or the reverse; but it is as certain as most other historical facts that Donal and Fergus, two Irish princes, established a colony in the West Highlands, in the early part of the sixth century, which colony lived on good terms with their eastern and northern neighbours, the Picts or Cruithne, and that St. Colum Cillé preached to these last-named people, and established his monks at Iona, in the middle of the same century. Soon after, the colony under the rule of Aidan, declared themselves independent of the Scotic king at Tara. Venerable Bede, in 731, found these Albanian Scots, and the Cruithne or Picts, separate, though friendly, peoples, using dialects of the Celtic tongue; but differences afterwards arose, and from the middle of the ninth century, no trace of the Picts or their speech was to be found north of the Cheviots. They were either diffused among their neighbours, or migrated through Cumberland into Wales and Cornwall.

Somarled, son of Gillabride, chief of Orial (Louth, Armagh, and Monaghan), and son-in-law of Olave the Red, Norwegian King of Man, assumed the style and title of Lord of the Isles in the twelfth century, and

his successors held sway over the west of Scotland till the end of the fifteenth This will account for the old bonds between Scotia major and Scotia minor being drawn still closer, and for the number of Irish bards— O'Dalys and others-entertained at Dunstaffnage, Inverary, and other western strongholds, during this long period, and the vitality of the old stories and poems that originated in the native country of these minstrels. It is to be hoped that the soreness which for a century has subsisted between the literati of Ireland and Scotland may be heard of no more, and that each will rather rejoice in the literary treasures brought into light by the other from time to time, than seek to deprive them of the honour which fairly belongs to the discovery.

We can devote but scant space, this month, to the subject, interesting as it is to the archeologists of the empire; but we hope to return to our pleasant task. If German philologists evince so deep an interest in everything connected with, probably, the earliest (living) language in Europe, we, among whom it is still partially spoken, should be very far from feeling or exhibiting indifference on the subject.

THE PLAIN OF SARDIS.

IT is a splendid Asiatic summer noon. Goldenly from the deep azure zenith glows the sun over Lydia. To the north, dominating the plain, the city of Sardis, with its citadels, palace, and temples, glitters whitely on the crests of Mount Tmolus, whose declivities, draped in vineyards, descend in outlines of indolent majesty to the borders of the broad river Pactolus, which winds sinuous and bright across the plain to the south-at one turn mirroring the blue air, at another breaking into a hundred prismatic lights-like some mighty and superb serpent stretched in repose along the land, and reflecting its colours as it breathes in sleep. To the east extend a range of gray mountains, whose jagged peaks and pinnacles of silver and snow serrate the remote horizon; while here and there to the south appears some steep mountain town,

with long flights of steps cut in the ravines from base to summit, ranges of rock tombs honeycombing its granite sides, and benched amphitheatres fronting eastward. East and west of the river expands the rich plain-here undulating into dells, amid whose dark green groves of walnut and myrtle, white villages, with their wooden pillared houses and flat roofs (which formed the model of the Greek temple) gleam slumbrously in the affluent sunlight; here spreading away in leagues of pasture-in fields carpetted with cistus, crocus, and anemone, amid which many flocks feed, scattered in long drifts across the peaceful levels, dotted with their clustering pens, and intervalled at wide distances by some magnificent plane tree and large-leaved oak, whose patriarchal trunk and gnarled boughs have assumed gigantic proportions amid the suns and rains of centuries.

Scarce a sound breaks through the

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sunny silence of this pastoral region -scarce a movement of life is seen during the drowsy noon-day hour; the lizards lie hid in the leaves,-the tortoise basks on the river sand, and it is only at long intervals that the ear of the lazy shepherd thrills with the notes of the woodpeckers in some cluster of wild pear or juniper trees; or that, gazing towards the misty northern distance, with its horizon of wooded and snowy hills, he sees some long trains of camels and caravans slowly threading the mountain road from Babylon or Persia, and winding through the heavy heat towards the turretted gates of Sardis.

Among the shepherds of the King's flocks there is a youth named Gyges -a gay Lydian, well known among his comrades for his daring and adventurous disposition, and amid the maidens of the hamlets for the art which he displays on the reed and flute during festal evenings, when many a group beat the ground in the joyous and voluptuous dances for which the region is celebrated. Like the rest, he has been slumbering during the noon-while the chameleon near changed in colour like a bubble, while the long lines of locusts crossed the sky-reposed in the hollow of a great plane tree near the river, in the cool shadow of its thick verdurous dome, through which as he sleeps the moving sun piercing in golden stars gleams on a dark face of strange beauty, on a high brow shaded with long ebon locks, and a finely-moulded frame of great strength and activity. His costume differs from that of his fellows, rudely garbed in sheepskin; for it is made of the hide of a lion, which he had slain, tastefully formed, and bordered with cloth, red as blood. At times, as he sleeps, a dream passing through his mind evokes strange shades and expressions on his face, shadowed by the leaves of the great snake plant, which twines round the sides of the tree; and occasionally he extends his arm with an ambitious movement, as though grasping some invisible object of his imagination.

The meditative life led by this young shepherd had developed a tendency to thought; but though he was merely noted among the villagers for excelling in the simple accomplishments of a herd, he was himself conscious of possessing an

innate mysterious power, which gave intensity to an originally strong personality, and which as time passed and reflection deepened, had slowly shaped a character differing widely from that of his comrades-a character dominated by vague aspirations, and an instinctive love of power. The occasion on which he became conscious of this innate influence was as follows:-Once at a village festival in which he and the Lydian girl, his partner, had won the prize in a dancing contest, they had wandered into an adjoining wood; the girl was heated with the exercise, and Gyges, who was fanning her face with a fold of his lion-skin, was suddenly surprised at finding her drop into a deep sleep. At first, believing she was feigning, he paid little regard to the circumstance; but presently became alarmed, when he found that despite his calling on her to arouse herself, she still remained insensible. After a period, he bethought him of uttering a charm, which, according to custom, was accompanied with a waving of the hands before the face; and presently, when he had fanned her forehead with his robe, she awakened. It appeared to Gyges, however, that the trance into which the village maiden was thrown must have resulted in some invisible influence of his genius ; and as subsequent trials were followed by the same consequences he became aware of possessing a mysterious power, the consequences of which strongly influenced his nature and mind. Some time after this an event occurred which marked him among his fellow-men to a peculiar destiny.

As the sun began to decline from its burning height a few figures were seen moving across the plain: women bearing to some shepherds their repast of bread and fruit, followed by girls with water vases on their heads; then the herds, who, having despatched their rural dinner under the trees, stretching in the flowery herbage, amid which the lambs were playing, began to wile the remaining day with their long flutes and reeds, evoking pastoral songs of love and traditional legends of the region, as customary on those long-drawn summer days.

At length, as evening came on, a singular change appeared in the sky. Although the sun was nearing the

western mountains, instead of the refreshing breeze which usually breathed from their summits, the heat of the air continued oppressive; a vapour, first red and then grown lurid, rising from the horizon, rapidly covered the sky, in which a dead calm reigned. Presently a tumult of black clouds rose in the west, deluging the orb of the sun in blackness, and advancing across the firmament, which, though grown sudden dark, was at moments pervaded by a strange and ominous light. The shepherds, struck with sudden consternation at those unaccustomed appearances, had already began, some to collect their flocks, some to hurry to the neighbouring villages, when thunder at a great elevation rolled overhead,--at the same instant the earth trembled; and an unusual feeling of awe struck the hearts of all living things, as they recognised this sombre sympathy between the heights of the sky and the depths of the world; for it seemed as though the gods were signalling the hour of its destruction. Then a few great drops of rain fell, the prelude of thick darkness, and the plain began to heave like a storm-convulsed ocean.

Awed by the terrors with which he was surrounded, Gyges, like the other shepherds, had forsaken his flocks, and aided by a wild glare which began to pervade the sky, hurried as rapidly as he was able toward the village near which his cottage stood--a village which lay at the opposite side of the nearest mountain. Frequently the earth-shock caused him to pause, tottering and uncertain whether the next moment the ground might not open at his feet and engulf him. At length, after about an hour had passed, he reached the ravine through which his way lay. Here, however, the dangers thickened: masses of crumbling debris and stones began to descend the sides of the mountains, which, trembling to their foundation, seemed threatening ever and anon to topple over and bury him beneath their stupendous rocks and precipices. At every step death seemed present.

Already he had advanced half-way through the steep glen, and in an interval of calm, hurried with desperate haste forward in the light of a level streak of cloud which hung over the adjacent valley; when suddenly the ground heaved with a tremendous

convulsion, and as with a despairing shriek he looked upward, he saw the two sides of the ravine meeting overhead in an awesome roof, which shut out the sky. The next instant, stricken down and stunned, he sunk into unconsciousness.

How long he remained buried in this dread stupor, he knew not; when, however, his senses returned, he found himself in a vast cavern, as it seemed, and in utter darkness. Around him dead silence reigned; but as he sprang to his feet and listened, he presently became conscious of a distant sound, as that of a torrent rushing through some gloomy channel, and presently he began to feel his way with fearful and cautious steps toward the place from which the watery noise issued, animated by a hope that by following its course he could possibly find an exit into the world of day.

He had not advanced far when a gleam of hope broke on him; the sound of the water grew nearer, after a little he observed the reflection of a star on its surface, and looking up beheld--oh, joyful sight!-a blue space of sky glimmering through the distant cavern's mouth, and illuminating the rock-strewn path leading in that direction.

It was at this moment, while his heart throbbed tumultuously under the revulsion of feeling arising from the terrors he had passed and the certainty of safety and life, that advancing along the path which skirted the torrent, he came to a point where, turning to the right, another branch of the cavern extended. Pausing for a space at its entrance, and gazing into its gloomy arcade, he was surprised to perceive a distant light, which, as he approached, shed an illumination along the walls and floor, faint indeed, but sufficient to guide him securely to the point whence it emanated.

But a few moments elapsed before he found himself in a small chamber which appeared to have been hewn out of the rock; and a shudder passed through him as the light of a lamp, streaming from the low roof, fell on a gigantic figure, naked and white as snow, which lay on a colossal altar of black marble, reposed in an eternal sleep.

When the first sensation of superstitious awe and wonder inspired by this sight had passed, Gyges closely

examined this singular body, which seemed as indestructible as the rocks amid which it had been for ages entombed; and recollecting a tradition familiar in the country, of a race of giants who inhabited it before man, and whose kings-so said the legend -were buried in the midst of their treasures, he presently began to examine the chamber with an excited hope of discovering coffers of gold and caskets of jewels. Nothing of the sort, however, appeared, nor did the rude stone floor or the walls, which were excavated from the solid rock, exhibit any trace of concealed recess or lower opening; and struck with a sudden apprehension lest some earthquake shock might recur, and enclose him for ever in this gloomy penetralia of the mountain, he was about to make a hasty departure, when glancing at the body, he perceived on the little finger of the right hand which covered the heart of the colossal corpse, a ring. Inspecting this mortuary ornament, he found it was a simple circle of green stone, and when after a pause of hesitation, arising from the fear lest some supernatural event might occur should he touch the sleeping mystery, he approached and removed it from the hand, he found, as the light of the lamp fell upon it, that it neither contained any precious setting or any tracery, save one curious hieroglyphic on the seal. Valueless as it appeared, he nevertheless resolved to preserve it as a memento of an adventure so wonderful; and placing it on his finger, after a hurried glance at the motionless giant, he hastened back through the passage, and after clambering over the rocks along the torrent side, was finally fortunate enough to reach the cavern mouth, and emerge with beating heart once more beneath the sky, which was already brightening eastward with the level fires of the dawn clouds.

The earthquake of the preceding night had left little trace of its action, except in the mountain ravine, across which two great peaks had fallen. The adjoining plain appeared as heretofore, and even the village in which he dwelt, had suffered but slightly. Gyges reached his cottage, and after conversing with his neighbours on the common terrors they had experienced (for, strange to say,

some mysterious and irresistible impulse by which he felt himself controlled, prevented him narrating his marvellous adventure), he set out again toward the plain occupied by his flocks. On, however, reaching the part of the mountain from which he had escaped from the awful subterranean world within, another wonder awaited him, a vast mass of earth and rock had meanwhile become detached from the mountain side, covering some hundred feet deep the mouth of the cavern.

A moon had rounded and died after this dread event and singular adventure, and the terror created by the earthquake had well-nigh subsided, when a Lydian festival took place in one of the neighbouring villages, at which Gyges, as usual, attended. The hamlet stood on the skirt of a rich aired woodland in a golden sunset valley, and here the gayest shepherd youths and loveliest maidens of the plain, crowned and garlanded, after passing some hours in jubilant dances

dances performed with wine cups in their hands, which were laughingly drained, now as a measure came to a termination and refilled as another commenced - the musicians seated under the trees accompanying them with lyre and flute; when the rising of the moon heralded the hour for feasting and song.

As usual the feast was held in the village temple, a small wooden-pillared building, which was decked with leaves and flowers for the occasion, and illuminated with pine torches. Ranged round the central board, the joyous folk had passed the hours with love-making, minstrelsy and story-telling; and it was already midnight, when a girl, into whose ear Gyges had been whispering some pastoral compliment, gaily gesticulating the while, suddenly caught his hand, and after inspecting the mysterious ring which he chanced to wear on this evening, inquired why he preferred an ornament of rude stone instead of gold, such as his comrades sported on festive occasions.

Gyges said he had carved it himself from a piece of stone he had found some time before on the mountain side; and the eyes of several of the revellers were bent toward them, as the girl turned it round his finger, examining the seal and the mark with

which it was traced,-when suddenly he was surprised to hear several persons exclaim in astonished voices"Where is Gyges?" "Here," he answered, laughing. "Where?" cried the feasters, in tones of greater wonder.

"What humour has taken you my friends?" he inquired, in grave amaze. "Have you lost your reason?"

At this moment all rose.
"Did you see him depart ?”
"No."
? -or you?"

"Or you "No."

Gyges. "What madness has seized you ?"

All.-"Whence comes that voice?" Gyges.-"From me, Gyges. Surely you have lost your sight, or some magic influence possesses you. I, Gyges, am here-here where I sit."

All. “This is miraculous; some demon has charmed him or us. Save us, great Pan, from the spells of genii and witches-save us," and they then threw themselves prostrate on the ground.

At this instant something caused Gyges to search for the ring on his finger, and in so doing he found the part which bore the hieroglyphic had been turned inward, and by an involuntary movement he turned it outward, as he had been accustomed heretofore to wear it.

Upon this, all gazing on him, cried, "Behold him! behold him! Alas, wretched Gyges, you are under the influence of magic."

Then, perceiving that this marvel resulted from change of position in the ring, he turned the seal inward and outward repeatedly, and as he did so found, from the faces of the assembly, that he became alternately invisible and visible to mortal eyes; and while the revellers fled terrified from the temple, filled with wondrous sensation, he also, finding himself alone, presently departed across the plain.

On reaching his cottage, Gyges threw himself on his couch, but for several hours sleep escaped him, while his mind, thronged with imaginations vast and various-of powers and pleasures, of good and evil; and the first streak of dawn already divided earth and sky with a fringe of fire, when, intoxicated with his treasure, and fearful lest he should lose

it while unconscious, still grasping it tightly, he sunk into slumber.

ELEUSIS.

AFTER the event just described, Gyges became an object of the profoundest awe among the simple, superstitious rural folk, amid whom he lived, who regarding him as the victim of some magical spell, avoided encountering him, muttering counter-charms when such occasions occurred. Intelligence of the singular gift of enchantment which he was supposed to possess reaching the ears of Candules, King of Sardis, the latter demanded his presence in the palace, and though overwhelmed with amaze when Gyges displayed his power of becoming alternately visible and invisible, he presently bethought him, finding the shepherd a man of aspiring character and endowed with a keen intelligence, of rendering him instrumental in forwarding the policy of the throne. In a word, having bestowed upon him a considerable sum, and given him an appropriate train of attendants, he despatched him as an envoy to the King of Armenia, who was then meditating a descent upon Lydia, with instructions to inform himself of the monarch's designs, and communicate with his sovereign. This mission Gyges, so gifted, performed to perfection, having acquainted himself with the most secret projects of the hostile monarch. Upon his return to Sardis, Candules loaded him with wealth, and would have made him his chief minister, but that the adventurous, ambitious character which Gyges had gained for the possession of his miraculous ring rendered such offers, for the time, nugatory. Shortly after, therefore, being desirous of consulting the oracle at Delphi, with the king's permission Gyges set sail for Greece, where he arrived, as it happened, in the autumnal months, signalized by the opening ceremonies of initiation at the temple of Eleusis.

The thin crescent of the moon hung low in the solemn azure of the midnight sky, when Gyges entered the vast temple of Eleusis. Two days were passed in taking part in the processions of the goddess and the prefatory rites of initiation, and at length came the third, when the neophite was to undergo the superior