order. The Sultan has a longer description appended to him in deference to his greatness; the nobles are cut off with a short notice.

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Sultan Hussain had straight, narrow eyes; his body was 'robust, like that of a lion. On his accession he determined that the names of the twelve Imams should be read in the Khutbeh, according to the Shia faith; but, afterwards, all was ' regulated in the orthodox manner. He was a lively, pleasant 'man, but rather hasty in his temper and language. In more 'than one instance he showed a profound reverence for the faith: one of his sons having slain a man, he delivered him to the avengers of blood, to be tried before the Kazi. For several years he abstained rigidly from the prohibited meats. He composed a Diwan in the Toorki language: many of his verses are pretty good, but the poem is all in one measure. He was 6 a valiant man. No prince of the house of Taimur ever rivalled him in the use of the scymitar. He won several victories 'sword in hand: in one of his early battles he slew nine men. His chief exploit was the surprise of Yadgar Muhammed Mirza, who was lying intoxicated in the Raven Garden, at Herat: by that success he became master of Khorasan, and then he resigned himself to wassail and debauchery. During the forty years of his reign at Herat he drank wine every day after midday prayers. His sons, and all the soldiery and the citizens, followed his example, and seemed to vie with each other in rioting and lascivious revelry. In his latter days, even when his beard became white, he wore gay woollen clothes of a red and green colour; on festival days he put on a showy turban with a nodding plume, and in that style went to prayers. Notwithstanding his age and royal dignity, he amused himself with 'pigeons and cock-fighting, and was fond as any child of keeping rams to butt against each other.'

... The most eminent of his Ameers was Berenduk Birles, a very discreet man. He was so fond of his hawks, that, when he heard of one being lost or dead, he would say that the death of a son was nothing in comparison. He was the chief coun'sellor of Mozaffer Mirza.

Another was Mozaffer Birlas, whom he loaded with favours. They were so familiar together, that, in the first campaign of Hussain, it was agreed between them, that whatever country might be conquered, four parts of it should belong to the Mirza and two to Birlas. How could such an agreement stand? It ⚫ could never answer even with his own brother or son. Hussain became ashamed of this arrangement, but to no purpose; Mozaffer presumed very much upon his friendship, and behaved factiously the Sultan is said to have poisoned him.

Another was Ali Shir, who was more his friend than his Ameer; in their youth they had been intimate with each other ' at school. Ali Shir was admired for the elegance of his de'meanour, which some ascribed to the conscious pride of high fortune; but that refinement was natural to him. Indeed, he was an incomparable person. From the time that poetry was 'first written in the Toorki language, no man has written so 'much and so well: he composed four odes; "The Singularities of Infancy," "The Wonders of Youth," "The Marvels of Manhood," and "The Benefits of Age." He also wrote a treatise on Prosody, which is very incorrect. His Persian verses are, for the most part, heavy and poor. He has left some excellent 'pieces of music. There is not upon record a greater patron of 'talent than Ali Shir. At first he was Keeper of the Signet; in ' his middle age he held the government of Asterabad. He after'wards renounced the profession of arms; and, instead of receiving any thing from the Mirza, he made him an annual present of ' money. He passed through life single and unincumbered. The Amir Syed Beder was a man of great strength, and very 'sweet manners. He was skilled in the arts of refinement, and ⚫ danced in excellent style, exhibiting dances of an uncommon sort, of which he was himself the inventor. He was a companion of the Mirza in his wine-parties.

The Ameer Bedereddin was a very alert and nimble man; it is said that he could leap over seven horses at once. He was ⚫ an intimate friend of Baba Ali, the Master of the Ceremonies. The Grand Falconer was Hassan Ali Jelair, an extravagant, 'shameless man. He was the most eminent man of his time for ' writing Kasidehs.

Khwajeh Abdalla Marwarid was at first the Ecclesiastical Judge, but subsequently embraced the military life, and was 'raised to the dignity of Beg. No man could rival him in playing ' on the dulcimer. He was well versed in the art of writing letters. He was a poet, and a very pleasant companion. Owing ' to sensual excesses he was attacked with boils all over his body, and, after the endurance of severe pain for several years, he 'was brought to his end by that disease.

The Ameer Syed Uroos was a young man noted for courage. His bow was stiff, the arrow long, the range far, and his aim 'was sure. He held the government of Andehkend.

Another of the nobles was Dervish Ali Beg, a buffoon and 'silly man.

Another was Syed Hussain, who was well acquainted with astronomy. He was rather given to wine, and was riotous in his cups.'

The age of Hussain abounded in genius and art. Poets and painters flourished in the kingdom of Khorasan in truly Eastern exuberance, and Persian literature was enjoying an Augustan The general character of the Persians,' Sir W. Jones tells us, is that softness, love of pleasure, indolence, and effeminacy, ' which have made them an easy prey to the western and northern 'warriors. In the intervals of peace they constantly sink into inactivity, and pass their lives in a pleasurable yet studious retirement: this is one cause that Persia has produced so many 'poets. There is a manuscript at Oxford containing the lives of a hundred and thirty-five of the finest Persian poets, most of 'whom left an ample collection of poems behind them. The delicacy of their lives and sentiments has insensibly affected the language, and rendered it the softest, as it is one of the richest, in the world.' The mixture of indomitable barbarism with all this refinement is most grotesque; and poetry and music in vain try to prevent the rough, satyr form of barbarian nature from coming in. It impertinently mixes itself with the scene, and intrudes from some hole in the wall, like an animal. Its gambols are entertaining, and there is a rough common-sense about them occasionally. We hardly know how a very conceited public singer of our own day,-the flower of a school accustomed to give themselves airs, and coquet with their musical gifts,—would relish the treatment applied to a master of the science at the court of Khorasan.

Among the musicians, I ought not to omit Kul Muhammed Udi, who added three strings to the guitar, and could perform ' on the lute with fine taste; but he used to give himself many 'airs when he was desired to play. On one occasion he brought a bad instrument with him to a party, where Sheibani Khan ' requested to hear him, and, after giving much trouble, he made a very indifferent performance. The Khan, at that very enter'tainment, ordered him to receive a number of blows on the neck. This was one good deed that Sheibani did in his day.'

Baber's grave approbation of the act gives a finish to it, and poor Kul Muhammed does not meet with the smallest compassion. The poets and musicians of Persia are described as combining a variety of other talents with their peculiar gift.

'Another peerless man was Pehlewan Busaid: he was a poet, and a composer of music. No man was a match for him in "wrestling.

Another man of superlative talent was Mir Hussain, the Enigmatist. His conundrums and riddles were beyond all competition. His whole time was spent in devising them. He was a humble, unpretending man.'

A philosopher:

• Moulana Sheikh Hussain was a man profound in philosophy, logic, rhetoric, and mataphysics. He had the faculty of extracting a great deal of meaning from a very few words, and of commenting upon them with exceeding subtlety. No one ever discharged the office of Mohtesib,-i. e. Public Censor of Morals and Superintendant of Markets,--with more ability. In the time ' of Sultan Abusaid he was consulted by that prince on all affairs of state. As for the heads of the Sedder (Supreme Court of Justice) there was "the bareheaded Mir," who affected to be a Syed. He wasted his life in composing a long-winded impro'bable tale.'

We have been led on from extract to extract in turning over the pages of this odd book, and the continuity of the proceeding has carried us along. There is much more of the same kind in it, as well as of a graver kind, and much valuable information about Eastern manners and customs, and Asiatic events. As an autobiography, its quaintness and unconsciously dry and invariably sober style, is its chief feature. We have presented the more personal and characteristic aspect of the book to our readers.

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ART. VII.-The Life of the Rev. Joseph Blanco White, written by himself; with portions of his Correspondence. Edited by JOHN HAMILTON THOM. 3 Vols. 12mo. London: Chapman. 1845.

I HAVE written a great part of my Memoirs, which are not to 'be published till after my death. Few, except men like yourself, will take an interest in them: the irreligious will despise me for most of what I have to state; the dogmatic religionists 'will conclude that I have ended in something little short of ' atheism, and will turn away from the history of my mind with horror. That history, however, shall be known. I consider 'it my paramount duty; if I had not lived for the purpose of ' attesting faithfully the facts of my mental experience, I have lived in vain. But I have better hopes; and the joy with 'which, at the close of my mission, I look at the instances in 'which God has enabled me to be faithful to it, is a pledge that I am not deceived. . . . I feel therefore that I have done all that was assigned to me by Providence in the world, and now I must 'wait for death in this perfect moral solitude-without a single human being near me, to whom I may look up for that help and sympathy which old men that have walked on the beaten 'paths of life, expect when their dissolution approaches. My only comfort is, that I have been true to my internal light; that I have not betrayed the cause of truth. My works (except the last) do not afford me any satisfaction, for they have been generally written under an imperfect light-a light 'thickly clouded by the large remnants of the enormous mass of religious prejudices which my education laid upon me. But I

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leave the result to Providence; such gropings as mine, upon record, may be profitable to minds destined to shine in future on the way to improvement.' Such is the view which Mr. Blanco White takes, near the close of his life, of his 'mission,' the object for which he conceives he was sent into the world. He was born to suffer a martyrdom in the cause of truth; to spend a life of acute and agonising intellectual self-examination; and, after clearing his own mind, step by step, of all the religious ideas which first Roman Catholic, and then Protestant Christianity, had fostered in it, to leave to the world, at any rate in his own internal system, one isolated, individual exemplar of rational piety. He speaks as if this mental analysis had never once been thoroughly done before, as if his own were literally the very first complete achievement of the kind, and were a distinct introduction of a new intellectual era.