proaches. Cruel, treacherous, faithlefs man, cried fhe, what harm have I done thee that thou shouldft carry off my Alexis?he forfakes me, and thou art the caufe?My Alexis, return with me, return, and bring me not to defpair. The friar looked very foolish; Clara blushed-and the baronefs, laying hold of one of her arms, attempted to make her get in her carriage. Stephen, laying hold of the other, exclaimed, no, madam, he fhall not go with you; you would be the ruin of that innocent young manyou would hinder him from completing the work of falvation-he told me allI will fave him.Oh, that will not do, replied the baronefs, pulling Clara to her fide, he fhall come with me.-He fhall come with me; anfwered the monk, pulling her towards him, we fhall fee who is to be conqueror. Long would this difpute have lafted, had not an unforeseen event, moft propitious to Clara, faved her from the rapacity of these two vultures, and difcom. fited their criminal intentions. Thus heaven, which the invoked, came to relieve her; and fent, in her trouble, a deliverer, a comforter, a man who will be forth with moft dear to her. Let us make a moment's digreffion fom this scene of ftrife, and return to the identical Alexis, whom we have left at an inn with his friend Carlo, and the wife of the jail-keeper of St. Marcellin, who propofed either a criminal intrigue, or a duel. The reader may fee that the hero and heroine of our hiftory are equally unfortunate, and that both muft ftruggle with vicious individuals, who make attempts upon their virtue and innocence. (To be continued.) Extracts from Original Letters from Edward Wortley Montague, Jun. Efq. to an eminent Phyfician in London, dec. [Concluded from page 64.] Venice, April 3, 1774.. AM much obliged to you for the I fight in which you let me to Sir J. Pringle, Mr. Banks, and Dr. Solander, Sir Jofeph Banks, Bart. Prefident of the Royal Society. but you diminish my ardour to become acquainted with them, left by knowing me they fhould find me much below the high mark at which your friendship has placed me; however, in the mean time, affure them of the real gratitude with which my heart is filled for their good opinion of me. I fhall be glad if you will fend me what information you can get refpecting Mecca, Medina, &c.; for though I am not immediately fetting out, as I fhall certainly go (if I live), it is well to have information as early as one can, to have time to digeft it. You know that when one is once travelling (that is, feated upon the fwift dromedary), there is an end of all ftudy. I am much obliged to Mr. Jones * for his kind prefent. May the Arab's benifon ever attend him! You fay, very juftly, that Mrs. Montague † is one of the most accomplished of her fex. I remember her husband, my coufin, too, very remarkable for his fkill in feveral branches of the mathe matics. Indeed, my dear Doctor, my efteem and confideration of men is ever guided and fixed by their inward qualities, not their outward colour. I mind no more the colour of a man's fkin, than I do that of a chefnut, as my little boy (who is quite black, you know) told a gentleman the other day, who was jok+ ing him about his colour, "I am," fays he, "like the chefnut, that is, all white within but you are like a fair apple, which is moft perfect when it has many black grains in its heart." See what an old fool I am become, to be fond of my boy's fayings! I hope to hear foon from Mr. Conant, and to get the fpecimens by his or Mr. Jones's means, and fome news of the Gofpel of Barnabas. in the mountains of Syria. I cannot exprefs them fo well in any language as in Arabic; therefore I fend you a def cription of them in that language, which Mr. Jones will explain to you. 'MR. JONES'S TRANSLATION. "The winter is come, and while the rain fecludes us from our ufual affairs abroad, I have feven things neceffary to relieve my cares a comfortable apartment, a full purfe, a cheerful hearth, a bowl of pure wine, with good fare, a warm drefs, and a foft companion of my bed." Venice, August 30, 1774. WHAT Mr. fays of the Abyffinians is very true; but they do not always eat fo, it is only on particular occafions, as to honour a gueft, that they fend for a chofen beaft, and cut a few pieces off the muscular part, of which every one eats a few bits; but I am acquainted with an Armenian traveller, who was treasurer to the emperor three years. He differs much from Mr. in his account of the country; and Mr. fays, that he robbed the Emperor. I hope what Mr.has fent to the King's garden will have more fuccefs than what, he fent to other gardens, fince (if I am juftly informed), there had not been found any thing new amongft his pre fents. Venice, Sept. 3, 1774. I REGRET much Mr. Montague; he is old in years, but I am afflicted to find him fo in conftitution. His lady is indeed the most perfectly accomplished woman I ever faw. I am glad that you approve of the feven bleflings; they certainly compofe a good receipt againft cold. I greatly folace with them all except the cup of pure wine. My cup is of pure water, into which I never put any thing elfe, and indeed it is to that that I attribute a vigour very extraordinary in a man paft fixty. I hope I fhall fome day or other introduce to you a fon of mine, who is very near black; he is upwards of eleven years of age, but writes and ds Arabic, and talks nothing elfe, nor will I permit him to learn any thing till he comes to England. I am forry that in Mr. Jones* Arabic muft give way to law; He has not, I fear, a very large fortune; Arabic would not make it better; but with his parts he may afpire to anything. He is much my fuperior in Arabic. I hope, however, that he underftood my letter. The Admiralty, moft affuredly, cannot be under the direction of a more able or a more active man than Lord Sandwich, and the national advantage would be infinite, if every department was filled up by one as equal to the charge as he is to that. Venice, November 5, 1774 Mr. BRUCE's going to the North feems to indicate that he has not found the South as he wifhed. I beg my compliments to Mr. Banks, I with much to be acquainted with him. I wish Egypt was Otaheitee, or Otaheitee Egypt; but I pity poor Omai. The fate of poor Tupia has much affected me, but Omai is worfe off; he will know luxury, his wants will be increafed, and he will be unhappy. Change of diet and learning to drink will hurt his conftitution. Mr. Banks may do anything, and nothing from his talents can be furprifing; even his having learnt the language of Otaheitee in three weeks. I wish that it was in Omai's way to pafs through Egypt, for I hope he will go home, and not be the caufe of his happy ifle's being enflaved and priestridden. I think this fudden diffolution of the Parliament was a mafterly ftroke, and perfectly well judged, as well with reipect to morals as to politics. I am glad that Lord Sandwich will have no trouble in the county; for my part I am determined not to have any anywhere, for I have given my nephew my borough, and have thanked fome of my friends (who would have brought me into Parliament) for their kind inten N O T F. S. *Sir William Jones, one of the Judges of his Majefty's Supreme Court of Calcutta. Sir Jofeph Banks, Bart. Prefident of the Royal Society. tions. I have had enough of Parliament. I have tafted, in fome degree, the fweets of being in Omai's fituation (when he was at Otaheitee), and wifh always to enjoy the happiness of having no fuperfluous wants. You have feen the fate of Ali Bey. Had my advice been followed, he would now have been quietly feated on the throne of Egypt, erected on the ruins of the Mamaluke governinent; but in this, as on many other occafions in my own country, I have proved the fate of Caffandra, whofe prophecies were ever true, but never believed. Mr. Mis now in Italy, as I underftand, in his way to England. I think that whatever he has faid, or may fay againft you or me, muft little affect our characters. What will the people in England fay to him, for having made a prefent of the bread-plaut to the French? a prefent which will hinder them from being ever diftreffed for corn; and feems very much to prejudice our agriculture, by taking from our neighbours the want of that grain which was the greateft encouragement to our hufbandry. I will fay nothing to the effect this prefent muft have in time of war, I fhould be very happy to fee Captain Phipps's account of his expedition; but I imagine that no difcoverer will ever pafs the Pole, if ever they think of making the land, for they will ever be interrupted by the ice, which they would avoid by keeping at a great diftance from the land, and fteering to the Pole from their firit departure, without thinking of a fecond departure from Greenland, or any other land. I am very glad to find that gentlemen are now fet upon difcoveries really ufeful, and not merely curious. I wished that in ftudying the nature of air, my obfervations on that of Egypt may be of any ufe. When I return there, I fhall certainly continue to fend them to you. Confiderations on the nature of air will naturally lead to thofe of water, and of vegetables; for the connection between thefe there is moft intimate. In the different climates and countries in which I have been, I have never met with any one where the air was bad and the water good, nor where the vegetables were Hib. Mag. Aug. 1792. wholefome when these were bad. I fhould be happy to fee Sir John Pringle's performance, for I cannot but be perfuaded of its value, from the knowledge I have of his abilities. I beg my compliments to him. Pray fend me twenty-four lancets-twelve with long points, and twelve with fhort ones. January 11, 1775 I PITY poor Omai; he feems to me to be in the fituation of a happy handfome country lafs decoyed to London by fine baubles and gaiety, courted and adored till known to all and become common; then neglected and reduced, and by difhabit unable to return to her first life of labour and fobriety, and confequently miferable. Mr. is no more mentioned; only the other day, a capital merchant came to me, to defire his direction to write to him, as he was now ready to trade to Abyffinia by way of Egypt, which M- told him he was commiffioned to do for the Eaft-India Company. I wish that Capt. Cook may bring his Bolabola man home fafe; he and Omai will be of the greateft ufe for difcoveries, perhaps for a fettlement in that part of the world. The poor unhappy iflanders, once a free, may become an enflaved people. February 22, 1775. I AM obliged to Mr. Harmer, for thinking my inaccurate lines concerning the Written Mountain worth a commentary. I wrote them when I had no one book to affift me, not even my own journal. He is very right. There are numbers of infcriptions all over that Defert, or that Peninfula, which is between the two branches of the Red Sea : and what is very remarkable is, that they are all ftained on the rocks, and not cut as thofe of the Written Mountain.. I cannot conceive what was the compofition that could fo deeply penetrate thofe mountains, which are almoft all of granite or porphyry. But however, as in the innumerable infcriptions I examined, I did not find any remarkable difference in the character, I muit conclude Q them them written by the fame people, though at different periods of time. Thefe characters are, as I think, the vulgar characters which were made ufe of at and after the age of Jefus in Jerufalem: perhaps, even they were the corrupted characters the children of Ifrael made ufe of at Babylon, and that they brought back with Cyrus and in the characters, thofe who out of devotion vifited the Mountain of God (for fo Scripture calls Sinai) wrote what they thought proper on all the rocks in their way there; fo I do not fee what light thefe infcriptions can throw upon ancient profane hiftory. That thefe infcriptions, at least thofe of the Written Mountain, did not exift till long after the age of Mofes, feems certain from the number of figures of men and beasts which are found in every line; for foon after him, his people, one would imagine, would not have engraven images. That country leads to no place it never was poffeffed by any of the nations famous in hiftory-it never was conquered or over-run by any of them-it never was nor could be, the theatre of any confiderable, or, indeed, infignificant foreign war; but indeed it is of real and infinite ufe to evince the truth of the hiftory of Mofes, as every remarkable place or fcite, or rock, or more trifling object mentioned by him, is immediately known (and many fill exift) by his defcription. It is difficult to fay what men will do ; but if I live, I propofe to vifit Mecca and Medina, and the Peninfula, in fearch of other infcriptions of which I have no tice. I fhall be glad to receive inftructions relative to this from our gentlemen. Certainly I am not diftinguishable from a native of the country; and certainly from that circumftance I must be more equal to fuch a task, than one much more able without that advantage, Venice, August 2, 1775. I WAS already informed of the death of my worthy friend and relation Mr, Montague. He muft have lived to a great age, for he was an old man when I was a young one, and I am now in my fixty-fifth year. Whenever you fee his ow, pray do not fail to let her know I refpect and admire her (the honour of her fex); indeed fhe does honour to all to whom the belongs, her fex, her country, and her family, and to her late husband's difcernment. I forgot to tell you a comical affertion of M- he fays, I am not worthy of being called a Chriftian. This I do not understand. Does he mean that I was not chriftened, or that I was an infant not worthy of being fo? Or does he mean that I do not believe the tenets of the Church? But of what Church does he mean? for the Chriftian ones are many. He thinks, perhaps, that I favour the Mahomedans too much. He never talked to me on the fubject; but he judged thus perhaps from my intimacy with many of them, and the regard all of them, in general, have for me, more than they have for the generality of bigots of different denominations. He will fay that I wrote Mohammed Bey a letter, in which I fair I fhould have no objection to Mahommedifm, but for fome reafons: I did tell him that I admired their customs, was fond of them, and fhould always follow them; and that were it not for material objections, I fhould have no objection to their religion. I fuppofe the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Pope, might fay the fame thing: but who is to explain the objections, except the perfon in whofe breaft they are? The words of my letter to the Bey are," I am no Frenchman, fo I have nothing to fay to their doings. I never fee any of the Chriftians; I have left them, and therefore enter not into their dealings in any fhape." You will understand that the word Christian is not understood in its extended latitude, but only means the Chriftians of the country, Greeks, Armenians, &c. for Europeans are called Franks. Nor are the Europeans allowed, even by the Greeks, to be Chriftians; for when any one enters into the Greek Church, he is chriftened by a total immerfion; the European chriftening being denied to be valid by the Patriarch Cyrillus: but this Mr. did not know: he fhould learn Arabic before he begins to criticife Arabic letters. long to fee his account of Abyffinia. I know he already fays, that all that Ludolphus fays about it is falfe; but he is particularly unhappy in having learnt that langunge in forty days; and that the Em ретог peror told his courtezans to go to learn the purity of their language from him. Dr. begged to have fome dialogues and letters in the Arabic language. I have fent him Veneroni's Italian Dialogues, which I myself tranflated into Arabic for the ufe of a young lady, and many other dialogues and fables; and my own Arabic correfpondence: Has he received them ? My Plan (that of the Battle of Actium) was fhown to the King by Sir J. Pringle, and his Majefty did me the honour to determine to keep it. As I was prevailed upon by the Literati to publish it here, I had prepared the copper-plates, and had two proof plans truck off. But I have now taken the plates into my own hands, and I will not publish it; for I think it would be wrong to put into everybody's hands a work, the original of which a King has; for every thing is much depreciated by being common. The copper plates are gone long ago from hence, with one of the two copies which were ftruck off for proof. Mr. has the direction of the Painter I fent them by, who has, too, a portrait he took of me. The Council of the Royal Society may difpofe of the plates as they please, and in the mean time I think the proof copy will be well placed in the Museum. I fhall fee, I hope (if I live), Mecca and Medina with more leifure than I have As to difficulty, I never found any that patience did not get the better of, nor any danger that prudence, well determined, did not overcome. Juftum tenacem propofiti virum Horace will tell you the reft. There is a report prevails in Italy that Mr.'s drawings are not done by himfelf, but by the young man he took from Bologna with him, and who died there; and it is univerfally believed, as all the Connoiffeurs (who are well acquainted with him) affert they know his hand. However, I am glad he has fold them well. I with poor Omai had never feen England; he will be unhappy by artificial wants (the effects of luxury). I am much obliged to Dr. Solander and Sir J. Pringle for their kindnefs. I beg you will affure them of my grati tude. I fhall be much obliged to you for Dr. Strahan's performance I am glad to fee that the Antiquarian Society have published fo ufeful and curious a difcovery. My boy is much obliged to you for your kind fentiments. Venice, November 5, 1775, I AM much obliged to you for the. books and lancets. I long to receive Pocock's "Specimen, Hiftor, Arab." I fent a prefent to Mr. Jones of an Arabic MS. I am glad that Omai made fo good a figure in the hunting bufinefs. But what would not one of my Arabs have done? hunting the antelope with the fpear requiring more fwiftnefs and dexterity than hunting the fox. I am glad, however, that their hunting did you no damage: thefe huntings feldom do good to young plantations. Omai, I think, judged right, for certainly nothing can be more furprizing than fireworks and water-works, particularly to one a ftranger to the force of gunpow der, and the laws of mechanics. Is not Omai much furprized to fee people running mad for fmall pieces of metal? which, as it is not of fo much use as iron, must appear lefs valuable to one unacquainted with coin. I have lately read Sir J. Pringle's fine performance. Upon my word it is a charming performance. I have never met with that fubject treated in fo clear and masterly a manner. I wish that it was not an Oration, but rather something more extended. I thank you for fending me Mr. Jones's performancet, of which I have the higheft opinion, founded on his extraordinary abilities. I cannot help faying a word or two about Mr. Sale. I have compared his Tranflation with the Al Koran, and own that I am aftonished at his abilities and accuracy, for I do not find it in any thing Short N 0 TE S. *One of his Orations on delivering Sir George Copley's Medal at the Royal Society. In a letter to Mr. Jones from Mr. Montague, fome Arabic Verses, of which Q2 the |