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of no consideration in the account of his feelings or his purse, and so may refuse to notice them; whilst it appears that there is no other person on whom the law casts the obligation to feed them.

It may happen also that the lord may neglect to seize and proclaim them as estrays; or the time which intervenes between their being impounded and the proclamation may be great; hilst it appears that he is not in the interim obliged to provide them with food. And though the hayward, if he be a humane man, or in the hope of being repaid, or by the command of the lord (in the expectation of its becoming an estray), will sometimes feed the distress; and though the owner, if he be a humane man, will not fail to re pay him for it: yet this does not, and cannot always happen for obvious reasons. So that as the law now stands, in this age of benevolence and feeling, a distress of cattle (often very valuable animals) taken damage-feasant, may perish in the common pound for want of sustenance: nay, it would often perish if humanity did not prevent it.

Whilst such a case as this can exist, how unfrequent soever it may occur, it is a reproach to the Law; which should not leave what ought to be done to the discretion or feelings of any man, but should make it compulsory on him; which should take to itself the merit of" commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong," without borrowing any thing from the refinement of public manners or individual compassion.

If it were my object to interest the feelings of the reader, I might justly draw a very affecting picture of the misery of dumb animals confined for days without food, in a small inclosure, without any shelter from the weather, or any thing to lie down upon but mire and dung. I might speak of the mute language of their pain, which no passenger stops to construe; and their patiently standing hour after hour, with eyes closed and head drooping, in a corner of this wretched place,which no passenger sees. But those who are boruto be the champions of humanity need not themselves be tortured in order to teach them the rights of suffering creatures: it is enough that they see or are told what justice and humanity require. A reformation might easily be effected in the case before us by making the year and day begin to run from the time of impounding; and by giving a lien on the distress for the costs of keeping from that time. But perhaps the law of distress

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SIR,

T HE taste prevailing in this and other European countries for Oriental Literature, promises to contribute much to the improvement of philology and learning; and when classic scholars engage in this pursuit, the more eminent Greek writers will richly share in the general benefit, by light reflected upon them from the East. The acknowledged derivation of the Greek from the Asiatic languages, the high antiquity of Homer, his frequent use of terms in the sense which they bore in the parental tongue, are circumstances that occasion obscurities in many places of his immortal works, which the skill of those acquainted only with later Greek authors has been by no means able to remove. Such obscurities the critics and commentators, instead of elucidating by more en, lightened criticism, have, from their want of acquaintance with the languages of Persia, Arabia, Chaldea, Egypt, and Judea, passed over unobserved, or at least unexplained. As this subject is new and, as I conceive, important, I propose, through the medium of your useful and well conducted miscellany, to submit an example to your classical readers; and if it should appear worthy of their attention, I shall send for publication a series of remarks upon the several books of the Iliad, combining, in the order of those books, critical observations with etymological enquiries.

I select that example which first oc curs to my memory, though perhaps not the most striking that might be adduced.

Hector, it appears from many passages of Homer, was the chief, if not the only means of repelling the Greeks; and in acknowledgment of his courage, skill, prodence, and vigilance, in the defence of Troy, his fellow-citizens had the gratitude to appropriate a tract of land to his only son, who was born during the latter peral of the siege, and whom the father, to commemorate a circumstance which re flected so much honour upon his valeur, caled Zamindar, which, in the language of the Persians (no very distant neighbours) signifies lord of the land, and which to

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this day, in Hindostan, denotes a landholder. This the Greeks, with little variation, pronounced Scamandrios. On the other hand, the citizens, wishing to perpetuate the incident for which the land was bestowed, and at the same time intimating that his son when grown to maturity had the fairest title to rule a city which had been saved by the bravery of his father, gave the child, though yet an infant, the honourable name of Astyanax or king of the city. For this fact I have only the indirect authority of Homer; but as it is a fact which, in itself by no means improbable, serves to explain passages inimitably beautiful and appropriate, but inexplicable on any other supposition, any additional evidence for the truth of it will hardly be deemed necessary. When the amiable, but by the national prejudices of Homer, much-injured, Hector met for the last time Andromache, she had, it is said, her infant with her, in the

arms of its nurse.

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Must be his lot, since others will remove
At will his land-marks and possess his fields.
Il. xxii. near the close.

How natural was it in maternal tenderness to apprehend, that, as the prowess of Hector had now proved ineffectual for the defence of the city, his son should be stript of the land, and to lament that he was now likely to become a mendi

cant and a slave in those domains of which

he had once the prospect to be lord and sovereign? Yet, for want of attention to this circumstance, most critics,ancient and modern, have supposed this last passage to be spurious, as unworthy of Homer. "For while Priam lived, (they say) what probability was there, that his land-marks should be removed, and that he should be considered in all companies as an intruder and a vagabond?" "To this may be added (says Cowper) another reason, and perhaps not less weighty, for which its authority may be suspected. There never lived a more perfect master would touch the passions, he does it in of the pathetic than Homer, and when he the only effectual way, that is without

Εκτορίδην αγαπητον, «λίγκιον αςέξι καλῷ·
Toy 's Europ Mattre Enanayde, avras a seeming to do it. But in this passage

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there is an evident strain, an effort, a labour, to get at them:-a stile of writing that always disappoints itself, and is peculiar to poets who, feeling nothing themselves, have yet an ambition to work on the feelings of others.” Heyne, indeed, the learned editor of Homer, pleads for the genuineness of the passage; yet, after adducing the arguments in its favour, acknowledges it to be incoherent and inappropriate. I cannot help observing farther, that Plato comments upon the two names given to the son of Hector, and appears, like modern commentators, to have been an entire stranger to the meaning of Scamandrius; from which we may conclude that he had no knowledge whatever of the Persian language. Even the title Astyanax he seems rather to perplex than explain, and the perplexity is felt by modern annotators. "Nec tamen (says Heyne on the place) nominis pirioris caussa est aperta; nec satis convenire etymon dices alterius; si avat aseos est quo modo convenit cum eo qui eguera aru?" The answer to this question is, that the title was intended by the citizens to perpetuate the remembrance of Hector's prowess, and at the same time to intimate that the city which the father had saved, the son would, in preference to all other claimants, have a right to rule. The child, therefore, if he had lived, and the Trojans proved successful ia defence of their

city, would have borne in his name a living monument of his father's glory, and a pledge of his right to ascend the throne of Priam in preference to any other of his descendants; and her disappointment in this respect led the weeping mother, with much propriety and pathos, to dwell upon the sad reverse of fortune which now Dievitably awaited her only child. T.

PROCED

JOURNAL of a VOYAGE performed in the INDIAN SEAS, to MADRAS, BENGAL, CHINA, &, &c., in HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP CAROLINE, in the YEARS 1803-4-5. Communicated to the MONTHLY MAGAZINE by an OFFICER of that SHIP. ROCEEDING up Junk river to Canton, the scenery becomes more and more interesting every mile; the mandarins' seats more numerous, the grounds better cultivated, and laid out in gardens and orangeries, while large and populous villages present them selves at every winding of the stream, and tend not a little to embellish its banks. But what engages a stranger's attention more than all the rest, is the endless variety of Chinese boats and vessels of every description, froin the sanpan to junks of a thousand tons, continually passing and repassing before his eyes: of these the most curious and beautiful are the tea and passage boats. The former are long and very handsome. In these the tea is brought down from the interior provinces to Canton; when they have got a fair wind they make use of sails, but at other times they impel them along by bamboo poles, having a bench running along from one end of the vessel to the other, on each side, and close to the water's edge; on these ten or a dozen men (each with his bamboo) stand, and drive the boat with considerable velocity. The Wampoa passage-boats, however, look like little floating castles, so elegantly are they painted and decorated. A dome raised several feet above the deck, and occupying two-thirds of the vessel's length, fitted up inside with tables, chairs, &c. all of excellent workmanship, serves as a cabin, where the passengers can sit and drink tea, or loll on sofas, at their ease; on the sides are stairs to ascend into the cabin, and the vessel inside and out, is varnished in the highest stile: these occasionally make use of sails like the tea boats, but they for the most part are sculled by oars on each quarter. They charge a European from six to ten dollars for a

passage in one of these from Canton to Wampoa.

Mid-way between the two last mentioned places, we passed a beautiful white pagoda, called the Middle Pagoda; it is very high, slender, and apparently of exquisite architecture. At some distance from the factories we passed the ruins of two European forts, called the Dutch and French Folies; one of them situated on a little island in the middle of the river.

From hence to the European factories, the crowd of boats was so immense, that our progress was exceedingly slow? and night came on before we could reach the city: this, however, is perhaps the best time for a stranger to approach Canton: for then the concourse of boats and vessels of various descriptions, all highly illuminated; the chop houses on shore bedecked with great number of globular oil-paper lamps; the din of the Chinese language on every side; the clangor of their gongs, the shrill notes of their music, and the glare of their fire-works, all combine to form a scene so novel and striking, that the impression which it leaves on the memory, can hardly ever be erased!

It took us nearly an hour, to make our way through the throng on this part of the river, when the sight of European or rather Anglo-Oriental houses announced our vicinity to the factories, which are situated on the north-eastern side of Taa or Tigris.

The European factories at Canton extend a considerable way along the banks of the river, at the distance of about two hundred feet from the water's edge; they consist of a range of very elegant houses, each having the flag of the nation to which it belongs, hoisted from sunrise till sunset, on a flag-staff opposite to the gate of the factory.

Except the French, this range exhibited in day-time the colours of most of the European maritime powers; but the English factory or rather series of warehouses exceeds all the others both in clegance and extent: in this great and com mercial city, the mart of European trade seems to be fixed at the British factory,

Here it is, that one beholds the bustle of Chinese merchants and people of all descriptions; the mountains (if I muy be allowed the expression) of the most va luable Chinese goods of every kind piled up on the beach, to be transported to our ships at Wampoa: while the tiny and confined commerce of other nations ren

ders

ders their representatives despicable in the eyes of the Chinese, who look upon the English as the most respectable and responsible nation with which they have any communication. As a proof of this, it is a well-known fact, that the English boxes of dollars, having the company's stamp on them, will pass through China, as a bank-note does through England; the Chinese never attempting to count them, but trusting implicity to the number marked thereon: whereas in their dealings with other nations, they take special care to count over every dollar they

receive from them.

Before the British factory, and extending nearly down to the water's edge, there is a very elegant verendah, raised on handsome pillars, flagged with square marble slabs, and commanding an extensive view of the river, east and west, the Dutch and French Follies, the suburbs, the southern bank of the Tigris, and a considerable scope of the country in that direction.

Adjoining this verendah, is the long room, where the company's table is kept for the super-cargoes; and a very princely one it is: a dinner being every day spread here, at which kings might sit down, and consider themselves as "faring Bumptuously!"

Indeed it must be allowed, that the East India directors are extremely liberal in the establishments of their servants; and even this circumstance procures them a degree of respect in the eyes of the Chinese, which the agents of other nations may long look for in vain. The captains of the company's ships have always free access to this table I believe, but no others uniess by invitation: the officers of men-of-war are always invited here, and treated in the most handsome man her by the super-cargoes.

The weather was now so cold that we were obliged to have fires in our rooms; for though Canton lies nearly in the same parallel of latitude as Calcutta, yet there is a difference of perhaps fifteen or twenty degrees of the thermometer between the two places; caused by the mountains of China and Tartary, from which the north-east monsoon blows extremely cool. A stranger arriving in any foreign country, must of course be very much amused with the novel scenes that surround him; though many of them may not, perhaps, be essentially different from those in his own country; but here he cannot fail to have ample scope for his curiosity, where the inhabitants, language, manners, cusMONTHLY MAG., No. 158.

toms, even the houses, manufactures, where, in short, the tout-en-semble is so specifically different from what he had been accustomed to see, that he could almost fancy himself transported into a new world. Canton, if we may judge by the Chinese maps, or by the suburbs, must be a city of great extent. A person may ramble for miles through the suburbs, without meeting with any thing like a termination: he frequently indeed comes to gates leading into the Tartarian, city, when he is obliged to alter his course, as no Europeans are permitted to enter that part of the town. There seems to be little difference, however, between this and the suburbs, in respect to the buildings, as we often had long perspective views through these gates, into the streets of the Tartarian city, and observed the same bustle, the same kind of shops, and the same general appearance indeed as outside of the gates. The streets in Canton are very narrow, paved with little round stones, like those of North Yar mouth, and flagged close to the sides of the houses. They are about the width of the rows and lanes of English towns; Market row in North-Yarmouth, bearing a striking similitude to the generality of the streets in this city, with respect to dimensions, the height of the houses excepted.

There is no dwelling-house to be seen in the streets here; all are shops: they are seldom more than two stories high, the lower or ground floor is more properly the shop, the rest of the house serving as a store: the door is generally in the middle of the shop, with a window on each side, near one of which there is a counter and writing materials, as books, paper, &c. The rest is crammed on every side with mustas, or specimens of whatever they have got to sell.

There is almost always one of the party sitting at the counter writing, or calculat ing with his abacus, on which instrument a Chinese will perform any operation in numbers with as much, or more celerity, than the most expert European arithme tician.

It is amusing enough, to see a Chinese chucking about the little balls on the abacus with one hand, humming the calculations in his discordant jargon, and noting down the result with the other hand. They are not very neat in their writing materials, being obliged to keep con stantiy rubbing down the Indian ink on a slab with some water, which they keep by them in a cup; they never make use

SY

of

of pens made of quills, but camel's-hair brushes tied to the end of a piece of slender cane, which they hold in their hands in a very curious manner, quite different from our method of holding the pen.

The Chinese paper is very thin, pliable, smooth, and delicate, and in a hot country is preferable to European paper, which in India particularly, is very rarely fit to write upon. It seems that the great evaporation of moisture from the surface of the earth in these countries, occasioned by the intense heat of the sun, impregnates the bibulous paper of Europe with water, and is the cause of the ink sinking on it. Whereas the Chinese paper Laving a fine glossy surface, the pores of which are consequently blocked up, the moisture is not imbibed; and hence its superiority over the European, and that kind of the latter, called vellum, or glazed over the rough or porous. The above-mentioned evaporation is likewise the cause of all kinds of metals rusting so much more in hot climates than in cold, It is said that tradesmen are obliged to confine themselves to particular streets according to their occupations; but with very few exceptions this is not the case, at least in the suburbs, for in almost every street you may see a variety of different kinds of shops and manufactures intermixed. Cabinet-makers, indeed, seem to be an exception, as they generally occupy streets by themselves; and some other streets are entirely filled with painters and picture-shops.

The ivory manufactures always engage a stranger's attention, when at Canton; and in these the Chinese are allowed to excel all other nations. Their fans in

particular are exquisitely formed of ivory, tortoise-shell, filagree and sandal wood; besides a kind called japanmed fans. Of these the filagree are esteemed the most, at least they are the dearest, being twenty dollars each. Next the tortoise-shell, fifteen dollars; ivory, from six to fourteen dollars each; and sandal wood, one dollar each.

These are what are called first chop fans; others of inferior workmanship may be got much cheaper. It is astonishing with what dexterity they put on cyphers and coats of arms to any article; they are the most exact copyers in the world, and are always provided with books of heraldry, whereby they are enabled to delineate any figure in the most correct

imanner.

Their porcelain or China ware, it is well known, has not the attractions it wsed to possess; indeed the Chinese

themselves, in a tacit kind of manner, allow our Wedgewood, &c. to be equal if not superior to their own long-boasted manufacture; of course, to curiosity, more than any thing else, they are tos indebted for what they annually export to England.

Painting is a very favourite art in this city, especially in oil colours, both on canvas and glass. It is curious to see them painting on the back of the latter substance, where things are so reversed, that one would suppose it an awkward or difficult thing to accomplish, yet they ma nage it with as much facility as if painting on canvas.

It is singular that not one of their own landscapes is painted at all according to the rules of perspective, of which they do not appear to have the slightest idea; yet they copy all kinds of European drawings with infinite exactness.

They are celebrated for their happiness in taking the most striking likenesses, drawing every feature with great correctness. Notwithstanding which, they seldom give satisfaction; and this is probably owing to their sitting down on these occasions, to delineate the features, and not to flatter the vanity of their cus tomers, like some of our fine miniature painters!

There are therefore many laughable scenes between the Chinese and Euro peans on these subjects, when one of the latter begins to find fault with a likeness, the China-man generally answers him by saying, "no hab got handsome face, low can hab handsome picture, massa.”— (To be continued.)

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

156, written so properly on a subject with which, from my situation, I must be well acquainted, that comman justice to the public induces me to trouble you with the following additional observations on the subject of his letter

YOMMON Sense has, in Number

Many years ago several persons were burnt, in consequence of being unable ro get out of a house on fire in Bishopsgate street, being afraid to leap from the windows. I turned my thoughts to the mat ter, and had directly (for the use of m family), in case of a fire, an apparate made, by which the most timid, infirm, or sickly person could be let down safely, and with perfect decency (though merely in their night clothes) from any chamber to the street, &c.

I had a strong board, of light deal, of

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