Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

taken with him. A pewter tea pot will become of more importance than a chest of plate, and more so than one of silver, because it will not be stolen, and may be kept equally clean and entire. To this he will add, a ketile, a saucepan, the top of which may be used for a dish, tea, sugar, and a large cheese, with several loaves of bread made into rusks, and as much fresh bread as he thinks will keep till he has a chance of procuring more. Then, while the frost continues, he may carry frozen food, such as game, or fish, which being congealed, and as hard as flints, may jolt about among bis kettles in the well of his carriage without any chance of injury. Wine may be used in a cold country, but never in a hot, nor even in a temperale climate, while upon the road. In hot countries, if a cask of good vine. gar can be procured, the traveller will often bless the means by which it was obtained. When, with a parched tongue, a dry and feverish skin, they bring him bad or good water, to assuage his burning thirst, the addition of a little vinegar will make thedraught delicious. Care must be taken not to use it to excess, for it is sometimes so tempting a remedy against somnolency, that it is hardly possible to resist using the vinegar without any adulteration of water."

The account of Novogorod is also curious; but in what relates to Russian manners, both here and in succeeding chapters, the statements are so widely different from what we have been accustomed to read, that we cannot help forming a hope that Dr. Clarke may have been deceived on his journey. To the end of the ninth chapter, the reader is detained at Moscow: the buildings, manners, ceremonies, and inhabitants of which are minutely described. In the tenth chapter, we acCompany Dr. Clarke from Moscow to Woronetz: aud in the eleventh chapter from Woronetz to the territory of the Don Cossacks. On the origin of this race of people we have the following remarks:

"I do not know whence the notion was derived, that the Cossacks are of Polish origin; but it has become prevalent, and a seasonable opportunity now offers, to shew that it is founded in error. The Cossacks have been known, as a distinct people, near pine hundred years. According to Con

stantine Porphyrogenites, their name has continued unaltered, since the time in which he wrote, It is found in the appellation of a tribe near mount Caucasus.. "And beyond the Russian country," says he, "is the country called Casachia; but beyond the Cossacks are the summits of Caucasus.” It is impossible to obtain more strik. ing information. Our countryman, Jonas Hanway, calls the Don Cossacks "a species of Tartars." Storch, who has written fully and learnedly on the subject, although he admits the resem blance they bear to Tartars, in their mode of life, constitution and features, insists that they are of Russian origin. Sherer, whohas appropriated his work entirely to the investigation of their his tory, and continually the notion of their Polish origin, nevertheless opens his work with an extract of a different nature; but it has all the air of a fable. It is taken from Newton's Russian Annals. A Russian prince, and a Cossack chief, at the head of their respective armies, agree to determine their differences by a wrestling match, which ends in the assassination of the Cossack by the Russian. This event is followed by the subjugation of the Cossack territory. To have seen them, and to have lived with them, is suf ficient to establish a conviction that they have nothing common with Russians, except the language they now speak, and which probably was introduced when they became converted to the Russian church. Let us pay some altention at least to what they say of themselves. Those of the Don relate, that a party of Cossacks being engaged in their usual occupation of hunting, near the range of Mount Caucasus, met a number of people, with whom they were strangers, going towards the east; and having inquired who they were, the strangers answered, that they were emigrants from Poland, who had fled the oppression of their nobles, and were proceeding to Persia, to join the troops of that conn try against the Turks. The Cossacks told them they might spare themselves the trouble of so long a march in ot der to commit hostilities against the Turks, and persuaded them to retura with them to the town of Ischerchaskoy, where they would find an asylom, and whence in concert with them, they might attack the fortress of Azof. Assisted with this reinforcement, and

with

[ocr errors]

with only four pieces of cannon, which was all the artillery they possessed at that time, they made the attack upon Azof, which fell into the hands of the combined forces. From the circum.

stances of this association, which first enabled the Cossacks to inake a figure among the nations at war with Turkey, might have been derived the erroneous notion, of their having emigrated from Poland. The Cossacks of the Don, according to the account which the best instructed among them give of their own people, (and they are much better qualified to write a history than any of the Russian academicians,) are a mixture of various nations, principally of Circassians, Malo-Russians, and Russians, but also of Tartars, Poles, Greeks, Turks, Calmucks, and Armenians. In the town of Tscherchask oy alone, and in the same street, may be seen all these different people at once, and each in the habit peculiar to his nation. A considerable proportion of the inhabitants have ever been refugees, escaped from Turkey, Greece, or other countries, to this place. Concerning the first establishment of their town, they relate that it was founded by refugees from Greece, to whom thepeople of Azof denied admission, and, who, in consequence, proceeding farther up the river,came to this island, on which they made their settlement; giving to it a name derived from the people upon whose frontier it was situated, and with whom they afterwards intermixed. The name of the town, although pronounced Tscherchasky, is written Tscherchascoy, which implies "The small village of Tscherchas, pronounced generally Tscherchess, or, as we write it, Circassians. Koi or Koy, in the Tartar language, signifies a small village; and is therefore often the terminating syllable in the names of places in that country; as Kazinskoy, Moscooskoy, and Nikitskoy. Thus from a small settlement of rovers, augmented principally by intercourse with the neighbouring Circassians, has since accumulated, like a vast Avalange, the immense horde of the Cossacks. Before the middle of the tenth century, they had already reached the frontier of Poland, and began an intercourse with the people of that country, which was often attended with an augmentation of their horde, by the settlement of Polish emigrants among them. Their first notable armament is said to have been in the year 948, when the MONTHLY MAG. No. 208.

Greek emperor employed them as mer-, cenaries in his war against the Turks, From their address in archery, their neighbours had given them the name of Chozars, and Chazars, under which latter appellation they are frequently mentioned by Constantine Porphyro genites, and their country called Chaza

ria.

The Greek emperor, for the services they rendered, sent thein, with assurances of protection, and recommendatory letters, to the Polish sove.. reign, requesting that, in future, their appellation might be Cossacks and not Chozars.”,

Certain however it is, that in his ob.. servations on the Cossacks of the Don, Dr. Clarke appears to have drawn a contrast between them and the Rus sians uncommonly striking. An inpartial reader cannot help suspecting an unfavourable bias in the mind of the author against the latter.

The

Having devoted the fifteenth chap ter to the European and Asiatic shores of the sea of Azof, in the sixteenth we accompany him through Kuban Tartary, to the frontier of Circassia : and in the seventeenth,along the frontier to the Cimmerian Bosphorus. The eighteenth chapter carries the reader from Taman to Caffa; and the fineteenth to the capital of the Crimea. In this last chapter we have some interesting anecdotes of Professor Palias, The twentieth extends from the capital of the Crimea, to the Heracleotic Chersonesus: and the twenty-first,along the south coast of the Crimea. twenty-second chapter is occupied by a second excursion to the minor peninsula of the Heracleota. In the twentythird chapter, which extends by the isthmus of Perecop, to Nicholaef, we have a remarkable account of the banditti of the Ukraine. Towards the close are some interesting particulars of the death of Howard, communicated to Dr. Clarke by his two friends Admiral Mordvinof and Admiral Priestman. The twenty-fourth chapter carries the travellers from Nicholaef to Odessa; and in the twenty-fifth we have their voyage from Odessa to the harbour of Ineada in Turkey. The twenty-sixth chapter closes the first part of Dr. Clarke's travels, at Constantinople.

"Considering the surprising extent of the city and suburbs of Constantinople, the notions entertained of its commerce, and the figure it has long 4Q

made

7

made in history; all the conveniences,
if not the luxuries, of life might be
there expected. Previous to an arrival,
if any inquiry is made of merchants, and
other persons who have visited the
place, as to the commodity of its
imarkets, the answer is almost always
characterized by exaggeration. They
will affirm, that every thing a stran-
ger can require, may be purchased in
Constantinople, as in London, Paris,
or Vieuna; whereas, if truth be told,
hardly any one article good in its kind
can be procured. Let a foreigner visit the
bazars, properly so called, he will see no-
thing but slippers, clumsy boots of bad lea-
ther,coarse muslins,pipes,tobacco,coffee,
cooks' shops, drugs, flower-roots, se-
cond-hand pistols, poignards, and the
worst manufactured wares in the world.
In Pera, where Greeks and Italians
are supposed to supply all the necas-
sities of the Franks, a few pitiful stalls
are seen, in which every thing is dear
and bad. Suppose a stranger to arrive
from a long journey, in want of clothes
for his body, furniture for his lodg-
ings, books or maps for his instruc-
tion and amusement, paper, pens, ink,
cutlery, shoes, hats; in short, those
articles which are found in almost
every city of the world: he will find
few or none of them in Constantino-
ple; except of a quality so inferior as
to render them incapable of answering
any purpose for which they were
intended. The few commodities
exposed for sale are either exports
from England, unfit for any other
market, or, which is worse, German
or Dutch imitations of English manu-
facture. The woollen cloths are hard-
ly suited to cover the floor of their
own compting houses; every article
of cutlery and hardware is detestable;
the leather used for shoes and boots so
bad that it can scarcely be wrought;
hats, hosiery, linen, buttons, buckles,
are all of the same character; of the
worst quality and yet of the highest
price. But there are other articles of
merchandize, to which we have been
accustomed to annex the very name
of Turkey, as if they were the peculiar
produce of that country; and these
at least a foreigner expects to find;
but not one of them can be had. Ask
for a Turkish carpet, you are told
you must send for it to Smyrna; for
Greek wines-to the Archipelago; for
a Turkish sabre-to Damascus ; for the
sort of stone expressly denominated tur.

quaise they know not what you mean
for red leather, they import it them-
selves from Russia or from Africa; still
you are said to be in the centre of the
commerce of the world; and this may
be true enough, with reference to the
freight of vessels passing the straits
View the
which is never landed.
exterior of Constantinople, and it seems
the most opulent and flourishing city
in Europe; examine its interior, and
its miseries and deficiences are so strik.
ing, that it must be considered the
meanest and poorest metropolis of the
world.

The ships which crowd its ports have no connection with its wel fare: they are for the most part French, Venetian, Ragusan, Sclavonian, and Grecian vessels, to or from the Mediterranean, exchanging the produce of their own countries for the rich harvests of Poland; the salt, honey, and butter of the Ukraine; the hides, tallow, hemp, furs, and metals of Rus sia and Siberia; the whole of which exchange is transacted in other ports, without any interference on the part of Turkey. Never was there a people in possession of such advantages, who knew or cared so little for their enjoy. ment, Under a wise government, the inhabitants of Constantinople might obtain the riches of all the empires of the earth. Situated as they are, it cannot be long before other nations, depriving them of such important sources of wealth, will convert to better purposes the advantages they have so long neglected."

At the end of all is an appendix of seven articles. Of these, the second contains a translation of the discourse which usually goes by the name of Suvorof's Catechism; a curious production, bighly characteristic of the general and the fifth presents a list of the plants collected, by the author, during his different journies in the Crimea."

The plates which accompany the work are numerous, and, on the whole, well executed. They are in number, fifty, including charts: beside thirty viguettes,

"A Description of the Feroe Islands, containing an Account of their Situa tion,Climate, and Productions; together with the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants, their Trade, &c." By the Rev. G. G. LANDT, iliustrated with Map and other Engravings, Trans

lated

1

1

lated from the Danish. In one volume

octavo.

In these islands, twenty-two in number (though seventeen only are inhabited) Mr. Landt officiated for several years. His acquaintance with them seems to have been complete: and his work though copious, is by no means tedious, The Feroe islands occupy in a direction from north to south, sixtyseven miles; and extend in breath, from east to west, forty-five miles. They consist of a group of steep rocks, or hills rising from the sea,for the most part of a conical form. The highest of all the hills in these islands is Skæling, in the southern part of Northstromoe. Its perpendicular height is 2240 English feet, and when the weather is clear the whole of the Feroe islands may be seen from it. The stratum of earth, we are told, by which the rocks of the Feroe islands are generally covered, is so thin, that it is sometimes no more than eight inches in depth; and in the vallies where the land is arable it never exceeds four feet.

The largest of these islands is Stro. moe, of which Thorshavn is the capital, the seat of government, and the staple of trade: containing about a hundred houses, all built of wood.

To follow Mr. Landt, in our summary, through every island, would occupy more room than our limits will allow. Let it suffice to say that he gives an exact topographical description of each; and his account of the whole group will not only be found indispensible to those who may visit these remote regions, but from the circumstance of the principal currents which run among the islands being detailed will be found valuable to navigators. The description of the hurricane at Feroe, is highly interesting: and there are many peculiarities in the manners, customs, superstitions, and employments of the inhabitants. Their modes of fowling and whale-fishing, which form material sources of existence, are curious and minutely deLailed. The Feroe Islands present altogether a singular spectacle. They are inhabited by an inoffensive race of people, unshackled by feudal oppressions, and in a state of industrious as well as moral improvement.

"Remarks on several Parts of Tur"key. Part I. Egyptiaca, or some "Account of the antient and modern "State of Egypt, as oblamed in the

"Years 1801, 1802." By WILLIAM HAMILTON, Esq. F. A. S. Accompanied with Etchings, from original Drawings taken on the spot by the late Charles Hayes of the Royal Engineers.

The preface, after a tribute of respect to the memory of Major Hayes, concludes with an intimation that the pre sent work is submitted to the public, rather as a supplement to the valuable memoirs of Pocock, Norden, Volney, Sonnini, Denon, and Wilson, than as a substitute for either of them.

The following are the subjects of the different chapters into which it is di vided. Chap. I. State of Egypt in the autumn of 1801. Chap. 11. Motives and extent of the Author's Tour in Egypt. Chap. III. State of the Coun try above the Cataracts. Chap. IV. Antiquities above Es Souan, Parembole. Chap. V. Antiquities between Es Souan and Thebes. Chap. VI. Description of Thebes. Chap. VI. Voyage from Thebes to Dendera. Chap. VIII Observations on the State of Egypt while a Province of the Roman Em pire. Chap. IX. Voyage from Dendera to the Northern Frontier of the Thebaid, and to Alyi. Chap. X. Voyage across the Oxyrynchite Nome to the Bahhr Jousouf. Chap. XI. Voyage from Benisouef to Cairo, Memphis, and the Pyramids. Chap. XII. Tour round the Delta from Rosetta to Cairo, thence to Damietta, Rahmanic, and Alexandria. These are followed by an appendix containing a few notes and a postscript. The latter being a transcript and translation of the Greek inscription of the triangular stone found at Rosetta.

The sixth chapter, on Thebes, is one of the most interesting. It closes with some valuable observations on the celebrated statue of Memnon.

On the temple of Dendera, in the seventh chapter, Mr. Hamilton is more ninule than any writer who has gone before him. He concludes his account with some remarks which we think judicious, and well worthy the attention of those who refer every erection in the interior of Egypt to the ages of its most remote antiquity.

By those antiquaries and travellers, Mr. Hamilton observes, who are not inclined to attribute the construction of any of these Egyptian temples to any other than the indigenous sovereigns of the country, the Greek inscription upon them, wherein either the Emperen of Rome or the Ptolemies are

cited

cited, are allowed, as far as they have hitherto been examined, to have no other authority than as purporting that the buildings they are attached to, were repaired during their respective reigns.

"I have already offered some reaSons on the subject of other temples why I am inclined to a different opinion; and arguing à priori, it would seem very unlikely that Egypt should so long continue to flourish and even to increase, as she did under the Ptolemies, in population, wealth, and commerce, (many of these sovereigns being at the same time described as great promoters of the arts, and as having adopted at least the exterior forms of worship practised by their subjects,) without any additions being made to her public buildings, without any new temples, during a lapse of three centuries. No argument, I think, can be drawn from the resemblance which these buildings, of supposed modern construction, bear to those of an earlier date, in their general form, the distribution of the apartments, their proportion, sculptures and the like; as these coincidences would naturally follow from the protection and countenance given to the religion of Egypt by the Ptolemies, from the general prejudice throughout the then civilized world in favour of these superstitions, from the bigotted attachment always felt by the borderers of the Nile for their antient institutions, and from the difficulty, and indeed uselessness of endeavouring to assimilate the manners, customs, and religious ceremonies of one people with those of another, which had always been held in a sort of contempt."

The work itself is printed in quarto, but the plates are in an atlas folio. The view of Phyla, that of one of the gateways leading to the grand temple at Carnac, the scenes on the walls at Medinet Abou, the Zodiac at Dendera, and the paintings from Eleithias are perhaps the most curious.

TOPOGRAPHY AND ANTIQUITIFS. Ju our last retrospect we announced little more than the title of A His tory of the University of Oxford, including the Lives of the Founders," by ALEXANDER CHALMERS, F. S. A. with a series of illustrative engravings, by James Storer and John Greig, in two volumes octavo.

We now proceed to the promised

detail of its contents. The history of the English Universities, Mr. Chalmers observes, is one of the most interesting objects on which a lover of literature can fix his attention. It embraces all that is curious to the antiquary, or important to the scholar; and even to minds not deeply affected by curiosity or learning, it must be a delightful object to contemplate those extensive and magnificent establishments, not as emerging from national wealth, or royal favour, but from the libera lity of a series of individuals in the darker ages of our history, who were insensibly led to become the benefactors of sound learning and religion, while their immediate object,although proceeding from the most honourable and benevolent motives, was to perpetuate superstition and credulity.

Merton College claiming priority in point of legal establishment is the first described by Mr. Chalmers. The account opens with a short life of the founder. The early history of the foundation is given in a clearer form than we have ever seen it before; followed by notices of all the later benefactors. The provision for the different classes of students is distinctly explained, and the livings attached to the foundation enumerated. The present state of the buildings of the college, the library, chapel, and other appendages follow. Merton College, Mr. Chalmers remarks, was fated to be a precedent in every appendage. The first coMMON ROOM was fitted up in it in 1661. A few anecdotes of the more eminent among the wardens, as weil as of the most remarkable schoJars of every rank who received their education in the college close the history.

Such is the general plan pursued in the account of the different foundations.

In the account of University Col. lege, Mr. Chalmers, upon fair autho. rity, rejects the testimony of those ancient chroniclers and historians whose zeal led them to place its origin so far back as to be beyond the power of illustration from authentic records. He considers Alfred as neither the founder nor restorer of the society; but, with Dr. Smith, admits it to have been created by the liberality of William of Durham, rector of Bishops Wearmouth, who died at Rouch in Normandy, in 1919.

The

« AnteriorContinuar »