the north of Persia, through Asia Minor to Bagdad, A journey from the city of Tabreez (or Tebriz), in and again from Bagdad to Persia, with a concluding I freely admit that the attachment of the labourers tour homewards, by way of Constantinople, constitutes to the places of their birth, and to the burial-places the material of the volumes before us. Perhaps the of their ancestors or offspring, is so strong that they account of Bagdad is the most interesting portion of would rather make any sacrifice than leave them; the work; but we so lately compiled from Mr Welland of this too many managers have taken a disre-sted a description of that city and its peculiar situation putable advantage. I admit, further, that I have at the very same period, that we shall at present met with some who have refused to pay the rent limit our attention to the section of Mr Fraser's demanded of them, when that demand has been work relating to Tabreez and Koordistan. Tabreez exorbitant, and who have refused to work on the was, in 1834, the abode of Mohamed Meerza, heirterms proposed to them, when those terms have been apparent of the throne of Persia, and now its sovedeemed unfair, and even to work at all for those reign. The city consists of mean, mud-built, crowded masters who, during slavery, were distinguished only houses, but is comparatively rich and thriving, as well for cruelty. in Persia. It is the entrepôt where the stream of as populous, being, indeed, the greatest trading mart exports and imports of central Asia meets; the gate by which European goods enter, and Asiatic goods issue. The presence of the heir of the empire, as gave additional importance to the city, while Mr governor of the province of Azerbijaun, of course, Fraser was there. He describes the prince, who was a young man of twenty-eight years of age, as in per

son extremely corpulent, and a slave to huge feeding, one of the common characteristics of the great in Persia. The indolence of body and lethargy of mind caused by the habit in question, threw the whole power and authority in the rich and extensive province over which the prince had been placed, into the hands of a minister, called the Kaymookam, a most remarkable man in every respect. The following description of his appearance will perhaps bring the reader in mind of a certain absolute ruler or minister of Scotland in former days, the Duke of Lauderdale. "Conceive a man of somewhat more than middle size, exceedingly heavy and corpulent, with much rotundity of paunch, coarse features, small but very prominent eyes, so short-sighted as to suggest the idea of purblindness, yet keen and bright withal; a great ugly mouth, garnished with long, irregular, prominent, yellow fangs, which an hideous, habitual, and stupid gape always exposes to view-conceive all these, and you will say that they do not compose a very promising exterior; and certainly the external attributes of the Kaymookam would be more suitable to a stupid village boor than to the first statesman of an empire." To complete the similarity alluded to, the Kaymookam was an enormous feeder. "His feats in devouring melons and cucumbers, as commonly related, seem next to incredible. I have heard of his gobbling up seven mauns, or fifty pounds, of melons at a sitting." Yet this man was an able statesman, capable of transacting an extraordinary amount of business; and, in short, as regarded talents, not unfitted for the station to which he was raised, of prime minister and virtual ruler of Persia. In the diplomatic art of Iving and deceit, he was a most consummate adept. His word was trusted by nobody, and he trusted nobody, transacting all affairs in person. Mr Fraser went one day to visit him by appointment, and the following scene took place :-"I sat down, and in about fifteen minutes the bustle of servants and shuffling of slippers announced the great man's approach. In the mean time, however, the court before the windows had become full of people, of all sorts and degrees, khans, begs, moollahs, meerzas, merchants, soldiers, peasants, messengers going and messengers returning, &c., all of whom had some petition to present, or some request to prefer, and to all of whom, with exemplary patience, did his excellency address some compliment or word of salutation, while, with a patience no less praiseworthy, did I stand at the window watching the progress of this comet with the great tail. At length his eye fell on me, and incontinently did there issue from his mouth a whole volley of compliments and inquiries in the Persian fashion, with many assurances that my place bad long been empty; that I had brought light to his eyes; and that he had a thousand things to say to me.' He then entered the room, scattering compliments like flowers on all sides, took a chair, ordering another to be placed near his own for me-made all the world sit down; turned to me, and, taking a roll of paper from a secretary, began instantly to write upon it fast, fast, leaving me with my mouth half agape to catch the expected communication, and prepare for my reply. This farce was continued for a considerable time, when up started a fellow at the bottom of the room, with a long story about some money he had been sent to collect, but which he swore a dozen men, and more along with him, would not be able to wrest from the people. His clamour or energy, to give it no stronger name, aroused the minister's attention; up went the eye from the paper, as if awakened from a dream, and began to blink at the man; but he instantly entered on the business, heard the statement, and directed what was to be done with infinite minuteness. The spell thus broken, papers and notes without number were thrust into the hands of two attendants, who passed them with ludicrous rapidity into the great man's hand. He took them mechanically, as it seemed, and began to read them. His manner of performing this operation is most curious. From extreme short-sightedness, he cannot distinguish a letter unless the writing be within an inch of his eye; so he draws the paper backwards and forwards, or up and down the range of that organ, touching his very nose; but as his sight, when the object is within proper range, is extremely quick, the sense of a piece of writing is gathered with a celerity that seems like intuition; and the mechanical part of the business is performed so rapidly, that one would swear he was gravely rubbing his nose with a piece of paper, instead of reading a letter." This scene was carried on for a long time, partly through ostentation, and partly because the minister thought it more prudent individually to undertake such a multiplicity of affairs, than to allow any assistants to share his secrets or his power. While observing the shower of notes and petitions that fell on the minister, Mr Fraser was more amused than annoyed. He had to give, not to get, information ; and, in fact, any one (he says) who might attempt to worm aught out of the Kaymookam, would certainly "come back shorn, while seeking wool-he would surely be well pumped himself.”

The Kaymookam became prime minister of Persia when the Prince, Mahomed Meerza, ascended the throne in 1835. The affairs of the country fell into great confusion under him-an inevitable consequence of his jealous habit of concentrating all business in his own hands. At length, Mahomed Meerza found the domination of the minister insupportable, and

pened that an Englishman, travelling through Khuzistan, was received and entertained in the tent of the sheikh of an Arab tribe, his entertainer, the only member of the family at home being a daughter, who acted as hostess in her father's absence. At night, the inmates of the tent, including the stranger, retired to rest; but towards morning he was awakened by shrieks, and distinguished the voice of his young hostess exclaiming that she was murdered! All rushed to the spot, where they found the unfortunate girl in the agonies of death, her breast pierced with three deep stabs of a dagger. While gazing on the dying victim, and offering vain assistance, a voice was hicard from a height close by, exclaiming: Yes, it is I! I have done it-praise be to God, I have murdered her!' All eyes were turned to the spot, where there was seen an old woman standing and gesticulating with vehemence. A rush was made towards her, and she either ran or was borne back to the brink of the river on which the tents were pitched, from the high bank of which she fell into the deep stream; and, whether she perished or escaped, was seen no more.

caused him to be privately strangled. The poor
wretch had been so long accustomed "to bestride
king, kingdom, and all, like a colossus, whom no man
dare touch for fear of annihilation," that he could not
believe in the reality of his sentence, and struggled
violently, but in vain, against its execution.
The Kaymookam, take him all in all, is the most
amusing person to whom our author introduces us in
his Persian sketches. In his passage through Koor-
distan, he saw much of interest. The subjoined de-
scription will give an idea of the appearance of the
wild mountaineers called Koords, who inhabit this
country:-"On their head they wear a large shawl
of striped silk, red, white, and blue, with fringed
ends, which is wound in the most graceful manner
round their red skull-cap. Its ample folds are con-
fined with some sort of band, and the long fringes
hang down with a rich fantastic wildness; their
true Saracenic features, and bright black eyes,
gleam with peculiar lustre from under this head-tire.
Their body-garments consist of a sort of ample vest
and gown, with magnificent wide Turkish sleeves,
over which is worn a jacket, often richly embroidered On inquiry, it appeared that this sheikh, who now
and furred, according to the owner's rank. Their had to mourn the loss of a daughter, had once had a
lower man is enveloped in ample shulars, not unlike son, who, in some former fray, had been put to death
those of the Mamlucs, into which, in riding, they stuff by a pehlewan (or champion) of another tribe-an
the skirts of their more flowing garments. Around event which called forth all the virulence of the
their waist, instead of a shawl, they wear a girdle existing feud. Some short time afterwards, a stran-
fastened with monstrous silver clasps, which may be ger entered the camp, and was received with the
ornamented, according to the owner's taste, with customary cordiality of Arab hospitality. Unfortu-
jewels, and in which they stick, not only their Koor-nately, he was recognised by some of the tribe as the
dish dagger, but a pair of great brass or silver-knobbed very pehlewan who had put to death the son of their
pistols. From this, too, hang sundry powder-horns sheikh. What was to be done? He was now their
and shot-cases, cartridge-boxes, &c.; and over all they guest, and by the laws of hospitality, and by Arab
cast a sort of cloak, or abba, of camel's hair, white or customs, could not be touched. The sheikh himself
black, or striped white, brown, and black, clasped on was absent, and the arguments of good faith and
the breast, and floating picturesquely behind. When mercy were preponderating, when the young woman
riding, they carry a small round shield, depending now in question entered the assembly, and upbraided
from the left shoulder, and grasp in their hand a long the men with cowardice and cold-heartedness towards
slender spear. If in war time, and they are going on their chief. What!' said she, 'shall the murderer
an expedition, in addition to these arms they carry a of your sheikh's son be in your hands and yet escape!
gun, and occasionally three slender javelins in a case, Never let this be said-put him instantly to death,
which they can throw with great precision to the or renounce the name of men! Still, however, a
distance of thirty yards. Then they case themselves reluctance to infringe on, in so direct a manner, the
in armour, like knights of old, either in a shirt of laws of host and guest, restrained the hands and
linked mail, with helmet and armlets, or with a suit weapons of the men, in spite of the wrath that was
of plate armour, called Char-Eineh, consisting of four boiling in their breasts; and possibly the force of that
plates of inlaid and Damasked steel, made to fit back, consideration might have prevailed, when the young
breast, and sides, and which are a defence against any girl herself, maddened at the sight of her brother's
thing but a ball striking them directly."
murderer, and the idea of his escaping, seized a sword
and smote him. The sight of blood was irresistible;
in a moment every weapon was drawn, and sheathed
in the body of their unfortunate guest-he was literally
cut in pieces.

So accoutered, these Koords, who have finely made
and active persons, spend their days in perpetual
robbery. They are systematic plunderers, and, like
the Thugs, imagine their way of life to be perfectly
proper and acceptable to Heaven. Not a Koord "will
mount his horse to go on a party of robbery and mur-
der, without ejaculating Bismillah irruhman irruheem!
In the name of the most merciful and compassion-
ate God !" Meeting an old Koord chief, in the centre
of the province, Mr Fraser had a long conversation
with him, in which the old robber, with the greatest
pathos, lamented that the trade of his race had some-
what fallen into decay in his days. "He dwelt upon
the many frays he had been in, and the plunder he
had taken, with a zest and eagerness which showed
how strong the devil was yet in him. He told me he
had been wounded at least a dozen times, in spite of
the best of armour. I have armour of every sort,'
said he and I used to wear it always; but I have
learned to put very little trust in it-my trust is in
Heaven!' said he, with as firm and satisfied a tone as
if his cause was the most righteous upon earth. He
joined with others in lamenting the evil days on
which the present race of Koords had fallen. The
golden times of Koordistan are gone,' he said; 'ride
over the country, and what brilliancy, what spirit
will you find? All the good horsemen and stout sol-
diers are dead, or have fled the land, or have taken to
the plough per force, to make as much money as will
pay the Pacha and feed their wives and children;
and what is a soldier good for when once he has
touched a plough?" We may deplore the ideas
which these people have about heaven; but, in truth,
in doing so, we should be merely returning the feelings
with which they regard us. An Arab sheikh of Me-
sopotamia, who lived precisely in the Koord fashion,
being greatly delighted one day with a shot fired by
Mr Fraser exclaimed, "Come, come, you're a good
fellow; you had better become a Mussulmaun, and
live with me." "How can that be, sheikh," returned
our author," when I have a wife and family at home?"
"Oh," said the Arab," give these up; only turn
Mussulmaun, and I will give you all those, and more,
here." On Mr Fraser again excusing himself, the
worthy bandit of the desert turned round to his
friends, and, pointing to the English traveller and his
companions, said, with an air of profound compassion,
"What a pity, now, that these poor fellows must go
to jehannum ! (a place not to be named.) He then
continued, addressing Mr Fraser with a moving air
of remonstrance, "Oh, are you not afraid of your
soul? Will you not think of saving it ?"

The sheikh returned, and, shocked at the atrocious violation of hospitality, was furious at the perpetrators; fain would he have recalled the act or repaired the injury, but that was impossible. Time passed on, and the murder, like others of the sort, was forgotten by the tribe; but not by the mother of the slain. Resolved upon revenge, she had followed the hostile camp for years, and patiently watched an opportunity, which she found not until the fatal night when the Englishman, who relates the story, was by chance a guest in the tent of the sheikh, and witness to the consummation of her savage vengeance."

INDIAN RUBBER.

THE substance called Caoutchouc, or Indian Rubber, has of late years assumed much mercantile importance, and a brief account of its history, natural and commercial, may have some general interest.

middle of the eighteenth century. It was then Caoutchouc was first seen in Europe about the brought from Cayenne (in Guiana) and other provinces on the eastern coast of South America, and, from its valuable power of cleaning paper, was called Indian rubber. Caoutchouc is a juice, derived from a tree or shrub called herca by the South Americans, and recognised by Linnæus to be a species of the latropha. The striking elasticity and insolubility of caoutchouc, which we believe to be the aboriginal name for the juice, caused it speedily to become an object of attention to chemists and others, who imagined, not incorrectly, that the secret of dissolving it might be turned to some account. As the use of it increased in the civilised world, the substance became naturally an object of research to voyagers also, and varieties of it were found in many tropical climes, particularly in some parts of China, on the isles and provinces. The latter regions have ever coast of Guinea, in Sumatra, and other East Indian since yielded a large proportion of the caoutchoue in the East Indian caoutchouc is procured, a vine-the use. Travellers have called the shrub from which elastic-gum vine-from its origin and appearance, though the name of gum or resin, commonly applied to the juice, is altogether a mistake. The shrub is a rambling plant, which grows to an immense length and height, supporting itself upon stronger trees, and These Arab tribes occupy a great part of Asia ally, of many hundred yards. Dr Roxburgh, a dispassing from one to another for a distance, occasionMinor, being roving plunderers like the Koords, but tinguished naturalist, examined the plant as it is living in the desert plains, and not in the mountains. found in Sumatra, and gave it the botanical name of They are more wretched people than the hill- urceola elastica. The urceola bears fruit and flowers robbers, in point of social comforts. Mr Fraser travelled among many tribes of them, and describes them which it shares with other plants of the thirtieth as well as foliage, but its most prominent quality, interestingly. We have but room for one extract, natural order of Linnæus, is that of yielding, on being however, illustrative of their character:-" It hap-cut, a milky juice, commonly of a poisonous nature.

Incisions are made in the bark of the urceola and and long in being discovered. Many a thoughtful hevea to let the juice exude, which it is found to do and talented lover of science did not disdain to spend most abundantly in the time of rain. It is at first of days and months in the pursuit of this chemical willthe exact appearance and consistence of milk, and, o'-the-wisp. We are aware of one such youthful like that substance, soon separates into a light serous student, now a distinguished medical professor of the fluid and a thick coagulum. The first seems rapidly Edinburgh University, who hired an attic in a mean to evaporate, leaving the thicker part to assume a and retired part of the city, purposely to prosecute brown or blackish colour, and to get tough, cohesive, his inquiries into the solubility of caoutchouc. It must and elastic. Some writers say that this hardening be remembered that the accomplishment of this end takes place from simple exposure to the sun, while was an object of peculiar interest to medical men, many others assert that the gatherers effect it by a secret of whose most important instruments are now formed process. However this may be, the induration is partly or entirely of caoutchouc. The cause which quickly accomplished, and then the substance is ready compelled the young student alluded to to betake himfor the common uses to which it is put, namely, rub- self to a lonely and mean apartment for the carrying bing and cleaning paper, making elastic bottles, sur-on of his experiments, deserves notice. The liquid subgical instruments, &c. It is brought to the market stance which he was attempting to use for the solution in the shape, for the most part, of rolled-up balls or of the caoutchouc, was of so strong and unpleasant an bags, formed on brittle moulds. It is then devoid of odour in its pure state, that the more refined people smell, of a brown hue when cut into, and so elastic, amongst whom he usually dwelt would not tolerate his that, on being cast on the ground, it will rebound experimenting within their bounds. His labours in several times. A ball weighing seven ounces, if simply the lonely attic were not fruitless. He succeeded in dropped on hard ground from a height of fifteen feet, his object, and the solvent which he employed is now will rebound ten or twelve times, and, on the first the agent in use in the manufacture of all waterproof occasion, to a height of seven feet. Such was the caoutchouc articles. This agent was spirit of tar, or a result of a simple experiment upon the elasticity of spirituous distillation from the pitchy substance so caoutchouc made by Dr Roxburgh. called. We understand that the gentleman here mentioned claims the credit of having been the first to manufacture caoutchouc articles by the medium of the spirit of tar, and that he can point to an article in a scientific journal (Nicholson's, we believe), in which an account of the discovery was given by him. We are not certain whether any fellow-labourer in science can justly dispute with him the merit of priority in this respect, but we have at least seen beautiful instruments made by him from dissolved caoutchouc, long before similar articles were procurable from the common manufacturers of the present day.

It was stated that the apparent insolubility of caoutchouc by water, spirits, and other common menstruums, soon led to the belief that the discovery of some solvent of it would be a most important affair, as regarded the manufacture of water-proof articles of dress, and similar useful objects. It was known that the natives of Guiana made boots and bottles from it in a rude way. This application of the substance, however, was effected, of course, not by means of a solution, but by employing the recent and liquid juice. So early as the year 1768, we find the French Academy of Sciences attempting, but in vain, to discover a proper solvent for the dry caoutchouc. It was left for Mr Howison, a gentleman resident in the East Indies at the end of the eighteenth century,* to set an example to Europeans in this department of the useful arts, now become one of no slight consequence to the comforts of the civilised human being. Mr Howison contrived to make boots, gloves, and many of the like articles of dress, by first forming moulds of wax of the proper size and shape, and then coating them over with the liquid juice gathered for the purpose, and placed in air-tight bottles, in which it can be kept for a short time sufficiently soft. The experimenter found it necessary to apply repeated coatings, using his hand for spreading them, before the article could be brought to a sufficient thickness. In this way he made boots that were thoroughly waterproof, but he soon discovered that they lost shape, and, in short, that an article of elegant wear could never be thus made.

Mr Howison then thought of dipping in the juice an elastic cloth, in some degree corresponding with the elasticity of the caoutchouc, and into the textural interspaces of which that substance might be absorbed. He plunged Indian cotton stockings and gloves into the fluid, and hung them up to dry. The experiment was perfectly successful. The cloth quickly absorbed the juice, and when the article was dry, every fibre of the cotton had its coating, and the whole was completely waterproof, while scarcely less flexible than before. He dipped nankeens with the same result, and, in short, by giving the caoutchouc a basis of light cloth in place of using it alone, found that he could make a complete dress for himself-a dress which had the extraordinary properties of being impervious to rain, insoluble in fresh water or salt, unchangeable by the sun's rays, calculated to wear for an immense time, and not liable to be destroyed by any known insect. Mr Howison's experiments attracted considerable attention, when communicated to the Asiatic Society, and through their publications to the world at large. Speculative minds devised a hundred important uses for the caoutchouc, besides the application of it to the waterproofing of common articles of dress. The manufacture of all the numerous instruments and articles requiring elasticity, the coating of canvass for tents and sails, the strengthening and preservation of ropes and fishing-nets, the perpetuation of paintings by means of varnishes and prepared cloth, were among the many purposes which it was proposed to accomplish by the aid of the caoutchouc, as we find from the remarks of an able writer of the year 1800, who drew up an account of Mr Howison's experiments. But the misfortune was, that neither the American nor the East Indian caoutchouc was soluble, at least in a sufficiently perfect degree, by any means known at the time; and the juice could not be conveyed to Europe in a fluid state. It dried so quickly in Mr Howison's hands, indeed, that if, in dipping his cloth, he allowed two layers to come in contact, they were thenceforth inseparable. On this account, the chemists of the day set to work most diligently, to discover a solvent for the dried caoutchouc. It was found that turpentine and cajeput oil were the two liquids that produced the principal effects as solvents; but there were important objections to their use, one being the great expense of the oil.

We mention these circumstances because this secret of the caoutchoue solvent was a very interesting one,

Now Dr Howison of Crossburn House, Lanarkshire. An account of this gentleman's experiments was given in the Jourmal, No. 280.

Caoutchouc articles made by the solvent power of the distillation from tar, are now, it is almost needless to say, in common use in Britain. Waterproof dresses have been for some years manufactured by, and named after, Mr Mackintosh, a gentleman who has taken out a patent for this branch of practical science. An immense quantity of these are now made, the caoutchouc being introduced into all varieties of attire, but chiefly into cloaks, wading trousers, and other upper or outer articles of dress. With respect to the use of Indian rubber cloth, except for loose coverings, we entertain very serious objections. The closeness of texture prevents the exhalation of the insensible perspiration, and thus is apt to do a very serious injury to health. We think it our duty, therefore, to recommend that no Indian rubber garment should be used which in any way closes upon the person. As perfectly loose mantles or capes, the caoutchouc articles are inimitable, but there the merit of the invention rests. For some other purposes caoutchouc is excellent. Bottles which fill themselves by suction are made of it, and are peculiarly useful to medical men. The stomach-pump was an article little fit for use previous to that discovery, and now it is efficiently employed almost every day by police surgeons in cases of poisoning. There is a bad odour about new caoutchouc articles, but this in a short time disappears.

SILVIO PELLICO'S RETURN HOME.
SILVIO PELLICO, an Italian gentleman, who, as most of
our readers are aware, was inhumanly imprisoned for
several years by the Austrian government on the charge
of having committed a political offence, afterwards wrote
an account of his sufferings, which has been widely cir-
however, terminates rather abruptly, and to compensate
culated in most European languages. His narrative,
this defect, he has lately prepared additional memoirs
of his unfortunate history. One of the French journals
gives a few chapters from the yet unissued work, and we
translate a portion of these, not on account of any strik-
ing incidents contained in them, but because they seem
to us to partake largely of that charm which the pure
and amiable spirit of the writer throws around all the
productions of his pen, and also because they depict
minutely the feelings of the Italian scholar, on being
restored to his family after ten years' imprisonment in

a distant dungeon.

again to the Divine Being, whose sustaining hand I had felt in the most severe of my trials. But that multitude of remembrances did not cease to besiege me, and to transport my imagination more often into the midst of troubles than of consolations. In addition to this irresistible agitation of spirit, I began to experience a severe pain in the head, and such an oppression as almost prevented me from breathing. It seemed to me as if my enfeebled body could bear up no longer, and that this night was to be my last. I thanked God for having brought me alive into the house of my father, and permitting me to die there, if my hour was really come. Nevertheless, the thought of dying troubled me, and I could not suppress the wish that my days might be prolonged, to let me taste awhile the ineffable love of my family, and be a staff to my parents in their old age.

Towards morning, I breathed more easily, and enjoyed a light sleep; it was short, but did me much good. Awakening without headache, I arose quickly, though fatigued, feeling a joyful wish to assure myself that I did not dream, but was really in my paternal home. Clothing myself hastily, I passed into the next apartment, where I fell upon my knees, thinking that I could never be grateful enough for my chains being broken. The pleasing tears which fell from my eyes refreshed me greatly. I rose to my feet on hearing the steps of my mother, who came, in her solicitude, to see if I was awake, and to assure herself that I was not ill. I stept before her, my heart palpitating with filial love, and threw myself into her arms. To her anxious questions I gave encouraging answers, not distressing her by disclosing the way in which I had passed the night, but feigning, on the contrary, much more strength than I

had.

The joys of that morning were not yet over. My beloved father and my good brothers entered; we again embraced one another, spoke words of hope and comfort, and talked of all that remained yet to be told between us. I felt revived and refreshed by the depth of their affection; but, after going out to hear service in the church of St Francis, my feebleness returned upon me, and I could with difficulty regain our home. My mother gave me some elixir drops, and I sat down to rest, and to talk, not only with her, but with my father and brothers, who came into the room every instant, as if to assure themselves anew of my presence. We could not satiate our eyes with the sight of one another, or forbear to ask and answer questions, in order that we might in some measure fill up the immense blank made by the ten years which I had passed far away from them. The day was thus occupied in recounting the details of my captivity to these sympathising friends, and in listening to their description of the anguish endured on my account by them. I went exhausted to bed, and again passed a night of sleepless suffering.

The same thing occurred again and again, until my mother beheld my rapidly decreasing strength, and laid upon me the injunction to preserve a rigorous silence.. This was a wise step; but four months passed away ere I enjoyed nights untroubled by pain and sleeplessness. Even when I began to sleep better, one thing still harassed me.

Every morning, just before dawn, the remembrance of my arrest, my trial, my condemnation to death, and the ten years of my captivity, came before me in the shape of a frightful dream, all the circumstances of which were vividly analogous to the real ones. But every day, also, I had the happy surprise of passing from the torments of a dungeon, or the terrors of death, to the joy of finding myself in the bosom of my family. While the body thus suffered, and slowly regained strength, the mind had also trials to undergo. How many beloved friends, alas! had I lost by death, in these ten years! how many others had fallen into severe distress! what errors, hates, and day [1830] had much in them to alarm me for some calumnies were abroad! The new revolutions of the young and generous spirits of Italy, who were emboldened by them to form schemes perilous to their welfare; and I felt, also, that the same circumstances

would have deplorable consequences for those of my the spirit of revolutionary ferment still abroad, small companions yet moaning in the cells of Spielberg. With bound to me by ties of brotherly love from the cradle. was their chance of liberty. One of them was a man I speak of Pietro Borsieri, a person of lively and cultivated parts, belonging to a family in which I knew none but noble souls, and none but dear friends. I was spent in a state of feverish excitement, my mind being close and enduring, to another captive, Frederic Con"My first night, after returning to my family, was bound by ties of friendship, not of so long standing, but agitated by conflicting and tumultuous emotions, some-falonieri, a man for whom I could have died, so highly times of a sad and sometimes of a joyful character. It did I value his life, and with the best of reasons. I was impossible for me to close my eyes. I wished to compose my thoughts, by turning them to God, and dryane, but that pleasure was mingled with sorrow, at heard with pleasure of the release of Alexander Angiving audible vent to words of gratitude and love; but, the remembrance that Confalonieri had in him lost his at every instant, the train of devotional feeling was in- dear friend, and was left in solitude within these terrupted by crowding recollections of the years of my horrible prison-walls." captivity, of those who had been shut up before me, of the friends whom I had left yet in chains, of others who the reflections which I had made in the hour of sufferwere absent or departed, of all my past illusions and ing, of the faith which divine grace had given me, and of my happiness in being released from prison, in revisiting my country, and finding my parents and my tion agitated me in a lively manner. To recover in brothers once more. Each of these sources of distracpart my tranquillity, I strove ever to turn my thoughts

having ever desired revolutions at the cost of bloodshed, [Pellico here defends himself from the charge of He then returns to the subject of his family, and the and proves that his opinions were moderate and mild. causes which led him originally to think of publishing his memoirs.]

"What comfort, meanwhile, I tasted in the bosom of my family! There my presence had given serenity the sole object of their desires. Now these were satisto every countenance. I had been for so many years fied, and they showed me that they were happy. In addition to theirs, I enjoyed the society of many dear friends, and, among others, of the Abbé Giordano, our parish pastor, a venerable man of eighty. To this

MISCONCEPTION ON RAILWAYS.

It is a singular fact in the early history of locomotive carriages, that their projectors assumed the existence of a difficulty which is now known to be wholly imaginary; and resorted to sundry laborious contrivances for overcoming an obstacle that had no existence, and which Nature herself, had she been asked, would have accomplished for them. They assumed that the adhesion of the smooth wheels of the carriage upon the equally smooth iron rail must necessarily be so slight, that, if it should be attempted to drag any considerable weight, the wheels might indeed be driven round, but that the carriage would fail to advance because of the continued slipping of the wheels. The remedies devised for this fancied counteraction were various. One was

conceived so valuable, that a patent was taken out for it in 1811 by Mr Blenkinsop. It consisted, as the writer well remembers, of a rack placed on the outer side of the rail, into which a toothed wheel worked, and thus secured the progressive motion of the carriage. It was, however, wholly useless-it was an impediment: the simple adhesion of the wheels with the surface of the rails upon which they are moved being by an immutable law amply sufficient to secure the advance, not only of a heavy carriage, but of an enormous load dragged after it.-Wade's British History.

"CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE,&

NUMBER 454.

THE POCO.

ALL who have read Voltaire's "Candide" must have a lively recollection of a certain Monsieur Pococu

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1840.

everything greatly overpraised. Loch Lomond is no-
thing to the Lake of Geneva. The vale of Glencroe,
so rugged and sublime, appears to him dull and sombre.

would of co

The Poor in a

Irante, who turns away with contempt and disgust He would have liked to see the mountain sides en- anything else. oq; admo

from every thing that is presented or proposed to him; whereupon the hero of the story makes the

feature of human character. The number of those

livened, as in Switzerland, with cottages and patches of cultivated ground-provoking you to add in deremark, "What a great man that Monsieur Poco-spair, "and lighted with gas ;" but the Poco does not curante must be—nothing pleases him !" The French understand a joke, so this passes for unsaid. His philosopher here touches the root of a very remarkable main trick is to depreciate by comparison. You hint a little approbation of Ben Lomond, which you insinuate is nearly four thousand feet high. "Oh, my dear sir, what is Ben Lomond, or any other of your Scotch hills, to Mont Blane ? Think of fifteen thou sand feet of height, and a top of perpetual snow!" When you speak in like manner of the Clyde "Oh, my dear sir, what are any of your Scotch rivers to the Thames or Severn?" Were our Poco a Swiss, and

who, from an irregular self-esteem, are malcontent with almost every thing, is very great. We propose that they should be called pococurantes, or, for short

ness, pocos, though, we believe, the word has a more

extensive meaning amongst the people to whose language it belongs.*

The Poco is remarkable for his comments on new

public buildings. He has but one principle-never to admire. Is the building a Gothic church, then it resembles a big German toy. Is it a pillar, then it is like a great candlestick or churn. Is it a Grecian church with a dome in the St Paul's style, then it is like a vast pepper-caster. There is not any one building, however large in its scale or elegant in its parts, but he has some diminutive and ridiculous object of a familiar domestic kind, whereunto to liken it, so as to make it appear mean. He is also great in showing the inappropriateness of buildings to their objects and sites, as, for instance, "How absurd to have built that Corinthian monument to Burns-the most Doric of

all poets !" or, "How ridiculous to set up an obelisk in that dense part of the town, where, to a stranger approaching, it will look like a factory chimney!" One thing may be observed; he is not very consistent. If it is intended to place a building low, he predicts its effect will be lost: if, next year, another is commenced on a hill, then its effect will be to spoil the hill. On a moment's reflection, we must withdraw the last charge against him, for in both of these remarks he is quite consistent with himself-in his character as a Poco.

On the occurrence of any city spectacle or exhibition, which all the people go to, expecting to have some pleasure in it, our Poco's bile is sure to be stirred. It is curious, too-he always goes like the rest. But, to appearance, it is only to find fault. Let us suppose it is a procession-say the queen going in state to open parliament. In such a case, he by no means likes the colour of the horses in the royal carriage: George IV.'s horses were a great deal better. Then the sovereign of England was considered entitled to have a stud. As for the procession, he has seen a far better in Blue Beard or Aladdin. A boy rogue splashes his gaiters, and he exclaims there is no police, though they actually form a large and conspicuous portion of the crowd. You drop with him into the National Gallery; but he has long done with pictures. There is no genuine art now-a-days. All flash, and flare, and daub. In the evening, you conduct him to the opera. It is one of the best nights of the season, and a crowded house. But never was heard such singing, or seen such dancing. Besides, there is something confoundedly shabby in that plan of giving backs to only one-half of the seats. And then the whole affair is a humbug-a parcel of rascally foreigners come to pick our pockets.

It is the same with natural objects of the kind which most are glad to go a good way to see. He makes a tour of the Scottish Highlands, but finds

*Pococurante (Italian), literally a little carer, signifies one who is very careless in his general demeanour, as well as one who cares little for his fellow-creatures, and for what others are accustomed to respect.

treated with some praise of Mont Blanc, it is ten to
one he would cite the Himaleh range. Were the
Thames or the Severn spoken of praisingly in his pre-
sence, he would, in like manner, fly to the Danube.
Were he German, again, and heard the Danube ap-
proved of, he would not be content till he had told
you what a trifle it is to the Amazon. And so on.
What he would do were he asked to admire the
Himaleh range or the Amazon, or any other greatest
known thing of its kind, the powers above can only
know; we do not. We fear such a case would dis-
tress the Poco a good deal.

|

affairs ever strikes

.. ..

...

utile people. He is of tas pany Lin do and ledging somebody else content as he is grering, be fellow-creatures in a dea general discontent, our Fo the discontented. When a large munity concentrates its attera ance, which it endeavours to have y is sure to discover that the real t them is something quite different-pr thing of so trivial a nature that no one bei ever thought of it; like the old soldier in Seat discovering the cause of Claverhouse's defeat at 1/ clog, in "that newfangled way of slinging their car bines." Ministries of all kinds are alike to our here. They are always mere nincompoops. When a war. like policy is pursued, he apprehends the nation must soon sink under the necessary additional taxes; when the cabinet, like Lucius, have to confess that their

thoughts are turned on peace, then the nation is nowa-days allowed to be kicked about by every third-rate power-very different from the times of yore, when the British lion never allowed a single hair of his tail to be plucked with impunity. He is always found The Poco's taste in literature is very sublime. He engrossed by considerations of departments of state condemns the whole taste of the age, leaving it of policy, which everybody else at the time supposes to be course to be surmised that he could himself produce, in good enough order; for instance, while all manor at least can imagine, far better novels, plays, poems, kind are absorbed in the question, we shall say, of free philosophical writings, and so forth, than any at pre-trade, our Poco is altogether occupied in considering sent in vogue. Periodical literature being fashionable, the finances. "If the finances are kept right, sir, all he finds that men fritter away their genius in small will be right. Britain stands or falls by the finances. efforts; though, of course, were it otherwise, he would No ministry ever yet throve which meddled with the ridicule their large and solid works, and point out that finances. That was Necker's great fault in the French a light essay, or even a song or a ballad, had often Revolution.” In short, he is for the finances, and done more to enlighten and reform than folios of nothing but the finances; you could not pass him in twenty years' elaboration. The productions of the conversation with a gentleman on the street, but, in the day being most run upon, he furiously bewails that moment of transit, you would hear of the finances. the excellent writers of the last century, the Popes, There is a possible exception to the rule that the Poco Swifts, Johnsons, &c., are now neglected; though is of no party. Whenever any faction gets worn down here, also, were the case the reverse, he would be sure to something very small, so as to cease to be of the least to rail at the miserable unattractiveness of all existing account with the nation at large, then our Poco perauthors. The clever novelist being now the crack haps allows himself to join with it. But he is a man, he asks, "But where are your philosophical bad partisan, being as likely to throw blame upon writers? Scott and Bulwer are very good as story- his own people as upon any other. At all their detellers; but we have now no Adam Smiths." Of feats, however clearly these may be owing simply to course, were it otherwise, he would be all grumble for the overwhelming force of the opposing majority, he the want of graceful fiction. When Boz was compara- is sure to turn round upon them, and find the source tively obscure, our Poco was delighted with him. of their discomfiture in some little peculiarity or "There," he cried, "there is an original writer at point in their conduct, which has no more to do last!" But since everybody began to admire Boz, with it than the last change of the moon. his tone is quite changed. He speaks of "that prac- dearly loves to give blame and find fault, that notice of selecting characters from the lowest scenes of thing, however intimately associated with him, can life, and the effect which it must have in taking be free from the exercise of his ingenuity in that way. down the public taste;" and shows that, after all, he Were the very wife of his bosom to fall and break is a writer who sees only the minutiae of external ap- her leg, he would find it to be her own blame, from pearance, all the fine workings within escaping him. wearing that large bonnet. Of course, if we could suppose Mr Dickens to have written his many clever books without public approbation, our Poco would have been quite indignant at the age for allowing se bright a genius to languish in obscurity. His favourite authors, it may be readily supposed, are not the same with other men's favourite authors. Those whom he patronises are chiefly persecuted out-of-the-way writers - persons who were perhaps killed twenty or thirty years ago by single articles in quarterly reviews, and have never been heard of by the bulk of the world since; or individuals who have never had any but a local fame. Were

He so

An affair like the meeting of the British Association gives great scope for his peculiar passion. It is well known that the meetings of this body have at every place occasioned a general feeling of satisfaction both to the savans and the people whom they visited. These assemblages have been in fact signalised by an overflow of kind and agreeable feeling wherever they have yet taken place. This is enough to make them objects ef particular disgust to our Poco. Would he be pleased with what pleases so many? No: that would be to reduce him to the common herd at once. He therefore takes every opportunity of railing at