The day of the moon's change is a holiday with the Burmhans, who pay their devotions and make offerings at the shrine of their divinities. On the 25th May, Captain Cox writes,—

supported on bamboos, and shiver like so of the trays to the outer verandah, to put | dress, but very shabby, and on wretched many half-drowned rats during every the contents in baskets, and carry them half-starved, small horses; of these there shower. The whoonghee had only a mi- away; the mewjerry, &c. then presented might be sixty or eighty; then several gilt serable hut, about sixteen feet by twelve, to the chief poonghee three trays, one brass three-pounders, on field-carriages, surrounded by the walls of the tent I had with a pyramid of boiled rice on it, the drawn by men, with several red-painted given him; the whole court are disgusted other with fruit, and the third with betel, and gilt ammunition carts, drawn by two with their situation and labour, and ar- &c.; these he touched with the points of horses each; on each side after these dently sigh for his majesty's return; and, his fingers, and appeared to bless them; marched foot soldiers, armed and clothed as his beloved grandson and many of the in turn they were presented to each of the as those before mentioned; then followed Jadies of his family are sickly, it is ex-poonghees, who performed the same ce- the carriage I brought, drawn by men; pected he will move immediately that remony; they were then put apart as con- and immediately after it, his Majesty, there is water for his boats. People are secrated, to be exposed near a temple, on with the first queen in his old carriage, constantly employed in sounding the an open altar, for the benefit of the crows drawn by four led horses; the blinds channel, and fixing marks where there is and pian dogs; (this is one of the usages down. He laughed, and spoke out the deepest water. The whoonghee in- which his majesty ridicules and condemns.) loudly while passing, seeming well pleasvited Mr. B. to club dinners with him, On these occasions the neighbours assisted with my attention. I was seated in a saying, if he would find cook, he (the at the house where the feast is made. Se- chair at the door of the hall, and when he whoonghee) would find provisions: how-veral men and women were assembled at came in front I rose up, took off my hat, ever, in the end, Mr. B. was obliged to my house; these now advanced and bowing and placing my hand on my find both, for their bazar afforded nothing kneeled in two groups before the line of breast; Mr. Burnett and Mr. Rowland but a little rice, fetid oil, blatchong, salt poonghees, the women to the right of the standing on either side, and bowing at the fish, and a few poor mangoes. His ex-men; the mewjerry gave a few grains of same time. The rest of my suite were cellency is of a convivial turn, acknow- parched paddy to each, which they held arranged on either hand of the verandah. ledged himself fond of good living, and, in their hands closed, with the palms to- Before the front of my house I had made among other things, he was desirous Igether, a little elevated, in a supplicating a railing of bamboo lattice-work, covered should procure a couple of good cooks posture; they then repeated a prayer after on the outside with yellow cloth, and over and a book of cookery. But books and the chief ponghee, in the manner of part it gold and silver tange was spread; immecooks would soon be useless, for the ex- of our service; the chief ponghee then diately in front of the veranda, was a porti pense of one good dinner would frighten prayed, and other poonghees placing their co forty-eight feet long, covered on the them from any further essay.' fans of palm-leaves before their faces, ac- top with scarlet cloth, hanging down tocompanying him; after this prayer was ward the front about three feet, with gold kind of lecture in an audible tone of feet below the red cloth. The bamboo finished, the chief poonghee delivered a tange along the front, dropping about three voice-a lesson I suppose from some of pillars, &c. covered with yellow silk, and their books of divinity, and, if I might a screen of yellow silk curtains along the judge from the chanting tone, was in a front of the verandah, so as entirely to kind of metre. This lasted about ten or cover the piers, leaving the doors open. fifteen minutes, when they arose and The house was also newly white-washed, walked off without ceremony. The river and the road levelled and sanded before has fallen again three cubits.' the door; and just before his Majesty passed, I had the road strewed with gold leaf; the crowd were kept clear of the front by a Burmhan peon; and, on the whole, for this place, we made a very fine show. The intent, however, was every thing, and it being wholly unexpected. He was highly gratified, saying aloud to his courtiers, Ah, this is the company, that is my resident," and kept his eyes on me the whole time he was passing. On each side his Majesty's carfiles, without any regularity; next follow-riage marched spearmen, and it was sured the King's grandson, on a very lofty rounded by a crowd of his courtiers, &c. elephant; he sat on the neck of the ele- &c,; immediately after it, followed footphant, and held the guiding-hook himself. soldiers, troopers, and war-elephants, but but in fact the animal required no guid- the whole too irregular and insignificant ing. A well-dressed mohaut sat behind to make any impression on me. him, and supported him in his arms. The young prince was naked from his waist upwards, having on only a silk lungee, and an embroidered handkerchief on his head, gold bangles on his ancles and wrists, and several chains set with stones, &c., on his neck. After him came several gilt palkees, with women of the palace, &c.; at a distance behind him, followed a son of the King's, by a favourite concubine, on a small elephant, which he guided himself; after hiin followed five of the King's elephants, with war-howdahs, having large, shields on each side of the howdah, painted red and gilt; then followed his Majesty's troopers, in their war

On the 8th of June, Captain Cox witnessed a procession of the king and his suite:

Since the 10th of April, I have reguJarly distributed alms every morning to one hundred and fifty poonghees, according to the Burmhan custom; and at every full and change of the moon, have had twenty-one poonghees to partake, as it is called, of a charitable feast. This morning, as usual, the appointed number came, my great hall was carpeted, and wooden About half-past ten the head of the trays arranged the whole length of the procession began to pass by; first, a room, four for each poonghee; the first string of his Majesty's elephants; next, contained fried fish, ballehong, turtle a body of foot soldiers, each with a rusty eggs, curries, &c. dressed after the Burm-musket on his shoulder, clothed like the han style, made up in little plates of common people of the country; they leaves; the second pancakes, and Burm-marched, or rather walked, in two Indian han sweetmeats; the third, mangoes and other sweetmeats; the fourth, bunches of plantains, a green cocoa-nut, betel leaves and nut, tobacco, chinam, &c. &c. After the poonghees had been seated a few minutes, their servants and scholars brought in the bowls which they carry in making their daily collections of rice, &c.; these they placed before them; the mewjerry, who is my master of the ceremonies, then presented to the head ponghee, who was seated in the centre, two cups of water. Out of the first he took water to wash his mouth and drink. He then put the points of his fingers in the other, and prayed over it in a low voice; the mewjerry then took away the water, and my Burmhan attendants put the contents of the first row of trays into their bowls, which signified their acceptance of the feast. Their servants and scholars then took away the bowls, and the remainder

The Queen Mother received honours equal to the king himself, as appears from the following account of her procession on the 26th of June:—

Early in the morning the queen-mother, in a superb palkee of state, borne by thirty-six men, and attended by a great number of the ladies of the palace in their palkees, passed by on their way to accompany the Assamese princess to court; also a party of troopers, musketeers, spearmen, &c. The fronts of all the houses in the high street, through which the procession is to pass, are ornamented with verandahs of bamboos and mats, so con

drama. But Hughes, who was the au-
thor of the tragedy entitled the Exiles
of Damascus, to suit the taste of the
players, altered the catastrophe, and
considerably weakened the effect. Mr.
Cochrane, in the poem before us, has
also deviated considerably from the
path of history; but we really consider
the original story so affecting, and so
full of interest, that we deem every de-
viation from it as an injury to the whole.
The author, in an introduction, apo-
logizes for the irregularity of the com-
position, but says he has now no lon-

tation to our unblurred pedigree, and the thing were accomplished in a minute. My good departed Aunt Rebecca (rest her ashes!) was wont to say, that such a pedigree was never before seen; and I believe her.-Its length, breadth, and dimensions, were abso lutely staggering; infinite, however, was her converse with it, and infinite were her pains to instruct those whom it concerned in that mysterious and important branch of family antiquity-to impress upon the mind the unquestionable necessity of a thorough ac

structed as to form a double roof open to wards the street, ornamented with painted borders; and the shops filled with their best goods, which were to be sold to the prince's retinue at reduced rates. Can non were planted at all the cross streets; plaintain trees and sugar-canes planted on each side the street, and the street clean swept. About half-past seven a. m. the procession began to pass by. First in or der were spearmen, then inusketeers, then Burmhan bramins, then music, then state chattres of a particular construction, then the queen-mother's state equipage of beaten gold, then the queen-mother in her state palkee, very high and large; on the platform of the palkee two young wo-ger spirits or health to dwell on its re-quaintance with our direct origin;—

men, richly dressed, knelt in front, and two in the rear, facing inwards, with their hands closed palm to palm, and raised to their foreheads, in the Burmhan mode of paying homage. Men bearing gilt chattres surrounded the palkee. After the queen-mother's palkee followed a small body of cavalry, then spearmen and musketeers, then men carrying the princess's dowry, consisting of elephants' teeth, jasper stones, Assamese arms, chests of clothes, bedding, &c. &c.; then followed several Assamese bramins, with white turbans, and long white jammahs. Then two woondocks, and several other Burmhan officers; then women dressed in white, beating large tom-toms, with crooked silver soontahs, others sounding silver trumpets of various forms, others playing on silver cymbals; then followed the princess's state equipage of beaten gold; then the princess, in a superb state palkee, borne as the queen-mother's, with two young women kneeling in front and rear; the curtains were of Chinese flowered gauze, so that she might see without being seen; immediately after her followed another party of Burmhan horse, then about twenty palkees, with court ladies, and the whole was closed by musketeers, spearmen, &c. The front of my house was ornamented, and Burmhan dancers and musicians exhibited in the front verandah. I had my breakfast-table placed in the front verandah, at which we were seated when the procession passed.' (To be concluded in our next.)

The Exiles of Damascus. By John Cochrane, Esq. 8vo. pp. 63. London, 1821.

vision; we regret this much, as his
poem is the crude production of a man
of genius, who, by a due cultivation of
his powers, might attain some degree
of eminence.
from the description of the slaughter of
We detach one passage
the exiles, by the ferocious Caled and
his Arabs :-

The grey clouds on the hills were bending :
Those streaks, which gild a twilight grey,
The shadows of the night descending;
Were swiftly vanishing away;
When, from the turn of yon dark hill,
The loud shouts echoed mid the evening still:
All heard, yet could not fly-behind us rose
The lofty mountains, near us were the foes;
'Tis vain to tell the shouts, the mingled cries,
The yells of triumph, and the fearful sighs,
The wild disorder, the despairing shrieks,
The frenzied eyes the cold and bloodless

not a knowledge slight and superficial, mind you, but a deep and hearty familiarity with every fibre of every leaf of every branch of the genealogical tree. gers, and it was astonishing to hear how She drew it with her own slender finclearly she could explain away supposed defections. She would bold forth thereupon (for no earthly reason but the edification of others!) three hours upon the stretch, ever fresh and ever willing. But whether it arose from the native stupidity of our apprehensions, from its peculiarly somniferous efects (poppies were nothing to it!), or from other causes which are not to be named, her auditors, somehow, never did much in the way of proficiency; nor for the soul of them could they understand what the Greys of Lewton Lodge had to do with Ethelgraystone, Prince of In blood and slaughter o'er the fainting crowd, Saxe-something. But Aunt Rebecca Whose outstretched arms implored their grace declared, upon her honour, that we, on Such, to those cold barbarians, plead in vain-scendants of that celebrated Saxon.the maternal side, were the lineal de The mother fell beside her husband slain, And as she died, still trembling sought to save Who could doubt a lady's word of ho At least her offspring from the common grave-nour? or who could have, therefore, Yet these they butcher'd at the parent's breast, While playful the young child her cold dull Beat down its little arms with gestures rude, Those murderers of a multitude.'

cheeks

The tramp of squadrons, with the gathering

crash

The cries of women, while the horsemen dash

aloud:

cheek caressed,

contested their claim to some of the
purest blood that ever streamed in the
veins of mortal flesh. The thing was
Besides; to this
beyond notoriety.
vast body of adduceable evidence were

Original Communications. collateral proofs, which must have car

LIFE,

AS DISPLAYED IN THE SOJOURNINGS OF
LOFTUS GREY.

Collected, Methodized, and Conglomerated,
By W. B. L.
CHAP. I.

ried conviction to the most sceptical :— these were certain ruby-like hillocks which heaved themselves in proud pre eminence upon her respected nose, and glowed with an effulgence all their own, Foolish people would persist in terming them carbuncles, could any

FEW of our readers, we presume, are unacquainted with the melancholy events which attended the siege of Da- Containing much important information; thing be more absurd? But such ma mascus, in the seventh century, and more particularly as concerneth the Familylicious whispers were soon silenced; the wanton butchery of those unfortu-Pedigree and Derivation-Evidence of Pure for, apparently conscious of their high Blood My Mother and Aunt Rebecca-the nate inhabitants who, preferring pover-Anxiety of the Latter My Birth and Dr. Ti destinies and exalted mission, these heLatter-My ty and exile to submission to the con- motheus Nehemiah Payne-his Portrait, &c.reditary gems would just, an' it were queror, quitted their native city on the the Finale. on purpose, regulate their resplendance faith of a capitulation. The circumin exact proportion to the virulence by are related by Gibbon with which they were attacked! great pathos and elegance, and they have formed the subject of at least one

stances

If it were my pleasure to make known the glory and renown of my fore-fathers, I should have but little else to do than to point in silent exul

Yes! I could say much on the score of ancestorial dignities-but I am

poetry and music, and fine eyes; finds enjoyment for himself and others at all seasons, &c. His style is very pleasant and off-hand, with a dash of the supergenteel, which suits him very agreeably, as long as he does not let it recoil into fastidiousness, &c. We have read his last article twice over, besides

dippings, and mean, some day or other;
if we are rich enough to cut out all
which the above writers have contributed

to the magazine, &c. For me, sir, to
extract the whole of the two articles to
which I allude, would fill your pages:
therefore, as the
and maga-
newspaper

zine are usually seen by readers, my
chief object is to give them the clue,
and leave the application to the con-
victions of their understanding.

Your's, &c.

MODESTUS.

POPULAR QUOTATIONS. To the Editor of the Literary Chronicle. SIR,-Agreeably with the promise I made in a former communication, I shall now offer some remarks on a few popular quotations, the authors of which are not generally known, although I do not presume to say that they have never before been discovered.

The first that occurs to me is the line,

'Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim.'

Mantuanus' was, as the name imports, a native of Mantua, and flourished during the fifteenth century. His works were first published at Paris, in three folio volumes, in 1513.

The following line,—

'Quem Deus vult perdere priùs dementat,'
is, perhaps, as frequently quoted as
either of the preceding, and, no doubt,
is commonly considered to belong to
one of the classical writers of Rome.
But it is no more than a literal ver-
sion of a Greek iambic, in one of the
fragments of Euripides. And, I be-
lieve, I may add to this, that there is no
classical authority for the verb demento

as here used.

I now proceed to mention one or two English quotations in popular use, and which are not commonly appropriated to their original authors. That beautiful line in the Pleasures of Hope,'

'Like angel-visits, short and far between.'

its visits,

REPREHENSION.

(FOR THE LITERARY CHRONICLE.) MOMUS (according to the Heathen records) was the God of Reprehension. His father was Sleep, and his mother Night. He did nothing himself, but was employed to look upon and view the works of others and reprove them, when necessary; therefore he reproved Vulcan's inan, for not having a window in his breast, through which his heart and thoughts might be seen; he reproved Neptune's bull for not having horns on his shoulders, rather than ou his head; he reproved Minerva's house, for not being made moveable, and the slippers of Venus, for making too much noise.

He was called the son of Night and Sleep, to shew that they who carp and are idle, are generally dull, obscure, and stupid fellows, fitter for the night than the day, to be a-sleep than to converse among men; therefore, as if borrowed literally from Blair's Virgil speaks of Fame, that she usually 'Grave,' where we haveflies abroad at midnight, intimating that rumours and reports are whispered in dark corners, and have secret beginnings; so these Momes vilify those things in private which they dare not in public, for even the best and most useful works and actions are by such tra duced, nor do they think any thing well done which they do not themselves perform. The sun and the moon have spots; Venus her mould; and the fairest day some clouds.

Like those of angels, short and far between.' Yet, I remember, in a review of the Pleasures of Hope,' I believe in the British Critic,' this fine thought was highly praised for its originality. This merit, however, does not belong to Mr. Campbell.

Goldsmith's lines,

'Man wants but little here below,
Nor wants that little long,'

are stolen from Young, who has, in his

There is scarcely any quotation more common than this; and those who use it, for the most part, ascribe it to Vir-Night Thoughts,'gil or Ovid, or some one of the classical writers. At least this, I know, was my case for many years, during which I would have risked any wager that I had actually read it in some part of the Metamorphoses of the last-mentioned poet. The fact, however, is, that the line in question is to be found in the Alexandrics' of Philip Gaultier, a French poet of the 13th century, whose works were printed at Lyons, in 1558. It forms part of a passage in which the poet addresses Darius, when, in his

'Man wants but little, nor that little long.'

men cannot endure to bear their faults

Though Momus be peevish and thwarting, yet he is sometimes useful in prince's courts. Therefore, Jupiter, in Lucian, gives him leave to Yet the quotation is always consider-speak boldly; but, when he had spoed to be the property of Goldsmith ken, he was slighted and rejected as alone. I will merely add, at present, to the being a mad and prating fool. Great foregoing notices, by observing, that reproved, their vices exposed, their the hackneyed quotation from Shak-wounds lanced. Euterpe, the smoothspeare,— tongued goddess of flattery, is only in 'We ne'er shall look upon his like again,' request among them; for truth is bitappears to be almost a literal translater and unpleasant, but falsehood sweet. tion of thePersius calls truth biting; Sidonius, a reproving speech, peppered words; and 'kicked out of great men's doors, and

Quando ullum invenient parem?'

flight from Alexander, he falls into the of Horace, which, if our great poet did Menander concludes, that truth is

power of Bessus. Consequently, the line in the original is,

Incidis in Scyllam,' &c.

Another Latin quotation, by no means uncommon, and generally ascribed, I believe, to Horace, is' Semel insanivimus omnes.' It forms part of a

not understand in the original, he
might have borrowed through an En-flattery only is esteem.' How useful
all, is sufficiently natural not to be a
glish version. Yet the thought, after would it be if great men would remem
plagiarism.

verse, however, in an eclogue of Man-Your tuanus, an Italian poet, De Honesto Amore:' the whole is as follows:

On some future occasion I will, with
permission, recur to the subject of
literary imitations, of which I have made
a few curious gleanings.
London,
Aug. 13th, 1821.

ORDOVEX.

ber Solomon's words, that, better are
the wounds of a friend than the kisses
of an enemy,
wine as well as oil to be poured into
and yet they would suffer
their wounds; for bitter pills are no
less needful to the health of the body,
than comfortable cordials; therefore it
might be said, Jupiter did nobly, who
gave Momus leave to tell every one his

Some of the frames of the superb mirrors of twelve by six feet, with which the rooms were almost lined, were still hanging, and their glasses, with the brilliant lustres, chandeliers, &c. with which every part of the palace was ornamented, lay in scattered fragments on the ground, where the soldiers, in their infatuation, had wantonly dashed them in pieces on the night of the suicide of Christophe.

faults, and not to speak in ambiguous the time of my visiting it, the idle and
but plain terms, not even to spare him-hungry soldiers were stripping it of its
self, but to tell him wherein he had rich mahogany floors, wainscoatings,
done amiss; and truly a great man does and ceilings, and selling them for what-
not shew his greatness more than ad- ever they would fetch, to prevent the
mitting a free reproof; for every man necessity of labouring for subsistence.
is apt to flatter himself, and others are
more quick-sighted in our actions than
we are ourselves; therefore Augustus
complained exceedingly that Varus
being dead, no man was left to tell him
the truth, which made Louis the Sixth
of France go abroad in a disguised ha-
bit, to learn the truth, seeing he could
not learn it at home; and for this cause
Louis the Eleventh complained that
truth was the only thing which was
wanting in his court; and may we not
venture to make the same complaint
for the august personage who rules our
nation, though, doubtless, that mo-
narch is miserable whose ears are stop-
ped from hearing the truth.

If we descend from the prince to the subject, we still lament how difficult it is to convey truth to the satisfaction of the receiver and the monitor. The sot will not return thanks to be told he is a drunkard; the miser that he is deficient in benevolence. But, notwithstanding, whatever offence might be given, it is sometimes necessary to reprove, and never more seasonably than self.

DESCRIPTION OF

PUCERON.

SANS SOUCI, THE CAPITAL OF
HAYTI.

CAPTAIN COUDRY, who has recently returned from Hayti, gives the following account of Sans Souci, and the citadel built by Christophe, the late Emperor:

This city, except in the Palace Royal and its spacious gardens, has the appearance of but a poor country village; and presents a striking contrast between wealth and poverty, in the one stately edifice, which, in magnificence and splendour, may equal, if not surpass, any in Europe, rising above a thicket of wretched looking cottages and huts by which it is surrounded, and which served as habitations for the dignitaries of Christophe's

court.

There is a surprising grandeur in the whole plan and structure of the palace; and the money expended in its building and furniture must have amounted to an immense sum. But it is now going to ruin, more by the hand of violence than by that of time, and stands a melancholy emblem of the downfall of ambition and power. At

A few schools have been founded at Sans Souci, which abroad have the names of colleges, and for which professors from Europe were solicited, when common village school-masters were, in fact, all that were necessary to supply them.

Having surveyed the palace and the city, we began our route up the mountain to the citadel. It was early in the morning, and when we had gained the height on which this truly formidable and astonishing fortification stands, the dense vapour that rises from the extensive plains below, entirely hid it from view. The road up the mountain is extremely bad, and to me seemed scarcely passable; it is so rugged as to render it exceedingly fatiguing to ride, and in many places, the ascent so steep, that we were obliged to dismount, and drive our horses up before us. After much exertion, we at length reached our place of destination, and were soon admitted into the citadel, which for many years I had earnestly wished to behold, but which I had despaired of ever being able to visit, as the commandant of Sans Souci has strict orders from the president to prohibit the entrance of all foreigners; nor should I now have gained admission, but for the interest of my friend O- —, whose influence procured me liberty to enter the city.

work of centuries; and its whole ap pearance has a character of sublimity and power which cannot fail to fill the mind of the beholder with wonder, admiration, and awe. Its walls in some places are thirty feet thick, and the north-east end is two hundred and fifty feet high. The numerous pieces of artillery with which this fortress is furnished, are so heavy, that it could hardly be deemed practicable to convey them by the steep and uneven road, which is the only passage to the summit of the mountain.

The lower battery is mounted with seventy heavy 32-pound pieces of bronze, each piece traversing with. great facility to its given angle; on a second breast-work are mounted about forty pieces of twenty-four pounds each, which are also of bronze, and arranged on the same principle as those below, with all their apparatus ready for use; to the third breast-work, which remains unfinished, are embrasures, and arrangements for pieces much lighter than the others; and above that, at about two hundred paces from the ground, barracks are constructed for the garrison. In short, the whole plan is so well laid and executed, as to render it, as a military position, impregnable to all the forces of Europe; and for imprisonment and servitude, well worthy the appellation of the Bastile of Hayti.'

Under the cover of its guns, vegetables may be cultivated to supply its garrison; and the large reservoirs that are constructed in many places in the exterior of the walls, are always kept filled. Many thousand barrels of flour are constantly kept in the vaults, in large French jars, air-tight, which, added to the pulse, rice, and salted provisions, would have been sufficient to maintain the garrison for twenty-five years.

Original Poetry.

ΤΟ

Nor a sigh should be heard from this bosom

so true,

If I knew that he lov'd you sincerely;
Not a tear should be seen these eyes to bedew,
If he lov'd you as I love you dearly.

But

in secret and silence this lone heart must

A deep silence reigned in the citadel, which had long echoed to the din of arms, and the tools of the wretched mechanics, who were doomed by the cruelty of Christophe to drag out a miserable existence in slavery; obliged to spend their days in labour, and their nights chained in horrid dungeons, without being able to obtain a sight of their families or friends for whole suc-Though his love may glow warmly, 't will vacessive years.

It is impossible for description to give an adequate idea of this stupen. dous structure, which looks like the

pine

For the solace thy heart has denied it;
Yet assure me that grief is a stranger to thine-

And I'll ask for no solace beside it.

nish as soon

As the sun from the wintry sky, love,

That

shines bright on the morn, but looks chill

on the noon,

Aud as coldly he'll soon look on thy love,