous quarto, of seven hundred and thirteen pages, which constitutes only the first section of the second part of Dr. Clarke's Travels, is one of the most entertaining books of its size that has lately fallen under our notice. In aspect, however, it reminds us of the form and substance in which the lucubrations of Ainsworth, Littleton, Boyer, Chambaud, and other useful writers of that class have, from time immemorial, been presented to our view; but the adventurous reader, who is bold enough to attack the monster, will find him not altogether so formidable as might have been expected. To drop the metaphor, the reader will find in this book a great variety of very pleasant stories, and desperate adventures, some curious and interesting pictures, a few discussions sufficiently correct, and not too

learned for the modern taste, and in short, may be conducted. with pleasure over rather a hackneyed road, by the liveliness and novelty of Dr. Clarke's remarks and information.

We do certainly think that a less expensive and majestic form would have been more appropriate to the nature of the information conveyed: for after-dinner use in an easy chair, the octavo is a much more convenient substance both in shape and weight. But when we consider the reasonable and cogent arguments which both authors and booksellers have to allege in favour of the system of quartos, we check our pen, and are almost satisfied to admit that like servants, beards, clothes, and other articles of that nature, they are a necessary though a somewhat troublesome evil.

Dr. Clarke, in a previous quarto, which it is neither our duty nor inclination to review, conveyed himself and his readers to the most ancient capital of the christian world, where we find him, at the opening of this volume, occupied in the means of gaining access, with safety and secrecy, to the recesses of the seraglio, the vain object of the hopes and wishes of former travellers. The times were propitious for such an enterprize. "The harmony. existing between England and the Porte, at the critical juncture, when Egypt was to be restored to the Turks by British valour," gave great facilities to the execution of any project which an Englishman, with money, might choose to undertake. Having obtained entrance, the imperial armoury was the first object of his attention, where, to his "great gratification, he beheld the weapons, shields, and military engines of the Greek emperors, exactly corresponding with those represented on the medals and bas reliefs of the ancients, suspended as trophies of the capture of the city by the Turks." He was, however, allowed but a transient view of these curiosities. The appearance of a boslanghy (one of the guards of the seraglio), obliged him to retreat; but the view was sufficient, as he justly observes, "to excite a belief that other interesting remains of the palace of the Cæsars might also be similarly preserved." This conjecture, indeed, he had an immediate opportunity of verifying, for some pages of the seraglio brought him several fragments of a magnificent vase of jaspar agate, which the sultan had dashed to pieces in a moment of rage, and which exhibited one of the most beautiful specimens of the Grecian art. These fragments had been sold to a poor lapidary of the city, from whom Dr. Clarke purchased them, and they are now reserved for annual exhibition during a course of public lectures at Cambridge. The vase consisted of one entire piece of green jaspar agate, beautifully variegated. "The handle," says Dr. Clarke, "is formed to represent the

head of a griffin (carved in all the perfection of the finest caméo), whose extended wings and claws cover the entire surface. The difficulty of working a siliceous concretion of such extraordinary hardness needs not to be specified; it may be presumed that the entire life of the ancient lapidary, by whom it was wrought, could have been scarcely adequate to such a performance; nor do we at all know in what manner the work was effected. Yet there are parts of it in which the sides of the vase are as thin as the finest porcelain." (P. 12.)

Dr. Clarke's next enterprize in the seraglio was of a more hazardous nature, no less than that of penetrating within the "charem itself, or apartments of the women," and the most secluded haunts of the Turkish sovereign. To this he seems to have been encouraged by the account given him by a Swedish gentleman, secretary and chaplain to his country's mission, and a friend of the principal gardener of the seraglio, who was at that time a German. The gardener and the Swede were

sitting together one morning,

"When the cries of the black eunuchs, opening the door of the charem, which communicated with the seraglio gardens, announced that these ladies were going to take the air. In order to do this, it was necessary to pass the gates adjoining the gardener's lodge; where an arabat* was stationed to receive them, in which it was usual for them to drive round the walks of the seraglio, within the walls of the palace. Upon these occasions, the black. eunuchs examine every part of the garden, and run before the women, calling out to all persons to avoid approaching or beholding them, under pain of death. The gardener, and his friend the Swede, instantly closed all the shutters, and locked the doors. The black eunuchs, arriving soon after, and finding the lodge shut, supposed the gardener to be absent. Presently followed the sultan mother, with the four principal sultanas, who were in high glee, romping and laughing with each other. A small scullery window of the gardener's lodge looked directly towards the gate through which these ladies were to pass, and were separated from it only by a few yards. Here, through two small gimlet holes, bored for the purpose, they beheld very distinctly the features of the women, whom they described as possessing extraordinary beauty. Three of the four were Georgians, having dark complexions and very long dark hair; but the fourth was remarkably fair; and her hair, also of singular length and thickness, was of a flaxen colour: neither were their teeth dyed black, as those of Turkish women generally are. The Swedish gentleman said, he was

* A covered waggon upon four wheels, with latticed windows at the sides, formed to conceal those who are within. It is almost the only species of earriage in use among the Turks.

almost sure they suspected they were seen, from the address they manifested, in displaying their charms, and in loitering at the gate. This gave him and his friend no small degree of terror, as they would have paid for their curiosity with their lives, if any such suspicion had entered the minds of the black eunuchs. He decribed their dresses as rich beyond all that can be imagined. Long spangled robes, open in front, with pantaloons embroidered in gold and silver, and covered by a profusion of pearls and precious stones, displayed their persons to great advantage; but were so heavy, as actually to encumber their motion, and almost to impede their walking. Their hair hung in loose and very thick tresses, on each side their cheeks; falling quite down to the waist, and covering their shoulders behind. Those tresses were quite powdered with diamonds, not displayed according to any studied arrangement, but as if carelessly, scattered, by handfuls, among their flowing locks. On the top of their heads, and rather leaning to one side, they wore, each of them, a small circular patch or diadem. Their faces, necks, and even their breasts, were quite exposed; not one of them having any veil." (P. 13.)

This same German gardener (who, we trust, will not be in the grand seignor's service when the work before us reaches Constantinople) offered to shew Dr. Clarke the interior of the seraglio, and of the charem, provided he would come during the season of Ramadan, when the guards, being up all night, would be stupified during the day by sleep and intoxication. This offer was accepted, and the result is, in truth, of no very interesting nature; at least it has no other interest than that of originality, being the description of scenes hitherto impervious to the eyes of Europeans. Kiosks, trellis-work, lustres, arbours, ottomanes, embroidered sofas, and artificial fountains, disposed in bad taste, distinguished the sultan's gardens and apart ments, to which the whole magnificence of the seraglio is confined; for we were almost shocked to find that the fabulous splendour of the charem sinks, upon ocular demonstration, into a suite of cumbrous and shabby apartments, which seem to prognosticate that their pleasures are secluded from the public eye through a niggardly, no less than a jealous spirit. The minds of the intruders were by no means at ease during the progress of this examination-a French painter, who accompanied Dr. Clarke for the purpose of drawing any curious scene that might present itself, was so oppressed by his fears that he could only take one hasty sketch, which by the way he afterwards secreted; and we have no doubt that the catastrophe related by Le Brun, where the detection of the curiosity of an intruder cost him his life on the spot; recurred more than once on the unwelcome appearance of the bostanghies.

VOL. IV. NO. VII.