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'But when one looks upon the progress of Russia in Armenia, where much more may be expected than is generally known, as regards provisions and the formation of an army, which might be probably with little trouble organized, at their own will and expense, when it is considered for the safety and foundation of their liberty, of which they have been so long deprived, and they now look forward with anxiety for the approach of the Russians, whom they consider as their deliverers. Then, again, the discontent of the Caucasians and Georgians may be urged: but the latter country is daily becoming more contented under its government; while the Caucasus is at this moment completely surrounded, and must, in the course of time, and shortly too, become entirely subject to the Czar. Then, again, has not Russia the command of all the navigation on the Caspian? can she not, without the slightest interruption, transport an armament or supplies within three days' march of the present capital of Persia? Supposing her to have Armenia, what is to prevent her co-operating with that extensive country? for, it is my opinion, there is not a Koordish chief or discontented Persian, who is not to be bought over, in case of invasion. As to whether a Russian army can put up with the privations and heat of Persia, it is highly ludicrous to suppose otherwise for a moment. I myself have suffered more from cold in the north of Persia than in any other country, and have felt the heat as oppressive upon the steppes of Russia, in summer, as in Egypt, in the month of August.'— pp. 120—122.

Armstrong gives a narrative of the late massacre of the Russian embassy at Tehran, in which, however, we discover nothing that has not been already known to the public. Tehran is rather a better sort of Tabreez, built upon a similar plan. The present Shah is a feeble avaricious monarch, and highly unpopular amongst his subjects. Persia is, at this time,' says the author, in a miserable condition, and it would require but little intrigue to establish a revolutionary spirit throughout the whole empire. The King, the Ministry, and, in fact, Persia in general, are alike devoid of principle, and are daily diminishing in importance.' The influence of England is predominant there; the court flies for advice to our embassy, in every exigency of importance. Our party, still rapid and unintelligible in their movements, remained but ten days at Tehran, when they set out upon their return to Tabreez, by a different and much more dangerous route, than that which they had pursued on their journey to the Persian capital. We shall give one or two of the author's adventures among the torrents and precipices

of the Koordish mountains.

'On crossing a narrow, but deep and rapid mountain-torrent, over a wicker bridge, my horse, which was young and not very tractable, was leaning too much to one side, when I checked him rather suddenly, and we both fell headlong into the river, and were instantly carried under the bridge. The horse swam out on one side, whilst I was fortunate in grasping hold of the bough of a tree on the other, and thus succeeded in landing; being armed with pistols, sword, and carbine, and also wearing a heavy fur jacket, it would have been impossible for me to swim; and had not

this tree been providentially placed in the way, I should most inevitably have perished.

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At about one agach from the village, we joined another river, (the Karason,) and kept in the vicinity of its waters the remainder of the day, crossing and re-crossing it at intervals; our road led us through the most singular and inaccessible country I ever was in. When about the third agach, we observed one of our late friends from the village following us, armed with sword, lance, pistols, dagger, and shield, and also an immense bludgeon, with a knob of iron, at the end, hanging at his saddle-bow; he was presently followed by some others, mounted and armed in the same manner. We became alarmed for our safety, thinking the guide had betrayed us. They approached nearer, and one of them advanced towards us, seemingly much enraged, and spit in the face of our guide, asking why he had taken us this way, and desired us to re-cross the river, and keep on its left bank; they then left us, and we resumed our journey, much satisfied with their departure. During the afternoon we passed an encampment of a wandering tribe; one of our party went to it, and returned with some cheese, and an arm full of new-baked cakes.

'Some of the passes we crossed were so very narrow, and the precipices beneath so frightful, that we were obliged to dismount, and lead our horses; in other places the passages between the rocks were so confined, that the mules had some difficulty in forcing their way through them with the baggage:—the scenery was picturesque and beautiful beyond description. Towards the end of our day's journey we cleared the mountains,entered an open country, and forded the river, which, having become swollen by the late rains, was rendered very dangerous. About sunset we arrived at the singularly-situated town of Senna, the capital of Koordistan, (having come eleven agach since the morning). We were conducted to the palace of a nobleman, where we received every attention and hospitality. The Wallee is independent of Persia, but nevertheless pays a tribute to the Shah, who is acknowledged annually by the present of a splendid dress. This present (together with thirty camels, each carrying a piece of light artillery) came whilst we were here; and the Wallee, accompanied by his guards, and hundreds of horsemen, went out to meet it. There is a camp prepared for his reception, where he changes his dress for that sent by the Shah, and afterwards returns in great pomp to the city, preceded by numerous horsemen, who display great agility in their exercises, and the management of their horses, firing off, and re-loading pistols and muskets, in rapid succession, whilst at full gallop, charging with lances, shields, &c., with astonishing activity; nothing, indeed, can possibly surpass the Koordish horsemanship; and never do I remember seeing so many valuable and handsomely caparisoned animals at one time.*

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The town is in rather a ruinous state, and has nothing worthy of remark; the bazaars and streets are inferior to those of other places where

*The food of the horses here differs from that in general use throughout Persia; a weed is very abundant in the mountains, which answers all the purposes of chopped straw and barley, the almost universal provender in the East for these useful animals.'

we have been; they are very clever in the manufacture of lances, javelins, (which are made of steel), and chain armour. I observed some dervises in the streets, performing their slight-of-hand tricks, to the great surprise and satisfaction of the inhabitants.'-pp. 153–156.

Armstrong and his fellow wanderers, as we may well call them, after revisiting Tabreez, shaped their course for Asiatic Turkey. Van, the first town of the Osmanlees which they entered, is seated near a beautiful lake, and is celebrated as the residence of Queen Semiramis. Most of the country which they traversed, then Turkish, has since, by the fortune of war, become the property of the Russian Emperor. Every where they met with tents of the Koordish tribes. One description will serve for them all, and give some notion of the country bordering on the Euphrates.

'6th May.—Our Tartar having sent a man off to the river early this morning, to get the float ready, we were away by six o'clock, and in one hour arrived at the bank of the Euphrates, where we had our baggage unpacked, and sent across at two different times, with our saddles and bridles; the horses, being driven into the water, swam over, the float (supported by inflated sheep-skins) not being large enough to convey us all at once across the river; its breadth here is about one hundred yards, and the current is very gentie, but deep; its waters are turbid, and particularly cold, I must here remark how a simple occurrence will often create the greatest surprise, especially in a country where the natives are kept in a state of ignorance.-Having arrived on the opposite bank of the Euphrates, before any of the rest of our party, I coiled up our luggage cords, and when the raft was about the centre of the current, threw them after the manner of our seamen, and succeeded in making them cross the raft; the astonished ferryman caught it with amazement, and soon worked himself ashore, at some distance above the common landing-place. The poor fellow begged me to show him the manner in which the miracle was performed, and said he would procure a long line, and adopt the plan, as he was often carried far below the ferry, and sometimes had much difficulty in securing a landing at all. Immediately on gaining the opposite side, we took to the mountains, and in one hour from the river arrived at three Koordish tents; our Tartar conducted us to one of them. Some men and women were milking the sheep and goats, whilst a woman was boiling milk, in a large copper kettle, in a corner of the tent, which is appropriated to cooking, and separated from the other parts by a partition of thin fence-work. She left her employment, and conducted the gentlemen into the tent, spread carpets and cushions for them, and as soon as they were seated presented them with pipes; after this she hurried to bake some cakes, and in a few minutes we all refreshed on excellent sour milk, cheese, and millet bread. During this time the chief had been within ten yards of us, busily employed milking, but did not leave his occupation till he had finished, and let the lambs loose to their dams; he then went to a brook, and, after washing his hands and face, entered the tent and made us welcome, regretting we could not stay all night: after remaining a short time we bad them farewell, and proceeded. A few pins, which I gave the daughters of the chief, were as much thought of as jewels would be in many parts of Europe. After continuing for four hours over some very fine mountains,

covered with excellent pasturage, we came to a noble valley, watered by a fine river, and full of villages, inhabited by Christians. Three hours up this valley brought us to the post-station, a considerable Armenian town (Kanous Kouremai), on the banks of the same little river I before mentioned; here we entered an old church, close to the town, where they were performing mass. The building is very ancient, and the curious figures of sculpture on the tomb-stones, in the cemetry that surrounded the church, represented horses ready saddled, rams, &c.; all, indeed, must have been the work of many ages past.'-pp. 182—184.

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There is no doubt that the success of the Russian troops, in Asiatic Turkey, was much facilitated by the Armenian subjects of the Porte, whom a similarity of creed had naturally attached to the invaders. The route of the travellers was almost parallel to the southern coast of the Black Sea, from Arzeroom to Scutari, whence they crossed to Constantinople. The scenery along this route has been often described as of the most romantic character; a sketch from near Koyla-Hissar, will exemplify its peculiar beauty. The road here turns off abruptly to the right, and we gazed with astonishment on the almost perpendicular pass we had to ascend to the post-station. An old castle is on the summit of a rocky height above the village; and when we arrived at the top, we looked with admiration on the loveliest spot in nature, high amongst the mountains-hid from the noisy world-remote in nature's very bosom-surrounded with vines and walnut-trees, and enjoying almost every fruit common in Asia; the surrounding mountains are capped with snow, and seldom trod upon, except by the red deer, the wolf, or bear.'

ART. III.-1. The Cabinet Cyclopædia.-England. By the Right Hon. Sir James Mackintosh, M.P. Vol. 2. Fcp. pp. 381. London: Longman & Co., and Taylor.

1831.

2. State Papers. King Henry VIII. Vol. 1. Parts 1 and 2. 4to. London: Murray. 1831.

TURNER, D'Israeli, Lingard, Hallam, Mackintosh, Palgrave, such are the names of the learned and eminent men, who either lately have been, or still are employed in re producing, under new forms, the most interesting portions of the History of England. Those amongst us who have passed the middle period of life, had often reason to lament, during the course of their education, that they were obliged to take their notions of the past annals of their country from the erroneous, though plausible, speculations of Hume, the elaborate and methodical dulness of Barrow, the heavy and ungenial narrative of Rapin, and the newspaper paragraphs of Smollet. The rising generations will be infinitely more fortunate in this respect. They will indeed not trouble themselves much with the work of Mr. Turner, the style of which is so obscure and repulsive, not to mention the bigotry which glares in every page that relates to religion; neither will they linger with prolonged

delight over the tomes of Mr. D'Israeli, highly lauded, though these have been, by some of our unreflecting contemporaries. He has affected to write grave history in the language of a court journal, and to put forward the most ordinary transactions with an air of mystery, as if they were the result of secret intrigues and combinations, which he alone has had the good fortune to discover. But when the students, of whose better fate we speak, open the volumes of Dr. Lingard, they will no longer associate ideas of labour and pain with the acquisition of historical knowledge. Beguiled by the concise, graceful, and transparent language, in which relations of even the every-day occurrences of human life are clothed by his cunning hand; admiring the judicial integrity, with which conflicting evidence is everywhere balanced, and the masterly power of discrimination, by which, often from the thickest confusion, he extricates the valuable truth, they will go on from reign to reign, gathering the knowledge and experience which arise from a thorough acquaintance with those men, who, in former ages, exercised a marked influence upon the character of our nation. Then, but not until then, will they be able to peruse with advantage the classic work of Hallam, and the series of essays upon our constitution and laws, as well as upon the social and commercial progress of England, which, under the title of its History,' Sir James Mackintosh is now, happily, presenting to the world. When reviewing the first volume of this work upon a former occasion, we feel that we judged the narrative portions of it perhaps with too much strictness. We expected, that in those portions the author would have displayed the same commanding genius and power, which shine with so much lustre in his commentaries upon the great charter, the rise of the house of commons, and other important subjects of that nature. But, in truth, we had not fully penetrated the real design of the distinguished author, which seems to be confined to the history of the constitution of England. The wars in which it has been engaged from time to time, have no charm whatever for his mind; he is altogether unskilled in the language of military description. He thinks it inconsistent with the dignity of his leading subject, to linger, even for a moment, upon a field of battle abroad, or of civil strife at home. A recorded misrepresentation of a date, or of the means by which a victory was achieved, is sufficient to turn him away from the theme, as if the whole were a tissue of falsehood, or at least of doubt, which it would not be worth his while to unravel. His legal education, and the philosophical and critical inclinations of his mind, fortunately for posterity, urge him constantly to the nobler field of speculation and reflection, where he usually succeeds in collecting a rich harvest of practical truth, unassailable principles of liberty, and many of those lessons of wisdom and of charity, which are intimately connected with the happiness and utility of private, as well as of public life.

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