VOL. 4.] Infernal Dictionary-Manners and Customs in modern Persia. 171 From the Literary Gazette, Aug. 1818, DICTIONNAIRE INFERNAL! PAR J. A. 8. COLLIN DE PLANCY. that We doubt whether the Free-masons M. COLLIN informs us, the his will feel much obliged to M. Collin for Infernal Dictionary, he attentively having introduced them into his Infernal read fifteen thousand volumes, the Dictionary. It is true he attributes to authors of which have exercised their them the very best motives, of remindgenius in writing on demons, spirits, ing man of his duty towards God, his phantoms, spectres, ghosts, demoniacs, sovereign, and the laws of his country. magicians, sylphs, gnomes, &c. But then, it will be asked, Is there any We cannot blame him for having thing infernal in that? devoted one article to Love, of all de- The following little history wil cermons the most subtle, perfidious, and tainly prove a warning to all profane cruel. Two or three thousand poets jesters: have endeavoured, since the creation, Guymond de la Touche, the author to unfold his artifices; but none of of Iphygenie en Tauride, visited a them, we believe, mention the use of Necromancer, merely with the intencertain flies which apothecaries vend tion of turning him into ridicule. He for a very different purpose. On this accompanied a distinguished Princess, subject, M. Collin relates the following who he undertook to cure of all faith anecdote :in magic, both black and white. But A gentleman of Lyons had the mis- the imposing ceremony of the operations, fortune to marry a lady by whom he the silence of the spectators, the awe was not beloved. After having vainly and terror with which some were seizendeavoured to win her affections by ed, at length began to make an impresall the fine phrases and little attentions sion on him. At that moment his attenrecommended by Ovid and Gentil Ber- tion was riveted by observing the nard, he had recourse to a sorcerer, Conjuror run several pins into the who assured him that if he could prevail bosom of a young girl. "You seem on his cruel wife to swallow a dozen very anxious," said the girl, “to know cantharides in a glass of Spanish wine, what we are about here. Well! since he would be perfectly happy. The you are so curious, know that you shall lady swallowed the potion, and died die in three days." These words proon the following day. "Well," said duced such an effect on the ex-jesuit, the Sorcerer, "did I not promise that that he was seized with a fit of melanyou should be happy? You are a choly, and actually died at the expirawidower!" tion of the three days. 66 JOHNSON'S JOURNEY OVERLAND FROM INDIA. COLON From the Literary Gazette, August 1818. YOLONEL Johnson and his party, the dust of your Majesty's feet, and this of whose journey we have already day forms a new beginning of their spoken, left Ispahan on the 21st of lives; they look on all their past days May,(1817) and travelled by Kaushoon as nothing, and glory in the honour and Koom to Teheran. conferred on them by Your Majesty, King of Kings." On being presented to his Majesty, Colonel J. thinks the address of the Chargé d'affaires rather too submissive and degrading. It was as follows: Perhaps Father of kings would be a more applicable title, for it is generally agreed that his Majesty has sixty boys "These Gentlemen, King of Kings, and sixty girls living, and about the have all their lives been anxious to touch same number deceased. Twelve of his *See Atheneum, Vol. 4, p. 79. 172 The Persian Zenzeed-Atmospheric Illusions. [VOL. 4 daughters are already married, and and a more joyous flow to the spirits. twenty-five of his sons are governors of Hence, and in consequence of the state the principal provinces and cities of the of luxurious seclusion and tranquillity empire! The tenth, AllyShah Meerza, in which they live, they may become who is twenty-six years old, has already more than usually susceptible of the a progeny. The present monarch is tender passion; and as summer has about 45, and has reigned twenty years. ever been hailed as the peculiar season On their way from Teheran to the of love, they may have ascribed to this Russian frontier, many things occurred blossom, which blooms when other flowworthy of observation. Near Casween ers have faded, an exclusive and fanciful they saw the Zenjeed, or flowing silver charm." willow, in full blow, the smell of which An extraordinary phenomenon, betis held by the natives to have the ef- ter attested than the effects of the Zenfect of greatly increasing the passions zeed odours, was witnessed by the travof females, and on this account men ellers a little more towards the northern of character are careful to preserve border of Persia. It is so curious that their wives and daughters from its in- we cannot resist its claim to transcripfluence. .tion. It is lamentable to think that the Poet "Towards six in the morning, a very of Lalla Rookh was unacquainted with cold wind had set in from the NW. the virtues of a plant so admirably occasioning fogs in particular places calculated to have adorned his song, along the valleys, rising only a few yards and that Colonel J. should have had so above the wet ground, on account of little patriotism as not to import a few the cold air, which condensed them. seeds of the Zenzeed. Any of our On coming to a height which overlookHorticultural Societies would have re- ed those vapours, we saw one of them ceived the phenomenon with delight, in what appeared a deep chasm or and not one Adam among all our gar- valley before us, into which the road deners would have misdoubted his Eve led. Beyond the valley we observed one jot the more for snuffing the fra- above the fog the tops of high moungrance of its blossoms. But the Colonel tains, crowded with rocky precipices, only tells us what like the shrub is, and which seemed at no great distance, and then sets himself like a military philosopher to account for its effects. therefore proportionably steep. were aware that we had a kotul or pass "The smell of the flower seemed not to go over, and had been told that unlike that of ripe fruit kept in a store- Aukhund was at the top of it, on the room, sweet and mellow, having withal, other side. As we were still, by our when near at hand, a soft scent like that reckoning, ten miles from that place, of the henna. The fruit of the tree is we dreaded the labour of crossing from like the bear, or olive of India; it is the chasm below such a precipitous and full of farina, and in the midst there is extensive chain of mountains. On dea hard stone, resembling that of the scending slowly towards the fog, I perdate. The trees have a profusion of ceived a dark object in it which resemscarlet blossoms; and their leaves of a bled a distant village; but as we silvery white hue; the flowers grow in advanced, it soon changed its aspect, small bunches like the lilac, of a ver- and assumed that of a long avenue of milion colour within, and silvery white trees, which seemed to open out as we on the outside. It blossoms in June, approached. My friend and I were and therefore exhales its potent fra- both expressing our surprise at finding grance rather later than the other flower- an avenue of fine trees on a desert ing shrubs. At this season the Persian where we did not expect to see a village, ladies are particularly induced to seek and on which we had hitherto prothe refreshing shade of the garden trees, where they freely indulge their taste for ripe fruits, which no doubt tend to give a livelier circulation to the blood ceeded for miles without observing any trees, when in a few minutes we found that the view had been illusory, and that the nearest objects, in what had VOL. 4.] Sketches of English Manners. 173 The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, seemed the avenue, had the appearance of camels with light burdens, on one of which we remarked a man mounted. Or rather diving into the deeper philoAfterwards, as they cleared the fog, sophy of his compeer Macbeth, And nothing is but is not. they proved, as we now thought, to be mules laden with bags of grain, and men and boys walking with them. We Near Shaingulabad, our countrymen passed on through the fog, which was met the Russian Embassy. The revery thick, and for a time lost the high ception and entertainment they met with road. The wind soon blew off the was of the warmest and most hospitable vapour, and the sun shone very bright, kind. General Yermeloff treated them when to our astonishment this fancied like dear friends, and on the night prerange of mountains was found to be vious to their departure devoted the only a bank before us of forty or fifty greater part of the night to the kind feet high, over which the road proceed- business of writing, while they supposed. We at first concluded that the ed it was for his personal concerns, a lofty ridge of mountains we had observ- large bundle of recommendatory letters, ed from the eminence was intercepted addressed to those in command of all from view; but no such range existed the principal places and towns in Russia within twenty miles of us. The bank through which they were to pass, from was crowned with rocky masses, which, the first post on the frontier of Persia, seen through the fog, had occasioned to Warsaw in Poland. these successive illusions. This series Before proceeding in Georgia, howof fallacious appearances produced an ever,and copying the very interesting deindescribable effect on the mind, and tails of a visit to the residence of the late might, to an oriental fancy, have suggest gallant Platoff, we may state that Persia, ed the idea of magic." like Turkey, seems full of disunion. Its population is rapidly declining, as the deserted villages and faded splendour of towns and cities too plainly indicate. The perfect reality of these delusions, like calenture or mirage, is indeed in comprehensible. They might furnish argument for a Berkeleian controversy, or teach us to exclaim with Banquo, From the Literary Gazette, Aug. 1818. THE HERMIT IN LONDON, OR SKETCHES OF ENGLISH MANNERS. "A hundred smart in Timon and in Balaam : 66 we stated that these characteristic sketches of manners were general, and inapplicable to individuals. We repeat this assurance, for which we pledge the reputation of the Literary Gazette, and most solemnly say, in answer to the many strange communications we have received on the subject, that it does not consist with the Editor's know!edge that one of the fictitious names in any of these essays can justly be fastened upon a real person. At the same time it is impossible not to observe that the better drawn the pictures are, they are the more likely to be thought portraits. No. V. stopping lord Eaglemount as he swung out of Tattersal's yard. "Ha! is it you?" said, he:"you (with vast emphasis on the word, and in a strain of aigre-doux) are never out of temper. But to be persuaded out of one's opinion-to act against one's judgment, and then to be done out of a large sum of money is enough, I think, (shrugging up his shoulders,and fixing his eyes on a tall thin young man near him) to make any parson swear." "I am truly sorry,' replied I, for your Lordship's misfortune; but how did it happen?' "Oh! d-n sorrow," said he hastily, "grieving, my dear Sir, is folly, 'Why and as for pity, I hate the very name of so hasty, my dear Lord?' cried I, it. There is no such thing as genuine "I Wish the Derby was at 174 fifties and hundreds, and the bundle seemed rather voluminous. His face was, naturally, the silliest I ever saw ; yet it had a dash of low cunning in it. I saw him wink at an elderly Baronet who was standing in the crowd, and keeping up the price of a friend's horses which were for sale; and they exchanged a sly look which said, "We have properly done the Peer." Sketches of Manners-The Hermit in London, No. 6. [VOL. 4 pity: it is contempt that is so miscalled: But I now turned my eyes to the tall just as a fellow passes you by, if you thin young inan. He was a Dandy-a are thrown from your horse in hunting, complete Dandy; and, as every one in with My good Sir, I am really sorry high life knows what a Dandy is, I shall to see you down! are you hurt can I not further describe him. He was help you?' and off he scampers, a broad counting a parcel of bank notes, and grin on his countenance, or his tongue cramming them into a small morocco tucked in his cheek; or, as a bolder pocket book; the transparency of the blackguard dismounts, comes up to you notes discovered to me that they were with his pawing and prancing steed hung by the bridle on his arm, bursts out a laughing, but helps you to rise, a rib stove in, or a collar-bone broken, and says, My dear Sir, pardon my d-d nonsense; nature is so perverse; I never could (stifling a roar, and red in the face with rude mirth) I never could, in all my life, help laughing at an accident; but are you really much hurt? my servant shall catch your horse for you; I am truly grieved at your misfortune;' and off he flies, comes up with some break-neck rider of a friend, with whom he enjoys the joke, and would just laugh in the same way at him in a similar situation, and then tells all the Melton men what a bad rider you are. Is this true sorrow? is this genuine pity? No, and be d-d to it: it is malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness; it is any thing but sympathy or Christian charity; it is (I believe, for I never trouble the Bible) the Pharisee and the Publican-the fellow who thanks his stars that he is not like that poor sinner. 'I did not know that your Lordship knew so much of holy writ,' observed I, as I saw him get ease from thus venting his rage, and triumph in his happy quotation and in his great knowledge of the scripture. He now shook me by the hand,and parted with, "Thank you, my dear fellow, but never, d'ye see, pity me. I have been fooled out of my money, and that's all. Sam, give me my horse ;" and off he cantered. On a moment's reflection, I began to perceive that his Lordship was not altogether so wrong in his strictures on the human heart. How many who seem to pity-who wear grief upon their tongue for our misfortunes, bear triumph in their heart! How many are there, whose pity is a mockery-whose sympathy is an empty sound! As I never was a turfman, and am only a spectator of what our Dandies and Ruffians do, I should never have got at the bottom of all this without the explanation which I obtained from Tom Maberly, an old college acquaintance, who was at Tattersal's selling off his hounds, and whom I perceived in a roar of laughter at Captain Lavender, an Exquisite of the Guards, not long emerged from Eton, dressed as if he came out of a band box, and storming like a madman at being saddled (as he termed it) with a lot of horses which he never meant to purchase, but which he was hoaxed into bidding for, and which were knocked down to him at an enormous price. Tom (here was pity again) modestly offered the Exquisite half what he had just paid for the horses; saying, Upon my soul, I am sorry for your being taken in; but it can't be helped; a man must pay for experience; and, if you will dabble on the turf, and with turfmen, you must be more on your guard. I saw that Lord Eaglemount was not so much out in his bad opinion of the world. But let me explain these two transactions. Tom told me that the young Ruffian (not the bruiser, but a gentleman) in conjunction with another honest friend (the Baronet) had practised what they technically termed a throw over. The one advised the Peer,motived by superior information, to lay his money in oppo VOL.4.] Sketches of Manners-The Hermit in London, No. 6. 175. sition to his own judgment, and the plunder, what can be expected from the latter was to go halves in the bet. The lower orders? With such examples, can bet was lost to the tall thin young man, we wonder at fraudulent bankruptcies, who was in reality a confederate of the at swindling tricks, or even at open robother; the half seemingly lost by the bery in the inferior ranks of life? or Baronet was returned to him, and the may we not suspect that honour, which two friends divided the spoil. "Is it pos- is but the refinement of honesty, as desible that Gentlemen should practise such licacy of sentiment and discriminative vile tricks?" exclaimed I; Oh! yes, equity is but the educated child of prosaid Tom, these things are common.' bity, has deserted the higher classes, and The case of Captain Lavender was has quitted the gilded palace to sojoura as follows. Mr. Squander had, in three and to pine in the straw-covered and winters in London, got through a very wretched cabin. Then indeed may we fine property; he was overwhelmed say with the poet, that with annuitants, book, bill and bond · obligations; and it was very doubtful "Honesty is a ragged virtue," whether the sale of his estates would and that Boileau, so just in all his other cover all his debts-the more particu- conclusions, is mistaken in saying that, larly as he was to give a preference to "Dans le monde il ne'st rien beau que his debts of honour (namely, the money l'equité," &c. which he owed at play, and some part But let us turn away from so unpleasof which he had been defrauded of by ant and humiliating a picture, to take a titled and fashionable gamblers) leaving general view of the busy scene at Tatthe necessitous workman, the industri- tersal's, where Peers and other movers ous tradesman, and his unpaid servants, in high life, descend to be quite men of to do the best they could. Thus cir- business, at times-where such a large cumstanced, it was agreed that he portion of rank and of fashion is occa should migrate to France, and make a sionally assembled-and where I was rapid sale of his stud before the storm drawn, neither as a dealer, nor for a broke upon his head, and before a sei- lounge, but merely to meet a friend, zure of his horses and carriages took who went to purchase a young ruined place. His friends agreed to attend rake's fine set of carriage horses, and the sale for him, and Tom Maber- from whom I wanted to get a couple of ly was to give his aid; Mr. Squander franks for the Dowager Lady Mac Tab. prevailed upon young Lavender to keep A masquerade could scarcely exhibup the prices of his horses, in which he it more motley groups than the attendwas assisted by a buck Parson and the ants of this place of fashionable resort. stud groom, who took good care not to There were Peers, Baronets, Members buy in. The two green-horns consid- of Parliament, Turf-gentlemes and ered it as understood that the horses Turf-servants, Jockies, Grooms, Horsewere to be bought in at a certain price, dealers, Gamblers and Spies. There and that the money, which they were you might see the oldest and some of nominally to give, was to be returned. the best blood in England, disguised But, when they found that they had ac- like coachmen, or like the whippers-in tually bought these horses at prices so of a pack of hounds: there, master much above their value, and that Mr. and man consulting about the purchase Squander had already crossed the wa- or the sale of a horse :-in one place a ter--a circumstance which he had not person of rank taking advice of a made known to them, they became fu- horse-jockey or a dealer, on the subrious. It was too late, however, their ject of some match or race; in anothmoney was paid down, and the amount er, a fat grazier or a fleshy butcher, was secretly sent over to France. aping the gentleman, in new boots, &c. I have no terms of contempt suffi- and come in order to pick up a bar. ciently strong to reprobate such con- gain ;-one corner displayed i he anxduct. If gentlemen can league togeth- ious disappointed countenance of a er for the purposes of dishonesty and of seller; the opposite one discovered the |