Having thus gone through the characters introduced in the play we are discussing, it remains for us to examine the diction used throughout. We will first remark, that the pompous and occasionally tumid and bombastic tone of Æschylus has ever been a subject of criticism. It has been attributed to his desire to avoid the low coarseness of the satyric drama, which drove him into the other extreme; "so that," Twining observes, "as extremes will meet, the Mégis yeλola, which he took so much pains to avoid, came round and met him in the shape of bombast, at the very moment when he thought himself at the greatest distance from it." This did not escape the notice of Aristophanes, who, in the Rana, makes Euripides speak of his dramatic antagonist by the facetious title of коμторакελорруuwv, or the Pomp-bundle-worded one."* But this pomposity, and especially the proneness to long compounds, is to be explained on the principle we have laid down, viz. of viewing it as an Orientalism; most Eastern languages especially delighting in long and frequently intricate compound words. With this remark, we will now proceed to our task. It is not our intention to find an Oriental parallel, or to assign an Oriental origin, for every peculiar expression used by the Greek author ; but merely, as stated in the outset of this paper, to endeavour to prove the existence of an Oriental cast in the piece, as a whole. This has been shewn, or endeavoured to be shewn, in the characters of the dramatis persona; we shall now bring forward a few examples of expressions which seem to partake of this cast. V. 282. Απ' ἀγγάρου πυρός. The word ἄγγαρος, implying the series of beacons which announced the fall of Troy, is entirely Persian, and signifies a courier, in modern Persian & the wellknown harkára. The reader of Herodotus will remember the account given of these couriers in Uran. 98, and will, at the same time that he sees the peculiarly appropriate manner in which the word is used (ayyéλov would suit metre and sense, but not convey the full idea of the successive fires), acknowledge that Æschylus cannot but have acquired this word from his intercourse with the nation to whose language it belongs. The word is found in the form of a verb in S. Matth. v. 41, used in a derived sense, from the violence frequently employed by this class of men. V. 356. "O night, who didst cast enveloping toils over the * Aristoph. Ran. 839. It may be as well to insert the whole speech of Euripides : Εγᾠδα τοῦτον, καὶ διέσκεμμαι πάλαι, *Ανθρωπον ἀγριοποιον, αὐθαδόστομον, towers of Troy, so that none, old or young, escaped the vast net of slavery and woe." The metaphor used here is highly Oriental. Compare Lam. iii. 47. "Fear and a snare is come upon us; desolation and destruction ;" and many similar passages of Scripture. V. 495. "Thirsty dust, brother of mud." This singular expression, and a similar one to it, Sep. contra Theb. 494, "Smoke, the curling sister of fire," have been much and undeservedly derided, as absurd and ridiculous bombast. Twining observes: "There could not be any thing in the cart of Thespis more laughable than to call smoke the brother (sister?)* of fire, and dust the brother of mud." We must frankly confess our inability to see any thing laughable in the matter, except the strange mistake into which this distinguished critic has fallen. The metaphor, by which one thing is styled the "brother or "sister" of another connected with it, is a truly Eastern one. How is the often-repeated idea of Hafiz and the other Persian poets, that "the bulbul is the sister of the rose,” extolled and admired for its beauty and elegance! and yet it is not one whit less "absurd" and "ridiculous" than the expression now in question; nay, there is considerable beauty in the comparison of the inseparable union which exists between smoke and fire to that affection which should be mutually entertained by members of the same family. The figure is common in Scripture, e. g. "I am a brother to dragons," Job, xxx. 29. "I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister." Job, xvii. 14, &c. Are these forms of speech to be censured as ridiculous? More examples might be adduced but for the fear of straying from the subject; we cannot help observing, however, that this phrase appears one of the strongest arguments for the theory suggested. Having now reached the epitasis of the play before us, viz. the entrance of the victorious chief (v. 810), we propose in a subsequent paper to finish what remains to be examined in this play, and on the same principles go briefly through the two other pieces composing the Orestean Trilogy. Meanwhile, the little already said may, perhaps, induce some to view the peculiar style of this patriarch of the drama in a somewhat different light to that in which they have hitherto been accustomed to regard it. * Αἰόλην πυρὸς κάσιν. "JOTTINGS FROM MY JOURNAL." BY A MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE BENGAL ESTABLISHMENT. CHAPTER IV. THE CORNET BECOMES A FINE FELLOW. THE Conclusion of the last chapter found three of the party deep in secrets of omlets and stews, for really Jack was such a curious fellow in these matters, that Andrew and I could not resist being interested. Among the hundred little appliances it was the duty of Jack's syce to carry, was a small leather case, not bigger than a cheroot box, and in this item of his property he took considerable delight. When opened, it presented a series of little square bottles, neatly stoppered, and firmly placed in their respective sockets, and each containing a precious essence, not of perfume for the external, but a rare condiment for the inward man, the pride of Jack's eyes, from whose companionship he ever derived much satisfaction; and so he well might, for in the little case, diminutive as it was, was the active principle of bushels of pungent chillies, maunds of white bleached celery, delicate tomata, and divers other difficult-to-be-got condiments, stimulating to the palate, and highly convenient, withal, in a marching establishment so limited as Jack's. I say, from this peculiarity of my friend, Andrew and I derived no trifling benefit, and in seeing us rejoiced, Jack rejoiced himself. But eating must come to an end, as well as every thing else, and in due time ours concluded, and finding the old paul rather worse accommodation than nothing, we stretched ourselves, lit our 66 Manillas," and awaited Fitzflareup's arrival. After some discussion as to how he should be received, Jack Opie snatched up his hat, and sauntered along, with a new cheroot in his mouth, in the direction in which he expected the cornet to come. We were pitched under a cluster of tamarind trees, inclosed, as it were, by the remains of an old mud wall, broken or rather worn down by the crumbling hand of the seasons. From the northern aspect of this inclosure the eye could, in the horizon, discern a few similar groves, but distant several miles from our encampment; the intervening space formed the cemetery of thousands who had there reposed since the glory of Curragh-Manickpore had faded, centuries before, and which dynasty had flourished coeval with Sirhind, and Gour, and Mandoo. Hundreds of tombs, from the humble head-stone to the ruined mosque, covered the heights; every little eminence was crowned by its ruin, and deer paths, intersecting each other as closely as net-work, rendered them of no difficult access. Thousands upon thousands of dead mouldered in the soil of Curragh; and here, it is said, there was a great battle fought, and these are the monuments raised to the slain of note; but for this they are too numerous. This field of graves, extending for miles, was furrowed by numerous ravines, probably worked out by the periodical rains, and in viewing it from our camp inclosure these were not discernible; the appearance of an undulating prairie, tipped here and there with streaks of dry jungle grass, was alone conveyed to us, Over this desolate and extensive tract I proposed shooting, and An- A few minutes saw us equipped. The polished brown mottled bar- We returned with a brimming bag of quail, the essentials for hare soup, and a pea-fowl pullet for mullagatawny, and found the cornet much improved in manners; a sense of the odious egotism that had so prominently glared forth on every occasion when he joined in conversation had come to his rescue, and I began to think Jack's doctrine wiser than I had at first deemed it. The good effects were visible to us all, and the cornet, finding us all better company, enjoyed the evening beyond common. The night passed over, and next morning another bag of game was brought into the little camp ere breakfast time. Just as we were all concluding this meal, so gratifying to a marching man, the cornet gave sudden symptoms of a relapse into egotism. He concluded a very lengthened historical and biographical notice of the "family" by stating that, at his father's table, no wines but champagne, burgundy, and madeira, were ever seen. Upon this, Jack Opie put down his knife and fork, and twisting his lips in a corkscrew fashion, gave utterance to such a long, low, sarcastic whistle, that formed a good comment on the cornet's folly. exclaimed, “Well, "Thank you; but this country, is de Jack, after taking a few turns within the tent, here goes for a bath; come, Fitz, will you bathe?" that shower-bath from earthen pots, so common in testable: pray excuse me." “Oh, certainly; but I never bathe in that way." Jack vociferated “ Qui hi," gave his order, and without requesting Asiat.Journ.N.S.VOL.IV.No.19. 66 I the absence of the party, and with a degree of modesty of which I am ashamed, proceeded to divest himself of his upper garments; and ere he had completed this, he to whom the order was given entered, bearing in his arms half a dozen of what bore a singular resemblance to bottles of claret; and so they might, for they were bottles of claret-part of a dozen, the purchase of Jack Opie at Allahabad, for the use of the party, but which had turned out the veriest sloe juice. The bearer placed them in a corner, and Jack carefully folded aside the suttrinjee or carpeting of the tent in their neighbourhood, during which Fitzflareup kept his eye upon him, almost afraid of trusting his tongue with a demand for explanation. Except the pantaloons of American drill, Jack was nude indeed, and standing up in the corner prepared, the bearer handed him a bottle and a table-knife. The cornet stared still Jack twigged his wonder with the corner of his eye, but kept his gravity, and with a dexterous twitch with the back of the knife he knocked the head of the bottle off; and this done to his satisfaction, he directed a stream of claret on his head and shoulders. Three or four bottles were disposed of in this way, and Jack's American drills had imbibed the greater part of it. "How refreshing!" muttered Jack. "You don't mean to say that that is claret?" said Cornet Fitzflareup. "Claret! why not? Of course it is. In my father's house we never bathed with any thing else." more. This little joke completed Jack's victory over the cornet,-he saw the point of it, and had the sense to benefit thereby. We never heard of his father's establishment again, and Jack Opie's bantering was of essential service to him. But a year afterwards, and a finer cavalry officer was not among the subalterns of the mounted branch than Cornet Fitzflareup; and the good turn Jack had done him was rendered still more effective by an incident occurring but two nights subsequently, and in which Fitzflareup was a severe sufferer. Two miles from Curragh-Manickpore, we found ourselves at Mundeke-Serai, a locality celebrated in the Doab for the strange ideas of its inhabitants relative to the rights of property. It was necessary to be even more than usually on the alert the night of our stay at this place. After our evening glass had passed, every thing that could possibly be spared was sent outside to be placed on the hackeries, and under the immediate charge of the village chokeedars. Andrew followed, without comment, the example set by Opie and myself; but poor Fitzflareup could not reconcile safety to his valuables with their being removed from his own neighbourhood, and a box of cavalry accoutrements, claiming his especial care, he could not feel in his heart to part with, even for one night. It was a long thin box of deal, tin-lined, and stamped with the fashionable seal of a Jermyn Street breechesbuilder, and the cornet had peeped into it oftener than he would have liked it to be known, and from every fresh peep derived undiminished satisfaction. No wonder then that, instead of trusting it without the tent, he should consider it safer within; and the more so, that he thrust the long thin box underneath the mattress of his bed. No one gain |