"There is a Pasha in Egypt, and a Sultan in Constantinople; but throughout the whole of Turkey there is not one gentleman, one learned, or one independent man. Let us value the institutions which make us to differ."-P. 480.

We do not mean to be the advocates of aristocratic pride and insolence; but from the state of Turkey, where there is no aristocracy to stand betwixt the government and the people, and where, of course, there are no classes but the oppressors and the oppressed, we may learn to see their use in the balance of a well-ordered constitution.

There are, it seems, most importunate beggars in Egypt. The author says.

“If the stranger should inadvertently give a mite to any of these wretched crea tures, he is immediately assailed by a horde of them, that issue like bees from their disturbed nests, and pursue and persecute him from street to street. The beggars are chiefly Arabs; it is a rare thing to see a Turk of either sex soliciting charity."

P. 81.

specimen of Egyptian, or rather Turkish justice.

"One of our party mentioned that he saw an officer of justice walk into two shops, and take out two men, and tuck them up by the necks each over his own door, and let them hang there till they were dead, and till the sun went down. The offence he did not learn, but the summary process struck him with horror. I was afterwards informed that this is the manner in which the laws of Egypt punish extortion, light

weights, or selling goods at an exorbitant profit. The officer of justice is named Awali el Cadi, or first officer of the Cadi. the baker into his own oven, which is perThe punishment for light bread, is to put formed by the same friend of the public above mentioned; a punishment which humanity would forbear us to record, did not the evidence of creditable witnesses

compel us to receive it as truth."-P. 83.

With regard to the comforts and accommodations of the Egyptian capital, we have the following ac count.

To

in Cairo, and hardly any wheel carriages "There are no coaches, chariots, or gigs of any description. There are indeed no roads in the country for carriages, and the streets are too narrow to admit them. men is usually assigned the task of carrying for half a paca, or little more than half a water through the bazars, which they sell farthing a glass. This is a prodigious luxury. Fatigued and exhausted with riding, or walking through the streets in the sultry heat of the day, I have frequently with my friend Osman sat down to repose on the edge of a bazar. The water carrier soon came by, from whom each of us took a glass of water. After the waterfrom whom each of us bought a roll. Afcarrier, came a boy with a basket of bread, tér him came another boy with a mixture of salt and carraway seeds, of which we procured a little to relish our fare, the salt; thus with our simple fare of bread bread of Cairo being usually baked without and water, and salt, which we ate on the street, and which cost us about a halfpenny a piece, we were perfectly refreshed and comforted; and with the luxury of a pipe of tobacco, which, if we had not our own along with us, the merchant on whose bazar we sat down, never failed to request our acceptance of his, we were as completely refreshed as if we had baited at an English inn. No person stared or wondered at us, for every one did the same as he had occasion."-P. 85.

F

This was certainly very cheap refreshment; but we need not envy the Egyptians for this, for even in the expensive capital of England, similar fare may be had equally cheap, if we could be content with it. But so far from an English gentleman being contented with a roll and water in London, an English labourer must have something much better, and obtains it.

Our traveller gives us the following notice respecting the Armenian church.

"The Armenians are numerous, and entirely engaged in trade, and bear the character of an orderly industrious people. I entered one of their churches on a week day; it was well attended; their behaviour was devout, becoming a house of prayer. They are dissentients from the Greek church; they keep lent rigidly, but eat flesh on Fridays. They deny purgatory and the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son; they pray for the dead, and rebap

tize converts from the church of Rome. The secular clergy must all be married before they enter holy orders, but are not allowed to marry a second time."-P. 88.

The Turks, he tells us, are superior to all the other inhabitants both in wealth and dignity; the Arabs most numerous, and though of the same religion with the Turks, yet enjoying no office of emolument. The number of Jews in Cairo, was differently stated, at three, four, five, or six thousand; but Dr. Richardson states his be. lief, that the highest of these numbers is considerably under the truth. "Many of them being able to read, write, and cypher, are employed in the different offices of government." The Copts are generally considered as the remains of the ancient Egyptians, and are considered as amounting, through all Egypt, to about 25,000. The Copts are Christians, and the head of their church is the Patriarch of Alexandria, who generally resides at Cairo.

The following extract will be interesting to those who take a con

cern in matters of a religious na ture.

"Having procured his address, I proceeded along with an interpreter to pay my respects to this worthy gentleman. The reverend father is a thin, meagre, sickly of age, of a humble and insinuating adlooking man, from fifty-five to sixty years dress. He began his discourse by welcoming me to Cairo; and the warmth and affection with which he spoke, lighted up his countenance, and manifested an univer sal regard for the happiness of his fellow creatures. It was the first time I had seen

such a Christian aspect since I had been in Egypt. On my expressing my appro bation of their place of worship in general terms, he said, by way of apologizing for in these lands are very poor, and he had its want of magnificence, that the Christians reason to be thankful that appearances were not worse. He said the congregation were neither provided with Bibles nor prayer books, either to use in the church, or to study at home; but that they knew the responses by memory, having been taught them in their infancy, which was quite sufficient for all the duty they had to perform. This is a sentiment that I found universally prevailing throughout the Levant, both among Christians and Mussulmans, that the stated form of prayer comprises the sum total of duty to the author of our being; and the delightful employing the feelings, with private reading, mement of cultivating the heart, and chastenditation, or conversation with others, forms no part of their plans of felicity or domestic enjoyment.”—P. 93.

The reverend father invited the Doctor to attend the church on Sunday, which he did. They meet about sun-rise. The church is not provided with seats, but the floor is covered with mats, on which they sit cross-legged. As the service requires much standing, they are provided with long staves, with cross heads, on which they support themselves. The church is divided into four compartments; in the innermost, the patriarch, or officiating priest consecrates the host; the second is occupied by the priest, who reads the service, and by the singers; the third, which is the largest, by the congregation, that is, the males; and the fourth, a sort

of cage work, by the women, who are not permitted to sit promiscuously with the other sex.

"Divine service was performed both in the Coptic and Arabic languages; part of it was chanted by the singers, who used the cymbals and the ribobet, an instrument resembling a violin; the congregation also joined in the sacred song, and the whole service was extremely devotional and impressive. The host was consecrated by the vice-patriarch in the sanctuary, or innermost apartment, and carried through the church, while the congregation bowed and prayed most fervently. There was no serman; but the time occupied by the service was between three and four hours; at the conclusion of the whole, the patriarch stood in the door of the sanctuary with a roll of bread in his hand, the congregation all passed him one by one, and to each person as he passed he gave a piece of the roll. This is the way in which the Copts administer the sacrament; the women do not descend to partake of it in presence of the men, but wait till they are gone, and

then come and receive it. There is no meeting in the afternoon, and the rest of the day is generally spent in sauntering illy about the streets, or in lolling in one another's houses.”—P. 95.

It would appear from this account of the sacrament, that the Coptish church agrees with the Romish in not giving the cup to the communicants; at least there is no mention of it here. The want of a sermon is also a defect which must be productive of the greatest evils. It is the preaching of the Gospel, in a special manner, which is made the power of God, or the wisdom of God, to salvation. It is by preaching particularly, that the people are instructed in the truths of the Gospel; have the various duties pointed out to them, and motives brought forward to animate them in the paths of religion; and, in countries where there are few or no books, and few who can read, if this part of divine service be neglected, the greatest ignorance, as well as immorality, may be expected to prevail. Agreeably to this, Dr. Richardson gives this

This

is certainly a very great change from what used to be the state of that country, and it is so far happy; but alas! it depends entirely on the activity or integrity of this pasha ; his successor may be a weak or a wicked man, and there is no constitution, no established order of government, which is capable of maintaining the smallest degree of peace or good order, independent of the character of the individual who rules. Even with regard to him, the Doctor has given us an anecdote which will not induce many of the inhabitants of this country to wish to live under him. He tells us, that the American interpreter, who is one of his confidential advisers, fell under his displeasure by refusing to lend him money, and was consigned to the executioner to put him into a sack, and drown him in the Nile; a sentence which would have been executed, had it not been for the intrepidity of two friends, who remonstrated with the pasha, and got it revoked.

Dr. Richardson tells us farther of this pasha, that

"He proceeds upon the absurd principle, that men are made for kings and rulers; that all the men, women, and children, all

the land, and every thing it produces, are his property; that his subjects have no rights that they can call their own; they are the menials of his family, bound to

serve him," &c.-P. 107.

Absurd as the worthy traveller thinks this principle, we have no doubt that it will exalt the pasha highly in the estimation of some of our fellow subjects, and that they would be happy to live under such a ruler, if they could only forget the risk of being put into a sack and drowned in the Nile for refus ing to lend him money.

Dr. Richardson considers him as a "good soldier, but a wretched governor; a perfect infant in political economy, whose regulations may do on a small scale, betwixt master and slave, but can never make a great or happy people." Egypt, however, under its present master, enjoys more advantages than it has experienced for many years. The canals are deepened; the roving Bedoueens compelled to live peacefully; manufactures are established under properly qualified Europeans, and some of his own subjects are sent to Europe to study the different branches he wishes to cultivate. This last, the Doctor well observes," is a plan that will likely extend itself, and in the end benefit the country; and science and civilization may yet revisit their ancient seat."

No man visits Egypt without visiting the pyramids, and no reader would excuse us, were we to review a book of travels in Egypt, and take no notice of these celebrated edifi

ces.

We shall not, therefore, altogether disappoint them, though, as we have already hinted, we feel much greater pleasure in contemplating human nature under its different aspects, than any masses of mere matter, however great, or ancient, or elegant.

Dr. Richardson mentions that he was but little struck with the mag

nitude of the pyramids on first viewing them, and it was not tilk coming up, and passing along the side of them, that he first perceived their gigantic size.

"The largest pyramid stands on a free and slight elevation, all round, on which account there is but little accumulation of sand in contact with its base; but as it has suffered much from human violence, down on each side, and form a high mound immense heaps of broken stones have fallen towards the middle of the base. The angles are pretty clear, where the foundation is readily discovered; particularly at the north-west corner; but it is impossible to see straight along the line of the base, on account of these heaps of rubbish. Hence the difficulty of making an exact measurement, and the frequent disagreement of the results. We paced one side on the north of the rubbish, and found it 242 usually assigned to it, is not far from being paces; and probably the extent of 700 feet, correct."-P. 123.

We shall not follow the author

through the various passages and chambers of the pyramid which he entered, accompanied by Mr. Salt, the British consul, the Earl and Countess of Belmore, and the rest of the party. Suffice it here to say, that of late years the interior of the pyramids has been much more completely scrutinized than formerly, and that several new passages and new chambers have been discovered; but probably much still remains to be discovered.

On the much agitated question, whether or not the pyramids were originally coated with a polished covering, so as to render them quite smooth instead of being graduated as they are at present, Dr. Richardson is decisively of opinion that they were.

Herodotus states that they were thus finished, and as he saw them, his authority is sufficient to settle the question. But besides this, one of them remains coated to this day about one-fourth down from the top; a clear proof that the lower coating had been taken away. It is true, that there are no remains