was seen through an opening in the mountains, far below sparkling in the sun. The place being said to possess excellent wine, we procured some as a resource for our journey; but the search was most amusing, having to get at one house over the roof of another, or to descend a steep passage into a divan, the windows of which looked down over perpendicular precipices. Towards evening we descended the mountain, passing by two or three springs of delicious water, and in the course of a few hours came to the spot, opening into a rich plain, where Syria and Palestine are divided. As we were now coming into the seat of the war, it was necessary to be cautious what paths we pursued ; and while hesitating, two well-dressed Turks rode by, who assured us the one before us was safe to a certain distance.

Some time after dark, we came to the bank of a stream, on which stood a solitary cottage inhabited by on old man and his son. The night was chill; and dirty as the single apartment of the cottage seemed, we should have been glad to have availed ourselves of it, but no bribe could induce the peasant to admit us. We were therefore compelled to pass a comfortless night on the banks of the stream, and by daybreak proceeded over the plain cold and dispirited: our provisions were exhausted, and there was no prospect of finding any entertainment by the way. Near the summits of the mountains on our left were scattered a few Arab tents, but they were too far off, and our reception was too uncertain to make the attempt. In about four or five hours we came in sight of an Arab camp, pitched near a rivulet of water in the middle of the plain, and flocks of cattle were feeding on the rich pasture; the large tent of the Sheick was conspicuous in the niidst; and we resolved to trust to their hospitality. Riding past the line of tents, we stopped at the door of the chief's, and alighting from our horses entered. The Arabs gave us a kind and friendly reception; we sat down on a carpet spread on the floor, and in about half an hour a repast was brought of boiled rice, cakes of bread, and fresh and delicious butter. These people are altogether a different race from the Bedouins of the Desert; they are richer, more civilized and peaceable : having settled with their flocks and herds in one of the rich and wild plains of Syria, they decamp and wander to another in search of fresh pasture. Their encampments and their journeyings probably present a vivid picture of those of the patriarchs, who with their "flocks, and herdmen, and camels, went on their journeys," until they pitched their tents in a place that had water, and was rich in pasture. While we were here, an officer arrived from the Prince of the Druses, with a demand of men from the Arabs for the war, as they were within the bounds of his jurisdiction. They looked very dissatisfied at this, and deliberated on it while the officer was taking some refreshment, and who, when he had received their answer, rose up and rode away. We bade adieu to these friendly Arabs, who would have considered any offer of remuneration as an insult. By the way, the pipe of the Syrian shepherds, playing the wild airs of the country, was often heard in the mountains, and sounded very sweetly. The country, however, through which we were passing was uninteresting. Towards evening we again met and crossed the Jordan, not far from its source: it was here not more than a foot in width: the course of this river is for the most part perfectly straight.

In the plain near where Syria and Palestine are said to join, it flows into a small lake, and thence to the lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea; it has scarcely a winding in its course. We now began to wind up the steep hill, on the top of which the town of Hasbeia stands. Here again street ascends over street; it is an old and populous town, and the ancient palace of the great Sheick, or prince, is in the middle. We took up our abode in the house of one of the natives, and being very fatigued, were delighted at the sight of a good fire, and the busy preparations for supper. In this house four brothers and their wives dwelt together in harmony. In the night it rained very hard, which put the roads into a dreadful condition. We set out in the forenoon, and in the course of a few hours the weather cleared up; the tract we travelled over bore marks of the devastations of the war; the fine village of Rasheia, which we passed by, was destroyed: this was the result of a battle fought a few weeks before, in which five men had been killed; the force to which they belonged took to flight, and the victors spread havock around as they went on. In the great battle, which was fought on the plain behind us a few days after our passing, between the troops of Damascus and those of the Prince of the Druses, joined with the force of Acre, ten thousand men were engaged on both sides, who fought with the distant fire of musketry. Sixty of the Damascenes were slain, on which the army took to flight, and had the Acrians pushed on, they might easily have entered the city. At night we stopped in another large village, part of which had been also destroyed. We always found the Syrians very civil, and willing to afford the best accommodation in their power. On entering the cottage of a peasant, a fire is kindled on the floor, which is of wood or earth; eggs are always to be had, sometimes fowls, and you spread your mattress on the floor, and the people are thankful for a small remuneration. The next morning we were obliged to pass the summits of some of the mountains, which, as well as part of their sides, were covered with snow. The mountain of Gibl Sheick, crowned with snow, had for a day or two been a sublime object on the right. On the following day we set out early, impatient to behold the celebrated plain of Damascus; a large round mountain in front prevented us from catching a glimpse at it, till, on turning a point of the rock, it appeared suddenly at our feet. Perhaps the barren and dreary hills we had been for some days passing, made the plain look doubly beautiful, yet we stood gazing at it for some time ere we advanced. The domes and minarets of the sacred city rose out of the heart of a forest of gardens and trees, which was twelve miles in circumfereuce. Four or five small rivers ran through the forest and the city, glittering at intervals in the sun; and to form that vivid contrast of objects in which Asiatic so much excels European scenery, the plain was encircled on three of its sides by mountains of light and naked rocks.

But holier things than life or power
Surround thee in this awful hour,
Still, warrior, art thou strong?

That suppliant-'tis thy wife that bends-
Those tears-they flow from faithful friends,
Thy children round thee throng-
One word, but one, and thou may'st stay-
Firm spirit, wilt thou turn away?

A dull deep pause-that hush of breath,
As of men who watch a warrior's death,-
One still, stern look from him-
A look that tells of spotless fame,
Of strength for suffering, not for shame,
Resolve, no grief must dim,—

This, and the Roman all would save
Departs, self-martyr'd, for the grave!

M. J. J.

* He needed only, says Cicero, to have spoken one word, and it would have restored him to his liberty, his estate, his dignity, his wife, his children, and his country; but that word appeared to him contrary to the honour and welfare of the state. The illustrious exile, therefore, left Rome, in order to return to Carthage, unmoved either with the deep affliction of his friends, or the tears of his wife and children, although he knew but too well the grievous torments that were prepared for him.

ROLLIN

A MAN INTRODUCED TO HIS ANCESTORS.

QUEVEDO tells a story of an old Spanish nobleman, who meeting his coachman in the place unmentionable to polite ears, and being respectfully asked how he came there, said it was on account of the fatal indulgence he had shown to his wicked son. "But," said he, "Peter," wiping his eyes, "how came you here ?"-" Ah, my lord," replied Peter, "it was for being the father of that wicked son of yours."

It is frightful to hear the comments people will make on a story of this sort. Some go so far as to pretend that there is no reckoning on a legitimate family in Europe. An Ogleby, say they, for aught we know, reigns in France; and a Sawney Beane at Madrid. A corporal may be half-brother to the King of Prussia. Some prig of a fellow is perhaps the precursor, at no great distance, of the illustrious Alexander of the North; and the Emperor of Austria may be the exalted result of a parish beadle. In the old story-book which represents Virgil as a magician, the poet is said to have pronounced Augustus to be the son of a baker. The reason assigned for the discovery was, that the emperor had ordered the poet so many loaves a week, instead of money, to do what he liked with. By this rule, the holy allies might be all made out the descendants of parish officers; for there is nothing that occupies them so much as keeping a sharp eye upon vagrants, waging war with surreptitious munched apples, and the reading of books in church time, and wearing their respective cocked-hats with a solemn propriety. The Emperor of Austria, when shown a manuscript Ariosto in Italy, is recorded to have said that he had no countenance for authors of that sort: (which every body will readily believe, who has seen his Majesty's face).

However, the famous Austrian lip has been long in the family. There is no denying that. Whatever its origin, it is of old standing. I have heard the same thing of slanting foreheads in other families. Dryden tells us of a recipe, by which to ascertain the legitimacy of certain royal families famous for intermarrying with their aunts and uncles,

"Who by their common ugliness are known."

Thinking of these matters, and happening to fall upon the geometrical ratio of descent, by which it appears that a man has, at the twentieth remove, one million forty-eight thousand five hundred and seventy-six ancestors in the lineal degree-grandfathers and grandmothers, -I dropped the other evening into a reverie, during which I thought I stood by myself at one end of an immense public place, the other being occupied with a huge motley assembly, whose faces were all turned towards me. At this multitudinous gaze, I felt the sort of confusion which is natural to a modest man, and which almost makes us believe that we have been guilty of some crime without knowing it. But what was my astonishment, when a master of the ceremonies issued forth, and saluting me by the title of his great-grandson, introduced me to the assembly in the manner and form following:

May it please your Majesties and his holiness the Pope :

My Lord Cardinals, may it please your most reverend and illustrious eminences;

May it please your graces, my lord dukes;

My lords, and ladies, and lady abbesses ;

Sir Charles, give me leave; Sir Thomas also, Sir John, Sir Nicholas, Sir William, Sir Owen, Sir Hugh, &c.

Right worshipful the several courts of aldermen ;

Mesdames, the married ladies;

Mesdames the nuns and other maiden ladies;-Messieurs Manson, Womanson, Jones, Hervey, Smith, Merryweather, Hipkins, Jackson, Johnson, Jephson, Damant, Delavigne, De la Bleterie, Macpherson, Scott, O'Brien, O'Shaughnessy, O'Halloran, Clutterbuck, Brown, White, Black, Lindygreen, Southey, Pip, Trip, Chedorloamer (who the devil, thought I, is he?) Morandi, Moroni, Ventura, Mazarin, D'Orset, Puckering, Pickering, Haddon, Somerset, Kent, Franklin, Hunter, Le Fevre, Le Roi (more French !) Du Val (oh, ho! a highwayman, by all that's gentlemanly !) Howard, Churchill, Burdett, Argentine, Gustafson, Olafson, Bras-de-feu, Sweyn, Hacho and Tycho, Price, Lloyd, Llewellyn, Hanno, Hiram, &c. and all you intermediate gentlemen, reverend and otherwise—with your infinite sons, nephews, uncles, grandfathers, and all kinds of relations.

Then, you, sergeants and corporals, and other pretty fellows,-
You, footmen there, and coachmen younger than your wigs,

You gypsies, pedlars, criminals, Botany Bay men, old Romans, informers, critics, and other vagabonds,

Gentlemen and ladies, one and all,

Allow me to introduce to you, your descendant, Mr. Manson.
Mr. Manson, your ANCESTORS.

What a sensation!

I made the most innumerable kind of bow I could think of, and was saluted with a noise like that of a hundred oceans. Presently I was in the midst of the uproar, which became like a fair of the human race.

Dreams pay as little attention to ceremony, as the world of which they are supposed to form a part. The gentleman usher was the only person who retained a regard for it. Pope Innocent himself was but one of the crowd. I saw him elbowed and laughing among a parcel of lawyers. It was the same with the dukes and princes. One of the kings was familiarly addressed by a lord of the bedchamber, as Tom Wildman; and a little French page had a queen much older than himself by the arm, whom he introduced to me as his daughter. I discerned very plainly my immediate ancestors the Mansons, but could not get near enough to speak to every one of them, by reason of a motley crowd, who, with all imaginable kindness, seemed as if they would have torn me to pieces. "This is my arm,' "" said one, "as sure as fate," at the same time seizing me by the wrist. "The Franklin shoulder," cried another. A gay fellow, pushing up to me, and giving me a lively shake, exclaimed, "The family mouth, by the Lord Harry and the eye-there's a bit of my father in the eye."-" A very little bit, please your honour," said a gypsey, a real gypsey, thrusting in her brown face: "all the rest 's mine, Kitty Lee's, and the eyebrows are Johny Faw's to a hair."-"The right leg is my pro