"When we had got out of the nucleus of the throng, he seized me firmly by the arm, and drew me aside. Enraged and alarmed at this mysterious treatment, I shook him fairly from me. For about the time that one might count twenty, he seemed to hesitate; and then, suddenly coming back, repeated, in Italian, 'I, I am the Baron M-, this is my palace; but I have nothing to eat! I looked at the building, near the gate of which we were then stauding: it was old and ruinous; there was no lamp in the court-yard, and only a faint light glimmering in one of the windows.

"Mistaking my silence and astonishment, he pulled out his watch, and, placing it in my hand, entreated me to give him some money. As I had no disposition to become a pawnbroker, I returned it with some expressions of surprise, and took out my purse, with the intention of giving it him, for it only contained two or three small pieces. But here all the solemnity of the adventurer terminated: he snatched it out of my hand, and emptying the contents into his own, returned it; and wishing me good night, ran into the gateway."

The following sketch of the character of the Sicilian people is well drawn :—

"Loquacious and ingenious, they make more use of persuasion in their dealings than any other people. They persuade the people to buy bits of blessed rags and paper, which, when worn round the neck, have the effect, as they pretend, of neutralizing the malignancy of the evil eye. The same superstition is well known in Scotland; but it is more generally prevalent among the Sicilians than the Scotch.

"The Sicilians have, certainly, a very keen relish of humour; and, now and then, one may perceive in them a strong trait of peculiarity, not individual, but national, which, notwithstanding their ancient proficiency, is an assurance to think that they may yet attain some literary superiority which shall be regarded as original."

The reception Mr. Galt received in the Morea in the country of the Maniots, a Spartan territory, from Antonby, one of

"The court was dirty with rubbish, offal, and excrements. Hogs were confined in a corner; but the poultry and ducks enjoyed We ascended the range of its whole extent. into the keep by a zigzag stair on the outside.

"The door, narrow, opened into a hall, where a number of long-haired soldiers were sitting. They rose, as we entered, in order to make way for us to ascend the stairs which led to the apartment of the Prince. The walls of the presence chamber were hung with bundles of arms, cloaks, and petticoats. A bed occupied the farthest corner; under which I perceived a large, antique, carved coffer.

"Antonby, a strong hale carle, was sitting near the bed when we entered, and beside him an old priest. I think he appeared to be about sixty. Opposite sat his lady, with large rings on her fingers, but otherwise slovenly dressed. On her one side was a warlike relation, with a snuff-box in his hand, and on the other she had also her ghostly comforter. She was younger than the Prince, and still possessed the remains of beauty. They all rose up as we entered; and the old chieftain received us with a kind of honest gladness, that military frankness, which gains at once the esteem of strangers."

Mr. Galt gives a striking description of his approach, to Constantinople, in the following passage:—

"The domes of the chief mosques, were the first things that the eye detached from the mass of objects; then the grim Castle of the Seven Towers; and, finally, the innumerable minarets interspersed amongst stately cypresses, and other trees of more cheerful foliage. But, unlike the approach to London, where the gay variety of villas and gardens, and the lively emulation of innumerable chariots and horsemen, exhilarate the spirits, the traveller passes on to the very gates of Coustantinople, irresistibly disposed to moralize on the vanity of human affairs. He hears nothing like that continuous sound, the voice of London, which is heard so far off; but all is melancholy and solemn. The road lies through fields of sepulchres; the walls are covered with ivy; the towers are nodding to their fali; and the great Upas tree, of Ottoman despo tism, is approached with sadness and awe.”

WITHOUT dwelling on the literature and science of this work, the former part of which is a complete Malayan dictionary, we shall proceed to the historical part, as less heavy and more adapted to the taste of the miscellaneous reader: and in the first proofs of the origin of the Malays, which Mr. Marsden gives, he is upheld by many learned cotemporaries, particularly those who have compiled the Asiatic Researches. The following extract will serve to evince the pains taken by Mr. Marsden to found his opinions on the basis of probability, the best source of verity:

"The original country inhabited by the Malayan race, was the kingdom of Palembang, in the island of Indalus, now Sumatra, on the river Malaye, which flows by the mountain named Mahu-mera, and discharges itself into the river Tatang, on which Palembang stands, before it joins the sea. Having chosen for their king or leader, a prince named Sri Turi Buwana, who boasted his descent from Iskander the Great, and to whom, on that account, their natural chief, Demang Lebar Daun, submitted his authority; they emigrated under his command, about the year 1160, to the south-eastern extremity of the opposite peninsula, named Ujong Tanah; where they were at first distinguished by the appellation of Orang de bawah Angin, or the Leeward people; but in time the coast became generally known by that of Tanah Malayo, or the Malayan Land."

as guides in the transaction of those local affairs wherein an European settler would find himself totally lost.

Mr. Marsden then, after going through a prolix account of the Malayans, next carries his observations to Java; the religion of which he treats of, and imagines the Javanese to be indebted to the Hindoos for their mode of worship; while the language of the Javanese has been borrowed from the Arabic, as may be found by many Arabic words and sentences engrafted on the ancient language of Java.

In treating on Malay, Mr. Marsden has mentioned the Binûwaw, a race of hunters, indigenous, as one may say, to the soil, whose means are but little, and whose numbers, are of consequence, but few. He accurately describes the state of society in the island of Java, and their form of government; in which the will of the prince is literally law. The people possess no hereditary marks of distinction, and when a subject presents himself before his prince, it is in a posture rather of crawling than walking: he must not shew his respect by his dress, but must be in the rags which scarcely cover him, in a state of comparative nakedness; and the meanness of his discourse, and the humility of his expressions must be correspondent with his dress. Terms of awe and adoration must alone be made use of in his addresses to the despot; and so far from selecting his expressions, or choosing proper terms in his discourse, his language must breathe nothing but slavery and ignorance, in order to shew the inequality of his condition to that of his sovereign.

Yet though there exists no hereditary rank, the Javanese have their titles of nobi

pleasure; though the temporary noble has unbounded privileges and authority during the term of his splendid hour, and holds the people at an immense distance, performing their pageant like the heroes of the drama.

Mr. Marsden imagines the Javanese to

The following detached ideas on the harmonious science are well thrown together : "The effects of music have been considered by ancient writers as eminently salutary in softening the manners, in promoting civilization, in exciting or repressing the passions,

and in the cure of various diseases.'

"Nero played on his lute when Rome was in flames. A popular air, even of a very simple construction, may be easily supposed, by the air of appropriate poetry, to excite the passions of love or anger, to inflame the warrior, or melt the love-sick maid. The plaintive Scots' melodies, and Purcell's simple air, Britons strike home, will sufficiently elucidate this possibility to an English ear.

"Birds were, assuredly, the most ancient music-masters. Even to this day, with all our boasted refinement, all our natural and artificial exertions, who will be bold enough to assert, that either Mrs. Billington, the delight of the present age, or Farinelli, the admiration of the last, ever approached the excellence of these instinctive musicians, either in fertility of imagination, in the brilliancy of their shake, or neatness of execution."

scene, and preparing things in the banqueting house.

"The dancers, masquers, anti-masquers, and musicians, did beforehand practise in the place where they were to present the masque, and the scenes were artfully painted by Inigo Jones, at the lower end of the banqueting house, and all things were in readiness.

"The grand masquers were four gentlemen of each inn of court, most suitable for their persons, dancing, and garb, for that business: and it was ordered that they should be drawn in four rich chariots, four masquers in each chariot, by six horses in each.”

The author then gives the following account of the procession :

"The first that marched were twenty footmen, in scarlet liveries with silver lace, each one having his sword by his side, a baton in one hand, and a torch lighted in the other: these were the Marshal's men, who cleared the streets, made way, and were all about the Marshal, waiting his commands.

"After them, and sometimes in the midst of them, came the Marshal (Mr. Darrell), afterwards knighted by the King, an extraordinary

"About All-hallow-tide, in the year 1633, several of the principal members of the four inns of court, amongst whom were some ser. vants of the King, had a design that these inns of court should present their service to the King and Queen, and testify their affection to them by the outward and splendid visible testimony of a royal masque, of all the four societies joining together, to be by them brought to the court, as an expression of their love and duty towards their Majesties.

"This design took well with all the inns of court, especially the younger sort of them; and in order to put it in execution, the benchers of each society met, and agreed to have this solemnity performed in the noblest and most stately manner that could be invented."

After giving the names of the committee the author proceeds:—

"The time for preparing this masque at Whitehall was agreed to be on Candlemas night, to end Christmas; and the several parts of it being brought near to a readiness for action, Hyde and Whitelocke were sent to the Lord Chamberlain (the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery), and to Sir Henry Vane (the Comptroller of the King's house), to advise with them, and take order about the

"He was mounted upon one of the King's best horses, and richest saddles, and his own habit exceeding rich and glorious, his horsemanship very gallant; and beside his Marshalmen, he had two lacqueys, who carried torches by him, and a page in livery that went by him, carrying his cloak.

"After him followed one hundred gentlemen of the inns of court, in very rich clothes, five-and-twenty chosen out of each house, of the most proper and handsome young gentlemen of the societies.

"Every one of them was gallantly mounted on the best horses, and with the best furniture, glittering by the light of the multitude of torches attending them, with the motion and stirring of their mettled horses, and the many and various gay liveries of their servants, but especially the personal beauty and gallantry of the handsome young gentlemen, made the most glorious and splendid show that ever was beheld in England.

"After the horsemen came the antimasquers; and as the horsemen had their music, about a dozen of the best trumpets proper for them, so the first anti-masque, being of cripples and beggars on horseback, had their music of keys and tongs, and the like, suapping and yet playing in concert be

fore them. These beggars were mounted on the poorest, barest jades, that could be got ten out of the dust carts, or elsewhere; and the variety and change from such noble music and gallant horses as went before them, unto their pitiful music and horses, made both of them the more pleasing.

"After the beggars' anti-masque came men on horseback, playing upon pipes, whistles, and instruments, sounding notes like those of birds of all sorts, and in excellent concert, and were followed by the anti-masque of birds. This was an owl in an ivy bush, with many several sorts of other birds in a cluster about the owl, gazing, as it were, upon her: these were little boys, put into covers of the shapes of those birds, rarely fitted, and sitting on small horses, with footmen going by them, having all of them torches in their hands.

"After this anti-masque came other musicians on horseback, playing upon bagpipes, hornpipes, and such kind of northern music. First, in this anti-masque, rode a fellow upon a little horse, with a great bitt in his mouth, and upon the man's head was a bitt, with head-stails and reins fastened, and signified a projector, that none in the kingdom might ride their horses but with such bitts as they should buy of him. Another projector, who begged a patent of monopoly to feed capons with carrots, and several other projectors, were in like manner personated."

After going through the procession, with a prolixity which our limits will not allow us to follow, the author gives us the conclusion in the following words :

"The King and Queen stood at a window, looking straight forward into the street, to see the masque come by; and being delighted with the noble bravery of it, they sent to the Marshal, to desire that the whole show might fetch a turn about the Tilt Yard, that their Majesties might have a double view of them;

which was done accordingly, and then they alighted at Whitehall gate, and were conducted to several rooms and places prepared for them."

On their entrance, he adds, that

"The Queen did the honour to some of the masquers to dance with them herself, and to judge them as good dancers as ever she saw; and the great ladies were very free and civil in dancing with all the masquers, as they were taken out by them.

"Thus they continued their sports until almost morning; and then the King and Queen retiring, the masquers and inns of court gentlemen were brought to a stately banquet, and, after that was dispersed, every one departed to their own quarters.

"The Queen, who was so delighted with these solemnities, desired to see this show being given to my Lord Mayor of London, he acted over again. Whereupon an intimation invited the King and Queen, and the masquers, to the city, and entertained them with all taste and magnificence at Merchant Taylors Hall. Thither marched through the city the same show that went to Whitehall, and the same masque was again represented in the same state and equipage as before. This also gave great contentment to their Majesties, and no less to the citizens, especially those of the youngest sort, and of the female sex; and it was to the great honour, and no less charge, of the Lord Mayor and freemen.

"After these dreams past, and these pomps vanished, all men were satisfied by the committee justly and bountifully."

We are further informed, that the music of this entertainment "cost one thousand pounds ;" and "the clothes of the horsemen, reckoned one with another, at one hundred pounds the suit, at least, amounted to ten thousand pounds!"

These are all very scientifically, though,