men as an escort, two of whom were Arabs. The ascent of the mountain is rugged, because there is no road; I performed it on the back of a mule, but it took me two hours. The summit is terminated by an almost circular plain of about two bow-shots in length, and one in width. It was formerly enclosed with walls, the ruins of which, and the ditches, are still visible: within the wall, and around it, were several churches, and one especially, where, although in ruins, full pardon for vice and sin is gained.

'We went to lodge at Samaria, because I wished to see the lake of Tiberias, where it is said St. Peter was accustomed to fish; and by so doing, some pardons may be gained, for it was the ember week of September. The Moucre left me to myself the whole day. Samaria is situated on the extremity of a mountain. We entered it at the close of the day, and left it at midnight to visit the lake. The Moucre had proposed this hour to evade the tribute exacted from all who go thither; but the night hindered me from seeing the surrounding country.

I went first to Joseph's Well, so called from his being cast into it by his brethren. There is a handsome mosque near it which I entered with my Moucre, pretending to be a Saracen. Further on is a stone bridge over the Jordan, called Jacob's Bridge, on account of a house hard by, said to have been the residence of that patriarch. The river flows from a great lake situated at the foot of a mountain to the north-west, on which Namcardin has a very handsome castle.'-(pp. 122-128.)

From Damascus, to which he returns after his expedition to Nazareth, the first carver of Philip le Bon sets out with the caravan for Bursa. Before he begins upon his journey, he expatiates with much satisfaction upon the admirable method of shoeing horses at Damascus, a panegyric which certainly gives us the lowest ideas of that art in the reign of Philip le Bon; for it appears that out of fifty days, his horse was lame for twenty-one, owing to this ingenious method of shoeing. As a mark of gratitude to the leader of the caravan, the esquire presents him with a pot of green ginger; and the caravan proceeds. Before it has advanced one day's journey, the esquire, however, deviates from the road, to pay his devoirs to a miraculous image of our Lady of Serdenay, which always sweats-not ordinary sudorific matter-but an oil of great ecclesiastical efficacy.

While travelling with the caravan, he learnt to sit crosslegged, got drunk privately, and was nearly murdered by some Saracens, who discovered that he had money. In some parts of Syria, M. de la Brocquière met with an opinion, which must have been extremely favourable to the spirit of proselytism, in so very hot a countryan opinion that the infidels have a very bad smell, and that this is only to be removed by baptism. But as the baptism was according to the Greek ritual, by total immersion, Bertrandon seems to have a distant suspicion that this miracle may be resolved into the simple phenomenon of washing. He speaks well of the Turks, and represents them, to our surprise, as a very gay, laughing people. We thought Turkish gravity had been almost proverbial. The natives of the countries through which he passed pray (he says) for the conversion of Christians; and especially request that there may be never sent among them again such another terrible man as Godfrey of Boulogne. At Couhongue the caravan broke up; and here he quitted a Mameluke soldier, who had kept him company during the whole of the journey, and to whose courage and fidelity Europe, Philip le Bon, and Mr. Johnes of Hafod, are principally indebted for the preservation of the first esquire-carver.

‘I bade adieu,' he says, 'to my Mameluke. This good man whose name was Mohammed, had done me innumerable services. He was very charitable, and never refused alms when asked in the name of God. It was through charity he had been so kind to me; and I must confess that, without his assistance, I could not have performed my journey without incurring the greatest danger; and that, had it not been for his kindness, I should often have been exposed to cold and hunger, and much embarassed with my horse.

'On taking leave of him, I was desirous of showing my gratitude; but he would never accept of any thing except a piece of our fine European cloth to cover his head, which seemed to please him much. He told me all the occasions that had come to his knowledge, on which, if it had not been for him, I should have run risks of being assassinated, and warned me to be very circumspect in my connections with the Saracens, for that there were among them some as wicked as the Franks. I write this

to recal to my reader's memory, that the person who, from his love to God, did me so many and essential kindnesses, was a man not of our faith.'--- (pp. 196, 197.)

For the rest of the journey, he travelled with the family of the leader of the caravan, without any occurrence more remarkable than those we have already noticed;-arrived at Constantinople, and passed through Germany to the court of Philip le Bon. Here his narrative concludes. Nor does the carver vouchsafe to inform us of the changes which time had made in the appetite of that great prince,-whether veal was now more pleasing to him than lamb,-if his favourite morsels were still in request, -if animal succulence were as grateful to him as before the departure of the carver, or if this semisanguineous partiality had given way to a taste for cinereous and torrefied meats. All these things the first esquire-carver might have said, none of them he does say,-nor does Mr. Johnes of Hafod supply, by any antiquarian conjectures of his own, the distressing silence of the original. Saving such omissions, there is something pleasant in the narrative of this arch-divider of fowls. He is an honest, brave, liberal man; and tells his singular story with great brevity and plainness. We are obliged to Mr. Johnes for the amusement he has afforded us; and we hope he will persevere in his gentlemanlike, honourable, and useful occupations.

METHODISM. (E. REVIEW, 1808.)

Causes of the increase of Methodism and Dissension.
Robert Acklem Ingram, B. D. Hatchard.

themselves.

By

THIS is the production of an honest man, possessed of a fair share of understanding. He cries out lustily (and not before it is time), upon the increase of Methodism ; proposes various remedies for the diminution of this evil; and speaks his opinions with a freedom which does him great credit, and convinces us that he is a respectable man. The clergy are accused of not exerting What temporal motive, Mr. Ingram asks, have they for exertion? Would a curate, who had served thirty years upon a living in the most exemplary manner, secure to himself, by such a conduct, the slightest right or title to promotion in the Church? What can you expect of a whole profession, in which there is no more connection between merit and reward, than between merit and beauty, or merit and strength? This is the substance of what Mr. Ingram says upon this subject; and he speaks the truth. We regret, however, that this gentleman has thought fit to use against the dissenters the exploded clamour of Jacobinism; or that he deems it necessary to call in to the aid of the Church the power of intolerant laws in spite of the odious and impolitic tests to which the dissenters are still subjected. We believe them to be very good subjects; and we have no doubt but that any further attempt upon their religious liberties, without reconciling them to the Church, would have a direct tendency to render them disaffected to the State.

Mr. Ingram (whose book, by the bye, is very dull and tedious) has fallen into the common mistake of supposing his readers to be as well acquainted with his subject as he is himself; and has talked a great deal

about dissenters, without giving us any distinct notions of the spirit which pervades these people-the objects they have in view-or the degree of talent which is to be found among them. To remedy this very capital defect, we shall endeavour to set before the eyes of the reader, a complete section of the tabernacle; and to present him with a near view of those sectaries, who are at present at work upon the destruction of the orthodox churches, and are destined hereafter, perhaps, to act as conspicuous a part in public affairs, as the children of Sion did in the time of Cromwell.

The sources from which we shall derive our extracts, are the Evangelical and Methodistical Magazines for the year 1807;-works which are said to be circulated to the amount of 18,000 or 20,000 each, every month; and which contain the sentiments of Arminian and Calvinistic methodists, and of the evangelical clergymen of the Church of England. We shall use the general term of Methodism, to designate these three classes of fanatics, not troubling ourselves to point out the finer shades and nicer discriminations of lunacy, but treating them all as in one general conspiracy against common sense, and rational orthodox Christianity.

In reading these very curious productions, we seemed to be in a new world, and to have got among a set of beings, of whose existence we had hardly before entertained the slightest conception. It has been our good fortune to be acquainted with many truly religious persons, both in the Presbyterian and Episcopalian churches; and from their manly, rational, and serious characters, our conceptions of true practical piety have been formed. To these confined habits, and to our want of proper introductions among the children of light and grace, any degree of surprise is to be attributed, which may be excited by the publications before us; which, under opposite circumstances, would (we doubt not) have proved as great a source of instruction and delight to the Edinburgh reviewers, as they are to the most melodious votaries of the tabernacle.

It is not wantonly, or with the most distant intention