of the colonial policy of Great Britain, it is not a question whether a better general system might or might not be substituted for the present; but how Malta may be best governed according to the existing order of things. To such who on the other hand may think, that what is sought by the patriots, though it cannot be pretended to as a right, might wisely be conceded as a grace -to such amongst these as will not shut their eyes against the light of history, and the experience of their own times, we reply, that putting out of the question all other considerations, the Maltese are yet far, very far from that point of civilization when such concessions could be considered as a benefit. The reader, who has not already arrived at this conclusion, will scarcely fail to acknowledge its truth, in the course of the perusal of some notices which we shall now throw together upon the national character.

The two most odious points in this are the passion of vengeance, and what we have already touched upon, an excessive sordidness of disposition. To these might be added, most overweening pride and self-conceit. Lord Bacon has designated revenge as a kind of wild justice: it is common to all barbarians, and people living under a defective system of justice. The second vice is more peculiarly their own; it pervades all ranks, exhibits itself in every money transaction, and is not more visible in the petty thefts of the servant, than in the dirty spirit of peculation in the public functionary, which he qualifies with the gentle term of ingegnarsi. For the third failing, if it is not so general in the higher classes, it meets you at every turn amongst the lower.

Into the opposite scale must be cast piety, chastity, sobriety, all the family affections, fidelity, courage, and industry. In' Malta, the usual effect of a hot climate in disposing to indolence has been counteracted by peculiar circumstances; and the scantiness of the soil et duris urgens in rebus egestas have infused into these islanders a portion of energy and activity not to be surpassed by that of the inhabitants of our more northern regions. On horseback they are strong and courageous as ourselves; in the management of their own vessels they are admirable; in the use of the oar they are undoubtedly our superiors: the inhabitants of the coast may almost be considered as amphibious, and the address of the boys on the marina of La Valletta in recovering a small piece of money from the bottom of the harbour, is amongst the first striking circumstances which arrest the attention of a stranger. An Englishman sees with wonder the driver of his calesse, during the most oppressive days of summer, running by the side of his horse for miles together, and keeping up with him, whatever may be his pace; and, withi respect to the peasantry, a singular picture of their industry and temperance may be found in the Essay of the Padre Carlo.

Correspondent

Correspondent in appearance to the vigour with which they are animated are the figure and limbs of the Maltese. Strongly resembling the remains of Greek sculpture, they afford a singular confirmation of the propriety of that model which the ancients adopted as the scheme of perfection, with respect to strength and beauty, in the human frame. The face, however, bears no resemblance to the models of classical antiquity. The hair is coarse and bushy, the complexion swarthy, the features rude; and, with a certain expression of good-humour, is mixed that look of cunning which never fails to distinguish the barbarian.

Of the good qualities, which we have ascribed to these people, we think few will be called in question; their social affections, their devotion and their sobriety are universally admitted; and though the chastity of their women has been disputed by those considered as the best qualified to decide upon the fact, we believe that their experi ence has not extended beyond the limited sphere of corruption which emanated from the knights, and which, for a time, survived the extinction of the order.

The bravery and fidelity of the people are best attested by their conduct during the blockade of the French in La Valletta; and an occurrence which happened during this warfare, will illustrate, in singular contrast, two of the qualities we have attributed to them, namely, their vindictive spirit and their devout, though blind, obedience to their religion. A party had surprized and massacred some Frenchmen, and were about to glut their vengeance with devouring the hearts of their victims, when one of the number observing that it was Friday, they unanimously desisted from their intention, and reserved the forbidden viands till they could eat meat without offending against the precepts of their church. Nor did their purpose cool by delay; they did actually re-assemble and

consummate the monstrous feast.

It is not, however, always striking virtues and vices which best determine the scale of civilization at which a people are arrived; traits of character, less important in themselves, often furnish a nicer criterion. The most remarkable among those which distinguish the Maltese, is exhibited in the supposed disease of the scanto, and its remedy; a folly which appears to be derived from their Sicilian neighbours. This is a violent panic terror, which, if it does not slay the patient outright, occasions a prostration of strength and spirits which yields only to some medicine, at once whimsical and strange, and the virtue of which consists, of course, in the confidence which it excites. But the Maltese refine upon the Sicilian mode of treatment. Their most approved prescription is a broth composed of puppies, put alive into the pot. The magic of this recipe consists in the sufferer's remaining ignorant of its composi

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tion,

tion, and in the consequent disgust which follows an exhibition of the dripping soup-meat. This is supposed to occasion a sudden re-action of the spirits, and the first idea so painfully fixed on the mind of the patient yields to the surprise of a yet more disagreeable impression.

If this disease be confined to the vulgar, the higher classes have their corresponding extravagance. This is what they term a disgusto, and may be rendered by the English word mortification, which oftentimes disposes of the patient as effectually as the scanto. One of the remedies also for this disorder is the favourite puppybroth; but here it is administered as a restorative.

Notwithstanding this morbid sensibility of mind, the disposition of the Maltese people is joyous in the extreme. There is, indeed, little society amongst the gentry; but many causes have co-operated to render them unsocial; ancient habits of seclusion under the government of the order, their wretched frugality, and the factions into which they are divided. The genuine character of a people is, however, rather to be sought, as longest preserved, amongst the inferior classes: and those of Malta, undivided by the various parties which have sprung up amongst the noble and the rich, indulge, where they can, in a frank festivity, of which the first subject of this review presents a spirited picture, in a description of the feast of St. Peter.

It is not an unusual condition in a marriage settlement that the husband shall be obliged to bring his wife to this festival; yet it rarely falls to the lot of the women to partake of similar gaieties: their ordinary dress, their looks, their motions, their whole demeanor bespeak habitual restraint. While the man, gaily attired in white cotton trowsers, and a jacket, covered with fillagree buttons of gold or silver, and sometimes of the most expensive workmanship, his waist girt with a crimson sash, and his head covered with a red cap, nearly similar in form to the Phrygian, walks, though generally barefoot, with an elastic step and an air of confidence; the female Maltese, clad in black, her head and person partially enveloped in a mantle of the same colour, is seen shuffling along with precisely that constrained and aukward gait which distinguishes the cast of English women, who inclose themselves in long cases like caddises. We may still detect strong traces of the Arabic modes of thinking of their ancestors, whose maxim was, according to the work lately quoted, that women should appear but twice in public, the day of their wedding and of their funeral.'

The ceremonies formerly observed on the two latter occasions will be found in this publication. There is something singular, but there is little of elegance in these, nor is there much of wildness or originality in their other ceremonies or superstitions. Some

modes

modes of speech however might be cited, as remaining shreds of islamism; such is the caution used in the introduction of a pig into discourse, the mention of which is usually qualified with the apologetical phrase of 'parlando con rispetto." But their superstition is not less gross for having little that is peculiar or picturesque. It is but a few years ago that an almost universal tumult took place against the Jews, which was quieted, with great difficulty, by the singular address and influence of the governor, Sir Alexander Ball. This species of insurrection was precisely similar to those which have happened in Europe at different periods of the middle ages, and was founded upon the same extravagant pretext of the concealment and murder of Christian children. Their other prejudices have been as little softened by commerce: a Mussulman, dis covered in a bye street of La Valletta, is sometimes mobbed with the most persevering malice; and woe to the unfortunate Ishmaelite, who, during the three last days of the carnival, is viewed by any of these most Christian revellers, at a distance from protection.

From the people we pass to the country they inhabit. Malta, and its sister islands, which are made first, as viewed from the sea, present a heavy, undulating outline; nor is there any thing in the whole face of the country which can be called pleasing or picturesque, till you open the harbour of La Valletta. Here indeed a scene bursts upon you equally beautiful and imposing. Two considerable inlets, the largest of which forms a most magnificent port, almost insulate the town, situated on a tongue of land, which rising inland from the sea, exhibits a series of fine buildings, towering one above the other, and crowned with some singular edifices, detached from the mass, which give a striking finish to the whole. Each side of the harbour is strongly fortified with batteries, that appear to grow out of the rock, of which they are composed. The south-east side, sufficiently covered with forts and houses, is defended by a triple tier of guns, suggesting an image of power, which works of the first order often fail to convey to an inexperienced eye. The great visible length of the harbour and its windings, which leave you in suspense as to its real limits, fill the mind with undetermined ideas of extent; and the quantity of shipping of various nations, of different forms, and bearing different flags, together with the crowds upon the Marina, gives gaiety and animation to a picture, which can hardly be paralleled in the world. Nor does the charm end on entering the town. The streets indeed are narrow, but amid the brilliancy of a southern sky, this does not occasion the gloom which renders such a mode of building disagreeable in England. The houses, which are built of stone, are flat roofed, for the purpose of preserving the rain water, on which the inhabitants principally depend, and have

most of them massive virandas glazed or latticed. There is indeed but one building which can pretend to any thing like regularity, but in no place is the triumph of the picturesque over the beautiful more decisive. Even the mixed character of the architecture of the palace, a union of the European and Saracenic, pleases, and appears justified by the doubtful position of Malta, as well as by the mixed groups of Mahometans and Christians who repose beneath its caves.

Perhaps the most striking thing to a foreigner, on first landing, is the uninterrupted din of bells, rattled with a perseverance which appears to exceed that of all other Catholic countries. If it happens to be a festival, it will require little stretch of imagination on his part to conceive himself disembarked upon the Isle Sonnante, and the idea may derive force from the swarms of manycoloured drones, whom he will see hived in their respective churches amidst this clatter of brass. These processions, however unpromising they may sound, and they are, with some few exceptions, to the full as dull and uninteresting as might be conceived, may fairly rank with the other amusements of La Valletta, with the single reservation of the Italian opera. This is maintained on a very respectable establishment both with respect to the performers and the orchestra; but the buffo style is the favourite of these islanders, who, like all the southern people, if they have not much taste for humour, have an infinite passion for buffoonery. An actor, the words and music of whose song would be nothing without his face, figure, and grimaces, will draw down thunders of applause, and, what is more extraordinary, will draw the purse-strings of the spectators. He sings in Italian, and dollars are tost upon the stage; he is encored, and recommences in Maltese, more dollars follow, and fresh encores. His last performance is in English, and whether it be from the contagion of taste or the pride of emulation, another volley of silver is showered upon him. The opera as well as a regular Italian theatre, which occupies its stage on alternate nights, lasts only a part of the year. The latter might be said to sound the very base string of comedy, if a company of English dillettanti actors had not contrived to reach a chord below it. During the carnival, masqued balls are substituted for the opera, to which the proprietors of the boxes can go as spectators. Here the favourite Maltese dance, a species of cotillon, is performed with infinite delight, and a loose given to every sort of buffoonery, little restrained by considerations of decorum. Occasionally tumults arise, sometimes even the native guard, charged with the police of the theatre, is forced; masquers in every sort of ludicrous habit are seen scrambling into the boxes for protection, and a detachinent of English soldiers is called in for the re-establishment

of