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of whom Sir Kenneth had spoken, crosslegged, after the Eastern fashion. The imperfect light showed little of him, save that the lower part of his face was covered with a long black beard, which descended over his breast-that he wore a high tol pach, a Tartar cap of the lambs' wool ma nufactured at Astracan, bearing the same

dusky colour, and that his ample caftan, or Turkish robe, was also of a dark hue. Two piercing eyes, which gleamed with unusual lustre, were the only lineaments of his visage that could be discerned amid the darkness in which he was enveloped. The English lord stood silent with a sort of reverential awe; for, notwithstanding the roughness of his general bearing, a scene of distress and poverty, firmly en

dured without complaint or murmur, would at any time have claimed more reverence from Thomas de Vaux, than would all the splendid formalities of a royal presencechamber, unless that presence-chamber were King Richard's own. Nothing was for a time heard but the heavy and regular breathings of the invalid, who seemed in profound repose.'

The hakim cures the squire, and afterwards the king. The first use which Richard makes of his restored health is to put down a tumult which had begun in the camp, and which had been caused by the Duke of Austria's planting his banner near that of England. Richard makes a display of his prodigious strength upon a Hungarian baron, who had been foremost in this disorder; and then tearing down the Austrian banner, and trampling upon it, he leaves his own in the guard of Sir Kenneth, who, with his hound, remain upon the spot.

Berengaria, by way of playing a trick upon her cousin Edith, sends a dwarf in her name to induce Sir

Kenneth to leave the pennon; which, in an unlucky moment, he does. He is led to the tents, finds that he is made a fool of, and gets back to his post just time enough to find the pennon stolen, and his faithful dog in the agonies of death. His own shame and grief cannot be described; he gives the expiring dog to the physician, who happens to come up at the time, and walks to Richard's tent, where he denounces his own neglect and ruin. The king, in the first movement of passion, is about to slay him; but restrains himself, and, instead, orders him to execution. The

news reaches the queen's tent, where Edith, who then learns what use has been made of her name, insists upon the queen's disclosing the truth to the king, and so to obtain the pardon of the knight. The king listens to the tale, but refuses the pardon; so deep is his sense of the indignity that has been done to him in losing his pennon. Intercessions of all kinds are tried; but all fail, and poor Sir Kenneth stands a narrow chance of being beheaded, when the Saracen physician, to whom the king has promised any boon for saving his life, implores the pardon of Sir Kenneth. knight is given to him as a slave, and It is granted to him, the disgraced they leave the camp together. In the mean time cabals are formed against Richard, of which the Grand Master of the Templars and Conrad of Montserrat are the chief instigators.

The Sultan Saladin sends to the king a present of a Nubian slave and a fine deer hound. The king asks the slave if he can clean armour; and, upon his answering in the affirmative, he sets him about burnishing a pavesse, or steel shield, which is in the tent. The slave proceeds with his task, while the king is busied reading some letters. At this time some of the soldiers, in the front of the king's tent, have been amusing themselves with a marabout, or santon, who, after his giddy dance, has fallen down upon the ground, which the soldiers, fearful of disturbing the king, have withdrawn to a distance. This man's design is to murder the king.

'The marabout, meanwhile, glided on gradually and imperceptibly, serpent-like,

or rather snail-like, till he was about ten yards distance from Richard's person, when, starting on his feet, he sprung forward with the bound of a tiger, stood at the king's back in less than an instant, and brandished aloft the cangier, or poniard, which he had hidden in his sleeve. Not the presence of his whole army could have saved their heroic monarch-but the calculated as those of the enthusiast, and

motions of the Nubian had been as well

ere the latter could strike the former

caught his uplifted arm. Turning his fanatical wrath upon what thus unexpectedly interposed betwixt him and his object, the Charegite, for such was the seeming

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marabout, dealt the Nubian a blow with the dagger, which, however, only razed his arm, while the far superior strength of the Ethiopian easily dashed him to the ground. Aware of what had passed,

Richard had now arisen; and, with little more of surprise, anger, or interest of any kind in his countenance, than an ordinary man would show in brushing off and crushing an intrusive wasp, caught up the stool on which he had been sitting, and exclaiming only "Ha, dog!" dashed almost to pieces the skull of the assassin, who uttered twice, once in a loud and once in a broken tone, the words "Allah ackbar"God is victorious-and expired at the king's feet.'

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The king discovers in the Nubian slave the disgraced Sir Kenneth, but he does not impart his discovery. He agrees to his proposal, of discovering the felon who has stolen the pennon by means of the dog he held in a leash; which is no other than Sir Kenneth's own hound, cured by the skill of the physician; and it is by the advice and the good offices of the same person that he has been enabled to come thus disguised. The king proclaims an assembly of the nobles, at which the dog tears down Conrad of Montserrat, and the king impeaches him of the treason. The marquis denies it, and a day is fixed for deciding the quarrel; the king

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by his champion, (since his known prowess prevents any one from willingly coping with him,) and the marquis in person. The Sultan Saladin is requested to grant a neutral spot on which the combat shall take place, and he complies. The day arrives. Sir Kenneth is the king's champion; he defeats the marquis, who confesses his treachery; and in the person the Scotch adventurer is found the heir of the king of Scotland, who had joined the Christian army in disguise, and he is married to Edith Plantagenet, no obstacle then intervening. But the chief discovery remains-it is, that the Saracen cavalier of the desert, the physician El Hakim, and the Soldan, are one and the same person, the gallant, accomplished, wise, and honourable Saladin.

The limits by which we are bound, and which we have been induced by the interesting nature of the subjest to sketch to the utmost, do not permit us to dwell longer upon it. We quit it, however, with regret; and, as we do so, we express our decided opinion, that 'The Tales of the Crusaders' are not inferior in any of the best qualities of romance from those which have preceded them, and have built up the high reputation of the author.

GREENWICH HOSPITAL, OR LIFE OF A MAN-OF-WAR'S MAN.* THE wooden walls of old England' is a favourite toast at all the political dinners which abound in this gormandizing nation; yet how little, comparatively, is known of the chequered lives of the brave fellows who man them! While the trump of war sounded in our ears, the name of a British tar was synonymous with that of protector, and was venerated accordingly. Gratitude, and a still remaining sense of danger, led us to do justice to his valour; but no sooner came these sluggish days of peace, than the man-of-war's man was forgotten. Dibdin's songs are seldom sung; and a genuine Jack Tar, if peace continues much longer, is likely to become a rara avis in Is not this a melancholy ap

prehension? But Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis; and, by-andby, we may speak of a British sailor as Goldsmith did of his friend, and say, What spirits were his! what wit, and what whim!' and think of him only as one of those that have been as a character we may read of, but can never see.

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Under circumstances like these, is it not pleasing to find an Old Sailor' stepping forward, and giving us the very form and pressure' of his comrades-conveying us, with more than the old guide's good humour, into Greenwich Hospital, while, in that depository of human fragments, the remains of a man-of-war's man are to be seen; his timbers shivered, to be sure, but still his hulk above water?

* Greenwich Hospital, a Series of Naval Sketches descriptive of the Life of a Manof-War's Man: by an Old Sailor. With Illustrations by George Cruiksank. Robins and Co. London. 1825.

Full of wise saws,' and abounding in anecdotes of his messmates, his officers, and the enemy, he is made to amuse his visitors with humorous details of what he has seen and

known-tells us about Billy Culmer's goose and Cornwallis's retreat-spins a good and a tough yarn-and sends his auditors away with sides sore from laughter.

Reader, do not imagine that the Old Sailor' stands, like that jollylooking fellow at Exeter 'Change, in a strange dress, to show you the way up to the lions' of Greenwich Hospital: oh, no; he does not want you to stir from home-he sends you his 'Man-of-War's Man' in the shape of a demny quarto; and, until you have time to read it, permit us to extract one of his sketches as a sample of the remainder.

TOUGH YARN.*

"Travellers see strange things." "To be sure they do, or else what's the use of crossing the ocean? and though at the same time many hardships must be encountered, yet what of that? If it warn't for a stiff breeze now and then, we should have all the old women going upon voyages of discovery, and peeping into every corner of the world with the same ease that they overhaul their neighbours' consarns. Besides, arn't travellers amply repaid by the wonderments they come a thwart? Only read Mr. Brookes's "Journey to the North Cape," about the lemmings and the manner of catching puffins. Many persons would be led to doubt the truth of this account, and consider the narrator as cousin-german to Baron Munchausen, or the more amiable Tom Pepper, particularly about the foxes. In such matters I am little skilled; but the following plain statement of facts was given by old Ben Marlin to some young sprigs of fashion, who listened with wonder and astonishment :—“ Why ay, young gentlemen, you may well say sailors see strange things. They are a sort of hum-fib-ius animals, that often stand in the imminent deadly breach, as Shakespur has it; for, d'ye see, the breech of a gun is its stern, as a body may say; and I've often elevated and depressed my breech when the shots were flying about so thick that you couldn't stick a marlin-spike atwixt 'em. Well, I often wonder I didn't get knock'd down in the many blows-up I've been in, but suppose I was bomb-proof. I remem

ber when I was boatswain's mate of the Firefly frigate, Captain Tommyhawk, we were cruising off the coast of Norway to look for the flying Dutchman, 'cause, d'ye see, the Nabob of Arcot-him as lives at

Pondicherry, in the north of Scotland miralty in a fire-balloon, to inform 'em she had sent an express to the lords of the ad

was cruising about there, to the great annoyance of our merrytime subjects; so we were commissioned to send the ghost aloft in a shower of Congreve's rockets. Well, d'ye see, we'd got as far northward as sixty-six, when one afternoon, about three o'clock, it being then pitch dark, we cotch'd sight of her. Up comes Captain Tommyhawk; he was a rum subject, always full of spirits, and so was the first lieutenant, for matter o' that. Up he pet to his eye, and the glass to his mouth comes; and, clapping his speaking-trum

No, no, I mean he put his eye to the speaking-trumpet, and his mouth to the glass-Avast! I don't mean that either. Howsomever, you knows what I mean. Well, we made all sail in chase, and the officers swore it was she; for, whichever way we put the ship's head, still she was on the starboard bow, and none but a fantom could do that. The rockets were prepared, the matches were lighted; and, just as we were going to fire, the officer of the watch discovered we had been chasing the anchor-stock that stuck up above the cathead, and loom'd large in the dark; but that warn't the best of it, for it came on to blow great guns. The wind was at south-sou-north, and we lay a north-east and by west course. The night was as black as the Emperor of Morocco; however, we got her under close-reef'd pudding-bags, balanced the cook's apron for a trysail, and stow'd the masts down in the hold. Away she went-sky-pole and bobbing-pole, scupper-hole and hawsehole, spanker-boom and jib-boom, all under water. It took five men to hold the captain's hat on, and we were obliged to shove our heads down the hatchways to draw breath. The first lieutenant had all his hair blown off, and has worn a wig ever since. The boatswain's call was jamm'd so fast in his jaws, that it took a dozen men to bowse it out with a watchtackle. The master was bellowing through his speaking-trumpet, when a squall took every tooth out of his head as clean as a whistle. His gums were as bare as the hour he was born, but that didn't matter; he lived on suction, grog, and bacca, though he's chew'd upon it ever since. Oh, what a sight to see the whales and dolphins jumping over us just like flying

* Yarn, among sailors, signifies a story; and a tough yarn a well-told tale, utterly devoid of truth.

fish! and a shark swallowed the jollyboat at one gulp! We drove all night; and about eleven o'clock next forenoon, just as day began to break, we heard a most tremendous roaring; it was like but I can't tell you what it was like. The charts were examined, and every body pull'd long faces, for it was discovered to be the Moll-strum, that swallows every thing up. My eyes, there was a pretty perdickyment! When it was broad daylight we were close to it, and nothing could save us. You've seen soap-suds run round in a ring down a gully-hole? Well, what do you think of a whirlwind-a whirlpool I mean, whose horror-face was as wide as it is from here to Jerusalem? Ah, you may stare! but it was a complete earthquake. Up comes the chaplain, and he soon began his dive-ocean, for a lump of a sea lifted him up above the heads of the people, and overboard he went; but we saw him afterwards on the back of a grampus, making the best of his way to the North Pole. Well, we were suck'd in, and run round and round, just as people do when they run down from the top of the Monument; but still we kept on an even keel, though I'm certain we went at the rate of fifty miles a minute, and floated on the surface of the whirlpool. They said this was occasioned by gravitation. I know we were all grave enough upon the occasion, expecting to be buried alive. Well, we kept at this for some hours, and then the captain swore we should come out on the opposite side of the globe, if we could only keep clear of the planet Pluto; and he supposed the Frenchman who found out that the variation of the

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comets. We had a find bird's-eye view of the world-saw Captain Parry jamm'd up in the ice, Captain Franklin chasing the wolves, and Mr. Brookes killing the lemmings. Well, I can't say how high we went. Says the master, says he, A little higher, my lads, and we shall be able to catch hold of the tail of the Great Bear, pass a hawser round it, and make fast to repair damages; but mind your helm, boy, or you'll spur us on to Bootes, knock Kiss-you-peeper out of her chair, or run away with the Northern Crownthough the Emperor of Russia takes pretty good care of that.' However, we didn't go quite so high, but came rattling down in a tremendous hurry, pass'd close to Riggle-us in Li-o, and nearly poked the eye out of Medusa's head. Well, we fell at last upon a mountain of snow, keel downwards; it broke our fall, and happily we sustained but little injury--made a fine dock for ourselves-shored the frigate up

got all ataunt in a few days-and waited for the melting of the snow; when one morning the stocks fell, and we were left upon the wide ocean. The fact was, we had tumbled on to the back of a kraken that had been asleep for a century; the snow had gathered upon him in mountains; our thump woke him, though I suppose it took a fortnight to do it thoroughly; down he went, and we returned in safety to Old England! So

Here I am you see,
God bless his Majesty!
All dangers past,
Safe moor'd at last,

In Greenwich Hospital.' compass proceeded from an internal mo- I've nothing to complain of but one thing; tion had gone that way before us. For and I think, if I was to write to the commy part, I couldn't tell what to make of mander-in-chief at the parliament-house, it. Well, we kept at this, as I told you he'd take it under his pious consideration; before, for some hours, when it began to and that's this here: We ought to get our get plaguy hot, and the water steamed bacca duty free, as we used to do in actual again. Boiling springs!' says the cap- service. My old captain, Sir Joseph, tain; we're under Lapland, and the might jaw a bit about it, and come York witches are all at work under this huge over 'em; and Sir Isaac Coffin, however caldron !' We had only to dip our beef grave on other subjects, ought not to be overboard, and it was cook'd in two mi- mute in this, but commence undertaker in nutes! Well, young gentlemen, we soon the cause, and re-hearse our grievances, found out where we were; for, though that we mayn't get pall'd at last, and have 'twas as dark-aye, as black as my hat it shrouded in obscurity, or buried in obli. one minute, yet in an instant, in an ama- vion; for d'ye see, right Virginia is a graphy, I may say, we burst from the baccanalian treat to such a dry quid nunx water into the middle of a roaring fire, AN OLD SAILOR." and was shot out of the top of Mount Hecla like a pellet from a pop-gun. How would you like that now? How high we went I can't say, but the sparks got hold of the rockets and set them off; and I understand the astronomer royal, at the house up there, was looking out that night, and took it for a whole fleet of

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We are told by logicians that it is very difficult to prove a self-evident fact; and we know that a reviewer finds great difficulty in praising what needs no commendation. We shall, therefore, say no more than recommend the work before us as one of

the most entertaining that we have for some time met with; and can assure them that, though every phrase is correct, there is not a word caiculated to offend the chastest ear, or deter the most innocent from the perusal. The author is evidently what he describes himself-an Old Sailor; but there is about him a freshness and vigour that evince, in every page, the man of mind.

We have been so much pleased with the matter of the work, that we had nearly forgotten to mention the embellishments. Our task here, how ever, is a short and an agreeable one. George Cruikshank is the artist, and

what more need be said by way of eulogy? There are, in the first part, six wood cuts, and three copper-plate etchings. That representing Billy Culmer roasting the goose is excellent; but the horse-marine pleases us better. The grouping of the sailors in the boat displays Cruikshank's talent to great advantage.

The work, we understand, is to form four five-shilling parts; and, if the forthcoming ones be equal to the first, we can promise the Old Sailor' that he need not much longer remain under hatches; as his readers, we have no doubt, will be glad to see him, in his proper person, upon deck.

IRISH EDUCATION

THE idea of national education,' says a once-popular author,+ is founded on an inattention to the nature of mind. Whatever each man does for himself is well done: whatever his neighbour or his country undertake to do for him is done ill.' The truth of this observation was never made more apparent than by the Report before us. In fact, the labours of the commissioners completely illustrate the remark of Godwin, without, it would appear, having convinced them of its undeniable truth; for, though they have been compelled to condemn nearly all existing institutions, they have concluded by recommending a plan which, if ever adopted, will prove as inefficient as any of the

former.

Since the days of that royal ruffian, Henry VIII. the education, alias the proselyting, of the poor of Ireland, formed a conspicuous object of each successive legislation; but, finding their labours unproductive of fruit, they adopted, in 1733, the advice of Boulter, and opened depots, called Charter Schools, for the reception of the kidnapped children of Catholic parents. In aid of such a blessed scheme, the legislature was prodigal of the public money; and each Report of the commissioners gave hope of seeing Ireland, one day, completely Protestant, particularly as Popish schoolmasters were prohibited from teaching. In time, the commissioners

INQUIRY.*

became so arrogant, that they disdained laying the usual falsehoods before the government; and the parliament was so corrupt, that they granted annual thousands, without ever inquiring how they were expended. Things went on in this way, until Howard, the benevolent enthusiast, visited Ireland in 1782; and such was the picture he then drew of Protestant Charter Schools, that the present commissioners might have adopted his sentiments, so similar has been the state of these schools in 1787 and 1825. We forbear to shock our readers with extracts from the Report before us, descriptive of the uniform misery which has prevailed in the Protestant Charter Schools in Ireland. The few unhappy inmates have been the offspring of profligate parents, sent either directly by local patrons, or drafted, periodically, out of the Foundling Hospital, Dublin. After reading Mr. Howard's statements and the Report before us, we could almost have wished that infanticide had not been a crime-that the inhuman parent had been permitted to expose her infant, rather than commit it to the care of institutions which rendered life a long disease, a protracted prison, and an age of beggary. The juvenile Bastile is now, we hope, demolished for ever; and, if the present inquiry was productive of no other good, humanity will be grateful for having even effected this.

*First Report of the Commisssioners of Irish Education Inquiry. Presented by his Majesty's commands to both Houses of Parliament, 1825.

† Godwin's Political Justice.

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