arrogant scribbler of all works sitting down to deal damnation and destruction upon his fellow creatures, with Wat Tyler, the Apotheosis of George the Third, and the Elegy on Martin, the regicide, all the Elegy on Martin, the regicide, all shuffled together in his writing desk. One, of his consolations appears to be a Latin note from a work of a Mr. Landor, the author of "Gebir," whose friendship for Robert Southey will, it seems, "be an honour to him when the ephemeral disputes and ephemeral reputations of the day are forgotten.' I for one neither envy him "the friendship," nor the glory in reversion which is to accrue from it, like Mr. Thelusson's fortune in the third and fourth generation. This friendship will probably be as memorable as his own epics, which (as I quoted to him ten or twelve years ago in "English Bards") Porson said "would be remembered when Homer and Virgil are forgotten, and not till then." For the present, I leave him.' But to the tragedy of Sardanapalus,' which is founded on an event that occurred about eight hundred years before Christ, recorded by Herodotus, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus. Sardanapatus, who was the fortieth and last King of Assyria, was celebrated for luxury and voluptuousness. He is represented as passing the principal part of his time among his women, disguised in the habit of a female, and spinning wool for his amusement. This effeminacy irritated his officers, two of whom, Belesis and Arbaces, conspired against him, and collected a numerous force to dethrone him. Sardanapalus, for a time, shook off his indolence, and placing himself at the head of his armies, defeated the rebels in three successive battles; but, at last, he was beaten, and, taking refuge in the city of Ninus, he defended it two years. At length, despairing of success, he burnt himself in his palace, with his eunuchs, women, and treasures, and the empire of Assyria was divided among the conspirators, Queen; and Myrrha, an Ionian female | Of sensual sloth produce ten thousand tyrants, Salemenes (solus). 'He hath wrong'd his queen, but still he is her lord; ther; He hath wrong'd my sister, still he is my broHe hath wrong'd his people, still he is their sovereign, And I must be his friend as well as subject: There is a careless courage, which corruption ness. If born a peasant, he had been a man Health like the chase, nor glory like the war- lute, it. firms: There comes For ever something between us and what For ever thus, addressed with awe. I ne'er Can see a smile, unless in some broad ban. quet's Intoxicating glare, when the buffoons Or I have quaffed me down to their abasement. names, That is, I suffered them from slaves and nobles; The lips which have been press'd to mine, chill Comes o'er my heart, a cold sense of the falsehood Of this my station, which represses feeling me The lyre, the timbrel; the lascivious tinklings. But when they falter from the lips I love, him, slaves, Led by the monarch subject to his slaves.' Such are the materials on which Lord Byron has constructed a noble tragic poem, adhering closely to the And tell him what all good men tell each other, story, and reducing it to all the dra-Speaking of him and his. They come, the matic regularity of which it was capable, in order to approach the unities, — conceiving,' as his lordship says in the Preface, that with any very distant departure from them, there may be poetry, but can be no drama.' The principal characters in, the drama are Sardanapalus, the King of Nineveh and Assyria; Arbaces, the Mede who aspired to the throne; Beleses, a Chaldean and soothsayer; Salemenes, the king's brother-in-law; Zaria, the Salemenes remonstrates with the king on his effeminate amusement, and the necessity there is for him to rouse himself and see the danger which threatens him. Sardanapalus exclaims, that his brother-in-law wishes to make him a tyrant. Salamenes answers, So thou art: Think'st thou there is no tyranny but that Of blood and chains? The despotism of vice The weakness and the wickedness of luxury The negligence the apathy-the evils The second act opens with an inter◄ view between Beleses and Arbaces, at the portal of the hall of the palace, Salamenes, who is invested with the king's signet, attempts, with a body of soldiers, to seize them. Beleses sur renders, but Arbaces defends himself: Sardanapalus enters with his train, and, snatching a sword, separates Salamenes and Arbaces, and pardons the latter and Beleses. In the third act there is a banquet, during which Sardanapalus is apprised that the conspiracy has broken out.— Beleses and Arbaces enter with the rebels; Beleses is wounded and disarmed, but is rescued; the rebels, however, are routed. The opening of the fourth act displays great poetic talent:— Myrrha (sola, gazing.) I have stolen upon his rest, if rest it be, Which thus convulses slumber: shall I wake him? No, he seems calmer. Oh, thou God of Quiet! Whose reign is o'er seal'd eyelids and soft dreams, Or deep deep sleep, so as to be unfathom'd, Look like thy brother, Death-so still-so stirless For then we are happiest, as it may be, we Of thy stern, silent, and unawakening twin. Me more to see than him to suffer. No: Not so-although ye multiplied the stars, The empire of eternity. Hence-hence- Dripping with dusky gore, and trampling on no-that Is no false phantom: I should know it 'midst Myr. Alas! thou art pale, and on thy brow the drops Gather like night dew. My beloved, hushCalm thee. Thy speech seems of another world, And thout art loved of this. Be of good cheer; All will go well. Sard. Thy hand-so, 'tis thy hand; Tis flesh; gråsp-clasp yet closer, till I feel Myself that which I was. Myr. At least know me For what I am and ever must be-thine. Sard. I know it now. I know this life again. Ah, Myrrha! I have been where we shall be. Myr. My lord! Sard. I've been i'the grave, where worms "are lords, And kings are-But I did not deem it so; Myr. So it is; except Unto the timid, who anticipate Oh, Myrrha! if Sleep shows such things, what may not death disclose? Myr. I know no evil death can show, which life And fetters us to earth-at least the phantom, And so have I. The dust we tread upon was once alive, Speak it,-'twill lighten thy dimmed mind. Myr. Yet pause, thou art tired-in pain exhausted; all Which can impair both strength and spirit: seek Myr. I can bear all things, dreams of life or death, Which I participate with you, in semblance Or full reality. Sard. And this look'd real, I tell you: after that these eyes were open, Sard. I saw, that is, I dream'd myself Here-here-even where we are, guests as we were, Myself a host that deem'd himself but guest, Ere I saw their's; but no-all turn'd upon me, rose The hunter and the crew; and smiling on me- Thin lips relax'd to something like a smile. Myr. And was: the ancestors of heroes, too, Sard. Ay, Myrrha, but the woman, The female who remain'd;-she flew upon me, And burnt my lips with her noisome kisses, And, flinging down the goblets on each hand, Methought their poisons flow'd around us, till Each form'd a Lideous river. Still she clung The other phantoms, like a row of statues, Stood dull as in our temples, but she still Embraced me, while I shrunk from her, as if, In lieu of her remote descendant, I Had been the son who slew her for her incest. Then then-a chaos of all loathsome things it-Throng'd thick and shapeless I was dead, yet feeling On his vast bust, whence a huge quiver rose That peep'd upbristling through his serpent hair. [He pauses.] I sought thy sweet face in the circle-but passion A shadow of this cumbrous clog of clay, Which stalks, methinks, between our souls and I turn'd from one face to another, in e Lage to find at last cae which I knew heaven, Th Buried, and raised again-consumed by worms, In all these agonies, and woke and found thee, Of late events acting upon a frame Salemenes is mortally wounded, and dies immediately after reaching the royal palace. We now hasten to the closing scene of the tragedy, the deathof Sardanapulus. The soldiers crowd around their sovereign; Sard. My best! my last friends! Let's not unman each other-part at once: All farewells should be sudden, when for ever, Else they make an eternity of moments, And clog the last sad sands of life with tears. Hence, and be happy: trust me I am not Now to be pitied; or far more for what past than present; for the future, 'tis In the hands of the deities, if such There be: I shall know soon. Farewell-fare well. [Exeunt Pania and Soldiers. Myr. These men were honest: it is comfort still Myr. That our last looks should be on loving faces. If at this moment, for we now are on The brink, thou feel'st an inward shrinking This leap through flame into the future, say it: It may be, purified by death from some As ye bequeath'd it, this bright part of it, me. To you in that absorbing element, Which most personifies the soul as leaving Not a mere pillar form'd of cloud and flame, A people's records, and a hero's acts; Lo! Myr. 'Tis my country's custom to And mine To make libations amongst men. I've not Sard. It is long Now, farewell; one last embrace. more. Sard. True, the commingling fire will mix our ashes. Myr. And pure as is my love to thee, shall they, Purged from the dross of earth and earthly Mix pale with thine. A single thought yet irks Rather let them be borne abroad upon Or kine, for none know whether those proud Be for their monarch or their ox-god Apis: Myr. Sard. And that? Myr. Is yours. Sard. Myr. A Voyage to Africa. By W. Hutton. (Concluded from p. 786.) MR. HUTTON's return to Cape Coast, from Coomassie, was attended with several unpleasant adventures. He ap pears to have travelled quicker than any of his companions, having per formed the whole distance in six days, which the natives declared was never done before, either by native or European. When a day's journey from Cape Coast, his hammock-bearers deserted him in the dead of the night, and in the heart of the forest. His servant, a little black boy, was his only companion; his feet were dreadfully lacerated, and tied up with the soles of an old pair of shoes and packthread; the path was rugged, and he was entirely destitute of provisions and water. Pursuing his journey, he ob [The trumpet of Panîa sounds without. the cause, by feeling a number of large Hark! Now! I loved thee well, my own, my fathers' land, black ants + crawling up my legs, which stung me dreadfully, by digging their forceps into the sores on my feet. I had some difficulty in tearing them off. My boy, from the agony he suffered, threw down the torch, and I had now the misery to be left in this dismal forest without a light! Having, with my servant, retreated from the nest of ants, we assisted each *This is an exclamation the natives gene" rally use when flogged. It signifies father." [Myrrha fires the pile. Myr. 'Tis fired! I come. The ants here mentioned, are reptiles of [As Myrrha springs forwards to throw her- the most surprising nature. There are different self into the flames, the curtain falls. species of them; red, black, and white. They This tragedy, like every production go in troops of millions and tens of millions; and the regularity and order with which they of Lord Byron, displays great poetic march from place to place are astonishing. In genius, and abounds in the most bril-making their nests they throw up the earth to liant passages. It possesses, however, an incredible height, making hillocks at least [Sardanapulus takes the cup, and after few of the requisites of an acting tra- six or eight feet high, and twenty feet and drinking and tinkling the reversed cup, gedy;-the plot is meagre, the inci- more in circumference; they also make their nests in trees. Bosman, speaking of these ver dents are few and not striking, and min, says, "they come to our forts and cham the situations undramatic. It how-bers in such prodigious swarms, that they tre ever should always be recollected, that quently oblige us to quit our beds in the night as a drop falls, exclaims And this libation Is for the excellent Beleses. Why stage; that he aims only at producing Dwells the mind rather upon that man's name Lord Byron does not write for the The tragedy of The Two Foscari,' which is founded on a subject much better adapted to the stage than the story of Sardanapalus, we shall notice at some length in our next, time; they are strangely rapacious, and ve animal can stand before them. They have often, in the night, attacked one of my live sheep, which I have found a perfect skeleton in the morning, and that so nicely done, that the best master of the dismembering art could not succeed so well, it being impossible for human hands to have done it so artificially. As swift as rats are, they cannot escape them; and as soon as one of them assaults a rat he is inevita bly gone." These ants appear to have a sort of language, calling one another to seize their prey, when they march off with it in good or der, all of them moving in the same direction." other as well as we could in the dark, in brushing them off our legs. Worn out with fatigue, having travelled nearly thirty miles, exposed eighteen hours in my wet clothes, from the rain which had fallen during the day; deserted by my people, without any thing to eat or a glass of water to allay my parching thirst; without even a bed of straw to lie down upon; without a great coat or any thing to shelter me from the heavy dews of the night; without the means of making a fire to keep off the wild beasts which every where surrounded me in the forest, I was almost without hope. And if any thing had been wanting to fill up the measure of this night's misery, it was the circumstance of my having travelled, in the early part of the day, in my wet clothes, which were doubly wet from the profuse perspiration I had been thrown into by walking, and which now hung about me the whole night. To proceed on my journey or to return, with a view of finding my people, in the dark, I conceived was equally hope less; and, indeed, I was too fatigued, and in too much agony to do so. I therefore sat down in the forest (being unwilling to climb a tree) and waited anxiously for morning. In this situation the lines of Mr. Bird, in the " Vale of Slaughden," forcibly occurred to me:"But far remote thy native valley lies, Drear are the scenes thy dubious path supplies. Where, when the night falls chilly on thy head, Wilt thou, sad wanderer, find thy lonely bed? No friendly comfort near to hush the sigh That thou may'st breathe in weary agony.". Having passed the night in singing the most noisy song I could think of, in which I was assisted by the discordant yells of my boy Quashie (whom I was obliged to keep awake by a gentle rap occasionally on the head with my sabre), I proceeded at day-light, and, in less than half an hour, passed through Yancomfodie; so that, had I continued my journey the preceding night, only half an hour longer, I should have escaped the misery which I have just described. 'On leaving Yancomfodie, we passed many extensive plantations of Indian corn, plantains, and fruit, and crossing a beautiful stream, about a mile from Paintrey, we entered that neat little village, which, it will readily be imagined, was an agreeable relief to me, after the perilous night I had just encountered. Here I was received with the most cordial welcome by my old friend Quamino Hoyenesse, the house-master, with whom we put up on our journey to the capital. A large brass pan of water was immediately provided to bathe my wounded feet, and, stripping off my wet clothes, I wrapped myself up in a *I did not sing from an impression that music would charm the savage beasts, but as I had no fire, I thought it was the best plan to prevent them from coming near me, which I have no doubt, it did; for, although I heard them frequently throughout the night, they did. not molest either me or my companion. large country-cloth of Hoyenesse's, and in the Delta come from one great river felt comparatively comfortable.' which descends from the north." 'Indeed, although it is true that the massie and elsewhere, have invariably inMoors, whom I have met with at Coo rivers in the heights of Benin and BeaOn the subject of the Niger and the fra, Mr. Hutton has the following ju-sisted on there being a communication dicious remarks :— between the Niger and the Nile, yet the natives on the coast positively state, that the rivers in the bights of Benin and Biafra are branches of the Niger, which they call Insukussey, or Insookassy, and which, in the Fantee and Ashantee languages, signifies Large Water, or Large River. 'So many theoretical opinions have been hazarded as regards the course and termination of the Niger, that it only remains to be practically decided which of those opinions is correct. Some have supposed that this great river is absorbed by sands, others have endeavoured to prove that the Nile and the Niger are one and the same river, and various conjectures have been offered from time to time, which still leave us in the same incertitude upon this interesting subject; but the clouds which have so long obscured this geographical problem, it is now hoped, will shortly be dissipated. Among all the hypotheses which have been submitted to the public, that which has lately been published by Mr. M'Queen, carries with it the greatest probability of being correct; not that I come to this conclusion from the facts so distinctly elucidated by that gentleman, but from various inquiries and observa tions during my residence in Africa, and particularly in my last visit to that country (before the publication by Mr. M'Queen), I gave almost precisely the same opinion upon this subject, and stated it, in writing, to the President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Mr. Henry, Mackenzie), who did me the honour to read it before that board in April last. I have since seen Mr. M'Queen's publication, and read it with increased satisfaction, from the circumstance of that gentleman's sentiments being so much in accordance with my own, and the whole of his arguments have tended to confirm the opinion I have long entertained; namely, that the Niger terminates in the bights of Benin and Biafra. In support of this opinion, Mr. McQueen has so ably arranged the various authorities, both ancient and modern, that little now remains to be said upon the subject. It may be proper, however, to notice two authorities which he quotes in support of this opinion: the first is Gregory of Abyssinia, who states, that flowing west from the Egyptian Nile, he says pointedly, "descendit enim versus regionem Elwah, et sic illabitur in mare magnum; viz. Oceanum Occidentalem." The other is Mr. Robertson, who states, "that the natives on the coast of Benin and Biafra assert, that all the rivers 'M. Mollien (to whom we are indebted for determining the sources of the Senegal, Gambia, and Rio Grande) has laid down the source of the Niger, in his map, nearly two degrees further to the westward than it was hitherto supposed to be. How far this gentleman may be correct in doing so, we must leave to future travellers to determine; but I have not copied him in my map, as I would not pay so bad a compliment to the diligent researches of the enterprising Park.' That such was my opinion, I not only stated to Mr. Mackenzie, but also, as long since as 1819, I wrote a letter to a gentieman, to be laid before Lord Bathurst, to the same effect, and suggesting establish ments on the rivers Volta, Lagos, and Formosa, as well as on the island of Fernando Po, which would command an exclusive and extensive trade with all this part of Africa, and by which our merchandise could be transported into the very heart of that country with facility and security. Much credit is due to Mr. M'Queen for the able manner in which he has pointed out the advantages which would result from our taking possession of the island of Fernando Po. It is, however, but justice to others to observe, that he was by no means the first to suggest this, as not only myself, but my respected friends, Sir Charles MacCarthy and Mr. Robertson, submitted the same opinion long ago to his Majesty's government; and Mr. Robertson, in 1919, arrived on the Gold Coast with three vessels, for the purpose of taking possession of this island, under the sanction of his Majesty's government.' * * ** 'But to return to the subject of the Niger, we will suppose, for a moment, that the main body of this river does not flow into the bights of Benin and Biafra, yet some other branch of it, to the eastward of the Leasa, I have no doubt will ultimately be found to do so. The Moors, it is true, have positively stated again and again, that the Niger communicates with the Nile, and after all the information that has been collected to support this opinion, it would be presumptuous to say that such is not the fact*. It is possible that these two great rivers may have a communication with each other, and yet be distinct rivers; neither is there any thing improbable in supposing that the Niger may communicate with the Nile, and also throw off a great body of its wa ter, by a tributary stream, to the eastward of the Leasa, not yet discovered. A stronger proof, indeed, of the strange concatenation of rivers cannot be referred to than that mentioned by Mr. Bowdich, drawn by Baron Humboldt, who represents the courses of the Orinoco and Amazon to be quite opposite to each * Mr. Dupuis, I believe, is of opinion that the Niger and the Nile unite, and this is also the opinion of others. (Vide Jackson's Account of Morocco and Bowdich's Mission to Ashantee.) other, notwithstanding their immediate at Accra*. This statement is indeed the public. The introduction of Sir T. Raffles has nothing at all to do with the rest of the volume. With this impression, we shall not enter into any analysis of a work in every respect These scanty notices, regarding the 80 incomplete, but shall merely select Niger and the geography of this part of two of the traditions which it contains. Africa, I trust will be excused, when it is The first, it will be seen, has some reconsidered that I was prohibited from ference to the most universal of all tramaking inquiries upon these subjects.ditions-the Deluge:Vide Instructions, p. 416 and 447. tume. According to information we obtained at Coomassie, there is a water communication from Porto Nova and the Lagos river nearly all the way to Egypt; and this is, in a great measure, confirmed by Raja Suran, considering that he had the late Mr. Jarvis, of the company's serBut, from what has now been stated, now become acquainted with the contents vice, with whom I had many conversa- it will be evident that these noble rivers of the land, wished to acquire information tions, who stated that, during his residence afford the greatest facilities for the intro- concerning the nature of the sea. For. at Lagos, he met with Negroes who had duction of our commerce into the very this purpose, he ordered a chest of glass, come from the banks of the Niger, who heart of Africa; and it cannot be too with a lock in the inside, and fixed it to a assured him that there was a water com- often repeated, that whether they have a chain of gold. Then, shutting himself up munication nearly the whole of the way. communication with the Niger or not, in this chest, he caused himself to be let Mr. Bowdich, in a late publication, they ought at least to be explored, as down into the sea, to see the wonders of speaks of having received similar informa- more trade might be thus carried on in God Almighty's creation. At last, the tion, and Mr. Robertson writes also to one month, than on the Gold Coast in a chest reached a land, denominated Zeya,. the same effect, and says he was informed year; there being no rivers of any mag- when Raja Suran came forth from the that canoes have come from Timbuctoonitude near our settlements there, and, chest, and walked about to see the wonto Lagos in three days; but this, I sup- consequently, the transportation of mer-ders of the place. He saw a country of pose, must be a typographical error, as I chandize on the beads of the Negroes for great extent, into which he entered, and saw a people named Barsam, so numecannot imagine that gentleman would hundreds of miles under a vertical sun, write such a manifest absurdity, three must evidently be attended with every rous, that God alone could know their weeks being more likely. The Quolla disadvantage to the African trader, as well numbers. This people were the one half mentioned by the Moors, and alluded to as to the mercantile interests of Great infidels, and the other true believers. by Mr. Bowdich, is said to be the Lagos, Britain.' When they saw Raja Suran, they were and not the Nigert. The Moorish name Mr. Hutton's maps appear to be greatly astonished snd surprised at his is the Bahr Neel or Seer Neel, which the well drawn, and we doubt not are as dress, and carried him before their raja, Moors call all large rivers, and the sea who was named Aktab-al-Arz, who incorrect as the imperfect knowledge we they call "Bahr Mall." "Johiba" is still have of this portion of the globe quired of those who brought him," whence also a figurative name, meaning a great will permit; the coloured engravings new comer."" Whence is he come?" is this man?" And they replied, "he is a river;" and the Negroes call the Nile of give a good idea of the African cos-said the raja. That," said they, "none Egypt "Gulbi," which signifies a sea. It is also called "Neel Massar" and of us know." Then Raja Aktab-al-Arz "Neel Sham." The Niger likewise is asked Raja Suran," whence are you, and known by various names, such as Neel-el, whence have you come?"—" I come Abeed, Joliba, Coudha, &c. from the world," said Raja Suran; “and your servant is raja of the whole race of mankind; and my name is Raja Suran." The raja was greatly astonished at this account, and asked if there was any other world than his own. "Yes, there is,” said Raja Suran; and a very great one, full of various forms." The raja was still more astonished, saying, Almighty This Raja Aktab-al-Arz had a daughter God, can this be possible? He then seated Raja Suran on his own throne. named Putri Mahtab-al-Bahri. This lady was extremely handsome, and her father gave her in marriage to Raja Suran, to whom she bore three sons. The raja was for some time much delighted with this adventure; but at last he began to reflect what advantage it was for him to stay so long below the earth, and how he should be able to carry his three sons with him. He begged, however, his father-in-law to think of some method of conveying him to the upper world, as it would be of great disadvantage to cut off the line of Secander Zulkarneini. His father-in-law assented to the propriety of this observation, and furnished him with a sea-horse, named Sambrani, which could fly through the air as well as swim in the water. Raja Suran mounted this steed amid the lamentations of his spouse, the The Quolla is reported to be one month's journey from Coomassie, and the Niger one month's journey from the Quolla, According to Mr. Bowdich's account, the Niger is forty-seven days' journey from Kong, to which place the Ashantees can travel in safety. The Mecca itinerary, detailed by that gentlely tends to confirm what I have stated in man, is of considerable value, and strong the first part of this chapter, respecting the route to the Niger, through Ashantee. Malay Annals: translated from the THIS is an unfinished production of that excellent oriental scholar, Dr. Leyden, who undertook to translate stories of the Malays, but, unfortusome of the most popular traditional nately for that branch of literature of which he was so distinguished an orOn the route to Coomassie, after pass-nament, he died without completing ing the Boosempra, most of the rivers run to the eastward. The Volta or Adirri is said to flow from the Kong mountains, and is a beautiful river, which empties itself into the ocean about one degree to the eastward of our settlement Mr. Dupuis, in Adams's Narrative, states, upon the information of a Negro of Bambara, that Quollo is the name of a country, and says. it must be to the south-east of Bambara; and, about three journies from the capital of Quolla is a considerable lake, or rather a river, which communicates with the Niger:' + This statement I would wish to be un I derstood as offering with great diffidence, as had no opportunity of confirming it by the ge neral reports of the Moors." his design. The work, from the want * Colonel Straenberg (whom I frequently' |