with applause. Such is the melancholy state of degradation, to which the weight of superstition's chains bends the mind of man! It is not long since I had a very pleasing discussion of this extraordinary subject, with a gentleman of my acquaintance, for whose veracity I have great respect. Superstition and credulity very naturally led to a consideration of the Turkish religion, and I expressed my satisfaction, that the worst excrescences of the Christian schisms could not be compared with the Turkish faith in their dervises. He said, that he agreed it did not quite the length of the santons; but he related to me a conversation between him and a Roman catholic, not more than twenty-four miles from the enlightened city of Dublin, which surprised me much.

"I was, said he, when a youth, very free in censuring all religions, and chiefly Popery; for, being bred among Roman catholics, I had the greater opportunity of seeing their absurdities, which I treasured up as so much gain, without ever taking into account their many virtues, of which they have their share. One day I was on a party of pleasure at a place called and in presence of a poor country fellow ridiculed the priesthood, attributing to them many vices, and particularly fornication and adultery. The man resisted me, and declared it was impossible. Then I suppose, said I, if a priest and a woman were locked up in a room together for a year, and the woman in a week after coming forth was brought to bed of a child, you would not believe it to be the priest's. No, said he I would not. Then how comes the child? I don't know, replied he―any way but by him. In short he would believe in self-impregnation, or preternatural visitation, rather than allow a priest to be capable of fornication."

"But," said I, "you supposed a case-if the fellow was shrewd enough to say, no such case could at all happen, he would have put you down; that was what he meant, though he knew not how to go about expressing

it.

The difficulties and hazards of the journey, which seemed to thicken upon us as we advanced, made me pant for a speedy conclusion to it; and the adventure of the

last day opened more clearly to my view the dangers we had to encounter, which were still likely to increase as we got to the eastward and southward, where the fury of bigotry raged without remorse; where the greater distance from the seat of government made the populace more lawless, and the magistrate more corrupt and tyrannical; where the total seclusion from all well ordered society rendered the manners barbarous; where strangers were seldom seen, and when seen fleeced and persecuted; and where particularly I had reason to believe, scarcely any Englishmen had ever set his foot; and above all, where the very winds that blew were charged with destruction, and carried instant death upon their wings I therefore earnestly longed to reach Mosul, where the probability was, I should get at least the more comfortable and commodious conveyance of water carriage, and where I might refresh myself completely, after the fatigues of so many days journey; and, if there was occasion, claim a guard and protection, having along with me a letter to the bashaw, which I might withhold or deliver, just as best suited my inclination or convenience.

I could not help viewing with a sad and melancholy eye my present state; wandering, I may say alone, unaccommodated and wretched, through an inhospitable region, and more inhospitable people; where danger beset me in a thousand forms, and every step I took, I took in hazard of my life; and comparing it with those scenes of opulence and comfort which I had once experienced, where every lawful wish met with its accomplishment; where every necessity was supplied, and every difficulty obviated; where tender love and attachment anticipated every desire; and soothed every care: where the mutual endearments and reciprocal accommodations of tender relatives, wife, children, faithful friends, and kindly intimates gave a zest to life, made me feel that my existence was of interest to others as well as to myself, and communicated a conscious importance which the isolated, solitary, selfish man can never feel: I could not help locking back with grief and mortification, to think that I once possessed those blessings, and should perhaps possess them no more; but, on the contrary, night perish unknown, unheeded, and unla

mented, in an unknown corner of the wilds of an unknown hostile country, without one friend to solace or to cheer me, or tell to those who loved or took share in my concerns, the place where I lay, or the particulars of my fate.

Nor in this dismal train of reflections was Aleppo forgotten. It made the great connecting link between my former happiness and present misery; it was, as it were, the door through which I passed when I took my last farewell of comfort: when it closed and shut me out, the prospect was indeed gloomy; nor did I after feel one happy sensation, unless the convulsive transports of a laugh, and the boisterous fleeting mirth arising from the singularities of my guide, which, as the surge raised by the tempest above its proper height lifts up the shattered bark only to cast it on the beach and leave it ship-wrecked, elevated my spirits for the moment beyond their proper pitch, to retire quickly, and leave them in the horrors of ten times deeper melancholy.

Perceiving how much cast down I was, my friendly Tartar began to rally me: "Jimmel," said he, "the santons have frightened you: but don't be afraidHassan Artaz is no boy: he can bring you through greater difficulties than those, should they befall us."

"But how comes it," said I, "Hassan, that you, who have so much power at the caravanseras, have not power to resist those rascally santons, or the mobs of a village?"

"Why, as to the mob," said me, "if I was by myself, or had only a true Believer with me, I would make them fly before me like the dust before the wind. As to the santons, no one can resist them: the Great, who hate them, are obliged to show them respect: and the bashaw of Aleppo, nay the Cominander of the Faithful himself, could not save you, if one of them called on the mob to stone you, or tear you to pieces. However, be of good cheer; for, please Alla, I will deliver you safe and sound to the Coja at Bagdad: besides, we shall very soon be at Mosul from whence we will go down by water, which will be very pleasant: and the chief danger then will be in fair fighting, which is better than

being cut off by santons.-Should there be occasion,' said he, looking most ferociously and brandishing his whip" should we be attacked by Curds or Robbers, you shall see you shall see, Jimmel-Oh! holy Prophet, how I'll fight!"

IT was early in the evening when the pointed turrets of the city of Mosul opened on our view, and communicated no very unpleasant sensations to my heart. I found myself on Scripture ground; and could not help feeling some portion of the pride of the traveller, when I reflected that I was now within sight of Nineweh, renowned in Holy Writ. The city is seated in a very barren sandy plain, on the banks of the river Tigris,, embellished with the united gifts of Pomona, Ceres, and Flora. The external view of the town is much in its favor, being encompassed with stately walls of solid stone, over which the steeples or minarets of other lofty buildings are seen with increased effect. Here I first saw a large caravan encamped, halting on its march from the Gulph of Persia to Armenia; and it certainly made a most noble appearance, filling the eye with a multitude of grant objects, all uniting to form one magnificent whole.

But though the outside be so beautiful, the inside is most detestable: the heat is so intense, that in the middle of the day there is no stirring out; and even at night the walls of the houses are so heated by the day's sun, as to produce a disagreeable heat to the body at a foot or even a yard distance from them. However, I entered it with spirits, because I considered it as the last stagè of the worst part of my pilgrimage. But, alas! I was disappointed in my expectation; for the Tigris was dried up by the intensity of the heat, and an unusually long drought; and I was obliged to take the matter with a patient shrug, and accommodate my mind to a journey

on horseback, which, though not so long as that I had already made, was likely to be equally dangerous, and which therefore demanded a full exertion of fortitude and resolution.-There are a thousand latent energies in every man, which only want the powerful voice of necessity to call them out: and now drawn to the top of my bent, I prepared my mind to set out in the morning, with as much cheerfulness as if the hopes of water carriage to Bagdad had never once occured to my mind.

It was still the hot season of the year, and we were to travel through that country, over which the horrid wind I have before mentioned sweeps its consuming blasts: it is called by the Turks samiel, is mentioned by holy Job under the name of the East Wind, and extends its ravages all the way from the extreme end of the Gulph of Cambaya up to Mosul; it carries along with it fleakes of fire, like threads of silk; instantly strikes dead those that breathe it, and consumes them inwardly to ashes; the flesh soon becoming black as a coal, and dropping off from the bones. Philosophers consider it as a kind of electric fire, proceeding from the sulphurious or nitrous exhalations which are kindled by the agitation of the winds. The only possible means of escape from its fatal effects, is to fall flat on the ground, and thereby prevent the drawing it in to do this, however, it is necessary first to see it, which is not always practicable.

But besides this, the ordinary heat of the climate is extremely dangerous to the blood and lungs, and even to the skin, which it blisters and peels away from the flesh, affecting the eyes so much, that travellers are obliged to wear a transparent covering over them to keep the heat off.

That night, Hassan said, that as we must proceed to Bagdag on horeback, he would stay the next at Mosul to refresh us; which I objected to; he then spoke of the succeeding part of the journey as a thing of nothing: we had already come near nine hundred miles, and had not above five to go: besides, as the weather was warmer, we would travel in the night, and lie-by in the daytime, in places with which he was well acquainted.