the most curious pictures of the human mind into which insight was ever afforded. them in her power, although unwearied and unflinching in her pursuit of them. Fresh from the vortex of English political life, in which 'No soul in her household was suffered to utter a sugshe had been accustomed to unlimited sway and admira- gestion on the most trivial matter-even on the driving-in tion, it was not to be expected that Lady Stanhope, on | of a nail in a bit of wood: none were permitted to exerlocating herself at Jeon, would quietly settle down into cise any discretion of their own, but strictly and solely to the habits of an ordinary European resident. On the con- fulfil their orders. Nothing was allowed to be given out trary, and in accordance with her ambitious disposition, by any servant without her express directions. Her she at once assumed the air and demeanour of a princess, dragoman or secretary was enjoined to place on her table encouraging the belief amongst the inhabitants of her each day an account of every person's employment being related to the ancient kings of Arabia; and by her during the preceding twenty-four hours, and the names assumption of the customs of the East, and her adoption and business of all goers and comers. Her despotic of portions of the religious creed of the country, her humour would vent itself in such phrases as these. The more than princely retinue of servants, and her silent maid one day entered with a message—The gardener, and mysterious life, she succeeded in infusing into the my lady, is come to say that the piece of ground in the minds of the simple people around her an idea of some- bottom is weeded and dug; and he says that it is only fit thing grand, if not supernatural, attaching to her person. for lettuce, beans, or seik [a kind of lettuce], and such The notion of her vast power and importance was vegetables. Tell the gardener,' she answered vehe- || heightened by intermeddlings in the political intrigues niently, that when I order him to dig, he is to dig, and of the country. Imperious and imperial' to all near not to give his opinion what the ground is fit for. It her, and visiting with condign punishment every one may be for his grave that he digs, it may be for mine. who dared to cross her purposes, she was nevertheless He must know nothing until I send my orders; and so, humane and charitable in no common measure, relieving bid him go about his business.'' the wretched with a liberal hand, and providing handsomely for those who had rendered themselves useful to her, or who had shown themselves grateful for her bounty. 'She would send whole suits of clothes, furnish rooms, order camels and mules to convey two or three quarters of wheat at a time to a necessitous family, and pay carpenters and masons to build a poor man's house. She had a magnificence about her that would have required the revenue of a kingdom to gratify.' Her ladyship's habits of life are thus described by her physician : 'As she seldom rose until four or five in the afternoon, the intervening hours were occupied in writing, talking, and receiving people; for, as she then sat up in her bed, her appearance was pretty much the same as if she had been on a sofa, to which her bed bore some resemblance. She would see, one after the other, her steward, her secretary, the cook, the groom, the doctor, the gardener, and, upon some occasions, the whole household. Few escaped without a reproof and a scolding; her impatience, and the exactitude she required in the execution of her commands, left no one a chance of escape. Quiet was an element in which a spirit so restless and elastic could not exist. Secret plans, expresses with letters, messengers on distant journeys, orders for goods, succour and relief afforded to the poor and oppressed-these were the aliments of her active and benevolent mind. No one was secure of eating his meals uninterruptedly; her bell was constantly ringing, and the most trifling order would keep a servant on his legs, sometimes a whole hour, before her, undergoing every now and then a cross-examination, worse than that of a Garrow. "In the same day, I have frequently known her to dictate, with the most enlarged political views, papers that concerned the welfare of a pashalik, and the next moment she would descend, with wondrous facility, to some trivial details about the composition of a house-paint, the making of butter, the drenching of a sick horse, the choosing lambs, or the cutting out of a maid's apron. She had a finger in every thing, and in every thing was an adept. Her intelligence really seemed to have no limits; the recesses of the universe, if one might venture to say so, absolutely seemed thrown open to her gaze. In the same manner that she frustrated the intrigues and braved the menaces of hostile Emirs and Pashas, did she penetrate and expose the tricks and cunning of servants and peasants, who were ever plotting to pilfer from her. It was curious to see what pains she would take in developing and bringing to light a conspiracy of vile wretches, who, from time to time, laid their deep schemes of plunderschemes of which European establishments have no parallel, and machinations which Satan himself could hardly have counteracted. She used to say, there are half a dozen of them whom I could hang, if I chose ;' but she was forbearing towards culprits, when she once had Her ladyship's conversational powers were extraordinary, and often exercised at the expense of her visiters. It was wonderful how long she would hold a person in conversation, listening to her anecdotes and remarks on human life; she seemed entirely to forget that the lis tener could possibly require a respite, or even a temporary relief. It may be alleged that nothing was more easy than to find excuses for breaking up a conversation; but it was not so-for her words ran on in such an uninterrupted stream, that one never could seize a moment to make a pause. I have sat more than eight, ten-nay, twelve and thirteen hours, at a time! Lady Hester Stanhope told me herself, that Mr Way remained one day, from three in the afternoon until break of day next morning tête-à-tête with her; and Miss Williams once assured me that Lady Hester kept Mr N. (an English gentleman, who was her doctor some time) so long in discourse that he fainted away.' The religious sentiments of Lady Stanhope are thus alluded to by M. Lamartine, who enjoyed a long conversation with her in 1832- It appeared to me that the religious doctrines of Lady Hester were a clever though confused mixture of the different religions in the midst of which she had condemned herself to live; mysterious as the Druses, whose mystic secret she, of all the world, perhaps, alone knew; resigned as the Moslem, and like him a fatalist; with the Jew, expecting the Messiah; and with the Christian, professing the worship of Christ and the practice of his charity and morality. Add to this, the fantastic colouring and supernatural dreams of an imagi nation tinctured with oriental extravagance, and heated by solitude and meditation, the impressions, perhaps, of the Arabic astrologers, and you will have an idea of this compound of the sublime and ridiculous, which it is more convenient to stigmatize as madness, than to analyze and comprehend. No; this woman is not mad. Madness, which displays itself in the eyes, so as never to be mistaken, is not expressed in her mild and straight look; madness, which is always betrayed in conversation by the interruptions it gives to the chain of discourse by sudden, disordered, and eccentric bursts, is not perceptible in the elevated, mystic, and obscure, though sustained, connected, and powerful conversation of Lady Hester. If I were called upon to decide, I should rather say it was the voluntary and studied madness of one who knows what | she is about, and who has her own reasons for appearing insane.' In her stable Lady Stanhope kept two Arabian mares, which were never used, being designed, as she averred, for the service of the second Messiah. As regards this latter personage she boasts of having posed M. Lamartine by quoting scriptural authority for his coming-One cometh after me that is greater than I'-neither the Frenchman nor her ladyship being apparently aware of the relation of the words. Lady Hester's physiognomical opinions are curious, being probably (in part at least) the result of observation. Wrinkles at the eyes are abominable, and about the mouth. Eyebrows making one circle if meeting, if close and straight, are equally bad. Those are good meeting the line of the nose, as if a double bridge. A low flat forehead is bad; so are uneven eyes, one larger than the other, or in constant motion. The foot should be hollow, and not flat. Club-feet stand good with all men and women. Stumpy hands are not good very white skin is not good, the yellow-white is much better, and the veins should appear in the arms and wrists. An offensive, snapping voice, and awkward snatching fingers are bad; as is affectation of all sorts.' That her own rules were not infallible is shown in the succession of wicked and dishonest servants by which she was continually surrounded; but which inconvenience, after all, might be designed by her ladyship, in order to afford scope for her sublime powers of scolding. In her courageous temperament and obstinate reliance on her own convictions, Lady Stanhope bore some resemblance to Charles XII. of Sweden. The adoption of the many strange opinions which distinguished her has led to the sanity of her mind being called in question-without much reason, as we imagine, for situated as she was for more than the half of her existence without books and without companions, it is not to be considered wonderful that a vigorous thinking mind like hers should take up and cherish many extravagant notions. It is most probable that having succeeded in deceiving others, she ended by deceiving herself. The last years of Chatham's grandaughter were spent amidst much misery and disquiet. Her lavish expenditure on others had occasionally reduced her own household to the verge of actual want. Old age, which in other circumstances might have been the herald of domestic happiness, was to this proud woman the source only of vexation and disappointment. Although she derived consolation in retirement from the retrospect of the part she had played in her prosperity, yet her mind was imbittered by some undefined but acute sense of past errors; and although her buoyant spirits usually bore her up against the weight by which she was oppressed, still there were moments of poignant grief when all efforts at resistance were vain, and her very soul groaned within her.' And at length, worn out by a long illness, Lady Hester Stanhope expired in her solitary eyry on Mount Lebanon, without a friend or confidant beside her on whose fidelity she could rely for arranging her affairs or providing decent sepulture. Like other divinators, Lady Stanhope failed to foresee her own destiny, while she spoke so confidently of the fate of men and empires;' and the unobtrusive termination of her eventful life could never be complacently thought of by one whose imagination was filled by visions of Eastern conquest and dominion, and who used to say of herself I shall not die in my bed, and I had rather not; my brothers did not, and I have always had a feeling that my end would be in blood.' THE SHEIKH AND HIS ASS. In a country of Asia there once lived a celebrated sheikh. He resided in the turbe (mausoleum) of a saint whose origin no one knew, but who was universally pronounced to have been a most holy man, a pattern of Moslem virtues. The thousands of visiters who annually flocked to the turbe left their offerings in abundance. One brought olive oil to feed the lamp which night and day shed its lustre over the resplendent tomb of the saint; another a fatted calf; a third poultry; and a fourth sheep for his own consumption. Thus the sheikh was relieved from the necessity of earthly anxieties, and had full leisure to devote himself to the laudable and all-absorbing contemplation of futurity. His fame increased daily, and the yung dervish who succeeded in becoming his servant and disciple, esteemed himself most happy; he participated to a certain extent in the glories and good living of his master; and, on the strength of having served so eminent a sheikh, he, after a while, went forth into the world, and set up on his own account with complete certainty of success. It so happened that one of the disciples of the sheikh, who was a lazy stupid fellow, had remained at the turbe for ten long years without having once shown the slightest inclination to make way for others. The sheikh, therefore, one day called him, and putting into his hand the halter of an ass, he thus addressed him :- You can learn nothing more here, my son, go and travel. Mount the ass, and may Allah and the Prophet guide you!' The disciple most respectfully kissed the hand of the holy man, and taking hold of the halter, he, without uttering a syllable, led forth his ass, with the intention of mounting it as soon as he was clear of the premises, but failed not, ere he had gone many steps, to perceive that the animal was dead lame, and so weak that to mount him was out of the question. He therefore renounced all hope of that, cut a thick stick from the first hedge, and commenced urging on his ass in the most persuasive manner possible. Thus he continued his journey for a fortnight, and would have gone on still further, but the days of the ass were numbered; the animal, worn out, fell down by the roadside, and died. The dervish began to think what he had best do. If I leave the dead ass here, the flesh will soon become corrupt, and I, being a stranger, am sure to be ill-treated, perhaps bastinadoed and put in prison, loaded with chains.' He therefore determined on burying his ass just where it had fallen; this done, he heaped the earth over the grave, in the usual orthodox way, and, greatly fatigued with his labour, sat down near the grave, lamenting over the cheerlessness of his prospects. While thus occupied he observed a number of men coming over the plain; they were welldressed, mounted on beautiful horses, richly housed, and their attention was attracted to the dervish seated at the head of a fresh made grave. One of them remarked, There must have been two dervishes; one of them having died on the road has been buried by his surviving companion.' To this they had so completely made up their minds, that, without asking any needless questions, they respectfully approached the traveller and said, 'God give you health; we see you have lost your brother, but let your grief cease; we are, thank God, pious people here; we will build a turbe over his sweet-smelling ashes; you shall also be cared for, therefore give not a thought for the future.' The dervish saw it would not be for his interest to undeceive them; he consequently remarked that it was indeed hard to lose a companion with whom he had passed so many years, and who had never during the whole course of their acquaintance uttered an offensive word or an untruth, whilst he was a real pattern of patience; but that when he saw honour prepared for his remains it was indeed consolation of the right sort--he was rejoiced. In a word, a splendid turbe was speedily built, a lamp burned constantly over the tomb, the dervish was installed as sheikh, the faithful crowded in from all quarters to visit the tomb of the new saint, and, in the course of time, the mausoleum became the most celebrated in all Asia. The reputation of the sheikh was unrivalled. It was deemed scarcely a miracle if wonders were worked over the remains of so holy a saint. The old sheikh, the former master of the new one, at last perceived that his glory was eclipsed, and he determined on paying a visit to his successful rival, with a view of acquiring a little of that real knowledge of which he felt he stood so much in need. The journey was long, but he performed it with pleasure, and on entering the turbe, what was his surprise, on perceiving that the sheikh whose renown was so great, was neither more nor less than his old servant, whom he had discarded many years before for incorrigible stupidity! The other also knew him, but neither gave signs of recognition, and the new sheikh began to hope that his former master's memory was not so good as his own. The old sheikh became the musafir or guest of the other; and several days having passed, one evening when they were quite alone, he asked his quondam disciple to relate to him by what wonderful turn of fortune he had acquired such reputation. The other replied, I owe it to the wretched, lame, and dying ass you gave me when I left you. There lies his tomb-the merit be on him!' 'Vai!' exclaimed the first sheikh, 'that is indeed strange; for know, that in the turbe in which myself have gained such extensive honour and profit, repose the remains of the father of your ass.' TO OUR READERS. THOUGH wishful to avoid as much as possible all allusion to ourselves and our doings, we feel that we should be wanting both in courtesy and gratitude were we to close our first volume without tendering our sincere thanks to that large portion of the reading public who have hitherto appreciated and sustained our efforts. We need scarcely recall attention to the motive in which the INSTRUCTOR had its origin-a desire to give to our weekly periodical literature a healthier tone, by a recognition in its pages of the great truths of the Christian religion. In attempting to do so we have received an amount of encouragement much greater than we anticipated. We sincerely rejoice in this, less, we trust, on our own account than as a proof that a very large proportion of the reading popula tion of this country relish literary and scientific disquisitions all the more keenly when they find them associated with those great truths to which mankind are indebted for their best and highest hopes. To our past labours we confidently appeal, as evincing that we are actuated by no cold sectarian spirit; and in this respect our readers may feel assured the INSTRUCTOR shall not deteriorate. Numerous difficulties, with which we had to contend at the commencement of our undertaking, have been happily surmounted Our position is now taken up, our machinery is in complete work earnest endeavour to give a still higher character and a still greater value to our journal, so that its influence may reach to every corner of the land. When moralists, and philosophers of all sorts, set about reasoning on the phenomena of the world we live in, and, contemplating the mass of human misery to be found therein, trace it to all the fearful crimes that since the fall of man have found their way into the heart, they overlook one little cause of suffering, which blights more happiness, and neutralizes a greater portion of God's bounteous favours, than all the other heinous enormities of our depraved race put together. This hateful, stealthy, ing order, our friends are true and certain; and it shall be our heart-destroying blight, is often found where every thing like atrocious vice is utterly unknown, and where many of the very highest virtues flourish. Probity, liberality, temperance, observant piety, may all exist with a sour temper; yet many a human being has been hung in chains whose justly punished deeds have not caused one hundredth part the pain to his fellow-men which a cross temperament is sure to give. How often has a bright sunny day risen upon a healthy, prosperous, gay, spirited race, each hour of which, though blessed with all that Heaven can send,' has been poisoned, mildewed, and rendered hateful to every member of it, by the habitual illhumour of its head! Yet all the reprobation cast on such a one is summed up in the gentle phrases, 'He is a tiresome man,' or, 'She has a disagreeable temper, poor woman!' Let men see as in a glass the hideous contrast between their crooked crabbed natures, and the sweet image of Him who taught the doctrine of perfect love! Do this, and your labour will not be in vain. WATCHES. Watches are generally supposed to have been invented early in the fifteenth century, though George III. was said to have had one in his possession which belonged to Robert Bruce, who began his reign in 1305, and died in 1328. It has been asserted that it was in the year 1577 that watches were first introduced into England from the Continent, yet it is certain that Henry VIII. had a watch. In 1572, Queen Elizabeth was presented by her favourite, the Earl of Leicester, with an armlet of golde all over fairely garnished with small diamondes, and fower score and one smaller pieces, fullie garnished with diamondes, and hanging thereat, a rounde clocke fullie garnished with diamondes, and an appendant of diamondes hanging thereat.' A watch said to have been made in the reign of Elizabeth was to be seen at Windsor a few years since. -Mirror. To the conductors of the public press, who have cheered our early efforts by an amount of unsolicited commendation unparalleled, we believe, in the history of any similar undertaking, our warmest thanks are due; as likewise to those private friends in various parts of the country who have favoured us with suggestions. Nor are we unmindful of that large class who have sought to aid us by voluntary contributions, even though our arrangements have been such as to preclude us in a great measure from availing ourselves of their assistance. We have not asked for this! kind of support, and we are not in need of it. We may just remark, however, that, while we shall welcome a production of real merit when we are furnished with the name and address of the author, we cannot, as a general rule, undertake either to insert or retur any contributions which come to us in this way. In conclusion, we venture to solicit the kind offices of our friends and readers in giving every possible publicity to our forthcoming volume. While resolved to redouble our own exertions, we feel strongly that on the public, rather than on ourselves, our success is dependent. It is for them to say whether the unparalleled extension of literary and scientific knowledge which characterizes our age, is to be sustained and accompanied by a corresponding extension of sound religious feeling; or whether, beneath a load of mere secular information, the highest and holiest topics which should engage the attention of mankind are to be entirely smothered and forgotten. Printed and published by JAMES HOGG, 122 Nicolson Street, The 'INSTRUCTOR' being printed from Stereotype Plates, the END OF VOLUME I. 13 |