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Now keeps the King's conscience, and, wonderful fate!
Dispenses that justice he dreaded so late.

And so Louis plays, by this Junto's advice,
The new Russian game of the Mountain of Ice;
He is fast sliding down to the bottom-and then,

Will steal (if he can) back to Hartwell again.

N. R.

The Royal Vision.

I.

On the well-cushion'd throne, where the curious still see
The ill-erased traces of Bonaparte's bee,

King Louis was sleeping his dinner away;

But the sleep of the just was not tranquil that day,
A smart indigestion disturbed his repose,

And ominous dreams on his fancy arose.

II.

All clotted with blood, and all dripping with tears,
The HEAD of his Brother before him appears,
And seems to address him-"Oh feeble and blind!
Untaught by the fate of your country and kind!
Experience to you can no wisdom supply!
You eat, drink, and sleep, and to-morrow you die!

III.

Remember the arts by which I was undone !
My friends from my side were removed one by one;
Ev'ry prop of the throne, all the honest and brave
Were mark'd with the nick-names of bigot and slave;
Traduc'd and disgrac'd, if they dar'd but repine;
They fell; and their fall was the prelude of mine.

IV.

"The lights of the age," and " the tone of the times,"
Were then, just as now, the mere watchwords of crimes;
"Constitution," and "Freedom," the war-whoop of those
Who of both were the deep, the implacable foes;
And we heard the same cant (even you must allow,)
From the Girondins then, and the fGirondins now.

V.

When Treason's black caldron boils furious and high,
The scum of the land to the surface will fly;
And Jacobin upstarts who rose by our broils,
Made bold by our folly, made rich by our spoils,
Dar'd then (as their successors now do,) advance

That they, they alone, were the talents of France.

Bonaparte's furniture was all embroidered with bees; on the King's return the bees were picked out, and fleur-de-lis substituted.

+ Messrs De Caze and Laine are from the department of the Gironde.

VI.

Is this then the proof of the " March of the mind;"
Are these the pure lights that have dawn'd on mankind,
The fruits that the trees of French liberty bear.
That the land of Turenne, D'Agnesseau and Colbert,
Can only produce in war, morals, or laws,

La Fayette and Davoust, and Pasquier and De Caze.

VII.

Oh wretched the country betrayed to such hands!
Oh wretched the King, who such subjects commands !
Commands did I say? O my brother, excuse

The appearance of sneer, which I meant not to use;
Oh wretched the King, (thus my words should have run,),
By such a vile junto enslaved and undone !

VIII.

But adieu! ever since that sad day when you gave
My murderer Fouché your hand, from my grave,
At midnight I'm doom'd by superior controul,
In vengeance to rise on his horror-struck soul.
Adieu then, my brother! and, ere tis too late,
Be taught by my faults, or beware of my fate.

AN HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL ESSAY ON THE TRADE AND COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ARABIANS

AND PERSIANS WITH RUSSIA AND SCANDINAVIA, DURING THE MIDDLE AGES.

(Continued from page 300.)

THAT which Abdallah Yacuti adduces, in his geographical dictionary, respecting the Russians, is worthy of attention; as it thence appears, that they must have had a religion, manners, and condition, not unlike those of our northern progenitors. "The Russians are a people whose country borders upon that of the Slavi and the Turks. Their religion, manners, and laws are different from those of other nations. Almocaddin says that they live upon an island (or peninsula) which is unhealthy and pestilential, and is surrounded by a sea, which is a protection to them against those who would assail them. This island undoubtedly contains 100,000 inhabitants, who do not cultivate the ground or have any pasturage. The Slavi have a hatred of them, and deprive them of their riches (property). When a man has a son born, he throws to him a sword, saying, thou hast no

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thing else but that which thou canst gain with this sword.' When the King passes judgment between two men in a public meeting, and they are not contented with the decision, he says to them, 'decide the matter by the sword, and he that overcomes the other has gained the cause. These are they who made themselves masters of, and oppressed Bordaah in the year

until God destroyed them.

"I have read a letter of Ahmud Ibn Fodhelan ben Abbas, ben Rashid, ben Hamad, the enfranchised slave of Mohammed, the son of Soliman, the ambassador of Almoctadr to the King of the Slavi, in which he relates what he had seen on his journey from and to Bagdad. I shall here adduce what he has said, in his own language, from astonishment at it. He says: I saw the Russians come with their articles of trade, and embark upon the river Atel. They clothe themselves in vests, not in caftans; but the men dress themselves in a cloak, which covers one side, while one hand remains uncovered. Every one carries with him an axe, a knife, and a sword, which never forsake them. Their swords are thin plates marked with furrows, and are Frankish (European); from the end of the hilt each

person bears, as high as the neck, thin pieces of wood, images, and such like things. The women cover their breasts with a case made of iron, copper, silver, or gold, according to the means of their husbands. On each of these cases there is a ring, in which there is a knife, which is likewise fastened to the breast. Round their necks they wear silver and gold chains; for when the husband possesses 10,000 dirhems, he gets a chain made for his wife; and if 20,000, two; and, in like manner, for every 10,000 dirhems the wife gets a new chain, so that some of them occasionally have a great number. The necklaces, or ornaments of the women, are made of the greenest shells (concha), which are upon the shore. They have a great value for them, and pay a dirhem for each of them, and thus they compose their necklaces. The Rus sians are the dirtiest creatures God has created; they never wash the filth from their heads,

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They live from their lands, and moor their ships in the river Atel, which is a large river; on the banks of which they build large wooden houses. They meet frequently in one house, to the number of ten or twelve, more or less; have each of them a couch to sit upon, and beside each there are girls that are beautiful, for-sale (so beautiful that they might be sold).

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house. At the time when their ships
arrive in their haven, every one goes
out, and takes bread, flesh, leaves, and
palm wine (grape wine) with him;
and they proceed until they come to a
long piece of a tree raised upright,
which has a face resembling that of a
human being. Around this there are
small images, and behind these long
trees (pieces of wood) raised in the
ground. When one comes to the
large image, he falls down before it
and says, O Lord, I am come from
a far distant land, and bring girls that
are so and so in the head, and mar-
tens that are so and so in the skin.'
He thus reckons up all his articles of
trade, and then says:
Now I come
to thee with this present (he then
lays it down), between the hands of
(near to) the piece of wood. I wish
that thou wouldst provide me a mer-
chant who has plenty of dinars (mon-
ey in gold); who will buy from me
according to my terms, and will say
nothing against any thing that I say.'
He then goes away; but in case his
trade does not succeed favourably, and
the time appears too tedious, he re-
turns with a second and third present.
If his affairs should not yet succeed to
his wishes, he carries a present to one
of the small images, and entreats them
for their intercession, saying, ' are not
these our Lord's sons and daughters?'
He continues in this manner, sub-
missively and constantly, to call upon
and implore one image after the other,
until it once appears that he can dis-

Sometimes a great number of them pose of his goods to advantage. He collect together,

*

Every morning they regularly wash their faces and heads in the dirtiest and filthiest water that can be found. A girl comes every morning early with a large cask of water, which she carries to her master.

He washes therein his face, hands, and hair, and then combs himself; blows his nose and spits into it; in short, performs in it every possible sort of uncleanliness. When he has finished, the girl carries the cask to the person who is nearest to him, and he does the same. She carries it, in like manner, from one to the other, until she has brought it to all in the

then says: Now has my Lord fulfilled my wishes; I cannot therefore do better than reward him for it.' He then takes a number of cows and sheep, kills them, and gives away a part of the flesh in alms. He lays down the remainder near the great piece of wood, and the smaller ones surrounding it, and hangs the heads of the cattle and sheep upon the tree which is raised in the ground. Next night the dogs come and eat the flesh; but the person who had laid it there, says: My lord loves me, for he has eaten my gift.

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"When one of them falls sick, they erect a tent for him, lay him in it, and give him some bread and water; but they never approach him themselves, excepting once a-day, especially if he is a poor wretch, or a slave. If the sick person recovers, he returns

home; but if he dies, they burn him, unless it be a slave, for such they leave, without any ceremony, to be devoured by dogs and birds of prey.

"When they catch a thief or a robber, they lead him to a large thick tree, bind a strong rope round his neck, and strangle him by this cord, which at last falls to pieces by the rain and the wind.

fast) four supporters, of the chaling and other trees, and around these again, wooden images of men and giants. They then drew it so far, so as to place it upon this wood (the four supporters). They walked up and down, came and talked together in a language I did not understand. The dead person was in the back part of his grave, from which they did not take him out, until an old woman came, whom they called Death's angel, and placed herself upon the before

"I have said that they shewed great regard for their chiefs after their death, of which the least instance was, that they burned them. I wished to learn, something more accurately on this sub-mentioned couch (). She un

ject, and at last I was informed that a
mighty man had just died, whom they
laid in his grave, and built a roof over
for ten days, until they had finished
cutting and sewing his clothes. If a
poor man dies, they make for him a
small ship, place him in it, and set it
on fire. But the rich man's property
they collected together, and divided
into three portions, of which his fami-
ly received the third; his clothes,
which they cut, formed a third part;
and for the remaining third they
bought palm wine, which they drank
on the day when his girl killed her-
self, and was burnt along with her
master. They are extremely addicted
to wine, which they drink day and
night; and it may easily happen that
one of them may die with the glass in
his hand. When one of their chiefs
dies, the family asks his girls and fa-
vourites, whether any of them will die
with him? if one of them answers yes,
it is necessary to do so, for it is no
matter of indifference to them to mourn
for ever.
But if one of them will
mourn for ever, she may do so; and
the greatest number that do this are
girls. When, therefore, so eminent a
personage died, they asked his girls
which of them would die with him.
One answered that she would. Her
they committed to the care of two
girls, who watched her, and attended
her wherever she went, and sometimes
washed her feet with their hands.
The men now began to cut her clothes,
and set in order whatever was neces-
sary; and the girl, in the meantime,
lived every day in great joy, and de-
lighted by drinking and singing. When
the day arrived, on which he and the
girl were to be burnt, she went down
to the river where the ship was. When
it was drawn out of the river, they
placed about it (that it might stand

derstood the sewing of the clothes that were to be put upon the deceased chief, and the preparations that should be made. It was her business also to kill the girl. She had the appearance of a thick, yellow, wrinkled witch. When the men came to the grave, which was near the pieces of wood, they took the body out and wrapped it in the shirt (;) in which he had died. I saw him; he was black on account of the cold of the country. They had placed by him in the grave, palm wine, fruits, and a musical instrument; now all this was taken out. As the body had not been in the least changed except in colour, they put upon it breeches, boots, a vest (waistcoat), and a warrior's cloak of embroidered work, with clasps of gold; they farther plac ed upon his head, and dressed him in embroidered work with martens' skin, and carried him away in order to place him in the tent, which was on the ship, in which they placed him on the matrass, and drew him up upon the cushions. They now brought forward the palm wine, fruits, and the fragrant herbs, which they placed beside him, and brought bread, flesh, and leaves, and placed them beside him; they then brought a dog, which they cut in two pieces, and threw into the ship; they brought afterwards all his weapons, which they laid by his side. They now took two beasts of burden, which they caused to run until they were covered with perspiration; they then killed them with a sword, and cast the flesh into the ship. The girl who was to be killed came and went, and at last entered one of their tents, where her comrade (friend, lover) laid himself beside her, saying to her,' say to thy master, I have done this most assuredly for love to thee.'

When

Friday afternoon arrived, they brought the girl to a thing which they concealed in the earth, resembling in the mouth a milk pail. She placed her feet upon men's saddles, looked down upon the milk pail, and spoke to them. They made her go down, then turned her face a second time, and she did as the first time. The same took place with her the third time. They then gave her a hen, the head of which she cut off and cast away, but they took the body and laid it in the ship. I asked the interpreter what she did? He answered, The first time she said, lo! I shall see my father and mother; the second time, lo! I shall see all my deceased relations; the third time, I shall see my master sitting in paradise, and paradise is beautifully green, and with him are men and young swains. He calls me; go with me to him! They went with her to the ship. She took the two bracelets which she had on her arms and gave them to the woman who was called Death's angel, and was the person appointed to kill her; in like manner, she took off her garters, and gave them to the two girls who had watched her, and were the daughters of her who was called Death's angel, They then made her ascend the ship, but did not make her go into the tent. The men came with shields and pieces of wood. They gave her a large cup full of palm wine. She sang over it, and drank it. The interpreter told me, that she thereby took leave of her comrades (female friends). Another cup was then presented to her, which she took, and sang a long time over. The old woman encouraged her to drink it off, and go in to the tent, where her master was. I saw her; she appeared to be out of her senses from fright and agitation. In the moment when she wished to go into the tent, she placed her head between the tent and the ship. The old woman laid hold of it, and dragged her into the tent. One of the men went in with her, while they beat their shields with the pieces of wood, that the sound of her cries might not be heard, and lest other girls should be dispirited and frightened, and refuse to die with their masters. Six men then entered the tent, shewed great kindness to the girl, laid her close to the side of her master, and held fast both her hands and her feet, whilst the woman, called Death's angel, fixed about her neck a twisted VOL. IV.

rope, which she gave two men to pull. She then brought a large dagger (knife), having a broad point, which she thrust in between her ribs, and then drew out. The two men surrounded her with the rope (drew it on each side) until she was dead. The nearest of the men then approached the dead bodies, took a piece of wood and set fire to it; then went backwards to the ship with the firebrand in one hand, whilst the other lay upon his back. He was naked whilst he set fire to the wood, which was far under the ship. The other men who were present came immediately with wood and firebrands. Each had a piece of wood, the end of which he lighted and then threw it among the other wood. The wood immediately caught fire, then the ship, the tent, the man, girl, and every thing in it. A most vehement wind then blew, so that the fire flamed violently, and a large flame set the whole in a blaze. A Russian was standing by me, whom I heard conversing with the interpreter, who stood by him. I asked the interpreter what the other said? He answered, that he had said, the associates of the Arabians are certainly great fools, for you give yourselves a great deal of trouble, that man should love and honour you, and you throw him into the earth, where worms and vermin devour him; but we burn him in a moment, and he goes into paradise instantaneously, and at once.' He then laughed very heartily, and said, from love for him, his lord sends him a wind, which may take him away speedily; and indeed, scarcely an hour had passed, before the ship, the wood, the girl, and the dead prince, were reduced to ashes. They afterwards built over the place, where the ship (which they had taken out of the river), lay, something resembling a round hill, erected in the middle of it a large piece of a tree, wrote upon it the name of the man and that of the Russian king, and went away."

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He says, likewise, "that it is a rule among the Russian kings, for each of them to have with them 400 of his bravest chiefs, in war and peace, men whom he can depend upon. They die with his death (with him), and fall next him. Each of them has with him a girl, that washes his head, and prepares every thing he eats and drinks; they have another to sleep 3 N

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