story, which served with the towers for lodging the garrison. The whole building exhibits the greatest solidity, and the mortar is wonderfully hard. The fortress never had ditches; its strength lay in the height and thickness of its walls. The only entrance is towards the Dniester, four or five yards from the scarf, that flanks the river. No inscriptions on the walls, or sculptures of any kind, exist to fix the date of this interesting ruin.

The great tasks to which the allies will have to direct their combined efforts in the existing war with Russia is by common consent the restoration of Finland to Sweden-supposing the Swedes to become active allies in the war-and the expulsion of the Russians from the Danubian Principalities, the mouth of the Danube, from Bessarabia, the Crimea, and the Transcaucasian provinces. In every one of these undertakings the allies are supported by the wishes and desires of the native populations, and unless Russia secures herself by a timely peace, or Austria and Prussia intervene successfully in the Tsar's favour, the result of the war will most undoubtedly be her curtailment of these unjust conquests. It is not indeed desirable, now that war has been entered upon, that peace should be concluded upon any other terms. As to the question of Central Asia, we entertain upon that subject totally different feelings to what generally prevail, more especially among Anglo-Indian Russo-phobists. We cannot but imagine that it will be better for the interests of civilisation and general humanity that such marauding, slave-capturing, and murdering tribes as the Tartars of Khiva and Bokhara should be reduced to some sort of bondage. The Anglo-Indians will not, nor could they, undertake such a task. The Russians, who have already brought the Kirghiz, the Yaiks, and so many other Tartar tribes under the sway of a more or less civilised rule, seem pointed out by Providence as the future rulers of the fertile valleys of the Amu, or Oxus, and of the Syr Darah, or Jaxartes. Already they have their strongholds on the latter river, and the first ships they launched on the Sea of Aral discovered therein a large island, well-stocked with animals, the existence of which was actually unknown to the natives! Are these the people to hold regions so rich in the gifts of Providence, so neglected by man,-the men who put Connolly and Stoddart to the most cruel death, and who hold thousands of Russians in the most degrading bondage!

With regard to the future fate of the Danubian Principalities, the Transcaucasian provinces, and the Crimea, the subject will require further consideration. So many strange and little anticipated incidents will arise out of the war amid the heterogeneous populations of Turkey in Europe, that the less said at the present moment the better. We have, however, indulged in a few words regarding Bessarabia, and it may be as well to remark that the Transcaucasian provinces are by no means Turkish, nor ever were. They are not even Muhammadan. The Gurdji, or Georgians, who occupy almost the whole of the peninsula south of Caucasus, between the Black Sea and the Caspian, are a people of no slight historical and commercial renown, who had their own dynasty at the time of the invasion of the Greeks under Alexander the Great. This dynasty was known by the unpronouncable name of Mtskhethos. Other dynasties succeeded one another till Miriam, son of Khusru, having married a daughter of Aspaghur, the last of an Armenian race of kings, he embraced Chris

tianity, and his example was generally followed in 318. The first Christian dynasty was followed by that of the Bagratians, under whom Georgia fell successively under the dominion of the Arabs and Persians, the Emperor of Constantinople, Genghis Khan, and Timour. Nevertheless, a king designated as George VII. drove all the Muhammadans out of the country in the fifteenth century, and re-established the Christian religion in his dominions. His second successor, Alexander I., paved the way for the downfal of Georgia, by dividing the kingdom among his sons. The Turks on one side and the Turkmans on the other, seized upon the frontier territories, and their princes were driven to seek the aid of their co-religionaries the Russians. The latter obtained a further footing in the country by two successive invasions of the Persians, and ultimately succeeded in extending their rule undisputed, except in the Caucasus, to the banks of the Araxes.

It is needless to speak here of the long endurance, tried bravery, and national gallantry of the Caucasian mountaineers. They are deserving of all honour and all praise-as auxiliaries to the Turks they will be invaluable; they have held their own, and proved themselves worthy of their mountain eyries and fastnesses-but neither they nor their country are in the same predicament as Georgia, Imeritia, Guriel, the Crimea, Bessarabia, and the Danubian Principalities. Of their most gallant tribes, the Tcherkesses, or Attaghai, as the Circassians love to call themselves, Dr. Clarke wrote in his time, "they are a horde of banditti inhabiting the region whence the Cossacks originally descended;" nor can anything much better be said of the other tribes, even of the brave Lesghi, followers of Schamyl. These predatory and warlike habits have gained in dignity by long exercise in a patriotic cause, but would stand much in the way of their ever being permanent and honourable allies in time of peace to powers high in civilisation and punctilious in points of principle. So also of their country, it possesses resources and commands lines of communication, which it would be desirable for the sake of general civilisation to see held by a hardy, generous, honest race of mountaineers like the Swiss; but it has neither the fertility, the climate, nor the capabilities which would render the countries enumerated in connexion with it, under a benign, liberal; enlightened, and yet efficient rule, among the most prosperous and the most flourishing in the world.

No country nor region in the East presents itself more strikingly under the latter aspect than the Crimea. It is a land of peculiar fertility, wondrous fine climate, and unbounded natural resources. Under the Greeks, the Khersonites, and the Genoese, this favoured spot centralised the commerce of the Orient. We must return to a consideration of its peculiarities-its past condition-its strange successive political phases, and its great natural and local capabilities. If the allies must have a material guarantee for indemnification of expenses incurred in staying the unprovoked aggressions of Russia-no -none so compact, so available, or so useful, in a political, military and naval, as well as in a commercial and economical point of view, present themselves to compare for a moment with the Crimea.

THE REAL STATE OF THE CASE, SET FORTH

BY MRS. MACTURTLE.

I AM of a very kind and conciliating-I may add, of a very patient and forbearing disposition; yet there are some things that go far entirely to change one's nature; and mine, perhaps, may have been a little disturbed by the existing state of affairs.

Mr. MacTurtle, my husband, has a very decent income. What with the ten thousand pounds I brought him, five more (in which we have a life-interest) left by Mr. Biggs, of the Treasury, his official salary as Commissioner of-(never mind what Board)-for which he gets the usual twelve hundred a year, and his picking-up as a Director of the Inscrutable and Tremendous Assurance Companies, we make up, clear of income-tax (that is to say, before Mr. Gladstone doubled it), something like two thousand a year.

Upon this, you will say, we ought to live pretty comfortably, and I don't deny that we always have done so, up to a certain point. But when one's girls grow up and don't go off quite so quickly as one expected, and one's boys, though "provided for"-as people say-can't make their pay and allowances suffice, and are always coming down upon "the governor" for something extra, it requires a little more, I think, than two thousand a year to make things as pleasant at home as one could wish.

Not that I mean to complain of Mr. MacTurtle. He works hard, as he often tells me, for what he gets (though I never heard of any Government Commissioner sinking under his labours, or of a Director of anything becoming a martyr to his exertions), and, of course, he has "a right to give dinner-parties in his own house" (these are his own words); it may also be desirable for him to subscribe to three different clubs (though one, I think, would be sufficient for me, if I were the father of a family); and I never raise any objection to his joining Blackwall parties, or going to Epsom and Ascot (without us), or shooting in Scotland (that wretchedly selfish amusement, in which ladies can have no share) during the autumn vacation. But these things (as I sometimes observe to Mr. MacTurtle) cost far more than the little dance I give at Christmas; the déjeûner (dansant also) in June (for the whole expense of which I regularly contract with Gunter); my girls and I must have dresses, if we wish to appear commonly decent when we go into society (and how necessary society is when one has four girls to marry every mother with a heart well knows); and if Mr. MacTurtle thinks himself obliged to keep up his three clubs (though, as I said before, one appears to me quite enough,—indeed, I don't see that a married man has any occasion for a club at all—he has the newspapers at his office, gratis), he surely can't refuse me my brougham, or the girls their season-tickets to the Horticultural, the Botanic, the Ancient Music, and one or two other places where, if we are to live in the world, we must show ourselves now and then. Then I am sure Mr. MacTurtle need not reproach me (I don't accuse him of doing so in direct terms, but there's a way of saying things) if what one thought was a match falls

to the ground unexpectedly; I am never ungenerous enough to twit him with making a foolish speculation (though it was entirely owing to his rashness that our promised tour in Italy never came to anything, and we moped at Boulogne all the last summer, but not a cross word did I say on the subject, and I don't believe I looked one either).

The sum of all this is (I don't choose to say any more about Mr. MacTurtle's expenses, but I could if I liked, and a great deal, too) that, living as we do (with all my economy and careful management), we exceed our income, and instead of putting anything by for a rainy day (which I frequently remind Mr. MacTurtle ought to be his first consideration), I am almost afraid to say it, but, we are a little in debt. This, however, is not much to the purpose at present, because our social position is well known to the persons who supply things in London, and who, making such enormous profits as they do, can, of course, afford to wait for their money. What I have to speak about relates to something that interests me a great deal more than mere tradesmen's bills, and is, indeed, of an infinite deal more importance to the community.

I have already alluded to my girls. Let me be something more explicit. It is not the blind fondness of a parent which induces me to declare that they are all extremely handsome, perfectly well-bred, thoroughly accomplished (having had the best masters and no expense spared), and in the highest degree amiable. Maternal partiality has nothing to do with this statement, for everybody tells me the same thing, and one has only to look at them to be quite convinced of the fact. I am not misled by the very false system of favouritism, which so often shows off one daughter at the expense of the rest, but am equally attached to them all, and really if the best parti in London were to come to me to-morrow for my advice as to which of them he should propose to, I don't think I should be able to give him an answer. might, perhaps, say, "Ask Georgina" (the eldest), but upon my word it would be merely from habit,-having made it a rule, ever since the girls came out, always to refer every proposal to them, and never say a syllable to bias their inclinations.

I

I have just said: "If the best parti in London were to come to me to-morrow." That expression is my text, the subject of any special grievance. Where is such a parti, or indeed any parti to be found? It is all nonsense to talk about the War, and "the Guards being gone." The Guards are not a bit better for marrying purposes than other people. Take the three regiments of Foot Guards:-I am told that there are eight battalions altogether of these young men; of course I can't say how many that is, but it must be a great number,—more than enough, I dare say, to fill the largest drawing-room in London. Well, out of all this lot, there isn't a single English Peer! There are three or four heirs-apparent; but one of these, I know, is married already, and two out of the remainder are either Scotch or Irish! As to Lords (by courtesy) and Honourables, nobody (in their senses) reckons them. The Cavalry brigade are, perhaps, a shade better, for they have one Peer of Parliament amongst them, but he may be engaged, for anything I know; Lord has been, to my certain knowledge, for some time (not that

June-VOL. CI. NO. CCCCII.

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142 The Real State of the Case, set forth by Mrs. Mac Turtle.

that is invariably conclusive), and Lord has a wife (whom a good many people call pretty; I am not of the number). I don't mean to say that the other three (I believe there are no more) think a great deal of themselves, but I should not be surprised if it turned out to be the fact.

I hope it will not be supposed that I want my girls to marry titles. Not at all. I haven't the least objection to commoners, or even Baronets, provided their estates are unencumbered. Neither would I have them marry for money. No! That is the last thing in my thoughtsor in theirs! Of course people must have something, or how can they live? And no parent would be insane enough to reject a young man because he had money. But, after all, the same question perpetually returns where are you to find an eligible person? Really, when one thinks-as in my case-that this question has to be asked four times over (Lavinia, the youngest, being nineteen), it is enough to drive one distracted. I dined the other day at Lady Turquoise's, and the least I could have expected there was fortune! Two very handsome, agreeable young men (something must have been the matter with me not to have seen at once that, being agreeable, they couldn't be worth thinking of— as husbands), paid a great deal of attention to Georgina and Charlotte, in fact, were quite struck with them. They knew everybody we knew, went into the best society (indeed belonged to it), evidently kept yachts and race-horses, and had, in short, all the appearance of being rich and available. Feeling what my dear girls deserve, I wouldn't even allow them to see that I noticed what was going on, but gave my whole attention to poor Sir William Prowler, who was lamenting all dinner-time, such was the badness of the season, that he had been in town three weeks and had received only one invitation before, and that to a concert! After we went up-stairs I took the first opportunity of asking Lady Turquoise about the two young men. "Don't you think them charming?" was her reply. "The tallest, with the moustache, is Plantagenet Mowbray, nephew of the Duke of Vair; the other, Somerset Neville, brother to Lord Portcullis. They're quite loves! But, isn't it a pity? They're only clerks in the Treasury, at eighty pounds a year! Think of that!-oldest names in the peerage-and only eighty pounds a year!" After hearing this I need scarcely say that I came to the resolution of quietly dropping the acquaintance of Lady Turquoise. People have no right to lay traps for unsuspecting girls; and as to the young men who lend themselves to this sort of thing, they ought to be perfectly ashamed. There are bills enough brought into Parliament with all kinds of useless objects in view, but if some influential member would seriously take the Unmarried Daughters-of a certain class-into consideration, and get an Act passed for the "Prevention of Social Imposture," he would render the greatest possible service to their anxious (London) mothers!

I may be told, by some unfeeling persons, that London mothers, like farmers, are always complaining, and that what we say now was said fifty years ago, and fifty before that; and perhaps something in Latin, to that effect, may be thrown in my teeth. Supposing this to be true (I can only suppose it, as my memory does not go quite so far back, and if anybody speaks to me in Latin I shall answer in French), how does